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Curriculum tracking and teacher expectations: Evidence from discrepant course taking models
Abstract
In an effort to understand teacher-student relationships much research has investigated how teacher expectations of student performance in the classroom affect achievement growth. However, little research has focused on how teacher expectations of students’ educational attainment are formed. In this paper, we examine how students’ high school track placements affect teacher expectations regarding students’ educational attainment in the NELS data. NELS is a large, nationally representative longitudinal study from the United States of the graduating class of 1992. We focus on students with discrepant track placements to determine how different teachers evaluate the same student. Overall, for the same student, teachers in high track classes have higher college expectations than teachers in lower track classrooms.
... Ainsi, à niveau initial comparable, être scolarisé dans une classe où les AF ne sont abordées que dans le cadre des activités habituelles favorise les progrès comparativement aux situations dans lesquelles toute ou partie de ces notions sont largement travaillées. Ceci est vraisemblablement le fruit de réactions des élèves à un enseignement moins motivant et stimulant intellectuellement (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). La stimulation intellectuelle est positivement liée à l'effort, c'est-à-dire à la quantité de temps et d'énergie que les élèves consacrent à satisfaire aux exigences académiques établies par leur enseignant, quelle que soit la filière dans laquelle ils ont été placés (Carbonaro, 2005). ...
... Ainsi, certains travaux ont mis en évidence une tendance à avoir des attentes moins élevées à l'égard des élèves de la classe ouvrière, à l'égard des élèves issus de minorités ethniques ou encore, par le passé, à l'égard des filles (Jussim & Eccles, 1992 ;Muijs & Reynolds, 2011). D'autres travaux, comme ceux de Kelly et Carbonaro (2012), ont également permis d'établir que l'existence de filières a un effet spécifique sur les attentes des enseignants. En d'autres termes, dans les systèmes séparatifs ces dernières sont clairement différenciées et ne dépendent pas uniquement des performances et de l'engagement ou des comportements perturbateurs des élèves. ...
... Selon la théorie du labelling (ou processus d'étiquetage en français), la stigmatisation associée au placement dans les groupes faibles crée les comportements d'échec ou de déviance en engendrant une dynamique d'attentes et d'auto-dévalorisation qui tend à s'entretenir d'elle-même. Lorsqu'un élève est constamment « étiqueté » comme peu performant il tend à se désintéresser de l'école et à s'y impliquer moins pour préserver un sentiment positif de sa propre valeur (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). Ce désengagement peut également s'expliquer par une absence d'incitations à la performance et un manque de motivation (Rosenbaum, 2001). ...
... Class mean ability has been consistently found to positively predict individual achievement (Cheung & Rudowicz, 2003;Duru-Bellat & Mingat, 1998;Fruehwirth, 2013;Opdenakker et al., 2002;Reynolds et al., 2014;Stäbler et al., 2017): Students in classes with high average ability usually perform better than similar students in classes with low average ability. Several explanations have been put forward to understand this relationship; for example, it has been suggested that teachers in high ability classes would hold higher expectations for their students, positively affecting individual achievement (Jussim & Harber, 2005;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;McGillicuddy & Devine, 2018). ...
... More substantively, the fact that academic orientation did not significantly mediate the relationship between class-average achievement and subsequent individual achievement could also suggest that other features of the learning environment would be more powerful explanations of this relationship. For example, it has been argued that teachers in high achieving classes hold higher expectations about their students and that this could promote learning in such classes (and decrease learning in low achieving classes; Jussim & Harber, 2005;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;McGillicuddy & Devine, 2018). ...
... Finally, the present study focused only on a limited number of classroom processes associated with class composition. There might be additional mechanisms associated with class composition, such as teacher expectations (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012), that were not considered in this study. In addition, to further enlighten the different mechanisms connecting class composition to individual achievement, it would also be worthwhile to directly assess the level of educational fit between student capacities and schoolwork requirements. ...
This study considers how class composition, in terms of between-student variability and the average level of achievement, is related to the academic development of students, and how these relationships can be explained by features of the class learning environment. At the start of secondary education, Flemish schools can decide autonomously how to group their students, leading to variation in class mean and class heterogeneity between classes. In a sample of 2,895 Flemish students from 158 classes, math achievement at the end of grade 8 was found to be unrelated to class heterogeneity, after accounting for previous achievement, intelligence, gender, and social background. Path analyses showed that class heterogeneity was positively associated with teachers’ use of differentiated instruction to accommodate for differences between students, and that differentiated instruction was related to higher student achievement. Second, students were found to achieve better in classes with high average achievement. While this held true for all students, high achieving students seemed to benefit the most from being in a class with a high average level. Although class-average achievement was positively related to the academic orientation of the class, this did not explain the association between class mean level and achievement. These results suggest that, although it might be beneficial for the students in the high ability groups, grouping students in distinct classes according to ability might have little overall benefit, and emphasize that teachers’ responses to student diversity might be more decisive for improving student achievement than homogenizing classes in terms of ability.
... Research in the sociological tradition documents the processes through which students are allocated to places in the hierarchical American secondary school course structure. This literature consistently demonstrates that poor students and students of color are less likely to take higher track academic courses than their more affluent and White peers (Frank et al., 2008;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Tyson, 2011). Sociological research further indicates that these initial course assignments play an important role in shaping students' later educational experiences. ...
... Smith (1996) has argued that students are "socialized" to take more years of math if they are in higher level math courses. Teachers expect advanced math students to continue to take advanced mathematics courses regardless of prior performance (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Tyson, 2011). Further, students enrolled in the same sets of courses may occupy similar "local positions" within schools, shaping students' expectations and behaviors related to course trajectories (Frank et al., 2008) As a result, students placed in lower level courses express less confidence and can be unwilling to take courses in which they believe they will be unsuccessful (Tyson, 2011). ...
... However, in the sociological literature, researchers have shown that students in the same classroom "share experiences" (Frank et al., 2008), which can help explain why students in higher math tracks are more likely to take more years of math (Smith, 1996). For example, administrators and teachers tend to have higher college expectations for those in higher track classes (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Tyson, 2011), and this can influence a student's own perspective and his or her math course enrollment decisions. These sociological studies have shown that social norms can contribute to the fundamental social dynamics that affect an individual's motivational beliefs and that these that can help explain math-track differences. ...
Background
Virtually all high schools offer a range of courses to allow students to enroll in four years of high school mathematics. However, only two thirds of U.S. high school graduates took mathematics courses each school year.
Purpose/Research Question
This study addresses three research questions: First, how do students’ math course enrollment and motivational beliefs (i.e., self-efficacy in math, math utility, interest in math, and college expectations) differ by math track? Second, what is the relationship between students’ motivational beliefs and their decision to take four years of math? Third, to what extent does this relationship vary by math track and whether a student passes or fails a math course? Much of the relevant prior literature approaches these relations primarily from an individualistic psychological perspective, viewing motivation as a student-level attribute that similarly effects students’ decision-making process. By contrast, our analyses take a more contextual approach, focusing particular attention on the ways in which students’ math track placements shape their academic approaches and moderate the link between motivation and course-taking.
Research Design
This study uses secondary restricted-access data from the nationally representative Education Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002). Students were surveyed and tested in mathematics during the base year (2002). In the follow-up (2004) year, data collectors requested academic transcripts for all participants along with follow-up student surveys and an additional math exam.
Findings
Our results coincide with previous motivation research that shows that students opt to take additional math courses when they are interested in math, consider themselves skillful in math, and have high college expectations. But the motivational predictors of math course enrollment vary with students’ initial math placement. For above-track students, interest in math is the strongest indicator that they will take four years of math, followed by self-efficacy in mathematics and college expectations, respectively. In contrast, for both low-track and on-track students, the strongest indicator of taking four years of math is college expectations.
Conclusions
Our study focused on students’ motivation and course enrollment, but this does not diminish the importance of tracking, curricular rigor, and teacher pedagogy. This study provides an additional way to improve inequities in math course enrollment, which is by making explicit recommendations for enhancing students’ motivation. Understanding which particular beliefs have the greatest influence on specific student groups allows educators to appropriately allocate limited resources and increase math course enrollment. This would likely be more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach.
... Recuérdese que en el modelo de Wisconsin las expectativas de progenitores y docentes, así como las expectativas para sí mismos de los miembros del grupo de pares, son consideradas influencias fundamentales en la configuración de los planes formativos del alumno (Sewell et al., 1969(Sewell et al., , 1970. De manera consistente con dicho planteamiento, distintos trabajos han evidenciado la asociación entre las expectativas del alumno, de un lado, y las expectativas de progenitores (Cheng & Starks, 2002;Roth, 2017;Wu & Bai, 2015), docentes (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Lee et al., 2015;Wu & Bai, 2015) y pares (Carolan, 2018;Kretschmer & Roth, 2021;Lorenz et al., 2020), por otro. ...
... En segundo lugar, son muchos los trabajos que han mostrado el efecto que las expectativas del profesorado pueden ejercer sobre las expectativas y el logro académico del alumno (Becker, 2013;de Boer et al., 2010;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012), observando además que tales evaluaciones y expectativas que los docentes mantienen sobre los alumnos no están enteramente justificadas por los resultados académicos, desarrollo cognitivo y nivel de motivación de los estudiantes, sino que están sesgadas por otros aspectos como su origen social o étnico (Barg, 2013;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Timmermans et al., 2015Timmermans et al., , 2018. Lee et al. (2015) han mostrado el importante papel que las expectativas del profesorado pueden desempeñar, por ejemplo, en decisiones sobre la matriculación en carreras STEM (Ciencias, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas), donde constituyen un predictor más relevante que las expectativas de los progenitores y explican una parte sustancial del gap de género en tales decisiones educativas. Asimismo, Wu y Bai (2015) han observado en el caso chino que si bien las expectativas de los progenitores son el mejor predictor de las expectativas de matriculación universitaria de los alumnos, solo las expectativas del profesorado mantienen su significatividad estadística a la hora de predecir la matriculación en la universidad una vez consideradas las expectativas del propio alumno. ...
... En segundo lugar, son muchos los trabajos que han mostrado el efecto que las expectativas del profesorado pueden ejercer sobre las expectativas y el logro académico del alumno (Becker, 2013;de Boer et al., 2010;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012), observando además que tales evaluaciones y expectativas que los docentes mantienen sobre los alumnos no están enteramente justificadas por los resultados académicos, desarrollo cognitivo y nivel de motivación de los estudiantes, sino que están sesgadas por otros aspectos como su origen social o étnico (Barg, 2013;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Timmermans et al., 2015Timmermans et al., , 2018. Lee et al. (2015) han mostrado el importante papel que las expectativas del profesorado pueden desempeñar, por ejemplo, en decisiones sobre la matriculación en carreras STEM (Ciencias, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas), donde constituyen un predictor más relevante que las expectativas de los progenitores y explican una parte sustancial del gap de género en tales decisiones educativas. Asimismo, Wu y Bai (2015) han observado en el caso chino que si bien las expectativas de los progenitores son el mejor predictor de las expectativas de matriculación universitaria de los alumnos, solo las expectativas del profesorado mantienen su significatividad estadística a la hora de predecir la matriculación en la universidad una vez consideradas las expectativas del propio alumno. ...
La presente investigación analiza la evolución de las expectativas formativas entre los años 2003 y 2018 en España, y los mecanismos y estrategias que generan desigualdad por origen social en los planes formativos del alumnado español. Para ello, se emplea información del estudio PISA y se analiza la expectativa vertical de matriculación en la Educación Secundaria Superior, la expectativa horizontal de matriculación en el Bachillerato entre aquellos que esperan matricularse en la Educación Secundaria Superior, la expectativa vertical de matriculación en la Educación Terciaria y la expectativa horizontal de matriculación en la universidad entre aquellos que esperan matricularse en la Educación Terciaria.
... Although teachers in general intend to be fair in their teaching practices, they sometimes set their expectations based on students' previous academic performance, family backgrounds, sex, or race/ethnicity (Kelly, 2008;Kelly and Carbonaro, 2012). In particular, some studies suggest that teachers may perceive obese children to be overly emotional, disordered/untidy, or unattractive (Washington, 2011;Russell-Mayhew et al., 2015). ...
... Although teachers in general intend to be fair in their teaching practices, and they are trained and socialized to be fair (Valenzuela, 2016), teachers often set their expectations based on students' previous academic performance, family SES, or race/ethnicity and sex congruence (Tenenbaum and Ruck, 2007;McKown and Weinstein, 2008). Teachers, for instance, often perceive lowtrack students as more inattentive, disruptive, and withdrawn and place an excessive emphasis on discipline (Kelly and Carbonaro, 2012). In contrast, teachers tend to provide more feedback, praise, and challenging instruction for high-expectation students (Cooper, 1979;Rubie-Davies, 2007). ...
... Hebl et al. (2019) also identify weight discrimination as one of a few distinctly modern forms of discrimination against e.g., LGBTQ individuals and older adults. Importantly, children are vulnerable to weight discrimination and stigmatization (Puhl and Peterson, 2012), and how teachers perceive students affects student academic performance via teacher-student interactions in daily class (Kelly and Carbonaro, 2012;Rubie-Davies et al., 2015). Compared to the general public reaction to racial and gender discrimination in the US, however, weight-related discrimination has been often rationalized and justified in many public areas. ...
This study draws the attention towards the importance of reducing weight discrimination against children for their educational success, as an issue of social justice. We investigate the consequences of early-onset obesity identifying the mediating mechanisms in the relationship between childhood obesity and academic achievement. To do so, we employ the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (kindergarten to fifth grade) in the US (ECLS-K: 2011) and apply a parallel process latent growth model with a combination of quasi-experiments and econometrics. The results of this study suggest that teachers may serve as a significant source of weight bias, especially for girls (B = −0.09, 95% BC CI [−2.37 to −0.46]).
... One mechanism through which tracking is likely to influence students' academic identity and school belonging is social interaction with others, particularly with teachers and peers (Allen, Kern, Vella-Brodrick, Hattie, & Waters, 2018;Gillen-O'Neel, & Fuligni, 2013). Teachers' different perceptions of students' academic abilities in standard as compared with advanced or honors classes might shape the support they provide students (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Oakes, 2005) as well as students' reflected appraisals (i.e., students' understanding of teachers' perceptions of them; Legette & Kurtz-Costes, 2020). In a national sample of approximately 14,000 teachers, teachers expected 90% of students in advanced classes to attend college, but held the same expectation for only 40% of students in standard classes (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). ...
... Teachers' different perceptions of students' academic abilities in standard as compared with advanced or honors classes might shape the support they provide students (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Oakes, 2005) as well as students' reflected appraisals (i.e., students' understanding of teachers' perceptions of them; Legette & Kurtz-Costes, 2020). In a national sample of approximately 14,000 teachers, teachers expected 90% of students in advanced classes to attend college, but held the same expectation for only 40% of students in standard classes (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). Even after accounting for students' classroom engagement, standardized test scores, and grades, teacher expectations were greater for students in advanced than in standard classes (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). ...
... In a national sample of approximately 14,000 teachers, teachers expected 90% of students in advanced classes to attend college, but held the same expectation for only 40% of students in standard classes (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). Even after accounting for students' classroom engagement, standardized test scores, and grades, teacher expectations were greater for students in advanced than in standard classes (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). Because teachers' academic expectations of students are related to the social and academic support they provide to students, students in standard classes might feel less respect, inclusion, and appreciation than students in honors classes, thereby influencing their school belonging (Allen et al., 2018). ...
Curricular tracking is common in many countries, yet this school practice might have unintended consequences for students’ attitudes toward school. We examined the changes in adolescents’ school belonging among sixth graders placed in honors versus regular math, with academic identity as a mediator in this relation. Early adolescents ( N = 322; 72% White; 164 girls) in the southeastern United States completed measures of school belonging and academic identity at the beginning and end of their sixth-grade year. With parent education, prior math achievement, and prior school belonging controlled, honors math placement predicted increases in school belonging from the beginning to the end of students’ sixth-grade year, and this association was positively mediated by academic identity. Results of this study are important for further understanding the influences of tracking on students’ motivational beliefs.
... Track placement has been shown to have direct impact on student-teacher interactions (Kelly and Carbonaro 2012;Van Houtte et al. 2013), peer interactions (Barber and Wasson 2015), and students' self-perceptions (Guyll et al. 2010;Jussim et al. 1996) (Path C). This model additionally suggests that students' self-perceptions, beliefs, and goals might also mediate these associations (Path D) to impact students' outcomes (Path E). ...
... Student-teacher interactions are important predictors of children's academic motivation, classroom engagement, school adjustment, and academic competence (Crosnoe et al. 2004;Davis and Dupper 2004). Considerable research has demonstrated that track placement has a direct relation with student-teacher interactions (Path C) (Kelly and Carbonaro 2012;Van Houtte et al. 2013). Teachers perceive students in advanced classes as having higher academic ability and consequently hold higher academic expectations for them compared with students in standard classes (Ansalone and Biafora 2004;Kelly and Carbonaro 2012). ...
... Considerable research has demonstrated that track placement has a direct relation with student-teacher interactions (Path C) (Kelly and Carbonaro 2012;Van Houtte et al. 2013). Teachers perceive students in advanced classes as having higher academic ability and consequently hold higher academic expectations for them compared with students in standard classes (Ansalone and Biafora 2004;Kelly and Carbonaro 2012). These perceptions shape differences in teachers' pedagogy and practices which then further shape students' academic achievement and motivation (Kelly and Carbonaro 2012) (Path E). ...
Research examining the effects of track placement in the USA has predominantly focused on racial/socio-economic differences in access to learning opportunities. However, track assignment might also create academic social groups within schools that shape students’ social-cognitive processes. This article provides a conceptual model that describes ways track placement might have direct implications for students’ self-perceptions, beliefs, and goals prior to starting middle school. Additionally, the model demonstrates how track placement shapes differences in student-teacher interactions and peer relationships to impact academic performance and behavior. Finally, the model suggests that student race and school demographics might shape differences in students’ track placement experiences. This model is especially important in highlighting the ways curricular tracking might create systemic differences in students’ social-cognitive development to perpetuate educational inequities.
... disadvantage); to the contrary, it remains an institutional norm for more experienced teachers working in diverse and stratified school systems to have dibs on teaching the 'better' (read: privileged) students (Clotfelder, Ladd, Vigdor & Wheeler 2007;Jackson 2009). Of course, experienced teachers preferring more favorable working conditions and highly motivated students is understandable from the standpoint of job satisfaction, but it inauspiciously ensures a pattern of inequitable treatment, especially when institutional grouping norms prioritize the preferences of teachers, and their prejudices (Kelly & Carbonaro 2012;Turner, Rubie-Davies & Webber 2015;Vervaet, D'Hondt, van Houtte & Stevens 2016), over the needs of the students. 13 ...
In this chapter, I will demonstrate why the ceaseless advocacy for ‘teaching the controversy’ in schools is both naïvely optimistic for what it hopes to accomplish, and ill-advised for what it fails to consider vis-à-vis the conditions necessary for its implementation. It is naïvely optimistic for what it expects of ordinary teachers under the conventional working conditions in most schools. And it is ill-advised because such exercises are only likely to exacerbate – rather than mitigate – tensions in both classrooms and communities of diverse background and opinion. Nothing in what I will argue should mean that I believe that successfully ‘teaching the controversy’ in schools is impossible. Exceptional teachers do exist. Nevertheless, I will demonstrate why exceptional teachers only serve to prove the rule. Indeed, I aim to show why even the rare teacher who does possess the relevant training, competence and moral courage is nevertheless prudent to abstain from broaching controversial material in class.
... Teachers usually do not make their own evaluation of individual students, but start from social stereotypes, resulting in negative or positive biases. In their expectations teachers will disfavour some groups, as, based on social stereotypes, they believe that certain groups of students will perform less well, such as boys (e.g., Heyder & Kessels, 2015;Perander et al., 2020), students from disadvantaged social backgrounds (e.g., Boone & Van Houtte, 2013;van Matre et al., 2000), lower track students (e.g., Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Stevens & Vermeersch, 2010). It must be noted, though, that this does not necessarily mean that teachers are prejudiced. ...
Starting from the observation that teachers treat boys and girls differently, this study investigated the variety in the magnitude of the difference in teacher-perceived teachability of boys and girls and its determinants. The study responded two research questions: (1) Does the extent of the difference in teacher-perceived teachability of boys and girls vary among teachers? (2) Do the student sex-composition of the school and teachers’ gender role attitudes determine the extent of the difference in teacher-perceived teachability of boys and girls? The analysis of 1247 teachers in 59 secondary schools in Flanders revealed that a minority of the teachers do not notice a difference between boys’ and girls’ teachability, while a small group perceives boys to be more teachable than girls. The majority of the teachers perceive girls as more teachable than boys to a varying extent. A multilevel analysis showed an impact of the sex-composition of the school on the difference in teacher-perceived boys’ and girls’ teachability and an unanticipated interaction between the sex-composition of the school and teachers’ traditional gender role attitudes: the more boys there are in school the larger the difference in teacher-perceived teachability of boys and girls, and this association is weaker for teachers with traditional gender role attitudes. Math/science teachers perceive girls’ and boys’ teachability less differently than teachers teaching other subjects. The study offers evidence for the importance of gender stereotypes as well as for the accuracy of teachers’ perceptions.
... This dynamic suggests that the academic engagement and successes of students may conversely shape their perceptions of teacher expectations, thus fostering a reciprocal relationship. Nevertheless, scant research has delved into the dynamics or causal relationships between perceived teacher expectations and academic engagement (Kelly and Carbonaro, 2012;Timmermans et al., 2021), with the existing studies primarily utilizing cross-sectional approaches that captured a momentary, static correlation . Therefore, this research employed a longitudinal approach to investigate the relationship between student's perception of teacher expectations and academic engagement among middle school students, aiming to provide robust theoretical support and practical guidance for educational practice. ...
In the context of evolving educational standards, enhancing students’ academic engagement has emerged as a critical factor in mitigating the risks of school aversion among middle school students. This study examines the longitudinal effect of middle school students’ perceptions of teacher expectations on their academic engagement, as well as the mediating role of intentional self-regulation in this dynamic. A six-month longitudinal survey was conducted with 702 Chinese middle school students through three waves of questionnaires. The results showed that students’ perception of teacher expectations significantly predicted their academic engagement, with higher perceived teacher expectations leading to increased academic engagement. Furthermore, the study revealed that intentional self-regulation played a pivotal mediating role in the relationship between students’ perceptions of teacher expectations and academic engagement. Students’ perceptions of teacher expectations at Time 1 positively influenced their intentional self-regulation at Time 2, which subsequently enhanced their academic engagement at Time 3. These findings highlight the crucial impact students’ perceptions of teacher expectation on adolescents’ academic motivation and provide guidance for educators to implement proactive strategies that enhance students’ academic development.
... Denne viden har betydning for Dortes handlinger i situationen, men også hvordan hun vaelger at følge op på den konkrete situation efterfølgende, fx ved at dele viden med klasselaereren om enkelte elevers deltagelsesmåde. Dette kunne potentielt ligne et individualiseret perspektiv på deltagelse i undervisningssituationer og det er andre steder problematiseret f.eks., hvordan lave paedagogiske forventninger til børn og unge i udsatte positioner kan vaere en del af marginaliseringsprocesser i skolen (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Andersen, 2016). I Dortes formuleringer ser vi imidlertid, hvordan hendes forståelse og udvikling af de enkelte elevers deltagelsesmuligheder ikke alene knytter sig til viden om og opmaerksomhed på den enkelte elev, men samtidig en nysgerrighed på den konkrete situation og det de er faelles ompå faellesskabet og undervisningssituationens sociale muligheder. ...
Ambitionen med denne artikel er at bidrage til forståelser af lærerfaglighed og undervisningspraksis, der adresserer, hvordan lærere arbejder med hverdagslivets kompleksiteter og dynamiske samspil som led i at skabe deltagelsesmuligheder for børn og unge i konkrete undervisningssituationer. Vi vil på den måde bidrage til udviklingen af en ’situeret psykologi’ med begreber, der kan styrke forståelser for lærerfaglighed som samarbejdende og udforskende. Artiklen bygger på et begreb om ’situeret ulighed’, der inviterer til at forstå og analysere ulighed som på en og samme tid knyttet til skolen som en særlig samfundsmæssig praksis, sociale samspil og samarbejdsprocesser og børn og unges personlige erfaringer, engagementer og liv på tværs af steder. Det peger på en sammenhæng mellem børn og unges forskellige muligheder for at deltage og lykkes i skolen og professionelles faglige betingelser for at arbejde med deres deltagelsesmuligheder i skolen. Med afsæt i praksisteori, kritisk psykologiske begreber om blandt andet livsførelse samt Donald Schøns teori om faglighed i praksis bidrager artiklen med trædesten til forståelser af lærerfaglighed som situeret i skolens sociale hverdagsliv, hvor lærere og elever samarbejder om forskelle og fælles opgaver. Formålet er herigennem at styrke forståelser af og betingelser for læreres faglighed i arbejde med børns og unges betingelser for deltagelse i skolens læringsfællesskaber.
... Nevertheless, educational tracking has several side effects as it generally leads to distinct status labels for different educational tracks (Hallinan, 1994;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). The (perceived) hierarchy between educational tracks is to a large extent a consequence of structural elements in tracked education systems (Dockx, 2019). ...
The stereotype content model (SCM) describes that groups of people are mainly appraised according to two dimensions: warmth and competence. The present study’s aim was to investigate possible stereotyped perceptions held by Grade 12 students in Flanders (the northern part of Belgium) of students in the three major educational tracks. They were asked for ingroup and outgroup evaluations, both in general and for different personality traits. As expected, evidence was found for ingroup favouritism, meaning that respondents rated students from their own educational track more positively compared to students in other educational tracks. The status hierarchy between educational tracks in Flanders was reflected in the judgements of respondents from the general track and respondents from the technical track. Respondents from the vocational track showed a reverse pattern, which can be explained by social identity theory and an anti-school culture in vocational education. Finally, for positively formulated personality traits, the warmth-competence dimensionality of the judgements was confirmed together with the compensation hypothesis of the SCM, stating that lower ratings on warmth covary with higher ratings on competence (and vice versa).
... However, much more information will likely influence teachers' judgements in real classroom settings. Teachers' performance expectations are, for example, influenced by students' effort (Helwig et al., 2001), work habits or engagement (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Timmermans et al., 2016), and the quality of the teacher-student relationship (Hughes et al., 2005;Rubie-Davies, 2010). Therefore, we aim to examine the effects of special learning needs diagnoses with non-experimental approaches in the future. ...
Teachers' expectations influence students' outcomes. Studies demonstrate that
teachers lower their performance expectations of students with learning problems
when these students are labelled with a 'Learning Disability' (LD) diagnosis. Our
study aims to investigate whether these effects can be replicated in N = 429 special
and regular education teachers. We also investigate whether positive implicit
and explicit attitudes towards inclusion mitigate the negative effects of the LD
label on teachers' performance expectations. Teachers were randomly assigned
to the experimental (n = 214) or control group (n = 215). Both groups read the same
description of a fictitious student with learning problems. In addition, the student
was labelled as ‘learning disabled’ in the experimental group only. Results show
that teachers' expected graduation level and school track recommendation were
negatively affected by the LD label. It also led to a more frequent assumption that
the student has an LD. Regardless of the LD label, special education teachers
had lower performance expectations than regular education teachers. A positive
implicit attitude towards inclusion reduced the likelihood that teachers believe
that the labelled student has an LD. The findings are placed in the context of
international research on disability labels and inclusive education.
... A further mechanism by which academic selection could compound social inequality in student achievement is related to differences in teacher expectations and curriculum delivery between grammar and nongrammar schools. Grammar school teachers may have higher expectations of their students (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012), and teach the curriculum in a manner that optimises academic achievement (Betts & Grogger, 2003). Indeed, better qualified and/or experienced teachers may opt to work in the grammar sector because of a desire to teach what they perceive to be more academically gifted students (Brunello & Checchi, 2007). ...
This book uses philosophical analysis to argue that there are tensions associated with using results of high stakes tests to predict students’ future potential. The implications of these issues for the interpretation of test scores in general are then elucidated before their connotations for academic selection are considered. After a brief overview of the history of academic selection in the United Kingdom, and a review of evidence pertaining to its consequences, it is argued that the practice of using the results of contemporary high stakes tests to make important decisions about students incurs logical and moral problems that a conscientious educator cannot ignore. The gravity of the moral transgression depends on the purpose and significance of the test and, in the case of high stakes tests used for academic selection purposes, it is argued that, not only can the moral wrong be highly significant, but better solutions are within reach.
... Teachers shape educational careers not only by teaching students but also by grading and sorting them. Hence, it might be the case that in some contexts, teachers might have a greater impact on the educational careers of students than in others, for example, with the presence/absence of ability grouping (e.g., Finnigan and Gross, 2007;Geven et al., 2021;Kelly and Carbonaro, 2012;Lee et al., 2014;Lerner and Tetlock, 1999;Pit-ten Cate et al., 2020). ...
... Zahraniční výzkumy diferenciace ukazují, že žáci v různých programech mají zcela odlišné školní zkušenosti (Hanushek a Wößmann, 2006) a jsou vzhledem k nim ze strany školy komunikována odlišná očekávání (Kelly a Carbonaro, 2012;Oakes, 2005;Page, 1991;Rubin a Noguera, 2004;Van de Werfhorst a Mijs, 2010). Programy se odlišují i kurikulem a stanovenými cíli vzdělávání. ...
... In England and the US, there are comprehensive schooling systems, while ability grouping within schools and/or classes is a common practice from lower grades on. The age at which tracking happens and the type of tracking and ability grouping might impact teacher judgements and their association with later achievement, as might the amount and level of (standardised) testing or further accountability practices used (e.g., Finnigan and Gross 2007;Geven et al. 2021;Kelly and Carbonaro 2012;Lee et al. 2014;Lerner and Tetlock 1999;Pit-ten Cate et al. 2020). Finally, Geven et al. (2021) point out that cultural beliefs about how effort can overcome original disadvantage (growth mindset) may also shape teacher judgements. ...
This study takes a cross-country perspective to examine whether inaccurate teacher judgements of students’ math skills correlate with student social origin and whether such bias is associated with math achievement in primary school. We focus on England, Germany, and the US because these countries differ in the teachers’ growth mindsets, accountability, the use of standardised tests, and the extent of ability grouping. The data stem from three large-scale surveys, the Millennium Cohort Study for England, the National Educational Panel Study for Germany, and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 for the US. At the beginning of primary education, teacher judgements were not entirely consistent with student scores in standardised tests. In England and Germany, teachers underrated students with low-educated parents and overrated those with high-educated parents. In the US, no such differences were found. In all three countries, overrated (or underrated) students performed better (worse) later on. In England and, to a lesser extent, in Germany, we found evidence that biased teacher judgements contribute—over the course of primary school—to widening inequalities in value-added achievement by parental education. Such effects were negligible in the US. Our findings suggest that a cross-country perspective is essential to better understand contextual factors’ role in systematic bias in teacher judgements and its relevance for educational achievement. This study can be seen as a starting point for future research to investigate the mechanisms of such contextual effects more thoroughly.
... Based on the notion that young people only start to identify with the political process when they are active agents in their own learning (Sfard 1998;Torney-Purta 2002a;Biesta, Lawy, and Kelly 2009), scholars have noted that academic tracks generally offer more opportunities for such participatory forms of learning than vocational ones. In the former teachers have high expectations of students (Kelly and Carbonaro 2012). They encourage them to take part in debates on sensitive social and political issues and to participate in school decision-making as these activities are seen as important for their formation as engaged and responsible citizens willing to take on leadership roles in the future (Ichilov 2002). ...
Many scholars argue that the practice of educational tracking exerts a distinct effect on young people’s political engagement. They point out that students in academic tracks are becoming more politically engaged than those than those in vocational ones, and suggest that this may be due to differences across tracks in the curriculum, pedagogy, peer environment or student self-confidence. The current paper aims to investigate whether tracking is related to political engagement through any of these four mechanisms. It uses survey data collected among students in the final year of upper secondary education in France and employs a stepwise multilevel analysis to explore this question. It finds little differences between tracks in the curriculum and in pedagogy relevant for political engagement. Students in academic tracks nonetheless express a stronger commitment to vote than those in vocational ones. This difference between tracks disappears when the social composition of the school population is taken into account, suggesting that the peer environment is the primary mechanism driving the effect of tracking in France. However, in contexts with greater variation between the tracks in curriculum and pedagogy, the latter may well be equally or more important mechanisms.
... Second, academically able but socioeconomically disadvantaged students often lack the resources to switch from the vocational to the academic track -that is, costs outweigh the benefits. In addition, vocational tracks offer less academically oriented courses, teach in an entertaining rather than an academic manner, and have fewer school resources, which can set students in these tracks at an academic disadvantage (Gamoran, 2004;Kelly and Carbonaro, 2012;Van Houtte, 2004a). Moreover, following the accumulative (dis)advantage theory, the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students widens with the passage of time, as the advantaged gain more from their position, whereas the disadvantaged lose more (Dannefer, 1987;. ...
... For example, focusing on differences by student track level in 8th grade, Northrop and Kelly (2019) found that on a variety of dimensions, including the complexity of the texts teachers select for students, instruction is more disparate than would be predicted based on student achievement level. This finding is consistent with literature on teacher adaptations in expectations and evaluative standards (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Stevens & Van Houtte, 2011). Thus, while the best teachers find ways to modify instruction for individual students and classes that raises average levels of achievement while reducing the dispersion in achievement, observed patterns of adaptation may be negative in some contexts. ...
Background/Context
There is continuing debate among social scientists and educators about the role of school-to-school differences in generating educational inequality. Are some students high achieving because they attend School A, while others struggle because they attend School B, as critical discourse on schools argues? Alternatively, is educational inequality driven largely by social forces outside of the school, in the home and neighborhood environment, or by educational processes that are largely common across schools as much social science research argues? Analyses of school achievement, and in particular test score gains from year-to-year, suggest very small between-school differences. Yet, analyses of test score data alone may fail to reveal important school-to-school differences that affect the quality of the classroom experience and a variety of educational outcomes.
Purpose/Objective
We provide evidence on the following research questions. What is the magnitude of school-to-school variation in instructional practice, as captured by multiple measures? Are some domains of instruction (e.g., behavioral management) more variable between schools than others? To what extent are school-to-school differences in instruction associated with compositional characteristics of students and teachers?
Research Design
This study relies on the Measures of Effective Teaching Study data, which offer an unprecedented set of observations of teachers’ instruction scored on state-of-the-art observational protocols. To examine the extent of school-to-school variation in instructional practice in elementary and middle schools, we conducted a decomposition of variance analysis using summary scores on multiple measures. We further examine behavioral climate as revealed during instruction separately from overall instructional practice. Next, we examine differences in instruction associated with compositional characteristics of students using multilevel models. Finally, we use an innovative two-stage statistical adjustment strategy to more narrowly identify the possible association between composition and teaching practice due to school-to-school teacher sorting.
Findings/Results
The basic descriptive results from this study suggest a middle view of school-to-school differences in instruction. We find that substantial school-level variation in instruction exists, with 30% or more of the total variance in instruction lying between schools in these data. Behavioral climate during instruction appears to be particularly salient, and especially in elementary schools. Much of the between school variance we identify, in some cases 40% or more, is readily explained by simple measures of socio-demographic composition, including in particular the racial make-up of schools in the MET districts. Finally, some evidence from a statistical adjustment method suggests that teacher sorting, rather than measurement bias and teacher adaptation, is principally responsible for school-to-school differences in instruction.
Conclusions/Recommendations
More than an academic debate, basic differences between schools in the quality of the learning environment, along with parental understandings and beliefs about school effects, are potentially important drivers of school and neighborhood sorting and segregation, and even public investment in schooling. Additionally, this question carries continued policy relevance as states adopt and revise teacher and school accountability frameworks that implicitly attribute school-to-school differences to organizational functioning, and seek to carry out instructional improvement efforts in targeted schools. The basic descriptive results from this study suggest school-level differences are not as great as suggested by critical theory and the public discourse, but neither are they as inconsequential as one might infer from some social science research or the literature on value-added differences between schools.
... For example, teachers have lower expectations for disciplined students . Significant others' lower expectations for a disciplined student likely shape her access to more or less challenging curriculum and instruction as well as her self-confidence, beliefs about her academic ability, her place in the school, and her academic efforts (Anyon et al., 2016;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). Following developmental models of school withdrawal, differences in academic achievements related to differences in curricular exposure, motivation, effort, and more may accumulate to scar a student's long-term educational outcomes (Finn, 1989). ...
In this analysis, we consider how a potentially important triggering event in the life course—exclusionary school discipline—may affect students’ high school outcomes. We extend the literature to focus on the long-term effects of exclusionary discipline that occurs in the early grades, when students are relatively young and when a significant share of exclusionary discipline first occurs. We further evaluate the potential, long-term effects of exclusionary discipline on different high school outcomes (non-completion, GED certification, high school diploma) in statistical models that account for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. Overall, we find robust and consistent evidence that very young children are not somehow more resilient or more protected from negative, long-term effects of suspension or expulsion in early elementary school. Moreover, previous research might underestimate the effects of (early) exclusionary discipline more generally by ignoring the independent effects on GED certification.
... The inequities in learning opportunities are well documented in national and international studies that show how academic tracking disadvantages students by race/ethnicity and social class (Van de Werfhorst, 2018;Werblow et al., 2013). In math classes, these inequities are perpetuated in lower level math courses that are associated with low teacher expectations (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;McGillicuddy & Devine, 2018;Mosqueda, 2011); poor quality curriculum (Hallam & Ireson, 2005;Oakes, 2005;Oakes et al., 1990); and fewer resources for learning math (e.g., equipment, textbooks, computers, and programs to supplement learning) (Oakes et al., 1990;Strutchens & Silver, 2000). Unfortunately, once students are tracked, there is limited advancement to higher-level courses, which creates a mobility trap significantly linked to race/ethnicity (Ngo & Velasquez, 2020). ...
As careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) continue to grow, so has attention to Algebra 1 enrollment timing that serves as a critical predictor of STEM success. The present study adds to the literature by examining if Algebra 1 enrollment timing from 8th to 9th grade is related to sense of belonging in math, and whether this association changes as a function of the students’ perceived school and math race/ethnic context. To capture the dynamic nature of these contexts, we examined racial/ethnic incongruence, or the difference in the perceived number of same-race/ethnic peers in math class and the school of Black, White, Latino, and Asian students. Mixed effects linear modeling analyses were conducted on a sample of 2,938 participants (46% males; 54% females) who attended 26 racially/ethnically diverse middle schools and who transitioned to 142 public high schools in California. The results showed that enrolling and successfully passing 8th Algebra was protective for sense of belonging but this association depended on students’ race/ethnicity and the racial/ethnic incongruence between the math class and school context. Findings have important implications for math education teaching and policy.
... This less study-oriented culture of their students leads to lower job satisfaction in vocational track teachers (Van Houtte, 2006b). Teachers change their expectations and behavior towards students based on track: they have lower expectations for 'lower track' students, develop a 'culture of futility', might try to create a more supportive environment in these tracks and shift away from a focus on instructional to more administrative and disciplinary tasks (Chmielewski et al., 2013;Hallinan, 1994;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012). Although research has focused on the effects of tracking on student and teacher outcomes, there is, to the best of our knowledge, almost no research that investigates how perceived society-wide judgements about tracks influence teachers who belong to such tracks. ...
Although there is a wealth of research on the educational and broader outcomes of tracking in education, there is virtually no research that investigates teachers’ track identities on such outcomes. Building on research that focuses on the determinants of teachers’ job satisfaction, tracking outcomes and social categorization theory, this study tests the relationship between the perceived public regard of a teachers’ track and their job satisfaction, in a Belgian context of within- (vocational, technical and general education tracks) and between-school tracking (multilateral versus categorical schools). Data of the Belgian SIS (School, Identity and Society)-survey, a large-scale dataset gathered in 2017, containing the self-reports of 324 teachers, clustered in 43 secondary schools is used to test particular hypotheses regarding this relationship. The results of a multilevel analysis show that the relationship between teachers’ public track regard and their job satisfaction varies according to the track they teach and whether they work in a categorical or multilateral school. The findings highlight the importance of carrying out further research on tracked identities in education.
... Future research on tracking degree effects might focus on the interlinkage between school contexts and attitudinal dimensions, which are likely to underlie more hidden teaching practices. Important factors to study are the aforementioned teacher expectations (Kelly and Carbonaro, 2012;Van Houtte et al., 2013;Van Houtte and Demanet, 2016), but also the climate of emotional and instructional support (Donaldson et al., 2017) and teachers' attitudes and perceptions towards immigrant students (Stevens and Vermeersch, 2010;Van den Bergh et al., 2010), which in some cases have been shown to vary between track levels. ...
The present article investigates the relationship between the degree of tracking and inequalities in reading literacy of second-generation and non-immigrant students in 28 Western countries. The article takes into account that next to between-school tracking, there are also more subtle forms of tracking, such as tracking within schools or classes. By elaborating how the distinct mechanisms of different tracking characteristics generate achievement inequalities, I assume that any negative effects of tracking on second-generation immigrant students’ achievements are primarily driven by differences in the quality of school environments. Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2018 are used and multilevel regression analysis with country-fixed effects are applied. The findings reveal that a higher tracking degree is related to substantial disadvantages in reading literacy for immigrant children. Furthermore, a higher immigrant concentration in schools is associated with immigrant inequalities in reading performance as the degree of tracking increases, whereas unequal distributions of teacher and instructional quality were found to generate inequalities in countries with less tracking. Even though the results are only partly in line with the theory of tracking influences on immigrant achievement disadvantages, they suggest that the interplay between institutional tracking and school characteristics are crucial for learning inequalities.
... All teachers used the entire 1-7 range in indicating their expectations for their individual students. This particular instrument has been used in previous studies as a measure of teacher expectations (e.g., Rubie-Davies et al., 2018) and one-item measures are still very common within teacher expectation research (e.g., Bohlmann & Weinstein, 2013;Chalabaev, Jussim, Sarrazin, & Trouilloud, 2009;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Kuklinski & Weinstein, 2001). ...
The issue of teacher expectation stability is crucial in understanding the self-fulfilling prophecies generated by teacher expectations. However, currently there is a lack of empirical evidence related to teacher expectation stability. The aim of the current study was to assess the temporal stability of teacher expectations of their students’ mathematics achievement within the timeframe of one school year. Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models were employed based on a sample of 2536 students taught by 89 teachers in New Zealand elementary and middle public schools. Strong rank order stability was found in teacher expectations at the between-student level. Expectation instability was present at the within-student level. Paths from student mathematics achievement to teacher expectations were stronger than the paths in the opposite direction, indicating that teachers adapted their expectations for students to fall in line with student performance and continued to do so throughout the year.
... Research on the impact of tracking shows that students in different tracks usually have an entirely different school experience (Hanushek & Wößmann, 2006), including diverse expectations communicated to students in different tracks (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Oakes, 2005;Page, 1991;Rubin & Noguera, 2004). It thus makes sense to try to gain a better understanding of the relationship between different aspects of the school context in individual tracks and students' cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. ...
Research shows that the concept of academic futility is promising for studying the mechanisms that cause differences in educational outcomes in general and vocational programmes. The aim of this paper is to test the hypothesis that in the Czech Republic, a country with one the largest VET sectors in Europe, the worse achievement of students in vocational programmes can also be explained by academic futility, and to explore the relationship between futility and the track attended. The conceptualisation of academic futility returns to the three-dimensional concept proposed by Brookover and Schneider in 1975. The analysis was carried out on a sample of 4871 upper secondary students. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of the model for a two-level (student and class) concept of academic futility. Two-level structural equation modelling showed a negative relationship between futility and achievement and a lower culture of futility in classes with higher socio-economic status.
... Výzkum dopadů diferenciace ukazuje, že žáci v různých programech mají zcela odlišné školní zkušenosti [Hanushek, Woesmann 2006] a jsou vzhledem k nim ze strany školy komunikována odlišná očekávání [Kelly, Carbonaro 2012;Oakes 2005;Page 1991;Rubin, Noguera 2004;Van de Werfhorst, Mijs 2010]. Programy se odlišují i kurikulem a stanovenými cíli vzdělávání. ...
... Alpert & Bechar, 2008;Maaz et al., 2008;Rubin & Noguera, 2004). Výzkumy dále poukazují na zcela odlišné školní zkušenosti žáků, kdy jsou v různých programech vzhledem k žákům ze strany školy komunikována odlišná očekávání, žáci jsou vyučováni různě kvalifikovanými uči-teli, programy se odlišují i kurikulem a stanovenými cíli vzdělávání, liší se i kvalita pomůcek a vybavení škol (Hanushek & Wößmann, 2006;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Oakes, 2005;Page, 1991;Rubin & Noguera, 2004, Van de Werfhorst & Mijs, 2010. V náročnějších programech je kladen důraz na řešení problémů a rozvoj myšlenkových dovedností, zatímco v méně náročných programech je kladen důraz spíše na memorování a udržení kázně (např. ...
... Academic tracking is a powerful process that is predictive of students' opportunities and outcomes (Grodsky & Jackson, 2009;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Oakes, 1985;Rosenbaum, 1976;Tyson, 2011) and remains of particular consequence for racially minoritized students. Racialized tracking, as Tyson (2011) argues, is segregation. ...
Although tracking is typically the subject of secondary education, this embedded case study brings attention to the comparable mechanisms at work within postsecondary institutions that produce serious consequences for racially minoritized students admitted into the “low” track. By engaging Victor Ray’s newly conceptualized theory of racialized organizations, this article shifts attention toward the meso-level to enable a better understanding of postsecondary “organizational foundations, hierarchies, and processes” that are constituting and constituted by race.
... One future direction may be to incorporate time-varying predictors of children's relationship trajectories to ascertain the effects of different teachers on a grade-by-grade basis. In addition to teachers, a second direction for future research is an evaluation of school-and classroom-level practices such as educational tracking, or ability grouping, which appear to have a more negative impact on academically at-risk students (Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Maaz, Trautwein, Lüdtke, & Baumert, 2008). ...
Abstract
This study examined the development and continuity of teacher-student relationship quality across the formal schooling years (grades 1 to 12), and investigated how variations (i.e., differential trajectories) in teacher-student relationship quality were longitudinally associated with children’s conduct problems. Using a sample of 784 students (N = 784, 47% girls, 37.4% Latino or Hispanic, 34.1% European American, and 23.2% African American) who were recruited in grade 1 (Mage = 6.57) and followed annually through high school (grade 12), distinct subgroups of children were identified based on variations in their teacher-student warmth and conflict. Patterns of continuity and change were also assessed across the transition to middle school. Although the transition to middle school is a dynamic period, for most children, their warmth and conflict trajectories exhibited patterns of continuity as they made this transition. The
findings provided insights into how variations in the duration, magnitude and timing of teacherstudent relationship quality were associated with children’s conduct problems. More specifically, relationships characterized by early-onset deficits, chronic and persistent relationship difficulties, or adolescent-onset conflict were associated with variations in the development of children’s conduct problems throughout childhood and adolescence.
Keywords: teacher-student relationships; teacher-child relationships; conduct problems;
externalizing problems; school transitions
... Students' cognitive and non-cognitive attributes Although the importance of students' cognitive attributes in shaping teacher expectations of students has been acknowledged, their non-cognitive attributes are just as important (Farkas, 2003;Farrington et al., 2012). From this perspective, multiple attributes, such as work habits and motivation to learn, have been studied in relation to teacher expectations (e.g., Boone & Van Houtte, 2013;Kelly & Carbonaro, 2012;Timmermans et al., 2016). Clearly, these findings suggest the importance of students' non-cognitive attributes in terms of achievement-related or appropriate behavioural aspects. ...
This paper examines the long-term consequences of tracking in middle school. Using longitudinal administrative data from a large, urban school district and regression and quasi-experimental matching methods, we find that students who had the opportunity to take advanced math earned higher math test scores, completed more rigorous high school coursework, and were more likely to attend a four-year college. These effects largely hold across student subgroups and are relatively robust to omitted confounders. We explore some mechanisms underlying the short-term effects of taking advanced math and conclude that differences in classroom composition, rather than differences in teachers, help explain these effects. We conclude by discussing the implications of these results for efforts to improve educational equity.
Taking advanced courses in high school predicts many positive outcomes, yet low-income students and students who identify as Black and Hispanic are underrepresented. Policies such as “algebra for all” that accelerate middle school students into advanced courses are well-studied, but little is known about newer academic acceleration policies that target older students. Between 2014–2015 and 2016–2017, 72 districts in Washington implemented Academic Acceleration policies, which identified proficient 11th- and 12th-grade students for automatic acceleration into AP, IB, and other dual credit courses. We used difference-in-differences models to examine changes in advanced course enrollments, GPAs, and high school graduation between districts that began implementing the policy at different times. We found advanced course enrollment increased and became more equitable postpolicy.
In this chapter, I critically review relevant literature on the consequences of academic selection that has been published since the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the aim of assessing the overall benefits, and potential drawbacks, of academically selective education systems. Initially, I focus on evidence pertaining to the capacity of academic selection to improve educational outcomes for students. I then proceed to evaluate the impact of selection on the social composition of schools and the capacity of selective education systems to foster equality of educational opportunities for all students. I assess the evidence pertaining to the potential of academic selection to promote social mobility, which is one of the commonly purported benefits of selection: it allows bright children from poorer backgrounds to avail of educational and vocational opportunities that would not have been accessible to them otherwise. Finally, I consider evidence pertaining to other knock-on consequences of academic selection, such as its implications for learning and teaching in schools, and the effects of failure to obtain a place at an academically selective school on students’ future socio-emotional outcomes.
In this article, the authors utilize Miranda Fricker’s conception of epistemic injustice to reexamine racial inequities in public education through the lens of testimonial and hermeneutical injustices experienced by minoritized youth. Drawing on their lived experiences as BIPOC researchers and teacher educators, the authors delineate the concept of literacies of joy as a means to describe, document, and affirm minoritized youths’ creative resistance to the epistemic injustices inherent within oppressive educational systems and structures. These literacies of joy are defined as ways of being and knowing that enable BIPOC students and educators alike to reap, enact, and embody joy amid oppressive circumstances. By centering joy, we overtly link this work to expressions of mattering and survivance. By centering literacies, we call attention to the systematicity and grammar of these ways of mattering. Literacies of joy affirm and honor the profound creativity and ingenuity with which oppressed communities have carved out spaces of joy since time immemorial. To this end, this concept addresses a hermeneutical injustice of its own. The implications of these literacies of joy are discussed as means of anti-oppressive pathways to educational research and teaching.
Black and Latinx students are underrepresented in advanced placement (AP) and dual enrollment (DE), and implicit bias of educators has been discussed as one potential contributor. This study tests whether aggregate measures of implicit and explicit racial bias are related to AP and DE participation and racial/ethnic gaps in participation, controlling for contextual factors. The results indicate a relationship between implicit racial bias and disparate AP participation for Black students relative to White students, and suggestive evidence of a relationship between explicit racial bias and disparate DE participation between Black and White students. Furthermore, more explicitly biased communities have lower AP participation overall. Implications for school leaders regarding interventions to address systemic inequities in access are discussed.
Racialized tracking is central to sociological explanations for racially stratified educational outcomes. However, school officials’ decision-making is of debated importance for explaining racialized tracking. We contribute to this literature by examining the effects of schools’ enrollment policies for Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Using a unique combination of school survey data and administrative data from Wisconsin, we examine what happens to racial inequality in AP participation when school officials enforce performance-based selection criteria, which we call “course gatekeeping.” We find that course gatekeeping has racially disproportionate effects. Although racialized differences in prior achievement partially explain the especially large negative effects among students of color, course gatekeeping producesBlack-white and Hispanic-white disparities in participation even among students with similar, relatively low prior achievement. We further find that course gatekeeping has longer-run effects, particularly discouraging Black and Asian or Pacific Islander students from attending highly selective four-year colleges.
Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP; e.g., Ladson-Billings, 1995) is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to serve culturally and linguistically diverse student learners. Although a large body of work describes its tenets and permutations, and its implications for students, less work has been done to outline the myriad barriers that teachers face when trying to implement CRP. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a race-conscious, multilevel, ecological framework to illuminate the societal, institutional, and individual obstacles that teachers must navigate in the pursuit of CRP. Implications for teacher training and development are discussed.
Extant research has observed that educational expectations are malleable and adjust in response to educational inputs such as the position in a stratified level of education. Examining two distinct forms of curricular differentiation introduced in the comprehensive Spanish educational system (low-ability grouping programmes), I study whether two identical 15-year-old students with the same academic performance would differ in their educational expectations if one of them was diverted into these programmes. I use the 2018 PISA database and Entropy Balancing to balance the distribution of variables that confound the relationship between low-ability grouping and expectations. Results indicate that being diverted into a low-ability group exerts a substantial effect on the vertical and horizontal expectations about Upper Secondary and Tertiary Education. Programmes based on a simplification of the general curriculum mainly condition horizontal expectations (academic vs vocational education), while pre-vocational programmes also shorten the educational plans of participants. Therefore, the effects associated with the educational position of the student are not exclusive of highly stratified systems and other forms of curricular differentiation in otherwise highly comprehensive systems can be influential in the reconfiguration of educational expectations.
Student attendance is both a critical input and intermediate output of the education production function. However, the malleable classroom-level determinants of student attendance are poorly understood. We estimate the causal effect of class size, class composition, and observable teacher qualifications on student attendance by leveraging the random classroom assignments made by Tennessee’s Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project class size experiment. A 10-student increase in class size increases the probability of being chronically absent by about 3 percentage points (21%). For Black students, random assignment to a Black teacher reduces the probability of chronic absence by 3.1 percentage points (26%). However, naive mediation analyses suggest that attendance is not a mechanism through which class size and same-race teachers improve student achievement.
Teacher reports on school organizational functioning, curricular processes, and student engagement are a reliable means of ascertaining valuable information about classroom climate and learning outcomes. Yet, to date, the vast majority of quantitative teacher-reported data, where teachers themselves reach judgments about educational processes, have been summary rather than lesson specific, where teachers evaluate classroom experiences at the moment of instruction. In this study, we examine how lesson-specific teacher survey reports generate insight into the relationship between student engagement and instruction. Results suggest that this underutilized design has significant application for procuring data on within-teacher variability in practice, especially in studies focused on student engagement, active change in teacher practice, and/or teacher buy-in as a mediator of outcomes. Ultimately, we argue that lesson-specific teacher reports may be a valuable tool for researchers in measuring instructional change.
Using Rosenthal and Jacobsen's Pygmalion Effect Theory and Bandura's Social Learning Theory, this chapter explores the perceptions of high school English/language arts and math teachers who teach low academic level track courses. The teachers' narratives describe their beliefs regarding academic ability grouping of students and the associated achievement gap that is often a result of this stratifying structure. Findings from the narratives reiterate the importance of teacher awareness regarding the impact of critical pedagogy as a fundamental element of teaching for social justice. The chapter indicates the usefulness of teacher narrative to influence alternative methods for course placement and schedule design in the high school curriculum.
Mathematics is not just memorized facts, but rather it is understanding how to approach and solve problems, and problem-solving requires linguistic proficiency. Too often, English learners’ (ELs) relatively low math performance is dismissed due to their supposed “limited” English proficiency. Taking this perspective, a constructivist approach suggests that content-area discussions should improve EL students’ math performance. To test this hypothesis, we use nationally representative data from the Educational Longitudinal Study: 2002 to examine the relationship between students’ reported participation in math discussions and their 10th-grade math performance (GPA), considering both course placement and linguistic status. While we find reported participation in student-led discussion to be positively associated with math performance for all students, we also find that EL students report higher participation in student-led discussions only in low-level math placement. This pattern suggests that for EL students, participation in student-led discussion may actually be necessary to counteract the limiting nature of low-track placement. We argue that although EL students appear to benefit from student-led discussions in these contexts, until school systems begin to address the overrepresentation of EL students in low-level coursework, instructional experiences alone will do little to improve their overall achievement.
Research on college admissions shows that all students tend to benefit from overmatching, but high-status students are most likely to be overmatched, and low-status students are most likely to be undermatched. This study examines whether mismatching takes place when students are sorted into classrooms in middle school. Given prior research on effectively maintained inequality, we theorize that classroom sorting acts as an opportunity for privileged parents to obtain a qualitative advantage for their children. Our research uses administrative data from Indiana and hierarchical linear models to analyze classroom mismatch in sixth through eighth grades. We find that privileged students are more likely to be overmatched in both math and English language arts (ELA) classrooms but that overmatching is beneficial in math but detrimental in ELA. This suggests that inequality can be effectively maintained only if parents have an accurate understanding of what constitutes an advantage.
Self-perception of academic competence is a strong predictor of students’ achievement striving. We examined adolescents’ beliefs about their math teachers’ perceptions of students (reflected classroom appraisals) and math track placement as subtle sources of information that might influence students’ math self-concept. Sixth graders (n = 322; 72% White; 164 girls) in the Southeast United States completed measures of math self-concept and reflected classroom appraisals at the beginning and end of their sixth-grade year. With parent education, prior math achievement, and prior math self-concept controlled, honours math placement and students’ reflected classroom appraisals predicted increases in math self-concept from beginning to end of students’ sixth-grade year. Results from this study are important for further understanding of the influences of students’ school experiences on the development of their self-perceptions.
Presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from 4 principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Factors influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arise from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. (21/2 p ref)
Background/Context
A common perspective found in the literature on classroom activity structures hypothesizes that a whole-class mode of instruction is linked with increased problems of achievement motivation for low-achieving students. If whole-class methods of instruction (e.g., recitation-style question-and-answer sessions) are rich in evaluation and foster social comparisons among students, low-achieving students may become disengaged in an effort to avoid negative evaluations. It is important to consider the evidence on activity structures and engagement carefully because this perspective represents a sweeping critique, concluding essentially that the predominant mode of instruction in American schools is detrimental to achieving widespread educational success.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study
Are whole-class modes of instruction linked with increased problems of achievement motivation and disengagement for low-achieving students?
Research Design
This study is a review of research on the association between student engagement and activity structure. We review both quantitative and qualitative studies investigating the link between activity structure and student engagement, with an emphasis on studies that identify an interaction between students’ level of achievement, activity structure, and engagement. In interpreting the evidence, we focus on studies of classroom discourse—particularly studies of dialogic and scaffolding instruction, which illustrate variability in the effects of whole-class instruction on student engagement.
Conclusions/Recommendations
Although many relationships between motivational climates and levels of engagement have been clearly documented, we find no conclusive evidence of a link between whole-class instruction and disengagement among low-achieving students. Research on classroom discourse illustrates that the activities that constitute whole-class instruction are not inherently problematic for low-achieving students and can, in fact, promote engagement.
A prominent class of explanations for the gender gaps in student outcomes focuses on the interactions between students and teachers. In this study, I examine whether assignment to a same-gender teacher influences student achievement, teacher perceptions of student performance, and student engagement. This study's identification strategy exploits a unique matched-pairs feature of a major longitudinal study, which provides contemporaneous data on student outcomes in two different subjects. Within-student comparisons indicate that assignment to a same-gender teacher significantly improves the achievement of both girls and boys as well as teacher perceptions of student performance and student engagement with the teacher's subject. © 2007 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
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Relying on Parsons's conceptualization of the influence process and using 20,000 friendship dyads from the High School and Beyond survey, the authors examine how characteristics of students and of students' close friends affect the students' college aspirations and attendance. This article describes their study, which focused on whether differences in the ascribed and achieved characteristics--gender, race, and other background characteristics, as well as track placement in high school--result in different peer-influence processes. It was found that the influence of close friends on educational aspirations and outcomes varies with the racial and gender composition of the friendship and that interracial friendships are beneficial to the aspirations of both black and white students.
De facto tracking-the association between students' courses in disparate subjects, regardless of the decline of institutional mechanisms that organized de jure tracking-is a contested feature of secondary schools. Some analysts imply that de facto tracking arises simply because students who do well in one area often do well in other areas. Other analysts content that pronounced tracking systems maintain racial, ethnic, and social-class segregation and thus that de facto tracking is driven, in part, by the sociodemographic composition of schools. This article investigates the school-level correlates of de facto tracking. An analysis of data from High School and Beyond suggests that the higher the correlation between students' achievements in different domains, the more pronounced the de facto tracking. However, racial-ethnic and socioeconomic diversity are also positively associated with de facto tracking, even though the achievement correlation is controlled. These findings suggest that de facto tracking may be maintained by both technical and demographic aspects of schools, both of which must be considered in any evaluation of tracking.
Across the United States, families seek schools with reputations for academic excellence for their children, assuming that such schools improve a talented child's prospects for college admission. This article shows that students from "star" public high schools experience a disadvantage in entering elite colleges that stems from the attention played to class rank. In response, some high schools have developed "winner-take-all" characteristics, enhancing the success of their top students at the expense of other students. Students below the top of their class do less well than would be expected in terms of grades and advanced place- ment courses. They also take fewer advanced math and science subjects, given their high academic skills, compared to equivalent students in less prestigious schools. These patterns are linked to a system of educational stratification that links colleges and high schools through several types of assessment games.
This article builds on research on teacher adaptations to students by exploring how Belgian and English national contexts influence teachers’ definitions of educational success, their explanations of educational failure, and their allocation of scarce educational resources to disadvantaged students. Ethnographic data from one Flemish (Belgian) and one English secondary multicultural school suggest that teachers in both schools adapt their expectations to students in line with the perceived ability and interests of students. However, differences between England and Flanders in how students and schools are evaluated can help to explain differences between Flemish and English teachers’ allocation of scarce educational resources and responsibility for educational success. The conclusions discuss the implications of these findings for social policy and further research.
On the basis of the TIMSS Case Study Project data collected in the United States, Japan, and Germany in 1994–1995, this article examines the phenomenon of tracking as part of curricular differentiation and student placement practices in public K–12 school systems. The authors document clear national differences in differentiation and placement measures and summarize the history of conflict over those measures. Analysis of respondent perceptions and beliefs about differentiation and placement (what people think “tracking” is) shows that nation-specific values and attitudes (i.e., cultures) determine which forms of curricular differentiation are legitimated and which contested. Dominant cultural beliefs about what students are capable of and the role that schools should play in educating them create different points of conflict over tracking.
The relationships among teachers’ task environments, more general characteristics of school organizational climates, and teachers’ professional and organizational commitments were examined. Data were derived from the 1987–1988 National Center for Education Statistics Schools and Staffing Survey; the study was based on a sample of 14,844 secondary school teachers. Task environment was operationalized in terms of structural features of teachers’ class schedules, and school climate was measured in terms of administrative support, teacher influence and autonomy, and collegiality. Results suggest that, while teachers’ professional commitment and organizational commitment were unrelated to teachers’ class schedules, commitment was associated with school climate.
Authority is a fundamental, problematic, and poorly understood component of classroom life. A better understanding of classroom authority can be achieved by reviewing writings on social theory, educational ideology, and qualitative research in schools. Social theories provide important analytical tools for examining the constitutive elements of authority but fall short of explaining its variability and contextual influences. Discussion of educational ideologies offers insights into the debates, historical contexts, and policy and reform agendas that shape the politics of authority while neglecting empirical realities. Qualitative studies present empirical data and analyses on the challenges intrinsic to classroom relations, but, exceptions aside, they often lack explicit attention to authority. More research focused on classroom authority as a social construction is needed to address critical educational concerns for contemporary practitioners, policy makers, and researchers.
Research evidence for the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) has demonstrated that attending high-ability schools has a negative effect on academic self-concept. Utilizing multilevel modeling with the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment database, the present investigation evaluated the generalizability and robustness of the BFLPE across 16 individual student characteristics. The constructs examined covered two broad areas: academic self-regulation based on a theoretical framework proposed by Zimmerman and socioeconomic status. Statistically significant moderating effects emerged in both areas; however, in relation to the large sample (N = 265,180), many were considered small. It was concluded that the BFLPE was an extremely robust effect given that it was reasonably consistent across the specific constructs examined.
This study used variable- and person-centered data analytic techniques to examine how early adolescents' academic motivation and social-emotional functioning were associated with their self-reported cognitive and behavioral engagement in the middle school classroom. Regression results showed that both motivational and mental health constructs contributed to the prediction of individual differences in classroom engagement. Person-centered analyses revealed between group variation in classroom engagement as a function of differing patterns of motivation and mental health among different subgroups of adolescents. Convergent and complementary information on these subgroups was provided by using two different grouping approaches. Findings are discussed in terms of broad patterns of promise or problems during early adolescence.
Over the past three decades, American high school students’ course taking has rapidly intensified. Between 1982 and 2004, for example, the proportion of high school graduates who earned credit in precalculus or calculus more than tripled. In this article, the authors investigate the consequences of mathematics curricular intensification for social stratification in American high schools. Using representative data from U.S. high school graduates in 1982, 1992, and 2004, the authors estimate changes in race-, class-, and skills-based inequality in advanced math course credit completion. Their analyses indicate that race, class, and skills gaps in geometry, Algebra II, and trigonometry completion have narrowed considerably over the study period. However, consistent with the theory of maximally maintained inequality, inequalities in calculus completion remain pronounced.
Logistic regression estimates do not behave like linear regression estimates in one important respect: They are affected by omitted variables, even when these variables are unrelated to the independent variables in the model. This fact has important implications that have gone largely unnoticed by sociologists. Importantly, we cannot straightforwardly interpret log-odds ratios or odds ratios as effect measures, because they also reflect the degree of unobserved heterogeneity in the model. In addition, we cannot compare log-odds ratios or odds ratios for similar models across groups, samples, or time points, or across models with different independent variables in a sample. This article discusses these problems and possible ways of overcoming them.
Quantitative analyses using CLASS 3.0 software and qualitative discourse analyses were conducted of the instructional and institutional effects of tracking in high- and low-track American literature classes taught by the same teacher, a participant in a national study of the effects of dialogic classroom discourse patterns on student achievement. The quantitative analyses of class activities and discourse patterns revealed somewhat different amounts and kinds of dialogic discourse in the two classes, but could not account for much of the difference in achievement between the two groups. A more detailed qualitative analysis of teacher interviews and classroom discourse, using discourse analysis to look at both how the classroom discourse positioned students vis-à-vis course content, and how students in the two tracks were characterized by the teacher, showed how instruction was influenced by the teacher's cultural models of students' institutional identities. The teacher's identification with the high-track students aided her in enacting a curriculum that was more academically challenging and more coherent, both intertextually and culturally. These analyses suggest that institutional and instructional effects of tracking are inextricably interwoven where the teacher's conceptions of students' needs and abilities constrain the level of instruction and the coherence of the curriculum.
This study looks at peer influence processes within the elementary classroom by examining the extent to which inattentive behavior on the part of one student increases the likelihood of additional student inattention. The data consist of behavioral measures of attentiveness obtained from 16 video-taped lessons of first-grade reading groups. Qualitative analyses revealed several instances in which distracting verbal and nonverbal behavior by one individual appeared to cause others to stop attending to the reading lesson. Quantitative analyses, using a continuous-time, stochastic model, confirmed the hypotheses generated from the qualitative analyses. Distracting inattention on the part of one student had a significant impact on the rate at which other students became inattentive, while controlling for a set of individual and group characteristics, with inattention shift rates more than tripling in magnitude following an incident of distraction in the classroom. Implications for the study of contextual effects and peer influence are discussed.
This article explores the extent to which Hargeaves' and Lacey's differentiation-polarisation theory is applicable to setted comprehensive schools bearing in mind certain objections to the thēory made by Quine. The research is based on an ethnographic study of a comprehensive school, located in the south of England, in which the pupils are streamed by sets after the first year. The sample of pupils studied are fourth years in the top, middle and bottom streams of the school. By using a variety of research methods to study the historical and current academic and behavioural values of the pupils, this paper suggests that the differentiation-polarisation theory holds fairly well, particularly in the second year. The research does not substantiate Quine's objections to the theory. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the theory for social class differentiation and other contemporary theories in the sociology of education.
This paper suggests that students' opportunities to learn may be stratified both between and within schools: Schools serving a more affluent and able clientele may offer more rigorous and enriched programs of study, and students in college-preparatory curricular programs may have greater access to advanced courses within schools. This notion is tested with a longitudinal, nationally representative sample of public school students from the High School and Beyond data base. The results show few between-school effects of school composition and offerings but important within-school influences of curriculum tracking and coursetaking. In most cases, the difference in achievement between tracks exceeds the difference in achievement between students and dropouts, suggesting that cognitive skill development is affected more by where one is in school than by whether or not one is in school.
Drawing on theoretical and methodological suggestions of Oakes, Gamoran, and Page and Meyer, the author uses a survey of educational attainment in urban Taiwan to explore the effects of ability grouping. Because of the nature of educational institutionalization in Taiwan (universal basic education, a national curriculum, and entrance examinations governing access to postcompulsory schooling), he argues that tracking reduces, rather than accentuates, the influence of family background characteristics on the distribution of junior high graduates to stratified senior secondary opportunities. Gender differences in educational aspirations and enrollments in senior secondary schools remain, however, even when track assignments and grades are held constant. Both cultural and institutional factors help explain these differences.
A great deal is now known about the macro-sociology of secondary education in Britain. Recent studies (for example, Floud et al., 1957; Douglas, 1964) focusing on selection for entry and on the performance in secondary schools of pupils with various social and psychological characteristics, have sketched in the major dimensions of the problem. This paper, on the other hand… is an attempt to lay bare some of the micro-sociological mechanisms within one school and dwells primarily on processes of differentiation and sub-culture formation. It must therefore be seen against the background of well-established findings in the field.
Sociologists have long used educational expectations to understand the complex mental processes underlying individuals’ educational decision making. Yet, little research evaluates how students actually formulate their educational expectations. Status attainment theory asserts that students adopt their educational expectations early based on family background and social influences, and that their educational expectations are driven by a static mental construct as a result. In contrast, recent research based on Bayesian learning theory hypothesizes that students mostly adapt their educational expectations in light of new information about their academic potential. Comparing models of expectations formation in adolescence, we find that students’ expectations do not derive from a static mental construct. However, students adapt their educational expectations only modestly and only in response to very large changes in grade point averages. Thus, adolescent educational expectations stabilize early and are rather persistent over time.
In this analysis, the authors explore the relationship between the social context of high schools and school-to-school variation in tracking policies. The authors consider three explanations for the implementation of highly elaborated tracking systems: opportunity hoarding, status competition, and a technical-functional explanation. Building on the research methodology developed by Kelly, they conducted a content analysis of curriculum guides in a sample of 128 high schools to identify school tracking policies. They find that compositional variables related to technical-functional concerns, and to a lesser extent, status competition, are associated with highly elaborated school tracking policies.
Although a rich tradition of mainly U.S. and U.K. research focuses on the nature and effects of tracking students within schools, little research has investigated the importance of tracking students in the same or in separate schools. The authors used data from a unique, representative survey in Flanders (Belgium) to examine how students' study involvement varied between multilateral schools (in which all different tracks are offered) and categorial schools (in which only particular tracks are offered) and whether the relation between track and study involvement varied between these school types. Multilevel analyses of data gathered in 2004 and 2005 from academic and vocational third and fifth grade students in a sample of Flemish secondary schools showed that vocational students had slightly lower study involvement in multilateral schools. Although academic students were more study involved than vocational students, this difference was larger in multilateral schools than in categorial schools. The data suggest that in multilateral schools, vocational students compared themselves with academic-track students, consistent with the hypothesis of increased status deprivation, resulting in even stronger antischool attitudes. The implications of these findings for further research and social policy are discussed.
Despite increases in the representation of African American and Hispanic youth in advanced math courses in high school over the past two decades, recent national reports indicate that substantial inequality in achievement remains. These inequalities can temper one’s optimism about the degree to which the United States has made real progress toward educational equity. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS), the authors find that the math achievement gap is most pronounced among those students who take the most demanding high school math classes, such as precalculus and calculus. The authors explore the roles of family socioeconomic status and school composition in explaining this pattern. Findings suggest that among those students reaching the advanced math high school stratum, Hispanic youth from low-income families and African American youth from segregated schools fare the worst in terms of closing the achievement gap with their white peers. The authors discuss potential explanations for the achievement differences observed and stress the need for more research that focuses explicitly on the factors that inhibit minority/majority parity at the top of the secondary curricular structure.
Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, this study investigated differences in the mathematics course taking of white and black students. Because of lower levels of achievement, prior course taking, and lower socioeconomic status, black students are much more likely than are white students to be enrolled in low-track mathematics courses by the 10th grade. Using multilevel models for categorical outcomes, the study found that the black-white gap in mathematics course taking is the greatest in integrated schools where black students are in the minority and cannot be entirely accounted for by individual-level differences in the course-taking qualifications or family backgrounds of white and black students. This finding was obscured in prior research by the failure to model course taking adequately between and within schools. Course placement policies and enrollment patterns should be monitored to ensure effective schooling for all students.
On the topic of stratification in secondary schools, this paper uses ethnographic research to interpret the findings of survey analyses and uses survey studies to assess the causal implications and generalizability of ethnographic findings. The authors criticize survey research for ambiguity concerning the measurement of within-school stratification and for lack of attention to the mechanisms through which the effects of grouping and tracking occur. At the same time, ethnographic research is seen as limited by an inability to demonstrate the significance of between-track differences in social and instructional conditions and by the failure to disentangle track effects from the influence of social class and other preexisting circumstances. The authors advocate longitudinal, quantitative research that is sensitive to the actual dimensions of stratification in schools, and to classroom conditions and processes that vary across levels of the academic hierarchy.
Critical and resistance theorists propose that race and class backgrounds influence everyday forms of student resistance in schools. This article argues that the microsocial process of student defiance is less characterized by individual traits of race and class than by the formal and informal organizational characteristics of social settings. Using unique data on resistance in multiple schools and classrooms, this article finds that defiant behaviors arise when instructional formats give students access to public discourse and when students have advantaged social network relations. Social opportunities of tasks, coupled with political opportunities of networks, enable students to consistently undermine and redirect classroom affairs. The results suggest that resistant behavior is more the result of organizational features of social networks and instruction than "alienation" factors, and is therefore rectifiable through classroom management.
Research into educational stratification has consistently demonstrated an effect of tracking on pupils' achievement. Teachers' instructional practice forms a possible mechanism through which tracking affects achievement. I aim to test quantitatively this mediating role of instructional practice. I use data of 3,760 pupils and 745 members of staff in 34 secondary education schools in Flanders (Belgium). Multilevel analyses show that the school type (general or technical-vocational) affects the pupil's chance of failing, controlling for individual pupil features (e.g., ability), and that the academic staff culture mediates this effect of school type.
Several decades ago it was shown that the differentiation of pupils into tracks and streams led to a polarization into ‘anti‐school’ and ‘pro‐school’ cultures. Support for this differentiation–polarization theory is mainly based on case studies. This paper presents findings of a quantitative study in Belgium (Flanders). Attention is given to the conceptualization of the polarization component of the differentiation–polarization theory. The findings suggest that the culture of pupils is less study‐oriented in technical/vocational schools than in general (grammar) schools. The differentiation–polarization theory also applies to school staffs: the staff culture is less academically‐oriented in technical/vocational schools than in general schools. Moreover, staffs' attitudes towards pupils—their judgements on the teachability of pupils and the trust they place in pupils—are different.
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Previous research has consistently found a negative statistical relationship between sibship size and children's intellectual development. Two explanations have been offered for this finding. The prevailing explanation is that the relationship is causal, suggesting that limiting family size would lead to more intelligent children. A second explanation maintains that the relationship is spurious-that one or more undetermined factors correlated with family size are causally related to intellectual development. Using data on children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we reexamine the issue using change models. These change models allows us to control for such unmeasured effects as family intellectual climate, family value system, and family genetic heritage. We begin by replicating in these data the negative statistical relationship between three cognitive measures and sibship size. We then apply the change models to siblings measured at two points in time and to repeated measures of the same individuals. By considering sibship size as an individual trait that changes over time, we control for effects that are shared across siblings and over time. When these shared effects are controlled, the negative relationship between sibship size and intellectual development disappears, casting doubt on the causal interpretation of the negative relationship conventionally found.
This analysis of data from the Partnership for Literacy Study investigates the relationship among achievement, effort, and grades. Certainly, grades reward achievement, the mastery of material by students. Research has also suggested that grades are used to reward students for exerting effort to learn material, even if students fall short of mastery. Indeed, some small-scale research has found that teachers reward students for merely cooperating with their instructional plans, for behaviors that may be weakly related or even unrelated to the growth in achievement. This analysis reveals that teachers seldom reward students for nonachievement-related behavior, for keeping instruction moving. In these data from middle school English and language arts classrooms, the vast majority of the variance in grades is accounted for by students' achievement and students' behaviors that are closely related to the growth in achievement. The findings are consistent with the theory that many teachers adopt a “developmental” perspective on instruction and seek to promote students' achievement by rewarding students' engagement.
This study examined the links among students' effort, tracking, and students' achievement. It found that students in higher tracks exert substantially more effort than do students in lower tracks. These differences in effort are largely explained by differences in prior effort and achievement, as well as students' experiences in their classes. Students' effort is strongly related to students' learning, and track differences in students' effort account for a modest portion of track differences in students' learning. Finally, the effect of students' effort on students' learning is roughly the same, regardless of the track in which a student is placed.
There is a large body of research in studies of schooling, particularly ethnographic case studies, which posits that collective action among students undermines engagement in school and contributes to educational inequality. In this paper I review studies of engagement from a social identity theory perspective. To what extent can collective action explain why some student groups are less engaged than others? I discuss four approaches to identifying social identity‐related problems of engagement frequently used in prior research. While researchers often find problems of engagement among low‐academic‐status students, research on educational engagement has had difficulty locating the underlying causes of inequality in student engagement. Social identity theories of educational engagement are inherently theories of collective action. I conclude that a fifth approach, large‐scale observational studies of monitoring and sanctioning, provides the best framework for identifying both the prevalence of, and solutions to, this particular source of disengagement.
This paper examines the polarization model from qualitative research in both Great Britain and the US, which claims that educational stratification practices polarize students into pro- and anti-school orientations. Because few researchers have adequately conceptualized school attitudes and behavior, social bonding theory (Hirschi, 1969) is used to provide a framework for examining the polarization hypothesis. Relying on High School and Beyond data from the US, an attempt is made to develop measures of respondents’ social bonding to school, including college expectations, absenteeism, disciplinary problems, and engagement. The polarization hypothesis is supported by these US data when examining educational stratification effects on the school bonding measures. Compared to academic-track students, general- and vocational-track students have Iowa college expectations, more disciplinary problems, and are less academically engaged, controlling for prior school orientations and for selection bias due to dropping out of school. For absenteeism, the general track has a significant positive effect, while vocational-track students do not differ from those in the academic track. In addition, students in the nonacademic tracks are more likely to drop out of school between the 10th and 12th grades compared to academic-track students.