Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in discussion-list
post "Is the 'Teacher Effect' the Dominant Factor in Students'
Academic Gain? #3 [Hake (2011b)].
The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: In a previous post titled "Is the 'Teacher Effect' the
Dominant Factor in Students' Academic Gain?" I pointed to the
analyses of physicists Michael Marder and Dhruv Bansal (2009) at
<http://bit.ly/hYbbLe>, which suggested that "educational outcomes
for students from wealthy and poor families are very different in
Texas."
More recently Reeve Hamilton (2011) in a recent report in the Texas
Tribune titled "Is Poverty the Key Factor in Student Outcomes?"
<http://bit.ly/mpkki0> did an excellent job of showcasing Marder's
(2011) work by means of an interview and video clips of Marder
explaining his graphs of mathematics achievement vs poverty
concentration in Texas.
Hamilton wrote: "[Marder] sat down with the Tribune to talk about the
role of poverty in educational outcomes, why he thinks charter
schools are not necessarily the answer, and why he likes to think of
the public education system as a Boeing airplane. . . . .[[more
accurately, the dysfunctional British de Havilland Comet whose
malfunction, like the malfunction of the U.S. K-12 educational
system, was continually misdiagnosed - see Marder (2011) at
<http://bit.ly/fjUquC>.]]. . . . .
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"For the short term, preparing teachers in mathematics and science is
a wise and useful step toward improving schools. . . . . .[But]. . .
As quickly as possible, we must understand the link between poverty
and educational outcomes in the US, devise solutions, and test and
implement them. Britain briefly tried to substitute public relations
for aircraft safety and paid with the loss of its commercial aviation
sector. I hope the United States can avoid a similar error, that
proponents of teacher quality and charter schools will recognize the
weakness of the evidence before it is too late, that we will not
damage public education, let down our most vulnerable students, and
lose technical leadership we take for granted."
Michael Marder (2011)
REFERENCES [All URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 3
May 2011.]
Hake, R.R. 2011a. "Is the 'Teacher Effect' the Dominant Factor in
Students' Academic Gain?" online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/g6UWUZ>. Post of 7 Apr 2011 17:51:59-0700 to AERA-L
and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post were
transmitted to various discussion lists and are also on my blog
"Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/ifvkSz>.
Hake, R.R. 2011b. "Is the 'Teacher Effect' the Dominant Factor in
Students' Academic Gain? #3
" online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/jy61UB>. Post
of 3 May 2011 13:02:37 -0700. The abstract and link to the complete
post are being transmitted to various discussion lists and are also
on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/k1HsRH> with a provision
for comments.
Marder, M. 2011. "Failure of U.S. Public Secondary Schools in
Mathematics: Poverty is a More Important Cause than Teacher Quality,"
to be submitted, online as a 3.3 MB pdf at <http://bit.ly/fjUquC>.
See also Marder & Bansal (2009) and Marder (2010).