Achievement-related within-school socioeconomic gaps in science subjects in China: evidence on existence,consistency, and compensation

Using data from the 2011 (Chinese) Student Academic Achievement Evaluation, we examined whether within-school socioeconomic gaps in science achievement exist across science subjects, how consistent they are, and whether there are relationships between school average science achievement and within-school socioeconomic gaps in science achievement. Results of multivariate multilevel analyses indicate that for both fathers and mothers within-school socioeconomic gaps in science achievement existed among schools but did not vary much across schools. School mean socioeconomic status and teacher experience were related to these gaps. Schools were strongly consistent in within-school socioeconomic gaps in science achievement across science subjects, and this consistency was independent of (robust to) student and school characteristics. The relationships between school average science achievement and within-school socioeconomic gaps in science achievement were rather weak among schools across science subjects, and the addition of school characteristics to student characteristics effectively demolished the relationships.     

Social Equity Theory and Racial‐Ethnic Achievement Gaps

In the United States, racial‐ethnic differences on tests of school readiness and academic achievement continue. A complete understanding of the origins of racial‐ethnic achievement gaps is still lacking. This article describes social equity theory (SET), which proposes that racial‐ethnic achievement gaps originate from two kinds of social process, direct and signal influences, that these two kinds of processes operate across developmental contexts, and that the kind of influence and the setting in which they are enacted change with age. Evidence supporting each of SET's key propositions is discussed in the context of a critical review of research on the Black–White achievement gap. Specific developmental hypotheses derived from SET are described, along with proposed standards of evidence for testing those hypotheses.     

Fourth annual institute of professional relations

This article provides a critical look into national trends of the achievement gaps between Whites and Blacks and between Whites and Hispanics over the last 3 decades based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress mathematics assessments. It examines multiple facets of inequity underlying the racial and ethnic achievement gaps from 3 perspectives: equality, adequacy, and reciprocity. Although the Black-White and Hispanic-White mathematics achievement gaps narrowed significantly over the last 3 decades, there was some setback in the national progress during the last decade and the achievement gaps remain substantially large. The study finds that the racial and ethnic achievement gaps are highly inequitable, as it turns out that schools do not measure up to essential conditions of equity: Minority students do not (a) get fairly equal educational opportunities, (b) achieve minimally adequate level of competency, and (c) learn in a racially integrated school. The recent trend of widening racial achievement gaps is also seen as a real setback in equity as there was little systemic improvement in those 3 conditions of equity during the last decade. Implications of the findings for educational policies to enhance broader equity and justice are discussed.     

Parental Expectations and Children's Academic Performance in Sociocultural Context

In this paper, we review research on parental expectations and their effects on student achievement within and across diverse racial and ethnic groups. Our review suggests that the level of parental expectations varies by racial/ethnic group, and that students' previous academic performance is a less influential determinant of parental expectations among racial/ethnic minority parents than among European American parents. To explain this pattern, we identify three processes associated with race/ethnicity that moderate the relation between students' previous performance and parental expectations. Our review also indicates that the relation of parental expectations to concurrent or future student achievement outcomes is weaker for racial/ethnic minority families than for European American families. We describe four mediating processes by which high parental expectations may influence children's academic trajectories and show how these processes are associated with racial/ethnic status. The article concludes with a discussion of educational implications as well as suggestions for future research.     

Whites Aren’t Bad,Asian Americans Are Just Better: Asymmetrical Attributions for the White–Asian American Achievement Gap

Previous research has shown that people often engage in cultural-deficit thinking when reasoning about racial/ethnic achievement gaps. However, it is unclear whether culture-blaming explanations are best thought of as group-level internal attributions, expressions of prejudice against a lower status group, or self-serving bias. In this study, White and Latino participants (N = 328) responded to items that were written to express either a White-critical or pro–Asian American perspective on the White–Asian American achievement gap. Results indicated that Latinos were more likely to engage in pro-Asian than White-critical culture blaming, whereas expressions of culture blaming did not vary across frames among White participants.     

Priming urban learners' attitudes toward the relevancy of science: A mixed-methods study testing the importance of context

The development of three-dimensional learning among all K-12 student demographics remains a prominent goal for the field of science education. However, substantial research in science teacher education for urban populations showcases hurdles to overcome in order to achieve this goal, particularly for elementary teachers. Research shows that urban elementary teachers are often ill-prepared to develop a type of science pedagogy responsive to students' learning needs. The fidelity of such pedagogies that these teachers adhere to when trying to implement such a requested content–relationality between these populations and how their local contexts can be used as sites to learn science in relevant ways are often not fully realized, as well. Given that science achievement gaps exhibit racial disparities starting in primary grades and attitudes toward science have been shown to affect academic achievement and motivation, we argue that one way to ameliorate, in at least an incremental way, this disparity is to design novel learning experiences to prime students to see the relevancy of science in their local contexts before such three-dimensional designed learning is set to occur. In this research, we leveraged the immersive nature of Virtual Reality 360 videos and present a design-based research iteration testing how this novel technologically enhanced learning experience may have influenced close to 400 urban elementary students' attitudes toward science around those attitudes labeled as “behavioral beliefs” by the field. Using a concurrent, convergent mixed-methods design with a two-way multivariate analysis of covariance quantitative data set triangulated with students' qualitative self-reports that were transformed into quantitative preponderances in graphic form, the data support that our design iteration emphasizing the importance of context as a design focus can prime students who struggle to see science as relevant to change their attitudes. Implications are discussed around relationality, novel technological affordances, and the use of local contexts as learning resources.     

Do Teachers’ Instructional Practices Moderate Equity in Mathematical and Scientific Literacy?: an Investigation of the PISA 2012 and 2015

Many efforts have been made to reach educational equity, especially to reduce mathematics and science achievement gaps by students’ socioeconomic status. Across countries, educators strive to reform traditional teacher-centered instructional approaches to more student-centered/inquiry-based instruction to improve equity in education. In this context, this study examines whether relationships between socioeconomic status and scientific or mathematical literacy are moderated by student-centered instruction. Ten countries covering a wide range of achievement levels as well as equity in education are selected for an international comparison. A linear regression analysis is applied to student achievement, equity, and frequency of student-centered instruction data from the PISA 2012 and PISA 2015. We find mixed results: As student-centered instruction is offered more frequently, the gap in mathematical and scientific literacy between low and high socioeconomic status is generally narrowed or maintained. In most countries, students’ mathematical and scientific literacy scores are expected to decrease across all socioeconomic status as student-centered instruction is given more frequently. The findings necessitate further scrutiny of how teachers implement student-centered instruction in various educational systems. This further research need to consider the complexity of implementation related to sociological and pedagogical aspects.     

入学准备在美国:不仅仅是入学准备

本文分析了儿童入学准备问题在美国引起社会普遍关注的原因,指出入学准备问题不仅仅是学前教育领域中的问题,实际上是一个涉及教育公平和种族和谐的社会政治问题;介绍了美国政府最近推出的旨在解决入学准备上的社会经济阶层、种族和族群差距的一系列政策措施;结合我国学前教育的政策和体制改革,讨论了从中可获得的启示.     

The distribution of pedagogical content knowledge in Cambodia: Gaps and thresholds in math achievement

Increasing teacher quality is a major objective of recent Cambodian education policy. In mathematics education literature, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has emerged as a critical component of teacher quality that is strongly linked to student achievement. In this study I use data from a large survey of Cambodian schools to investigate the effect of math teachers’ PCK on third grade student achievement. I use ordinary least squares and Quantile Regression analyses to examine this aspect of teacher quality. I find that pedagogical knowledge is a strong predictor of student math achievement in Cambodia in comparison to other student, school, and background variables, but that the effect is concentrated among higher achieving students. Quantile Regression with this dataset also exposes gaps and thresholds in achievement associated with other explanatory variables. In addition, I investigate the proportional distribution of teacher PCK in Cambodia and find that lower quality teachers are more likely to be teaching lower achieving students of lower socioeconomic status.     

Feeling Good,Happy, and Proud: A Meta‐Analysis of Positive Ethnic–Racial Affect and Adjustment

One point of intersection in ethnic and racial identity research is the conceptual attention paid to how positively youth feel about their ethnicity or race, or positive ethnic–racial affect. This article reports results of a series of meta‐analyses based on 46 studies of this dimension and psychosocial, academic, and health risk outcomes among ethnic and racial minority youth. The overall pattern of results suggests that positive ethnic–racial affect exhibited small to medium associations (r range = |.11| to |.37|) with depressive symptoms, positive social functioning, self‐esteem, well‐being, internalizing, externalizing, academic achievement, academic attitudes, and health risk outcomes. Implications for theory and research about the role of positive ethnic–racial affect among youth growing up in an increasingly diverse society are discussed.     

Racial and ethnic differences in the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences: Findings from a low-income sample of U.S. women

Despite great interest in adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), there has been limited research on racial and ethnic differences in their prevalence. Prior research in the United States suggests that the prevalence of ACEs varies along socioeconomic lines, but it is uncertain whether there are racial/ethnic differences in ACE rates among low-income populations. This study examined the distribution of ACEs in a sample of 1523 low-income women in Wisconsin that received home visiting services. Participants ranging in age from 16 to 50 years were coded into five racial/ethnic groups, including Hispanics and four non-Hispanic groups: blacks, whites, American Indians, and other race. Following measurement conventions, ten dichotomous indicators of child maltreatment and household dysfunction were used to create a composite ACE score. Five other potential childhood adversities were also assessed: food insecurity, homelessness, prolonged parental absence, peer victimization, and violent crime victimization. Results from bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed that, while rates of adversity were high overall, there were significant racial/ethnic differences. Total ACE scores of American Indians were comparable to the ACE scores of non-Hispanic whites, which were significantly higher than the ACE scores of non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics. Whites were more likely than blacks to report any abuse or neglect, and they were more likely than blacks and Hispanics to report any household dysfunction. The results underscore the need to account for socioeconomic differences when making racial/ethnic comparisons. Potential explanations for the observed differences are examined.     

The achievement gap between science classrooms and historic inequalities

In the past politics deprived many African children (in particular) in South Africa the opportunity of achieving quality education. This was most especially true in subjects such as mathematics and science. In this research the science teacher-level data from Third International Mathematics and Science Study 1999 (TIMSS’99) were analysed with a view to evaluating the politicized gap between what are viewed as well-functioning and provisioned classrooms (predominantly housing White teachers and White or mixed classes in urban areas) and not well-functioning and poorly provisioned classrooms (largely African teachers and African pupils in peri-urban and rural areas). The data are explored in this article to ascertain and gain insight into similarities and differences in classroom conditions, teacher actions and the relationship between these and pupils’ achievement in science in South African classrooms. Significant differences in achievement were found between classrooms headed by teachers with different racial profiles, where the pupils’ average class science score taught by White teachers was about 300 points more (on a scale with an international mean score of 500 points) than children taught in classrooms by African teachers. Furthermore, the average class science score in rural areas was about 130 points below classes in urban areas. These blatant inequalities contribute to what is believed to be an increasing gap in achievement in science. Whilst these results are not altogether unexpected, there were some interesting results in terms of possible explanatory factors for the gaps in achievement which have ramifications for policymakers.     

Socioeconomic Gaps in Academic Achievement Within Schools: Are They Consistent Across Subject Areas?

Few studies have examined the correlates of within-school socioeconomic gaps in academic achievement corresponding to subject areas across schools. This study addressed this limitation with data from the New Brunswick School Climate Study (N = 6,883 students from 148 schools) which contained measures on academic achievement in four subject areas (mathematics, science, reading, and writing) as well as student and school background characteristics. Results of multivariate, multilevel analyses showed that within-school socioeconomic gaps were similar between reading and writing as well as between mathematics and science. Furthermore, the interrelationships of within-school socioeconomic gaps in academic achievement corresponding to the four subject areas across schools were not much influenced by student background characteristics (gender, Native status, number of parents, and number of siblings) and characteristics of school context and climate (school size, school mean SES, disciplinary climate, academic expectation, and parental involvement).     

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.     

“Really Just Lip Service”: Talking About Diversity in Suburban Schools

Suburban school districts are in the midst of rapid racial/ethnic and socioeconomic diversification, although the teaching force remains much more homogenous. This article examines how educators in increasingly more diverse suburban schools conceptualize diversity. Qualitative data comes from interviews of 40 teachers, 23 principals and assistant principals, and 16 other school staff in six suburban school districts across the country. Using critical discourse analysis (van Dijk, 1993), I identify three primary discourses: an aspirational commitment to preparing students for a diverse society; color-muteness and insistence on individuality; and a deficit perspective on students from diverse racial/ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. In particular, educators perceived cultural deficits in students’ families and communities (Valencia, 2010). Finally, a small number of participants recognized structural forces that impeded the achievement of students of color. The discussion analyzes how such discourses threaten to reproduce educational inequality as suburban districts continue to diversify and concludes with recommendations for districts and schools.     

An Examination of Effective Practice: Moving Toward Elimination of Achievement Gaps in Science

This longitudinal study of middle school science teachers explored the relationship between effective science instruction, as defined by the National Science Education Standards (NRC in National science education standards. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1996), and student achievement in science. Eleven teachers participated in a three year study of teacher effectiveness, determined by the LSC Classroom Observation Protocol (Horizon Research, Inc. in Local Systemic Change Classroom Observation Protocol. May 1, 2002) and student achievement, which was assessed using the Discovery Inquiry Test in Science. Findings in this study revealed the positive impact that effective science teachers have on student learning, eliminating achievement gaps between White and Non-White students. Case studies of three teachers, both effective and ineffective explore the beliefs and experiences that influence teachers to change, or not to change practice. This study provides justification for teaching science effectively to narrow achievement gaps in science and provides insight to stakeholders in science education as to how to support teachers in becoming more effective, through addressing existing teacher beliefs and providing experiences that challenge those beliefs.     

Stereotyped: Investigating Gender in Introductory Science Courses

Research in science education has documented achievement gaps between men and women in math and physics that may reflect, in part, a response to perceived stereotype threat. Research efforts to reduce achievement gaps by mediating the impact of stereotype threat have found success with a short values-affirmation writing exercise. In biology and biochemistry, however, little attention has been paid to the performance of women in comparison with men or perceptions of stereotype threat, despite documentation of leaky pipelines into professional and academic careers. We used methodologies developed in physics education research and cognitive psychology to 1) investigate and compare the performance of women and men across three introductory science sequences (biology, biochemistry, physics), 2) document endorsement of stereotype threat in these science courses, and 3) investigate the utility of a values-affirmation writing task in reducing achievement gaps. In our study, analysis of final grades and normalized learning gains on content-specific concept inventories reveals no achievement gap in the courses sampled, little stereotype threat endorsement, and no impact of the values-affirmation writing task on student performance. These results underscore the context-dependent nature of achievement gaps and stereotype threat and highlight calls to replicate education research across a range of student populations.     

The influence of extracurricular activities on middle school students’ science learning in China

ABSTRACT

Informal science learning has been found to have effects on students’ science learning. Through the use of secondary data from a national assessment of 7410 middle school students in China, this study explores the relationship among five types of extracurricular science activities, learning interests, academic self-concept, and science achievement. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the influence of students’ self-chosen and school-organised extracurricular activities on science achievement through mediating interests and the academic self-concept. Chi-square tests were used to determine whether there was an opportunity gap in the student’s engagement in extracurricular activities. The students’ volunteer and school-organised participation in extracurricular science activities had a positive and indirect influence on their science achievement through the mediating variables of their learning interests and academic self-concept. However, there were opportunity gaps between different groups of students in terms of school location, family background, and especially the mother’s education level. Students from urban areas with better-educated mothers or higher socioeconomic status are more likely to access diverse science-related extracurricular activities.     

Race And Ethnicity: Powerful Cultural Forecasters Of Science Learning And Performance

This article addresses the impact of race and ethnicity on students' science learning in US schools. Specifically, it discusses (a) the constructs of race, ethnicity, and culture, and the racial and ethnic student composition in US public schools; (b) effective classroom practices for curriculum, instruction, and assessment related to race and ethnicity; and (c) future policy and practice regarding race and ethnicity in science education. We discuss the science learning and teaching of African American, Latino, and Asian American students. Even though Asian American students are viewed as the model minority, some struggle with science learning, because their languages and cultures are seen as hurdles. As there is little defendable science education research related to Native Americans at the precollege level, we remain silent in this area.     

民族理论和知识与当代大学生的思想政治教育

我国是统一的多民族国家,正确处理民族问题关系着国家的前途和命运。进入新世纪,随着改革的不断深入发展,社会各种利益诉求增多,民族地区新形势和新情况不断涌现,肩负时代责任的当代青年大学生需要熟悉和掌握一定的民族理论和民族知识,了解党的民族政策。而在我国高校特别是非民族院校中民族理论与民族知识教育存在一些不足,影响到党的民族政策的宣传和普及。文章在对民族理论和政策相关概念梳理及对研究成果吸收借鉴的基础上,揭示我国高校中民族理论和民族知识教育的现状与问题,分析加强此方面教育对于当代大学生思想政治教育的重要意义．同时提出了改进的相关对策。