Ineffective Schools as Organizational Reactions to Stress

Educational research has identified effective schools in terms of characteristics associated with high student achievement, and conversely, schools lacking these characteristics are often conceived as ineffective schools. In this article, I propose that organizational stress responses create the conditions that make schools effective or ineffective. In other words, low achievement does not make schools ineffective but rather organizational behavior associated with stress creates and perpetuates school ineffectiveness, including low achievement. Drawing on the threat-rigidity thesis and open systems theory, hypotheses regarding how groups and organizations respond to stress were tested using demographic and achievement data for students attending elementary schools, in addition to survey data obtained from students (N= 18,189), principals (N= 75), and parents (N= 13,768). Using cluster analysis, schools were grouped and described in terms of the schools stress level (student populations requiring more resources for learning), school adaptations to stress (emphases on varied school internal processes), and school output (student achievement). To lessen input from the external environment, schools experiencing more stress had less permeable bound- aries, as indicated by parent reports of less school involvement and less positive school climate. Schools experiencing more stress also had more internal disruption, as indicated by less consensus among parents and students regarding school internal processes and by more principal changes. However, in such schools, there was little evidence of more control over school internal processes in terms of principals self-reported behavior and student and parent perceptions of school order and discipline, and teacher support of learning. Results call for a better understanding of school ineffectiveness in terms of organizational adaptations to stress and points at which to intervene for more effective school adaptation and functioning.     

Self-Concept,Motivational Orientation,and Help-Seeking Behavior in Mathematics: A Study of Adults Returning to High School

The purpose of this study was to explore relations between mathematics achievement, self-concept, goal orientation, intrinsic motivation, and help-seeking behavior among adults studying for a high school diploma. Participants in this study were 145 adults (55 males and 90 females) enrolled in nine first year high school classes for adult students at five high schools in three cities in Norway. The age of the students varied from 18 to 52 years. Data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling. The results indicate that mathematics self-concept in adult years build strongly on achievement in school years and that it is predictive of adult students’ goal orientation, intrinsic motivation, and learning strategies. Three weakly correlated dimensions of goal orientation predicted interest and help-seeking behavior in mathematics lessons differently.     

Teacher beliefs,teacher characteristics,and school contextual factors: What are the relationships?

Background. There is a plethora of research around student beliefs and their contribution to student outcomes. However, there is less research in relation to teacher beliefs. Teacher factors are important to consider since beliefs mould thoughts and resultant instructional behaviours that, in turn, can contribute to student outcomes. Aims. The purpose of this research was to explore relationships between the teacher characteristics of gender and teaching experience, school contextual variables (socio‐economic level of school and class level), and three teacher socio‐psychological variables: class level teacher expectations, teacher efficacy, and teacher goal orientation. Sample. The participants were 68 male and female teachers with varying experience, from schools in a variety of socio‐economic areas and from rural and urban locations within New Zealand. Method. Teachers completed a questionnaire containing items related to teacher efficacy and goal orientation in reading. They also completed a teacher expectation survey. Reading achievement data were collected on students. Interrelationships were explored between teacher socio‐psychological beliefs and the teacher and school factors included in the study. Results. Mastery‐oriented beliefs predicted teacher efficacy for student engagement and classroom management. The socio‐economic level of the school and teacher gender predicted teacher efficacy for engagement, classroom management, instructional strategies, and a mastery goal orientation. Being male predicted a performance goal orientation. Conclusions. Teacher beliefs, teacher characteristics, and school contextual variables can result in differences in teacher instructional practices and differing classroom climates. Further investigation of these variables is important since differences in teachers contribute to differences in student outcomes.     

高中生成就目标倾向与心理健康状态关系的研究

选取普高和职高的451名学生为研究对象,对高中生的成就目标状况及其与学生心理健康状态之间的关系进行了测查。结果表明,高中生学习目标倾向高于成绩目标倾向,其中,职高学生的学习目标倾向又高于普高学生。高学习目标倾向的学生比低学习目标倾向的学生心理健康状态更好,高成绩目标学生的情感特征较为消极。     

学校心理环境对小学4～6年级学生学业表现的作用及条件

本研究基于具有良好全国代表性的中国儿童青少年心理发育特征数据库,使用多水平建模,分析了来自全国100个区县421所学校的心理环境特征对10826名小学4~6年级学生学业表现的影响途径及其发挥作用的条件。研究结果表明:(1)小学4~6年级学生学习动机和态度及学业成绩中分别有10.0%和33.3%的变异来自学生个体以外的学校因素。(2)在控制学生年级、性别、家庭背景和学校所在地、师资、学校学生总体家庭社会经济地位(SES)等基本特征后,学校总体和学生个体知觉两个层次的学校心理环境对学生学习动机和态度的影响均显著大于其对学生学业成绩的影响;与个体知觉到的心理环境相比,学校总体心理环境对学生学业成绩的作用相对较强。(3)学校总体心理环境对学生学业表现的影响受到学校所在地、学校师资水平、学校学生总体社会经济地位的显著调节。学校总体心理环境对处于师资水平较低、平均家庭年收入较低学校学生的学习动机和态度具有相对更强的保护作用;对处于农村、师资水平较低、平均家长文化水平较低学校学生的学业成绩具有相对更强的保护性作用。上述结果表明,学校总体心理环境对学生学业表现具有重要影响,个体知觉到的心理环境仅部分中介其作用;且学校总体心理环境对学生学业表现的作用强度受到学校所在地、师资水平和学校学生总体社会经济地位的调节。     

对中学生的人格建构与学校适应的相关分析

以乔治·凯利(George Kelley)的个人建构理论为基础,采用他发明的角色建构库测验,辅以学生学习适应性测验、压力应对测验并收集学生学习成绩,考察中学生人格建构复杂性与学校适应的关系,研究对象为从初一到高三的512名中学生。结果发现：(1) 中学生人格建构复杂性与学习成绩、学习适应性和压力应对存在显著相关。人格建构复杂性高的学生,学业成绩较好,适应学校生活的能力比较强;人格建构复杂性低的学生易采取“幻想”、“逃避”等消极压力应对方式。(2) 多元分析证明,在同时考虑到年级、性别、学习适应性和人格建构复杂性等因素时,人格建构复杂性对学习成绩的贡献大约为2.8%。(3) 中学生人格建构复杂性通过三种途径对学习成绩产生影响：其一,人格建构复杂性直接影响中学生的学习成绩;其二,以学习适应性为中介间接影响学习成绩;其三,以消极压力应对、学习适应性为中介变量,间接影响学习成绩     

Curriculum Differentiation and High School Achievement

This paper links curriculum differentiation in secondary schools to student achievement through instructional, interpersonal, and institutional processes. We argue that these processes operate differently across track and ability group levels. We use the NELS survey to analyze track effects and a longitudinal survey of ability grouping to examine ability group effects on student achievement. The results demonstrate that assignment to the Academic track or a higher level ability group accelerates growth in achievement, while assignment to the Vocational track or a lower level ability group decelerates it. The findings underscore the power of organizational characteristics of schools to differentially affect student learning.     

青少年早期社交回避与同伴关系问题:有调节的中介模型

为探讨青少年早期社交回避、同伴关系问题、情绪调节能力和学业成绩的关系,本研究构建了一个有调节的中介模型。采用自我报告、同伴提名和学校记录的方式对上海地区小学4年级至初中1年级共660名被试进行测查,结果显示:(1)社交回避可以正向预测同伴关系问题;(2)情绪调节能力在社交回避与同伴关系问题之间起部分中介作用;(3)学业成绩调节了社交回避通过情绪调节能力影响同伴关系问题的中介作用前半路径。相对于学业成绩较高的儿童,社交回避更容易通过学业成绩较低儿童的情绪调节能力影响同伴关系问题。研究结果不仅可以从情绪调节能力和学业成绩的角度为社交回避个体的同伴关系问题提供解释,而且对引导同伴社会化、提升社会适应的过程具有启示意义。     

成就目标定向对学习倦怠的影响：学业自我效能的中介作用

采用问卷法调查了1139名初中生,运用结构方程模型探讨了学业自我效能在成就目标定向与学习倦怠关系中的中介效应。结果发现：(1) 学习目标定向和成绩接近定向与学习倦怠具有负向联系,而成绩回避定向与学习倦怠具有正向的关联;（2）学业自我效能在成就目标定向与学习倦怠的关系中起着一定的中介作用;在学习目标定向与学习倦怠、成绩接近定向与学习倦怠的关系中,学业自我效能起完全中介作用,且效果较为明显;而在成绩回避定向与学习倦怠的关系中,学业自我效能起部分中介作用,中介效应较弱。     

The Racial School Climate Gap: Within-School Disparities in Students’ Experiences of Safety,Support, and Connectedness

This study used student and teacher survey data from over 400 middle schools in California to examine within‐school racial disparities in students’ experiences of school climate. It further examined the relationship between a school’s racial climate gaps and achievement gaps and other school structures and norms that may help explain why some schools have larger or smaller racial disparities in student reports of climate than others. Multilevel regression results problematized the concept of a “school climate” by showing that, in an average middle school, Black and Hispanic students have less favorable experiences of safety, connectedness, relationships with adults, and opportunities for participation compared to White students. The results also show that certain racial school climate gaps vary in magnitude across middle schools, and in middle schools where these gaps are larger, the racial achievement gap is also larger. Finally, the socioeconomic status of students, student–teacher ratio, and geographic location help explain some cross‐school variation in racial climate gaps. These findings have implications for how school climate in conceptualized, measured, and improved.     

Is There a Developmental Slump in Creativity in China? The Relationship Between Organizational Climate and Creativity Development in Chinese Adolescents

The major objectives of this study were to determine the characteristics of creativity development of Chinese children, the creative organizational climate of Chinese schools, and the relations among them. The results provided evidence that the creativity scores of children in elementary school were significantly higher than those of children in middle school. The teachers' evaluation of the creative organizational climate of the elementary school was significantly higher than that of the middle school. When the two variables were analyzed together, both the creative organizational climate of schools and the creative thinking development of children decreased during the children's development. Moreover, the creativity and climate scores were highly correlated, and the results from a path analysis suggested that a school's creative organizational climate has a significant impact on all seven dimensions of creativity measured in this study.     

Organizational climate and investigation performance in the Norwegian police: A qualitative study

The present study aimed to identify organizational climate dimensions that are salient for police investigation performance and to explicate the mechanisms of the relationship between organizational climate and investigation performance. We conducted 38 semistructured interviews with participants at three job levels of police investigative work (chiefs of police, n  = 11, senior investigating officers, n  = 14, detectives, n  = 13) in 11 Norwegian police districts. We analyzed the interview data by using a model of organizational climate based on the competing values framework (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1983). Two types of climate, human relations climate and rational goal climate, were perceived to enhance investigation performance. The findings indicate that a human relations climate enhances investigation performance by developing collective human capital and by supporting internal and external cooperation and coordination of resources. Moreover, the findings suggest that a rational goal climate increases investigation performance by encouraging planning, goal setting, and task focus.     

Comparing market orientation culture of businesses and schools of business: an extension and refinement

This study extends previous work concerning the market orientation culture within specialty businesses and schools of business. Specifically, member schools of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International are separated into public and private universities. Data were collected via a mailed survey to business schools holding membership. 106 public school deans and 35 private school deans responded, for a 23% response rate. Input from the deans was sought on their perceptions of the market orientation culture within the schools. Respondents' perceptions, rated on a 7-point scale, measured four dimensions of market orientation: customer orientation, competitor orientation, organizational coordination, and overall market orientation. Data for specialty businesses were drawn from a previous study. Comparison testing between the public and private business schools' deans and business managers was conducted. Analysis indicated perceived market orientation was significantly higher for deans of private business schools than public business schools. Compared with business managers, private school deans were statistically different on only one of the four dimensions, whereas public business school deans' scores were significantly different from those of business managers on all four. Compared with each other, business school deans were statistically different on three dimensions, with private school deans reporting greater market orientation.     

Social Background and Achievement in Public and Catholic High Schools

One of the more provocative findings from the 1980 – 1982 High School and Beyond comparisons of public and Catholic high school students was the apparent lower effects of social class and race on achievement test scores in Catholic schools. A number of changes in American society and public education since that time suggest that relationships may have changed either in the direction of greater or lesser Catholic school benefits for less-advantaged youth. The analyses presented here represent an update of the High School and Beyond public-Catholic comparisons using the 1988 – 1992 National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88). As in the early 1980s, results indicate that Catholic high schools in the early 1990s had positive effects on student achievement test score gains. Without adjusting for other public-Catholic background differences, Catholic school minority and lower-SES students finished high school with higher average test scores than their public school counterparts. When adjustments for the effects of prior achievement and other background variables are made, however, differential benefits of Catholic schools for minority and lower-SES students are not found. Instead, Catholic schools appear to confer roughly equal benefits to students from more- and less-advantaged social backgrounds.     

Commentary on “Exploring the Sensitivity of Horn's Parallel Analysis to the Distributional Form of Random Data”

Bong (1998) extended the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model by attempting to operationalize the internal and external comparison processes that are central to the model and expanding the range of academic self-concept domains. Bong concluded that the "I/E model failed to receive clear support" (p. 102) in relation to predictions that she derived from her extension of the original model. Our critical evaluation and reanalysis, however, reveals problems in the operationalization of the internal and external comparisons, the rationale for post hoc confirmatory factor analysis models and, thus, the original conclusions. Our reanalysis, however, provide strong support for the original I/E model, some support for the separation of the internal and external comparison processes, and good support for a new extension to incorporate a wider range of academic domains. In particular, for these largely Hispanic-American students, Spanish achievement and self-concept were very distinct from achievements and self-concepts in all other school subjects. Accomplishments in Spanish provided one basis for evaluating accomplishments in other school subjects. In contrast, achievements and self-concepts in these other school subjects could be explained in terms of higher-order Verbal achievement and self-concept factors and higher-order Math achievement and self-concept factors.     

高一学生成就目标特征模式及学业适应:基于潜在剖面分析

本研究采用潜在剖面分析技术探究高中生成就目标的特征模式及学业适应。被试为732名来自北京、广东、福州和西安各一所高中的高一学生,本研究采用问卷法收集学生的成就目标取向、学习效能、学业自我阻碍、学习策略和考试焦虑的数据。结果发现：（1）学生中存在成功导向、学业淡漠、典型掌握导向和非典型掌握导向四种类型,其中,典型和非典型掌握导向型所占比例较高,成功导向型和学业淡漠型所占比例较低;（2）成功导向组学生在学习效能、学习策略、学业自我阻碍和考试焦虑上的得分最高,学业淡漠组在各学业适应指标上得分最低,典型和非典型掌握导向组得分处于成功导向组和学业淡漠组中间。本研究结果对预防和干预学业适应不良具有重要意义。     

Assessing School Academic Productivity: The Case of Chicago School Reform

This paper considers the issues raised in using standardized achievement test scores for purposes of examining the academic productivity of schools. We critique some commonly used practices by urban school districts and suggest an alternative approach – the school productivity profile. This profile is based on an assessment of each school's contribution to student learning, or value-added, rather than just the overall level of student attainment. We illustrate, using 10-year achievement trend data from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), both the problems with some commonly reported indicators of school effectiveness and the idea of a school productivity profile. While our analyses suggest broad-based improvements in student learning in many Chicago schools over the past 10 years, we also found that the current testing system is not well designed to make such judgments accurately. We conclude that extant standardized testing systems, like the ITBS used in Chicago, do not afford an accurate basis for assessing school productivity and how this might be changing over time. These results have important policy implications. As school districts seek to become more outcome oriented, they will need to invest in better testing and reporting systems in order to know whether they are making genuine progress in this regard.     

Linkages of School Structural and Socioenvironmental Characteristics to Parental Satisfaction With Public Education and Student Academic Achievement

This study examined school climate's relation to the sociodemographic composition of the school student population, school structural characteristics, parental involvement, classroom support in learning, parental satisfaction with public education, and student academic achievement all together at one time in a sample of 122 elementary schools. Parental satisfaction was best predicted by parental perceptions of a safe school and positive climate, followed by the school's informing parents of their child's educational progress and empowering parents. Student performance on a standardized achievement was best predicted by the percentage of students in the Free and Reduced Meals program, parental perceptions of a safe school, and parental involvement. Study results are discussed in terms of two general levels (school and classroom) and types (task support and interpersonal support) of the school's social environment.     

Academic press and sense of community: Conflict,congruence, and implications for student achievement

This paper examines tensions between two visions of schooling. One stresses social cohesion (i.e., common beliefs, shared activities, and caring relations between members). The other emphasizes strong academic mission (i.e., values and practices that reinforce high standards for student performance). Though not incongruous, numerous organizational studies reveal the potential for social cohesion and communality to be achieved at the expense of academic demand or “press.” To examine their separate and joint effects, measures of academic press and communality are developed from NELS:88 First Follow-up data. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicate (1) significant links between academic press and student achievement; (2) that academic press has its greatest achievement effect among low-SES schools; (3) that strong sense of community may have a negative impact on achievement in low-SES schools with weak academic press; and (4) that for low- and middle-SES schools, the greatest achievement effects follow from strong combinations of communality and academic press. These findings highlight an important additional component of the “school as community” model, indicating that for most schools, academic press serves as a key prerequisite for the positive achievement effects of communality. The author wishes to express appreciation to National Science Foundation for it support under the grant “Improving Mathematics and Science Learning: A School and Classroom Approach” (RED-9255880). The views expressed here are those of the author, and no official endorsement by the National Science Foundation is intended or should be inferred. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Roger C. Shouse, The Pennsylvania State University, 315 Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16803, U.S.A.     

School socio-economic status and student socio-academic achievement goals in upper secondary contexts

In recent years motivational researchers have spent considerable time examining race/ethnicity and gender differences in academic and social achievement goals, but little time examining the influence of socioeconomic status (SES). This lack of attention is surprising given that both student motivation and SES have been shown to predict academic attainment. This study surveyed the academic and social achievement goal orientations of 16–17 year old students (n = 130) attending two schools with markedly different socioeconomic profiles. Analyses showed significant differences between the schools on the academic achievement goal scales, with students at the low SES school less likely to endorse adaptive combinations of mastery and performance goals than their high SES counterparts. Students who did not expect to finish senior high school also endorsed social goals that may manifest as disruptive behaviours in the classroom. The findings suggest that SES may influence the adoption of academic achievement goals but not necessarily social achievement goals. Implications for theory and research are discussed.