bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Creating and Sustaining Secondary Schools’ Success: Sandfields, Cwmtawe, and the Neath-Port Talbot Local Authority's High Reliability Schools Reform
Authors: Stringfield Sam , Reynolds David , Schaffer Eugene
Published: November 2021

This article presents data from a 15-year, mixed-methods school improvement effort. The High Reliability Schools (HRS) reform made use of previous research on school effects and on High Reliability Organizations (HROs). HROs are organizations in various parts of our cultures that are required to operate successfully “the first time, every time.” This is a requirement increasingly placed on our schools. The HRS reform was conducted in all 11 secondary schools in one Welsh (U.K.) Local Authority (LA). Data are provided on the Neath-Port Talbot (NPT) district along with case studies of two of NPT schools. Pre-reform data indicated that students in the LA were performing well below Welsh averages. Over a four-year intervention, NPT's students made gains that were nearly double the national average. Achievement data from five and 11 years post-intervention indicate that the relatively high-poverty schools in the LA have continued to rise to well above the national averages. Qualitative observations and interviews with the schools’ and LA's leadership and student groups, combined with analyses of recent school inspectors’ reports, indicate that schools are continuing to use HRS principles and are continuing their refinement of them in context. Implications for future school reforms and research are presented.
Design and Implementation of High School Reform: Perspectives from Research and Practice
Authors: Smith Thomas M. , Cannata Marisa , Cohen-Vogel Lora , Rutledge Stacey A.
Published: November 2021

There has been a proliferation of high school reform models and interventions over the past few decades aimed at improving the nation's high schools, including increasing graduation requirements, introducing technology to classrooms, grouping ninth-grade students into their own “academies,” reorienting the curriculum toward particular career themes, and implementing radical turnaround school models. But there have been few systematic efforts to map the high school reform landscape. The goal of this volume is to do just that—map the reform landscape in high schools. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the entire volume. After describing the challenges facing recent high school reform, we outline the four sections of this volume: Section 1: Context for understanding high school reform; Section 2: Understanding programs and interventions in high school improvement efforts; Section 3: The processes and conditions that support or inhibit effective implementation in high schools; and Section 4: What do we know about organizations that drive new initiatives in high school improvement?
Moving Children, Distorting Data: Changes in Testing of Students with Disabilities in Connecticut from 2000–2013
Authors: Cotto Robert
Published: November 2021

Connecticut experienced two major changes in testing policy for children with disabilities that played a major role in conclusions about educational progress in the state. First, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 required that all students with disabilities participate in grade-level, standardized tests. This movement of students deepened a crisis of stagnant and disparate achievement indicators. Policy reversed in 2007, when the federal Department of Education opened the door for modified assessments based on grade-level content and standards. When testing policy reversed, the exclusion of students with disabilities temporarily resolved this crisis by artificially inflating test results in math and reading. This article provides an overview of testing data from the Connecticut State Department of Education within its historical context. These fluctuations in standard test participation often linked closely with overall results and produced misinterpretations of educational and racial progress over time. Responses to these changes in testing policy make Connecticut an illuminating case regarding the problem of high-stakes testing and changes in policies for students with disabilities in a particular state characterized by deep racial and economic inequity. Rather than raising questions, moving children helped reinforce the legitimacy of high-stakes testing and nationally touted educational reforms.
Advocacy for Equity: Extending Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Predominantly White Suburban Schools
Authors: Warren-Grice April
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

This article describes Black educators in predominantly White suburban schools who have used advocacy through the lens of culturally relevant pedagogy and serve as Educational Cultural Negotiators to help the students of color in these spaces academically and socially. This article highlights the advocacy needed to address the plight of students of color in suburban schools who disproportionately lag behind their White and Asian counterparts.

Purpose/Focus of Study

This research focuses on the experiences and reflections of five Black educators who have directed after-school programs in predominantly White suburban schools. Through their experiences and reflections, this study provides a snapshot—part of a larger study—of the ways Black educators use culturally relevant pedagogy to advocate for students of color.

Setting

Four suburban high schools in a Midwest metropolitan region of the United States.

Research Design

Qualitative research (i.e., portraiture) was used to capture the reflections and experiences of five Black educators (18–30 years of experience) in predominantly White suburban high schools. I interviewed participants three times during the course of a year, with the last interview conducted as a focus group. I developed interview questions thematically to provide information on each director's background, the role they played in influencing Black and Latino/a student achievement, their experiences as they helped program participants, their insight on sustaining program directors, and suggestions for educational leaders and educators of Black and Latino/a students.

Findings/Results

Participants shared a sense of racial uplift to address issues of concern with Black and Latino/a students. Racial uplift manifested in the form of racial and academic advocacy. Racial advocacy came through protecting students from various types of mistreatment, neglect, and macro and micro forms of racism. Educators worked with the staff and students to help navigate and negotiate the racial space. Academic advocacy came through encouraging and supporting students to reach their highest potential though mentor-ship, tutoring, student life workshops, college visits, and cultural field trips.
Two Heads May be Better than One: Learning from Computer Agents in Conversational Trialogues
Authors: Graesser Arthur C. , Forsyth Carol M. , Lehman Blair A.
Published: November 2021

Background

Pedagogical agents are computerized talking heads or embodied animated avatars that help students learn by performing actions and holding conversations with the students in natural language. Dialogues occur between a tutor agent and the student in the case of AutoTutor and other intelligent tutoring systems with natural-language conversation. The agents are adaptive to the students’ actions, verbal contributions, and, in some systems, their emotions (such as boredom, confusion, and frustration).

Focus of Study

This paper explores several designs of trialogues (two agents interacting with a human student) that have been productively implemented for particular students, subject matters, and depths of learning. The two agents take on different roles, but often serve as peers and tutors. There are different trialogue designs that address different pedagogical goals for different classes of students. For example, students can (a) observe vicariously two agents interacting, (b) converse with a tutor agent while a peer agent periodically chimes in, or (c) teach a peer agent while a tutor rescues a problematic interaction. In addition, agents can argue with each other over issues and ask what the human student thinks about the argument.

Research Design

Trialogues have been developed for systematic experimental investigations in several studies that measure student impressions, learning gains from pretest to post-test on objective tests, and both cognitive and affective states during learning. The studies compare conditions with different pedagogical principles underlying the trialogues in order to assess the impact of these principles on student impressions, learning, emotions, and other psychological measures. Discourse analyses are performed on the language and actions in the log files in order to assess their impacts on psychological measures.

Recommendations

Tests of these agent-based systems have shown improvements in learning gains and systematic influences on student emotions. In the future, researchers need to conduct more research to empirically evaluate the psychological impact of different trialogue designs on psychological measures. These trialogue designs range from scripted interactions between agents being observed by the student, to the student helping a fellow peer agent, to the student resolving an argument between two agents. The central question is whether the learning experiences and outcomes show improvement over typical human-computer dialogues (i.e., one human and one tutor agent) and conventional pedagogical interventions.
Postnatal College Trajectories: When and under What Circumstances Do Mothers Enroll?
Authors: Radey Melissa
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

In light of increasingly common, non-traditional pathways to college enrollment and potential importance of post-secondary education for family wellbeing, this article examines maternal college enrollment. I employ a sociological application of rational action theory in which costs of reentry, probability of success, and utility of education influence enrollment.

Objective

Recently available longitudinal data provide the opportunity to (a) describe maternal college enrollment during the first 9 years after giving birth and (b) consider the influence of demographic (race, nativity, age), economic (poverty level, employment status, occupation) and social (informal social support, public assistance receipt, household composition, maternal health status) covariates on maternal enrollment.

Research Design

The analysis uses secondary data, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), to examine how college enrollment evolves over the child's first 9 years (n = 2,330 mothers, n = 7,808 observations).

Data Collection and Analysis

The FFCWS is a longitudinal survey of 4,898 children born in 1998–2000 to mostly unmarried, low-income mothers (the sample is comprised of 75% unmarried mothers and a 25% married comparison group). Through a stratified random sampling design, U.S. cities with populations of 200,000 or more were selected, followed by hospitals within the cities, and, finally, beds within hospitals. Using multilevel models of change, the analysis considers social and economic factors that influence college enrollment, and examines how the influences of covariates change over time.

Findings

One-third of mothers enrolled in college at least once during their child's first 9 years and college enrollment increased as children aged. Mothers’ enrollment levels largely reflected rational action theory such that enrollment costs and probability for success influenced enrollment. Models illuminated differential rates of change. Safety net access and marital status at the child's birth became more important in differentiating students as children aged.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Mothers’ interest coupled with the short- and long-term benefits of college enrollment suggest that mothers should receive additional support to finance their educations. Findings indicate the need for policies, including welfare policy reform, to support the growing number of student mothers enrolling in college discontinuously and their high levels of disadvantage.
The Importance of Early Attitudes toward Mathematics and Science
Authors: Ing Marsha , Nylund-Gibson Karen
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Given the importance of increasing student participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), there is a need to understand how factors such as student's attitudes toward math and science in middle and high school are linked to their later college and career choices.

Purpose/Objective

The purpose of this study is to describe heterogeneity in math and science attitudes and how these attitudes change through middle and high school. This study contributes to the literature by using measures from grade levels where student attitudes might be particularly vulnerable to shifting; examining the extent to which attitudes are persistent for particular groups of students; comparing the stability of attitudes across multiple domains (mathematics and science), which are intertwined in the pursuit of STEM careers; and relating attitudes to STEM career attainment, an outcome that occurred some 20 years later.

Research Design

We used the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) to examine the development of student attitudes in middle and high school and the relationship of those patterns to academic achievement and career choices. We used latent class analysis and latent transition analysis to study change over time.

Findings/Results

Based on latent class analyses conducted for seventh, 10th, and 12th grade independently, four attitudinal profiles were identified at each grade level that varied in their affinity toward mathematics and science: very positive, qualified positive, neutral, less positive. The stability of these four attitudinal profiles at each grade level varied over time. Using latent transition analysis, approximately 40% of students in this study did not change their attitudes from seventh through 12th grade. Of those who changed their attitudes, change occurred prior to 10th grade and changed toward more negative attitudes. This pattern of change varied depending on ethnicity and gender.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Findings suggest that although a proportion of students have consistently positive or consistently negative attitudes toward mathematics and science, there is a larger group of students with malleable attitudes. These findings emphasize the importance of encouraging and supporting early positive attitudes toward mathematics and science, particularly for ethnically underrepresented females because of the impact on outcomes such as achievement and STEM career attainment.
Teacher Working Conditions, Teacher Commitment, and Charter Schools
Authors: Ni Yongmei
Published: November 2021

Background

The charter school movement relies on teachers as critical components. Teacher commitment is an important aspect of teachers’ lives, because it is an internal force for teachers to grow as professionals. It is also considered one of the crucial factors in influencing various educational outcomes, including teacher effectiveness, teacher retention, and student learning. However, no empirical studies have examined teacher commitment in charter schools.

Purpose

To address this knowledge gap, this study compares organizational and professional commitment of teachers in charter schools and traditional public schools (TPSs) and explores how these differences are associated with teachers’ characteristics, school contextual factors, and working conditions in the two types of schools.

Research Design

This study utilizes quantitative analyses of national data from the 2007– 2008 School and Staffing Survey. Hierarchical linear models were developed to examine whether teacher commitment differs between charter schools and TPSs; how teacher characteristics, school contextual factors, and teachers’ perceptions of working conditions contribute to the difference; and finally, whether these variables differentially influence teacher commitment in charter schools and TPSs.

Conclusions

On average, teachers in charter schools experienced lower levels of organizational commitment than teachers in TPSs, but similar levels of professional commitment. Teacher working conditions explained a large amount of the variance in between-school teacher commitment, suggesting that improving principal leadership, increasing opportunities for professional development, and alleviating teachers’ workload would be effective ways to promote teacher commitment in charter schools.
Suburbanizing Segregation? Changes in Racial/Ethnic Diversity and the Geographic Distribution of Metropolitan School Segregation, 2002–2012
Authors: Stroub Kori J. , Richards Meredith P.
Published: November 2021

Background

While postwar suburban migration established suburbs as relatively affluent, homogeneous white enclaves distinct from the urban core, recent waves of suburbanization and exurbanization have been spurred largely by rapid growth in the nonwhite population. While these increases in suburban racial/ethnic diversity represent a significant evolution of the traditional “chocolate city, vanilla suburbs” dichotomy, scholars have expressed concern that they are worsening racial/ethnic segregation among suburban public school students.

Objective

In this study, we document shifts in the racial imbalance of suburban schools in terms of several racial/ethnic and geographic dimensions (i.e., multiracial, black–white; between and within suburban districts, among localities). In addition, we extend the urban/suburban dichotomy to provide initial evidence on changes in racial balance in metropolitan exurbs. Finally, we use inferential models to directly examine the impact of changes in racial/ethnic diversity on shifts in racial imbalance.

Research Design

Using demographic data from the National Center of Education Statistics Common Core of Data on 209 U.S. metropolitan areas, we provide a descriptive analysis of changes in segregation within and between urban, suburban, and exurban localities from 2002 to 2012. We measure segregation using Theil's entropy index, which quantifies racial balance across geographic units. We assess the relationship between demographic change and change in segregation via a series of longitudinal fixed-effects models.

Results

Longitudinal analyses indicate that increases in racial/ethnic diversity are positively related to change in racial imbalance. However, observed increases in diversity were generally insufficient to produce meaningful increases in segregation. As a result, suburbs and exurbs, like urban areas, experienced little change in segregation, although trends were generally in a negative direction and more localities experienced meaningful declines in segregation than meaningful increases. Findings are less encouraging for suburbs and exurbs than for urban areas and underscore the intractability of black-white racial imbalance and the emerging spatial imbalance of Asians and whites. We also document an important shift in the geographic distribution of segregation, with suburbs now accounting for a plurality of metropolitan segregation.

Conclusions

Contrary to previous researchers, we do not find evidence that suburban and exurban schools are resegregating, although we fail to document meaningful progress towards racial equity. Moreover, while suburbs are not necessarily resegregating, we find that segregation is suburbanizing, and now accounts for the largest share of segregation of any locality. We conclude with a discussion of recommendations for policy and research.
Educating the Whole Child: Kindergarten Mathematics Instructional Practices and Students’ Academic and Socioemotional Development
Authors: Bargagliotti Anna , Gottfried Michael A. , Guarino Cassandra M.
Published: November 2021

Background

To date, school policies and practices have emphasized early-schooling mathematics instructional practices only as a way to boost academic achievement. However, because young children spend a large part of their formative years in classroom settings, it is important to understand not only the link between instruction and achievement but also the link between instruction and socioemotional development. Our study addressed this issue. Using a nationally representative dataset of kindergarten students, we inquired into which early mathematics instructional practices might be linked to a range of child outcomes, including both achievement and socioemotional development. We also investigated whether these associations varied across different subpopulations of students.

Population

The ECLS-K: 2011 dataset for a nationally representative sample of kindergartners in 2010–11 was used. Children were assessed in mathematics at kindergarten entry and at the end of the kindergarten year. Their socioemotional development was also rated by teachers and parents.

Research Design

We used student-level multiple regression analyses with school fixed effects, a rich set of individual, family, and classroom covariates, and school cluster-adjusted standard errors to estimate the associations between kindergarten mathematics instructional practices and achievement and multiple socioemotional outcomes.

Conclusions

We found that several instructional practices were associated with multiple types of outcomes, often with different results for different types of students. Thus, an exclusive focus on achievement likely obscures the full range of influence that teaching practices have on student success. As school systems increasingly seek to foster socioemotional learning, it is important to establish a research base that considers the links between pedagogy and all facets of childhood development.
The Arts, the Common Core, and English Language Development in the Primary Grades
Authors: Greenfader Christa Mulker , Brouillette Liane
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Throughout schooling, English learners (ELs) perform well below their monolingual English-speaking peers on literacy assessments, and Hispanics make up the majority of EL students in the United States. There is a strong consensus about the importance of early English oral language skills for ELs’ literacy development, yet teachers are not adequately prepared to meet the needs of these young learners. Historically, policy has not provided incentives for educators to focus on oral language development in the classroom. However, the recently adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) emphasize oral language skills.

Purpose/Objective

This study examines a professional development program that equipped early elementary teachers in five urban schools with arts-based strategies to promote the oral English development of ELs. A second line of inquiry looked at the extent to which the creative drama and dance activities were aligned with CCSS.

Participants

There were 3,792 K–2 Hispanic ELs (treatment: N = 497; control: N = 3,295) from Title I schools in a large school district in California.

Intervention

The Teaching Artist Project (TAP) was a two-year K–2 arts and literacy professional development program consisting of 28 weekly 50-minute lessons (14 theater and 14 dance). The project provided classroom teachers with in-service training on utilizing movement, gesture, and expression to promote stimulating English verbal interactions. TAP was specifically intended to engage non-native English speakers in classroom dialogues, facilitating their oral English development.

Research Design

This study utilized a mixed methods design. To address the first research question, schools were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Multiple regressions were run on data from the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to investigate the impact of the program on the English speaking abilities of K–2 Hispanic English learners. To address the second research question, document review was used to compare the K–2 CCSS speaking and listening standards and the TAP lesson plans.

Findings

The treatment group was found to significantly outperform the control group (β = 0.13; p < 0.05) on CELDT speaking scores. Additional review suggested that the performing arts activities corresponded well to the CCSS speaking and listening standards.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Creative drama and dance activities provide rich verbal classroom interactions, boost English oral language skills of ELs, and align with the CCSS. Yet concerns are raised about the lack of speaking assessments on tests created by the Smarter Balanced and PARCC consortiums and the potential subsequent distortion of K–2 instruction.
My Kids, Your Kids, Our Kids: What Parents and the Public Want from Schools
Authors: Valant Jon , Newark Daniel
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

School choice reforms could strengthen parents’ influence on school behaviors, since schools must appeal to parents in order to operate. If parents’ desires for schools differ from the broader public's desires for schools, then schools might pursue different goals and activities in systems emphasizing school choice. One popular hypothesis is that school-choosing parents, more than the public, want schools to prioritize their own students’ private interests over more collective social, economic, and political interests.

Purpose/Objective

We compare parents’ desires for their own children's schools with the U.S. public's desires for public schools. We make these comparisons with respect to the abstract goals that schools pursue, as well as schools’ more tangible behaviors.

Population/Participants/Subjects

We administered an online survey to nationally representative samples of parents and adults. We administered a second online survey to a national sample of adults.

Intervention/Program/Practice

The article consists of two studies. Study 1 compares parents’ and the public's beliefs about which abstract goals schools should prioritize. Respondents were randomly assigned to consider either schools in their community, schools around the country, or, if they had children, their own children's schools. They chose from goals that prioritized their students’ professional achievement (“Private Success”), the economy's needs (“Shared Economic Health”), and more collective social and political needs (“Democratic Character”). Study 2 compares parents’ and the public's beliefs about how schools should actually behave. Respondents were randomly assigned to consider either schools in their community, schools around the country, or their own children's schools. We asked about the basic structure and content of the school day, how schools should teach, and how to evaluate school performance.

Research Design

The studies consist of randomized experiments and related statistical analysis.

Findings/Results

We find remarkably little difference between parents’ desires for their children's schools and the public's desires for public schools. This is true both for the abstract goals that schools pursue and for schools’ more tangible behaviors.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Our findings suggest that the hypothesis that parents want schools to focus on their students’ private success at the expense of more collective goals is over-simplified. It may be, for example, that parents want their children to be well rounded in ways that also serve more collective social, political, and economic interests. We observe divisions in Americans’ views of the goals that schools should pursue, but these divisions are more connected to their political affiliation than parent status (with Republicans more focused than Democrats on Private Success).
Metacognition and Meta-Affect in Young Students: Does it Make a Difference in Mathematical Problem Solving?
Authors: Tzohar-Rozen Meirav , Kramarski Bracha
Published: November 2021

Mathematical problem solving is one of the most valuable aspects of mathematics education and the most difficult for elementary school students. Cognitive and metacognitive difficulties in this area cause students to develop negative attitudes and emotions as affective reactions, hampering their efforts and achievements. These metacognitive and meta-affective reactions are fundamental aspects of self-regulated learning (SRL), a non-innate process that requires systematic, explicit student training. This study investigated the impact of two self-regulation programs among young students (Grade 5)—metacognition (n = 64) and meta-affect (n = 54) versus a control group (n =53)—on enhancing achievements in mathematical verbal problem solving and a novel transfer task, as well as metacognitive and meta-affective regulation processes of a focus group during a thinking-aloud solution. Mixed methods indicate that students who participated in the metacognitive and meta-affective intervention programs presented similar but higher achievements than the control group. Additionally, during the thinking-aloud solution, students from each group broadly implemented the self-regulation processes they were trained in, while consistently referring to all the self-regulation phases. The current study makes an important contribution to practical implications for students with diverse abilities.
First 11 Years: 25 Exemplar Alternate Route and College-Prepared K–12 Teachers
Authors: Zumwalt Karen , Randi Judy , Rutter Alison , Sawyer Richard
Published: November 2021

This longitudinal study follows 25 exemplar elementary, secondary English, and math teachers prepared in New Jersey's alternate route program (AR) or college-based programs (CB) for 11 years. Half of the AR and CB teachers entered teaching in their early/mid 20s; the others were older beginners. The 12 AR teachers included four males and three teachers of color; all 13 CB teachers were White females. Initial and subsequent teaching placements were critical in what teachers learned and how long they stayed in a particular job and in teaching. Four AR teachers’ placements did not match their stated interest or undergraduate major. Quantity and quality of supervision varied for AR teachers. Five AR teachers, but no CB teachers, began teaching in low-wealth districts. Ten CB and two AR teachers taught in the same school district for the first six years. Six-year retention was 25% for AR teachers and 85% for CB teachers. Eleven-year retention was 42% for AR and 62% for CB. No AR math teacher lasted more than four years. Age at entry, match between setting and teacher, and classroom focus were related to retention. Considering those with school-based administrative jobs, jobs supporting K–12, and those on child leave breaks, CB retention was 100%, and AR retention was 67%, including all entering teachers of color.
Learnings from a Longitudinal Study of New Jersey Alternate Route and College-Prepared Elementary, Secondary English, and Secondary Math Teachers
Authors: Zumwalt Karen , Natriello Gary , Randi Judy , Rutter Alison , Sawyer Richard
Published: November 2021

Findings from a longitudinal survey, interview, and observational study of an early cohort of New Jersey elementary, secondary English, and secondary math teachers participating in a first-generation state alternate route initiative to address issues of supply, quality, and diversity in the teaching pool are discussed. The article explores emerging themes common to the literature on alternate routes and unique contributions of this study in relation to the recruitment, preparation, placement, and retention of teachers prepared in college-based and alternate route programs. The article ends with implications of what has been learned and still needs to be learned about different approaches in the face of the continued need for highly qualified teachers and in light of the contrasting policy agendas surrounding teacher education. Rather than the “horse-race” mentality that dominated earlier debate of alternate route vs. college-based teacher education programs, a more constructive frame considers the short term and long term trade-offs (e.g., recruitment vs. preparation, recruitment vs. retention) that arose from New Jersey's early implementation of an alternate route program.
The Policy Context for the Evolution of Teacher Education Reform in New Jersey
Authors: Natriello Gary
Published: November 2021

This article examines the genesis of the New Jersey Provisional Teacher Program, also known as the New Jersey Alternate Route Program, in three stages. First, the motivation to consider alternative ways of recruiting and preparing teachers for New Jersey schools began with general concern about the quality of education in the state and soon moved to consideration of means of strengthening teachers and teacher education. Second, the interest in improving the preparation of teachers led directly to changes in the regulations governing college-based teacher education programs. Third, the principles that were first applied to the reform of college-based programs were then adopted to structure and regulate an alternative route to teaching and the Provisional Teacher Program.
Five Portraits of Teachers’ Experiences Teaching Writing: Negotiating Knowledge, Student Need, and Policy
Authors: Wahleithner Juliet Michelsen
Published: November 2021

Background

Numerous reports have highlighted problems with writing instruction in American schools, yet few examine the interplay of teachers’ preparation to teach writing, the instructional policies they must navigate, and the writing development of the students in their classrooms.

Purpose

This study examines high school English teachers’ instruction of writing while taking into account their preparation for teaching writing—both preservice and inservice, the instructional policies in place, and the learners in their classrooms.

Setting

Data used come from public high school English teachers teaching in Northern California. These data were collected in 2011–2012, when teachers were sill complying with the mandates of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

Research Design

I use year-long qualitative case studies of five high school English teachers to highlight various ways teachers used their knowledge of writing instruction to negotiate the pressures of accountability policies and their students’ needs as writers to teach writing. Data collected include beginning- and end-of-year interviews with each teacher, four sets of 1- to 2-day observations of each teacher's instruction of writing, and instructional documents related to each teacher's writing instruction. These data were analyzed using the constant comparative method to look for themes within the data collected from each teacher and then make comparisons across teachers. Findings from the case studies are supported by findings from a survey of 171 high school teachers who taught a representative sample of California high school students at 21 schools in 20 districts. The survey included 41 multiple-choice items that asked about teachers’ instructional practices and their perceptions of high-stakes accountability pressures and their students as writers. Survey data were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics and principal components analysis.

Findings

Findings illustrate that significant differences existed in how the five teachers approached their writing instruction. These differences were due to both the teachers’ varied preparations to teach writing and the contextual factors in place where each taught. Those teachers with more developed knowledge of writing instruction were better able to navigate the policies in place at their sites and more equipped to plan appropriate instruction to develop their students as writers.

Recommendations

Findings indicate teachers would be better served by opportunities to develop their knowledge of writing instruction both prior to and once they begin their teaching careers. Additionally, the findings add to an existing body of research that demonstrates the limiting effect high-stakes assessments can have on teachers’ instruction of writing.
Holistic School Leadership: Development of Systems Thinking in School Leaders
Authors: Shared Haim , Schechter Chen
Published: November 2021

Background

Systems thinking is a holistic approach that puts the study of wholes before that of parts. It does not try to break systems down into parts in order to understand them; instead, it focuses attention on how the parts act together in networks of interactions.

Purpose

This study explored the development of holistic school leadership— an approach where principals lead schools through the systems thinking concept and procedures— over principals’ different career stages, a topic that has received little research attention.

Research Design

Qualitative data were collected via 82 semistructured interviews, six focus groups, and 27 observations of three groups of principals: (a) prospective principals— 24 students attending three principal preparation programs; (b) novice principals— follow-up on 11 prospective principals during their first year after appointment; and (c) experienced principals— eight principals holding that position for 5+ years. Data analysis was conducted by generating themes through an inductive process of condensing, coding, categorizing, and theorizing.

Findings

Data analysis indicated that the development of systems thinking in school leaders consists of five stages: (a) preservice stage, typified by an expansion of view; (b) survival stage, typified by a slowdown in the development of systems thinking; (c) consolidation stage, typified by a gradual development of systems thinking; (d) role maturity stage, typified by a systemic view; and (e) possible decline stage, typified by some degree of difficulty to think systemically.

Conclusions

Systems thinking is not equally applicable to aspiring, novice, midcareer, and veteran school principals. This study's findings may help identify ways to enhance and accelerate the development of systems thinking in prospective and currently performing principals in a way that is compatible with the unique features and context of their specific stage.
Social Movements and Educational Research: Toward a United Field of Scholarship
Authors: Niesz Tricia , Korora Aaron M. , Walkuski Christy Burke , Foot Rachel E.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Educational research addressing social movements appears to be growing rapidly but, with a few exceptions, this body of literature has remained largely isolated in pockets stretched across myriad fields of educational scholarship. Awareness and dialogue across researchers is limited because social movement-focused educational research lacks the structure, identity, profile, and networks of a field of scholarship.

Purpose/Objective

The purpose of this article is to explore how educational researchers have addressed social movements in their scholarship. Through presenting the findings from a wide-ranging literature review, we aim to generate greater awareness of social movement-oriented educational scholarship and argue for a more united field of research on social movements and education.

Research Design

We conducted an extensive review of educational scholarship with an explicit focus on social movements. Our sample included more than 370 publications from myriad fields of educational research, including adult education, higher education, social foundations of education, and other fields addressing K–12 schooling.

Findings/Results

We found that most of the educational literature addressing social movements can be grouped into one of two categories: the study of education and learning in social movements, and the study of the influence of movements on formal education. The first category of scholarship, produced primarily (though not entirely) in the field of adult education, has the appearance of a research program, with researchers engaged in scholarly conversation with shared theoretical touchstones. The second category of scholarship does not have the appearance of a research program, as it is produced across a number of fields that do not appear to be in dialogue. Although there is little sign of mutual awareness across these two large categories of literature, we found that researchers on both sides of the divide have much in common, including theoretical, methodological, and topical interests.

Conclusions/Recommendations

We conclude the literature review by arguing for the establishment of a more united field of research on social movements and education. We posit that an interdisciplinary and multi-perspective field devoted to understanding the educational dimensions and implications of social movements would not only benefit researchers and their scholarship but also pose and answer new and important questions related to formal, non-formal, and informal education. A more united field of inquiry related to social movements and education would also raise the profile of this scholarship such that it could have greater influence on educational policy and practice, as well as on social movements themselves.
Teaching for Hope in the Era of Grit
Authors: Stitzlein Sarah M.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Grit has quickly become one of the leading educational goals and markers of success upheld by many schools, parents, and education policies. This article intends to give us pause in the rush toward grit by revealing some of its shortcomings, including the implications of its individualist and long-term goal focus which leave systems of injustice in place and place children in a pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps ideology.

Purpose/Objective

This article responds to grit by putting forward a more robust and sustaining educational aim of hope that arises from the work of pragmatist philosophy, especially that of education theorist John Dewey.

Research Design

This analytic essay employs philosophical critique to assess the current emphasis on grit and its implications, then articulates the philosophical concept of pragmatist hope and explain how it overcomes the problems of grit.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The vision of hope put forward in this article is more flexible, social, and political than the popular form of grit, as it is driven to action that improves one's life and those of other people. The philosophically sophisticated account of hope offered here may be used, at times, to supplement or improve nascent theories of grit, or even supplant them. It suggests alternative ways forward as we seek visions of educational effectiveness that extend beyond test scores and into the lives of children and the future of American democracy.
Change in Computer Access and the Academic Achievement of Immigrant Children
Authors: Moon Ui Jeong , Hofferth Sandra L.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Increased interest in the correlates of media devices available to children has led to research indicating that access to and use of technology are positively associated with children's academic achievement. However, the digital divide remains; not all children have access to digital technologies, and not all children can acquire technological literacy. Specifically, immigrant families are known to be slow to adopt new technologies in the increasingly digital society of the United States.

Purpose/Objective

This study examined whether the benefits of computer access observed in the general U.S. population were also applicable to children from immigrant families in the early 2000s.

Research Design

Using data on 2,139 children in immigrant families from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort, this study examined the association between children's gaining access to a computer at home and their reading and mathematics test scores between the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

Findings/Results

We found that if children had access to a computer during the early elementary school years, they demonstrated increased mathematics test scores later on.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Three characteristics of computer access are discussed in terms of implications for media popular today, including type of media (old vs. new), featured functions of technology, and timing of availability to children. In particular, the computer's spatial and virtual functions may be likely to translate into improved mathematics skills, especially when access occurs early in kindergarten and first grade. Extra effort is needed to inform immigrant and minority parents about the benefits of new technologies so that their children can access them at home as much as children from nonimmigrant and nonminority families. To lessen the digital divide in children's education, timely financial support and educational information should be provided to parents to encourage early adoption of new media technologies, thus ensuring that immigrant and minority children are not left behind in the digital age.
Reconsidering Academic Rigor: Posing and Supporting Rigorous Course Practices at Two Research Institutions
Authors: Campbell Corbin M. , Dortch Deniece
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

U.S. institutions of higher education have been criticized for providing limited learning gains and lacking rigor. Most understandings of academic rigor in higher education focus on how rigor manifests in students in terms of amount of work or approach to learning.

Purpose/Objective

This study examines rigor as posed by course practices. We define rigorous course practices as teaching practices and coursework that challenge learners to sustain a deep connection to the subject matter and to think in increasingly complex ways about the course content and its applications. The study sought to further the discourse on college academic rigor by describing rigor in coursework at two selective research institutions and examining which course contexts and teaching practices were associated with higher levels of rigor.

Setting

We studied two highly ranked, highly residential, selective, very highly research-oriented institutions on the East Coast of the United States: a mid-sized (< 5,000 undergraduates) private, urban institution and a large (∼15,000 undergraduates) public institution.

Population/Participants

We sampled 400 courses at each institution. Of the faculty who taught these courses, 31.4% agreed to participate. We conducted 150 class observations: 99 at Site 1 and 51 at Site 2.

Research Design

This study used a quantitative observational protocol.

Data Collection and Analysis

Data were collected during a week-long site visit, with observers using a structured rubric. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and OLS regression in blocks, partitioning the variance in academic rigor that can be explained by course characteristics (e.g., class size and discipline) and teaching practices (active learning, cognitively responsive teaching).

Findings/Results

Most courses in our sample focused on applying, and 85% of the courses achieved a higher-order level of cognitive complexity (analyzing, evaluating, or creating) at some point during the class session. Active learning and cognitively responsive teaching practices were associated with higher cognitive complexity and greater standards and expectations in the courses.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The discourse on academic rigor in higher education warrants further scrutiny and, could be balanced by studies that provide greater depth in the educational practices in classrooms. This study suggests that institutions and faculty may have a significant role in scaffolding rigor. Academic rigor is not simply about having bright, dedicated, and hard-working students but is also determined by classroom environments and processes that can be cultivated.