The effects of economic, social and cultural status on transition to high school

One of the most debated topics related to educational achievement and inequality in Turkey is the placement system in secondary education. The main reason for this is that students are placed to high schools according to their achievements at the placement exam and the disparity in academic achievement among students is very sharp at secondary level. The disparity in academic achievement among students is undesirable in terms of education equality. In order to be able to talk about the equality of opportunity and opportunity in the education system, the conditions that are independent of individuals should have as little as possible the impact on individuals' access to academic achievement. This effect can be explored by various indicators to make education equality more visible. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of economic, social and cultural status differences on students' scores at the national high school entrance examination (TEOG). This study was prepared in accordance with the screening model of quantitative research methods. Ankara was chosen as the universe of the research. By taking into consideration of high school types, the sample was determined by stratified sampling methods. The Student Questionnaire of PISA 2015 developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is used as data collection tool. This data collection tool collects information on the socio-economic characteristics of the students. In the analysis of the data, the economic, social and cultural status (ESCS) index values were calculated for each student using the answers given to the student questionnaire. ESCS index was calculated by the formulation used in PISA 2015 analysis. Then, the relationship between school types, TEOG scores and ESCS index were analyzed by various statistical methods such as variance analysis, regression analysis, and chi-square analysis. The results show that there are statistically strong relationships among TEOG scores, school types, and ESCS index. Moreover, the ratio of socio-economic characteristics on students' academic achievement for TEOG scores (38%) is much higher than the ratio for PISA 2015 results for Turkey (9%). This finding shows that the inequality in the education system in Turkey may be more than that revealed by the international assessments usch as PISA. Based on the findings, the author discusses how to provide inclusive education in secondary education and provides recommendations for remediating the students' learning shortcomings and reducing the socioeconomic disadvantages of the families and schools. Key Words: Educational inequality, tracking, economic, social and cultural status, high school entrance exam, social policy