In recent years, educational
researchers have begun building statistically generated models which can calculate what
results schools are likely to achieve when taking into consideration the characteristics
of their student body. The point of these models is to establish an achievement benchmark
that acknowledges the challenges that can affect children’s readiness to learn. The
public tends to compare high performing schools with low performing schools without
considering differences in student characteristics. In fact, student composition impacts
heavily on the performance of the school itself. These statistical models provide
equitable and practical benchmarks against which to measure actual achievement. For over
30 years, researchers have known that the achievement results of different sets of
students, such as those from different schools, vary in association with several specific
key factors, including:
• Poverty (by far the strongest predictor of
student achievement)
• Non-English speaking background
• Educational background of the child’s
mother
• Having special learning needs, and
• Having a minority/racial group identity
While individuals with one or more of these
characteristics can and do perform well on state assessments, the overwhelming majority
tend to perform less well than children who do not have these characteristics. There are
many reasons for these
historic patterns of achievement. They include such things as school expectations,
inadequate funding and support to the schools these children attend, the quality of social
services offered to students, the availability of flexible grouping and
instruction geared to multiple learning styles and others.
