bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
U.S. Underperformance in an International Context
Authors: Rowley Kristie J. , Silveira Florencia , Dufur Mikaela , Jarvis Jonathan A. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Scholars have attributed the underperformance of U.S. students relative to students in other high-income countries to unequal access to high-quality educational environments. Poor students are presumed to do disproportionately worse on international achievement tests and, consequently, to pull down the U.S. average. Conversely, high-socio-economic-status (SES) students in the United States, who are among the wealthiest in the world, are presumed to outperform other rich students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question Despite these common assumptions regarding the performance of different SES groups in the United States, little research has empirically examined the extent to which these assumptions are correct. As such, we seek to benchmark low-, middle-, and high-SES students in the United States relative to comparable groups in other countries in order to contextualize U.S. performance. Data Analysis We analyze 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) mathematics achievement for 42 high-income countries. We average scores for low-, middle-, and high-SES groups within each country, using PISA's index of economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS) index to generate categories. We then generate grand means for all countries in our sample to have an overall benchmark for each group. To calculate overall country scores and SES group scores, we use PISA-specific plausible values techniques. We use 12 points to identify meaningful achievement differences. Findings/Results Contrary to conventional wisdom regarding the performance of students in the United States on PISA, poor students do not disproportionately pull down U.S. scores; relative to poor students around the world, poor students in the U.S. are average, despite being among the most socioeconomically disadvantaged. Moreover, and contrary to conventional wisdom, the richest students in the United States do not exhibit stellar performance and are average compared with other rich students globally, despite being among the richest in the world. Middle-SES students in the United States, however, perform 17 points below the average for all middle-SES students in the 42 countries we examined, suggesting that they are nearly half a school year behind middle-SES students around the world. Conclusions/Recommendations Although common explanations for U.S. PISA achievement may seem logical, they are not always correct. Such incorrect assumptions overlook significant educational concerns that could be shaping educational policies. Considering our findings, the United States needs to address the within-country SES-based achievement gap, but it also needs to address the gap between the United States and other countries. While policy makers should continue to focus on economically disadvantaged students, there are systemic concerns with the U.S. education system that prevent the academic success of students across the class spectrum.
The Road to Becoming a Scientist: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Supports and Barriers Experienced by First-Year Community College Students
Authors: Wang Xueli , Wickersham Kelly , Lee Seo Young , Lor Na Bedolla , Gaskew Ashley , Prevost Amy 
Published: November 2021

Background Although a long line of research has been devoted to transfer pathways in general, there remains limited work on the capacity for community colleges to cultivate STEM baccalaureate transfer. In particular, both quantitative and qualitative evidence is extremely sparse on how STEM-aspiring students beginning at community colleges experience supports and barriers on their journey to pursue a STEM baccalaureate. Purpose This mixed-methods study addresses the question: What salient factors are associated with beginning community college STEM students’ decisions to transfer into baccalaureate STEM programs, and how do students describe the supports and barriers they experienced specifically pertaining to these factors? Research Design Guided by the STEM Transfer model, we carried out this research using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. We incorporated survey, administrative, and interview data from three large two-year institutions in a Midwestern state. We applied Artificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques to identify factors associated with beginning community college STEM students’ decisions to transfer into baccalaureate STEM programs. Based on the factors that emerged from ANN, we analyzed the interview data to give meaning to the identified factors using students’ rich descriptions of their experiences. Findings Results from the ANN revealed that students’ initial attitudes toward science was the most salient factor related to transfer in STEM. Following that, GPA, students’ initial attitudes toward math, transfer capital, being employed full time, major declaration, science preparation in high school, income levels above middle level, and transfer efficacy also turned out to be important variables shaping students’ transfer in STEM. Qualitative results further illustrated how the factors from the ANN exerted their impact. Conclusions This mixed-methods research illuminated significant factors shaping the road to becoming a scientist, as well as how those factors manifested their influences within the contexts of students’ educational journeys. Through this approach, we were able to establish the significance of influential factors without presuming directionality and leverage the interview data to disentangle how these factors functioned independently and together in sophisticated and nuanced ways. Our study brings forth a deeper understanding of community college students’ STEM pathways, including the many plot twists and processes involved to overcome challenges and maintain progress.
Hacking a Path into and through STEM: Exploring how Youth Build Connecting Pathways between STEM-Related Landscapes
Authors: Tan Edna , Barton Angela Calabrese 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Minoritized youth from historically marginalized backgrounds continue to face systemic inequities in STEM. Existing strategies aimed at increasing diversity in STEM, which are guided by the STEM “pipeline” metaphor and are deficit-oriented, have yielded lackluster results. Purpose/Objective/Research Questions/Focus of Study This paper investigates how mi-noritized youth attempted to build connecting pathways between STEM-related worlds, how such attempts unfolded, and the resultant outcomes pertaining to their developing STEM expertise and subsequent STEM engagement. We introduce the idea of pathhacking, where youth had to create their own pathways into STEM, often with improvised tools and in treacherous territory, because there were no pre-laid paths. Research Design/Data Collection and Analysis Data were drawn from longitudinal critical ethnography of 48 youths across STEM-engagement spaces, in both community and formal school spaces. Attention is paid to the particular resources, both relational and material, and the barriers that affect youths’ efforts to hack pathways toward deeper and more connected engagement in STEM. Spaces included school classrooms, school settings, after-school STEM programs held in community clubs, other spaces in communities such as residential neighborhoods, and local universities. Findings/Results Three broad claims are presented: (a) Pathhacking involves youth engaging in practices that challenge and expand ways of being in STEM-related spaces; (b) Pathhacking practices, when coordinated through social activity, reorganize social worlds for both individuals and collectives, expanding future pathhacking possibilities; (c) To aid in pathhacking, youth utilize tools including critical STEM-mobility artifacts and allies as brokers across scales of activity. Conclusions The current U.S. education-policy climate focuses attention on student achievement in individual subject areas, highlighting the achievement gap. We illustrate the challenges minoritized youth face as they seek more consequential STEM engagement through hacking connecting pathways. Institutions, people, tools, and practices—all imbued with and embedded in histories—have structured these youths’ opportunities to hack connecting pathways and have also provided points of access and resistance for the youth to resist mar-ginalization during the process.
When Students Speak Out: Understanding the Motivations for I, Too, Am Mobilization
Authors: Blissett Richard S. L. , Baker Dominique J. , Fields Benjamin C. 
Published: November 2021

Background Beginning in the 2013–2014 school year, students across colleges and universities in the United States created a series of campaigns similar to the original I, Too, Am Harvard photo campaign (which focused on highlighting the negative campus climate for black students at Harvard University). Purpose This study illuminates some of the reasons why students decided to mobilize in order to provide a clearer understanding of what students are identifying as problems on college campuses. Subjects Evidence in this study is drawn from two sources: student newspapers from campuses with a campaign supplemented by interviews with students who were involved with the campaigns. Research Design This qualitative case study uses both the newspapers and the interviews as sources of evidence. Results We find that the campaigns were primarily motivated by negative campus climates for students from historically marginalized populations, and that these climates were in place before the movements emerged. The campaigns developed within a larger macropolitical context in which there was a larger focus on inclusion. Also, the movements tended to have a specific focus on exposing microaggressions, providing a space for students to speak out, and expressing solidarity. Conclusions If institutions have a vested interest in creating more welcoming environments, then proactively addressing the experiences of students on campus, expanding the scope of diversity initiatives to include this focus, and providing spaces for students to be able to express and discuss their experiences may be critical to success.
Do Student-Level Incentives Increase Student Achievement? A Review of the Effect of Monetary Incentives on Test Performance
Authors: Le Vi-Nhuan 
Published: November 2021

Background Policymakers have debated whether test scores represent students’ maximum level of effort, prompting research into whether student-level financial incentives can improve test scores. If cash incentives are shown to improve students’ test performance, there can be questions as to whether test scores obtained in the absence of financial incentives accurately reflect what students know and can do. This can raise concerns as to whether test scores should be used to guide policy decisions. Purpose This study used meta-analysis to estimate the effect of student-level incentives on test performance. The study also included a narrative review. Research Design: Twenty-one studies conducted in the United States and internationally were included in the meta-analysis. Effect sizes were estimated separately for mathematics, reading/language arts, and overall achievement. Findings Financial incentives had a significantly positive effect on overall achievement and on mathematics achievement, but no effect on reading/language arts achievement. The narrative review suggested mixed effects with regards to whether treatment estimates could be sustained after the removal of the incentives and whether larger cash payments were associated with stronger program impact. Programs that offered monetary incentives in conjunction with other academic supports tended to show stronger effects than programs that offered incentives alone. Conclusion The findings raise questions as to whether policymakers should use scores from low-stakes test to inform high-stakes policy decisions. The study cautions against using scores from international assessments to rank order countries’ educational systems or using scores from state achievement tests to sanction schools or award teacher bonuses.
Evaluating the Impact of the Post-9/11 GI Bill on College Enrollment for Veterans with Service-Connected Disabilities
Authors: Zhang Liang 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context The Post-9/11 GI Bill has provided educational benefits to millions of military service members and veterans since its adoption in August 2009. Recent studies indicate that the bill has significantly improved college enrollment and educational attainment among post-9/11 veterans. A significant proportion of veterans suffer from service-connected disabilities. While provisions of the Post-9/11 GI Bill may render education benefits that are appealing to veterans with service-connected disabilities, little is known with regard to how the bill has affected college participation among this venerable subpopulation of veterans. Purpose/Objective This study examines the effect of the Post-9/11 GI Bill on college enrollment rates among veterans with service-connected disabilities and unpacks potentially heterogeneous impacts across groups with different demographic characteristics (i.e., sex, age, race/ ethnicity, educational attainment, and disability ratings). Population Post-9/11 veterans. Research Design Triple differences. Data Collection and Analysis Secondary data analysis based on American Community Survey 2005–2016. Findings/Results While the Post-9/11 GI Bill has increased college enrollment for veterans without service-connected disabilities by less than 1 percentage point, the increase is much larger—about 5 percentage points—for veterans with service-connected disabilities. Enrollment effects for veterans with service-connected disabilities are consistent and positive across sex, age, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and disability ratings. Conclusions/Recommendations The results of this study provide strong evidence for the significant enrollment growth among veterans with service-connected disabilities after the adoption of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. While this result is reassuring, it is not clear whether this large effect for veterans with service-connected disabilities is due to favorable provisions in the Post-9/11 GI Bill or due to lower opportunity costs. In the future, researchers may want to identify appropriate sources for data on detailed educational benefits to examine the mechanisms behind the effect.
Using Data for Program Improvement in Teacher Education: A Study of Promising Practices
Authors: Davis Susannah C. , Peck Charles A. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Contemporary accountability policies in teacher education often require that programs systematically use data for program improvement. However, social science research from multiple fields of human service suggests that the challenges of using data involve much more than creating policies and related information technologies to support collection, archival, and analysis of information about program outcomes. In this study we investigated organizational policies and practices implemented within ten high data-use teacher education programs to support faculty and staff engagement with opportunities to use a variety of data for the purposes of program improvement. Purpose/Objective/Research Question What organizational tools, policies, and practices are associated with systematic use of data for program improvement in high data-use teacher education programs? Research Design We used qualitative field research methods to study a set of teacher preparation programs situated in institutions that varied considerably in size, mission, and organizational structure. Using a comparative case-study approach, we hoped to identify a set of practices that were robust across variations in institutional setting and that therefore might be useful to other teacher educators as they attempt to navigate the pressures of current accountability mandates in ways that are consonant with their aspirations for program improvement. Conclusions/Recommendations Organizational practices associated with high levels of data use in the programs we studied included the allocation of specific times and places to allow thoughtful engagement with opportunities to use data in deliberation of program actions, as well as the integration of these activities into regular organizational routines. Consistent with earlier studies, we found that faculty in these programs more readily and vigorously engaged data-use work organized around local inquiry goals, rather than compliance with external policy mandates or grant expectations. Leadership actions related to establishing local inquiry and program improvement as the primary goal of data-use work appeared to be crucial to motivating faculty and staff to take up opportunities to use data as a resource for learning and program decision-making.
Measuring Segregation in a Multiracial Era: The Impact of Federal Racial Reporting Changes on Estimates of Public School Segregation
Authors: Richards Meredith P. , Stroub Kori J. 
Published: November 2021

Background Despite accounting for 3% of the student population, multiracial students are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States. Aligning with new federal guidelines, in 2008, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) revised its single-race reporting scheme for the Common Core of Data (CCD), permitting students to identify as two or more races (i.e., multiracial). Study Objective The addition of a multiracial reporting category to the NCES CCD permits students to more accurately represent their racial identity. By creating categories that are not strictly comparable to their historical counterparts, however, it may problematize longitudinal analysis of trends in the racial composition and segregation of schools, which are of perennial scholarly and public interest. In this study, we examine the extent to which the reporting change affects estimates of segregation over time. Research Design We compute annual values of racial/ethnic segregation (i.e., isolation and dissimilarity) among elementary schools for 5,357 public school districts using data from the NCES CCD Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey from 2000–01 to 2013–14. Before 2008, we compute segregation for the five monoracial groups tracked by the CCD. After 2008, we compute segregation using the two analytical approaches to the treatment of multiracial students that have been employed by scholars of segregation. We estimate the effect of the racial/ethnic reporting change on estimates of segregation via a series of multilevel longitudinal fixed-effects models. Results We found that the NCES CCD's addition of a multiracial reporting category has problematized longitudinal analyses of segregation, particularly racial/ethnic isolation. Models revealed abrupt changes in most dimensions of segregation in the year immediately following the reporting change. Moreover, the reporting change has complicated interpretation of segregation trends since 2008, because seemingly minor analytical decisions may lead to contradictory conclusions: When multiracial students are excluded from calculations, isolation appears to be increasing for all racial/ethnic groups; however, when multiracial students are included in calculations, isolation appears to be decreasing for all racial/ethnic groups. The reporting change has a weaker, but still significant, effect on certain dimensions of racial/ethnic dissimilarity. Conclusions In this study, we found that the NCES CCD's recent addition of a multiracial reporting category has resulted in estimates of segregation that are not longitudinally comparable and may vary in magnitude and direction depending on relatively minor analytical decisions. We urge scholars to take particular care in calculating and interpreting segregation trends and offer recommendations for educational research and practice.
Do Students who Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail? Effects of Individualized Learning Plans on Postsecondary Transitioning
Authors: Britton Tolani , Spencer George 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Policies featuring individualized learning plans (ILPs) have become increasingly popular among states seeking to improve college and career readiness through early postsecondary planning. Although ILPs are featured in legislation for more than 35 states, limited work has been done on measuring their effectiveness to ensure that students are better prepared for college and career. Purpose In this study, we fill this gap in the literature by exploring the effects of completing an ILP and potential spillover effects in schools that require the use of this tool. We also explore whether these effects vary by parental income status. Using a quasi-experimental design, we offer nationally generalizable evidence of the ILP on individual student's transition from secondary to postsecondary education Research Design We use data from the High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009 (HSLS:09), a nationally representative survey of students in 944 public and private high schools who are surveyed at multiple points during their time in high school. Using these data, we employ the quasi-experimental propensity score matching approach to generate balance between treated and untreated groups on observed covariates. Findings The findings from this study suggest that students who completed ILPs were more likely to identify a career of interest and make informed college choices with respect to institutional fit as compared with peers who did not use this tool. In particular, low-income students who completed an ILP were more likely to apply for financial aid and submit applications to multiple institutions when compared with economically similar students who did not use ILPs. Also, schools offering ILPs were more likely to help students enroll in moderately selective four-year colleges and to complete some advanced credits in English. Conclusions This study's findings offer evidence that schools can use ILPs to help students prepare for college through the college search and selection process. Although ILPs seem to be most effective in helping students plan for the process of applying to college, greater emphasis may be needed to ensure that ILPs also support students in the effort of academic course planning.