This paper proposes a multidimensional index that summarizes three relevant aspects of the educational achievements, out of the data provided by the PISA Report, concerning reading abilities of 15-year-old students of 65 countries. The three aspects considered are: performance, equity, and...

Grade retention practices are at the forefront of the educational debate. In this paper, we use PISA 2009 data for Spain to measure the effect of grade retention on students’ achievement. One important problem when analyzing this question is that school outcomes and the propensity to repeat a...

PISA 2006 results showed huge differences in educational attainment across Spanish regions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the factors explaining these differences. Our results indicate that differences in family characteristics of students from different regions are crucial in explaining...