Search

Teaching survey methods can be a tough job. Experience from the United Kingdom shows that undergraduate students in particular are increasingly interested in qualitative methods and are put off survey methods by the mathematical element. Evidence from agencies interested in internet use suggests that more students than ever before are using the internet to learn for their degree. This paper will look at the ways in which students can be encouraged to look online for survey methods resources that are relevant and interesting to their work. After describing a number of UK based resources, the paper will then examine two ways in which these can be used in teaching, to find information about general surveys and to write questionnaires. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little longitudinal data is available on the impact of Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) conferences. The purpose of the conferences is to encourage girls to take more math and science in high school by exposing them to hands-on activities and role models in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This paper is based on 2005 and 2006 one-to-one and small group interview data from 22 high school girls who attended an EYH conference during their middle school years. While a few of the girls could not recall the EYH experience, most of the girls relayed detailed descriptions of their day. Some of the girls then drew connections between their EYH experiences and their course taking actions and career goals. Results also indicate that some girls take math and science in high school so they can attend college, but have no intention of majoring in a STEM area. The paper highlights aspects of the EYH conference activities with the greatest salience and makes recommendations for future intervention work. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of differences in educational test scores typically employ differences in means as their outcome. This paper argues that mean differences, though helpful and informative, fail to provide a satisfactory framework through which to view differences in educational test scores, and proposes that our understanding of many differences in educational test scores would be enhanced by comparisons of who ends up in the top and bottom tails of the distribution. I suggest that ordinary least squares regression, a measure based on mean comparisons, does not sufficiently describe gender differences in mathematics achievement, and that important insights are gained by using logistic regression to observe the composition of the tails of the distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite having closed the gap with Asians and whites with regards to accessing algebra I and geometry, Latinos graduate from high school without taking advanced math courses such as algebra II, trigonometry, pre-calculus and calculus in similar proportions. Such underrepresentation in advanced math curriculum has serious implications for Latinos’ postsecondary opportunities as well as careers in math and science-based fields. This paper explores access to advanced math courses among 1992 Latino high school graduates. More specifically, this study builds upon theoretical debates within the sociology of education literature by considering several independent variables that have not been included in traditional quantitative models of tracking and coursework completion. Using the National Longitudinal Education Survey of 1988, I consider four factors that may explain Latino underrepresentation in advanced math courses: 1) a late start in taking gate keeping math courses such as algebra I and geometry, 2) grades earned in geometry, 3) lack of knowledge regarding the importance of advanced math for college bound students and 4) relationships with teachers. The results show that Latinos get a late start at taking gate keeping math courses such as algebra I and geometry. As ninth graders, they were more likely to take pre-algebra, basic, or vocational math courses compared to white students. In addition, both the grade-level students were at when they took geometry and the grades they earned in geometry explain a significant amount of the variance in advanced math coursetaking between Latinos and whites. The results of this study suggest Latinos face significant disadvantages during the transition from middle to high school. In turn, such disadvantage impacts prospects for taking advanced math courses before graduating from high school. These findings call into question the equality of opportunities for learning among students of different racial-ethnic groups with similar social and academic backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we test whether oral language development during the preschool years plays a role in explaining the positive relationship between family social class background and children?s school performance. In particular, we test for the portion of the social class effect on 2nd ? 4th grade reading, mathematics, and overall performance that is explained by oral language skills when the student enters kindergarten. We do so using a unique data set containing unusually comprehensive measures of kindergarten oral language skill, as well as a control variable for non-oral language IQ. Estimation is via a structural equation model with latent variables. The results show that oral language skill at kindergarten entry explains most of the effect of social class background on elementary school performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fit some data to models during tests, it is often necessary to adjust the data during the fitting process in order to approximate reasonable solutions. Sometimes this produces changes that alter important properties of the matrices. In some cases this has desirable consequences and the losses are minimal; in others losses exceed benefits. How can we distinguish between the two? In this paper, we discuss ways to achieve what we seek, while minimizing changes that have unsought effects. We also restrict our argument to special kinds of matrices. Advice is somewhat counterintuitive: subtract a tiny decimal from an eiagenvalue that is relatively widely separated (in size) from the other eigenvalues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The endorsement of merit-based reward systems is widespread in contemporary America and yet there are many settings in which merit is difficult to differentiate. In this paper, I study how quality uncertainty affects status-conferring behavior. I hypothesize that greater uncertainty increases the degree to which previous rewards become the basis for future rewards, a cumulative advantage process that generates growing prestige inequality. Using a large sample of core journal articles published between 1961-2000, I examine citation patterns and inequality among scholars in mathematics, a discipline characterized by low quality uncertainty, and scholars in economics, a discipline characterized by comparatively higher uncertainty. A growth curve model shows that citation inequality grows faster among cohorts from economics than from mathematics. Competing explanations for citation inequality are also considered. Neither publication inequality nor underlying talent variation can account for the higher growth rate in economics. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we assemble relevant work concerned with the official statistics on services in the economy. We start out with some recent/exemplar cases of change and controversy over services statistics to highlight key issues. We then provide a brief history of three aspects of services statistics (changing intellectual conceptions of 'services', early efforts to conceptualize modern economies, and the impact of these both on services statistics). We consider the theoretical, methodological, and conceptual questions raised by research in this area, placing the history and sociology of services statistics in relation to more general issues at the intersection of the sociology of knowledge, historical sociology, and the economic sociology of strategy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how geographical and socio-political conditions shaped the international diffusion of a scientific language, the decimal metric system of weights and measures. The results are based on a dataset on international metrication specifically assembled for this research. The dataset covers all 196 countries according to the grid of national states in 2010. How and when countries adopted the metric system as their official system of measurement is explained considering geographical factors (e.g. vicinity) and historical circumstances (like social revolutions, national unifications, foreign military imposition, colonialism, and decolonization). Moreover, the paper underlines the significant influence of colonization in spreading the metric system outside Europe (particularly in Africa), stresses the role of Latin American countries in making the metric system a legitimate international standard during the nineteenth century, and highlights the American imprint in the seven remaining countries that have not adopted the metric system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While loglinear and log-multiplicative analysis of association between variables is useful, its major limitation has been a lack of association with causal analysis. The objective of this paper is to generate adjusted cross-classified frequencies between a treatment variable X and its dependent variable Y that preserve the odds ratios between X and Y that would be realized if the effects of confounding covariates were eliminated. The paper first clarifies that the elimination of selection bias from the treatment variable X and the elimination of confounding covariate effects on Y are not the same thing in the causal analysis, that the propensity score adjustment is not functional for loglinear causal analysis, and that for loglinear causal analysis, we need a standardization for covariate states for a multinomial logit link function. Then, using semiparametric regression models, this paper introduces a new method of retaining the causal effects of X on Y, and the possible dependence of those effects on the third variable, in the adjusted two-way or three-way contingency tables. The estimation of standard errors for applying loglinear and log-multiplicative association models for the data of adjusted contingency tables is also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explain the gap between Asian American and white students in mathematics test scores by combining both cultural and socioeconomic approaches presented in previous studies. The sample consisted of a nationally representative sample of 1465 Asian American and 8757 white American students obtained from National Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, by the National Center for Educational Statistics. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) results indicate that parental involvement and students' individual motivation explain why Asian American students perform better than white American students. Meanwhile, better socioeconomic backgrounds and higher rates of two-biological-parent households also contribute to Asian student's better performance on mathematics test scores. However, Asian students who live with both biological parents make lower mathematics test scores than white American students who live with both biological parents. This result implies that Asian American students might have higher pressure from their parents on their education. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of key issues concerning school choice is whether choice would ultimately raise achievement. The issue of the impact of choice on achievement is related to the possible effect of intake composition on student, which is so called "contextual effects." Contextual effects indicate that the socio-economic composition of school intakes has a significant effect on student achievement. It is believed that working-class students usually take advantages by attending schools with a reasonable number of professional- class students. This study explores the impact of school choice on student achievement by analyzing the effects of the High School Equalization Policy (HSEP) on student achievement in South Korea. The HSEP refers to an educational policy allotting middle school graduates to high schools on the basis of where they live. Thus, this policy restricts parental choice rather than increases it. However, debate and concerns regarding this policy considerably reflect those regarding school choice policy. Using representative data for South Korea in 2004, the author estimates this policy effect on high school student mathematics achievement via the Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). The findings indicate that, although the HSEP does not significantly affect high school student math achievement, mean school socioeconomic status has a positive net effect on student math achievement. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many strategies have been implemented in schools to promote and improve student achievement in mathematics, few of which include a family and community involvement component. Although we know that children's family involvement is associated with stronger math performance, little is known about how educators can effectively involve families and community members to measurably improve student math achievement. This study used longitudinal data from 39 schools to assess the effects of family and community involvement activities on students' math achievement test performance. The study found that schools with stronger climates of partnership had higher levels of student math proficiency, even after controlling for schools' poverty levels and the prior year's math performance. The results suggest that better implementation of math-related practices of family and community involvement contributed to strong support from parents for schools' partnership programs, which helped schools improve student performance on math achievement tests over time. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study we examine whether the slower rate of change in achievement during summer is associated with instructional practices during school. Our perspective is grounded on research that shows education is best understood in the context of its linkages to other institutional forces. We explore the institutional linkage between the family and classroom using the analytic technique of examining differences in achievement during school and summer. As in prior studies, social status and summer learning matter. However, summer loss in mathematics is asymmetrical. There is no summer loss in basic skills such as the ability to count. The loss primarily occurs in the skills which have not yet been mastered prior to summer, especially the ability to perform addition and subtraction. The few positive effects of instruction are modest; and they are dampened in the summer. Our result does not exclude the possibility that, with greater quantity and quality of math instruction in later grades, the contemporaneous and carryover effects of instruction on mathematics achievement could be considerably larger. The policy significance of instruction as an effective tool to improve student achievement is discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender differences in mathematics achievement are typically thought to emerge at the end of middle school and beginning of high school, yet some studies have found differences among younger children. Until recently the data available to examine gender differences among young children consisted of small non-nationally representative samples. This study utilizes data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 to analyze differences in a nationally representative sample of kindergarteners as they progress from kindergarten to third grade. Using quantile regression techniques to examine gender differences across the distribution, differences are found among students as early as kindergarten. Initially boys are found to do better at the top of the distribution and worse at the bottom, but by third grade boys do as well or better throughout the distribution. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has established that the depth and breadth of remedial need in basic skills (math and English) are strongly and negatively associated with the likelihood that the student eventually will achieve college-level competency in those subjects (i.e., remediate successfully). This well-documented finding is built upon a body of empirical work employing either simple bivariate analyses or regression analyses that assume additive effects of multiple basic skill deficiencies. Yet, there are reasons to suspect that additive effects may not represent accurately the consequences of multiple basic skill deficiencies on favorable academic outcomes, and that multiple deficiencies instead may exhibit a compounding negative effect (multiplicative interaction effect) on the likelihood of successful remediation. In this research, I test for this compounding effect of math and English skill deficiencies on the likelihood of successful mathematics remediation. Using logistic regression to analyze data addressing a population of 55,518 remedial math students monitored for a period of 6 years, I test the hypothesis that the negative effect of math skill deficiency increases in magnitude with decreasing English competency. I find that students exhibiting a greater need for remedial English assistance experience a greater negative effect of math skill deficiency on the likelihood of successful mathematics remediation relative to students who require less or no remedial English assistance. However, upon closer examination, I find that these effects do not have substantive importance in the face of the overwhelming powerful direct effect of math skill deficiencies on the likelihood of successful mathematics remediation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States is experiencing a decline in science-related careers. Research suggests that attrition during college and post-graduate study accounts for the loss of talented students to other fields. The present study examines the pathways of baccalaureate recipients in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields after graduation. This preliminary study is the first step of a larger research agenda to study school to work transition of a cohort of Florida four-year college graduates. This analysis allows us to better understand demographic and academic factors associated with persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics careers post graduation. The examination of the school to work transition into STEM careers will provide higher education institutions and educational policy makers with the insight on how to attract and maintain STEM talent within the U.S., especially for underrepresented populations, like women and minorities. This study finds that women and men earn graduate degrees at the same rate, but women earn more non-STEM degrees. Engineering majors obtain their higher degrees more efficiently than students in Biology, Chemistry/Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Messages of femininity limit girls' active behavior in the classroom. Socially, math continues to be viewed as a male domain, though more so by males than females. Belief in mathematics ability and math applicability come from socially transmitted messages that are repeated by parents, peers, and popular culture. A mixed-method research design was employed for the purpose of investigating the difference between the classroom participation and overall self-efficacy of girls enrolled in the coeducational algebra class and those enrolled in the single-sex algebra class. The choice to participate actively in class is a process of weighing whether the answer one has is correct, and the self-esteem hazard to verbalizing a correct or incorrect answer. The motivational and self regulatory processes are affected by self-efficacy beliefs in many ways. They influence the choices that individuals make and the courses of action that they choose to pursue. There were some expected results and some unexpected results in this study; the unexpected results offered some suggestions regarding the effectiveness of this course to change outcomes for girls beyond the one year's enrollment in a single-sex math class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes math and reading score gaps of Asian and White children from the beginning of kindergarten throughout the end of first grade. It addresses three questions: 1) what are the magnitudes of Asian-White gaps at kindergarten entry and in their learning rates during kindergarten, summer, and first grade? 2) how do learning growth patterns differ between the two groups?, and 3) to what extent do family background characteristics explain the between-group and within-group differences in Asian-White gap at kindergarten entry and the learning growth gap? The results suggest that the Asian-White test score gap exists at kindergarten entry and is larger in reading than math. These initial differences explain differences in math scores through kindergarten and the K-1 summer, but the reading gap widens during the same periods. There are no significant differences between Asian and White students in first-grade math or reading achievement, after controlling for prior scores, although interaction effects suggest that the learning rates of Asian high achievers are particularly slower than their White counterparts. Although family SES factors do not explain the Asian advantages, they have differential effects on reading and math achievement between the two groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Using standardized tests and surveys of eighth graders in China and the United States, this study explores the relationships among family income, parenting, home environment, and mathematics achievement. Focusing on Chinese only children and American children with no more than one sibling, the study found that the mathematics achievement of Chinese eighth graders is higher than American students. Chinese parents had higher expectations for their children and talked more frequently with them about school. Furthermore, the relationship between parental expectations and mathematics scores is stronger for Chinese students than for American students. China’s national curriculum, well-trained elementary-and secondary-school mathematics teachers, high parental expectations, a universal concern for children’s education engendered by the one- child rule, and children’s willingness to work hard on mathematics are discussed, as possible causes for the higher mathematics achievement of Chinese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing data from the newly available Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), this study examines the effects of three dimensions of children?s behavior (externalizing problems, internalizing problems and school engagement) on mathematics test scores in the spring of kindergarten, controlling test scores from the fall of kindergarten. The model combines the concerns of two research traditions?the sociology of education and child development. The findings regarding student engagement are consistent with the previous literature. Net of other variables, including prior achievement, student engagement has a strong positive effect on end-of ?year mathematics achievement. The findings with respect to externalized and internalized behavior problems are somewhat more surprising. As expected, in the model predicting mathematics achievement that did not include student engagement, we found negative significant effects of both externalized and internalized behaviors on math scores. However, once student engagement is added to the equation, the effect of internalized behavior problems becomes insignificant, while the effect of externalized behavior problems becomes positive and significant. That is, net of prior tests scores and student engagement with instruction, students that have a higher rate of externalizing behavior problems are found to learn more mathematics than other children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational researchers have long-ignored the cross-national evidence for the U.S-based findings of the effects of family structure on academic performance. Revisiting the HL hypothesis (Heyneman and Loxley 1983) and Esping-Andersen's recent re-theorization of family-relevant welfare state regime typology, I found that first GDP per capita has positive effects on academic performance indirectly through sibling size. Second, the maximum degree of familialism in the corporatist regime nation-states has exacerbated the adverse effects of sibling size. However, we need to exercise caution while making statements about how the national economic indicators as well as welfare state regimes affect such an association. Data are from the OECD PISA data base and analyses were based on a multi-level analysis of 31 countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in low-income families enter kindergarten below the level of math proficiencies that children in high-income families exhibit, suggesting that family income, even prior to the start of formal schooling, may be positively associated with skills acquisition. By the first grade children in low-income families improve in the most basic math content area; whereas children in high-income families improve in the more sophisticated math content area. This divergence in learning yields persistent achievement gap over time. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) data and multi-level model, this study proposes a new method that decomposes the differences in mathematics achievement between children from low- and high-income families into that portion due to family background, school and classroom factors when children enter first grade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, American high school students' course-taking patterns have rapidly intensified. This paper investigates the consequences of academic intensification for social stratification in American high schools. We examine cross-cohort changes in math course completion using representative data from high school graduates in 1982, 1992, and 2004. We find, for example, that the proportion of graduates who completed pre-Calculus or Calculus increased by more than three times between 1982 and 2004. We then estimate changes in race, class, gender, and skills-based inequality in access to advanced math courses across these three cohorts. Although inequalities in access to Geometry, Algebra II, and Trigonometry have narrowed considerably, we find that inequalities in access to Calculus remain pronounced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last two decades, American education policy has relied on test-based accountability policies to improve student achievement and to close achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. In this paper, we ask whether accountability pressure increases student performance on "high-stakes" state tests and a second "low-stakes" measure of achievement. We determine that accountability pressure increased student gains on high-stakes math and reading tests. These accountability-induced score gains in math were twice as large as reading gains, but did not generalize to performance on the low-stakes math test. We further establish that that these effects differ substantially by race. For Hispanic students, accountability pressure increased gains on both tests in math and on the low-stakes test in reading. However, for black students, accountability pressure positively affected high-stakes math gains but negatively affected low-stakes gains, and had no significant effect on reading gains on either test. As a result, schools' responses to accountability pressure created the appearance of a closing black-white achievement gap on the high-stakes test, while the gap grew on the low-stakes test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-period-cohort models have an intriguing appeal because each of these factors may be independently associated with age-period-specific rates (or other values). The problem is that one can not uniquely estimate these effects because they are linearly dependent. We can, however, estimate certain linear functions of these individual effects that are themselves unique estimates - these are "estimable functions." In this paper, we show why it is possible to estimate unique functions of parameters that are themselves not uniquely estimable. We do this by showing that all of the least square estimates (of the unidentified parameters) in the APC model lie on a straight line and how this allows one to find linear functions of these unidentified parameters that are themselves identified. This leads to a simple criterion for finding which functions are estimable in APC models. This simple criterion has not previously been exploited to investigate the range of linear functions that are estimable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While extensive research has shown that boys have a higher average math identity (i.e., a sense of self as a "math person") than girls, the size of the gender gap in how many children prioritize math over other potential sources of positive identity is unclear. Averages obscure within-group heterogeneity in categorically different senses of self. Uncovering how children begin or cease to identify math as the crux of their academic identity is crucial to diminishing the gender gap in pursuing math and related fields in college and beyond. This study constructs trajectory groups of math identity relative to an alternate source of identity, reading, among third to eighth graders in a nationally representative data set: the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99. I find that both boys and girls are more likely to have a math-specialized identity than a reading-specialized identity by eighth grade, and that girls with a math-specialized identity in third grade are just as likely to maintain this identity as boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STEM occupations represent an increasingly important site for status attainment but are much less accessible for persons with disabilities. We use nationally representative data on over 20,000 adolescents from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to investigate how measures of STEM achievement and attitudes independently relate to postsecondary STEM choices for youth with disabilities. Family and school characteristics that contribute most to differences by disability status in end-of-high-school STEM achievement and attitudes are also considered. Results from multilevel modeling indicate that end-of-high-school achievement associates more closely than attitudes with the STEM postsecondary choices of youth with disabilities. Although the poorer outcomes of these youth are often dismissed as inevitable or natural, results from an innovative decomposition technique pinpoint social origins of their disparities in achievement and attitudes, with differences across families contributing more than differences across schools. Results also vary by disability type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we investigate the effects of high school exit exams on mathematics course-taking patterns. Results reveal that, when exit exams exist, students are, over the course of four years of high school, less likely to take mathematics courses with upward moves. Exit exams also have a negative effect on the number of mathematics credits earned. However, exit exams have a positive effect on the likelihood of completing precalculus or above, while having no effect on completion of Algebra 2 or above. There is substantial heterogeneity in the high school exit exam effect along student prior achievement and socioeconomic status dimensions, contributing to a larger gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students in the completion of precalculus or above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian-American children exhibit stronger math and reading skills than white children at school entry, a pattern that has motivated scholars to examine early childhood to determine when and why these gaps form (Sun 2011; Koury and Votruba-Drzal 2014). Yet, to date, it has been unclear what parenting practices might explain this "Asian Advantage." Analyzing over 4,100 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Birth Cohort, we find that the role of parenting is complex. Asian-American parents have high educational expectations compared with whites but are less engaged in traditional measures of parenting (e.g. reading to the child, maternal warmth, parent-child relationship) and these differences matter for understanding the Asian-American/white math advantage in early childhood. Thus, even by age four, Asian-American parents (across ethnic subgroups) play an important but complex role in the development of a child's cognitive skills in the first few years of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning disability (LD) labels lie at the crux of two central life domains, education and health, and may reproduce disadvantage. Nonetheless, this social problem has received little attention from sociologists. This study uses data on adolescents, teachers, and schools from The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, as well as multilevel modeling and propensity score techniques, to investigate whether adolescents' math course attainment is impacted by stigma related to LD labels. In contrast to similarly achieving and behaving adolescents without a disability label, labeled adolescents were less likely to experience progression in their 10th grade math course placements, more likely to have their performance attributed to disability, and less likely to be expected to complete a Bachelor's degree. Potentially suggesting stigma, decomposition estimates showed the effects of LD labels on the highest math course adolescents attempted by the end of high school were mediated by these early high school math experiences, net of differences in ability and cumulative disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern economy, success in the math/science pipeline in secondary schooling is the foundation for the advanced educational trajectories that are crucial to the long-term prospects of individuals and groups. Past research suggests that Latino/a and Asian-American populations have different experiences in this pipeline, but such research has largely ignored generational differences within these growing populations and the variability in their experiences across different segments of the American educational system. Analyses of nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health revealed evidence of a generational "decline" in math/science achievement within the Latino/a and Asian-American populations. Moreover, cross-level interactions revealed that the degree of generational differences varied by school context, especially for the Latino/a population. Such results illuminate the phenomenon of segmented assimilation and reveal the key contexts of risk and protection within the educational system for two race/ethnic minority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspectives of labeling theory, students labeled with a learning disability (LD) do not progress as far in high school math coursework as students not labeled with disability partially because of stigma related to the label. Using Link and Phelan's (2001) framework for stigma and data from The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, I find evidence to suggest that the LD label is stigmatizing. Students labeled with an LD are placed into significantly lower levels of 10th grade math than their peers who are not labeled with disability but performed similarly in comparable levels of 9th grade math. Labeled students' 10th grade math teachers' perceptions of and expectations for them account for some of their ultimate math course attainment disadvantage, net of all other factors. Checks to ensure equitable course placement practices for labeled students may need to become a more prominent goal of special education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This present study aims to explore the cross-national variation in gender gaps in mathematics performance. It mainly focuses on the influence of sex segregation in math-related occupations within the labor market in explaining this variation in gender gaps in mathematics performance across countries. I expect to find a variation of gender gaps in mathematics performance across countries. I argue that one of the things that accounts for this variation is the level of sex segregation in math-related occupations. Contrary to the previous studies, I argue that it is not the segregation in the total labor market, but really the segregation in math-related occupations that matters in explaining these gender gaps. I find that except two countries, Iceland and Thailand, that there is a consistent finding that males outperform females in mathematics literacy, and there is indeed a variation in gender gaps across countries. I use three different measures of labor market, the size of the service sector (Charles 1992), sex segregation in the total labor market (Baker and Jones 1993), and the sex segregation in math-related occupations which I measured. I examine whether there is a consistent pattern or variation between each of these measures and the gender gaps in mathematics performance. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical attractiveness has been determined to be a status characteristic. We explore one aspect of physical attractiveness, weight, as potentially being associated with perceptions of abilities, a linkage needed for status generalization. We also investigate when this potential linkage occurs in children by exploring associations between parents', teachers' and students' own assessments of reading and math ability with a large sample of third graders. This sample is derived from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the National Center for Educational Statistics. Using weights to correct for strata and PSU probabilities, as well as design effects, we use OLS regressions to explore these associations. We find that, controlling for other factors, teachers negatively associate BMI with math ability, and for young women, teachers and students positively associate BMI with math ability. We find no associations for assessments of reading ability and BMI. We discuss the implications of these findings for the classroom and beyond, as well as courses of further study. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' network studies have shown that there are significant effects of teachers' advice networks on teaching practices in reading and mathematics. Additionally, teachers' advice networks may overlap teachers' closest colleagues networks (friendship) which may make the formation of teachers' advice networks in elementary schools. However, fewer empirical studies investigated the detailed relationship between teachers friendship in their schools and teachers' advice networks in elementary schools. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among different teachers' networks in elementary schools. The main research question is: Is there evidence that there is relationship between teachers' friendship and advice networks? If yes, what factors explain this relationship? Sample was 1554 teachers in the 38 elementary schools in four districts in 2010. Multilevel selection models were estimated through p2 software. The expected results are that teachers' friendship can affect teachers' advice network which can impact teaching practices. This study contributes to growing body of knowledge on network research in education by analyzing teachers' networks within schools to better understand the role teachers' networks play in schools as a living organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores how neighborhood characteristics matter for children's mathematic achievement and how these influences are distinct for Hispanic children in immigrant families compared to their peers in non-immigrant families and compared to children of other race-ethnic backgrounds. This work extends previous research examining the effect of context for children's academic achievements by distinguishing between the two major groups comprising the Hispanic population, those in third and later generation families, and those in immigrant families. Analyses are based on data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (LAFANS) collected in 2000 and 2001and the 2000 Decennial Census. Decennial Census 2000 data was merged with LAFANS to provide tract level estimates of immigrant concentration, median income and poverty status. Hypotheses are tested by means of multilevel or mixed-level multivariate regression modeling. Results indicate that mathematics test scores differ for Hispanic children in immigrant and non-immigrant families and that factors such as immigrant concentration and poverty at the neighborhood level has an impact on scores beyond family characteristics. The effect of neighborhood influences differ for different groups of children but moderate to high levels of neighborhood poverty are negative for Hispanic children regardless of family immigrant status and also for White-non Hispanic and Black children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While tracking is often decried as an ineffective and inequality producing educational practice, previous research provides little evidence to suggest that detracking benefits students. We use data from a diverse California school district to examine the role of a multi-year effort to detrack by placing nearly all 8th graders in algebra. These data allow us to examine the effects of curricular intensification on student 8th and 10th grade math course placements, classroom-level segregation, and mathematics achievement. Curricular intensification in the district increased student odds of taking higher level mathematics in both 8th and 10th grade. Furthermore, it reduced the amount extent to which students in the district were segregated into different math scores based on their prior math achievement. However, our findings regarding the effects of curricular intensification on later achievement are mixed. On one hand, we find that 10th grade test scores increase in the study district over the roll-out period and curricular intensification seems to have loosened the link between students' prior achievement and their 10th grade scores. On the other, we find that the test score gains associated with taking algebra in 8th grade decrease as it becomes more common, and the rate of student 7th-10th grade math score growth seems to have slowed as the district intensified mathematics curricula. We conclude by considering the effects of curricular intensification on students' self-efficacy and motivation, and discussing the ramifications of our findings for future curricular intensification policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have established that high stakes testing associated with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has undermined schools' professional communities by altering working conditions for educators (teachers and principals) and students. The negative consequences of student failure have placed immense pressure on teachers, increased competition among them, lowered satisfaction and moral, and increased turnover. A potential consequence of these shifts is a stunting of students' achievement growth. There has not been a comprehensive study that examines the impact of schools' professional communities [operationalized as collective identity, collaboration, and collective responsibility for students' achievement] on math achievement trajectories between Kindergarten and the eighth grade across races. We fill this gap in the literature by assessing the affect of professional communities on mathematics achievement between Kindergarten and the eighth grade, using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K). We find that students who study in schools with professional communities over time experience a lift in achievement trajectories. This lift is profound for Hispanic students, who score 15 points higher on the mathematics achievement test in the eighth grade when they have studied in schools with more professional communities, compared to students who studied primarily in schools that lacked professional communities. These results have important implications for policy because an unintended consequence of NCLB could be to lower achievement and increase racial gaps in achievement by harming the growth of Hispanic students' achievement at a greater rate than it harms the growth of White or Black students' achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People often express the belief that Chinese students are not as creative as American students. This belief seems to arise from a number of observations including a heavy reliance on standardized testing, a relative lack of focus on subjects outside of the sciences and mathematics, and an emphasis on order, hierarchy and the collective mind in Chinese schools and society. Surprisingly, very little scientific research has been conducted on intercultural comparisons of creativity or, more specifically, on the creativity of Chinese vs. American students. This study collected drawings of "aliens" from 5th graders in five rural and city schools in the United States and mainland China. The drawings were rated along multiple dimensions of creativity. Students from the United States achieved significantly higher overall creativity scores. The findings support theories of creativity that emphasize the role of the social environment in developing individual and societal levels of creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on Attewell's (2001) "winner-take-all" model of educational stratification, this study examines the extent to which school-level average achievement affects a student's likelihood of enrolling in honors, accelerated, or Advanced Placement coursework. Analyses of a population dataset of more than 117,000 Illinois high school juniors show that high concentrations of school-level talent has a negative effect on the likelihood of enrolling in the most challenging mathematics, science, English, and social studies courses once ACT scores are controlled. Logistic odds ratios also show that African-American and Latino students are more likely than white students to enroll in advanced courses, relative to their prior achievement. We interpret these results in light of Adelman's (2006; 1999) seminal findings concerning the importance of advanced high school coursework for persistence and completion of postsecondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to increase quantitative literacy, many community colleges, four-year colleges, and universities have started to incorporate mathematics across the curriculum mandatory requirements for their students. While attending the National Science Foundation's Math Across the Community College Curriculum (MAC^3) Conference in January, 2007, we began the foundation for a linked or team-taught course that would create a learning community that fosters an appreciation for and an understanding of the origin of sociological knowledge through statistics. In general, there are two sets of problems at the community college level. In sociology, students tend to think that sociological knowledge (knowledge about general social patterns in the population and generalizations about the culture) originates from the researcher's or professor's imagination. One of the main goals for an introductory sociology course is to teach students that research findings gathered from random samples of the population form the bases for statements about general social patterns in society. In statistics, students tend to think that statistics is just another mathematics class composed of manipulation of numbers, formulas and the dreaded word problems and, thus, the classes are considered difficult or boring and even scary. Students can be overwhelmed when the skills and the technology for statistical analysis are not approached within the context of issue or problem that is relevant to their society. In the proposed roundtable, we will share our plans for the course and hear discussions of others' experiences and ideas about this important, burgeoning educational need and trend. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]