(Press-News.org) ST. LOUIS -- In the United States, low-income and minority students are completing college at low rates compared to higher-income and majority peers -- a detriment to reducing economic inequality. Double-dose algebra could be a solution, according to a new study published in roceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
The paper, "Effects of Double-Dose Algebra on College Persistence and Degree Attainment," is the culmination of a series of studies that followed two cohorts of ninth-grade students over a period of 12 years in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) where double-dose algebra was introduced in 2003.
The new policy required incoming ninth graders with eighth-grade math scores below the national median to complete two periods of math -- one period of algebra, plus an additional period of instruction designed to build foundational prealgebra skills. Research findings showed that, for median-skill students scoring at or above the 50th percentile in the 2003 cohort, double-dose algebra significantly increased semesters of college attended and college degree attainment.
"This provides unique insight for districts that provide extra instruction but are unable to rigorously study the impact of those programs," said Takako Nomi, Ph.D., associate professor of educational studies at Saint Louis University. Her work focuses on educational policy and equity.
Nomi, who also serves as research affiliate at the University of Chicago's Consortium on Chicago School Research, led the study. Other authors include Stephen W. Raudenbush, Ed.D., of the department of sociology at the University of Chicago; and Jake J. Smith, of Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.
A key takeaway from the study is how schools chose to implement the policy matters, Nomi said. Fewer schools adopted the cut-score-based double-dose algebra program in 2004 than in 2003. Most schools that did strongly comply in 2004, did so by placing their median-skill double-dose students in low-skill algebra classrooms, according to the study.
In terms of classroom peer composition, "the impact was largest when schools didn't group double-dose students with low-skilled students," Nomi said. Research findings demonstrate that when students were placed in double-dose classes with much lower-skilled peers, the program had no effect. Subsequent research should address the design of optimal policies for lower-skill students, Nomi said. A math intervention far more intensive than double-dose algebra is essential to improve their high school and postsecondary outcomes. The study also notes that ninth-grade students who fail math also tend to fail other core classes.
"It's not just a math issue," Nomi said. "The policy of giving extra math is not enough to change the trajectory for the students who struggle the most. It's important to support struggling students in general."
This study was supported by grant R305A170602 from the Institute of Education Sciences entitled, "Doubling Up? Understanding the Long-Term Effects of Ninth-Grade Algebra Reform on College Persistence and Graduation."
Nomi's research interests include urban education, education policy, inequality in education, school reforms, and college readiness. Nomi is associate director of the Sinquefield Center for Applied Economic Research where she collaborates with top SLU researchers. In a separate study, she's exploring why low-income and minority students -- particularly Black males -- are less likely to complete college. She is also a part of a faculty advisory board at SLU's Geospatial Institute.
INFORMATION:
About Saint Louis University
Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 12,000 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University's diverse community of scholars is SLU's service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.
Miniaturization is rapidly reshaping the field of biochemistry, with emerging technologies such as microfluidics and "lab-on-a-chip" devices taking the world by storm. Chemical reactions that were normally conducted in flasks and tubes can now be carried out within tiny water droplets not larger than a few millionths of a liter. Particularly, in droplet-array sandwiching techniques, such tiny droplets are orderly laid out on two parallel flat surfaces opposite to each other. By bringing the top surface close enough to the bottom one, each top droplet makes contact with the opposite bottom droplet, exchanging chemicals and transferring particles or even cells. In quite a literal way, these droplets can act as small reaction ...
BUFFALO, N.Y -- Children who eat slower are less likely to be extroverted and impulsive, according to a new study co-led by the University at Buffalo and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The research, which sought to uncover the relationship between temperament and eating behaviors in early childhood, also found that kids who were highly responsive to external food cues (the urge to eat when food is seen, smelled or tasted) were more likely to experience frustration and discomfort and have difficulties self-soothing.
These findings are critical because faster eating and greater responsiveness to food cues have been linked to obesity risk in children, ...
A new study examining why young South Asian heart attack patients have more adverse outcomes found this patient population was often obese, used tobacco products, and had a family history of heart disease or risk factors that could have been prevented, monitored for or treated before heart attacks happen. The study will be presented at the ACC Asia 2021 Together with SCS 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting Virtual being held July 9-11, 2021.
"South Asians tend to have multiple co-morbidities including diabetes and obesity at younger ages which is different from the white population," said Salik ur Rehman Iqbal, ...
Research conducted at Cruzeiro do Sul University in São Paulo, Brazil, can contribute to earlier diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy, a disorder characterized by damage to peripheral nerves, with symptoms such as pain and paresthesia (pricking, burning and numbness), mainly in the legs and feet.
In the study, a group led by Professor Paulo Barbosa de Freitas Júnior measured grip force in diabetic patients while they were holding and handling objects. The results were compared with data for healthy subjects and patients with other neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and carpal tunnel syndrome (pain, numbness and tingling in the hand and arm caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist).
Freitas and his ...
July 7, 2021 - The murders of George Floyd and other Black Americans have prompted a national outcry against structural racism and police brutality. How are leading nursing organizations and schools of nursing defining their positions on racism? That's the topic of a special article in the July/August issue of The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC). The official journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, JANAC is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Three major national nursing organizations and many top-ranked schools ...
Colorado researchers have published new findings in Emerging Infectious Diseases that take a first look at the use of SARS-CoV-2 mathematical modeling to inform early statewide policies enacted to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in Colorado. Among other findings, the authors estimate that 97 percent of potential hospitalizations across the state in the early months of the pandemic were avoided as a result of social distancing and other transmission-reducing activities such as mask wearing and social isolation of symptomatic individuals.
The modeling team was led by faculty and researchers in the Colorado School of Public Health and involved experts from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado Denver, University of Colorado ...
Immunologists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have identified a biological pathway that selectively controls how key immune cells, called T follicular helper cells, mature into functional components of the immune system.
The finding offers the promise of developing drugs to activate the metabolic pathway to enhance the effectiveness of vaccines, including those that protect against COVID-19. Such medications could stimulate the immune system to respond more vigorously following immunization to produce more antibodies against a virus or bacterium.
The work also lays the foundation for drugs that dial down the pathway to alleviate autoimmune diseases such as lupus. In such disorders, an overactive immune system produces antibodies that attack the body's own tissues.
Led by ...
URBANA, Ill. ¬- Bioenergy from crops is a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. New crops such as energycane can produce several times more fuel per acre than soybeans. Yet, challenges remain in processing the crops to extract fuel efficiently.
Four new studies from the University of Illinois explore chemical-free pretreatment methods, development of high-throughput phenotyping methods, and commercial-scale techno-economic feasibility of producing fuel from energycane in various scenarios.
The studies are part of the ROGUE (Renewable Oil Generated with Ultra-productive Energycane) project at U of I. ROGUE focuses on bioengineering ...
What The Study Did: Wearable sensor data were used to examine the duration and variation of recovery among COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative participants.
Authors: Jennifer M. Radin, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.15959)
Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please ...
What The Study Did: The characteristics and factors associated with deaths among individuals detained in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities from 2011 to 2018 were examined in this study.
Authors: Parveen Parmar, M.D., M.P.H., of the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.16019)
Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding ...