Gap In Educational Attainment Research Articles

Walking on eggshells: elementary school teacher alienation in parent-teacher relationships in China

ABSTRACT Conflicts in the parent-teacher relationships have become conspicuous and inevitable, deteriorating the supposedly mutually beneficial relationship. To understand teachers’ negative experiences in such relationships and underlying reasons, this study, based on alienation theory and its latter extensions, collected and analysed eight teachers’ in-depth interviews and 47 pieces of school-life observation records in a Chinese elementary school. The findings revealed that although elementary school teachers adopted different strategies to handle parent-teacher relationships, each experienced at least one dimension of alienation (powerlessness, meaninglessness, isolation, or self-estrangement). Especially, they felt “double powerlessness”: loss of control in relationships with both the school and parents. To be specific, the major sources of double powerlessness are the big gaps in educational attainment, wealth, and social connections between teachers and parents. However, teachers can still be partially empowered by their identity, colleagues, and even educational bureaucracy to resist alienation.

Beyond Teachers: Estimating Individual School Counselors’ Effects on Educational Attainment

Counselors are a common school resource for students navigating complicated and consequential education choices. I estimate counselors’ causal effects using quasi-random assignment policies in Massachusetts. Counselors vary substantially in their effectiveness at increasing high school graduation and college attendance, selectivity, and persistence. Counselor effects on educational attainment are similar in magnitude to teacher effects, but they flow through improved information and assistance more than cognitive or noncognitive skill development. Counselor effectiveness is most important for low-income and low-achieving students, so improving access to effective counseling may be a promising way to increase educational attainment and close socioeconomic gaps in education. (JEL H75, I21, I24, I28)

Impact of Cultural Norms and Social Expectations for Shaping Gender Disparities in Educational Attainment in Pakistan

This quantitative study explores the complex phenomenon between societal expectations and cultural norms for shaping gender discrimination and further investigates the factors that affect gender differences in educational attainment in Pakistan. There are still large gender differences in the educational environment in Pakistan, and these issues have been raised with time. The goal of this research is to present a thorough investigation of the underlying causes of these differences, with an emphasis on the influence of societal standards and cultural expectations. This study is based on a quantitative approach with pertinent primary data gathering through surveys. Data on attitudes, beliefs, and practices about gender and education have been collected through a survey of a representative sample of Pakistani families and educational institutions. In addition to this quantitative data for collecting the gender gaps, qualitative interviews with important stakeholders were also conducted. This research tries to discover significant drivers of gender gaps in educational attainment by examining the links between variables such as parental expectations, cultural attitudes regarding gender roles, access to resources, and educational results. The results of the study anticipated and concluded that social norms and cultural standards affect Pakistani students' decisions and performance in school. Additionally, the study recommended insightful information to educational institutions and policymakers for the purpose of creating focused interventions that will address these discrepancies and solve the gender equality issues in education.

Examining the Black Gender Gap in Educational Attainment: The Role of Exclusionary School Discipline & Criminal Justice Contact

Abstract Black men and women have different levels of average educational attainment, yet few studies have focused on explaining how and why these patterns develop. One explanation may be inequality in experiences with institutional punishment through exclusionary school discipline and criminal justice exposure. Drawing on intersectional frameworks and theories of social control, I examine the long-term association between punishment and the Black gender gap using data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort (NLSY-C). Decomposition analyses reveal that about one third of the gender gap can be explained by gender differences in experiences with institutional punishments, net of differences in observed behaviors. These measures are predictive at key educational transition points, including finishing high school and earning a 4-year college degree. Though Black boys and girls have similar family backgrounds and grow up in similar neighborhoods, results suggest that Black girls have a persistent advantage in educational attainment due in part to their lower levels of exposure to exclusionary school discipline and the criminal justice system. In addition, I find that gender differences in early achievement, early externalizing behavioral problems, school experiences, and substance use in adolescence and early adulthood are associated with gender differences in educational attainment. Taken together, these results illustrate the importance of punishment disparities in understanding disparate educational outcomes over the life course of Black men and women.

Exploring the Transformative Potential of Technology in Overcoming Educational Disparities

The function of technology in fostering fair access to high-quality education and closing educational gaps. The main objective is to give a thorough overview of the role that educational technology plays in establishing inclusive and productive learning settings, as well as the difficulties it faces. The essay is broken up into a number of sections that explore various facets of technology integration in education. The relevance of technology as a driver for fair educational possibilities is emphasized in the first section, which explores the idea of bridging educational differences. It emphasizes the necessity of using technology-driven solutions to address inequalities in access, resources, and learning outcomes. The sections that follow examine various facets of technology integration. Personalized learning, connecting students from around the world via virtual platforms, overcoming resource limitations, equipping instructors with technology, gauging the success of technological interventions, and exploring future views in educational technology are some of these themes. Using pertinent research, examples, and case studies, each part offers a thorough treatment of the subject. The paper addresses how technology-enabled individualized learning techniques can meet a range of learning demands and improve educational experiences for all students. It also emphasizes how virtual learning environments could link students from all around the world, promoting collaboration and intercultural understanding. The report also looks at how technology may assist digital assessment and feedback, improve access to educational resources, and offer cost-effective ways to address resource limitations. It also looks at how technology integration strengthens teachers' pedagogies, supports professional growth, and streamlines administrative work. The article also underlines how crucial it is to evaluate how technology might be used to bridge gaps in educational attainment. The discussion centers on issues including accessibility, equity, bridging the achievement gap, teacher professional development, and long-term sustainability as it addresses the evaluation of technology interventions using quantitative and qualitative assessment approaches. The article examines promising developments in educational technology, such as gamification, data analytics, social and emotional learning, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, mobile learning, and block chain technology. It talks about how they could influence how education develops in the future, create inclusive classrooms, and get kids ready for success in the digital era. Overall, this essay offers a thorough examination of how technology might help close gaps in educational attainment. It draws attention to the transformative impact of technology in fostering fair access, improving learning opportunities, and empowering students and educators. Policymakers, educators, and stakeholders can cooperate to create an educational environment that is more inclusive and fair by utilizing the opportunities provided by technology.

Birth order, socioeconomic background and educational attainment

ABSTRACT This paper examines the effect of birth order on educational attainment in the United States and the underlying mechanism producing these effects. Using a family fixed effects model, we find negative birth order effects on educational outcomes. However, this effect varies depending on the household's income, being the strongest for households with the highest income and diminishing as households' income decreases. In addition, we show that the timing of income across childhood is important for completed education, as the largest gap in educational attainment between siblings emerges between those who were born and spent their early childhood in wealthier households.

Longitudinal educational attainment among children with isolated oral cleft: a cohort study

Objectives(1) To explore differences in educational attainment between children born with isolated clefts and the general population at ages 5, 7 and 11 years; (2) to describe longitudinal changes in...

Gender gap reduction and the one health benefits

Several factors including gender, age groups, cultures and social conditions may affect significantly the risk of diseases and their clinical evolution. Unfortunately, little research has been carried out on these aspects and, consequently few guidelines or interventions have been implemented. In particular, gender is considered a main determinant of inequalities in living conditions, access to health services and, thus, in health protection.Focusing on the gender gap, we propose an ecological approach to find relationships between quantitative indicators of the gender gap dimension, the environmental performance index and the life expectancy at birth as summary of human health index in 155 countries. We speculated on the consequences of wider gender gaps to the population and environmental health. We further explore these relationships considering gender gap and environmental aspect subindexes, to identify determinants that should be addressed to maximize the One Health effect. We found that the gender gap in educational attainment followed by the political empowerment were strongly correlated with life expectancy, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality.Addressing gender issues, particularly the education attainment and political empowerment, can provide positive impact beyond the social dimension and the population health, and gender should be component of the One Health approach. We recommend gender targeted interventions that integrate these aspects into One Health national policies.

Employers and the gender wage gap

In most developed countries, women have closed the gap in educational attainment and labor market experience, yet gender wage gaps persist. This has led to an increased focus on the role of employers and employment practices. In particular, research has focused on the types of workplace where men and women work, their promotion prospects and the extent to which they are rewarded differently for similar work. Understanding the relative importance of these features, and the mechanisms that generate them, is necessary to design effective policy responses.

Gender Gap in Mobile-Banking Use in Rural Northern Bangladesh

Mobile banking (M-bank), a newly introduced technology, can improve women’s access to financial services. This study empirically estimates the effect of a husband’s and wife’s socioeconomic characteristics, relative differences in age and education, and household characteristics on M-bank use in northern Bangladesh, exploring the presence and possible effect of the gender gap between husband and wife. A couple’s relative differences in age or education can function as a proxy to capture the wife’s M-bank use, thereby, her financial responsibilities in the household. The empirical evidence is based on a two-equation probit estimation that predicts the possible determinants of M-bank use by husbands and wives. M-bank use of husbands and wives differed remarkably, with wife to husband ratio of 4:15. Households were categorized into three subgroups: wife user, husband user, and nonuser. Results show that a husband’s level of education, having his own business, and having a migrant family member within the household have a statistically significant positive effect on the likelihood of him using M-bank. On the other hand, a wife with an education level higher than that of her husband’s has a significant positive effect on the likelihood of her using M-bank. A substantial gender gap in M-bank use, favoring husbands, was observed in most couples where the husband has more schooling than the wife and vice versa. The impact of M-bank use must be critically studied, focusing on the couple’s relative status due to the gender gap in educational attainment and positive relative characteristics of couples in patriarchal, Islamic, rural settings in Bangladesh.

Income-Based Gaps in College-Going Activities: High School Classes of 1992 and 2004

There has been widespread concern about widening disparities in parental investments that may be associated with widening gaps in educational attainment. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study examines parents’ investments and engagement in the college-going process for two cohorts of high school students, focusing on adolescents from low- and high-income families. Between the high school classes of 1992 and 2004, income gaps widened in financial preparation for postsecondary education expenses and student college-admissions test-preparation. In contrast, the income gap in parents-child conversations about the college-going process narrowed, due to a larger increase among low-income parents. I examined potential explanations for growing gaps and found evidence supporting both rising income inequality and changing associations between income and college-going activities. Implications for educational attainment gaps are discussed.

Breaks in the chain: using theories of social practice to interrogate professionals’ experiences of administering Pupil Premium Plus to support looked after children

ABSTRACT In England, Pupil Premium Plus is additional funding to help address the educational attainment gap experienced by looked after children. This paper explores the experiences of virtual school heads and designated teachers (n = 140) as they access Pupil Premium Plus-related information, guidance and training to support their practice; navigate the complexities of the Personal Education Plan (PEP) process; and measure the impact of Pupil Premium Plus-funded interventions. We explain professionals’ experiences using insights from social practice theories, and argue that the process of supporting the educational outcomes of looked after children via Pupil Premium Plus is made up of context- and audience-dependent ‘social practices’. When the social practices are aligned, virtual school heads and designated teachers may be effectively able to support looked after children, whereas barriers may emerge when social practices become disjointed. We conclude this paper by arguing that for Pupil Premium Plus to support educational outcomes of looked after children effectively, professionals need to reflect on their own cultures and practices.

Contextual Origins of Black-White Educational Disparities in the 21st Century: Evaluating Long-Term Disadvantage Across Three Domains

AbstractHow much do black-white educational disparities reflect differences in family, school, and neighborhood contexts? We use 16 years of statewide student administrative data from Michigan to update this classic sociological question with attention to observed racial differences in the duration of exposure to contextual disadvantage. We show that a longitudinal measure of family economic disadvantage explains significantly more of the black-white gap in test scores, high school completion, and college entry than a cross-sectional measure commonly used in education research. Racial differences in school context—much more than differences in neighborhood context—explain a large portion of remaining black-white educational disparities. Controlling for black-white differences in exposure to disadvantage across all three contexts reduces 8th and 11th grade test score gaps by over 60% and completely reverses educational attainment gaps, revealing a black net advantage. Our results demonstrate the need to incorporate longitudinal measures in educational administrative data and suggest that schools play a substantial role, after family disadvantage, in the persistence of racial educational inequality. More broadly, our study amplifies the argument that undoing systemic racism will require a confrontation with the deep contextual roots of black-white inequality in the 21st century.

Physicians, prescribe education to address population health equity

Structural barriers embedded within American society contribute to health inequities and social determinants of health (SDOH) in ways that systematically influence one’s ability to succeed and to maintain a healthy overall quality of life in the United States. This article leverages educational attainment as an upstream SDOH factor that can be used to address downstream implications of population health equity. As providers learn to prescribe more innovative treatments that directly influence SDOH, an exploration is made to develop an intervention that integrates education, public health, and medicine as systems in a coordinated process to increase educational attainment for vulnerable populations.This article develops and analyzes the use of health equity management (HEM) model as a conceptual framework to identify precursors for educational attainment and provide an equitable solution for mending the educational attainment gap. It provides theoretical framing, conceptualizes stakeholder engagement, and creates a conceptual framework for identifying and addressing population health issues with education prescriptions.Operationalizing an educational prescription intervention will utilize provider-based screening methods to decrease the gaps in educational attainment by fostering partnerships between education, public health, and medicine. HEM identifies ideal partnership relationships to increase educational attainment and address long-standing quality of life issues, with a primary focus on coordinated activities among systems.Incorporating provider expertise into upstream educational decision-making legitimizes educational attainment as a critical component of population health equity. For many Americans, this is a necessary call to action to demand real structural change to ensure prosperity for all. An educational prescription intervention is a step towards increasing population health equity.

ADHD misdiagnosis: Causes and mitigators.

ADHD diagnoses increase discontinuously by a child's school starting age, with young-for-grade students having much higher ADHD diagnostic rates. Whether these higher rates reflect over-diagnosis or under-diagnosis remains unknown. To decompose this diagnostic discrepancy, we exploit differences in parent and teacher pre-diagnostic assessments within a regression discontinuity strategy based on school starting age. We show that being young-for-grade or male generates over-assessment of symptoms specifically from teacher assessment. However, under-assessments of the oldest students in a grade, especially the oldest females, account for a large part of the observed school starting age assessment gap. We argue that this difference by sex and higher school starting age effects in lower-income schools may exacerbate known gaps in educational attainment by gender and socioeconomic status. Importantly, we fail to find evidence that teachers who receive special education training make such errors.

Why is the educational attainment of people with schizophrenia lagging so far behind?

It is well known that education is important. It underpins the social mobility of individuals, increases the range of contributions that people can make to their communities and economies, and is a driving force in increasing national productivity and income levels. National datasets consistently show a link between higher levels of education and lower levels of unemployment and higher income. 1 US Bureau of Labor StatisticsEducation pays. https://www.bls.gov/emp/chart-unemployment-earnings-education.htmDate: 2021 Date accessed: April 30, 2022 Google Scholar While this is well known in the general population, it has also been known for a long time that educational attainment is important to people living with mental illness. 2 Iyer SN Mangala R Anitha J Thara R Malla AK An examination of patient-identified goals for treatment in a first-episode programme in Chennai, India. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2011; 5: 360-365 Crossref PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar In addition, education is recognised in a number of international treaties and covenants as a fundamental human right. 3 United Nations General AssemblyInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. United Nations, New York1966https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rightsDate accessed: April 30, 2022 Google Scholar , 4 United Nations General AssemblyConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations, New York2006https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilitiesDate accessed: April 30, 2022 Google Scholar Article 13 of the International Convention on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights and Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disability speak respectively to the general right to access to education and the specific right of people with disabilities, which includes people with mental illness, to access education. Representative surveys of people living with schizophrenia consistently show that this right is not realised for them. 5 Waghorn G Saha S Harvey C et al. ‘Earning and learning’ in those with psychotic disorders: the second Australian national survey of psychosis. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2012; 46: 774-785 Crossref PubMed Scopus (87) Google Scholar The enduring gap in educational attainment in schizophrenia according to the past 50 years of published research: a systematic review and meta-analysisPatients with schizophrenia have faced persistent inequality in educational attainment in the last century, despite advances in psychosocial and pharmacological treatment. Reducing this gap should become a priority to improve their functional outcomes. Full-Text PDF

The enduring gap in educational attainment in schizophrenia according to the past 50 years of published research: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Educational attainment is associated with wellbeing and health, but patients with schizophrenia achieve lower levels of education than people without. Several effective interventions can ameliorate this situation. However, the magnitude of the education gap in schizophrenia and its change over time are unclear. We aimed to reconstruct the trajectories of educational attainment in patients with schizophrenia and, if reported, their healthy comparator controls. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis including all studies reporting on patients with schizophrenia (of mean age ≥18 years) and describing the number of years of education of the participants, with or without healthy controls. There were no other design constraints on studies. We excluded studies that included only patients with other schizophrenia spectrum disorders and studies that did not specify the number of years of education of the participants. 22 reviewers participated in retrieving data from a search in PubMed and PsycINFO (Jan 1, 1970, to Nov 24, 2020). We estimated the birth date of participants from their mean age and publication date, and meta-analysed these data using random-effects models, focusing on educational attainment, the education gap, and changes over time. The primary outcome was years of education. The protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020220546). From 32 593 initial references, we included 3321 studies reporting on 318 632 patients alongside 138 675 healthy controls (170 941 women and 275 821 men from studies describing sex or gender; data on ethnicity were not collected). Patients' educational attainment increased over time, mirroring that of controls. However, patients with schizophrenia in high-income countries had 19 months less education than controls (-1·59 years, 95% CI -1·66 to -1·53; p<0·0001), which is equivalent to a Cohen's d of -0·56 (95% CI -0·58 to -0·54) and implies an odds ratio of 2·58 for not completing 12 years of education (ie, not completing secondary education) for patients compared with controls. This gap remained stable throughout the decades; the rate of change in number of total years of education in time was not significant (annual change: 0·0047 years, 95% CI -0·0005 to 0·0099; p=0·078). For patients in low-income and middle-income countries, the education gap was significantly smaller than in high-income countries (smaller by 0·72 years, 0·85 to 0·59; p<0·0001), yet there was evidence that this gap was widening over the years, approaching that of high-income countries (annual change: -0·024 years, -0·037 to -0·011; p=0·0002). Patients with schizophrenia have faced persistent inequality in educational attainment in the last century, despite advances in psychosocial and pharmacological treatment. Reducing this gap should become a priority to improve their functional outcomes. Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo (CYTED) to the Latin American Network for the Study of Early Psychosis (ANDES).

A Theory-Led Evaluation of a Scalable Intervention to Promote Evidence-Based, Research-Informed Practice in Schools to Address Attainment Gaps

Evidence-based practice is a salient solution that has been presented to address the persistent educational attainment gap linked to economic disadvantage. However, most schools do not engage with research, and we know little about facilitating school-led research use at scale. Linking different approaches to studying educational effectiveness, equity and change, and drawing on cultural-historical activity theory, this study develops intermediate theory about the mechanisms influencing institutions’ success in using research. In the context of the Opportunity Area Programme, supporting place-based interventions in the UK’s most socio-economically disadvantaged regions, we conducted a theory-led evaluation of the Evidence-Based Practice Fund (EBPF), aimed at supporting school-led research engagement to improve learning outcomes. We analysed the documentation of 83 EBPF projects, 8 focus groups, and a school survey. We demonstrate that enabling schools to address locally identified needs motivates research engagement but formulating these as stimulus for change requires scaffolding. Schools were keen but needed re-translation to use research to address those challenges. Low-key school-to-school support was found adequate. Leadership support and collaboration were significant but require relational expertise and professional learning to be effective. This study demonstrates that the use of research by schools at scale is possible and can transform a school’s agency in developing their own practice to improve equity.

Educational attainment, use of numeracy at work, and gender wage gaps: Evidence from 12 middle-income countries

Prior research on educational, numeracy, and wage gaps tends to focus on highincome, countries. However, achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development, goals for education and gender equality requires focusing on middle-income countries., In this study, we examine gender gaps in educational attainment, use of numeracy skill, in the workplace, and wage inequality in 12 middle-income countries. By analyzing, data from the World Bank’s Skills Toward Employment and Productivity (STEP) study, we find that educational attainment explains differences in numeracy skill use, as well, as independently influences the gender wage gap. Our analyses also indicate that in, four countries examined in this study, a one-unit increase in women’s engagement with, numeracy tasks is positively correlated with a 5% increase in women’s wage. In, addition, this study suggests that unlike in the OECD, in these middle-income countries, investigated, the roots of gender wage gaps lie in forces even before women entering, the labor market. In the context of Sustainable Development Goals, this paper provides, new evidence about the importance of improving gender equality in education and, skills across middle-income countries to fulfill SDGs 4 and 5.

Returns to education in China: Evidence from the great higher education expansion

China experienced a near 5-fold increase in annual Higher Education (HE) enrolment in the decade starting in 1999. Using the China Household Finance Survey, we show that the Great HE Expansion has exacerbated a large pre-existing urban-rural gap in educational attainment underpinned by the hukou (household registration) system. We instrument the years of schooling with the interaction between urban hukou status during childhood and the timing of the expansion – in essence a difference-in-differences estimator using rural students to control for common time trends. We find that the Great HE raised earnings by 17% for men and 12% for women respectively, allowing for county fixed-effects. These Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) estimates, which are robust to additional controls for hukou status at birth fully interacted with birth hukou province, can be interpreted as the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) of education on earnings for urban students who enrolled in HE only because of the Great HE Expansion. For the selected subsample of respondents with parental education information, we find that the 2SLS returns for students from more disadvantaged backgrounds are at least as high as their more advantaged counterparts, for both genders.