Abstract
Computer simulation analysis was used to illustrate the thesis that the typical American public school is structured in a way that reinforces the entry characteristics of its students so that by the time they graduate—if they graduate—after twelve years, students who enter the school in kindergarten or first grade with high “readiness” perform academically better-than-average, while students who enter the school with low “readiness” perform worse than average, thus creating the well-known and widely discussed “achievement gap.”
The conclusion of this argumentation is that this structure must be changed if school reform is to be effective, and that it is strong school leadership that, over time, builds teacher quality and community and parent interest in the school, and changes teacher expectations for all students, especially those who are initially and traditionally low-achieving.
The position taken in the paper, and supported by the computer simulation modeling data, is that, in this way, strong school leadership enhances the quality and intensity of instruction, the closeness of student-teacher relationships, and the rigor of instructional content for all students, resulting in further advances in student motivation, work effort, and academic performance, and, finally, improving the attractiveness of the school for high-quality teachers and continuing the upward cycle.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.