Browsing by Subject "Student achievement"

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An analysis of elementary principal selection procedures and relationship to student achievement
(2001-05) Ortega, Janie; Unable to Determine
Analysis of the relationship between data use and organizational learning from teacher perspectives
(2011-05) Ka, Shin-Hyun; Reyes, Pedro, 1954-; Wayman, Jeffrey C.; Heilig, Julian V.; Woolley, Jacqueline D.; Clark, Charles T.
This study was conducted to explorer the relationships between teachers’ perceptions of educational data use, their school’s capacity as a learning organization, and the performance of students at their school. This study employed a quantitative research design featuring a Web-based online survey and collected data from a stratified random sample of 112 middle schools and junior high schools nested in nine school districts in Texas. I used the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (Watkins & Marsick, 1993, 1996) to measure the schools’ capacity as a learning organizations and the Survey of Educator Data Use (Wayman, Cho, & Shaw, 2009b) to measure teachers’ educational data use. I also used the student performance data provided by Texas Education Agency. For the data analysis, I employed the statistical techniques of multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM). I found that educational data use and support did relate to the schools’ organizational learning capacity, and that this dynamic acts as an important factor in enhancing campus performance. This finding gives a clear indication that data use and support has an indirect effect on campus performance, and that this effect is mediated by organizational learning. This research is significant in that it reveals that organizational learning worked as a crucial mediating variable in enhancing student achievement through effective use of data. This finding can give meaningful direction to the pursuit of school improvement through data use in school sites, a practice that began as simple top-down policy implementation.
Central office data use : a focus on district and school goals
(2009-05) Moll, Kerry Ann; Wayman, Jeffrey C.
This study examined the data use of central office administrators working in the Curriculum and Instruction Department of a school district. The purpose of this work was to broaden the knowledge base of data use and of the integral role the central office plays in the district-wide use of data to improve teaching and learning. Two research questions guided the study: (a) How do central office personnel involved in curriculum and instruction use data to support district goals of improved student achievement, and (b) how do central office personnel involved in curriculum and instruction use data to support campus goals of improved student achievement? A qualitative and quantitative data collection process with a single-case study approach included focus groups, individual interviews, and a survey instrument. The data from these components were coded, analyzed, and translated into themes and findings using a 9-step constant-comparative process. This process provided rich description and a comprehensive evaluation of findings to answer the research questions. Findings regarding the use of data within the department of curriculum and instruction at the central office revealed that administrators most often took on the role of data provider. The central office provided reports both to campuses and to comply with federal and state regulations and funding requirements; provided professional development to principals, teachers, and instructional specialists; provided information about student achievement to parents and the greater community; and encouraged the use of data and highlighted the value of data use to inform instructional choices. Further analysis of the data revealed barriers that inhibit the systemic use of data and the ability of school districts to become truly data informed: lack of a common vision for data use, creation of data silos that reduce the ability to collaborate and make cooperative data-based decisions, too much data for consideration, and fragmented implementation of the goal-setting process. These findings contribute to the current literature by demonstrating the importance of the central office in data use. In conclusion, what central office administrators do with data matters, and how the central office uses data to support teacher and principal quality is critical in a district focused on improving teaching and student learning.
Computer modeling of the instructionally insensitive nature of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) exam
(2009-08) Pham, Vinh Huy, 1979-; Stroup, Walter M.
Stakeholders of the educational system assume that standardized tests are transparently about the subject content being tested and therefore can be used as a metric to measure achievement in outcome-based educational reform. Both analysis of longitudinal data for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) exam and agent based computer modeling of its underlying theoretical testing framework have yielded results that indicate the exam only rank orders students on a persistent but uncharacterized latent trait across domains tested as well as across years. Such persistent rank ordering of students is indicative of an instructionally insensitive exam. This is problematic in the current atmosphere of high stakes testing which holds teachers, administrators, and school systems accountable for student achievement.
Does parental involvement increase student achievement? How, why, and for whom?
(2010-12) Haldeman, Jennifer L.; Osborne, Cynthia Anne, 1969-; King, Christopher
Increasing the amount and quality of parental involvement as a means of increasing student achievement has been an important policy focus for the last half century, and is especially true today as the United States is faced with an increasingly diverse student body in its public school system. This report examines what parental involvement and student achievement are, the impact of parental involvement, which groups receive the most impact, and factors that affect parental involvement. The focus is the elementary school level, using literacy level as the primary means of student achievement. Of particular interest are schools with diverse student populations that tend to be linguistically diverse and are identified under the federal Title I program. Current research indicates a positive relationship between parental involvement and its effect on student achievement. The most important factor for quality parental involvement that results in improved student achievement is not the type of activity, but how interaction occurs and the intensity level. Parental involvement programs should provide targeted activities that are curriculum related and culturally sound; they must also have the capacity to be practically implemented in the increasingly busy lives of parents and students. While current studies do support this relationship, parental involvement operates within a complex web of interrelated contexts; further quantitative research using more experimental methods and controlled studies could provide results that would strengthen the evidence of using parental involvement as a policy or program choice for increasing student achievement. Policy recommendations are directed primarily at school teachers and administration. Those recommendations are to 1) ensure a welcoming environment through invitations by teachers and students; 2) increase parental self-efficacy; 3) develop extended family resources; 4) highlight the different avenues of parental involvement; 5) allow time for teachers to plan and develop relationships; and 6) ask the parents.
The effect of teacher quality on student achievement in urban schools : a multilevel analysis
(2015-05) Kim, Su-Yun; Saenz, Victor B.; Reyes, Pedro; Valenzuela, Angela; Paxton, Pamela; Brown, Keffrelyn
The No Child Left Behind Act recognizes the importance of quality teachers in improving student achievement in that it mandates that all students have to be taught by “a highly qualified teacher”. The increasing demand for highly qualified teachers has led to a shortage of qualified teachers. In the United States, however, an uneven distribution of high quality teachers exists. A closer look at urban areas reveals that the problem is more severe in those localities than the national average. In order to address the teacher shortage problem in urban areas, more than 40 states initiated an alternative certification route for candidates who hold a bachelor’s degree (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Heilig, Cole, & Springel, 2011), although teachers’ certification or licensing status play an important role in differentiating teacher quality. The purpose of this study was to examine how high quality teachers are distributed across a large, urban district in Texas according to student’s characteristics, school characteristics and student achievement. In addition, more importantly, this study explored how teacher’s quality influences student achievement and, more specifically, on achievement of students with limited English proficiency (LEP). Due to the differences of characteristics in student characteristics and a school system, elementary schools and middle schools were separated in the analyses. In order to examine which students were allocated to high quality teachers and to determine the effect of teacher quality on students’ achievement in an urban district, Southeast Independent School District (SISD), which is a major urban district in Texas with more than 200,000 students, was chosen. As the largest public school system in Texas, SISD has large shares of minority and low-income students. Student data utilized in this analysis came from the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS), which is data collection and reporting system produced by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the public schools of Texas. SISD provided individual level teacher’s data, students’ data, and a matching file so that teacher’s and their students’ data could be linked. All data that SISD provided are protected by using masked identification. To address the research questions, the study involved three statistical approaches – descriptive analysis, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and three-level hierarchical linear models (HLM). Results from ANOVA indicated unequal distribution of high quality teachers across an urban school district. Economically disadvantaged students, minority students, and students with limited English proficiency were more likely to be allocated to alternatively certified teachers. It implies that students with economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds lose a chance to have fully-certified or highly qualified teachers. The test scores of students who had fully-certified teachers were higher than the test scores of under-certified teachers’ or alternatively-certified teachers’ students. Campus accountability ratings were also significantly lower for schools that had more Teach for America (TFA) teachers than schools that had more fully-certified teachers. There were also clear distinctions among teacher’s qualifications, student characteristics, and school conditions between elementary schools and middle schools. There were more alternative certified teachers and less fully-certified teachers in middle schools. Middle schools served a higher percentage of students that are economically disadvantaged, at-risk of dropping out, were LEP, and Hispanic. The average campus accountability rating was also lower in middle schools than elementary schools. Overall, school conditions in middle schools were more inferior than in elementary schools among urban schools in Texas. In order to explain the effect of teacher quality and school condition besides student’s characteristics on student performance, a multilevel analysis was necessary to explain each variance of students, teachers, and schools. Through multilevel analyses (or three-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM)), I confirmed that student background or ability was the strongest predictor of student achievement as many previous studies have found. The results showed that student achievement significantly differed by students’ background or ability even when they have the same reading teachers. However, HLM results also showed that teacher’s and school’s effects on student achievement were not negligible based on their proportions of variances. It implied that student achievement could be differentiated by teacher’s quality or school’s conditions. Among variables regarding teacher qualifications, the fully-certified teacher variable was a solely significant and positive factor of student achievement in middle schools. That is, students who had fully-certified teachers were more likely to achieve higher test scores than those who had under-certified and alternatively certified teachers after controlling all variables. However, in elementary schools that had 95 percent of fully-certified teachers did not show the significant differences of student achievement by teacher’s qualifications. The years of teaching experience and teacher educational attainment was not significant factors to explain student performance. Among school-level predictors, campus accountability ranking was a positively significant factor to predict student achievement in both elementary schools and middle schools. The percentage of economically disadvantaged students in campus was negatively associated with student achievement in middle schools. Since the study focused on reading achievement, the effect of teacher’s quality on the achievement of LEP students was particularly concerning. To address research questions, an interaction effect between teacher certification status and the achievement of LEP students was added on the three-level model. Results from the analysis showed that after accounting all variables LEP students who had fully-certified teachers achieved 0.1 scores higher on the TAKS reading test in the middle schools. Considering that LEP students typically achieved lower than their peers, the results implied that fully-certified teachers mitigate the effect of LEP on TAKS reading. The finding showed a positive effect of fully-certified teachers for students in need and corresponded with previous studies that high quality teachers played a more important role for socially and economically disadvantaged students. To sum up, this study found that teacher quality is a significant factor to predict student achievement, yet highly qualified teachers are unequally distributed across an urban school district. Socially and economically disadvantaged students were less likely to be taught by fully-certified teachers and were more likely to be taught by alternatively certified teachers. Furthermore, their achievement was significantly lower than their peers who were taught by highly qualified teachers. These aspects were more noticeable in middle schools.
Essays on economics of education
(2019-05-10) Oh, Narae; Linden, Leigh, 1975-; Murphy, Richard; Angelucci, Manuela; Fabregas, Raissa
This dissertation studies the role of the peer gender composition and the teacher gender in the education production function. Specifically, I examine the role of gender on human capital accumulation through two key research questions. One, does the peer gender composition matter for students’ educational outcomes? Two, what is the impact of teacher gender on the students’ education choices? The first two chapters investigate the former using education policies in Korea, and Chapter 3 addresses the answers to the latter question using the classroom assignment structure. The first chapter examines the extent to which the gender peer composition of schools matters in explaining the college enrollment and STEM gender gap. I take advantage of the high school assignment policy adopted in Seoul, Korea. I find that students benefit from attending single-sex school regarding college enrollment, especially 4-year university enrollment. Results also show that male students attending all-boys schools are 8 percent more likely to choose a STEM major in a college. I find little evidence that school gender composition affects the STEM outcomes of female students. The second chapter studies the effect of single-sex school on students’ academic achievement and their track choice in high schools. Using a longitudinal data set of students who entered high schools in 2010, I find that single-sex schools are causally linked with improved academic achievement for both boys and girls. Despite the positive associations of all-girls schools with education outcome related to math test scores, I cannot find any significant effects of all-girls schools on the choice of majors and advanced course-taking behaviors. In the third chapter, I explore the role of same-gender teachers on students’ academic achievement, college enrollment and the choice of major exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in students’ and teachers’ assignment to the classrooms. While the test scores of female students are consistently improved when the female teacher teaches them at each grade, same-sex teacher effect does not emerge regarding the STEM-related outcomes.
The impact of principal leadership on supporting data inquiry
(2010-05) Houlihan, Andrew Gray; Olivarez, Ruben; Gooden, Mark; Thompson, Sylvia; Cruz, Paul; Ward, Michael
Recent research surrounding educational leadership indicates that among school-related factors, leadership is second only to the classroom teacher as a variable associated with improving student achievement (Leithwood et al., 2004). Given the current climate of high stakes testing and accountability, the role that the principal plays in fostering continuous school improvement and ensuring academic success for all students has become increasingly important. To enhance school performance, the literature proposes that school leaders serve as instructional leaders and distribute their leadership responsibilities. One significant element of such leadership models is the ability of the school principal to support and promote inquiry by teachers and school administrators into student and school data. Wayman and Stringfield (2006) note that a campus culture that values and practices data-based decision making is marked by collaborative inquiry into student data. Advocates of data-driven decision making and data use suggest that inquiry into student data has been shown to be useful in improving overall school practice (Bernhardt, 2003; Wayman and Stringfield, 2006). Furthermore, using data to focus on specific goals will improve student learning (Schmoker, 1999). To explore how principals can foster the development of structures that allow for inquiry into student and school data, a case study of one purposely-selected high school was conducted. The four primary research questions this study addressed were: (1). What structures can high school principals develop and implement that promote inquiry by teachers and administrators into data? (2). What structures positively impact student academic achievement, as perceived by high school teachers and principals? (3). How are teachers using student achievement data in their instructional decision-making? (4). What are the qualitative data elements that school leaders might consider to inform the ongoing planning and decision-making process? Over the course of four months, data was gathered through individual interviews, observations, a survey, and analysis of pertinent documents. Several themes surrounding data analysis and leadership practices emerged. These included: the benefits of using structures to empower school staff to own data, the use of structures to allow for time for collaboration, using data to improve teaching practices, and the benefits of providing teachers greater access to pertinent data.
Investigating the use of value-added models for student achievement : does using multiple value-added measures lead to stronger conclusions about teacher effectiveness?
(2012-05) Moore, Nicole Joanne; Osborne, Cynthia Anne, 1969-
In the quest to achieve better academic outcomes for all students, the focus in education has shifted to a model of accountability. The most recent trend in the accountability movement is a focus on the effect of teachers in promoting student achievement. Research has found that teachers have the most significant school level impact on student achievement, and increases in teacher effectiveness could have major implications for the learning outcomes of students across the nation. Much of the current focus in teacher evaluation reform centers on methods through which teachers can be more accurately evaluated based on their contributions to student learning. In the push towards greater accountability for teachers, the development of measures that are both fair for teachers and lead to stronger outcomes for students are critical to seeing long-term improvements in the education system. This report explores variability and stability of value-added measures over time by looking in depth at the methods, assumptions, limitations, and implementation of the most commonly used value-added models across the country and the research about the correlations of these measures over time. This research is followed by a case study of a de-identified large urban school district implementing a teacher evaluation system that uses both a commercially produced value-added measure and an alternative student-growth measure to make high stakes decisions about teacher effectiveness. The findings from this case study show correlations that do not differ significantly from the prior research on the year-to-year variability in teacher value-added measures, but urge for continued evaluation of these measures over time, especially in high-stakes decisions. Ultimately, value-added measures are only as useful as their effectiveness in influencing the core outcomes of teaching and learning, and therefore these measures must be carefully integrated into and validated against holistic assessments of teacher effectiveness in order to truly impact student outcomes.
Investigation of the impact of implementing smaller learning communities on student performance in an urban high school in Texas
(2010-05) Dilworth, Thomas J.; Olivarez, Rubén; Bumphus, Walter; Cantu, Norma; Pringle, Pat; Lopez, Rudy
Abstract The trend of the last 40 years to build fewer, but larger high schools has resulted in dollar savings to taxpayers, but at the cost of higher rates of absenteeism, weaker academic environments, and poorer student engagement in learning. External pressures in the way of educational reforms such as the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have also had a negative impact on some large schools in urban school districts. Why is the United States undergoing such a broad national reform in education? The United States has a long history of educational reform. With every new generation comes a call for educational reform. Once education became compulsory in Texas in 1915 (Judd, 1918), so did calls to change it. Promises of changes to NCLB in the last year suggest that now we have left the “No Child Left Behind” reform movement (Duncan, 2009) and are moving toward a more culturally-centered approach to education where we acknowledge that societal problems affect the ability of students to get a quality education, we are able to provide constructive alternatives beyond the non-productive mantra that “if we just had better teachers and administrators, Johnny could learn.” Arne Duncan (2009a), United States Secretary of Education, when interviewed on the television show The Colbert Report, said, “When schools are really the centers of the neighborhood and the heart of the community, our students are going to do very, very well.” Indeed. Creating schools-within-schools (SWS) can serve to create neighborhoods – academic neighborhoods – that can serve students as the center of their educational community. The current national reform movement under President Obama as expressed by his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, (2009b) requires states seeking funds to implement four core-interconnected reforms: • to reverse the pervasive dumbing-down of academic standards and assessments by states. Race to the top winners need to work toward adopting common, internationally benchmarked K-12 standards that prepare students for success in college and careers, • to close the data gap, which now handcuffs districts from tracking growth in student learning and improving classroom instruction, states will need to monitor advances in student achievement and identify effective instructional practices, • to boost the quality of teachers and principals, especially in high-poverty schools and hard-to-staff subjects, states and districts should be able to identify effective teachers and principals and have strategies for rewarding and retaining more top-notch teachers and improving or replacing ones who are not up to the job, and finally, • to turn around the lowest-performing schools, states and districts must be ready to institute far-reaching reforms, from replacing staff and leadership to changing the school culture (p. 2). While this may seem to be more of the finger pointing found in NCLB, and does not seem to coincide with Duncan’s previously cited comments, that “schools are really the centers of the neighborhood and the heart of the community,” it does embrace the need for “far-reaching reforms.” SWS\SLC can be one of those reforms. This study explores critically and carefully the extent to which a smaller learning community within a large urban high school affected student academic achievement, attendance, graduation, and dropout rates as well as student readiness for careers and post-secondary education. This study uses a qualitative case study methodology to describe an experiment in which the researcher, rather than creating the treatment, examines the effects of a naturally occurring treatment after that treatment has taken place (Lord, 1973). While a Smaller Learning Community (SLC) in and of itself is not a panacea for student improvement, SLCs may create conditions for improved student performance. Cotton (2004) reports, that among other benefits, students achieve at higher levels than do students in larger schools on both standardized achievement tests and other measures. The results of this study suggest that SLCs can provide an improved learning environment students have better relationships with teachers, and teachers with administration and parents. Because of limitations inherent in the data base, however t his study is inconclusive in its findings regarding SLC effectiveness with regards to enhanced or diminished performance of students academically. While TAKS test scores were not markedly improved in comparison to the state average and a comparable group of high schools, college readiness indicators improved significantly. This suggests that other variables are at work in this research site and should be explored. Due to the aforementioned data issues, the reader should avoid drawing conclusions from the results that may reflect poorly on Texas High School’s administrators, teachers, and students. A number of contextual and methodological limitations outlined in the study may have restricted the researcher’s ability to investigate sufficiently the impact from SLC implementation on these performance indicators. The researcher provides recommendations for further evaluation of SLC implementation in light of these limitations.
Modeling achievement in the presence of student mobility : a growth curve model for multiple membership data
(2010-08) Grady, Matthew William, 1981-; Beretvas, Susan Natasha; Dodd, Barbara G.; Pituch, Keenan A.; Whittaker, Tiffany A.; Mahometa, Michael J.
The current study evaluated a multiple-membership growth curve model that can be used to model growth in student achievement, in the presence of student mobility. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of ignoring multiple school membership when modeling student achievement across time. Part one of the study consisted of an analysis of real longitudinal student achievement data. This real data analysis compared parameter estimates, standard error estimates, and model-fit statistics obtained from a growth curve model that ignores multiple membership, to those obtained from a growth model that accounts for multiple school membership via the MMREM approach. Part two of the study consisted of a simulation study designed to determine the impact of ignoring multiple membership and the accuracy of parameter estimates obtained under the two modeling approaches, under a series of data conditions. The goal of the study was to assess the importance of incorporating a more flexible MMREM approach when modeling students’ academic achievement across time. Overall, the results of the current study indicated that the Cross-classified multiple membership growth curve model (CCMM-GCM) may provide more accurate parameter estimates than competing approaches for a number of data conditions. Both modeling approaches, however, yielded substantially biased estimates of parameters for some experimental conditions. Overall, results demonstrate that incorporating student mobility into achievement growth modeling can result in more accurate estimates of schools effects.
Moving on up : a multi-case study of the perceptions of individuals involved in school district principal succession planning programs serving high-needs elementary schools
(2022-05-02) King, Terrell Don, 1978-; Olivárez, Rubén; Cantu, Norma; Pringle, Pat; Reyes, Pedro
In school districts with an excessive rate of principal turnover annually, with the highest turnover rates occur in high-needs schools. Leaders of school districts experiencing high principal turnover rates recognized that on-site professional development of future school principals requires succession planning programs administered internally by the school district. The need for improved principal leadership readiness and assignments to fill potential position vacancies led to the purpose of this multiple case study. The three research questions were the following: 1. How do successful principals assigned to high-needs elementary schools and who completed a district’s principal succession planning program perceive their leadership preparation and readiness experiences? 2. How do the school district’s leaders describe the impact of a succession planning program for future principals serving high-needs elementary schools? 3. How do the school district’s leaders describe the sustainability of a succession planning program for future principals serving high-needs elementary schools? The multi-case study design involved two districts with principal succession planning programs. Fourteen participants were interviewed for this study. The participants were two superintendents, nine central office leaders, and three successful elementary principals in high-needs schools. The researcher also secured, reviewed, and analyzed available documents and artifacts related to program design and implementation. Consistent with qualitative research methods, data were coded, and themes related to the research questions were identified and described in alignment with the research questions guiding the study. The 10 themes that answered the three research questions follow: (a) perceived readiness for the principalship, (b) personal growth and development, (c) perceived readiness for the principal hiring process, (d) perceived network of support, (e) formalizing the growth of aspiring principals, (f) addressing district needs, (g) providing support for novice principals, (h) program design, (i) having a program director, and (j) program evaluation. The findings from this study could be used to inform practice based on the themes supporting the sustainability of the two succession planning programs. The findings offer a model for developing, selecting, and retaining high-quality principals in high-needs elementary schools.
Pathways to college : an analysis of the technical, cultural and political domains of the YES College Prep model
(2011-05) Lopez, Erica Hunter; Reyes, Pedro, 1954-; Holme, Jennifer J.; Olivarez, Ruben; Edwards, Kathleen; Brown, Don
This study sought to identify characteristics found within technical, cultural and political dimensions of the YES College Prep middle school model that typify the college-going culture of the organization. This qualitative study utilized grounded theory and ethnographic approaches in a three-phase research plan seeking to answer the question: How can the college-going culture of the YES Prep Middle School System be described, and what characteristics of the school model can be useful for building college-going cultures in mainstream schools? Teachers and administrators were the primary units of study, and data was collected in the form of documents, interviews and ethnographic field notes. Data from phases two and three built upon theories developed in phase one. Using Kirst, Venezia and Antonio’s typology of college-going cultures, YES College Prep schools fell under the category of schools with strong college-going cultures. Five dominant themes emerged as all three phases of research were synthesized: (a) student achievement, (b) quality teaching, (c) exposure and opportunities to learn, (d) college-going discourses, and (e) unified mission. Characteristics holding potential relevance for mainstream schools were the unified mission, academic rigor, the extended day and year, the Comprehensive Counseling Model, the Teacher Excellence Program and the people-oriented business model. This study adds to the body of research demarcating middle school as a critical point in the educational continuum. The YES College Prep model provides usefulness for researchers interested in such areas as organizational culture, educational pipeline models, and middle school reform models.
Students' understandings of educational achievement in a high-stakes testing environment : stories from Korean secondary schools
(2013-12) Kim, Young-Eun, active 2013; De Lissovoy, Noah, 1968-
The purpose of this study is to explore high school students’ understandings of achievement and opportunity through their lived experiences which are constructed under a high-stakes testing environment in Korea. This study undertakes a critical analysis of high-stakes testing and its intersectional effects in terms of structure and culture, attending to students’ everyday experiences in testing practices as these are embedded in certain discourses. Recent scholarship reveals that high-stakes testing reinforces a correspondence between socioeconomic status and educational attainment under the neoliberal educational policies of school choice, privatization, and high-stakes testing. In the analysis of educational policies such as the accountability movement, some studies contend that the political and economic discourses underpinning high-stakes testing are effectively hidden behind educational practices ostensibly aimed at raising standards. To date, however, there has been little attention to how students internalize the logic of neoliberal competition and how they experience educational achievement and opportunity structure within a high-stakes testing environment. Drawing on in-depth interviews of high school students from varying economic and academic backgrounds, this study found that students’ experiences of the high-stakes testing environment are influenced by their social class and achievement levels. High-stakes testing does not contribute to reducing achievement gaps between classes but rather reinforces educational alienation as well as opportunity gaps. Furthermore, high-stakes testing, as a cultural practice which affects students’ daily lives and their experience of curriculum and instruction, contributes to the ideological construction of students’ understandings of achievement and opportunity structure. While students experience structural constraints in achievement, they believe in testing as being a fair and equal opportunity. Concealing students’ struggles within structural barriers as well as their contradictory experiences in relation to ideologies of achievement and success, high-stakes testing becomes the medium through which students’ social desires are reproduced. An intersectional analysis in terms of culture and structure of students’ experiences in relation to high-stakes testing can help us to understand how the achievement ideology responds to students’ aspirations and also how those aspirations help this ideology persist. This study urges educational policies to focus on opportunity gaps and to look at contradictions and struggles that students experience in high-stakes testing.
Teacher expectations : the influence of student, teacher, and school variables
(2009-08) Rangel, Azucena; Valencia, Richard R.; Pituch, Keenan A.
This dissertation examines the influence of student, teacher, and school variables on English and math teachers' expectations for their students. Findings from multilevel-model analyses of data from the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002) show that student achievement and stigmatized status are the strongest predictors of teacher expectations. In this study, students could be stigmatized on any of three factors (ethnicity, SES, and native language). Consistent with previous research, teachers' expectations were predicted by student achievement (test scores in reading and math). Teachers' expectations for future student academic attainment were higher for students with higher achievement than for lower-achieving students. This lends support to the argument that teachers are generally accurate in forming expectations. However, also consistent with prior research, student stigmatized status predicted expectations, with stigmatized students receiving lower expectations than non-stigmatized students. Multiple stigmatizations were powerful--students stigmatized on all three factors, in particular, received the lowest expectations. Further analyses indicated that student achievement interacts with student stigmatization for English teachers. At low levels of achievement, teachers held equally low expectations for stigmatized (on three factors) and non-stigmatized students. But, for high levels of achievement, teachers had lower expectations for stigmatized students with equally high achievement. Specifically, stigmatized students (on three factors) received expectations that were a half of a standard deviation lower than non-stigmatized students. Teacher ethnicity also appeared to influence teacher expectations via an interaction between teacher ethnicity and student stigmatization (on three factors). For English teachers, expectations were equally high for (a) ethnically stigmatized teachers rating stigmatized students, (b) stigmatized teachers rating non-stigmatized students, and (c) non-stigmatized teachers rating non-stigmatized students. The lowest expectations came from non-stigmatized teachers (White and Asian) rating stigmatized students. These findings (which control for student achievement) suggest bias in expectations that non-stigmatized teachers have for stigmatized students. School level variables in this study (e.g., percent of students receiving free/reduced lunch, percent of students who fail the competency test on first attempt), did not have a large effect on teacher expectations. Implications are discussed regarding multiply stigmatized students, self-fulfilling prophecy, equal access to educational opportunities, and recruitment of ethnic minority teachers.
The effect of school closures on student achievement : evidence from Houston
(2017-10-26) Stroub, Kori James; Reyes, Pedro, 1954-; Reddick, Richard; Cantu, Norma; Crosnoe, Robert; Beretvas, Tasha; Richards, Meredith
School closures are an increasingly common reform strategy for districts facing declining enrollments and low academic performance. In this study, I examine the impact of 46 closures on the achievement of 6,826 displaced students in Houston between 2003 and 2010, comparing their achievement trajectories to those of a matched sample of non-displaced students. I find that closures are associated with a short-term increase in math achievement; however, displaced students have flatter math achievement slopes than their non-displaced peers. Cumulatively, closures have a relatively small effect on reading achievement. Finally, while closures can benefit students that transfer to high-performing campuses, few students – particularly low-achieving and non-white students – transfer to campuses of sufficiently high academic quality to produce achievement gains.
The effectiveness of an additional day school year intersession calendar program in an urban school district in Texas
(2023-08-07) Perales, Ida; Reyes, Pedro, 1954-; Cruz, Paul; Reyna, Sylvia; Russell, Susanna
This study examined Additional Day School Year Intersession Calendar Program (ADSY ICP) effectiveness and its student outcomes for students in Grades 3 through 8 in an urban school district in Texas. This study evaluated the structures and processes of the ADSY ICP and provided evidence to support or oppose implementing an intersession calendar for all student populations. Specifically, the study evaluated the program’s impact on student achievement as measured by STAAR among low-socioeconomic status (SES) students. Three research questions were answered: (a) Does the ADSY ICP meet the goal of closing the achievement gap for low-SES students in Grades 3 through 8? (b) How has the implementation of ADSY ICP been consistent? (c) What are the educators’ perceptions of the ADSY ICP and its effectiveness? The design of the program review incorporated an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach. In the first quantitative phase of the study, TEA data (e.g., STAAR results) were collected from a district that implemented an ADSY ICP to assess the effectiveness of the program in closing the student achievement gap. The second phase included qualitative data to help explain the quantitative results. This qualitative phase explored the implementation process of the ADSY ICP in an urban school district to analyze its impact on student outcomes, specifically low-SES students. The first research question showed that the gaps were closed based on attendance and SES status for Grades 3 through 5 in reading and Grades 6 through 8 in mathematics. However, the two null hypotheses for elementary students in mathematics and middle school students in reading lacked evidence to suggest that intersession helps close the student achievement gap. For the second and third research questions, each question was answered by six themes of (a) effective communication, (b) intentional planning, (c) use of data, (d) at-risk students, (e) accountability and compliance, and (e) challenges affect effectiveness. The proper implementation of ADSY ICP can effectively provide support to at-risk students, contingent on the fidelity of the program and the competence of the principals and teachers delivering appropriate instruction. Therefore, districts should ensure the development of principals’ leadership skills and train teachers to have the skills for closing the gaps that affect students of economic disadvantage. It is imperative to recognize that the success of all students, particularly those at-risk or economically disadvantaged, is contingent on this focus.
Web-based instruction : the effect of design considerations on learner perceptions and achievement
(2000-08) Jones, Colleen McBride; Liu, Min, Ed. D.
Web-based instruction provides a new medium for the presentation of instructional activities. In the development of web-based instruction, the designer must realize that the instructional media are merely vehicles for the exchange of ideas. The medium has the capability of addressing individual preferences and styles of learning through its structure and the use of multiple forms of media. Through careful design and adherence to the objectives of instruction and to learners' needs, web-based instruction can provide a successful environment for a variety of learners. In web-based instruction, the design should not be transferred just from one medium to another, but the experience should be redefined with the capabilities of the new medium utilized. Instructional designers must capitalize on the new opportunities that the web provides to learners--to access information from remote locations, to interact with the instruction, to access the instruction at their own pace, to visualize the instruction, and to see the complex relationships in the instruction (Alexander, 1995). Factors in the hypermedia environment, such as visualization, as well as individual student characteristics, such as goal orientation, achievement, and perception, must be taken into account, so the design of web-based instruction enhances the educational opportunities of the learners. ThermoNet was envisioned as a comprehensive supplement for introductory mechanical engineering students. Utilizing many forms of visual media, such as animations, graphics, and video, students would have unlimited access to an interactive web-based environment. This study had four objectives: (1) to determine what students’ characteristics predicted achievement in thermodynamics, (2) to determine what student characteristics predicted the amount of time students spent engaged in ThermoNet, (3) to determine what characteristics impacted students' perceptions of ThermoNet, and (4) to explain the benefits of a web-based instructional environment. The results of this study reveal that web-based instruction may not have a direct impact on students, but the students' goal orientation and preferred mode of learning may impact their achievement. Also, these student characteristics may impact the learner's perception of web-based instruction. More importantly, the results divulge important insights into how web-based instruction can be designed to be a successful learning environment.