The Effect of Schools and Classes on Mathematics Achievement

In this article, the effects of secondary schools, teachers, and classes on mathematics achievement are explored. The results of multilevel analyses indicate important recruitment differences between schools and classes within schools. After controlling for this, the group composition at the class level remained very important for the explanation of differences in mathematics achievement. Also the learning climate in the class, which correlates positively with group composition, explained an additional part of the variance. The effect of other educational process variables disappeared when group composition variables were entered into the model. At the school level, the proportion of girls was positively related to mathematics achievements. Indications of differential effectiveness of classes and schools and of heteroscedasticity related to SES, average class SES, average class SES, sex, and learning climate were found.     

‘Back to the future’: the impact of political ideology on the design and implementation of geography in the National Curriculum

ABSTRACT

The use of drama to promote children's engagement with and motivation to study history is now commonplace at sites of historical interest and in many primary and secondary classrooms. Researchers interested in this area have often measured children's engagement and interest through the oral contributions made both during the drama and afterwards in discussion, whereas the written responses of children to their experience of history through drama have not been systematically analysed. OFSTED has recently reported that while they have observed many examples of high standards of oral work in history, the standard of writing at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 has been disappointing by comparison. This article seeks to provide direction for teachers trying to develop children's historical writing through drama, and shows how drama can be used to promote analytical as well as empathetic responses to historical questions and problems.     

Raju's Differential Functioning of Items and Tests (DFIT)

Nambury S. Raju (1937–2005) developed two model‐based indices for differential item functioning (DIF) during his prolific career in psychometrics. Both methods, Raju's area measures ( Raju, 1988 ) and Raju's DFIT ( Raju, van der Linden, & Fleer, 1995 ), are based on quantifying the gap between item characteristic functions (ICFs). This approach provides an intuitive and flexible methodology for assessing DIF. The purpose of this tutorial is to explain DFIT and show how this methodology can be utilized in a variety of DIF applications.     

The effect of instruction type and dyadic or individual emulation on the quality of higher-order peer feedback in EFL

Studies in peer feedback on written texts show that instruction in revision is necessary for the effectiveness of global feedback. Participants in the study were 247 university freshmen, native speakers of Dutch, who took the same Business English course, and were instructed a revision strategy following Schunk and Zimmerman's social cognitive model. Participants were first instructed through observation or practising, followed by dyadic or individual emulation, with the aim to determine the most effective combination of instruction and emulation for revision. Results showed a significant interaction of the above two factors. If emulation happens individually, then observation and practice are equally effective in terms of strategy acquisition. For dyadic emulation to be productive, it needs to be preceded by observation.