Low SES primary school students engaging in an after-school robotics program

Recent attention in education within many western contexts has focused on improved outcomes for students, with a particular focus on closing the gap between those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and the rest of the student population. Much of this attention has supported a set of simplistic solutions to improving scores on high stakes standardized tests. The collateral damage (Nichols & Berliner, 2007) of such responses includes a narrowing of the curriculum, plateaus in gain scores on the tests, and unproductive blame games aimed by the media and politicians at teachers and communities (Nichols & Berliner, 2007; Synder, 2008). Alternative approaches to improving the quality and equity of schooling remain as viable alternatives to these measures. As an example in a recent study of school literacy reform in low SES schools, Luke, Woods and Dooley (2011) argued for the increase of substantive content and intellectual quality of the curriculum as a necessary means to re-engaging middle school students, improving outcomes of schooling and achieving a high quality, high equity system. The MediaClub is an afterschool program for students in years 4 to 7 (9-12 year old) at a primary school in a low SES area of a large Australian city. It is run as part of an Australian Research Council funded research project. The aim of the program has been to provide an opportunity for students to gain expertise in digital technologies and media literacies in an afterschool setting. It was hypothesized that this expertise might then be used to shift the ways of being literate that these students had to call on within classroom teaching and learning events. Each term, there is a different focus on digital media, and information and communication technology (ICT) activities in the MediaClub. The work detailed in this chapter relates to a robotics program presented as one of the modules within this afterschool setting. As part of the program, the participants were challenged to find creative solutions to problems in a constructivist-learning environment.

Australian adolescent perceptions of parental support: Can it predict self-esteem among high and low SES groups?

Aims Physical activity has been shown to increase adolescent self-esteem. The aim of this investigation was to assess adolescent perceptions of parental support for physical activity endeavours, and its relationship with self-esteem among high and low SES groups. Methods Perceptions of parental support, and Rosenberg’s self-esteem (1965) were derived from the Children’s Physical Activity Correlates questionnaire, with scores ranging from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest). Independent sample t-tests were conducted and Levene’s test indicated homogenous group variance, while Pearson’s r was employed to assess relationships between perceptions of parental support, and self-esteem. Results Overall, 111 (89%) and 64 (55%) high and low SES participants had complete data and were included in the analysis. The high SES differed for self-esteem (M = 3.39, SE = .05) from the low SES group (M = 2.75, SE = .08), t (173) = 6.82, p < .05, with a medium effect size (ES) r = .46. The high SES group scored higher for perceptions of parental support (M = 2.95, SE = .06) than the low SES group (M = 2.71, SE = .07), t (173) = 2.58, p < .05, with a low ES r = .04. Self-esteem was significantly correlated with parental support in both high (r = .34) and low (r = .47) SES groups. Conclusion Results indicate that perceptions of parental support may be a stronger indicator of self-esteem for low, than for high SES adolescents. Future physical activity strategies to promote self-esteem should involve parents as active facilitators.

Bridging the gap: Wellness differences between high and low SES Australian adolescents

Aims Wellness assessments can determine adolescent lifestyle behaviors. A better understanding of wellness differences between high and low SES adolescents could assist policy makers to develop improved strategies to bridge the gap between these two groups. The aim of this investigation was to explore wellness differences between high and low SES adolescents. Methods In total, 241 (125 high and 116 low SES) adolescents completed the 5-Factor Wellness Inventory (5F-Wel). The 5F-Wel comprises 97 items contributing to 17 subscales, 5 dimensions, 4 contexts, total wellness, and a life satisfaction index, with scores ranging from 0-100. Independent sample t-tests were performed with Levene’s test of equality for variances, which checked the assumption of homogeneity of variances. Results Overall, 117 (94%) and 112 (97 %) high and low SES participants had complete data and were included in the analysis. The high SES group scored higher for total wellness (M = 81.09, SE = .61) than the low SES group (M = 75.73, SE = .99). This difference was significant t (186) = 4.635, p < .05, with a medium effect size r = .32. The high SES group scored higher on 23 of 27 scales (21 scales, p < .05), while the low SES group scored higher on the remaining 3 scales (all non-significant). Conclusion These results contribute empirical data to the body of literature, indicating a large wellness discrepancy between high and low SES youth. Deficient areas can be targeted by policymakers to assist in bridging the gap between these groups.

Unlocking the learning potential of incarcerated Indigenous and low SES young people; Mathematics outcomes for future success: a discussion paper

This presentation provides a beginning discussion about what the literature reports about incarcerated young people. Incarcerated Indigenous and low SES young people typically have very low literacy and mathematics skills which precludes them from future education and or employment opportunities, thus continuing the cycle of disadvantage, exclusion and despair(Payne, 2007). Being locked out of learning, they are stuck in a cycle of underachievement, a scenario which contributes to unacceptably high levels of recidivism(ACER, 2014). Success at education is considered an important protective factor against delinquent behaviours such as offending, substance abuse and truancy. Youth education and training centres provide educational opportunities for the incarcerated Indigenous youth but achievement continues to be lower than expected, particularly in mathematics. This presentation provides an introductory literature review focusing on incarcerated young people and education. It is also the preliminary writing for a small pilot project currently being conducted in one Youth Education and Training Centre in Australia.

Anger is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in low SES but not in higher SES men and women

We investigated the associations of anger and cynicism with carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and whether these associations were moderated by childhood or adulthood socioeconomic status (SES). The participants were 647 men and 893 women derived from the population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Childhood SES was measured in 1980 when the participants were aged 3-18. In 2001, adulthood SES, anger, cynicism, and IMT were measured. There were no associations between anger or cynicism and IMT in the entire population, but anger was associated with thicker IMT in participants who had experienced low SES in childhood. This association persisted after adjustment for a host of cardiovascular risk factors. It is concluded that the ill health-effects of psychological factors such as anger may be more pronounced in individuals who have been exposed to adverse socioeconomic circumstances early in life.

Exceptional teachers for disadvantaged schools

This article reports on the first year of the Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools project, a teacher education approach designed to prepare high quality teachers for low socio-economic schools. The Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS) project is an innovative way to prepare high-quality teachers for employment in low-SES schools. The program, based at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), offers a specialised curriculum, designed to equip high-achieving pre-service teachers for work in the schools that need them most. Selected pre-service teachers at QUT are invited to take part in the trial course, based on their academic performance over the first two years of their four-year Bachelor of Education degree, and on a demonstrated commitment to social justice. These participants undertake a modified version of QUT's B Ed on-campus curriculum. They have their practicum/field experience at one of a range of disadvantaged schools throughout Queensland which have agreed to partner with QUT in the program. In the past, teacher education for disadvantaged schools has been described as applying a 'missionary' or deficit model (Larabee, 2010; Comber and Kamler, 2004; Flessa, 2007). The principals of schools participating in the ETDS react strongly against such an approach, and have explicitly asked project staff not to send them anyone who 'thinks they can save the world'. The ETDS project has moved well away from such a model, towards a position that is explicitly centred on notions of academic excellence. The project is now at the end of its first trial year.

Teacher education targeting high-poverty schools : the National Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools program

This paper examines the Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS) program and demonstrates how the outcomes from this teacher education model targeting high-poverty schools have been used to expand the model across other Australian universities. The paper outlines the parameters of ETDS and stresses the importance to the program of academic excellence, a modified teacher education curriculum, targeted practicums and a network of jurisdictional and school-based partnerships. The paper presents data from ETDS that demonstrates 90% of graduates have secured employed as teachers within high-poverty Australian schools. The paper concludes by outlining the impact of philanthropic funding (2 million dollars AUD) that will allow the expansion of the ETDS model into other teacher education universities across Australia.

Reframing social justice: Tensions experienced by novice teachers in an era of high-stakes accountability

This paper focuses on specific tensions in relation to social justice and education, addressing the research question: How do early career teachers within high poverty schools reconcile their beliefs about social justice in the light of recent pressures put upon them to produce test-based outcomes for their students? The paper is underpinned by research on teacher education targeting poverty (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005) as well as critical analyses of what is now counted as equity and social justice, and how these changes are measured and re-articulated (Lingard, Sellar and Savage 2014). The theoretical positioning of the paper situates equity/social justice as mediated by a range of social, cultural and organizational contexts within high poverty schools.

Comprehension as social and intellectual practice : rebuilding curriculum in low socioeconomic and cultural minority schools

This article reframes the concept of comprehension as a social and intellectual practice. It reviews current approaches to reading instruction for linguistically and culturally diverse and low socioeconomic students, noting an emphasis on comprehension as autonomous skills. The Four Resources model (Freebody & Luke, 1990) is used to make the case for the integration of comprehension instruction with an emphasis on student cultural and community knowledge, and substantive intellectual and sociocultural content in elementary school curricula. Illustrations are drawn from research underway on the teaching of literacy in primary schools in low SES communities.

Evaluation of the year 1 literacy and numeracy checkpoints assessments trial - 2010

The draft Year 1 Literacy and Numeracy Checkpoints Assessments were in open and supported trial during Semester 2, 2010. The purpose of these trials was to evaluate the Year 1 Literacy and Numeracy Checkpoints Assessments (hereafter the Year 1 Checkpoints) that were designed in 2009 as a way to incorporate the use of the Year 1 Literacy and Numeracy Indicators as formative assessment in Year 1 in Queensland Schools. In these trials there were no mandated reporting requirements. The processes of assessment were related to future teaching decisions. As such the trials were trials of materials and the processes of using those materials to assess students, plan and teach in year 1 classrooms. In their current form the Year 1 Checkpoints provide assessment resources for teachers to use in February, June and October. They aim to support teachers in monitoring children's progress and making judgments about their achievement of the targeted P‐3 Literacy and Numeracy Indicators by the end of Year 1 (Queensland Studies Authority, 2010 p. 1). The Year 1 Checkpoints include support materials for teachers and administrators, an introductory statement on assessment, work samples, and a Data Analysis Assessment Record (DAAR) to record student performance. The Supported Trial participants were also supported with face‐to‐face and on‐line training sessions, involvement in a moderation process after the October Assessments, opportunities to participate in discussion forums as well as additional readings and materials. The assessment resources aim to use effective early years assessment practices in that the evidence is gathered from hands‐on teaching and learning experiences, rather than more formal assessment methods. They are based in a model of assessment for learning, and aim to support teachers in the “on‐going process of determining future learning directions” (Queensland Studies Authority, 2010 p. 1) for all students. Their aim is to focus teachers on interpreting and analysing evidence to make informed judgments about the achievement of all students, as a way to support subsequent planning for learning and teaching. The Evaluation of the Year 1 Literacy and Numeracy Checkpoints Assessments Supported Trial (hereafter the Evaluation) aimed to gather information about the appropriateness, effectiveness and utility of the Year 1 Checkpoints Assessments from early years’ teachers and leaders in up to one hundred Education Queensland schools who had volunteered to be part of the Supported Trial. These sample schools represent schools across a variety of Education Queensland regions and include schools with:  - A high Indigenous student population; - Urban, rural and remote school locations; - Single and multi‐age early phase classes; - A high proportion of students from low SES backgrounds. The purpose of the Evaluation was to: Evaluate the materials and report on the views of school‐based staff involved in the trial on the process, materials, and assessment practices utilised. The Evaluation has reviewed the materials, and used surveys, interviews, and observations of processes and procedures to collect relevant data to help present an informed opinion on the Year 1 Checkpoints as assessment for the early years of schooling. Student work samples and teacher planning and assessment documents were also collected. The evaluation has not evaluated the Year 1 Checkpoints in any other capacity than as a resource for Year 1 teachers and relevant support staff.

School Leadership, Literacy and Social Justice : The Place of Local School Curriculum Planning and Reform

School reform is a matter of both redistributive social justice and recognitive social justice. Following Fraser (Justice interruptus: critical reflections on the “postsocialist” condition. Routledge, New York, 1997), we begin from a philosophical and political commitment to the more equitable redistribution of knowledge, credentials, competence, and capacity to children of low socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic minority and Indigenous communities whose access, achievement, and participation historically have “lagged” behind system norms and benchmarks set by middle class and dominant culture communities. At the same time, we argue that the recognition of these students and their communities’ lifeworlds, knowledges, and experiences in the curriculum, in classroom teaching, and learning is both a means and an end: a means toward improved achievement measured conventionally and a goal for reform and alteration of mainstream curriculum knowledge and what is made to count in the school as valued cultural knowledge and practice. The work that we report here was based on an ongoing 4-year project where a team of university teacher educators/researchers have partnered with school leadership and staff to build relationships within community. The purpose has been to study whether and how engagement with new digital arts and multimodal literacies could have effects on students “conventional” print literacy achievement and, secondly, to study whether and how the overall performance of a school could be generated through a focus on professional conversations and partnerships in curriculum and instruction – rather than the top-down implementation of a predetermined pedagogical scheme, package, or approach.

Preparing high achieving English teachers to work in disadvantaged schools : 'I'll teach Shakespeare when I'm 60'

The recent release of the Gonski Review recognises the decline in Australia’s schooling performances over the last decade, noting in particular a distressing increase in the ‘achievement gap’ affecting students from low SES backgrounds (Gonski, 2012). The report details the need for more quality in teachers throughout the schooling system, particularly within the schools with the greatest academic needs. This paper specifically focuses on a group of high-achieving pre-service English teachers. In their last two years of university study, they participated in a program called Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS), designed to prepare them to work in disadvantaged or low SES schools. We wanted to capture their experiences of teaching in challenging settings during their practicum, and as they prepared to graduate, we wondered what they now felt about teaching English in low SES schools. Using narrative inquiry, we analysed a range of reflective data to gain insight into such things as their initial motivations for entering the teaching profession and how their preconceived expectations may or may not have shifted after practicum experiences in low SES schools. We encouraged open reflection about how they perceived themselves as English teachers.

A successful strategy for supporting low socioeconomic and accelerated students studying Biosciences in their first year of study

At our regional University low socioeconomic status (SES) campus, enrolled nurses can enter into the second year of a Bachelor of Nursing. These students, hence, have their first year experience while entering directly into the degree’s second year. A third of these students withdrew from our Bioscience units, and left the University. In an attempt to improve student retention and success, we introduced a strategy involving (i) review lectures in each of the Bioscience disciplines, and subsequently, (ii) “Getting started”, a formative website activity of basic Bioscience concepts, (iii) an ‘O’-week workshop addressing study skills and online resources, and (iv) online tutor support. In addition to being well received, the introduction of the review lectures and full intervention was associated with a significant reduction in student attrition. This successful approach could be used in other low SES areas with accelerated programs for Nursing and may have application beyond this discipline.

Using the factors that have a positive impact on the retention of low socioeconomic students to prepare accelerated enrolled nurses for the science units of a nursing degree : a practice report

At a campus in a low socioeconomic (SES) area, our University allows enrolled nurses entry into the second year of a Bachelor of Nursing, but attrition is high. Using the factors, described by Yorke and Thomas (2003) to have a positive impact on the attrition of low SES students, we developed strategies to prepare the enrolled nurses for the pharmacology and bioscience units of a nursing degree with the aim of reducing their attrition. As a strategy, the introduction of review lectures of anatomy, physiology and microbiology, was associated with significantly reduced attrition rates. The subsequent introduction of a formative website activity of some basic concepts in bioscience and pharmacology, and a workshop addressing study skills and online resources, were associated with a further reduction in attrition rates of enrolled nursing students in a Bachelor of Nursing.

Applying gaze-contingent training within community settings to infants from diverse SES backgrounds

Even in infancy children from low-SES backgrounds differ in frontal cortex functioning and, by the start of preschool, they frequently show poor performance on executive functions including attention control. These differences may causally mediate later difficulties in academic learning. Here, we present a study to assess the feasibility of using computerized paradigms to train attention control in infants, delivered weekly over five sessions in early intervention centres for low-SES families. Thirty-three 12-month-old infants were recruited, of whom 23 completed the training. Our results showed the feasibility of repeat-visit cognitive training within community settings. Training-related improvements were found, relative to active controls, on tasks assessing visual sustained attention, saccadic reaction time, and rule learning, whereas trend improvements were found on assessments of short-term memory. No significant improvements were found in task switching. These results warrant further investigation into the potential of this method for targeting ‘at-risk’ infants in community settings.