Is experience the best teacher? A multilevel analysis of teacher characteristics and student achievement in low performing schools

The study investigated several teacher characteristics, with a focus on two measures of teaching experience, and their association with second grade student achievement gains in low performing, high poverty schools in a Mid-Atlantic state. Value-added models using three-level hierarchical linear modeling were used to analyze the data from 1,544 students, 154 teachers, and 53 schools. Results indicated that traditional teacher qualification characteristics such as licensing status and educational attainment were not statistically significant in producing student achievement gains. Total years of teaching experience was also not a significant predictor but a more specific measure, years of teaching experience at a particular grade level, was significantly associated with increased student reading achievement. We caution researchers and policymakers when interpreting results from studies that have used only a general measure of teacher experience as effects are possibly underestimated. Policy implications are discussed.

Censorship,the Internet and schools: a new moral panic?

As the use of the Internet in schools increases, so too do anxieties over inappropriate access, often fuelled by a popular media focus upon the dangers of children's exposure to pornographic or extremist material. Teachers and school managers, attempting to weigh such hazards against the education potential of access to global information sources, are caught in the crossfire between those who call for rigid controls and those who argue for freedom and access. In the context of these contrary positions, this article begins by exploring the extent to which current public concern over Internet access can be seen as the “moral panic” of the 1990s. Following this, we draw upon examples from Education Departments' Superhighways Initiative (EDSI) to examine the responses of teachers faced with these dilemmas and the effectiveness of various strategies in resolving them. While a combination of control over access (particularly for younger children) and sanctions for inappropriate use was in operation in most schools, many teachers' preferred strategy was to alert pupils to the potential dangers, and to educate them to become responsible users.     

Approaching methodology creatively: problematizing elite schools’ ‘best practice’ through a film about perfection and imperfection

Elite schools around the world aspire to produce perfect students and yet there are always obstacles to this perfection being achieved. In this paper, we suggest that this process of perfectionism and obstruction can best be understood using a methodology that looks to the creative arts, rather than the usual social science orthodoxies. Our focus in this paper is therefore not on methodology as a technique, but rather methodology as a resource for thought. Using Lars Von Trier’s film The Five Obstructions as a point of departure, we suggest that the quest for perfect students, or indeed perfect humans, is one that ignores the inherent obstacles that block pathways to perceived perfection. Our research draws on ethnographic fieldwork from six elite secondary schools in Argentina, Australia, Barbados, England, Hong Kong, and South Africa. We posit a creative methodology permits a coming to terms with the abstractions required when analyzing and interpreting large amounts of data from a multi-sited ethnographic study. This approach makes it feasible to draw some conclusions about a common characteristic – perfectionism – among elite schools around the globe.     

Grade retention and academic self-concept: A multilevel analysis of the effects of schools’ retention composition

Previous studies on the impact of grade retention on academic self-concept suffer from inconclusive findings. There is no consensus if retention yields long-term benefits that could offset its opportunity costs and, if so, under what conditions. Therefore, this article examines whether grade retention decreases academic self-concept and whether this relationship is mediated by sense of belonging. Moreover, we aim to contextualise retention research by accounting for schools’ retention composition. Based on reference group theory, the effect of grade retention composition on academic self-concept is expected to be twofold. Normative reference grouping leads to the assumption that students in high retention composition schools will exhibit lower levels of academic self-concept, because retainees’ values are more likely to spread across all students within the same school. Comparative reference grouping might lead to a moderation effect of retention composition on the relationship between grade retention and academic self-concept. Multilevel analyses on International Study of City Youth data, consisting of 2,354 students in 30 secondary schools in Ghent (Flanders), revealed a negative association between grade retention and academic self-concept, which was mediated by sense of belonging. Students in high retention composition schools had a significantly lower academic self-concept. The impact of being retained on academic self-concept is not affected by the number of retainees within a given context. Implications are discussed.     

Precollegiate international schools: Leach's “ideal-type” and today's “reality”

International schools were begun to provide precollegiate education to children whose families lived abroad. In 1969 Robert Leach outlined a conceptual framework that would insure the formation of a spirit of internationalism throughout the school. The research described in this paper compared Leach's original model with perceptions held in the 1990s by educators, administrators, and board members working in those schools. The survey involved 185 respondents from 87 international schools in 11 countries. Results indicate that the elements Leach identified continue to be integral to international schools today.

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Zusammenfassung Internationale Schulen wurden für die Schulausbildung von Schülern eingerichtet, die mit ihren Familien im Ausland leben. Robert Leach entwarf 1969 einen konzeptionellen Rahmen, der die Schaffung eines Geistes des Internationalismus innerhalb der Schule sichern sollte. Die in diesem Artikel beschriebene Forschungsarbeit vergleicht das ursprüngliche Modell von Leach mit den Beobachtungen, die Lehrer, Verwalter und Aufsichtsratsmitglieder 1990 in diesen Schulen machten. Die Studie beinhaltete 187 Beteiligte aus 87 internationalen Schulen in 11 Ländern. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß die von Leach identifizierten Elemente weiterhin Bestandteil der internationalen Schulen von heute sind.

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Resumen Los colegios internacionales comenzaron a ofrecer educaión preescolar a ninos cuyas familias vivían en el extranjero. En 1969, Robert Leach creó un delineamiento conceptual que aspiraba a asegurar la formación de un espíritu de internacionalismo a través de los colegios. El estudio descrito en este trabajo compara el modelo original de Leach con las percepciones que en los años noventa tuvieron educadores, administradores y miembros de la dirección que trabajaban en esos colegios. El estudio abarcaba a 185 sujetos de estudio de 87 colegios internacionales en 11 países. Los resultados indican que los elementos que Leach había identificado siguen formando parte de los colegios internacionales hoy en día.

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Résumé Les écoles internationales ont été créées afin de dispenser des cours aux enfants de familles vivant à l'étranger. En 1969 Robert Leach esquisse un cadre de travail conceptuel qui assurerait la formation d'un esprit d'internationalisme par l'intermédiaire de l'école. La recherche évoquée dans cet article compare le modèle original de Leach avec les expériences des éducateurs, administrateurs et membres des comités directeurs de ces écoles dans les années 90. L'étude concernait 185 personnes travaillant dans 87 écoles internationales réparties dans 11 pays. Les résultats montrent que les éléments identifiés par Leach continuent d'être partie intégrante des écoles internationales d'aujourd'hui.

     

Can We Say the “r” Word?: Identifying and Disrupting Colorblind Epistemologies in a Teacher Education Methods Course

Several educational researchers have critiqued the increasing marginalization of foundations coursework in teacher education programs within the United States. Situated within a teacher certification program at a Predominately White Institution without foundations courses, this self-study examined an English methods course designed to address this curricular gap and prepare candidates to teach racially and culturally diverse students attending urban schools. Through a conceptual framework grounded in critical race theory, interpretive analysis of student work relative to course material evidenced a consistent pattern of omitting themes, discussions, and reflection about race and racism. This finding–consistent with the literature on colorblind epistemologies–led me to implications about pedagogy and curriculum in teacher education centered around opportunities for candidates to develop racial literacy in their methods courses and across their programs.     

Beliefs of teachers in Italian schools concerning the inclusion of disabled students: a Q‐sort analysis

This paper presents a course of research into the beliefs of class teachers concerning the scholastic integration of children with disabilities. In the current situation in Italy, due to limited specialist training, the attitudes that teachers develop can constitute an obstacle to the full realization of scholastic integration. Of the 23 teachers who took part in the study, conducted using the Q‐sort methodology, some had direct experience with scholastic integration (with opinions both positive and negative); and others had no direct experience (but also had both positive and negative opinions). Using the Q‐sort system, the paper sets out to verify whether effectively the simple manifestation of positive or negative beliefs in relation to inclusion on the part of the teachers (whether they had direct experience or not) could be confirmed, and whether it lent itself to being developed in reference to specific areas of scholastic experience. From the factorial analysis of the Q‐data, four factors emerged that confirm our hypothesis regarding the existence of different beliefs among teachers.     

The exporting and franchising of elite English private schools: the emerging “second wave”

The past decade has seen the emergence, predominantly in Thailand and mainland China, of a form of educational institution that has had little scholarly attention or generic identification. This paper shows how the ad hoc and opportunistic franchising of elite English private schools, beginning with the hyper-capitalist exportation of the Dulwich College “brand” to Phuket in 1996, led to the emergence of a quasi-market involving the “satellite college”. This paper charts the development of this educational experiment and shows how a distinct “second wave” is beginning to appear: The Charities Act of England and Wales 2006 has put pressure on charitable-status elite private schools in England to subsidise places for low-income students. As a result, the satellite college model looks set to appear in a more systematic manner and beyond Asia. This paper discusses this model of hyper-capitalism as it enters a seemingly more problematic and controversial phase of development.     

“Seeing Their Eyes in the Rearview Mirror”: Identifying and Responding to Students' Challenging Experiences

There is a noticeable gap in the educational research literature specifically focused on trauma and documenting effective educator practices. This case study captures the voice and perspectives of Mr. Sellers, an effective Black, male educator who, through making sense of the impact of his students' ecological realities, provides insight about trauma, traumatic experiences, and the ways in which he supports them. I conceptualize and name the experiences of these students as traumatic because this is the language that Mr. Sellers himself used to make sense of his students' situations. It is important to note that I focus on these occurrences not to highlight the negatives or deficits of this community; my point in naming these ecological situations is to point out how structural challenges can influence communities and, ultimately, the people (including students) in those contexts. Despite what established literature suggests about the unpreparedness of educators to respond to student trauma, this study documents effective practices of a successful educator in an urban school setting. In particular, the findings in this study offer three takeaways for educators to more adequately identify and respond to students grappling with trauma: (1) context-specific recognition, (2) trauma-conscious approaches, and (3) holistic responsiveness. The findings of this study also suggest that there is a need for broadening educators' capacity, adequately preparing them, and shifting the ways in which schools and policies understand an educator's role.     

Identifying and remediating dyslexia in the Reception year,a new possibility?

Research has shown that dyslexics have an inability to establish sound‐symbol correspondence, phonological awareness and alphabetic knowledge by the normal teaching methods used in schools. In new research with Reception year children, ages 4 and 5 years, it was found that 90 per cent on entry to 8 Reception classes had not established sound to symbol correspondence. Five months later, despite the normal daily teaching of reading and writing skills, one third of children had still not ‘cracked the alphabetic code’. Reports were sent to the teachers identifying each child's level of skill in handwriting and spelling with suggestions for specific interventions to promote the learning of sounds and their symbols. On entry into Year 2, in a 10 minute writing test, it was found that all the shildren had now developed sound‐symbol knowledge. At the end of Key Stage 1 the national SATs results showed that the disadvantaged groups in the project schools had raised their performance by 30 per cent in literacy above previous years and the already high perfoorming group had improved by 10 per cent. One dyslexic was identified in the Year 2 test by a need for word‐building teaching.     

Education and disadvantage: the role of community‐oriented schools

The proposed development of extended schools in England is part of an international movement towards community‐oriented schooling, particularly in areas of disadvantage. Although on the face of it this movement seems like a common‐sense approach to self‐evident needs, the evaluation evidence on such schools is inconclusive. In order to assess the likelihood that community‐oriented schooling will have a significant impact on disadvantage, therefore, this paper analyses the rationale on which this approach to schooling appears to be based. It argues that community‐oriented schools as currently conceptualised have a focus on ‘proximal’ rather than ‘distal’ factors in disadvantage, underpinned by a model of social in/exclusion which draws attention away from underlying causes. They are, therefore, likely to have only small‐scale, local impacts. The paper suggests that a more wide‐ranging strategy is needed in which educational reform is linked to other forms of social and economic reform and considers the conditions which would be necessary for the emergence of such a strategy.     

“Truth or consequences”: a feminist critical policy analysis of the STEM crisis

STEM education has received significant attention in the USA and is largely fueled by rhetoric suggesting the USA is losing its global competitive edge and that there is a lack of qualified workers available to fill growing STEM jobs. However, a counter discourse is emerging that questions the legitimacy of these claims. In response, we employed feminist critical policy analysis as both a theory and a method to further critique the STEM crisis discourse. We argue that the nature of the current discourse is misleading at worst and incomplete at best and show who is fueling the crisis discourse and who stands to win or lose as a result. We reveal how the crisis discourse draws attention away from the multi-layered complexity of the issue and surface what is missing in the discourse to re-center public attention on protracted problems that still need dismantling.     

“One man one job”: the marriage ban and the employment of women teachers in Irish primary schools

In 1932, the Irish government, facing an economic downturn, introduced a marriage ban which required that female primary school teachers were required to resign on marriage. This followed a series of restrictive legislative measures adopted by Irish governments throughout the 1920s which sought to limit women's participation in public life and the public sector. Such a requirement emerged in several countries in response to high unemployment and applied principally to women's white-collar occupations, leading some commentators to argue that it stemmed from a social consensus rather than an economic rationale. Despite opposition to the ban from the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) on the basis that it was unconstitutional, would lead to fewer marriages and that married women were in fact more suited to teaching children, it remained in place until 1958. Although the ban is much referred to as part of the gender ideology that informed legislation in the early years of independent Ireland, the particular history of married women teachers has been little researched in the academic context. Over 50 years since the rescinding of the ban, this article examines its impact through an analysis of primary sources, including government cabinet minutes and the public commentary of the INTO and positions this history within the international context.     

Do the rich become richer and the poor poorer?: A longitudinal analysis of pupil achievement and progress in elementary schools using computer-assisted instruction

In arithmetic, contrary to economics, only the first part of the question in the title receives an affirmative answer. In other words, there is hope for low achievers. A longitudinal analysis of pupil achievement and progress was done in 15 schools, over 5 years, on the subject of elementary school arithmetic. The pupil population was divided into nine groups, using two dimensions: school socio-economic status (SES) and pupil achievement, each one with three categories. The most striking result is that the within-class achievement differences are much higher than the achievement differences resulting from diverse SES. Another important result refers to the rate of progress of the different subpopulations, and this point is extensively discussed in this chapter. Some thoughts about the need for educational reform are presented, based on these analyses.     

“One man one job”: the marriage ban and the employment of women teachers in Irish primary schools

In 1932, the Irish government, facing an economic downturn, introduced a marriage ban which required that female primary school teachers were required to resign on marriage. This followed a series of restrictive legislative measures adopted by Irish governments throughout the 1920s which sought to limit women’s participation in public life and the public sector. Such a requirement emerged in several countries in response to high unemployment and applied principally to women’s white‐collar occupations, leading some commentators to argue that it stemmed from a social consensus rather than an economic rationale. Despite opposition to the ban from the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) on the basis that it was unconstitutional, would lead to fewer marriages and that married women were in fact more suited to teaching children, it remained in place until 1958. Although the ban is much referred to as part of the gender ideology that informed legislation in the early years of independent Ireland, the particular history of married women teachers has been little researched in the academic context. Over 50 years since the rescinding of the ban, this article examines its impact through an analysis of primary sources, including government cabinet minutes and the public commentary of the INTO and positions this history within the international context.     

Distributed leadership and middle leadership practice in schools: a disconnect?

This article reports on a small-scale collaborative research study on middle leadership (ML) in Iceland and Ireland. It explores the ML role using the theoretical lens of distributed leadership (DL). The majority of DL studies to date examine leadership as an organisational resource that can be cultivated and utilised to serve school improvement. This research, however, situates the teacher at the core of DL and commences a discourse on how MLs experience their leadership practice from a DL perspective. The empirical investigation is based on semi-structured focus group interviews across the range of schools in both education contexts. The findings indicate a disconnect between DL theory as outlined in the literature and ML practice as currently experienced in Ireland and Iceland. While a form of DL exists in both contexts, this is strictly at the gift of the Principal rather than a reciprocal relationship with teachers in relation to leading school activities. The findings also signal a need for a proactive approach in School Leadership Preparation Programmes and in Initial Teacher Education to facilitate school leaders and teachers in understanding and adopting a distributed mindset.     

From a ‘Sketchy Policy’ to a ‘Workable Scheme’: the DES and grant‐maintained schools

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how initial proposals for grant‐maintained (GM) schools were developed by the Department of Education and Science (DES) as it took them forward into legislation. Drawing on interviews conducted with officials involved in creating a statutory framework for GM schools, the paper addresses wider issues of policy generation including the extent to which civil servants influence the content of education policy. In the case of GM schools policy, this study suggests that the DES developed the original policy proposals in ways unforeseen by its early advocates. It concludes by reviewing the significance of recent changes to the policy and argues that these have to be interpreted in light of the government's ideological commitment to bring ‘market principles’ to the education service.     

Changing a discipline in universities and a subject in schools: British geography in the 1950s–1970s

Geography emerged as an academic discipline in British universities in response to demands for trained teachers of the subject in the country’s burgeoning secondary schools and their curricula formed a seamless transition from one to the other. In the 1960s a major shift in the nature of the academic discipline – often termed the ‘quantitative and theoretical revolutions’ – created a breach between the two, but there were demands from within the university sector for changes to the school subject so that a new seamless transition could be instated. This essay charts the nature of those changes and how they were brought about by the key actors, both individual and institutional. Having created that apparent unity, subsequent changes saw the two educational sectors drift apart, although recent developments have sought to reinstate stronger links.     

Mainstreaming diversity in Australia's schools: problematizing the neo-liberal “third way”

Australian multiculturalism has been a successful bipartisan approach to post-War socio-economic change, but now there are signs of fragmentation. Taking schooling as a contested site of public policy, the paper disputes the neo-liberal ‘Third Way’ as a justification of the provision of choice. Rather than allowing private schooling to hold sway, the paper promotes the place of public schooling, and a commitment to a ‘thick’ democracy that this entails. Both the market-driven managerialism of much Western education policy, and the political liberalism of Rawls, it is argued, are slow to appreciate the necessity of this. Yet neo-liberalism, in promoting individual choice-making, seems to require just such a democratic commitment.