AYP Status, Urbanicity, and Sector: School-to-School Variation in Instruction

Northrop, Laura; Kelly, Sean

doi:10.1177/0042085915618710

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Although only 6% of the teacher-level variance occurred at the school level, he did find sector differences in use of student-centered teaching practices. Similarly, Northrop and Kelly (2018) found limited variation in developmental instruction in math and science between schools, ICCs of .084 and .110, respectively, in the High School Longitudinal Study data.…”

Section: Prior Research On School-to-school Variation In Instruction: Limited Evidence From Survey Reportsmentioning

confidence: 91%

School-to-School Differences in Instructional Practice: New Descriptive Evidence on Opportunity to Learn

Kelly

Mozenter²,

Aucejo

et al. 2020

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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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.

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Section: Prior Research On School-to-school Variation In Instruction: Limited Evidence From Survey Reportsmentioning

confidence: 91%

School-to-School Differences in Instructional Practice: New Descriptive Evidence on Opportunity to Learn

Kelly

Mozenter²,

Aucejo

et al. 2020

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

Self Cite

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“…More basically, the concept of opportunity to learn helps explain school-to-school differences in achievement growth (Montt 2011;Martin 2009). Within this framework, dimensions of schooling that affect learning include teacher characteristics and instructional quality (e.g., Kelly 2010;Kelly and Majerus 2011;Northrop and Kelly 2018;Minor et al 2015); the degree of exposure to rigorous educational content (e.g., Hansen and Strietholt 2018;Northrop et al 2019); and even basic physical resources and availability of learning materials and technology (e.g., Krashen et al 2012).…”

Section: High School Stem Learning: An Opportunity To Learn Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Re-Examining the Public–Catholic School Gap in STEM Opportunity to Learn: New Evidence from HSLS

Kelly

2020

Social Sciences

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This paper examines public–Catholic gap in STEM opportunity to learn in the US using Mahalanobis-distance matching and adjacent categories models. Consistent with prior studies, there are significant public–Catholic differences in math and science course sequence level and total credits earned. However, we find that these gaps are largely accounted for by selection processes among students of differing family background. Moreover, we find that the Catholic school advantage in STEM opportunity to learn differs by subject; Catholic school students are more likely to enroll in advanced math courses relative to middle-level courses, while their advantage in science is concentrated in the middle of the course-taking hierarchy.

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“…Carbonaro and Covay (2010) suggested that this result might be related to the difference in academic curriculum between private and public schools. Private schools follow a rigorous curriculum, so urban schools may need to enhance the quality of the instruction to improve the learning gains through utilizing innovative and research-based strategies (Northrop & Kelly, 2018). These results call for further examination of the quality of the instruction and factors influencing the instruction in different schools and in different grade levels including elementary, middle, high school and college education through longitudinal studies.…”

Section: Implications For Future Research and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, school-level factors can be related to the students' achievement (e.g. Carbonaro & Covay, 2010;Northrop & Kelly, 2018;Perry & McConney, 2010). These previous studies investigated the influence of these individual-level and school-level factors on student achievement separately.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-Level Analysis of Students’ Teacher and Family Relationships on Academic Achievement in Schools

Sengul¹,

Zhang²,

Leroux³

2019

INT J EDUC METHODOL

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By using multi-level modeling, this study explores the impact of students' perception of the quality of the teacher-student relationship and family structure on student achievement after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), school urbanicity, and school control. The data from 750 schools and 17,000 10th grade students were analyzed. Family structure and student's perception of teacher-student relationship, and SES were student-level; school urbanicity and school control were school-level variables. The findings indicated that students, who had a positive perception about their relationship with their teachers, came from families including two biological parents, and had high SES and high math achievement. Students' SES and attending public school in urban areas were found to be significantly related to students' math achievement. The math score for public school students was lower than students from private and Catholic schools. The further research should have a design addressing the impact of these variables in a longitudinal term.

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AYP Status, Urbanicity, and Sector: School-to-School Variation in Instruction

Cited by 5 publications

References 52 publications

School-to-School Differences in Instructional Practice: New Descriptive Evidence on Opportunity to Learn

School-to-School Differences in Instructional Practice: New Descriptive Evidence on Opportunity to Learn

Re-Examining the Public–Catholic School Gap in STEM Opportunity to Learn: New Evidence from HSLS

A Multi-Level Analysis of Students’ Teacher and Family Relationships on Academic Achievement in Schools

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