Showing papers on "Disadvantaged published in 2011"

Increased structure and active learning reduce the achievement gap in introductory biology.

Abstract: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instructors have been charged with improving the performance and retention of students from diverse backgrounds. To date, programs that close the achievement gap between students from disadvantaged versus nondisadvantaged educational backgrounds have required extensive extramural funding. We show that a highly structured course design, based on daily and weekly practice with problem-solving, data analysis, and other higher-order cognitive skills, improved the performance of all students in a college-level introductory biology class and reduced the achievement gap between disadvantaged and nondisadvantaged students--without increased expenditures. These results support the Carnegie Hall hypothesis: Intensive practice, via active-learning exercises, has a disproportionate benefit for capable but poorly prepared students.

Can Good Principals Keep Teachers in Disadvantaged Schools? Linking Principal Effectiveness to Teacher Satisfaction and Turnover in Hard-to-Staff Environments:

Abstract: BackgroundHigh rates of teacher turnover likely mean greater school instability, disruption of curricular cohesiveness, and a continual need to hire inexperienced teachers, who typically are less e...

Subsidizing Vocational Training for Disadvantaged Youth in Colombia: Evidence from a Randomized Trial

Abstract: This paper evaluates the impact of a randomized training program for disadvantaged youth introduced in Colombia in 2005. This randomized trial offers a unique opportunity to examine the impact of training in a middle income country. We use originally collected data on individuals randomly offered and not offered training. The program raises earnings and employment for women. Women offered training earn 19.6 percent more and have a 0.068 higher probability of paid employment than those not offered training, mainly in formal-sector jobs. Cost-benefit analysis of these results suggests that the program generates much larger net gains than those found in developed countries. (JEL I28, J13, J24, O15)

The adaptation of migrant children.

Abstract: Summary Alejandro Portes and Alejandro Rivas examine how young immigrants are adapting to life in the United States. They begin by noting the existence of two distinct pan-ethnic populations: Asian Americans, who tend to be the offspring of high-human-capital migrants, and Hispanics, many of whose parents are manual workers. Vast differences in each, both in human capital origins and in their reception in the United States, mean large disparities in resources available to the families and ethnic communities raising the new generation. Research on the assimilation of these children falls into two theoretical perspectives. Culturalist researchers emphasize the newcomers’ place in the cultural and linguistic life of the host society; structuralists, their place in the socioeconomic hierarchy. Within each camp, views range from darkly pessimistic—that disadvantaged children of immigrants are simply not joining the American mainstream—to optimistic—that assimilation is taking place today just as it has in the past. A middle ground is that although poorly endowed immigrant families face distinct barriers to upward mobility, their children can overcome these obstacles through learning the language and culture of the host society while preserving their home country language, values, and customs. Empirical work shows that immigrants make much progress, on average, from the first to the second generation, both culturally and socioeconomically. The overall advancement of the immigrant population, however, is largely driven by the good performance and outcomes of youths from professional immigrant families, positively received in America. For immigrants at the other end of the spectrum, average socioeconomic outcomes are driven down by the poorer educational and economic performance of children from unskilled migrant families, who are often handicapped further by an unauthorized or insecure legal status. Racial stereotypes produce a positive self-identity for white and Asian students but a negative one for blacks and Latinos, and racialized self-perceptions among Mexican American students endure into the third and fourth generations. From a policy viewpoint, these children must be the population of greatest concern. The authors cite two important policy measures for immigrant youth. One is to legalize unauthorized migrants lest, barred from conventional mobility channels, they turn to unorthodox means of self-affirmation and survival. The other is to provide volunteer programs and other forms of outside assistance to guide the most disadvantaged members of this population and help them stay in school.

The Everyday Costs of Poverty in Childhood: A Review of Qualitative Research Exploring the Lives and Experiences of Low-Income Children in the UK

Abstract: This review of 10 years of qualitative research with disadvantaged children in the UK shows that despite some gaps in the knowledge base, there is now a substantive body of evidence exploring children’s lives and experiences from their own perspectives. The review reveals that poverty penetrates deep into the heart of childhood, permeating every facet of children’s lives from economic and material disadvantage, through the structuring and limiting of social relationships and social participation to the most personal often hidden aspects of disadvantage associated with shame, sadness and the fear of social difference and marginalisation.

Poverty, family resources and children's early educational attainment: The mediating role of parenting

Abstract: This study uses longitudinal data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study to show the extent to which episodic and more persistent poverty in early childhood and the lack of other family resources disadvantage children at the start of their school careers in terms of whether they have achieved the target indicator of ‘good level of achievement’ on the Foundation Stage Profile. Positive parenting is shown to be an important contributor to school achievement that matters for children, regardless of poverty experience or family disadvantage. It is also shown to be an important mediator in redressing the effects of poverty and disadvantage.

English as an International Language of Scientific Publication: A Study of Attitudes.

Abstract: This paper focuses on an issue attracting increasing attention: the possible disadvantage inflicted on non-Anglophone academics by the dominance of English in scientific publication and academic exchange. We critically review the evidence for linguistic disadvantage, noting some of its limitations, and critique the native/non-native distinction as a coarse and somewhat unsatisfactory criterion for distinguishing between the advantaged and disadvantaged. In the second part of the paper we report on an empirical survey of the attitudes of Spanish academics at the University of Zaragoza to the possible disadvantage they may experience in publishing in English, and we investigate determinants of these attitudes. Though the survey shows, as expected, that a majority do feel disadvantaged in academic publication relative to Anglophone scholars, it also indicates, we argue, that attitudes are more complex and multidimensional than the literature sometimes suggests. Self-reported language proficiency emerges as a significant determinant of attitudes. The final part of the paper discusses a number of proposed language planning interventions designed to redress linguistic disadvantage. We argue that some of the more radical of these are flawed or unfeasible and suggest that more modest measures have a greater likelihood of ameliorating the situation.

Social Disadvantage and the Self-Regulatory Function of Justice Beliefs

Abstract: Five studies support the hypothesis that beliefs in societal fairness offer a self-regulatory benefit for members of socially disadvantaged groups. Specifically, members of disadvantaged groups are more likely than members of advantaged groups to calibrate their pursuit of long-term goals to their beliefs about societal fairness. In Study 1, low socioeconomic status (SES) undergraduate students who believed more strongly in societal fairness showed greater intentions to persist in the face of poor performance on a midterm examination. In Study 2, low SES participants who believed more strongly in fairness reported more willingness to invest time and effort to achieve desirable career outcomes. In Study 3, ethnic minority participants exposed to a manipulation suggesting that fairness conditions in their country were improving reported more willingness to invest resources in pursuit of long-term goals, relative to ethnic minority participants in a control condition. Study 4 replicated Study 3 using an implicit priming procedure, demonstrating that perceptions of the personal relevance of societal fairness mediate these effects. Across these 4 studies, no link between fairness beliefs and self-regulation emerged for members of advantaged (high SES, ethnic majority) groups. Study 5 contributed evidence from the World Values Survey and a representative sample (Inglehart, Basanez, Diez-Medrano, Halman, & Luijkx, 2004). Respondents reported more motivation to work hard to the extent that they believed that rewards were distributed fairly; this effect emerged more strongly for members of lower SES groups than for members of higher SES groups, as indicated by both self-identified social class and ethnicity.

Early Care and Education for Children in Immigrant Families.

Abstract: A substantial and growing share of the population, immigrant children are more likely than children with native-born parents to face a variety of circumstances, such as low family income, low parental education, and language barriers that place them at risk of developmental delay and poor academic performance once they enter school. Lynn Karoly and Gabriella Gonzalez examine the current role of and future potential for early care and education (ECE) programs in promoting healthy development for immigrant children. Participation in center-based care and preschool programs has been shown to have substantial short-term benefits and may also lead to long-term gains as children go through school and enter adulthood. Yet, overall, immigrant children have lower rates of participation in nonparental care of any type, including center-based ECE programs, than their native counterparts. Much of the participation gap can be explained by just a few economic and sociodemographic factors, the authors find. To some extent, the factors that affect disadvantaged immigrant children resemble those of their similarly disadvantaged native counterparts. Affordability, availability, and access to ECE programs are structural barriers for many immigrant families, as they are for disadvantaged families more generally. Language barriers, bureaucratic complexity, and distrust of government programs, especially among undocumented immigrants, are unique challenges that may prevent some immigrant families from taking advantage of ECE programs, even when their children might qualify for subsidies. Cultural preferences for parental care at home can also be a barrier. Thus the authors suggest that policy makers follow a two-pronged approach for improving ECE participation rates among immigrant children. First, they note, federal and state ECE programs that target disadvantaged children in general are likely to benefit disadvantaged immigrant children as well. Making preschool attendance universal is one way to benefit all immigrant children. Second, participation gaps that stem from the unique obstacles facing immigrants, such as language barriers and informational gaps, can be addressed through the way publicly subsidized and private or nonprofit programs are structured.

Developmental Experiences During Extracurricular Activities and Australian Adolescents’ Self-Concept: Particularly Important for Youth from Disadvantaged Schools

Abstract: Extracurricular activities provide adolescents with a number of positive personal and interpersonal developmental experiences. This study investigated whether developmental experiences that occurred during extracurricular activities were linked to a more positive self-concept for Australian adolescents, and whether this link was particularly salient for youth from disadvantaged schools. Adolescents (N = 1,504, 56% Female) from 26 diverse high schools across Western Australia were surveyed. The findings revealed that adolescents from low socio-economic status schools who participated in extracurricular activities had a more positive general self-worth and social self-concept than adolescents from similar socio-economic schools who did not participate in any extracurricular activities. Furthermore, the positive developmental experiences that occurred during extracurricular activities predicted a more positive general self-worth and social and academic self-concept, and this link was stronger for youth from low SES schools. These findings suggest that the developmental experiences afforded by extracurricular activities may foster positive adolescent development.

A systematic review and meta‐analysis of the effectiveness of behavioural smoking cessation interventions in selected disadvantaged groups

Abstract: Aims A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the methodological quality and effectiveness of behavioural smoking cessation interventions targeted at six disadvantaged groups; the homeless, prisoners, indigenous populations, at-risk youth, individuals with low socio-economic status and individuals with a mental illness. Methods Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and PsycInfo databases were searched using MeSH and keywords for studies conducted in developed countries prior to October 2010. Included studies were assessed for methodological quality. A DerSimonian and Laird random effects meta-analysis was conducted where possible to explore the effectiveness of interventions for the different subgroups. A narrative review was conducted for studies unable to be included in the meta-analysis. Outcomes examined were abstinence rates at short-term (up to 3 months) and long-term (6 months or the longest) follow-up. Results Thirty-two relevant studies were identified.The majority (n = 20) were rated low in methodological quality. Results of the meta-analysis showed a significant increase in cessation for behavioural support interventions targeted at low-income female smokers at short-term follow-up [relative risk (RR) 1.68, confidence interval (CI) 1.21‐2.33], and behavioural support interventions targeted at individuals with a mental illness at long-term follow-up (RR 1.35, CI 1.01‐1.81). Results of the narrative review showed several promising interventions that increased cessation rates at 6-month or longer follow-up. Conclusions Few well-controlled trials have examined the most effective smoking cessation strategies for highly disadvantaged groups, especially among the homeless, indigenous smokers and prisoners. The use of behavioural smoking cessation interventions for some socially disadvantaged groups appears promising; however, overall findings are inconsistent. Further research is needed to establish the most effective interventions for vulnerable high-risk groups. Special attention should be given to increasing sample size and power, and to sound evaluation methodology to overcome methodological limitations of conducting research with these high-risk groups.

Learning a foreign language as leisure and consumption: enjoyment, desire, and the business of eikaiwa

Abstract: Social inclusion typically refers to the integration of the disadvantaged into the mainstream society as a national agenda. However, social inclusion in a broader sense addresses aspirations to be included in a global imagined community as well as a local community of like-minded people. Drawing on a qualitative study of men and women learning eikaiwa [English conversation] in informal settings in Japan, this paper investigates the aspects of leisure and consumption as characteristics of foreign language learning, rather than investment for gaining cultural capital. This perspective highlights the enjoyment of socializing with the teacher and the peers and forms of akogare [desire/longing] including romantic desire and the aspiration to be like other Japanese people with fluency in English. The manifestations of romantic akogare for white English-speaking men related to learning English were nuanced, diverse, and identified across gender and race. The dimension of leisure and consumption produces...

Widening participation through admissions policy – a British case study of school and university performance

Abstract: It has been widely claimed that UK students from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds but nevertheless having the potential to benefit from a degree programme are being denied higher education places because of their relatively poor paper qualifications. As a consequence, the claim continues, students from independent schools have an advantage in the competition for such places. Universities have responded to such claims, and incentives from the government to do so, by introducing widening participation programmes, but very little research has been done which explores whether students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are admitted to elite universities perform as well as their counterparts with better entry qualifications. Using a large data set from one university, this article explores performance by students at A‐level and their first and final university years. Students from independent schools performed better at A‐level than those from state schools, but not at their university examinations, other ...

Cultural capital and agency: connecting critique and curriculum in higher education

Abstract: This paper explores some of the unresolved tensions in higher education systems and the contradiction between widening participation and the consolidation of social position. It shows how concepts of capital derived from Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam provide a powerful basis for critique, but risk a deficit view of students from less privileged backgrounds. These students are more likely to attend lower‐status institutions and engage with an externally focused curriculum. The paper argues for greater attention to agency, and community and familial capital, in conceptualising the resilience of those from less privileged backgrounds. While the recognition of ‘voice’ is important, a curriculum that acknowledges the context independence of knowledge is essential if these students are not to be further disadvantaged.

Making the Most of the Mosaic: Facilitating Post-School Transitions to Higher Education of Disadvantaged Students.

Abstract: Research studies of post-school education and training conducted in Australia and internationally have revealed a mosaic of students’ education and employment experiences, with a multiplicity of nonlinear pathways. These tend to be more fragmentary for disadvantaged students, especially those of low socio-economic background, rural students, and mature aged students seeking a ‘second chance’ education. Challenges faced by students in their transitions to higher education are made more complex because of the intersection of vertical stratification created by institutional and sectoral status hierarchies and segmentation, especially relating to ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ education and training, and the horizontal stratification of regional, rural and remote locations in which students live. If we are to achieve the equity goals set by the Bradley Review (Bradley et al., Review of Australian Higher Education Final Report, 2008) we need to acknowledge and work with the complex realities of disadvantaged students’ situations, starting at the school level. Interrelated factors at the individual, community and institutional level which continue to inhibit student take-up of higher education places are discussed in the context of discursive constructions of ‘disadvantage’ and ‘choice’ in late modernity. Research highlights the need to facilitate students’ post-school transitions by developing student resilience, institutional responsiveness and policy reflexivity through transformative education.

The Initial Assignment Effect: Local Employer Practices and Positive Career Outcomes for Work-Family Program Users

Abstract: One of the great paradoxes of inequality in organizations is that even when organizations introduce new programs designed to help employees in traditionally disadvantaged groups succeed, employees who use these programs often suffer negative career consequences. This study helps to fill a significant gap in the literature by investigating how local employer practices can enable employees to successfully use the programs designed to benefit them. Using a research approach that controls for regulatory environment and program design, we analyze unique longitudinal personnel data from a large law firm to demonstrate that assignment to powerful supervisors upon organization entry improves career outcomes for individuals who later use a reduced-hours program. Additionally, we find that initial assignment to powerful supervisors is more important to positive career outcomes—that is, employee retention and performance-based pay—than are factors such as supervisor assignment at the time of program use. Initial ass...

Civic Education: What Schools Can Do to Encourage Civic Identity and Action

Abstract: The timeliness of civic education for American youth is discussed. Particular attention is given to the history of calls for civic education, the state of civic education in schools today, particularly those serving youth in disadvantaged contexts, and the specific ways in which schools can better address the civic education needs of contemporary youth. Findings from research are synthesized around three strategic moves: 1) Promote public discussion and debate of critical issues; 2) Provide quality extracurricular and student government activities; and 3) Build on particular types of service that have proven to enhance civic participation in and identity with one's community. It is concluded that these activities can provide factual knowledge of history and government and encourage students to partake in active practices of the daily life of being citizens.

The Importance of Context: Vietnamese, Somali, and Iranian Refugee Mothers Discuss Their Resettled Lives and Involvement in Their Children's Schools.

Abstract: Parental involvement in schools is regarded as critical to student success in Australia, Canada, and the USA, the world’s top refugee resettlement countries. Refugees can be disadvantaged when they are unfamiliar with the practices and when their own cultural beliefs conflict with expectations in their new communities, or when they are consumed by other pressing needs. As part of an evaluation of a nonprofit US refugee agency’s liaison program, three groups of refugee mothers from different world regions spoke about their lives and connections with their children’s schools. Focus groups revealed satisfaction with many aspects of their children’s schools as well as contrasts between the groups’ needs and experiences. Differences indicate the need for the education community and other service providers to be aware of international backgrounds that bring refugees to the countries of resettlement and cultural differences that create diverse concerns of these groups.

From learning to labour to learning for marginality: school segregation and marginalization in Swedish suburbs

Abstract: In this article, using data from ethnographic research, we try to present some glimpses of the way education is described as an experience and possibility ‘from below’, by pupils who grow up and study in schools in the most segregated and territorially stigmatized suburbs on the outskirts of our major cities. What we feel they describe is an experience of schooling for surviving the social and economic consequences of curtailed citizenship in a post‐industrial society rather than one of schooling that offers possibilities of integration and full citizenship or social transformation. Our findings have significant policy implications in this respect. Sweden has historically pursued projects aimed at educational inclusion but has recently taken a significant turn toward neo‐liberalism and educational consumerism, since which time various disadvantaged groups have become increasingly concentrated compared with others in under‐achieving schools in an economically threatened public sector. The article discusses...

Entrepreneurship as an integrating mechanism for disadvantaged persons

Abstract: This paper theorises about a specific facet of social entrepreneurship, namely, the integration of disadvantaged persons into the field of entrepreneurship. Drawing from Bourdieu's theory of practice, the authors conceive of this integration as a power-laden process that reflects normative expectations imposed by field incumbents on entrants to the field that require them to both comply with and challenge existing field arrangements. Propositions outline the desirability and ability of disadvantaged persons to meet these expectations.

The Impact of Rosenwald Schools on Black Achievement

Abstract: The black-white gap in schooling among southern-born men narrowed sharply between the world wars. From 1914 to 1931, nearly 5,000 schools were constructed as part of the Rosenwald Rural Schools Initiative. Using census data and World War II records, we find that the Rosenwald program accounts for a sizable portion of the educational gains of rural southern blacks. We find significant effects on school attendance, literacy, years of schooling, cognitive test scores, and northern migration. The gains are highest in the most disadvantaged counties, suggesting that schooling treatments have the largest impact among those with limited access to education.

'Go boldly,dream large!':the challenges confronting non-traditional students at university

Abstract: This article examines the challenges facing non-traditional university students - and to a lesser extent their lecturers in 'the stretched academy' - who are increasingly enrolling in university courses in Australia and elsewhere. The article looks at this issue from the perspective of non-traditional students at a regional campus in Victoria. These students include many from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who do not conform to the conventional idea of the Australian university student. Typically, for most of the postwar period, the traditional university student was a recent graduate from high school with good grades and enrolled full-time. Most importantly, such students came predominantly from high socio-economic backgrounds that equipped them with the kind of cultural capital that provides a head start in the academic environment. By contrast, non-traditional university students of the last two decades or so are a much more diverse cohort consisting of large numbers of full-fee-paying international students, older, mature-age students studying mainly on a part-time basis by distance education, and increasing numbers of domestic students who only in recent times have aspired to a university education. Many of these latter students are ostensibly full-time but in reality spend more time in paid part-time jobs than they do on campus. These 'student-workers' are the main focus of this article because it is the dual role of the undergraduate as worker and scholar that is of concern to university personnel especially in the context of the widening participation agenda of the federal government. Such students are compelled to support themselves in term-time employment, which inevitably affects their commitment to study and consequently their academic prospects. The article concludes with the suggestion that slogans such as those in the title are misleading if they are not accompanied by financial incentives and a more inclusive curriculum that acknowledges the study - work challenges facing non-traditional university students.

Peers, Neighborhoods and Immigrant Student Achievement - Evidence from a Placement Policy

Abstract: We examine to what extent immigrant school performance is affected by the characteristics of the neighborhoods that they grow up in. We address this issue using a refugee placement policy which provides exogenous variation in the initial place of residence in Sweden. The main result is that school performance is increasing in the number of highly educated adults sharing the subject’s ethnicity. A standard deviation increase in the fraction of high-educated in the assigned neighborhood raises compulsory school GPA by 0.9 percentile ranks. Particularly for disadvantaged groups, there are also long-run effects on educational attainment.