1,721,179 research outputs found
The contribution of Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling to contemporary trends in educational research
No full textSelection effects in education and implications for educational opportunity: state of the field and future directions
No full textWhether intended by education policy (e.g., via school entrance examinations) or unintended (e.g., via social stratification), selection effects in education (who goes where, gets what, and how much) shape educational opportunities – influencing the life chances of individuals and groups, and the structure of societies. However, within the quantitative approach to educational research, current statistical methods can struggle to simultaneously evaluate both the presence and impacts of these effects. In turn, this methodological limitation impedes efforts to facilitate equality of educational opportunity. This paper responds with a critical overview of types of selection effects in education, their consequences for educational opportunity, and the statistical methods used for their identification. Two empirical illustrations show how a new statistical method (“airbag moderation”) can enable better detection and evaluation of selection effects in education and help direct future research into selection effects in education with a focus on opportunities for equality of educational opportunity
Selection effects for inequity in education: Identifying and evaluating a new type of educational effect via application of Airbag Moderation
No full textSelection effects in education – who goes where, gets what, and how much – play a pivotal role in the formation and persistence of educational inequities. These include inequalities from preschool to higher education and as regards both student progress and attainment as well as the funding and resources of teachers, institutions, and districts. However, current statistical methods can struggle to simultaneously evaluate both the presence of a selection effect in education and its consequence for educational inequity. For example, where one group has a different access to an educational resource and this differential access may be the reason for group differences in educational outcome. Say for example geographic differences in access to educational opportunities. This paper responds with two empirical examples that overcome current methodological difficulties via the application of the new Hypothesis of ‘Airbag Moderation’. These examples use data from the USA and the UK and from two different phases of education (USA high school, UK preschool). Evidence is found of selection effects in education that both widen and narrow differences between groups of students in their education outcomes. Discussion focusses upon methodological requirements for extensions to this work, as well as implications for educational research, policy, and practic
Academic buoyancy in secondary school: Exploring patterns of convergence in English, mathematics, science, and physical education
Full text linkPast research into the ability of students to 'bounce back' from everyday academic setback (academic buoyancy) has lacked sensitivity to the contexts in which children demonstrate this behavior. Here we aimed to contextualize past findings by reporting the results of an exploratory investigation that featured: (1) repeated measurement of students' self-reported buoyancy across English, mathematics, science, and physical education; (2) measures of students' psychological appraisal as a test of external validity; (3) a novel national context (England rather than Australia). In total 260 English secondary school students aged 11-16. years completed self-report questionnaires. Students were found to hold relatively consistent views about their ability to bounce back from everyday academic setbacks (e.g., negative feedback, poor results, study stress or pressure) compared to the relatively less consistent views they held regarding the difficulty of the four school subjects as well as corresponding personal competences and effort. These results are discussed in the context of past research, the implications for interventions, and the need for further confirmatory investigations
How can we best evaluate interventions that target? Why our use of the hypothesis of Moderation is inadequate and an introduction to a more appropriate alternative
No full textPurpose: first, to outline how our evaluation of targeting interventions is undermined by the lack of an appropriate descriptive hypothesis. Second, to describe and demonstrate how a newly developed hypothesis is appropriate for evaluating targeting interventions. Background: interventions that target are common in educational psychology. Examples include Nurture Groups and the various targeted interventions that are implemented for students with SEN. We also know how important it is for these interventions to be evidence-based and great emphasis is put on the evidence from formal evaluations. However, our current evaluation methods lack an adequate framework that describes the targeting that takes place in a targeted intervention.Methods: this paper first outlines why our current evaluation methods lack this adequate framework. This problem is an unintended side effect of evaluation methods frequently employing hypotheses of Moderation. Therefore, a replacement for Moderation is presented, termed ‘Airbag Moderation’, which allows evaluations to capture both parts of a targeting intervention. A demonstration follows that uses data from a national evaluation of 117 Sure Start Children’s Centres and 2608 families with preschoolers. First, the more socially disadvantaged a family, the greater their use of a Children’s Centre (effective targeting). Second, the greater the use of a Children's Centre, the less that social disadvantage was associated with internalising behaviours shown by preschoolers (effective intervention). Conclusions: moderation hypotheses are inadequate for evaluating interventions that target as they fail to describe targeting. Airbag Moderation is an alternative that does. Therefore, the uptake of Airbag Moderation is encouraged by educational psychologists, evaluators, and policy makers
Airbag moderation: the definition and statistical implementation of a new methodological model
Full text linkThis paper presents a new methodological model termed Airbag Moderation: That the relationship between two variables varies as a function of a third, and that this third variable depends upon one of the others. Airbag Moderation extends and bridges a number of theories and it can be implemented using existing statistical models and software packages. Airbag Moderation is more suitable than Moderation for conceptualizing and testing a range of theories, interventions, and policies across educational, social, and behavioural research. An empirical example demonstrates the effectiveness of UK Sure Start Children’s Centres as an intervention in the context of financial disadvantage and the internalizing behaviours of preschoolers. Parallel statistical implementation follows via two Structural Equation Models featuring either a statistical interaction term or a random coefficient. Both indicate that greater use of a Children’s Centre is a significant Airbag Moderator of the relationship between financial disadvantage and internalizing behaviours in preschoolers.</p
English as an Additional Language (EAL) and educational achievement in England: An analysis of the National Pupil Database
No full textThe project was commissioned by three charitable groups – the Education Endowment
Foundation (EEF), Unbound Philanthropy and The Bell Foundation – to analyse the evidence
from national data in England on the achievement of students with English as an Additional
Language (EAL) and to review the literature on effective interventions to raise the attainment
of pupils with EAL. The key questions addressed by the project were:
- Who are the most at-risk groups of EAL learners and what are the predictors of low
attainment for these learners?
- What are the most promising programmes and interventions to address EAL
achievement gaps on the basis of causal evidence?
This report presents an analysis of the most recent England National Pupil Database (NPD)
from 2013 with respect to the first question above. A sister report focuses on the second
question concerning effective interventions and is published in parallel with this report. The
overall purpose of the project is to help schools and policymakers to effectively target policy,
interventions and funding to address achievement gaps.Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), Unbound Philanthropy and The Bell Foundation
Evaluating measurement invariance between parents using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ)
No full textParent ratings of their children's behavioral and emotional difficulties are commonly collected via the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). For the first time, this study addressed the issue of interparent agreement using a measurement invariance approach. Data from 695 English couples (mothers and fathers) who had rated the behavior of their 4.25-year-old child were used. Given the inconsistency of previous results about the SDQ factor structure, alternative measurement models were tested. A five-factor Exploratory Structural Equation Model allowing for nonzero cross-loadings fitted data best. Subsequent invariance analyses revealed that the SDQ factor structure is adequately invariant across parents, with interrater correlations ranging from .67 to .78. Fathers reported significantly higher levels of child conduct problems, hyperactivity, and emotional symptoms, and lower levels of prosocial behavior. This suggests that mothers and fathers each provide unique information across a range of their child's behavioral and emotional problems
Academic buoyancy and psychological risk: Exploring reciprocal relationships
Full text linkBased on hypothesized reciprocal relations between psychological risk and academic buoyancy (dealing with 'everyday' academic setback in the ordinary course of school life), the present study used cross-lagged structural equation models to examine the relative salience of (1) prior academic buoyancy in predicting subsequent psychological risk and (2) prior psychological risk in predicting subsequent academic buoyancy. Academic buoyancy and psychological risk (academic anxiety, failure avoidance, uncertain control, emotional instability, neuroticism) measures were administered to 2971 students (11-19. years) from 21 Australian high schools at two time waves across a one-year interval. Analyses confirmed a reciprocal effects model in which psychological risk impacts academic buoyancy and academic buoyancy impacts psychological risk. The findings hold applied and conceptual implications for practitioners and researchers seeking to help students deal more effectively with adversity in school life
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