Religious justification,elitist outcome: are religious schools being used to avoid integration?

Despite ongoing efforts to promote ethnic, racial and socio-economic integration, segregation continues to challenge education administrators and legal scholars. Privileged parents seeking to avoid integration employ various strategies such as attending private schools or buying houses in neighbourhoods with good school. This paper offers a combined empirical and legal research of another such strategy: the resort to religious schools. The research is conducted within one specific context, that of Israeli Religious State Schools. The empirical study examines whether “Torani” religious state schools (a category of religious schools that offer enhanced Jewish studies and a strict religious environment) induce socio-economic segregation. The findings indicate that “Torani” schools are indeed socio-economically segregated and serve children from higher socioeconomic class than regular religious state schools. It also shows that “Torani” schools are less reflective of their surroundings than regular religious state schools, and are more likely to be established by privileged parents in poor areas, where they are dissatisfied with the local state schools. The legal research offers an explanation of how legal regulation can determine whether religious schools will become a means for avoiding integration. Specifically, it points to three areas in which “Torani” schools are regulated differently than regular religious state schools – the rules regarding the establishment of new schools; the rules concerning school funding; and the rules concerning student enrolment – and argues that special treatment meant to protect religious interests is responsible for making “Torani” schools socially segregated.     

Popular Media Portrayals of Inequity and School Reform in The Wire and Waiting for “Superman”

Two popular media forms are examined—the documentary film Waiting for “Superman” and the HBO television series, The Wire—that present distinct, and at times conflicting, depictions of how to address educational inequity. Qualitative media content analysis was used to analyze the two media documents and to situate them within broader popular media representations of school failure. Waiting for “Superman” depicted school choice and dismantling unions as one way to address school failure. The Wire, in contrast, suggested a more complex and uncomfortable portrayal of school failure where blame is not directed at teachers and schools exclusively, but instead encompasses a complex web of inequity due to bureaucracy, economics, culture, politics, and media coverage. The analysis suggests that media sources such as film and television can play a role informing the public on issues of school reform and should be critically examined as pieces of the larger puzzle of improving schools and addressing school inequity.     

The effect of schools on school leavers’ university participation

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the role that schools have in determining whether school leavers participate in higher education or not. It examines the association between schools and university participation using a unique dataset of 3 cohorts of all young people leaving maintained schools in Wales. School “effects” are identified, even after controlling for individual-level factors, such as their prior attainment, socioeconomic circumstances, ethnicity, and special educational needs. Schools appear to have a particular “effect” on the likelihood that a young person enters an elite university. However, the findings suggest the concept of a school “effect” on higher education participation is not straightforward – schools appear to have different levels of effectiveness depending on the gender of the young people and the nature of their higher education participation. These findings are considered within the policy contexts of school effectiveness and widening access to higher education.     

Inequality in language achievement growth? An investigation into the impact of pupil socio‐ethnic background and school socio‐ethnic composition

This paper investigates how pupils' growth trajectories in three language domains (reading fluency, spelling, and reading comprehension) are related to their own socioeconomic and ethnic background and to the socioeconomic and ethnic composition of their primary school. Using multilevel piecewise growth curve analysis, the growth trajectories of approximately 5000 pupils from 170 primary schools were estimated. The results indicate that a pupil's socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds have the largest impact on achievement and growth in reading comprehension and the smallest impact on reading fluency. Furthermore, school ethnic composition—but not socioeconomic composition—was related to pupils' achievement in all three language domains at the first measurement occasion, though none of the types of school composition was related to growth. The research findings therefore imply that to combat the deficits in language proficiency often found in ethnic minority pupils, priority should be given to investments in individual intervention programmes over policy plans to desegregate schools. Moreover, our study identifies the specific points in time during primary school at which intervention programmes are needed the most.     

Closing achievement gaps and beyond: teachers’ reactions to the remedial education policy in Taiwan

Educators have increasingly implemented remedial education in elementary and secondary schools throughout Taiwan as a systemic approach toward closing achievement gaps. However, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and those in remote areas have shown little improvement in academic achievement. This issue raises the question of how educators are providing needed learning support to disadvantaged students in school and classroom settings. Thus, this study applies grounded theory to investigate teachers’ reactions to the remedial education policy in Taiwan, to have a reflective assessment on the policy, and to provide suggestions for policy implementation. The findings suggest that teachers’ responses to this government-imposed, centralized approach—classified as “cosmetic compliance,” “professional commitment,” and “try-out participation”—vary widely based on whether their ideological underpinnings are consistent with the government’s policy intent to close achievement gaps, and on whether they are equipped with professional knowledge and practical strategies to support the effective implementation of remedial education. Based on the findings, this study develops an interactive systemic model for more effectively implementing the remedial education policy, which illustrates a conceptualization that educational practitioners can hold professional autonomy while improving teaching and learning for low-achieving students.     

An aspect on the school culture in Turkey and the United States

The purpose of this study is to get a better understanding on school culture in the United States and Turkey. In this quantitative investigation, data were collected using the “School Culture Inventory” from 157 teachers in ?zmir, Turkey and 161 teachers in the United States. The findings show that both countries have a positive culture. A positive school culture enhances academic achievement, and culture is perceived more positively in medium SES schools in Turkey and low SES schools in the USA in terms of socioeconomic status (SES). The US schools rated higher in terms of improvement culture and the teaching culture while Turkish schools rated higher in terms of teacher collaboration.     

CIVIC FRAGMENTATION OR VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION? HABERMAS,FRASER, AND CHARTER SCHOOL SEGREGATION

In this essay, Terri Wilson puts the argument developed by Kathleen Knight Abowitz that charter schools could be considered as counterpublic spaces into interaction with empirical research that explores patterns of voluntary self‐segregation in charter schools. Wilson returns to the theoretical tension between Jürgen Habermas and Nancy Fraser over the inclusivity of the public sphere. Wilson argues that Fraser's concept of counterpublic space rests on an oversimplification of Habermas's concept of the public sphere and, further, that justifying school choice through Fraser's “multiplicity of publics” offers few resources for questioning the increasing segregation of schools. According to Wilson, Habermas's normative project—and his concept of “idealization,” in particular—offers both an answer to Fraser's critique and a better application of “the public sphere” to the issue of school choice. Wilson concludes by considering how Habermas's understanding of the public sphere as a normative ideal might serve as a useful resource for evaluating the public‐ness of charter school reform.     

The Free Schools “Riddle”: Between traditional social democratic,neo‐liberal and multicultural tenets

The question of what role free schools should perform in the Swedish educational system has been a contested subject between three ideological, theoretical, political and policy tenets. The first, “contribution to pedagogical diversity in a controlled school market” reflects a traditional social democratic view. The second, “contribution to a better education on a competitive school market” reflects a neo‐liberal approach. The third tenet, “contribution to the maintenance of groups' and individuals' cultural and religious identity” reflects a multicultural view insisting on the thesis that a family's cultural and religious identity should be a steering motive for the school choice. The aim of this article is to take a closer look at what the three tenets that constitute the “riddle” contain—including their claims, responses to critics, arguments and empirical evidence—and to discuss some of their practical impacts on the shaping of educational policy.     

Mediated diffusion: Translating professional practice across schools in a high-stakes system

Educational systems across the globe are attempting to reshape the vertical and horizontal dimensions of school accountability. The vertical dimension involves devolution of responsibility to individual schools while the horizontal typically entails promoting the professionalism of leaders and teachers through school networks and school-to-school pairings. In many systems, these shifts occur within an environment of high-stakes accountability. Little is known about the ways that high-stakes consequences for individual schools shape the translation of professional practice across schools. The study reported here traces the diffusion of data-informed practices in a formal pairing of two primary schools in England—a school ranked as “outstanding” and a school in “special measures,” a persistently low-achieving school. Study findings trace the ways in which the threat of consequences under which the low-achieving school operates shapes the diffusion of professional practice across schools. The study details how the lead school brokered, or mediated, state requirements, co-constructing the supported school’s narrative of improvement. Findings from this study illuminate the ways that vertical relationships within the system of schooling influence horizontal relationships across schools. Clarifying the shaping of professional practice across schools is increasingly critical as patterns of provision of schooling proliferate and the links among the state and schools become increasingly complex.     

Drop Out and “Disconnected” Young Adults: Examining the Impact of Neighborhood and School Contexts

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) this study compares if and how neighborhood effects on the likelihood to drop out and be “disconnected” from school and work in young adulthood change when schools are taken into account. As widely documented, I find that neighborhood socioeconomic status is associated with dropping out, but this effect is mediated by schools with high numbers of Latino or Black students. I find neighborhood socioeconomic status is not associated with being disconnected, yet, attending schools with high numbers of Black students is. This research draws attention for the need to account for neighborhood and school effects simultaneously to better understand contextual effects and to more carefully conceptualize how neighborhood and schools work together to produce these outcomes disproportionately impacting racial and ethnic minorities.     

The Complexities of Operating Multiple Small Schools in a High School Conversion

School reformers hope that converting comprehensive high schools into collections of small schools will produce results similar to those realized in freestanding small schools. Three themes—personalization, professional community, and shared decision making—exemplify the early successes in conversions. But the challenge of sustaining these gains reveals a host of complications that were not anticipated by funders or early adopters of the reform. In particular, the arrangement of a “multiplex” high school can generate tensions between operating autonomous (or, more frequently, interrelated) small schools and maintaining many of the traditions and structures of the comprehensive high school. Examples of supports and inhibitors to small schools reform are highlighted.     

The World Tomorrow

Drawing on the author's experience as director of a long-lived school—university partnership, this essay describes how one such organization can “do it right” and enhance the development of teacher leadership in schools. It also provides a cautionary tale about how that same organization can “do it wrong” and achieve the opposite effect. “Doing it right” requires having a set of core beliefs that are enacted through key social practices. “Doing it wrong” violates those core beliefs and practices.     

农村两类学校布局优化的现实问题与方向选择

城镇挤乡村弱是当前我国义务教育阶段最为显著的结构性问题。学校布局作为肇始之基,为更好补齐学校短板提升教育质量,现阶段的工作重点已聚焦至农村两类学校,重心也逐渐转向优化。在城乡义务教育一体化的时代背景下,为实现“就近入学”与“上好学”的优化目标,农村两类学校布局优化工作在农村教育为农与离农的冲突中,应服膺人本理念进行消解;在教育公平优先与教育效率先行的矛盾中,应合理配置教育资源进行平衡;在“由‘小’到‘寄’”与“由‘寄’到‘小’”的纠葛中,应明确两类学校定位进行调适,以助力农村学校布局工作。     

Response of school personnel to student threat assessment training

This article analyzes the distribution of mathematics achievement among class, school, municipality, and state in Argentina. Data from the Year 2000, 6th-grade Primary School Census from the Minister of Education are analyzed using multilevel methodology. The results indicate that all levels of the education system are relevant and must be considered. If all levels are included, the school “raw” effect is much less (18%) than if they are not (31%). Prior academic performance and socioeconomic level of the individual pupil, plus socioeconomic composition variables, accounted for most of the performance distribution among school, municipality, and state levels. These kinds of variables do not explain significant inter-class differences inside the school. As a consequence, the class became the superior level with the larger proportion of the total unexplained variance (15%), while the school variation represents just 8,6% of that variation. Finally, unexplained inter-school and inter-class variation is still significant making it necessary to further investigate relevant schooling and classroom factors.     

Kulturelle Bildung an den Schulen in Deutschland

Previous research findings suggest that school types differ in terms of their extracurricular art-aesthetic offers and that at “Gymnasien” (grammar schools) and “Comprehensive Schools” conditions for art-aesthetic education are particularly favorable. Furthermore, at all-day schools they seem to be more favorable than at other schools. To see whether these findings can be confirmed and differences between school types can be found even after controlling for relevant school characteristics, a nationwide representative survey of school leaders at state schools was analyzed. Three dimensions of art-aesthetic education were examined: extracurricular art-aesthetic offers, cooperation with out-of-school cultural institutions and, finally, school profiles. The results allow for a differentiation and complementation of former findings concerning the specific conditions at different school types regarding the advancement of art-aesthetic experiences, because characteristics such as all-day-school organization, school size or resources were considered.     

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.     

BOOK REVIEW

Critical reviews from “outside”, notably educational sociologists arguing mainly from a British context, have caused some ripples, and maybe even waves, among school effectiveness researchers. To a large extent these external criticisms and the overall nature of the response from school effectiveness researchers are neatly summarized in the following quote from Townsend: “be like us”, say the critics, and the answer is “no thanks”. In this article the arguments form the “external” critics and the response from school effectiveness researchers will not be repeated. Some of the topics in the debate will be revisited, however. The first one is the discussion with respect to the impact of “contextual” or composition effects concerning the average socioeconomic background of students in schools and classrooms. This is one area, that bears upon the foundations of the school effectiveness concept, although it is not, as the critics would have it, a neglected area. The second one concerns conceptualization and theoretical explanation of school effectiveness, as the debate may not have been sufficiently explicit on this issue. The rest of the paper deals with “foundational” issues in school effectiveness research that have not been settled decisively and with changes in perspectives on learning and instruction and educational technology that provide serious challenges. On these issues there is reason for self-criticism and realism in the way school effectiveness research can make progress.     

THE PRIVATIZED PUBLIC: ANTAGONISM FOR A RADICAL DEMOCRATIC POLITICS IN SCHOOLS?

In an extended era of privatization initiatives, when accountability principles and competitive business logics pervade school discourse and practice, what is left of the “public” part of public schooling? When market rationality privileges individualism and competition and provides much of the justification for the aims of U.S. schools, how is the notion of the public good evidenced? In this essay Deron Boyles makes the claim that public schools inordinately function as private markets—as places where a unidirectional narrative of “givens” reinforce individualism, competition, and corporatization under the guise of merit, testing, and school‐business partnerships.     

民国时期学校“性教育”的基本特征及现实启示

民国时期性教育的实施是家庭、学校、社会共同努力的结果,但因当时的父母囿于旧道德观念的束缚,缺乏性教育所需知识,而社会又处于百废待兴的状态,性教育的重担自然落到了学校的肩膀上。整体而言,民国时期的学校“性教育”存在以下特征：在教育目的上,经历了从“教性”到“教养”的转变;在教育主体上,主张以“教师为主,医师为辅,父母配合”;在教育内容上,主张建立渗透式的泛课程体系,将性教育渗透进具体的课程中进行教授;在教育方式上,按照“分阶段、分性别、个别与团体相结合”的方式实行。分析民国时期学校“性教育”的特征,对现今我国学校“性教育”的发展具有启示意义。     

Examination of Indices of High School Performance Based on the Graded Response Model

We examined summary indices of high school performance (coursework, grades, and test scores) based on the graded response model (GRM). The indices varied by inclusion of ACT test scores and whether high school courses were constrained to have the same difficulty and discrimination across groups of schools. The indices were examined with respect to skewness, incremental prediction of college degree attainment, and differences across racial/ethnic and socioeconomic subgroups. The most difficult high school courses to earn an “A” grade included calculus, chemistry, trigonometry, other advanced math, physics, algebra 2, and geometry. The GRM‐based indices were less skewed than simple high school grade point average (HSGPA) and had higher correlations with ACT Composite score. The index that included ACT test scores and allowed item parameters to vary by school group was most predictive of college degree attainment, but had larger subgroup differences. Implications for implementing multiple measure models for college readiness are discussed.