bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
When Tribal Sovereignty Challenges Democracy: American Indian Education and the Democratic Ideal
Authors: Lomawaima K. Tsianina , McCarty Teresa L.
Published: June 2007

The lessons of American Indian education—a grand experiment in standardization—can lead to a more equitable educational system for all U.S. citizens. While masquerading as a tool for equal opportunity, standardization has marginalized Native peoples. We argue for diversity—not standardization—as a foundational value for a just multicultural democracy, but diversity is feared by some as a threat to the nation’s integrity. Critical historical analysis of the apparently contradictory policies and practices within American Indian education reveals a patterned response to cultural and linguistic diversity, as the federal government has attempted to distinguish “safe” from “dangerous” Native practices. Examples of the contest between Indigenous self-determination (rooted in internal sovereignty) and federal control illustrate the profound national ambivalence toward diversity but also the potential to nourish “places of difference” within a healthy democracy.
Validity of IQ-Discrepancy Classifications of Reading Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Stuebing Karla K. , Fletcher Jack M. , LeDoux Josette M. , Lyon G. Reid , Shaywitz Sally E. , Shaywitz Bennett A.
Published: June 2007

According to federal regulations, children with reading difficulties are eligible for special education services under the learning disability category if they display reading skills that are significantly lower than their scores on intelligence (IQ) tests. Children who are poor readers but do not display this discrepancy are not eligible for special education. A meta-analysis involving 46 studies addressing the validity of this classification of poor readers revealed substantial overlap between the IQ-discrepant and IQ-consistent poor readers. Aggregated effect sizes were in the negligible range for the Behavior (–.05) and Achievement (–.12) domains but in the small range for the Cognitive Ability domain (.30). The latter effects were heterogeneous, with larger estimates showing higher performance by the IQ-discrepant poor readers. The size of the effects could be largely explained by the selection criteria used to form groups, indicating that variation in group definitions across studies accounted for variability in effect size estimates. These results provide little evidence supporting the validity of the IQ-discrepancy classification fundamental to public policy concerning students with learning disabilities and cast doubt on the need for IQ tests in identifying these students.
Humanizing Democracy: Matthew Arnold’s Nineteenth-Century Call for a Common, Higher, Educative Pursuit of Happiness and Its Relevance to Twenty-first-Century Democratic Life
Authors: Novak Bruce
Published: June 2007

Editor’s Note: This article continues the focus of our special issue theme of Summer 2002— Education and Democracy.

Democratic educational reform should promote full-bodied democratic life. To help address the limited vision of humanity prevailing in the current wave of educational reforms—reforms that are being undertaken in the name of democracy while they promote undemocratic and pusillanimous forms of human life—this essay examines a nineteenth-century recommendation for democratic educational reform calling for a broadly accessible liberal education to cultivate a magnanimous and civic-minded democratic populace. This old vision might begin to provide us with a new road map for the reforms being undertaken in our own time, encouraging us to seek—far beyond mechanical measurements of mechanical performances—the standards of cultural, civic, and spiritual enlargement that we must collectively understand and strive toward if we wish to use democratic educational reform to help constitute a bona fide democracy.
Reinventing High School: Outcomes of the Coalition Campus Schools Project
Authors: Darling-Hammond Linda , Ancess Jacqueline , Ort Susanna Wichterle
Published: June 2007

Long-standing critiques of large “factory model” high schools and growing evidence for the benefits of small schools, especially for the achievement of low-income and minority students, have stimulated initiatives in many cities to redesign secondary education. This seven-year study of the Coalition Campus Schools Project in New York City documented a unique “birthing” process for new, small schools that were created as part of a network of reform-oriented schools in a context of systemwide reform. The study found that five new schools that were created to replace a failing comprehensive high school produced, as a group, substantially better attendance, lower incident rates, better performance on reading and writing assessments, higher graduation rates, and higher college-going rates than the previous school, despite serving a more educationally disadvantaged population of students. The schools shared a number of design features, detailed in this study, that appeared to contribute to these outcomes. The study also describes successful system-level efforts to leverage these innovations and continuing policy dilemmas influencing the long-term fate of reforms.
Multilevel Causal Ordering of Academic Self-Concept and Achievement: Influence of Language of Instruction (English Compared With Chinese) for Hong Kong Students
Authors: Marsh Herbert W. , Hau Kit-Tai , Kong Chit-Kwong
Published: June 2007

Based on a large, representative, 6-year longitudinal sample of Hong Kong students (7,802 students in 56 high schools), we examined relations among academic self-concept, academic achievement, and language of instruction (Chinese as compared with English). In support of the cross-cultural generalizability of the reciprocal effects model, prior self-concept had significant effects on subsequent achievement beyond the effects of prior achievement; and prior achievement had effects on subsequent self-concept as well. Support for the reciprocal effects model was not influenced by language of instruction, and the strength of that support did not differ in English and Chinese language high schools. Particularly in the early high school years, however, instruction in a second language (English rather than Chinese) had substantial negative effects on both academic self-concept and academic achievement.
Beyond Essentialism: The Complexity of Language in Teaching Mathematics to Latina/o Students
Authors: Gutiérrez Rochelle
Published: June 2007

This article explores the work of three high school mathematics teachers who have advanced large numbers of their Latina/o students (largely English-dominant) through the curriculum. The data are drawn from interviews with the teachers, from school and classroom observations over a 13-month period, and from student interviews. An analysis of teachers’ work with Latina/o students suggests that some of the strategies used by elementary and middle school teachers and teachers of English language learners are also successful with high school Latina/os who are primarily English-dominant. These strategies include having students work in groups, allowing students to work in their primary language, supplementing textbook materials, and building on students’ previous knowledge. The implications for future research, policy, and teacher education are also discussed.
Student Victimization: National and School System Effects on School Violence in 37 Nations
Authors: Akiba Motoko , LeTendre Gerald K. , Baker David P. , Goesling Brian
Published: June 2007

School violence is a problem in many nations, and rates of school violence in the United States are not among the highest in the world. The authors utilize a section of the TIMSS survey data to (a) explore the amount of school violence among the 37 nations in the study; (b) ascertain whether the traditional national-level predictors of crimes and delinquency explain cross-national variation in school violence; and (c) test whether factors related to the educational system are associated with levels of school violence cross-nationally. The results show that national patterns of school violence are not strongly related to general patterns of violence or lack of social integration in society. However, national systems of education that produce greater achievement differences between high-achieving and low-achieving students tend to record more violence. The authors suggest further studies and testing of one possible remedy for school violence: equalizing the quality of education that all students receive.
Enhancing Mathematical Reasoning in the Classroom: The Effects of Cooperative Learning and Metacognitive Training
Authors: Kramarski Bracha , Mevarech Zemira R.
Published: June 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of four instructional methods on students’ mathematical reasoning and metacognitive knowledge. The participants were 384 eighth-grade students. The instructional methods were cooperative learning combined with metacognitive training (COOP+META), individualized learning combined with metacognitive training (IND+META), cooperative learning without metacognitive training (COOP), and individualized learning without metacognitive training (IND). Results showed that the COOP+META group significantly outperformed the IND +META group, which in turn significantly outperformed the COOP and IND groups on graph interpretation and various aspects of mathematical explanations. Furthermore, the metacognitive groups (COOP+META and IND +META) outperformed their counterparts (COOP and IND) on graph construction (transfer tasks) and metacognitive knowledge. This article presents theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
Vocabulary Tricks: Effects of Instruction in Morphology and Context on Fifth-Grade Students’Ability to Derive and Infer Word Meanings
Authors: Baumann James F. , Edwards Elizabeth Carr , Boland Eileen M. , Olejnik Stephen , Kame’enui Edward J.
Published: June 2007

This quasi-experimental study compared the effects of morphemic and contextual analysis instruction (MC) with the effects of textbook vocabulary instruction (TV) that was integrated into social studies textbook lessons. The participants were 157 students in eight fifth-grade classrooms. The results indicated that (a) TV students were more successful at learning textbook vocabulary; (b) MC students were more successful at inferring the meanings of novel affixed words; (c) MC students were more successful at inferring the meanings of morphologically and contextually decipherable words on a delayed test but not on an immediate test; and (d) the groups did not differ on a comprehension measure or a social studies learning measure. The results were interpreted as support for teaching specific vocabulary and morphemic analysis, with some evidence for the efficacy of teaching contextual analysis.
A Framework for Understanding Teaching With the Internet
Authors: Wallace Raven McCrory
Published: June 2007

The Internet is widely used in K–12 schools. Yet teachers are not well prepared to teach with the Internet, and its use is limited in scope and substance. This article uses case studies of three high school science teachers to develop a framework for teaching with the Internet, exploring how the Internet shapes and is shaped by classroom practices. The framework includes five affordances of resources: (a) boundaries, (b) authority, (c) stability, (d) pedagogical context, and (e) disciplinary context. These interact with fundamental challenges of teaching to produce wide variation in Internet use. The case studies suggest that affordances vary because of activity design and characteristics of the resource. Challenges to teachers depend on how they position themselves with respect to the affordances.
Accountability and Single-Sex Schooling: A Collision of Reform Agendas
Authors: Herr Kathryn , Arms Emily
Published: June 2007

This ethnographic study documents how accountability measures skewed the implementation of gender equity reform at one California public middle school serving low-income students of color. In creating single-sex classes throughout the school, the Single Sex Academy (SSA) became the largest public experiment with single-sex schooling in the country, but pressure to raise its standardized test scores diverted the school away from the exploration and implementation of the gender reform. The chronicle of SSA is particularly relevant in light of (a) a recent call to relax Title IX standards and increase the numbers of public single-sex classes and schools, and (b) the provision of monies mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for single-sex classes and schools, along with the act’s imposition of accountability standards and testing.
Modeling Natural Variation Through Distribution
Authors: Lehrer Richard , Schauble Leona
Published: June 2007

This design study tracks the development of student thinking about natural variation as late elementary grade students learned about distribution in the context of modeling plant growth at the population level. The data-modeling approach assisted children in coordinating their understanding of particular cases with an evolving notion of data as an aggregate of cases. Students learned to “read” shapes of distributions as signatures of prospective mechanisms of plant growth and conducted sampling investigations to represent repeated growth. These investigations, in turn, supported students’ interpretations of the effects of added light and fertilizer. The authors argue for both the feasibility and the importance of tools such as distribution and inference for supporting education that builds on children’s own investigations of the world.
The Interdependence of Social Identification and Learning
Authors: Wortham Stanton
Published: June 2007

When students and teachers discuss subject matter, at least two processes generally occur: Students and teachers become socially identified as recognizable types of people, and students learn subject matter. This article contributes to recent work on how social identification and learning systematically interrelate by describing one complex way in which these two processes can partly constitute each other. The article analyzes data from across an academic year in a ninth-grade classroom, exploring how one student developed a social identity through the same conversations in which students learned aspects of the curriculum.
Double Disadvantage or Signs of Resilience? The Elementary School Contexts of Children From Mexican Immigrant Families
Authors: Crosnoe Robert
Published: June 2007

Children from Mexican immigrant families represent one of the fastest-growing populations in the American educational system, but their ability to use this system to improve their long-term prospects may be hampered by problems associated with their schools. The present study explored this issue in a national sample of American kindergarteners. First, propensity score matching techniques revealed that children from Mexican immigrant families were overrepresented in schools with a wide variety of problematic characteristics, even when family background differences were taken into account. Second, multilevel models revealed that the mathematics achievement, mental health, and interpersonal functioning of these children were often at lower levels in such schools. Studies such as the present investigation demonstrate the value of developmental models of inequality and can inform policy by identifying points of intervention.
Predicting College Grades and Degree Completion Using High School Grades and SAT Scores: The Role of Student Ethnicity and First Language
Authors: Zwick Rebecca , Sklar Jeffrey C.
Published: June 2007

The degree to which SAT scores and high school grade-point average (GPA) predicted first-year college GPA (FGPA) and college graduation was examined for four groups: Hispanic students whose first language was Spanish and Hispanic, Black, and White students whose first language was English. The percentage of variance in FGPA jointly explained by high school GPA and SAT score varied from 7% to 20% across groups. Survival analyses showed that high school GPA had a statistically significant influence on graduation in the White/English group; SAT had a significant effect in the Hispanic/English and White/English groups. The regression and survival analyses revealed interesting differences in achievement patterns between the Hispanic/Spanish and Hispanic/English groups, demonstrating the value of taking language background into consideration in educational research.
Framing the Problem of Reading Instruction: Using Frame Analysis to Uncover the Microprocesses of Policy Implementation
Authors: Coburn Cynthia E.
Published: June 2007

Policy problems do not exist as social fact awaiting discovery. Rather, they are constructed as policymakers and constituents interpret a particular aspect of the social world as problematic. How a policy problem is framed is important because it assigns responsibility and creates rationales that authorize some policy solutions and not others. This article brings together sense-making theory and frame analysis to understand the dynamics of problem framing during policy implementation. Data were derived from a yearlong ethnographic study of one school’s response to the California Reading Initiative. Results showed that the school’s response depended on how school staff constructed their understanding of the relevant problem to be solved. The problem framing process was iterative and contested, shaped by authority relations and mediated by teachers’ social networks. Ultimately, it proved important for motivating and coordinating action, reshaping authority relations, and influencing teachers’ beliefs and practices.
Inclusion, Power, and Community:Teachers and Students Interpret the Language of Community in an Inclusion Classroom
Authors: Wiebe Berry Ruth A.
Published: June 2007

To illuminate the processes of creating learning communities, this study investigated the social context of an inclusion classroom by examining (a) how teachers established a community ethos, (b) how students responded with regard to the positioning of students with disabilities, and (c) how macro discourses possibly shaped interactional processes. Teachers used discourse and participation frameworks in whole-class lessons to encourage participation and collective responsibility for “helping.” Nevertheless, the teachers’ inclusive language was manipulated to harass and exclude in small-group contexts. Benhabib’s conceptions of “general” and “concrete” selves and Cornelius and Herrenkohl’s aspects of classroom power—assigning ownership, creating alliances, engaging in persuasion—frame a discussion of contexts of inclusion and exclusion.
Will I Ever Teach? Latino and African American Students’ Perspectives on PRAXIS I
Authors: Bennett Christine I. , McWhorter Lynn M. , Kuykendall John A.
Published: June 2007

This longitudinal study examined the PRAXIS I experiences of African American and Latino undergraduates seeking admission into teacher education at a Big Ten university. Participants were 44 students selected from a larger sample enrolled in a recruitment and support program aimed at members of underrepresented minority groups. The theoretical framework included ethnic identity development, stereotype threat, cultural continuity/discontinuity, and bias in standardized testing. Findings showed differences between Latino and African American students who took PRAXIS I and gender and socioeconomic differences within each ethnic group. Three “composite portraits” revealed similarities and differences across race, class, and gender and evidence that PRAXIS I is an inequitable admissions tool.
New NIE Peer Review Procedures
Authors: JUSTIZ MANUEL J. , MOORMAN HUNTER N.
Published: June 2007

This article is intended to communicate to the educational research community the Institute's plan and rationale for peer review. We will describe briefly the history of peer review at the National Institute of Education (NIE), discuss some broad principles of federal research management and peer review, note recent recommendations for improving NIE's peer review procedures, and sketch the procedures that will guide the Institute in the lab and center competition.
Statistical Techniques in AERJ Articles, 1979–1983: The Preparation of Graduate Students to Read the Educational Research Literature
Authors: GOODWIN LAURA D. , GOODWIN WILLIAM L.
Published: June 2007

The statistical techniques used in American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) research articles between 1979 and 1983 were coded by (a) type of technique, and (b) "major" or "minor" importance for comprehending the research findings. Twenty-seven types of technique were identified and further classified as "basic," "intermediate," or "advanced" level, in terms of typical statistics course progression. Of the "major" techniques, 33%, 37%, and 17% were basic, intermediate, and advanced level,, respectively. A review of statistics texts currently in use revert led that basic texts predominate and that the content coverage in both the basic-and intermediate-level texts generally matched well the techniques found in the AERJ articles. The findings suggest that students with both a basic-and intermediate-level knowledge of statistics would understand most of the techniques encountered in AERJ. Other topics addressed included an examination of trends in use of statistical techniques over time, and a comparison of AERJ techniques with those used in a sample of Journal of Educational Psychology (JEP) articles for the same time period.
Standards, Curriculum, and Performance: A Historical and Comparative Perspective
Authors: RESNICK DANIEL P. , RESNICK LAUREN B.
Published: June 2007

This article considers how educational standards are established and maintained, and how they can be improved in American schools. The authors argue that curriculum (what is taught) and assessment (the way we judge what is learned) play the largest role in shaping what is demanded in schools and thus what our students can be expected to learn. Neither issue has received adequate attention in current debate over the state of our schools and the compelling need for school reform. This article addresses both issues in a historical and comparative perspective and argues that higher standards are within reach through the development of new and parallel initiatives in curriculum and evaluation. The authors outline potential improvements through (a) upgrading the curriculum, (b) utilizing new forms of assessment, and (c) rethinking the concept of tracking to .focus on high standards in the middle school. They consider these steps as being among those most likely to meet current needs.
Thought-Provoking Software: Juxtaposing Symbol Systems
Authors: DICKSON W. PATRICK
Published: June 2007

An existing class of software meets the following criteria. It is deliberately designed to juxtapose two or more symbol systems in a way that encourages users to consciously move back and forth between the systems with a view to promoting insight and understanding. The symbol systems and the content must allow for translation with some degree of correspondence between the systems (as in graphs and equations). This software is deliberately designed to create rich, social encounters in which symbol systems are used and discussed. These encounters can take place in small groups in the presence of the computer or be created through more distal effects on larger social units such as the classroom. The content ought to be deliberately chosen so as to provide the broadest possible utility and value within the social system. Finally, this software should be designed to encourage users to generate new forms of knowledge and translate these forms from one symbol to another. This kind of software currently exists; additional software of this kind is being developed. The use of microcomputers to enrich metacognitive awareness, social awareness, and competence in culturally valued productive symbol systems ought to have the highest claim on this precious resource in schools and homes.
How Well Does Educational Research Really Travel?
Authors: HUBERMAN MICHAEL
Published: June 2007

The flow of contemporary educational research has been amply documented; with few exceptions, regnant constructs and methods flow outward from North America, where the concentration of resources is highest. This article begins by turning the question around: Which kinds of research are imported into North America, and why these? It then looks more carefully, and a bit humorously, at attempts to assimilate North American research into Western Europe. The author draws two lessons. First, there are critical issues of validity at stake in the transnational transfer of research. Second, researchers should "go public" more fully with regard to the limits of their work in the hands of other people or even in their own hands when they travel abroad with their constructs and methods.
A Multivariate Model for Explaining Gender Differences in Career and Achievement Motivation
Authors: FARMER HELEN S
Published: June 2007

This article reviews findings from several studies investigating a model for explaining gender differences in career and achievement motivation. Findings suggest that the strength of this motivation for women is not unlike that for men. However, the pattern and type of factor influencing motivation for men and women differs significantly. The effect of parent and teacher support on motivation is stronger for women than for men.
Promoting Federal Support for Educational Research in Canada
Authors: ROGERS W. TODD , MCLEAN LESLIE D
Published: June 2007

The support for educational research in Canada has historically lagged far behind the support for educational research in other similarly developed countries. In this paper, the steps taken to redress this situation are briefly described. The effect is dramatic; since 1979–80, federal support for self-initiated, non-contractual research in education has increased from C$126,000 to more than C$1.7 million. 1
Expenditure and Size Efficiencies of Public School Districts
Authors: WALBERG HERBERT J. , FOWLER WILLIAM J.
Published: June 2007

In one of the largest studies yet carried out on the subject, the average scores on state-developed and nationally standardized tests of third-, sixth-, and ninth-graders in New Jersey districts were regressed on indexes of district socioeconomic status (SES), per-student expenditures on education, and the size of enrollments in the districts. The numbers of districts entering the analyses, depending on grade level and test, varied from 261 to 507. SES accounted for much of the accountable variance; higher SES districts, of course, achieved more than lower SES districts. When SES was taken into account, higher expenditures were inconsistently and generally insignificantly (probability less than 0. 05) associated with lower test scores; and students m smaller districts generally achieved more than those in larger districts. The inefficiency of expenditures and diseconomies of scale in rinsing achievement are contrary to popular and considerable opinion but corroborate previous research.
Institutions and Practices: Professional Education Reports and the Language of Reform
Authors: REID WILLIAM A.
Published: June 2007

Proposals for the reform of professional education are frequently supported by reference to the unique and compelling nature of contemporary society; yet the specific reforms that are urged are often those put forward 50 years ago. Based on recent reports in the fields of medical, dental, nursing, and teacher education, this paper explains the inertial quality of reform language as an effect of an inevitable tension between professional practice and institutions that support it. I suggest that, in spite of its apparent lack of rationality, such language can be seen as functional in mediating this tension.
Teachers' and Students' Cognitional Knowledge for Classroom Teaching and Learning
Authors: Peterson Penelope L.
Published: June 2007

An emerging image of the teacher as “thoughtful professional” suggests the need for researchers to study teachers’ and students’ cognitions in addition to teacher behavior, student behavior, and student achievement. This article presents an initial conceptualization of how teachers' and students' cognitions and knowledge mediate effective teaching. Subject matter content and teacher and student knowledge are focused on as important dimensions that have often been ignored by researchers on teaching. Students' “cognitional knowledge for classroom learning,” both general and content-specific, is defined as knowledge of the mental processes by which learners acquire knowledge through classroom learning. Teachers’ relevant knowledge includes both the above cognitional knowledge for classroom learning as well as “cognitional knowledge for classroom teaching.” Examples from research are provided to illustrate teachers' and students' cognitional and metacognitional knowledge for classroom learning and teaching. The conceptualization and examples may serve to stimulate reflection and research by those who study teaching.
In Search of Subjectivity—One's Own
Authors: Peshkin Alan
Published: June 2007

It is no more useful for researchers to acknowledge simply that subjectivity is an invariable component of their research than it is for them to assert that their ideal is to achieve objectivity. Acknowledgments and assertions are not sufficient. Beginning with the premise that subjectivity is inevitable, this paper argues that researchers should systematically seek out their subjectivity, not retrospectively when the data have been collected and the analysis is complete, but while their research is actively in progress. The purpose of doing so is to enable researchers to be aware of how their subjectivity may be shaping their inquiry and its outcomes. In this paper I demonstrate the pursuit of my subjectivity in the course of year-long fieldwork in a multiethnic high school.
Third World School Quality
Authors: Fuller Bruce , Heyneman Stephen P.
Published: June 2007

Eager to boost literacy, economic growth, and national institutions, Third World governments and international aid agencies have greatly expanded schooling since the 1950s. Enrollments have quintupled since the late ‘50s, from 100 million children to now more than 500 million. The sharp economic decline felt over the past decade throughout the developing world, however, has led to deep cuts in education budgets. Child populations are doubling every 20 years in many countries. Popular demand for primary schooling, as manifest in enrollment rates, continues to skyrocket. This conflict between ever-rising enrollments and falling resources is severely eroding school quality. We detail and illustrate this collapse of educational quality, calling on North American educators to recognize this quiet crisis and to contribute to its remedy. In addition, we map out a strategy for attacking the problem, drawing on the growing body of Third World research and new initiatives coming from international organizations.
Human Capital and the Labor Market
Authors: Mincer Jacob
Published: June 2007

Several studies have investigated survey data on the prevalence of on-the-job training. These studies have sought to discover who receives training and the effects of this labor market experience on workers' wages, wage growth, turnover, and employment. What is the magnitude of workers' and employers' investments in job training? How profitable are such investments? The first part of the article considers these questions. The second reviews studies that provide recent measures of technological change by industry, such as productivity growth indexes or research and development expenditures. The studies explore effects of technological changes on demands for educated and trained workers and on consequent changes in wage structures, labor turnover, and unemployment.
A Curriculum out of Balance
Authors: Porter Andrew
Published: June 2007

Opportunity to learn is among the most important influences on student achievement, yet the empirical basis for knowing what is taught in schools is surprisingly weak. Elementary school mathematics is used as a context for considering what could be learned from careful descriptions of classroom content. Teacher logs and interviews show that large numbers of mathematics topics are taught for exposure with no expectation of student mastery, much of what is taught in one grade is taught again in the next, skills typically receive 10 times the emphasis given to either conceptual understanding or application, and, depending on the accidents of school and teacher assignment, the amount of mathematics instruction a student receives may be doubled or halved. These attributes of the curriculum are not in the best interests of students. Recommendations for change are offered.
If at First You Don't Succeed Setting Passing Scores When More Than One Attempt Is Permitted
Authors: Millman Jason
Published: June 2007

For licensing and certification examinations designed to protect the public, passing incompetent candidates (false positives) is a more serious error than failing competent ones. Yet to avoid classification mistakes against individuals and subsequent litigation, current practices for these tests increase the relative risk of false positives. These practices are identified, and one that allows positive errors of measurement arising from multiple opportunities to pass the test is discussed in detail. Unsatisfactory ways to mitigate this problem are considered. Increasing the amount of testing or, if that is not feasible, raising the required passing score for repeaters is recommended.
Recapturing Moral Discourse in Evaluation
Authors: Schwandt Thomas A.
Published: June 2007

Theory and practice in evaluation in particular and in applied social science in general are principally focused on methodological issues and on instrumental conceptions of knowledge use while relegating questions about morals and values to the periphery. Drawing on recent writing in social and political philosophy, particularly the critique of the liberal democratic tradition, the author examines liberalist beliefs and their consequences for contemporary thinking about evaluation. He outlines an argument for restoring moral discourse to the center of our concerns about evaluation practice and examines what such a restoration might entail.
Gender, Mathematics, and Science
Authors: Linn Marcia C. , Hyde Janet S.
Published: June 2007

Males have greater access to science and technical fields and greater earning power than females. Many argue that cognitive and psychosocial gender differences explain these career differences. In contrast, evidence from meta-analysis and process analysis indicate that (a) gender differences on cognitive and psychosocial tasks are small and declining, (b) gender differences are not general but specific to cultural and situational contexts, (c) gender differences in cognitive processes often reflect gender differences in course enrollment and training, and (d) gender differences in height, physical strength, career access, and earning power are much larger and more stable than gender differences on cognitive and psychosocial tasks. These trends imply that small gender differences in cognitive and psychosocial domains be deemphasized and instead that learning and earning environments be redesigned to promote gender equity.
A Systems Approach to Educational Testing
Authors: Frederiksen John R. , Collins Allan
Published: June 2007

Our concern in this paper is with the validity of educational tests when they are employed as critical measures of educational outcomes within a dynamic system. The problem of validity arises if an educational system adapts itself to the characteristics of the outcome measures. We introduce the concept of systemically valid tests as ones that induce curricular and instructional changes in education systems (and learning strategy changes in students) that foster the development of the cognitive traits that the tests are designed to measure. We analyze some general characteristics that contribute to or detract from a testing system's systemic validity, such as the use of direct rather than indirect assessment. We then apply these characteristics in developing a set of design principles for creating testing systems that are systemically valid. Finally, we provide an illustration of the proposed principles, by applying them to the design of a student assessment system. This design example addresses not only specifications for the tests, but also the means of teaching the process of assessment to users of the system.
Reforming Again, Again, and Again
Authors: Cuban Larry
Published: June 2007

Why do reforms return again and again? To illustrate that the question is valid, I offer three examples drawn from instructional, curricular, and governance planned changes that have returned more than once. To answer the question, I first examine the dominant explanation presented by researchers and policymakers: the lack of rationality in proposing and implementing planned change. I explore why the dominant explanation is flawed in its frequently used metaphors and analysis. I then offer alternative explanations for recurring reforms—a political and an institutional perspective harnessed together—to explain the puzzle of why reforms return. The point of this analysis is to enlarge the repertoire of explanations that researchers and policymakers use to examine potential and past reforms. The policymaking stakes run high for expanding the range of explanations because the questions of why reforms failed in the past and why they return go to the heart of present policy debates over whether federal, state, and district mandates to alter schooling will get past the classroom door.
What Can Research on Teacher Thinking Contribute to Teacher Preparation? A Second Opinion
Authors: Floden Robert E. , Klinzing Hans Gerhard
Published: June 2007

Recent reviews suggest that research can only provide teacher educators with food for thought, observational methods, and rationales for current practice. Although each of those contributions is valuable, research on teaching and teacher education can provide even more. It is inappropriate to turn research results into teaching prescriptions and teacher-testing systems, but research knowledge still can, and should, play a substantive, constructive role in teacher education.
Democratic Participation in Small-Town Schools
Authors: Schmuck Patricia , Schmuck Richard
Published: June 2007

To study democratic participation in small-town schools, over 5 months the authors interviewed and observed local educators, policymakers, and students from 25 districts in 21 states. The article presents data on citizen involvement, administrator-teacher collaboration, teacher collegiality, student voice, and cooperative learning. The democracy that was found had little to do with academic life. The authors conclude with recommendations to enhance democratic participation about academic matters in small-town schools.
The Obviousness of Social and Educational Research Results
Authors: GAGE N. L.
Published: June 2007

Highly estimable writers have averred that well nigh all of the results of social and educational research are obvious, that is, could have been predicted without doing the research. To examine the justifiability of this allegation, one should examine its accord with actual research results. Thus, is it a "truism" that higher achievement comes about when students spend more time with the subject matter? That smaller groups are easier to control than larger groups? Do judges regard actual results as more obvious and statements of their opposites as nonobvious ? Both the century-old research results of Joseph Mayer Rice and recent results throw light on these issues.
Postpositivistic Assumptions and Educational Research: Another View
Authors: MILLER STEVEN I. , FREDERICKS MARCEL
Published: June 2007

This analysis attempts to look again at the major concepts of the “new philosophy of science” in terms of their relevance for educational research. The argument is made that such concepts as underdetermination and incommensurability have limited applicability to many areas of educational research. This is due to the fact that such terms are based on the existence of genuine theories as found in the natural sciences, and the requirements for such theories cannot be (presently) met in the human sciences. There is also the related problem of ambiguity on how these terms are to be applied exactly to the field of educational research. The analysis further contends that writers in this area have not dealt with the critical concept of indeterminacy. It is argued that of all the concepts of the new philosophy of science, this term has most promise for defining the direction of educational research. From one view, indeterminacy may suggest even a greater degree of relativism; looked at from another angle, it is seen that indeterminacy is a means of structuring and fruitfully debating the purpose of educational research.
Raising Standardized Achievement Test Scores and the Origins of Test Score Pollution
Authors: HALADYNA THOMAS M. , NOLEN SUSAN BOBBIT , HAAS NANCY S.
Published: June 2007

In the current climate of dissatisfaction with public education, the standardized achievement test score has been the operational definition for educational-achievement, and raising test scores has been equated with educational improvement. The pressure to raise test scores has resulted in practices which pollute the inferences we make from these scores. We examine two major sources of test score pollution: (a) how public school personnel prepare students to take the standardized test and (b) nonstandard practices and conditions under which tests are administered. We also examine the apparent causes of this pollution and its effects on testing practices in American education.
The Contribution of Formal Schooling to the Increase in Intellectual Capital
Authors: Husén Torsten , Tuijnman Albert
Published: June 2007

Substantial IQ gains from one generation to the next have been recorded for men in many industrial societies since the 1950s. Some authors have attempted to argue away these results by claiming that intelligence tests do not measure general IQ but rather something with a weak causal link to IQ. Others have taken the evidence emerging from, for example, The Netherlands as showing that the massive increase in the nation's intellectual capital is accounted for by environmental factors, not the least of which is formal schooling. By using the Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) method and longitudinal data collected in Sweden for a male cohort, the influences of home background and formal schooling on adult IQ test scores are estimated. This study shows the importance of formal schooling in enhancing the intellectual capital of a nation. The implications for educational policy and practice are discussed.
Understanding Graphs and Tables
Authors: Wainer Howard
Published: June 2007

Quantitative phenomena can be displayed effectively in a variety of ways, but to do so requires an understanding of both the structure of the phenomena and the limitations of candidate display formats. This article (a) re-counts three historic instances of the vital role data displays played in important discoveries, (b) provides three levels of information that form the basis of a theory of display to help us better measure both display quality and human graphicacy, and (c) describes three steps to improve the quality of tabular presentation.
Understanding Cultural Diversity and Learning
Authors: Ogbu John U.
Published: June 2007

Core curriculum and multicultural education are two major approaches advocated in the current school reform movement. This article argues that neither of these approaches adequately addresses the problem of those minority groups who have not traditionally done well in the public school. Core curriculum advocates falsely assume that as a result of instituting a core curriculum, demanding higher standards, and patching up supposed individual deficiencies, all students will perform as expected. Multicultural education advocates inadequately design their program to focus on cultural differences in content and form. This article contends that the crucial issue in cultural diversity and learning is the relationship between the minority cultures and the American mainstream culture. Minorities whose cultural frames of reference are oppositional to the cultural frame of reference of American mainstream culture have greater difficulty crossing cultural boundaries at school to learn. Core curriculum and multicultural advocates have yet to understand and take this into account.
Flunk’em or Get Them Classified
Authors: MCGILL-FRANZEN ANNE , ALLINGTON RICHARD L.
Published: June 2007

The authors argue not only that high-stakes primary grade testing increases the pressure on low-achieving schools to improve their test performance but that these assessment mandates also increase the chances that low-scoring children will be retained in grade or classified as handicapped. Placement practices such as handicapped classification, flunking, and "developmental" classes remove low- achieving children from the assessment stream and, in the authors’ view, constitute not just pollution of assessment data, but outright contamination of the reported results. The authors regard decisions to classify or fail low-achieving children as egregiously unethical if such decisions are motivated by pressure to increase the school’s publicly reported test performance, and they suggest that current high-stakes testing programs be modified to eliminate any incentives to engage in such placement practices.
The Best-Laid Plans
Authors: CORNO LYN
Published: June 2007

Part of what it takes to succeed in academic settings is paying attention to and working toward appropriate goals. Working toward goals involves protecting the intention to accomplish goals from competing intentions and other distractions. Voluntary movement to protective action when situations demand it is central to a modern- day view of volition. This paper (a) discusses contemporary theory and research related to volition in education and (b) proposes agenda items for continued research.
Can Youth Apprenticeship Thrive in the United States?
Authors: BAILEY THOMAS
Published: June 2007

During the early 1990s, youth apprenticeship is being proposed as a model that can solve many of the perceived problems with the education of the non-college-bound, reintegrate alienated urban youth, and help reestablish U.S. dominance in international markets. I argue that although many of the elements of the youth apprenticeship model appear to have great potential, three problems must be addressed before the strategy can be successful: securing employer involvement, assuring and improving the quality of on-the-job learning, and confronting the equity issues that arise from a public policy that incorporates the highly stratified world of work into the core educational system.
Minority Student Attrition Research: Higher Education’s Challenge for Human Resource Development
Authors: CASTLE EVANGELINE MCCONNELL
Published: June 2007

This article addresses higher education’s major challenge for human resource development in the 1990s and beyond—enrolling and retaining to graduation our nation’s racial/ethnic minority students. At the institutional level, this challenge suggests the need for ongoing research and positive intervention. The first section focuses on the interrelationships among human resource development needs, problems associated with the underrepresentation of minorities in higher education, and the subsequent participation of minorities in the skilled labor force. The second section relates these issues to institution-level attrition research as an effective tool with which to more effectively retain students and begin to address the mismatch between future job opportunities and workers’ skill levels. The third section employs the interaction theoretical perspective to warn predominantly White colleges and universities (PWCUs) against basing intervention strategies upon research whose assumptions and recommendations belie the diversity among minority student populations.