HD 1170Final Study Guide

Achievement

What did McClelland mean by need for achievement and fear of failure? Need for achievement: the extent to which an individual strives for success

o Intrinsically motivated desire to perform well that operates even in the absence of external rewards for success

Fear of failure: often manifested in feelings of anxiety during tests or in other evaluative situations; can interefere with successful performance

o A moderate amount of fear may improve performance by increasing one’s concentration

Need for achievement and fear of failure work together to pull the individual toward achievement situations

Examples of self-handicapping strategies and reasons that students would use them. Joking around in class, waiting until the last minute to study for a test, turning in

incomplete homework, or partying excessively the night before a big exam Self-protection, enhancing their self-presentation Boys: attribute their poor performance to a lack of effort Girls: mention emotional problems

What are the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? Intrinsic: motivation based on the pleasure one will experience from mastering a task Extrinsic: motivation based on the rewards one will receive for successful performance

What is stereotype threat and how does it influence students’ performance? The harmful effect that exposure to stereotypes about ethnic or sex differences in ability

has on student performance When students are told that members of their ethnic group usually perform poorly on a

particular test, their performance suffers Performance may be enhanced or depressed depending on how the stereotype works in or

against their favorDweck’s achievement motivation model and achievement attributions:

Motivational Process Modelo Has established some evidence of cause in the processes linking achievement

related beliefs, achievement strategies and achievement outcomeso Motivational factors are unrelated to ability

Relationship between individuals’ beliefs and adaptive and maladaptive coping patterns in achievement situations

Theory of Intelligence

Goal Orientation Confidence inIntelligence

Behavior Pattern

Entity Theory:Intelligence=fixed

Perform. Goal—gain positive judgments

If HIGHàIf LOWà

Mastery orientedHelpless

Incremental Theory:Intelligence=malleable

Learning Goal—Increase competence

If HIGH or LOW Mastery oriented

What kind of parenting is associated with academic success for adolescents and why? What are cultural capital and social capital and how are they related to students’ achievement?

Authoritative parenting: warm, firm, fair Shown through better performance, better attendance, higher expectations, more positive

academic self-conceptions, and stronger engagement in classroom Promotes the development of a healthy achievement orientation—emphasis on intrinsic

motivation and a healthier attributional style Less likely to be overly controlling More involvement in school activities

How do parents and peers operate together to affect adolescents’ school achievement? How are the following factors related to educational achievement: socioeconomic status, ethnicity, beliefs about the importance of effort and ability, and recent immigration status?

Family environment has an effect on adolescents’ choice of friendsàinfluence school achievement

Having friends who value school can positively affect academic achievement and having friends who disparage school can negatively affect achievement

How is stress related to socioeconomic status and achievement? Adolescents who come from lower-class backgrounds experience more stressful life

events, report more daily hassles, and attend schools with more negative climates Adversely affect adolescents’ mental health, well-being, and school performance

Describe the trends in the performance of American adolescents on standardized achievement tests in the last 40 years.

According to the NAEP reports, adolescent achievement in reading, writing, math, and science has improved only slightly among 13-year-olds and not at all among 17-year-olds over the past 40 years, despite massive national efforts at education reform

Contemporary 17-year-olds score no better than their counterparts did in the early 1970s in reading or math and worse than their counterparts did in science

13-year-olds: reading scores in 2008 were marginally better than they had been in the 1970s and science scores showed no improvement between 1970 and 2000; science scores declined in the 1990s and have remained flat since then; math scores have slowly improved

gains in achievement that have occurred in relatively simple skillsHow does the standardized test performance of American high school students compare to students in other industrialized countries?

Mediocre in comparison with scores of other industrialized countries Gap widens from elementary to middle to high school

What is the high school dropout rate for American adolescents, defined as the proportion of those aged 16 to 24 who are not in school and have not earned a GED?

9%What are the differences in the high school dropout rate for Black, White, American-born Hispanic, foreign-born Hispanic and Asian adolescents?

Black and American-born Hispanic youngsters drop out at twice the rate of white youngsters, and six times more frequently than Asian youngsters

Foreign-born Hispanic youngsters drop out at more than 3 times the rate of American- born Hispanic youth (lack of proficiency in English)

Approximately what percentage of high school dropouts obtains a GED? Between 33.33% and 50%

What is the best predictor of eventual occupational success for adolescents? The number of years of schooling an individual completes

Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck

For seventh graders an incremental theory of intelligence was positively associated with what kind of goals and strategies and what kind of math grades over the two years of junior high school?

More positive motivational patterns, positive effort beliefs, learning goals, low helpless attributions, positive strategies

Increase in math gradesDo students who were taught the incremental theory of intelligence show greater effort and higher math grades than those who were taught other useful skills, but who were not taught that intelligence is malleable?

Yes; prevented a decline/stagnancy in intelligenceWhat was the key message in the intervention to teach students that intelligence is malleable?

Adolescents who endorse more of an incremental theory of malleable intelligence also endorse stronger learning goals, hold more positive beliefs about effort, and make fewer ability-based, helpless attributions, with the result that they choose more positive, effort-based strategies in response to failure

Psychosocial problems in adolescence

Steinberg proposes four general principles about adolescent psychosocial problems: Most problems reflect transitory experimentation: rates of occasional, usually harmless,

experimentation far exceed rates of enduring problems Not all problems begin in adolescence: because a problem may be displayed during

adolescence does not mean that it is a problem of adolescence Most problems do not persist into adulthood: relatively transitory in nature and are

resolved by the beginning of adulthood Problems during adolescence are not caused by adolescence: when a young person

exhibits a serious psychosocial problem, the worst possible interpretation is that it is a normal part of growing up

Name and give examples of the three broad categories of problems in adolescence. Substance abuse: the misuse of alcohol or other drugs to a degree that causes problems in

the individual’s life Internalizing disorders: psychosocial problems that are manifested in a turning of the

symptoms inward, as in depression or anxiety Externalizing disorders: psychosocial problems that are manifested in a turning of the

symptoms outward, as in aggression or delinquencyApproximately what percentage of high school seniors in recent years have tried alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana and what are the general trends in their use during the last few decades?

75% (alcohol), 45% (cigarettes), 43% (marijuana)

marijuana use: declined steadily since the late 1970s and then rose sharply during the mid 1990s

alcohol use: declined steadily during the 1980 cigarette use: increased during the 1990s and dropped significantly since 1997 due to

increases in the price of cigarettesWhy is early experimentation with alcohol, cigarettes, and other substances of particular concern? How are the effects of alcohol and cigarette use in adolescence related to brain functioning and addiction later in life?

Dopamine: neurotransmitter that makes the user feel good; frequent drug use signals the brain to reduce levels of natural dopamine, in order to main the proper level, because the dopamine receptors can’t tell the difference between the drug molecules and dopamine molecules; the more you use, the less natural dopamine circulates

Changes in the limbic system is changing during early adolescenceàcan permanently affect the way the dopamine system functions

Repeated exposure to drugs during this period of heightened malleability in the limbic system can affect the brain in ways that make it necessary to use drugs in order to experience normal amounts of pleasure (less changeable in adulthood)

Alcohol for adolescents: more positiveàsocial; can drink more than adults without feeling the negative effects; harms planning and regulation of impulses

How does the use of drugs and alcohol compare among White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, and American Indian adolescents?

Highest: American indian adolescents White and hispanic > black and Asian Foreign born and less Americanized minority < American-born/acculturated minority

How are adolescents who experiment with, abstain from, or abuse alcohol and marijuana different from each other, on average?

Experimenters and abstainers score higher on measures of psychological adjustment than frequent users; moderate alcohol use during adolescence does not have negative long-term effects

Irrational abstainers: over-controlled, narrow in their interests, anxious, and inhibited Abusers: lower psychological adjustment; not getting along well with other children, not

showing concern for moral issues, not planful/likely to think ahead; deviant, emotionally unstable, stubborn, inattentive

Is occasional alcohol and marijuana use normative for American adolescents today? What are the risk factors and protective factors for adolescent substance abuse?

Yes, typically used in social situations Better adjusted and more interpersonally competent young people are likely to participate

in social activities in which alcohol and other drugs are present Likely to experience problems at school, suffer from psychological distress and depression,

become involved in dangerous or deviant activities, and engage in unprotected sex; health problems, unemployment, wedlock children

Psychological (anger, impulsivity, inattentiveness); distant, hostile, or conflicted family relationships (excessively permissive, uninvolved, neglectful, or rejecting); more likely to have friends who use and tolerate the use of drugs; live in context that makes drug use easier

Protective factors: positive mental health, high academic achievement, engagement in school, close family relationship, and involvement in religious activities

What kinds of programs have been successful and unsuccessful in preventing adolescent substance abuse?

Successful: raising the price of alcohol and cigarettes; programs designed to bring in the whole community

Unsuccessful: enforce laws governing their purchase; programs designed solely for information to prevent drug use, DARE

Distinguish between drug use and drug abuseWhat is a status offense?

Violation of the law that pertain to minors but not adultsAt approximately what age does violent criminal activity peak?

18 (onset: 13-16)Since the mid 1990s describe how the rates of violent crime among adolescents have changed. Who are most likely to be the victims of violent crime?

Since 1993, violent crime among young people declined dramatically; began to rise very slightly in the mid 2000s

Adolescents; single-parent homes in poor neighborhoods, povertyName some factors that are strongly linked to violence and aggression in adolescents.

Poor parenting Affiliation with antisocial peers

What kind of programs have been successful and unsuccessful in preventing and treating adolescent externalizing problems?

Evidence-based practices—good Unsuccessful: group antisocial youth together—inadvertently foster friendships among

delinquent youth Teach how to resist peer pressure and settle conflicts without aggression Minimize the number of opportunities adolescent have to engage in peer-oriented

misbehavior Encourage prosocial behavior

What is the most common internalizing problem among adolescents? depression

At what point does the sex difference in depression change? From early adolescence until late adulthood, twice as many females as males suffer from

depressive disorder and females are more likely than males to report depressed mood Heightened self-consciousness and increased concern over popularity

Name some risk factors for attempting suicide during adolescence. Having a psychiatric problem, having a history of suicide in the family, being under stress,

experiencing parental rejection, family disruption or extensive conflict Adolescents who have attempted suicide once are at risk for attempting it again

Do adolescent suicide attempts increase after publicity about a suicide? yes

What approaches have been effective in treating adolescent depression? Psychotherapy Evidence-based practices Antidepressants (SSRIs)

Name some factors that make some adolescents more vulnerable to the effects of stress than other adolescents.

Any one stressor is exacerbated if it is accompanied by other stressors

Adolescents with other resources are less likely to be adversely affected by stress than their peers (high self steem, healthy identity development, high intelligence, or strong feelings of competnence)

Using more effective coping strategies

Families

In what areas do adolescents typically have similar beliefs to their parents and in what areas do they typically have different beliefs?

Share a common social, regional, and cultural background; importance of hard work, educational and occupational ambitions, and the personal characteristics and attributes that they feel are important and desirable; basic, core values concerning religion, work, education, etc

Difference in matters of personal taste—styles of dress, preferences in music, and patterns of leisure activity

In what areas are adolescents and parents likely to bicker? Everyday issues, such as time spent on schoolwork, household chores, and choice of

friends Parents view many issues as matters of right and wrong—not necessarily in a moral sense,

but as matters of custom or convention Adolescents are likely to define these same issues as matters of personal choice

How are differences between the role of mothers and fathers in our culture related to differences in adolescents’ relationships with their parents?

Adolescents tend to be closer to their mother, to sepnd more time alone with their mother, and to feel more comfortable talking to their mother about problems and other emotional matters; tend to be more involved than fathers in their adolescents’ lives

Fathers often rely on mothers for information about their adolescent’s activities; perceived as relatively distant authority figures who may be consulted for objective information; rarely sought for support or guidance

Fight more with mothersàmore controlling; does not jeopardize closeness

Know Baumrind’s model of parenting styles, including the four styles and the variables on which they differ.

Demandingness: degree to which the parent expects and insists on mature, responsible behavior from the child

Responsiveness: degree to which the parent responds to the child’s needs in an accepting, supportive manner

Authoritative: use warmth, firm control, and rational, issue-oriented discipline, in which emphasis is placed on the development of self-direction; place a high value on the development of autonomy and self-direction but assume the ultimate responsibility for their child’s behavior

Authoritarian: use punitive, absolute, and forceful discipline, and who place a premium on obedience and conformity

Indulgent: characterized by responsiveness but low demandingness, and who are mainly concerned with child’s happiness

Indifferent: low levels of both responsiveness and demandingnessWhat characteristics of adolescents are associated with each style of parenting?

Authoritative: self-reliant and who has a strong sense of initiative; responsible, creative, self-assured, intellectually curious, socially skilled, and academically successful

Authoritarian: dependent, more passive, less socially adept, less self-assured, and less intellectually curious

Indulgent: less mature, less responsible and more conforming to their peers Indifferent: impulsive and more likely to be involved in delinquent behavior and in

precocious experiments with sex, drugs, and alcoholWhat are some ethnic differences in parenting styles and how are they related to adolescents’ behavior?

Authoritative parenting is less prevalent among black, Asian, or Hispanic families than among white familiesàbeneficial

Ethnic minority youngsters benefit from parenting that is responsive and demanding Authoritarian parenting is not necessarily bad if control is combined with warmth (not as

harmful as it is with white adolescents)How is the ability to have both attachment and autonomy in a family related to adolescent’s psychological health?

Do best when they grow up in a family atmosphere that permits the development of individuality against a backdrop of close family ties

Conflict can be good-àadolescents are encouraged to express their opinions in an atmosphere that does not risk severing the emotional attachment

How are adolescents’ relationships with siblings similar to and different from their relationships with parents and peers?

Similar to parents in terms of companionship and importance Similar to friendships in term of respect to power, assistance, and their satisfaction with the

relationship What are shared and nonshared environmental influences and how are they related to siblings’ development?

Shared: nongenetic influences that make individuals living in the same family similar to each other

o Socioeconomic status, neighborhoodàless influential Nonshared: nongenetic influences in individuals’ lives that make them different from

people they live witho Siblings treated differently by parentsàdifferent experiences in the same contexto Peer relations, school relations

What does research indicate about the following factors and their relationship to adolescent development:

1) the importance of the number of parents in an adolescent’s house versus the quality of the adolescent’s relationship with them: quality of relationships is more important

a. stepfamiliesàmore problems than single-parent homesb. single-parents families without divorceàless difficulties than those with

divorced/remarried familiesc. adolescents without dadàbetter off than those with adolescents who show no

interest in them2) the importance of the process of going through a divorce versus the resulting family

structure: the process of going through a divorce, not the resulting family structure that matters most for adolescents’ mental health; signs of difficulty after the divorce, but the majority has adjusted to the change and behave like other peers after two or three years

3) exposure to marital conflict, disorganized or disrupted parenting, and increases in household stress: more adversely affected by it when they are aware of it than when it is more covert, when it leads to feelings of insecurity or self-blame, when it disrupts the quality of the parent-child relationships ; conflict between parents often spill over into parent-child relationship, making mothers and fathers more hostile, more irritable, and less effective; depression, distress, aggression

How great are the effect sizes in differences between adolescents from divorced and nondivorced parents?

More educational and behavioral problemsàhigher levels of marital unhappiness and conflict with strained parent-child relationships

In the adverse effects of divorce are attributable to the immediate problems of adjusting to a new household structure or due to exposure to intense marital conflict before and during the divorce, these effects will dissipate within a few years

Average effect size is small The effects of divorce tend to be stronger among school-aged individuals than preschoolers

or college students More common in US and more likely to have access to psychological services, such as

counselingWhat are some of the “sleeper” effects of divorce—problems that appear in adolescents several years after their parents have divorced?

Adjustment difficulties may not be expressed until adolescent; increased drug use and higher rates of early pregnancy

Particular developmental challenge of adolescenceàintimate sexual relationshipsàaffects one’s conceptions of relationships or views of romantic commitment

How are fighting between divorced parents and consistent discipline from divorced parents related to adolescents’ adjustment to divorce?

Nature of the relationship between the adolescents’ divorced parents, not which one he/she lives with that makes a difference

Adolescents with parents with a congenial, cooperative relationship and appropriate discipline from both homesàfewer behavioral problems and less emotional difficulty

Suffer when conflict is intenseIs it more difficult for children or adolescents to deal with the remarriage of their parents? What style of step-parenting is most effective?

Adolescents Consistent, supportive, authoritative style of parenting

How is parents’ income loss and unemployment related to adolescent development? Disruptions in parentingàadolescent difficulties Girls: demands for maturity and increased responsibility around the houseàpessimistic

expectations about their own occupational futures Boys: more frequent conflict with fathers More involvement in problem behavior and heightened irresponsibility Often exposed to harsh, uninvolved and inconsistent parentingàgreater risk for

psychological and behavioral problems Marital conflictàproblems (affects quality of parenting); less involved, less nurturing,

harsher, and less consistent in their disciplineHow is chronic family poverty related to adolescent development?

Increases in anxiety and depression, more frequent conduct problems, and diminished school performance

Violence, stress, depression, suicidal thoughts, academic difficulties, and behavior problems

What family factor has the strongest relationship to adolescent development? Teenager’s feeling of connectedness with parents and family; feeling loved and cared for

by parents

Peer Groups

How is the development of age-segregated peer groups related to whether a society has particularistic or universalistic norms?

Particularistic: guidelines for behavior that vary from one individual to another; more commonly found in less industrialized societies

o Family background, not age, determinds what their rights and responsibilities areo Socialization best in family groups, where elders can pass on the family’s

particular values and norms to their younger relatives Universalistic: guidelines for behavior that apply to all members of a community; more

common in industrialized societieso Norms that apply to one apply to everyone

Modernization created age groupsàuniversalisticIn what four ways are adolescent peer groups different from peer groups in childhood?

Sharp increase during adolescence in the sheer amount of time individuals spend with their peers and in the relative time they spend in the company of peers versus adults

Peer groups function much more often without adult supervision than they do during childhood, partly because adolescents are more mobile and partly because they seek, and are granted more independence

Increasingly more contact with peers is with other-sex friends Emergence of larger collectives of peers, or crowds

What are cliques and what purpose do they serve for adolescents? Small, tightly knit groups of between 2 and 12 friends, generally of the same sex and age Common activities; friendship Provides the main social context in which adolescents interact with one another; social

setting in which adolescents hang out, talk to each other and form close relationshipsWhat are crowds and what purpose do they serve for adolescents?

Large, loosely organized groups of young people, composed of several cliques and typically organized around a common shared activity

Reputation and stereotypeHow do researchers study cliques and crowds?

Participant observation: researcher infiltrates a group of individuals in order to study their behavior and relationships ; observed is also a participant

How do cliques and crowds change during adolescence? Due to increased importance of romantic relationships Early adolescence: same-sex cliquesàboys and girls may go to parties or hang out

together but they still spend time with peers of the same sexàromantic interestsàmiddle to late-adolescence mixed-sex cliques

Late adolescence: peer crowds begin to disintegrate Larger peer group is replaced by loosely associated sets of couples

Maturityàcrowds in terms of abstract, global characteristics rather than concrete, behavioral features

More consciously aware of the crowd structure in school Crowd structure becomes more differentiated, more permeable, and less hierarchical—

allows more freedom to change crowds and enhance their statusHow do crowds serve as reference groups?

Provide members with an identity in the eyes of other adolescents Judge one another on the basis of the company t hey keep and they become branded on the

basis of whom they hang out iwthWhat is the most important influence on the composition of cliques and how does it change over time?

Similarity Typically composed of people who are of the same age and the same ethnicity, from the

same socioeconomic background, and during early and middle adolescence, the same sexDescribe how cliques are related to an adolescent’s age, social class, race and ethnicity, sex, orientation toward school, orientation toward the teen culture, and involvement in antisocial activities.

Age segregation: result from the structure of schools; not many chances to make different age friends in school; more likely to make friends of different ages outside of school

Sex segregationo Early and middle adolescence: same sexo Cliques: generally interested in different thingso Sensitivity about sex roles

Social class segregation: adolescents associated mainly with peers from the same social class or adjacent social classes

Ethnic segregation: more ethnically segregated with ageo Cross-ethnic friendships are less common in ethnically diverse schools than in

schools where one ethnic group predominateso More powerful determinant of friendship patterns (more than socioeconomic

status)o Academic achievement, attitudinal

How are gangs similar to and different from other adolescent peer groups? Groups of adolescents who are similar in background and orientation, share common

interests and activities, and use the group to derive a sense of identity Tend to be more isolated from their family, to have more emotional and behavioral

problems, and to have poorer self-conceptions than other adolescents Relationships are not close or intimate Don’t have much reason to maintain friendship in the absence of their shared interest in

antisocial activitiesHow do selection and socialization influence similarity between friends?

Both selection and socialization are at work across a variety of attitudinal and behavioral domains, including school achievement, drug use, mental health, and delinquency

Those who use alcohol or tobacco are likely to choose friends who also use drugs Spending time who use drugs also increases adolescents’ use as well Socialization (peer influence) is far stronger over day-to-day preferences in things like

clothing or music; selection may be a somewhat stronger factor as far as delinquency and gang membership

What is the difference between sociometric popularity and perceived popularity? Sociometric: how well-liked an individual is; determined mainly by social skills,

friendliness, sense of humor; determinants are variable Perceived: how much status or prestige an individual has; variable and ever changing;

good-looking and athletic or rebellious, delinquent; peer norms changeHow are aggressive, withdrawn, and aggressive-withdrawn adolescents different from each other?

Aggressive: have trouble controlling their aggression Withdrawn: shy, anxious, and inhibited; often the victims of bullying, especially when they

are boys Both: have problems controlling their hostility, but like other withdrawn children, they

tend to be nervous about initiating friendships with other adolescentsWhat is relational aggression and which adolescents typically use it?

Acts intended to harm another through the manipulation of his or her relationships with others, as in malicious gossip

Girls: exclude others from social activities, damage reputations of others, withdraw attention and friendship

What is hostile attributional bias and how does it relate to adolescents’ behavior? Tendency to interpret ambiguous interactions with others as deliberately hostile Unpopular younsters lack social skills and social understandings necessary to be popular

with peers; unpopular aggressive children are ore likely than their peers to think that other children’s behavior is deliberately hostile, even when it is not

More likely to retaliate Plays a central role in the aggressive behavior of rejected adolescents

Do the same adolescents who engage in traditional bullying also engage in cyberbullying? Yes; victims of bullying are also victims of cyberbullying Most internet bullying is not anonymous

What does research indicate about the adjustment problems of individuals who function as both bullies and victims?

Victims: low self-esteem, depression, and academic difficulties Bullies: problems in social skills and in the control of aggression Both aggressive and withdrawnàmost disturbed Bullying and victimization in the same childrenàelements of the broader context: climate

of schoolàincrease likelihood of aggression between classmates

Schools

What are some of the goals of the comprehensive high school in the United States? Educational institution that promised to meet the needs of a diverse and growing

population of young people Classes in general education, college preparation and vocational education were all in one

building Classes in music, art, family life, health, PE, and other subjects to prepare adolescents for

family and leisure as well as work rolesHow is school size related to student learning and engagement?

Student performance and interest in school improve when their schools are made less bureaucratic and more intimate

Achieve more when they attend smaller schools that create a cohesive sense of community

May affect academic outcomes, but it does not necessarily affect students’ emotion attachment to the institution or their mental health (intimacy by breaking up into small groups within large schools)

Large schools may have more activitiesàless spots for activities; small school students are more active in a wider range of activities

Small schoolsàstudents can do more things that develop their skills and abilities; make them feel needed and important; more likely to have positions of leadership

How is class size related to student learning? Classroom sizes from 20 to 40 studentsàno effect on achievement during adolescence Small classes may help young elementary school children, but adolescent in class with 40

students learn just as much in class with 20 studentsWhat are some of the variables that are related to the successful transition of adolescents into secondary schools?

Academic motivation and school grades drop as they move from elementary to middle/middle to high school

Disrupt academic performance, behavior and self-image of adolescents; temporary Stable family and peer relations Teacher’s regulations and grading patterns Changing schools is easier for students who move into small rather than large institutions Teachers must be supportive

What is tracking and what are some of the advantages and disadvantages? The grouping of students according to ability into different levels of classes within the

same school grade Pros: allows teachers to design class lessons that are more finely tuned to students’

abilities, Cons: students in lower track may receive poorer-quality education; discriminate against

poor or ethnic minority groups and may hinder rather than enhance their academic progress

Influence adolescents’ friendships—tend to socialize with peers from the same academic group; polarization

Affluent people tend to be able to move up more easilyHow are high ability boys and girls treated differently with regard to tracking in math?

Boys are more likely than girls to be placed in more advanced math classes (even though girls score higher than boys on standardized tests in elementary school)

Girls are less likely to be moved from a lower to a higher math classHow do the effects of tracking differ for students in the high, low, and middle tracks?

High: more challenging instruction and better teaching; more likely to engage in classroom activities that emphasize critical thinking; positive influence on school achievement, on subsequent course selection, and on ultimate educational attainment

Lower tracks: inferior education; increase preexisting differences among students; students who need the most help are assigned to the tracks in which the quality of instruction is the poorest; exert less effortàlimit learning

Academically rich get richer, poor get poorer Desegregation on academic achievement: students have a wider range of students to

compare themselves to; high ability studentsàexpectations raised for them and their teachers’ evaluations of them; low ability studentsàlowered expectations and get worse grades from teachers; high look better, low look worse

What does research indicate about the effect of desegregation on academic achievement and self-esteem for minority and white adolescents?

Little impact on the achievement levels of either minority or white youngsters Minority youngsters’ self-esteem is higher when they attend schools in which they are in

the majority Fare better psychologically when the cultural environment of their neighborhood is

consonant with the cultural environment of their school Attachment is higher when more classmates are from the same ethnic group Safer, less lonely, and less harassed in relatively more diverse schools

How does being a racial or ethnic minority affect adjustment to school? Uncomfortable if there aren’t a lot of others of the same racial ethnicity Notice the little things more often than other people Prejudice

How is academic achievement related to whether adolescents attend public, private, or charter schools and what variables seem to be related to this?

Public: less safe Private: higher test scores; more safe; racial segregation (affluence); less likely to have

gangs or fighting; social capital (strong communities with interpersonal resources); typically assigning more homework and are more orderly and disciplined

Charter: more safe; help inner city students with free education but with better options May be more affected by background than the schools themselves

What aspects of the school and classroom climate have important effects on adolescents’ achievement? What style of teaching is most effective for adolescents’ achievement and their engagement in school?

Schools that are responding and demanding Relationships between students and teachers are positive; teachers are both supportive and

demandingàpsychological well-being Moderate degree of structure with high student involvement and high teacher support Encourage student participation High proportion of time on lesson, begin and end on time, provide clear feedback to

students, give ample praise with good performance Promote cooperation over competition

The performance of which kind of students appears to be tied more strongly to teacher expectations?

Academically weaker students (self-fulfilling prophecy)How are students’ ethnicity and socioeconomic background related to teacher expectations?

Teacher expectations create self-fulfilling prophecies that ultimately influence how their students behave

Consciously and unconsciously shape teachers’ expectations, which affect student learning May call on poor or minority students less often than they call on white of affluent students

(believe their responses are more worthy than the poor/minority students) Having low expectations for some ethnic groups and high expectations for others can

contribute to feelings of hostility between students from different ethnicitiesWhich strategies have been successful and unsuccessful at reducing school violence?

Unsuccessful: zero tolerance policy—many students end up with arrest records and contact with the justice system for acts that in the past would have been treated as disciplinary infractions by school officials

Successful: programs that attempt to create a more humane climate; intervene to change behavior or disruptive students at an earlier age

What percentage of high school graduates enroll in college immediately after graduation? How do college graduation rates compare to college enrollment rates?

70% of white and 60% of black and Hispanic high school graduates go directly into college

fewer than 60% of all students who enroll in a four-year college complete their degree within 6 years

What are some recommendations to help the one-third of adolescents who do not go directly to college make the transition from school to work?

Apprenticeship; vocational skills during high school Use some of the money for financial aid to subsidize college tuition and give it to those

who do not go to collegeBased on what we know from research, what are five characteristics of good schools for adolescents?

Emphasize intellectual activities (nature and size of the student body, quality education valued by all

Teachers are committed to their students and are given a good deal of freedom and autonomy by administrators in the way that this commitment is expressed in the classroom

Well integrated into the communities they serve; involve parents Composed of good classrooms; active participants, atmosphere is order, not repressive;

debate Staffed by teachers who have received specific training in teaching adolescents