Classroom Structure and Student Achievement: A Theory and Case Study
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2011
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Haverford College. Department of Sociology
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Thesis
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
Over the preceding decade, elementary school students in the Middleton and Orchardville school districts performed comparably on the mathematics section of the yearly state-administered standardized test. During the same period, however, secondary school students from the same two districts consistently performed disparately on the same section of the same test. After reviewing and rejecting the prevailing perspectives on inequality in student achievement, I propose that the divergence in test scores results from a lack of cooperative learning in Middleton secondary schools. I construct a theory of the necessary and sufficient conditions for the successful implementation of cooperative curricula in a classroom, hypothesizing that at least one of these conditions is absent in Middleton. Data collected during participant observation research, though not representative of the two districts, suggest that cooperative learning is more prevalent in Orchardville.