scholarly journals The relationship between test preparation and state test performance: Evidence from the Measure of Effective Teaching (MET) project

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Hongli Li ◽  
Yao Xiong
Keyword(s):  
Effective Teaching ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
White Students ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Hispanic Students ◽  
Test Preparation ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Test ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Relationship

The passage of the NCLB Act enhanced accountability policies in the United States, and standardized testing became prevalent as a policy tool to ensure accountability in K-12 education. Given the high stakes of state administered accountability tests, more school teachers have adopted test-preparation strategies to ensure satisfactory student performance on state tests. However, it remains unclear as to whether and how test preparation relates to students’ state test performance. In this study, by drawing on the Measure of Effective Teaching (MET) longitudinal dataset, we examined the relationship between test preparation and students’ state test performance. We found that students with lower test performance in Year 1 received more test preparation in Year 2; however, the effects of test preparation on students’ state test performance were rather small and mixed. In regard to racial differences, we found that Black and Hispanic students received more test preparation than White students. Further, the effect of test preparation measured by the item “practicing for the state test” on state test performance was significantly greater for Black and Hispanic students than for White students. The implications of the study, its limitations, and directions for future research are also discussed.

Whiteness and School Shootings: Theorization toward a More Critical School Social Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-160
Author(s):  
Joshua R Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
White Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
School Social Workers ◽  
Bullying Victimization ◽  
Educational Processes ◽  
Individual Trait ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In the United States, school shootings have become an increasingly prevalent and publicly salient social problem. School social workers play a central role in developing understanding of their etiology and intervening to prevent their further occurrence. Even though nearly all school shootings are committed by white students, no etiological theory has contemplated the possibility that whiteness contributes in any meaningful way to the perpetration of school shootings. Popular theories suggest that gun availability, mental illness, and bullying bear some relationship to school shootings; however, levels of gun availability, mental illness prevalence, and bullying victimization do not differ substantially between whites and non-whites, indicating that these factors might account for school shootings within, but not between, races. The present article takes up the task of beginning to theorize the relationship between whiteness and school shootings, exploring the likelihood that whiteness acts as a moderator, leading whites, but not non-whites, to commit school shootings in response to similar antecedents. This novel theorization provides an opening for school social workers to more critically interrogate whiteness not as an individual trait, but as a structural phenomenon that influences not only the etiology of school shootings, but schools and educational processes more broadly.

scholarly journals Rankings of International Achievement Test Performance and Economic Strength: Correlation or Conjecture?

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher H Tienken
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Achievement Test ◽  
Economic Competitiveness ◽  
World Economic ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Mathematics And Science

Examining a popular political notion, this article presents results from a series of Spearman Rho calculations conducted to investigate relationships between countries’ rankings on international tests of mathematics and science and future economic competitiveness as measured by the 2006 World Economic Forum’s Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI). The study investigated the existence of relationships between international test rankings from three different time periods during the last 50 years of U.S. education policy development (i.e., 1957–1982, 1983–2000, and 2001–2006) and 2006 GCI ranks. It extends previous research on the topic by investigating how GCI rankings in the top 50 percent and bottom 50 percent relate to rankings on international tests for the countries that participated in each test. The study found that the relationship between ranks on international tests of mathematics and science and future economic strength is stronger among nations with lower-performing economies. Nations with strong economies, such as the United States, demonstrate a weaker, nonsignificant relationship.

scholarly journals Structural Racial Inequities in Socioeconomic Status, Urban-Rural Classification, and Infant Mortality in US Counties

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-398
Author(s):  
Jessica Owens-Young ◽  
Caryn N. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Infant Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Racial Gaps ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
The Relationship

Objectives: Despite improvements in infant mortality rates (IMR) in the United States, racial gaps in IMR remain and may be driven by both structural racism and place. This study assesses the relationship between structural racism and race-specific IMR and the role of urban-rural classifica­tion on race-specific IMR and Black/White racial gaps in IMR.Methods: We conducted an analysis of variance tests using 2019 County Health Rankings Data to determine differences in structural racism indicators, IMR and other co-variates by urban-rural classification. We used linear regressions to determine the associations between measures of structural racism and county-level health outcomes.Results: Study results suggest that racial inequities in education, work, and home­ownership negatively impact Black IMR, especially in large fringe, medium, and small metro counties, and positively impact White IMR. Structural racism is also associated with Black-White gaps in IMR.Conclusions: Factors related to structural racism may not be homogenous or have the same impacts on overall IMR, race-specific IMR, and racial differences in IMR across places. Understanding these differential impacts can help public health profes­sionals and policymakers improve Black infant health and eliminate racial inequities in IMR. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(3):389-398; doi:10.18865/ed.30.3.389

scholarly journals Time as a measure: Elementary students positioning the hands of an analog clock

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darrell Earnest ◽  
Alicia C. Gonzales ◽  
Anna M. Plant
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Students ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Treatment ◽  
Mathematics Standards ◽  
Length Measure ◽  
Hands On ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Elementary students have difficulty with the topic of time. The present study investigated students’ actions to position hour and minute hands on an analog clock to indicate particular times of the day. Using one-on-one interviews with students in Grades 2 and 4 (n = 48), we analyzed whether students were more accurate for one hand indicator (hour or minute) versus the other as well as their solution approaches as they positioned each hand. We first present a quantitative analysis of student performance to document whether hour and minute hands posed differential challenges for students as they positioned hands to indicate particular times. Results indicate the hour hand is significantly more challenging to position accurately than the minute hand. Students’ solutions reflected varied approaches, including consideration of the quantitative hour-minute multiplicative relationship, attention to part-whole relations, and matching numbers from the provided time to numerals on the clock. We discuss implications for theory and instruction, including the relationship of time to length measure learning trajectories and the current treatment of time in K-12 mathematics standards for the United States.

Unemployment and Racial Differences in Imprisonment

1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 189-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel L. Myers ◽  
William J. Sabol
Keyword(s):  
Racial Differences ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Workers ◽  
Industrial Economy ◽  
Black Unemployment ◽  
The Relationship

Conventional wisdom about the criminal justice system suggests that extralegal factors such as race or employment status should not affect sentencing outcomes. In this paper we examine an alternative model of the relationship between imprisonment and unemployment and race. The model suggests that penal practices are shaped by the labor market conditions of a system of production and that prisons, as part of a larger set of institutions providing support for economically-dependent populations, help to regulate the most superfluous group of workers in the industrial economy of the Northern states of the United States—unemployed black workers who comprise a large fraction of the pool of “reserve” workers necessary for price stability and economic expansion. We find support for the structural model that links black imprisonment (and Northern imprisonment in general) to manufacturing output and black unemployment.

Behind the Eight Ball: The Effects of Race and Number of Infractions on the Severity of Exclusionary Discipline Sanctions Issued in Secondary School

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 131-143
Author(s):  
Jamilia J. Blake ◽  
Danielle M. Smith ◽  
Asha Unni ◽  
Miner P. Marchbanks ◽  
Steve Wood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
White Students ◽  
Hispanic Students ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Behavioral Disorder ◽  
Emotional Behavioral Disorder ◽  
Disability Categories ◽  
State Educational ◽  
Students With A Disability

African American and Hispanic students receive more punitive school discipline than White students even when students of color commit similar infractions as Whites. Similarly, students with a disability status are more likely to experience harsher discipline in schools compared to their counterparts without a disability label. This study examines whether these discrepancies are a result of a difference in the number of infractions students of different racial/ethnic groups and disability categories commit. Using secondary educational data from a state educational agency in the United States, we demonstrate that African American and Hispanic students and students with an emotional behavioral disorder status receive more severe sanctions than White students and students without a disability label at their first discipline encounter. This racial disparity in discipline severity continues through six sanctions and is eliminated at the 13th sanction. The disability disparity in discipline severity dissipates after 10 sanctions for students with emotional behavioral disorder and intellectual disability. Implications for school personnel and future directions are discussed.

scholarly journals Malware Infections in the U.S. during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
Sydney Gero ◽  
Sinchul Back ◽  
Jennifer LaPrade ◽  
Joonggon Kim
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Work ◽  
Social Events ◽  
The World ◽  
States Data ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The U.S

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in many ways, especially in the landscape of cyber threats. The pandemic has pro-vided cybercriminals with more opportunities to commit crimes due to more people engaging in online activities, along with the increased use of computers for school, work, and social events. The current study seeks to explore cybercrime trends, in particular malware infections, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study examines the relationship between the number of malware in-fections, COVID-19 positive cases, closed non-essential businesses, and closed K-12 public schools in the United States. Data utilized in this study derives from (1) Kaspersky Cyberthreat Real-Time Map, (2) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and (3) COVID-19 US State Policy Database over the course of six months from January of 2020 to June of 2020. The findings of this study reveal that there are associations between the number of malware infections, COVID-19 positive cases, and closed non-essential busi-nesses. However, interestingly, there is no link between the number of malware infections and closed K-12 public schools. Policy impli-cations and the limitations of this study are also discussed.

On the Educational Rights of Undocumented Students: A Call to Expand Teachers’ Awareness of Policies Impacting Undocumented Students and Strategic Empathy

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (12) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Sophia Rodriguez ◽  
William Mccorkle
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Undocumented Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Positive Direction ◽  
Teachers Attitudes ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Relationship

Background/Context Undocumented and DACAmented students face substantial restrictions in higher education as well as in U.S. society. Though there has been significant research on the effects of these policies on the lives and educational outcomes of immigrant students, including how undocumented students are accessing higher education, there is less understanding of K–12 teachers’ awareness of these policies and their attitudes toward these policies. This is especially true in regard to aggregated, nationwide quantitative research. Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the awareness of teachers nationwide toward the educational experiences and policies of immigrant students, their awareness of false immigration narratives, and teachers’ attitudes toward education policies for immigrant students. In addition, the relationship between teachers’ awareness and attitudes was analyzed. This research is relevant because the awareness of teachers toward the educational experiences of immigrant students is central to cultivating strategic empathy. Similarly, an understanding of the sociopolitical realties of immigrant students, particularly those with an undocumented status, is necessary to advocate for and fulfill students’ educational needs. Furthermore, teachers’ attitudes and beliefs toward educational policies for immigrant students are fundamental because they may reflect on more implicit attitudes of teachers toward immigrant and marginalized populations. Research Design The study is based in a correlation quantitative design that explored the relationship between awareness and attitudes. The research centers on a study of K–12 teachers (N = 5,190) from across all regions of the United States. The instrument measuring awareness and attitudes was designed and validated by the authors. The analyses revealed that overall, there was a relatively strong awareness of educational policies for immigrant students and identification of false immigration narratives. However, several areas of unawareness were especially notable, particularly related to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the ease of the immigration system. The attitudes of teachers toward educational policies for immigrant students leaned in a more positive direction overall. Additionally, the analysis revealed a significant correlation between awareness of educational policies and attitudes (r = .170, p = < .001) and a stronger correlation between awareness of false immigration narratives and attitudes (r = .579, p = < .001). Conclusions From these data, the authors call for an expanded view of teachers’ awareness in the form of what is conceptualized as sociopolitical strategic empathy. Implications of the data speak to the dangers of ill-prepared teachers and how their lack of awareness impacts attitudes toward undocumented students/lack of inclusive views toward rights.

Reading ability mediates the relationship between education and executive function tasks

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMANDA SCHAFER JOHNSON ◽  
LISA J. FLICKER ◽  
PETER A. LICHTENBERG
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Educational Quality ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Dementia Screening ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
The Relationship

Neuropsychological test results are affected by multiple factors, but usually age and education are the only variables by which norms are stratified. Some authors have questioned whether these variables alone are sufficient (e.g., Marcopulos et al., 1997; Manly et al., 2002), since such norms have lead to problems, such as poor specificity for African Americans on dementia screening devices (Fillenbaum et al., 1990). Recent research has shown that reading ability, a measure of educational quality, attenuated racial differences in test performance (Manly et al., 2002). We specifically examined whether reading ability would account for a greater amount of variance than education in executive function tests in a population traditionally subject to poor educational quality. Results determined that reading ability accounted for a significantly greater amount of variance than years of education for Letter-Number Sequencing, Similarities, COWA, Trail Making Test, and Coloured Progressive Matrices. Reading ability was found to significantly mediate the relationship between each of these tests and education. Animal naming appears to be least affected by educational quality or quantity. These findings hold implications for the interpretation of neuropsychological test results, especially in those exposed to substandard educational quality, and for the way that test norms are constructed. (JINS, 2006, 12, 64–71.)

Abusive Men's Use of Children to Control Their Partners and Ex-Partners

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa L. Beeble ◽  
Deborah Bybee ◽  
Cris M. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Emotional Abuse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Anecdotal Evidence ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
The Relationship

While research has found that millions of children in the United States are exposed to their mothers being battered, and that many are themselves abused as well, little is known about the ways in which children are used by abusers to manipulate or harm their mothers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that perpetrators use children in a variety of ways to control and harm women; however, no studies to date have empirically examined the extent of this occurring. Therefore, the current study examined the extent to which survivors of abuse experienced this, as well as the conditions under which it occurred. Interviews were conducted with 156 women who had experienced recent intimate partner violence. Each of these women had at least one child between the ages of 5 and 12. Most women (88%) reported that their assailants had used their children against them in varying ways. Multiple variables were found to be related to this occurring, including the relationship between the assailant and the children, the extent of physical and emotional abuse used by the abuser against the woman, and the assailant's court-ordered visitation status. Findings point toward the complex situational conditions by which assailants use the children of their partners or ex-partners to continue the abuse, and the need for a great deal more research in this area.

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