National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. A Profile of Schools Attended byEighth Graders in 1988

摘要

The report provides a profile of the schools attended by American eighth gradersin 1988. It should be stressed that throughout, the unit of analysis is the school, rather than students or teachers. First, section 1 describes some of the general characteristics of these schools such as school size, grade size, grade span, and urbanicity. Section 2 examines the student characteristics of these schools, discussing such variables as the racial-ethnic composition of the student body, the students' family conditions, postsecondary aspirations, and levels of academic achievement. Next, section 3 describes some basic characteristics of the learning environment, including length of school year and day, student/teacher ratios, racial-ethnic composition of faculty, and teacher qualifications. Section 4 discusses school policies and programs, including the diversity of extracurricular offerings and course requirements. Concluding the report, section 5 discusses administrators' assessments of the general school climate with respect to level of teacher engagement, student behavior, emphasis on academics, degree of school control, and student discipline.