1989 - A Multilevel Model of the Social Distribution of High School Achievement

Attribution: Lee, Valerie E., & Bryk, Anthony
Researchers: Anthony BrykValerie E. Lee
University Affiliation: Univeristy of Michigan
Email: velee@umich.edu
Research Question:
Why some schools are better able to induce academic outcomes among a broad social and racial distribution of students.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Sociology of Education
Journal Entry: Vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 172-192
Year: 1989
Findings:
  • The school average mathematics achievement is higher in Catholic schools, the minority achievement gap is smaller in Catholic schools, and the social class distributive effect is somewhat weaker.
  • Organizational differences among schools exert a substantial impact on students’ achievement.
  • Academic organization of the school, in terms of the breadth of curricular offerings and expectations about the number of academic courses required of all students, structures differential learning opportunities.
  • Schools’ decisions about academic structure play a major role here.
  • The academic organization of high schools has a significant impact on the social distribution of achievement within them.
  • The effects of the staff problems measure suggest that the interest and commitment of teachers contributes significantly to academic achievement.
  • High average achievement is related to school social composition (race and SES) and to the school’s academic emphasis.
Keywords: Academic AchievementEnglishMathSESRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Multilevel Models Sampling Frame:Senior Students
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: SchoolStudentData Types: Quantitative-Cross Sectional
Data Description:
  • Data consisted of a subsample of 10,187 students in 160 high schools from High School and Beyond.
  • DV: senior year math achievement
  • IV: Demographic characteristics, measure of the academic background of students as they entered high school, school level predictors (social and academic composition of schools, perceived quality of instruction and teachers’ interest in students, disciplinary climate of the school, academic press of the school, curricular structure).
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts