scholarly journals Are Achievement Gaps Related to Discipline Gaps? Evidence From National Data

AERA Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 233285841987544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis A. Pearman ◽  
F. Chris Curran ◽  
Benjamin Fisher ◽  
Joseph Gardella
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
National Level ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
The United States ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Discipline Gap ◽  
Racial Achievement ◽  
Hispanic White

There is growing interest in the relation between the racial achievement gap and the racial discipline gap. However, few studies have examined this relation at the national level. This study combines data from the Stanford Education Data Archive and the Civil Rights Data Collection and employs a district fixed effects analysis to examine whether and the extent to which racial discipline gaps are related to racial achievement gaps in Grades 3 through 8 in districts across the United States. In bivariate models, we find evidence that districts with larger racial discipline gaps have larger racial achievement gaps (and vice versa). Though other district-level differences account for the positive association between the Hispanic-White discipline gap and the Hispanic-White achievement gap, we find robust evidence that the positive association between the Black-White discipline gap and the Black-White achievement gap persists after controlling for a multitude of confounding factors. We also find evidence that the mechanisms connecting achievement to disciplinary outcomes are more salient for Black than White students.

scholarly journals Understanding the linkages between racial/ethnic discipline gaps and racial/ethnic achievement gaps in the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Maithreyi Gopalan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
The United States ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Education Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Racial Achievement ◽  
Racial Ethnic

This study estimates racial/ethnic discipline gaps, using multiple measures of school discipline outcomes, in nearly all school districts in the United States with data collected by the Office of Civil Rights between 2013 and 2014. Just like racial/ethnic achievement gaps, discipline gaps also vary substantially, ranging from negative to greater than two standard deviations, across districts. However, unlike the correlates of racial achievement gaps, the extensive set of district-level characteristics available in the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA) including economic, demographic, segregation, and school characteristics, explain roughly just one-fifth of the geographic variation in Black-white discipline gaps and one-third of the variation in Hispanic-white discipline gaps. This study also finds a modest, statistically significant, positive association between discipline gaps and achievement gaps, even after extensive covariate adjustment. The results of this analysis provide an important step forward in determining the relationship between two forms of persistent inequality that have long plagued the U.S. education system. 

District-Level Achievement Gaps Explain Black and Hispanic Overrepresentation in Special Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-392
Author(s):  
George Farkas ◽  
Paul L. Morgan ◽  
Marianne M. Hillemeier ◽  
Cynthia Mitchell ◽  
Adrienne D. Woods
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
White Students ◽  
District Level ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Racial Achievement ◽  
Risk Ratios ◽  
Hispanic White ◽  
Overrepresentation In Special Education

To examine whether special education racial risk ratios reported by U.S. school districts are explained by district-level confounds, particularly, racial achievement gaps, we analyzed merged data ( N = 1,952 districts for Black–White comparisons; N = 2,571 districts for Hispanic–White comparisons) from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, Stanford Educational Data Archive, and Common Core data sets. Regression analysis results indicated that Black– and Hispanic–White district risk ratios were strongly related to Black– and Hispanic–White district achievement gaps. These results reconcile findings from district-level data with those from student-level data and support the finding that, when compared to otherwise similar White students by controlling for group differences in achievement, non-White students are on average underrepresented in special education. That is, non-White overrepresentation in special education in most districts is explained by racial achievement gaps in these districts. Residuals from the regressions provide a more accurate way to monitor for outlier districts than the current practice required in federal regulations of using unadjusted risk ratios.

scholarly journals The Effect of Stay-at-Home Orders on COVID-19 Infections in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Fowler ◽  
Seth J. Hill ◽  
Remy Levin ◽  
Nick Obradovich
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
County Level ◽  
Fixed Effects Model ◽  
At Home

SummaryBackgroundIn March and April 2020, public health authorities in the United States acted to mitigate transmission of and hospitalizations from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These actions were not coordinated at the national level, which raises the question of what might have happened if they were. It also creates an opportunity to use spatial and temporal variation to measure their effect with greater accuracy.MethodsWe combine publicly available data sources on the timing of stay-at-home orders and daily confirmed COVID-19 cases at the county level in the United States (N = 124,027). We then derive from the classic SIR model a two-way fixed-effects model and apply it to the data with controls for unmeasured differences between counties and over time. This enables us to estimate the effect of stay-at-home orders while accounting for local variation in factors like health systems and demographics, and temporal variation in national mitigation actions, access to tests, or exposure to media reports that could influence the course of the disease.FindingsMean county-level daily growth in COVID-19 infections peaked at 17.2% just before stay-at-home orders were issued. Two way fixed-effects regression estimates suggest that orders were associated with a 3.9 percentage point (95% CI 1.2 to 6.6) reduction in the growth rate after one week and a 6.9 percentage point (2.4 to 11.5) reduction after two weeks. By day 27 the reduction (22.6 percentage points, 14.8 to 30.5) had surpassed the growth at the peak, indicating that growth had turned negative and the number of new daily infections was beginning to decline. A hypothetical national stay-at-home order issued on March 13, 2020 when a national emergency was declared might have reduced cumulative infections by 63.3%, and might have helped to reverse exponential growth in the disease by April 10.InterpretationAlthough stay-at-home orders impose great costs to society, delayed responses and piecemeal application of these orders generate similar costs without obtaining the full potential benefits suggested by this analysis. The results here suggest that a coordinated nationwide stay-at-home order might have reduced by hundreds of thousands the current number of infections and by tens of thousands the total number of deaths from COVID-19. Future efforts in the United States and elsewhere to control pandemics should coordinate stay-at-home orders at the national level, especially for diseases for which local spread has already occurred and testing availability is delayed. Since stay-at-home orders reduce infection growth rates, early implementation when infection counts are still low would be most beneficial.FundingNone.

A Diversity Ideology Intervention: Multiculturalism Reduces the Racial Achievement Gap

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062093822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah J. Birnbaum ◽  
Nicole M. Stephens ◽  
Sarah S. M. Townsend ◽  
MarYam G. Hamedani
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Academic Outcomes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Racial Achievement Gap ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
First Year College ◽  
First Year College Students ◽  
Racial Achievement

In the United States, underrepresented racial minority (URM) students continue to face psychological barriers that undermine their achievement and fuel disparities in academic outcomes. In the current research, we tested whether a multicultural ideology intervention could improve URM students’ grade point averages (GPAs) during the first 2 years of college and thereby reduce the racial achievement gap. Specifically, first-year college students ( N = 407) read a diversity statement that represented the schools’ diversity ideology in terms of either multiculturalism or colorblindness. URM students who read a multicultural diversity statement earned higher GPAs 2 years later compared to those who read a colorblind diversity statement. Furthermore, they earned higher GPAs compared to a nonparticipant campus-wide control group. The current study is the first to demonstrate that multiculturalism can increase the long-term academic outcomes of URM students in college.

scholarly journals COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is positively associated with affective wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayank Kejriwal ◽  
Ke Shen
Keyword(s):  
Employment Status ◽  
National Level ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Political Affiliation ◽  
County Level ◽  
State Variables ◽  
High Level ◽  
Affect State

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy in the United States iscurrently at a high level. To enable a better understanding of thishesitancy, this study explores the association between affective wellbeingmeasures and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. We consistentlyfind a positive association between the two, regardless of whichof ten different affect state variables (two positive, and eight negative)or their composite, is used. For example, people who experiencemore worry or anxiety (two negative affect wellbeing states) areless vaccine-hesitant, and vice versa. The association is found tohold even when controlling for potential confounds such as incomebracket, political affiliation, gender and employment status. Associationsare strongest for the fully employed, and for those in themiddle-class income bracket. While consistent at the national level,considerable dispersion is found at the county level. We discuss theimplications of these findings briefly.

Homicide and the Opioid Epidemic: A Longitudinal Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 108876792110544
Author(s):  
Richard Rosenfeld ◽  
Randolph Roth ◽  
Joel Wallman
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Temporal Relationship ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Black Population ◽  
Opioid Epidemic ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Homicide Rates ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Hispanic White

Recent cross-sectional research has disclosed a positive relationship between opioid-related death rates and homicide rates. The current study adds a longitudinal dimension to this research. We estimate fixed effects panel models of the temporal relationship between race-specific homicide rates and opioid-related death rates within U.S. counties and county clusters between 1999 and 2015. The results reveal a positive association between change over time in homicide and opioid-related deaths, net of multiple socioeconomic and demographic controls, in both the Non-Hispanic White and Black population. The association is stronger in the Appalachian counties, where the opioid epidemic has been particularly severe.

scholarly journals Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Center-based Child Care and Students’ Early Schooling Outcomes

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gottfried
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Research Question ◽  
National Level ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Achievement Outcomes ◽  
Socioemotional Outcomes

Background/Context In the United States, there has been an increased trend in parents’ utilization of center-based child care. Yet, though research has examined the effects of attending prekindergarten center-based care or the effects of attending center-based care during the kindergarten school year, little is known about the effects of having attended both. Purpose/Objective This study asks three questions: (a) Do children who attend both prekin-dergarten and kindergarten center-based care have different achievement outcomes, measured at the end of kindergarten? (b) Do children who attend both prekindergarten and kindergarten center-based care have different socioemotional outcomes, measured at the end of kindergarten? (c) Do these relationships differ by individual socio-demographic characteristics? Population/Participants This study utilizes data from the newly released Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011). The ECLS-K:2011 represents the most contemporary national-level data available to study the educational experiences of young students in the United States. Information was first collected from kindergartners (as well as parents, teachers, and school administrators) from U.S. kindergarten programs in the year 2010–2011. Research Design This study combines secondary data analyses and quasi-experimental methods. There are two achievement outcomes: reading and math. There are five socioemotional outcomes: externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, self-control, approaches to learning, and interpersonal skills. The study begins with a baseline, linear regression model. To address issues pertaining to omitted variable bias, the study employs various fixed-effects models. Findings The findings for the first research question indicated that academic outcomes do not differ for children in both years of center-based care compared to children who attended only one year of center-based care or none at all. As for the second research question, the findings show that multiple years of center-based care is related to increases in problem behaviors and decreases in prosocial behaviors—outcomes that are worsened by the number of years of center-based care attendance. The findings for the third research question suggest some minor differences between boys and girls in zero, one, or two years of center-based care. Conclusions/Recommendations This study has brought to surface new ways that center-based care attendance might influence children's short-term outcomes. Therefore, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners must base future questions on empirical work concerning how to address children's outcomes across multiple years of care, rather than simply focus exclusively on one year's influence.

scholarly journals Inclusive Teaching Practices in Post-Secondary Education: What Instructors Can Do to Reduce the Achievement Gaps at U.S. Colleges

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gil Moreu ◽  
Markus Brauer
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
College Instructors ◽  
Student Behaviors ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Inclusive Teaching

Within the United States, achievement gaps exist along the lines of race, gender, sexuality, social class, and ability status from elementary school to graduate school. Instructors can help reduce the achievement gap by adopting practices that have been shown to promote the success of students from marginalized groups, so-called “inclusive teaching practices.” In this paper, we present 20 easily implementable inclusive teaching practices for college instructors. Some of these practices focus on changing the behavior of instructors (e.g., establishing a norm of inclusion, presenting intelligence as malleable), while others target student behaviors (e.g., increasing interdependence when working in groups, allowing students to express their values in class). . For each teaching practice, we summarize the empirical evidence and discuss its potential to reduce the achievement gap. While no one teaching practice will eliminate achievement gaps caused by structural inequalities, instructors can increase the inclusiveness, fairness, and equity of their classrooms though their actions and pedagogy.

scholarly journals Roma Integration ‘All the Way Down’

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix B. Chang
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
National Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local Institutions ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
Integration Policies ◽  
The Way

This article argues that critical Romani studies should examine the EU’s top-down policies of Roma integration as an exercise in federalism, since the EU’s quasi-federalist structure both accommodated and co-opted the fight for Roma rights. To bolster its analysis, this article draws comparisons to the actions of the United States (“U.S.”) federal government during Civil Rights. Of course, both Roma integration and Civil Rights are still inchoate projects. However, the longer arc with which scholars have assessed Civil Rights, including its periods of progress and retrenchment, can help develop a framework for predicting how Romani rights within the EU’s federalist system might fare during similar cycles. Three lessons flow from the comparison. First, integration policies spurred by the top rung of the federalist architecture can foment a populist backlash, especially if disparities in competence or enforcement prompt deficits in legitimacy. Second, governmental efforts are necessary for integration but not sufficient; they must work in tandem with advocacy at the grass-roots level. Finally, pushing federalism “all the way down” to incentivize local experimentation with Roma policies might counteract obstructionism to Roma integration at the national level, but this is not a panacea. Local experimentation might take the form of self-governing districts and economic set-asides, but they can just as easily permit local institutions to perpetuate exclusion and marginalization.

scholarly journals Beyond America: Cross-national Context and the Impact of Religious Versus Secular Organizational Membership on Self-rated Health

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 237802311879595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks ◽  
Steven L. Foy ◽  
Andrew Miles
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Level ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Organizational Membership ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Organizational Involvement ◽  
The Impact

Studies using data from the United States suggest religious organizational involvement is more beneficial for health than secular organizational involvement. Extending beyond the United States, we assess the relative impacts of religious and secular organizational involvement on self-rated health cross-nationally, accounting for national-level religious context. Analyses of data from 33 predominantly Christian countries from the 2005–2008 World Values Survey reveal that active membership in religious organizations is positively associated with self-rated health. This association’s magnitude is higher than the magnitude of associations between many memberships in secular organizations and health. The positive association between involvement in religious organization and self-rated health is moderated by national levels of religious pluralism such that positive associations are primarily found in nations high in religious diversity. These results replicated in a sample of 21 majority-Christian nations from the 2010–2014 World Values Survey.

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