The Effects of Student Composition on School Outcomes

This article explores the concept of compositional effects in school effect studies, their generation and some of the difficulties that arise in their interpretation. Some basic issues are addressed using data from a New Zealand study of secondary schools, and further illustration of some of the “pitfalls” is provided from an English study of primary school performance indicators. The importance of model specification, predictor reliability, and cautious interpretation are highlighted.     

新高考改革背景下考生择校行为可视化分析 ——以M大学为例

新高考改革倒逼高校更加关注"用户需求".通过采集某师范大学新生数据构建可视化模型,发现存在三类特征差异较为明显的新生"典型画像".基于画像,可以制定不同群体的精准招生宣传措施并提供不同阶段的个性化服务.根据细分市场提供精准信息服务成为研究热点和行业共识.精准服务的前提是对细分市场用户群体特征的分析,把握潜在目标群体的择...     

School composition and peer effects in distinctive organizational settings

This chapter reviews the research on school composition and peer effects from three comparative perspectives—Catholic and public schools, single-sex and coeducational schools, and small and large schools. Most of the research is sociological, focuses on high schools, and draws on national samples. The chapter seeks to discern cumulative trends in this research as it has evolved over the past two decades. Catholic schools have consistently edged public schools in achievement, but whether they offer additional benefits to minority and economically disadvantaged students is inconclusive. Although earlier studies suggested a single-sex school advantage, more recent research finds no difference between the two school types. Student achievement is higher in smaller schools, specifically schools in the 600–900 range, and in smaller schools achievement is more equitably distributed. While most of the reviewed research examined compositional rather than peer effects, some studies have offered theoretical perspectives that implicate peer effects. Research on compositional and peer effects would be enhanced by further development of theory, education databases designed to investigate multilevel questions, broader application of multilevel statistical techniques, and a search for the mechanisms through which compositional and peer effects operate.     

培育“变革文化”，引领“转型性变革”

在当今独特的时代环境中,学校要走“转型性变革”之路,这一点在“新基础教育”研究共同体中已成共识。闵行四中在践行“新基础教育”理论的过程中,扎根学校传统,依托现实基础,走出了一条以学校“变革文化”的自觉培育来带动学校文化建设,引领学校转型性变革的新路。     

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.     

Stichwort: Familie, Peers und (informelle) Bildung im Kindes- und Jugendalter

The importance of non-school educational stimuli which arise in “normal” everyday life (mainly through experience and “learning from life”) and the contribution of such stimuli to the educational development of young people are often underestimated. The educational value of the widely differing casual educational structures in family and peer relationships is often not fully appreciated in educational research until such structures are combined with formal school education. So far, researchers have only just begun to explore the value of informal education and to venture beyond the “traditional” limitation of empirical educational research in Germany to formal, institutionally organised education and competence acquisition processes for pupils. In recent years, attention has not only been directed towards the family as an independent place of education—studies have also focused on real life informal interaction situations in peer relationships and their importance as significant educational factors in the context of unsupervised child daytime activities. The researchers tend to regard the family as a “different type of educational sphere” and peer relationships as social interactions between equals with considerable educational potential, involving social and cultural exchange processes which constitute “everyday education” and which differ in their effects depending on the milieu. In view of the enormous differences in the way in which children and young people are integrated into family and peer-based everyday situations, it is important to point out the high educational significance of family and peer relationships for informal education, and this must always be analysed in relation to the social milieu of the family of origin and the type of school attended by the young people. The existing research initiatives and results are discussed here in relation to various research questions. The varied considerations in relation to the significance and impact of peer relationships and the existing approaches adopted in research serve as a starting point for further suggestions for future research, and these desirable new directions in research are then discussed from a theoretical and methodological perspective.     

The Front and Back Stages of Swedish School Inspection: Opening the Black Box of Judgment

This article provides results from a study of the hidden processes of consensus formation that precede and make possible official judgments and decisions of the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (SI). The research question for the study was: How is knowledge negotiated on the back stage of school inspection and presented on the front stage? The article builds on in-depth case studies of school inspection in four schools. Data include internal and official material from SI, on-site observations of inspection in schools and internal quality assurance meetings at SI, and interviews with inspectors. The analysis is inspired by Goffman's usage of the concepts “front stage” and “back stage.” The results suggest that the SI front stage borrows legitimacy from an evidence-based model aiming at objective and “equivalent” judgments, while the back stage displays a complex mix of rigorous formalized guidance and uncertainty that requires inspectors’ brokering and deliberation.     

The effect of peer socioeconomic status on student achievement: A meta-analysis

Previous studies on the effects on students’ test scores of their peers’ socioeconomic status (SES) reported varying results. A meta-regression analysis including 30 studies on the topic shows that the compositional effect that researchers find is strongly related to how they measure SES and to their model choice. If they measure SES dichotomously (e.g. free lunch eligibility) or include several average SES-variables in one model, they find smaller effects than when using a composite that captures several SES-dimensions. Composition measured at cohort/school level is associated with smaller effects than composition measured at class level. Researchers estimating compositional effects without controlling for prior achievement or not taking into account the potential for omitted variables bias, risk overestimating the effect. Correcting for a large set of not well-thought-over covariates may lead to an underestimation of the compositional effect, by artificially explaining away the effect. Little evidence was found that effect sizes differ with sample characteristics such as test type (language vs. math) and country. Estimates for a hypothetical study, making a number of “ideal” choices, suggest that peer SES may be an important determinant of academic achievement.     

Selling education through “culture”: responses to the market by new, non-government schools

The move to a market model of schooling has seen a radical restructuring of the ways schooling is “done” in recent times in Western countries. Although there has been a great deal of work to examine the effects of a market model on local school management (LSM), teachers’ work and university systems, relatively little has been done to examine its effect on parents’ choice of school in the non-government sector in Australia. This study examines the reasons parents give for choosing a nongovernment school in the outer suburbs of one large city in Australia. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu specifically his ideas on “cultural capital” (1977), this study revealed that parents were choosing the non-government school over the government school to ensure that their children would be provided, through the school’s emphasis on cultural capital, access to a perceived “better life” thus enhancing the potential to facilitate “extraordinary children”, one of the school’s marketing claims.     

What “ideas‐about‐science” should be taught in school science? A Delphi study of the expert community

Recent arguments in science education have proposed that school science should pay more attention to teaching the nature of science and its social practices. However, unlike the content of science, for which there is well‐established consensus, there would appear to be much less unanimity within the academic community about which “ideas‐about‐science” are essential elements that should be included in the contemporary school science curriculum. Hence, this study sought to determine empirically the extent of any consensus using a three stage Delphi questionnaire with 23 participants drawn from the communities of leading and acknowledged international experts of science educators; scientists; historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science; experts engaged in work to improve the public understanding of science; and expert science teachers. The outcome of the research was a set of nine themes encapsulating key ideas about the nature of science for which there was consensus and which were considered to be an essential component of school science curriculum. Together with extensive comments provided by the participants, these data give some measure of the existing level of agreement in the community engaged in science education and science communication about the salient features of a vulgarized account of the nature of science. Although some of the themes are already a feature of existing school science curricula, many others are not. The findings of this research, therefore, challenge (a) whether the picture of science represented in the school science curriculum is sufficiently comprehensive, and (b) whether there balance in the curriculum between teaching about the content of science and the nature of science is appropriate. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 692–720, 2003     

普通高中思想政治教科书的活动设计及其教学实施

“活动型学科课程”作为普通高中思想政治课程新的课程理念与学科定位,其实现需要通过教科书中的活动设计作为学科内容的载体和实践来支撑。普通高中思想政治教科书的活动设计可以从“有什么用”“怎么使用”“谁来使用”三个角度进行设计和理解,以此构成了“活动—内容—学科核心素养”(功能维度)、“活动—情境—议题”(实践维度)、“活动—学生—教师”(主体维度)三个层面的活动设计思路。以活动设计的这三个维度为指引,推进高中思想政治课教学形态的转变,从而在“活动型学科课程”理念的教科书呈现与教学落实上确立起行动共识。     

Neoliberal common sense and race-neutral discourses: a critique of “evidence-based” policy-making in school policing

The author of this paper uses critical discourse analysis and draws on critical social theory and policy studies to analyze the interdiscursivity between neoliberal common sense discourses around crime and safety and race-neutral discourses, “evidence-based” policy, and the research that supports school policing programs. The author offers a macro-sociological analysis of how neoliberal common sense and race-neutral discourses shape crime policy. Next, the author discusses the rise of “evidence-based” policy formation. She argues that evidence-based policy serves to narrow the scope of what constitutes “scientific” research and delegitimize research that uses race as an analytical lens. Then, through textual analysis of samples of the “evidence” supporting school policing, the author illustrates the ways in which neoliberal common sense discourses around crime and safety and race-neutral discourses become the ideological starting point for the research and internalized within research documents. The result is the creation of a hegemonic “evidence-loop” that privileges ideologically driven research that assumes a “scientific” stance and obscures racial bias while it excludes the critical research on the school policing.     

A model of assessment and intervention for Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NVLD) in the Australian education system: an educational and developmental psychologist perspective

Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD) have a relatively rare incidence, estimated to be approximately 1.7% of all learning disabilities. Symptoms of the disorder are perceptual, social and emotional. These symptoms differ according to the developmental age, with 85% of cases being diagnosed in secondary school when education becomes more complex. In Australia the intricate arrangements between funding for intervention within the school and the requirements from the assessment authority in each state for special provision mean that a cohesive model is required for school professionals to guide education for NVLD students. This is particularly important to enable access to tertiary education. A flow-chart model of assessment and intervention for the Australian education system is demonstrated, which draws on two case studies (“Katie” currently attending university and “Jamie” currently in year 8) with the provision of Australian and International research and literature to validate the model.     

基于实践能力导向的教育硕士分类培养研究——以小学教育专业为例

专业学位研究生的培养主要是以实践能力为导向。就教育硕士而言,其实践能力结构包括教学能力、管理能力、教育研究能力、课程开发与设计能力和心理健康教育能力五个方面。从"是否有学校教学工作经历"和"是否师范专业本科毕业"两个维度,可以将教育硕士研究生分为"有经历师范生""无经历师范生""有经历非师范"和"无经历非师范"四类,他们对硕士阶段的理论课程学习和实践教学皆表现出不同的反馈与诉求,需要从理论课程和实践环节的设计上做出区分以进行分类培养。     

Exploring the Changing Face of Adequacy

Adequacy is a derived concept whose origins in the school finance literature probably stem from San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973), a landmark federal case. Although there is often a recycling of definitions, 3 decades later, there is still little consensus on how to operationalize that concept. The purpose of this article is to synthesize the different conceptualizations of adequacy and to document its evolution in the field. A critical historical mapping lays the groundwork for highlighting the future direction of research. This article relies on economical, sociological, and legally based perspectives, framing the discussion of adequacy around the notions of (a) adequacy of educational inputs, (b) adequacy in school processes, and (c) adequacy of educational outputs. Each focus draws on school-centered explanations of differences in attainment. Consequently, adequacy research looks largely at how policymakers can appropriately divide resources among schools (and ultimately students) to achieve desired results. There is a long-established focus in the literature on the appropriate levels of inputs and outputs in discussions of the adequacy of the education production function. Largely missing from that discussion, however, is a more detailed examination of the adequacy of the process, which speaks to the capacity of institutions to meet various standards set.     

The mental health and psychological well-being of refugee children and young people: an exploration of risk,resilience and protective factors

This research investigates the perceptions of refugee children, refugee parents and school staff regarding the positive adaptation of refugee children in a new social context and the effects on mental health and psychological well-being. This included an exploration of resilience and the role of risk and protective factors. Few studies have focused on views from a resilience perspective, and these have tended to use quantitative rather than qualitative measures. This mixed methods piece of “real world” research adopted a “what’s working well” perspective and explored the important voices of these children, parents and school staff. Staff, parent and child responses were triangulated to provide a rich picture of the potential protective factors operating within the school and family environment. Implications for practice are discussed.     

大学与中小学伙伴合作的百年历程与时代审视

我国大学与中小学伙伴合作可追溯至20世纪初,大学以"附属中小学校"形式开展的合作,历经了萌芽期、缓慢发展期、稳步发展期、本土探索期以及转型深化期的百年历程,促使学校发展方式从"各自为政"走向"伙伴合作"、教师专业发展从"数量扩张"走向"质量提升"、课程建设由"固守传统"走向"推陈出新"、课堂变革从"教学中心"走向"研究中心"。同时,也面临着大学与中小学不同文化取向的冲突、不同生态取向的冲突以及不同利益需求的冲突等衍生的困境。从新时代赋予学校发展的使命来看,走向"创生"是伙伴合作的生态模式、文化融合是伙伴合作的发展取向、跨界合作是伙伴合作的行动路径、构建共同愿景是伙伴合作的时代价值。     

STEM课程校本开发的国际经验与启示

在STEM教育起步阶段,课程选择是教学实践的首要问题。通过文献分析发现,“国家或地方非营利性组织机构”提供的支持或指导型STEM课程、“第三方机构”提供的直接交付型STEM课程以及学校自主开发或与其它组织合作开发的校本开发型STEM课程构成了STEM课程可选择的三种类型。其中,兼具“学生发展立场-学校改革创新-教师专业实践”多重内涵的“校本开发型STEM课程”是办学主体实践智慧的凝结。国际上主要从教育决策、学校发展定位、教师专业发展、课程开发方法和策略等四个方面展开STEM课程校本开发的研究和实践。STEM课程校本开发的国际经验为我国STEM教育起步和发展提供了有益借鉴。     

Mayoral Leadership Matters: Lessons Learned From Mayoral Control of Large Urban School Systems

“Mayoral takeover” has emerged as a major reform option for struggling urban districts since it was launched in Boston in 1992 and Chicago in 1995. This article examines the design, implementation, and the effects of mayoral-led school systems. Our research addresses issues that are critical to systemwide improvement: Are there variation in how mayors govern their schools? How can mayors “add values” to current school reform efforts in their cities? Have more resources been provided for teaching and learning? Is the public more confident in their city's school system? Are test scores improving? In addressing these issues of student outcomes and management improvement, we highlight lessons learned from our research project's mixed-methods approach, including case studies and statistical analyses using a multiyear database on a purposeful sample of 100 urban districts.     

Reform in statistical education

Two questions are considered in this article: (a) What should professionals in school psychology do in an effort to stay current with developments in applied statistics? (b) What should they do with their existing knowledge to move from surface understanding of statistics to deep understanding? Written for school psychologists who have completed their formal education, this article examines the way in which four kinds of relatively new technological tools—Java applets, electronic discussion groups, blogs, and online books, tutors, and courses—can help professionals increase their knowledge and understanding of statistical concepts and procedures. Because new statistical procedures, over time, enter the arsenal of applied researchers, and given that the National Association of School Psychologists explicitly states that continuing professional development in research is an expectation, the information presented here shows school psychologists that there are useful and efficient ways for them to “keep current” with advances in applied statistics. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 527–533, 2007.