Categories for External Influences
November 28, 2018
Evaluating the Relationships Between Poverty and School Performance
One of the most critical issues facing K-12 education is the impact that poverty has on school performance. This study first examines school performance using traditional metrics for school poverty levels (percent of student body that qualify for free and reduced lunch: FRL) and school performance (school achievement based on the aggregate test scores of its student body). The results support prior research documenting the negative relationship between the level of poverty in a school and student achievement (the higher the poverty the lower the achievement). However, when replacing the student achievement metric with a student growth metric, the relationship is significantly different.
This NWEA study argues that, while it is important to measure and report a school’s student achievement, it is often a function of the demographics of a school’s population rather than a school’s effectiveness at teaching. Student growth tracks the learning of students regardless of their poverty level and is a more useful tool for comparing individual school performance. Sixty percent of schools with high poverty student populations had above average student growth. And a larger percentage of high poverty schools demonstrated substantial growth than schools from wealthy communities. The dramatic negative relationship between poverty and student achievement was much less evident when looking at student growth, and much more nuanced.
The implications of the study are profound. First, it highlights the need for school performance measures to include student growth in addition to school achievement. Both are critical measures. More importantly, it raises the question: If students make comparable progress during the school year regardless of their poverty level, what accounts for the significant differences in test scores. One study tracked the performance of students by poverty level and their performance on tests administered at the beginning and end of each school year. The data showed a clear pattern. Students of all socio economic groups made comparable progress during the school year. The biggest, and compounding gaps, occurred during the summer months suggesting that poverty’s largest impact occurs outside of school.
Citation:Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. S. (2001). Schools, achievement, and inequality: A seasonal perspective. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23, 171–191.
Link: https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2018/10/Evaluating-the-Relationships-Between-Poverty-and-School-Performance.pdf
November 14, 2018
Do Published Studies Yield larger Effect Sizes than Unpublished Studies in Education and Special Education? A Meta-Review
The purpose of this study is to estimate the extent to which publication bias is present in education and special education journals. Meta-analyses are increasingly used as the basis for making educational decisions. Research suggests that publication bias continues to exist in meta-analyses that are published. The data reveal that 58% of meta-analyses did not test for possible publication bias. This paper shows that published studies were associated with significantly larger effect sizes than unpublished studies (d=0.64). The authors suggest that meta-analyses report effect sizes of published and unpublished separately in order to address issues of publication bias.
Citation:Chow, J. C., & Ekholm, E. (2018). Do Published Studies Yield Larger Effect Sizes than Unpublished Studies in Education and Special Education? A Meta-review.
Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-018-9437-7
October 29, 2018
11 Million Days Lost: Race, Discipline, and Safety at U.S. Public Schools: Part I
Research tells us that student engagement is one of the most important components of a classroom strategy to facilitate student learning, as is effective teaching, a systematic instruction pedagogy, and evidence-based curriculum. Yet none of these interventions matter if a student is not in school. There are an increasing number of studies examining student absenteeism and its negative impact on student achievement. This descriptive summary is one of the first reviews to examine the number of days of “lost instruction” resulting from student suspensions. The study examines the total number of days lost nationwide, disparities among different student subgroups, and differences across individual states. Read more Overall, students lost a total of 11,360,004 days of instruction as a result of school suspensions. In order to facilitate comparisons of student subgroups with different enrollment numbers, the study uses a metric of “days of lost instruction per 100 students enrolled”. The resulting analysis documents significant disparity between subgroups. Black students lost 66 days of instruction (for every 100 students) compared to 14 for White students (the national average was 23 lost days). Students with disabilities lost 44 days of instruction, twice the 20 lost days of those without disabilities. Individual states had radically different performance in this area, with North Carolina averaging 51 days lost instruction per 100 enrollment annually and Utah 5 days. When examined by subgroup data, some states have extremely large instructional day loss. Black students lost over 100 days of lost instruction per 100 enrolled in Ohio, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. The impact of loss of instruction due to suspensions has a lifelong impact on students, including: lower graduation rates (Rumberger and Losen, 2017), increased involvement in the juvenile justice system (Mowicki, 2018), and arrests as adults Rosenbaum (2018)
Citations: Russell W. Rumberger and Daniel J.Losen, The Hidden Cost of California’s Harsh School Discipline, The Civil Rights Project at UCLA, (2017) Retrieved from http://www.schooldisciplinedata.org/ccrr/docs/CostofSuspensionReportFinal.pdf
Janet Rosenbaum (2018). Educational and Criminal Justice Outcomes 12 Years After School Suspension. Youth & Society.
Jacqueline M. Mowicki, Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys and Students with Disabilities, GAO (March 2018). http://www.gao.gov/assets/700/690828.pdf
Links: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/final_11-million-days_ucla_aclu.pdf
September 10, 2018
A Review of the Relationship Between Parental Involvement Indicators and Academic Achievement
This review examines the relationship between parental involvement and student academic achievement. The definition of parental involvement isn’t always clear and encompasses a wide range of parental interventions and involvement in a child’s education. Two types of parental involvement are generally examined in the available research: home-based strategies, such as providing structure and support for learning and education at home, and school-based strategies, such as communicating with teachers and attending school events.
- Parental involvement and early childhood academic achievement(22 studies)
The majority of studies reported small to medium positive effect sizes on achievement for parental interventions in early childhood. When parents engage with preschoolers in learning activities at home, academic achievement improves. Research suggests that enriching activities such as telling stories, teaching letters and numbers, engaging in problem-solving activities, singing songs, and playing games improve children’s literacy skills. Research on parental involvement in school revealed mixed results depending on the type of involvement.
- Parental involvement and academic achievement for elementary school children(22 studies)
The majority of studies of elementary school children that examined the link between parental involvement and school achievement found a small to medium impact in math and reading. Not all studies reported positive outcomes and a small number reported a negative relationship to student achievement. It is important to note that outcomes for parental involvement varied according to the form of parental activity being examined.
This review found that parents’ educational expectations were the strongest predictor of academic achievement for elementary school children. Negative outcomes were associated with parents applying academic pressure in the form of commands, punishment, or coercive interactions. On the other hand, positive parental engagement, such as praising children’s performance, progress, and efforts and letting children know they cared about them and their school performance, was related to improved academic performance.
- Parental involvement and academic achievement at middle school, high school, and beyond(31 studies)
The majority of the studies investigated the link between parental involvement and student achievement in math and literacy. Most reported small to medium positive effect sizes associated with parental involvement and academic achievement.
Parental expectations were generally reported to have a positive correlation with academic achievement, or higher GPA. Valuing academic achievement and then reinforcing it produced significant positive outcomes in mathematics among high school students. Parent-child discussions about school activities and educational planning produced positive outcomes and reduced truancy. Parental control and interference resulted in negative academic achievement. Parents attending school events, meeting with teachers, and/or volunteering at school produced no improvement in academic performance.
Summary
The strongest associations with improved student performance across all grades were parental expectations and aspirations. The review also concluded that parental involvement and academic achievement do not diminish as children grow into young adulthood. What does change is how parents engage with their child over time; direct involvement in learning diminishes, but the value of fostering conditions for academic success increases. Parents seem to affect their children’s academic outcomes by setting high academic expectations and by creating, in ways not considered intrusive or controlling, a comfortable space for the children to develop their own academic motivations. The review also found that the benefits of school-based involvement by parents are not strong or produce mixed results.
Citation:Boonk, L., Gijselaers, H. J., Ritzen, H., & Brand-Gruwel, S. (2018). A review of the relationship between parental involvement indicators and academic achievement. Educational Research Review, 24, 10–30.
Link:
https://library.parenthelp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/35-A-review-of-the-relationship-between-parental-involvement-indicators-and-academic-achievement..pdf
June 27, 2018
Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: An Implementation Framework
The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) and the National Center for School Turnaround published the “Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: An Implementation Framework” as a companion to the Center for School Turnaround’s publication of “The Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: A Systems Framework“. This paper describes “how” to effectively implement lasting school improvement initiatives that maximize leadership, develop talent, amplify instructional transformation, and shift the culture.
Citation:Jackson, K., R., Fixsen, D., and Ward, C. (2018). Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: An Implementation Framework. The Center on School Turnaround.
Link: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED583980.pdf
March 24, 2017
Endrew F., A Minor, By And Through His Parents And Next Friends, Joseph F. Et Al. V. Douglas County School District
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on March 22, 2017 that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires schools to provide education programs that enable students to make progress from year to year. Delivering the opinion for the Court, Chief Justice Roberts wrote that an education program must be “reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances.” This ruling does not require an ideal individualized education program (IEP), but it does charge schools to provide services that will enable a student to make progress achieving passing marks and advancing from grade to grade. Roberts also wrote that for a child for whom a regular classroom is not appropriate, an education program must be “appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances.” This overturns the previous lower standard. The ruling continued, “But whatever else can be said about it, this standard is markedly more demanding than the ‘merely more than de minimis’ test applied by the Tenth Circuit.”
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-827_0pm1.pdf
January 3, 2017
Great Myths Of Child Development
Great Myths of Child Development reveals the latest evidence–based science behind the myths and misconceptions about the developing child. The book challenges the most commonly held child development myths. It provides the best available evidence science behind such topical issues as sugar and behavior, antidepressants impact on children, childhood vaccines, spankings, time–out, and children crying before bedtime.
Hupp, S., & Jewell, J. (2015). Great myths of child development. John Wiley & Sons.
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fICbBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Hupp,+S.,+%26+Jewell,+J.+(2015).+Great+myths+of+child+development.+John+Wiley+%26+Sons.&ots=l1NGzQL4C7&sig=Gm9lKfUxOt5cmMqjrgmKEtXj494#v=onepage&q&f=false
November 4, 2015
The National Council on Teacher Quality released its “State of the States 2015: Evaluating Teaching, Leading and Learning,” which provides a lay of the land on state teacher and principal evaluation policy in 2015. Read More…
November 10, 2014
The story of delayed gratification and its impact on socially important outcomes is told by the psychologist Walter Mischel in his newly published book, The Marshmallow Test: Read More…
March 10, 2014
The College Board announced a major revision of the SAT college admission test. The redesigned SAT will no longer require an essay, place less emphasis on certain vocabulary, as well as return to the 1600-point scoring scale. This is the second major revision of the SAT in its 88-year history. The College Board’s refurbishment of the SAT is intended to provide greater opportunities for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The College Board is also taking on the test-preparation industry that sells materials and courses at high costs to help students raise their scores. The College Board will offer free online tutorials to help students train for the SAT.
https://www.collegeboard.org/delivering-opportunity/sat/redesign
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-to-drop-essay-requirement-and-return-to-top-score-of-1600-in-redesign-of-admission-test/2014/03/05/2aa9eee4-a46a-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html
