Valerie E. Lee

A Multilevel Model of the Social Distribution of High School Achievement.

The study reported here identified some characteristics of secondary schools that encourage a high level of achievement and promote an equitable distribution of achievement across the diverse social class, racial/ethnic, and academic backgrounds of students. The data consisted of a subsample of 10,187 students in 160 high schools from High School and Beyond. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to investigate the effect of the normative environment and academic organization of high schools on four social distribution parameters related to mathematics achievement. High average achievement is related to school social composition and to the schools academic emphasis. Although a smaller gap between the achievement of minority and white students is associated with an orderly school climate, less differentiation by social class and academic background are associated with smaller school size, less variability in course taking in mathematics, and a fair and effective disciplinary climate.

Dropping Out of High School: The Role of School Organization and Structure

In this study, we explore how high schools, through their structures and organization, may influence students’ decisions to stay in school or drop out. Traditional explanations for dropout behavior have focused on students’ social background and academic behaviors. What high schools might do to push out or hold students has received less empirical scrutiny. Using a sample of 3,840 students in 190 urban and suburban high schools from the High School Effectiveness Supplement of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, we apply multilevel methods to explore schools’ influence on dropping out, taking into account students’ academic and social background. Our findings center on schools’ curriculum, size, and social relations. In schools that offer mainly academic courses and few nonacademic courses, students are less likely to drop out. Similarly, students in schools enrolling fewer than 1,500 students more often stay in school. Most important, students are less likely to drop out of high schools where relationships between teachers and students are positive. The impact of positive relations, however, is contingent on the organizational and structural characteristics of high schools.

High School Size: Which Works Best and for Whom?

The study described in this article investigates the relationship between high school size and student learning. We used three waves of data from NELS:88 and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) methods to examine how students’ achievement growth in two subjects (reading and mathematics) over the high school years is influenced by the size of the high school they attend. Three research questions guided the study: (a) Which size high school is most effective for students’ learning?, (b) In which size high school is learning most equitably distributed?, and (c) Are size effects consistent across high schools defined by their social compositions? Results suggest that the ideal high school, defined in terms of effectiveness (i.e., learning), enrolls between 600 and 900 students. In schools smaller than this, students learn less; those in large high schools (especially over 2,100) learn considerably less. Learning is more equitable in very small schools, with equity defined by the relationship between learning and student socioeconomic status (SES). An important finding from the study is that the influence of school size on learning is different in schools that enroll students of varying SES and in schools with differing proportions of minorities. Enrollment size has a stronger effect on learning in schools with lower-SES students and also in schools with high concentrations of minority students. Implications for educational policy are discussed.

The Effect of the Social Organization of Schools on Teachers' Efficacy and Satisfaction.

Research suggests that the social organization of schools has an important impact on both teachers and students. Using hierarchical linear modeling techniques, the authors explore the links between school organization and the self-efficacy and job satisfaction of secondary school teachers. They also investigate the relationship between a teachers sense of control over classroom practice and self-efficacy. Drawn from the Administrator and Teacher Survey from High School and Beyond, the sample includes 8,488 full-time teachers in 354 Catholic and public high schools. Such elements as principal leadership, communal school organization, an orderly environment, and average levels of control granted to teachers influence average efficacy. Higher levels of efficacy in Catholic than in public schools are explained by organizational differences.

Effects of single-sex secondary schools on student achievement and attitudes.

A movement away from single-sex education occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, just as research was beginning to document positive effects of womens colleges. There has been very little investigation of single-sex education at the secondary level, however. In this study, we compared the effects of sing

How High School Organization Influences the Equitable Distribution of Learning in Mathematics and Science.

Using a sample of 9,631 students in 789 U.S. high schools with three waves of data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, the study presented here was an extension of an earlier study that found positive effects for practices that are consistent with the restructuring movement on learning in the first two years of high school and on the equitable distribution of learning by social class. The current study identified the characteristics of high school organization that are positively related to learning in mathematics and science and to equity during the first and last two years of high school and investigated whether such organizational factors explain the results of the earlier study. It found that although students learn somewhat less in the last two years than in the first two years, several features of the social and academic organization of high schools are strongly associated with learning in both periods

Social Support and Achievement for Young Adolescents in Chicago: The Role of School Academic Press

This study explores whether the social support that young adolescents may draw on for their academic activities is related to how much they learn in mathematics and reading over the course of a year. Data came from 1997survey reports collected by the Consortium for Chicago School Research from 30,000 sixth and eighth graders in 304 Chicago public elementary schools about the support these students receive from their teachers, their parents, their peers, and their neighborhoods and from annual standardized tests conducted by the Chicago Public Schools. Using hierarchical linear modeling methods, we found that, on average, social support is positively but modestly related to learning. However, both learning and the relationship between social support and learning are contingent on the academic press of the school students attend. Findings are discussed within the context of school reform policies focusing on increasing social support.

Social-Class Differences in Summer Learning Between Kindergarten and First Grade: Model Specification and Estimation

Sociologists suggest that children from socially advantaged families continue to learn during the summer, whereas children from disadvantaged families learn either little or lose ground. This disparity in summer learning is hypothesized to result from differential participation in educationally beneficial summer activities. In this article, we test this theory with current and nationally representative data, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort. We examine how childrens socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with their learning of literacy, mathematics, and general knowledge over the summer between kindergarten and the first grade. We also explore whether social-background differences in learning are explained by differential participation rates in summer activities. Our analytic models adjust for discrepancies between the timing of assessments and the timing of schools closing for the summer and opening in the fall. Much of the observed gain results from time in school. Nonetheless, social stratification characterizes summer learning between kindergarten and the first grade, with higher-SES children learning more. However, these social-background differences are only modestly explained by the activities in which children participate during the summer months.

Where Do Head Start Attendees End Up? One Reason Why Preschool Effects Fade Out

This study investigates the relationship between preschool experience and the quality of schools subsequently attended as young adolescents. In particular, we differentiate the characteristics of middle-grade schools attended by eighth graders who earlier experienced Head Start, other preschool programs, or did not attend preschool. School quality is defined in terms of social composition, academic rigor, safety, and social relations. After accounting for family background and demographics, we find that former Head Start attendees are educated in middle-grade schools of significantly lower quality than their counterparts who did not attend preschool, and particularly compared to peers who attended other preschools. No matter how beneficial Head Start was initially for its young participants, such benefits are structurally undermined if students are subsequently exposed to schooling of systematically lower quality. The low quality of middle-grade schools attended by former Head Start participants explains, in part, why Head Start effects fade over time.

Gender and Science Learning Early in High School: Subject Matter and Laboratory Experiences

This study used a large and nationally representative, longitudinal database, NELS:88, to identify important factors related to gender differences in 10th-grade science performance. It built on an earlier study focusing on 8th-grade science performance, wherein gender differences were found to be related to (a) subject matter (life versus physical science), (b) student ability level, and (c) frequency of hands-on lab opportunities. The moderate unadjusted advantage for 8th-grade boys on the physical science test widened by the 10th grade. The gender differences were smaller on the life science test and favored males among students of average and above-average ability and females among the less able students. Hands-on lab activities—relatively infrequent in high school science classes—continued to be related to all students’ performance, but especially to girls’. These findings suggest the importance of the active involvement of students in the science classroom as a means to promote gender equity. Implications for the underrepresentation of women in physical science careers are discussed.