School Effects on Performances of Minority Pupils 1

The impact of determinants from the individual, school and school environment level with regard to educational performance of pupils from various ethnic origins in the Netherlands is examined in this article. From rational choice and empowerment theory crucial variables were deduced. By means of multilevel modelling school effects in secondary education on performances in mathematics and linguistics were established. Results indicate the importance of a school policy orientated towards improving achievements of minority subgroups. A more general approach, based on the notion of shared circumstances of pupils from ethnic minority and low socio‐economic background families, did not generate positive results.

     

Powerful pedagogical strategies in initial teacher education

The development of beginning teachers’ practice during a school placement is a multiplicity of mediated interaction between university and school based systems. Both systems have the common aim of training effective teachers. However day‐to‐day internal institution matters can cause tension between the learning goals set out for the beginning teacher by the university and the schools’ drive to ensure maximum student performance in ‘high stake’ national tests. The aim of the intervention was to set up structures which might enable beginning teachers to develop the capacity to think about and reflect explicitly on their practice, through purposive activity in an authentic classroom environment. The context of the activity was a secondary science course which aimed to encourage new teachers to empathize with secondary school pupils (aged 11–16) and understand their conceptual difficulties in learning about science within the constraints of a ‘curriculum delivery’ lead culture. The dialogue engaged in as part of the intervention helped beginning teachers to think critically about practice during school placements.     

Predicting Computer Literacy: how do the technological experiences of schoolchildren predict their computer‐based problem‐solving skills?

ABSTRACT

What is the effect of a technologically rich out‐of‐school environment upon the use of information technology in the classroom? This question was approached by observing the relationships between the exposure to home electronic technologies and classroom disposition and performance. Secondary school children (11–12 years old) were interviewed to determine their declarative knowledge of computers and computer use, the richness of their technological environment and their declared interest in working with computers. They then performed a computer‐based language task that required them to enter missing letters from a piece of text This task required linguistic problem‐solving skills as well as keyboard agility and yielded a number of performance scores. Successful performance correlated with declared out‐of‐school computer use. The richness of the technological environment also correlated positively with declared computer use. Out‐of‐school experience did not predict attitudes to classroom information technology and there were no gender effects in attitude or performance.     

Grade Placement of High-School Biology

Abstract

Using 35 elementary schools (3,350 fourth and sixth grade students), 10 secondary schools (3,613 eight and eleventh grade students), and 1,145 teachers, this study presents data summarizing the relationships between student' perceptions of "verified" principal competencies and selected school climate indices and outcome variables. The results indicated that there is a general tendency for positive teacher attitudes towards various dimensions of the school and working environment and higher student standardized achievement test performance to be associated with students' reports of a low frequency of interaction with die principal. A student "independence factor" was hypothesized to account for these results, with the implication being that principal/student interaction is minimized in schools where teacher and student attitudes are positive and student achievement is high. In addition, effective principal performance in dealing with student misbehavior was highly and positively associated with school average daily attendance at the secondary level. Supplementary analyses indicated that teacher and student attitudes "mediating" the school environment were relatively independent for both elementary and secondary samples. General support was found for higher correlations between student assessments of principal competencies and school environment measures than with student performance measures.     

The relationship between first‐year achievement and the pedagogical‐didactical fit between secondary school and university

Central in this study is the degree to which the pedagogical‐didactical approach in undergraduate programmes aligns with the pedagogical‐didactical approach in secondary schools, and how this is related to first‐year achievement. Approaches to teaching at secondary schools and in first‐year university programmes were examined by interviewing school management, school teachers and university lecturers. The teaching approaches found within the schools were contrasted against the academic teaching approaches, resulting in four types of fit. With multiple regression analysis the relationships between these four types of fit, gender, prior achievement and first‐year achievement were examined. The results showed that prior performance is positively related to first‐year achievement, as well as a fit characterised by more student‐centred teaching in the first year compared to the approach to teaching at secondary school.     

Assessing the Instructional Leadership of Secondary School Principals in Thailand

While research in Western societies has found that principal leadership is usually a necessary condition for school improvement, there remains a dearth of research on how principals provide instructional leadership in developing countries. This study sought to address this need by adapting the PIMRS (Hallinger, 1984a), an instrument designed to assess principal instructional leadership. The PIMRS was translated and administered to 10 secondary school principals in northern Thailand. Findings from this initial study indicate that the PIMRS‐Thai Form appears to provide data on the instructional leadership of secondary school principals that meet or exceed common research standards of reliability and validity. Researchers and practitioners interested in assessing principal instructional leadership in Thai schools can proceed to use the PIMRS‐Thai Form with a reasonable degree of confidence that it will yield accurate information on job performance in this domain.

Consistent with past studies, the principals in this study tended to rate themselves higher in their self‐assessments than did their teachers (Hallinger & Murphy, 1985; O'Day, 1983). Current and past data suggest that greater credence be given to the teacher assessments. With this in mind, the results indicate that this sample of secondary school principals from northern Thailand exercised a low to moderate level of instructional leadership activity. Assessments of secondary school principals using the PIMRS in the United States (Haack, 1991), Malaysia (Saavedra, 1987), Canada (Jones, 1987) have all yielded significantly higher scores when compared with this Thai sample.     

Should computing be taught in single‐sex environments? An analysis of the computing learning environment of upper secondary students

It has been well established in the literature that girls are turning their backs on computing courses at all levels of the education system. One reason given for this is that the computer learning environment is not conducive to girls, and it is often suggested that they would benefit from learning computing in a single‐sex environment. The purpose of this study was to identify whether there were differences in perception between boys and girls and the type of school they attended. The College and university classroom environment inventory (CUCEI) was used as an instrument to measure the computing learning environment of 265 Year 12 and 13 secondary schools students in Wellington, New Zealand. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences in perceptions between sex, and between different types of school, and it is suggested that there may be a place for single‐sex computing classrooms in mixed‐sex schools.     

White Children in a Multi‐cultural School Setting: a valid cause for concern?

This research was carried out as the basis for an M.Ed. thesis for the University of Birmingham during the early part of 1983. Its main aim was to compare the social, emotional and scholastic adjustment of a group of indigenous white children attending a multi‐cultural school with a similar group being educated in a mono‐cultural, predominantly white setting. A secondary aim was to investigate inter‐ethnic differences between the three cultural groups represented. The investigation was carried out amongst pupils in the two top year groups (9‐11‐year‐olds) from two city primary schools, one school being mainly multi‐cultural in background and one mainly mono‐cultural. The schools were matched as closely as possible for ethos, pupil social background, environment, and teaching practice. The results of the study indicated that the primary null hypothesis: that no significant differences would appear between the responses of the group of white pupils attending the multi‐cultural school and those of their counterparts in the control group attending the mono‐cultural school, was sustained. However, some inter‐ethnic differences did emerge from the data, but sex rather than cultural background or type of school attended proved to be the major source of difference in response.     

‘Perceived’ competition and performance in Italian secondary schools: New evidence from OECD—PISA 2006

In this paper, we investigate the effects of competition on the performance of Italian secondary schools as measured by maths achievement scores (PISA 2006 dataset). Competition is measured by an indicator of ‘perceived’ competition (generated from an answer provided by the schools’ principals). The methodology employed is a propensity score matching that is corrected to take into account heteroskedasticity and finite sample bias. The results show a positive effect of competition on school performance. Nevertheless, this effect is quite low (between 3.62% and 4.05% computed at the average score level) and is consistent with previous findings about educational systems in Italy and worldwide. This is relevant for policy‐making because competition appears to impact school performance even in a country like Italy where specific pro‐competitive policies are quite absent.     

School Leaders as Learners: what attitudes and preferences do they have?

Leadership development is a key issue for success in leading educational reform and school improvement. Demands for more flexible, responsive, and enterprise‐driven schooling require that school leaders can create the kind of conditions which sustain vigorous processes of continuous school improvement. To meet this requirement, school leaders must be in command of a broader range of leadership and management expertise than was traditionally required of them. The changing environments make it essential for school leaders to have a high level of awareness of their preferences for leadership development and a commitment to improve their professional performance. This paper discusses findings of a survey‐based study of school leaders’ attitudes and preferences for professional development in Western Australia. Surveys conducted among principals and deputy principals of primary (n = 233) and secondary (n = 180) schools reveal some important similarities, as well as differences, in the extent to which primary and secondary school leaders have recognized the potential for work‐based and peer‐assisted learning.     

Die Bedeutung signifikanter Anderer für eine Erklärung sozial differenzierter Bildungsaspirationen

The Wisconsin Model of Status Attainment (WSC) predicts that students’ socially differentiated aspirations can be explained by differences in their school performance and the aspirations and expectations of their social environment. The appropriateness of these assumptions has been called into doubt for highly stratified secondary level educational systems such as the German one. Using data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), with grade 5 as the starting cohort, the relationship between parents’ social class position, the school performance, achievement expectations of teachers and other pupils, aspirations of friends, educational expectations of parents, and the educational aspirations of 4896 learners were analyzed. The results of the conditional logistic regression analysis confirmed the assumptions derived from theory. Social differences in the educational aspirations of learners can be partially explained by differences in their school performance and fully explained by the influences of their reference group, in particular, those of their parents.     

Individual and Contextual Differences in the Approaches to Learning of Australian Secondary School Students

Data, based on responses of 1274 Australia secondary school students, are reported which link the student's learning motives and strategies to both personological and school environment factors and learning outcomes. The results indicate substantial positive relationships between the students’ level of self‐esteem and their perceptions of the learning environment as enjoyable and worthwhile with both deep and achieving approaches to learning. Students with more versatile learning strategies are also likely to be the more successful academically.     

Load and academic attainment in two business schools

In this paper the relationship between academic load (the number of modules attempted) and academic performance is investigated in a Scottish and an Australian university. An engagement approach to academic integration is employed, in which there is feedback between load and performance, and in which there is scope for diminishing returns to the study of additional modules once loads become high. The results indicate that full‐time students reduced module load in response to information on academic performance. At the Scottish business school many non‐traditional students had taken up opportunities to enter university under the UK government's drive to widen participation. In that school load reduction was undertaken at twice the rate of the Australian business school. For women, reductions from full‐time loads by one or two modules appear rational in that better average marks result. There are indications that status as a widening participation entrant, the learning and assessment environment, the funding regime and rest‐of‐life demands have influences on load reduction and on academic performance.     

Stability and Consistency in Secondary Schools’ Effects on Students’ GCSE Outcomes over Three Years∗

This paper reports the results of a UK study investigating the issue of differential school effectiveness. The size of overall school effects versus departmental differences in effects on 16 year old students’ General Certificate in Secondary Education performance are examined, as well as the internal (within school) consistency of departmental effects across six GCSE subject outcomes and the stability of school and departmental effects across three GCSE cohorts (1990‐1992). A value added approach is adopted, controlling for selected student intake measures (such as attainment at secondary transfer). The findings of multilevel analyses suggest that very few schools perform both consistently (across subjects) and with stability (over time). The implications of the results are discussed in relation to the publication and interpretation of schools’ examination results as well as the use of school and departmental effectiveness measures for school self‐evaluation.

     

VIOLENT AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR BY ADOLESCENTS TOWARD PARENTS AND TEACHERS IN A COMMUNITY SAMPLE

This study focused on violent and prosocial behaviors by adolescents toward parents and teachers, and the relation between such behaviors and adolescents’ perceptions about the family and school environment. Gender differences in child‐to‐parent violence and student‐to‐teacher violence were also studied. The sample comprised 687 adolescents from secondary schools in the province of Gipuzkoa, Spain, aged between 12 and 16 years. Participants responded to the relationship domains of the Family Environment Scale and the Classroom Environment Scale, among other instruments. A positive family relationship was related to less violent and more prosocial behavior toward parents. However, a positive classroom relationship was associated only with more prosocial behavior toward teachers. The results show that criminal and antisocial behaviors had a mediating influence on the relation between family and school relationships and violence against authority. The implications for intervention and prevention programs are discussed.     

Do parents make a difference to children’s academic achievement? Differences between parents of higher and lower achieving students

Differences in family factors in determining academic achievement were investigated by testing 432 parents in nine independent, coeducational Melbourne schools. Schools were ranked and categorized into three groups (high, medium and low), based on student achievement (ENTER) scores in their final year of secondary school and school improvement indexes. Parents completed a questionnaire investigating their attitudes towards the school environment, their aspirations, expectations, encouragement and interest in their child’s education (adapted from scales constructed by Marjoribanks). They also responded to six open‐ended questions on their attitudes to achievement and to their (child’s) school. Multiple regression analyses revealed that parental expectations of their children’s educational level made the strongest unique prediction of high achievement followed by the length of time they had maintained their expectations. Limitations discussed include the disparity in meaning associated with the definition of school success and whether these results can be generalized to all students considering the biased sample (socio‐economic status).     

Cross‐level Relationships within Effective Schools

In this paper the focus is placed on cross‐level relationships within effective schools in secondary education in the Netherlands. Three hypotheses have been formulated. The outcomes related to the contingency hypothesis make clear that the managerial capacities of schools in secondary education are of great importance with respect to the effectiveness of schools, especially when a school's position gets under pressure at the local (student) market.

Results show the affirmation of a congruency hypothesis with respect to the extent of production orientation of management and teaching staff, and the overall congruence of school and classroom policy. Results of contextual hypothesis suggest that the average intelligence of the school population exerts no effect on school careers in general or on careers of low/high intelligent pupils in particular. However, a school environment with a relatively low average socio‐economic status is positively associated with the school careers of pupils from families with low socio‐economic status. No positive effects are found regarding school careers in general, or ethnic minority careers in particular, when the number of ethnic minority pupils was increasing.     

Selektionsprozesse beim Übergang in die Sekundarstufe I und II

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of family environment, school grade, performance and social behavior of students on educational trajectory. The research project Family-School-Job (FASE B) utilized a representative longitudinal sample of 454 students and their primary reference persons in the canton of Bern (Switzerland). Using step-wise logistic regression analyses, the study investigated the predictive value of family-based and individual determinants at the end of primary school for the transition to lower secondary schooling and for the development at upper secondary education (academic education or vocational training). The transition to lower secondary education was more strongly influenced by grades than by results of standardized performance tests. Parental expectation, parents’ socio-economic background and by classroom misbehavior were also important predictors.Parental expectations predicted educational pathways into secondary education whereas grades in German andgender were partially significant only. Parental expectations permit precise predictions of educational pathways, even when controlling for students’ grades and performance.     

Brauchen Jungen m?nnliche Vorbilder, um in der Schule erfolgreich zu sein?

Not just in Germany, but also in other countries of the western world, gender-specific educational success has changed within the last decades: Whereas boys showed higher educational achievements in the 1960s, today it is the girls who obtain higher educational certificates. A number of scholars have pointed to the absence of male role models in boys?? social environment (family and school) as a reason for their worsening school performance. In this article, we use data from the German Micro-census 2008 to analyze the following question: Does it make a difference for boys?? and girls?? transition to academic track secondary school (Gymnasium) whether they grow up in a nuclear family or with single-mothers or single-fathers? The results of the analyses yield no evidence for the claim that the absence of fathers in the family has a negative impact on boys?? performance at school.     

Towards state‐mandated testing in Germany: how do teachers assess the pedagogical relevance of performance feedback information?

The paper analyses how teachers view state‐mandated tests in Baden‐Württemberg, a large state in the south‐west of Germany. For the first time in 2006, public secondary schools were bound by law to administer Vergleichsarbeiten [state‐wide tests] in up to three relevant subjects after Grade 6. Scholars in the field of school improvement emphasise that there is a gap between performance feedback provided by external tests and how this information is internally processed. To bridge this gap, a crucial precondition is that teachers must accept state‐wide testing as a useful instrument for improving the performance of schools. To examine how teachers view the pedagogical relevance of performance feedback information, 256 secondary schools were approached, and an anonymous questionnaire was completed by a representative sample of 307 teachers with Grade 6 classes. Analysis of the quantitative data reveals that teachers in general secondary schools (the lower level of the academically streamed secondary system) are more open‐minded towards the tests than their colleagues in intermediate schools or in grammar schools (the highest level). Even so, only a small percentage of teachers in general secondary schools acknowledge the pedagogical relevance of performance feedback information for improving teaching strategies. This result suggests that state‐mandated testing in Baden‐Württemberg is highly unlikely to initiate or support school improvement activities for the time being.