Power law distribution in High School Education: Effect of Economical, Teaching and study conditions

Abstract

We studied the statistical distribution of student's performance, which is measured through their marks, in university entrance examination (Vestibular) of UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista) with respect to (i) period of study - day vs. night period (ii) teaching conditions - private vs. public school (iii) economical conditions - high vs. low family income. This examination reflect quality of high schools education. We observed long ubiquitous power law tails in Physical and Biological sciences in all cases. The mean value increases with better study conditions followed by better teaching and economical conditions. In humanities, the distribution is close to normal distribution with very small tail. This indicate that these power law tail in science subjects are due to the nature of the subject itself. Further better study, teaching and economical conditions are more important for physical and biological sciences in comparison to humanities. We explain these statistical distributions through Gradually Truncated Power law distributions. We discuss the possible reason for this peculiar behaviour and make suggestions to improve science education at high school level.