Article Critique

Brown, K.E. & Medway, F.J. (2007). School climate and teacher beliefs in a school effectively serving
poor South Carolina (USA) African-American students: A case study. Teaching and Teacher Education,
23, 529-540.
Summary of article
Introduction
Low income and ethnic minority students in American schools are more likely to have lower
achievement and aptitude test scores, more likely to be placed in special education, and more likely to
drop out of school. Possible factors for these discrepancies include inequitable access to health care, the
difficulty of the family in supplementing education at home, a lower quality of teaching in these schools,
and an environment that does not stress the importance of education. Research has been conducted in an
effort to identify the elements found in effective schools that are serving these traditionally
underperforming populations, and this study is an attempt to build on that body of knowledge.
Assumption
The key assumption of the article is that certain factors are integral in successfully working with
low income and ethnic minority students, and that these factors can be identified and then applied to
other school settings.
Subjects
An elementary school in South Carolina was chosen for this study because of its recent national
recognition two years in a row for academic school achievements. The population of the school is over
70% African-American and most students are of low socioeconomic status. The schools recent
successes were based on a 5-year improvement plan that focused on high student expectations. A total of
13 teachers (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade levels) were contacted; nine (eight female, one male) of them
consented. These nine nominated six teachers as being exemplary, and then these six were asked to
participate in the qualitative portion of the study. All teachers were certified to teach at their grade levels

and four of them held a masters degree. Part of the study also included video tapings of their
classrooms.
Instruments
Two survey instruments were used for the quantitative portion of this study. The first,
Organizational Health Inventory (OHI) measured teachers opinions on school climate. Five factors
were assessed: institutional integrity, community leadership, resource influence, teacher affiliation, and
emphasis on academics. Teachers responded to 37 statements on a 4-point scale (rarely occurs;
sometimes occurs; often occurs; very frequently occurs). The second instrument, Primary Teacher
Questionnaire (PTQ), assessed practices most commonly utilized in the classrooms. Teachers responded
to 39 statements reporting their own beliefs towards teaching. The scale for the PTQ ranged from
strongly agree to strongly disagree.
In addition to the inventory and questionnaire, teacher interviews comprised of 17 questions
drawn from Ladson-Billings work were asked from the six exemplary teachers. Class videotapes were
finally conducted to determine if the recurring themes from the interviews could be identified.
Classrooms belonging to the exemplary teachers were videotaped twice.
Hypothesis
Rather than hypotheses, the researchers posed three research questions for the study. First, they
were interested in describing the climate of a school that is effectively teaching economically
disadvantaged minority students. Second, they were looking to determine teachers beliefs about
effective instructional methods, and third, they were interested in exploring the relationship between
teachers expectations and their instructional methods.

Procedure
Nine teachers were asked to nominate six of their colleagues whom they considered to be
exemplary according to a definition provided by the researchers. Once nominations were submitted two

teachers from each grade level (3rd, 4th, and 5th) were asked to participate in the qualitative portion of
their study. Permissions from the district, teachers and classrooms (for videotaping) were requested and
granted. The first nine teachers completed the OHI; through this inventory their responses indicated the
degree to which each statement described their school. They then answered statements on the PTQ on
which they reported their own perceptions on teaching practices; according to these researchers such
perceptions are often linked with real practices.
Following the inventory and questionnaire was a qualitative method that included teacher
interviews and classroom video tapings. The six exemplary teachers interviewed were asked 17
questions ranging from their own student expectations to their teaching strategies for that population.
They were not aware of the questions prior to the interviews nor did they know what others responded.
After transcribing these interviews, the authors picked out frequently recurring themes in regards to
school practices. They then tried to identify these themes via classroom video tapings. Observations
from these recordings and information extracted from the schools website were used to support themes.
Analysis
By examining teachers believes and strategies through interviews and videotaped classroom
instruction, it was possible to determine that the variables in question had indeed created a positive
effect on the learning environment of the school. By studying several teachers, validity improved and
strengthened the argument that expectations and teaching practices had a positive effect on student
performance.
Results
Collectively teachers views on academic education are high based on their OHI scores. Based
on their PTQ scores teachers also endorse developmentally appropriate and traditional instruction
methods.
From the interviews and videotapes, seven themes were identified as being of great importance
and having a lasting effect on students. The themes were: sense of collegial cohesiveness, hands on

approach to curriculum, teaching philosophy that all students can learn, communicating that all students
will be successful, high expectations for all students, parents playing a vital role in student success, and
teacher education does not prepare educators to work with diverse student populations.
The videotapes were used to see what lessons were put into practice by the teachers. The videos
showed that teachers focused on essential understanding and skills rather than memorization of facts.
Teachers encouraged students to do better and gained their attention by creating a lesson that was
interesting and meaningful to the student while still following the state mandated learning. Students
were encouraged to work as a group and think analytically. Teachers also included parents in the
students education. They called parents on the progress of their child and asked for the parents help in
ensuring that homework got done.
The five year plan implemented by the school and carried out by these teachers resulted in the
students achievement at the 95th percentile despite what was expected due to the poverty index and
minority population.
Conclusions
The study shows that teachers who had a collaborative approach and were open to flexible
teaching styles did have a positive effect on student performance. Although the techniques seem to be
common sense, the teachers at this school site had a plan and followed through with it every step of the
way. They included parents in the education process, they held high expectations for their students,
changed the students way of thinking, included cultural learning into their process, and they focused on
how the student learned better, not on how they preferred to teach. These changes challenged the
students while still supporting the idea that each student can learn. The outcome was that the school
tested in the 95th percentile for two years in a row despite being a school that faced its own unique
challenges, such as serving mostly minorities from a low socioeconomic background.
Critique of article
Problem

The research problem is clearly outlined in the beginning of the article where the authors discuss
the particular academic challenges faced by low income and ethnic minority students in American
schools, including their lower test scores and graduation rates. It is clear that this topic has significance
for American educators, and the authors even extend the articles significance to an international level,
discussing the connection between illiteracy and poverty in such places as South America, the
Caribbean, and Australia. However, although interesting, this connection seems somewhat tenuous as
issues in American schools are connected to very different cultural and political influences than in other
areas of the world. The researchers suggestion that their work has implications for these other regions
of the world could lead to threats of external validity, particularly in regard to the interaction of setting
and treatment.
The authors did provide a sufficient amount of background information on the problem,
reviewing the characteristics of successful schools as well as the problems and possible causes faced by
low income minority students. Their attempts to identify and define such issues as school climate,
teachers expectations, and instructional methods do appear to be researchable issues from a
qualitative standpoint. As a qualitative research study, there are no variables present, but instead the
article is focused on the central phenomenon of key factors in a successful school serving low income
minority students.
Review of Literature
The strengths of this section lie in the researchers thorough selection of relevant articles. The
literature included spans more than a thirty year period and covers several topics. First, an overview of
research on successful schools is presented, dating as far back as the 1970s. This is followed by a
summary of research done on low income schools and schools with a predominately African-American
population, focusing on a wide range of topics such as teacher preparation and school climate.
Two areas of critique for the literature review involve the lack of critical analysis and an
ineffective discussion of how the current research will add to or enhance the existing body of

knowledge. The studies reviewed are not compared or contrasted with one another; rather, they are
presented, one after another, as a chain of complimentary ideas. There are no in-depth connections
made between them, nor are any alternative contrasting studies presented. In addition, the researchers
might have done more to indicate the ways in which their work would enhance or extend the research
that has already been performed. The only link between this study and the previous research comes near
the end of the literature review when the authors state, The present research draws on the American
literature on effective schools, school climate, and teacher expectations in order to study one public
elementary school in South Carolina Rather than simply drawing on the research, the authors
could have been clearer about their desire to test previous findings or expand them in a particular way.
Hypotheses
The three research questions proposed are presented at the end of the Introduction section of the
article. The first two are clear, with one focused on school climate and the other on teachers beliefs
about instructional methods. The focus in question three is on exemplary teachers and covers the
communication of school climate to the students as well as teacher expectations and instructional
methods. The third question lumps together several ideas and could perhaps be split into several
different questions for the sake of focus and clarity.
Subjects
Due to the fact that this is a qualitative study, the focus on six teachers in one particular school is
appropriate. The researchers clearly outline their use of surveys to select the 6 individuals out of a pool
of the 13 teachers in grades 3, 4, and 5. One detail not clearly defined is if the initial 13 teachers
contacted are all of the teachers at these particular grade levels, or just certain ones pre-selected for some
unspecified reason. The methods used did not result in a representative, unbiased sample; however, as
an extreme case study, the researchers goal is to locate and study the most exemplary teachers, so they
cannot be faulted in this regard. However, because state-wide test scores are being used to determine the

schools success, perhaps the researchers could have selected those teachers whose classes performed
the best in previous years, rather than teachers who are perceived to be exemplary by their colleagues.
All participants consented to be included in the study. The sample size was stated, yet their
certifications were not too clear. We would have liked to know the type of certifications each teacher
had; knowing this could possibly provide some connection to the students successes. We would have
also liked to know the number of years each teacher had been teaching for. Did they all take part in the
5-year plan to improve student academic success implemented by the school?
Instruments
The researcher did a good job in providing the purpose and content of each measurement. They
provided the questions used in the interviews. Detailed rationale behind instrument selection would have
been preferred. The reasoning behind teacher interviews and classroom video tapings was that by doing
so, repeating themes would be extracted and compared to real teaching practices. Not much rationale
was provided for using the OHI and PTQ.
Hardly any evidence was available suggesting effectiveness of instruments towards this
particular study. There were comparisons with other countries, regarding the reasoning for this research.
Yet the researcher did not mention if those instruments had previously shown effectiveness.
This article used preexisting methods, yet it was not clear if all had been used the same. They used a
questionnaire, inventory, interviews, and video recordings all in this one study. Furthermore, internal
validity is briefly mentioned in terms of the number of teachers included in this study. The problem with
this is that the groups answering both the OHI and PTQ were different than those being interviewed.
Though there might have been some overlap with the participants, portraying two groups makes it feel
inconsistent. The reliability coefficients were .87 to .95 but no validity coefficients were presented.
Design and Procedure
We felt that the design and procedures were appropriate for answering the questions being raised
in this study. They helped gather perceptions and beliefs of those responsible for teaching the students

being affected. The procedures were sufficiently described, as we mentioned earlier the questions used
in the interview are available at the end of the article, in such a way that others could possibly imitate
such research.
Results
A major part of this paper was qualitative. Most of the data was driven from surveys and
videotapes. The surveys were taken by teachers who were thought of as being exemplary. We question
why they only surveyed those teachers. Why not take a random sample of the teachers in the whole as
they all played a part in making the change? Also, the videotaped classrooms were headed by exemplary
teachers. Why not videotape random teachers? This seems like the smallest population of teachers were
used to represent all the teachers.
On the videotapes, the researcher did not indicate whether or not the teachers knew when they
were going to be videotaped. If the teachers knew when and where this was going to happen, it seems as
though they could have simply been exhibiting good behavior to satisfy the research.
On the results for the PTQ and OHI test, the means and standard deviations were given, however
the study did not address what the average was. They simply stated that the numbers were within the
average. Why not provide the average of teachers thoughts on affiliation, institutional integrity,
collegial leadership, resource influence, and academic emphasis. This would allow the reader to confirm
or deny the statements made by the researcher. Also, this information has little to do with the actual
study. The research is claiming that teachers are flexible with their teaching styles and the test only
shows that the teachers are comfortable with both traditional teaching and development appropriate
ones, still preferring traditional.
Discussion (recommendations and conclusions)
The authors concluded that teachers willingness to change did in fact help students. They also
concluded from the survey that teachers are ill prepared to deal with diverse and disadvantaged students.

Teachers in this study are seen as exemplary, we have to ask why? They are simply recognizing
that not all people learn the same way. They are modifying traditional teaching styles in order to better
fit their students needs. These teachers are saying that their schooling does not prepare them to teach
diverse students. Now we have classes that are specific to cultural awareness. Also, the surveys that
were given were about teachers feelings toward the dynamics of the school; did these thoughts change
over night, or did the teachers always think the same? If so, why did the school along with the teachers
implement the changes sooner? This research did not indicate whether or not new education was
introduced to the teachers in order to prepare them to teach their students.
This research was different in that there was no comparison group. This school was isolated and
looked at due to the advances in their test scores. Also there is no indication of how the classroom
setting was before the implementation of the new plan. Therefore, it is difficult isolate variables that
might have caused change. That being said the videos in the study were very helpful in persuading the
reader into believing that these teachers were creating a positive environment that fostered growth
within the child. However, we believe that in order to really understand the effects of the change, this
should be done at another school site, which would also help validate the study by helping control any
external variables.