Are There Unusually Effective Schools?
Purchase Print Copy
| Format | List Price | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add to Cart | Paperback34 pages | $20.00 | $16.00 20% Web Discount |
A shorter version of R-1210-CC/RC. A statistical analysis of data on Michigan, New York City, New York state, and Project Talent schools found evidence of schools that consistently produce outstanding students even after allowance is made for the different initial endowments of their students and for chance variation. Methodologically, like many previous studies, this report uses regression analysis of achievement data, but focuses on statistical outliers rather than central tendencies. Three tools of analysis were used to examine the residuals: (1) Histograms of residuals, showing no immediate evidence of extreme overachievers. (2) Comparisons, over different grades and years, of the number of schools that consistently overachieved with the number expected assuming all residual variation was random. Evidence of unusually effective schools was found. (3) Comparisons of background characteristics of the hypothesized overachieving schools with those of the average school. Outstanding Michigan schools tended to have smaller class sizes, more teachers earning over $11,000, and more teachers with greater than five years' experience. 34 pp. Ref.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Paper series. The paper was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.