児童生徒のプログラミングへの関心におけるジェンダー差の解消には，男女両方がプログラミングを体験することが有効だと考えられているが，参加に際して児童生徒と保護者の意向が一致するとは限らない．そこで本研究では，保護者のプログラミング教育必修化への意向に対して，保護者と子のジェンダーがどのように影響するか検討した．5,336件のアンケート回答に対して二項ロジスティック回帰分析を行った結果，必修化賛成の意向に対して，子の学年がより低い，子が男子，子が学校でのプログラミング経験を有する，保護者が情報教育に前向きであることが有意だったが，保護者と子が共に女性の場合は必修化に消極的となる傾向が示された．

  In the case of adults who arbitrarily participate in education, an inequality with regard to the participation in education has been observed. This is one of the obstacles that prevent the realization of a lifelong learning society in Japan. In this concern, this paper aims to clarify the change in the difference of adult participation in education and the social factors that determine it from the past to present. As a method, I analyzed the adult schooling rates in all 47 prefectures, using the data of 1985, 1995, and 2005.

  The findings are as follows: (1) regional differences in the rate of adult schooling have increased. (2) The relationship between the adult schooling rate and the socio-economic indexes of each prefecture is becoming clearer. (3) The factors that determine the adult schooling rate strongly differ according to age groups. Among young people (30~44 years), the adult schooling rate is based on the number of educational institutions such as colleges; among middle-aged people (45~59 years), the prefectural income; and among older people (over 60 years), the high education qualification. On the basis of these findings, I discuss proposals for policy-making to facilitate the equality of adult participation in education.

This paper explores school effects in Japan, using a Multilevel Model Analysis.

“School Effects” consider how schools can affect childrenʼs learning outputs. This is one of the important subjects in the sociology of education. Since the Coleman Reports of the 1960s, there has been much research investigating school effects all over the world. This is termed “School Effectiveness Research” (SER). Recently, SER researchers are planning comparative studies within countries, and this research has considerable attraction.

Unfortunately, very few researchers in Japan knew about SER until 2000. Pioneers in SER in Japan are Nabeshima and Shimizu. They investigated school effects using the concept of “Effective Schools” conceived by Edmonds, one of the most famous early SER researchers. Japanese SER researchers argue that “Effective Schools” are characterized by “teacher cooperation,” “leadership,” and “good classroom climates.” Finally, they conclude, “If all schools had these characteristics, social disadvantage would be less than at present.”

However, the concept of “Effective Schools” in Japan is problematic, and thus we need to reanalyze carefully the conclusions of pioneer SER research in Japan.

In this paper, I firstly point out the lack of the concept of “Effective Schools” and propose a Multilevel Model Analysis (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) to analyze school effects. Secondly, I investigate school effects in Japan using the Multilevel Model Analysis, and analyze academic achievement tests at 5th grade conducted in Z City in the district of Kansai. The sample size is 3,366 children from 43 schools and explanatory variables are achievement score at 4th grade, childrenʼs gender, and childrenʼs cultural social class.

The findings are as follows. Firstly, almost all the variance in academic achievements at 5th grade exists within schools. There is small variance between schools. Variance between schools is less than 5 percent. Secondly, the most important explanatory variable affecting achievement at 5th grade is achievement at 4th grade. The most explanatory variables following this are childrenʼs gender and cultural social class. Thirdly, although the variance between schools is very small, there is a score gap of 5 to 6 points between “the most effective school” and “the most ineffective school.” Thus, there are very small score gaps between schools, but this does not mean that schools have no effect on the alleviation of social disadvantage caused by gender or social class.

We draw the following conclusions from this analysis. First, junior high schools in Japan have very similar learning environments, and so there are only small score gaps between schools. Secondly, the prior achievement score has a very strong effect on achievement score at the 5th grade level. Investigating school outcomes without taking prior achievement scores into account is therefore very problematic. In Japan, few argue the importance of prior achievement tests, but this is a critical point for the analysis of achievement scores. Thirdly, it is important that researchers of SER in Japan understand that there is only small variance between Japanese schools and argue seriously about “what schools can and cannot do.”

　本稿は，地方県の非都市部の高校からの大学進学を十分に検討してこなかったトラッキング研究の課題を踏まえ，非都市部の高校でみられる高校「内」トラック編成とリソース配分から大学進学率の低さが許容されるメカニズムの一端を明らかにした。非都市部には高校数が少なく，高校内に多様な学力層が包含される。そのため，事例校のX 高校は学科・コースを並置（＝高校「内」トラック）することで多様性に対応していた。
　分析結果は，次の通りである。まず，非都市部の高校「内」トラックでは，学習・進学意欲におけるトラック間の差異が「分断」といえるほど明瞭になっていた。「分断」が生じてしまう内部メカニズムを検討した結果，以下の3 点が明らかになった。第一に，若手に偏った教員構成など非都市部特有のリソースの制約が存在していた。第二に，高校再編の危機もあり，学力トップ層を特進コースにまとめ稀少なリソースを集中投入することで，地域からのエリートキャリアルート確保に腐心していた。第三に，その反面，大学進学率を左右するボリューム層に対する手厚い指導が困難となっていた。
　地方県の非都市部の高校では，リソースの限界から「平均的な大学進学機会」を開く選択肢をあえて振り切って，一部の「国公立大学への進学ルート」確保に焦点化せざるをえない固有の事情があるのであり，地方県内部の多様性を捉えなければ，地方からの大学進学の実態を捉え損ねてしまうだろう。

In recent years, university location and invitation policies by local governments have become increasingly important, making it essential to analyze the extent to which local government policies that have been implemented by local governments have influenced the trend of university entrance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the policy of university location and invitation in Chiba Prefecture and analyze the trend of university entrance of high school students in the prefecture.

The analysis results revealed that the number of enrollments in undergraduate schools, which has been increased by the Chiba Prefecture’s policy of university location and invitation, has influenced the trend of university entrance in Chiba prefecture.

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of class size and small group learning on pupils' academic achievement by using Multilevel Models. Since 1950s to early 1990s, class sizes were reduced to 40 pupil classes. After the 1990s, instead of continuing to reduce class sizes, the Ministry of Education has adopted learning group systems to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio, for example, small group learning and Team-Teaching (TT). Do the class size and these new learning group systems have positive effect on the pupils' academic achievement? This is the theme of this research. Thirty-four elementary school principals and 843 pupils responded to the questionnaires and pupils took brief academic achievement tests for Japanese and Mathematics. This research focuses on the analysis on the effect of adopting teaching methods like small group learning on mathematic tests. The results like many former research findings suggest that small class size and small group learning have positive effect on pupils' academic achievement. To work small group learning effectively, it is necessary to arrange full-time teachers and to group pupils by the similar ability.

  When one is 18 years old, there is large difference of opportunity for higher education (university and college) between social classes or regions. From the point of ‘real equality of educational opportunity’, it is important that we make an effort to correct the differences in life-long learning. I surveyed the learning activity since adulthood of people who are born in remote places. They aren't blessed with opportunities for higher education when they graduate from high school. In this survey, I tried to clarify 1) how many have been to university or college since adulthood, 2) how many have aspirations to do so, and 3) who are such people. The sample of this survey consists of, 450 people born in Amami island in Kagoshima prefecture.

  As a result, it is found that nearly half of them have developed aspirations to go to university since adulthood. A very few of them have actually realized these aspirations, but the others could not. At present, many of them have returned to the island and live there with aspirations that have not been satisfied yet. The profile of them and their motives for higher education are characteristic of the life course of people born in remote islands and the socio-economic conditions of remote regions.