Educational Researcher 44卷6期

1. Eleventh Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research: A Long Shadow: The American Pursuit of Political Justice and Education Equality

Author: James D. Anderson

Source: Educational Researcher 44.6 ( Aug/ Sep. 2015): 319-335.

Abstract: This article examines the historical relationship between political power and the pursuit of education and social equality from the Reconstruction era to the present. The chief argument is that education equality is historically linked to and even predicated on equal political power, specifically, equal access to the franchise and instruments of government. Following the Civil War and the collapse of the slaveholding aristocracy, the nation faced an unusual opportunity to reinvent itself by incorporating a new concept of equal citizenship in the postbellum Constitution. Despite the new constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law, Congress failed to establish equal access to the instruments of government. Following a protracted and intense debate over race, equality, and voting rights, the leaders of the Reconstruction Congress decided not to establish the most important guarantee of equality, that is, equal access to the elective franchise protected by federal constitutional authority. The failure to transfer the regulation of the elective franchise from the respective states to Congress sowed the seeds for the ultimate disenfranchisement of African Americans and left their pursuit of education equality in the hands of state governments committed to segregation and inequality. This critical decision casts a long shadow over the pursuit of education equality from Reconstruction to the present, including current efforts by several states to disenfranchise voters.

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2. Science Achievement Gaps by Gender and Race/Ethnicity in Elementary and Middle School: Trends and Predictors

Author: David M. Quinn and North Cooc

Source: Educational Researcher 44.6 ( Aug/ Sep. 2015): 336-346.

Abstract: Research on science achievement disparities by gender and race/ethnicity often neglects the beginning of the pipeline in the early grades. We address this limitation using nationally representative data following students from Grades 3 to 8. We find that the Black–White science test score gap (–1.07 SD in Grade 3) remains stable over these years, the Hispanic–White gap narrows (–.85 to –.65 SD), and the Asian–White Grade 3 gap (–.31 SD) closes by Grade 8. The female–male Grade 3 gap (–.23 SD) may narrow slightly by eighth grade. Accounting for prior math and reading achievement, socioeconomic status, and classroom fixed effects, Grade 8 racial/ethnic gaps are not statistically significant. The Grade 8 science gender gap disappears after controlling for prior math achievement.

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3. Fifty Ways to Leave a Child Behind: Idiosyncrasies and Discrepancies in States’ Implementation of NCLB

Author: Elizabeth Davidson, Randall Reback, Jonah Rockoff, and Heather L. Schwartz

Source: Educational Researcher 44.6 ( Aug/ Sep. 2015): 347-358.

Abstract: The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act required states to adopt accountability systems measuring student proficiency on state-administered exams. The federal legislation contained several strict requirements for NCLB implementation, such as escalating student proficiency targets that reach 100% proficiency by 2014. But it also gave states considerable flexibility to interpret and implement components of NCLB. Using a data set we constructed, this paper is the first national study examining which schools failed during the early years of NCLB and which performance targets they failed to meet. We explore how states’ NCLB implementation decisions were related to their schools’ failure rates, which ranged from less than 1% to more than 80% across states. Wide cross-state variation in failure rates resulted from how states’ decisions interacted with each other and with school characteristics, like enrollment size, grade span, and ethnic diversity. Subtle differences in policy implementation may cause dramatic differences in measured outcomes.

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4. Professional Sense-Makers: Instructional Specialists in Contemporary Schooling

Author: Thurston Domina, Ryan Lewis, Priyanka Agarwal, and Paul Hanselman

Source: Educational Researcher 44.6 ( Aug/ Sep. 2015): 359-364.

Abstract: This brief documents the expansion of instructional specialist staffing in U.S. public school districts. We use data from the National Center of Education Statistics’ annual Common Core of Data to chart staffing trends in public school districts between 1997–1998 and 2012–2013. The number of instructional specialists per 1,000 U.S students doubled during that period, and the proportion of districts employing no specialists declined from nearly 20% to 7%. We suggest that specialists are poised to play a pivotal “professional sense-making” role as schools work to implement new instructional standards in the classroom.