Aboriginal Performance on Standardized Tests: Evidence and Analysis from Provincial Schools in British Columbia |
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Authors: | John G Richards Aidan R Vining David L Weimer |
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Institution: | Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver, British Columbia, and holds the Roger Phillips chair in social policy at the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto; Segal Graduate School of Business, SFU; University of Wisconsin-Madison |
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Abstract: | Many indigenous populations are experiencing rural-to-urban migration. In making this transition, indigenous peoples are entering industrial societies where most income derives from wages or salaries, and formal educational achievement is crucial in determining economic prospects. This research analyzes the gap in test score results between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in public schools in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It finds a strong effect of school quality, as measured by non-Aboriginal achievement, on Aboriginal achievement. It also finds a nonlinear negative relationship between Aboriginal achievement and the number of Aboriginal students in a school over the empirically observed range. It thus suggests a possible trade-off and dilemma between, on the one hand, policies that enable Aboriginal students to concentrate in a few schools able to provide a culturally sensitive curriculum and, on the other, policies to maximize Aboriginal academic achievement. |
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Keywords: | Aboriginal education standardized tests school quality culturally sensitive education peer effects student achievement |
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