Average Student Performance Research Articles

Teacher Pay and Student Performance: Evidence from the Gambian Hardship Allowance

We evaluate the impact of the Gambian hardship allowance, which provides a salary premium of 30-40% to primary school teachers in remote locations, on student performance. A geographic discontinuity in the policy's implementation provides identifying variation. We find no effects of the hardship allowance on average student performance. These null average effects hide important heterogeneity, with learning gains for students at the top of the distribution and losses for those at the bottom. With over two dozen developing countries implementing similar policies to increase teacher compensation in rural schools, this study offers important evidence on their effectiveness.

Toward a Singleton Undergraduate Computer Graphics Course in Small and Medium-sized Colleges

This article discusses the evolution of a single undergraduate computer graphics course over five semesters, driven by a primary question: if one could offer only one undergraduate course in graphics, what would it include? This constraint is relevant to many small and medium-sized colleges that lack resources, adequate expertise, and enrollment to sustain multiple courses in graphics that spread out its vast and evolving content. We strive to include material that would provide (1) a basic but solid theoretical foundation, (2) topics, data structures, and algorithms that are most practically used, (3) ample experience in actual graphics programming and (4) a basic awareness of advanced topics. We have a secondary objective of relating and complementing computer graphics knowledge and programming with topics in other computer science courses to provide a more cohesive understanding to our students. We achieve both objectives by using an “early-scenegraphs” approach to progressively create graphics applications that use XML-based modeling and both pipeline-based and ray traced rendering. We report and analyze results that show how students were able to achieve more complex results within similar time periods while largely retaining prior average student performance in the course. Students also report higher rates of satisfaction with the course when it follows our proposed approach. Pedagogically our main contribution is an evolving blueprint for a single undergraduate CG course that offers flexibility to emphasize different aspects like modeling, rendering, etc. according to the instructor’s and students’ interests, while aligning the course better within the computer science curriculum especially when resources are limited.

Lower Level Prerequisites and Student Performance in Intermediate Business Courses: Does It Matter Where Students Take Their Principles Courses?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that those students who take their lower level business principles courses at junior or community colleges are less prepared for success in intermediate business courses than their classmates who take them at a 4-year institution. Using data on student performance in four typical intermediate business courses—Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Intermediate Business Statistics, and Intermediate Financial Accounting I—the authors found that average student performance in these courses is essentially completely determined by the underlying academic quality of the student, as measured by grade point average. Where they take their lower level prerequisite courses, and what letter grade they earn in those courses, do not generally play a significant role.

Comments on Look-Back Periods and Eventual Bar Passage Rates

In its current review of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, the Standards Review Committee (SRC) had decided against proposing substantive changes to minimum Bar-passage standards for law schools. At its July 2012 meeting, the SRC indicated that it may be reconsidering the five-year “look-back” period for eventual Bar passage rates (over multiple attempts). In these Comments, I oppose cutting the look-back period. First, the “eventual” passage rate for the most-recent calendar year is primarily a first-time rate. A two-out-of-three-year standard, which some had proposed, would really be a two-out-of-two year standard. Second, the SRC is relying, at best, on overall national rates. Overall rates measure the average performance of law students, and are not appropriate for setting minimum standards for law schools. Overall rates also do not respond to concerns about the effect on minorities and on historically black law schools. Overall national rates also do not account for widely varying state minimum passing (“cut”) scores, which is especially important in setting an absolute, rather than a state-relative, eventual Bar passage rate standard.

Data, Data, and More Data—What’s an Educator to Do?

If you visit a district central office or a state department of education or a principal’s office these days, you will hear the current rhetoric about data use for school improvement. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, data on school performance, disaggregated by racial/ethnic groups, special education and language status, and gender, are widely available, open to public consumption, and intended to lead to improvement. The disaggregation of these performance data is significant: pushing schools, school practitioners, and education policy makers to understand the performance of all students and not the average performance of students at any given school. Yet the ubiquitous nature of data now available in the public domain runs the risk of every other education fad that has preceded it: significant rhetoric that yields false promises about improving schools and the life chances of young people. Data-driven decision making. Performance management metrics. School indicator and warning systems. School climate measures. Formative assessments. Summative assessments. Administrative data. Graduation rates. Attendance patterns. Dropout metrics. Test scores. Value-added assessments. High-stakes evidence-driven reform. The implicit and explicit assumption is that if these data exist, improvement will soon be evident. It reminds me of the old quip about the American who goes to France and speaks English louder. Here are the data. . . . Improve. The articles in this issue call for a deeper and better understanding of data, their use, the conditions that are most conducive for using data well, how individuals and groups of practitioners make sense of the data before them, and the intended and unintended consequences of data use for school improvement. The authors together craft important messages about what type of research must be done to address these concerns. But perhaps even more important, the authors offer a clarion call to education policy makers and

Are Teachers' Unions Really to Blame? Collective Bargaining Agreements and Their Relationships with District Resource Allocation and Student Performance in California

Increased spending and decreased student performance have been attributed in part to teachers' unions and to the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) they negotiate with school boards. However, only recently have researchers begun to examine impacts of specific aspects of CBAs on student and district outcomes. This article uses a unique measure of contract restrictiveness generated through the use of a partial independence item response model to examine the relationships between CBA strength and district spending on multiple areas and district-level student performance in California. I find that districts with more restrictive contracts have higher spending overall, but that this spending appears not to be driven by greater compensation for teachers but by greater expenditures on administrators' compensation and instruction-related spending. Although districts with stronger CBAs spend more overall and on these categories, they spend less on books and supplies and on school board–related expenditures. In addition, I find that contract restrictiveness is associated with lower average student performance, although not with decreased achievement growth.

Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions

Use of in-class concept questions with clickers can transform an instructor-centered “transmissionist” environment to a more learner-centered constructivist classroom. To compare the effectiveness of three different approaches using clickers, pairs of similar questions were used to monitor student understanding in majors’ and nonmajors’ genetics courses. After answering the first question individually, students participated in peer discussion only, listened to an instructor explanation only, or engaged in peer discussion followed by instructor explanation, before answering a second question individually. Our results show that the combination of peer discussion followed by instructor explanation improved average student performance substantially when compared with either alone. When gains in learning were analyzed for three ability groups of students (weak, medium, and strong, based on overall clicker performance), all groups benefited most from the combination approach, suggesting that peer discussion and instructor explanation are synergistic in helping students. However, this analysis also revealed that, for the nonmajors, the gains of weak performers using the combination approach were only slightly better than their gains using instructor explanation alone. In contrast, the strong performers in both courses were not helped by the instructor-only approach, emphasizing the importance of peer discussion, even among top-performing students.

Education reform and the academic performance of public and private secondary school students in Thailand

Taking advantage of newly available data on a standardized national examination for secondary school students in Thailand, this study attempts to explain the variation in the average performance of students using school and local characteristics. Special emphasis is placed on trying to understand the asymmetric success factors of public and private secondary schools, and the possible effects of their coexistence. Results from a propensity score matching model suggest that private schools may create positive spillovers on the academic performance of students attending public schools located in the same district. The main implication from the research is that a more careful discussion about the impact of the ongoing education reforms on private schools is needed.

School profiles of at-risk student concentration: Differential growth in oral reading fluency

The present study provides a data-driven approach to identifying groups of schools based on the concentration of at-risk students the school serves. The percentage of English language learners, minority students, and students eligible for free or reduced priced lunch were used as indicators in a latent profile analysis of 569 schools. The goal of the present study was to determine whether school-level average student reading performance varied as a function of the groups identified in the latent profile analysis. To do so, groups extracted by the latent profile analysis were used as school-level predictors of growth in oral reading fluency, which was modeled at the within-student level of a three-level hierarchical growth curve model. Oral reading fluency was measured at four points during the year in a large cross-sectional sample of first-, second-, and third-grade students. Results indicated that schools were able to be classified into four distinct groups based on their concentrations and types of at-risk students. Further, in all three grades, there were significant differences between the four identified groups observed in average reading fluency scores at the beginning of the year, the end of the year, and growth during the year indicating that groups based on school-concentration of at-risk students were significantly related to average student achievement in reading ability.

School failure in Serbia

The purpose of the paper is to enrich the policy discourse in Serbia on one of the most striking features of primary and secondary education: the high proportion of students who are failing in many different ways. The findings are mainly based on international comparative analysis that leads to the distinction among three European equity patterns: compensative education systems that are characterized by a high level of equity (low impact of background, weak selection) and high quality (above average student performance), selective education systems, in which low level of equity and high selection results in a below average overall student performance and attritive education systems (to which Serbia belongs together with most South-East European countries) that are characterized by high inequities and relatively poor average quality that at the same time results in a high proportion of failing students both in terms of participation and learning outcomes. The paper attempts to orient further empirical educational research by formulating assumptions about the underlying reasons of school failure and provides an analysis of the educational policy implications within the specific Serbian context. .

Beyond horse race comparisons of national performance averages: math performance variation within and between classrooms in 38 countries

Reports of international studies of student achievement often receive public attention worldwide. However, this attention overly focuses on the national rankings of average student performance. To move beyond the simplistic comparison of national mean scores, this study investigates (a) country differences in the measures of variability as well as the measures of skewness and (b) the distribution of performance variability across schools and classrooms, employing data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999. These findings reveal the stratification of student performance at the lower secondary school level in various educational systems, which has implications for both policy-making and research.

Unpacking the inequality among Turkish schools: Findings from PISA 2006

The study investigates the effects of certain school characteristics on students’ mathematics performances in Turkey in the PISA 2006 while controlling for family background and demographic characteristics. Three models of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) are constructed. The results reveal that 55% of the variance is attributable to between-schools and the remaining 45% to individual student characteristics. About two-thirds of the 55% is explained by selectivity in admissions, time to study mathematics and students’ SES, gender and the geographical region. The findings are interpreted to explain why Turkish schools differed greatly in average student performance in PISA 2006 by using the conceptual efforts on school quality factors and family background characteristics.

Synthesis Explorer: A Chemical Reaction Tutorial System for Organic Synthesis Design and Mechanism Prediction

Synthesis Explorer is an interactive tutorial system for organic chemistry that enables students to learn chemical reactions in ways previously unrealized. Accessible online through a user-friendly Web interface, Synthesis Explorer delivers a rich learning experience including dynamic generation of customized multi-step synthesis design and mechanism prediction problems; context-specific feedback; and support for inquiry-based learning through experimentation and interactive dialogue with the system. The system is founded upon a reaction expert system based on over 80 reagent models and 1500 manually-composed reaction patterns, representing the undergraduate organic chemistry curriculum. These reaction models confer the system inherent predictive powers enabling it to generate a virtually limitless number of problems and to answer common questions of reactivity, including the inference of complete arrow-pushing mechanisms. Pedagogical experiments in undergraduate classes at UC Irvine indicate that the system can improve average student examination performance by ~10%.

Weaknesses in Underperforming Schools

In some Dutch elementary schools, the average performance of students over several years is significantly below the level that could be expected of them. This phenomenon is known as underperformance. The most important identifiable weaknesses that go along with this phenomenon are that (a) learning material offered at school is insufficient to achieve core targets, (b) insufficient time is allowed for reaching the minimum objectives of the curriculum, (c) instructional quality is poor, (d) insight into students' performance levels is insufficient, (e) insufficient or inappropriate special measures are taken for struggling learners, and (f) the school is experiencing prolonged dysfunctional organization. In most schools with underperformance problems, these weaknesses do not appear singly, but in combination with other factors. In underperforming schools, one also finds more instability in the school's leadership team; high mobility and frequent fluctuations in enrolment and staffing; and high percentages of children at risk due to multiple risk factors, including student learning ability, poverty, ethnic minority status, first language, and other factors.

An investigation of medical student reactions to feedback: a randomised controlled trial

Medical educators have indicated that feedback is one of the main catalysts required for performance improvement. However, medical students appear to be persistently dissatisfied with the feedback that they receive. The purpose of this study was to evaluate learning outcomes and perceptions in students who received feedback compared to those who received general compliments. All subjects received identical instruction on two-handed surgical knot-tying. Group 1 received specific, constructive feedback on how to improve their knot-tying skill. Group 2 received only general compliments. Performance was videotaped before and after instruction and after feedback. Subjects completed the study by indicating their global level of satisfaction. Three faculty evaluators observed and scored blinded videotapes of each performance. Intra-observer agreement among expert ratings of performance was calculated using 2-way random effects intraclass correlation (ICC) methods. Satisfaction scores and performance scores were compared using paired samples t-tests and independent samples t-tests. Performance data from 33 subjects were analysed. Inter-rater reliability exceeded 0.8 for ratings of pre-test, pre-intervention and post-intervention performances. The average performance of students who received specific feedback improved (21.98 versus 15.87, P<0.001), whereas there was no significant change in the performance score in the group who received only compliments (17.00 versus 15.39, P=0.181) The average satisfaction rating in the group that received compliments was significantly higher than the group that received feedback (6.00 versus 5.00, P=0.005). Student satisfaction is not an accurate measure of the quality of feedback. It appears that satisfaction ratings respond to praise more than feedback, while learning is more a function of feedback.

Análise do valor acrescentado de escolas portuguesas

This paper assesses the value added of Portuguese schools through two differing methodologies. One methodology is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), and the other is the method currently used in the UK by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). The results obtained show substantial differences between the methods, reflecting their different focus: DEA looks at best performance of students, while the DfES method looks at average performance of students. The advantage of the DfES method rests on the fact that it is a simple and easy-to-explain method, though it confounds the effects that are due to students and those that are due to the school practices. DEA distinguishes both these effects in the calculation of value added, which allows a better understanding of the reasons why schools are different in terms of the value they add to their pupils. The information that one gathers from each method should be understood complementarily rather than alternatively, meaning that the use of both methods widens our perspective of schools and allows a comprehensive evaluation of them.

International Differences in Student Achievement: An Economic Perspective

AbstractInternational comparisons reveal large cross-country differentials in average student performance. Although there is considerable public debate about these differences, their sources are hardly identified. Using school, teacher and student data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the present paper attempts to explain what causes between-country gaps in mathematics test score distributions. Following a three-pronged strategy of microlevel and cross-country regressions as well as bilateral country comparisons, we show how these gaps are explained by differences in school, teacher and student characteristics, or financial resources devoted to the school system. Institutional characteristics, such as competition between schools and the composition of the faculty can also help to understand international differences in student achievement.

Implementing No Child Left Behind

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderSchool Matters1 Nov 2003Implementing No Child Left BehindEducation Law Now in Its Second School Year Catherine D. Clarke Catherine D. Clarke Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.SCM.08202003.2 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001 is a landmark in education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of America’s schools. The 2003–2004 school year is the second year of implementation of the act, which is driving education policy for all children. NCLBA was enacted Jan. 8, 2002, reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—the principal federal law affecting education from kindergarten through high school. NCLBA is built on four common sense pillars: accountability for results, an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research, expanded parental options, and expanded local control and flexibility. Accountability is the centerpiece of NCLBA. The act requires states to implement statewide accountability systems covering all public schools and students. These systems must be based on challenging state standards in reading and mathematics, annual testing for all students in grades 3–8, and annual statewide progress objectives ensuring that all groups of students reach proficiency within 12 years. Assessment results and state progress objectives must be broken out by poverty, race, ethnicity, disability, and limited English proficiency to ensure that no group is left behind. States are to set high standards for improving academic achievement in order to improve the quality of education for all students. Under NCLBA, each state establishes a definition of “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) to use each year to determine the achievement of each school district and school. The purpose of the statute, for both assessments and accountability, is to build on high-quality accountability systems that states already have in place, not to require every state to start from scratch. The new definition of AYP is diagnostic in nature, and intended to highlight where schools need improvement and should focus their resources. The statute gives states and local educational agencies (LEAs) significant flexibility in how they direct resources and tailor interventions to the needs of individual schools identified for improvement. Under NCLBA, schools are held accountable for the achievement of all students, not just average student performance. States are free to build on the statutory requirements and to develop differentiated responses based on the degree to which a school has not made AYP. NCLBA significantly raises expectations for states, LEAs, and schools in that all students are expected to meet or exceed state standards in reading and in math within 12 years. It also provides an increase in resources to assist states in meeting these new expectations. States must describe how they will close the achievement gap and make sure all students, including those who are disadvantaged, achieve academic proficiency. They must produce annual state and school district report cards that inform parents and communities about state and school progress. States are to identify for improvement any Title I school that does not meet the state’s definition of AYP for two consecutive years. School districts and schools that fail to make AYP toward statewide proficiency goals will, over time, be subject to improvement, corrective action, and restructuring measures aimed at getting them back on course to meet state standards. The statute grants flexibility to states and LEAs to direct resources and tailor interventions to the needs of individual schools. Schools that meet or exceed AYP objectives or close achievement gaps will be eligible for State Academic Achievement Awards. Visit the U.S. Department of Education’s NCLBA Web site at http://www.ed.gov/nclb/ for more information. Also, the Schools Forum at the ASHA Convention this month will feature a discussion of the role of the speech-language pathologist with respect to NCLBA and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Author Notes Catherine D. Clarke, is ASHA’s director of education and regulatory advocacy. Contact her by e-mail at [email protected] or through the Action Center at 800-498-2071, ext. 4159. Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 8Issue 20November 2003 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Nov 1, 2003 Metrics Current downloads: 309 Topicsasha-topicsleader_do_tagasha-article-typesleader-topicsCopyright & Permissions© 2003 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...

Learning from PISA. Reasons and remedies for student under-performance in reading, maths and science.

The great competition is over, the judges have given their marks and the chalk dust has settled over the arena. A few hurt prides pick themselves up off the floor, and set about the painful task of finding out what went wrong and why they did not fare as well as they expected. This is not the aftermath of the winter Olympics, rather the results of the PISA study, the Programme for International Student Assessment. The largest world‐wide test of student performance ever conducted, it provides a much needed assessment of how well various countries educate their children. And PISA served up a can of worms to some diners who can afford to pay for duck a l'orange, while other less wealthy guests came away substantially more satisfied. Many of the fatter countries had quietly been intellectually malnourishing their most important resource: school children. Investment in basic requirements is important, but what PISA revealed is that money is certainly not everything in education. It is other important factors, notably student motivation, teacher training, the role of parents and a well‐established infrastructure, that have put countries such as Finland and (South) Korea at the top of the list. For other countries, many of whom spend more money per student, PISA has been a rude awakening to the urgent need for change. In Germany it has stirred an intense debate—aside from the mutual finger‐pointing that usually follows bad results—as to how to achieve a long overdue and radical overhaul of the country's education system. Barely a day passes without a press release concerning ‘reforms’, ‘improvements’ and ‘opportunities’ in education. > PISA served up a can of worms to some diners who can afford to pay for duck a l'orange To appreciate the significance of PISA, it pays to know how the study was …

School Accountability in California: An Early Evaluation

We assess the three main components of California’s recently adopted school accountability program. First, new content standards are highly specific and comprehensive. Second, the state has introduced a new norm-referenced statewide test, is phasing in criterion-referenced tests aligned with the content standards, and has introduced a high school exit exam which the graduation class of 2004 must pass. Third, California has implemented a complex series of rewards and punishments for school staff and students, including financial rewards to schools and teachers at schools that improve markedly, and scholarships to students who excel on the state test or Advanced Placement or equivalent tests. Notably, many of the financial incentives are aimed particularly at schools that initially rank poorly in student achievement. However, it is too soon to know how these incentives will affect both average student performance and inequality in student performance in California in the long run. We analyze recent trends in both the level and distribution of test scores and of school resources. We find that average student achievement in California has risen markedly over a three-year period. Schools that initially had the lowest test scores appear to have improved the most, although some of this could result from growing student and teacher familiarity with the state test. We find evidence that some of this improvement merely reflects volatility in test scores and “regression to the mean,” but alternative methods confirm that inequality in student achievement in California is falling. Trends in school resources are less reassuring. We find little evidence that the high school curriculum is being diluted by the new emphasis on preparing for tests. However, overall in California, teacher education, experience, and credentials have fallen over the three-year period since the accountability reforms began. More troubling, schools that originally scored in the bottom fifth in student achievement have experienced a far greater decline in teacher preparation than have schools originally in the top fifth of student achievement. We hypothesize that teachers’ concerns about the sanctions that await bottom-performing schools that fail to improve may have contributed to these adverse patterns in teacher mobility. Consequently, the state may have to redouble its efforts to improve teacher preparation and overall resources at schools with low achievement.