– The substantial proportion of the variation in student achievement lies within schools, not between schools.
– There is considerable between-school variation in achievement, which becomes larger over time.
– Schools are more diverse and more segregated in the 1990s than in the 1970s.
– School characteristics such as school region, school socioeconomic status, and certain characteristics of the student body of the school, such as students’ daily attendance, students in college preparatory classes, and high school graduates enrolled in colleges are important predictors of average student achievement.
– School predictors explained consistently more than 50% of the variation in average student
achievement across surveys.
– Teacher effects have a relatively larger impact on mathematics and science student achievement than do school effects.
– In mathematics, males outperformed females by 1/6 of an SD. The race gap was around 1/2 of an SD, favoring White students. High SES students outperformed their peers by about 1/2 of an SD.
– Schools that offered advanced placement courses also had higher mathematics achievement, on average, than other schools.
– In reading, females outperformed their male peers by 1/13 of an SD. The race gap was the same as in mathematics, and the social class gap was slightly smaller (about 4/10 of an SD).
– In science, males outperformed their female peers by 1/4 of an SD. The race and social-class gap was the same as in reading and mathematics.
– The science results for school characteristics were identical to those reported for mathematics.
– Rural schools and schools with low proportions of minority students had higher science achievement, on average, than other schools.
2006 - Trends of School Effects on Student Achievement: Evidence from NLS:72, HSB:82, and NELS:92
Data from three major surveys conducted over the last 30 years were used in this study. These include the NLS:72, HSB:82 (26,216 students), and NELS:92 (12,921 students). Each of these had a nationally representative sample, and only data for 12th grade students were kept. There is content comparability of the achievement measures across the different surveys.
DV: standardized mathematics, reading, and science test scores
Student level IV: gender, race/ethnicity, and a composite measure of student SES (a composite of parental education, occupation, and income)
School level IV: indexes of school structure such as school region, school urbanization, and school sector; indexes of school composition such as school SES, minority concentration, daily attendance, dropout rates, college attendance rates of high school graduates, and length of school year (in weeks); indexes of school resources such as pupil-teacher ratio; and indexes of school organization/curriculum such as students in college preparation courses and advanced placement courses.