Abstract
Could the educational advantage of wealthy countries be due to their mass media and computers? The 1999 Third International Mathematics and Science Study math and science scores and 2001 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study reading scores were used to investigate whether cross-national differences in academic achievement would be positively related to information exposure (newspapers, TV, computers). Math, science, and reading scores were positively correlated with national income and mass media. Regression analyses controlling for mass media exposure and educational quality found, however, that national income per capita was unrelated to math or science achievement. Educational advantages of wealthy countries are thus evidently mediated by their information technologies.
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