European Journal of Alternative Education Studies ISSN: 2501-5915 ISSN-L: 2501-5915 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.995679 European Journal of Alternative Education Studies UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF SES, ETHNICITY, AND DISCIPLINE INFRACTIONS IN STUDENTS’ STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES Koca, Fatihi Karadeniz Teknik Universitesi, Turkey Abstract: The goal of the current study is to examine the impact of students’ social economic status, ethnicity, and discipline infractions on their standardized test scores in Indiana, the USA. Data from this study extracted from Indiana Department of Education. ISTEP is a criterion-referenced standardized test. It consists of items that assess a student’s performance with respect to particular criteria that was established by the Indiana State Board of Education. Criterion-referenced test scores help us to understand where a student stands in relation to the cut scores based Indiana Academic Standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics. In fact, the application of ISTEP might be helpful for schools to identify their students’ strengths and weaknesses in these content areas. By doing so, they take necessary steps to plan appropriate instruction for students’ academic development. However, the Indiana Department of Education’s statistical data show that there was a statistically significant achievement gap between students. Accordingly, the current study findings point out that the effects of SES and Race varied among groups. Specifically, African-American students with low SES status had lower scores on ISTEP than their white peers did. In addition, a chi-square analysis showed that disproportionality among African American students appeared to be striking. Findings and educational implications are discussed. Keywords: SES; ethnicity; standardized test scores; student achievement 1. Introduction In the current environment of dissatisfaction with public education, the standardized test score has been the most important indicator of educational achievement and Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 114 Koca, Fatih UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF SES, ETHNICITY, AND DISCIPLINE INFRACTIONS IN STUDENTS’ STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES increase in students’ test scores has been linked with educational improvement in American educational system. In fact, a growing pressure to raise test scores has been resulted in practices that pollute educational quality by nonstandard conditions that students with disadvantaged have to face (Haladyna, Nolen, & Haas, 1991). Standardized test scores continue to be the most important factor and challenge for these students because these days, if a school’s standardized test scores are high, most politicians and educators consider both teachers and their students successful. In addition, the overarching reason that students’ scores on these tests might not be provide an accurate benchmark of educational effectiveness regarding educational quality. In fact, it is widely recognized that elementary school students entering formal school life after early school years may face a variety of challenges and difficulties, including teacher – student relationship, peer relations, and a wide range of cognitive and academic tasks. At virtually every grade level, the individual’s psychological, social, and emotional characteristics and the contextual factors play a critical role the development of academic competencies and success (e.g., Meehan, Hughes, & Cavell, 2003; Weinstein, Soule, Collins, Cone, & Mehlhorn, 1991). For instance, group differences among ethnic/racial groups on various educational measures and outcomes are well-established. In other words, African-American and Hispanic students generally substantially perform lower than white peers on the nationwide standardized tests, including ISTEP. Furthermore, differences in social economic status indicators (i.e., parental education and income) account for a large portion of achievement gap across educational measures and outcomes (Camara & Schmidt, 1999). Previous studies also showed that discipline practices in schools influence the academic and social quality of any educational environment (e.g., Skiba, Horner, Chung, Rausch, May, & Tobin; Wald & Losen, 2003). For instance, Skiba and collogues reviewed the documented patterns of office discipline referrals in the 2005-2006 academic year. Descriptive and logistic regression data analyses showed that African American students were referred to the office of problem behavior three times more than their White American peers. The ratio of receiving expulsion or out of school suspension for students from African American or Latino background was higher than that of White American students. Unfortunately, African American Children were perceived by their teachers to have more serious externalizing and internalizing classroom behavioral problems. Therefore, these students are at risk of school failure and poor school adjustment (Piggott & Cowen, 2000). However, White children were perceived as having more competencies, less behavioral problems, and having more positive academic expectations regardless of teacher and child race match. In this respect, the goal of the current research was to European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 115 Koca, Fatih UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF SES, ETHNICITY, AND DISCIPLINE INFRACTIONS IN STUDENTS’ STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES examine the role ethnicity, SES, and discipline infractions on students’ standardized test scores (ISTEP). For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejae/article/view/1060 European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 116