Schooling and Achievement: Additive versus Interactive Models

By examining the effects of classroom instruction on student achievement, this paper contributes to the growing literature on the effects of schooling. The paper compares two models of the connection between teaching and learning. One is an additive model, in which instruction is viewed as the technological process that produces achievement. According to this view, the greater the quantity and quality of instruction, the more students learn. The other approach suggests an interactive model, in which opportunities for learning do not raise achievement per se, but increase the benefits of having better skills to begin with and exerting greater effort. Both perspectives call for multilevel modeling but until now have only been examined with single-level methods. Two data sources are used to compare the additive and interactive models: a nation-wide U.S. sample of 218 eighth grade math classes, and a midwestem U.S. sample of 58 eighth grade English classes. The results provide strong support for the additive model and mixed support for the interactive model.

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