tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/minority-students-19478/articlesMinority Students – The Conversation2020-01-09T13:32:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1289802020-01-09T13:32:46Z2020-01-09T13:32:46ZShould college funding be tied to how many students graduate?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308207/original/file-20191223-11924-1cgsnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Colleges are increasingly being judged on how many students graduate. But is tying funding to graduation rates the way to go?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/successful-graduates-academic-dresses-holding-diplomas-739232275">George Rudy/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: Performance-based funding – a policy where a portion of state funding for public colleges and universities is based on how well they perform – is <a href="https://www.thirdway.org/report/lessons-learned-a-case-study-of-performance-funding-in-higher-education">gaining in popularity</a>. Colleges are often judged by their graduation rates in performance-based funding formulas. Here, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vF5O-b8AAAAJ&hl=en">Denisa Gandara</a>, an assistant professor of higher education at Southern Methodist University, explains the appeal behind the policy, as well as its potential pitfalls.</em></p>
<h2>1. How many states have adopted performance-based funding and what is the appeal?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.thirdway.org/report/lessons-learned-a-case-study-of-performance-funding-in-higher-education">At least 30 states</a> are using some version of performance-based funding for colleges and universities. Although these policies are widespread, most performance-based models only link a <a href="http://hcmstrategists.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/HCM_DBO_Document_v3.pdf">very small portion of state funds to performance metrics</a>.</p>
<p>Performance-based funding for higher education is not new: The <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2943902?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">first performance-based funding model</a> was adopted in 1979 in Tennessee. In general, there have been <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/politics-performance-funding-higher-education">two waves</a> when performance-based funding was implemented – 1979 to 2000 and 2007 to present.</p>
<p>In the past 13 years, state policymakers have shown a renewed interest in performance-based funding. This is even after <a href="https://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=16313">numerous states abandoned it</a> in prior years, in part because of <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Politics_of_Performance_Funding_for/Rp_KBwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">shrinking state budgets and loss of public support</a> for the policy.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/politics-performance-funding-higher-education">resurgence of performance-based funding</a> in the U.S. is being driven by two things. First, there has been a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00221546.2016.1272089">growing national interest in college completion</a>. Second, the Great Recession led policymakers to demand publicly funded institutions – including colleges and universities – to do more with less. Performance funding was viewed as one way to get college leaders to improve outcomes.</p>
<h2>2. Is there any evidence that performance-based funding works?</h2>
<p>I call performance-based funding policies the “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/720768">zombies of higher education</a>.” I say this because they seem to be the higher education policies that no amount of evidence can kill.</p>
<p>Typically, performance-based funding policies are <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/politics-performance-funding-higher-education">adopted with the goal of increasing college completion rates</a>. Although the policies do lead college and university leaders to <a href="https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/thec/bureau/fiscal_admin/fiscal_pol/obff/research/Campus_Responses_to_OBF_in_Tennessee_-_Ford_Foundation.pdf">focus more</a> on helping students finish school, numerous studies show that performance-based funding <a href="https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781785369742/9781785369742.00017.xml">has not been effective</a> at improving college completion rates.</p>
<p>One potential reason for this is that colleges and universities are <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/why-performance-based-college-funding-doesnt-work/">complex organizations</a> where numerous actors play a role in promoting student success. But not all of these actors know about or “buy in” to performance-based funding. For instance, in Tennessee, faculty and staff at a regional university felt that the performance-funding system was <a href="https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/thec/bureau/fiscal_admin/fiscal_pol/obff/research/Campus_Responses_to_OBF_in_Tennessee_-_Ford_Foundation.pdf">designed to benefit the University of Tennessee, Knoxville</a>. In a different study, I found that some college leaders in Texas who opposed performance funding were <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/720768">aware of research</a> that shows that performance-funding has not led to improved college completion rates. Other research has also found that faculty and staff <a href="https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/performance-funding-for-higher-education.html">resist performance funding</a>. This resistance sometimes leads college leaders to ignore the policy altogether or to circumvent the policy, such as by manipulating data.</p>
<p>Also, some colleges may not have enough <a href="https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/thec/bureau/fiscal_admin/fiscal_pol/obff/research/Campus_Responses_to_OBF_in_Tennessee_-_Ford_Foundation.pdf">resources</a> or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Funding-Higher-Education-Dougherty/dp/1421420821">capacity</a>, such as staff, technology and expertise, to improve completion rates.</p>
<p>If a performance-based funding policy punishes these lower-resourced schools for lower performance by decreasing their funding, it could make it harder for the schools to boost their performance. For example, in the only public Historically Black College and University in Tennessee, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764217744834">Tennessee State University</a>, <a href="https://comptroller.tn.gov/content/dam/cot/orea/documents/orea-reports-2018/Profile_TSU.pdf">funding dropped by 0.23% per year</a> on average in the first five years of performance funding. This is compared to an increase of 1.49% per year on average for other universities in the state. These trends have raised concerns among <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002764217744834">researchers</a> and <a href="https://hbcudigest.com/performance-based-funding-is-slowly-killing-tennessee-state-famu/">higher education observers</a> that with these funding cuts, schools that serve students of color and lower income students might not be able to serve students well. </p>
<h2>3. Are there other unintended consequences?</h2>
<p>Researchers have found <a href="https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781785369742/9781785369742.00017.xml">numerous consequences</a> associated with performance-based funding that can negatively affect certain groups of students and the colleges and universities they attend.</p>
<p>For instance, some performance-based funding policies seem to make colleges and universities <a href="https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/unintended-impacts-performance-funding.html">more selective</a>. That is to say, they admit students that they think have a higher chance of graduating. This increase in selectivity in turn leads to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0895904815614398">lower admission rates</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0895904815614398">higher SAT/ACT scores</a>, fewer <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/613777">low-income students</a> and fewer <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0895904815614398">students of color</a>. These findings are based on a comparison of average trends for schools with performance funding to average trends for schools without performance funding.</p>
<p>So performance-based funding could actually be <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_302.30.asp">making it harder than it already is</a> for these groups to get into college.</p>
<p>One way to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11162-017-9483-x">lessen the chance</a> that performance-based funding will decrease access for low-income students and students of color is to add <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00221546.2018.1434282?journalCode=uhej20">extra funding</a> for schools to serve those groups. There is also some evidence that institutions <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00221546.2019.1602391?journalCode=uhej20">increase supports for those groups</a>, such as by offering mentoring programs for students of color, when there is extra funding tied to their success. Yet, many peformance-based funding models <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-017-9483-x">don’t provide extra money</a> to improve outcomes for low-income students and students of color.</p>
<p>Performance-based funding policies also <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0162373719837318">tend to favor more selective institutions</a> by distributing more funding to those institutions. These institutions start out better positioned to perform well on the metrics that matter in performance-based funding, in part because they spend more money per student. This higher spending per student <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/ddeming/files/DW_Aug2017.pdf">leads to higher completion rates</a>.</p>
<p>Also, performance-based funding models may <a href="https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319494357">penalize minority-serving institutions</a> if the models consider employment outcomes. This is because graduates of color generally fare worse in the labor market <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/0002828042002561">because of their race</a>. So, if a school is punished under performance-based funding for having poor employment outcomes, it’s like punishing the school because of racial discrimination in the job market.</p>
<p>Interestingly, when a school has more political influence, performance-based funding might not see the light of day if the model would cut funding for their institution. This is because colleges and universities often have input into whether and how performance-based funding gets implemented. This happened in <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2015/05/07/iowa-regents-performance-based-funding-steven-leath-bull-ruud/70951144/">Iowa</a> and <a href="https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/education/panel-discusses-replacing-hepc-wvu-president-disputes-articles/article_db15a3b0-5304-5d04-88f0-f71693fc294c.html">West Virginia</a>, where performance-based funding was killed because the proposed model would cut funding for the state’s main universities.</p>
<p>Performance-based funding doesn’t always hurt schools with large numbers of students of color and lower income students. For instance, in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0091552118778776">Texas and Washington state</a>, minority-serving two-year institutions were not subjected to less funding after performance-based funding took effect. This is because the funding models gave relatively low weight to outcomes, such as graduation, and instead focused on rewarding student progression, such as how many credits a students completed. In addition, in both <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00221546.2019.1618782">Colorado</a> and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/06/12/calif-finalizes-performance-funding-formula-its-community-colleges">California</a>, performance-based funding actually helped institutions that serve greater shares of students of color and low-income students by design. In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00221546.2019.1618782">Colorado, policymakers passed performance funding</a>, which social justice advocates viewed as favorable to underserved students, in part by framing it as an accountability policy. Since performance-based funding is so popular, policymakers were able to redistribute funding in a way that helped institutions some people viewed as underfunded.</p>
<h2>What the evidence shows</h2>
<p>Research has generally shown that despite the good intentions behind it, performance-based funding has not lived up to its promise to improve college completion rates. It has also led four-year colleges to <a href="https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781785369742/9781785369742.00017.xml">make it harder</a> for low-income and minority students to get into college. This could actually <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_302.30.asp">reverse the progress</a> that has been made in making college more accessible.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denisa Gandara received a dissertation fellowship from the Ford Foundation for research related to performance funding. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for JOLT Action.</span></em></p>States are increasingly adopting policies in which colleges get a small portion of their funding based on how many students graduate. A scholar explains why the policy may not achieve its aims.Denisa Gandara, Assistant Professor, Southern Methodist University, Southern Methodist UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1184462019-06-14T12:44:11Z2019-06-14T12:44:11ZDivorced dads often dissed by schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279402/original/file-20190613-32335-uumi6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Educators often fail to recognize fathers, a researcher contends. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Primrose-School-of-Midland-at-Westridge/8a69152ac91f48a68f5e5400cee93337/10/0">Brad Tollefson/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>By the time <a href="https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-social-history-of-the-american-family/n224.xml">Father’s Day</a> takes place, the school year is usually over.</p>
<p>In many ways, that’s an apt metaphor for how divorced fathers – or fathers who don’t live with their children – get treated by their children’s schools. That is, they’re often simply not seen as part of what takes place at school. These fathers are often viewed as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00473.x">irresponsible and uninvolved</a>.</p>
<p>I learned this by talking to 20 fathers as part of my <a href="https://web.b.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=15376680&asa=Y&AN=89631191&h=XNqGzELEI5In4k9VNhpzA6qIfNgkxTat%2fdZSDHxXyA8Hgjk0pUtm9eVZF6suKsQ%2bCTomSG1DPeOJNQ0M0YgtdQ%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d15376680%26asa%3dY%26AN%3d89631191">research</a>. I found that divorced fathers, especially those who don’t share a residence with their children over 50% of the time, can find it challenging to remain involved in their children’s academic development. Several fathers told me about how often teachers and administrators at their children’s schools fail to recognize them.</p>
<p>“My son’s school never calls me,” one father told me in a statement that could be emblematic of the plight of noncustodial fathers.</p>
<h2>Messages home</h2>
<p>Many schools simply assume mothers are the primary parent to contact regarding schooling. Consequently, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00722.x">I found</a> schools tend not to send information to both parental households or inform nonresidential fathers about how their children are doing in school.</p>
<p>Divorced dads also told me that they often found out about school events at the last minute – if at all.</p>
<p>When schools treat fathers like they don’t exist, it’s not serving students well.</p>
<h2>Academic and social benefits</h2>
<p>When fathers who don’t live with their children are involved with their kids’ school, the kids are <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED452982.pdf">less likely to repeat a grade or be suspended</a>. They are also more likely to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-23320-001">have higher grades</a>.</p>
<p>Children who have <a href="http://thripp.com/files/ucf/edp6213/class-10-20151102-ONLINE/castro-et-al-2015.pdf">more involved</a> fathers also tend to be psychologically, cognitively and physically healthier. When fathers take active roles in reading with and to their children, support their academic outcomes and are involved with their schools, children tend to graduate high school and have financial stability as adults.</p>
<p>The difference that involved fathers make begins early. For instance, children with fathers who <a href="https://flp.fpg.unc.edu/about-flp">spoke more words</a> while reading to them as children grew up to have stronger vocabulary and math skills compared to peers whose fathers spoke less.</p>
<p>Fathers can also <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781410603500/chapters/10.4324/9781410603500-14">disrupt</a> some of the negative influences in the community – such as crime, dropping out of school and earning less money – when they are more involved in their children’s education.</p>
<p>Being involved in children’s education is even more <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0042085914525789">critical</a> for children of color as compared to white children because of systematic racism some parents of color experience.</p>
<p>Father involvement may be especially <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2006.00402.x">important</a> for Latino boys’ academic motivation. Similarly, children of African American fathers who have high academic expectations are often more academically successful as a result. </p>
<p>This benefit can exist whether they share the same residences with their children or not.</p>
<p>Divorced mothers face challenges, too. When couples divorce, <a href="https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/media/users/lec321/Sirin_Articles/Sirin_2005.pdf">mothers</a> become less involved in their children’s schooling, usually because of having to work longer hours outside the home. </p>
<h2>Using tech to bypass drama</h2>
<p>Of course, when divorced dads have conflicts with their children’s mothers, it can make it more challenging to stay involved in their children’s education. The fathers I spoke with said conflicts with their former spouses often led them to find out about parent-teacher meetings, school activities or extracurricular performances after the fact. </p>
<p>Some fathers sought to work around the conflict by using email or text messages. One father texted his daughter every day because “it’s just like you’re there.” This way, he said, he learned the dates of important tests and how she did on them. He also learned about her swim meets. Another father with younger children said his former spouse let him know about a play his son was in “only 30 minutes before it started.”</p>
<p>“Thankfully I have a flexible job and could make it,” the father said.</p>
<p>Research shows the benefits of father involvement transcend academics.
Some research <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513X17741921">suggests</a> that these benefits extend to other areas of their children’s lives because kids feel good when dads are invested.</p>
<p>Persistence and consistence can be a challenge. One study <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-01356-004">found</a> that two or three years after a divorce, 22% of fathers no longer had contact with their children and only 31% saw their children each week.</p>
<p>For all these reasons, I see an urgent need for schools to make sure that fathers are given an opportunity to play a meaningful part of their children’s education. Father’s Day may come at the end of the school year or when school is out. But that doesn’t mean they should be ignored throughout the rest of the school year.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Troilo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When children don’t live with their fathers, educators often act as if the men don’t exist, an expert on child development laments in an essay about why schools must do more to recognize dads.Jessica Troilo, Associate Professor of Child Development and Family Studies, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/891262018-01-24T11:40:55Z2018-01-24T11:40:55ZHow talented kids from low-income families become America’s ‘Lost Einsteins’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202475/original/file-20180118-158550-ho38bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research concludes that there are many “Lost Einsteins” in America – children who had the ability to become inventors but didn't because of where they were born.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/92399962?size=huge_jpg">Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Innovation is widely viewed as the engine of economic growth.</p>
<p>To maximize innovation and growth, all of our brightest youth should have the opportunity to become inventors. But a <a href="http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/assets/documents/inventors_summary.pdf">study</a> we recently conducted, jointly with Neviana Petkova of the U.S. Treasury, paints a very different picture. We found that a child’s potential for future innovation seems to have as much to do with the circumstances of his or her family background as it does with his or her talent. </p>
<p>We concluded that there are many “Lost Einsteins” in America – children who had the ability to innovate, but whose socioeconomic class or gender greatly reduced their ability to tap into the social networks and resources necessary to become inventors. Our analysis sheds light on how increasing these young people’s exposure to innovators may be an important way to reduce these disparities and increase the number of inventors.</p>
<h2>Academic gaps widen with time</h2>
<p>Our first finding is that there are large differences in innovation rates by socioeconomic class, race and gender. Using new de-identified data that allows us to track 1.2 million inventors from birth to adulthood, we found that children born to parents in the top 1 percent of the income distribution are 10 times as likely to become inventors as those born to parents in the bottom half. Similarly, white children are three times as likely to become inventors as are black children. Only 18 percent of the youngest generation of inventors are female. Although the gender gap narrows somewhat each year, at the current rate of convergence, we won’t see gender balance until next century.</p>
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<p>This is not to say that talent doesn’t play some role in determining who invents in America. In fact, math test scores for students even as young as third grade tell us a great deal about who will innovate. Unsurprisingly, inventors are typically found in the top tiers of math test scores. More concerning is that while high-achieving youth from privileged backgrounds go on to invent at high rates, many comparably talented children from more modest backgrounds do not. Even among the most talented kids, family background is still an important determinant of who grows up to invent.</p>
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<p>The relative importance of privilege and skills changes as kids get older. And it does so in a way that suggests that differences in educational environment contribute to disparities in patent rates. Near the start of elementary school, we can identify many high-achieving students from less privileged backgrounds. But as these students get older, the difference in test scores between rich and poor become much more pronounced. By high school, youth from less privileged backgrounds who appeared to hold promise as future inventors when they were younger have fallen behind academically. Other recent <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w16256">research</a> suggests that differences in schools and neighborhoods play a large role in this socioeconomic divergence in skills. </p>
<p>If we could somehow get all kids to grow up to invent at the same rate as white boys from America’s wealthiest families – that is, families with an income of $100,000 or more – we would have four times as many inventors in America. So what can be done to keep these “Lost Einsteins” in the pipeline to become innovators?</p>
<h2>Cities full of inventors spawn more innovation</h2>
<p>We found that increasing exposure to innovation may be a powerful tool to increase the number of inventors in America, particularly among women, minorities and children from low-income families. To test the importance of exposure, we first counted the number of inventors that lived in each child’s city when the child was young. We use this measure as a proxy for exposure to innovation. After all, a child’s chances of coming into contact with inventors increase when there are more inventors around. We found that growing up in a city with more inventors substantially increases the likelihood that a child will become an inventor as an adult. This is true even when we took kids who were the children of inventors out of the analysis. This suggests that it’s not just children of inventors who are likely to become inventors themselves.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202476/original/file-20180118-158519-7mim70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202476/original/file-20180118-158519-7mim70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202476/original/file-20180118-158519-7mim70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202476/original/file-20180118-158519-7mim70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202476/original/file-20180118-158519-7mim70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202476/original/file-20180118-158519-7mim70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202476/original/file-20180118-158519-7mim70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As time goes on, less privileged kids who had the talent to become inventors fall behind their more well-off peers academically.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/science-graphic-against-boy-holding-conical-295930646?src=9HRZMnKxniHLmVYUBKJ-Vw-1-46">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We also found that kids who go on to become inventors tend to invent the same kinds of things as the inventors in the city where they grew up. For instance, among current Boston residents, those who grew up in Silicon Valley around computer innovators are most likely to invent computer-related technologies. On the other hand, Boston residents who grew up in Minneapolis – a hub for medical device companies – are more likely to invent new medical devices. These detailed patterns suggest that there is something specific about interactions with inventors during childhood that causes kids to follow in their footsteps.</p>
<p>The effects of growing up around inventors are large. Our estimates suggest that moving a child from an area at the 25th percentile of exposure to inventors, such as New Orleans, to one at the 75th percentile, such as Austin, Texas, would increase the child’s chances of growing up to invent a new technology by as much as 50 percent.</p>
<p>These effects are stronger when children are exposed to inventors with similar backgrounds. Girls who grow up in a city with more female inventors are more likely to invent, but growing up around adult male inventors has no effect on girls’ future innovation rates. Similarly, boys’ future innovation is influenced by the number of male rather than female inventors around them during childhood.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202674/original/file-20180120-110081-vs1i2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202674/original/file-20180120-110081-vs1i2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202674/original/file-20180120-110081-vs1i2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202674/original/file-20180120-110081-vs1i2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202674/original/file-20180120-110081-vs1i2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202674/original/file-20180120-110081-vs1i2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202674/original/file-20180120-110081-vs1i2c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Chicago students participate in an invention workshop meant to encourage more American students to become engineers and inventors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/James-Dyson-Foundation-Launch/b30bd099d0964aa180ab35bbecb062d9/23/0">AP/Peter Barreras</a></span>
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<p>Since underrepresented groups are likely to have fewer interactions with inventors through their families and neighborhoods, differences in exposure play a large role in these disparities. Indeed, our findings suggest that if young girls were exposed to female innovators at the same rate as boys are to male innovators, half of the gender gap in innovation would be erased. </p>
<p>Together, our findings call for greater focus on policies and programs to tap into our country’s underutilized talents by increasing exposure to innovation for girls and kids from underprivileged backgrounds. It may be particularly beneficial to focus on children who do well in math and science at early ages. </p>
<p>Such policies could include mentoring programs, internships or even interventions through social networks. At a more personal level, those in positions to be mentors might give more thought to making sure students from underprivileged backgrounds have the guidance needed to follow them in their career paths. The more each of us does to help boys and girls from different backgrounds achieve their innovative potential, the more it will spur innovation and economic growth for us all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Van Reenen receives funding from European Research Council, Sloan Foundation, ESRC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Bell, Raj Chetty, and Xavier Jaravel do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new analysis shows how family background influences who grows up to invent. The key to turning things around? Expose kids to more inventors.Alexander Bell, PhD Candidate, Economics, Harvard UniversityJohn Van Reenen, Professsor of Applied Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Raj Chetty, Professor of Economics, Stanford UniversityXavier Jaravel, Assistant Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/898962018-01-18T22:58:19Z2018-01-18T22:58:19ZIf you thought colleges making the SAT optional would level the playing field, think again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202465/original/file-20180118-158550-1k2i9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students in New York City prep for the SAT in 2016 at a Kaplan Test Prep center. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-january-26-2016-students-373931671?src=Xox5UkyD5YqXjYKkiEsnBw-5-95">Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When colleges and universities began to make the SAT an optional part of the admissions process, the <a href="https://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/optrept.pdf">hope</a> was that it would expand access to the nation’s most selective institutions to groups that had historically been shut out. The reality is – at least at selective liberal arts colleges – the decision by a growing number of colleges to make the SAT optional does not appear to be the great equalizer that many hoped it would be.</p>
<p>That may come as sobering news to those who celebrated the fact that the number of colleges that have gone test-optional recently <a href="http://fairtest.org/actsat-testoptional-list-tops-1000-colleges-univer">surpassed 1,000</a>.
Despite that milestone, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0162373714537350">research</a> that colleagues and I conducted shows that instead of expanding economic and racial diversity at American colleges, test-optional policies have actually served to make selective colleges even more selective, at least on paper. But we found no increase in diversity at test-optional colleges.</p>
<p>For our research, my colleagues <a href="https://www.collegetransitions.com/college-admissions/about/">Andrew Belasco</a> and <a href="http://ihe.uga.edu/people/james-c.-hearn/">Jim Hearn</a> did a before-and-after comparison of applications, enrollment and SAT scores among low-income and underrepresented minority students at 180 liberal arts colleges. Of those 180 colleges, 32 had adopted a test-optional policy.</p>
<p>We found no changes in low-income and underrepresented student enrollment after the colleges went test-optional. Instead, we found an unintended consequence of these efforts: Test-optional policies led to an increase in the number of applications overall. That necessarily forced the colleges to become more selective. That’s because more applications typically mean more rejections. More rejections make it look like the colleges are being more selective. That appearance of selectivity enables a college to claim a higher spot in college rankings that view selectivity as a good thing. This all creates a perverse incentive for colleges to go test-optional that has nothing to do with expanding access for students from low-income families.</p>
<p>We also found a 25-point increase in the reported SAT scores of enrolled students. This increase may be driven by higher-scoring students being more likely to submit scores to bolster their applications. Meanwhile, lower-scoring students keep their scores to themselves. This results in higher average scores being reported to the federal government and magazines that publish college rankings. Thus, it appears as though by increasing competition for a limited number of seats on campus and increasing the SAT scores used to generate college rankings, test-optional policies may actually threaten the very access goals they were designed to achieve.</p>
<p>This is not what proponents of the test-optional movement had in mind when test-optional movement started with Bowdoin College in 1970 and Bates College in the 1980s.</p>
<p>The original idea of the test-optional movement was to interrupt existing inequalities in higher education in the United States. <a href="http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/papers/coll_mrc_paper.pdf">Low-income</a> and <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/race-and-stratification-college-enrollment-over-time">minority</a> students are disproportionately underrepresented at selective college campuses. At highly selective colleges, more students on average come from the top 1 percent in terms of family income than from the bottom 60 percent, recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=C6F28F902222D6D25C58DD3829310764&gwt=pay">research</a> shows.</p>
<h2>Standardized tests in college admissions</h2>
<p>With dramatic differences in grades and course offerings between high schools, standardized tests provide one way for selective colleges to identify talented students who might have gone unnoticed in the admissions process. Critics note that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304407603002537">research</a>, however, shows standardized test scores do little above and beyond GPA to predict college success. Additionally, standardized test scores are strongly correlated with students’ economic and racial background. In other words, low-income and underrepresented minority students tend to score <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/publications/content/2012/05/group-differences-standardized-testing-and-social-stratification">lower</a> on average than their peers.</p>
<p>Additionally, taking the SAT or ACT may be a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/upshot/how-universal-college-admission-tests-help-low-income-students.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=B8F0D70DBF5A58D26F7F99858D7657DD&gwt=pay">barrier</a> to admission for students already underrepresented at elite colleges. Low-income or minority students may not know to take the SAT or ACT or how to prepare for it, might be deterred by the cost of the exam or take it only once.</p>
<h2>Other barriers</h2>
<p>Low-income and underrepresented students face a number of other hurdles that may deter even the most high-achieving among them from applying to a selective college. These other things should be taken into consideration when trying to figure out why going test-optional hasn’t been great equalizer that many thought it would be.</p>
<p><a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/524135?casa_token=Hp27vFi0VjgAAAAA:58RvX9welSKHLM9i6UGRjwtkeW_xUx2U25S2oCchoLfMnztZ3bwareWtRGKmB-s91fCKgMwiyA">Sticker price</a>, for instance, may deter students from applying. Although selective institutions substantially discount tuition for students with financial need, students are often <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/12_transparency_in_college_costs_levine.pdf">not aware</a> of discounts until after they apply and receive a financial aid offer.</p>
<p>Distance may also prevent students from applying or attending, particularly those who work to support families. This in turn leads many students to attend colleges that are close to home. Students may also feel they <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2013/11/27/the-challenge-of-being-poor-at-americas-richest-colleges/&refURL=https://www.google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/">don’t belong</a> at a selective college, especially if there are few other students from similar economic or racial backgrounds.</p>
<p>While efforts to go test-optional are well-intentioned, other factors in college applications may favor economic and racial privilege. Grades, course selection, recommendations, essays and extracurricular activities possibly favor higher-income students who often have greater support navigating the college admissions process. <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/opportunity-gap-schools-data">Low-income</a> and <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/persistent-disparities-found-through-comprehensive-civil-rights-survey-underscore-need-continued-focus-equity-king-says">minority</a> students, for instance, often don’t have the same access to advanced high school courses. They also have less access to <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.543.5670&rep=rep1&type=pdf">high school counselors</a> to assist with college essays, recommendations, and other materials that go into an application. </p>
<p>So what can we do? </p>
<p>First, we must recognize that test-optional policies may or not be helpful. The only way to be sure is to carefully evaluate the policies to better understand how well they work. This is particularly important as growing numbers of institutions join the test-optional movement, including graduate programs. More than a dozen <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/08/georgetown-and-northwestern-law-schools-announce-they-will-accept-gre-not-just-lsat">law schools</a>, including Harvard, Georgetown, Northwestern, Wake Forest and others, have made the LSAT optional, allowing students to submit GRE scores instead. Many graduate programs – in some cases at the urging of <a href="https://aas.org/governance/society-resolutions#GRE">professional associations</a> – are making the GRE optional for masters and/or doctoral applicants. Research on what works and what doesn’t in expanding access is more important than ever.</p>
<p>Second, it is important to realize that even if test-optional policies do help, there are other things that colleges must do to expand access for low-income and historically underrepresented students. This includes recruiting high-achieving students from rural areas or areas with large numbers of low-income or minority students. It also includes expanding campus-based financial aid programs and developing campus supports for students. Establishing emergency funds to help students meet unexpected needs that arise can help as well.</p>
<p>For all these reasons, I don’t want to suggest that the test-optional movement needs to stop. What I do want to suggest is that the test-optional movement take a critical look at whether it’s achieving its goals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89896/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Ochs Rosinger has received funding from the Kresge Foundation and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. </span></em></p>Although proponents of making the SAT optional hoped it would expand college access for low-income and minority students, research shows that hasn’t happened.Kelly Ochs Rosinger, Assistant Professor of Education, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/841082017-09-26T23:40:01Z2017-09-26T23:40:01ZOnline learning punishes minority students, but video chats can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187460/original/file-20170925-21172-1jbc6hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">English language minority students can struggle to express themselves authentically in online courses if they are new to the conventions of Western discourse and written academic style. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Online learning is expanding in Canada <a href="https://www.tonybates.ca/2016/03/23/a-national-survey-of-university-online-and-distance-learning-in-canada/">at a rate of about 8.75 per cent every year</a>. This shift to online environments has redefined the format of education. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), for example, have become wildly popular, with <a href="https://www.class-central.com/report/mooc-stats-2016/">more than 700 universities offering 6,850 courses to 58 million students in 2016</a>.</p>
<p>Universities promote online education as a <a href="https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/students-appreciate-flexibility-of-distance-learning/article32799209/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&">flexible option for students</a>, but with this flexibility comes complexity.</p>
<p>In our respective roles — as an education professor who writes online courses, and as a graduate student and online course instructor (also known as a “tutor marker”) — we can run entire courses without meeting our students face-to-face. We do not know what they look like, what their voices sound like or how they interact in the classroom.</p>
<p>We have witnessed the struggle that English language minority students often face to fulfil requirements. And the negative impact of the online format on their engagement and success. We also believe online courses can work to support these students — when instructors provide safe spaces for ungraded dialogue. </p>
<h2>Language, identity and self-expression</h2>
<p>English language minority students, also known as <a href="http://edglossary.org/english-language-learner/">English language learners</a>, face unique challenges in online courses. The online course features pre-written content that students read and respond to. But not everybody understands or expresses knowledge in the same way.</p>
<p>Language minority students are disadvantaged by having to adhere to dominant Western structures of writing in online discussion forums, their only opportunity to interact with peers in the course. Online discussion forums are often graded to the same academic standards as formal essays. Minority students may struggle to communicate using only the academic English that is required. They are devalued by their differences in discourse.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"908812753372160001"}"></div></p>
<p>Often, English language minority students are also being socialized into North American higher education, and the general Western setting. From a socio-cultural perspective, language use is tied closely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8869-4_13">race, ethnicity, social class and identity</a>. This indicates a relationship between their ability to express themselves authentically in an online course, and the language they are expected to use. </p>
<p>Minority students’ methods of engagement with course content and their peers may differ intuitively from those of students who are already familiar with the style and content of writing required in this setting. </p>
<h2>Video chats and ‘safe houses’</h2>
<p>The current means of defining, engaging with and evaluating students’ discourse in online courses must change to enable language minority students to freely share their perspectives. </p>
<p>Offering opportunities for non-written interaction provides these students with alternative outlets for communication. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2014.938357">Online video chats between students and instructors</a> can help promote dialogue and interaction with course material. It enables students who feel inhibited to grow more familiar with academic discourse. </p>
<p>A “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/25170">safe house</a>” is a platform in which students can merge colloquial and academic discourse as they develop their writing style. In an online course, this safe house could take the form of an unevaluated discussion forum in which students are free to engage with the course material, with the instructor, and with each other. These spaces can be used for ungraded, informal communication, enabling more inclusive discussion for all students.</p>
<h2>Grading, discussion and consultation</h2>
<p>Even instructors who are unable to change the structure of their online course can help support language minority students by altering their grading techniques. Despite the weighting of some rubrics, it is important to remember that students’ formatting and grammar is secondary to their ideas. Educators can support students by <a href="http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Gray-WritingCorrection.html">redirecting their efforts away</a> from spelling, grammar, citation or the structure of their responses, and focusing their efforts on crafting a unique argument. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/ta/comments">Providing comments</a> and asking prompting questions throughout students’ work engages discussion. This helps shift our written interactions to emphasize the sharing of ideas rather than the correction of students’ writing. It makes the online course more accessible for language minority students.</p>
<p>Overall it’s clear that we need to establish <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/canajeducrevucan.36.1.305"> more inclusive curricula and assessment</a> to best support language minority students in online course environments. </p>
<p>Whenever course authors have the opportunity to revise, even in minor ways, their courses for content, we would recommend they consult with students who have taken the course to determine more inclusive examples and attend to all voices in the course design. Such a measure will ensure that all learners identify with and engage in the course content.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84108/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allan MacKinnon has received funding from the Canadian International Development Agency and the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma MacFarlane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The discourse and structure of online learning can exclude English language minority students. Techniques such as video chats, “safe houses” and content-focused grading can support their success.Allan MacKinnon, Associate Professor of Education, Simon Fraser UniversityEmma MacFarlane, M.A. Candidate, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/740192017-04-11T01:51:24Z2017-04-11T01:51:24ZThe sound of inclusion: Why teachers’ words matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164489/original/image-20170407-3845-u88bp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=451%2C0%2C6125%2C3922&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Language matters in every class: English, math, history and science.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/classroom-learning-mathematics-students-study-concept-395032942">Rawpixel / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There isn’t just one way to sound like a scientist, or to sound like a scholar. Scientists and scholars come from a wide variety of backgrounds and speak in different ways, in different accents, dialects and languages.</p>
<p>In classrooms across the U.S., students do too. No student (or teacher) leaves their language patterns at the door when they enter a classroom – even classes like math and science, where language is often seen as secondary.</p>
<p>For the past decade, as professors who study the role of language and culture in education, we’ve been working to help educators understand these dynamics across all subject areas. As the U.S. student population continues to <a href="http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/You-May-Also-Be-Interested-In-landing-page-level/Organizing-a-School-YMABI/The-United-States-of-education-The-changing-demographics-of-the-United-States-and-their-schools.html">rapidly diversify along cultural and linguistic lines</a>, the demographics of the teacher population remain stable at <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2426481/the-state-of-teacher-diversity.pdf">roughly 82 percent white and predominantly female</a>. </p>
<p>How can educators make sure that teaching and learning in their diverse classrooms is effective and equitable? </p>
<p>Understanding how and why culture and communication matter in all areas of education – <a href="https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2017/webprogram/Session15094.html">from science to the humanities</a> – is a critical starting point.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162721/original/image-20170327-3273-39j7c9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162721/original/image-20170327-3273-39j7c9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162721/original/image-20170327-3273-39j7c9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162721/original/image-20170327-3273-39j7c9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162721/original/image-20170327-3273-39j7c9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162721/original/image-20170327-3273-39j7c9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162721/original/image-20170327-3273-39j7c9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students from Higher Achievement (Richmond) tour the biology labs at William & Mary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anne Charity Hudley</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>When students don’t sound the same</h2>
<p>Students who speak differently can face a number of challenges at school.</p>
<p>Studies have found that at all levels of education, instructors often <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X035008030">favor students who sound like themselves</a> and can be biased against those who don’t. Educators might form negative assumptions about a student’s intelligence and ability based simply on how he or she talks, which can result in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/English-with-an-Accent-Language-Ideology-and-Discrimination-in-the-United/Lippi-Green/p/book/9780415559119">lowered expectations, stereotyping and discrimination</a>. Teachers sometimes also send messages, whether consciously or unconsciously, that a student’s language is <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/skin-that-we-speak">wrong, dumb or out of place</a> at school.</p>
<p>For instance, consider what one mother told us about an interaction she witnessed in her son’s first grade classroom. One of the boys, who is African-American, was playing a game and realized he didn’t have the materials he needed. He raised his hand and said to the teacher, “I don’t got no dice.” His teacher immediately responded, “Joshua, we speak English in this class!” The mother was appalled and felt that this experience could discourage Joshua from speaking up at school.</p>
<p>When students absorb and internalize such messages, they can experience what linguist <a href="http://www.ling.upenn.edu/%7Ewlabov/home.html">William Labov</a> called “<a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/1083.html">linguistic insecurity</a>” – feelings of anxiety and apprehension that can take root even at an early age.</p>
<p>These negative experiences with language and communication in the classroom can have a direct impact on students’ academic achievement. As early as kindergarten, students who come to school speaking in similar ways as their teachers are more likely to get ahead, whereas those who speak differently are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00744.x">more likely to fall behind</a>. These language-based educational inequalities <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Dialects-at-School-Educating-Linguistically-Diverse-Students/Reaser-Adger-Wolfram-Christian/p/book/9781138777453">disproportionately affect</a> African-American students and other students of color, English language learners and students who come from a social class or regional background that is different from that of their teacher.</p>
<p>As Joshua’s mother said to us, “There must be a better way to respond.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164491/original/image-20170407-7394-1veadu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164491/original/image-20170407-7394-1veadu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164491/original/image-20170407-7394-1veadu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164491/original/image-20170407-7394-1veadu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164491/original/image-20170407-7394-1veadu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164491/original/image-20170407-7394-1veadu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164491/original/image-20170407-7394-1veadu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What happens when a teacher doesn’t sound the same as her students?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-children-raised-their-hands-multi-248169208?src=tULU8tJbWtCpYFTX-XRsEw-1-73">Gagliardi Images / Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Putting language into the equation</h2>
<p>For the past decade, we’ve worked not only as <a href="https://charityhudleymallinson.com/book/">scholars</a> but as <a href="https://charityhudleymallinson.com/professionaldevelopment/">teacher trainers</a> as well. Some of our professional development workshops are geared toward a particular group of educators: those who teach K-12 science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also known as STEM.</p>
<p>In 2011, we began a <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1050938">three-year study</a> with 60 K-12 STEM educators in Maryland and Virginia to explore how language can affect teaching and learning for STEM students, particularly for African-American youth. The teachers were eager to learn, but also to share experiences from their own classroom teaching about <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11422-016-9743-7">the role that language can play in STEM</a> – whether it’s answering a word problem in math, reading an engineering text or writing a lab report.</p>
<p>One of the biggest challenges is that, in STEM, word problems, questions, texts and directions often contain unfamiliar terms, both technical and nontechnical. In fact, nontechnical words can <a href="https://www.mheducation.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335205984.pdf">often be as problematic</a> as the more specialist terms of science. “It’s kind of like learning a language twice,” a geometry teacher said, because “the vocabulary can be so intense.”</p>
<p>And it’s not just vocabulary that matters; everyday classroom communication plays an important role, too. “We all use language,” one STEM teacher recognized, “whether it’s in the directions we give or the handouts we use.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164494/original/image-20170407-3845-u0kwxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164494/original/image-20170407-3845-u0kwxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164494/original/image-20170407-3845-u0kwxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164494/original/image-20170407-3845-u0kwxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164494/original/image-20170407-3845-u0kwxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164494/original/image-20170407-3845-u0kwxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164494/original/image-20170407-3845-u0kwxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Though STEM teachers receive little training when it comes to teaching and using language, communication is a vital part of every classroom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/students-working-together-digital-tablet-build-432874750">DGLimages / Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What can we do right now?</h2>
<p>How can teachers make an immediate difference in their classes? For educators who want to know how to take this information and apply it directly to their teaching, there are relevant, accessible materials.</p>
<p><a href="https://languageandlife.org/">The Language and Life Project</a>, out of North Carolina State University, hosts a number of videos and podcasts about language.</p>
<p>In addition to <a href="https://charityhudleymallinson.com/">a comprehensive website</a>, we created a series of <a href="http://www.doetest.virginia.gov/instruction/english/literacy/language_culture.shtml">webinars</a> about the role of language in teaching and learning across the disciplines, as well as a <a href="https://baltimorelanguage.com/language-variation-in-the-classroom-podcast/">podcast</a> in which educators themselves describe how this information positively impacted their teaching and their relationships with students.</p>
<p>These materials can help teachers learn how to respond to students who speak differently, avoid cultural and linguistic bias on tests and design culturally supportive curricula.</p>
<p>In the course of our research, we also created a free iOS app (“<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/valuable-voices/id1145710477?mt=8">Valuable Voices</a>”) for educators. The app provides a year of monthly classroom-ready exercises and activities, adaptable for elementary through high school students. One exercise introduces students to the concept of language change by analyzing the linguistic innovations of William Shakespeare. Another activity invites students to explore “linguistic landscapes,” or the language found in public places and spaces around them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164493/original/image-20170407-31640-721tfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164493/original/image-20170407-31640-721tfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164493/original/image-20170407-31640-721tfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164493/original/image-20170407-31640-721tfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164493/original/image-20170407-31640-721tfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164493/original/image-20170407-31640-721tfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164493/original/image-20170407-31640-721tfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With the right tools, teachers can incorporate language and culture into any classroom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/97aGY8">World Bank Photo Collection / flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Language matters</h2>
<p>Good teaching relies on effective communication, whether it’s in English class, biology class or any subject in between. The words that teachers and students use, their meanings and their intentions are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405849509543675">central to classroom interactions and dynamics</a>. Ensuring that students, peers and teachers from diverse backgrounds understand and communicate respectfully with each other is often just as important as helping students understand the material in their textbooks. </p>
<p>Language matters – not just for fostering mutual respect, but for making sure that every student has an equal opportunity to succeed.</p>
<p>As one high school algebra teacher who participated in our study pointed out:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Spending time showing students how their language is respected, and allowing them to have the skills to analyze different ways of speaking and writing, creates a classroom where we celebrate what we can each bring to our learning environment.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Simply put, she said, “It’s worth our time.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74019/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Mallinson has received funding from the National Science Foundation under Grant #1050938/1051056 and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, via a UMBC Dresher Center Summer Faculty Research Fellowship (2013–2014), a UMBC Special Research Assistantship/ Initiative Support award (2010–2011), and a UMBC Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship Course Initiative Grant (2008), as well as from the UMBC Office of the Vice Provost for Research and the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Office of the Dean. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Charity Hudley receives funding from the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) Capstone English Project, Senior English Academy, and Visible Leaders grants; the QEP Mellon Initiative at the College of William & Mary; the College of William & Mary Community Studies Professorship, the William and Mary Class of 1952 Professorship, the National Science Foundation grants BCS-105105 and SES- 0930522, The Jessie Ball DuPont Charitable Foundation, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation Grant, the College of William and Mary and many generous individual donors to the William and Mary Scholar Undergraduate Research Experience. She is a volunteer with The Democratic Party of Virginia.</span></em></p>In English and science alike, every student and teacher brings his or her own language patterns to class. But how can educators make sure that language bias doesn’t harm student achievement?Christine Mallinson, Associate Professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyAnne Charity Hudley, Associate Professor of Education, English, and Linguistics, William & MaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/460642015-08-14T10:21:08Z2015-08-14T10:21:08ZTo reduce debt, give students more information to make wise college choice decisions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91787/original/image-20150813-21401-goktux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How can you make smart choices?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/student+debt/search.html?page=6&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=107004452">Dollar image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Higher education has gotten a lot of attention during the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign. All three major candidates for the Democratic nomination – former New York Senator <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/factsheets/2015/08/10/college-compact/">Hillary Clinton</a>, former Maryland Governor <a href="https://martinomalley.com/the-latest/op-ed/debt-free-college/">Martin O’Malley</a> and Vermont Senator <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/05/20/senator-sanders-unveils-debt-free-college-bill">Bernie Sanders</a> – have proposed different plans to reduce or eliminate student loan debt at public colleges. </p>
<p>However, the price tags of these plans (<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/hillary-clintons-350-billion-plan-to-kill-college-debt-121210.html">at least US$350 billion over 10 years</a> for Clinton’s proposal) will make free college highly unlikely. Republicans, including leading presidential candidates, have already made their <a href="https://www.atr.org/gop-presidential-candidates-call-out-hillary-student-loan-debt-tax-hike">opposition</a> quite clear. </p>
<p>But student loan debt is unlikely to go away anytime soon. What is important for now is that students and their families get better information about tuition costs and college outcomes so they can make more informed decisions, especially as the investments are so large. </p>
<h2>What colleges will reveal</h2>
<p>Although colleges are required to submit data on hundreds of items to the federal government each year, only a few measures that are currently available are important to most students and their families:</p>
<p>First, colleges must report graduation rates for first-time, full-time students. This does a good job reflecting the outcomes at selective colleges, where most students go full-time. </p>
<p>But full-time students make up only <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/new-college-data-give-fuller-picture-of-graduation-rates--and-show-challenges/2014/07/18/92578f92-0dba-11e4-8341-b8072b1e7348_story.html">a small percentage of students</a> at some colleges, and data on the graduation rates of part-time students will not be available <a href="https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisChangesForNextYear.aspx">until 2017</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The price tag of Hillary Clinton’s college plan is too steep.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcn/459273407/in/photolist-GzTZ2-8RH697-8RH36G-5nQ8Di-8LB8Qq-8QR5HB-d7gWDJ-mrReoE-8Ly4yP-8REeWa-8JY11p-5Kdyef-8QBHsp-8RHyQN-8REfen-8RHi2d-fMNYMT-51xeXX-7CH2et-nE6JX4-51xn4V-4nnB-5K9hMD-CxRwv-63iZXW-8RHAiW-8RDKmH-5KdyTh-dRw3Gs-dRw4ds-8RGUWN-8RGVb7-8RGUsS-8RDJ1n-8RDJ9x-8RDHvc-8RDLo4-8RDJtk-8RDGPx-8RGSq3-8RDKvn-8RGThm-8RH2XJ-8RH6sA-8RH5j3-8RH1t5-8RGWdm-8RDNHg-8RDTpa-8RDQbk">Marc Nozell</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Colleges must also report net prices (the cost of attendance less all grant aid received) by different family income brackets. The cost of attendance (defined as tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, and other living expenses such as transportation and laundry) and the resulting net price are important measures of affordability. </p>
<p>Because financial aid packages can vary across colleges with similar sticker prices, net prices are important to give students an idea of what they might expect to pay. </p>
<p>Colleges that offer their students federal loans must report the percentage of students who defaulted on their loans within three years of leaving college. This measure reflects whether students are able to make enough money to repay their loans. Colleges must also report average student loan debt burdens, so students can see what their future payments might look like.</p>
<p>In addition, vocationally oriented programs must report debt and earnings metrics under new federal “<a href="http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/gainfulemployment.html">gainful employment</a>” regulations. This provides students in technical fields a clear idea of what they might expect to make.</p>
<p>The Obama administration has promised that additional information on student outcomes will be made available <a href="http://www.ed.gov/blog/2015/06/helping-families-navigate-their-higher-education-options/">“later this summer”</a>, although they have not said what will be made available. </p>
<h2>What don’t we know?</h2>
<p>Despite the availability of information on some key outcomes, more can still be done to help students make wise decisions about which college to attend. </p>
<p>Below are some example of outcomes that would be helpful for students and their families to know about.</p>
<p>Although <a href="http://www.demos.org/blog/5/18/14/college-graduation-gap">enormous gaps</a> in college completion rates exist by family income, students and their families cannot currently access data on the graduation rates of low-income students receiving federal Pell Grants. (The federal government <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/08/12/ratings-fight-over-education-department-prepares-launch-new-consumer-tool">is purchasing data</a> from the National Student Clearinghouse to fix this going forward.) </p>
<p>Colleges are required to report the percentage of minority students and the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants, but nothing is known about the percentage of first-generation students. </p>
<p>This is of particular interest given the key policy goal of improving access to American higher education; without this information, it is harder to tell which colleges are engines of social mobility.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students need to have more information.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lyndakuit/5434905857/in/photolist-9hgjap-fcJDpK-bteKdy-bH6WGB-9hjsyY-q8nBZK-5AxhEc-bG9A4M-aEG9gw-bsvD9Q-dzYVdh-buc6VS-buc7cu-bss9eu-edWQtn-bFmgPP-bFmfC4-bFmgtz-buc76J-bH6UTF-7Wxo2N-bFoxNK-bss9Bf-bstKcW-bFoACK-bstEQy-bFoBV2-bstKJs-bFnhaz-bss9U1-sSPdDz-sdsian-bFmfvK-aRZ4uR-9gL6Np-dzYUDC-dzYURW-dzYVfu-dzTrwr-dzYTBC-dzYV8b-dzTqyH-dzYVaG-dzTrqv-dzTrFD-dzTrz6-dzTqqt-dzTr1T-dzYU7u-5zqnrm">Lynda Kuit</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Private-sector organizations such as <a href="http://www.payscale.com/college-roi">PayScale</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/edu/?trk=edu-cp-rr-ad">LinkedIn</a> work to fill this gap, but they can only provide a limited amount of information.</p>
<h2>How could we know more?</h2>
<p>The data needed to answer many of the questions above are already held by the federal government, but in multiple databases that are <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdf">not allowed</a> to communicate with each other. </p>
<p>The greatest barrier to better information from the federal government is due to a provision included in the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdf">which banned the federal government</a> from creating a “student unit record” data system that would link financial aid, enrollment and employment outcomes for students receiving federal financial aid dollars. This ban was put in place in part due to concerns over data privacy, and in part due to an intense lobbying effort from private nonprofit colleges.</p>
<p>States, in contrast, are allowed to have unit record data systems, and a few of them make detailed information available to anyone at the click of a mouse. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://research.schev.edu/studentdebt/DebtProfile_SL020.asp">Virginia makes a host of student loan debt information</a> available in a series of convenient tables and graphics. </p>
<p>Senator Rubio has teamed with Democratic Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Warner of Virginia to introduce legislation <a href="http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-rubio-warner-introduce-the-student-right-to-know-before-you-go-act">overturning the ban on unit record data,</a> although no action has yet been taken in Congress.</p>
<p>A bipartisan push to make more information available to students and their families has the potential to help students make better decisions. </p>
<p>But getting data is only one part of the challenge. The other is getting that into the hands of students at the right time. For that, it is important for the federal government to work with college access organizations and guidance counselors.</p>
<p>Students should be able to access this information as they begin considering attending college. Although additional information may not allow a student to graduate debt-free, it will help him or her to make a more informed decision about where to attend college and if the price tag is worth paying.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46064/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Kelchen is the methodologist for Washington Monthly magazine's annual college rankings and uses available federal data to compile the rankings.</span></em></p>Hillary Clinton recently announced a US$350 billion plan to make college free. But what students need for now is information that can help them make sound decisions about their college investment.Robert Kelchen, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Seton Hall UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.