bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Religious Conscience or Religious Freedom? The Difference between Official Constitutional Norms and Actual Legal Restrictions in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia
Authors: Idrissi Amal
Published: November 2021

This paper will consider the extent to which two competing norms—freedom of religion, on the one hand, and Islam as the religion of the state, on the other—are in tension with each other as seen through the lens of three Muslim-majority countries in the Maghreb. I examine this potential tension in four steps: first, the transformation of meaning of the Arabic word “hurriyya” (freedom) during and after the 19th century; second, the articulation of Islam as the religion of the state in the constitutions of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia; third, the articulation of freedom of religion (whether freedom of worship or conscience) in the constitutional texts of these three countries, and finally, the question whether the laws and practices that implement these two constitutional norms are compatible or whether they in fact give priority to Islam as the state religion over the norm of freedom of religion. In Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, Islam plays an important role in the legal system, especially in family codes: the Moroccan Family Code (2004), the Algerian Family Code (2016), and the Tunisian Personal Status Code (1957). These are the remaining citadels most implicated with references to Islamic law, the interpretation of which has placed women in an unequal position.
Tolstoy’s War and Peace: Philosophy of History Defamiliarized
Authors: Kellner Hans
Published: November 2021

Tolstoy’s War and Peace asserts an opposition to the discourse of philosophy of history and of any theorizing of human life because of the complexity of events, the possibilities not realized, and the insignificance of our moment in time and space. Without that sort of consideration of the possibility that human events cannot be theorized, explained, correctly narrated, or anticipated, we may miss our chance to cast off the burden of philosophy of history (in the interest of life), or at least to perceive that it is a burden.
The Mechanism of Human Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cells (HUMSC) on Biological Behavior of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Cells Through Restraining the Programmed Cell Death Protein 1/Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) Signal Pathway
Authors: Wang Min , Zhu Yanong , Li Tongmin , Xia Chaofeng
Published: November 2021

Biological behavior of HPV cell was observed by HUMSC through restraining PD-1/PD-L1 signal pathway. And HUMSC was adopted as target cell for the treatment on HPV. The rat HPV model was established and divided into three groups including blank group, control group and test group according
to different reagents being injected into rats. Use HE staining method to observe the cancerous transformation of tumor tissue sections. The gene presentation of PD-1/PD-L1 and lymphocyte was detected with Western blot. The invasion and migration condition of cancer cells was observed from
experiment in vitro. The quantity of cancer cells in test group was the least. And invasion and migration ability in test group was the weakest. The control group was the second. The number of tumor cells in the blank group was the largest. Strongest ability to invade and migrate. The
presentation of PD-L1 was restrained partly by HUMSC. The increasing of immune-associated cells could be prompted by HUMSC. The quantity of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ in PB was the most in test group. The expression of blank groups is the lowest than others restrained
by HUMSC. And quantity of abundant immune cells including CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ could be activated partly through activating immune action of body. And monitoring function of immune system on HPV cells could be increased effectively. The invasion and migration
ability in vitro of HPV could be reduced partly.
MicroRNA-637 Relieves Oxidative Damage in Human Melanocytes Through Down-Regulating Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 2 Expression
Authors: Sun Xuecheng , Wang Tao , Huang Bo , Ruan Gaobo , Huang Jun , Xu Aie
Published: November 2021

Background: Vitiligo, a chronic, autoimmune destruction of melanocytes, caused by the disappearance of epidermal melanocytes, but the mechanism is not fully understood. Although emerging evidence demonstrated that abnormal regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) were associated with
the pathogenesis of diseases, the functions of miR-637 in vitiligo remain unclear. Objective: This research was designed to explore the potential roles of miR-637 in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced human primary melanocytes in vitiligo. Methods: Human primary
melanocytes were induced by 250 μmol/L H2O2 for 4 h to establish oxidative injury of melanocytes model. Cell viability and apoptosis analyzed by MTT and flow cytometry assay, respectively. The relevance between miR-637 and transient receptor potential melastatin
2 (TRPM2) was checked using TargetScan and dual luciferase reporter gene assay. The expression of miR-637 and TRPM2 was evaluated using qRT-PCR and/or Western blot analysis. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were measured using
specific assay kits. In addition, the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax were evaluated using Western blot assay. Results: TRPM2 was up-regulated, while miR-637 was down-regulated in H2O2-stimulated human primary melanocytes. TRPM2 directly interacted with miR-637. Up-regulation
of miR-637 memorably increased miR-637 level and inhibited TRPM2 expression. Furthermore, miR-637 mimic fortified cell viability, reduced apoptotic cells, enhanced Bcl-2 expression, reduced Bax level, as well as inhibited the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 in H2O2-induced melanocytes.
Meanwhile, miR-637 mimic obviously suppressed the accumulation of ROS and increased SOD and CAT activity. Nevertheless, all these findings were inverted by TRPM2-plasmid. Likewise, TRPM2-siRNA led to increased cell viability, reduced apoptotic cells, enhanced Bcl-2 expression, reduced Bax
level, inhibited Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, inhibited ROS production, but increased SOD and CAT activity in H2O2-induced melanocytes. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that TRPM2 was up-regulated, while miR-637 was down-regulated in injurious melanocytes of vitiligo. Up-regulation
of miR-637 relieved oxidative stress-stimulated melanocyte injury via down-regulating TRPM2 expression. Our results provide new insights into the functions of miR-637 in the development of vitiligo, indicating that miR-637 may be a latent target for vitiligo therapy.
LncRNA Prostate Cancer Gene Expression Marker 1 (PCGEM1) Down-Regulation Inhibits the Development of Osteoarthritis by Modulating miR-152-3p
Authors: Song Jie , Chen Cheng , Zhang Hui
Published: November 2021

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic and inflammatory disease, leading to pain or even disability in severe cases. LncRNA PCGEM1 (PCGEM1) is reported to be dysregulated, serving as critical regulators in various human diseases, including OA. However, the biological role of PCGEM1 and its
underlying mechanisms during OA remained unclear. In the present study, CHON-001 cells were exposed to interleukin (IL)-1β to construct the OA cell model. Expression of PCGEM1 and miR-152-3p in cells was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay.
Corresponding commercial kits were used to measure the expressions of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), inter-leukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Protein levels of apoptosis-related proteins, cleaved-Caspase3 and Caspase3, were detected by Western blotting. 3-(4,
5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) tetrazolium (MTT) and flow cytometry assays were utilized for the determination of cell proliferation and apoptosis. The association between PCGEN1 and miR-152-3p was confirmed by a dual-luciferase reporter assay. From the results,
PCGEM1 expression was significantly increased while miR-152-3p was inhibited in CHON-001 cells after IL-1β treatment. In addition, silencing of PCGEM1 could promote proliferation, inhibit the apoptosis, suppress LDH level and alleviate inflammation response caused by IL-1β
in CHON-001 cells by sponging miR-152-3p. In a word, PCGEM1 down-regulation suppressed OA progression by the regulation of miR-152-3p expression, functioning as a potential therapeutic target for OA clinical treatment.
Wounded Healing: Forming a Storytelling Community in Hip-Hop Lit
Authors: Hill Marc Lamont
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Over the past 5 years, there has been a growing body of scholarship that examines the intersections of hip-hop culture and classroom pedagogy. Although recent scholarship has persuasively demonstrated the classroom potential of hip-hop texts for promoting student engagement, scaffolding sanctioned forms of knowledge, and nurturing critical consciousness and activism, little work has been done to unpack the complex relations of power that emerge in such classrooms. In particular, we know very little about the ways in which students and teachers are (re)positioned within classrooms that engage in hip-hop-centered pedagogy. This article contributes to the current literature in hip-hop based education, culturally relevant pedagogy, and critical pedagogy by examining the some of the issues and tensions that emerge when teachers engage in hip-hop-centered classroom pedagogy.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

This study details how the articulation of personal narratives within Hip-Hop Lit, a hip-hop-centered high school English literature course, produced a practice of “wounded healing,” in which people bearing the scars of suffering shared their stories in ways that provided a form of release and relief for themselves and others. This article highlights the complex relationships that students forged with the course's hip-hop texts, many of which resonated with their own lived experiences. I then illustrate how these relationships enabled the classroom discussions and interactions from which the practices of wounded healing emerged. Finally, I highlight some of the dilemmas and tensions that emerged as my coteacher and I attempted to privilege the stories and experiences of our students and ourselves within the classroom.

Setting

Data for this study were collected at “Howard High School,” a small comprehensive urban high school in the northeastern United States.

Research Design

Data for this 1-year ethnography were collected using field notes, formal and informal interviews, document analysis, and video data.

Conclusions/Recommendations

This article shows how Hip-Hop Lit operated as a space in which members offered and responded to various types of individual and group narratives through the practice of “wounded healing.” Through this practice, students were able to recognize the commonality of their experiences, challenge various ideologies, and produce new knowledge. In doing this, the members of the class forged a cohesive community replete with multiple roles and relations of power. This article points to the need for critically interrogating the ostensible virtues of hip-hop-based education, as well as critical and culturally relevant pedagogies more broadly. This article also underscores the need for more ethnographic research that unpacks the complexities, contours, and contradictions of curricula, and pedagogy that responds to the lived experiences of students.
Assistant to “Full”: Rank and the Development of Expertise
Authors: Finnegan Dorothy E. , Hyle Adrienne E.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Faculty rank has been used variously as an independent variable to explore faculty attitudes and behaviors such as productivity, institutional commitment, and turnover, and as a dependent variable to establish the case for discrimination. As a sociological role, however, rank has been neglected. We know little about the competencies of the faculty who have earned their rank, and the presence of a connection between advancing through the ranks to the qualitative progression of professional mastery or expertise has yet to be investigated. This study begins this exploration through a review of the development of professional expertise among history faculty.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

As a result of personal experience and professional observations, our initial interest was to ascertain to what extent expertise is associated with rank. We assumed that assistant professors are by no means novices, rather, that they are less expert than professors. We wondered if explicit and differentiated expertise behaviors associated with the three primary ranks could be identified. In other words, to what extent is the acquisition of expert skill related to the progression through academic rank?

Population/Participants/Subjects

A random sample of 13 faculty members in history departments offering baccalaureate through doctoral programs from two institutions in the same Carnegie category (RU/H) served as participants.

Research Design

This is a qualitative two-site case study.

Data Collection and Analysis

Absent an applicable analytical model, we devised a nondirective interview outline that allowed us to probe faculty about the ways by which they think and execute their work, and we discuss the development of their confidence and conviction in research, publications, professional activities, and teaching. Throughout the interviews, we asked faculty to place their responses in the context of the rank in which the activity occurred.

Findings/Results

Although moving from one rank to another is a clean and discrete act or event, moving from one level of expertise to the next is not.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Although the interviews suggest that patterns exist by rank, we do not believe that rank is the sole or dominant force in this growth. Rather, as one might suspect, a combination of factors exist that propel and guide faculty toward control and confidence in their expertise. We still hold though that rank is a more important social role than the research would have us believe. Although it may be symbolic in nature, it is a signifier to professional colleagues, to students, to the public, and to the individual who has earned it that this person has achieved a certain level of expertise in his or her field.
Gender Inequalities in the Transition to College
Authors: Buchmann Claudia
Published: November 2021

Background

In terms of high school graduation, college entry, and persistence to earning a college degree, young women now consistently outperform their male peers. Yet most research on gender inequalities in education continues to focus on aspects of education where women trail men, such as women's underrepresentation at top-tier institutions and in science and engineering programs. The paucity of research on the realms where women outpace men, namely college enrollment and completion, constitutes a major gap in the literature.

Purpose

This article provides an overview of gender inequality in the transition to college and in college experiences by examining the ways that women are advantaged in higher education and the arenas where they still trail men. It also discusses theoretical perspectives useful in assessing the causes of gender inequality and then suggests how future research could advance our understanding of the complex nature of gender inequality in higher education.

Research Design

The identification and critical review of research and theories that have been used or that could prove useful in assessing and explaining the complex patterns of gender inequalities in the transition to college and in higher education more generally.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Fruitful pathways for future research to advance understanding of the complex nature of gender inequalities in higher education include examining gender inequalities early in the educational life course, attending to gender differences within vulnerable segments of the population who may be particularly at risk for not attending higher education, and investigating how the structure and practices of schooling relate to gender differences in educational outcomes.
Rites of Passage: Coercion, Compliance, and Complicity in the Socialization of New Vice-Principals
Authors: Armstrong Denise E.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Over four decades ago, Arnold van Gennep used the term rites of passage to describe the ceremonial and ritualistic behaviors that marked the passage between social roles. Although the transition from teaching to administration is not as clearly delineated as passages in traditional societies, it is also characterized by socialization rites, rituals, and ceremonies that communicate information about approved administrative behaviors and reinforce organizational roles and structures.

Focus of Study

This research examined the socialization structures and processes that impacted the transition from teaching to administration. Eight newly appointed vice-principals from an urban Canadian school district were interviewed throughout the school year to determine the people, structures, and events that facilitated or hindered their transition and the challenges they encountered in leading and managing diverse urban schools.

Research Design

Qualitative methodology was used to explore new vice-principals’ experiences. Purposive sampling was used to represent the diversity of voices based on gender, ethnocultural background, type of school, and number of years of experience as a vice-principal. The vice-principals participated in two semistructured interviews during the school year. Individual responses were coded according to the research questions and further analyzed to determine recurring themes and patterns.

Findings/Results

The findings revealed that the novice vice-principals experienced separation, initiation, and incorporation rites that tested them physically, mentally, and emotionally. The pervasive pressure of these socialization tactics forced them to comply with normative expectations of the vice-principalship as a custodial disciplinary role and violated their professional rights.

Conclusion/Recommendations

Coercive socialization practices impact new administrators and their communities negatively and are antithetical to institutional goals of creating equitable schools. School districts, along with regulatory, training, and professional bodies, need to address core issues related to the vice-principalship and the ways in which new school leaders are socialized into administrative roles. Coordinated partnerships and interventions are also needed so that new administrators can develop leadership skills in emotionally and physically safe environments.
The First Attempts to Unionize the Faculty
Authors: Cain Timothy Reese
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Faculty unionization is an important topic in modern higher education, but the history of the phenomenon has not yet been fully considered. This article brings together issues of professionalization and unionization and provides needed historical background to ongoing unionization efforts and debates.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

This article examines the context of, debates surrounding, and ultimate failure of the first attempts to organize faculty unions in the late 1910s and early 1920s. Following a discussion of the institutional change of the period and the formation of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) as an explicitly nonlabor organization, this article considers the founding, endeavors, and demise of 20 American Federation of Teachers (AFT) locals. In doing so, it demonstrates long-standing divisions within the faculty and concerns regarding professional unionization.

Research Design

The article uses historical methods and archival evidence to recover and interpret these early debates over the unionization of college faculty. It draws on numerous collections in institutional and organizational archives, as well as contemporaneous newspaper and magazine accounts and the writings of faculty members embroiled in debates over unionization.

Discussion

Beginning with the founding of AFT Local 33 at Howard University in November 1918, college and normal school faculty organized 20 separate union locals for a variety of social, economic, and institutional reasons before the end of 1920. Some faculty believed that affiliating with labor would provide them with greater voices in institutional governance and offer the possibility of obtaining higher wages. Others saw in organizing a route to achieving academic freedom and job security. Still others believed that, amidst the difficult postwar years, joining the AFT could foster larger societal and educational change, including providing support for K–12 teachers who were engaged in struggles for status and improved working conditions. Despite these varied possibilities, most faculty did not organize, and many both inside and outside academe expressed incredulity that college and university professors would join the labor movement. In the face of institutional and external pressure, and with many faculty members either apathetic about or opposed to unionization, this first wave of faculty unionization concluded in the early 1920s with the closing of all but one of the campus locals.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Unionization in higher education remains contested despite the tremendous growth in organization in recent decades. The modern concerns, as well as the ways that they are overcome, can be traced to the 1910s and 1920s.
The Salience of the Subtle Aspects of Parental Involvement and Encouraging that Involvement: Implications for School-Based Programs
Authors: Jeynes William H.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

For many years, educators, parents, and social scientists have conceptualized engaged parents as those who help their children with their homework, frequently attend school functions, and maintain household rules that dictate when their young engage in schoolwork and leisure. Recent meta-analyses on parental involvement confirm the salience of more subtle social variables, which Bandura and Walters asserted may be even more important than overt parental behavior in fostering positive student outcomes. These results indicate that factors such as parental expectations, the quality of parent–child communication, and parental style may be more highly related to student achievement than various more overt expressions of this involvement.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

The purpose of the article is to examine what the body of research literature indicates about the role and utility of the subtle aspects of parental involvement. The article first establishes a theoretical framework, using Bandura and Walter's research. Then the article focuses on three issues regarding parental involvement: (1) the salience of subtle aspects of parental involvement; (2) subtle actions are also important to help schools more completely involve parents; and (3) to what extent is it possible to educate parents to become more involved? The article also addresses whether those aspects of parental involvement that are the most efficacious in everyday living are also the most vital in school-based parental involvement programs.

Research Design

The article is an analytical essay that summarizes the recent research on the influence of subtle aspects of parental involvement. It reaches conclusions based on investigations into family and school practices.

Conclusion

There are deliberate actions that teachers can take to enhance parental involvement. First, educate parents to comprehend, and then act on, the fact that it is probably some of the more subtle aspects of parental involvement, such as high expectations and communication, that are among the most important. Second, educate school leaders, teachers, and staff to understand that raising parental participation may be more a function of subtle but important demonstrations of love and respect than a matter of instructing parents to apply particular methods of helping children. Naturally, all these factors are important, but the spirit and the attitude of parental involvement may actually be more important than the pedagogy applied at home. As parents, educators, and other leaders apply these principles, it is likely that parental involvement in the early 21st century will be greater than it has been in recent memory. Ultimately, teachers, students, and parents will all benefit from this development.
Long-Term Correlates of High School Racial Composition: Perpetuation Theory Reexamined
Authors: Stearns Elizabeth
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Perpetuation theory predicts that attending a racially segregated school paves the way for a lifetime of segregated experiences in neighborhoods, schools, and jobs. Research conducted in the 1970s and 1980s linked racial isolation in high schools with later racial isolation in many social settings among African-American students. Racial isolation in the workplace is particularly important to study given that it is an indicator of social cohesion and has been linked with lower levels of pay for workers of color.

Purpose

This study updates much of this research, focusing on the extent to which young adults are racially isolated in the workplace for a more contemporary and racially/ethnically diverse sample.

Research Design

Using the National Education Longitudinal Study, I conduct ordinary least squares regression with Huber/White/sandwich robust variance estimates and a correction for clustered observations.

Findings

I find that the racial composition of high schools has a long-term effect on the extent to which young adults are racially isolated in the workplace. I find that exposure to other racial groups in high school—specifically, exposure to Asian American, Latino, and African American students for White students, and exposure to Latinos and Whites for African American students—reduces their racial isolation in workplace settings after high school. These effects are remarkable in that they are being detected net of measures of region, high school resources, and individual resources, and particularly net of residential isolation in the neighborhoods that the students lived in during the survey period.

Conclusions

This study's findings are consistent with perpetuation theory, which highlights the long-term effects of attending segregated schools across multiple social settings. It offers additional reasons to be concerned about the resegregation of America's schools: as they reseg-regate, additional racial isolation in the workplace is expected to follow.
Can History Stand Alone? Drawbacks and Blind Spots of a “Disciplinary” Curriculum
Authors: Thornton Stephen J. , Barton Keith C.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Over the past quarter-century, many historians, politicians, and educators have argued for an increase in the amount of history taught in schools, for a clear separation of history and social studies, and for an emphasis on disciplinary structures and norms as the proper focus for the subject. Unfortunately, discussions of history education too often rest on the problematic belief that the academic discipline can provide direction for the nature of the subject in general education.

Description of Prior Research

Throughout much of the 20th century, U.S. history educators made common cause with other social educators to promote principled and critical understandings of society. Both groups stood in opposition to calls for more nationalist views of history education. In the mid-1980s, however, this situation began to change, as a coalition of historians, educational researchers, and political pressure groups promoted history as a subject distinct from and independent of the larger realm of the social studies. This new coalition has been unable to avoid conflicts over the selection of content, however, and approaches favored by nationalists often clash with the more critical and inclusive perspectives of historians.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

In this article, we trace the relationship between historians and other social educators during the 20th century and explore how the forces favoring a realignment of history and social studies coalesced in the mid-1980s. We argue that this coalition has led to an unproductive emphasis on history as a “separate subject” and a resulting lack of attention to the goals of history in general education.

Research Design

This analytic essay draws on curriculum theory, historical sources, and contemporary cognitive research to outline the changing relationships between historians and other social educators and to examine the limitations of a purportedly disciplinary curriculum.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The academic discipline of history cannot, by itself, provide guidance for content selection because educators face restrictions of time and coverage that are not relevant in the context of academic historical research. In addition, educators must concern themselves with developing students’ conceptual understanding, and this necessarily requires drawing on other social science disciplines. If students are to develop the insights that historians have most often promoted for the subject, historians must return to their place within the conversation of social studies education.
Ties with Potential: Social Network Structure and Innovative Climate in Dutch Schools
Authors: Moolenaar Nienke M. , Sleegers Peter J. C. , Daly Alan J.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Similar to the United States, government efforts to improve education in the Netherlands are focused on innovation and the development of collaborative structures to support the generation of new knowledge. However, empirical evidence of the relationship between social linkages and innovation in education is scarce.

Objective

The aim of the study was to examine the impact of social network structure on schools’ innovative climate, as mediated by teachers’ involvement in decision-making.

Setting

This article reports on a study among 775 educators in 53 elementary schools in a large educational system in the Netherlands.

Research Design

A quantitative survey using Likert-type scales and social network questions on work-related and personal advice was analyzed using social network analysis and multiple regression analyses.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Findings indicated that the more densely connected teachers were in regard to work-related and personal advice, the more they perceived their schools’ climate to be supportive of innovation. Highly dense work-related network structures also typified teams that perceived strong teacher involvement in decision-making. Moreover, results suggested that the positive relationship between density of work-related advice networks and innovation-supportive school climate could be partially explained by increased shared decision-making. Implications of the study for teachers, organizations, leadership, and policy are discussed.
The Long March toward Revitalization: Developing Standpoint in Curriculum Studies
Authors: Au Wayne
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

There historically exists significant epistemological and political tension within the field of curriculum studies. Further, although there is some application of standpoint theory in educational research generally, and little used within curriculum studies specifically, much of it is undertheorized at best and, in many cases, misapplied or misunderstood.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

The purpose of this article is to offer a potential resolution to the epistemological and political tension within the field of curriculum studies through the development of a conception of curricular standpoint that recognizes the dialectical relationship between the subjectivity of experience and the materiality of social and economic relations. Another purpose of this article is both to illustrate curricular standpoint as both a methodological tool for analysis and to justify a politics of social justice in classroom practice.

Research Design

This study is designed as an analytic essay that addresses critical issues within curriculum studies, develops a conceptual framework to address those issues, and analyzes concrete examples that illustrate the conceptual framework.

Conclusions/Recommendations

This study concludes that the framework for curricular standpoint can serve as a viable methodological tool for curriculum studies to overcome its ongoing epistemological and political tensions, and as an epistemologically strong orientation for the curriculum taught by classroom teachers.
Data, Dyads, and Dynamics: Exploring Data Use and Social Networks in Educational Improvement
Authors: Daly Alan J.
Published: November 2021

Background

In the past decade, there has been an increasing national policy push for educators to systematically collect, interpret, and use data for instructional decision making. The assumption by the federal government is that having data systems will be enough to prompt the use of data for a wide range of decision making. These policies rely on inducements to inspire local level changes; however, they leave the processes related to data use largely undefined.

Objective

In this article, I argue that many of the studies on data use either invoke or directly assess network-related concepts and, as such, network theory and analysis provides a useful analytic and complementary framework and methods for examining the social infrastructure in the use of data for educational improvement.

Research Design

This article reports on a literature review of the data use and social network literatures and the utility of intersecting both literatures for studies on data use for educational improvement.

Conclusions

Many data use studies report that the interpretation and use of data takes place both within and between individuals who, through social interaction, are both co-constructing and making sense of data and their use. Given the increasing role of social relationships in data use studies better theorizing and understanding the dynamics of social influence and processes on the interpretation and use of data is needed. Social network theory and analysis offers a useful conceptual framework and accompanying methods for describing and analyzing the structure of a social system in an effort to understand how social relationships support and constrain the interpretation and use of data in educational improvement.
College Students, Diversity, and Community Service Learning
Authors: Seider Scott , Huguley James P. , Novick Sarah
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Over the past two decades, more than 200 studies have been published on the effects of community service learning on university students. However, the majority of these studies have focused on the effects of such programming on White and affluent college students, and few have considered whether there are differential effects for participants depending on their racial and ethnic backgrounds. This study considered these differential effects in both the academic and experiential components of such programming.

Participants

This study compared the experiences of 244 White students and 118 students of color participating in a community service learning program at Beacon University (a pseudonym) during the 2008–2009 academic year.

Intervention

The Social Action Program is a community service learning program sponsored by Beacon University's philosophy department that seeks to educate participating students about social injustice. The academic component of the program is a year long course that includes interdisciplinary readings from the humanities and social sciences as well as weekly lectures and a discussion section. Participating students also spend 10 hours each week for the entire academic year at one of approximately 50 different service placements focused on antipoverty efforts.

Research Design

Mixed-methods research design involving quantitative analyses (analysis of covariance) of pre-post surveys and qualitative analyses of hour-long semistructured interviews.

Results

Students of color participating in the community service learning program characterized the academic component of the program as offering a weaker sense of community than did their White classmates, and many expressed a reluctance to engage in race discussions with their classmates or to respond to perspectives they perceived as naïve, inaccurate, or offensive.

Conclusions

Even university courses and programming explicitly designed to disrupt White privilege can inadvertently be normed to serve the interests, experiences, and learning goals of White students. Such reification of White privilege comes with a significant cost; the learning of all students is diminished when diverse perspectives are not fully represented or heard.
Reframing the Conversation: Insights from the Oral Histories of Three 1990 TFA Participants
Authors: Rogers Bethany L. , Blumenreich Megan
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Researchers have examined the challenges of staffing urban, underserved classrooms primarily through large-scale data sets; policymakers have responded with strategies intended to recruit more or “better” teachers into the classroom through programs such as the popular Teach for America. Yet there is little qualitative evidence regarding the experiences of such teachers, which could enhance existing understandings of such challenges and current attempts to solve them.

Purpose

This research examines the professional choices and trajectories of Teach for America participants over a 20-year period, attending especially to individuals’ perceptions of their urban teaching experiences, their beliefs, and their reasons for staying in or leaving the urban classroom, with the aim of better understanding the experiences of such teachers and the implications for staffing urban schools.

Participants/Subjects

Research subjects included thirty participants from the inaugural cohort of Teach for America (1990–1992); this article focuses on the life stories of three such individuals.

Research Design

This study draws on oral histories conducted with 30 individuals who participated in the first cohort (1990–1992) of Teach for America. It analyzes their stories within the context of scholarly literature on teachers and teacher policy, urban teaching, and the historical period of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Conclusions/Recommendations

This study suggests the nature of the contributions that nuanced, qualitative methodologies such as oral history can make. We found that, despite their initial differences from traditional-entry teachers, TFA participants’ reasons for staying in or leaving the urban classroom looked very similar to those of observed among the population of urban teachers at large. Our data thus raises a question of focus: is attending to the conditions under which all urban teachers work perhaps just as important as attracting new or purportedly better candidates into urban teaching?
Theories and Research Methodologies for Design-Based Implementation Research: Examples from Four Cases
Authors: Russell Jennifer Lin , Jackson Kara , Krumm Andrew E. , Frank Kenneth A.
Published: November 2021

This chapter reviews four projects that reflect the principles of design-based implementation research (DBIR) in an effort to highlight a range of relevant theoretical and methodological perspectives and tools that can inform future work associated with DBIR.
What Do We Know About how Teachers Influence Student Performance on Standardized Tests: And Why Do We Know So Little about Other Student Outcomes?
Authors: Good Thomas L.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Since the 1970s, researchers have attempted to link observational measures of instructional process to student achievement (and occasionally to other outcomes of schooling). This paper reviews extensively both historical and contemporary research to identify what is known about effective teaching.

Purpose/Objective

Good, after reviewing what is known about effective teaching, attempts to apply this to current descriptions of effective teaching and its application value for practice. Good notes that much of the “new” research on effective teaching has simply replicated what has been known since the 1980s. Although this is not unimportant (since it shows that older findings still pertain to contemporary classrooms), it is unfortunate that research has not moved beyond the relationship between general teacher behavior (those that cut across subject areas) and student achievement (as measured by standardized tests). How this information can be applied and the difficulty in using this information is examined in the paper.

Research Design

The paper is a historical analysis and reviews research on teaching from the 1960s to today.

Conclusion

This paper has stressed that our data base on effective teaching is limited— still it has some implications for practice. Even though the knowledge base is limited, there is no clear knowledge that teachers-in-training learn and have the opportunity to practice and use. It would seem that teacher education programs would want to assure that their graduates, in addition to possessing appropriate knowledge, would also have clear conceptual understanding and skills related to active teaching, proactive management, communication of appropriate expectations for learning, and the ability to plan and enact instruction that balances procedural and conceptual knowledge. Future research on the use of this knowledge base and its effects in teacher education programs would be informative. If done correctly, research on teaching can improve instruction. However, the research must be applied carefully if it is to have useful effects. And, as noted often in this paper, research must consider outcomes of schooling other than achievement such as creativity, adaptability, and problem finding.
Beyond Academic Math: The Role of Applied STEM Course Taking in High School
Authors: Gottfried Michael A. , Bozick Robert , Srinivasan Sinduja V.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Educational policymakers and researchers are concerned about the declining quantity and quality of U.S. students in line to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. As one policy response, a number of federal initiatives have been enacted to enhance STEM curriculum in schools. Part of this push has been to offer applied STEM courses in the K–12 curriculum to reinforce academic STEM material as well as motivate students to remain in these fields. Prior to this current study, no national-level research has evaluated the effectiveness of these courses.

Purpose

(a) What applied STEM courses are most commonly taken by high school students? (b) To what extent are high school students taking both academic math courses and applied STEM courses? (c) Do applied STEM courses in high school improve achievement in math?

Participants

To address the three research questions listed above, this study relies on a comprehensive longitudinal dataset: the Education Longitudinal Survey (ELS:2002). The present study is based on a sample of approximately 11,112 students who participated in the base-year (10th grade, 2002) and first follow-up (12th grade 2004) interviews, who completed math assessments in both years, and for whom valid transcript information was collected.

Research Design

This study begins with a descriptive analysis to evaluate which students have taken applied STEM courses and at which ability level. From this, a common set of applied STEM courses is determined across this nationally representative dataset. Next, this study relies on a linear regression model of math achievement where the dependent variable is a standardized math score. Independent covariates include measures as to whether or not a student had taken applied STEM courses, academic math courses taken by the student, and a range of controls.

Findings

Students who take an applied STEM course had higher math scores than their peers who did not take an applied STEM course, all else equal. These courses may be particularly beneficial for those students who are less oriented toward advanced math.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Applied STEM courses can be used to support learning in math instructed elsewhere in the curriculum, particularly for those students at the lower end of the math pipeline. In providing hands-on learning, often with technology and with direct application to concrete occupationally specific problems, applied STEM courses may serve as a critical means to support an understanding of concepts taught in lower level math pipeline courses.
Tiger Parents or Sheep Parents? Struggles of Parental Involvement in Working-Class Chinese Immigrant Families
Authors: Qin Desirée Baolian , Han Eun-Jin
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Research on Chinese immigrant parents tends to focus on their high levels of educational involvement and its positive impact on their children's exceptional educational performances. Relatively little research has been conducted to understand the challenges Chinese immigrant parents face in helping their children with school and the resulting influence on parent-child relations and children's adaptation.

Focus of Study

In this paper, we examined how immigration reshapes parental involvement in these Chinese immigrant families and its subsequent influence on parent-child relations.

Setting

The research was conducted in the metropolitan area of a northeastern city in the United States.

Participants

Our participants were 72 Chinese immigrant children and their parents.

Research Design

Our study utilizes longitudinal interview data with open-ended questions. Open, axial, and selective coding procedures were used in qualitative data analysis.

Findings/Results

Our findings suggest that when parents face multiple challenges in their adaptation after migration, they often experience a feeling of powerlessness especially in dealing with their children's schooling. This then forces the children to be precociously independent. This dynamic puts strain on parent-child relations and has a negative impact on children's adaptation.

Conclusions/Recommendations

It is important for schools and other social institutions working with Chinese immigrant families to reach out to parents by providing them with more information and resources to be more involved in their children's education. Immigrant and local communities can also help by offering parent and youth programs to help improve parental involvement and parent-child relations in Chinese and other immigrant families.
Weighing the Effects of Federal Educational Policy on Democracy: Reframing the Discourse on High-Stakes Accountability
Authors: Trujillo Tina , Howe Kenneth R.
Published: November 2021

The year 2013 marked the 30th anniversary of the report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Its original release was the watershed for a series of federal policies that would increasingly undercut the local control of public schools. The crux of its argument was that public school achievement was declining, threatening the nation's economic preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation. Federal policy makers responded swiftly to the alleged “crisis” identified in the report by crafting a collection of recommendations to states for holding schools and districts accountable for producing educational “excellence.” The report marked the moment at which federal education policy began to veer away from decades of social science research and welfare programs that acknowledged how powerfully social, cultural, political, and economic conditions determine schools’ capacity for improvement (e.g., Coleman, 1966; Jencks et al., 1972). It also signaled the point at which the locus of power in public education began shifting increasingly into the hands of federal authorities.