bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Are Achievement Gap Estimates Biased by Differential Student Test Effort? Putting an Important Policy Metric to the Test
Authors: Soland James 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Achievement gaps motivate a range of practices and policies aimed at closing those gaps. Most gaps studies assume that differences in observed test scores across subgroups are measuring differences in content mastery. For such an assumption to hold, students in the subgroups being compared need to be giving similar effort on the test. Studies already show that low test effort is prevalent and biases observed test scores downward. What research does not demonstrate is whether test effort differs by subgroup and, therefore, biases estimates of achievement gaps. Purpose This study examines whether test effort differs by student subgroup, including by race and gender. The sensitivity of achievement gap estimates to any differences in test effort is also considered. Research Design A behavioral proxy for test effort called “rapid guessing” was used. Rapid guessing occurs when students answer a test item so fast, they could not have understood its content. Rates of rapid guessing were compared across subgroups. Then, achievement gaps were estimated unconditional and conditional on measures of rapid guessing. Findings Test effort differs substantially by subgroup, with males rapidly guessing nearly twice as often as females in later grades, and Black students rapidly guessing more often than White students. However, these differences in rapid guessing generally do not impact substantive interpretations of achievement gaps, though basic conclusions about male–female gaps and changes in gaps as students progress through school may change when models account for test effort. Conclusions Although the bias introduced into achievement gap estimates by differential test effort is hard to quantify, results provide an important reminder that test scores reflect achievement only to the extent that students are willing and able to demonstrate what they have learned. Understanding why there are subgroup differences in test effort would likely be useful to educators and is worthy of additional study.
Examining the Every Student Succeeds Act's Impact on African American Students’ Mental Health Access
Authors: Walker Larry J. 
Published: November 2021

African American students from underserved communities throughout the United States are exposed to a variety of traumas, including community and intrafamilial violence. Far too often, members of the school-based staff misinterpret combative student behaviors, which are viewed as acts of defiance. However, the factors that contribute to academic and/or emotional problems are not properly contextualized. Ensuring that students have access to comprehensive mental health services is critical. Historically, school districts have depended heavily on federal resources to address the mental health needs of students from minority and low socioeconomic backgrounds. For this reason, examining the Every Student Succeeds Act's (ESSA's) new block grant program, the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant, is important. Under ESSA, several programs were consolidated or eliminated. The grant funds the Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative, which focuses on mental health, among other issues. This article examines how a shift in federal policy could affect mental health access among African American students from underserved backgrounds. “We must, by including special school aid funds as part of our education program, improve the quality of teaching, training, and counseling in our hardest hit areas.” — Lyndon B. Johnson, January 8, 1964
Locating Black Girls in Educational Policy Discourse: Implications for the Every Student Succeeds Act
Authors: Evans-Winters Venus , Hines Dorothy E. , Moore Allania , Jones Teresa Lawrence 
Published: November 2021

The enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 by President Barack Obama increased accountability requirements and was designed to reduce achievement and opportunity gaps, and racial disproportionality in school discipline. Despite the implementation of ESSA, Black girls still continue to experience hypercriminalization and policing, and when disaggregated by race and gender, they still receive the highest rates of disciplinary punishments in school and out of school. In this article, we discuss how Black girls in the Pk–12 public school system are invalidated and ignored in educational policy discourse and in school reform. In our discussion, we argue that ESSA tends to focus on identity categories (such as race, gender, class, and linguistics), and not on the intersectionality thereof, or how race does not operate as a silo (race, gender, social class, and other parts of our identity are layered and form a mosaic). We draw from literature on Black girls, zero tolerance, and critical race feminism to examine Black girls’ disciplinary punishments in Chicago Public Schools, and ESSA's effect on a national scale. In our analysis of quantitative data from Chicago Public Schools, we find that, in the third largest district in the United States, Black girls are disproportionally the recipients of out-of-school suspensions. Black female students received 78% of all female out-of-school suspensions during the 2016–2017 school year. A majority of the actions that Black girls were punished for were minor in nature and not due to violence or criminal offenses. We find that when Black girls are made invisible during the policy process and made visible when they are recipients of bias punishments, they will be more susceptible to receiving hyperpunitive disciplinary outcomes. Therefore, this article recommends that schools, policy makers, and researchers examine how harsh discipline and exclusionary policies affect Black girls as racialized and gendered beings while not ignoring the needs of Black female students during the school reform process.
College Completion, the Texas Way: An Examination of the Development of College Completion Policy in a Distinctive Political Culture
Authors: Gándara Denisa , Hearn James C. 
Published: November 2021

Background College-completion policies dominate state higher education policy agendas. Yet we know little about how policy actors make decisions—and what sources of evidence they use—within this policy domain. Focus of Study This study explores the use of evidence in college-completion policymaking in depth, focusing on Texas. In addition to exploring policymakers’ use of different types of information, this study examines the role played by intermediaries. Research Design We employed a qualitative case study design drawing on interviews with 32 policy actors engaged in college-completion policy in Texas. Our analysis consisted of both deductive coding (based on our a priori coding scheme) and inductive coding (based on emerging themes) to arrive at our four major findings. Findings/Results The analysis revealed four primary findings. The first theme suggests an insular culture of college-completion policymaking: Policymakers at various levels preferred Texas-based data and rejected the notion that external groups contributed to setting the college completion agenda in Texas. Second, business groups and a business ethos permeated college-completion policymaking in Texas. Third, research evidence was seldom employed in this policy process, partly because policymakers prefer concise and timely information. Finally, the study uncovered a new tactic for supplying research employed by certain intermediaries: punchy messaging, which was effective at garnering attention but also yielded unintended consequences. Conclusions/Recommendations Overwhelmingly, higher education policy actors tended to prefer Texas-based data. Respondents cited three major reasons for this preference: the high quality of the state higher education coordinating board's data, Texas's unique demographics, and the accessibility of statewide data. These findings reflect the mediating role that is played not only by state structural characteristics, but also by culture. Perceptions of Texas's distinctive inward-looking nature permeated our interviews and set the stage for the role that intermediaries played in the state and the preferences for information. Intermediaries wishing to inform college-completion policy activity at the state level should consider the uniqueness of the state context in supplying information. For states that are more insular, like Texas, working through internal (in-state) intermediaries may be an effective strategy. In light of our findings of preferred types of information, those intending to influence policymaking should consider making information—especially research evidence—concise and easily accessible and establish relationships with policymakers and their staff members.
“A Ditcher and a Scholar”: Figuring College-Going Identities in an Urban Magnet High School
Authors: Duncheon Julia C. , Relles Stefani R. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context To enhance postsecondary completion and minimize equity gaps, researchers have focused on defining, measuring, and developing students’ college readiness, or the preparation required to persist in higher education. While this work has been useful to identify the ingredients of postsecondary success, the emphasis on individual achievement runs the risk of portraying marginalized students as deficient. Culturally relevant studies that highlight institutional accountability for college readiness are needed to inform policy and practice. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Using Holland and colleagues’ (1998) figured worlds theory, this study examines college readiness through the lens of student identity in an urban magnet high school. We investigate how first-generation, low-income students of color interpreted and negotiated local discourses and artifacts to “figure” college-going identities—that is, who they should become and how they should behave to earn a college degree. The purpose of this empirical approach is to contribute information that can inform college readiness efforts nationwide. Research Design The study utilizes an ethnographic approach that focused on how students conceptualized and developed their identities within the figured world of the magnet school. Data collection took place over the course of one school year and included over 200 hours of participant observation, in-depth interviews with 25 students and school staff, and document analysis. Findings The figured world of Jackson Magnet fostered and reinforced a hierarchy that consisted of magnet students (“scholars”) and their counterparts in the regular school (“ditchers”). A local feedback loop implied that the magnet school provided more rigorous college preparation than the regular school and, by extension, magnet students figured they would be ready for college. However, real-world feedback (standardized test scores) suggested magnet course rigor did not accurately reflect postsecondary standards. The result was that magnet students were underprepared but did not know it, an outcome that positioned them to experience a drastic identity reckoning in college. Conclusions/Recommendations While most college-readiness research focuses on academic skills preparation, our findings reveal the need to consider how high schools prepare students in terms of identity. In particular, our data suggest the threat of well-intentioned achievement discourses on pre-college identity development. Salient questions include whether and how to increase postsecondary opportunity without socializing students either to discriminate against their peers or to figure a false identity that undermines preparation and future cognitive stability.
Navigating the Quicksand: How Postsecondary Administrators Understand the Infuence of Affrmative Action Developments on Racial Diversity Work
Authors: Garces Liliana M. , Bilyalov Darkhan 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Seeking to avoid litigation or a legal threat, many postsecondary institutions are responding to a legal and policy environment that seeks to end the consideration of race in education policies by adopting race-neutral policies and practices in admissions, even when not explicitly required to do so by law. Yet, such responses may introduce new barriers and challenges for administrators seeking to promote inclusive campus environments and support students of color, not only within admissions but in other areas of campus life after students enroll. Understanding the consequences of these institutional responses is critical for those addressing the potential limitations a race-neutral approach puts on diversity-related policies and practices. Purpose/Objective In this study, we examine how key players charged with implementing diversity-related policies and practices understand legal developments around affirmative action and the institutional responses to these developments, in particular, how they influence their efforts to support racial and ethnic diversity. To explore the wide-ranging influence of the current race-neutral policy climate, we focus our study on a public flagship university that has opted to employ race-neutral admissions policies and practices as a matter of institutional policy—not by law. Participants Informed by a bottom-up policy implementation framework, we examine the influence of the legal environment from the perspective of administrators who are tasked with carrying out the institution's mission as it relates to diversity. We particularly target administrators who are engaged in outreach and recruitment efforts and who help support students after they enroll. Research Design In this qualitative study, we draw from document analysis and semi-structured interviews of 13 administrators charged with implementing diversity policy at a public flagship institution to investigate how this legal and policy climate has shaped racial diversity work in areas outside admissions. Findings Our findings illustrate how a colorblind approach in policy-making takes hold through seemingly innocuous practices and responses that are called race neutral. These practices, which start in admissions, spill over into other areas of university policy, and shift the nature of diversity-work. Conclusions Findings point to the importance of intentional efforts to implement diversity policy through a race- and racism-conscious lens, develop narratives that counter distorted narratives about racial discrimination, and address legal terms and definitions that do not reflect a realistic understanding of inequality or discrimination.
The Duplicity of Equality: An Analysis of Academic Placement in a Racially Diverse School and a Black Community
Authors: Lofton Richard 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context For more than four decades, researchers have shown that African American students are overrepresented in lower-track classes, while their White peers tend to be in advanced courses. In the past twenty years, school districts have implemented detracking reforms that stressed self-selection policies as an alternative to separate academic paths, yet quantitative data still show that most African American students are not attending upper-level or advanced classes in racially diverse schools. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of study This study explores how African American parents come to terms with academic placement, and the mechanisms that impact their child's educational experiences in a racially diverse school while coming from a segregated high-poverty African-American community. Setting Research took place in a racially diverse suburban school and city. The suburban city is a microcosm of the United States, not only because of the racial and economic diversity of its school district, but also because its story encapsulates the plight of many African Americans in relation to the Great Migration, segregation, disinvested neighborhoods, and systemic inequalities. Population/participants/Subjects Participants included 26 African American parents, many of whom attended the same school district and experienced their own lower-track placement. Research Design Ethnographic methods, which include interviews and observations, were used to explore the research questions. African American parents were individually interviewed about their own educational experiences, children's academic placement, family background, interactions with the school system, community issues, and perceptions of the middle school and city. Findings/Results African American students and their parents were a product of intergenera-tional tracking. Parents and their children had experienced lower-track courses. In addition, the exposure of African American students and parents to systemic inequalities in their home and community heavily influenced their academic placement and overall educational experiences. Moreover, tracking in this school was not necessarily about abilities and skills but also about separating African American students and creating a formal semblance of equality that actually reinforced systemic inequalities, a reality captured in the phrase “duplicity of equality.”
Leadership for “The All of It”: Formalizing Teacher-Leader Networks
Authors: Smith Betsann 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Research underscores that school improvement relies on leadership that stretches beyond a principal, but significant developments to the design of school level leadership lags. This paper shares data and interpretations of school leadership organized as a network of formalized teacher-leader roles that are ranked, titled, and differently paid. Purpose/Research Question The study examined the functions, tasks, and boundaries of different teacher-leader roles as well as teachers’ perceptions of their legitimacy and value. It also explored whether formal roles generated negative side effects on school climate or teacher relations. Focus of Study Ongoing skepticism of role formalization and ranking within teaching directed the study's attention to an extensive empirical case of formalization. Setting Data were collected from eight secondary schools in England, where formalized teacher-leader roles are long established and associated with school performance. Research Design The study was designed as a descriptive investigation of a leader system. It was conceptually framed by perspectives on schools as organizations and literatures on role formalization, leadership, and school improvements. Data Collection and Analysis Observation, artifact, and interview data were collected. Description and analysis focused on the design of leader roles, the activities and conditions they generated, and school member perceptions of their legitimacy and value. Findings/Results Formal roles that blend teaching with instructional and managerial leadership gain legitimacy and pass tests of goodness and value for teachers when they directly contribute to teachers’ day-to-day work and success, as when they elevate working conditions, bring disciplinary knowledge and local understandings to learning and problem solving, and contribute to individual and collective efficacy. Conclusions/Recommendations Networks of formal teacher-leader roles can bring more substantial and reliable resources to the conditions of teaching and school organizations than informal leadership or targeted coaching roles. Fears of negative social and professional consequences do not emerge when roles remain rooted in teaching, when leaders’ tasks flow across logistical, instructional, and social dimensions of teachers’ work, and when norms emphasize help and reciprocity.
Reproducing Sports Stars: How Students Become Elite Athletes
Authors: Hextrum Kirsten 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context School-sponsored sports programs are seen in both the public and policy spheres as meritocratic mobility institutions. In the U.S. context, athletic participation can yield access to college via sports performance. Meritocratic mobility would be achieved as individuals use their athletic ability and effort to enter universities and in turn improve their social standing. Yet few existing studies empirically examine the extent to which interscholastic athletic participation yields mobility. As a result, little is known about how individuals access colleges via athletics. Purpose/Objective This study's purpose was to understand how individuals began a path to college via sports. In doing so, it asks: what larger social forces influence how youth become top-level college athletes? It draws upon social reproduction theory—how publicly funded educational entities ensure the maintenance rather than the reduction of class inequality—to determine whether youth sports participation facilitates mobility. Research Design This qualitative study examined the athletic and academic trajectories of 47 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I student-athletes from one university classified as Research-1, Tier-1, and as a member of a power-five athletic conference. Data include semistructured life history interviews, an original database, and institutional reports. Population Participants were recruited from four teams to investigate the athletic selection process: men's and women's track & field and rowing. The teams offered multiple comparisons in macro- and micro-social processes. Rowing draws from White and elite communities, because it requires tremendous resources to participate. Conversely, track & field requires fewer resources and draws more participants from marginalized communities. Findings Research reveals a sports-track-to-college pipeline and a correspondence between White middle-class communities and greater access to elite universities via athletics. Access to the sports-track-to-college pipeline is co-constructed through interactions at the individual, familial, and institutional levels. Five reproductive mechanisms are discussed—community access, bureaucracies, social access, knowledge, and enacted knowledge—all of which emerged as greater determiners for college athletic recruiting than individual athletic merit. Conclusions Recommendations offer policy and programmatic changes at the high school, college, and NCAA levels that make athletic recruiting more transparent and systematic to lessen the reproductive effects.