Aaron M. Pallas

The Changing Nature of the Disadvantaged Population Current Dimensions and Future Trends

In this paper we identify the current state of the educationally disadvantaged population in the United States and consider their changing conditions and the implications for U.S. education. We also examine the likely course of sociodemographic changes in the disadvantaged population over the 35-year period between 1986 and 2020, that is, during the course of the working career of the average 35-year-old today. Finally, we consider the challenges likely to be presented to U.S. schools during this period.

Sex Differences in Quantitative SAT Performance: New Evidence on the Differential Coursework Hypothesis

Recent research has questioned socialization explanations for sex differences in mathematics performance. In particular, the hypothesis that differences in the details of males’ and females’ high school programs are responsible for the sizable average difference between the sexes in quantitative Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) performance has been challenged in a recent study byBenbow and Stanley (1980). This research, however, considered sex-linked coursework differences only indirectly and was based on the experiences of an unusual sample of gifted youth. Using a more broadly representative sample, we provide a direct test of the hypothesis that the sex difference in quantitative SAT performance may be due to differences in the pattern of quantitative coursework taken by males and females in high school. We find that the male-female gap in SAT-M performance shrinks considerably when sex differences in quantitative high school coursework are controlled. These findings suggest that increasing females’ rates of enrollment in high level mathematics courses would greatly reduce the sex difference in quantitative SAT performance and that it is premature to reject socialization and experiential explanations for the male-female gap in levels of quantitative performance.

Preparing Education Doctoral Students for Epistemological Diversity

One of the most confusing developments in educational research over the past quarter-century has been the proliferation of epistemologies-beliefs about what counts as knowledge in the field of education, what is evidence of a claim, and what counts as a warrant for that evidence. Although the discussion of various epistemological perspectives in educational research often is highly abstract, and viewed as the prerogative of philosophers at some distance from the real world of educational research practice, the consequences of this diversity are quite real. Beliefs about what counts as knowledge are a central determinant about what a field knows about its subject matter. The variability in such beliefs can lead to small and large gaps in what various members of the educational research community hold to be true about educational phenomena. These discontinuities are partly at the root of the widespread perception that the community of educational researchers has failed to amass a cumulative body of knowledge about how schools and schooling work (National Research Council, 1999; Ravitch, 1998; Viadero, 1999). Few claims about educational research are as damning, or as damaging to the enterprise. Experienced researchers and novices alike find it hard to keep up with the cacophony of diverse epistemologies. Behind the welter of names-positivism, naturalism, postpositivism, empiricism, relativism, feminist standpoint epistemology, foundationalism, postmodernism, each with an array of subspecies-lie important questions: Is there a single, absolute truth about educational phenomena, or are there multiple truths? (Or is the concept of truth itself so problematic as to be of no value in understanding the world?) Can we count on our senses, or on reason, to distinguish that which is true about the world from that which is false? Are there methods that can lead us close to understanding, or are there inherent indeterminacies in all methods? Is knowledge of the world discovered, or constructed? Can knowledge of the world be evaluated independent of the social and historical contexts in which it exists, or is it always contingent upon, or relative to, particular circumstances?

A Population at Risk: Potential Consequences of Tougher School Standards for Student Dropouts

This paper considers the potential impact of the recent recommendations for raising standards in American schools on a population at risk, that is, those students likely to leave school prior to high school graduation. The paper proceeds by (1) presenting a systematic review of the empirical evidence on factors that predict dropping out, (2) synthesizing and explicating the recent recommendations for raising standards in American schools, (3) considering the likely positive and negative effects of higher standards on the population at risk in the absence of any other changes in the structure of schools, (4) identifying the school characteristics that can be altered to minimize the adverse effects of changes in academic standards on potential dropouts, and (5) proposing recommendations to raise academic standards and mitigate the dropout problem simultaneously.

School Sector and Cognitive Performance: When Is a Little a Little?.

Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgores claims regarding the effects of Catholic schools on cognitive achievement have, evoked much controversy. Critics have argued that Catholic schools enroll students of superior academic competency, and that Coleman et al., using cross-sectional testing data, could not distinguish differential sector effectiveness from this selection effect. The first follow-up (1982) of the High School and Beyond base-year sophomore cohort allows a stronger design for studying this issue. We use sophomore test performance to control for input-level differences in competency while predicting senior test performance in several cognitive domains. The omission of such input controls leads to a substantial upward bias in the estimate of Catholic-school effects on achievement. We also show that the so-called common-school effect found by Coleman and his colleagues disappears when appropriate input-level test controls are applied. Our best estimate of the Catholic-school effect on cognitive growth from the sophomore to senior year, using aggregate sophomore-to-senior change in performance as a yardstick, is about two thirds of a years growth. We judge differences of this magnitude to be substantively trivial because they correspond to less than 0.1 standard deviation in test performance. We conclude that sector differences in test performance are too small to warrant the attention they have received.

Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization

Contains chapters that illustrate the ways in which US sociologists of education plumb the depths of fundamental questions about how schools are organized and consequences of school organization for students and teachers.

Raising Standards and Retaining Students: The Impact of the Reform Recommendations on Potential Dropouts

This paper examines the potential influence of school reform policies on the high school dropout rate. We summarize a diverse set of reports on American education that recommend increasing academic standards in schools as a means for improving secondary school performance. We also describe our understanding of the processes by which youngsters drop out of school. In light of these diverse literatures, we show that raising standards may have both positive and negative consequences for potential dropouts. On the positive side, raising standards may encourage greater student effort and time on schoolwork, and thus lead to higher levels of achievement. On the negative side, raising standards may increase academic stratification in schools and cause more school failure, with no apparent remedies. We propose an agenda for further research designed to clarify the impact of the higher standards.

Educational Transitions, Trajectories, and Pathways

Education is a prominent social institution in advanced societies, with primary responsibility for socializing the young to become productive adults. The movement of individuals through the education system is thus a central object of study in sociology, both as a phenomenon to be explained and as a determinant of subsequent outcomes throughout the life course. In this chapter, I examine the study of educational trajectories, including the transitions that punctuate these trajectories, and the well-traveled pathways that shape them. I begin by explaining why educational trajectories have only recently become a central analytic concept in the sociology of education, and discussing the linkages between educational pathways and educational trajectories. Drawing on the sociology of the life course’s concern with age, aging, and historical time, I then examine the conceptualization and measurement of educational trajectories, and the analytic models that are used to describe them. Next, I summarize some recent research on educational trajectories in Great Britain and the United States. I conclude by charting some future directions for research on educational pathways and trajectories.

Schooling in the Course of Human Lives: The Social Context of Education and the Transition to Adulthood in Industrial Society:

This review examines the role of schooling in the life course of individuals, focusing on the timing and sequencing of schooling in the transition to adulthood. First, I examine conceptual issues in the study of schooling and the life course, drawing heavily on the sociological literature. I then consider the timing and sequencing of schooling in the transition to adulthood in the United States, and the consequences of variations in the timing and sequencing of schooling for adult social and economic success. I then discuss the role of social structure, norms, and institutional arrangements in the transition to adulthood, with special attention to cross-national comparisons with the U. S. and historical changes within countries. I conclude with speculations regarding trends in the role of schooling in the life course, and some directions for future research on this topic.

Social Background and Academic Determinants of Two-Year versus Four-Year College Attendance: Evidence from Two Cohorts a Decade Apart

The present paper examines determinants of access to two-year versus four-year colleges among college-going youth. Data from the NLS class of 1972 and the HSB class of 1980 senior high school cohorts are compared to evaluate changes in racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender constraints on enrollment patterns. Academic resource measures (i. e., test performance, high school grades, and high school curriculum) also are examined in order to assess the patterning and magnitude of such disparities when academic qualifications are equivalent. There is little evidence of diminished opportunity to attend a four-year college when the experiences of 1980 high school graduates are compared with those from 1972. In general, social background had little bearing on attendance patterns, although Hispanic youth were noticeably less likely than either whites or blacks to attend four-year colleges. Low-SES youth were modestly disadvantaged at both periods, but blacks were somewhat more likely than whites to enroll in four-year schools. Academic resource measures differentiated attendance patterns more than student background factors, but these differences too were not especially large. One implication is that, once youngsters have successfully negotiated the high school to college transition, opportunities to attend a four-year college as opposed to a two-year college are not greatly constrained by either social or academic considerations. In this sense, the postsecondary system is strikingly open. When academic resource variables are controlled, SES constraints on attendance patterns are greatly diminished, affecting only the enrollment prospects of white youngsters--and even for them only modestly. Blacks evidence the highest four-year attendance probabilities and Hispanics the lowest at all resource levels. In general, these disparities are greatest among youth who are most lacking in traditional academic credentials. Gender differences and cohort differences are small throughout.