Modelling the Effects of Pupil Mobility and Neighbourhood on School Differences in Educational Achievement

Traditional studies of school differences in educational achievement use multilevel modelling techniques to take into account the nesting of pupils within schools. However, educational data are known to have more complex non-hierarchical structures. The potential importance of such structures is apparent when considering the impact of pupil mobility during secondary schooling on educational achievement. Movements of pupils between schools suggest that we should model pupils as belonging to the series of schools attended and not just their final school. Since these school moves are strongly linked to residential moves, it is important to additionally explore whether achievement is also affected by the history of neighbourhoods lived in. Using the national pupil database (NPD), this paper combines multiple-membership and cross-classified multilevel models to simultaneously explore the relationships between secondary school, primary school, neighbourhood and educational achievement. The results show a negative relationship between pupil mobility and achievement, the strength of which depends greatly on the nature and timing of these moves. Accounting for pupil mobility also reveals that schools and neighbourhoods are more important than shown by previous analysis. A strong primary school effect appears to last long after a child has left that phase of schooling. The additional impact of neighbourhoods, on the other hand, is small. Crucially, the rank order of school effects across all types of pupils is sensitive to whether we account for the complexity of the multilevel data structure.Cross-classified models, Multiple-membership-models, Multilevel modelling, Pupil mobility, School effectiveness, Value-added models

Should we adjust for pupil background in school value-added models? A study of Progress 8 and school accountability in England

In the UK, US and elsewhere, school accountability systems increasingly compare schools using value-added measures of school performance derived from pupil scores in high-stakes standardised tests. Rather than naively comparing school average scores, which largely reflect school intake differences in prior attainment, these measures attempt to compare the average progress or improvement pupils make during a year or phase of schooling. Schools, however, also differ in terms of their pupil demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and these also predict why some schools subsequently score higher than others. Many therefore argue that value-added measures unadjusted for pupil background are biased in favour of schools with more 'educationally advantaged' intakes. But, others worry that adjusting for pupil background entrenches socioeconomic inequities and excuses low performing schools. In this article we explore these theoretical arguments and their practical importance in the context of the 'Progress 8' secondary school accountability system in England which has chosen to ignore pupil background. We reveal how the reported low or high performance of many schools changes dramatically once adjustments are made for pupil background and these changes also affect the reported differential performances of region and of different school types. We conclude that accountability systems which choose to ignore pupil background are likely to reward and punish the wrong schools and this will likely have detrimental effects on pupil learning. These findings, especially when coupled with more general concerns surrounding high-stakes testing and school value-added models, raise serious doubts about their use in school accountability systems

Words by convention

Existing metasemantic projects presuppose that word- (or sentence-) types are part of the non-semantic base. We propose a new strategy: an endogenous account of word types, that is, one where word types are fixed as part of the metasemantics. On this view, it is the conventions of truthfulness and trust that ground not only the meaning of the words (meaning by convention) but also what the word type is of each particular token utterance (words by convention). The same treatment extends to identifying the populations through which the conventions prevail. We consider whether this proposal leads to new underdetermination challenges for metasemantics, and make a case that it does not

Civil Service and Military Service Pensions In China

As quoted by Palacios and Whitehouse, there are separate pension schemes for civil servants in about half the world’s countries. This includes the People’s Republic of China. In some countries pension costs for public sector employees form a disproportionately large part of the total pension expenditure, and this applies to China. Whereas a considerable volume of material is available on the Chinese national pension systems, there has been far less study of the pension arrangements in place for the civil service, public service employees and military personnel in China. Indeed it has proven particularly difficult to obtain reliable and accurate information as to the pension arrangements for the People’s Liberation Army. Of course pension provision worldwide is attracting a great deal of attention because of its importance at a micro level, i.e. as replacement income for individuals after retirement, and at a macro level, viz. the impact on the overall economy of both funded and unfunded arrangements. The major pressures affecting the different pension systems in China, and indeed worldwide, include: - rapidly improving life expectancy; - changing work patterns, including greater labour mobility; - the effect of the global financial crisis on pension assets and on government budgets. This paper will describe the main elements of pension provision in China, i.e.: - state pension system for urban workers;- supplementary benefits for urban workers;- the National Social Security Fund;- the proposed rural pension system;- civil service and public servants pensions;- the military pension system. A description of certain reforms affecting public servants is given, together with comment on the desirability of further harmonising the various pension arrangements in China

The Limitations of Using School League Tables to Inform School Choice

In England, so-called ‘league tables’ based upon examination results and test scores are published annually, ostensibly to inform parental choice of secondary schools. A crucial limitation of these tables is that the most recent published information is based on the current performance of a cohort of pupils who entered secondary schools several years earlier, whereas for choosing a school it is the future performance of the current cohort that is of interest. We show that there is substantial uncertainty in predicting such future performance and that incorporating this uncertainty leads to a situation where only a handful of schools’ future performances can be separated from both the overall mean and from one another with an acceptable degree of precision. This suggests that school league tables, including value-added ones, have very little to offer as guides to school choice.Examination results, Institutional comparisons, League tables, Multilevel modelling, Performance indicators, Ranking, School choice, School effectiveness, Value-added

Active-Learning Methods to Improve Student Performance and Scientific Interest in a Large Introductory Course

Teaching methods that are often recommended to improve the learning environment in college science courses include cooperative learning, adding inquiry-based activities to traditional lectures, and engaging students in projects or investigations. Two questions often surround these efforts: 1) can these methods be used in large classes; and 2) how do we know that they are increasing student learning? This study, from the University of Massachusetts, describes how education researchers have transformed the environment of a large-enrollment oceanography course (600 students) by modifying lectures to include cooperative learning via interactive in-class exercises and directed discussion. Assessments were redesigned as "two-stage" exams with a significant collaborative component. Results of student surveys, course evaluations, and exam performance demonstrate that learning of the subject under these conditions has improved. Student achievement shows measurable and statistically significant increases in information recall, analytical skills, and quantitative reasoning. There is evidence from both student surveys and student interview comments that for the majority of students, the course increased their interest in science -- a difficult effect to achieve with this population. Educational levels: Graduate or professional, Graduate or professional

Mechanical behavior of a continuous fiber reinforced aluminum matrix composite subjected to transverse and thermal loading

The transverse properties of an aluminum alloy metal matrix composite reinforced by continuous alumina fibers were investigated. The composite is subjected to both mechanical and cyclic thermal loading. The results of an experimental program indicate that the shakedown concept of structural mechanics provides a means of describing the material behavior. When the loading conditions are within the shakedown region, the material finally responds in an elastic manner after initial plastic response, and for loading conditions outside the shakedown region, the material exhibits a rapid incremental plastic strain accumulation. The failure strain varies by an order of magnitude according to the operating conditions. Hence, for high mechanical and low thermal loading, the failure strains is small; for low mechanical and high thermal loading, the failure strain is large

Reduction of thermal stresses in continuous fiber reinforced metal matrix composites with interface layers

The potential of using an interface layer to reduce thermal stresses in the matrix of composites with a mismatch in coefficients of thermal expansion of fiber and matrix was investigated. It was found that compliant layers, with properties of readily available materials, do not have the potential to reduce thermal stresses significantly. However, interface layers with high coefficient of thermal expansion can compensate for the mismatch and reduce thermal stresses in the matrix significantly

Human Development and Shelter: A Human Rights Perspective

human development, poverty, empowerment