When Low-Socioeconomic-Status Students Perform Better Than Expected on a Standardized Test: The Role of Teacher Professional Development

• In Event: 66.044 - Diverse Contexts in Professional Development for Science Education

Abstract

This paper examines how teachers in schools serving low-SES populations prepared for a revised version of the AP Biology and Chemistry exams, and explores why some students performed better-than-expected on the AP exam. Considering the frequently-measured achievement gap on high-stakes examinations, identifying "what works" for teachers to raise student performance of at-risk students is an urgent area for research. We examine:

1) Key characteristics (e.g., PD patterns, teachers' AP experience, principal support, etc.) of the AP science teacher population in low-income schools; and

2) The relationship between teacher and school characteristics and their students' performance on the AP science examination.

This project makes an important contribution to the research base on high-stakes test outcomes for at-risk student populations.

Authors

• Christian Fischer, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Barry J. Fishman, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Christopher J. Dede, Harvard University

• Arthur Eisenkraft, University of Massachusetts

• Frances P. Lawrenz, University of Minnesota

• Abigail Jurist Levy, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Kim Frumin, Harvard University

• Janna Fuccillo Kook, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Ayana Milele McCoy, University of Massachusetts - Boston