bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
When Can Schools Affect Dropout Behavior? A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis
Authors: Goldschmidt Pete , Wang Jia
Published: June 2007

The National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) database was used to examine student and school factors associated with students dropping out in different grades. Specifically, a hierarchical logistic model was used to address three issues. First, are early (middle school) and late (high school) dropouts equally affected by traditionally defined risk factors? Second, do school-level factors, after controlling for differences in enrollment, account for between-school differences in school dropout rates, and can these school factors mediate individual student risk factors? Third, what impact does early predicted risk have on the likelihood of dropping out late? Results showed that the mix of student risk factors changes between early and late dropouts, while family characteristics are more important for late dropouts. Consistent with previous research, the results also indicated that being held back is the single strongest predictor of dropping out and that its effect is consistent for both early and late dropouts. School factors can account for approximately two thirds of the differences in mean school dropout rates, but they do a poor job of mediating specific student risk factors. The results indicate as well that early predicted risk, at both the student level and the school level, significantly affects the odds of a student dropping out late.
The Permanent Importance of the Subjective Reality of Teachers During Educational Innovation: A Concerns-Based Approach
Authors: van den Berg Rudolf , Ros Anje
Published: June 2007

In the present contribution, the question of the conditions under which innovations appear to succeed stands central. Such objective conditions as organizational structure, technological possibilities, and budgets are clearly important for innovations to succeed. Of particular interest here, however, are, the concerns of teachers and the role that these concerns play in the innovation process. A plea is made for increased attention to the individual questions, needs, and opinions that arise among teachers in response to innovations. Concerns are presented as indicators of the subjective realities of teachers and, at times, the expression of ambivalence with regard to the innovation in question. After sketching the relevant theory, we show that increased attention is needed to the involvement of teachers and, thereby, their concerns with regard to even such recent innovations as adaptive teaching. This need is illustrated on the basis of the research material we have collected over the past few years. The data show, among other things, that teachers at different stages in the innovation process express different types of concerns. Clear attunement of innovation policy to those (possibly subjective) factors influencing the implementation process is thus seen as a necessity. Among these factors are the framework of phases in the innovation, the scale of the innovation, the individual orientations of the teachers involved in the innovation, and the match between the orientations of the teachers and the concerns elicited by the innovation.
School Size in Chicago Elementary Schools: Effects on Teachers' Attitudes and Students' Achievement
Authors: Lee Valerie E. , Loeb Susanna
Published: June 2007

This study explores whether teachers and students are influenced by the size of the inner-city elementary school to which they belong. Focusing on teachers' attitudes about their responsibility for student learning and students' l-year gains in mathematics achievement scores, we used data from almost 5,000 teachers and 23,000 sixth and eighth-grade students in 264 K-8 Chicago schools. The data were collected through 1997 surveys and annual standardized tests. We employed hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to estimate school effects. On both outcomes, small schools (enrolling fewer than 400 students) are favored compared with medium-sized or larger schools. In small schools, teachers have a more positive attitude about their responsibility. for students' learning and students learn more. Even after taking size into account, learning is also higher in schools with higher levels of collective responsibility. Thus, we conclude that school size influences student achievement directly and indirectly, through its effect on teachers' attitudes.
Democratizing Conversations: Racialized Talk in a Post-Desegregated Middle School
Authors: Schultz Katherine , Buck Patricia , Niesz Tricia
Published: June 2007

Drawn from a qualitative study of students' experiences of race and race relations at a post-desegregated middle school, this article describes two distinctive kinds of conversations about race in a multiracial context. In the first type of discussion, which we refer to as "bridging talk," students used multiple strategies to build unity across differences. In the second type, students discursively created borders and conflict. We see promises and challenges in each type of discussion and offer a third form for consideration, democratic conversations. We suggest that educators hold conversations that explicitly address the power dynamics inherent in such conversations and teach the conceptual tools and language to identify these dynamics. Further, we argue that these conversations must begin among adults––in teacher education programs, and in schools. In order to educate children to participate in a democratic and pluralistic culture, we need to engage them in conversations about race and power in their daily lives. We have concluded that although these conversations across racial lines are sometimes threatening and difficult, they are a critical component of democratic education.
Student Engagement in Instructional Activity: Patterns in the Elementary, Middle, and High School Years
Authors: Marks Helen M.
Published: June 2007

Although student engagement with the intellectual work of school is important to students' achievement and to their social and cognitive development, studies over a span of two decades have documented low levels of engagement, particularly in the classroom, Examining several theoretical perspectives that attempt to explain engagement through comprehensive frameworks, this study evaluates the effect on engagement of school reform initiatives that are consistent with the theories. The study also investigates whether patterns exist in students' engagement, whether the patterns are consistent across grade levels, and whether class subject matter (mathematics or social studies) differentially affects engagement. The sample includes 3, 669 students representing 143 social studies and mathematics classrooms in a nationally selected sample of 24 restructuring elementary, middle, and high schools. Because of the nature of the nested data (students nested within classrooms nested within schools), the analysis is conducted using hierarchical linear modeling in its three-level application (HLM3L). The reform initiatives, which are consistent with the theories, eliminate personal background effects. Together with classroom subject matter, they substantially influence engagement. The results are generally consistent across grade levels.
Can Multicultural Education Change What Counts as Cultural Capital?
Authors: Olneck Michael
Published: June 2007

In this article I answer the question: Can multicultural education redefine or transform cultural capital? After briefly explaining the concept of cultural capital and justifying its application in an analysis of multiculturalism, I identify ways in which multicultural education may transform cultural capital. In the remainder of the article, I examine three principal dynamics that constrain the potential for multiculturalism to transform cultural capital: school-based cultural capital is not independent of other kinds of capital (2) classes presently favored in the distribution of cultural capital may adopt strategies that blunt the tendencies of multiculturalism to redefine cultural capital, and (3) multiculturalism is inherently contradictory with respect to the redefinition of cultural capital. I conclude that despite significant successes of multiculturalism in challenging prevailing cultural capital, defenders of existing cultural capital have succeeded in blunting and circumscribing the extent to which that capital has been transformed. Moreover, I conclude that multiculturalism may well be less likely to transform cultural capital and more likely to undermine the conditions for its formation.
Excellence in English in Middle and High School: How Teachers' Professional Lives Support Student Achievement
Authors: Langer Judith A.
Published: June 2007

This study examined the characteristics of teachers' professional lives that accompany student achievement in writing, reading, and English. The study was conducted in the classrooms of 44 middle and high school teachers in four states, in 25 schools and districts that were attempting to improve students' literacy abilities. The sample includes a high representation of schools and districts serving poor and traditionally low-performing students and diverse student bodies. In 14 of the schools, students were "beating the odds," performing better than other students in demographically similar areas. In the other 11 schools, administrators and teachers wanted their students to do better, but the school scores were more typical of other schools with similar demographics. A 5-year study of both the professional and classroom communities sought to identify characteristics in teachers' professional lives that accompanied higher student achievement. Analyses of patterns across cases indicated six features that permeated the "beating the odds" schools which were not present in the "typical" schools. The effective schools and districts nurtured a climate that (1) orchestrated coordinated efforts to improve student achievement, (2) fostered teacher participation in a variety of professional communities, (3) created structured improvement activities in ways that offered teachers a strong sense of agency, (4) valued commitment to the profession of teaching, (5) engendered a caring attitude to colleagues and students, and (6)fostered a deep respect for lifelong learning. These characteristics were pervasive across levels, in the ways central administrators and classroom teachers lived their professional lives and in the features they considered evidence of professional excellence.
For the Rich It's Richer: Print Experiences and Environments Offered to Children in Very Low- and Very High-Socioeconomic Status First-Grade Classrooms
Authors: Duke Nell K.
Published: June 2007

This study investigates whether there are differences in the print environments and experiences offered to children in 20 first-grade classrooms chosen from very low- and very high-socioeconomic status (SES) districts. Each classroom was visited for 4 full days over the course of a school year. On each visit, information was recorded about the classroom library, classroom environmental print, and any activity during the school day that involved print in any way. Data indicate that there are substantial differences between the low- and high-SES classrooms in all major areas examined, including the amount, type, and uses of print. Literacy can be added to the list of domains for which meaningful differences in instruction have been observed in schools serving different socioeconomic groups. Literacy is another domain through which schools may contribute to lower levels of achievement among low-SES children and may begin to do so quite early in the schooling process.
Making Sense of Education and Training Markets: Lessons From England
Authors: Finkelstein Neal D. , Grubb W. Norton
Published: June 2007

Policy discussions in the United States around markets in education frequently lack an empirical base. However, for nearly twenty years reforms in England have emphasized market-like mechanisms to spur competition among providers and choices among consumers. We examine the research findings about English reforms in six areas. Supply-side reforms include efforts to enhance competition among institutions, to promote efficiency through subcontracting, and to mimic market incentives through performance-based funding. Demand-side reforms include a variety of vouchers as well as other mechanisms to enhance parental and student choice, including access to information. Finally, we discuss several equilibrating mechanisms intended to bring demand and supply into equilibrium. The English examples clarify the limitations of the quasi-markets introduced under current conditions. However, they also raise the possibilities of designing policy around strong markets with more competent suppliers and demanders of education and training services, as a way of escaping the conventional dichotomy of institutional versus market reforms.
A Longitudinal Study of Bullying, Victimization, and Peer Affiliation During the Transition From Primary School to Middle School
Authors: Pellegrini A. D. , Bartini Maria
Published: June 2007

The intent of this longitudinal, multi-method, multi-agent study was to examine changes in bullying, victimization, and aggressive victimization as well as changes in peer affiliation as youngsters made the transition from primary school through the first year of middle school. Results indicated that bullying and aggressive victimization were relatively stable across time, possibly due to temperamental factors. Changes in peer affiliation indicated that youngsters' casual contacts with peers initially decreased from primary to the beginning of middle school but recovered by the end of the year. Close relationships, however, decreased, and number of youngsters nominated as isolates increased. Being embedded in an affiliative network of peers, in turn, inhibited victimization. School environmental factors did not make significant contributions to bullying or victimization. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of social affiliations in minimizing victimization in early adolescence. Limitations of the research were noted and suggestions for future research were also made.
Teaching Coping to Adolescents: When and to Whom?
Authors: Frydenberg Erica , Lewis Ramon
Published: June 2007

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of adolescent coping in. metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. During the five-year period of the investigation, 168 students were tracked firstly to document the patterns of general coping behaviour of girls and boys at grade levels 7, 9, and 11, and secondly to determine what changes were apparent in their coping responses. Young people's coping was assessed using the Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS), an 80-item checklist that identifies 17 distinct coping strategies as well as a young person's professed inability to cope. Some interesting changes over time in students' usage of a number of coping strategies were found. Both boys and girls remain relatively stable in their declared inability to cope between the ages of 12 and 14. However, while boys report much the same low level two years later, girls report significantly higher levels of an inability to cope by the time they are 16. Of the coping strategies, five (Seeking Social Support, Solving the Problem, Self-Blame, Keep to Self and Tension Reduction) remained stable for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 14 but increased significantly in the next two years. These represent a combination of what may be termed functional and dysfunctional strategies. For two of the five strategies (Self-Blame and Social Support) boys' usage diminished from age 12 to 14 years and then returned to approximately 12-year-old level by the time they were 16. In contrast, the girls' usage of these two strategies increased moderately between ages 12 to 14 years but increased dramatically between ages 14 and 16. Of the remaining strategies for which age showed a significant main effect, three (Social Action, Spiritual Support and Physical Recreation), bad a similar pattern of decrease in usage between the ages of 12 and 14, after which the usage remained relatively stable. The final strategy that varied with age was Professional Help. Reference to professionals was rated significantly lower at 14 than it was at 12 and 16, for both boys and girls. The findings highlight the fact that boys arm girls develop differentially in their patterns of coping with age and there are implications for the timing and substance of coping skills development programs that may be taught in schools.
Fostering Students' Statistical and Scientific Thinking: Lessons Learned From an Innovative College Course
Authors: Derry Sharon J. , Levin Joel R. , Osana Helen P. , Jones Melanie S. , Peterson Michael
Published: June 2007

Current research and theory indicate that college students' scientific and statistical reasoning skills are deficient, but can be improved through instruction. Accordingly, an innovative statistics course was developed for the undergraduate education curriculum at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. The course promoted the idea “that the purpose of statistics is to organize a useful argument from quantitative evidence based on a form of principled rhetoric” ( Abelson, 1995 , pp. xiii). Most instruction was anchored to mentored, small-group collaborative activities that simulated complex, real-life problem solving. In conjunction with the second offering, evidence of student growth was obtained from pre- and post-course interviews designed to assess students' ability to reason with statistical evidence from everyday sources. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that students made meaningful gains in their ability to reason statistically. Analyses also pointed to specific conceptual confusions, some related to course design. Students' reactions Io the course were variable.
Does Individual Tutoring Produce Optimal Learning?
Authors: Schacter John
Published: June 2007

This research examined teaching and learning combinations that tested the relative impact on student achievement when students were paired with one other student or a large group of same-age peers, and when students worked with a teacher or did not. The comparison took place in a computer-supported collaborative learning context. The results reported here demonstrated that access to a teacher or a large group of same-aged peers were equally potent learning resources in computer supported collaborative learning environments. Analyses further confirmed that students working in groups and students individually tutored by a teacher learned and achieved more on a battery of tests than children who worked with only one other child partner. These results differ substantially from a large body of research reported to date ( Bloom, 1984 ; Hughes & Greenhough, 1995 ; Radziszewska & Rogoff, 1991 ; Rogoff, 1990 ).
Affirmative Action and the Creation of More Favorable Contexts of Choice
Authors: Moses Michele S
Published: June 2007

This article presents an analysis of affirmative action policy that takes into account students’ vastly different social contexts of choice. Oppressive societal structures may constrain individuals’ contexts of choice and thus limit their real choices in such a way that their nominal choices do not reflect their potential talents, abilities, and aspirations. An unfavorable context of choice may hinder students’ development of self-determination, which is a crucial underpinning of an education for justice and democracy. The aim of this article is to put forth a defense of affirmative action that is not considered within the current discourse. Because the development of a sense of self-determination is a crucial aim of a good and just education, I argue that affirmative action is necessary because of its role in combating oppressive educational structures, fostering more favorable social contexts of choice for students, and consequently, their self-determination.
Redefining Parental Involvement: Lessons From High-Performing Migrant-Impacted Schools
Authors: López Gerardo R , Scribner Jay D , Mahitivanichcha Kanya
Published: June 2007

Migrants are one of the most academically vulnerable groups in the United States, constantly faced with economic, health, and work-related problems that translate into lower academic achievement and higher dropout rates. These hardships make it difficult for schools to effectively negotiate the parental involvement terrain and promote academic success for this group. Because of the paucity of literature on effective parental involvement practices for migrants, we sought to fill this gap in the literature. Using a qualitative approach, interviews and observations were conducted in four effective migrant-impacted school districts throughout a 5-month period. Findings suggest these schools were successful at involving parents because they aimed to meet parental needs above all other involvement considerations. In other words, schools were successful not because they subscribed to a particular definition of involvement, but because they held themselves accountable to meet the multiple needs of migrant parents on a daily and ongoing basis.
Reunification of East and West German School Systems: Longitudinal Multilevel Modeling Study of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect on Academic Self-Concept
Authors: Marsh Herbert W , Köller Olaf , Baumert Jürgen
Published: June 2007

Longitudinal data from large cohorts of seventh grade (n = 2,778) East and West German students were collected at the start of the reunification of the school systems to evaluate how this remarkable social experiment affects self-concept formation. Multilevel modeling demonstrated a negative “big-fish-little-pond effect” (BFLPE); attending classes where class-average math achievement was higher led to lower math self-concepts. West German students attended schools that were highly stratified in relation to ability before and after the reunification, whereas East German students first attended selective schools after the reunification. Consistent with theoretical predictions based on this difference, the negative BFLPE—the negative effect of class-average achievement—was more negative in West German schools at the start of the reunification. This difference, however, was smaller by the middle of the year and had disappeared by the end of the first post-reunification school year. Whereas East and West German results both support the negative BFLPE, their differences supported theoretical predictions, extended theory, and demonstrated how changes in school policy influence the formation of academic self-concept.
Bullying and Being Bullied: To What Extent Are Bullies Also Victims?
Authors: Ma Xin
Published: June 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the victim-bully cycle in middle school and to identify student and school characteristics that contributed to the cycle of bullying, using cross-sectional data from the New Brunswick School Climate Study (N = 6,883 in grade 6 and N = 6,868 in grade 8). The results of a multivariate, multilevel analysis clearly indicated that the relationship of bully to victim was reciprocal. At the student level, gender, affective condition, and physical condition contributed to the victim-bully cycle in both grades. The number of siblings contributed to the cycle of bullying in grade 8. Gender, affective condition, and the number of siblings were more characteristics of bullies than victims, whereas physical condition was more a characteristic of victims than bullies. The victim-bully cycle at the school level has rarely been reported in the literature. This study suggests that the cycle of bullying was present in several aspects of school life. School size and discipline climate contributed to the victim-bully cycle in both grades. Parental involvement contributed to the cycle of bullying in grade 6, whereas academic press contributed to the cycle of bullying in grade 8. Although discipline climate both helped victims and discouraged bullies, parental involvement and academic press discouraged bullies more than helped victims.
The Classroom Social Environment and Changes in Adolescents’ Motivation and Engagement During Middle School
Authors: Ryan Allison M , Patrick Helen
Published: June 2007

The authors investigated how students’ (N = 233) perceptions of the social environment of their eighth-grade classroom related to changes in motivation and engagement when they moved from seventh to eighth grade. In general, prior motivation and engagement were strong predictors of subsequent motivation and engagement, whereas gender, race, and prior achievement were not related to changes in motivation or engagement. A higher-order classroom social environment factor accounted for significant changes in all motivation and engagement outcomes. Four distinct dimensions of the social environment were differentially important in explaining changes in various indices of motivation and engagement. In general, however, students’ perceptions of teacher support, and the teacher as promoting interaction and mutual respect were related to positive changes in their motivation and engagement. Students’ perceptions of the teacher as promoting performance goals were related to negative changes in student motivation and engagement. Implications for recent educational reform initiatives were also discussed.
Cause or Effect? A Longitudinal Study of Immigrant Latino Parents' Aspirations and Expectations, and Their Children's School Performance
Authors: Goldenberg Claude , Gallimore Ronald , Reese Leslie , Garnier Helen
Published: June 2007

How much formal schooling for their children do immigrant Latino parents aspire to and expect? Do parents' aspirations or expectations influence children's school achievement? Do aspirations or expectations diminish the longer parents are in the U.S. or if they experience discrimination? Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we address these questions in a longitudinal study (kindergarten to sixth grade) of 81 Latino children and their immigrant parents. We find that (a) parents' educational aspirations are high and invariant throughout the elementary years; however, expectations fluctuate; (b) children's school performance influences parents' expectations, but expectations do not influence performance; and (c) immigrant Latino parents attribute high instrumental value to formal schooling, and neither time spent in the U.S. nor perceived discrimination diminishes this belief.
Capturing Teachers’ Generative Change: A Follow-Up Study of Professional Development in Mathematics
Authors: Franke Megan Loef , Carpenter Thomas P. , Levi Linda , Fennema Elizabeth
Published: June 2007

This study documents how teachers who participated in a professional development program on understanding the development of students’ mathematical thinking continued to implement the principles of the program 4 years after it ended. Twenty-two teachers participated in follow-up interviews and classroom observations. All 22 teachers maintained some use of children’s thinking and 10 teachers continued learning in noticeable ways. The 10 teachers engaged in generative growth (a) viewed children’s thinking as central, (b)possessed detailed knowledge about children’s thinking, (c) discussed frameworks for characterizing the development of children’s mathematical thinking, (d) perceived themselves as creating and elaborating their own knowledge about children’s thinking, and (e) sought colleagues who also possessed knowledge about children’s thinking for support. The follow-up revealed insights about generative growth, sustainability of changed practice and professional development.
African American Teaching in the South: 1940–1960
Authors: Walker Vanessa Siddle
Published: June 2007

Researchers depict African American teachers in the South during segregation alternately as either victims of oppressive circumstances or as caring role models. These disparate portraits fail to reconcile the relationship of each depiction to the other. This article addresses this omission by providing a historiography of African American teaching between 1940 and 1960, with supplementary data from Georgia. Results indicate that African American teachers in the South worked in dismal, unfair, discriminatory positions, but did not allow themselves to become victims of their environments. Rather, they viewed themselves as trained professionals who embraced a series of ideas about how to teach African American children that were consistent with their professional discussions and their understanding of the African American community.
Perspectives on Alternative Assessment Reform
Authors: Hargreaves Andy , Earl Lorna , Schmidt Michele
Published: June 2007

This article examines classroom assessment reform from four perspectives: technological, cultural, political, and postmodern. Each perspective highlights different issues and problems in the phenomenon of classroom assessment. The technological perspective focuses on issues of organization, structure, strategy, and skill in developing new assessment techniques. The cultural perspective examines how alternative assessments are interpreted and integrated into the social and cultural context of schools. The political perspective views assessment issues as being embedded in and resulting from the dynamics of power and control in human interaction. Here assessment problems are caused by inappropriate use, political and bureaucratic interference, or institutional priorities and requirements. Last, the postmodern perspective is based on the view that in today’s complex and uncertain world, human beings are not completely knowable and that “authentic” experiences and assessments are fundamentally questionable. Using a semi-structured interview protocol, teachers were asked about their personal understanding of alternative forms of assessment; about how they had acquired this understanding; how they integrated changes into their practices; what these practices looked like; what successes and obstacles they encountered during implementation; and what support systems had been provided for them
Relationships Between Class Size and Teaching: A Multimethod Analysis of English Infant Schools
Authors: Blatchford Peter , Moriarty Viv , Edmonds Suzanne , Martin Clare
Published: June 2007

Research and debate on class size differences has focused on relations with achievement, and there is little relevant research on what mediating classroom processes might be involved. In this article we investigate connections between class size and teaching interactions. We adopt a multimethod approach, integrating qualitative information from teachers’ end-of-year accounts and data from case studies with quantitative information from time-allocation estimates and systematic observations. Our data come from a longitudinal study of two cohorts of more than 10,000 children altogether for 3 years after enrollment in English infant schools (aged 4 –7 years). Our results show, overall, that in smaller classes there is more individualized teacher support for learning. We interpret the results in the context of teacher time allocation, research on effective teaching, and post-Vygotskian approaches to teaching. It is suggested that direct models of teacher influences on pupils need to be adapted to allow for class size as a contextual factor that influences both teachers and pupils.
Defining Democracy in the Neoliberal Age: Charter School Reform and Educational Consumption
Authors: Wells Amy Stuart , Slayton Julie , Scott Janelle
Published: June 2007

In this article Wells, Slayton, and Scott draw on data from their charter school research to question the extent to which “democratic” and “market-based” schools are dichotomous. They argue that in the current political and economic climate, free-market and deregulatory educational reforms such as charter school laws are perceived to be highly “democratic” by their neoliberal advocates and by many of the suburban school board members and superintendents in their case studies. Thus the authors call on progressive supporters of charter schools and public schools to couch their arguments for democratic schooling in a call for social justice and equity as opposed to greater “liberty” for educational consumers, whereby the more economically empowered consumers remain highly advantaged.
Making the Global City, Making Inequality: The Political Economy and Cultural Politics of Chicago School Policy
Authors: Lipman Pauline
Published: June 2007

This article examines current Chicago school reform in the context of economic restructuring, the drive to become a “global city,” and the cultural politics of race. The discussion focuses on high stakes testing and accountability policies and on new, special programs and schools. My analysis is based on data from four qualitative case studies of Chicago elementary schools, school system data on the nature and geographic distribution of differentiated programs and schools, and examination of labor force trends and economic development policies. Contrary to the discourse of equity that frames Chicago school reform, I argue that the current policies exacerbate existing race and class inequalities and create new ones. The policies promote unequal educational opportunities and experiences and produce stratified identities with significant implications in Chicago’s new, highly stratified work force. As a whole, Chicago’s reforms support the inherent inequalities of global city development, gentrification, and the displacement of working-class and low-income communities, especially communities of color. I argue that education policies are part of a cultural politics of race aimed at the control and regulation of African-American and Latino youth and their communities. The paper concludes with proposals toward the democratic reconstruction of urban education policy.
Images of America: What Youth Do Know About the United States
Authors: Cornbleth Catherine
Published: June 2007

Interviews with a diverse group of juniors and seniors from three secondary schools in the northeastern United States revealed substantial agreement in their images of America. Three themes predominated: inequity associated with race, gender, socioeconomic status, or disability; freedom including rights and opportunities; and diversity based on race, ethnicity, culture, and geography. Three additional themes were voiced by at least one third of the students: America as better than other nations, progress, and the American Dream. Crosscutting these themes were a sense of individualism or personalization and an incipient critique and/or activism expressed by more than 30% of the students. Sources of or influences on students’ images of America also were investigated as were changes over time. Although not overly positive, what students do know about the United States is both realistic and generally supportive of the nation-state. There are, however, grounds for concern insofar as the major themes about which students agree play out differently for different individuals and groups, masking deep societal tensions and fissures.
A Short-term Longitudinal Study of Children’s Playground Games Across the First Year of School: Implications for Social Competence and Adjustment to School
Authors: Pellegrini Anthony D. , Kato Kentaro , Blatchford Peter , Baines Ed
Published: June 2007

This longitudinal study describes playground games of children progressing across their first year of schooling. Boys, in comparison with girls, played more games, especially chase and ball games, and played a greater variety of games. Also, the variety of boys’ games increased across the school year. Girls played more verbal games than boys. The study found that facility with games forecast boys’ social competence and both boys’ and girls’ adjustment to first grade. Children’s groups remained ethnically segregated across the school year. Results are discussed in terms of the role of games as an important developmental task during middle childhood.
The Substantive and Symbolic Consequences of a District’s Standards-Based Curriculum
Authors: Ogawa Rodney T. , Sandholtz Judith Haymore , Martinez-Flores Marilyn , Scribner Samantha Paredes
Published: June 2007

This study examines a “critical case” of one school district’s efforts to develop and implement a standards-based curriculum. The study was conducted from two competing perspectives that have dominated organizational analysis in education: the rational and the institutional. The findings demonstrate that the district took an expressly rationalistic approach by using standards and a corresponding criterion-referenced test to focus teachers’ instruction on common sets of outcomes. However, the findings suggest that, lacking a clear instructional philosophy, the district also took an institutional approach, in part. Its approach to development and implementation of the standards-based curriculum resulted in district standards that fell below state standards, a narrowing of curriculum and instructional strategies, and professional development and instructional supervision that lacked an instructional focus.
Dropping Out of High School: The Role of School Organization and Structure
Authors: Lee Valerie E. , Burkam David T.
Published: June 2007

In this study, we explore how high schools, through their structures and organization, may influence students’ decisions to stay in school or drop out. Traditional explanations for dropout behavior have focused on students’ social background and academic behaviors. What high schools might do to push out or hold students has received less empirical scrutiny. Using a sample of 3,840 students in 190 urban and suburban high schools from the High School Effectiveness Supplement of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, we apply multilevel methods to explore schools’ influence on dropping out, taking into account students’ academic and social background. Our findings center on schools’ curriculum, size, and social relations. In schools that offer mainly academic courses and few nonacademic courses, students are less likely to drop out. Similarly, students in schools enrolling fewer than 1,500 students more often stay in school. Most important, students are less likely to drop out of high schools where relationships between teachers and students are positive. The impact of positive relations, however, is contingent on the organizational and structural characteristics of high schools.
Foundations of Place: A Multidisciplinary Framework for Place-Conscious Education
Authors: Gruenewald David A.
Published: June 2007

This article provides educators at all levels with a theoretical rationale for place-conscious education; it also discusses pedagogical pathways, and institutional challenges, to place-consciousness. Drawing on insights from phenomenology, critical geography, bioregionalism, ecofeminism, and other place-conscious traditions, the author gathers diverse perspectives on “place” to demonstrate the profoundly pedagogical nature of human experience with places. Five “dimensions of place” are described that can shape the development of a socio-ecological, place-conscious education: (a) the perceptual, (b) the sociological, (c) the ideological, (d) the political, and (e) the ecological. After discussing these, the author reframes several place-conscious educational traditions. The article concludes with an analysis of the possibilities for place-conscious education in an era that defines institutional accountability by standards and testing.
Factors Affecting Technology Uses in Schools: An Ecological Perspective
Authors: Zhao Yong , Frank Kenneth A.
Published: June 2007

Why is technology not used more in schools? Many researchers have tried to solve this persistent puzzle. The authors of this article report on their study of technology uses in 19 schools. They suggest an ecological metaphor, using the example of the introduction of the zebra mussel into the Great Lakes, to integrate and organize sets of factors that affect implementation of computer uses. Their findings suggest that an ecological perspective can provide a powerful analytical framework for understanding technology uses in schools. That perspective points out new directions for research and has significant policy and practical implications for implementing innovations in schools.
Expert Blind Spot Among Preservice Teachers
Authors: Nathan Mitchell J. , Petrosino Anthony
Published: June 2007

This study (N = 48) examined the relationship between preservice secondary teachers’ subject-matter expertise in mathematics and their judgments of students’ algebra problem-solving difficulty. As predicted by the “expert blind spot” hypothesis, participants with more advanced mathematics education, regardless of their program affiliation or teaching plans, were more likely to view symbolic reasoning and mastery of equations as a necessary prerequisite for word equations and story problem solving. This view is in contrast with students’ actual performance patterns. An examination across several subject areas, including mathematics, science, and language arts, suggests a common pattern. This article considers how teachers’ developmental views may influence classroom practice and professional development, and calls into question policies that seek to streamline the licensure process of new teachers on the basis of their subject-matter expertise.
Effects of a Girls-Only Curriculum During Adolescence: Performance, Persistence, and Engagement in Mathematics and Science
Authors: Shapka Jennifer D. , Keating Daniel P.
Published: June 2007

This article investigates the benefits of girls-only classroom instruction in math and science during Grades 9 and 10, in the context of a public coeducational high school. It is based on a longitudinal investigation with 786 participants: 85 girls in all-girl classes, and 319 girls and 382 boys in a regular coeducational program. Preexisting achievement, background, and psychological characteristics were included as covariates to ensure comparability of the groups. Significant post-intervention program effects were found for math and science achievement and course enrollment. In contrast, there were no significant program effects for perceived math competence or math anxiety. Although those psychological characteristics predicted performance, they were independent of program effects (i.e., they did not mediate the program effects).
The Alchemy of the Mathematics Curriculum: Inscriptions and the Fabrication of the Child
Authors: Popkewitz Thomas
Published: June 2007

School subjects are analogous to medieval alchemy. There is a magical change as mathematics, science, and social sciences move from their disciplinary spaces into the classroom. The educational and social psychologies have little or nothing to do with understanding disciplinary practices. They are intellectual inventions for normalizing and governing the child’s conduct, relationships, and communications. The author examines this alchemy in standards-based mathematics educational policy and research for K–12 schools. He argues that (a) the emphasis on “problem solving,” collaboration, and “communities of learning” sanctify science and scientists as possessing authoritative knowledge over increasing realms of human phenomena, thus narrowing the boundaries of possible action and critical thought; and (b) while reforms stress the need for educational equity for “all children,” with “no child left behind,” the pedagogical models divide, demarcate, and exclude particular children from participation.
Whiteness Enacted, Whiteness Disrupted: The Complexity of Personal Congruence
Authors: Chubbuck Sharon M.
Published: June 2007

This study of the enactment and disruption of Whiteness in two White secondary literacy teachers focuses on their life histories and their practice and policy in relation to students of color. Both teachers demonstrated some disruption of Whiteness as well as some continued enactment of Whiteness, despite their stated intentions. The findings indicate that neither an abolition of Whiteness nor a rearticulation of Whiteness includes a sufficiently complex understanding of how disruption of Whiteness is influenced by the interplay of personal identity, the need to maintain personal congruence, and the cultural constraints of Whiteness. The author suggests that the inclusion of a psychological framework will be valuable in further exploration of the disruption of Whiteness.
Epistemological Appropriation in One High School Student’s Learning in Cooperative Education
Authors: Chin Peter , Bell Karin Steiner , Munby Hugh , Hutchinson Nancy L.
Published: June 2007

In this study, detailed observations and interviews from a high school student’s semester-long cooperative (co-op) placement in a dental practice are used to exemplify Hung’s theoretical approach to understanding situated learning. Using Hung’s theory of epistemological appropriation in an analysis of the coop supervisor’s regulatory behaviors (scaffolding, modeling, and coaching) and of the novice’s corresponding regulatory behaviors (submitting, mirroring, and constructing) helped to explain the developments in this student’s learning, actions, and beliefs. In contrast to the progression suggested by Hung’s theory, this study reports daily examples of all types of regulatory behaviors, with scaffolding/submitting being most prominent. The discussion focuses on how Hung’s theory of regulatory behaviors informs supervisors’ improving opportunities for novices’ learning and informs novices’ engagement in epistemological appropriation in work-based learning.
The Impact of Brown on the Brown of South Texas: A Micropolitical Perspective on the Education of Mexican Americans in a South Texas Community
Authors: Guajardo Miguel A. , Guajardo Francisco J.
Published: June 2007

This article identifies the Edcouch-Elsa High School Walkout of 1968 as a pivotal event in the educational history of Mexican American students in south Texas. It presents elements of the Civil Rights Movement, including the Brown decision, the rise of Mexican American political organizations, and the actions of community youth. The authors use oral histories that they and their high school students produced between 1997 and 2002, through the work of the Llano Grande Center for Research and Development, a nonprofit organization founded by the authors and their students. Through the use of secondary literature, local stories, and micro–macro integrative theory, this study describes how the Brown decision and other national events affected Edcouch-Elsa schools between 1954 and 1968.
The Impact of Accountability on Racial and Socioeconomic Equity: Considering Both School Resources and Achievement Outcomes
Authors: Lee Jaekyung , Wong Kenneth K.
Published: June 2007

This article examines whether performance-driven educational accountability policy enhances or hinders equity. Combining data from state policy surveys, F-33, SASS, and NAEP, the article shows that during the 1990s, the states did not address racial and socioeconomic disparities in school resources and failed to narrow the achievement gaps among racial and socioeconomic groups. The distributions of school expenditures, class size, qualified teachers, and mathematics achievement remained largely unchanged in strong accountability states. Although the accountability policy of the 1990s neither produced adverse effects nor brought about significant setbacks in equity, this article suggests that racial and socioeconomic equity were not at the center of accountability reforms and that performance-driven accountability policies alone cannot move us forward toward equity.