Page 8 of books owned by the household; and an index of household socioeconomic status, were all strongly and positively correlated with student performance on final examinations.

# **_1.c.3. Findings from multivariate correlation analysis_**

26. The last section in Part II examines the robustness and relative importance of the correlations discussed above. For each measure of school performance – the drop-out rate, repetition rate, failure on exams, and student excellence in math and Albanian - four regressions were conducted, each including only one of four categories of independent variables: (1) school resources; (2) “top-down” accountability and transparency; (3) participatory “bottom up” accountability and parental involvement; and (4) family and community background. The correlation results are presented in Table 8.

27. School resources and top-down accountability structures appeared less significantly related to measures of school failure – drop-out rates and repetition - than parental involvement. There were very few correlates with drop-out, repetition and failure rates among school physical and human resources. The only significant results were a positive correlation between rural location and failure rate, and the negative relationship between teachers‟ motivation and drop-out rate. None of the top-down accountability and transparency measures appear to be correlated with drop-out, repetition and failure rates. In contrast, the number of school board meetings and whether the school director usually participates and votes in the meetings were, respectively, negatively and positively correlated with drop-out and repetition rates. Moreover, lack of parental involvement in the school, as assessed by all school stakeholders, was positively correlated with students‟ repetition rate. Among the proxies for the students‟ family background, the only significant result was a negative correlation between fathers‟ education and repetition rates.

28. School resources, teachers‟ characteristics and inspections, were more robust and significantly correlated with students‟ excellence in math and language. In particular, the percentage of students excelling in Albanian was significantly higher in urban schools which suffer fewer days with no electricity; where teachers are more motivated; and where they have more teaching experience. The percentage of students excelling in math was significantly higher in schools that had a telephone and in those with a library. More RED inspections and fewer days of teachers‟ absence were significantly associated with better performance of students in the Albanian exam. Teachers‟ absence had a significant negative association with student performance on the math exam, while the use of a register to record teacher absences was significantly and positively associated with student performance in math.

29. Parental involvement continued to show a robust, significant relationship with student achievement. A lack of parental involvement in the school was found to be negatively associated with students‟ excellence in both math and Albanian exams. Moreover, the proportion of students who excelled in math was higher the greater the number of meetings parents had with teachers and lower if parents had no information about participatory accountability structures.

30. However, some of the education “inputs” correlated differently with “outputs”. The indicators examined above were differently correlated with students‟ excellence in math than with student excellence in Albanian. For instance, the rural location of the school, and the experience and motivation of teachers were negatively correlated with students‟ performance in Albanian, but not in math. None of the proxies for top-down and participatory accountability, nor parental involvement or family background, were correlated with the proportion of students who got a 9 or a 10 in Albanian. The only variable that was significantly correlated with students‟ excellence in