School factors helping disadvantaged students to succeed: empirical evidence from four Italian cities
Type of Publication: Journal article
Year Published: 2016
Lead Researcher: Tommaso Agasisti
Tommaso Agasisti, Mara Soncin and Riccardo Valenti
Published in Policy Studies Vol 37 Issue 2
20 Jan 2016
Abstract
This research investigates a particular category of disadvantaged students, namely those who are able to overcome a situation of socio-economical disadvantage and obtain good academic results (here named ‘resilient students’). We have used micro-data provided by the Italian National Evaluation Committee for Education and focused on class and school-level characteristics that help disadvantaged students to become resilient students when they move from primary (grade 5) to lower secondary school (grade 6), concentrating our analysis on four major cities. We employed a probit regression and a propensity score matching model, finding that class and school factors do matter. In particular, we looked at whether the performance of their peers has a positive impact on that of disadvantaged students, estimating the increased probability of these students becoming resilient.
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