Losing Generations Adolescents in High-Risk Settings (1993) / Chapter Skim
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6 ACADEMIC SCHOOLING
6 ACADEMIC SCHOOLING
Pages 102-124
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From page 102... ...
Their schools use instructional methods that are not conducive to learning challenging tasks. Compounding these disadvantages are generally Tower expectations for student achievement.
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From page 103... ...
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT The school performance of adolescents is typically assessed through measures of individual achievement and grade attainment. Studies have produced a wealth of data on national trends in individual achievement.
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From page 104... ...
In contrast, the performance of black adolescents has steadily improved, as has that of Hispanics ito a lesser degreeJ, thereby narrowing the achievement gap between whites and blacks. Nonetheless, the average achievement scores of blacks tend to be two to three grade levels Tower than those of whites, and the difference in graduation rates is approximately 5 percent.
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From page 105... ...
Data for Maryland, for example, show that more than 67 percent of students in urban high schools are absent for more than 20 days each year, a rate more than twice the state average Maryland School Performance Program, 19911. More important, few studies examine the distribution of stuclent performance for individual schools.
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From page 106... ...
, urban school per pupil expenditures are about 7 percent below the national average, although in a number of urban districts per pupil expenditures exceed the state average [Council of the Great City Schools, 19921. Although an $873 per pupil funding gap may not appear significant, in an average class of 25 students the difference is $21,825 enough to employ a teacher's aide, pay higher salaries, offer special instructional assistance, or improve dilapidated cIassrooms.
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From page 107... ...
These assessments reflect in part the greater demands on urban school districts. A recent analysis, for example, indicated that urban and suburban schools spend about equal percentages `62 percent of the funds available to them)
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From page 108... ...
Differences in financial resources, instructional materials, staff qualifications, and parent involvement ultimately produce marked differences between the climate, norms, and instruction of poor schools and those of more affluent schools {Maeroff, 1988; Kozol, l991J. For example, one study of four urban elementary schools found that pupils in middle-income schools were more likely to be encouraged to be independent and otherwise "tilde initiative.
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From page 109... ...
These changes can be stressful for adolescents, and data indicate that the experience of transition itself may have an independent negative effect on student attitudes and achievement, especially in large urban schools {Eccles and Midgley, 19891. Transcripts from one urban school district revealed that, among students who ultimately dropped out ~35 percents, the most s~gn~cant declines in performance occurred during the first year of middle school and the first year of high school fRoderick, 1991~.
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From page 110... ...
More significant, both practices involve substantial risks for students' academic achievement. An unintended consequence is that stu AbiJity Grouping ("Tracking"J Ability grouping takes different forms.
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From page 111... ...
In contrast, comparisons between students in different tracks have found that hightrack assignment tends to accelerate achievement somewhat while low-track assignment significantly reduces achievement, even controlling for factors such as socioeconomic status {Alexander et al., 1978; Gamoran and Mare, 1989; Oakes, 19821. A recent bestevidence synthesis of the broad literature of ability grouping and student achievement concurs with these assessments, although there may be some differential effects for middle and high schools, and in some classes, such as social studies.
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Gracle Retention Grade retention has traditionally been used to ensure that students C3O not advance unless they have specific skills and basic competencies [such as reading comprehension) to function at the next grade level.
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From page 113... ...
Chapter 1 programs concentrate on elementary and middle schools and provide funds for academic remediation on the assumption that acquiring basic skills will allow low-achieving students to move more successfully through the education system. Dropout prevention programs, in contrast, have traditionally focused on older students, and although aca , their main goal is at-risk students to stay In school and earn a demic remediation is one of many objectives simply to motivate diploma.
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From page 114... ...
Through Chapter 1 and similar efforts, poor and minority children have made notable gains: school dropout rates have decreased, and graduation rates and mastery of rudimentary skills have substantially improved. National evaluations find improvement for students relative to other "needy" students, but the gains are unimpressive compared with other students in the regular curriculum {Kennedy et al., 1986a,bJ.
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From page 115... ...
The response was a rapid increase in dropout prevention programs, many of which were enacted with categorical federal and state funds, often on a demonstration basis Higgins and Mueller, 1988J. Initially, the dropout problem was conceptualized as a risk facing older adolescents, and hence most programs were implemented in high schools; there were at least 1,000 programs by 1987, most of which had been in operation for less than 4 years {U.S.
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From page 116... ...
A second point of consensus is that effective dropout prevention does not occur through categorical or add-on services, but through the use of schoolwide alternatives to tracking, grade retention, suspension, and expulsion {see Massachusetts Advocacy Center and Center for Early Adolescence, 1988~. Indeed, the strategy of preventing dropouts by improving schools has become a practical necessity: with an estimated one-fourth of all urban schools having dropout rates around 50 percent, it is no longer feasible to
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From page 117... ...
Student achievement levels in these schools are significantly Tower on virtually all measures than for students in suburban schools. Traditional educational practices negatively affect the school
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From page 118... ...
Dropout prevention programs for older adolescents are less effective when implemented as remedial or vocational addons to the regular curriculum. It has become apparent that the roots of poor achievement lie not only in the condition of poverty or in individual differences, but also in the use of instructional practices such as tracking and grade retention, and the generally lower achievement expectations for adolescents in concentrated poverty schools.
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From page 119... ...
1990a Tracking the middle grades: national patterns of grouping for instruction. Phi Delta Kappan 71 6:445-449.
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From page 120... ...
Washing ton, D.C.: William T Grant Foundation, Commission on Work, Family and Citizenship and the Institute for Educational Leadership.
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From page 121... ...
Kulik, J.A., and C.L. Kulik 1987 Effects of ability grouping on student achievement.
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Baltimore, Md.: Maryland State Department of Education and Baltimore City Public Schools. Massachusetts Advocacy Center and Center for Early Adolescence 1988 Before It's Too Late: Dropout Prevention in the Middle Grades.
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Review o: Laucanona1 Research lDl~l;~-ll. 1987b Ability grouping and student achievement in elementary schools: a best-evidence synthesis.
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From page 124... ...
Teachers College Record 87~3~:374-392. Wehlage, G.G., R.A.
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