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Viewing the school environment through multiple lenses: In search of school‐level variables tied to student achievement
Author(s) -
Wood Nathan B.,
Lawrenz Frances,
Huffman Douglas,
Schultz Matt
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.20108
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , mathematics education , student achievement , academic achievement , psychology , set (abstract data type) , experiential learning , achievement test , critical variable , pedagogy , standardized test , physics , equation of state , communication , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
The “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) Act has made schools accountable for assuring adequate yearly progress of students. Therefore, it has become critical to identify school‐level variables that can be controlled to affect student achievement, especially given that, thus far, most school reform efforts have failed to significantly affect student achievement. This study identifies four theoretical constructs, three unique sets of empirical factors (one set for each group: students, teachers, and principals), and seven experiential themes that describe the middle school environment. However, none of these variables show any predictive relationships with achievement, which suggests current federal policies, such as NCLB, are inappropriate and unlikely to lead to improvements in science education in the USA. In addition, students, teachers, and principals were found to perceive the school environment in very different ways, indicating further investigation of student culture is needed to determine appropriate changes that might lead to real improvements in achievement. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 237–254, 2006