Douglas Downey and Benjamin Gibbs, “How Schools Really Matter”

What is the traditional tale of schools?
Why do schools located in areas with expensive homes tend to have more resources?
What is the biggest problem the current authors have with the traditional stories of schools?
What does it mean to have a “contextual perspective”?
What is the standard deviation in black/white math and reading skills at the end of high school? What is it at the beginning of kindergarten?
What did sociologist Annette Lareau find out about the difference between upper-middle class parents and low-SES parents?
What was the conclusion of the Coleman Report? What turned out to make the biggest difference in the development of academic skills?
What is the seasonal comparison approach to research?
How did Barbara Heyns set up her study of kids in Atlanta schools? What was the key finding of this study?
Why do the authors believe “if we lived in a world no schools at all, inequality would be much worse”?
Why are the authors critical of the ways that schools are categorized as “failing”? What do they think that current methods of school evaluation make teachers serving disadvantaged children look ineffective?
What is the policy lesson learned from Von Kippel’s “summer setback” study?
In addition to school reform, what do the authors think we need to focus on to improve students’ academic performance?