American Educational Research Journal 52卷4期

1. Early Career Outcomes for the “Best and the Brightest”: Selectivity, Satisfaction, and Attrition in the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Survey

Author: Sean Kelly and Laura Northrop

Source: American Educational Research Journal 52.4 (Sep. 2015): 624-656.

Abstract: Educational efforts aimed at attracting the “best and brightest” into the teaching profession are widespread and include national programs, such as Teach for America and the New Teacher Project Teaching Fellows, as well as regional and state-based programs, city-based programs, and university-based programs. Yet, studies of attrition in programs aimed at recruiting highly selective teachers provide some evidence that highly selective entrants are less likely to persist in a teaching career. Using data from the first three years of the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Survey (BTLS), we investigate the greater incidence of attrition among selective college graduates and whether higher rates of attrition can be explained by measures of early career adjustment.

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2. The Cumulative Disadvantages of First- and Second-Generation Segregation for Middle School Achievement

Author: Roslyn Arlin Mickelson

Source: American Educational Research Journal 52.4 (Sep. 2015): 657-692.

Abstract: Middle schools are important because they launch students on trajectories that they are likely to follow throughout their formal educations. This study explored the relationship of first-generation segregation (elementary and middle school racial composition) and second-generation segregation (racially correlated academic tracks) to reading and mathematics test scores of Grade 8 students who attended the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) in 1997. At the time the data were collected, the district had been operating under a mandatory desegregation plan since the early 1970s, which it continued to do for another five years. While the majority of students attended desegregated schools for most of their CMS education, a portion of youth also experienced school- and classroom-level segregation. Survey data collected from 1,812 students in randomly selected language arts classes stratified by track from the district’s 24 middle schools were analyzed with multilevel modeling to examine the influence of school and classroom racial composition on standardized scores, controlling for student and family factors associated with school performance. Results indicate that school- and classroom-level racial segregation was negatively related to achievement. Beginning in elementary school, sequential experiences of first- and second-generation segregation likely triggered a cycle of cumulative disadvantage for respondents’ middle school educational outcomes. This article contributes to the literatures on the structural antecedents of school success and failure, the ways that many positive desegregation effects are undermined by tracking, and how first- and second-generation segregation contributes to maintaining the race gap in school outcomes.

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3. Academic Attitudes and Achievement in Students of Urban Public Single-Sex and Mixed-Sex High Schools

Author: Nicole M. Else-Quest and Oana Peterca

Source: American Educational Research Journal 52.4 (Sep. 2015): 693-718.

Abstract: Publicly funded single-sex schooling (SSS) has proliferated in recent years and is touted as a remedy to gaps in academic attitudes and achievement, particularly for low-income students of color. Research on SSS is rife with limitations, stemming from selective admissions processes, selection effects related to socioeconomic status, a lack of ethnic diversity among students, and a neglect of boys’ schools. Addressing those concerns, the current study is a quasi-experimental investigation of the academic attitudes and achievement among 11th-grade low-income students of color enrolled in nonselective, urban neighborhood public single-sex and mixed-sex high schools. Students in SSS reported significantly more negative attitudes about English/reading compared to students in mixed-sex schools (MSS), while there were no differences in math or science attitudes. Data from standardized tests indicate that SSS was associated with poorer achievement among boys in reading and math but higher achievement among girls on math, science, reading, and writing.

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4. Improving Low Achievers’ Academic Performance at University by Changing the Social Value of Mastery Goals

Author: Benoît Dompnier, Céline Darnon, Emanuele Meier, Catherine Brandner, Annique Smeding, and Fabrizio Butera

Source: American Educational Research Journal 52.4 (Sep. 2015): 720-749.

Abstract: Recent research has shown that, in a university context, mastery goals are highly valued and that students may endorse these goals either because they believe in their utility (i.e., social utility), in which case mastery goals are positively linked to achievement, or to create a positive image of themselves (i.e., social desirability), in which case mastery goals do not predict academic achievement. The present two experiments induced high versus neutral levels of mastery goals’ social utility and social desirability. Results confirmed that mastery goals predicted performance only when these goals were presented as socially useful but not presented as socially desirable, especially among low achievers, those who need mastery goals the most to succeed.

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5. Word Generation Randomized Trial: Discussion Mediates the Impact of Program Treatment on Academic Word Learning

Author: Joshua F. Lawrence, Amy C. Crosson, E. Juliana Paré-Blagoev, and Catherine E. Snow

Source: American Educational Research Journal 52.4 (Sep. 2015): 750-786.

Abstract: Classroom discussion, despite its association with good academic outcomes, is exceedingly rare in U.S. schools. The Word Generation intervention involves the provision of texts and activities to be implemented across content area class, organized around engaging and discussable dilemmas. The program was evaluated with 1,554 middle grade students in 28 schools randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. There were large effects on classroom discussion quality across all content areas, especially in math and science (Cohen’s d  = 0.38-1.13). The program also produced significant, though small, effects on taught vocabulary (effect size = .25, p  < .01) but no effects on a standardized assessment of general vocabulary. Quality of classroom discussion mediated 14% of the treatment effect on vocabulary outcomes.

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6. Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, Standards-Based Mathematics Teaching Practices, and Student Achievement in the Context of the Responsive Classroom Approach

Author: Erin R. Ottmar, Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman, Ross A. Larsen, and Robert Q. Berry

Source: American Educational Research Journal 52.4 (Sep. 2015): 787-821.

Abstract: This study investigates the effectiveness of the Responsive Classroom (RC) approach, a social and emotional learning intervention, on changing the relations between mathematics teacher and classroom inputs (mathematical knowledge for teaching [MKT] and standards-based mathematics teaching practices) and student mathematics achievement. Work was conducted in the context of a randomized controlled trial. Participants were 88 third-grade teachers and their 1,533 students. A multigroup path analysis accounting for fidelity of implementation revealed no direct or indirect effects linking MKT to student achievement in the RC or control condition. The same analysis revealed different findings for the RC versus control teachers. In the RC group only: (a) Teachers trained in RC who used more RC practices showed higher use of standards-based mathematics teaching practices, and (b) higher use of standards-based mathematics teaching practices related to greater improvements in math achievement. No comparable findings were evident in the control condition. Results demonstrate the importance of building social and emotional capacity in teachers by helping create a supportive classroom that helps teachers provide stronger mathematics teaching practices that lead to improved student learning.