Dr Wong Lung Hsiang Receives Outstanding Paper Award 2025

Dr Wong Lung Hsiang, together with co-authors Associate Professor Ronnel B. King and Dr Joseph Haw, has been awarded the Outstanding Paper Award 2025 by the Journal for the Study of Education and Development for their paper examining the key predictors of student reading achievement in Singapore through the use of machine learning.

Drawing on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, the study employed a machine learning approach to analyse more than 70 potential predictors of reading achievement spanning student background, schooling experiences, and non-cognitive and metacognitive factors. This significantly extends previous secondary analyses of PISA data, which have typically focused on a smaller set of variables. The approach enabled the researchers to identify the most influential predictors, providing a more comprehensive and data-driven understanding of student achievement.

The findings reveal that, in the Singapore context, students’ reading performance is most strongly associated with non-cognitive and metacognitive factors, including engagement, effort, and strategic thinking, rather than solely demographic or school-related characteristics.

The study contributes both methodological innovation and practical insights, offering valuable guidance for educational policy and classroom practice aimed at supporting student learning and achievement.

Congratulations to Dr Wong and his co-authors on this prestigious recognition.