SME 3023 TRENDS AND ISSUES

Title : Discussion issues on the disparities in achievement of students (rural- urban, cultural influences etc).

Group Members:-1)Paul Vosko Anak Ranged (D20121059016)2)Nor Azila Binti Razak (D20112052105)3)Dg Norhayati Binti Mahamad (D20112052103)

WHAT IS URBAN?

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.

EXAMPLE OF URBAN

SK Puncak Alam, Selangor

SMK Bandar Puchong

WHAT IS RURAL

The nature of the term 'rural' varies from place to place. It often refers to areas in the country concerned which are less densely populated. There are different types of rural areas, depending on how accessible they are from urban areas.

EXAMPLE OF RURAL

Sk Darau, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Sk Serian, Sarawak

RURAL-URBAN DIFFERENCES IN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT?

1. A comparison of the performance on standardized achievement tests of students from small, usually rural, schools with those form larger, often urban, institutions has not produced definitive results.

2. In research completed in the state of New York, Monk and Haller (1986) found that students from smaller (often rural) schools achieved as well as students from larger schools.

3. Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR)

4. Moreover, in one New Mexico study, which looked at factors affecting performance of selected high school students, those attending schools in rural areas performed as well as those in urban locales (Ward and Murray, 1985). NEXT

WHO SHOULD RESPONSIBLE BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN ACHIEVEMENT GAPS?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b-yi03-bcA

PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO (PTR)

Figure 3: 1997 Pupil Teacher Ratios by location and school ownershipSource: Education Statistics Report, Government of Botswana, 1997

BACK

EFFECTS DO PARENTS AND COMMUNITY HAVE ON THE ATTAINMENT OF RURAL STUDENTS?

One of the negative aspects found in most accounts is that rural communities possess are much more limited view of existing occupational roles for rural youth, who then understandably restrict themselves when going on the job market and on to higher education (Downey, 1980).

Smaller communities do tend to generate more community support for the school, with the school becoming a center for community activity.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN RURAL SCHOOLS

Student achievement is greatly affected by the area in which a student lives. Reasons for the variations in achievement are geographic location, resources, availability of technology, and quality of teachers.

The small size of rural schools helps to assuage and combat poverty.

In rural areas where both the schools and students have access to high quality instruction, safe atmosphere, and communal support, achievement tends to be better than in states where the students do not have access to these crucial resources (Lee & McIntire, 2000). Currently, a national rural versus non-rural mathematics achievement gap does not exist (www.nea.org).

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN RURAL SCHOOLS

The majority of students that attend urban schools are from minority families who live below the poverty line. Most often they are from single-parent families where the parent is usually holding more then one job to support the family and so little attention is given to the child.

Many urban students are less concerned with learning and achieving a positive self-image then they are about obtaining food or safety. This has a large and lasting affect on their student achievement.

In spite of the overwhelming lack of student achievement in urban schools, there are still a significant amount of students that despite the circumstances overcome the obstacles and manage to succeed.

Characteristics of Students

Characteristics of Students

Ethnicity

Family Socioeconomic Status

Family Structure

With respect to the effect of ethnicity, we follow Lim and Saleh (2002),non-Malay natives and immigrants will have significantlyhigher scores in educational performance than Malay Natives.For eg, immigrants whose native language is not English; the research demonstrates that quality bilingual programs can close academic achievement gaps between language minority and majority childrenResearch in U.S. (Rosenthal et al. 1983; Fernandez and Nielsen 1986; Portes and Schauffler 1994; Schmid 2001) emphasized differences in medium and instruction and language ability as a primary determinant of the gaps in educational performance

Ethnicity

Family Structure

With respect to the effect of family composition and structure, we follow McLanahan and Sandefur (1994)’sStudents from single-parent and stepparent families have significantly lower scores in educationalperformance than those from two-parent familiesFor eg, Students who have a disruptive andunstable home life can have it much more difficult on the school front when it comes to higher achievement.

Family Socioeconomic Status (SES)

With respect to the effect of parent’s education, we follow Sewell and Shah(1968) and Muller (1995)’s Parental education is positively related to educational performance achievement.Teachman 1987; Ho and Willms 1996,Certain types of parent involvement, such as parental discussions with the children about school-related topics, such as the importance of getting an education, benefit students because these students show higher rates of homework completion and academic achievement in the middle and high school Years.

VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b-yi03-bcA