Thomas F. Luschei

Science and Mathematics Achievement and the Importance of Classroom Composition: Multicountry Analysis Using TIMSS 2007

In this multicountry analysis, we generate a student-level measure of socioeconomic status (SES) “mixing” to understand the benefits or pitfalls of placing low-SES children with diverse peers. We conduct this analysis separately for equal and unequal countries that provide the same curriculum to all children regardless of ability level, and we find some surprising similarities. For example, lower mathematics and science test scores are associated with low-SES children in mixed classrooms. We then apply this analysis to the United States, a rich but unequal country where ability-based tracking is common. For the United States, we find that the cross-national patterns are reversed for mathematics, and socioeconomic mixing is beneficial for low-SES children; however, the results for science are not significant.

Does inequality influence the impact of schools on student mathematics achievement? A comparison of nine high-, medium-, and low-inequality countries

In this chapter, we seek to contribute to a line of international and comparative research that began with Heyneman and Loxleys 1983 study examining the importance of schools across national contexts. In their influential paper, Heyneman and Loxley found that in lower-income societies, schools (rather than families) constitute the predominant influence in explaining student achievement. Similar studies followed, often with results challenging Heyneman and Loxleys original findings. We argue that one reason for inconsistencies among these studies is the failure to account for the distribution of income. Until recently, few studies had examined whether school effects vary across countries with different levels of income inequality. Yet emerging evidence suggests that inequality plays an important role in determining the extent to which schools “matter” for student learning. In this study, we employ hierarchical linear modeling and two related yet distinct measures of inequality to examine how inequality relates to within- and between-country variations in student performance. We also explore whether, in certain countries, schools are differently able to help children from higher- and lower-Socio Economic Status (SES) groups. To capture sufficient variation in country context, we use data from nine diverse countries participating in the fourth grade application of the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Our findings indicate that schools are important in their own right, and especially important in unequal countries. However, schools may affect SES-based achievement gaps only in countries with high income and resource inequality, accompanied by heterogeneous classrooms in terms of SES composition.

Teacher Training and Transitions in Rural Indonesian Schools: A Case Study of Bogor, West Java.

As one of the worlds largest and most diverse countries, Indonesia faces an enormous challenge as it seeks to upgrade the skills and knowledge of its widespread primary teacher workforce. This challenge is even more acute in remote rural areas, where practising teachers require specialized training to work in classrooms with children of different ages and grades. Yet, due to their remote locations, these teachers have little access to training opportunities, and teacher educators have few opportunities to assess their needs. To explore training needs and instructional strategies employed by rural teachers, we conducted a case study of nine rural schools in the district of Bogor, West Java. We interviewed headmasters and teachers in these schools, instructors at a major Indonesian university, and a district official. We found that while rural teachers generally consider their training to be helpful, they receive little guidance to help them manage and teach large multigrade classes. As a result, pedagogical practices and perspectives vary across nine schools in the same rural district. At the same time, a growing number of “contract teachers” in these schools has reduced the number of multigrade classrooms while increasing the need for training of novice teachers in rural schools.

Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Educational Technology

Educational technology is often cited as a means to improve educational outcomes and reduce costs, leading to greater quality and efficiency in learning and instruction. Yet research that attempts to assess the costs and benefits of educational technology is limited, making it difficult for educators and policy makers to make efficient decisions. This chapter reviews international research on the effectiveness, costs, and cost-effectiveness of educational technology and provides a set of core conclusions from this literature. The chapter also describes methodological challenges to assessing costs and benefits of educational technology and suggests areas for future research. The chapter concludes with lessons learned for educators and educational decision makers.

Is Teacher Sorting a Global Phenomenon? Cross-National Evidence on the Nature and Correlates of Teacher Quality Opportunity Gaps:

Although substantial evidence from the United States suggests that more qualified teachers are disproportionately concentrated in the schools and classrooms of academically and socioeconomically advantaged children, it is not clear whether the problem of teacher sorting is global in scope. This study uses data from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey to examine whether and how school- and classroom-level teacher distribution patterns vary across 32 education systems with diverse national contexts and education policies. We find that cross- and within-school teacher sorting is common in most countries but within-school sorting is more pronounced in higher income countries. We also identify several national policy variables that are significantly related to both cross-school and cross-classroom sorting of teachers.

Good Teachers for All: Toward a More Just Distribution of Teachers

We begin this chapter by discussing key areas where the misalignment of demand and supply results in an inequitable distribution of teachers. These areas include the use or lack of salary and incentives, seniority-based transfers, and improper or corrupt practices. We then offer examples from our research of promising efforts to align the demand and supply sides to ensure greater access by marginalized children to qualified teachers. We discuss the importance of ensuring equity in teacher assignments and transfers, recognizing and acting on teacher preferences, carefully designing incentives, giving voice to marginalized children and their communities, investing in local infrastructure and human capital, and involving civil society to act as an intermediary between the demand and supply sides. Using these examples as a foundation for future action, we offer a set of recommendations to work toward more equitable access of marginalized children to qualified teachers. Finally, we discuss the study’s limitations and offer areas for future research.

Setting the Study Context: India, Mexico, and Tanzania

In this chapter, we provide background information related to India, Mexico, and Tanzania and we describe our research approach to examining teacher distribution in these countries. We first describe levels of economic development and social inequality, which determine the resources available to employ teachers and the degree to which disadvantaged populations have access to these resources. We then describe each country’s geography, as the difficulties of living and teaching in remote rural areas with few amenities constrain education officials’ efforts to recruit and deploy teachers to these areas. This is followed by a discussion of relevant aspects of these education systems and key issues related to teacher deployment and distribution. To further set the stage for the subsequent analysis, we describe the methodology of our study, including our comparative approach and our data collection and analysis strategies.

Conceptual Framework: Marginalized Children and Their Teachers

In this chapter we introduce our conceptual framework for understanding the complex processes that lead to the educational marginalization of children through differential access to teacher quality. We first discuss the relationship between education and marginalization and describe key processes that marginalize children. We then relate educational marginalization directly to the quality and distribution of teachers. This discussion leads to our presentation of the teacher labor markets framework that informs our subsequent examination of the teachers of marginalized children in India, Tanzania, and Mexico.

Demand-side Explanations for Inequitable Teacher Distribution

In this chapter we discuss key junctures in the teacher pipeline where inequities in teacher distribution appear. These include: (1) the recruitment of talented young people into teacher training, initial teacher preparation, and recruitment into teaching; (2) hiring qualified teachers and distributing them equitably across regions and schools; and (3) continuously supporting and retaining teachers through attractive working conditions, induction and support for new teachers, and continuous, high-quality professional development. In the last section, we include a discussion of teacher transfers, which can either remedy or worsen inequities that occur during initial teacher hiring and assignment to schools. We also describe efforts to attract or retain teachers to work in difficult locations through monetary or non-monetary incentives. At each step, we discuss how demand-side actions reinforce an inequitable (or equitable) distribution of teachers.

Reaching and Teaching Marginalized Children

Despite the “worldwide revolution” in educational enrollment during the twentieth century, a clear division continues to separate marginalized children from their peers: the quality of their teachers. Ample evidence from the United States and growing cross-national evidence demonstrate that children who are poor, who come from ethnic or racial minority groups, who have less educated parents, or who live in rural areas have access to less qualified teachers than their more advantaged peers. Given considerable evidence of the importance of teachers for children’s academic success, the teacher quality division between more and less advantaged children may be as influential in determining these children’s futures as access to formal education was one hundred years ago. In this chapter, we introduce our rationale for studying teachers of marginalized children and we describe the objectives, contributions, and organization of the book.