Sargent, Tanja
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Publication Keeping Teachers Happy: Job Satisfaction among Primary School Teachers in Rural Northwest China(2005-05-01) Sargent, TanjaNumerous empirical studies from developing countries have noted that parental education has a robust and positive effect on child learning, a result that is often attributed to more educated parents making greater investments in their children's human capital. However, the nature of any such investment has not been well understood. This study examines how parental education affects various parental investments in goods and time used in children's human capital production via an unusually detailed survey from rural China. It is found that more educated parents make greater educational investments in both goods and time and that these relationships are generally robust to a rich set of controls. Evidence suggests that making greater investments in both goods and time stems both from higher expected returns to education for children and from different preferences for education among more educated parents. A second key finding is that the marginal effect of mother's education on educational investments is generally larger than that of father's education.Publication Teaching Quality and Student Outcomes: Academic Achievement and Educational Engagement in Rural Northwest China(2008-09-01) An, Xuehui; Sargent, TanjaA central task of educational researchers has been to uncover factors that improve student academic achievement. Research in both developed and developing nations during the past few decades has analysed the links between educational outcomes and school physical resources, teacher quality and children's demographic and family background. Importantly, research on teacher and school effects in developing countries has focused on factors such as human capital, economic resources and physical infrastructure, the so-called input factors in the "black box" production function model of school outcomes. Fewer studies have focused on the "softer" classroom process factors that might be seen as important mechanisms of the production function, such as teaching style, the quality of teacher-student interactions and student academic engagement.Publication Revolutionizing Ritual Interaction in the Classroom: Constructing the Chinese Renaissance of the 21st Century(2009-11-01) Sargent, Tanja COver the past decade, educational leaders in China have maintained that the pattern of social interactions in Chinese classrooms is not conducive to the cultivation of innovativeness and creativity and that this lack of creativity is a major barrier to China’s global competitiveness. One key response has been the implementation of the 2001 New Curriculum reforms in basic education. This article draws on qualitative classroom observation and in-depth interview data, as well as quantitative survey data, from Gansu province to investigate the extent to which classroom interactions differ substantially in Chinese primary school classrooms that are implementing the New Curriculum reforms compared with those that are not. To the extent that individuals are constructed by the interactions in which they participate, changes in classrooms could have far-reaching implications for contemporary youth socialized differently than those of previous generations, and for the future social, cultural, and political order of China.Publication New Curriculum reform implementation and the transformation of educational beliefs, practices, and structures in Gansu province(2011-11-01) Sargent, Tanja CarmelResponse to the implementation of the new curriculum reforms varies by regional context. A study of the effects of reform implementation on basic education in rural Gansu contributes to understanding the reforms in resource-constrained environments in China. Drawing on rich data from linked teacher, principal, student, and county administrator questionnaires available in three waves of the Gansu Survey of Children and Families, this article examines the relationships between new curriculum reform implementation and the transformation of educational beliefs, practices, structures, and student outcomes in primary and junior middle schools in rural Gansu.Publication Doing More With Less: Teacher Professional Learning Communities in Resource-Constrained Primary Schools in Rural China(2009-05-01) Sargent, Tanja CTeacher professional learning communities provide environments in which teachers engage in regular research and collaboration. They have been found effective as a means for connecting professional learning to the day-to-day realities faced by teachers in the classroom. In this article, the authors draw on survey data collected in primary schools serving 71 villages in rural Gansu Province as well as transcripts from in-depth interviews with 30 teachers. Findings indicate that professional learning communities penetrate to some of China’s most resource-constrained schools but that their nature and development are shaped by institutional supports, principal leadership, and teachers’ own initiative.