A distributional analysis of upper secondary school performance

Abstract

We examine the relationship between the distribution of upper secondary school performance and a range of individual and school level characteristics using unconditional quantile regression methods and data from Ireland. We find that determinants such as social class, maternal unemployment, extra private tuition, and working part-time have differential effects for low and high ability students and that important insights are lost by focusing on the conditional mean. The implication is that while certain factors can impact on whether or not a student is likely to proceed to higher education, other factors may affect where students go and what they study.

How Gender and Prior Disadvantage Predict Performance in College

“…In Ireland, fee-paying schools tend to emphasise sports and extra-curricular activities so it is less clear that we should see this effect. Also, prior Irish research (Cullinan et al, 2018;Doris et al 2019) finds no evidence that attending a fee-paying school has a positive effect on postprimary school exam performanceif fee-paying schools don't boost points attainment, then it is unlikely that the points obtained by students from fee-paying schools overstate their abilities. Consistent with this hypothesis, there is no evidence in Table 4 that, conditional on points, students from fee-paying schools do worse in college.…”

“…Students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds do worse on average in the Leaving Certificate (Cullinan et al, 2018). There are many possible reasons for this and one of them may be a relatively difficult home environment for studying and related stresses that affect exam performance (Heissel et al, 2018).…”

Study abroad programme participation and subsequent academic performance: evidence from administrative data

“…7. Previous research in the Irish context from Cullinan, Denny, and Flannery (2021) has shown a strong socioeconomic gradient in student performance in CAO points in Ireland, while Delaney and Devereux (2020) and Silva et al (2020) have highlighted the strong association between upper secondary performance and performance in higher education. 8.…”

“…15. For more discussion on the unconditional quantile regression method, see Cullinan, Denny, and Flannery (2021).…”

An analysis of the effects on Irish hospital care of the supply of care inside and outside the hospital

“…Stat is ti ca l Mod els an d Me th od o lo gy | 61 al., 2017) and education (Cullinan et al, 2018;Öckert et al, 2012). Within the health literature, quantile regressions are used to examine issues such as healthcare expenditure (Olsen et al, 2017).…”