Don A. Klinger Professor

This chapter provides a scoping review of the research literature to examine the interconnections between migrant integration, equality of opportunity, and international best policies and practices. The review is organized around the key facets outlined in the multidimensional support model (Volante et al. Can J Educ 43(1):121–169, 2020). More specifically, some of the most critical linguistic supports, academic supports, parental involvement, intercultural education/family friendly learning environments, emotion and psychological supports, and strategies to address low socioeconomic status for migrant K-12 student populations are examined in relation to the established research as well as emergent findings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the chapter provides a critical analysis of existing research and discusses pivotal strategic planning considerations to help close the opportunity divide that exists between migrant and non-migrant children and their families in a post-pandemic world.

In providing a summary and analysis of the preceding 11 chapters, this chapter illustrates the diversity of responses within European Union Member States to the educational challenges and opportunities that the Member States have encountered as a result of cross-national achievement surveys. As described in this chapter, concerns regarding cross-national achievement surveys remain. Nevertheless, the brief summaries in this chapter also highlight the potential of these surveys to positively affect and influence education policy within the EU. One consistent theme is that these surveys have resulted in a much greater focus on educational equity for specific subpopulations of students within Member States. The analysis of the ongoing implementation and use of cross-national achievement surveys in the EU highlights that future editions of such surveys will probably need to find ways to be even more responsive to national efforts to positively affect the education and well-being of young people throughout the EU.

This chapter provides an introduction to the topic of cross-national achievement surveys and their use in monitoring educational outcomes. After a brief review of the scope of prominent surveys administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, we examine methodological issues as well as the contested nature of policy implications stemming from comparative studies. We discuss how design issues rarely, if ever, factor into debates on strategic large-scale reform. At the same time, this chapter, as well as the ensuing national profiles, underlines the diversity of policy decisions that are often taken in response to achievement results. A key conclusion is therefore that reacting to crossnational achievement surveys is not a uniform process, as is often suggested, but influenced by a range of political, cultural and historical perspectives. A framework for the national profiles in the second part of this book is also provided at the end of this chapter.

This chapter takes the results of all previous chapters into account and provides a cross-national evaluation of educational policies designed to reduce socioeconomic inequalities among pupils. By stocktaking on this Volume’s choices for examining socioeconomic inequality and student outcomes, the chapter first reviews the most recent trends of socioeconomic inequality in the nine countries covered. Second, the chapter assesses which national policies appear to have been successful for reducing disadvantaged students’ outcomes, by relating these trends with recent and preceding education policies. In order to cover most of the education policies featured in the single country chapters, this discussion of policies is structured along three dimensions: (a) school autonomy versus centralization; (b) tracking versus comprehensive schooling; and (c) instruction time and curricula. Third, the chapter concludes by addressing existing research caveats and future research directions from a cross-national perspective.

This chapter provides an introduction to the topic of socioeconomic inequality and student outcomes, including methodological challenges associated with cross-cultural research on this topic. Particular attention is devoted to documenting socioeconomic differences noted in prominent international achievement surveys such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), including how these results have changed over time. We show how evidence regarding socioeconomic inequalities from such large-scale international assessments is limited due to challenges with missing parental education data and reliance upon student proxy reports. A key conclusion is therefore that a different approach to understanding socioeconomic inequalities across countries is needed if real progress is going to be made in raising the achievement of young people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. A framework for the national profiles presented in the second part of this book is then discussed.

Education is a human right, and among the indicators of human development, education is indisputably one of the most important ones for its impact both on individuals’ lives as well as on communities and countries at large. Despite its evident importance, it cannot be taken for granted that everyone has access to (high quality) education. Equality and equity in access to education is a priority policy issue not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. In this era of knowledge based economy, the extent to which countries are able to provide high quality education (however it may be defined) to all members of their society is a significant predictor of economic growth and socioeconomic development. Within this context, identifying the disadvantaged groups within the student population and finding ways to mitigate the negative effects of these disadvantages while at the same time targeting the students with special support needs are crucial policy objectives. The objective of this book is to focus on the case of a growing and diverse group, namely students with a migration background. We seek to examine the extent to which immigrant students are integrated to education systems in their new settlement countries, whether their relative achievement in schools require special attention in comparison with their native peers, and how the receiving countries with diverse immigrant populations deal with challenges related to immigrant student achievement in their education policy.

Human migration continues to be an important aspect of our global society. Nevertheless, the flow of migrants is changing and the shift in migration patterns are resulting in significant challenges for school systems around the world. Building on the previous chapters presented in this book, this final chapter provides a summary of the experiences of different education jurisdictions to address the changing landscape of immigrant children in schools. These experiences have resulted in a variety of educational policies and practices to support immigrant children and educators. The subsequent analysis of the preceding chapters identified some of the existing barriers to effective immigrant education policy as well as promising policies and practices that appear to be mitigating the commonly found immigrant student disadvantage. Along with first and second language support, these practices suggest a continued focus on social integration, acceptance of cultural diversity, and equity efforts. Collectively, these policies appear to harken back to some of the seminal work of Ogbu and his efforts to understand the achievement gaps found for sub-populations of students. As a final word, the chapter highlights the potential to enhance the educational outcomes of immigrant students and our continuing need to further our research efforts and educational initiatives to meet the needs of all of our students.

Public education in Canada is under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial governments that oversee policies, procedures, practices, curriculum, funding structures, and public accountability. This chapter explores the shifting methods that provinces use to monitor student achievement and demonstrate educational accountability. Large-scale testing programmes provide a central measure of educational accountability at the district, school, and even teacher level. However, these Canadian accountability models do not impact teachers' salaries, teacher promotion or school funding. Rather, they appear to reflect a level of trust in educators' professionalism to work to improve student achievement. This overview of the large-scale, K-12 assessment programmes across Canada highlights the common structures and practices that exist across the country, while also summarising the links between these testing programmes and accountability. The emerging trends in large-scale testing and educational accountability also underscore current debates and movements. Hence large-scale tests serve a growing number of purposes, and alternative data sources are being promoted to support accountability. "Assessment For Learning" is now prevalent throughout provincial assessment policies and practices. These accountability practices and trends to support student achievement raise a number of questions. Of these emerging questions, we must ask if accountability should be the lightning rod for school improvement?