Abstract:

This study explores the economic and social situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and how it has impacted students' performance from the kingdom in mathematics in the PISA 2018 international study, in this case, the micro indices of gender and type of education are used as a basis to ascertain the relationship between socioeconomic situations and students’ performance in mathematics. The study utilized the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 dataset whereby for each student, a set of plausible values is provided corresponding to distinct draws in the plausible distribution of abilities of these students. Estimates for each Plausible Value (PV) is computed and averaged to compute a final estimate. Sampling variance and imputation variance is also computed and combined to produce a final standard error. Regression models were built to examine the relationship between the economic and social status of students and their mathematics performance while moderating the effect of gender and type of education. The descriptive research design was employed for this study in which data analysis was executed using Stata 16 Statistical software package and presented in a statistically descriptive manner using mean values, standard deviations, frequency distributions and percentages while regression models were built to examine the relationship between the economic and social status of students and their mathematics performance while moderating for the effect of gender and type of education. Findings from the study reveal that there exists a relationship between socioeconomic status, gender and type of education and they bear positive or negative influence on students’ educational outcomes, while in context, the economic and social situation in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia had a significant impact on student's performance in mathematics in the PISA 2018 international study. This study proves the economic and social situation in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia had a significant impact on student's performance in mathematics, however, future studies can be conducted based on other variables.

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