When Merit Shifts: The Impact of Changes to Admissions Policies in Selective Public Schools

本项目调查学校招生政策的变化如何影响对成绩的看法。该研究考察了招生政策变化的影响，该政策增加了历史上代表性不足的群体在选择性公立学校的代表性。该项目审查了转向更具包容性的甄选制度的可能性和危险性，特别是在有排斥历史的组织中。本项目所研究的政策变化有可能有助于提供更公平的优质中等教育机会。 本研究调查了公立学校招生政策的变化如何影响学生和教师的经验，行为和态度。该项目的重点是一个城市的两所学校，这两所学校改变了招生政策，现在根据学生所在社区的社会经济地位，将学生分为社会经济阶层。政策的转变极大地改变了该市一所公立学校的人口构成，而不是另一所。研究人员对两所学校的教育工作者和学生进行了参与式观察和160次深入访谈，评估了对学生体验和归属感以及教师行为和教学法的影响。该项目特别关注人口统计学差异以及招生政策改变前后录取的学生之间的差异。该研究还对两所学校进行了比较，以了解不断变化的组成在多大程度上塑造了关于入学资格的想法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project investigates how changes in school admissions policies affect perceptions of merit. The study examines the impact of a change in admissions policy that increased the representation of historically underrepresented groups in selective public schools. The project examines both the possibilities and perils of shifts to more inclusive systems of selection, particularly in organizations with a history of exclusion. The policy change studied in this project has the potential to assist efforts to provide more equitable access to high-quality secondary education. This study investigates how changes to admissions policies in selective public schools affect students’ and teachers’ experiences, behaviors, and attitudes. The project focuses on two schools in a city that shifted its admissions policy, now placing students in socioeconomic tiers based on their neighborhoods’ socioeconomic status. The shift in policy dramatically changed the demographic make-up of one of the city’s selective public schools but not another. The investigators conduct participant observation and 160 in-depth interviews with educators and students in both schools, evaluating impacts on students' experiences and feelings of belonging and on teachers' behavior and pedagogy. The project pays particular attention to demographic differences and to differences between students admitted before and after the changed admissions policy. The study also draws comparisons across the two schools to understand the extent to which a changing composition shapes ideas about deservingness of admission.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.