HACIA UNA MAYOR COMPRENSIÓN GLOBAL DEL RENDIMIENTO ACADÉMICO A TRAVÉS DE LAS PRUEBAS PISA: CONTRASTE DE TRES HIPÓTESIS A PARTIR DE UNOS DATOS EMPÍRICOS/(TOWARDS A GREATER OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE USING THE PISA TESTS: TESTING THREE HYPOTHESES BASED ON EMPIRICAL DATA)

The present article attempts to analyse and to undertake a comparative reflection regarding the academic performance of students in the world's wealthiest countries based on the results shown in the PISA Reports. In the study carried out we posited three suppositions or conjectures that we then formulated and tested as hypotheses: the first was linked to the impact of macro-economic and socio-economic variables on performance in each of the tests; the second focused on the structure of the educational system of each country (a structured versus a differentiated system), and the third is related to what we know as the welfare state, models and their possible repercussions, etc., in order to verify and report on the importance that economic, school-related and social effects can have in the academic performance of students in each country. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]