Teaching Quality and Student Outcomes: Academic Achievement and Educational Engagement in Rural Northwest China

Abstract

Teaching Quality and Student Outcomes: Academic Achievement and Educational Engagement in Rural Northwest China Xuehui An Emily Hannum Tanja Sargent A central task of educational researchers has been to uncover factors that improve student academic achievement. Research in both developed and developing nations during the past few decades has analysed the links between educational outcomes and school physical resources, teacher quality and children's demographic and family background.1 Importantly, research on teacher and school effects in developing countries has focused on factors such as human capital, economic resources and physical infrastructure, [End Page 309] the so-called input factors in the "black box" production function model of school outcomes. Fewer studies have focused on the "softer" classroom process factors that might be seen as important mechanisms of the production function, such as teaching style, the quality of teacher-student interactions and student academic engagement. This study investigates the sensitivity of academic achievement and educational engagement to student experiences in the classroom: teaching style, teacher-student interactions and classroom environment. This study is first placed in the theoretical context of comparative educational research, then in the context of recent education reform initiatives in China. Next follows a description of the data which came from a survey of primary school students, teachers and principals in rural Northwest China that was carried out in the summer of 2000. Multivariate analyses of achievement and engagement are presented and the paper closes with a discussion of the implications of the findings. Framework and Hypotheses Research on Teacher Quality Disparate lines of research in the fields of sociology, demography and economics have considered community, school, classroom and family characteristics that predict children's educational outcomes.2 Across these disciplines, an important goal has been to produce policy-relevant insights on measurable aspects of school quality, including teacher quality, that significantly affect outcomes such as achievement. Much of this research stemmed from Stephen Heyneman's "Coleman Report for a Developing Country", and his subsequent research suggesting that the portion of the variance in achievement attributable to school quality, as opposed to family background, was generally much larger [End Page 310] in developing versus industrialised countries.3 Following Heyneman's lead, studies of school effects have been conducted in a wide range of developing countries, and many have found significant effects of school factors, net of family background, on achievement.4 However, recent work by David Baker and his colleagues has suggested that the Coleman effect — large family effects and small school effects — has spread throughout the world.5 Moreover, studies that have sought to identify effects of specific dimensions of teacher quality and other school inputs on academic achievement have produced decidedly mixed results for both developed and developing countries.6 For example, Hanushek has argued that US-based research yields no systematic evidence that teacher education, experience or salaries affect student performance.7 [End Page 311] Other studies have found stronger evidence of positive school and teacher effects on learning and labour market outcomes.8 In developing countries, a number of studies have found that teacher education and experience, as well as basic material resources do affect achievement, but other work has presented a mixed verdict on teacher and school effects.9 Limited Definition of Quality One problem with these studies has been the narrow conceptualisation of teacher quality. Too often, teacher quality has been conceptualised simplistically, as easy-to-measure background factors thought to be linked to productivity such as teacher education or training, teacher salary or teacher experience. While identifying a mix of easy-to-measure and easy-to-manipulate inputs has a great deal of theoretical and policy appeal, the lack of consistent findings suggests the value of exploring alternative approaches. One potentially fruitful approach is to look for quality not in the background attributes of teachers, but rather in classroom (or school) environments that they have a hand in creating. For example, one interesting...