Private elementary schooling and achievement gains in South Korea

Soo Yong Byun; Hee Jin Chung; Jee Bin Ahn

doi:10.22804/kjep.2021.18.2.002

Private elementary schooling and achievement gains in South Korea

Soo Yong Byun, Hee Jin Chung, Jee Bin Ahn

Department of Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Using longitudinal data for fifth graders from the Korean Education Longitudinal Study of 2013, we examined sector differences in student background characteristics. We also examined the effect of attending private elementary schools on achievement gains. To estimate the private elementary school effect more rigorously, we used propensity score matching approaches to address selection bias. We found that while private elementary schools largely served students from socioeconomically advantaged families, attending private elementary schools had a positive effect on English and mathematics achievement gains. We discussed implications of these findings for the potential role of private elementary schools in contributing to educational inequality in South Korea.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	25-43
Number of pages	19
Journal	KEDI Journal of Educational Policy
Volume	18
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.22804/kjep.2021.18.2.002
State	Published - 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research is supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020S1A3A2A02091529) and by the Population Research Institute at Penn State University, which is supported by an infrastructure grant by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD041025). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the granting agencies. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the 14th Conference of the Korean Educational Longitudinal Study, November 28, 2020, Seoul National University. The authors thank Haram Jeon for his thoughtful comments on an earlier draft. The authors also thank Heera Kim for her excellent administrative support. Any remaining errors are the authors’ responsibility.

Publisher Copyright:
© Korean Educational Development Institute 2021.

Keywords

Educational inequality
Longitudinal research
Private elementary schools
Propensity score matching
School effects
South Korea

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.22804/kjep.2021.18.2.002

Cite this

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title = "Private elementary schooling and achievement gains in South Korea",

abstract = "Using longitudinal data for fifth graders from the Korean Education Longitudinal Study of 2013, we examined sector differences in student background characteristics. We also examined the effect of attending private elementary schools on achievement gains. To estimate the private elementary school effect more rigorously, we used propensity score matching approaches to address selection bias. We found that while private elementary schools largely served students from socioeconomically advantaged families, attending private elementary schools had a positive effect on English and mathematics achievement gains. We discussed implications of these findings for the potential role of private elementary schools in contributing to educational inequality in South Korea.",

keywords = "Educational inequality, Longitudinal research, Private elementary schools, Propensity score matching, School effects, South Korea",

author = "Byun, {Soo Yong} and Chung, {Hee Jin} and Ahn, {Jee Bin}",

note = "Funding Information: This research is supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020S1A3A2A02091529) and by the Population Research Institute at Penn State University, which is supported by an infrastructure grant by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD041025). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the granting agencies. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the 14th Conference of the Korean Educational Longitudinal Study, November 28, 2020, Seoul National University. The authors thank Haram Jeon for his thoughtful comments on an earlier draft. The authors also thank Heera Kim for her excellent administrative support. Any remaining errors are the authors{\textquoteright} responsibility. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Korean Educational Development Institute 2021.",

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AU - Chung, Hee Jin

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N1 - Funding Information: This research is supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020S1A3A2A02091529) and by the Population Research Institute at Penn State University, which is supported by an infrastructure grant by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD041025). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the granting agencies. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the 14th Conference of the Korean Educational Longitudinal Study, November 28, 2020, Seoul National University. The authors thank Haram Jeon for his thoughtful comments on an earlier draft. The authors also thank Heera Kim for her excellent administrative support. Any remaining errors are the authors’ responsibility. Publisher Copyright: © Korean Educational Development Institute 2021.

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AB - Using longitudinal data for fifth graders from the Korean Education Longitudinal Study of 2013, we examined sector differences in student background characteristics. We also examined the effect of attending private elementary schools on achievement gains. To estimate the private elementary school effect more rigorously, we used propensity score matching approaches to address selection bias. We found that while private elementary schools largely served students from socioeconomically advantaged families, attending private elementary schools had a positive effect on English and mathematics achievement gains. We discussed implications of these findings for the potential role of private elementary schools in contributing to educational inequality in South Korea.

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Private elementary schooling and achievement gains in South Korea

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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