Attributions for Success and Failure in Mathematics: A Comparative Study of Catholic and Public School Students
Janine Bempechat, Eleanor Drago-Severson, & Beth A. Boulay
Harvard University
(pp. 357- 372) Vol. 5 No. 3; March 2002
The documented higher performance of minority students in Catholic versus public schools raises questions about motivational factors that may underlie the impact of parochial education. This study examines attributions for success and failure and their relationship to mathematics achievement in a sample of African American, Latino, and Caucasian fifth- and sixth-grade public and Catholic school students. Results showed that relative to their public school peers minority students in Catholic schools endorsed attributions that were more adaptive for learning. Specifically: 1) Latino and African American Catholic school students were less likely to attribute success in mathematics to external factors, 2) Latino Catholic school students were more likely to attribute success to ability, and 3) African American Catholic school students were less likely to attribute failure to external factors. Further, for Latino students, Catholic but not public school membership was positively associated with mathematics achievement. Results are discussed in the context of school culture.
Sector Differences in Student Learning: Differences in Achievement Gains Across School Years and During the Summer
William Carbonaro
University of Notre Dame
(pp. 219-245) Vol. 7 No. 2; Dec 2003
Public and private schools have been the focus of considerable research, comparing student achievement, attendance, dropout rates, graduation rates, disciplinary incidents, and a variety of educational and prosocial outcomes across sectors. Comparative studies of student achievement have tended to concentrate on the high school years and without any effort to measure gains or losses during specific years. This study concludes that sector differences in learning vary across grade levels and that summer learning rates vary by school sector. More study of sector differences in learning is recommended, especially longitudinal studies that examine seasonal gains across school sector over the entire span of a student’s
academic career.
An Introduction to Value-Added Analysis
Ron Costello, Peggy Elson, & John Schacter
Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Archdiocese of Indianapolis, & Teaching Doctors Value-Added Analysis Network
(pp. 194-205) Vol 12. No. 2; Dec 2008
For the last 3 years, more than 80% of the respondents to Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward The Public Schools have stated that they would rather see a school’s performance measure based upon “improvement shown by students” than the “percentage passing the test” (Rose & Gallip, 2007, p. 35). If this were to become the norm, the next question would be what “improvement” is significant? Educators need to understand “value-added” if they are going to use “improvement” to show that schools are improving student achievement.
Conceptions of Well-Being Among Academically Successful Adolescent Girls of Color in a Catholic School
Jennifer Ekert & Eleanor Drago-Severson
Harvard Graduate School of Education &
National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
(pp. 183-201) Vol. 3 No. 2; Dec 1999
This article reports the findings of an ethnographic study conducted in an urban Catholic high school, with a focus on girls of color. By giving voice to this regularly neglected group, this research gives us the opportunity to hear from girls of color and to learn firsthand of their successes, joys, and struggles. Academic achievement and psychological health are presented as goals for high school programs.
Ability Grouping in Catholic and Public Schools
Brandy J. Ellison & Maureen T. Hallinan
University of Notre Dame
(pp. 107-129) Vol. 8 No. 1; Sept 2004
Researchers have found that students who attend Catholic high schools tend to outperform public high school students on standardized tests of achievement. Although many aspects of this finding have been examined in subsequent research, little attention has been paid to the issue of how ability grouping affects achievement across school sectors. A nearly universal practice in middle and secondary schools, ability grouping works to channel learning opportunities to students. The authors trace the history of ability grouping and review the findings regarding ability group effects, the assignment process, and mobility across groups in each school sector. Their analyses suggest that the way ability grouping is implemented in Catholic schools contributes to the Catholic school advantage in achievement.
Educating Urban African American Children Placed At Risk: A Comparison of Two Types of Catholic Middle Schools
L. Mickey Fenzel & Janine Domingues
(pp. 30-52)
Although the number of urban Catholic schools has declined in recent years, Nativity model middle schools, first developed by the Jesuits over 35 years ago, have appeared throughout the nation to address the need for effective alternative education for urban children placed at risk. The present study compares the effectiveness of two types of high-poverty Catholic schools for 322 African American middle school students. Result show that Nativity schools are more successful than traditional Catholic schools in effecting student gains in standardized test score performance. Results also suggest that features such as small school and class size, small student-teacher ratios, and an extended academic day contribute to these gains. The quality of the school and classroom environment, as perceived by students, that contributed to the amount of engaged learning time also may have contributed to their stronger academic performance. Implications for urban schooling for African American middle school children placed at risk are discussed.
Immigrant Youth Mental Health, Acculturation, and Adaptation
James M. Frabutt
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
(pp. 499-504) Vol. 9 No. 4; June 2006
Immigrant youth make up an increasingly significant part of the national Catholic school population. This article discusses the challenges facing all immigrant youth, with special attention given to the Hispanic community.
Collaborative Problem-Solving: The Journey of Dayton Catholic Elementary School
Margaret Frey
University of Dayton
Karyn Hecker, Delores Hardy, Shannon Herzog, Theresa Paulette, & Jeri Robinson
Dayton Catholic Elementary School
(pp. 342-354) Vol. 3 No. 3; March 2000
As Catholic schools continue to excel academically, some parents, teachers, and board members question the availability and advisability of effective teaching for all students. This article outlines a comprehensive approach to meeting the needs of all students in Catholic schools, including students with special needs. Following a plan that calls for collaborative problem solving and an intervention assistance team, the authors provide a first-hand account of how one school successfully serves a diverse student population.
Planning for the Inclusive Classroom: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners
Alison Gould & Sharon Vaughn
University of Texas at Austin
(pp. 363-374) Vol. 3 No. 3; March 2000
Students with a wide range of academic abilities and behavioral needs are represented in general education classrooms. This article provides practical suggestions for individualizing instruction within a large class to meet the needs of diverse learners. The article describes the Planning Pyramid, a format for planning multilevel lessons; provides special considerations for students with behavior problems; and offers suggestions to support teachers through the use of effective staff development programs.
Time-of-Day Effects on Human Performance
Carolyn B. Hines
University of Southern Indiana
(pp. 390-413) Vol. 7 No. 3; March 2004
The course of study of time-of-day effects on human performance has not been an easy one to chart, with many findings that seem to be in opposition. This review examines the difference between group and individual differences with regard to time-of-day effects; time-of-day effects in individuals; morningness-eveningness as an individual characteristic; morningness-eveningness in adolescents; effect of time of day on cognition and academic performance; time-of-day effects on intelligence, testing, and academic achievement; the effect of matching individuals to their preferred time on academic achievement; and motivation as a primary confounding variable in time-of-day preference/academic performance studies. Other possible confounding variables and procedures in testing time-of-day effects are also briefly examined.
Effects of Catholic School Attendance on Student Achievement:
A Review and Extension of Research
Thomas B. Hoffer
National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago
(pp. 212-235) Vol. 1 No. 2; Dec 1997
This paper begins with a review of basic descriptive data on achievement differences between public and Catholic school students and the main theories intended to explain Catholic sector effects on student achievement. The main theories are cast in terms of competitive markets, the communities in which the schools are embedded, and the historically institutionalized purposes of the schools. The analytical research is then reviewed and extended with some original analyses from recently collected national survey data on high school students. The main points from the review and extension of empirical research are as follows: (a) Catholic high schools have positive effects on verbal and mathematics achievement, but no discernable effects on science; (b) Catholic school effects are greater for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially with respect to family structure and functioning; and (c) the main schooling mechanism accounting for the Catholic school effects is the greater concentration of academic coursetaking among Catholic school students. The most glaring gap in the research record is the lack of data to assess effects of Catholic elementary school attendance. Finally, further work is needed to sort out the larger theoretical issues and practical implications of markets, charters, and communities.
Key Ingredients in the Search for Social Justice:
A Case Study of Best Practice in a Calcutta School
Tansy S. Jessop
King Alfred’s University College
(pp. 101-116) Vol. 5 No. 1; Sept 2001
This article examines the key ingredients in a Catholic inner-city school that have contributed to a paradigm shift in the school community. The school has relinquished a comfortable niche educating children of Calcutta’s elite in favor of the messy and risky business of engaging with the poor. It has asserted the right of every child to quality education, dared to cross social boundaries, and succeeded in integrating a widely disparate parent and child community. The article elaborates on a cluster of key ingredients which together constitute a pathway for transforming schools into those which practice social justice and provide quality education. It examines widely recognized change principles in action within a particular setting and relates that the achievement of equity and excellence are not mutually exclusive. It explores the distinctive values, ethos, teaching and learning strategies, leadership, staff and culture of the school that promote learning despite flouting conventional selection and social class norms, in order to distill the key ingredients which make for excellence and equity. This essay begins by setting the study in context, describes the research methodology briefly, and then provides an analysis of a model of best practice and a pathway to social transformation that the school has adopted.
The Effects of Catholic and Protestant Schools: A Meta-Analysis
William H. Jeynes
California State University at Long Beach
(pp. 258-278) Vol. 12 No. 2; Dec 2008
A meta-analysis was undertaken including 41 studies to determine the influence of Catholic and Protestant schools. The analysis examined studies undertaken at both the elementary and secondary school level. The results indicate that both Catholic and Protestant school students do better than their counterparts in public schools. In addition, Protestant school students excelled more than their Catholic counterparts on most standardized tests, but Catholic school students did better than their Protestant school counterparts on non-standardized measures. The significance of these results is discussed.
The Catholic High School and American Educational Reform: Challenges and Opportunities
Bruno V. Manno
Hudson Institute
(pp. 7-20) Vol. 1 No. 1; Sept 1997
This paper provides answers to two questions. First, what challenges and opportunities does the movement to reform American public education, and to make it more accountable, raise for Catholic high schools? Second, what challenges and opportunities does the effectiveness of Catholic high schools in educating disadvantaged students raise for American public education?
An Exploration of Hope in Catholic School Students
Diane McDermott, Jennifer Teramoto Pedrotti, Lisa M. Edwards, & Angela M. Houske
University of Kansas
(pp. 274-285) Vol. 5 No. 3; March 2002
Hope is a valuable asset for children, adolescents, and adults. Individuals with high hope are better able to navigate around obstacles by using pathways and agency thoughts towards their goals. Studies with children and adults have demonstrated that hope is related to several positive constructs, including academic and athletic ability, problem solving and coping, physical health, and psychological adjustment. This study explores hope in Catholic school students. Because Catholic schools provide a unique faith community for their students, a better understanding of the characteristics of children in these settings is important. Analyses showed that Catholic school student’s hope scores were significantly higher than the general mean of children’s hope scores. Implications and suggestions for fostering hope in the classroom are provided.
Increasing Academic Motivation in Primary Grades
Michael Pressley, Sara Dolezal, Lisa Raphael, Lindsey Mohan
Michigan State University
Alysia Roehrig & Kristen Bogner
University of Notre Dame & University of Minnesota
(pp. 372-392) Vol. 6 No. 3; March 2003
This review of research into motivation begins with the various approaches to increasing academic engagement that have been validated in studies, especially in the past quarter century. Two brief case studies of exceptionally engaging primary teachers, both working in Catholic schools, follow. General findings from qualitative studies of primary grade teaching affirm that engaging teachers fill their classrooms with instruction that promotes motivation and do little that undermines student motivation. This contrasts will less engaging teachers who do less that is motivating and more that undermines academic motivation. Thus, every minute of every day the engaging teachers do what the best educational motivation researchers have identified as effective. The review concludes by recognizing that such engaging instruction is consistent with Catholic philosophy of education.
Reshaping Catholic Secondary School Curriculum through Culminating Portfolios
Mark P. Ryan
Loyola Marymount University
(pp. 446-461) Vol. 7 No. 4; June 2004
This study analyzes qualitative data on student perceptions and curriculum transformation from a schoolwide culminating portfolio program of a small, urban, archdiocesan Catholic high school located on the West Coast. Over 4 years, all graduating students (n=102) developed culminating portfolios, evidencing their accomplishment of specific learning outcomes and presented those portfolios to panels of educators, parents, and community representatives. Students, teachers, and panelists were surveyed to determine their perceptions about the benefits and challenges of this process. The study found that (1) students’ perceptions of the portfolio and panel processes were very positive, including the belief that the portfolios helped students determine for themselves the extent and quality of their learning; (2) panelists and school faculty reported the belief that the portfolio process better prepared students for college and helped students reflect upon and assume personal responsibility for their learning; and (3) significant curricular transformations had taken place in what was being taught at the school, how it was being taught, and how it was being assessed. Teachers, students, and panelists identified the benefits of the process for students as well as suggestions to increase the impact of the process on classroom teaching and learning. Challenges in the process included logistics of portfolio management, the amount of time required to develop and continue the process, and the development of methodologies for continued refinement of the program.
Border Catholic Schools: Unique Stakeholder Alliances (Part I)
Karen M. Watt
The University of Texas Pan American
(pp. 27-48) Vol. 6 No. 1; Sept 2002
This article, the first of a two-part series, presents an analysis of data extracted from the dissertation The Impact of Catholic Schooling on Low-Income Mexican-American Students (Watt, 1999). The research was prompted by the author’s interest in The Coleman Report of 1966, a controversial document that claimed multiply-disadvantaged minority Catholic school students outperformed their public school counterparts. This study was qualitative in nature, exploring four case studies of 3rd-grade teachers, their schools, and their classrooms in a Hispanic cultural context. Findings will be presented in Part II.
Border Catholic Schools: Unique Stakeholder Alliances (Part II)
Karen M. Watt
The University of Texas Pan American
(pp. 168-188) Vol. 6 No. 2; Dec 2002
The article presents the results of a qualitative study extracted from the dissertation The Impact of Catholic Schooling on Low-Income Mexican-American Students (Watt, 1999). This study explored four case studies of third-grade teachers, their schools, and their classrooms, in a Hispanic cultural context. Findings revealed that the Border Catholic Schools were communities of consensus with regard to the nature and mission of Catholic schooling. All stakeholders “held the same stake,” agreeing on the curriculum, instruction, and operation of the Border Catholic Schools. Part one of this study was published as “Border Catholic Schools: Unique Stakeholder Alliances (Part 1)” (Watt, 2002) in Volume 6, Number 1.
New Learning Paradigms for Catholic Education
Angela Ann Zukowski, MHSH
The University of Dayton
(pp. 51-66) Vol. 1, No. 1; Sept 1997
A paradigm shift is needed in Catholic education for the 21st century. The new paradigm needs to communicate that the purpose of Catholic education is not to transfer knowledge but to create environments and experiences that bring students to discover for themselves, to make students members of communities of learners that make discoveries and solve problems. The New Frontiers for Catholic Schools project supports educators in making technology a vital part of the future of Catholic education.
