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Issue no.1 , March 2008,
Volume 07 |
Comments Off on Pushing For Privileged Passage: A grounded theory of guardians to middle level mathematics students
Tina L. Johnston, Ph.D. Abstract This grounded theory research identified conflict over decisions about placement into high ability mathematics classes. A theory termed pushing for privileged passage emerged from data collected from parents and educators in the Northwest United States as well as international literature. Pushing occurs following a break down of trust among parents and/or educators over various facets of the school and over student abilitygrouping decisions in mathematics specifically. Subsequently they try to circumvent the system to gain advantaged placement for specific students. Those who push use investing strategies to insure a child’s future success. They use pressuring techniques on decision-makers to garner advanced mathematics access. Finally, those who push use strategic lobbying for program changes. Introduction Despite research suggesting that grouping students by ability is detrimental to low and high achieving students (Ballantyne, 2002; Boaler, 2002; Boaler, Wiliam, & Brown, 1998; Camblin, 2003; Oakes, 1985; Slavin, 1990; Slavin, 1995; Stevenson, Schiller & Schneider, 1994; Wheelock, 1992) and illadvised by research on the needs of adolescents (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1989; Camblin, 2003; Mills, 2001; Oakes, et al, 2000), ability grouping is a common practice in middle level mathematics classes (Braddock & McPartland, 1990; Wheelock, 1992). Most schools offer a low, average and advanced mathematics group. However, schools also exist with as many as six and as few as two group levels, at both grade level and advanced (Johnston, 2006; Oakes, 1985). Middle schools that group students by ability use criteria for placing a student into the various mathematics groups. A committee organizes and establishes these filtering criteria. This process is sometimes affected by outside forces along with the committee participants’ beliefs, student population needs, and examples from other schools. Once criteria are established, students are filtered into various ability groups by educators or counselors using the filters as well as personal or group judgments (Johnston, 2006; Oakes, 1985). Methodology This study employed the use of classic grounded theory (GT) based on the early work of Glaser and Strauss (1967) and further development by Glaser (1978, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005). The study set out to better understand the issues surrounding the various ability grouping models in middle level mathematics classes, hoping to better understand the practice and problems associated with it. The resultant theory centers around the issue of mathematics placement, outlining a process that explains the actions of the various guardians (parents & educators) in a child’s education. Forty-one subjects who worked with or had children attending 13 schools in 10 school districts and three states were interviewed. Sixteen teachers, three administrators, and 23 parents were interviewed. Twelve of the 14 teachers taught middle level mathematics classes and two taught 5 th grade students. Nineteen of the parents had one or more children at the middle school level; many also had children in other school levels. One had children only in high school and two had children only in elementary school. Seven parents had children in at/below grade level classes and 16 had children placed in advanced mathematics classes. Six out of the 19 teachers and administrators spoke of their own middle school aged or older children. Open-ended interviews were conducted. Subjects were informed of the topic of the project. If administrators or teachers did not immediately begin to share their thoughts on ability grouping in middle level mathematics, the researcher asked them to discuss their schools’ mathematics ability grouping arrangement; similarly parents were asked to discuss their children’s mathematics placement. Following this, minimal...