Handbook of the Economics of Education


Book Description

The Handbooks in Economics series continues to provide the various branches of economics with handbooks which are definitive reference sources, suitable for use by professional researchers, advanced graduate students, or by those seeking a teaching supplement. With contributions from leading researchers, each Handbook presents an accurate, self-contained survey of the current state of the topic under examination. These surveys summarize the most recent discussions in journals, and elucidate new developments. Although original material is also included, the main aim of this series is the provision of comprehensive and accessible surveys. *Every volume contains contributions from leading researchers *Each Handbook presents an accurate, self-contained survey of a particular topic *The series provides comprehensive and accessible surveys




Peer Effects in the Classroom


Book Description

Peer effects are potentially important for understanding the optimal organization of schools, jobs, and neighborhoods, but finding evidence is difficult because people are selected into peer groups based, in part, on their unobservable characteristics. I identify the effects of peers whom a child encounters in the classroom using sources of variation that are credibly idiosyncratic, such as changes in the gender and racial composition of a grade in a school in adjacent years. I use specification tests, including one based on randomizing the order of years, to confirm that the variation I use is not generated by time trends or other non-idiosyncratic forces. I find that students are affected by the achievement level of their peers: a credibly exogenous change of 1 point in peers' reading scores raises a student's own score between 0.15 and 0.4 points, depending on the specification. Although I find little evidence that peer effects are generally non-linear, I do find that peer effects are stronger intra-race and that some effects do not operate through peers' achievement. For instance, both males and females perform better in math in classrooms that are more female despite the fact that females' math performance is about the same as that of males




Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling with IBM SPSS


Book Description

This book demonstrates how to use multilevel and longitudinal modeling techniques available in the IBM SPSS mixed-effects program (MIXED). Annotated screen shots provide readers with a step-by-step understanding of each technique and navigating the program. Readers learn how to set up, run, and interpret a variety of models. Diagnostic tools, data management issues, and related graphics are introduced throughout. Annotated syntax is also available for those who prefer this approach. Extended examples illustrate the logic of model development to show readers the rationale of the research questions and the steps around which the analyses are structured. The data used in the text and syntax examples are available at www.routledge.com/9780415817110. Highlights of the new edition include: Updated throughout to reflect IBM SPSS Version 21. Further coverage of growth trajectories, coding time-related variables, covariance structures, individual change and longitudinal experimental designs (Ch.5). Extended discussion of other types of research designs for examining change (e.g., regression discontinuity, quasi-experimental) over time (Ch.6). New examples specifying multiple latent constructs and parallel growth processes (Ch. 7). Discussion of alternatives for dealing with missing data and the use of sample weights within multilevel data structures (Ch.1). The book opens with the conceptual and methodological issues associated with multilevel and longitudinal modeling, followed by a discussion of SPSS data management techniques which facilitate working with multilevel, longitudinal, and cross-classified data sets. Chapters 3 and 4 introduce the basics of multilevel modeling: developing a multilevel model, interpreting output, and trouble-shooting common programming and modeling problems. Models for investigating individual and organizational change are presented in chapters 5 and 6, followed by models with multivariate outcomes in chapter 7. Chapter 8 provides an illustration of multilevel models with cross-classified data structures. The book concludes with ways to expand on the various multilevel and longitudinal modeling techniques and issues when conducting multilevel analyses. It's ideal for courses on multilevel and longitudinal modeling, multivariate statistics, and research design taught in education, psychology, business, and sociology.




Cuba’s Academic Advantage


Book Description

The first in-depth analysis of how an entire educational system delivers higher student achievement.




Rethinking Class Size: The complex story of impact on teaching and learning


Book Description

The debate over whether class size matters for teaching and learning is one of the most enduring, and aggressive, in education research. Teachers often insist that small classes benefit their work. But many experts argue that evidence from research shows class size has little impact on pupil outcomes, so does not matter, and this dominant view has informed policymaking internationally. Here, the lead researchers on the world’s biggest study into class size effects present a counter-argument. Through detailed analysis of the complex relations involved in the classroom they reveal the mechanisms that support teachers’ experience, and conclude that class size matters very much indeed. Drawing on 20 years of systematic classroom observations, surveys of practitioners, detailed case studies and extensive reviews of research, Peter Blatchford and Anthony Russell contend that common ways of researching the impact of class size are limited and sometimes misguided. While class size may have no direct effect on pupil outcomes, it has, they say, significant force through interconnections with classroom processes. In describing these connections, the book opens up the everyday world of the classroom and shows that the influence of class size is everywhere. It impacts on teaching, grouping practices and classroom management, the quality of peer relations, tasks given to pupils, and on the time teachers have for marking, assessments and understanding the strengths and challenges for individual pupils. From their analysis, the authors develop a new social pedagogical model of how class size influences work, and identify policy conclusions and implications for teachers and schools.




Vygotsky and Education


Book Description

Analyzes the educational implications and applications of Soviet psychologist L.S. Vygotsky's ideas.




School Meals, Educational Achievement, and School Competition


Book Description

Vermeersch and Kremer examine the effects of subsidized school meals on school participation, educational achievement, and school finance in a developing country setting. They use data from a program that was implemented in 25 randomly chosen preschools in a pool of 50. Children's school participation was 30 percent higher in the treatment group than in the comparison group. The meals program led to higher curriculum test scores, but only in schools where the teacher was relatively experienced prior to the program. The school meals displaced teaching time and led to larger class sizes. Despite improved incentives, teacher absenteeism remained at a high level of 30 percent. Treatment schools raised their fees, and comparison schools close to treatment schools decreased their fees. Some of the price effects are caused by a combination of capacity constraints and pupil transfers that would not happen if the school meals were ordered in all schools. The intention-to-treat estimator of the effect of the randomized program incorporates those price effects, and therefore it should be considered a lower bound on the effect of generalized school meals. This insight on price effects generalizes to other randomized program evaluations. This paper--a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management 2, Africa Technical Families--is part of a larger effort in the region to increase our understanding of the impact of programs aimed at reaching the Millennium Development Goals.




Social Dynamics


Book Description

This collection of essays presents a variety of approaches to understanding the dynamics of human interaction.




Educational Opportunities and the Role of Institutions


Book Description

Educational opportunities determine the intergenerational mobility of human capital and are affected by institutional features of schooling systems. The aim of this paper is twofold. It intends to show how strongly student performance depends on student background at two important stages in a student's life as well as to explain cross-country differences in educational opportunities by schooling institutions. A difference-in-differences estimation approach is applied to control for country-specific effects. The results imply that educational opportunities decrease with student age in most countries. However, the attitude of parents seems to become more important while the impact of social origin decreases. A greater differentiation of the schooling system as indicated by streaming and private schools is associated with a greater effect of social background while more instruction time limits the impact of social origin on student performance. Higher school autonomy increases the impact of parental influence.




The Trauma-Sensitive Classroom: Building Resilience with Compassionate Teaching


Book Description

Selected as a "Favorite Book for Educators in 2018" by Greater Good. From the author of Mindfulness for Teachers, a guide to supporting trauma-exposed students. Fully half the students in U.S. schools have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress. In the face of this epidemic, it falls increasingly to teachers to provide the adult support these students need to function in school. But most educators have received little training to prepare them for this role. In her new book, Tish Jennings—an internationally recognized leader in the field of social and emotional learning—shares research and experiential knowledge about the practices that support students' healing, build their resilience, and foster compassion in the classroom. In Part I, Jennings describes the effects of trauma on body and mind, and how to recognize them in students' behavior. In Part II, she introduces the trauma-sensitive practices she has implemented in her work with schools. And in Part III, she connects the dots between mindfulness, compassion, and resilience. Each chapter contains easy-to-use, practical activities to hone the skills needed to create a compassionate learning environment.