Student course taking and teacher quality: their effects on achievement and growth

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between high school students'rncurricular positions, their perceptions of the quality of their teachers, and school academic processrnvariables on students' growth rates and ending achievement in mathematics and science.rnDesign/methodology/approach - Multilevel latent curve modeling is used to examine students'rngrowth trajectories using the National Longitudinal Educational Study data.rnFindings - Within schools, both student curricular positions and perceptions of teacher qualityrnaffect growth and achievement. More positive student perceptions of their teachers ascending acrossrncourse profiles are found. The effects of perceived teacher quality on growth rates and endingrnachievement, however, are more consequential for students in weaker academic profiles than inrnstronger profiles. Between schools, academic process variables also influence outcomes. For example,rnindividuals in schools where students collectively pursue more math and science have significantlyrnhigher growth rates than individuals in schools where lower percentages of students take theserncourses.rnResearch limitations/implications - The paper's measures of teacher quality and curricularrndifferentiation only serve as proxy measures for more thorough information that can be collectedrnabout within-school teacher and curricular processes.rnPractical implications - The results imply that efforts to increase student achievement will have tornattack individual (e.g. poverty; early educational experiences; and course taking) and organizationalrn(i.e. school structural redesign, curricular, and instructional processes) fronts simultaneously.rnOriginality/value - This paper extends the discussion of how internal curricular differentiation andrnstudent perceptions about teacher quality may intersect to influence student growth trajectories withinrnand between schools.