Lee, Valerie E., & Smith, Julia
Researchers: Julia SmithValerie E. Lee
University Affiliation: University of Michigan, University of Rochester
Email: velee@umich.edu
Research Question:
How differences in the organization of schools influence the learning and behavior of students who attend the schools?
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Sociology of Education
Journal Entry: Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 164-187
Year: 1993
Findings:
- Schools with smaller eighth grades were more restructured.
- Heterogeneous grouping is more common in more homogeneous schools
- Schools with less rigid departmental structures evidence both higher achievement and less social-class differentiation.
- In schools that practice heterogeneous grouping, achievement is distributed more equitably across students from different social backgrounds.
- Team teaching is unrelated to the equitable distribution of achieving within schools.
- Students were more engaged with academic work in more restructured schools.
- Schools with larger eight grades have less engaged students and achievement is more differentiated by social class than is the case in schools with fewer students in the eight grade.
- Academic diversity reflects a disequalizing distribution of achievement by SES, which seems logical, if unfortunate.
- Modest but consistently positive effects of restructuring were found on both achievement and engagement, as well as with a more equitable social distribution of these outcomes.