This report presents selected findings from the school principal data files of the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). It provides the following descriptive information on school principals by school type, student characteristics, and other relevant categories: number, race/ethnicity, age, gender, college degrees, salary, hours worked, focus of work, years experience, and tenure at current school.
Battle, D. (2009). Characteristics of Public, Private, and Bureau of Indian Education Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States: Results From the 2007–08 Schools and Staf ng Survey (NCES 2009-323). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.
As rich and poor families have increasingly moved into separate communities, the character of neighborhood life in the United States has changed. This paper attempt to outlined several concrete steps to reduce economic segregation, rebuild communities, and narrow the opportunity gap.
Closing the Opportunity Gap. (2016). A Project of the Saguaro Seminar. Retrieved from https://theopportunitygap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/april25.pdf
This paper examines teacher education textbooks for discussion of research-based strategies that every teacher candidate should learn in order to promote student learning and retention.
Learning About Learning: What Every New Teacher Needs to Know Retrieved from http://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Learning_About_Learning_Report.
This report reviews the research and strategies for achieving high levels of student performance in high poverty schools.
Center for Public Education. (2005, August 22). High-performing, high-poverty schools: Research review. Retrieved December 8, 2016, from Center for Public Education, http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Organizing-a-school/High-performing-high-poverty-schools-At-a-glance-/High-performing-high-poverty-schools-Research-review.html
This study examined how uncertainty, both about students and the context in which they are taught, remains a persistent condition of teachers’ work in high-poverty, urban schools. Their conclusion: Traditional public schools are open systems and require systematic organizational responses to address the uncertainty introduced by their environments. Uncoordinated individual efforts alone are not sufficient to meet the needs of students in high-poverty urban communities.
Kraft, M. A., Papay, J. P., Johnson, S. M., Charner-Laird, M., Ng, M., & Reinhorn, S. (2015). Educating amid uncertainty. Educational Administration Quarterly, 51(5), 753–790. doi:10.1177/0013161X15607617
This study examined the complex linkages between teacher quality and socio-economic-based disparities in student achievement. The gap in teacher quality appears to arise from the lower payoff to teacher qualifications in high-poverty schools. In particular, the experience-productivity relationship is weaker in high-poverty schools and is not related to teacher mobility patterns. Recruiting teachers with good credentials into high-poverty schools may be insufficient to narrow the teacher quality gap. Policies that promote the long-term productivity of teachers in challenging high-poverty schools appear key.
Sass, T., Hannaway, J., Xu, Z., Figlio, D., & Feng, L. (2016, June). Value added of teachers in high-poverty schools and lower-poverty schools. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/research/publication/value-added-teachers-high-poverty-schools-and-lower-poverty-schools
One of the most critical issues facing K-12 education is the impact that poverty has on school performance. This study first examines school performance using traditional metrics for school poverty levels (percent of student body that qualify for free and reduced lunch: FRL) and school performance (school achievement based on the aggregate test scores of its student body). The results support prior research documenting the negative relationship between the level of poverty in a school and student achievement (the higher the poverty the lower the achievement). However, when replacing the student achievement metric with a student growth metric, the relationship is significantly different.
Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. S. (2001). Schools, achievement, and inequality: A seasonal perspective. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23, 171–191.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a classroom-teacher-delivered reading intervention for struggling readers called the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), designed particularly for kindergarten and first-grade teachers and their struggling students in rural, low-wealth communities.
Amendum, S. J., Vernon-Feagans, L., & Ginsberg, M. C. (2011). The effectiveness of a technologically facilitated classroom-based early reading intervention: The targeted reading intervention. The Elementary School Journal, 112(1), 107-131.
This report provides extensive data on the high-poverty schools and the students who attend them. It also provides information on principals, teachers, and staff who work in them.
Aud, S., Hussar, W., Planty, M., Snyder, T., Bianco, K., Fox, M., Frohlich, L., Kemp, J., Drake, L. (2010). The Condition of Education 2010 (NCES 2010-028). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.
Selection practices in education, such as tracking, may represent a structural obstacle that contributes to the social class achievement gap. We hypothesized that school’s function of selection leads evaluators to reproduce social inequalities in tracking decisions, even when performance is equal. In two studies, participants (students playing the role of teachers, N = 99, or preservice and in-service teachers, N = 70) decided which school track was suitable for a pupil whose socioeconomic status (SES) was manipulated. Although pupils’ achievement was identical, participants considered a lower track more suitable for lower SES than higher SES pupils, and the higher track more suitable for higher SES than lower SES pupils. A third study (N = 160) revealed that when the selection function of school was salient, rather than its educational function, the gap in tracking between social classes was larger. The selection function of tracking appears to encourage evaluators to artificially create social class inequalities.
Batruch, A., Autin, F., Bataillard, F., & Butera, F. (2018). School Selection and the Social Class Divide: How Tracking Contributes to the Reproduction of Inequalities. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 0146167218791804.
The later effects of the Direct Instruction Follow Through program were assessed at five diverse sites. Low-income fifth and sixth graders who had completed the full 3 years of this first- through third-grade program were tested on the Metropolitan Achievement Test (Intermediate level) and the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT).
Becker, W. C., & Gersten, R. (1982). A follow-up of Follow Through: The later effects of the Direct Instruction Model on children in fifth and sixth grades. American Educational Research Journal, 19(1), 75-92.
The Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary School Principals in the United States is a subsection of the NCES 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). It provides descriptive statistics on K-12 school principals in areas such as: race, gender, education level, salary, experience, and working conditions.
Bitterman, A., Goldring, R., Gray, L., Broughman, S. (2014).Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States:Results From the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Summary, First Look. IES, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education
This research aim to find a strong connection between standards-based reform and student outcomes by studied the most recent NAEP data. Their findings believe that states should remain dedicated to standards-based reform. The Common Core is the most recent major policy initiative to advance the broader standards-based reform approach and states should continue their commitment to the Common Core’s full implementation and aligned assessments.
Boser, U., & Brown, C. (2016). Lessons from State Performance on NAEP: Why Some High-Poverty Students Score Better than Others. Center for American Progress.
By estimating the effect of teacher attributes using a value-added model, the analyses in this paper predict that observable qualifications of teachers resulted in average improved achievement for students in the poorest decile of schools of .03 standard deviations.
Boyd, D., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., Rockoff, J., & Wyckoff, J. (2008). The narrowing gap in New York City teacher qualifications and its implications for student achievement in high‐poverty schools. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management: The Journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, 27(4), 793-818.
This paper advances the discussion of the achievements differences between the higher and lower social-class groups were increasing, particularly between children in the highest income group and everyone else issue by analyzing trends in the influence of race/ethnicity, social class, and gender on students’ academic performance in the United States. This paper also explores the ways in which English language ability relates to Hispanics’ and Asian Americans’ academic performance over time (Nores and Barnett 2014).
Carnoy, M., & García, E. (2017). Five Key Trends in US Student Performance: Progress by Blacks and Hispanics, the Takeoff of Asians, the Stall of Non-English Speakers, the Persistence of Socioeconomic Gaps, and the Damaging Effect of Highly Segregated Schools. Economic Policy Institute.
In this article, the author argues convincingly for a view of American's cultural diversity as a self-evident reality - one that must be effectively addressed by inservice and preservice teacher education programmes.
Carrington, V. (1999). Student Cultural Diversity: Understanding and Meeting the Challenge. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 43(4), 386.
Rich opportunities for learning are important for all teachers. Whatever expertise they
acquire in their pre-service program, teachers continue to need ongoing professional learning in order to meet additional responsibilities and the evolving needs of their students and schools. Continuous learning is especially vital for teachers who work in the dynamic and demanding environments of high-poverty, urban schools.
Charner-Laird, M., Ng, M., Johnson, S. M., Kraft, M. A., Papay, J. P., & Reinhorn, S. K. (2016). Gauging Goodness of Fit: Teachers’ Assessments of their Instructional Teams in High-Poverty Schools. Retrieved from http://projectngt.gse.harvard.edu/files/gse-projectngt/files/gauging_goodness_of_fit_0622916.pdf
This study examined a teacher incentive policy in Washington State that awards a financial bonus to National Board Certified Teachers who teach in high-poverty schools. It found that the bonus policy increased the proportion of National Board Certified Teachers in bonus-eligible schools, through increases in both the number of existing NBCTs hired and the probability that teachers at these schools apply for certification. However, it do not find evidence that the bonus resulted in detectible effects on student test achievement.
Cowan, J., & Goldhaber, D. (2015). Do bonuses affect teacher staffing and student achievement in high-poverty schools? Evidence from an Incentive for National Board Certified Teachers in Washington State. Center for Education Data & Research.
This paper examines critical issues that must be considered to maximize the positive impact of big data and minimize negative effects that are currently encountered in other domains. This review is designed to raise awareness of these issues with particular attention paid to implications for educational research design in order that educators can develop the necessary policies and practices to address this complex phenomenon and its possible implications in the field of education.
Daniel, B. K. (2017). Big Data and data science: A critical review of issues for educational research. British Journal of Educational Technology.
This report examines key indicators on the educational progress and challenges students face in the United States by race/ethnicity. The report also has special sections on public school teachers by race/ethnicity and characteristics of post-secondary institutions serving specific minority racial/ethnic groups.
de Brey, C., Musu, L., McFarland, J., Wilkinson-Flicker, S., Diliberti, M., Zhang, A., Branstetter, C., and Wang, X. (2019). Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2018 (NCES 2019-038). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved [date] from https://nces.ed.gov/ pubsearch/.
The largest Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) expenditure by far is for its Title I program. This report try to follow the money to see whether Title I funds are spent effectively and whether or not ESEA achieves its objectives. This report suggest focusing effective interventions on the neediest students may provide a way forward that is consistent with fiscal realities.
Dynarski, M., kainz, K. (2015). Why federal spending on disadvantaged students (Title I) doesn’t work. Brookings Institutions. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-federal-spending-on-disadvantaged-students-title-i-doesnt-work/
Student's eligibility fro free or reduced-price lunch us a blunt measure fro economic disadvantage. This research use administrative data from Michigan to develop a more detailed measure of economic disadvantage. The data contain information on the entire population of students in the Michigan public schools. The results imply that the number of years that a child spends eligible for subsidized meals can be used to proxy for household income.
Dynarski, M.S., Michelmore, K. The Gap Within The Gap. Brookings Institution. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-gap-within-the-gap
The Education Equality Index makes it easy for parents, educators, and policymakers to bring equality into any discussion of school quality at the city or state level. In the first report using Education Equality Index data, they focus on schools with significant concentrations of students from low-income families. The data highlights schools that are working to close or have closed the achievement gap where at least 51 percent of the student population receives a free or reduced price lunch (a common measure of economic disadvantage). This report highlight up to 10 schools in each city.
Education Equality in America comparing the Achievemnet gap Across Schools and Cities. (2016). Education Equality Index. Retrieved from http://www.educationequalityindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Education-Equality-in-America-v1-4.pdf
This policy proposal I suggest (1) reforms to ensure that the Title I formula gets enough resources to the neediest areas, and (2) improvements in federal guidance and fiscal compliance outreach efforts so that local districts understand the flexibility they have to spend effectively. These are first-order issues for improving high-poverty schools, but so deeply mired in technical and bureaucratic detail that they have received little public attention in the re-authorization process.
Gordon, N. (2016). Increasing targeting, flexibility, and transparency in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to help disadvantaged students. Policy Proposal, 1.
The Coleman Report was mandated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act gave the US Office of Education two years to produce a report that was expected to describe the inequality of educational opportunities in elementary and secondary education across the United States.
Hanushek, E. A. (2016). What matters for student achievement. Education Next, 16(2), 18-26.
This study examined the relationships between poverty and a school's academic performance (both student achievement and growth).
Hegedus, A. (2018). Evaluating the Relationships between Poverty and School Performance. NWEA Research. NWEA.
This report provides descriptive information on traditional public, charter, and private school principals over the period of 1987-88 through 2011-12. It includes comparative data on number of principals, gender, race/ethnicity, age, advance degrees, principal experience, teaching experience, salaries, hours worked, focus of work, experience and tenure at current schools, etc.
Hill, J., Ottem, R., & DeRoche, J. (2016). Trends in Public and Private School Principal Demographics and Qualifications: 1987-88 to 2011-12. Stats in Brief. NCES 2016-189. National Center for Education Statistics.
This report investigates the possibility that the characteristics and conditions of schools are behind the teacher shortage crisis. The data indicate that school staffing problems are not primarily due to teacher shortages, in the sense of an insufficient supply of qualified teachers. Rather, the data indicate that school staffing problems are primarily due to a “revolving door” – where large numbers of qualified teachers depart from their jobs long before retirement. The data show that much of the turnover is accounted for by teacher job dissatisfaction and teachers pursuing other jobs. Significant numbers of those who depart from their jobs in these schools report that they are hampered by inadequate support from the school administration, too many intrusions on classroom teaching time, student discipline problems and limited faculty input into school decision-making.
Ingersoll, R. M. (2004). Why do high-poverty schools have difficulty staffing their classrooms with qualified teachers? (Report prepared for Renewing Our Schools, Securing Our Future—A National Task Force on Public Education). Washington, DC: The Center for American Progress and the Institute for America’s Future. Retrieved from https://scholar.gse.upenn.edu/rmi/files/ingersoll-final.pdf.
Isenberg, E., Max, J., Gleason, P., Johnson, M., Deutsch, J., & Hansen, M. (2016). Do low-income students have equal access to effective teachers? Evidence from 26 districts (No. ce9ae6b49ff34e388113f31ca621bfa8). Mathematica Policy Research.
This analysis examines the influence of poverty on student reading performance across grade levels.
Keyworth, R. (2015). How does reading proficiency correlate with a student's socio-economic status? Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. Retrieved from https://www.winginstitute.org/how-does-reading-proficiency
This study examined teachers need for organizational responses that addressed the environmental uncertainty of working with students from disadvantaged neighborhoods. It described four types of organizational responses — coordinated instructional supports, systems to promote order and discipline, socio-emotional supports for students, and efforts to engage parents — and illustrate how these responses affected teachers’ ability to manage the uncertainty introduced by their environment.
Kraft, M. A., Papay, J. P., Johnson, S. M., Charner-Laird, M., Ng, M., & Reinhorn, S. (2015). Educating Amid Uncertainty The Organizational Supports Teachers Need to Serve Students in High-Poverty, Urban Schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 51(5), 753-790.
This report uses statistics to examine current conditions and changes over time in education activities and outcomes for different racial/ethnic groups in the United States. This report shows that over time, students in the racial/ethnic groups of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Two or more races have completed high school and continued their education in college in increasing numbers. The indicators in this report show that some traditionally disadvantaged racial/ethnic groups have made strides in educational achievement over the past few decades, but that gaps still persist.
Musu-Gillette, L., De Brey, C., McFarland, J., Hussar, W., Sonnenberg, W., & Wilkinson-Flicker, S. (2017). Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2017. NCES 2017-051. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED574873
This report examines the educational progress and challenges students face in the United States by race/ethnicity. This report shows that, over time, students in the racial/ethnic groups of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Two or more races have completed high school and continued their education in college in increasing numbers. Despite these gains, the rate of progress has varied among these racial/ethnic groups and differences by race/ethnicity persist in terms of increases in attainment and progress on key indicators of educational performance.
Musu-Gillette, L., Robinson, J., McFarland, J., KewalRamani, A., Zhang, A., & Wilkinson-Flicker, S. (2016). Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2016. NCES 2016-007. National Center for Education Statistics.
This paper enters debate about how U.S. schools might address long-standing disparities in educational and economic opportunities while improving the educational outcomes for all students. with a vision and an argument for realizing that vision, based on lessons learned from 60 years of education research and reform efforts. The central points covered draw on a much more extensive treatment of these issues published in 2015. The aim is to spark fruitful discussion among educators, policymakers, and researchers.
O'Day, J. A., & Smith, M. S. (2016). Equality and Quality in US Education: Systemic Problems, Systemic Solutions. Policy Brief. Education Policy Center at American Institutes for Research.
Trends Shaping Education Spotlights is a series of briefs bringing together global mega trends, academic research and concrete policy examples to support strategic thinking in education. Using a multidisciplinary lens and a visual and concise format, this is a series directed at a broad audience, including policy makers, principals and teachers, researchers and parents and students.
OECD (2017). Mind the gap: Inequity in education. Trends Shaping Education Spotlights, No. 8. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1787/5775ac71-en.
This report seeks to highlight some disparities to draw the public’s and policymakers’ attention to the urgent need to address this educational and civil rights crisis. Using a more accurate method for calculating graduation rates, they provide estimates of high school graduation rates, distinguished at the state and district level, and disaggregated by race.
Orfield, G., Losen, D., Wald, J., & Swanson, C. B. (2004). Losing our future: How minority youth are being left behind by the graduation rate crisis. Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (The).
This report presents data on income and poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2016 and earlier Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. This report contains two main sections, one focuses on income and the other on poverty.
Proctor, B. D., Semega, J. L., & Kollar, M. A. (2016). Income and poverty in the United States: 2015. US Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60-256.
This study found that one aspect of segregation in particular—the disparity in average school poverty rates between white and black students’ schools—is consistently the single most powerful correlate of achievement gaps. This implies that high-poverty schools are, on average, much less effective than lower-poverty schools, and suggests that strategies that reduce the differential exposure of black, Hispanic, and white students to poor classmates may lead to meaningful reductions in academic achievement gaps.
Reardon, S.F. (2015). School Segregation and Racial Academic Achievement Gaps (CEPA Working Paper No.15-12). Retrieved from Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis: http://cepa.stanford.edu/wp15-12
This study shows that the overuse of suspensions in California schools is harming student achievement and graduation rates, and resulting in billions of dollars in economic damage. The study quantifies the financial consequences of school suspensions down to the district level, reporting both the additional costs borne by taxpayers as a result of suspensions and the economic benefit lost to the state.
Rumberger, R. and Losen, D. (2017). The Hidden Cost Of California's Harsh School Discipline: And The Localized Economic Benefits From Suspending Fewer High School Students. The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at The Civil Rights Project, UCLA and California Dropout Research Project.
This meta-analysis looked at socioeconomic status and race statistics to determine whether there were relationships among socioeconomic status, race, and fathers absence from the home. The results of the meta-analysis appear to indicate that father-absence effects are independent of socioeconomic status or race.
Salzman, S. A. (1988). Father Absence, Socioeconomic Status, and Race: Relations to Children's Cognitive Performance.
This paper reviews evidence from six recent studies, which collectively suggest that teachers who leave high-poverty schools are not fleeing their students, but rather the poor working conditions that make it difficult for them to teach and their students to learn. They include school leadership, collegial relationships, and elements of school culture.
Simon, N. S., & Johnson, S. M. (2013). Teacher turnover in high-poverty schools: What we know and can do. Teachers College Record, 117, 1-36
This meta-analysis reviewed the literature on socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement in journal articles published between 1990 and 2000. The results showed a medium to strong SES–achievement relation.
Sirin, S. R. (2005). Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research. Review of educational research, 75(3), 417-453.
For the first time in recent history, a majority of the schoolchildren attending the nation's public schools come from low income families. The pattern was spread across the nation. This paper show the percentage data from across the country.
Suitts, S. (2015). A new majority research bulletin: Low income students now a majority in the nation’s public schools. Atlanta, GA: Southern Education Foundation.
For the first time in recent history, a majority of the schoolchildren attending the nation’s public schools come from low income families. The latest data collected from the states by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), evidence that 51 percent of the students across the nation’s public schools were low income in 2013.
Suitts, Steve. A New Majority Research Bulletin: Low Income Students Now a Majority in the Nation's Public Schools. Southern Education Foundation. (2015).
The National Teacher and Principal Survey is completed every four years soliciting descriptive information from principals and teachers across the 50 states. A few highlights include: Sixty percent of school principals have been at their schools for three years or less.
Taie, S., and Goldring, R. (2017). Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States: Results From the 2015–16 National Teacher and Principal Survey First Look (NCES 2017-070). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved [date] from https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2017070.
This study examined the effectiveness of a classroom teacher intervention, the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), in helping struggling readers in kindergarten and first grade. This intervention used biweekly literacy coaching in the general education classroom to help classroom teachers use diagnostic strategies with struggling readers in one-on-one 15-min sessions.
Targeted reading intervention: A coaching model to help classroom teachers with struggling readers. Learning Disability Quarterly, 35, 102-114.
This report highlight suggestions from Nora Gordon report "Increasing Targeting, Flexibility, and Transparency in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to Help Disadvantaged Students.". The paper argues that effective local decisions about spending Title I funds have the biggest "bang for the buck", but that Washington and the states can do better to help locals make better decisions without running afoul of the grants program's requirements.
Ujifusa, A. (2016). Better Uses for Federal Aid to Low-Income Students Studied in New Report. Education Week. Retrieved from https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/03/title_i_changes_to_help_low_income_students.html
This article discuss how policymakers continued to search way through several approach to improve academic outcomes and life chances for low-income students.
Wax, A. L. (2019). Educating the Disadvantaged. National Affairs, no.40. Retrieved from https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/educating-the-disadvantaged
This journal discuss about inequality as a persistent problem in school. An educational system that sorts for differentiated pathways must be replaced with one that develops the talents of all. Psychology has a critical role to play in promoting a new understanding of malleable human capabilities and optimal conditions for their nurturance in schooling.
Weinstein, R. S., Gregory, A., & Strambler, M. J. (2004). Intractable self-fulfilling prophecies fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education. American Psychologist, 59(6), 511.
This meta-analysis of almost 200 studies that considered the relation between SES and academic achievement were examined. Results indicated that as SES is typically defined (income, education, and/or occupation of household heads) and typically used (individuals as the unit of analysis), SES is only weakly correlated (r = .22) with academic achievement.
White, K. R. (1982). The relation between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. Psychological bulletin, 91(3), 461.