An evaluation of PISA 2015 achievements of OECD countries within income distribution and education expenditures

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between student achievement, income distributions and education expenditures in the member countries of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The study was based on literature review and its data were gathered from OECD sources to a large extent. In the study, current student achievements of the member countries were expressed with PISA 2015 scores. The study revealed that income inequality was one of the variables influencing the PISA achievements of the students. However, it was remarkable that some countries whose income inequality scores were above OECD average were also successful in PISA 2015. In this regard, the study also evaluated how OECD countries distributed their educational resources, how efficient they were in using these resources on education, their ratios of public and private expenditures on education, and annual expenditure on education per-student. It was finally concluded that student achievements of OECD countries in PISA was related to the just and efficient use of educational resources rather than the amount of educational resources allocated.