Jeffrey B. Hecht

How School District Policy Influences Grade Level Retention in Elementary Schools

Research evidence indicates that retention, requiring students to repeat a grade level, fails to raise achievement or enhance social and personal adjustment. Moreover, it does not produce homogeneous classes, may be discriminatory, and is linked to dropping out. Retention continues, however, supported by public belief and sanctioned by district policy. A sample of district retention policies were rated according to two overarching dimensions: (a) the amount of effort required to implement, and (b) the extent to which objective criteria govern retention decisions. Differences along these dimensions are hypothesized to influence district retention rates. Results support use of this framework for comparing retention policies and retention rates when district size is taken into account. Larger districts retain more students, adopt more comprehensive retention policies, and provide a different policy context for implementation than smaller districts. Identified policy dimensions influence retention rates in opposite ways in large and small districts. We suggest that district cultural beliefs and organizational structures for student mobility contribute to these differences. Policy, rather than directly controlling staff behavior, may provide “signals” that are interpreted through organizational belief systems. Thus, adoption of identical district policy may lead to different staff behavior in different school district contexts.

Teacher Teams and Computer Technology: Do Combined Strategies Maximize Student Achievement?

AbstractEducational innovation occurs in many different ways. One approach uses computer technologies to enhance the learning environment, while another restructures how teachers work with each other and their students. This research used three groups in a quasi-experimental approach to assess the combined impact of teacher teaming and computer technology on student grade point averages. The results show that students in the team-taught group achieved higher GPAs than both the traditional school group and the group having both teacher teams and computer technology. Interviews with participating teachers uncovered impediments to the application of the computer technology.

VTLOGANL: Coding and analyzing videotaped data

Researchers using videotape as a primary means of data collection need flexible yet easy-to-use procedures and equipment for the time-consuming task of coding and analysis. The VTLOGANL program (for VideoTape LOGging ANaLysis) slaves a video deck to the computer system, allowing the researcher to code, in real time, video-recorded events of either a pulsed or duration nature. VTLOGANL’s innovative database design frees the researcher to define up to 9,999 different codewords for each project, organizing any combination of up to 30 of those codewords for each elapsed second of logging time. Reporting features, including data export and import, allow the researcher to examine quickly questions of codeword frequency, event duration, sequencing, and overlap, according to the requirements of the research design.

Structured Computer Learning Activities at School and Participation in Out-of-School Structured Activities

AbstractStudent participation in structured activities, both in and out of school, has been positively associated with increased academic achievement. Learning to use a computer and application software can be a structured activity. This study investigated 220 students in three high schools participating in a special program, one goal of which was teaching the students to be proficient computer users. A significant relationship was found between reports of higher use and comfort with the targeted software applications and a greater participation in out-of-school structured activities. These results provide support for using the process of computer learning as a method for modeling successful engagement in other structured activities.