Aage B. Sorensen

Parental networks, social closure, and mathematics learning : A test of Coleman's social capital explanation of school effects

Through an analysis of gains in mathematics achievement between the tenth and twelfth grades for respondents to the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, we examine Colemans explanation for why Catholic schools apparently produce more learning than public schools. According to Coleman, Catholic schools benefit from larger endowments of social capital, generated in part through greater intergenerational social closure (i.e., dense network connections between the parents of students). Instead, we find that for public schools, social closure among parents is negatively associated with achievement gains in mathematics, net of friendship density among students. This evidence of a negative effect of parental social closure within the public school sector lends support to our alternative hypothesis that horizon-expanding schools foster more learning than do norm-enforcing schools. Moreover, this result renders social closure incapable of explaining any portion of the Catholic school effect on learning, even though within the Catholic school sector there is some evidence that social closure is positively associated with learning

The Structure of Inequality and the Process of Attainment.

This paper proposes a model for the process of attaining occupational status and income, where change in attainment is generated by the creation of vacant positions in social structure. The distribution of attainments, or the structure of inequality, is assumedfixed and is described by a simple exponential or geometric distribution function (depending on whether attainment levels are assumed discrete or continuous). Persons leaving the labor force create chains of vacancies in this structure that present mobility opportunities for persons entering the labor force. The implications of the model for the attainment process derived from these considerations for status attainment research and stochastic models for job mobility are discussed.

Toward a Concept of Psychosocial Maturity.

Schools below the college level traditionally have been preoccupied with only one outcome of education: growth in measurable cognitive skills. While there is at present a growing recognition of the schools actual and potential role in promoting personal and social growth, a convincing model of nonacademic objectives is lacking, as is a tool for assessing childrens progress toward nonacademic objectives. To this end, the authors construct a model of psychosocial maturity which specifies measurable attitudes and dispositions. The model of psychosocial maturity integrates sociological and psychological views of the person; that is, it takes into account the requirements of societies as well as the healthy development of individuals. The model outlines three general dimensions of maturity which are likely to be relevant in all societies. These are (1) the capacity to function adequately on ones own, (2) the capacity to interact adequately with others, and (3) the capacity to contribute to social cohesion. Nine attributes judged pertinent to these capacities in this society are then defined. The final sections of the paper discuss problems in the measurement of psychosocial maturity, describe the form of an instrument presently being devised, and suggest research uses of the instrument.

A Reconceptualization of School Effects

is an identity between the contextual effect specified in eq. 1 and that identified in the analysis of covariance method of assessing contextual effects (Hauser, 1971; see also Alwin, 1976b, 1976c). Notice that if the between-school regression coefficient and the within-school coefficient are the same, i.e. byKj = b, there can be no school context effect. This issue can be resolved quite easily by examining the statistical significance of the difference (see Schuessler, 1971). In the present analysis we estimate several models of the form:

Effects of Ability Grouping on Growth in Academic Achievement

This paper applies a theory of growth in academic achievement to the study of the effects of ability grouping on reading achievement. The theory sees students’ ability and effort determining how they utilize opportunities for learning provided by instruction. The mathematical specification of the theory allows for the estimation of models that show (a) ability grouping provides fewer opportunities for learning than whole class instruction but greater utilization of those opportunities; (b) high ability groups provide more opportunities than low groups; and (c) small homogeneous groups facilitate reading achievement more than larger, more heterogeneous groups.

The Formation and Stability of Instructional Groups.

This paper argues that structural and organizationalfactors affect the formation and stability of ability groups in an elementary classroom which in turn affect growth in academic achievement. Empirical evidencefrom reading and mathematics groups in a sample of 48 classes shows that structural constraints deter the creation of small, homogeneous ability groups for instructional purposes. Ability groups are found to be fairly large in size and stable over the school year. Ability grouping is seen to increase the variance in the achievement distribution of a class, implying greater inequality in educational attainment in grouped classes.

Marxism as Science: Historical Challenges and Theoretical Growth

This paper examines Marxisms claim to be a science. The first part considers possible models of science and argues that the most coherent is Imre Lakatoss methodology of scientiBc research programs. In his conception scientific knowledge grows on the basis of a hard core ofpostulates which are protectedfrom refutation by the development of a series of auxiliary theories. Such a research program is progressive rather than degenerating if successive theories are consistent with the core, explain anomalies and make predictions, some of which are realized. In the second part I argue that with some qualijications the history of Marxism -from Marx and Engels, to German Marxism, to Russian Marxism, and finally to Western Marxism-conforms to the model of aprogressive research program. In the thirdpart Iclaim that deviations from the model, such as Soviet Marxism, are due to the breakdown of the reciprocal interaction between Marxisms heuristics and historical challenges.

Ability Grouping and Student Friendships

This study examines the effects of membership in the same ability group on student friendships. We argue that assignment to the same instructional group increases opportunities for student interaction, underscores student similarities, and produces new similarities, and that these factors foster friendship. The relationship between grouping and friendship is examined in a longitudinal data set containing information on students in 110 reading groups in 32 classrooms of fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The results show that the density of best friend choices within ability groups increases over time, the overlap between ability groups and cliques increases over time, and membership in the same ability group has a positive effect on the probability that a student will choose a peer as best friend.

Ability Grouping and Sex Differences in Mathematics Achievement.

desegregated and segregated schools. The results show that sex is a factor in the assignment of students to ability groups: Males are more likely than females to be assigned to the high-ability group. Nevertheless, the analyses do not reveal an effect of ability-group level on growth in mathematics achievement.

Sociological Research on the Labor Market: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

This article provides a critical analysis of recent sociological research on labor markets. Efforts by sociologists to provide structural explanations of earnings inequality that counter human capital theory have been hampered by methodological problems associated with inadequate model specification and the inappropriate use of variance as a criterion for theoretical importance. Moreover, the structural effects observed in recent studies do not have an unambiguous interpretation; they are consistent with three different mechanisms: differences in demand, internal labor market effects, and class effects. Future work in this area needs to pay greater attention to the links between theoretical interpretations and empirical analyses.This article provides a critical analysis of recent sociological research on labor markets. Efforts by sociologists to provide structural explanations of earnings inequality that counter human capital theory have been hampered by methodological problems associated with inadequate model specification and the inappropriate use of variance as a criterion for theoretical importance. Moreover, the structural effects observed in recent studies do not have an unambiguous interpretation; they are consistent with three different mechanisms: differences in demand, internal labor market effects, and class effects. Future work in this area needs to pay greater attention to the links between theoretical interpretations and empirical analyses.