American Educational Research Journal 53卷1期

1. A Multination Study of Socioeconomic Inequality in Expectations for Progression to Higher Education: The Role of Between-School Tracking and Ability Stratification

Author: Philip D. Parker, John Jerrim, Ingrid Schoon, and Herbert W. Marsh

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Feb. 2016): 6-32.

Abstract:

Persistent inequalities in educational expectations across societies are a growing concern. Recent research has explored the extent to which inequalities in education are due to primary effects (i.e., achievement differentials) versus secondary effects (i.e., choice behaviors net of achievement). We explore educational expectations in order to consider whether variations in primary and secondary effects are associated with country variation in curricular and ability stratification. We use evidence from the PISA 2003 database to test the hypothesis that (a) greater between-school academic stratification would be associated with stronger relationships between socioeconomic status and educational expectations and (b) when this effect is decomposed, achievement differentials would explain a greater proportion of this relationship in countries with greater stratification. Results supported these hypotheses.

2. Student Movement in Social Context: The Influence of Time, Peers, and Place

Author: Luke Dauter and Bruce Fuller

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Feb. 2016): 33-70.

Abstract:

Higher rates of school switching by students contribute to achievement disparities and are typically theorized as driven by attributes of individual pupils or families. In contrast the neoclassical-economic account postulates that switching is necessary for competition among schools. We argue that both frames fail to capture social-referential and institutional comparisons that drive student mobility, hypothesizing that pupil mobility stems from the (a) student’s time in school and grade; (b) student’s race, class, and achievement relative to peers; (c) quality of schooling relative to nearby alternatives; and (4) proximity, abundance, and diversity of local school options. Propositions are tested with discrete-time hazard models using data from Los Angeles, including 6.5 million observations. We find the student’s position relative to peers, relative school quality, and proximity to local alternatives contribute significantly to the likelihood of switching schools, beyond the effects of individual pupil or family attributes. Implications for understanding “choice” as a social-referential process within diverse organizational fields like urban education markets are discussed.

3. Unequal Advantages: The Intergenerational Effects of Parental Educational Mobility

Author: Matthew Lawrence

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Feb. 2016): 71-99.

Abstract:

Researchers and policymakers argue that expanding college access is one way to increase opportunities for students who would become the first in their families to enroll in a postsecondary institution. This article uses measures of educational attainment in the previous two generations to consider whether parents’ own histories of educational mobility and reproduction explain inequalities in how students prepare for college. Results suggest differences across generational categories in the types of colleges to which students apply and in the effects of parent-student discussions about topics related to college planning. These differences are explained by distinguishing the resources some families acquire through upward mobility from the resources that accumulate in families where educational privileges have been previously reproduced.

4. The Implications of the Use of Parental Choice as a Legal “Circuit Breaker”

Author: Julie F. Mead and Maria M. Lewis

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Feb. 2016): 100-131.

Abstract:

This study explores four instances where parental choice has been employed as a legal “circuit breaker”: (a) First Amendment Establishment Clause cases related to public funding, (b) Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection cases regarding race-conscious student assignment, (c) Title IX regulations concerning single-sex education, and (d) a provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) related to parental refusal to consent to initial special education services. In each example, while the end result would not be legally permitted if directed by some governmental decision maker, the presence of parental choice produces a permissible indirect path to the same policy outcome. This study traces the legal underpinnings of each example and discusses their implications for policymakers and practitioners.

5. Cumulative Advantage in the Skill Development of STEM Graduate Students: A Mixed-Methods Study

Author: David F. Feldon, Michelle A. Maher, Josipa Roksa, and James Peugh

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Feb. 2016): 132-161.

Abstract:

Studies of skill development often describe a process of cumulative advantage, in which small differences in initial skill compound over time, leading to increasing skill gaps between those with an initial advantage and those without. We offer evidence of a similar phenomenon accounting for differential patterns of research skill development in graduate students over an academic year and explore differences in socialization that accompany diverging developmental trajectories. As predicted, quantitative analysis indicated large effect sizes for skill gains after controlling for initial performance levels. Qualitative analyses indicated that students with initial advantages were more likely to report greater demands of independence by their advisors and see more extensive value in research tasks comparable to those assigned their less skilled peers.

6. Instruction and Students’ Declining Interest in Science: An Analysis of German Fourth- and Sixth-Grade Classrooms

Author: Steffen Tröbst, Thilo Kleickmann, Kim Lange-Schubert, Anne Rothkopf, and Kornelia Möller

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Feb. 2016): 162-193.

Abstract:

Students’ interest in science declines substantially in the transition from elementary to secondary education. Using students’ ratings of their instruction on the topic of evaporation and condensation, we examined if changes in instructional practices accounted for differences in situational interest in science instruction and enduring individual interest in science between elementary and secondary school classrooms. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted for a sample of 60 fourth- and 54 sixth-grade classrooms. The use of student experiments, the elicitation of student explanations, and lack of clarity accounted to varying degrees for disparities in science interest between grade levels. The impact of instructional practices on individual interest was mediated by situational interest. This corroborated predictions of the person-object theory of interest.

7. mproving Children’s Competence as Decision Makers: Contrasting Effects of Collaborative Interaction and Direct Instruction

Author: Xin Zhang, Richard C. Anderson, Joshua Morris, Brian Miller, Kim Thi Nguyen-Jahiel, Tzu-Jung Lin, Jie Zhang, May Jadallah, Theresa Scott, Jingjing Sun, Beata Latawiec, Shufeng Ma, Kay Grabow, and Judy Yu-Li Hsu

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Feb. 2016): 194-223.

Abstract:

This research examined the influence of contrasting instructional approaches on children’s decision-making competence. A total of 764 fifth graders, mostly African Americans and Hispanic Americans, from 36 classrooms in eight public schools serving children from low-income families completed a six-week unit on wolf management, using either direct instruction or collaborative groups, or were waited-listed controls. Analysis of children’s essays on a topic unrelated to wolves revealed that students who participated in collaborative groups but not students who received direct instruction acquired decision-making strategies and transferred them to the novel task. Students in collaborative group work classrooms wrote essays that were significantly better than essays of students from direct instruction classrooms in each of the three aspects of decision making that were evaluated—considering more than one side of a dilemma, comprehensiveness of reasons, and weighing the importance of reasons. In contrast, direct instruction students performed no better than uninstructed control students.