How Assignment Patterns Influence Student Learning

In this article in Educational Researcher, Demetra Kalogrides and Susanna Loeb (Stanford University) report on their study of how students were sorted across classrooms in 900 schools in several large urban school districts. They found that African-American, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, and initially low-achieving students tended to be clustered together and have relatively inexperienced teachers. Because novice teachers are generally less effective at boosting student achievement, this assignment pattern tends to widen achievement gaps. What explains its prevalence in these districts?

• Many schools, especially at the secondary level, group students by prior achievement, reinforcing existing correlations between race and achievement.

• Teachers generally prefer to teach higher-achieving students and advanced courses, and those with seniority request and are often awarded such placements.

• The parents of more-advantaged students may pressure administrators to place their children with teachers they believe to be more effective and/or more experienced. 

• Students (either directly or through their parents) may request placements with friends, and given segregated friendship networks, this could reinforce racially identifiable classes. 

• Principals may place minority-group students with minority-group teachers because of a belief that they achieve better with same-race teachers.

“Different Teachers, Different Peers: The Magnitude of Student Sorting Within Schools” by Demetra Kalogrides and Susanna Loeb in Educational Researcher, August/September 2013 (Vol. 42, #6, p. 304-316), http://er.aera.net; Kalogrides can be reached at dkalo@stanford.edu 

From the Marshall Memo #501