Comparing the Perceptions of Middle and High School Students from Different Socioeconomic Status Backgrounds on Learning Machine Learning

As Machine Learning (ML) becomes increasingly integrated into our daily lives, it is essential to teach ML to young people from an early age including also students from a low socioeconomic status (SES) background. Yet, despite emerging initiatives for ML instruction in K-12, there is limited information available on the learning of students from a low SES background. To address this gap, our study conducted an analysis of comparing the students’ performance assessment scores of ML concepts as a result of the ML4ALL! course among 266 middle and high school students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The results demonstrated an understanding of ML concepts among students from all SES backgrounds. Although some differences were observed regarding specific parts of the ML development process, these were not substantial enough to identify SES as a determining factor affecting the performance assessment score. Also, when considering the background together with other demographic factors such as sex assigned at birth or educational stage, no significant difference of the students’ performance assessment scores was observed. These findings provide a first indication that a low SES background must not be a barrier to ML competencies and that effective and inclusive ML teaching strategies can ensure equitable access to ML education across diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

P14 Factors that Influence the Snacking Behaviors of Adolescents from Low Socioeconomic Status Backgrounds in New York City: Preliminary Findings

In 2015, the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) was redesigned to better assess the concepts and reasoning skills students need to be ready for the medical school curriculum. During the new exam's design and rollout, careful attention was paid to the opportunities examinees had to learn the new content and their access to free and low-cost preparation resources. The design committee aimed to mitigate possible unintended effects of the redesign, specifically increasing historical mean group differences in MCAT scores for examinees from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds and races/ethnicities underrepresented in medicine compared with those from higher SES backgrounds and races/ethnicities not underrepresented in medicine.In this article, the authors describe the characteristics and scores of examinees who took the new MCAT exam in 2017 and compare those trends with historical ones from 2013, presenting evidence that the diversity and performance of examinees has remained stable even with the exam's redesign. They also describe the use of free and low-cost MCAT preparation resources and MCAT preparation courses for examinees from higher and lower SES backgrounds and who are enrolled in undergraduate institutions with more and fewer resources, showing that examinees from lower SES backgrounds and who attend institutions with fewer resources use many free and low-cost test preparation resources at lower rates than their peers. The authors conclude with a description of the next phase of this research: to gather qualitative and quantitative data about the preparation strategies, barriers, and needs of all examinees, but especially those from lower SES and underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between reading comprehension and the prerequisite skills typically assessed by a school based speech pathologist with a focus on children raised in poverty. Based upon previous studies, three hypotheses were developed. First, children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds would not perform as well as children from the standardization sample on norm referenced language tests although the language tests would predict reading comprehension. Second, decoding would not be as good a predictor of reading comprehension for children from low SES backgrounds as it is in typically developing children from middle SES backgrounds because of differences in language ability. Third, processing dependent measures (working memory) would be more predictive of reading comprehension than nonverbal IQ testing for children from low SES backgrounds.

A frequently cited rationale for increasing the participation of students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds is that it will create a workforce who will choose to work in low SES and medically underserviced communities. Two theoretical arguments, one that supports and one that contradicts this assumption, are proposed to explain the practice location intentions of medical students which we examine in a longitudinal analysis. SES background and future intentions of 351 applicants to an undergraduate medical degree were assessed at Time 1, with intentions re-assessed one year later for 96% of those who were enrolled as medical students. Students from very low (and very high) SES backgrounds indicated lower intention to practice in low SES or medically underserviced areas than those from mid-range SES backgrounds. Males and students from non-English speaking backgrounds indicated less desire to work in low SES areas, perhaps explained by high aspirational motivation. SES accounted for a relatively small amount of variance in practice intentions. Alternate predictors of practice location, including individual values and training effects, and their implications for selection practice, are discussed.

This paper reviews the literature on best practices to engage parents in order to equip them to support their children’s higher education aspirations. Parents from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds, in common with other parents, report that they want “the best” for their children’s future. Getting a good education is a part of the aspiration of most parents, regardless of SES. However, unlike parents from mid and high SES backgrounds who usually have “educational cultural capital” to support their children’s educational aspiration, parents from low SES backgrounds often are unable to confidently access information they need about possible education pathways within and beyond school. Additionally, they need to know where to find out about financial and other support resources available to facilitate access to higher education. Higher education participation by students from non-traditional backgrounds could be improved by outreach that promotes parents’ social capital and “educational cultural” capital. This project has built upon University of Tasmania and University of Wollongong’s combined experience, international literature and workshops with parent engagement practitioners to identify features of parent engagement programmes and resources that are efficient and effective in engaging parents from low SES backgrounds to support their children’s higher education aspirations. From this, the higher education Design and Evaluation Matrix for Outreach was modified to develop a tool to plan, design, modify and evaluate parent engagement programmes.

This study explored the relation between student characteristics and counselor recommendations. Based on a sample of 1,713 students, the results indicate that counselors recommended community colleges to students from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds more strongly than to students from higher SES backgrounds and recommended 4-year institutions more to students from higher SES backgrounds than to students from lower SES backgrounds. White counselors were more likely to recommend admission-related activities toward 2-year colleges to White than to Black students. In addition, for upper-class students, recommendations toward community college were stronger for Whites with low academic performance than for Blacks with low performance; the reverse was true for upper-class students with strong academic performance. Areas for future research are identified.

This study investigated the effectiveness of a storytelling-based morphological intervention program on the language and literacy knowledge and reading motivation of kindergarten children from low and mid socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. It also explored how these groups compared in change scores against a non-intervened high SES group. Employing a cluster randomization approach, this study included 158 kindergarten children, comprising intervention and comparison groups from low and mid SES backgrounds, as well as a non-intervened high SES group. Assessments were conducted on morphological awareness (MA), print concepts, vocabulary, and reading motivation. Children in the intervention groups showed better performance in MA and print concept scores than those in their respective comparison groups. The mid SES intervention group also displayed significant improvement in vocabulary and motivation scores compared to its counterpart. When examining the effects of SES on change scores, the low SES intervention group achieved superior results in vocabulary and print concept scores compared to both the mid SES intervention and the non-intervened high SES groups. For reading motivation, the mid SES group outperformed the low SES group. The morphological intervention program using storytelling positively impacts both the literacy skills and reading motivation of kindergarten children, especially those from low and mid SES backgrounds. This study emphasizes the significance of designing interventions that cater to the distinct educational needs of children from different SES backgrounds.

It is well-known that there are large disparities in academic achievement between children of different socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds. This study examines the evolution of disparities in literacy skills between adults of different SES backgrounds. It compares countries’ patterns in the evolution of disparities in literacy by SES background as cohorts age and asks which patterns of educational and labour force participation predict a narrowing rather than a widening of these disparities. Since there is no international longitudinal study of skills across the entire adult life span, this study uses three cross-sectional international adult studies (International Adult Literacy Survey, Adult Literacy and Lifeskills and Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) and matches birth years to create synthetic cohorts. Results indicate that there is large cross-national variation in the evolution of skills disparities associated with SES background. Disparities in literacy proficiency tend to widen when SES disparities in high school completion, professional and blue-collar employment increase. Disparities narrow when workers exit the labour force, a finding that is explained by the large inequalities in the employment experiences of individuals from different SES backgrounds, measured by differences in use of literacy skills at work. These results help to explain cross-national variation in the evolution of skills disparities by SES background, which has implications for policies aimed at closing skills gaps over the life course.

Stress energizes learning. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which is the pattern of nerves running through the body that enacts the body's stress response, acts to maintain a state of anticipatory readiness - one in which we are alert and ready to receive new information. Information presented during this alert state is subsequently better retained. For my recent research, hosted at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, I have been leading a small research unit to study stress and learning in typical, middle-class young children. Our research has focused on exploring these 'good' aspects of stress. We have shown, for the first time, that children who show a larger spontaneous response to an experimentally presented stressor are also better at learning pictures of other children's faces. Using new, advanced analytical techniques based on time-series analyses, we have also shown that children who show more spontaneous, sudden fluctuations in stress levels show better learning. However, there is also a down-side to stress. This is shown most markedly in individuals from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds. A number of recent studies have concluded that the associations widely observed between low SES and poor academic performance may be entirely attributable to the fact that individuals from low SES backgrounds tend to experience more frequent, and intense, stressful early life events. Although the exact mechanisms are unknown, it is thought that increased stress during early life associates with a poorer ability to concentrate, and therefore to learn. So how to reconcile these 'good' and 'bad' aspects of stress during early development? Understanding this question is vital - both for understanding the mechanisms that disrupt early learning in high-risk individuals, and for developing new techniques to improve learning across all children. Yet remarkably little previous research has recorded whether different individuals are exposed to different levels of external, environmental noise during early development - nor investigated how these associate with differences in their internal stress reactivity. Under this Fellowship, I would use recently developed technologies to do this for the first time. To address these questions, I shall take a cohort of infants from mixed socio-economic status backgrounds, recruited at birth in East London, and quantitatively track how attention, learning, ANS activity and external environmental stressors vary during early life. Using cutting-edge new technologies I shall examine whether children differ in the total amount of environmental noise to which they are exposed - and whether relationships can be found between how much noise and individual is exposed to, and how well they perform on attention and learning. To mentor me on this project I have been fortunate to secure the support of three leading international scientists. Professor Cynthia Fu, based at the University of East London, will assist me in setting up the recruitment of children from mixed SES backgrounds. Professor John Duncan, in Cambridge, is an internationally renowned expert on attention, and will advise me on the cognitive and analytical aspects of the project. Professor Mark Johnson, at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, is an expert on understanding early typical and atypical development, including the early development of Autism and Attention Deficit Disorder, and will advise me on potential links to clinical populations. The proposal also includes a visit to the lab of Dr Ronny Geva, in Israel, to learn new techniques for measuring early stress from experts in her lab

Development of selective attention in preschool-age children from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds

This study investigated the perceptions of middle and high school students in a private international school in Indonesia toward ability grouping practiced in the school. The study aimed at measuring respondents’ overall perception of ability grouping; comparing perceptions across gender, ability groups, and grade levels; and exploring the perceived advantages and disadvantages of ability grouping. A total of 640 students from middle school (grades 7-9) and high school (grades 10-12) responded to the ability grouping survey questionnaire constructed by the researcher. The research instrument contained 10 items on a 5-point Likert scale and 2 open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics revealed that the students had an overall neutral perception of ability grouping. The independent samples t-test resulted in no significant difference between male and female students’ perceptions. Similarly, the ANOVA test revealed no significant difference between low, middle, and high ability students’ perceptions of ability grouping. However, there was a statistically significant difference in students’ perceptions when grouped according to grade levels. It was noted that grade 11 students significantly differed from grade 7 and 9 students. They leaned more towards disagreement with ability grouping. Moreover, although the respondents identified several advantages of ability grouping mainly for high ability students, an overwhelming majority of them perceived that ability grouping has more disadvantages, especially for low ability students. Since ability grouping appears to be more disadvantageous to the low-ability students, it is recommended that the administrators design after-school enhancement programs and extracurricular activities especially targeting students in the low ability groups. Teachers also need to employ differentiated instruction and cater to the unique learning styles of students in the different ability groups. Besides, since it was found that the student population had an overall neutral perception of ability grouping, a further study that measures the perceptions of teachers, administrators, and parents would be helpful as a basis to continue, modify, or discontinue the practice.

Students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds often contend with financial issues that have the potential to impact significantly on their success in higher education. Research has shown that students from low SES backgrounds often find themselvesunder economic pressure to prioritise paid work over their education. Few studies have explored the financial realities and challenges facing students who are from both low SES backgrounds and who are studying in regional areas of Australia. This paper presents some of the key findings from a recent national study undertaken by the six universities in the Australian Regional Universities Network (RUN). The study set out to explore approaches and strategies to facilitate the success of students from low SES backgrounds at regional universities. In interviews with 69 students from low SES backgrounds and 26 stakeholders recognised as experts in the field of facilitating success for these students, financial challenges were found to be one of the most significant barriers to student success. Documenting these insights, this paper has the potential to inform academics, institutional leaders and policy makers alike in their approaches to mitigating the financial challenges for these students and to facilitate their success.

The authors implemented an A–B–A with follow‐up quasi‐experimental single‐case research design to assess the effectiveness of a consumer‐grade neurofeedback (NFB)‐assisted mindfulness‐based intervention (MBI) for reducing anxiety in high‐achieving high school students (N = 5). Three of the participants from racial/ethnic minority and lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds reported reduced anxiety as measured by the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory for Youth (STAI‐Y) during the intervention. In contrast, the two participants who identified as White, higher SES did not report decreased anxiety during the intervention. Results provide initial support for the use of the NFB‐assisted MBI used in this study as a brief, targeted intervention for highly anxious, high‐achieving high school students—specifically those from racial/ethnic minority and lower SES backgrounds. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

The influence of one’s socioeconomic status (SES) background on employee outcomes is increasingly recognized. Drawing on sociological and psychological research on SES and relative deprivation theory (RDT), we examine when and why SES background influence perceptions of overqualification and downstream behavioral reactions in the workplace. In a time-lagged, multisource field study involving 400 employees and 400 coworkers, we find that employees with higher SES backgrounds experience higher level of perceived overqualification, thus increasing both knowledge hiding and information seeking behaviors. Furthermore, relational mobility moderates the indirect effects, such that the positive effect on knowledge hiding is weakened and the positive effect on information seeking is strengthened when relational mobility is high versus when it is low. Our theory and findings highlight that SES background can have long-term impact on workplace behaviors and offer a more comprehensive view of how people’s behaviors to manage perceived overqualification may be strategic instead of plainly reactionary.