A Study of School Quality Development Using the Growth Curve Model of External School Quality Assessment of the Basic Education Level

Abstract

         The purposes of this research were: 1) to study the growth curve model of external quality assessment without the covariate variables of schools and 2) to study the growth curve model of external quality assessment with covariate variables of schools by using secondary data from external quality assessment results from the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) for the three rounds of assessment in 1,964 schools under the Office of Basic Education Commission that were assessed completely for three rounds in the year indicated. The covariate variables consisted of regions, urban or rural area and school sizes. Descriptive statistics and the growth curve model of external quality assessment were computed using SPSS software and Mplus software.

           The results indicated that the growth curve model of external quality assessment without covariate variables and with covariate variables of schools were consistent with the empirical data. Schools in the North and the South (b = - 2.189,   = - 0.114, p = 0.045* and b = - 2.422,   = - 0.133, p = 0.021* respectively) had initial external quality assessment scores that were lower than those from the Central region. Small, medium and large schools (b = - 15.751,   = - 1.282, p = 0.000***, b = - 12.463,   = - 0.960, p = 0.000***, b = - 8.373, and   = - 0.201, p = 0.007** respectively) had initial external quality assessment scores that were lower than those from extra-large schools. Meanwhile, the schools in the urban and rural areas did not exhibit different initial external quality assessment scores. Furthermore, the region, location, and size of the schools had no effect on the growth rate of scores in the external quality assessment results.