Dynamic inequality and intervention: Lessons from a small country

Phi Delta Kappan

Volumn 89, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 105-114

  Grubb, W Norton ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b Principal Leadership Institute

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 35648948845     PISSN: 00317217     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/003172170708900206     Document Type: Review

References (21)

1. Roland G. Fryer, Jr., and Steven D. Leavitt, "The Black-White Test Score Gap Through Third Grade," NBER Working Paper 11049, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Mass., 2005.
2. See also Meredith Phillips, James Crouse, and John Ralph, "Does the Black-White Test Score Gap Widen After Children Enter School?," in Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips, eds., The Black-White Test Score Gap (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1998), pp. 229-72. Phillips and his colleagues estimate that 56% of the 12th-grade math gap is attributable to initial differences, so the gap roughly doubles over time; the corresponding figure for reading scores is 43%. However, by another measure - years behind in vocabulary -the gap is multiplied four-fold over 12 years.
3. Charles H. Hargis, "Setting Standards: An Exercise in Futility?," Phi Delta Kappan, January 2006, pp. 393-95.
4. W. Norton Grubb, "Dynamic Inequality I: Using NELS:88 to Analyze Schooling Outcomes over Time," unpublished paper, University of California, Berkeley, 2006.
5. On variation in the reading scale, see Irwin Kirsch et al., Reading for Change: Performance and Engagement Across Countries (Paris: OECD, 2002), Tables 4.1, 4.15. On the mathematical literacy scale,
6. see Knowledge and Skills for Lift: First Results from PISA 2000 (Paris: OECD, 2001), Table 3.1. For IALS data,
7. see Literacy in the Information Age: Final Report of the International Adult Literacy Survey (Paris and Ottawa: OECD and Statistics Canada, Ministry of Industry, 2000), Table 2.2. Information on income distributions comes from the Luxembourg Income Study, www.lisproject.org/keyfigures/ineqtable. htm.
8. This visit by three outside experts and one OECD staff member took place in April 2005 as part of a five-country thematic review of inequality in education. As is conventional in these country visits, the team spent two weeks observing schools, interviewing policy makers, and talking with researchers. I was the lead author or rapporteur of the final report: Equity in Education Thematic Review: Finland Country Note (Paris: OECD, 2005).
9. See W. Norton Grubb, Luis A. Huerta, and Laura Goe, "Straw into Gold, Revenues into Results: Spinning Out the Implications of the 'Improved' School Finance," Journal of Education Finance, Spring 2006, pp. 334-59.
10. Literacy in the Information Age, Table 2.2.
11. See W. Norton Grubb et al., "Dynamic Inequality III: Exploring What Schools Do for Low-Performing Students," unpublished paper, School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, November 2006.
12. Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Division, Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (Sacramento: California Department of Education, 2006), p. 339.
13. See Thomas J. Kane, The Impact of After-School Programs: Interpreting the Results of Four Recent Evaluations (New York: William T. Grant Foundation, 2004);
14. Susan Bodilly and Megan Beckett, Making Out-of-School Time Matter: Evidence for an Action Agenda (Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND, 2005);
15. and Patricia A. Lauer et al., "Out-of-School-Time Programs: A Meta-Analysis of Effects for At-Risk Students," Review of Educational Research, Summer 2006, pp. 275-313.
16. The benefits correspond to a move from the 50th to the 65th percentile and an effect size of .40; see Batya Elbaum et al., "How Effective Are One-to-One Tutoring Programs in Reading for Elementary Students at Risk for Reading Failure? A Meta-Analysis of the Intervention Research," Journal of 'Educational Psychology, December 2000, pp. 605-19.
17. See James P. Comer, ed., Rallying the Whole Village: The Comer Process for Reforming Education (New York: Teachers College Press, 1996).
18. See also Joy G. Dryfoos, Full Service Schools: A Revolution in Health and Social Services for Children, Youth, and Families (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994).
19. For an analysis of different welfare states, see especially Gøsta Esping-Anderson, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990).
20. I am now in the process of developing an additional title for the reauthorization of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) that would add funding for social services to schools. Conceptually, this is easy; politically, it depends on whether the animosity toward the poor and their children can be overcome by the existing claims that no child should be left behind.
21. The obligatory citation is Richard Hofstadter, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (New York: Knopf, 1963).