Challenging Under Achievement in Boys by Geoff Lindsay and Daniel Muijs - Lab Report Example

Challenging Under Achievement in Boys by Geoff Lindsay and Daniel Muijs Since the 1990s it has been noticed that underachievement among boys within particular ethnic groups such as black Caribbean and black African groups has been prevalent. It has also been noticed that now that measures have been taken to increase achievement of girls in the 1980s UK-born boys are also lagging in achievement. Geoff Lindsay and Daniel Muijes launched a study in an attempt to better understand this underachievement in boys and to locate measures that have had some success in addressing this issue. Study Findings Ethos, which has been defined as a set of values, attitudes and behaviors which are characteristics of the whole school, greatly effects the achievement of the students. In this study, schools influenced ethos by educating teachers perceptions of underachieving groups and educating pupils views of school and learning. In other words, they looked at the leadership of the school and worked downward to the pupils to learn the culture of the school. To be effective, this involved an emphasis on the school connecting to the community and making a high level of expectations known. The school also needs to take on the culture values of the community. The school must be re-socialized to reflect community values. Parental involvement and community outreach have been found to be important to establish a pride in the school system. Part of ethos is the philosophy of the teachers toward addressing learning concerns which involves changing the curriculum and teaching techniques for different pupil groups. It also involves whether or not a vocational or basic skills orientation is chooses for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. It appears that the approach used in the schools in the studies leaned toward the vocational orientation. There were two general approaches used in the schools studied. The effective school mode is where the focus is optimizing achievement for all students so it is ethnicity free and gender free. Specific groups are not targeted but rather they are integrated completely within the greater student body. There is some evidence that Caribbean, Indian and Pakistani students attain more in this type of school if intermixed with mainly a white student population. The second approach does target specific sub-groups. The important issue seems to be why this targeting is used and how the target groups are chosen. It is best to use a general profile of the student rather than ethnicity as the grouping criteria, according to this study. This study provides evidence that schools can find success in underachievement in specific groups of boys. This is democratic action research and to incorporated both quantitative methods using multi-level modeling to identify schools and qualitative methods to collect opinions of those involved in the educational process. Study Methods It is important to look at how this study was done. It is democratic action research. This is a form of research that uses non researchers to conduct the study. This form of research has been criticized because these individuals do not know how to do research. This particular study used researchers to supervise the work as well as consult on the design, to maintain its integrity. The first staged of the study searched for the schools to be used in the study. They were looking for schools that showed that they were having some success in improving the achievement of the target groups of boys, black Caribbean, African and UK-born boys. Standardized test uses by the British school system were used as a measure to determine which schools showed success. The second stage was to interview head teachers and a sample of other teachers and a sample of students. The interviews were semi-structured, recorded and written up immediately following the interview. A thematic analysis was then done to identify key themes and sub-themes. Multi-level modeling was used to assess achievement testing data. Separate analysis were done for each group of boys. Testing was used for primary and secondary levels. These scores were analyzed by comparing them to expected levels from a predictor model. Eligibility for free school meals was the measure used for the disadvantaged category. Six schools were selected to be the sample, three primary and three secondary. Statistical Procedure It should be mentioned that a statistical procedure called Multi-level modeling was used in this study. Multilevel modeling is a generalization of regression methods, and it can be used for a variety of purposes, including prediction, data reduction, and causal inference from experiments and observational studies. Compared to classical regression, multilevel modeling is almost always an improvement, but to different degrees: for prediction, multilevel modeling can b e essential, for data reduction it can be useful, and for causal inference it can be helpful (Hox, 2002). It appears that in this study multilevel modeling was used for data reduction in finding appropriate schools for subjects. This would be an appropriate use of this statistical method. It was not used in locating the themes from which inferences were drawn. Critical Perspective So, to look at this study from a critical perspective one must know if the study was necessary. Is underachievement of boys a true educational issue One must also know what other research has been done about suspected causes of underachievement Since this study proposes techniques that address the issue of underachievement with some success a causation must be assumed. This study finds some connection to ethnicity and underachievement and it also seems to assume there is a gender difference. It is of concern to this writer that this study doe not address whether or not these categories of boys were recent immigrants, cultural differences that may have been involved and language issues. Little information about the population was provided. The reader also does not know anything about ability levels of the UK-born boys. There is another variable and the is the standardized achievement test used. Have some schools prepared students for these tests or in other words taught to the test Assessment of Need for the Study Differing levels of achievement has been a cause for concern in the UK for long time. According to Lindsya and Muijs, 2006 research into this issue began by looking as class issues, as the working-class children have lower scores that the middle class children. A 1976 study by Rutter and Madge showed class discrepancies as well as gender discrepancies at that time (Lindsay and Muijs, 2006). At that time, a number of measures were taken in an attempt to improve test scores in girls and to encourage girls to remain In school until that age of 18. With these measures in place the scores of males have decreases in perspective to the girls scores. Linday and Muijs now believe it is time to look at ethnic differences in an attempt to increase boy's achievement. Lindsay and Muijs appear to have accurately assessed the need to turn attention to boys underachievement. Kenneth Wallace found in his research that this is a universal need in the field of education to address the increasing gender gap in achievement with boys now lagging behind the girls (Young, 2003). United States colleges went from and undergraduate college enrollment of 58 percent of the college population in 1970 to 44 percent of the enrollment in 2001. Judith Kleinfeld (Young & Warrington,2003) University of Alaska psychology professor studying gender differences, also agrees that something has changed. She says boys do seem to be having a harder time in school and the problems increase as they move higher up in grades. Locating the Cause of the Problem This study was not designed to find cause and effect nor does it claim to find cause and effect, however, it does assume a relationship between gender, ethnicity and socioeconomics and under achievement in boys. This writer finds that to be a strange assumption unless the uniqueness of each specific criteria is addressed. In what way is ethnicity connected to underachievement Enculturation is not mentioned but it is indeed a major part of ethnicity. Language differences are not mentioned and that too has to have a great deal to do with academic achievement. Gender is discussed as having to do with women and the improvement that has been made in improving underachievement in women (Young, 2003). This is a very complicated issue that has so many variables that were not addressed. The emphasis of Lindsay and Muijs's research is in looking at ethnicity rather than gender differences as influencing boy's under achievement. There are several other theories that educators have been working with however ethnicity appears to be a new one. While Linday and Muijs look to ethnicity differences, Wallace looks to the biobasis of the problem. He found that new brain assessment techniques allow for a better understanding of the differences in the male and female brain. In this mete-analysis, states that neurological differences may be the reason that girls are more verbal, possessing a greater density of neurons in parts of the temporal-lobe associated with language processing and comprehension. Studies have also shown the prefrontal cortex, reaches its maximum thickness in girls by age 11-18, months before boys reach the same density. This is the area of the brain that controls complex thoughts and impulse control. This may be why boys squirm and fidget more in class or fail to turn in completed homework. Warrington (2005)continues to find gender differences as the heart of the problem. At no time does this metanalysis address ethnic differences as a piece of the problem with boy's underachievement. Other possible differences between boys and girls were body image, friendships and activity level. Activity level was discussed at some length. It appears that boys do not like sitting down and being still. They will do homework until they are satisfied they know the concept and they will then quit. They learn more by doing and being challenged than by reading, writing and copying. One theory is that the greater emphasis, and teachers teaching for test scores, has made school more difficult for boys, as it does not fit their nature. Looking at the Studies Suggestions There is a great deal of literature looking at issues within the child. Finding cause and effect may be as varied as there are kinds of students. Limiting research to labeled children such as specific ethnic groups or socioeconomic groups looks to change a vast reality in life. It makes more sense to this writer to look at what can be changed which is part of what this study did. Despite limiting the fact that the study was limited to these groups some helpful ideas were highlighted which likely could be applied to all underachieving students. Broadening the Curriculum One approach was to provide a broad and diverse curriculum in the secondary schools. This would seem to allow for differences in individual students and their differing cultures. The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon the Thames has diversified curriculum with good results in improving underachievement . This plan was implemented and results will be measured in 2007. Indications at this point are that achievement has improved in most areas of concern ( Royal Kingston). The study quotes a teacher as saying that education has to be made more relevant to the real world. That is what was used as the guideline for boarding the curriculum. Change Teaching Styles Another approach discussed in the study was to move away from lecture type teaching and work toward more hands on learning. Psychologists tell us that sixty percent of the population learns better by doing. This is the individual that can hear or read about an idea but they do not understand it fully until they have an opportunity to do it. Think of this in terms of school. The student hears about a concept and/or reads bout the concept then they are to write what they learned (homework) to show the teacher they understand the concept. The hands-on-learner has a difficult time doing that unless they can do it. So this learner must be lead through the process in order to prove they understand it. They learn from doing (Siegfried, 2007). This calls for a different approach to teaching (O'Neil, 2001). Data Collecting The data that was suggested to be collected in the study was all data pertaining to the student not just grades. This allows many things to be valued. This was attempted in a school in New York where they also gave the student affirmation on culturally valued norms, such as respecting others, self responsibility, timeliness and attendance. It resulted in a lower drop out rate, less aggression in the school and increased achievement in minority groups (Hale,2007). Parental/Community Involvement A program to involve both community and parents in all aspects of education has been attempted and it has been very successful in reducing drop out rate and underachievement scores. There was a great effort to involve community leader, business leader and researchers as well as parents in the day to day workings of the schools. This allowed for students to be shoulder to shoulder with all these adults on a regular basis. It allowed them to see the real world value of what they were learning and it also allowed for a great deal of hands on experience (Samson, 2000). Conclusion This study does not seem to provide any new information. The ideas they see as improving underachievement in these three groups of underachievers seem to have been tried before. None the less, they are suggestions that appear to be valuable and now we know they are also likely effective with these three groups studied, black Caribbean, African and UK-born under achieving males. 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