International Institute of Social Studies, “Education and Development in Low Income Countries: How to Improve the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Education Policies.” Accessed April 5, 2014. http://www.iss.nl/fileadmin/ASSETS/iss/Student_profiles/PhD/PhD_foto_s_pdf_s/Education_Policies_in_Ecuador.pdf.

The 1980s and 1990s were a time of social reforms in Ecuador. However, in the 80s, educational achievement worsened. Test scores fell and repetition and dropout rates rose. In the1990s the government began focusing more on education and implemented several programs in schools toward the end of the decade. Due to a changing economy, education is very important in Ecuador.

This article’s research topic is educational performance and its tie to economic development. The researchers ask “whether access to education is a sufficient condition for improvement of social well-being and economic growth, or whether further importance should be given to more educational quality.” The researchers ask three additional questions: (1) “What are the most cost-effective policies to improve school enrolment [sic]?” (2) “What type of education policies are most cost-effective to improve educational quality, both in terms of school efficiency (internal and external), and school effectiveness?” (3) “What is the political feasibility of most cost-effective educational policies?”

This study will use household capabilities and supply-side factors to answer the research question. The study will also look at student test scores. Finally, the study will look at the attitudes and opinions of important actors in the education system. The authors will create econometric models to analyze the data. In addition, they will analyze test scores by looking at test scores of a control group and a group participating in the programs that are meant to be improving the school system. While analyzing test scores, the authors will use standardized tests and control for innate abilities, family background, sample selection, etc. Lastly, the authors will take a qualitative analysis approach to analyze the attitudes and opinions of important educational actors. To analyze school enrolment [sic], the authors will use the most recent living standards measurement survey. A follow-up survey will also be used.

This research proposal did an excellent job of providing a literature review and discussing the shortcomings of that review. Then, the authors demonstrated how they planned to address these shortcomings with their research and improve upon research that is already published. Additionally, the authors did a wonderful job explaining the importance of their research, and why they felt passionate about it. This particular proposal did include a hypothesis, but it was very broad and did not address some of the detailed questions the researchers were proposing to ask. The description of the methodology could have been a little more clear and explained in more detail. The concluding section, which explained the specific contributions the authors hoped to make with this research, was a great way to conclude the proposal.

Christle, Christine A., Kristine Jolivette, and C. Michael Nelson. “School Characteristics Related to High School Dropout Rates.”Remedial and Special Education. no. 6 (2007). http://0-web.b.ebscohost.com.books.redlands.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6ad6ba67-c3a0-49b5-8e3f-e9452ada29a7@sessionmgr114&vid=1&hid=127 (accessed March 30, 2014).

Dropping out of high school can have negative effects on the individual and his or her community, but high school dropout rates have remained fairly consistent over the last 30 years. The research topic of this article is high school dropout rate. The question this research paper is trying to answer is, “Are there school characteristics that effect the high school dropout rate at that particular school?”

The authors use high school dropout rates, 12 different school characteristics, and climate characteristics. Data for this project was collected at the school-level, using high schools in Kentucky that had grades 9-12, a total of 196 schools. Quantitative data was obtained from the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE) and Kentucky Center for School Safety’s (KCSS) annual reports. The qualitative data was gathered using questionnaires that were given to selected schools. These questionnaires contained survey questions with choices to circle and questions with room provided for short answers. Staff and administrators were surveyed, and researchers also performed observations to obtain the climate characteristics of each school.

The analysis was done in three stages. During the first stage, the authors looked at the dropout rate and 12 school variables chosen to assess the school. These school variables were used in a correlation analysis. Stage two used the dropout rate to choose the 20 schools reporting the lowest dropout rates and the 20 schools reporting the highest dropout rates. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine if there are any significant differences in the 12 school variables between the two groups of schools. An ANOVA test was also performed on each dependent variable. For the third stage, four schools from each of the twenty schools (four from the schools with the lowest dropout rates and four from the schools with the highest dropout rates) were chosen. From these schools, the researchers collected qualitative data using the surveys and observations and qualitative data was examined to develop an understanding of what was happening at a micro level.

This research described its limitations, discussed its findings, and suggested the implications of this research on real-world practice. I was interested that they used dropout rates as they were reported rather than using CPI, which has been very popular in the other literature I reviewed. Some scholars claim the dropout rates are not as reliable without calculating CPI, but the researchers were thoughtful about this project, so I trust their choice. This research was different from other research I have looked at concerning graduation or dropout rates because it looked at the effects of school characteristics. I appreciated finding this new point of view.

Faircloth, Susan C., and John W. Tippeconnic III. The Civil Rights Project and The Pennsylvania State University Center for the Study of Leadership in American Indian Education, “The Dropout /Graduation Crisis Among American Indian and Alaska Native Students: Failure to Respond Places the Future of Native Peoples at Risk.” Last modified January 2010. Accessed March 23, 2014. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511323.pdf.

Native students have the highest dropout rate in the United States. It is not a new phenomenon, but one that still persists. Although the majority of Native students (about 92%) attend public schools, the rest (about 8%) attend schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). BIE schools have been cited as having facilities in need of improvement. Additionally, native students who attend BIE schools tend to have poorer educational outcomes than those who attend public schools. This article looks at the graduation gap between native students and students of other races. The research topic of this article is the graduation rate crisis among American Indian and Alaska Native students. The research question is: In the 12 U.S. states with the largest native populations included in this study, what are the graduation gaps between native students and non native students.

The data type needed to answer this question is graduation rates of native and non native students in the 12 U.S. states with the largest native populations. These rates are broken down further by race and gender. For each state and category, a graduation gap between native and non native students is calculated. The authors retrieved their data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) Common Core of Data (CCD). The figures used were calculated using the Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI). There are multiple techniques for calculating graduation rates, but CPI is favored by many who consider it the most accurate. The authors also looked at what percentage of the population is native in order to show how important this crisis is. The authors calculated graduation gaps between native and non native students in order to look for patterns in the data.

This research was very specific, which allowed it to give readers a detailed account of one phenomenon. At the beginning of the article, the authors discussed the limitation of the study, something I found very useful. Towards the end of the study, the authors discuss why this issue must be addressed, and they back their arguments up with data. Overall, I found this research very thorough and, in addition, useful to anyone who may be in the position to address this issue.

Kelly, Patrick J. National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, “ed.gov.” Last modified November 2005. Accessed March 16, 2014. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED512586.pdf.

In order for people to enjoy a middle class lifestyle, they must attain at least some education beyond high school. This paper focuses mainly on the economic reasons that the United States needs to improve educational inequality in response to a growing minority population. The U.S. is no longer the most highly educated nation in the world. In addition, minorities usually make less than whites with the same level of education, which could have a negative affect on total U.S. personal income in the future if nothing is done to change it.

The topic of this research paper is the impact that educational inequality will have on the economy. The research question is, “How will the changing U.S. population (to include more minorities) and educational inequality affect the U.S. economy?” There are several types of data used to answer this complex question. These data types include mean earnings by degree level, the racial/ethnic make-up of the U.S. population that is eligible to be in the workforce, the projected ethic/racial changes by age in U.S. population, minority populations by state, percentage of population aged 25-64 by race/ethnicity, trends in U.S. educational attainment, U.S. educational attainment trends compared to the trends of other countries, recent changes in U.S. education levels, educational representation by race/ethnicity, average annual incomes by race/ethnicity and gender and the difference between incomes by race/ethnicity for 25- to 64-year-olds, changes and projected changes in overall U.S. educational attainment, including projected change graphs organized by state, and projected change in personal income per capita between 2000 and 2020.

The authors used population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, high school graduation data from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), and enrollment and completion data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) IPEDS Fall Enrollment and Completion Surveys, the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 Public Use Microdata Sample Files (5% samples for each state), NCES IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey collection, U.S. Census Bureau population projections by state, age, and race/ethnicity (adjusted as needed by the authors).

The data collected was graphed and studied for patterns and disparities. The authors inform readers that “change in personal income was calculated by applying the income disparities reflected in the 2000 Census data to the projected population in 2020 (by age and race/ethnicity). To arrive at more accurate projections of state personal income, the income disparities (in 2000) by race/ethnicity within several age groups (15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and 65 and older) were applied to projected population changes by race/ethnicity within the same age groups. In the case of personal income, it was necessary to include all of the ages that are used to calculate personal income per capita (aged 15 and older).”

This research project is extremely interesting because it looks at educational inequality in the U.S., but it also looks at the economic effects of this inequality. This study used several different types of data, which made it fairly complex, but with its complexity comes its thorough exploration of every factor which may have an effect on the topic. This research shows that the United States will pay a price if it doesn’t work on improving educational inequality and inequality of income for minorities. It is a call for action which also provides reasons why everyone should want to help improve this issue.

Greene, Jay P., and Marcus A. Winters. Leaving Boys Behind: Public High School Graduation Rates. Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute, 2006. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED491633.pdf.

This article was written in 2003, and at this time it was widely known that national graduation rate data was unreliable. Although government officials were working on improving this data, independent studies on graduation rates were still very important. This report uses the Common Core of Data to study public school graduation rates throughout the nation, focusing on both race and gender. The results will show the disparities that exist, if any do exist, for graduation rates among males, females, various races, and males and females of each race.

The research topic for this study is the disparity of graduation rates among males and females, with an additional focus on race. The questions the authors of this article set out to answer are: 1) Is there a difference between the graduation rates of white students and the graduation rates of minority students? 2) Is there a difference between the graduation rates of females and the graduation rates of males? 3) Is there a difference between the graduation rates of white males and minority males and a difference between white females and minority females?

To answer this question, the author looked at the public school graduation rates of each state published in the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data. These graduation rates are also separated by race and gender, and further separated by race and gender together, for example, white females vs. asian females, etc. To gather this data, the authors used the Department of Education’s Common Core of Data (CCD) for 2003, the most recent data available at the time of this study. They researched the reliability of the CCD versus other available data sets on graduation rate to determine that it truly was the best choice for data.

To analyze the data, the authors looked at rates (percentages) which are calculated as regular diplomas in spring of 2003 divided by the estimated number of students entering ninth grade in 1999 times one plus population change between fourteen-year-olds in the summer of 1999 and seventeen-year-olds in the summer of 2002). Because the data are given as rates, each number in the data set can be easily compared with all other numbers in the data set. The authors looked at these rates to determine patterns and disparities among various groups. In conclusion, they found that white students have a higher graduation rate than minority students, girls have a higher graduation rate than boys, and the gender gap in graduation rates is especially large for minority students. Overall, this research was well-done and led to some interesting conclusions, which could be used to determine what kind of changes public schools need to work toward in the future.

Orfield, Gary, and Chungmei Lee. The Civil Rights Project, “Why Segregation Matters: Poverty and Educational Inequality.” Last modified January 2005. Accessed February 22, 2014. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED489186.pdf.

Segregation has been a big issue surrounding educational inequality for a long time, and segregation in schools had been increasing since the 1980s (until 2005, the time this article was written). However, some people believe segregation is irrelevant and that all schools can be made equal with the right programs. However, there is very little evidence that shows “separate but equal” in schools can work on a large scale, and the authors believe it is not possible. This study looks at the affects of poverty and segregation on academic achievement and graduation rate.

This article’s topic is educational inequality, more specifically, it focuses on segregation and its effects on overall student performance. The research question here is: Does poverty segregation and racial inequality have an affect on school performance?

There were several types of data used to answer this question in-depth. First, public school enrollment by race for each region was looked at. The authors then showed readers proof that Latino enrollment has been increasing in several U.S. states. Racial composition of schools was also looked at in the context of the race of the student that attended them. The percentage of students in each racial group was also presented for schools dominated by minority students and schools dominated by white students.

Moving onto economic factors, the percent of poor students, by race and year, in schools attended by the average student was examined. In this case, poor students are considered students who qualify for either free or reduced lunches. In addition, the distribution of public school students by poverty for 2002 to 2003 was studied. Then, racial composition of low poverty, high poverty, and extreme poverty schools for the same time period was analyzed. Furthermore, these compositions were examined even more closely by region. Then, graduation rates for the largest central city school districts, metropolitan countywide districts, and suburban districts were studied.

The author’s used the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) common core of data to gather their various data. The authors looked at percentages and ratios to find patterns in the data, including whether some data show increases or declines in certain results. They try to find national trends using the data. They also use the Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI), which is a method of calculating completion rates to estimate the probability of a student graduating on time.

This article is very thorough and uses an impressive amount of data to research and support its claims. The recommendations are well though-out and detailed, so it would be possible for someone to apply them after reading this article, although they could be difficult to apply. Overall, this research was important and interesting, and offered detailed evidence to support its argument that segregation is a relevant factor that needs to be taken into consideration during the creation of policy.

Orfield, Gary, Daniel Losen, and Johanna Wald. President and Fellows of Harvard College, “Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth Are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis.” Last modified 2004. Accessed February 13, 2014. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED489177.pdf.

This article considers why high school graduation rates are low for all students, but particularly low for minority groups, and what can be done to ameliorate this problem. Official dropout statistics are often inaccurate. This article tries to focus on the disparities between graduation rates of minority vs. majority groups. The article asks three questions: “First, how deep and widespread are the racial disparities that exist at the state and district levels? Second, how has the misleading and incomplete reporting of this issue obscured both the magnitude of the crisis and its racial dimensions? Finally, focusing primarily on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, we ask whether state and federal accountability systems, as implemented, are appropriately structured to improve high school graduation rates, especially among children of color.”

The first type of data needed to answer these questions is graduation rate. In this study, the four lowest state graduation rates are used, organized by racial group. Additionally, graduation rates are given by district type. Data for State Graduation Rate Accountability is also used. To obtain graduation rates, the authors used the actual enrollment data that districts contribute to the nation’s Common Core of Data because they believe this data is the most accurate. The Graduation Rate Accountability data comes from a survey done by state officials in 2003 and 2004. The authors compare graduation rates among states and particularly between minority racial groups vs. whites to look for patterns. They also compare graduation rates between males and females. They compare these rates with Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) expectations. The State Graduation Rate Accountability programs are analyzed to see if they create true accountability.

At the end of the article, the authors make recommendations. These recommendations are based on their research and most are specific enough to be implemented. However, the exact steps to take to implement some of their recommendations are not offered and could be daunting. All of these recommendations, however, would be extremely helpful if they were given consideration by the federal government. This research strives to be independent and eliminate factors that may result in misleading data, and it does seem to consider concrete evidence in order to succeed at this. Overall, this research project was well executed.

Solorzano, Daniel G., and Armida Ornelas. “A Critical Race Analysis of Advanced Placement Classes: A Case of Educational Inequality.”Journal of Latinos & Education. no. 4 (2002): 215-29. http://0-web.a.ebscohost.com.books.redlands.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=576965dc-9de8-49bb-8fc1-4e69fb3f1198@sessionmgr4001&vid=1&hid=4109 (accessed February 8, 2014).

In this article, the authors use race theory to analyze the availability of Advanced Placement courses and how they have an impact on the educations of Chicana/Latina students. The authors explore the topic of educational inequality, specifically in the availability of AP classes to various races and genders. This article asks three research questions: “How do school structures, processes, and discourses help maintain racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes? How do Chicana/Latina students and parents respond to the educational structures [sic] processes, and discourses that help maintain racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes? How can school reforms help end racial/ethnic/gender/class discrimination in access to AP/Honors classes?”

The authors needed to examine AP enrollment to look for disparities between various races, genders, and classes. They also looked at the average amount of AP classes taken by students who were admitted to UCLA. In this study, the authors focused on a particular school district in California that served a large population of Chicana/Latina students and obtained its records on AP enrollment. It is not clear how they obtained this data in the article. They also obtained data on UCLA admissions, but it is not specified where and how they obtained this data. I would have liked to have been told how their data were collected. To analyze the data, the authors compared the percentages of various races that enrolled in AP classes in different high schools in the same district. They also analyzed the average income levels of each school and looked for patterns.

As a result of this research, the authors found that Chicana/Latina students were underrepresented in AP enrollment. There was also low enrollment at low-income schools. It doesn’t seem as if they looked into gender, which is strange because they did include gender in their initial questions. At the end of the article, the authors offered recommendations. The K-12 recommendations included, “K-12 institutions must develop a college-going culture that includes, at minimum, the following six conditions: 1. A school culture supportive of advanced study and college going. 2. Student participation in rigorous academic courses (i.e. a-f courses and AP programs). 3. Student access to qualified teachers. 4. Student access to intensive academic supports. 5. The school developing a multicultural college-going identity. 6. The school’s connections with parents and community around advanced study.”

This research was a great start to a complex topic. Although the research clearly showed that Chicana/Latina students were underrepresented in AP classes, it did not delve deeply into the reasons behind this, which would be very interesting to determine. Additionally, they showed that schools with urban, low income students had low AP enrollment, but these schools did still offer AP classes. It would be helpful to know what is going on to cause the low enrollment to be able to make detailed suggestions to schools. The authors’ recommendations to schools are fairly vague and may be difficult for schools to accomplish without further guidance. However, these recommendations are a great place to start.

Kao, Grace, and Marta Tienda. “Optimism and Achievement: The Educational Performance of Immigrant Youth .” Social Science Quarterly. no. 1 (1995). http://0-web.a.ebscohost.com.books.redlands.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=47797f1f-2597-4932-8916-fe5aa80aeeeb@sessionmgr4005&vid=1&hid=4204 (accessed February 1, 2014).

This article can also be found in the Armacost Library.

“Optimism and Achievement: The Educational Performance of Immigrant Youth” by Grace Kao and Marta Tienda looks at whether assimilation benefits immigrant students. It looks at “the relative merits of three hypotheses regarding generational status and scholastic performance: (1) straight-line assimilation; (2) accommodation without assimilation; (3) immigrant optimism,” as explained in the abstract. The article first looks at hypotheses one and two by comparing data on educational achievements and moves to compare these findings further with data on parental attitudes and behaviors. The topic of this article is the educational performance of immigrant youth and poses the question: does assimilation benefit the educational achievement of immigrant youth?

This question can be answered with a few different types of data. Educational achievement should most-likely be measured with quantitative data such as test scores, grades, or graduation rates. In this case, the study uses test scores, grades, and college aspirations of eighth graders. In this study, the authors used The National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, a national survey with a two-stage  probability sampling design, providing a nationally representative sample of 24,599 students from 1,052 randomly selected schools. The authors looked at a statistical profile of students. For grades, they simply compared the grades of students with first generation, second generation, and third generation immigrant status and native-born status. In addition, they performed a regression analysis on middle-school grades, eighth grade math and reading test scores, and aspirations to graduate from college. To analyze parental attitudes and behaviors, they performed a statistical analysis on family rules and communication among first generation immigrant parents, second generation immigrant parents, and native generation parents and looked at the relationship between these data and educational achievement.

This research was very thorough and provided statistical analysis which provided results that were easy to organize and present in their write-up. Although some members of the general public may struggle to interpret statistical analyses, they don’t need to be able to do so to understand the findings because the authors explain the results with great detail. The research was ethical, informative, and designed to be unbiased. The only difficulty I had was an unclear definition of “college aspirations.” I’m assuming the data on college aspirations were collected in a way that made them quantifiable because a statistical analysis was performed on the data, however it is not clear what they mean in the results by “higher college aspirations” among certain groups.

Interestingly, other variables appeared to have an impact on the results: race and ethnic background. The authors did take the time to address these variables in their results. This research wielded favorable results for accommodation without assimilation and immigrant optimism and did not favor straight-line assimilation. It is interesting to see two out of three of their hypotheses were favored by the data and one was not because we often think of hypotheses of mutually exclusive. The two different types of data were helpful in strengthening the results of the study, and looking at the relationship between the two offered a detailed analysis.