An integrated assessment of the effects of Title I on school behavior,resources, and student achievement

We examine the effects of Title I on school behavior, resources, and academic performance using a rich set of school finance and student-level achievement data from one large urban school district using a regression discontinuity design. We find that Title I eligibility raises Federal revenues of schools by about $460 per student. This is partially offset by decreases in revenues from state categorical aid grants, so that the net increase to schools is about $360 per student. We find no impact on overall school-level test scores, but also no impact among the subgroups of students most likely to be affected by Title I. A novel finding is that schools appear to respond to the incentives embedded in the Title I allocation process by manipulating the fraction of their students signed up for free lunch to secure more Federal funds.     

Rural and Urban Differences in Student Achievement in Science and Mathematics: A Multilevel Analysis

Recent educational research has demonstrated rural/urban differences in achievement and success in higher education. However, in order to assess the rural school's impact on student outcomes, rural/urban comparisons must be made after accounting for student background variables. Researchers have begun to question the generalisability of the effective school model for urban, suburban, and rural schools, given substantial differences in their social and organisational environments (Hannaway & Talbert, 1993). The purpose of this research study was to examine differences in student achievement between rural and urban schools in Western Australia, after controlling for student background variables. By using multilevel modelling techniques, this study demonstrated that the location of the school had a significant effect upon student achievement, with students attending rural schools not performing as well as students from urban schools.     

Contributors and Contributions

In this study, we collected and analyzed data to examine the extent to which the achievement gap between urban and suburban children extended to their knowledge of digital literacies. Findings indicated that the suburban children outperformed the urban students in each of the performance areas, and that suburban children reported greater opportunity to learn new literacies in school than the urban children. This study provides further evidence regarding the achievement gap between children in urban and suburban schools and suggests that our schools suffer from a lack of social justice in providing the education that all children need to become 21st-century learners.     

Race,Social Background,and School Choice Options 1

This research contributes to discussions about social inequality in school choices in two ways. First, educational choices include the multitude of options families may consider, including choosing a home in a particular area and home-schooling. Decision-making is considered not at a single point in time, but over children's educational careers. Second, this research explores school choices across school district boundaries to include school choices in suburban and rural, as well as urban districts. I use data from a random sample of families with school-aged children living in the Philadelphia Metropolitan area (including some counties in New Jersey) and other counties throughout Pennsylvania to explore the options that families consider for their children's schooling. The data paint a picture of two constellations of families: those who are white, suburban, and middle-income (who primarily select schools based on their neighborhoods and residences), and those composed of lower-income and urban families of color (who rely more on non-neighborhood school options). The differences between these predispositions toward choice suggest that the expanded school choice policies of urban school districts will have little influence on overall school inequality because of the tendency of white, suburban middle-class families to choose public schools in their relatively privileged, suburban neighborhoods.     

Accounting for Variation in Science and Mathematics Achievement: A Multilevel Analysis of Australian Data Third International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss)

One of the most consistent themes evident in the literature dealing with rural education is that of rural disadvantage. Much research and literature indicates that students from rural schools receive an education that is inferior to that of students from larger urban or suburban schools. Of the matrix of factors reported to lead to that disadvantage, geographical isolation and the extent to which it restricts access is reported to result in rural schools not having the same standard of resource allocation as urban schools where access is not a problem. This study addresses the issue of resource availability in rural and urban Australian schools and includes the variables: students' attitudes towards science and mathematics and career aspirations of these students. The analysis includes socioeconomic status and gender of these students and investigates how these variables relate to student achievement. Do students in rural schools have the same educational opportunity as students in urban schools? In this study a multilevel model is used which takes into account the classroom level variance in student achievement as well as individual variance and school level variance.     

“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.     

Market Forces and Strategic Adaptation: The Influence of Private Scholarships on Planning in Urban School Systems

While the current debate about the effects of vouchers focuses on the effects of private schools on achievement, it is also important to examine how the introduction of need-based scholarships influences change in school systems. This study uses a qualitative method to examine the influence of a privately funded scholarship program on strategic adaptations within urban public and private schools in a major metropolitan area. The study revealed that senior administrators in public and private schools rapidly adapted their strategies to contend with the new program: suburban public schools prevented scholarship students from enrolling; urban public schools increased choices for public school students; and private schools actively recruited students. However, the scholarships had little influence on the ways these administrators viewed school choice.     

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.     

Classroom management,school staff relations,school climate,and academic achievement: testing a model with urban high schools

Urban learning environments pose distinct instructional challenges for teachers and administrators, and can lead to lower achievement compared to suburban or rural schools. Today’s educational climate increasingly emphasises a need for positive academic outcomes, often measured by standardised tests, on which student educational opportunities, teacher benefits and school funding can be based. By applying an ecological framework to the urban school environment, it could be possible to better understand and ultimately improve the educational context at multiple levels. This study examined how classroom management, staff relations and school climate contribute to academic achievement, as measured by ACT scores. In a large urban American public school system, 208 teachers from 38 high schools were surveyed. A model was tested in which, when academic achievement was accounted for over time, classroom management and staff relations contributed positively to school climate, and climate in turn contributed to academic achievement. Structural equation modeling revealed that the data fitted the proposed model. Results illustrate the roles of school and classroom factors related to academic performance and underline the importance of classroom management strategies and positive learning environments. Results suggest avenues for interventions to increase academic achievement by supporting students through the lens of an ecological framework.     

“What the Real World in Schools is Like”: Urban Youth in Dialogue About Educational Inequality

This article examines the emergence of a dialogue among urban youth about their educational condition, and the opportunities for learning and collaboration that ensue. The study is based on observations and interviews with eight students in a community-based program that supports the engagement of young people in school reform. Notably, the membership includes youth enrolled in both urban and suburban high schools. Findings reveal that the students capitalized on their dialogic inquiry process by constructing knowledge of educational disparity and forging coalitions across district lines. Implications include the possibilities for structuring and supporting students’ social inquiry, and the potential for diverse, student-led dialogues to advance the cause of educational equality.     

Equity in educational resources at the school level in Korea

This paper analyzed the equity of resources at the elementary school level in Korea using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The data included 2,327 Korean public elementary schools in 101 Local Governments within five Local Educational Offices (LEOs). This study found that schools in low property tax per resident areas receive fewer grants, showing a possible, positive relationship between wealth and educational resources. HLM analyses found that schools with higher percentages of free lunch students received more educational resources, indicating vertical equity. However, schools with higher percentages of special students received fewer resources, indicating inequity. These findings suggest recalibrating the school funding formula so that schools with high percentages of special students and with fewer grants from Local Governments could receive more funds from LEOs.     

School effectiveness in 14 sub-Saharan African countries: Links with 6th Graders' reading achievement

In this article school characteristics linked with educational effectiveness in 14 sub-Saharan African countries are identified. Effectiveness has been defined in terms of students' literacy achievement at the end of Grade 6, after taking their social and academic backgrounds into account. The data used are from the second major educational policy research study conducted by the 14 countries that constitute the Southern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality study (SACMEQ). This study, known as the SACMEQ II Project, collected questionnaire and test survey data from around 42,000 students in 2,300 schools in the 14 countries. Information about schools was obtained from questionnaires administered to teachers and principals. The multilevel methods (HLM) we used are appropriate for such analyses and the SACMEQ II nested data design. Schools are differentiated in terms of their social compositions, contexts, and resources (physical and human). Though student achievement is strongly associated with students' social and academic background in all SACMEQ countries, school effects vary across countries. Evident is a pattern of higher achievement in urban schools, with more resources and higher-quality teachers; achievement is typically lower in large schools and those that offer education in “shifts.” Policy implications are emphasized.     

Disciplining Dalmar: a demand to uncover racism and racialization in pursuit of culturally relevant pedagogy

The need for multifaceted analyses of the relationships between how the United States acknowledges racism and how schooling can be structured to mitigate its negative impacts has never been greater, especially given rising attention to the racial “achievement gap.” In suburban, elite Pioneer City, a series of initiatives I will refer to as “the transformation” aimed to eliminate racial disparities in educational achievement through simultaneous efforts to redistribute students from a racially and economically isolated elementary school and train all district staff in a particular brand of culturally relevant pedagogy. This paper draws from a larger yearlong study in which I used critical ethnographic methods to explore tensions between a goal of systemic change and reproductive forces at play in Pioneer City Schools. Focusing on one third-grade student, I offer insights into how the school district’s equity-minded policy changes find their way into one classroom, both reflecting and complicating preexisting ways of viewing the role of race in young children’s lives.     

The role of goal orientations for adolescent mathematics achievement

This study examines the association between personal goal orientations and mathematics achievement within the trichotomous goal framework. Participants comprised approximately 2000 seventh and eighth grade White, Hispanic, and Vietnamese students in a low-income urban school district in California. Regression analysis with classroom fixed effects minimized biases arising from non-random assignment of teachers and students to schools and classrooms. While all three achievement goal orientations were correlated with mathematics achievement, only a mastery goal orientation consistently predicted achievement when a full set of prior achievement and demographic controls were included. Performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations did not predict achievement in the full model.     

Student Team Reading and Writing: A Cooperative Learning Approach to Middle School Literacy Instruction

The goal of this project was to create a middle school literacy program that was more responsive to the needs and abilities of early adolescents in urban middle schools. The program components included: (a) cooperative learning classroom processes; (b) a literature anthology for high interest reading material; (c) explicit instruction in reading comprehension; (e) integrated reading, writing, and language arts instruction; and (f) a writing process approach to language arts. The study was conducted in 5 schools in a large urban school district, 2 implementing Student Team Reading and Writing (STRW) and 3 comparison schools. The results indicated that the students in STRW had significantly higher achievement in reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, and language expression. The results suggest that a multifaceted approach to restructuring can effectively improve the achievement of students in urban middle schools.     

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.     

Measuring the effect of charter schools on public school student achievement in an urban environment: Evidence from New York City

This paper uses student level data from New York City to study the relationship between a public school losing enrollment to charter school competitors and the academic achievement of students who remain enrolled in it. Geographic measures most often used to study the effect of school choice policies on public school student achievement are not well suited for densely populated urban environments. I adopt a direct approach and measure charter school exposure as the percentage of a public school's students who exited for a charter school at the end of the previous year. Depending on model specification, I find evidence that students in schools losing more students to charter schools either are unaffected by the competitive pressures of the choice option or benefit mildly in both math and English.     

Are effective or meritorious schools meretricious?

Data on student achievement gain in a large urban school district during the 1984–85 school year were analyzed to identify schools with achievement consistently higher or lower than schools with similar student and school characteristics. Before calculating gain scores, students were grouped with others of the same sex, ethnicity, initial grade level, and initial achievement level. After residuals for students who were above or below similar students were summed and averaged for reading and math at each grade, school-level regression analysis was used to further control for student and school characteristics. Results indicated that schools with reading gains one standard deviation above the mean had average raw scores less than two items higher than the district average on the sixty-item reading test, while schools with math gains this large had raw scores little more than one item higher than the average on the 44-item math test. In addition, examination of data on schools with residual (combined) reading and math gain scores 1.5 or more standard deviations above the average showed that after taking account of student background information and salient school characteristics, only one elementary school among 173 and no secondary school among 71 had unusually high achievement scores. Implications are discussed regarding efforts to identify and reward meritorious schools which allegedly have improved achievement more than other similar schools.     

Effective Schools for All

The study investigated the relation between district culture, student achievement, and student attitudes about their schools. Perceptions of students as expressed in more than 2,000 essays written about their schools were explored. Seven cultural categories were examined for differences across grade levels and districts. Statistical differences were found for 3 categories (Social/People, Education/Curriculum, and Extra-curricular Activities) for writing achievement, for whether the district culture were rated as positive or negative, and for whether student's comments revealed a positive or negative view of their schools. This study suggests that district culture has a noticeable effect on school culture and on student achievement.