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Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
133
Quality: Performance
While inequalities in access to education are relatively small in Jordan, disparities with
regards to learning achievement are much higher,
as revealed through the Early Grade
Reading and Math Assessments (EGRA and EGMA) as well as the Trends in International Math and
Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessments (PISA)
352
. Only
68%of girls achieved proficiency in reading at the upper secondary level, but it is still much higher
than the low 31% of boys achieving proficiency in reading at the upper secondary level
353
. Every
year, more than half of school students fail their
Tawjihi
exams
354
.
In terms of performance, UNRWA students consistently achieve better results at lower costs per
pupil than students fromprivate or government schools
355
, even though many of their schools run
in double-shift and the curriculum is the same as in public schools (see section 3.3. for more
details).
International Assessments
356
This section looks at the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) rounds
of 1999 and 2011. TIMSS is an international assessment that reports every four years on the
achievement in mathematics and science of fourth and eighth grade students. It also provides
extensive data on the country, school and student backgrounds.
Table 16 Achievement in TIMSS Mathematics test by background characteristics for 8th
grade students in Jordan, 1999 and 2011
Mathematics
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
1999
2011
1999
2011
1999
2011
1999
2011
Location
Rural
49.3
51.2
22.8
22.2
6.7
3.9
0.5
0.4
Urban
63.2
57.5
34.8
28.3
13.5
6.6
2.7
0.4
Asset
quintiles
Quint 1
50.2
36.3
21.8
9.9
6.8
0.9
0.4
0
Quint 2
61.7
50.7
30.2
20.9
10.7
3.7
1.7
0.3
Quint 3
60.3
58.7
30
25
9.8
3.8
1.3
0.3
Quint 4
69.6
70
41.8
37.9
15.2
9.2
2.8
0.2
Quint 5
82.5
75.7
54.2
44.9
25
12
6.5
1.3
Gender
Female
61.9
60.1
31.5
27.2
10.6
5.8
1.6
0.5
Male
57.6
49.1
31.9
23.9
12.6
4.9
2.6
0.3
Total
Total
59.4
54.5
31.5
25.5
11.6
5.4
2.1
0.4
Source: UNESCO WIDE Database
352
Queen Rania Foundation website.
http://www.qrf.org/initiative/equity-education353
NCHRD (2016)
354
NCHRD (2016)
355
UNRWA
https://www.unrwa.org/what-we-do/education356
Based on TIMSS 2011
( https://timss.bc.edu/TIMSS2011/international-database.html )and Akour, et al (2015)