Laura Davis
University of Chicago, UChicago Consortium on School Research, Department Member
- New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Department MemberNYU Steinhardt, Humanities and Social Sciences, Adjunctadd
Colleges and universities increasingly rely on their websites to recruit students and convey information about tuition and costs of attendance. Given evidence of growing complexity in institutional tuition policies and cost-setting... more
Colleges and universities increasingly rely on their websites to recruit students and convey information about tuition and costs of attendance. Given evidence of growing complexity in institutional tuition policies and cost-setting practices, the study examined how institutions’ websites present financial information to the public. Through content analysis of website data from 50 public colleges and universities, researchers sought to characterize patterns in the scope and quality of tuition information on institutional websites and to understand how these patterns might influence individuals’ conceptions of tuition and costs. The findings point to variation in informational quality across dimensions ranging from clarity of language use and terminology, to consistency and coherence of visual displays, which accompany navigational challenges stemming from information fragmentation and discontinuity across pages. Implications for research and improved institutional practice are discus...
Research Interests:
Five decades of rhetoric and reform in teacher education underscore the importance of multicultural education in preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students. State and national policy initiatives targeting multicultural education... more
Five decades of rhetoric and reform in teacher education underscore the importance of multicultural education in preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students. State and national policy initiatives targeting multicultural education build on two assumptions: first, that preservice teachers lack the multicultural awareness to function as culturally responsive educators, and second, that higher levels of multicultural awareness correspond with increased pedagogical proficiency. Few studies have examined variation in multicultural awareness across preservice candidates, or the link between multicultural awareness and prospective teachers’ measured competencies. Using a novel dataset of 2,500 preservice teachers’ beliefs and student teacher performance assessments, we find that Black and Latino candidates report greater multicultural awareness, while Asian Americans report less, compared with their White counterparts. Prior experience working with nondominant populations is linked...
Research Interests:
Background/ContextWhile an abundance of evidence demonstrates how unequal conditions in schools contribute to unequal learning outcomes, the extent to which students’ affective experiences of schooling reflect similar incongruences... more
Background/ContextWhile an abundance of evidence demonstrates how unequal conditions in schools contribute to unequal learning outcomes, the extent to which students’ affective experiences of schooling reflect similar incongruences warrants further inquiry. Framing this discussion are empirical accounts and popular narratives of schools as socializing institutions that ascribe particular gendered, racialized, and otherwise socially defined identities to young people. These intersections form the basis of their experiences as students and likely shape their individual happiness in schools.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyThis article examines, from an intersectional perspective, whether there are group differences in self-reported happiness in school. Our findings challenge the broad argument that girls are happier in schools because this pattern only holds when comparing levels of happiness between White girls and boys.Research DesignUsing data from the Measures of ...
Research Interests:
Background/Context: While an abundance of evidence demonstrates how unequal conditions in schools contribute to unequal learning outcomes, the extent to which students' affective experiences of schooling reflect similar incongruences... more
Background/Context: While an abundance of evidence demonstrates how unequal conditions in schools contribute to unequal learning outcomes, the extent to which students' affective experiences of schooling reflect similar incongruences warrants further inquiry. Framing this discussion are empirical accounts and popular narratives of schools as socializing institutions that ascribe particular gendered, racialized, and otherwise socially defined identities to young people. These intersections form the basis of their experiences as students and likely shape their individual happiness in schools. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article examines, from an intersectional perspective, whether there are group differences in self-reported happiness in school. Our findings challenge the broad argument that girls are happier in schools because this pattern only holds when comparing levels of happiness between White girls and boys. Research Design: Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study, we provide descriptive averages of levels of happiness by sex and race/ethnicity. Given that these patterns are likely shaped by classroom (and teacher and school) conditions, we next use classroom fixed effects models that predict levels of happiness. This modeling strategy makes comparisons only among students in the same classroom who are taught by the same teacher and housed in the same school. Findings/Results: We found that the argument that girls are happier than boys in schools only applies to White students. In contrast, there are no gender differences among Latinx and Asian American students, and we found that Black girls are less happy than their male counterparts.
Research Interests:
The 5Essentials Survey has been administered in CPS since the 1990s and measures a school’s strength in five essential organizational conditions that influence student learning: Effective Leaders, Collaborative Teachers, Involved... more
The 5Essentials Survey has been administered in CPS since the 1990s and measures a school’s strength in five essential organizational conditions that influence student learning: Effective Leaders, Collaborative Teachers, Involved Families, Supportive Environment, and Ambitious Instruction. This study uses qualitative methods to address questions about how schools utilize the data generated by the survey.
Specifically, the quantitative study used pre-pandemic data from 2011-12 through 2018-19 to examine whether the 5Essentials predict school improvement in high- and low-poverty schools, and whether every school has a similar likelihood to develop or maintain strong 5Essentials, regardless of poverty level.
Using interviews conducted throughout 2019, the qualitative study examines how schools understand and utilize data from the 5Essentials Survey in the context of improvement efforts, and what factors facilitate or impede schools’ engagement with their 5Essentials results.
Key Findings:
• Practitioners reported that the data sometimes seemed opaque and difficult to use. They also noted its focus on school principals made it difficult for school leaders and their teams to engage impartially with the data.
• CPS granted schools considerable autonomy in how they used their survey data. However, principals acknowledged that the lack of district-wide strategy or guidance on how to interpret and act on the results hampered use of the data for improvement.
• Principals credited partnerships with leadership coaches as valuable in helping them interpret and act on their survey data. Similarly, systematic collaboration by instructional leadership teams increased schools’ capacity to use the data.
• 5Essentials Survey results remain predictive despite concerns about the survey’s inclusion in the School Quality Ratings Profile (SQRP) school accountability system. At the same time, some principals depicted their priorities for school improvement as heavily influenced by SQRP and accountability, and some teachers reported that accountability affected how they responded to the survey. Overall, these findings demonstrate that while the predictive power of the survey was not affected, the potential for survey results to inform school improvement was often overshadowed by the incentives and pressures created by the survey’s inclusion in accountability policies.
While these qualitative findings demonstrate the tension of using formative assessments for both improvement and accountability, school climate surveys remain powerful tools for school improvement. Research shows that positive school climates are associated with improvement in numerous educational outcomes—including higher attendance, graduation, and college
enrollment rates, lower suspensions, and increased learner engagement, motivation, and self efficacy. School climate surveys like the 5Essentials Survey are becoming widely used in school improvement efforts, as districts look for ways to measure and improve climate to support student outcomes. It will be critical for CPS and other districts to set and communicate priorities
and provide support to schools around using this data to ensure success.
Specifically, the quantitative study used pre-pandemic data from 2011-12 through 2018-19 to examine whether the 5Essentials predict school improvement in high- and low-poverty schools, and whether every school has a similar likelihood to develop or maintain strong 5Essentials, regardless of poverty level.
Using interviews conducted throughout 2019, the qualitative study examines how schools understand and utilize data from the 5Essentials Survey in the context of improvement efforts, and what factors facilitate or impede schools’ engagement with their 5Essentials results.
Key Findings:
• Practitioners reported that the data sometimes seemed opaque and difficult to use. They also noted its focus on school principals made it difficult for school leaders and their teams to engage impartially with the data.
• CPS granted schools considerable autonomy in how they used their survey data. However, principals acknowledged that the lack of district-wide strategy or guidance on how to interpret and act on the results hampered use of the data for improvement.
• Principals credited partnerships with leadership coaches as valuable in helping them interpret and act on their survey data. Similarly, systematic collaboration by instructional leadership teams increased schools’ capacity to use the data.
• 5Essentials Survey results remain predictive despite concerns about the survey’s inclusion in the School Quality Ratings Profile (SQRP) school accountability system. At the same time, some principals depicted their priorities for school improvement as heavily influenced by SQRP and accountability, and some teachers reported that accountability affected how they responded to the survey. Overall, these findings demonstrate that while the predictive power of the survey was not affected, the potential for survey results to inform school improvement was often overshadowed by the incentives and pressures created by the survey’s inclusion in accountability policies.
While these qualitative findings demonstrate the tension of using formative assessments for both improvement and accountability, school climate surveys remain powerful tools for school improvement. Research shows that positive school climates are associated with improvement in numerous educational outcomes—including higher attendance, graduation, and college
enrollment rates, lower suspensions, and increased learner engagement, motivation, and self efficacy. School climate surveys like the 5Essentials Survey are becoming widely used in school improvement efforts, as districts look for ways to measure and improve climate to support student outcomes. It will be critical for CPS and other districts to set and communicate priorities
and provide support to schools around using this data to ensure success.
Research Interests:
Five decades of rhetoric and reform in teacher education underscore the importance of multicultural education in preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students. State and national policy initiatives targeting multicultural education... more
Five decades of rhetoric and reform in teacher education underscore the importance of multicultural education in preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students. State and national policy initiatives targeting multicultural education build on two assumptions: first, that preservice teachers lack the multicultural awareness to function as culturally responsive educators, and second, that higher levels of multicultural awareness correspond with increased pedagogical proficiency. Few studies have examined variation in multicultural awareness across preservice candidates, or the link between multicultural awareness and prospective teachers’ measured competencies. Using a novel dataset of 2,500 preservice teachers’ beliefs and student teacher performance assessments, we find that Black and Latino candidates report greater multicultural awareness, while Asian Americans report less, compared with their White counterparts. Prior experience working with nondominant populations is linked with higher levels of awareness, particularly for minority respondents. Propensity score matching analyses reveal that multicultural awareness is tied to candidates’ competence in creating nurturing classroom environments.
Research Interests:
Colleges and universities increasingly rely on their websites to recruit students and convey information about tuition and costs of attendance. Given evidence of growing complexity in institutional tuition policies and cost-setting... more
Colleges and universities increasingly rely on their websites to recruit students and convey information about tuition and costs of attendance. Given evidence of growing complexity in institutional tuition policies and cost-setting practices, the study examined how institutions’ websites present financial information to the public. Through content analysis of website data from 50 public colleges and universities, researchers sought to characterize patterns in the scope and quality of tuition information on institutional websites and to understand how these patterns might influence individuals’ conceptions of tuition and costs. The findings point to variation in informational quality across dimensions ranging from clarity of language use and terminology, to consistency and coherence of visual displays, which accompany navigational challenges stemming from information fragmentation and discontinuity across pages. Implications for research and improved institutional practice are discussed.