Title: Uncommon Schools, Uncommon Results: Case Studies of Three New York State Schools Closing Racial Test
1Uncommon Schools, Uncommon Results Case
Studies of Three New York State Schools Closing
Racial Test Score Gaps
Colin Chellman and Meryle Weinstein Research
Associates, Institute for Education and Social
Policy and Leanna Stiefel and Amy Ellen
Schwartz Faculty, Wagner Graduate School New
York University Education Finance Research
Consortium November 19, 2004
2Research Questions
- What are the differences in school-level test
scores by subgroup in New York State? - How do "schools without gaps" differ from those
with gaps? - What policies and practices might contribute to
reducing test score gaps?
3School Strategies to Eliminate the Gap
- School culture and teacher characteristics
- Leadership
- Use of data
- Parental expectations and involvement in schooling
4School Culture and Teacher Characteristics
- Small class size and high per-pupil spending
- Teacher quality
- Integration and student relationships
- Expectations of teachers and principals
- Diverse faculty and staff
5Leadership
- Instructional leaders
- Ability to recruit and retain good teachers
- Principal autonomy
6Use of Data
- Disaggregating student performance to identify
low-performing students - Professional development on how to use data
- Connecting results to instruction
- Use of ongoing assessments
7Parents and Expectations
- Parental involvement in childrens school
- Parental expectations
- Communicating these expectations to children
8Quantitative Data 2000-01 and 2001-02
- New York State School Report Card
- State of Learning/Chapter 655 Report
- Institutional Master File
- School District Fiscal Profiles
9Quantitative Analysis
- Identify schools accountable for
- White students only
- Non-white students only
- Both white and non-white students
- Compare results to 2000-01 school year
- Identify schools that showed little disparity in
subgroup performance over two years
10Table 1 Distribution by Racial Accountability
Status, 2001-02
11Choosing Case Study Schools
- 1. Schools accountable for both white and
non-white students in 2000-01 and 2001-02 school
years - 668 elementary schools
- 424 middle schools
- 2. Identify schools with small or non-traditional
test score gaps between these groups - 45 elementary schools
- 27 middle schools
12- Eliminated
- schools sinking all boats
- less-integrated schools
- schools with the lowest poverty rates
- Asian-dominated schools
13Qualitative Data
- Principal Interviews (n3)
- Educational philosophy
- Academic goals
- Curricula
- Expectations for students
- School organization
- School environment
- Teacher Surveys (n23)
- Understanding of school philosophy
- Perceptions of other teachers, students
- Perceptions of school leadership
- Availability of teacher supports
14Qualitative Data, contd.
- Two studies
- Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC,
2003) - Compared schools with and without gaps
- Markow and Scheer, Education Week, 2004
Nationally-representative teacher sample
15Table 2 Teacher Characteristics
School Culture and Teacher Characteristics
Sources 1) Authors survey 2) 2003 State
of Learning/Chapter 655 Report
16Table 3 Student Interaction
School Culture and Teacher Characteristics
17Table 4 Factors That Explain Achievement Gap
School Culture and Teacher Characteristics
18Table 5 What would work best to reduce test
score gaps?
School Culture and Teacher Characteristics
19Principal Leadership
Leadership
- People know they can reach me here at school,
or at home, if they have a suggestionYou have to
be a risk taker. Youve got to learn to try
things, to see what works for the kids. If the
teacher has a good idea, and shes willing to go
for it, Ill support them if it makes sense
because, let them try it. If it doesnt work, go
to plan B.
20Table 6 Principal Leadership
Leadership
21Data
Data
-
- I think we probably use data more than most
schools What the district sends us is good, but
its not really action-able or available. Its a
stack of reports with a bunch of numbers. Thats
scary to your typical teacher.
22Table 7 Use of Data
Data
23Table 9 Expectations
Parents and Expectations
24Parental Involvement
Parents and Expectations
- Theres difficulty in getting the parents to
come in because of the nature of our population.
We have a large immigrant population The parents
dont come in because theyre not legal and they
have financial problems and family problems.
Theres a myriad of difficulties.
25Conclusions
- Teachers hold high expectations for all students.
- Principals are strong instructional leaders.
- Data from ongoing assessments are used to target
resources where needed most. - Teachers and principals perceive that parents
have high expectations around academic
performance for their children.
26Future Research
- Students observation and surveys
- How do students perceive teacher and parent
expectations? - Does diverse student interaction improve study
habits? - Parents
- How do parents express expectations for their
children? - Classroom observation
- Validate teacher survey response
- Comparison group of schools