Predicting or preventing lifelong learning? The role of employment, time, cost, and prior achievement

Although there has been a rich amount of research about lifelong learning providing benefits such as economic advancement and personal fulfillment, less is known about factors that increase or decrease a person’s likelihood of pursuing it. Nonetheless, knowing these predictors and barriers can have practical consequences on encouraging people to have continued education. Using a national US dataset ( n = 1651), our analyses showed people’s pursuit of different lifelong learning modalities and revealed significant predictors and barriers of lifelong learning. Counterintuitively, employment and time constraints did not prevent individuals from pursuing educational opportunities; they actually helped predict it. Additionally, limited information—rather than cost—was a stronger driver in preventing people from pursuing lifelong learning. Taken together, the research has implications for encouraging people to pursue lifelong learning.

ICT-related variables as predictors of ICT literacy beyond intelligence and prior achievement

This study examined the incremental validity of different information and communication technologies (ICT)-related person characteristics over and above intelligence and and prior achievement when predicting ICT literacy across a period of three years. Relative weights analyses were performed to determine the relative contribution of each predictor towards explaining variance in ICT literacy. We used data from German NEPS that tracks representative samples of German students across their school careers. The sample consisted of 14,436 fifteen-year-old German students who provided self-reports on several ICT-related variables: self-confidence, usage motives, breadth of usage, access, experience, usage at home and at school. Data were analyzed cross-sectionally and longitudinally with structural equation models and path analyses, respectively. Cross-sectionally, all ICT-related variables incrementally predicted ICT literacy after controlling for intelligenc (explained variance: 0.4%–14.1%). Longitudinally, ICT self-confidence, ICT-related usage motives, breadth of ICT usage, ICT usage at school, and ICT experience incrementally predict ICT literacy after controlling for intelligence and prior achievement.three years later (explained variance: 0.3%–8.1%). Relative weights providing estimates of relative importance of each predictor showed that intelligence (cross-sectional) and prior achievement and intelligence, respectively (longitudinal) explained the largest portion of variance in ICT literacy, followed by ICT self-confidence, and ICT usage motives as the strongest ICT-related variables. These results emphasize that ICT-related motivational constructs play an important role in the development of ICT literacy.

How far can they go? : English language learners' math course taking in high school and school practices

Over the last three decades in the U.S., schools have endeavored to provide more equitable access to rigorous courses, especially for racially or socioeconomically marginalized students, and increased those students' participation in higher level courses. Despite such improvement, the gaps in high level courses enrollment among racially or socioeconomically different student groups still remain with those marginalized students underrepresented in the high level courses. The present study focused on another marginalized group of students, English language learners (ELLs) and sought to identify school practices that may improve ELLs' access to advanced math courses in high school. Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, the present study examined three key school practices in association with ELLs' taking advanced math: i) student choice-based math placement policies, ii) math encouraging programs for underrepresented studentudy found that only math PLCs had a statistically significant association with the probability of taking advanced math courses, net of prior achievement and other student- and school-level factors. The math PLCs examined here represented a collaboration among math teachers to learn effective teaching methods and discuss their teaching/learning belief for students including ELLs or under-performing students. It found no differential effects of school practices and ELLs' taking advanced math courses, the main focus of this study. However, the findings indicate that ELLs can also benefit from high quality math PLCs as much as other students. The key finding of the present study suggests the possible area that school leadership and educators should develop to improve students' access to advanced math courses net of their prior achievement. Particularly for ELLs, the finding suggests that training content area teachers may help ELLs more readily access academicarformance. Most importantly, considering taking advanced math in high school is a critical issue for ELLs in regard to their participation in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) workforce in the future, there should be more research that explicitly investigates school policies and practices that may facilitate ELLs' access to higher level courses in high school. keywords: English language learners, High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, math professional learning communities, student choice, advanaced math

Can less be more? Instruction time and attainment in English secondary schools: Evidence from panel data

How to best utilize curriculum time has long been a question for England’s schools, which are free to vary time between subjects or to extend the school day/week. This question has now risen to national prominence as policymakers consider ways to help support students catch up lost learning after the COVID-19 pandemic. This article explores the relationship between instruction time on General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) attainment and value-added scores for 2,815 English secondary schools using panel data from the 2010–14 School Workforce Census. Robust estimates suggest that instruction time has a small effect on attainment in each of English, mathematics, science and humanities. Based on sub-group analysis, effects sizes are also estimated for students with varying prior achievement and for those in receipt of free school meals. These too appear small, suggesting, vis-à-vis instructional time, sometimes less might be more.

The Public-Private Debate: School Sector Differences in Academic Achievement from Grade 3 through Grade 9?

This study examined whether differences in literacy and numeracy achievement were related to attendance at public or private schools in a sample of 2762 Australian students in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9. Private school students outperformed their public school counterparts in grades 7 and 9, but the small differences disappeared after socioeconomic status and prior achievement were included as covariates. No advantage of attendance at private schools was evident in grades 3 and 5. An exploratory longitudinal analysis showed that students in both school sectors have similar growth trajectories in reading and numeracy from grade 3 through 9. Neoliberal government policies that support the continued high level of investment in private schools in Australia and elsewhere are discussed.

A Promise Kept? The Impact of the El Dorado Promise Scholarship on Student Achievement

We examine whether the El Dorado Promise, a guaranteed college scholarship program for students in the El Dorado School District (EDSD), affected elementary and middle school achievement using a quasi-experimental matching design. We first match the EDSD with similar districts to create a pool of potential comparison students then match students on prior achievement and demographics. The Promise leads to an estimated 0.11 standard deviation gain in math achievement; this effect is statistically significant and practically meaningful. Results are similar from district-level synthetic control and difference-in-differences analyses. We find larger effects on students with above-average prior achievement. We are unable to construct an appropriate comparison group to estimate the impact of the Promise on literacy achievement.

The smartphone in self-regulated learning and student success: clarifying relationships and testing an intervention

This two-part observational and intervention study addressed the role of the smartphone in self-regulated learning (SRL) and student success as measured by achievement. Smartphone usage among students has been identified as contributing to lower academic achievement in a variety of settings. What is unclear is how smartphone usage contributes to lower outcomes. This study surveyed participants’ self-regulated learning skills and smartphone usage at the beginning and end of the term for first semester undergraduates. A regression analysis demonstrated that when controlling for prior achievement, general SRL measures had a positive impact on first semester achievement. Smartphone related SRL did not have a direct impact on achievement. The second part of the study evaluated the efficacy of a brief intervention to ameliorate factors contributing to lower achievement. Students were presented with either SRL strategies, awareness and attention strategies or career planning guidance (control). A regression analysis of the brief intervention resulted in modest gains in SRL but did not influence achievement.

What Teachers Want: School Factors Predicting Teachers’ Decisions to Work in Low-Performing Schools

Attracting and retaining teachers can be an important ingredient in improving low-performing schools. In this study, we estimate the expressed preferences for teachers who have worked in low-performing schools in Tennessee. Using adaptive conjoint analysis survey design, we examine three types of school attributes that may influence teachers’ employment decisions: fixed school characteristics, structural features of employment, and malleable school processes. We find that teachers express a strong preference for two malleable school processes, administrative support and discipline enforcement, along with a higher salary, a structural feature. Estimates indicate these attributes are 2 to 3 times more important to teachers than fixed school characteristics like prior achievement. We validate our results using administrative data on teachers’ revealed preferences.