Sunday, September 25, 2005
Diversity and educational effectiveness
Like many parents, I send my daughter to a diverse public school, in part, because I value the opportunities she gets to interact with children from different backgrounds. I suspect most parents believe that, to the extent that a diverse school helps educationally, it is probably in "soft" skills, something along the lines of Teaching Tolerance.
But I'm now thinking about the impact of school diversity on more academic subjects like mathematics and science. It's a timely issue. As Jonathan Kozol's new book, The shame of the nation: The restoration of apartheid schooling in America points out, schools are no more racially integrated now than they were 30 years ago. And the situation is getting worse. Parents from all backgrounds dislike bussing, but its hard to see how you integrate schools when America's cities and suburbs are becoming increasingly segregated.
On the other hand, according to the NY Times [free registration required], bussing works. Or, more precisely, bussing appears to have worked in Raleigh. They've implemented a policy to integrate schools by income (not directly by race, though the result is more racial integration), and test scores are up across the district.
Both Kozol's book and the Times article about Raleigh assume the same mechanism for how school diversity results in school improvement. When the school's parents are spread across the spectrum of income and political power, then resources will be more evenly spread across the district, so no schools get "left behind."
It's a good theory. It's probably true. But redistribution of wealth isn't the kind of thing that resonates with the wealthy and politically powerful. No wonder schools are re-segregating.
But what if diverse schools really were more effective schools? What if diversifying a school didn't just help kids get along with others but it actually improved mathematics learning for all kids in the school?
Some recent data suggests that this might be the case.
Gary Plano studied the impact of Cognitive Tutor on students in a district Seattle. He found especially strong effects on English Language Learners. But a more recent analysis (submitted for publication but not out yet) shows that the benefit extended to students in high-ELL classes, even though they are not themselves English Language Learners.
I figured that these students, though not technically ELL, were lumped into those classes due to poor language skills, and that would explain the results. But Dr. Plano thinks I'm wrong. He offered the same explanation that Bill Hadley independently came up with. Students in high-ELL classes spend more time talking to each other. The ELL students are always asking the other students for help, and the non-ELL students get used to explaining the math, which helps them learn.
Its a much more subtle and interesting explanation than mine. If it's true, it's the start of a powerful argument for figuring out how to increase diversity in schools.
But I'm now thinking about the impact of school diversity on more academic subjects like mathematics and science. It's a timely issue. As Jonathan Kozol's new book, The shame of the nation: The restoration of apartheid schooling in America points out, schools are no more racially integrated now than they were 30 years ago. And the situation is getting worse. Parents from all backgrounds dislike bussing, but its hard to see how you integrate schools when America's cities and suburbs are becoming increasingly segregated.
On the other hand, according to the NY Times [free registration required], bussing works. Or, more precisely, bussing appears to have worked in Raleigh. They've implemented a policy to integrate schools by income (not directly by race, though the result is more racial integration), and test scores are up across the district.
Both Kozol's book and the Times article about Raleigh assume the same mechanism for how school diversity results in school improvement. When the school's parents are spread across the spectrum of income and political power, then resources will be more evenly spread across the district, so no schools get "left behind."
It's a good theory. It's probably true. But redistribution of wealth isn't the kind of thing that resonates with the wealthy and politically powerful. No wonder schools are re-segregating.
But what if diverse schools really were more effective schools? What if diversifying a school didn't just help kids get along with others but it actually improved mathematics learning for all kids in the school?
Some recent data suggests that this might be the case.
Gary Plano studied the impact of Cognitive Tutor on students in a district Seattle. He found especially strong effects on English Language Learners. But a more recent analysis (submitted for publication but not out yet) shows that the benefit extended to students in high-ELL classes, even though they are not themselves English Language Learners.
I figured that these students, though not technically ELL, were lumped into those classes due to poor language skills, and that would explain the results. But Dr. Plano thinks I'm wrong. He offered the same explanation that Bill Hadley independently came up with. Students in high-ELL classes spend more time talking to each other. The ELL students are always asking the other students for help, and the non-ELL students get used to explaining the math, which helps them learn.
Its a much more subtle and interesting explanation than mine. If it's true, it's the start of a powerful argument for figuring out how to increase diversity in schools.
// posted by Steve Ritter @ 10:40 AM 
