The Limits and Possibilities of Using Research to Facilitate School Improvement

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The Limits and Possibilities of Using Research to
Facilitate School Improvement

• Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D.
• New York University

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I. If were so smart why arent the schools that
need the most help getting better?

• Too much research tells us what we know already
• Examples Research on class size, teacher
  quality, achievement gap and the failure of
  school reform
• It tells us whats wrong but not what to do to
  bring about change
• Examples critiques of tracking, drop-out
  studies, research on the organization of high
  schools
• Tells us what works but not how to replicate -
  bringing good practice to scale
• Examples small schools, language immersion
  programs

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What Else is Wrong with Educational research

• Educational researchers are too content
  communicating with each other
• Whos reading our journals and publications?
• Too much research is disconnected from policy and
  practice
• Policy is often driven by politics and ideology
  not research
• Research is not sufficiently focused on how to
  address the pressing problems confronting the
  field of education
• Children in poverty
• Schools experiencing rapid demographic change
• Immigrant students with interrupted formal
  education

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II. What kind of research is needed

• A) Problem oriented research designed to benefit
  schools
• How to build stronger partnerships between
  parents and schools
• How reduce aggressive behavior and racial
  conflict among students
• How to compensate for low literacy skills in math
  classes

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Research thats needed

• B) Research to guide school change
• How to motivate students to learn
• Pathways research on high schools in Boston
• Identifying the obstacles to student achievement
• Berkeley HS Diversity Project
• Evaluation studies of new policy initiatives
• Schools for Black and Latino males

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III. Using research to guide practice What we
know about the achievement gap

• Gaps in achievement are a manifestation of
  broader patterns of racial inequality (Jencks and
  Phillips 1998 Noguera and Akom 2000)
• It mirrors other disparities and forms of
  inequality(health, income,employment)
• Tends to follow consistent patterns with respect
  to the race and class of students
• Privilege is inherited Kids start school with
  varying levels of preparation (Snow 1997)
• A childs background (SES, education of parents)
  is strongly correlated with their performance in
  school (Coleman 1966 Jencks 1972)

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Help educators to understand how schools
perpetuate the achievement gap

• Schools often exacerbate pre-existing inequality
  through inequitable practice
• Poor students are assigned to inferior schools
  (Orfield 1996)
• Triage approach to education (Noguera 1995)
• Tracked into less challenging course with less
  qualified teachers (Oakes 1986)
• Patterns that have been in place for a long time
  are often accepted as normal - the normalization
  of failure is the central obstacle to increasing
  student achievement

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Racial inequality is different from other forms
of social inequality

• Racial inequality in education is related to
  historical patterns of racial discrimination (R.
  Anderson 1990)
• Inequities in school funding, unequal treatment
  (Meier, et.al 1989)
• Beliefs in the genetic basis of intelligence
  (Hernstein and Murray 1994)
• Beliefs that culture (student backgrounds) are
  more powerful an influence than schools on
  achievement (McWhorter 1998)
• Racial disparities in achievement are exacerbated
  by racial segregation and concentrated poverty
  (Orfield and Eaton 1996)
• Poor minority kids generally attend the worse
  schools

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Exceptions to Patterns

• Black middle class
• Tend to perform lower than expected given SES and
  educational background of parents (Ogbu 1995)
• Significant factors
• Teacher expectations (R. Ferguson 2002) and
  school sorting practices (Achievement Council
  1998)
• Family influences (M. Portilla 1998)
• School culture - peer influences (L. Steinberg
  1996, P. Noguera 2001)
• Linking of racial identity and academic
  performance (P. Noguera 2003, Phelan, et.al. 1998)

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Exceptions Continued

• Immigrant students
• Over represented among failing and successful
  students (Suarez-Orozco 2002)
• Voluntary vs. non-voluntary (Ogbu 1988)
• Primary vs. secondary differences (Portes and
  Rumbaut 1996)
• Influence of class and cultural capital (S. Lee
  1998)

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IV. The New Educational Research

• Must meet standards for good research (National
  Academy 2002), and more...
• Must be deeply engaged with field
• More like research in public health
• Must challenge assumptions related to schooling
  and learning
• Research on disciplinary practices
• Must provide detached assessment of policy
• Chicago Research Consortium
• Must have clear links to policy and practice
• Harvard Civil Rights Project

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New Educational Research

• Must be intelligible to policy makers and
  practitioners
• Pathways research on high schools
• Must be rigorous and open to scrutiny
• MDRC research on school-based interventions
• Research process may be part of the
  transformation effort
• Diversity Project
• Must be guided by theory
• Theories of society
• Theories of the middle range
• Theories of change

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Good Research Alone is not Good Enough

• Need to find ways to engage policy makers
• How do we get taken seriously?
• Need to inform the broader public
• Who is our audience?
• Need to recognize the ways in which politics and
  vested interests may limit possibilities for
  change