Socioeconomic School Research Articles

How Should I Teach from This Month Onward? A State-Space Model That Helps Drive Whole Classes to Achieve End-of-Year National Standardized Test Learning Targets

Every month, teachers face the dilemma of what exercises their students should practice, and what their consequences are regarding long-term learning. Since teachers prefer to pose their own exercises, this generates a large number of questions, each one attempted by a small number of students. Thus, we could not use models based on big data, such as deep learning. Instead, we developed a simple-to-understand state-space model that predicts end-of-year national test scores. We used 2386 online fourth-grade mathematics questions designed by teachers, each attempted by some of the 500 students in 24 low socioeconomic schools. We found that the state-space model predictions improved month by month and that in most months, it outperformed linear regression models. Moreover, the state-space estimator provides for each month a direct mechanism to simulate different practice strategies and compute their impact on the end-of-year standardized national test. We built iso-impact curves based on two critical variables: the number of questions solved correctly in the first attempt and the total number of exercises attempted. This allows the teacher to visualize the trade-off between asking students to perform exercises more carefully or perform more exercises. To the best of our knowledge, this model is the first of its kind in education. It is a novel tool that supports teachers drive whole classes to achieve long-term learning targets.

The Relationship between School Socioeconomic Composition and Academic Achievement in Turkiye

The socioeconomic distribution of students influences school contexts and learning processes. In this manner, a school’s socioeconomic composition has the remarkable potential to shape school climate. This study examines the relationship socioeconomic status (SES) at both the student and school levels has with academic achievement for the first time in Turkiye with regard to academic and vocational tracks. High-stake assessment data of more than 1.4 million students over the last 10 years have been analyzed using two-level hierarchical linear modelling (HLM). The results show parents’ education level to be a significant predictor for both academic and vocational tracks, while family income significantly predicts academic achievement just in regard to vocational track. The results highlight both students’ and peers’ SES to be significantly related to their academic achievement. Additionally, parents’ education level is a stronger predictor of achievement than family income level. The results also emphasize the importance the recent improvements and academic support programs from the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) have had in alleviating achievement gaps among schools.

The Quadratic Pathways Model to Promote Principals' Self-efficacy and Resilience in Low-socioeconomic Schools in Alberta

This paper presents the Quadratic Pathways Model (O’Neill, 2013), which emerged from the findings of a doctoral study that investigated the influences on principals’ self-efficacy and resilience in low-socioeconomic-status (SES) schools. This model was developed to promote principals’ efficacy and resilience while exercising leadership agency in these challenging contexts.
 Principals leading in low-socioeconomic-status (SES) schools experience unique challenges from their counterparts in wealthier contexts. The literature identified that educators cope with students with academic problems, student disengagement, mental health concerns, behavioral issues, and parental disengagement. Additionally, many students lack the basics of life. Principals also contend with many teachers who believe some parents and students do not value education. Consequently, while cognizant of their need to be instructional leaders, some principals believe they cannot fully engage in the instructional aspect of their role due to the many pressures and competing demands on their attention, and the subsequent frustration influences their efficacy.
 This study employed a theoretical framework founded upon Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1986, 1997), particularly pertaining to self-efficacy, and also integrated resilience research (Patterson & Kelleher, 2005), leadership theories (Leithwood et al., 2004), and contextual literature, which explored the complexities of low socioeconomic status schools.
 The methodology was mixed methods utilizing questionnaires (n=42) and interviews (n=13) with principals in low-SES schools across the province of Alberta, Canada (Creswell & Guetterman, 2019). Although there were several key themes to emerge from the research, this paper focuses on the synthesis of a new model, the Quadratic Pathways Model, which was designed to inform system leaders of the various components that could enhance and sustain high principal efficacy and resilience in low-SES contexts. It offers principals a template that positively reconceptualises instructional leadership practices that enhance and nurture student success in challenging school contexts.

The use of cultural contexts for patterning tasks: supporting young diverse students to identify structures and generalise

A key aspect of young children’s development of algebraic reasoning is the process of visualising and identifying structures to both abstract and generalise. There has been a growing body of research focused on how students form generalisations, this article adds to the existing body of research by examining how young culturally diverse students identify mathematical structures in contextual growing patterns and the teaching and learning actions that assist them to generalise. Data were collected from one classroom of 29 Year Two (6 years old) students in a low socio-economic school in New Zealand. Results from the analysis of lessons related to two tasks showed that the contextual tasks led students to notice different mathematical structures. Specific pedagogical actions were used to facilitate students’ engagement with the growing patterns. These included positioning students to engage with different representations (pictorial and numerical, tabular, and natural language) to represent thinking, the use of classroom discussions, noticing and responding to student thinking, and pressing students to find far terms. The findings highlight that both the contextual patterning tasks and teacher actions supported the young students to develop a range of sophisticated generalisations related to the underlying mathematical structure and functional relationships of the growing patterns.

Clustered cardiovascular disease risk among children aged 8–13 years from lower socioeconomic schools in Gqeberha, South Africa

ObjectivesTo determine the prevalence of individual cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and clustered CVD risk among children attending schools in periurban areas of Gqeberha and to investigate the independent association...

Bringing the home into school: learning and connecting through mathematics education during the time of a pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a new way of being in a changed and uncertain world. Aotearoa/New Zealand took a well-being approach and in turn, we share the positive outcomes which resulted for some low socio-economic schools and communities in relation to teacher learning and relationships with families. In this article, we report on how teachers and schools connected with diverse students and their families during the period of remote learning. We draw on the responses from 20 teachers and school leaders who participated in interviews. Following the wider government focus, schools took a well-being first approach which led to increased connections and positive home/school relationships. The results highlight how a disruptive event such as COVID-19 can also be a time to focus on strengths of diverse communities and gain insights. We demonstrate that while focusing on mathematics, teachers and school leaders gained insights related to their students’ funds of knowledge and saw opportunities for learning for students, parents, and the teachers themselves.

School quality matters: A multilevel analysis of school effects on the early reading achievement of Black girls

Early reading achievement is essential for all children’s development and future success. However, U.S. schools continue to under prepare Black children in early literacy, as evidenced by disparate outcomes observed for this population of learners. The under preparation of Black students is problematic, given the strong negative correlation between early reading proficiency and high school graduation. Preschool learning opportunities are a means to curb this trend, but these instructional opportunities vary in quality and effectiveness. Variations in quality may significantly impact Black girls. Little specific attention has been given to the early reading of Black girls.’ Therefore, this article’s purpose is to assess the effects of schools on the early reading achievement of Black girls. This study used multilevel modeling to gauge the effects of schools on Black girls’ early reading achievement. Our estimates provide correlational inferences concerning the associations between school characteristics and the early reading achievement of Black girls. The reading achievement of a representative sample of Black girls ( N = 886) and their corresponding schools was used to assess school effects. The schools’ socioeconomic status (SES) and school locations were the primary school characteristics of interest. Results indicate that schools account for approximately 18% of the variation in Black girls’ early reading achievement. Thus, schools play a meaningful role in the early reading achievement of Black girls. School-level SES was negatively correlated with Black girls’ early reading achievement, but this effect was mediated by school location. In conclusion, schools’ observed effects on early Black girl achievement were moderate and influenced by school location. Implications for supporting the early reading achievement of Black girls are provided for educational stakeholders.

The Forgotten Age Phase of Healthy Lifestyle Promotion? A Preliminary Study to Examine the Potential Call for Targeted Physical Activity and Nutrition Education for Older Adolescents.

To date, little research on healthy lifestyle promotion has focused on older adolescents (16–18-year-olds), yet this is a key time that habitual healthy lifestyles could be developed. Ninety-three participants (thirty-nine males; fifty-four females) (mean age = 16.9, (SD 0.4) years), from three low socio-economic high schools in England, completed an online questionnaire on their self-reported: (i) daily physical activity (PA), (ii) active transportation, (iii) active leisure time, (iv) food intake and (v) experiences of how healthy lifestyles are promoted specifically to them. Overall, 60% reached the daily PA recommended guidelines. Yet, 92% used a bicycle/walked for a least 10 min continuously as active transport and of these, 86% undertook this at least 5 days per week. Almost half undertook MVPA as active leisure, but 66% still spent ≥ 5 h sedentary. Seventeen percent met recommended nutritional guidelines for health and 90% (n = 80) did not report school as a place that promoted healthy lifestyles. It is recommended as a public health measure and as an educational policy matter that schools implement more targeted PA and healthy eating initiatives for older adolescents that also include the adolescent voice. Further, gaining a deeper insight into male older adolescents’ health literacy is needed.

Persistent association between family socioeconomic status and primary school performance in Britain over 95 years

In Britain and elsewhere, the influence of family socioeconomic status (SES) on education is already evident in primary school, and it persists and increases throughout the school years, with children from impoverished families earning lower grades and obtaining fewer educational qualifications than children from more privileged backgrounds. Reducing the effect of family background on children’s education is a pivotal aim of educators, policymakers, and researchers, but the success of their efforts is poorly evidenced to date. Here, we show for the first time that over 95 years in Britain the association between family SES and children’s primary school performance has remained stable. Across 16 British population cohorts born between 1921 and 2011 (N = 91,935), we confirmed previous findings of a correlation between family SES and children’s school performance of 0.28 [95% Confidence Interval 0.22–0.34], after adjusting for cohort-specific confounders. Contrary to the popular assumption that family background inequality has increased over time, we observed only minimal differences in the association between family SES and school performance across British cohorts. We argue that education policies must prioritize equity in learning outcomes over equality in learning opportunities, if they seek to disrupt the perpetuation of social and economic inequality across generations. We speculate that the influence of family SES on children’s education will only noticeably weaken if primary education settings become better equipped to meet and remediate the children’s differential learning needs.

School Dropout: Intentions, Motivations and Self-Efficacy of a Sample of South Africa Youth

There is strong evidence that dropping out of school has short-term and long-term effects for the individual, the family, the community, and other strata in society. In South Africa, learners dropping out of school has increased. The link between intention, motivation, and self-efficacy to drop out of school is an understudied area of research. The study aimed to determine the relationship between learners’ intention, motivation, and self-efficacy to drop out of low and high socio-economic schools. A quantitative methodological approach with a cross-sectional design was utilised. Participant’s selection included high school learners in Grades 9 and 11, at both high and low socio-economic public schools in the Western Cape, in South Africa. Most participants were female (51.2%), with a mean age of 16 years, attending schools in resource-constrained communities (50.1). Data was analysed using an independent t-test to assess a significant difference between learners in low and high socio-economic communities. Findings showed that many learners in high socio-economic schools hardly considered dropping out of school, whereas the opposite was true for learners in resource-constrained schools. Family challenges were often cited as a major reason for dropping out of school. The differences between the two groups of learners were significant.

The Relationship of National, School, and Student Socioeconomic Status With Academic Achievement: A Model for Programme for International Student Assessment Reading and Mathematics Scores

Prior research has demonstrated links between academic achievement and family socioeconomic status SES, such that students from wealthier families generally exhibit higher academic performance. Recent work has also shown that students who attend schools with greater SES inequality and lower average family income also tend to have lower achievement test scores. Additional research has found that students from poorer nations have lower average achievement test scores. Despite the presence of this evidence supporting individual relationships between SES and achievement test performance, there is less extant information positing a mechanism for how these relationships at different levels interact with one another and are related to achievement test performance. The purpose of the current study was to propose and test two multilevel mediation models of the relationships between national funding for public services such as education, and economic inequality with shortages for educational resources and trained staff, as well as aggregated and individual family SES with academic achievement. Results demonstrated that a partially mediated model yielded good fit to the data with both direct and indirect relationships among national funding for public services and academic achievement, as mediated through school level resource shortages and family SES. Implications of these results are discussed.

When Information Is Not Enough: School Choice, Segregation, and the Elusive Notion of Fit

Background: School choice models assume that parents and children have varied educational preferences and that catering to those preferences will result in superior educational experiences for all. Yet, we still know relatively little about how parents identify the best school “fit” for their children and families. This question is particularly important in the context of gentrifying urban districts, where school choice often serves to broaden and intensify school segregation at precisely the moment in which racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic school integration could be a real possibility. Objective: The purpose of this study was to better understand how parents determined the best school fit for their children within a competitive system of public school choice. Setting: The study was conducted in a diverse school district in Brooklyn, New York, in which families were required to rank their preferred middle schools and schools were required to rank interested students. This competitive choice model has the potential to match students and schools by educational fit when top choices align, but can also lead to greater academic stratification and racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic segregation. Participants and Research Design: Twenty-six parents from a range of social, economic, racial, ethnic, linguistic, and geographic locations and identities were interviewed over a 15-month period before, during, and after applying to middle schools for their children. The study’s longitudinal design captured parents’ shifting priorities, perceptions of school options, and notions of fit across time. Findings: Study participants’ school preferences shifted through time and were often constructed collectively. Parents sought out and accessed information about their options but, faced with too many uncertainties, also turned to others for guidance and assurance. Race, ethnicity, and class often informed parents’ perceptions of schools, but not uniformly. Notions of fit varied both within and across groups, and at times parents with similar backgrounds and stated educational priorities arrived at disparate school preferences based largely on perceptions constructed within their social networks. Conclusion/Recommendations: These findings suggest that offering families expanded access to and better quality information about their school options will do little to reduce the segregating effects of choice without also ensuring that schools are organized to address the diverse needs of students and families. Seeking to make all schools inclusive and pedagogically responsive to diverse learners will decrease some of the market efficiencies school choice has promised to deliver, but may offer an even greater social good by advancing the goals of integrated and equitable schooling.

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.

School readiness losses during the COVID-19 outbreak. A comparison of two cohorts of young children.

The COVID‐19 context has created the most severe disruption to education systems in recent history. Its impact on child development was estimated comparing two cohorts of 4‐ to 6‐year‐old Uruguayan children: control (n = 34,355, 48.87% girls) and COVID cohort (n = 30,158, 48.95% girls) assessed between 2018 and 2020 in three waves, by a routinely administered school readiness instrument in public preschools. Ethnicity information is not available. For the COVID cohort, losses were observed in Motor and Cognitive development, Attitudes towards learning, and Internalizing behavior (range 0.13 – 0.27 SD). Losses were less pronounced among children from higher socioeconomic schools. These results extend the literature on the consequences of the pandemic on learning and early child development.

Exploring new frontiers of education using humanoid robots – a case study of patient centred innovation in digital health education

ABSTRACT Digital education is intertwined with matters of global economics, geopolitics, as well as ongoing changes in what counts as knowledge, skills and learning. We have witnessed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic how technology has been embraced within education from online classes to innovative mobile learning approaches and evaluating humanoid robots in education is the next step. Driven by a need to keep pace with the evolving techno- and socio-economic requirements, schools and society are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in their daily activity. This paper presents a feasibility case study in digital health education where a humanoid robot was chosen to teach based on its form and function. With an imperative to establish a strong and sustainable learning space, the aim of this paper is to present results and learn about the future of digital health education from humanoid robots being deployed in digital health learning spaces. The paper concludes by highlighting key design challenges in unbundling educational approaches in the context of humanoid robots. It is intended that the outcomes of this paper will extend beyond the COVID-19 pandemic by contributing to the humanoid robot technology discussion that will push towards more futuristic artificial intelligence in and for education.

The Role of Social, Spatial, and Economic Frictions in School Socioeconomic Segregation

The Role of Social, Spatial, and Economic Frictions in School Socioeconomic Segregation

Socioeconomic Status, Culture, and Reading Comprehension in Immigrant Students.

Research on reading comprehension in immigrant students is heterogeneous and conflicting. Differences in socioeconomic status and cultural origins are very likely confounds in determining whether differences to native pupils can be attributed to immigrant status. We collected data on 312 Spanish students of Native, of Hispanic origin–therefore with the same family language as native students- and Non-Hispanic origin, while controlling for socioeconomic status, non-verbal reasoning and school membership. We measured reading comprehension, knowledge of syntax, sentence comprehension monitoring, and vocabulary. Differences among groups appeared only in vocabulary and syntax (with poorer performance in the non-Hispanic group), with no differences in reading comprehension. However, regression analyses showed that most of the variability in reading comprehension was predicted by age, socioeconomic status, non-verbal reasoning, and comprehension monitoring. Group membership did not significantly contribute to explain reading comprehension variability. The present study supports the idea that socioeconomically disadvantaged students, both native and immigrants from diverse cultural backgrounds, irrespective of the language of origin, are probably equally at risk of poor reading comprehension.

Scale-up of the Physical Activity 4 Everyone (PA4E1) intervention in secondary schools: 24-month implementation and cost outcomes from a cluster randomised controlled trial

BackgroundPhysical Activity 4 Everyone (PA4E1) is an evidence-based program effective at increasing adolescent physical activity (PA) and improving weight status. This study aimed to determine a) the effectiveness of an adapted implementation intervention to scale-up PA4E1 at 24-month follow-up, b) fidelity and reach, and c) the cost and cost-effectiveness of the implementation support intervention.MethodsA cluster randomised controlled trial using a type III hybrid implementation-effectiveness design in 49 lower socio-economic secondary schools, randomised to a program (n = 24) or control group (n = 25). An adapted implementation intervention consisting of seven strategies was developed to support schools to implement PA4E1 over 24-months. The primary outcome was the proportion of schools implementing at least four of the 7 PA practices, assessed via computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) with Head Physical Education Teachers. Secondary outcomes included the mean number of PA practices implemented, fidelity and reach, cost and cost-effectiveness. Logistic regression models assessed program effects.ResultsAt baseline, no schools implemented four of the 7 PA practices. At 24-months, significantly more schools in the program group (16/23, 69.6%) implemented at least four of the 7 PA practices than the control group (0/25, 0%) (p < 0.001). At 24-months, program schools were implementing an average of 3.6 more practices than control schools (4.1 (1.7) vs. 0.5 (0.8), respectively) (P < 0.001). Fidelity and reach of the implementation intervention were high (> 75%). The total cost of the program was $415,112 AUD (2018) ($17,296 per school; $117.30 per student).ConclusionsThe adapted implementation intervention provides policy makers and researchers with an effective and potentially cost-effective model for scaling-up the delivery of PA4E1 in secondary schools. Further assessment of sustainability is warranted.Trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12617000681358 prospectively registered 12th May 2017.

Implementing Structured Curriculum in an After-School Physical Activity Program

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influences of a structured after-school program on student physical activity for third- through fifth-grade students at five schools in southern Colorado. The study utilized a pretest–posttest intervention design in which six elementary schools in a low socioeconomic status school district in southern Colorado were recruited to implement a structured curriculum into their existing after-school physical activity program. Four observations at each school were taken approximately 6 weeks apart during the 2014–2015 academic year. Randomly selected students (n = 187) were measured for height and weight at each observation and wore accelerometers during after-school physical activity. Descriptive statistics and independent sample t tests were calculated for a comparison of physical activity before and after the implementation of the structured after-school program. Students wore accelerometers an average of 45.72 ± 10.28 min/session. Total physical activity increased significantly from 36.21 ± 6.41 to 41.14 ± 6.76 min/session (p &lt; 0.001). Moderate physical activity increased significantly from 9.29 ± 3.84 to 12.10 ± 5.96 min/session (p &lt; 0.001), whereas vigorous activity significantly decreased from 8.02 ± 4.39 to 5.54 ± 5.32 min/session (p &lt; 0.001). Overall, implementing a structured after-school program may be beneficial in increasing total physical activity, though its role in improving physical activity intensity is questionable. Subscribe to TPE

Secondary School Socioeconomic Status and Athletic Training Practice Characteristics.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a significant predictor of morbidity and mortality across health outcomes. Limited information exists on how school SES affects athletic training practice when a certified athletic trainer (AT) is present at secondary schools. To describe contact frequencies and service rates provided by ATs for injuries among secondary school student-athletes and how these differ by school SES. Cross-sectional study. The number of athletic training facility (ATF) visit days and AT services were collected from 77 secondary schools. Schools were separated into 3 school SES groups: affluent (n = 31), average (n = 29), and disadvantaged (n = 17). Secondary school student-athletes who participated in ≥1 of 12 boys' or 11 girls' sports, visited the ATF during the 2014-2015 through 2018-2019 academic years, and received athletic or nonathletic injury care. Contact frequencies were expressed as ATF visit days per injury, AT services per injury, and AT services per ATF visit day. Rates for service type used were expressed as the total count over reported athlete-exposures. The ATs documented 1191 services. Affluent and average SES school communities provided more contact frequencies for injury-related care than did disadvantaged school communities, particularly in AT services per injury (7.10 ± 13.08 versus average: 9.30 ± 11.60 and affluent: 9.40 ± 12.20; P = .020). Affluent school communities supplied greater rates of services in 5 of the 11 service groups reported. No differences were observed among school SES groups in therapeutic exercise. Our findings reflect that AT practice characteristics may have differed by school SES, but these differences did not appear to result in less medical care. Given the complexity and widespread effects of SES, future investigators should use a complex method to determine SES and aim to identify how SES may affect secondary school student-athletes in ways other than AT practice characteristics.