Can you answer this question ?

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Scholarly Works Synthesis

Michael Whitener

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Central Research Question:

How can low rates of college readiness among students from diverse backgrounds at James

Monroe High School be reduced?

Article One

Insert correctly formatted reference and link to the scholarly peer-reviewed work below.

Boyce, S., Bazargan, M., Caldwell, C. H., Zimmerman, M. A., & Assari, S. (2020). Parental

educational attainment and social environment of urban public schools in the U.S.:

Blacks’ diminished returns. Children, 7(5), 44.

https://doi.org/10.3390/children7050044

What is the theoretical or conceptual framework, if presented?

The conceptual framework used is Socio-economic Status (SES).

What are the major topics presented?

1. Race and its effects on students’ performance

2. Parental academic attainment and its protective effects on environmental risks in

the learning process.

Which words and/or authors are repeated often?

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Ethnic groups; socioeconomic status; socioeconomic position; education; academic gap;

school achievement; school environment

What data collection methods were used?

Data was collected from cross-sectional survey conducted nationally in 2002 involving 1706

students from urban public schools.

What data analysis methods were used?

Descriptive data analysis method was used. The authors used the percentages.

What are the results of the study?

1. Black students were found to attend schools with higher levels of social environmental

risk

2. Youths whose parents had a higher academic attainment were found to attend schools

with a lower social environmental risk

3. Academic attainment was associated to race

What are the strengths of the article?

The study strength is the use of a large sample size of 1706 participants. Large sample size

enhances reliability and validity of the findings. The second strength is the cross-sectional

study method. Cross-sectional study method allows data to be collected from a large pool of

subjects and compare differences between groups.

What are the limitations of the article?

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The study limitation is that it was only focused on learners in the tenth grade. The risk is that

there could be 10th grade specific factors that affect social environmental risks for the learners.

There is need for a cross-sectional study that compares students from different grades.

How does this article address the problem or topic?

The problem being addressed is low college readiness rates among students. The authors

purport those students whose parents have low-educational attainment experience high social

environmental risk in their academic settings. Consequently, they are likely to perform

dismally. The findings also show that students whose parents are black have a higher

environmental risk of performing poorly. Therefore, the article offers explanations why

students from marginalized groups have low college readiness rates as most parents from these

populations have low-academic attainment rates.

How does this work neglect to address the problem or topic?

The work neglect to address the problem because it does not focus on the teaching

environment and how it contributes to dismal performance among learners. While family

factors can contribute to poor student performances, school-specific factors such as poor

teaching methods can increase failure risk. Therefore, a robust work that addresses the area is

needed.

What evidence does the article present regarding the problem or topic?

There was a significant interaction between race (non-Hispanic Black vs. non-Hispanic White)

and parental educational attainment on the level of school social environmental risk,

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suggesting that the protective effect of high parental education on reducing the school social

environmental risk was smaller for non-Hispanic Black than for non-Hispanic White youths

How does this article relate to your study?

It explains how family factors (low-academic attainment among parents) and social factors

(race) can affect student’s learning environment.

Include two quotes containing key information that you may want to use in your

literature review. Use correct formatting. Note: Literature reviews include very few, if

any, quotes.

Identify resources cited in the article that may be useful to find, access, and read.

“The social environment indirectly generates racial youth educational disparities” (Boyce,

2020)

“High parental educational attainment is protective against social environmental risk for

American youths” (Boyce, 2020)

Article Two

Insert correctly formatted reference and link to the scholarly peer-reviewed work below.

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Mac Iver, M. A., Mac Iver, D. J., & Clark, E. (2017). Improving college readiness for

historically underserved students: The role of the District Office. Education and Urban

Society, 51(4), 555–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124517728102

What is the theoretical or conceptual framework, if presented?

No conceptual/theoretical framework presented

What are the major topics presented?

1. Leadership commitment

2. Data infrastructure

3. Connecting indicators with supports to promote college readiness

4. Community partnerships with institutions of higher learning

Which words and/or authors are repeated often?

Urban education, educational leaders, students

What data collection methods were used?

Secondary and primary data collection methods were used to collect data. The secondary

method used retrieving information from documents. The primary data collection methods

used were observation and interviews.

What data analysis methods were used?

Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentages)

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What are the results of the study?

1. Data infrastructure has supported the development of tools and reports relevant for

data-informed decision-making regarding indicators of high school success

2. Leadership commitment, building adult capacity and community partnership contribute

to high college readiness among students from low-income families.

What are the strengths of the article?

The study’s strength is robust data collection method. The used observation and interviews.

These primary data collection methods help obtain firsthand information that is crucial to

responding to research question(s).

What are the limitations of the article?

The study’s limitation is that it focused on one district during the research. Therefore, the

solutions developed could only be viable within the district. The authors could have

investigated schools from different geographical areas to enhance reliability of their findings.

How does this article address the problem or topic?

The topic being discussed is low-college readiness rates among students from underserved

communities. The article addresses the problem by coming up with solutions that can bridge

college-readiness gaps. The solutions proposed by the authors include leadership commitment,

data infrastructure, community partnerships and building adult capacity. These initiatives can

help James Monroe High School in West Virginia deal with low-college readiness rates.

How does this work neglect to address the problem or topic?

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The work neglects to address the problem as it does not discuss the causes of low college-

readiness gaps for students from low-income families. Also, it does not address the roles

students and parents need to play to contribute to high college-readiness rates.

What evidence does the article present regarding the problem or topic?

The school District in Dallas reduced low college-readiness rates after initiating leadership

commitment, partnering with communities, and utilizing data. Reports from documents and

interviews confirm the evidence.

How does this article relate to your study?

The study is related to my study as it offers suggestions schools can use to reduce college-

readiness gaps. These recommendations will be crucial in writing a final report to James

Monroe High School on how they can reduce college readiness gaps.

Include two quotes containing key information that you may want to use in your literature

review. Use correct formatting. Note: Literature reviews include very few, if any, quotes.

Identify resources cited in the article that may be useful to find, access, and read.

“A district organizational structure that provides regular and systematic support to school

leaders for engaging in a regular cycle of inquiry around data is critical” (Mac Iver et al.,

2017)

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“District leadership is critical in helping ensure that all schools develop the organizational

routines that can structure the process of connecting indicator data to action” (Mac Iver et al.,

2017)

Comparative Scholarly Works Template

Insert the correctly formatted reference and link to the first scholarly work.

Boyce, S., Bazargan, M., Caldwell, C. H., Zimmerman, M. A., & Assari, S. (2020). Parental

educational attainment and social environment of urban public schools in the U.S.:

Blacks’ diminished returns. Children, 7(5), 44.

https://doi.org/10.3390/children7050044

Insert the correctly formatted reference and link to the second scholarly work.

Mac Iver, M. A., Mac Iver, D. J., & Clark, E. (2017). Improving college readiness for

historically underserved students: The role of the District Office. Education and Urban

Society, 51(4), 555–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124517728102

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What do these articles have in common? Write two sentences that demonstrate a

synthesis of the two articles. Include at least one in-text citation in each sentence.

Both articles discuss students’ performance in schools. Boyce et al., (2020) focuses on parental

educational attainment and how it impacts their children’s learning environment while, (Mac

Iver et al., 2017) discusses ways schools can promote performance of students from

underserved communities.

How are the results of these two articles different? Write two sentences that demonstrate

a synthesis of the two articles. Include at least one in-text citation in each sentence.

Boyce et al., (2020) found that low parental education attainment increase the environmental

risks that contribute to student’s low performance. On the other hand, (Mac Iver et al. 2017)

found that leadership commitment, robust data infrastructure, building adult capacity and

community partnership bolster academic outcomes for students from low-income families.

How does the information in the two sources relate to your proposed study?

The information in the two sources relate to my study differently. One aim of my

proposed study is to identify causes of performance disparities among students in the same

school (James Monroe High School). Boyce et al., (2020) discusses one of the causes that can

result to low academic attainment for students from underserved communities. According to

the authors, low parental academic attainment is one of the factors that contribute to increased

social environment risks for students which lead to poor performance (Boyce et al., 2020).

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The other aim of my proposed study is to recommend actions that the school can

undertake to reduce low-academic attainment among students from different backgrounds.

Mac Iver et al., (2020) discuss different ways of improving performance for students from

underserved communities. They include establishing a leadership that is committed to ensuring

equality in the learning environment. Other proposals by the authors are promoting community

partnerships with institutions of higher learning, investing and utilizing data and building adult

capacity to support the learning process (Mac Iver et al., 2022).

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References Boyce, S., Bazargan, M., Caldwell, C. H., Zimmerman, M. A., & Assari, S. (2020). Parental

educational attainment and social environment of urban public schools in the U.S.:

Blacks’ diminished returns. Children, 7(5), 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/children7050044

Mac Iver, M. A., Mac Iver, D. J., & Clark, E. (2017). Improving college readiness for

historically underserved students: The role of the District Office. Education and Urban

Society, 51(4), 555–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124517728102