Johns Hopkins University : Department of Sociology : Stephen Plank

Stephen Plank is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology. He received his BA from Northwestern University in 1990. He received his MA (1992) and PhD (1995) in sociology from the University of Chicago. His research and teaching interests include sociology of education, statistical and research methods, and urban school improvement.

Plank's published education research includes Finding One’s Place: Teaching Styles and Peer Relations in Diverse Classrooms (Teachers College Press, 2000), and articles in the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Journal of Vocational Education Research, Sociology of Education, and American Journal of Education. Much of his past and current research focuses on solutions to the problem of high school dropout (including associations with career and technical education), predictors of successful transitions to college, and school climate.

Plank is currently working on a book manuscript (working title: Pressures and Possibilities: Classroom Quality and Student Achievement in a High-Stakes Environment) based on two years of mixed-methods data collection he and a team (including graduate students) conducted in second and third grade classrooms.

Plank is co-director of the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (www.baltimore-berc.org) and is also affiliated with the Center for Social Organization of Schools (http://web.jhu.edu/csos).

COURSES

SELECTED PAPERS

230.304 Social Organization and Social Control in Schools

230.322 Quantitative Research Practicum

230.604 Regression Analysis

Plank, S., C. Bradshaw , & H. Young. (2009). An application of “broken windows” and related theories to the study of disorder, fear, and collective efficacy in schools. American Journal of Education 115(2):227-248.

Plank, S., S. DeLuca, & A. Estacion. (2008). High school dropout and the role of career and technical education: A survival analysis of surviving high school. Sociology of Education 81(4):345-370.

Plank, S. (2007). Pedagogical change in schools as diffusion of innovation: Some sociological guidelines for research. Pp. 178-188 in R. Spalter-Rother and N. Fortenberry (eds.), What sociologists know about the acceptance and diffusion of innovation: The case of engineering education. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association and the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education.

Plank, S., & W. Jordan. (2001). Effects of information, guidance, and actions on postsecondary destinations: A study of talent loss. American Educational Research Journal 38(4):947-979.

Plank, S. (2000). Finding One's Place: Teaching Styles and Peer Relations in Diverse Classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.

Stephen B. Plank, Ph.D.