High-poverty Schools Research Articles

Examining the Effects of a Professional Development Initiative on English Learning and Economically Disadvantaged Adolescents’ Scores on a High-Stakes Science Test

ABSTRACT:This study addressed the pressing need to help adolescent English learning and economically disadvantaged student populations succeed in science and close achievement gaps. It reports the results of a two-year professional development initiative implemented at a high-poverty suburban high school in South Texas. We examined how the combination of purposeful planning, innovative academic vocabulary instruction, Saturday school, structured tutoring, and a timely focused review impacted the science achievement of EL and economically disadvantaged high-school students, at-risk of academic failure, on a high-stakes state exam. Difference-in-proportions tests were used to determine if students at the Intervention Campus showed positive achievement gains on a high-stakes state test. Then we analyzed data between schools by comparing high-stakes exam passing rates between the Intervention Campus and a Comparison Campus. This study found statistically significant results which suggest that the initiative was beneficial to the students within the Intervention Campus and showed promising effects when compared against a matched Comparison Campus.

The Australian national exceptional teaching for disadvantaged schools programme: a reflection on its first 8 years

ABSTRACTThis paper describes the aims, origins and principles of the Australian National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools programme and reflects on findings from its first eight years. As a well-established, mainstream university-based initial teacher-education programme designed to prepare social justice teachers for low socio-economic or high-poverty schools, NETDS has had significant impact on recruiting and retaining high-performing teachers in the schools that need them most. In this paper we discuss how it works, but also outline some of the complexities that arose in trying to design a teacher-education programme with equity at the centre and some of the changes we made along the way.

Building Capacity for Continuous Improvement of Math and Science Education in Rural Schools

Schools in 47 high-poverty school districts located mostly along the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia may have a head start on new requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, thanks to a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Begun in April 2000, the five-year Coastal Rural Systemic Initiative (CRSI) is striving to stimulate sustainable systemic improvements in science and mathematics education in school districts with a long history of low student expectations, persistent poverty, low teacher pay, and high administrator turnover. The CRSI capacity-building model is designed to address issues in rural school districts that traditionally limit the capacity for creating sustainable improvements in math and science programs. A critical action step is that each school district must sign a cooperative agreement to establish Continuous Improvement Teams (CITs) at the district and school levels. These CITs represent a fundamental system capacity-building change in how decisions are made at the school and district levels—a change that is also fundamental to creating lasting improvements in math and science education programs.

The Relationship between Organizational Health and Student Achievement in High Poverty Schools

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between organizational health and student achievement of economically disadvantaged students in a large school district along the Texas-Mexico border that serves 99 % Hispanic students; districtwide approximately 95 % of the students are economically disadvantaged. All schools in the district are Title I schools and enroll 78%- 100% economically disadvantaged students. About forty-eight percent (48.3 %) of students served are English Language Learners. Student achievement was determined using the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and organizational health was determined using an Organizational Health Inventory that measures the ten dimensions of organization-al health posited by Matthew Miles and operationalized by Marvin Fairman and Associates. The strength of the relationship was determined by using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The findings indicate that there is a positive relationship between student achievement in high poverty Hispanic schools and organizational health. The strongest relationship exists with the dimensions of goal focus, problem solving adequacy, and cohesiveness. Student achievement increases as the dimension of goal focus increases. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.17.11.5

The subjectivity of false hope and the possibility for critical hope among novice teachers

The current neoliberal policy regime that has dictated school reform policies such as standardized testing and performance accountability challenges the professional values of teachers. As a result, they become policy subjects who either accept or resist the neoliberal agenda. Given the high turnover of novice teachers in schools governed by neoliberal policies, this study sought to understand first-year teachers’ feelings of efficacy and career decisions. This paper applies Duncan-Andrade’s (2009) theoretical concepts of false and critical hope to the narrative experiences of three first-year teachers working in high-poverty schools. The findings indicate that teachers’ ideologies may match the false hope of equal opportunity and hard work that are embedded in the neoliberal policy regime. Additionally, first-year teachers may also develop some skepticism of the polices they are forced to implement. However, if they are unsure how to express their skepticism, they may experience hopelessness over time. This paper argues that critical hope presents an opportunity for teachers, administrators, and students to confront neoliberal policies that contradict their vision of schooling and provide a less prescriptive, more universal education. Additionally, it reveals insights into how policy regimes impact the experiences and identities of novice teachers.

Evolving through tensions: preservice teachers’ conceptions of social justice teaching

ABSTRACT This study utilized cultural historical activity theory to explore the evolution of nine preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) conceptions of social justice teaching while enrolled in a social justice-oriented teacher education program. From three interviews conducted over one year, findings show that tensions PSTs encountered while student teaching in high-poverty schools predominantly shaped their thinking. PSTs’ conceptions of social justice teaching evolved to include navigating inequitable systems, loving students critically, and viewing social justice teaching as uniquely personal. Implications include the importance of teacher educators leveraging inevitable student-teaching tensions as learning opportunities to further PSTs’ commitment to social justice teaching.

In the face of adversity: four physical educator’s experiences of resilience in high-poverty schools

ABSTRACTBackground: Emotional resilience can be vital to longevity in high-poverty school settings. Equally important to staying the course is the ability to remain motivated despite the unique challenges presented by teaching in high-poverty schools. Students within these schools need teachers who are able to manage their emotions and remain positive and optimistic, persist, remain confident, and continually focus on learning and self-improvement no matter their work environment. This study explored four PE teachers’ perceptions of their resilience teaching in high-poverty schools through the lens of resilience theory.Research design: This study utilized an exploratory multiple case study design (Yin 2003). The main premise of the case study method is to better understand complex educational and social phenomena, while retaining the holistic and meaningful particularities of real-life circumstances (Yin 2003). Teacher interviews and teacher shadowing were used to examine the experiences of PE teachers in high-poverty schools.Findings: Results indicate that several psychological factors (relating to positive personality, motivation, focus, and perceived social and administrative support) protected the PE teachers in this inquiry from the potential negative effect of stressors by prompting their metacognitions and challenge appraisal. These processes promoted facilitative responses that proved to be key to developing and maintaining their capacities for resilience. The teachers demonstrated a sustained commitment to self-improvement and student success by implementing effective teaching practices.Conclusion: The teachers in this study possessed strong individual dispositions and were able to demonstrate behaviors that facilitated an elevated level of resilience. School administrators must establish a strong culture of support to enable teacher resilience. Identifying ways to increase the resilience capacity of physical education teachers has the potential to decrease the concerns surrounding teacher attrition and increase job satisfaction for teachers working in high-poverty schools. Implications also indicate a need for physical education teacher education (PETE) programs to identify candidates with the individual dispositions that aid in resilience and provide them with experiences in high-poverty schools. This partnership may assist in minimizing the effects of reality shock oftentimes experienced by new teachers.

Reducing academic inequalities for English language learners: Variation in experimental effects of Word Generation in high-poverty schools

ABSTRACT Most U.S. classrooms serve students with various linguistic and academic needs. Tier-I universal approaches support English language learners (ELLs) without segregating them into a different track and thereby constraining future learning opportunities. The current study examines whether Word Generation (WG), a Tier-I discussion-based program designed to build academic literacy and linguistic practices, provides differential gains for non-ELL and ELL students in vocabulary, social perspective-taking skills, academic language, and reading comprehension. We found that WG had positive impacts for both non-ELL and ELL students on taught academic vocabulary and social perspective positioning skills. Furthermore, WG had additional positive effects for ELLs in social perspective articulation and academic language in the second year of implementation. These results provide evidence that WG supports those linguistic and sociocognitive skills that precede development of deep reading comprehension for ELLs as well as non-ELLs.

Physical education teacher resilience in high-poverty school environments

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the organizational context within high-poverty schools influences physical education (PE) teacher resilience. This study used an exploratory multiple case study design grounded in resilience theory. School administrators can create environments that either support or inhibit teachers’ attitudes about their jobs by the organizational structures and cultures they create in schools and through the relationships they foster. Because teacher attrition has a negative influence on the educational system, especially in high-poverty schools, providing resources to build resilience in teachers is critical to their professional success and development. Although literature exists related to PE teacher attrition, little work has focused on the reasons that they may remain in their role as a PE teacher. Understanding the facilitators and barriers to PE teacher resilience may aid in alleviating PE teacher attrition in high-poverty schools. The teacher participants ( n = 10) and school administrators ( n = 4) were chosen from six schools (five elementary schools and two middle schools) from two (one urban, one rural) high-poverty school districts (identified by having at least 90% of students eligible for free and reduced price lunch) in the Midwestern US. Two main themes surfaced regarding teachers’ resilience capacity: (a) school culture – the inconsistency in perceived leadership and support; and (b) elevated teacher turnover.

Might School Performance Grow on Trees? Examining the Link Between "Greenness" and Academic Achievement in Urban, High-Poverty Schools.

In the United States, schools serving urban, low-income students are among the lowest-performing academically. Previous research in relatively well-off populations has linked vegetation in schoolyards and surrounding neighborhoods to better school performance even after controlling for important confounding factors, raising the tantalizing possibility that greening might boost academic achievement. This study extended previous cross-sectional research on the “greenness”-academic achievement link to a public school district in which nine out of ten children were eligible for free lunch. In generalized linear mixed models, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-based measurements of green cover for 318 Chicago public schools predicted statistically significantly better school performance on standardized tests of math, with marginally statistically significant results for reading—even after controlling for disadvantage, an index combining poverty and minority status. Pupil/teacher ratio %bilingual, school size, and %female could not account for the greenness-performance link. Interactions between greenness and Disadvantage suggest that the greenness-academic achievement link is different for student bodies with different levels of disadvantage. To determine what forms of green cover were most strongly tied to academic achievement, tree cover was examined separately from grass and shrub cover; only tree cover predicted school performance. Further analyses examined the unique contributions of “school tree cover” (tree cover for the schoolyard and a 25 m buffer) and “neighborhood tree cover” (tree cover for the remainder of a school’s attendance catchment area). School greenness predicted math achievement when neighborhood greenness was controlled for, but neighborhood greenness did not significantly predict either reading or math achievement when school greenness was taken into account. Future research should assess whether greening schoolyards boost school performance.

Multi-method teacher evaluation for high poverty schools: Observations and self-ratings of instructional and behavioral management

The investigation examined the degree to which data from a multi-method, multi-informant teacher evaluation project related to growth in student achievement as measured using the Measures of Academic Progress in high poverty charter schools. Investigators used two classroom observational measures (the Framework for Teaching and the Classroom Strategies Assessment System-Observer form) and two teacher self-report measures (the Instructional Learning Opportunities Guidance System and the Classroom Strategies Assessment System-Teacher form) in 15 high poverty charter schools to assess teacher performance as part of a school reform grant funded by the US Department of Education, Teacher Incentive Fund. Correlational analyses were conducted corresponding to each combination of method, content area, and criterion score type, as well as controlling for grade level. Bivariate correlations were modest and different than those found in previous research, and findings from multiple regression analyses favored different scores based on method and content area.

Factors Shaping the Agency of Beginning Science Teachers Working in High-Poverty Schools

ABSTRACTThe national shortage of science teachers and the substantial teacher turnover rate in high-poverty schools are outcomes of multiple issues. Using a framework built on 2 constructs—teacher agency (typically examined in experienced rather than beginning teachers) and professional identity—we investigate how agency and identity interact and might be used to explain teachers’ perceptions of and responses tao challenges. We present a case study of 3 secondary science teachers committed to teaching in high-needs contexts and show that in spite of challenges they faced regularly, these individuals worked to achieve the goals associated with their primary values. On the basis of our analysis, we propose that teacher agency establishes the foundation for the retention of teachers in the profession, especially those whose careers are in particularly challenging contexts.

Developing social capital for collaboration in a research-practice partnership

PurposeThe ever-increasing pressure for school improvement has led to a related increase in research-practice partnerships (RPPs) that address problems of practice. Yet, little research has centered on how the myriad challenges to such partnerships can be overcome, such as bridging the cultural divide between universities and their school-based partners. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine how social capital was developed among the members of a steering committee in a RPP between a university and a 12-district consortium of predominantly rural, high-poverty school districts to develop and implement a professional development initiative for rural school leaders.Design/methodology/approachData for this phenomenological single case study were collected over a one-year period through participant observations, document analysis and semi-structured interviews with ten steering committee members. Data were inductively and deductively coded through multiple rounds of analysis, which drew on the structural and cognitive elements of social capital (Uphoff, 2000). Findings were triangulated and member checked for trustworthiness.FindingsThe analysis of the data revealed three key ways in which social capital was developed among members of the steering committee to overcome the cultural challenges of RPPs to develop and implement a professional development initiative for rural school leaders: providing an open but focused structure, ensuring inclusive and respectful discussion and negotiating roles and ideas.Originality/valueThe findings provide a fine-grained illustration of how intentional efforts to develop social capital among members in a co-design team can assist in bridging the cultural boundaries often encountered in RPPs.

Changing roles in sustaining successful charter school leadership in high poverty schools: Voices from the field

ABSTRACTEffective educational leadership is essential for the success of schools and ultimately student achievement. The impact of school leadership may be even more pronounced in charter schools. Due to current and unprecedented growth, unique design, and complexities of political, financial, and governance issues they face, there is a need for more highly qualified charter school leaders and perhaps even “differently” prepared leaders. In this qualitative study, the authors documented the characteristics and skills of two successful, sustained charter school leaders who retrospectively described their evolved and evolving roles over twenty five years. Each transformed high-poverty, low-performing schools with at-risk populations and led with vision, passion, and a relentless desire to positively influence their organizations and ultimately improve student success in their communities. Although many of their skills and characteristics fall within existing theories, such as situational leadership, transformational leadership, and distributive leadership, they embodied a level of dedication and commitment to the original communities in which they founded charters lasting over a quarter of a century. The findings suggest that founding a charter school and seeing it through to success over time may more closely resemble missionary work than traditional school leadership.

Contributions of the Components of Phonemic Awareness to Letter-Sound Knowledge With Kindergarten Students in High-Poverty Urban Elementary Schools

Phonemic awareness (PA) includes rhyming, phoneme isolation, blending, and segmenting, but the relative importance of each component is unclear, especially for students from high-poverty areas. The current study examined the relationship between components of PA and an early literacy measure among 192 kindergarten students from high-poverty urban elementary schools. A researcher assessed the students using the Quick Phonemic Awareness Assessment and a measure of letter-sound knowledge (LSK). The results showed that PA was highly correlated with LSK. Initial phoneme isolation, blending, and segmenting contributed significant variance to LSK, but rhyming did not. The data supported the Quick Phonemic Awareness Assessment as a measure of PA among an urban population but questioned the importance of rhyming as a predictive component of PA.

Measuring Teacher Practices to Inform Student Achievement in High Poverty Schools: a Predictive Validity Study

The present study examined the predictive validity of a classroom observation measure, the Classroom Strategies Assessment System (CSAS)-Observer Form, as a predictor of student performance on statewide tests of mathematics and English language arts. The CSAS is a teacher practice assessment that measures evidence-based instructional and behavioral management practices (Reddy and Dudek 2014). This study presents a sample of 35 teachers and 829 third through eighth grade students from six urban high poverty schools. Six school administrators trained to criterion on using the CSAS conducted three classroom observations for each teacher as part of their yearly evaluation process. Zero-order correlations revealed negative relationships between CSAS Rating Scale discrepancy scores (i.e., ∑ | recommended frequency-frequency ratings |) and mathematics and English language arts proficiency scores. A series of two-level hierarchical generalized linear models were fitted to data to assess whether CSAS Instructional Strategy and Behavioral Management Strategy Rating Scale Total and Composite discrepancy scores predicted statewide mathematics and English language arts proficiency scores. Results indicated that CSAS Total and Instructional and Behavior Management Composite discrepancy scores significantly predicted both mathematics and English language arts proficiency scores, suggesting that larger discrepancies on observer ratings of what teachers did versus what should have been done were associated with lower proficiency scores. Results offer evidence of the utility of measuring teacher practices via the CSAS to inform student achievement in high poverty settings. Implications for school psychological practice, teacher evaluation, and professional development are discussed.

Do bonuses affect teacher staffing and student achievement in high poverty schools? Evidence from an incentive for national board certified teachers in Washington State

We study a teacher incentive policy in Washington State that awards a financial bonus to National Board certified teachers in high poverty schools. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that the bonus policy increased the proportion of certified teachers in bonus-eligible schools by improving hiring, increasing certification rates of incumbent teachers, and reducing turnover. Depending on the method, we estimate that the proportion of NBCTs in treated schools increased by about four to eight percentage points over the first five years of eligibility. However, the improvement in certification rates corresponds to a change of about 0.2–0.3% of a standard deviation in teacher quality per year and we do not find evidence that the bonus resulted in detectible effects on student test achievement.

Does direct instruction work?: A critical assessment of direct instruction research and its theoretical perspective

ABSTRACTDirect Instruction (DI), commercially marketed by McGraw-Hill as Reading Mastery and Corrective Reading, is a bundle of highly scripted reading programs emphasizing phonics and phonemic awareness. This assessment considers 40 recently published studies on DI in order to consider the program's aims and efficacy as a means of teaching reading. Our assessement indicates significant shortcomings of DI programs. Specifically, DI's focus on low-level skills not only is generally ineffective but also restricts students' access to more challenging, engaging reading practices commonly experienced by high achievers. To the degree that scripted reading programs like DI are more common in high-poverty schools, DI threatens to exacerbate an achievement gap that limits the academic and vocational opportunities for students already burdened by poverty and discrimination. Results suggest that the strongest research support for DI might be its temporary efficacy at improving student performance on word-level skills. However, even when DI was deemed effective at producing these behaviors, the data indicate that it did not always work very well and, overall, most of the studies reviewed present a wide range of methodological problems that severely limit the veracity of claims that can be made about the efficacy of DI. The analysis suggests that consumers of DI research should consider closely (1) the design of the studies and (2) the near-exclusive focus on letter-sound relationships as the singular determining factor of reading proficiency.

Navigating Conflict: How Youth Handle Trouble in a High-Poverty School. By Calvin Morrill and Michael Musheno. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.

<i>Navigating Conflict: How Youth Handle Trouble in a High-Poverty School</i>. By Calvin Morrill and Michael Musheno. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.

Exploring Traits of High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools

Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in pressure placed on schools across the nation due to high-stakes accountability policies (Klar, 2014). It comes as no surprise that low performing schools feel constant pressure to raise the measured academic performance of all students. Rarely, do low-performing schools who have overcome challenging circumstances in order to increase academic achievement, get spotlighted. Educators need to identify the common factors attributed to increased student achievement. This can be achieved by examining the lessons and examples of high-performing schools so that all schools can succeed regardless of circumstances.