Disadvantaged Schools Research Articles

Roll Up Your Sleeves: Servant Leadership as a Paradigm for the Challenging South African School Context?

The South African educational system has challenges regarding learner outcomes of previously disadvantaged schools. New thinking is mandatory, and school leadership needs to play an significant role to improve the status quo. The servant leadership paradigm may be a substantial factor to counter the challenges. A quantitative approach measured the covariation between the servant leadership paradigm and its influence on the organizational climate of private schools to learn implementable lessons. The construct of servant leadership was explored via the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) of Van Dierendonck and Nuijten. According to Castro and Martins’s Climate Survey Questionnaire (CSQ), the organizational climate was analyzed. A total of 249 respondents, all permanently employed as educators from primary and secondary private schools, completed the survey questionnaires. It was found that private schools’ leadership exhibits the characteristics of the servant leadership practices of empowerment, stewardship, accountability, and humility. It was confirmed that private school leadership displays the organizational climate groupings of organizational image, teamwork, work environment, and leadership as priorities that increase constructive organizational climate in the school setting. Recommendation about the implication of these results to improve the disadvantaged school environment is discussed.

Teacher Efficacy in High Performing Teachers: Barriers and Enablers for New Graduates

Teachers with a high sense of self-efficacy are more resilient to difficulties, experience greater job satisfaction and have higher expectations of their students. This study investigated teacher self-efficacy in high performing teachers at two points in their development: 1) as preservice teachers, halfway through their undergraduate degree using the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) 2) as new graduates through a qualitative interview focused on efficacy. These 24 teachers participated in the National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools program (NETDS) at Deakin University during their BEd (Primary) degree. They demonstrated lower self-efficacy than their peers in Efficacy for Instructional Strategies (TSES). As graduates, however, they presented as confident teachers with high self-efficacy. It appears that their studies, their placements in low socioeconomic schools and as well mentored new graduate teachers, had helped make them into effective teachers who were ready for their new profession.

Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) Practices from the Perspective of Classroom Teachers Teaching in Disadvantaged Suburban Primary School

The current study aims to determine how emergency remote teaching (ERT) practices were conducted in a disadvantaged suburban public primary school during the COVID -19 pandemic. For this purpose, a disadvantaged suburban public primary school in the Marmara region, Turkey, was selected as a case and an instrumental case study design was chosen for the study. For data collection, in-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview form with 10 classroom teachers. In addition, natural observations were conducted by one of the researchers who is also a teacher in the same school. As a result of the thematic analysis, two main themes were identified: "disadvantage experienced by students" and "the consequences of disadvantage." The disadvantage experienced by the students has two different dimensions, social and economic. It was found that these disadvantages lead to different effects on students and teachers. The results of the study show that students face economic disadvantages in purchasing the imperative learning materials to participate in the online course. Parents do not prioritize these materials due to low awareness. Socio-economic disadvantages lead to a digital divide and inequality of opportunity in education.It is clear that school closures will create even greater challenges for disadvantaged students in the future.s. In terms of teachers, these disadvantageous situations cause instructional difficulties such as challenges in planning the teaching process, neglecting the program, effective assessment; and individual difficulties such as anxiety and sadness.

Co-design of a school-based physical activity intervention for adolescent females in a disadvantaged community: insights from the Girls Active Project (GAP)

BackgroundGlobally, adolescents’ physical activity (PA) participation rates are low, particularly among lower socioeconomic groups, with females consistently the least active. The aim of this study was to co-design, with adolescent females, a school-based PA intervention in a single-sex, females-only designated disadvantaged post-primary school in Ireland. This involved using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) and Public and Patient Involvement (PPI). This paper outlines the novel methodological approach taken.MethodsThe three stages 1) understand the behaviour, 2) identify intervention options, and 3) identify content and implementation options of the BCW guide is described. A student PPI Youth Advisory Group (YAG) (n = 8, aged 15–17) was established. Mixed-methods were used with students (n = 287, aged 12–18) and teachers (n = 7) to capture current self-reported PA levels and to identify factors influencing adolescent females’ PA behaviour in their school setting. The intervention options, content and implementation options were identified through discussion groups with the YAG. The Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist was used to specify details of the intervention.ResultsJust 1.4% of the students in this sample reported meeting the recommended PA guidelines. Students identified having more ‘time’ as the strongest predictor to becoming more active in school (Mean = 4.01, 95% CI 3.91 to 4.12). Social influences, environmental context and resources, behavioural regulation, beliefs about capabilities, goals, and reinforcement emerged from the qualitative data as factors influencing PA behaviour at school. The BCW co-design process resulted in the identification of seven intervention functions, four policy categories and 21 Behaviour Change Techniques. The Girls Active Project (GAP) intervention, a peer-led, after-school PA programme was proposed.ConclusionsThis paper describes how the BCW, a comprehensive, evidence-based, theory-driven framework was used in combination with PPI to co-design a school-based intervention aimed to increase adolescent females’ PA levels. This approach could be replicated in other settings to develop targeted behavioural interventions in populations with specific demographic characteristics.

Mentoring as a dose treatment: Frequency matters—Evidence from a French mentoring programme

AbstractWe evaluate how the impact of a mentoring programme in French disadvantaged high schools varies with the intensity of the programme. Given that, in general, the only significant effect was observed by full attendance to all meetings, we argue that the treatment dose matters. Thus, while the original evaluation programme was designed as a randomized experiment to balance control and treated individuals (those who were offered the mentoring scheme, with different degree of programme participation), we motivate the use of continuous and multi‐valued treatment effects models to estimate the dose response function. The programme shows that information about prospective labour market opportunities feeds back positively into academic performance. However, it has a negative effect on job self‐esteem, suggesting that acquiring information on job market prospects updates students' priors on their skills and possibilities and that the students might be updating rationally.

Racial Inequities in Birth Weight by Maternal Age Among College-Educated Mothers: The Role of Early Disadvantage

Non-Hispanic Black infants experience disproportionately high risks of low birth weight compared with non-Hispanic White infants, particularly among mothers with high educational attainment and greater socioeconomic advantage. This study investigates how maternal early-life disadvantage contributes to ongoing racial birth weight inequities among U.S. college‒educated mothers, specifically declining birth weights with age among non-Hispanic Black mothers. Study analyses used cohort data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Racial inequities in birth weight by maternal age and early-life disadvantage were assessed using completed reproductive histories among college-educated mothers at ages 33-44 years collected in 2016‒2018 and regression-based marginal standardization techniques. Early-life disadvantage was measured using a study-based composite measure of early-life concentrated poverty and social disadvantage in homes, neighborhoods, and schools, collected in previous waves. Primary analyses were completed in 2020‒2021. Among non-Hispanic Black mothers who experienced high early-life disadvantage, a 1-year increase in maternal age at delivery was associated with lower birth weight by 26.07 g (95% CI= -48.74, -3.40). Similar declines were not found among non-Hispanic Black mothers with low early-life disadvantage. Non-Hispanic White mothers experienced increased birth weight with maternal age, 6.85 g (95% CI= -1.12, 14.82) per year, which did not significantly vary by early-life disadvantage. Early-life disadvantage modifies whether and how college-educated mothers experience birth weight decline with older age. The effects of early-life contexts and embedded racial inequities on maternal health inequities and differential weathering warrant further public health attention.

Can Financial Incentives Help Disadvantaged Schools to Attract and Retain High‐Performing Teachers? Evidence from Chile

AbstractExtensive sorting of high‐performing teachers into the most advantaged schools contributes to the wide socioeconomic achievement gaps in many countries. The Chilean Pedagogical Excellence Assignment (AEP) pays bonuses to high‐performing teachers that are larger if they work at a disadvantaged school. Using a sharp regression discontinuity based on the program's eligibility rules, we estimate how the award affects where high‐performing teachers choose to work. The bonus, equivalent to 16 percent of an average annual salary, increased retention of high‐performing teachers in disadvantaged schools by 17 to 21 percentage points. In contrast, those teachers in more advantaged schools seem to use the award as a quality signal to stay or move to relatively high‐achieving schools. While the program accomplished its goal of retaining high‐performing teachers already working at disadvantaged schools, it did not achieve the objective of attracting better teachers from more advantaged schools.

Teacher Educators in K-12 Classrooms: How to Nurture Professional Development and Research

Four mathematics teacher educators taught 5th grade mathematics for one year at a disadvantaged public school in a metropolitan city in Turkey. Teacher educators (TE) met every week for 10 months where they discussed what to teach, how to teach and reflected on implementation of their shared planning (Regular Meetings). In some meetings, there was a special focus on teaching and learning of fractions (Fraction Research Meetings). Videotapes of the first six Regular Meetings and six of the Fraction Research Meetings were analyzed. The focus of qualitative analyses was on how the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) was constructed during meetings. References evidencing TEs’ knowledge of students, instructional strategies and assessment were revealed more frequently during the Fraction Research Meetings compared to the Regular Meetings. Findings showed that TEs were more focused on what questions to ask in the classroom and shared their experiences about students’ mathematical thinking more frequently. Framing planning and reflection discussions with a focus on conducting research was a productive way of nurturing professional development for TEs.

Neighborhoods, Schools, and Adolescent Violence: Ecological Relative Deprivation, Disadvantage Saturation, or Cumulative Disadvantage?

Neighborhood and school socioeconomic "disadvantage" are consequential for youth violence perpetration. This study considers alternative ecological cumulative disadvantage, disadvantage saturation, and relative deprivation hypotheses regarding how the association between neighborhood disadvantage and violence varies by levels of socioeconomic disadvantage in schools. These hypotheses are tested with data from Wave I of Add Health (n = 15,581; 51% Female; Age mean = 15.67, SD = 1.74). Cross-classified multilevel Rasch models are used to estimate the interaction between neighborhood and school disadvantage in predicting adolescent violence. Consistent with the ecological relative deprivation hypothesis, results indicate that the association between neighborhood disadvantage and violence is most pronounced among youth attending low-disadvantage schools. Further, youth exposed to high-disadvantage neighborhoods and low-disadvantage schools tend to be at the greatest risk of perpetrating violence. These patterns are evident among both males and females, and particularly among older youth and those from low-parent education families. This study motivates future investigations considering how adolescents' experiences beyond the neighborhood shape how they engage with and experience the effects of their neighborhoods.

What and How to Study in Graduate School

Obtaining a degree is not the sole purpose of graduate school. Through the research for your thesis, you will learn scientific approaches, including how to formulate a research question, perform information analysis, study planning and execution, discussion, and publication. This knowledge, together with communication skills and the network constructed in graduate school, will enrich your future career. The activities in graduate school also include cutting-egde education on topics outside your expertise, collaboration with other researchers, international collaboration, and industry-academia collaboration, among others. As for your research topic in graduate school, your motivation for study is very important; moreover, it is also important to discuss research resources, including funding, facilities, materials, data, supporting staff, and collaborators, with your mentors. However, being a student after several years of clinical training has certain disadvantages, such as an unstable social status. Considering the diverse career paths of neurologists, the advantages and disadvantages of graduate school should be thoroughly considered when deciding to enter.

An investigation of curriculum adaptation efforts of teachers working in disadvantaged secondary schools

An investigation of curriculum adaptation efforts of teachers working in disadvantaged secondary schools

Local Implementation of State-Level Discipline Policy: Administrator Perspectives and Contextual Factors Associated With Compliance

Many states and school districts are implementing reforms to reduce reliance on exclusionary discipline such as out-of-school suspension and expulsion. This article uses survey and administrative data to study the implementation of a state-level policy limiting elementary school out-of-school suspension and expulsions. While the results are limited in sample size and generalizability, we find that survey respondents from relatively disadvantaged schools reported greater difficulties and challenges with implementation and tended to comply at lower rates. Policy makers seeking more equitable implementation of these types of reforms should work with schools to better understand and attend to local preferences, buy-in, and capacity for implementation.

Effect of school feeding program on the anthropometric and haemoglobin status of school children in Sidama region, Southern Ethiopia: a prospective study.

Ethiopia recently scaled up the implementation of a school feeding program (SFP) as a targeted intervention for protecting disadvantaged school children from hunger and food insecurity. However, the contribution of the program to advancing the nutritional status of children has not been adequately explored. We assessed the effect of SFP on the anthropometric and haemoglobin status of school children in Sidama Region, Southern Ethiopia. Our prospective cohort study compared the height-for-age z-score (HAZ), BMI-for-age z-score (BAZ) and haemoglobin concentration of SFP beneficiary (n 240) and non-beneficiary (n 240) children, 10-14 years of age. The children were recruited from 8 SFP implementing and 8 control schools using a multistage sampling procedure and were followed for an academic year. The SFP intervention and control schools were matched one-to-one based on agro ecological features and geographical proximity. Exposure, outcome and pertinent extraneous variables were collected through baseline and end-line surveys. Multilevel difference-in-differences (DID) analysis was used to measure the net effect on the outcomes of interest. In the multivariable DID model adjusted for potential confounders including maternal and paternal literacy, household monthly income, wealth index and household food insecurity, the SFP did not show significant effects on the haemoglobin concentration (β = 0⋅251, 95 % confidence interval (CI): -0⋅238, 0⋅739), BAZ (β = 0⋅121, 95 % CI: -0⋅163, 0⋅405) and HAZ (β = -0⋅291, 95 % CI: -0⋅640, 0⋅588) of children.

Teaching Chinese with Chinese characteristics: ‘difficult’ knowledge, discomforting pedagogies and student engagement

ABSTRACT The teaching and learning of Chinese remains a fragile undertaking across all stages of Australian schooling. This paper reports on a practitioner inquiry into pedagogic practices and student engagement with disadvantaged primary school students in a Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) classroom in Sydney, Australia. Drawing upon studies of affect as well as the Fair Go Project’s theoretical framework concerning student engagement, the research explores how ‘difficult’ Chinese knowledge and pedagogies of discomfort disrupt social norms and practices. The engagement of students is conceptualised as an interplay of highly affective, highly cognitive and highly operative learning experiences. In this paper, we argue that ‘discomforting’ emotions evoked by curricular and pedagogic approaches can influence significant change and foster curiosity for CFL education. The paper concludes with a consideration of pedagogic implications for foreign language education and possibilities for future research.

HMông Students’ Sources of Funds of Knowledge: A Case Study of Kinh Primary School Teachers’ Practices

Teachers working with ethnic minority students who have different language and cultural background from their own may have little knowledge of their students in out-of-school context. This lack of students’ knowledge and resources outside of the school may lead to deficit thinking regarding this non-dominated group as intellectually and academically deficient. Underachievement and low study engagement by HMông ethnic minority students in disadvantaged primary schools in Vietnam evidence a need for more effective teaching practices to support these minority students’ learning and reduce inequality within their educational environment. The funds of knowledge (FoK) approach attempts to overcome teachers’ perceptions of ethnic minority students and their knowledge through learning about these students’ FoK and incorporating these insights into the teaching practices. The purpose of this study is to explore how Kinh teachers identify HMông students’ sources of FoK in order to support their teaching/learning practices. This research employs qualitative educational research method together with case study method to examine the way Kinh primary teachers identify HMông students’ sources of FoK. The findings indicate that Kinh primary teachers identified HMông students’ different sources of FoK that the teachers could beneficially be drawing on to empowering HMông children’ participation, achievement and Kinh teachers’ teaching practices.

Customized moodle-based learning management system for socially disadvantaged schools

This study aims to develop Moodle-based LMS with customized learning content and modified user interface to facilitate pedagogical processes during covid-19 pandemic and investigate how teachers of socially disadvantaged schools perceived usability and technology acceptance. Co-design process was conducted with two activities: 1) need assessment phase using an online survey and interview session with the teachers and 2) the development phase of the LMS. The system was evaluated by 30 teachers from socially disadvantaged schools for relevance to their distance learning activities. We employed computer software usability questionnaire (CSUQ) to measure perceived usability and the technology acceptance model (TAM) with insertion of 3 original variables (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and intention to use) and 5 external variables (i.e., attitude toward the system, perceived interaction, self-efficacy, user interface design, and course design). The average CSUQ rating exceeded 5.0 of 7 point-scale, indicated that teachers agreed that the information quality, interaction quality, and user interface quality were clear and easy to understand. TAM results concluded that the LMS design was judged to be usable, interactive, and well-developed. Teachers reported an effective user interface that allows effective teaching operations and lead to the system adoption in immediate time.

Gamification of Computer Programming Tasks to Promote the Growth Mind-Set in a Disadvantaged School

This paper describes a growth mind-set intervention with Junior Cycle Coding students in a disadvantaged school in Ireland. This intervention builds on the work of O’Rourke et al. (2016) and applies findings to a computer programming setting where gamification is used to incentivise growth mind-set behaviour in students learning to code. Data revealed a large drop in the perseverance of effort with the control group while learning computer programming. Significantly, the intervention shielded the focus group from experiencing the same drop while learning to code. This research found an increase in the growth mind-set behaviour as the intervention progressed. Additionally, the study revealed that some game elements were effective at incentivising growth mind-set behaviour like perseverance, while others were less successful. These findings are important for educators to consider when they find their Coding students showing a helpless response to challenge as this research sets out a clear path to successfully incentivise persistence and changing strategy in the face of challenge.

Alignment of school discipline with positive behavioural interventions and supports: The case of one disadvantaged urban South African Primary School

Background: Positive behavioural interventions and supports (PBIS) is a framework that aligns with the South African Department of Education’s Alternatives to Corporal Punishment.Aim: The aim of this study is to provide a snapshot of the extent to which policies and practices in a disadvantaged South African primary school align with PBIS.Setting: The study was conducted at a South African primary school with grades kindergarten to Grade 7 in an urban disadvantaged community.Methods: Twenty-eight teachers, administrators and non-educational school staff completed a survey that addressed: (1) common behaviour problems; (2) the extent to which the school implements five core features of PBIS and (3) the existence of a crisis prevention and intervention plan.Results: In this disadvantaged school, there is little evidence that (1) a cohesive, evidence-based schoolwide behaviour plan exists that includes multi-tiered systems of support; (2) staff have the expertise to implement a positive and proactive behaviour plan or are provided adequate professional development; (3) staff follow the plan and are held accountable for following it and (4) a representative leadership team provides oversight and direction regarding the plan by using learner behaviour data.Conclusion: The results indicate that there is a lack of multi-tiered systems of behavioural support and a continued reliance on reactive and punitive approaches to learner behaviour. Moreover, staff do not adhere to the schoolwide behaviour plan, are not held accountable for doing so, and need training in key areas of behaviour management.

Common Assessment in Multi-Deprived Schools: The Case of Flood-Prone Schools in Western Kenya

The paper draws from a larger doctoral study, conducted between 2013 and 2016 in five flood-prone schools in western Kenya. The mixed methods research investigated: a) how these schools promote epistemological access (EA) and, b) the challenges they encounter towards a socially-just educational experience and comparable learning outcomes to learners. Findings suggested the importance of developing capabilities in a socially-just environment towards achieving (equitable) epistemological access (E)EA) in deprived school environments. There is no question that EA is about schools ensuring the development of capabilities among all learners. To that end, this paper explores the impact of assessment and learner outcomes as determining proxies to epistemological access (EA) and educational progression. It provides an understanding of how EA is measured and how we gauge the extent of learning in disadvantaged schools. In so doing, the paper seeks to provide a clearer conceptual understanding of how modes of assessment and learner outcomes influence (equitable) epistemological access and the educational progression of learners in different learning contexts. It also suggests a model which may be useful for developing policy around curriculum evaluation in multi-deprived settings. This consideration would contribute to the broad concern of social justice in education across all levels in education.

Developing School Leaders: Findings From a Randomized Control Trial Study of the Executive Development Program and Paired Coaching

Principals are the second-largest school-based contributor to K–12 students’ academic progress. However, there is little research evaluating whether efforts to develop principals’ skills improve school effectiveness. We conducted randomized controlled trial studies of the impacts of a professional development program called the Executive Development Program (EDP) and of the incremental effects of coaching to help principals implement the EDP curriculum. We find that the EDP alone influenced principals’ practices, but not student achievement, within 3 years. Coaching had a small positive effect on students’ English Language Arts achievement, but no effect on math achievement or on principals’ practices. Coaching had the largest effects in disadvantaged schools. We hypothesize that coaching enhanced the quality of implementation of recommended practices.