The Impact of Charter Schools on Promoting High Levels of Mathematics Achievement

Abstract

This study compares achievement levels for high ability students attending charter schools and students in traditional public schools in Georgia. Researchers examined student achievement (as assessed by the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests) using three comparison groups: students in the closest traditional schools with similar grade levels, schools with similar demographics, and comprehensive school reform schools. Hierarchical loglinear analysis was used to determine the impact of school type and student demographic variables on student achievement mobility (i.e., the degree to which students, from 2004 to 2005, moved into or out of the top 10% of each grade level on the CRT mathematics subtest). Results for the first comparison did not provide evidence of a significant relationship between school type and achievement mobility, but results for the second and third comparisons suggest that Black students generally experienced positive or neutral achievement mobility in traditional schools and negative mobility in charter schools; White students generally saw negative achievement mobility in traditional schools and neutral to positive mobility in charter schools. Implications for the study of gifted education and gifted students within charter schools are discussed.     

Factors of Professional Learning Community Implementation and Effect on Student Achievement

ABSTRACT

Professional learning communities (PLCs) promote collaboration among school personnel in an effort to stimulate student learning. Using data obtained from a larger statewide initiative in Missouri, the current study examined data from 181 schools (102 elementary schools, 32 middle schools, 41 high schools, and 6 other schools, average of 428.76 students) to determine (a) the factors that can be used to assess the effects of PLCs, (b) how well PLCs relate to student achievement, and (c) the extent to which teams differentially implement the factors. An exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in two broader constructs that represented PLC attributes, collaborative leadership process and data-driven systems for learning, both of which correlated with student achievement and together provided unique variance in mathematics beyond school variables and achievement scores from before the PLC began. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.     

Examining the influence of a STEM certification model on female,minority science outcomes

The authors of this exploratory study examine the influence of the Georgia science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) model; gender; race; and other achievement on elementary students’ science outcomes in Title I schools. Results of the study demonstrate that a positive relationship exists between students participating in a STEM-certified school and science achievement at the third-grade level (n = 339), and that race, gender, and mathematics and reading achievement did not significantly explain science achievement. At the Grade 5 level (n = 279), a negative relationship was found between science achievement and type of school, with students participating in STEM schools scoring lower than those students participating in non-STEM schools. Moreover, in Grade 5, the combination of demographic variables, race and gender, did significantly explain science achievement. The practical and empirical implications of the results are discussed.     

Project Proficiency: Assessing the Independent Effects of High School Reform in an Urban District

ABSTRACT.

The authors sought to determine if an urban school district's effort to fundamentally change teaching, assessment, and intervention practices increased student achievement and decreased achievement variation among classrooms in 11 high schools. They examined Grade 11 mathematics achievement data from the 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 Kentucky Core Content Test. The sample consisted of 2,451 students in 11 high schools that implemented an initiative called Project Proficiency. The study used hierarchical linear modeling to determine if changes in instructional practices yielded academic gains, while controlling for individual and school socioeconomic status (SES) and prior student achievement. The analysis revealed that Project Proficiency had a significant impact on state mathematics achievement and reduced classroom variation by 55% in the final model, as opposed to 16% in the control group. Results also indicated that a school's SES had a greater influence on student achievement than an individual student's SES.     

A Longitudinal Assessment of Antecedent Course Work in Mathematics and Subsequent Mathematical Attainment

Abstract

Using six waves of data (Grades 7–12) from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, the author examined the effects of different mathematics course work (pre-algebra, geometry, calculus) on subsequent achievement in, and attitude toward, mathematics, with partial adjustment for student background characteristics. Results showed that in the early grades of high school, algebra courses significantly affected mathematics achievement. Mathematics course work, however, did not play a significant role in mathematics achievement in the middle grades of high schools. There was a “harvest” of significant course-work indicators in the later grades of high school; every advanced mathematics course affected mathematics achievement. Many course-work effects were substantial even after accounting for variables such as prior mathematics achievement and socioeconomic status.     

Experiences of violence and deficits in academic achievement among urban primary school children in Jamaica

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine the relationship between children's experiences of three different types of violence and academic achievement among primary school children in Kingston, Jamaica.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 1300 children in grade 5 [mean (S.D.) age: 11 (0.5) years] from 29 government primary schools in urban areas of Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica, was conducted. Academic achievement (mathematics, reading, and spelling) was assessed using the Wide Range Achievement Test. Children's experiences of three types of violence – exposure to aggression among peers at school, physical punishment at school, and exposure to community violence – were assessed by self-report using an interviewer administered questionnaire.ResultsFifty-eight percent of the children experienced moderate or high levels of all three types of violence. Boys had poorer academic achievement and experienced higher levels of aggression among peers and physical punishment at school than girls. Children's experiences of the three types of violence were independently associated with all three indices of academic achievement. There was a dose–response relationship between children's experiences of violence and academic achievement with children experiencing higher levels of violence having the poorest academic achievement and children experiencing moderate levels having poorer achievement than those experiencing little or none.ConclusionsExposure to three different types of violence was independently associated with poor school achievement among children attending government, urban schools in Jamaica. Programs are needed in schools to reduce the levels of aggression among students and the use of physical punishment by teachers and to provide support for children exposed to community violence.Practice implicationsChildren in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean experience significant amounts of violence in their homes, communities, and schools. In this study, we demonstrate a dose–response relationship between primary school children's experiences of three different types of violence and their academic achievement. The study points to the need for validated violence prevention programs to be introduced in Jamaican primary schools. Such programs need to train teachers in appropriate classroom management and discipline strategies and to promote children's social and emotional competence and prevent aggression.     

Variation in Effectiveness Between Private and Public Schools: The Impact of School and Family Networks*

Abstract

Building upon the assumption that cohesion between different levels of the school is essential to the schools’ effectiveness, the hypothesis is tested that a close kinship between school and parental community causes a positive effect on student outcomes in primary schools. Recent theories regarding the effects of ‘functional communities’ on academic achievement mainly focus on the characteristics of the parental community that surrounds a school. Recognizing, however, that schools differ regarding their responsiveness to the role of parents and other actors around the school, our expectation is that a definition of functional community which comprises interactions between characteristics of the parental network around the school and the governance structure of the school offers a better explanation of variation in student achievement. Based on a national sample of 90 schools for primary education in the Netherlands, our analysis shows that the differences in math achievement for public and private primary schools are mediated by characteristics at both the family and the institutional level. It also indicates that characteristics at the institutional level are conditional for the effects of parental networks around schools.

     

Examining Variation Within the Charter School Sector: Academic Achievement in Suburban,Urban, and Rural Charter Schools

ABSTRACT

To date, there is a paucity of research that examines differences between charter schools that operate in suburban and nonsuburban contexts. This article examines whether students in suburban charter schools perform better or worse than their counterparts in traditional public schools or students in urban charter schools. Boasting the largest and most diverse charter school population in the United States, California offers a fertile urban-suburban context for the study of geographically differentiated charter school impacts and, thus, serves as the focus of our study. The student achievement data (2009–2010, 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 school years) for this study come from the California Department of Education. Using propensity score matching and virtual control records, our findings show that suburban charter schools do not improve academic achievement relative to the matched comparison group of traditional public schools. Suburban charter schools (namely, charters in high-income areas) are largely ineffective and appear to leave their students’ achievement unchanged or diminished. This study adds to the existing literature by examining the effects of charter schools on the neighborhoods in which they operate. Methodologically, another important contribution of this study is that it supplements traditional selection criteria for suburban charters (NCES classification) with census-based neighborhood factors. Finally, this study provides evidence of the broader implications of school choice policies in a suburban setting.     

Measuring the Efficiency of Teachers by Standardized Tests

ABSTRACT

There have been strong calls to action in recent years to promote both school choice and the learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This has led to the burgeoning development of STEM-focused schools. Nine STEM-focused charter and 2 STEM-focused magnet schools that serve elementary-aged students were examined to assess the achievement of students who transfer to these schools, as compared to students transferring to non-STEM schools, in the content areas of mathematics, language arts, and reading. The achievement of students transferring to STEM-focused elementary schools was also evaluated after 3 years at their new school and compared both to students’ own prior achievement at their old school and to achievement of students comprising comparison groups. Results generally indicated no effect of STEM-focused magnet schools, but did indicate some positive effects of STEM-focused charter schools.     

Effects of a Developmentally Based Intervention With Teachers on Native American and White Early Adolescents’ Schooling Adjustment in Rural Settings

This study reports the effectiveness of a developmentally based, teacher professional development intervention aimed at improving early adolescent school adjustment. Teachers in rural schools in a Northern Plains state took part in professional development activities across a year. Following a randomized control trial design, Native American and White students’ (N = 165) social, behavioral, and academic adjustment was assessed in intervention compared with control schools. Regression analyses, controlling for baseline and demographic variables, indicated that students in intervention schools improved in achievement, and improved or sustained beginning-of-year schooling dispositions, and perceptions of the school social/affective context, in comparison with evident declines for students in control schools. Native American students more so than White students evidenced particular gains in achievement and perceptions of the school social/affective context.     

Alleviating or exacerbating disadvantage: does school attended mediate the association between family background and educational attainment?

ABSTRACT

Opportunities for social mobility are generated by education systems designed to alleviate the effects of social origin by providing equality of opportunities and resources. The persistence of the strong association between socioeconomic status (SES) and child’s educational achievement and attainment suggests that social origin continues to play an integral role in the educational outcomes of successive generations of Australians. Sociologists draw on a range of theoretical perspectives to explain this association including Bourdieu’s cultural and social capital theories. Using data collected by the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth 2009 (LSAY09) project, I examine the associations between student SES, school SES and two outcome variables: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) score and university enrolment. The results indicate that low SES students attending high SES schools perform better on PISA tests than low SES students attending low SES schools. After controlling for PISA score, low SES students were less likely than their high SES peers to enrol at university. Furthermore, students attending low SES schools were less likely than their peers attending high SES schools to enrol at university, net of their individual SES and their PISA scores.     

An Experiment in the Teaching of General Psychology

Abstract

This study involves investigation of the relationships between a number of sociological background variables (including general categories of Social Class, Family Structure, Sibling Structure, and Religion) and school achievement at various periods in the child's academic career. The twelve achievement variables were organized into categories of Intelligence, Objective Achievement, Early Citizenship, High School Achievement, and After School Aspirations. The data was obtained from school files for 663 high-school graduates in a Midwestern city.

Using a regression analysis, significant relationships between sociological variables and achievement were examined. Each relationship was further investigated with the variables of socio-economic status and intelligence held constant in order to eliminate the effects of these two well-known predictive variables.     

Academic achievement of girls in rural schools in Kenya

Abstract

This study examined the effect of two family factors (financial, social capital) and school factors on students’ achievement. One hundred eighty two, seventh-grade female students from nine schools in Muranga district, Kenya, were studied. The statistical procedures included logit regression, cross-tabulations, frequency counting and chi-square analyses. These procedures were used to look at the effects of variables on each other and their effects on students’ study habits and achievement. The researcher found that each of the two family factors (financial and social capital), and the school factors had an independent and significant effect on student achievement and study habits. The results indicated that a student's academic achievement is positively influenced by the education level of both parents. The researcher also found that the father's education had more positive influence to the study habits of the females.     

Effect of Part-Time Work on High School Mathematics and Science Course Taking

Abstract

The effect of part-time work intensity on high school course work completed in mathematics and science and its indirect effect on 12th-grade achievement was explored. Longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample were used to test the models through path analysis. Socioeconomic status and previous achievement were included as exogenous variables for control purposes, and part-time work intensity was hypothesized to negatively affect course work completed in the 2 subjects, as well as 12th-grade achievement through course work during high school. Results suggest that, controlling for the background variables, there was a significant negative effect of part-time work intensity on course work and that its indirect effect on 12th-grade achievement through course work was larger than its direct effect.     

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.     

Improving quality and equity in schools in socially disadvantaged areas

Background: Recent effectiveness studies have investigated the relationship between two dimensions of effectiveness – namely, quality and equity. Specifically, the question of whether effective schools can also reduce the initial differences in student outcomes attributed to student background factors has been examined. In this context, the Dynamic Approach to School Improvement (DASI) makes use of theory and the research findings of effectiveness studies to try to improve school effectiveness in terms of quality and equity.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine whether the implementation of DASI in primary schools in socially disadvantaged areas in four European countries (Cyprus, England, Greece and Ireland) was able to promote student learning outcomes in mathematics and to reduce the impact of student background factors on student achievement in mathematics.

Design and methods: A sample of 72 primary schools across the four countries was randomly split into experimental and control groups. At the beginning and at the end of the school year, mathematics tests were administered to all students of Grades 4–6 (n = 5560; student ages 9–12 years). The experimental group made use of DASI. Within-country multilevel regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the impact of the intervention and search for interaction effects between the use of DASI and student background factors on final achievement.

Results: In each country, the experimental group achieved better results in mathematics than the control group. At the beginning of the intervention, the achievement gap based on socio-economic status (SES) was equally large in the experimental and the control groups. Only in the experimental group did the achievement gap based on SES become smaller. However, DASI was not found to have an effect on equity when the equity dimension was examined by focusing on the achievement gap based on either gender or ethnicity.

Conclusions: Implications of findings are drawn and the importance of measuring equity in terms of student achievement gaps based on different background factors, rather than only on SES, is emphasised. We propose the evaluation of the impact of interventions on promoting equity by the use of various criteria.     

The impact of school SES composition on science achievement and achievement growth: mediating role of teachers’ teachability culture

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have shown that schools’ socioeconomic-status (SES) composition has an impact on the academic performance of pupils. Less attention has been given to the explanation of this effect. This study examined whether the teachability culture among the school staff (teachers’ collective beliefs about how teachable their pupils are) mediated the school SES effect on science achievement and achievement growth. Multilevel analyses were conducted with data from 1,761 pupils and 1,255 teachers across 66 primary schools in Flanders. First, the analyses indicated that there was a positive association between school SES composition and teachability culture: Even after controlling for cognitive ability and performance of pupils, there was a more pessimist culture in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools. Second, the association between school SES and academic performance was explained/mediated by the teachability culture. However, no school effects or mediation effects were found for achievement growth as the covered period of academic growth was too short.     

Essential Relationships between Reading and the Subject Fields or Areas of the Curriculum

ABSTRACT

The authors explored the impact of an online tutoring program, Math Whizz (Whizz Education, 2014), on student mathematics achievement at 15 elementary schools. Students participated in the use of the Math Whizz program for the duration of the school year as a supplement to mathematics instruction. The Math Whizz program recorded such information as initial mathematics age, growth in mathematics age, amount of usage, average quiz score, and average test score. Teachers were also surveyed regarding the implementation of the online tutoring platform. In addition, 1 school provided assessment scores from the summative statewide mathematics assessment, which was used as the outcome variable of a multiple regression with variables from the online tutoring program as independent variables. Findings indicated that Math Whizz usage was related to improvement in mathematics achievement as measured by the online tutoring program, teacher survey responses, and the state assessment data.     

Attitudes and achievement of Bruneian science students

The aim of this study was to evaluate attitudes towards and achievement in science of Form 3 students studying in single-sex and coeducational schools in Brunei. The results demonstrated significant differences in attitudes towards and achievement in science of male and female students in single-sex schools and students in coeducational schools. These differences were at moderate level. In single-sex schools, the girls achieved moderately better in science than the boys despite their attitudes were only marginally better than the boys. However, there were no gender differences in attitudes towards and achievement in science of students in coeducational schools. The attitudes towards and achievement in science of girls in single-sex schools were moderately better than those of girls in coeducational schools. Whereas the attitudes towards and achievement in science of boys in single-sex schools were only marginally better than the boys in coeducational schools. However, further research to investigate (a) if these differences are repeated at other levels as well as in other subjects, and (b) the extent to which school type contributed towards these differences is recommended.