PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

School violence lowers test scores, not grades

2013-11-07
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Daniel Fowler
pubinfo@asanet.org
202-527-7885
American Sociological Association
School violence lowers test scores, not grades WASHINGTON, DC, November 6, 2013 — It's hard to go a day without seeing news of violence in some form occurring in schools around the country, and Chicago is often cited as a city where crime rates in schools are particularly high. In a new study in the current issue of Sociology of Education, Brown University sociologist Julia Burdick-Will looked at the effect such violence has on school achievement among Chicago high school students. She found that while violent crime has a negative impact on standardized test scores, it doesn't have the same effect on grades.

"It seems obvious that having fights in schools is not a good thing for achievement, but it's a really difficult thing to show," said Burdick-Will, a post-doctoral research associate in the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University, whose study is titled "School Violent Crime and Academic Achievement in Chicago."

Employing detailed crime data from the Chicago Police Department, administrative records from Chicago Public Schools, and school climate surveys conducted by the Consortium on Chicago School Research from 2002 to 2010, Burdick-Will compared fluctuations in year-to-year violent crime rates with changes in both student standardized test scores and annual grade point averages.

She found that violent crime in schools adversely affects reading and math scores on standardized tests, but has no influence on GPAs.

Burdick-Will said the results suggest that violent crime rates affect the amount of material learned by the entire student body, but not the study skills or effort of individual students. GPAs, she points out, not only reflect learning, but also student behavior and standing within the classroom. Test scores are a more objective measure of content knowledge and performance on a given day.

"So you would expect that if what's really going on is students are distracted and not learning as much and also not able to perform as well on the day of the test that it would affect their test scores," Burdick-Will said. "But it wouldn't necessarily affect how much homework they've turned in over the course of the year. You're still going to have that kid who is really eager; he or she is just not going to know as much."

The study also reveals that students' perceptions of safety go relatively unchanged, even in years when violent crime rates are low. One explanation may be that the research only looks at reported crimes that involved police intervention. There could be many more incidents, such as shoving in the hallway and verbal altercations, that go unreported but still have an effect on students' sense of well-being.

While annual violent crime rates generally fluctuated significantly at individual schools during the eight-year study period, Burdick-Will found that the average violent crime rate for all high schools in the district combined changed very little over the study period. The paper also notes that a few high schools each year accounted for the large majority of violent crimes in the whole district.

Burdick-Will thinks her research demonstrates the need for policy changes that consider education and crime rates together and take into account the "collateral damage" that crime and violence have on multiple sectors of society.

"In an age of increasing school accountability and shrinking public budgets, it is important to understand how policies that on the surface only affect one social sphere, such as policing strategies, have larger consequences for other social institutions, including schools, in ways that have lasting impacts on individual life chances and national levels of inequality," Burdick-Will said.

###

About the American Sociological Association and the Sociology of Education

The American Sociological Association (http://www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. Sociology of Education is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the ASA.

The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer, at (202) 527-7885 or pubinfo@asanet.org.

For more information about the study, members of the media can also contact Courtney Coelho, News Officer, Brown University's Office of Media Relations, at (401) 863-7287 or courtney_coelho@brown.edu.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

In dual-career couples, mothers still do the most child care

2013-11-07
In dual-career couples, mothers still do the most child care Moms spend 70 percent of free time on parenting activities COLUMBUS, Ohio – Even in couples most likely to believe in sharing parenting responsibilities, mothers still bear significantly ...

Hospitals with neurology residency programs more likely to administer life-saving clot-busting drugs

2013-11-07
Hospitals with neurology residency programs more likely to administer life-saving clot-busting drugs tPA found underused; getting it depends on where patients are treated Stroke patients treated at hospitals with neurology residency programs are significantly ...

Stanford researchers surprised to find how neural circuits identify information needed for decisions

2013-11-07
Stanford researchers surprised to find how neural circuits identify information needed for decisions Multitasking neurons filter and decide, confounding the conventional wisdom While eating lunch you notice an insect buzzing around your plate. Its color and ...

Researchers and clinicians unite to answer what will it take to achieve an AIDS-free world?

2013-11-07
Researchers and clinicians unite to answer what will it take to achieve an AIDS-free world? November 5, 2013, San Francisco, CA—Since the onset of the AIDS pandemic more than three decades ago, researchers from the lab and physicians in the clinic have been working toward one ...

Hormone levels in women using contraception affect nerve activity involved in vessel constriction

2013-11-07
Hormone levels in women using contraception affect nerve activity involved in vessel constriction Bethesda, Md. (Nov. 6, 2013)—After menopause, women's levels of estrogen and progesterone fall. Their formerly lower risk for heart disease equals, even surpasses, men's risk. ...

'Please feed me': The power of putting a human face on social causes

2013-11-07
'Please feed me': The power of putting a human face on social causes Companies often put a personal face on products in an attempt to reach a deeper connection with consumers. New research suggests the same idea can be applied to social ...

CWRU study finds mending ruptures in client-therapist relationship has positive benefits

2013-11-07
CWRU study finds mending ruptures in client-therapist relationship has positive benefits In order for prolonged exposure therapy, an evidence-based psychotherapy for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to reach its full potential, any misperceptions ...

Mothers' relationships can influence adolescent children's relationships, MU study finds

2013-11-07
Mothers' relationships can influence adolescent children's relationships, MU study finds COLUMBIA, Mo. – Until now, little research has been conducted on the association between parents' friendships and the emotional well-being of their adolescent ...

UC's SmartLight more than a bright idea, it's a revolution in interior lighting ready to shine

2013-11-07
UC's SmartLight more than a bright idea, it's a revolution in interior lighting ready to shine The innovative solar technology 'would change the equation for energy,' according to UC researchers A pair of University of Cincinnati researchers has seen the light ...

Georgia Tech warns of threats to cloud data storage, mobile devices in latest 'emerging cyber threat'

2013-11-07
Georgia Tech warns of threats to cloud data storage, mobile devices in latest 'emerging cyber threat' As more businesses find their way into the cloud, few engage in security measures beyond those provided by the associated cloud storage firm, a new report ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Printed skin to replace animal testing

Precision medicine could be possible in the fight against antibiotic resistance

Researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University identify new targeted approach to protect neurons against degeneration

Western diet causes inflammation, traditional African food protects

Electrochemical method supports nitrogen circular economy

How researchers are shining a light on kidney disease

Some gut bacteria could make certain drugs less effective

PEPITEM sequence shows effects in psoriasis, comparable to steroid cream

Older teens who start vaping post-high school risk rapid progress to frequent use

Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping

Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

[Press-News.org] School violence lowers test scores, not grades