bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Insights into Teachers’ Experiences Implementing Garden-Based Learning: Characterizing the Relationship between the Teacher and the Curriculum
Authors: Selmer Sarah J. , Luna Melissa J. , Rye James A.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

This study seeks insights into teachers’ experiences implementing Garden-Based Learning (GBL) in an elementary school. The breadth of studies supporting the use of GBL in K–8 schools in the United States alongside the paucity of studies specific to teachers’ experiences implementing GBL highlights the importance of this work.

Purpose

Our study uses Remillard's framework for characterizing and studying teachers’ interactions with curriculum materials specifically in the context of GBL. We believe that exploring the dynamic relationship between teachers and a GBL curriculum may help those involved in supporting teachers in implementing GBL to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the teacher/GBL curriculum relationship. This research examined teachers’ GBL implementation experiences in order to answer the following research question: How do we describe and characterize teachers’ interactions with GBL curriculum materials?

Research Design

Twenty teachers employed from one elementary school were interviewed using a semistructured task-based protocol resulting in a teacher-created diagram of supports and challenges he/she encountered while implementing GBL over the past year. The diagram was used as a tool to stimulate and access teachers’ thinking about these supports and challenges in order to provide insight into the teacher and curricular resources at play when implementing GBL.

Findings/Results

Using a grounded theory analysis of each participant's diagram, we characterized each teacher's participatory relationship with GBL. We found 13% of supports and challenges elicited from all teachers had a teaching and learning focus. On an individual level, supports and challenges had a substantial teaching and learning focus for only two teachers. Thirteen teachers were characterized as having a pragmatic focus. Of the seven teachers characterized to have an experiential focus: supports and challenges focused more so on what students were doing for four teachers and more so on what teachers were doing for three teachers.

Conclusions/Recommendations

We used Remillard's framework to investigate and characterize the participatory relationship between teachers and the GBL curriculum. The resulting characterizations provide insight for supporting GBL teacher learning contexts and will help guide future research. Based on this study, it is critical that individuals involved in educational change continue trying to understand and develop spaces for teacher learning. These spaces should move beyond traditional professional development focused on teacher participation toward experiences focused on teacher learning within and across their teaching contexts.
Uncertainty as a Foundation for Change
Authors: Naraian Srikala
Published: November 2021

This commentary notes the oppositional traditions that inform polarized perspectives on disability and schooling, and raises the question of the significance of such divisions for schools and for preparing teachers. Drawing on an international collaborative experience involving competing knowledge traditions the creative possibilities of uncertainty and ambiguity for reforming schools are explored.
Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Center-based Child Care and Students’ Early Schooling Outcomes
Authors: Gottfried Michael A.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

In the United States, there has been an increased trend in parents’ utilization of center-based child care. Yet, though research has examined the effects of attending prekindergarten center-based care or the effects of attending center-based care during the kindergarten school year, little is known about the effects of having attended both.

Purpose/Objective

This study asks three questions: (a) Do children who attend both prekin-dergarten and kindergarten center-based care have different achievement outcomes, measured at the end of kindergarten? (b) Do children who attend both prekindergarten and kindergarten center-based care have different socioemotional outcomes, measured at the end of kindergarten? (c) Do these relationships differ by individual socio-demographic characteristics?

Population/Participants

This study utilizes data from the newly released Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011). The ECLS-K:2011 represents the most contemporary national-level data available to study the educational experiences of young students in the United States. Information was first collected from kindergartners (as well as parents, teachers, and school administrators) from U.S. kindergarten programs in the year 2010–2011.

Research Design

This study combines secondary data analyses and quasi-experimental methods. There are two achievement outcomes: reading and math. There are five socioemotional outcomes: externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, self-control, approaches to learning, and interpersonal skills. The study begins with a baseline, linear regression model. To address issues pertaining to omitted variable bias, the study employs various fixed-effects models.

Findings

The findings for the first research question indicated that academic outcomes do not differ for children in both years of center-based care compared to children who attended only one year of center-based care or none at all. As for the second research question, the findings show that multiple years of center-based care is related to increases in problem behaviors and decreases in prosocial behaviors—outcomes that are worsened by the number of years of center-based care attendance. The findings for the third research question suggest some minor differences between boys and girls in zero, one, or two years of center-based care.

Conclusions/Recommendations

This study has brought to surface new ways that center-based care attendance might influence children's short-term outcomes. Therefore, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners must base future questions on empirical work concerning how to address children's outcomes across multiple years of care, rather than simply focus exclusively on one year's influence.
The Association between Standards-Based Grading and Standardized Test Scores as an Element of a High School Reform Model
Authors: Pollio Marty , Hochbein Craig
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

From two decades of research on the grading practices of teachers in secondary schools, researchers discovered that teachers evaluated students on numerous factors that do not validly assess a student's achievement level in a specific content area. These consistent findings suggested that traditional grading practices evolved to meet the variety of educational stakeholder expectations for schools, teachers, and students.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of standards-based grading in a high school reform by assessing the relationships between differing grading approaches and standardized test achievement.

Setting

The study examined student performance from 11 high schools operating in a large metropolitan school district.

Population/Participants/Subjects

The sample of students included two cohorts of 1,163 and 1,256 11th grade students who completed an Algebra 2 course and the state standardized test.

Intervention/Program/Practice

Each of the high schools implemented a locally designed reform known as Project Proficiency. A key component of the reform included utilizing standards-based grading to assess student proficiency of the content.

Research Design

This study utilized a non-equivalent control group design and quantitative analyses to compare the association between classroom grades and standardized test scores.

Data Collection and Analysis

The data for the study included the students’ final grades, standardized test scores, and basic demographic information.

Findings/Results

Results indicated that the rate of students earning an A or B in a course and passing the state test approximately doubled when utilizing standards-based grading practices. In addition, results indicated that standards-based grading practices identified more predictive and valid assessment of at-risk students’ attainment of subject knowledge.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The article demonstrates the benefits of using standards-based grading in reforms attempting to improve the academic performance of secondary schools, but also notes how restriction of grades to mastery of standards will challenge educators’ perception of their abilities and students’ efforts. The article also notes the methodological limitations of prior grading research and suggests the need for more robust studies assessing grading practices, student achievement, and school performance.
Understanding Differences in Instructional Quality between High and Lower Value-Added Schools in a Large Urban District
Authors: Smith Thomas , Preston Courtney , Haynes Katherine , Booker Laura Neergaard
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

High schools are under increasing pressure to move beyond just graduating students, and many high schools today continue to have low rates of student retention and learning, particularly for students from traditionally low-performing subgroups. Differential dropout rates, wherein low-income students, minorities, and English language learners leave school at higher rates than other students, only compound the problem.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

In this study, we examine differences in instructional quality between two higher and two lower value-added high schools, as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System – Secondary (CLASS-S). It explores (1) differences in levels of instructional quality, (2) differences in the proportions of students taking advanced courses, and (3) differences in the way teachers think and talk about their classroom challenges.

Research Design

This is a mixed methods study that combines data from classroom observation protocols with teacher interview data. We use multilevel statistical models to address the first two research questions and emergent, inductive coding to determine commonalities within schools in how teachers implement higher-quality instructional practices.

Findings/Results

We find that the average difference in instructional quality, as measured by the CLASS-S, was not very wide across our four case study schools and that the biggest differences were between the two higher value-added high schools. Our interview data suggest that teachers in the two higher value-added schools are more proactive about providing emotional support and preventing behavioral problems, and intentional about attending to content and engaging students in higher-order thinking.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The lack of variation in classroom instructional practice across schools also suggests the need to attend to the ways that schools support academic learning outside of the classroom. Qualitative findings signal that the quality of classroom instruction is not the only critical input to students’ learning gains when trying to identify what leads schools to place highly in value-added rankings.
What English Language Learners Have to Say about NCLB Testing
Authors: Yee Mary
Published: November 2021

This study is a phenomenological study that examines the No Child Left Behind testing experience of middle school English language learners (ELLs) through their journal writing. Thirteen students in a seventh/ eighth-grade self-contained Chinese bilingual classroom wrote journal entries in response to a prompt asking their opinion of standardized testing; students responded in either Chinese or English. The author found that students had many incisive critiques of testing and test preparation, articulated reasons for not performing well, expressed their psychological or emotional reactions, and offered recommendations for improving the experience. Some students used their knowledge of the Chinese educational system to compare and contrast their testing experiences. The students’ overall negative experience was due to overtesting, the ineffectiveness of remedial computer programs, “luck” as an unpredictable factor in multiple-choice tests, or their status as second language learners. Reactions of anxiety and fear of doing poorly also mattered. The author relates the concept of “student voice” to counter-narratives, identity construction, and resistance to dominant discourses about immigrant ELL students. She discusses how these “student voices” disrupt essentialized views of ELLs and recent immigrant students and urges educators to make the voices of immigrant and ELL students more prominent in classrooms.
We've Been Post-Raced: An Examination of Negotiations between Race, Agency, and School Structures Black Families Experience within “Post-Racial” Schools
Authors: Reynolds Rema E.
Published: November 2021

This chapter draws from empirical research on middle-class African American families to examine the ways middle-class African American parents and students make meaning of their experiences within public schools. In light of the current mainstream contention that the United States has entered a post-racial epoch with the election of the first African American president, this work posits that post-racial rhetoric obfuscates the continued racialized experiences of Black families regardless of class status. In particular, this work examines how middle-class African American families navigate conversations about race, agency, and structure as they relate to access and opportunities in education and society as a whole.
Factors Associated with College Coping among High-Achieving Scholarship Recipients from Adverse Backgrounds
Authors: Wolniak Gregory , Rekoutis Panagiotis (Panos)
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Studies have shown that students from low-income backgrounds are particularly at risk of not succeeding in college and that, once in college, students from the lowest socioeconomic groups complete college at a fraction the rate of student from the highest socioeconomic groups. College presents unique challenges for students from adverse backgrounds. To adequately support such students in college, we must first understand the kinds of programs and support services that enable students from adverse backgrounds to cope with stressors encountered during college.

Purpose/Objective

The purpose of the study was to improve understanding of the factors that enable students from adverse backgrounds to cope with the college environment in pursuit of a bachelor's degree. The analyses addressed the following research questions: (1) Among students from adverse backgrounds, do the services and supports encountered during college enhance their ability to positively cope with the college environment ? (2) Are the associations between college services and supports, and positively coping with the college environment conditional on gender, identifying as a student of color, year in college, or level of adversity experienced prior to college?

Research Design

The study utilized multivariate regression techniques to analyze survey data. The first analytic stage involved regressing each of the three Coping with the College Environment Scales on distinct blocks of variables. The second analytic stage tested for conditional effects by gender, identifying as a student of color, the number of adversities experienced prior to college, and HAA Scholarship application year as a proxy for year of initial college entry.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The study's main findings include: having a mentor while in college as well as during high school had a positive influence on college coping; self-efficacy significantly and positively influenced all three dimensions of coping with the college environment; and several relationships differed between females (vs. males) and first-year (vs. other) students. Overall, the study responds to calls for additional research in this arena, builds on the literature on college coping, readiness and success, and extends previous validation research on dimensions of coping with college through analysis of a robust sample of college students. The study reaffirms the importance of college scholarship programs in providing researchers a lens through which to study and learn from unique populations of students.
A School-University Research Partnership to Identify Disengaged Students: A Descriptive Case Analysis of School Climate
Authors: Biag Manuelito , Sanchez Monika
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Much of the literature on school—university research partnerships has focused on collaborations that address curriculum, instruction, and leadership. Less scholarly attention has been paid to how practitioners and academics work together to improve school climate.

Purpose

We seek to deepen understanding of how educators and researchers collaborate to address aspects of the campus environment that matter to students’ learning. We discuss findings from the first year of a long-term research alliance—between a university research center, a high school, and one of its feeder K–8 school districts—focused on improving school climate. First, we report results from our analysis of students’ responses to a schoolwide survey. Then, we examine the affordances and challenges at every stage of the investigative process, highlighting factors critical to school-university research alliances.

Research Design

We analyzed students’ school climate survey responses in one low-income predominantly Latino high school (n = 1,606). We linked students’ survey data to their administrative records and employed logistic regression modeling to determine the extent to which students’ school climate perceptions were associated to their educational outcomes. We also analyzed the cohort of students who matriculated to the high school from the nearby elementary school feeder district to see whether the middle-to-high-school transition shifted their views on the school environment.

Findings

Males, students in Grade 11, and those with at least one suspension reported fewer positive experiences on campus relative to their peers. Also, the middle-to-high-school transition had a positive influence on students who reported low average perceptions of care in their middle school. Reflecting on the partnership process, we found that responding promptly to the concerns of stakeholders helped establish credibility and trust. Open and frequent communication was also essential to maintain focus, sustain commitment, and ensure the longevity of the alliance. Further, allowing partners to contribute and make decisions throughout the analysis helped ensure that all perspectives were considered, thus increasing the validity of research findings.

Conclusions/Recommendations

School—university collaborations can be challenging to maintain. This study suggests that reforming school climate is a long-term participatory process that demands significant resources and ongoing engagement from both researchers and practitioners. By providing a thorough examination of the give and take, ups and downs, and stops and starts of a school—university research alliance, we aim to identify elements that can help partnerships succeed and provide rich evidence that can serve as a foundation for further inquiry.
Rigor and Responsiveness in Classroom Activity
Authors: Thompson Jessica , Hagenah Sara , Kang Hosun , Stroupe David , Braaten Melissa , Colley Carolyn , Windschitl Mark
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

There are few examples from classrooms or the literature that provide a clear vision of teaching that simultaneously promotes rigorous disciplinary activity and is responsive to all students. Maintaining rigorous and equitable classroom discourse is a worthy goal, yet there is no clear consensus of how this actually works in a classroom.

Focus of Study

What does highly rigorous and responsive talk sound like and how is this dialogue embedded in the social practices and activities of classrooms? Our aim was to examine student and teacher interactions in classroom episodes (warm-ups, small-group conversations, whole-group conversation, etc.) and contribute to a growing body of research that specifies equity in classroom practice.

Research Design

This mixed-method study examines differences in discourse within and across classroom episodes (warm-ups, small-group conversations, whole-group conversation, etc.) that elevated, or failed to elevate, students’ explanatory rigor in equitable ways. Data include 222 secondary science lessons (1,174 episodes) from 37 novice teachers. Lessons were videotaped and analyzed for the depth of students’ explanatory talk and the quality of responsive dialogue.

Findings

The findings support three statistical claims. First, high levels of rigor cannot be attained in classrooms where teachers are unresponsive to students’ ideas or puzzlements. Second, the architecture of a lesson matters. Teachers and students engaging in highly rigorous and responsive lessons turned potentially trivial episodes (such as warm-ups) of science activity into robust learning experiences, connected to other episodes in the same lesson. Third, episodes featuring one or more forms of responsive talk elevated rigor. There were three forms of responsive talk observed in classrooms: building on students’ science ideas, attending to students’ participation in the learning community, and folding in students’ lived experiences. Small but strategic moves within these forms were consequential for supporting rigor.

Conclusions/Recommendations

This paper challenges the notion that rigor and responsiveness are attributes of curricula or individual teachers. Rigorous curriculum is necessary but not sufficient for ambitious and equitable science learning experiences; the interactions within the classroom are essential for sustaining the highest quality of scientific practice and sense-making. The data supported the development of a framework that articulates incremental differences in supporting students’ explanatory rigor and three dimensions of responsiveness. We describe implications for using this framework in the design of teacher programs and professional development models.
Teacher Political Disclosure as Parrhēsia
Authors: Journell Wayne
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

The traditional stance on teacher political disclosure within K–12 education is that neutrality is the only morally appropriate approach for teachers to take when broaching political or social issues in their classes due to their role as state employees who serve a particular community. A number of recent high-profile cases of teachers intolerantly disclosing their political beliefs in their classrooms have only served to reinforce the belief among the general public that teachers too often use their positions of authority to proselytize to their students. However, both theoretical arguments made by scholars and empirical data from K–12 classrooms suggest that disclosure may be beneficial to students’ learning experiences and civic development.

Purpose

This article seeks to better understand the benefits and limitations of teacher political disclosure by framing disclosure around Foucault's conceptualization of parrhēsia, which can loosely be defined as the ability to speak the truth in spite of danger or fear.

Research Design

This is an analytic essay/theoretical argument. As a way of scaffolding the discussion, I incorporate vignettes of data collected from my research in high school civics classrooms. Of particular interest to this argument is Mr. Monroe, a teacher I studied during the 2012 Presidential Election.

Conclusions/Recommendations

An analysis of teacher political disclosure using a parrhēsia framework suggests that educators should rethink the conventional wisdom that supports non-disclosure. Although disclosure carries inherent risk, it also offers democratic and interpersonal benefits for students. Both in-service and pre-service professional development, then, should present teachers with a complete picture of the risks and benefits of disclosure, and teachers should determine whether to engage in parrhēsiastic acts by strategically balancing those risks against the potential of disclosure to support their pedagogical goals.
Exposure in and Out of School: A Black Bermudian Male's Successful Educational Journey
Authors: Douglas Ty-Ron M. O. , Arnold Noelle Witherspoon
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

The influence of non-school based venues has been historically significant for people of African descent who have often had to buttress their schoolhouse experiences with support from community-based influences. For example, Black churches, barbershops and athletic environments like basketball courts, and soccer and cricket clubs are particularly relevant for Black males in spaces like Bermuda and urban communities in the United States.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

Drawing on a larger oral history project, this paper reports the findings of a secondary narrative analysis of a Black Bermudian male to provide an in-depth understanding of his in-school and out-ofschool educational experiences, identity construction and success. The authors seek to answer the following research question: How does a Black Bermudian male describe the impact of his ethnic community for shaping his successful educational journey?

Research Design

While the larger oral history study includes data collected from 12 Black Bermudian males, the scope of this article specifically focuses on the secondary narrative analysis of the experiences of one of the participants, Brandon Smith. As a published author, high-ranking civil servant, and prominent community leader, Brandon is arguably one of the most successful Black Bermudian males of his generation.

Findings/Results

The results of the study reveal that the participant's educational success was undergirded by his exposure to varying constructs related to his personal and cultural identity; exposure to engaged educators, mentors, spaces, and opportunities in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary settings; and exposure to mechanisms of identity and success in the geographical spaces of Bermuda, the Caribbean, and the United States.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Three subsections of the participant's exposure are discussed in the manuscript: nondeficit community and school-based exposure, multigenerational academically legitimizing support, and border crossing exposure. This study suggests that a Black Bermudian male can experience educational success when his educational journey inside and outside of school provides balance between his knowledge and acceptance of his identity. The authors contend that the schoolhouse is not the only space or variable that defines or prepares Black males for academic (or personal) success. Furthermore, many students who identify as African American in school may also have familial connections to the Caribbean, Africa, South America, Europe, Bermuda, and other jurisdictions. As such, educators should consider the significance of regional differences on Black male identities (e.g., North, South, East, West, Midwestern), and find ways to help students see relevance between their personal identities and larger causes and contexts.
The Effects of Social Context on Youth Outcomes: Studying Neighborhoods and Schools Simultaneously
Authors: Brazil Noli
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

A long line of research has empirically examined the effects of social context on child and adolescent well-being. Scholars have paid particular attention to two specific levels of social context: the school and neighborhood. Although youths occupy these social contexts simultaneously, empirical research on schools and neighborhoods has largely been conducted independently of one another.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

This study reviews neighborhood and school effects studies conducted between 2005 and 2013 to determine the degree to which these research domains have exclusively examined a single context. The study then uses nationally representative data to compare estimates of school and neighborhood effects across a variety of youth outcomes. The comparison reveals how much estimates of school and neighborhood effects change after accounting for both levels of context.

Research Design

Cross-classified random effects models are used to estimate the effects of school and neighborhood disadvantage on a variety of youth outcomes. For each youth outcome, I compare the effects of concentrated disadvantage and the percent of variation explained at the school and neighborhood levels across two models: a single context effects model that includes only the school or neighborhood and a model including characteristics of both contexts.

Findings/Results

Of the 238 school and neighborhood effects studies examined in the review, only 46, or 21%, account for both neighborhoods and schools in the analysis. The multivariate regression results indicate that excluding a level of context has greater consequences on the estimates of neighborhood effects than on school effects. However, ignoring the neighborhood obscures its independent effects on key adolescent outcomes.

Conclusions/Recommendations

An empirical analysis of context effects on youth well-being should account for both neighborhoods and schools in order to minimize bias in parameter estimates. Furthermore, simultaneously analyzing schools and neighborhoods will move the study of school and neighborhood effects forward by illuminating policies and strategies in which neighborhoods and schools can work together to increase the overall well-being of children and adolescents.
Expansive Openness in Teacher Practice
Authors: Kimmons Royce
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Previous work on the use of open educational resources in K–12 classrooms has generally focused on issues related to cost. The current study takes a more expansive view of openness that also accounts for adaptation and sharing in authentic classroom contexts. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The study seeks to understand what a group of practicing teachers who have been introduced to an expansive vision of openness in practice perceive to be its major potentials and barriers.

Setting

This study took place in two settings: 1) a series of structured summer open education institutes and 2) teachers’ authentic classroom contexts 6 months after the institutes. Population/Participants/Subjects A group of practicing K–12 elementary and secondary teachers (n = 101) self-selected to participate in the institutes and the study.

Intervention/Program/Practice

Institutes were focused, 3-day events wherein teachers constructed PLCs for learning about open education and applying their understanding toward creating open educational resources for their classrooms.

Research Design

This mixed methods study consisted of phenomenological methods for collecting and analyzing qualitative data from a large group and survey analysis and inferential statistics for clarifying results and determining unification of voice among participants.

Data Collection and Analysis

Data collection consisted of a series of large focus group / incubator sessions, an evaluative survey, and a follow-up survey. Items for the follow-up survey were constructed out of emergent themes from the focus group / incubator sessions.

Findings/Results

Results revealed that participants uniformly believed that openness offers pedagogical, economic, and professional potentials for practice, but that major barriers to diffusion exist at the macro and local levels due to the political and economic realities of the teaching profession.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Openness in practice has great promise for K–12 teaching and learning, but educators, researchers, and legislators should reexamine the meaning of open in educational practice to consider its benefits beyond cost and advocate for those practices that lead to greater freedom and professionalization of teaching.
Google Docs in the Classroom: A District-wide Case Study
Authors: Yim Soobin , Warschauer Mark , Zheng Binbin
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Successful integration of educational technology is a complicated process that is influenced by multiple factors. Recently, both within and across schools, educators have been searching for cloud-based solutions to address the challenges of integrating educational technology into their school systems—assessing whether these programs are affordable, accessible, and well-suited to improve learning. While the popularity of cloud-based applications among educational institutions and students is rapidly increasing due to their enhanced sharing features, accessibility, and cost-efficiency, there have been few efforts to investigate the impacts of these cloud-based applications in educational settings, especially in K-12 settings.

Purpose/Objective

This paper examines how Google Docs, one of the most popular cloud-based software applications, is integrated into middle-school English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms in a school district with a laptop initiative. Specifically, this case study attempts to understand the contemporary challenges of implementing the collaborative web-based tool and its accompanying opportunities, as well as the contextual factors for its implementation within the district.

Research Design

This qualitative study followed a grounded approach to data analysis. Using primarily initial coding and thematic coding methods, we analyzed interviews, surveys (from 2,152 students and 25 teachers), classroom observations, and student documents collected over the course of the 2011–2012 academic year. Analysis revealed three key themes (access and workability, cost and practicality, and affordances for writing), as well as the contextual factors of Google Docs implementation (the district's focus on instructional goals and professional development).

Conclusion/Recommendations

Our case study suggests that the introduction of cloud-based tools was perceived by students, teachers, and district officials to make technology use more accessible and convenient, to enhance cost-efficiency and productivity, and, most importantly, to provide ample affordances for writing practice and instruction. The district-wide implementation of Google Docs provided broad, accessible, and affordable simultaneous access to students and teachers, while increasing their opportunities to improve writing skills through features such as feedback, revision history, and reader selection. We also identified key contextual factors that contributed to these favorable outcomes, such as the district's focus on curricular integration and professional development. As one of the few studies that explores cloud-based tools’ usability and benefits in K-12 settings, we hope to help school districts make informed decisions about adopting these applications for instruction. Though the particularities of context need to be taken into account, the case study nevertheless reveals a cloud-based environment's salient affordances for learning in a district-wide implementation context.
Leveraging Observation Tools for Instructional Improvement: Exploring Variability in Uptake of Ambitious Instructional Practices
Authors: Cohen Julie , Schuldt Lorien Chambers , Brown Lindsay , Grossman Pam
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Current efforts to build rigorous teacher evaluation systems has increased interest in standardized classroom observation tools as reliable measures for assessing teaching. However, many argue these instruments can also be used to effect change in classroom practice. This study investigates a model of professional development (PD) built around a tool—the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observations (PLATO).

Purpose/Objective

The study analyzes the extent to which teachers appropriated the instructional practices targeted in the PLATO PD. We also assess factors that may have supported and/or hindered teachers’ uptake of practices.

Setting/Participants

The study sample includes 27 teachers who participated in PD over 2 years. Teachers worked in six middle schools in a single, large urban district.

Intervention

The two year PD consisted of 5 daylong sessions each school year, and a 4-day summer institute. All sessions focused on the PLATO scales. Teachers also worked in school-based teams to design lessons featuring the focal practices and attended five school-site meetings with PLATO PD providers.

Research Design and Data Collection

PLATO served as a set of practices around which to orient PD, as well as a standardized tool for measuring changes in teacher practice. All teachers were observed using PLATO scales throughout the PD and during the subsequent year. We conducted multiple interviews with all participating teachers, which were transcribed and coded by multiple researchers. Case studies of six purposively sampled teachers incorporate interviews, scores, and field notes. Findings/Results: The duration of PD mattered in terms of teachers’ appropriation of PLATO practices. In addition, “foundational practices” supported the appropriation of more ambitious practices targeted in the PLATO PD, including time and behavior management and instructional planning. Finally, our findings suggest stable and collaborative communities support professional learning and growth.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The findings suggest moving away from “one size fits all models” and differentiating PD for teachers. Effective professional development may not be effective for all teachers. Observation protocols can play a unique role in PD by allowing professional developers to gather standardized information across teachers and to compare changes in teacher practice in systematic ways. PD providers might also use such tools di-agnostically to identify and respond to the heterogeneity in teachers’ practice.
Religious Youths’ Motivations for Reading Complex, Religious Texts
Authors: Rackley Eric D.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Research confirms that religion is a significant part of the lives of American youths, that religious texts are an essential part of their experiences in the world, and that as part of their everyday cultural practices, religious youths demonstrate strong commitments to reading religious texts. Currently, however, the field of literacy has yet to develop a body of research that examines the motivations that drive young people to engage with the religious texts that appear to mean so much to them.

Focus of Study and Research Questions

Situated within social and cultural perspectives of literacy and motivation, the purpose of this study is to examine religious youths’ personal motivations for reading complex, religious texts such as the Bible and the Book of Mormon by looking closely at the connections among their literacy practices, religious ideologies, and the expression of their religious identities. Two questions operationalize this purpose: 1. What are the similarities and differences among Latter-day Saint and Methodist youths’ personal motivations to engage with religious texts? 2. In what ways are these motivations influenced by the youths’ religiocultural traditions, ideologies, practices, and commitments.

Research Design

Qualitative methods were used to examine youths’ motivations for religious literacies. Nine months of ethnographic observations in multiple contexts and 59 in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted over two years were transcribed and analyzed to address the purpose of the study. Analytic procedures were informed by grounded theory.

Findings

The findings revealed a broad-level framework that explained the youths’ personal motivations for reading religious texts that transcended religious affiliation. Youths in both congregations were motivated to engage with complex, religious texts because they providing them with (a) knowledge about their religious traditions, (b) tools for applying religious knowledge to the lives, (c) strength to endure life's challenges, (d) comfort during stressful times, and (e) a connection to God.

Conclusions/Recommendations

As a space to explore the interactions among religion, literacy, and motivation, this study contributes to a more robust understand about the manner in which young people engage with complex, religious texts. This research also has implications for conceptualizing motivated literacy, engaging students with complex, academic texts, and studying motivation for literacy as social practice.
Improving High School Success: Searching for Evidence of Promise
Authors: Mazzeo Christopher , Fleischman Steve , Heppen Jessica , Jahangir Theresa
Published: November 2021

Improving the nation's high schools—particularly those that are low-per-forming—involves challenges that are far easier to catalog than to surmount. In this article, the authors identify a handful of promising approaches that can help to achieve the goal that all students will graduate from high school well-prepared for further learning, successful careers, and engaged citizenship. The authors explain the theories that drive these high school improvement models, review evidence of their effectiveness to date, and suggest what it will take to make them work well. The authors stress that no single school improvement model or approach, no matter how powerful, can ensure the success of all students or schools. The reasons for poor performance are complex and determined by multiple intersecting personal, community, and organizational factors. These inequities have very real consequences for schooling and makes the job of improvement that much more challenging. The article concludes with a set of recommendations for policymakers, researchers, and sponsors of research to enhance the evidence base and increase our knowledge of how high schools and high school success outcomes can improve over time.
School Turnaround through Scaffolded Craftsmanship
Authors: Thompson Charles L. , Henry Gary T. , Preston Courtney
Published: November 2021

Between 2006 and 2010, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction intervened in 128 low-performing schools, combining approaches consistent with school restructuring and transformation. In improved schools, local educators reconstructed key school functions, a distinctly nonlinear process more like the work of skilled craftsmen than that of design engineers that we refer to as “scaffolded craftsmanship.” We interviewed key stakeholders in 12 high schools to learn about the dynamics accounting for the improvement or stalemate at each school. In sum, in the improved schools we studied, the turnaround process was not a matter of initial external design and subsequent implementation, but a non-linear process of planning, inventing, adjusting, and re-planning as well as a process of learning, doing, and learning from doing. The improvement generally began with the installation of new leadership and involved four main components: new commitment, climate, and culture; improved knowledge and skills; strategically organized and managed structures and supports for instruction; and strengthened external support. Our findings suggest that judicious personnel replacement followed by professional development and coaching targeted to key functions may be a more effective method for implementing school turnaround than the structural approaches promoted via NCLB sanctions and Race to the Top.
The Evolution of the High School in America
Authors: Murphy Joseph
Published: November 2021

The narrative in this article runs as follows. As the political, social, and economic environments that surround the American high school undergo seismic shifts, they create new forms of secondary education. We report that the environmental conditions between 1890 and 1920 were such that most of the pillars that anchored the American high school prior to the 20th century were swept away. New scaffolding for how classrooms should function, how schools should be organized and managed, and how the school–community relationship should be defined was constructed. By the early part of the 20th century, the high schools the nation had known for the previous three centuries were mostly gone. Over the 30 years, the social, economic, and political environments that envelop education have begun to reshape the American high school once again. Pressures accompanying the evolution to a post-industrial economy have introduced new understandings of what society expects from its secondary schools. Political and social revolutions are also pushing the high school toward fundamental changes. The biblical aura of the 20th century organizational and management playbooks for high schools are being rewritten under an onslaught of post-professional, post-public monopoly views of schools, how they work, and how they need to be shepherded to success.
The Philosophical Underpinnings and Key Features of the Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment
Authors: Kingston Neal M. , Karvonen Meagan , Bechard Sue , Erickson Karen A.
Published: November 2021

The Dynamic Learning Maps™ Alternate Assessment is based on a different set of guiding principles than other assessments. In this article we describe its characteristics and look at the history of alternate assessment and the problems in implementing useful assessment programs for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Under Pressure in Atlanta: School Accountability and Special Education Practices during the Cheating Scandal
Authors: Aronson Brittany , Murphy Kristin M. , Saultz Andrew
Published: November 2021

A 2011 report by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) confirmed a widespread cheating scandal among teachers, principals, and administrators in the Atlanta Public School system (APS) from 2009–2011. To date, it is the largest cheating scandal of its kind in the United States. The vast public investigation of this scandal provides an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of school accountability practices, particularly as they pertain to the education of students with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to draw from the lessons learned from the APS scandal with particular attention paid to the unintended consequences of high-stakes accountability practices, especially for students with disabilities. First, we examine the policies and practices related to disability referrals and identification practices at the federal level during the 2009–2011 school years. Second, we explore what literature on accountability practices and disabilities suggests about the APS scandal. Finally, we discuss broader implications for policy, practice, and future research related to the education of students with disabilities in high-stakes test driven classrooms.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 20 Years Later: Progress or Pontificating? What Have We Learned, and Where Do We Go?
Authors: Howard Tyrone C. , Rodriguez-Minkoff Andrea C.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

In this paper, the authors discuss the concept of culturally relevant pedagogy 20 years after its introduction to the professional literature.

Purpose/Focus

The authors discuss key tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, examine empirical examples of it, and make recommendations on how the concept may inform and influence the outcomes of culturally diverse students.
Harambee: Pulling it All Together
Authors: Dixson Adrienne D. , Ladson-Billings Gloria
Published: November 2021

The articles in this special issue represent both our attempt as editors to survey the field and provide some clarity for practitioners and teacher educators on fundamental ideas that frame CRP, not to limit its implementation or future research directions, but to ensure that as a community of educators and scholars, we share a common understanding of exactly what it means to be culturally relevant. The articles in this special issue provide both that clarity of the field, and vision for the future.