2003 - The Effect of Group-level Influences on Pupils' Progress in Reading

Attribution: Hutchison, Dougal
Researchers: Dougal Hutchison
University Affiliation: National Foundation for Educational Research
Email: d.hutchison@nfer.ac.uk
Research Question:
Investigates the existence or otherwise of group-level effects on progress in reading.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: British Research Journal
Journal Entry: Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 25-40
Year: 2003
Findings:
  • The only non-score peer effect in Cohort 1 with a statistically significant effect on the intercept is pupil turnover.
  • Pupil turnover, in the operationalisation adopted here, was highly statistically significant in both cohorts: no other ‘non-score’ peer effect were statistically significant after allowing for pupil turnover.
  • Pupil turnover had a negative effect in both cohorts, and a possible mechanisms would be the disproportionate time the teacher had to spend inducting and socializing the incomers.
  • Peer group effects show to be stronger at older ages.
  • The measures of deprivation (proportion free school meals, proportion free school clothes) have a considerably weaker effect, if any.
  • Findings show that the other pupils in a class do have an impact. It is more difficult for children to make progress in some classes than others. Class composition should be taken into account in assessing value added.
Keywords: CompositionContextPeer EffectsReadingSESRegions: InternationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: SurveyAnalysis Methods: Multilevel Models Sampling Frame:LEA in south England
Sampling Types: NonrandomAnalysis Units: PeersSchoolStudentData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:
  • Explores two different kinds of contextual effects: sociological or social psychological and psychological.
  • Divides group effects into: contextual effects and comparison or frog pond.
  • Data comes from a study of progress in reading in a medium size LEA in the south of England.
  • Two two-wave primary age cohort studies were planned and carried out. Cohort 1 where tested in 1988 as ‘6 years-olds’ and as ‘8 year-olds; Cohort 2 were tested in 1988 as ‘8-year-olds’ and in 1990 as ’10 year-olds’.
  • DV: age-standardized score on the Suffolk Reading Ability Scales. Reading scores in 1988 and 1990 are described as T1 score and T2 score. Respectively.
  • IV: Pupil variables (sex, age, scores, free school meals, etc.), global school variables (type of school, school size, proportion of teaching staff left in the last two years, number of teachers, etc.).
  • The peer group influences include: social class, ability, sex balance, disruptive pupils.
  • Pupils instruments were distributed to schools by the LEA staff and completed by schools.
  • The analysis was carried out with fixed coefficients and with random coefficients as well.
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts