Unpacking equity. Educational equity in secondary analyses of international large-scale assessments: A systematic review

Abstract

The discourse of educational equity has captured public imagination and become an entrenched policy value. In the attendant struggle to improve educational equity, governments draw inspiration from analyses based on data from highly standardized, international large-scale assessments. As these analyses are used as a lever for policy formulation, it is important to understand how this concept of equity is appropriated. Lacking a synthesis of how equity is conceptualized and operationalized in this body of research, the current paper seeks to fill that gap by presenting a systematic review. Our analysis incorporates an identification of operational patterns and an exploration regarding the linguistic elements for defining equity. We chart the theoretical and methodological diversity among interpretations of equity, as clustered into five major research approaches. In light of these results, benefits and limitations of the concept's complexity are discussed and implications for research are forwarded.