Students In High-poverty Schools Research Articles

Severe Pandemic Learning Loss and the Promise of Remotely Delivered Intervention in Students With Comorbid Reading and Mathematics Learning Difficulty

Analyses were conducted with second graders, drawn from an ongoing multi-cohort randomized controlled trial (RCT), who had been identified for RCT entry based on comorbid reading comprehension and word-problem solving difficulty. To estimate pandemic learning loss, we contrasted fall performance for 3 cohorts: fall of 2019 (pre-pandemic; n = 47), 2020 (early pandemic, when performance was affected by the truncated preceding school year; n = 35), and 2021 (later pandemic, when performance was affected by the truncated 2019 to 2020 school year plus the subsequent year’s ongoing interruptions; n = 75). Across the 2 years, declines (standard deviations below expected growth) were approximately 3 times larger than those reported for the general population and for students in high-poverty schools. To estimate the promise of structured remote intervention for addressing such learning loss during extended school closures, we contrasted effects in the RCT’s 2018 to 2019 cohort (entirely in-person intervention delivery; n = 66) against the same intervention’s effects in the 2020 to 2021 cohort (alternating periods of remote and in-person delivery; n = 29). Large intervention effects were not moderated by pandemic status, suggesting potential for structured remote intervention to address student needs during extended school closures.

Consequences of Implementing Curricular-Aligned Strategies for Identifying Rural Gifted Students

Analysis of assessment data from an initial pool of second-grade students ( n = 4549) in low-income rural communities and a subgroup of students identified from that pool for gifted services ( n = 524) provided evidence for the validity of a curricular-aligned process including universal screening and local norms for identifying rural students in high-poverty schools as gifted. We first compared identification data on a group identified with existing, more general identification strategies to data on students identified specifically in language arts using universal screening and local norms as part of the identification criteria, providing staff development focused on indicators of rural giftedness prior to teacher ratings of students, and using a profile in decision making. This comparison confirmed the hypothesis that talent in rural students from low-income areas may manifest in ways that are not captured by more generic identification processes. Despite concerns about the implementation of identification processes using local norms, students identified through the project’s alternative approach scored higher on a measure of verbal aptitude and scored as well on postintervention assessments as students identified using the district-identification process. This outcome provides evidence that students identified with local norms in a specific academic domain reach similar or higher levels of achievement as students identified using national norms and more general means of assessment.

School Counseling Programs Identifying Academic Development Needs

This study examined student, parent, and faculty perceptions of academic development needs and related comprehensive school counseling program services from four urban middle and high schools. Participants ( n = 1,032) completed a survey designed to assist schools in planning and evaluating their career and college readiness programs, and exploring perceived student support needs. Statistically significant differences were observed in stakeholder perceptions among 12 identified interventions that support improved academic development, through factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) and pairwise comparisons analysis. Findings provide valuable information about prioritizing student academic counseling services strategically and effectively, to meet program needs of students in high-poverty schools.

Do Teacher Assistants Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From School Funding Cutbacks in North Carolina

This article examines the influence of teacher assistants and other personnel on outcomes for elementary school students during a period of recession-induced cutbacks in teacher assistants. Using panel data from North Carolina, we exploit the state’s unique system of financing its local public schools to identify the causal effects of teacher assistants, controlling for other staff, on measures of student achievement. We find consistent evidence of positive effects of teacher assistants, an understudied staffing category, on student performance in reading and math. We also find larger positive effects of teacher assistants on achievement outcomes for students of color and students in high-poverty schools than for White students and students in more affluent schools. We conclude that teacher assistants are a cost-effective means of raising student achievement, especially in reading.

Concentrated Poverty in U.S. Schools and Adolescents' Risk of Being Overweight.

The economic segregation of U.S. schools undermines the academic performance of students, particularly students from low-income families who are often concentrated in high-poverty schools. Yet it also fuels the reproduction of inequality by harming their physical health. Integrating research on school effects with social psychological and ecological theories on how local contexts shape life course outcomes, we examined a conceptual model linking school poverty and adolescent students' weight. Applying multilevel modeling techniques to the first wave of data (1994-1995) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; n = 18,924), the results revealed that individual students' likelihood of being overweight increased as the concentration of students from low-income families in their schools increased, net of their own background characteristics. This linkage was connected to a key contextual factor: the exposure of students in high-poverty schools to other overweight students. This exposure may partly matter because of the lower prevalence of dieting norms in such schools, although future research should continue to examine potential mechanisms.

School-Level Poverty and Persistent Feelings of Sadness or Hopelessness, Suicidality, and Experiences with Violence Victimization among Public High School Students.

To examine the association between school-level poverty status and students' persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, suicidality, and experiences with violence victimization among U.S. high school students. Public schools captured in the 2015 and 2017 national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys were categorized as high-, mid-, or low-poverty based on the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals (N=29,448). Students in high-poverty schools were significantly more likely than students in low-poverty schools to experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, experience suicidal thoughts and attempts, not go to school because of safety concerns, be threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, be bullied on school property, be physically forced to have sexual intercourse, and be victims of sexual and physical dating violence. School and community approaches to address suicide and violence victimization may be especially important for students living in poverty.

70. Sexual Health Behaviors By School Level Socioeconomic Status And Urbanicity, National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) 2015-2017

The economic and social conditions in which high school students live and learn (i.e., social determinants of health [SDOH]) influence both academic achievement and health outcomes. Although the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is the longest established, nationally representative, comprehensive surveillance system monitoring health-related behaviors among high school students, the survey does not include individual-level indicators for SDOH. This is the first study to stratify YRBS data by school-level socio-economic status (SES) and urbanicity to examine their association with sexual health behaviors. The national YRBS is a cross-sectional survey conducted biennially among a nationally representative sample of public and private students in grades 9–12. YRBS data from 2015 (N= 15,624, response rate= 60%) and 2017 (N= 14,765, response rate= 60%) were combined, and then linked with extant data to identify school-level estimates for SES (percentage of students eligible for free- and reduced-price meals [%FRPM]) and urbanicity (urban, suburban/town, or rural) among students attending public schools. %FRPM was categorized as low poverty (25% of students or less), average (26%-75%), and high poverty (more than 75%). This study examined whether sexual health behaviors (currently sexually active, 4+ lifetime sexual partners, condom use during last sexual intercourse, hormonal birth control during last sexual intercourse, condom and hormonal birth control during last sexual intercourse [dual use protection], and drank alcohol or used drugs before last sexual intercourse) varied by %FRPM and urbanicity. Adjusted Prevalence Ratios (APR) were calculated using logistic regression models that controlled for sex, race/ethnicity, and grade. Associations were considered significant at p <0.05 level. Compared to students in low poverty schools, students in average (APR=1.33, 95% CI= 1.17-1.51) and high poverty schools (1.44, 1.19-1.73) were more likely to be sexually active, and students in average (1.44, 1.16-1.78) and high poverty schools (1.68, 1.22-2.32) were more likely to have four or more sexual partners. Compared to students in low poverty schools, students in high poverty schools were less likely to use a condom (0.84, 0.74-0.96) or hormonal birth control (0.78, 0.64-0.96) during last sexual intercourse, and students in average (0.79, 0.64-0.97) and high poverty schools (0.71, 0.54-0.94) were less likely to have used alcohol or drugs during last sex. Some sexual health behaviors differed by urbanicity. Compared to students in rural schools, students in suburban/town schools were less likely to be sexually active (0.89, 0.80-0.98); and students in urban schools were less likely to have used hormonal birth control (0.85, 0.73-0.99) and dual use protection (0.72, 0.56-0.92) during last sexual intercourse. High school students attending rural or high poverty schools have a higher prevalence of some sexual health behaviors that increase their risk for teen pregnancy and STIs, including HIV/AIDS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s YRBS provides an opportunity to examine the relationship between sexual behaviors and SES and urbanicity, key measures for adolescent social determinants of health.

The Resilience of Deficit Thinking

Deficit thinking, which situates school failure in the minds, bodies, communities and culture of students, dominates schooling practices in the US and Canada. From this perspective, the remedy to school failure is to “fix” students, their families, culture or language. Critics of deficit thinking point to systemic factors, especially diminished opportunities to learn, to explain high levels of school failure among poor students and students of color. Decades of fierce critique have failed to diminish the appeal of deficit thinking. This paper considers the resistance of deficit thinking to critique by examining the appeal of Ruby Payne’s Culture of Poverty, a particularly egregious instantiation of deficit thinking that pathologizes the language and culture of people living in poverty. The paper then turns to more recent work by the author to counter deficit thinking by showing what happens when students in high-poverty schools are challenged by the kind of thoughtful, engaging, high-expectation curricula common in affluent, high-achieving schools and classrooms.

Examining the Assumptions Underlying the NCLB Federal Accountability Policy on School Improvement

Many wonder whether the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) will realize its goal of improving achievement among low-performing students in high-poverty schools. An examination of assumptions that underlie the accountability and school improvement aspects of this federal policy suggests that it will not. In spite of the coherence of the systemic reform framework in which NCLB is based, flawed rules for placing schools in improvement status, mismatches between actual needs and pre-prescribed service types, and major gaps in state and local capacity for designing and providing services mean that the implementation of school improvement may be insurmountably limited by the NCLB policy basis. Following this analysis, five recommendations for the next reauthorization of our nation's federal education policy are offered.

Catching up or falling behind? Initial English proficiency, concentrated poverty, and the reading growth of language minority learners in the United States.

This study contrasts growth trajectories in English reading for 2 groups of language minority (LM) learners--those who enter kindergarten with limited oral English proficiency and those who enter kindergarten proficient in oral English--with that of native English speakers. Fitting a multilevel model for change to longitudinal data on a nationally representative sample, this study examines students' growth trajectories from kindergarten through 5th grade. Three noteworthy findings emerge. First, LM learners entering kindergarten proficient in English have trajectories similar to those of native English speakers, but LM learners entering kindergarten with limited English have trajectories that diverge from those of native English speakers, yielding large differences in achievement by the 5th grade. Second, controlling for demographic risk factors, including socioeconomic status (SES), reduces the effect of initial English proficiency from large to moderate and yields differences that narrow over time. Finally, these differences depend on school poverty, with smaller differences evident among students in high-poverty schools than among students in low-poverty schools. Results emphasize the need for academic interventions for LM learners who enter school with limited English proficiency.

Get Real: Teaching about the Presidential Election

THE SEASON is upon us, and sometimes it seems never ending: The presidential campaign. While the media bombards us with the latest debate, visits of candidates to potential supporters, op-ed articles, and so on, what do young people make of all of this? What do they understand about presidential elections? Do they care who will be president? Do they understand the democratic process and how we elect a president? Will they grow up to be voters and involved in the democratic process? What are schools doing to help students learn about all of this? During the last presidential election, John Waldman, a 5th- and 6th-grade teacher at PS #1 Elementary School in Santa Monica, California, wanted to make the presidential election a dynamic and exciting learning experience for his students. He used the Storypath strategy to bring these events to the forefront of his curriculum in order to focus on the process of the presidential election. The Storypath strategy uses a straightforward narrative format with scenes, characters, and plot to organize content into meaningful learning experiences. As Wiggins and McTighe clearly articulate, clear and compelling narrative helps us find meaning, not just scattered facts and abstract ideas. Stories help us remember and make sense of our lives and the lives around us. ... A story is not a diversion; the best stories make our lives more understandable and focused. (1) And so, the teachers and students ventured into a story--learning important democratic principles and experiencing the highs and lows of a presidential campaign. Through an inquiry process, the teacher leads students down a pathway of learning and, in this case, students figure out how the election process works and a president is elected. Ultimately, Storypath is successful because students ask their own questions. They are invested in learning the answers to their questions, and the teacher guides the process to ensure that educational objectives are achieved. Traditional units on the presidential election are likely to ask students to identify candidates and party platforms and then decide who they want to be president, perhaps by staging a mock election. Our experience is that students often find this tedious and abstract and that the election doesn't generate much excitement. There is no convincing evidence that this experience will plant seeds for later participation in the democratic process. Voting statistics suggest that a high percentage of citizens do not vote, especially citizens in their early 20s. The U.S. Census Bureau's data state that only 47% of 18- to 24-year-old citizens voted in the 2004 election. (2) If a paramount duty of public education is to prepare students for an active role in democracy, this percentage would suggest that schools are failing. This issue becomes particularly acute in low-income schools. If we use family income as a measure of voter participation, the data are clear: Citizens with higher incomes were more likely to register and to vote. The voting rate among citizens living in families with annual incomes of $50,000 or more was 77% compared with 48% for citizens living in families with incomes under $20,000. (3) These data present serious problems for students in high-poverty schools where social studies has been pushed out of the school day to allow more time for literacy and mathematics. Leming, Ellington, and Schug in a national survey confirmed that in elementary schools, social studies gets significantly less time than reading and math during the school week. (4) Thus, a highly motivating curriculum designed to engage students in authentic democratic processes is essential. What could be more important than preparing students for participating in a democratic society? Waldman's experience with Storypath did not sacrifice learning about the democratic process at the expense of developing strong literacy skills. In fact, Storypath provided a genuine context for reading and writing well. …

Understanding the Significance of Context: A Framework to Examine Equity and Reform in Secondary Mathematics

Abstract The purpose of this article is to outline a framework that can be used to examine issues of equity and mathematics reform. Adapted from an opportunity-to-learn framework proposed by Tate (2004), this model includes factors related to time, quality, and design. This framework is applied to the cases of two secondary mathematics teachers to illustrate how these factors can operate to shape teachers' implementation of reform. The differences between the two cases point to the significance of teaching context with respect to reform. The framework has equity implications insofar as the time and quality factors that constrain change appear to be more likely to impact students of color and students in high-poverty schools, thus denying them access to mathematics reform.

Prospects: Final Report on Student Outcomes.

Prospects: Final Report on Student Outcomes, by Michael J. Puma, Nancy Karweit, Cristofer Price, Anne Ricciuti, William Thompson, & Michael Vaden-Kiernan. Bethesda, MD: Abt Associates, 1997. 96 pp. (Available free from the Planning and Evaluation Service, U.S. Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20202-8240). Reviewed by Phyllis McClure, Independent Consultant, Washington, D.C.. In the 1988 Hawkins-Stafford Amendments that reauthorized 1 (now known as Title I), Congress commissioned a major longitudinal study of the effects of participation in the federal compensatory education program on achievement and other related educational outcomes. Prospects: Student Outcomes is the culminating report of that study. It summarizes the information gleaned from tracking a large, national sample of the same students in three grade cohorts from 1991 to 1994. Students were drawn from high-poverty schools (75% or more poor students) and low-poverty schools (25% or fewer poor students). Data were collected from student records, student profiles completed by teachers, student questionnaires, parent questionnaires, and reading/language arts and mathematics scores from the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills 4th edition (CTBS-4). Another volume, Prospects: The Congressionally Mandated Study of Educational Growth and Opportunity-Technical Report, provides a detailed description of the study design and implementation. The legislation also called for an interim report published in 1993, which contains extensive data on students in high-poverty schools, 1 students, districts, schools and classrooms, and language minority and limited-English-proficient students. Prospects: Student Outcomes presents its findings in straightforward, nontechnical prose divided into four chapters. The first of these is an introduction outlining the dimensions of the Prospects study, the history of 1, and characteristics of 1 participants. The second chapter, Did 1 Help Close the Gap? examines methodological issues, the relationship of test scores to school poverty level, and student outcomes for program participants. 3 focuses on the characteristics of high-performing high-poverty schools, those that foster academic achievement despite having high concentrations of economically disadvantaged students. The concluding chapter offers an exploratory analysis of factors associated with student achievement and growth over time. 1 services consisted of supplementary instruction offered for about 30 minutes a day, five days a week. This low intensity of extra assistance was expected to compensate for the large achievement gap. Program participants were by definition and requirement the lowest achieving students. Although the purpose of the program was to improve educational outcomes for these students, Prospects concludes that, as operated prior to its 1994 reform, Chapter 1 assistance did not reduce the initial gap in academic achievement between participating and nonparticipating students. Where children start out compared to their classmates largely explains their relative academic standing in later grades (p. 41). Using CTBS-4 national norms and the criterion-referenced test data provided by the test publisher, the study found that the majority of students could not master the reading and mathematics skills expected of them at their respective grade levels. Students in highpoverty schools were far less likely to master grade-level skills than were students in low-poverty schools. The performance gap was generally larger in higher order skills than in more basic competencies. Even when controlling for a variety of student, family, school, and classroom variables, the study found that: (a) students receiving 1 assistance scored below nonparticipating students, (b) students who had more intense assistance tested below those who received less help, and (c) 1 did not, over time, close the performance gap between economically disadvantaged students and their more advantaged peers. …