Middle-class elementary students ask for help more than working-class peers

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Middle-class children ask their teachers for help more often and more assertively than working-class children and, in doing so, receive more support and assistance from teachers according to a study from the University of Pennsylvania.

The findings are reported in the December issue of the American Sociological Review in a paper entitled, "I Need Help!" Social Class and Children's Help-Seeking in Elementary School" by Jessica McCrory Calarco, a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences.

The paper is based on Calarco's dissertation research, a longitudinal ethnographic study of students in one socioeconomically diverse, public elementary school.

For three years, she followed a cohort of students as they progressed from third through fifth grade, observing them regularly in school and interviewing teachers, parents, and students to show that children's social-class backgrounds shaped when and how they sought help in the classroom.

"We know that middle-class parents are better able than working-class parents to secure advantages for themselves and their children, but not when and where they learned to do so, or whether they teach their children to do the same," Calarco said. "My research answers those questions by looking at children's role in stratification--how they try to secure their own advantages in the classroom."

Her study showed that middle-class children regularly approached teachers with questions and requests and were much more proactive and assertive in asking for help. Rather than wait for assistance, the middle-class children called out or approached teachers directly, even interrupting to make requests. Working-class children, on the other hand, rarely asked for help from teachers, doing so only as a last resort. Furthermore, when working-class children did ask for help, they tended to do so in less obvious ways (e.g., hanging back or sitting with their hand raised), meaning that they often waited longer for teachers to notice and respond.

"Teachers want kids to ask for help if they are struggling, but they rarely make those expectations explicit. That leaves kids to figure out when and how to ask for help," Calarco explained.

In another related project, Calarco found that children learn whether and how to ask for help at school, in part, through the training that they receive from their parents at home. She noted that, "unlike their working-class counterparts, middle-class parents explicitly encourage children to feel comfortable asking for help from teachers, and also deliberately coach children on the language and strategies to use in making these requests."

As a result, middle-class children came to school better equipped to secure the support that they needed to complete their assignments quickly and correctly, and also appeared more engaged in the learning process.

Calarco said that while teachers don't mean to privilege some children over others, they tend to be more responsive to middle-class children's help-seeking styles, giving those who ask for help more attention and support in the classroom, and also seeing them as more "proactive" learners.

"What that means is that middle-class kids' help-seeking skills and strategies effectively become a form of 'cultural capital' in the classroom--by activating those resources, middle-class kids can secure their own advantages in the classroom," she explained. "It also means that children play a more active role in stratification than previous research has recognized."

The ASR study concludes that inequalities in education are not just the product of differences in the resources that families and schools provide for children; they also reflect differences in the resources that children can secure for themselves in the classroom.

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STUDENT SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT THREATENED BY ALARMING STATE VARIATIONS IN MEASURING LEARNING

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Lack of consistency across states creates patchwork of “proficiency” requirements and misleading information on how well students are being prepared for high school, college and careers


U.S. students risk falling behind in science education due to radically inconsistent state definitions of proficiency. While teachers and parents are being told that students are meeting the standard for eighth-grade proficiency set by their state, they may actually be performing at levels substantially below their international counterparts and go on to struggle in high school, college and careers.

A new report, “All Over the Map,” was released today by Change the Equation (CTEq), a network of more than 100 CEOs dedicated to creating widespread literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), at the National Governor Association’s STEM Summit in Durham, N.C. For the first time, researchers put state definitions of “proficiency” in eighth-grade science against a common measuring stick – the 2009 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) eighth-grade science test. NAEP is a project of the U.S. Department of Education that measures student knowledge and achievement nationally.

The results are startling. What one state may deem to be “proficient” may be classified as “basic” or well below grade level in another.

- Fifteen states have set the bar for “proficiency” below NAEP’s threshold for “basic” knowledge.
- Only four states have set the bar near or above NAEP’s bar for proficiency. - Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi have more rigorous performance standards for students than states like Connecticut, New York and Maryland that are generally thought to have high-quality, competitive schools.

“Nationally, we do not have a common understanding or agreement of what it means to be proficient in eighth-grade science,” said Linda Rosen, Ph.D., CEO of Change the Equation. “We’re sounding the alarm to say that without meaningful definitions of proficiency, parents and teachers are not getting an accurate picture of student progress. Students can be falling behind and may not know it until it is too late.”

Virginia has the lowest definition of “proficient,” followed by Tennessee, Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Oregon, South Carolina, California and Arizona. All have set their definitions for achievement below NAEP’s standard for “basic” science learning. Just four states—Louisiana, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire—are at or above NAEP’s standard for proficiency.

NAEP defines “basic” as “…partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at each grade,” hardly the learning that students need to put them on a path to success in college-level science.

While parents, teachers and administrators believe that young people are learning, students may actually be in danger of falling behind in science. Two-thirds of the states studied in “All Over the Map” determined that most of their students are proficient in eighth-grade science. But ACT, which administers standardized tests to measure high school achievement and college entrance, found that only 13% of eighth-graders nationally were prepared for college science. And U.S. students are falling behind internationally. U.S. students rank significantly behind 12 other developed nations and significantly ahead of only nine on an international test of 15 year-olds’ achievement in science.

States should set their proficiency targets in science at a place that reflects the demands students will face in a competitive global marketplace. States are already coming together to develop Next Generation Science Standards, which will describe the content students should learn at every grade level. Such content standards are crucial, but they are only half the battle. States’ passing scores on tests that measure students’ mastery of those standards need to signal that students have a strong enough command of science to do well in high school and go on to succeed in college and careers.

“Raising the bar on measuring student achievement will take fortitude as some states see the percentage of proficient students plummet,” said CTEq Board of Directors Chair Craig R. Barrett, Ph.D., and retired CEO and Chairman of the Board of Intel. “Though it may be painful and initially unpopular, we are doing students a disservice if we set the bar low and give them a false sense of achievement that will hinder their learning and growth in school and beyond.”

Working with the respected American Institutes for Research (AIR), CTEq compared the passing scores that states set on their 2009 eighth-grade science tests required by federal law with the scale that NAEP established for its own test. “All Over the Map” examines 37 states for which data was available.

“All Over the Map” is part of CTEq’s “Vital Signs” project, which reports on the condition of STEM learning in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It measures state-by-state performance and digs deeper into the nation’s STEM education challenges.

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Results From the 2011 NAEP Trial Urban District Assessments (TUDA) in Mathematics and Reading

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Data from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students from large cities nationally have made gains since 2009 at both grades 4 and 8 in mathematics and at grade 8 in reading. The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2011 TUDA and The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2011 TUDA present results for public school students from 21 participating urban districts and from large cities nationally.

District results are compared to results for all students attending public schools in the nation and large cities (i.e., cities with populations of 250,000 or more) overall and by race/ethnicity and eligibility for free/reduced-price school lunch.

Key results from the 2011 NAEP TUDA mathematics and reading assessments include:

In MATHEMATICS in 2011

• Only one of the 21 participating districts (Atlanta) saw higher scores for both fourth- and eighth-grade students in 2011 than in any previous mathematics assessment.

• Three districts have made gains since 2009 at grade 4 only (Austin, Baltimore City, and Philadelphia) and five districts have made gains since 2009 for grade 8 only [Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, the District of Columbia, and Jefferson County (KY)].

• Six districts recorded higher scores at both grades 4 and 8 than the averages for large city schools nationally: Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Hillsborough County (FL), Houston, and San Diego.

• Two districts recorded higher scores than the average for large city schools at grade 4 only: Jefferson County (KY) and Miami-Dade.

In READING in 2011:

• Although the average score for fourth-grade students in large city schools remained unchanged from 2009, it was higher than in 2002.

• The average score for eighth-graders in large city schools was higher in 2011 than both 2009 and 2002.

• None of the participating districts made gains at grade 4 since 2009; only one district (Charlotte) made gains at grade 8 compared to 2009 scores.

• Five districts recorded higher scores at both grades 4 and 8 than the averages for large city schools nationally: Austin, Charlotte, Hillsborough County (FL), Jefferson County (KY), and Miami-Dade.

Complete results and sample questions, and download copies of the reports.

View the full mathematics report for urban districts.

View the full reading report for urban districts.

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