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Secondary school admissions: a sophisticated mechanism or a big national lottery?
Protivínský, Tomáš
The spring 2023 secondary school admissions process has fully revealed the shortcomings of the established admissions system. The combination of a baby boom and a large mismatch between the structure of supply and demand, the system has left many children\nand their parents unnecessarily uncertain about secondary education. Although the vast majority of applicants eventually get into a secondary school, the mechanism in place to match applicants with schools is inefficient and inequitable. The system forces students\nand parents to strategize ways to select schools, and disadvantages children of less informed and less sophisticated parents, contributing to high inequalities in access to education over the long term. The system also generates highly skewed information on the structure of demand, which complicates management of admissions. A major change in the admissions procedure is therefore planned for spring 2024. It is expected to eliminate at least some of the main problems. Electronic application should simplify the process, and will allow pupils to apply to three schools instead of two. Prioritization of schools should then allow for automatic enrollment of those admitted. It should also minimize the chaotic second round period when pupils who are not enrolled in the first round apply for vacant places.
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Evolution in Czech public attitudes towards war refugees from Ukraine
Münich, Daniel ; Protivínský, Tomáš
In the wake of Russia’s military assault on Ukraine at the end of February 2022, an atmosphere of solidarity prevailed in the Czech Republic and most of the Czech population supported the country’s intake of war refugees. By the end of November 2022, that support had fallen by approximately one quarter. Czechs’ perceptions of how well integrated Ukrainians were into Czech society worsened similarly. This change in Czech public attitudes over time did not, however, stem primarily from personal or first hand experience of welcoming refugees, rather, it was related to a gradual decrease in public interest in the conflict after the initial shock of it first beginning. Although several aspects of Ukrainian refugees’ integration improved in real terms in the second half of 2022, for example in relation to schools and to the labour market, this progress was not reflected in Czech public opinion.
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Differences in the strictness of grading and its impact on student educational aspirations
Münich, Daniel ; Protivínský, Tomáš
For students and their parents, school grades are a key piece of information that helps to shape educational and career ambitions. We find that 87% of Czech ninth graders with an A in mathematics want to go to university. Among students with a C, only 39% have the same aspiration. There is wide variation in the strictness of grading across Czech primary schools. On average, grades awarded can differ by as much as a full letter grade between stricter and more moderately grading schools. Even when they in fact have measurably equivalent skills, students from schools that grade more strictly have lower academic aspirations than students from schools that grade more moderately. Grades on report cards are also often among the admissions criteria for secondary schools and high schools. Differences in the strictness of grading and the crucial roles of grades in planning future educational paths can therefore lead to misguided decisions by students and parents, inefficiencies in the education system, and suboptimal allocation of talent.
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Teaching quality, education, economic growth and prosperity in the Czech Republic
Münich, Daniel ; Krajčová, Jana ; Protivínský, T.
This study reports in detail on how Czech society will suffer financially in the future if it is unable, or unwilling, to invest greater resources and systemic efforts into improving teaching quality. Our simulated estimates demonstrate that the financial impact of foregoing potential improvement would be huge. The paradox of this high level of unrealized societal gain can be explained in various ways. Either Czech society is still insufficiently aware of the extent of the societal advantages that they forgo by failing to improve teaching quality, or a substantial part of the society is currently failing to consider the long-term impact. It may also be that the Czech political-educational system is currently unable to translate a realization of the extent of this loss into concrete measures and investments.
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What’s behind the grades on Czech school certificates?
Münich, Daniel ; Protivínský, T.
Girls in the ninth year of elementary school receive better grades in mathematics and Czech language than boys. In anonymously graded tests, however, girls only achieve better results in Czech language, while in mathematics the boys outperform them on average by roughly the same margin. Meanwhile, the variation in test results within each gender is far greater than the average differences between boys' and girls' results. Gender differences in academic results measured through tests are, in the literature, more often seen to reflect different influences in upbringing and social environments, rather than reflecting different innate dispositions among girls and boys. When writing non-anonymous school reports for mathematics, teachers give girls better grades than reflect their actual results in anonymously assessed tests. On their reports, girls are given grades for mathematics that are on average better by 0.6 grade than their male peers who achieved the same anonymous test score. The gender differences we have found in academic results and grading are in line with the findings of most foreign studies. Our analysis shows that the differences between boys' and girls' grades is not a result of differences in the way stress affects test results, nor a difference in pupils' liking for or aversion to the subject in question. The likely cause of the difference in grades between girls and boys is that the grades are influenced by the pupils' socio-emotional skills. Grades on school reports constitute an established means of feedback about each pupil's educational achievements and form one basis upon which aspirations and decisions regarding further study are taken. Biased grades and the incorrect interpretation they may lead to could affect the young people's further academic trajectory in undesirable ways. Our findings raise a number of questions about suitable changes in how grades are given. One of the many possible changes to be considered is to allocate pupils grades on two separate scales, one of which would reflect only the academic results they have achieved and the second only their attitude to learning, without reference to their objective levelof achievement.
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Effect of indicators on adjusted score in English language test MANA 2005
Protivínský, Tomáš ; Zvára, Karel (referee) ; Omelka, Marek (advisor)
N5zev prace: VHv indikatoru na dosa^ene skore v testu z anglickeho jazyka MANA2005 Autor: Tomas" Protivinsky Katedra: Katedra pravdepodobnosti a matematicke statistiky Vedouci bakalarske prace: Ing. Marek Omelka E-mail vedouciho: omelka@karlin.mff.cuni.cz Abstrakt: Prace analyzuje data ziskana testy Maturita naneffsto 2005. Zabyva se vlivem jednotlivych faktoru na dosazene skore z anglickeho jazyka, hodnoti je z hlcdiska jejich vyznamnosti a snazi se odhalit vztahy mezi nimi. Nejdfive uvazuji jednoduche modely s jednim vysve-tlujicim faktorem. Zde jsem se zamčfil pf edevgim na typ Skoly (gymnazium, SOS, SOU) a jeji polohu (die pfislugnosti ke kraji) a pohlavi zaka. V praci take kratce diskutuji mozn6 pficlny pozorovanych rozdilu. Tyto dilcl vysledky pak na zdv^r porovnavam s celkovou analyzou, ktera do modelu zahr- nuje vSechny sledovane faktory. Zahrnul jsem i strucny popis zamgfeni a organizace testu Maturitananecisto. Klicova slova: Linearni regrese, analyza rozptylu Title: Effect of indicators on adjusted score in Englishlanguage test MANA 2005 Author: TomaS Protivinsky Department: Department of Probability and Mathematical Statistics Supervisor: Ing. Marek Omelka Supervisor's e-mail address: omelka@karlin.inff.cuni.cz Abstract:The thesis analyzes a data acquired in the test Maturita naneclsto 2005. It...
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