School Size, Student Achievement, and the "Power Rating" of Poverty: Substantive Finding or Statistical Artifact?

Autor/in	Coladarci, Theodore
Titel	School Size, Student Achievement, and the "Power Rating" of Poverty: Substantive Finding or Statistical Artifact?
Quelle	In: Education Policy Analysis Archives, 14 (2006) 28, S.1-26 (26 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1068-2341
Schlagwörter	Poverty; Reading Achievement; Mathematics Achievement; School Size; Socioeconomic Influences; Small Schools; Grade 8; Public Schools; Hypothesis Testing; Student Evaluation; Interaction; Correlation; Maine + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Armut; Leseleistung; Mathmatics sikills; Mathmatics achievement; Mathematical ability; Mathematische Kompetenz; Sozioökonomischer Faktor; School; Schools; Schule; School year 08; 8. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 08; Public school; Öffentliche Schule; Hypothesenprüfung; Hypothesentest; Schulnote; Studentische Bewertung; Interaktion; Korrelation
Abstract	The proportion of variance in student achievement that is explained by student SES--"poverty's power rating," as some call it--tends to be lower among smaller schools than among larger schools. Smaller schools, many claim, are able to somehow disrupt the seemingly axiomatic association between SES and student achievement. Using eighth-grade data for 216 public schools in Maine, I explored the hypothesis that this in part is a statistical artifact of the greater volatility (lower reliability) of school-aggregated student achievement in smaller schools. This hypothesis received no support when reading achievement served as the dependent variable. In contrast, the hypothesis was supported when the dependent variable was mathematics achievement. For reasons considered in the discussion, however, I ultimately concluded that the latter results are insufficient to affirm the statistical-artifact hypothesis here as well. Implications for subsequent research are discussed. (Contains 6 figures, 10 tables, and 4 footnotes.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Colleges of Education at Arizona State University and the University of South Florida. c/o Editor, USF EDU162, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620-5650. Tel: 813-974-3400; Fax: 813-974-3826; Web site: http://epaa.asu.edu
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10