Beyond the mean estimate: a quantile regression analysis of inequalities in educational outcomes using INVALSI survey data

Background Learning outcomes are considered positive indicators towards future economic social and cultural opportunities of a number of countries (Woessmann 2004). Therefore, over the last decades, studies facing inequality issues in educational outcomes using cognitive achievement tests and variables from large-scale assessment data have increased. From a methodological point of view, the traditional approach used to explore the relationship between explicative variables and students’ performance is based on average effects within a classical linear regression setup (OECD 2012). Undoubtedly, estimates on average will yield straightforward interpretations but will represent only a part of the information concerning the complex and nuanced nature of the relation between predictors and conditional performance distribution. Essentially, the main concern for policy purposes might be not only to assess if the relevant variables carry an impact or not, but Abstract