Support for the Theories Behind the Teacher Support Index
Although the factors that determine the Teacher Support Index (TSI) were initially conceived through casual conversations with professional educators, there is academic research to support the idea that single-parent households, average family income, parental education, and student language barriers affect student achievement.
On the issue of single-parent households, in a recent review study called The Causal Effects of Father Absence, the authors conclude that “studies using more rigorous designs continue to find negative effects of father absence on offspring well-being…. The evidence is strongest and most consistent for outcomes such as high school graduation….”1 In another study, the authors suggest that there is “some evidence of the detrimental effects of father absence on cognitive development by the third grade.”2
Average family income was suggested to affect Grade 3 and 6 language art and mathematic performance in the Calgary School Board: “Social-class variables (average family income of the catchment area of each school and a social-adversity index) explained up to 45% of the variation in achievement tests.”3
Parental education has also been studied. A Journal of Marriage and Family study found that “the positive effect of higher parents’ education on middle-school students’ mathematics test scores is remarkably consistent among the 34 nations examined.”4
In regards to Student Language Barriers, a study on test formats actually showed that “ESL/ELD students performed substantially lower [than non-ESL/ELD students] on each format and that more variability was found among ESL/ELD students”.5 And a 2012 TESL study found that “school outcomes vary predictably among ethnocultural groups and by English-language proficiency”, and further states that “It appears that some immigrant groups are underserved and that the teachers may be underprepared for classrooms of linguistic and ethnocultural diversity.”6
1 “The Causal Effects of Father Absence”, Sara McLanahan, Laura Tach, and Daniel Schneider – Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 39 (2013): 399-427
2 “Academic Achievement and Locus of Control in Father-absent Elementary School Children”, Heather C. Bain, Frederic J. Boersma & James W. Chapman – School Psychology International (1983), 4, 69-78
3 “Predictors of Achievement in Basic Skills: A Canadian Effective Schools Study”, Hugh Lytton and Michael Pyryt – Canadian Journal of Education (Summer, 1998) Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 281-301
4 “Economic Development and the Effects of Family Characteristics on Mathematics Achievement”, Kathryn S. Schiller, Vladimir T. Khmelkov, and Xiao-Qing Wang – Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (August 2002): 730-742
5 “Do Test Formats in Reading Comprehension Affect Second-Language Students’ Test Performance Differently?”, Ying Zheng, Liying Cheng, and Don A. Klinger – TESL Canada Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1, Winter 2007
6 “A Critical Review of the Canadian Empirical Literature: Documenting Generation 1.5’s K-16 Trajectories”, Bruce Garnett – TESL Canada Journal, Vol. 29, Special Issue 6, 2012