When you are not alone: school composition by family structure and students’ academic achievements in South Korea

ABSTRACT

This study examines inequality based on family structure within the school environment, focusing on South Korea’s standardized education system. Previous research has pointed to potential challenges associated with a high concentration of students from single-parent families in schools. However, in the context of a standardized education system that aims to minimize variation across schools, these dynamics may manifest in different patterns. Using a nationwide administrative data set, the National Assessment of Educational Achievement, this study finds a significant interaction effect between the proportion of students from single-parent families within schools and the academic achievement, which is particularly pronounced for students from single-parent families. The results suggest that institutional contexts may play a significant role in reducing educational disparities associated with family structure, thereby providing schools pathways to mitigate the academic challenges prevalent among students from diverse family backgrounds.

KEYWORDS:

• Students from single-parent families
• school composition
• academic achievement
• standardized education system
• multilevel model

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Ascending SNU Future Leader Fellowship through Seoul National University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Since 2013, assessments for elementary school students have been discontinued in South Korea. Furthermore, for the NAEA assessments that targeted all attending students, only the data from the years 2010 and 2011 are made available for researchers on a confidential basis, following a formal application process, due to scale score comparison issues.

2 Analysis of the 1999 birth cohort confirms similar patterns to the 1998 cohort, reinforcing the robustness of our findings. Detailed results for the 1999 cohort are available from the author upon request.

3 It is recognized that the inclusion of reading time and parent–child communication as part of the SES index may still have limitations. While these variables provide valuable insight into a student’s home environment and family dynamics, they may not capture the full spectrum of SES-related factors. In addition, the reliance on student-reported data for these variables may introduce subjective biases. Future research may benefit from incorporating a broader range of SES indicators and considering alternative methods of assessing family social capital to further refine our understanding of these complex relationships.

4 The results of < The survey of Private Education Expenditure > can be found on the website of Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Education (for more detailed information, visit: https://kosis.kr/statHtml/statHtml.do?orgId=101&tblId=DT_1PE301&conn_path=I3).

5 As a robustness check, this study also conducted analyses using a school-fixed effects model. It is important to note that the patterns observed in the results remained consistent with those obtained from the multilevel model, reinforcing the reliability of the findings.

6 This research was not designed to make causal inferences, and its findings should not be interpreted as such. The term “effect” used throughout this study is for ease of comprehension and implies a controlled correlation rather than a causal relationship.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Youngshin Lim

Youngshin Lim is a senior researcher at the Education Research Institute of Seoul National University. Her research primarily focuses on the sociology of education, with a specific emphasis on educational inequality and comparative education.