03/30/2022
By Lizzie Casanave

The School of Education invites you to attend an Ed.D. Dissertation Defense by Martin Trice on “Impacting the Achievement Gap Through High Level Academic Discourse: A Case Study of Student Engagement with Paideia Seminars.”

Date: April 12, 2022
Time: noon
Location: This will be a virtual dissertation defense via Zoom. Those interested in attending should contact James_Nehring@uml.edu to request access to the Zoom link.

Dissertation Chair: James Nehring Ed.D., Faculty Chair, Professor, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Dissertation Committee:

  • Stacy Szczesiul, Ed.D., Associate Dean of Online Education, Accreditation & Licensing, Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Phitsamay Uy, Ed.D., Associate Professor, School of Education, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Abstract
There are few problems in the field of education that have proven more resistant to change than that of the achievement gap. Some one hundred and seventy years after Horace Mann declared education as the “great equalizer,” students in the U.S. are far from being treated equally. Despite numerous studies and interventions spanning over five decades, achievement gaps between White and Black or White and Hispanic students persist in most objective measures, including standardized test scores, graduation rates, jobs, and income.

An essential premise of this study is that a factor perpetuating the differences in achievement is the pattern of historically marginalized students in high poverty districts seldom receiving the same opportunities for genuine engagement compared to their White peers. The research focused on classroom practices and their impact on creating opportunities or opportunity gaps for students.

This study sought to understand what impact high-quality academic discourse on student engagement using the Paideia Seminar method and its possible implications for narrowing the achievement gap. The research was conducted at South City High School in a diverse, low socioeconomic status 9th through 12th-grade public high school in urban North Carolina. A total of 61 tenth-grade students from two English classes participated in the study. A mixed-methods approach was used with data collected from a student survey, classroom observations, student focus groups, and teacher interview.
The research found that the use of the Paideia was effective in engaging students in rigorous academic dialogue.

Participation rate was at 85% with an average talk time of 72 seconds per student. Seventy-five percent of Black/Hispanic and 96% of White students participated in a dialogue with an average talk time of 59 seconds and 1 minute 29 seconds, respectively. High-quality dialogue was found for all students, with 40% of comments expressing or inviting ideas, 29% building on ideas, 14% challenging comments, and 14% using reasoning. Additional findings are presented on Paideia Seminar’s impact on low socio-economic status students and qualitative analysis through student focus groups and teacher interviews. The study concludes with recommendations on addressing the findings and suggestions for future research.