school segregation and self-fulfilling prophecies as determinants of academic achievement in...
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School segregation and self-fulfilling prophecies as determinants of
academic achievement in Flanders
Dr. Orhan AgirdagGhent University, CuDOS
Educational inequalities in Flanders
Across ethnic and socioeconomic lines
At all levels of education
Primary education: math achievement
Secondary education: tracking
Secondary education: tracking
The question is … why
Educational inequalities
Two theoretical frameworks1.School segregation2.Self-fulfilling prophecies
Separate perspectives Possible integration of perspectives?
1. Studies on school segregation
Focus
effects of school composition
school SES, school ethnic composition
net effects (control for individual-level variables)
Limits
1. Most studies only in the USA
2. Student outcomes only (achievement)
3. Black-box model: lack of processes
School composition
Student performance
School composition
Student performance?
2. Self-fulfilling propheciesPygmalion effect:
Teacher expectations Students expectations
Student performance
Previous studies: individual-level expectations e.g. individual student ethnicity teacher expectations
But school-level expectations?
e.g. school ethnic composition teacher expectations
School composition
Student performance
School composition
Student performance
Teacher expectations
School composition
Student performance
Teacher expectations
Student expectations
Quantitative data (2009-2010)
68 Flemish primary schools
2845 students (aged 10-12)
706 teachers
Multilevel analysis
Variables (1)
Independent
Ethnic composition (% non-native ethnic minority pupils)
SES composition (% working-class pupils)
Dependent
Math achievement (60 items)
ControlSchool-level: school denomination, school size, previous
achievements
Student-level: grade, gender, SES, previous achievement, ethnicity
Variables (2)
Mediator at student level
1. Sense of futility (student expectations)
4 items: “Students like me will fail, even if we try hard”
Mediators at school level
2. Futility culture (student expectations)
aggregate of sense of futility
3. Teachability culture (teacher expectations)
31 items, “Students in this school are smart, hardworking, polite,
…”
Results
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Ethnic composition: (% non-native) -0.120 (n.s.) ---
SES composition: (% working class) --- -0.235** -0.103
Teachability culture --- --- -0.031 (n.s.)
Futility culture --- --- -0.258***
Sense of futility --- --- -0.213***
Control variables not shown
n.s.= p > 0.05; *= p < 0.05; **= p < 0.01; ***=p < 0.001
Results
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Ethnic composition: (% non-native) -0.120 (n.s.) ---
SES composition: (% working class) --- -0.235** -0.103
Teachability culture --- --- -0.031 (n.s.)
Futility culture --- --- -0.258***
Sense of futility --- --- -0.213***
Control variables not shown
n.s.= p > 0.05; *= p < 0.05; **= p < 0.01; ***=p < 0.001
Results
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Ethnic composition: (% non-native) -0.120 (n.s.) ---
SES composition: (% working class) --- -0.235** -0.103
Teachability culture --- --- -0.031 (n.s.)
Futility culture --- --- -0.258***
Sense of futility --- --- -0.213***
Control variables not shown
n.s.= p > 0.05; *= p < 0.05; **= p < 0.01; ***=p < 0.001
Results
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Ethnic composition: (% non-native) -0.120 (n.s.) ---
SES composition: (% working class) --- -0.235** -0.103
Teachability culture --- --- -0.031 (n.s.)
Futility culture --- --- -0.258***
Sense of futility --- --- -0.213***
Control variables not shown
n.s.= p > 0.05; *= p < 0.05; **= p < 0.01; ***=p < 0.001
SES composition(% working class)
Teachability culture
Futility culture
Sense of futility
Academic achievement-0.396***
n.s.
n.s.
n.s.
-0.241*
-0.106*
0.365**
-0.258***
-0.213***
Results
Policy recommendations
Prevent drop-out = reducing achievement gaps
1. Educational policy
Monolingual education policies low expectations
Valorization of linguistic diversity needed
2. Teacher education (TE) programs
a)More focus on social justice in existing TE programs
b)Specialized TE programs diversity