Download or read book Selected Teacher Characteristics as They Affect Student Achievement in Urban Schools written by Keith Michael Kershner and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Teacher Quality written by Jennifer King Rice and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teacher quality is the single most important school-related factor influencing student success. The author examines the body of research on the subject of teacher quality to draw conclusions about which attributes makes teachers most effective, (experience, preparation programs and degrees, type of certification, specific coursework taken in preparation for the profession, and teachers' own test scores), with a focus on aspects of teacher quality that can be translated into policy recommendations and incorporated into teaching practice.

Download or read book The Effect of Teacher Quality on Student Achievement in Urban Schools written by Su-Yun Kim and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The No Child Left Behind Act recognizes the importance of quality teachers in improving student achievement in that it mandates that all students have to be taught by "a highly qualified teacher". The increasing demand for highly qualified teachers has led to a shortage of qualified teachers. In the United States, however, an uneven distribution of high quality teachers exists. A closer look at urban areas reveals that the problem is more severe in those localities than the national average. In order to address the teacher shortage problem in urban areas, more than 40 states initiated an alternative certification route for candidates who hold a bachelor's degree (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Heilig, Cole, & Springel, 2011), although teachers' certification or licensing status play an important role in differentiating teacher quality. The purpose of this study was to examine how high quality teachers are distributed across a large, urban district in Texas according to student's characteristics, school characteristics and student achievement. In addition, more importantly, this study explored how teacher's quality influences student achievement and, more specifically, on achievement of students with limited English proficiency (LEP). Due to the differences of characteristics in student characteristics and a school system, elementary schools and middle schools were separated in the analyses. In order to examine which students were allocated to high quality teachers and to determine the effect of teacher quality on students' achievement in an urban district, Southeast Independent School District (SISD), which is a major urban district in Texas with more than 200,000 students, was chosen. As the largest public school system in Texas, SISD has large shares of minority and low-income students. Student data utilized in this analysis came from the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS), which is data collection and reporting system produced by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the public schools of Texas. SISD provided individual level teacher's data, students' data, and a matching file so that teacher's and their students' data could be linked. All data that SISD provided are protected by using masked identification. To address the research questions, the study involved three statistical approaches -- descriptive analysis, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and three-level hierarchical linear models (HLM). Results from ANOVA indicated unequal distribution of high quality teachers across an urban school district. Economically disadvantaged students, minority students, and students with limited English proficiency were more likely to be allocated to alternatively certified teachers. It implies that students with economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds lose a chance to have fully-certified or highly qualified teachers. The test scores of students who had fully-certified teachers were higher than the test scores of under-certified teachers' or alternatively-certified teachers' students. Campus accountability ratings were also significantly lower for schools that had more Teach for America (TFA) teachers than schools that had more fully-certified teachers. There were also clear distinctions among teacher's qualifications, student characteristics, and school conditions between elementary schools and middle schools. There were more alternative certified teachers and less fully-certified teachers in middle schools. Middle schools served a higher percentage of students that are economically disadvantaged, at-risk of dropping out, were LEP, and Hispanic. The average campus accountability rating was also lower in middle schools than elementary schools. Overall, school conditions in middle schools were more inferior than in elementary schools among urban schools in Texas. In order to explain the effect of teacher quality and school condition besides student's characteristics on student performance, a multilevel analysis was necessary to explain each variance of students, teachers, and schools. Through multilevel analyses (or three-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM)), I confirmed that student background or ability was the strongest predictor of student achievement as many previous studies have found. The results showed that student achievement significantly differed by students' background or ability even when they have the same reading teachers. However, HLM results also showed that teacher's and school's effects on student achievement were not negligible based on their proportions of variances. It implied that student achievement could be differentiated by teacher's quality or school's conditions. Among variables regarding teacher qualifications, the fully-certified teacher variable was a solely significant and positive factor of student achievement in middle schools. That is, students who had fully-certified teachers were more likely to achieve higher test scores than those who had under-certified and alternatively certified teachers after controlling all variables. However, in elementary schools that had 95 percent of fully-certified teachers did not show the significant differences of student achievement by teacher's qualifications. The years of teaching experience and teacher educational attainment was not significant factors to explain student performance. Among school-level predictors, campus accountability ranking was a positively significant factor to predict student achievement in both elementary schools and middle schools. The percentage of economically disadvantaged students in campus was negatively associated with student achievement in middle schools. Since the study focused on reading achievement, the effect of teacher's quality on the achievement of LEP students was particularly concerning. To address research questions, an interaction effect between teacher certification status and the achievement of LEP students was added on the three-level model. Results from the analysis showed that after accounting all variables LEP students who had fully-certified teachers achieved 0.1 scores higher on the TAKS reading test in the middle schools. Considering that LEP students typically achieved lower than their peers, the results implied that fully-certified teachers mitigate the effect of LEP on TAKS reading. The finding showed a positive effect of fully-certified teachers for students in need and corresponded with previous studies that high quality teachers played a more important role for socially and economically disadvantaged students. To sum up, this study found that teacher quality is a significant factor to predict student achievement, yet highly qualified teachers are unequally distributed across an urban school district. Socially and economically disadvantaged students were less likely to be taught by fully-certified teachers and were more likely to be taught by alternatively certified teachers. Furthermore, their achievement was significantly lower than their peers who were taught by highly qualified teachers. These aspects were more noticeable in middle schools.

Download or read book Working in Urban Schools written by Tom Corcoran and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This document on the working conditions of urban teachers reports data from a survey of 31 elementary, middle, and secondary schools in five urban school districts. More than 400 interviews were conducted with teachers, school administrators, central office personnel, district officials, board members, and union officials. The observations, interviews, and analyses confirm that, in most of these schools, the working conditions of teachers are bleak and would not be tolerated in other professions. Among the findings are the following: (1) physical conditions are sub-standard because of a lack of maintenance, repair, and space; (2) safety is not a serious problem to teachers, except in very depressed neighborhoods; (3) teachers do not have even the basic resources needed, let alone access to new technologies; (4) teachers consider hiring more personnel to address the personal problems of students a higher priority than hiring more teachers to reduce class size; (5) teachers generally understand the cultural gulf between them and their students but are unable to deal with what they consider aberrant student behavior; (6) teachers perceive that they are losing control over what they teach, primarily because of district-wide testing policies although they are in control of how they teach; and (7) teachers have little confidence in supervision, staff development, or central office leadership. Characteristics of good working conditions are identified. Tables illustrate the data. Appendices compare these findings with those of other studies, provide a list of about 100 references, describe the methodology, and compare school effects. (BJV)

Download or read book Impact of Teacher Attitude and Urbanicity Through the Implementation of Positive Behavior Support Programming written by Theodore Caleris and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: One of the major questions that both urban and non-urban public school districts are faced with is the relationship between the predictors of school climate, student behavior, staff perceptions and the influence these variables have on school climate. School districts are under public scrutiny to produce positive achievement results for all students. Much research suggests that schools that are considered urban are generally considered unsafe, unproductive and unable to produce students that are competitive in a 21st century global economy. In the major urban centers, student populations are decreasing, flooding the first-ring school districts. First-ring school districts are the individual school districts that immediately border major urban school centers. What are left in the major urban districts are families that are unable to improve their situation and move out of the school districts that are generally considered a failure. One area that has been generally targeted as a method to improve student achievement is the area of school climate. Various programs in the public school setting have been instituted to positively influence school climate. Inside the school setting, there are diverse variables that can affect the efficient running of a school building: school climate, student population, discipline occurrences in a school, specific positive behavior support programs (PBS), at risk behavior intervention programs for students, academic intervention programs, staff morale and standardized testing results for a specific school district. These predictors, along with individual human development and behavior, influence school climate. It is essential to understand how these characteristics can impact school climate in an urban and non-urban setting; what policies or procedures can positively impact climate at the building level; and how can these factors can influence staff perceptions towards student achievement. Educators have yet to determine the exact interplay of the factors that predict school climate and their influence upon student achievement. Among other variables, the topic of school climate has had profound implications upon staff retention, school discipline and student academic achievement. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of positive behavior supports on school climate, specifically in relation to teacher perceptions and feelings towards positive behavior support programming; to identify the awareness of specific positive behavior supports used within a school setting; to determine the impact of these supports on school climate by measuring teacher attitude and perception about student achievement; and ultimately, to determine is there a statistical significance in staff perception of school climate elative to the school setting of an urban and non-urban school. Two-hundred and six educators were surveyed from four school district in Northeast and Northwest Ohio. Results demonstrated that working in a urban setting or non-urban setting was statistically significant in terms of the impact on teacher attitude, collegiality, achievement perceptions and awareness with regards to the tested factors that influence school climate. It was found that there were statistically significant differences between teachers working in either an urban or a non-urban setting in relation to teacher attitude, collegiality, achievement perceptions and awareness, as related to school climate. However, the effect sizes were low demonstrating that the differences were not large enough to be of a practical concern.

Download or read book Demographic Characteristics and Measures of Teacher Performance in Urban Schools written by Tequilla Andrea Banks and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Policy shifts over the last decade have resulted in an increased focus on teacher effectiveness as a key lever for increasing student academic outcomes. As a result, districts and states began overhauling their teacher evaluation systems to more accurately assess the performance of teachers. Many of these models included multiple measures that when combined, are believed to more accurately measure a teacher’s individual effectiveness. Because these models are being used to make human capital decisions, it is imperative that the models be examined for both their efficacy and lack of bias. Ultimately, this study examined two overarching themes: whether the teacher evaluation model utilized in one large urban district provides an accurate assessment of teacher quality and whether school and teacher characteristics are predictive of educator evaluation ratings. Essentially, the study was conducted to determine whether the teacher evaluation system being examined, accurately assesses the performance of all teachers despite their race and the unique characteristics of the schools where they serve. The data revealed that relationships existed between the three primary components of the teacher evaluation system being examined: classroom observations, student perceptions, and value-added, or growth scores, indicating that it was in fact an accurate method for assessing teacher performance. However, the study revealed relationships between the components of the model and characteristics of teachers and schools. School culture and poverty concentration were linked to teacher performance ratings. Results also showed that certain demographics, such as teacher race and school poverty concentration were in fact predictive of effectiveness ratings. The study found that some teacher and school characteristics did predict teacher performance. Implications resulting from the study should lead district leaders to consider how evaluation scores are interpreted for certain races of teachers, particularly when these teachers are serving in more challenging school environments (across-school variance) and serving at-risk populations of students (within-school variance). Additional analyses should be conducted to further investigate the unmitigated effects of these variables in influencing a teacher’s performance.

Download or read book Teaching for Excellence and Equity written by Nathan Burroughs and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book examines the interrelationship of national policy, teacher effectiveness, and student outcomes with a specific emphasis on educational equity. Using data from the IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) conducted between 1995 and 2015, it investigates grade four and grade eight data to assess trends in key teacher characteristics (experience, education, preparedness, and professional development) and teacher behaviors (instructional time and instructional content), and how these relate to student outcomes. Taking advantage of national curriculum data collected by TIMSS to assess changes in curricular strategy across countries and how these may be related to changes in teacher and student factors, the study focuses on the distributional impact of curriculum and instruction on students, paying particular attention to overall inequalities and variations in socioeconomic status at the student and country level, and how such factors have altered over time. Multiple methods, including regression and fixed effects analyses, and structural equation modelling, establish the evolution of these associations over time.

Download or read book Research on Urban Teacher Learning written by Andrea J. Stairs and published by Information Age Pub Incorporated. This book was released on 2010 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a range of evidence-based analyses focused on the role of contextual factors on urban teacher learning. Part I introduces the reader to the conceptual and empirical literature on urban teacher learning. Part II shares eight research studies that examine how, what, and why urban teachers learn in the form of rich longitudinal studies. Part III analyzes the ways federal, state, and local policies affect urban teacher learning and highlights the synergistic relationship between urban teacher learning and context. What makes this collection powerful is not only that it moves research front and center in discussions of urban teacher learning, but also that it recognizes the importance of learning over time and the way urban schools' contexts and conditions enable and constrain teacher learning. ENDORSEMENTS: This unusual book helps meet the need for more-and better-research about how teachers learn to teach in urban schools and what makes them stay. The book combines trenchant analysis of the current research literature with a rich collection of wisely-selected new longitudinal studies. Researchers, teacher educators, policymakers, and teachers themselves will find the book's insights about teacher preparation, urban school contexts, and teacher learning compelling. - Dr. Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Boston College As an active practitioner in an urban setting, recruiting and retaining outstanding teachers for urban schools is critical to student achievement. Stairs and Donnell's collection exploring the state of affairs of urban teacher learning is a springboard for further research on the importance of investing in urban teaching and learning. Urban teachers must not only teach content but navigate around complex social conditions when working with diverse student populations. Stairs and Donnell's multiple lens approach will assist teacher preparation programs specifically interested in research-based best practices of urban teaching, thus improving teacher quality. - Dr. Jacqueline E. Ash, Nathanael Greene Elementary School

Download or read book Preventing Early School Failure written by Robert E. Slavin and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Narrowing the Achievement Gap in a Re Segregated Urban School District written by Vivian W. Ikpa and published by IAP. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The interplay between sociopolitical forces and economic agendas becomes apparent when one examines the June 28, 2007 United States Supreme Court Decision, Parents Involved In Community Schools v. Seattle School District . In a reversal of the 1954 Brown Decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that public schools could not use race as a factor when assigning children to public schools. Given demographic shifts, globalization, economic instability, and ideological shifts, the reversal was expected. However, it is essential that policymakers, educators, and other stakeholders consider the impact of attending segregated schools on the achievement gap that continues to exist between minority groups and European Americans attending resegregated neighborhood schools. This book will focus on the test score gaps between African American and European American students. The achievement gaps between these two groups will be analyzed will be presented and elaborated. Additionally, the authors will analyze how changes in school characteristics such as: racial composition; school composition; school expenditures, and socio economic level of neighborhoods affect achievement gap trends in the Norfolk School District. An examination of the achievement gap trends in an urban school district will serve to better inform public policy and school reform efforts. The specific goals of this book are to describe the achievement gap between minority African-American students and European-American students in the Norfolk school district and to present strategies utilized by urban districts to narrow the gap. One unique feature of this book is that it provides a data-driven research-based analysis of the achievement gap between minority and European-American students.

Download or read book Teacher Beliefs and Practices written by John Christopher Sr Herrera and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasing diversity in schools in the United States over the last few decades, combined with an emphasis on high-stakes testing, has heightened concerns about the academic performance of students of color, in particular African American students. There are concerns about the appropriateness of a Eurocentric curriculum taught by White teachers, which often limits the use of a multicultural curriculum--one that values the culture and lifestyles of diverse students. This study focused on elements within teaching practices that improved achievement among students of color. An enhanced application of the Multiple Meanings of Multicultural Teacher Education Framework (MTEF), along with assessments of teacher training instruments (Gay, 1994; Love, 2001; Ladson-Billings, 1994), helped to create the Model for Modified Multicultural Teacher Education Framework on Teacher Perception of Student Achievement that served as a guide for the investigation. The overall findings confirmed the utility of the model and the enhancements made to the multicultural assessment instruments. Depending upon what elements were chosen, between 18% and 23% of the variance explained in teacher's beliefs, attitudes and perceptions could be explained by their training, their community involvement, awareness of self, knowledge of subject and a positive approach to the institutional culture. The findings support the existing literature and adds to it a new dimension by directly focusing on teacher's perceptions, attitudes and beliefs that promote or constrain teaching and learning about urban African American students in the urban classroom.

Download or read book Dissertation Abstracts International written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Effort and Excellence in Urban Classrooms written by H. Dickson Corbett and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2002-04-12 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows how students in urban schools begin to perform better when educators' and parents' expectations grow, by providing research from similar scenarios and instructions for what needs to be done to achieve this goal.

Download or read book Identifying Characteristics for Effective Teaching in Urban and Suburban Settings written by Shawn Cecil Jones and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classroom size, curriculum, and student attendance are all important factors that affect student outcomes, but these factors cannot compare to the classroom teacher's influence on student academic performance. Unfortunately, highly qualified teachers are not equally effective in different school settings. Findings associated with highly effective teachers have suggested that testing personality characteristics could be a way to identify teacher effectiveness at the time of hire. This quantitative non-experimental (descriptive and correlational) study examined the relationship of specific personality characteristics among 22 highly effective teachers (14 urban and eight suburban), measured by the 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI). The results described both groups' personality characteristics as very high Extroversion, very high Agreeableness, very high Conscientiousness, very high Openness, and low to average Neuroticism. The results answer the following research question: What is the relationship between the personality characteristics (measured by the BFI) and the school location of highly effective teachers? The results showed that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness have an influence on teaching effectiveness in the urban and suburban settings. In practice, the 44-item BFI can be used to evaluate specific personality characteristics in urban and suburban settings during the teacher applicants' process. The following are appended: (1) 44-Item Big Five Inventory; (2) Power Sample Calculation; (3) Informed Consent Form; (4) Scoring; (5) Sample Size; (6) Comparison Sample: Means and Standard Deviations for BFI; and (7) BFI Approval.

Download or read book District Leadership That Works written by Robert J. Marzano and published by Solution Tree Press. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridge the great divide between distanced administrative duties and daily classroom impact. This book introduces a top-down power mechanism called defined autonomy, a concept that focuses on district-defined, nonnegotiable, common goals and a system of accountability supported by assessment tools. Defined autonomy creates an effective balance of centralized direction and individualized empowerment that allows building-level staff the stylistic freedom to respond quickly and effectively to student failure.

Download or read book Schools Make a Difference written by Charles Teddlie and published by . This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Urban Schools written by Laura Lippman and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1996-12 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: