Conference Agenda

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to enroll in higher education, and those who enroll are less likely to graduate. Although this can partially be attributed to a lower level of academic preparation and financial constraints, there is evidence that the lack of information, support, and encouragement also play an important role in schooling decisions (Dynarski et al., 2021; Carrell and Sacerdote, 2017; Bettinger et al., 2012). This paper evaluates the effects of two interventions designed to tackle these frictions on disadvantaged students’ postsecondary educational trajectories. Finding effective ways of promoting postsecondary opportunity for all students is important as this can dramatically improve their life trajectories.

The evaluation was carried out using a large-scale randomized control trial (RCT) implemented in Chile during the 2021 academic year (March – December). 81 schools were randomly allocated to a pure control group, 74 to an information-only treatment group and 74 to an information-and-mentoring treatment group. Students in the information-only group received an information package in their senior year of high school highlighting funding opportunities and the benefits of attending higher education. Students in the information-and-mentoring received the same information package and a sub-sample of them were randomly allocated to a mentorship program designed to guide students throughout the college application process. To evaluate the results, we used administrative data and all students were invited to answer baseline and exit surveys.

Our results are threefold. Firstly, we find that providing information alone improves students’ understanding of the higher education system but does not make a difference in their probability of applying to, or enrolling in, college. In contrast, providing information and mentoring increases students’ probability of registering and taking the college admission exam by 12.8 percentage points, of applying for funding by 10.3 percentage points, and of enrolling in higher education by 4.7 percentage points. Finally, the design of the RCT also allows us to study spillovers of the mentoring program on the classmates of treated students. Although we do not detect changes in enrollment in higher education in these students, we find that they become 5.1 percentage points more likely to register for the college admission exam and 5 percentage points more likely to take it. We will study social spillovers in greater detail with a second wave of our mentoring intervention.

Schools have an essential role in students’ trajectories and school counseling can address inequitable postsecondary opportunities (Owen, L. & Westlund, E., 2016), especially in countries as Chile where the higher education system is complex. This program is an example of how schools can improve students’ postsecondary educational trajectories and promote equity through reducing the lack of information, support, and encouragement. To strengthen counseling capacities of the participating schools, in 2022 the same information-and-mentoring intervention was implemented, this time through training teachers, counselors and leaders for them to deliver the program to their students.

Identity-based data collection in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) began in the 1960’s due to community advocacy for recognizing and dismantling systemic discrimination. Over the years commitments for such collections increased. In 2006, as a result of a Board motion, the introduction of the Student and Parent Census occurred. As of 2023, the Census has been administered four times and collects identity and school experience data for all students across the TDSB. However, while this data can be very useful, it also presents the possibility for perpetuating colonial patterns of control, surveillance, and damage centered narratives of communities. Communities are experts and holders of valuable knowledge - and hold their own stories (Wilson, 2008). The space researchers occupy is not to discover new narratives for communities, but to uplift systemically silenced narratives to facilitate a platform for change-oriented policy making. To work towards this goal and policy focus, the TDSB Research Department is re-envisioning large scale system surveys, data stewardship and governance practices associated with such data collection. Questions the team are exploring include - how to collectively build a system wide survey where all communities see themselves represented? How can community members and researchers collaborate on research questions, data analysis, and knowledge mobilization efforts? Where is there room for change within system policies and provincial legislation to validate Indigenous and community-based data governance models?

Through this ongoing work, the team aims for large scale identity-based data collection to amplify marginalized voices, expose systemically silenced narratives, and facilitate a platform for change-oriented policy making, but also to provide opportunities for educators, researchers, and system leaders to (un)learn about themselves in relation to students and strive for a cooperative future in disrupting systems and structures that have maintained inequities. To ground the teams work, five guiding principles sit as foundational:

Centering Community

Recognize, Confront, and Disrupt all Structures of Oppression

Use Critical Research Methods and Intersectional Analyses

Decolonize Research Practices

Lobby for Action-Oriented Outcomes and System Accountability

This paper presentation will elaborate on the application of the above noted guiding principles; sharing reflections on the census consultation and pilot process, the important space community occupies in applied research, as well as begin sharing experiences with participatory data analysis, such as: how schools are involved in the co-analysis of student identity-based data and school experience data; and, how these efforts shape professional learning and school improvement planning processes. Specifically showcasing how collaboration is leveraged to increased opportunity for shared inquiry, insight, innovation and professional learning. Through the guiding principles noted above and collaborative work to follow, the Census team hopes to explore where there is room for change within system policies and provincial legislation to include Indigenous and community-based data governance principles and practices. The team welcomes dialogue on building a community-centered approach to data interpretation, narrative building, and community data governance.

Lytle and Cochran-Smith (1992) describe the concept of “Teacher research” as a powerful way for teachers to understand how they and their students construct and reconstruct the curriculum. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in pre-service teacher research in teacher education (Van Katwijk, et al., 2021). In the framework/curriculum for teacher education in Norway, one of the skills students must develop is to: “alone, and in collaboration with others, use relevant methods from research and development work, for continuous development of their own and the school's collective practice, as well as carry out limited research projects under supervision”. And during their 4th year in teacher education they all have to plan and report on a R&D (research and development) project, and in their 5th year they do their master degree project. In this study, we have investigated how Norwegian prospective teachers understand the concept of teacher research, and how they feel ready and prepared for taking on this role when they begin their professional life. The sample consists of Norwegian student teachers at the end of their fourth or fifth year of teacher training, so they all have completed an R&D project, and some have submitted their master's thesis. The data material consists of responses to a questionnaire (n=23) and two focus group interviews (n= 9), asking about their understanding of the consept “teacher research” and how they see themselves as one when starting to work as a teacher. The analyzes show that there is great variation in how the students understand the concept of being teacher research, but they all have a common understanding of the contribution of teacher research in the school. They also agree on which parts of teacher training have been important for being a teacher researcher, but there is variation in whether teachers see themselves as a future researcher or not. The latter is linked to lack of confidence about their competence, or they think it will a questions about time. Still ¾ of the participants in the study are and the support and culture among leaders and colleagues in the school they come to. They say that if there is a culture for this, where there is support from managers and colleagues, then this is something they would certainly consider doing as part of their work. The latter is independent of the experience of being sufficiently prepared or not. This is a small study, with a limited number of participants, but it gives an indication that future teachers see researching their own practice as important for their students, so regardless of whether they feel sufficiently prepared or not, this is something they can imagine participating in. But it requires that the school they go to has a culture for this. They have ideas for what they can think of to research, and they think that they can be a resource for the school when they come up with new ideas and thoughts about good teaching.a