What more can we learn from PISA tests? A comparative Analysis of the Long-term Dynamics of the Israeli International Educational Achievements

One of the most prominent comparative international tests in recent years is conducted by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is used to assess students' knowledge of reading comprehension, mathematics, and science. PISA is most known for its goal to compare nations according to a league table ranking system. Israel has taken part in these assessments from its conception and since then it has been gradually decreasing in the world ranking. By 2015 the Israeli students are located between 37-40 out of 70 countries, down from 31-33 in 2000. Using Israel's data throughout the PISA cycles, we aim to offer an alternative comparative view for these international results, based on measures of self-change. These measures show a consistent and significant system-wide improvement of the Israeli educational performance in all three PISA tests since 2000. Not only does this contrast with its downward trend in the international ranking which is biased due to inclusion of more countries, the rate of change was consistently positive over time and surpassing that of its European and American counterparts. Indeed, these measures of change show a general growth of about 23 points over 15 years, which reflects a consistent improvement of 6 to 9 points in average per cycle since 2000 results. In light of these findings, the paper discusses the significance of measurements of change in comparative international tests.

Parenting Style and Punishment Perception as Moderators of the Association between Corporal Punishment and Anxiety in Children

Abstrac

Maternal and Paternal Authoritarian Parenting and Adolescents’ Impostor Feelings: The Mediating Role of Parental Psychological Control and the Moderating Role of Child’s Gender

Introduction: Recent systematic reviews about the impostor phenomenon unveil a severe shortage of research data on adolescents. The present study aimed at reducing this gap in the literature by investigating the association between maternal and paternal authoritarian parenting and impostor feelings among adolescents, while testing the mediating role played by parental psychological control and the moderating role of the child’s gender in this context. Methods: Three hundred and eight adolescents took part in an online survey, in which they reported anonymously on their impostor feelings and their parents’ parenting styles via several valid psychological questionnaires. The sample consisted of 143 boys and 165 girls, whose age ranged from 12 to 17 (M = 14.67, SD = 1.64). Results: Of the sample’s participants, over 35% reported frequent to intense impostor feelings, with girls scoring significantly higher than boys on this scale. In general, the maternal and paternal parenting variables explained 15.2% and 13.3% (respectively) of the variance in the adolescents’ impostor scores. Parental psychological control fully mediated (for fathers) and partially mediated (for mothers) the association between parental authoritarian parenting and the adolescents’ impostor feelings. The child’s gender moderated solely the maternal direct effect of authoritarian parenting on impostor feelings (this association was significant for boys alone), but not the mediating effect via psychological control. Conclusions: The current study introduces a specific explanation for the possible mechanism describing the early emergence of impostor feelings in adolescents based on parenting styles and behaviors

Convergent Validity and Reliability of the Hebrew version of the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) in Hebrew-Speaking Israeli-Arab Families

The study examined the convergent validity and reliability of the Hebrew-translated 32 items of the Parenting Styles and Dimension Questionnaire (PSDQ) among Israeli-Arab families, who speak Hebrew as their second language. 187 adolescents (116 boys; 64 girls; 7 participants did not report their sex) and one of their parents (106 fathers; 81 mothers) completed the PAQ and the PSDQ (respectively). Subject to two exceptions (alphas below .60), the instrument’s scales exhibited an acceptable internal consistency (.64 ≤ α ≤ .89) and good convergence with the PAQ scales (with mid- to large-size correlations). Taken together, the findings suggest that the PSDQ in its Hebrew version could be acceptable for assessing parenting styles among literate Hebrew-speaking populations. The limitations and implications concerning this conclusion are discussed, along with some cultural aspects

Problematic Internet use in Israeli-Arab adolescent males: Do parenting styles matter?

The current study explored the relationships between parenting styles and problematic internet use (PIU) in male adolescents from Israeli-Arab families. In the research literature, little is known about the role played by parenting in relation to children’s PIU in Arab societies. One hundred and eighty male adolescents whose age ranges from 12 to 16 (M = 13.92, SD = 1.42) reported their internet behavior and their parents’ parenting styles. Controlling for the participants’ age, family size, and grades, parenting styles explained 24% of the variance in PIU scores, with authoritarian parenting being the only significant unique predictor. A further analysis of covariance revealed that adolescents who perceived their parents as authoritative scored lower than their counterparts in PIU. Our findings suggest that while Israeli-Arab male adolescents might benefit from authoritative parenting at home, it is the parental authoritarian practices and behaviors per se that should be targeted as part of PIU intervention and prevention efforts

“Who’s the Student at Home?”: Parental Help-Giving Orientation in Learning at Home Predicted using a Parent’s Personal Characteristics

The present study focuses on the involvement of a parent in their child’s learning processes, particularly, their help-giving orientation while learning at home. The main goal of the study was to identify the connection between the parent’s personal characteristics and the help-giving orientation the parent provides to their child: autonomous vs. dependent (parent as student) help-giving. The sample was collected using online participant recruitment surveys in Israel. In total, 306 parents aged 27–59, who had at least one child in elementary school, answered five questionnaires measuring the research variables: the short grit scale; the satisfaction with life scale; the advice/affect management–overparenting subscale; the parenting sense of competence scale; the parental help-giving orientations scale (PHGOs), and a background questionnaire. The findings identified negative associations between parental personal characteristics (grit, advice/affect management, well-being) and parent-as-student orientation and positive associations between the parent’s characteristics and parental autonomous help-giving orientation, with all of these effects at least partially mediated by parental self-efficacy (indirect effects). The results provide greater insight into the relationship between a parent’s personal characteristics and their choice of assistance to their child and contribute to the knowledge regarding parental involvement in learning at home and educational contexts in general

Parental Help-Giving Orientations Scale (PHGOs) in Children’s Learning: Construction and Validation

Parental involvement in the education and learning processes of children in general has become central in the last few decades. Following this involvement, the home arena is considered highly influential in providing a supportive environment for children’s learning processes. Help-giving orientations of parents to their children in relation to homework and learning assignments can be crucial for the children’s futures. According to the Help Relations theory regarding the two main orientations—dependent versus autonomy help (dependent help-giving rather than autonomy help), prevents opportunities to develop autonomous coping abilities in future. The Parental Help-Giving Orientations scale was designed to measure parental help to their children in learning at home. In Study 1, eleven experts evaluated orientations of parental help-giving that emerged from interviews. In Study 2 (n = 255), exploratory factor analyses (EFA) indicated four reliable factors: autonomic, dependent reminder, dependent partner, and dependent student. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in Study 3 in an independent sample of parents (n = 303) exhibited a good model-fit of the data and demonstrated measurement invariance across parental gender. The scale can be used to measure individual differences in orientations in help-seeking among mothers and fathers