Collaborative Research and Development Project. School Structure and Science Success: Organization and Leadership Influences On Student Achievement

合作研究与开发项目。

• 批准号: 1338512
• 负责人: Malcolm Butler
• 金额: $ 92.97万
• 依托单位: The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-02-15 至 2018-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1338512&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Development; Project.; Structure

The School Organization and Science Achievement (SOSA) Project will document factors explaining variations in science achievement across schools enrolling ethnically and linguistically diverse students. The research question is: what leadership and organizational features at the school level are associated with mitigating science achievement gaps? Previous school effectiveness studies demonstrate school leadership and social capital influencing student achievement; the SOSA project is unique with its focus on science achievement. Researchers at the University of Connecticut and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, in collaboration with school districts in their respective states, will identify school leadership practices that can be connected with reductions in achievement gaps related to student ethnicity, English fluency, and social status. At the conclusion of the five-year project, the findings will take the form of recommendations about leadership practices and school organization that can be implemented in other school settings. The project uses a mixed methods design by combining statistical modeling and qualitative data. Multiple regression analyses highlight those schools populated by fifth graders that have greater or lesser achievement gaps in science. Using social capital theory (i.e., school norms, communication channels, and trustworthiness) comparisons of positive and negative outlier schools will be made via interviews of building principals, classroom teachers and community representatives. The expectation is that schools providing more equitable science experiences to all students will exhibit stronger social capital compared to buildings with disparities in science test scores across demographic categories. These insights will be supplemented by multilevel structural equation modeling to determine the strength of association between various school climate measures (e.g., teacher-to-principal trust, correspondence between teacher and principal perceptions of leadership, and school/community ties) and science achievement as measured by statewide fifth grade science tests. In addition, growth analyses will be used to detect shifts over time and provide insights about the links between policy changes or leadership adjustments, inasmuch as science achievement gaps are affected. By working with 150 schools in two states, this collaborative research project is designed to generate findings applicable in other school systems. Particularly in settings where science achievement gaps are large, and especially when such gaps vary between schools even when the student populations are similar, the findings from this study will have practical leadership implications. Expertise in this project includes science education, educational leadership, and statistical modeling. This complementary combination increases the depth of the project's efforts along with expanding its potential impacts. Key questions addressed by this project include: to what extent is leadership in science similar to or different from leadership in other subject areas? how do variations in leadership design (e.g., top-down versus distributed leadership) contribute to reductions in science achievement gaps? to what degree can effective leadership mitigate other factors that exacerbate the challenges of providing high quality science learning experiences for every child? Findings will be disseminated via the SOSA Project website, along with leadership development strategies. Deliverables include templates to replicate the study, case studies for professional development, and strategies for supporting the development of science teacher-leaders.

学校组织和科学成就（SOSA）项目将记录解释不同种族和语言多样性学生的学校科学成就差异的因素。研究的问题是：在学校一级的领导和组织功能与减轻科学成就差距？以前的学校效能研究表明，学校领导和社会资本影响学生的成绩; SOSA项目是独特的，其重点是科学成就。康涅狄格大学和南佛罗里达大学圣彼得堡分校的研究人员将与各自州的学区合作，确定学校领导实践，这些实践可以与减少与学生种族，英语流利程度和社会地位有关的成就差距有关。在五年项目结束时，调查结果将采取关于领导实践和学校组织的建议的形式，可以在其他学校环境中实施。该项目采用了统计建模和定性数据相结合的混合方法设计。多元回归分析突出了那些由五年级学生组成的学校，这些学校在科学方面的成绩差距或大或小。社会资本理论（Social Capital Theory）学校规范，沟通渠道和可信度），并透过与校长，教师和社区代表的面谈，比较正面和负面的离群学校。人们期望，与不同人口类别的科学考试成绩存在差异的建筑物相比，为所有学生提供更公平的科学体验的学校将表现出更强的社会资本。这些见解将通过多层次结构方程模型来补充，以确定各种学校气候措施之间的关联强度（例如，教师对校长的信任，教师和校长对领导力的看法之间的对应关系，以及学校/社区关系）和科学成就，通过全州五年级科学测试来衡量。此外，将利用增长分析来发现随着时间的推移而发生的变化，并就政策变化或领导层调整之间的联系提供见解，因为科学成就差距受到影响。通过与两个州的150所学校合作，这一合作研究项目旨在产生适用于其他学校系统的研究结果。特别是在科学成就差距很大的环境中，特别是当这种差距在学校之间变化时，即使学生群体相似，这项研究的结果将具有实际的领导力影响。该项目的专业知识包括科学教育，教育领导和统计建模。这种互补的结合增加了项目工作的深度，沿着扩大了其潜在影响。该项目解决的关键问题包括：在何种程度上是科学领导相似或不同的领导在其他学科领域？领导力设计的变化（例如，自上而下与分布式领导）有助于减少科学成就差距？有效的领导能在多大程度上缓解其他因素，这些因素加剧了为每个孩子提供高质量科学学习体验的挑战？调查结果将通过SOSA项目网站与领导力发展战略一起沿着传播。可供参考的内容包括复制研究的模板、专业发展的案例研究以及支持科学教师领导者发展的策略。