The Challenge of Controlling for SES in Social Science and Education Research

This article addresses the difficulties of controlling for socioeconomic status (SES) in social science and educational studies. The article reviews the history behind controlling for SES and points out the shortcomings of the research approaches of the past. I then assert that there still remain a number of weaknesses in the ways that are presently and commonly used for controlling for SES. I argue that the field of the natural sciences is well ahead of the social sciences in addressing some of the difficulties in measuring the effects of SES. Among the issues that natural scientists are investigating include the notion of reciprocal causality and SES as a catch all variable, as well as examining the factors that affect SES. The article examines a number of methods that researchers are introducing to examine the effects of SES in more sophisticated ways. These methods include considering variables that influence SES, taking measures of SES at different points in time, examining intervening variables that act between SES and the variables under study, and other approaches.     

The role of schools in bridging within-school achievement gaps based on socioeconomic status: a cross-national comparative study

Since the publication of the Coleman report in 1966, research on the role of schools in influencing student achievement relative to the role of family background has generated considerable interest and controversy. A large volume of international and comparative research has also been devoted to studying school effects on student achievement. Relatively few studies have examined international differences in the importance of schools in bridging achievement gaps based on socioeconomic status (SES). Using PISA 2012 data, this study examines the role of schools in bridging within-school SES gaps in achievement and compares findings across 61 countries. Contrary to prior research, we find that schools may have limited ability in bridging SES gaps that exist within schools. We also find that across all countries included in the study, specific factors such as the school’s learning environment and school context are not systematically associated with within-school SES gaps.     

Emotion regulation,homework completion,and math achievement: Testing models of reciprocal effects

The current investigation employs models of reciprocal effects among emotion management, cognitive reappraisal, homework completion, and achievement, based on two measurement points from 1450 Chinese 8th graders. Results revealed that emotion management and math achievement were reciprocally related. Furthermore, higher prior achievement led to higher subsequent cognitive reappraisal and homework completion. Additionally, significant interactions were found between emotion management and cognitive reappraisal in the prediction of subsequent emotion management, cognitive reappraisal, and homework completion. Specifically, these findings indicated that emotion management had a more positive influence on subsequent emotion management, cognitive reappraisal, and homework completion when prior cognitive reappraisal was low (compensatory effect by decreasing the gap between students with prior high and low cognitive reappraisal).     

The magic of hope: Hope mediates the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement

Two studies examined whether hope partially mediates the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement. Guided by recent theoretical formulations about social class and the social cognitive process, in Study 1 a mediational pathway from SES to academic achievement via hope was documented in a diverse sample of adolescents. The mediational pathway was replicated in Study 2 in a minority sample of high school students. In both studies, hope was found to partially mediate the relationship between SES and grade point average. In addition, the unique contribution of hope to academic achievement replicated across the 2 studies, indicating that the additional stressors and challenges associated with being a minority did not affect the mediation. These results have implications for achievement gap interventions.     

The role of test scores in explaining race and gender differences in wages

Previous research has suggested that skills reflected in test-score performance on tests such as the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) can account for some of the racial differences in average wages. I use a more complete set of test scores available with the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort to reconsider this evidence, and the results suggest a conclusion similar to earlier research. I also examine the ability of test scores to account for gender differences in wages. Women do not perform as well as men on two math-oriented tests, but they perform better on two speed-oriented tests that appear to have a strong relationship with wages. On net, the test-score difference can help account for only a small part of the gender difference in wages (for any race). Further results suggest that unexplained race and gender differences in wages have been growing over time for the 1979 cohort.     

The Dutch gender gap in mathematics: Small for achievement, substantial for beliefs and attitudes

In general, studies on gender and mathematics show that the advantage held by boys over girls in mathematics achievement has diminished markedly over the last 40 years. Some researchers even argue that gender differences in mathematics achievement are no longer a relevant issue. However, the results of the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study of 2003 (TIMSS-2003), as well as the participation rates of girls in (advanced) mathematics courses, show that in some countries, such as the Netherlands, gender equity in mathematics is still far from a reality. Research on gender and mathematics is often limited to the relationship between gender differences in attitudes toward mathematics and gender differences in mathematics achievement. In school effectiveness research, theories and empirical evidence emphasize the importance of certain school and class characteristics (e.g., strong educational leadership, safe and orderly learning climate) for achievement and attitudes. However, there is little information available at to whether these factors have the same or a different influence on the achievement of girls and boys. This study used the Dutch data from TIMSS-2003 to explore the relationship between school- and class characteristics and the mathematics achievement and attitudes for both girls and boys in Grade 4 of the primary school. The explorations documented in this paper were guided by a conceptual model of concentric circles and involved multilevel analyses. Interaction effects with gender were assessed for each influencing factor that turned out to have a significant effect. The results of these analyses provide additional insight into the influence that non-school-related and school-related factors have on the mathematics achievement and attitudes of girls and boys.     

Explaining the gender gaps in mathematics achievement and attitudes: The role of societal gender equality

The gender stratification hypothesis maintains that higher levels of societal gender equity predict smaller gender gaps in mathematics achievement and attitudes. Using data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) across 56 countries, this study aims to provide a thorough empirical test of the gender stratification hypothesis. We employ a novel two-stage empirical strategy to investigate the link between societal gender equities and gender differences in mathematics achievement and attitudes. In the first stage, we use a semiparametric Oaxaca-Blinder (OB) method to decompose the gender gaps in each country into a part that is explained by gender differences in observable characteristics and a part that remains unexplained. In the second stage, we examine the relationships between the unexplained parts of the gender gaps and country-specific gender equity measures. The results highlight the importance of gender equity in the labor market in explaining cross-country variation in the gender math gap. We find that lower gender wage gap is significantly associated with a smaller unexplained part of the gender math gap favoring boys. In terms of the gender gaps in math attitudes, the results yield mixed support for the gender stratification hypothesis.     

Mapping and explaining the gender gap in students’ second language proficiency across skills,countries and languages

This study discusses the generalizability of gender differences in the second language competences of European adolescents across three languages, three skills and fourteen countries. In most cases, females do better than males but the effect sizes are small or medium at best (Cohen's ds < −0.46). However, English appears rather gender-neutral on average, with males sometimes outperforming females. We also found evidence for cross-skill variation: writing turns out to be more prone to gender differences than listening or reading. Thirdly, we found cross-country variation in the gender gap, which supports the hypothesis that gender is primarily a social factor rather than a biological factor in learning. Multilevel mediation analyses with constituents of motivation indeed show that in most cases where females outperform males, up to 60% of this advantage can be explained by the differential appeal of the students' L2 course and by the instrumental, integrative and intrinsic value that students attribute to the L2.     

中学化学课程改革与高师《无机化学》教学

革新无机化学教学理念、教学方式，开发利用化学课程资源，从而转变师范生的学习方式、培养师范生的科学探究能力和创新能力。以应对中学化学课程改革给培养中学化学教师的主干专业基础课程高师《无机化学》教学带来的挑战。     

Academic amotivation and intention to school dropout: the mediation role of academic achievement and absenteeism

The purpose of the current study is to examine the mediation role of academic achievement and absenteeism in the relationship between multidimensional amotivation and intention to school dropout among Turkish high school students. The results have shown that multidimensional amotivation has direct and indirect effects on intention to school dropout. In addition, it has been revealed that academic achievement and absenteeism mediate the association between multidimensional amotivation and intention to school dropout. Finally, the findings suggest that the relationship between amotivation and intention to school dropout varies by gender. These results have shed light on two mechanisms that clarify the relationships between amotivation and intention to school dropout.     

Turtles All the Way: Simulacra and Resistance to Simulacra in Indigenous Teachers’ Discussion of Indigenous Children’s Literature

We are made up of stories: the stories we hear, the stories we tell. Intertextual connections form through repeatedly hearing stories, many of which stem back to childhood. This paper foregrounds a teachers-as-readers literature circle in which a group of Indigenous teachers in Canada discussed, among other titles, Rafé Martin’s The Rough Face Girl and Gerald McDermott’s Raven. Children’s stories are contested spaces because of the persistent presence in them of “simulacra” or imaginary representations of Indigenous peoples. The paper describes how the teachers drew on their storied formations as Indigenous readers to gloss the stories, as well as revised their interpretations through critical discussion with one another.     

Issues relating to curriculum,policy and gender raised by national and international surveys of achievement in mathematics

Scottish schools have provided performance data for five international surveys of attainment in mathematics since 1990. Performance measured against national targets and progression over time and between age‐stages have been monitored nationally, on a regular basis, for 20 years, within the Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) (Scotland). The 1994 AAP mathematics survey findings facilitated interpretation of the age 9 and 13 TIMSS results for Scotland. Both studies were influential in formulation of national policies to improve learning and teaching of mathematics, at ages 5–14. Research available to support policies recommended in 1997 is examined. Concerns about validity and reliability of findings from international studies are discussed in the context of a collaboration undertaken between Scotland and France in 1994. It is concluded that simplistic comparisons ignore important cultural and curricular differences. Outcomes of more recent national and international surveys are reported and performance findings from 1988–2000 that relate to gender are reviewed.     

Muskrat theories,tobacco in the streets,and living Chicago as Indigenous land

In this paper, we aim to contribute to ongoing work to uncover the ways in which settler colonialism is entrenched and reified in educational environments and explore lessons learned from an urban Indigenous land-based education project. In this project, we worked to re-center our perceptual habits in Indigenous cosmologies, or land-based perspectives, and came to see land re-becoming itself. Through this recentering, we unearthed some ways in which settler colonialism quietly operates in teaching and learning environments and implicitly and explicitly undermines Indigenous agency and futurity by maintaining and reifying core dimensions of settler colonial relations to land. We describe examples in which teachers and community members explicitly re-engaged land-based perspectives in the design and implementation of a land-based environmental science education that enabled epistemological and ontological centering that significantly impacted learning, agency, and resilience for urban Indigenous youth and families. In this paper, we explore the significance of naming and the ways in which knowledge systems are mobilized in teaching and learning environments in the service of settler futurity. However, we suggest working through these layers of teaching and learning by engaging in land-based pedagogies is necessary to extend and transform the possibilities and impacts of environmental education.     

澳大利亚土著人教育优惠政策:进程、动因及价值取向

澳大利亚联邦是一个民族多样性显著,高度重视教育,土著人教育发展显著的国家。澳大利亚政府面对土著人发展的境况,以本国的历史为基础,以整个澳大利亚的社会、文化和经济的发展为支撑,在尊重土著人与非土著人之间的差异的前提下,针对土著人教育发展而制定了一系列优惠的政策措施。澳大利亚土著人教育优惠政策彰显出了作为典型的多元文化国家的澳大利亚追求民主平等以及文化的多样性的价值取向。     

The dissertation examination: identifying critical factors in the success of Indigenous Australian doctoral students

Indigenous Australians represent 2.2% of the working age population, yet account for only 1.4% of all university enrolments. In relation to higher degree research students, Indigenous Australians account for 1.1% of enrolments, but only 0.8% of all higher degree research completions. This paper reports on findings that emerged from an Australian Research Council-funded study which aimed to establish a model of best practice for the supervision of Indigenous doctoral students. The project identified the dissertation examination as one of the critical factors underpinning the success of doctoral candidates. Whilst research into the examination process for doctoral students is limited, the research that specifically explores the examination of dissertations submitted by Indigenous students is entirely inadequate. Our research identified key epistemological concerns that impact approaches to the examination process, to demonstrate how the dominance of Western methods of research impact the examination process for Indigenous doctoral students. This paper explores the experiences of 50 successful Indigenous Australian doctors with a specific focus on their examiner preference and disciplinary requirements. It highlights the limitations that some Indigenous students and their supervisors experience in finding an appropriate examiner.     

Remote and invisible: the voices of female Indigenous educational leaders in Northern Territory remote community schools in Australia

While the literature on women and educational leadership has been addressed in substantive ways in recent years, the experiences that reflect female Australian educational leaders are rare. This article reports findings from a study of five female Indigenous principals in the Northern Territory utilising biographic narratives and foregrounds their experiences as female educational leaders in Indigenous communities. I share the views of Ribbins, P. and Gronn, P. (2013. Researching principals: context and culture in the study of leadership in schools. Asia Pacific journal of education, 20 (2), 34–45) and Dimmock, C. and Walker, A. (2005. Educational leadership: culture and diversity. London: Sage) that research and theory into educational leadership must move towards the inclusion of localised unique cultural contexts since the practice of leadership is a socially bounded process. The study reveals the daily complex roles and challenges of being a female Indigenous principal in communities that are grounded in broader Indigenous epistemologies, beliefs, and value systems yet to be fully embraced by mainstream educational leadership perspectives.     

Home book reading and reading achievement in EU countries: the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2011 (PIRLS)

Home shared book reading during the preschool years is a strong predictor of students’ reading achievement in primary school, and, according to Sénéchal (2012), it can benefit more children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. This study examines the association between frequency of book reading before the start of compulsory education and the reading achievement of 4th-grade students whose parents have high and low education levels in 22 European countries. Using data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2011), we show that the contribution of shared reading for the achievement of students from distinct SES backgrounds is different in different countries and that shared reading does not always benefit more children from low-SES backgrounds. Results are discussed in light of Sénéchal's home literacy model, the dynamics of cultural capital, and current policy efforts to support children's literacy development in European countries.