Families, Schools, and Reading in Asia and Latin America

Using the data from PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), we compare the ways in which families and schools influence educational achievement among 15-year-olds between four Asian countries (Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand) and four Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Peru). We find that family socioeconomic status (SES) affects student achievement considerably more in Latin America than in Asia. Compared to the relatively weak impacts of family SES in Asian countries, however, parental communication with children plays an important role in fostering achievement. The most evident difference between the two regions is the extent of school differentiation along family socioeconomic backgrounds. The extent to which students’ individual and family characteristics account for between-school variance in student performance is substantially larger in Latin America than in Asia. Although the overall degree of students’ sense of belonging at their school is significantly associated with increased student achievement in all eight countries, school climate factors are more relevant for student learning in Asian education than in Latin American education.