| Jaekyung Lee
University of Chicago
Multi-level linkages of State education reform to instructional practices and student outcomes: Implications for narrowing social learning gap in math
FINAL REPORT:
Given the state education reform initiatives of the 1980s and the early 1990s, a major policy question is whether these reforms improve academic outcomes for disadvantaged students, thereby narrowing the learning gap among social groups. Although the overall NAEP trends in math and science show progress in closing the learning gap over the reform period, we need to understand interstate variation in the impact of education reform on student outcomes as well as the way in which state reform policy is implemented through a multi-layer, complex organization. In light of these concerns, whether and how between-state differences in education reform are associated with interstate variation in academic improvement and social learning gap in math are investigated. First, this study applies the item response theory, in particular, the Rasch measurement model, to measure state "activism" in reform issues. Once the state-level policy variables are validated, critical factors affecting policy implementation at the school and classroom levels are also measured and examined. Building on hypothetical relations among these variables, the multi-level linkages of state education reform to instructional practices and student outcomes in math is investigated by capturing the relevant properties of students and teachers nested within schools in states through the use of hierarchical linear model (HLM) on the 1992 NAEP TSA data. The results indicate that the positing of new educational reform frameworks is insufficient to alleviate differences brought about by social and racial issues endemic to schools and schooling. Educational reform, at least in mathematics, may work well for social equity, but not for racial equity. This finding resulted from a HLM-based analysis of the trial state data and related policy data available from the participating states. Heavy state standards-raising activities were found to aid SES-disadvantaged children more than high-SES children when students of the same racial origin were compared. However, the reforms do not benefit minority children when their SES levels are equalized.
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