Nathan A. Burroughs

The Role of Schooling in Perpetuating Educational Inequality An International Perspective

In this paper, student-level indicators of opportunity to learn (OTL) included in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment are used to explore the joint relationship of OTL and socioeconomic status (SES) to student mathematics literacy. Using multiple methods, we find consistent evidence that (a) OTL has a significant relationship to student outcomes, (b) a positive relationship exists between SES and OTL, and (c) roughly a third of the SES relationship to literacy is due to its association with OTL. These relationships hold across most countries and both within and between schools within countries. Our findings suggest that in most countries, the organization and policies defining content exposure may exacerbate educational inequalities.

The Role of Subject-Matter Content in Teacher Preparation: An International Perspective for Mathematics.

Abstract International comparative studies in education provide a fresh perspective on K-12 education policy by enabling countries to learn from each other’s approaches. The recently conducted Teacher Education and Development Study—Mathematics provides a worldwide lens by which to examine the role of subject-matter in the preparation of US teachers of mathematics for primary and lower secondary students. More specifically, a previous study looking at the international top-performing teacher preparation programmes identified a common set of learning experiences (topics/content) related to mathematics. This empirically derived international benchmark is used in this paper to examine the quality of the mathematics preparation of future US teachers in various university and college programmes.

Rawls, Republicanism, and the Adequacy-Equity Debate.

In this article, I critique the foremost proponents of the adequacy and equity approaches to educational equality. I identify tensions within the adequacy approach related to positionality in education, fostering a democratic elite through higher education, and its defense of private schooling. In contrast, equity theorists are vulnerable to the leveling down critique and place too much emphasis on education as a private good. This article sketches out strategy for integrating these principles inspired by Rawls’ lexically ordered two principles of justice. Concerns about the bases of equal status as citizens can ground an adequacy standard and prevent leveling down, while a ‘level playing field’ conception for educational opportunities addresses positional competition and promotes the long-term stability of favorable background conditions. The privileging of the first principle of justice over the second also emphasizes education as a public good.

Influencing public school policy in the United States: the role of large-scale assessments

Abstract The authors review the influence of state, national and international large-scale assessments (LSAs) on education policy and research. They distinguish between two main uses of LSAs: as a means for conducting research that informs educational reform and LSAs as a tool for implementing standards and enforcing accountability. The authors discuss the influence of the international TIMSS study on US mathematics standards and the development of the Common Core as an example of LSA’s potential for research-based reform. They also examine how the controversy over using assessments to evaluate teacher performance suggests some of the problems with using LSAs as a lever for policy. They conclude by suggesting that the ‘assessment to inform policy’ model may be more promising (and yield greater long-term fruits) than an ‘assessment as policy’ model.

The Trade-Off between Excellence and Equality: What International Assessments Tell Us

This paper uses PISA data to explore cross-national comparisons of mathematics performance and educational inequality, with a focus on those countries that are characterized by high PISA scores and greater equity. The authors discuss the dangers of giving too much attention to a single year’s high performer on a given international assessment. Instead, they argue that the PISA and TIMSS should be analyzed with a more nuanced set of indicators and with greater sensitivity to long-term trends. This approach can help generate new research hypotheses, identify groups of countries worthy of detailed study, and yield fresh insights on educational policy.

Supporting classroom instruction The Textbook Navigator/Journal

Researchers at the Center for the Study of Curriculum at Michigan State University have developed a tool to help teachers implement the Common Core State Standards in mathematics by letting standards, not textbooks, guide their instruction. Using the web-based Textbook Navigator/Journal, teachers can pick a standard and ask which portions of the textbook cover it, or they can use the Navigator to identify which Common Core standards are embodied in a particular lesson in the textbook. The Navigator lets teachers control their mathematics instruction, liberating them from rigidly following textbooks and allowing them to focus on teaching the content their students are expected to learn. The Navigator is based on the results of careful analyses of 34 textbook series and 185 individual mathematics textbooks.

Are College Rankings an Indicator of Quality Education? Comparing Barron’s and TEDS-M

Although students at more selective schools generally demonstrate greater academic performance, it is unclear whether the gains from attending an elite postsecondary institution are due to the quality of educational services provided, or merely from peer and/or selection effects. Employing data drawn from the US-TEDS study, we assess the relationship between college selectivity and the mathematics learning of future teachers controlling for previous SAT scores using two different models. In an institution-level analysis, gains in student knowledge are measured by the difference between standardized SAT scores and standardized mathematical content knowledge (MCK) scores. In a multi-level model institutional and student-level data are used to examine the effects of selectivity on MCK scores, including measures of course-taking and prior achievement. In both analyses we find that college selectivity has little relationship with added mathematical knowledge.

The Role of Content Knowledge in Mathematics Teacher Preparation: A Study of Traditional and Alternative Teacher Preparation in Texas

Employing data from a stratified random survey of newly certified teachers in Texas, we compare the mathematical content preparation of traditional teacher program graduates with graduates of alternative programs. We find that graduates of traditional programs have statistically significantly higher content preparation even when taking precollege preparation into account. These findings were consistent across different types of alternative programs. Alternatively certified teachers reported higher college entrance exam scores in mathematics, but this was statistically significant only for Grades 4 to 8. After merging survey results with NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) data about the schools at which teachers were employed, we found similar demographic characteristics between the two types of teachers—alternatively certified teachers were not more likely to teach in disadvantaged schools. Finally, while the content preparation of teachers was consistent across types of schools, teachers in disadvantaged schools tended to have lower SAT and ACT scores for both alternatively and traditionally prepared teachers.

Poverty and educational achievement in the US: A less-biased estimate using PISA 2012 data

ABSTRACT In the current paper, we employ the most recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data to calculate a less-biased estimate of poverty on US achievement. The PISA was specifically chosen as it is an assessment removed from a specific curriculum and instead focuses on concepts that students should know in order to participate in a global economy. Using a propensity score matching approach, our findings suggest that US students in poverty have notable educational attainment deficiencies compared to a matched group of students who are not in poverty. In other words, when we select two students who have a great deal in common but for the fact that one comes from a poverty background, the student in poverty is expected to perform nearly 28 points, or about a quarter of a standard deviation lower, on the PISA assessment. In real terms, this puts math achievement for children not in poverty on-par with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average, while children in poverty are well below the OECD average.

An Examination of Future Primary Teachers Attitudes About the Teaching of Mathematics: An International Perspective

In this paper we explore the dynamics of teacher beliefs about mathematics with a special focus on future primary teachers. After reviewing earlier research about teacher beliefs, with special attention to the MT21 study and other work based on TEDS data, we examine the relationship among the different dimensions of teacher beliefs and the extent to which these beliefs are associated with teacher knowledge. We find considerable average variation in teacher beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics across countries, but find that most of the variation in beliefs is at the individual level. By contrast, teacher preparation programs appear to play little role in shaping beliefs. Employing multi-level modeling, we also find that teacher beliefs have a statistically significant and substantively important association with future primary teachers’ knowledge of mathematics. Finally, our results raise questions about the cross-national validity of a sharp constructivist-traditionalist dichotomy.