bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Introduction
Authors: Lightfoot Sara Lawrence
Published: May 2015

The topic of this section is the federal role in improving educational practice. As I looked over the conference program, it seemed to me that the other topics of inquiry,though very interesting, were relatively obvious areas of description and analysis: the historical context of the federal role in education, the federal role in increasing equality of educational opportunity, and the federal role in educational research. But practice and federalism seemed odd partners, distant territories, disconnected spheres. How could the human endeavor of educational practice—so intimate, so localized, so craftlike—be scrutinized, supported, or directed from afar? How could national governmental directives, inspired by science, rationality, politics, and order, be linked with processes that are largely shaped by personality, subjectivity, and intuition? Are there any discrete, learnable technologies that can be successfully transplanted to school systems,to classrooms, to individual teachers? If some aspects of pedagogy and curricular design can be defined and successfully replicated en masse, how might they complement the more immediate experiential practices defined by person and place? Who has power over the definition of practice—the policymakers, who articulate the educational and political agendas and who distribute the resources, or the practitioners, who negotiate their use and who can close the classroom doors and make relatively autonomous choices about how they will proceed? Are practitioners aware of the larger context within which they work, or is their focus on immediate clinical experience an effective buffer against the broader constraints? If practitioners have, in fact, this myopic perspective, does it support their autonomy and their potential resourcefulness, or does it undermine it?
The Federal Role in Educational Research
Authors: Timpane P. Michael
Published: May 2015

Michael Timpane maintains that a continued federal role in educational research is both necessary and appropriate, and yet has not received sufficient support from professional educators. He traces the history of the relationship between the federal government and the research community, culminating in the development of the National Institute of Education (ΝΙΕ). He further delineates the areas of education in which he believes research has made important contributions, attributing many of these gains to improvements in research methodology. In response, Gordon Ambach concurs with the need for continued federal involvement in educational research and for increased professional support of such endeavors, but adds that ΝΙΕ should not be the sole provider of such research; educators can gain important knowledge from business and industry as well as from research generated at the federal and state levels. Sheldon White discusses the varied views of the relationship between research and education and suggests that they share a common element—concern with a reflective practice. Richard Light reviews the accomplishments of federally initiated educational research by presenting the findings from three programs—Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,the Emergency School Aid Act, and Public Law 94–142—to illustrate how candid reporting of research results can lead to program improvement.
Introduction
Authors: Salomone Rosemary
Published: May 2015

In the past three decades, Congress and the courts have used the terms "equality,""equity," "appropriateness," and "adequacy" in an effort to define the legal contours of the right to educational services at the public expense of a population of children with diverse backgrounds, needs, abilities, and disabilities. In fact, these concepts have become a significant part of the daily lives of educators and now serve as the rationale underlying many of their administrative decisions. A declining economy, coupled with increased public dissatisfaction with the performance of the educational system, a political shift to the right, and federal withdrawal from appropriation and regulation under the New Federalism are forcing the educational establishment to redefine these concepts in light of present realities.
The Federal Role in Educational Improvement
Authors: Turnbull Brenda
Published: May 2015

Educational improvement is fundamentally a local enterprise. The people who can bring it about are those who provide educational services—teachers, principals, perhaps local district administrators. Nevertheless, the federal government has sought a role for itself in stimulating and supporting improvement. Secretary of Education T. H. Bell remarked at this conference that an important federal task is to build state and local capacity in education. On the assumption that existing gaps in local capacity prevent greater educational effectiveness, the government has provided various kinds of resources with which it attempts to fill the gaps with knowledge and skills. The record of these efforts is mixed. None has worked exactly as intended, mostly because the people who are the targets of a federal improvement effort generally modify the federal plan to fit their own ideas and circumstances. Although this is to be expected and even welcomed if local initiative is crucial to educational improvement, it conflicts with the federal government's aim of making a visible and predictable difference with its programs.
Evaluating the Effect of Coaching on SAT Scores: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: DerSimonian Rebecca , Laird Nan
Published: May 2015

DerSimonian and Laird present a quantitative analysis of published results on the effect of coaching programs on SAT scores. Their analysis differs from previous methods of combining evidence from different sources by separating out the within-study sampling error from the variation in coaching effectiveness. They explicitly model the methodology used in each study in order to analyze the variation in study results. They find that studies which compare the gains achieved by coached students to national norms yield estimated "coaching effects, " which are four to five times greater than corresponding effects estimated for matched or randomized evaluations. In addition, the matched or randomized evaluations show a much greater degree of consistency in their results than do less well-controlled evaluations. The authors conclude that the data do support a positive effect of coaching on SAT scores, but that the size of the coaching effect estimated from the matched or randomized studies (10 points) seems too small to be practically important.
Qualified Praise for Liberal Learning
Authors: Berry Mary Frances
Published: May 2015

Trends in education in the United States are elaborated and dismissed with little attention to history or context. To put The Paideia Proposal in context, we need to consider earlier trends.
The Yellow Brick Road of Education
Authors: McKenzie Floretta Dukes
Published: May 2015

Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, educators hold a vision that somewhere—perhaps over the rainbow—a place exists that is free from all the knotty and nagging problems of everyday life. For teachers and school administrators, this "Oz" includes classrooms of endlessly inquisitive and motivated youngsters; instructors with a bottomless reservoir of energy, dedication, and talent; and schools free from yearly political haggles over funds needed to buy the texts, hire staff, and heat buildings. Frontline educators—classroom teachers, principals, and the like—as well as researchers and theorists,work toward the attainment of such an educational paradise. However, as evidenced in The Paideia Proposal, a fundamental difference in perspective distinguishes the practitioners' and the academicians' approaches to educational improvement.
Variations in State SAT Performance: Meaningful or Misleading?
Authors: Powell Brian , Steelman Lala Carr
Published: May 2015

Public attention has been drawn to recent reports of state-by-state variation in standardized test scores, in particular the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). In this paper, Brian Powell and Lala Carr Steelman attempt to show how the dissemination of uncorrected state SAT scores may have created an inaccurate public and governmental perception of the variation in educational quality. Their research demonstrates that comparing state SAT averages is illadvised unless these ratings are corrected for compositional and demographic factors for which states may not be directly responsible.
An Impostor's Voice
Authors: Borton Lady
Published: May 2015

Lady Borton is a United States citizen of Quaker background, and a former high school teacher. Inspired by her pacifist conviction that all lives are sacred and that violence is not an appropriate choice to resolve human conflict, she volunteered to work in Vietnam for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). The AFSC is a Quaker-based organization dedicated to the elimination of social injustice and to the promotion of world peace. From 1969 to 1971 Borton served as adminstrator of the AFSC project in Quang Ngai, a Vietnamese province that saw some of the heaviest civilian and military casualities of the war. The AFSC's project taught the Vietnamese how to make artificial arms and legs for civilian victims and provided regular weekly medical care to South Vietnamese political prisoners. In 1975 she served as leader of an AFSC-sponsored delegation of teachers to North Vietnam. She returned to Southeast Asia in 1980 to work as health administrator for twelve thousand Vietnam boat people who had been placed on the Malaysian island of Pulau Bidong. She visited Kampuchea in 1983 and is planning a visit to Vietnam later this year.

Borton lives on a farm in the Appalachian region of Ohio. She chooses to live below the taxable income level so that the government cannot use her tax dollars to support any military activity. In this short article, she describes the many voices that she experiences in a typical day in Ohio and ponders a personal consequence of her remarkable sense of empathy.
Identifying Alternatives to Political Violence: An Educational Imperative
Authors: Kruegler Christopher , Parkman Patricia
Published: May 2015

Despite its current threat to the world's survival, organized political violence continues to be the ultimate political recourse. Chistopher Kruegler and Patricia Parkman argue that this is so because of a widespread yet erroneous belief in its efficacy, and because nonviolent sanctions remain underdeveloped in the face of skepticism about their effectiveness. The authors document the largely unrecognized history of nonviolent action and suggest its potential power to resolve today's conflicts. In conclusion, they call for greater efforts by educators to research and teach alternatives to political violence and present specific directions which these efforts might take.
Religion and Public Schools: Emerging Legal Standards and Unresolved Issues
Authors: McCarthy Martha
Published: May 2015

In the past several years, a number of public school issues have generated volatile church/state disputes. Silent and spoken prayer, student-initiated devotional meetings, and religious challenges to the secular curriculum are among the topics eliciting active involvement of all three branches of government. Martha McCarthy provides a historical analysis of the efforts to clarify church/state/school relations and an in-depth look at recent Supreme Court rulings on this subject. McCarthy's work illuminates the sensitive issues involved and the current Supreme Court's stand in applying First Amendment guarantees in public schools.
English and Creole: The Dialectics of Choice in a College Writing Program
Authors: Elsasser Nan , Irvine Patricia
Published: May 2015

In this article the authors document an experimental writing program for honors and remedial students at the College of the Virgin Islands. The program, which involved linguistic analyses of Creole and English, included discussion of the political, sociological, and psychological dimensions of language use and writing in and about both languages. Elsasser and Irvine conclude that writing programs based on biliteracy in Creole and English would not only enable students to perform well in both languages but would expand the functions of Creole as well.
On Listening to What the Children Say
Authors: Paley Vivian Gussin
Published: May 2015

A growing number of teachers and researchers are collaborating on research projects involving classroom learning; some teachers, however, become their own investigative reporters. Vivian Gussin Paley has developed a method for studying the young child in her classroom that is at the same time a new approach to teaching. In this essay, she explains how the method evolved and describes its effect in the classroom.
Sexual Harassment in Academia: Feminist Theory and Institutional Practice
Authors: Hoffmann Frances
Published: May 2015

In recent years many colleges have responded to the problem of sexual harassment of students and workers in various ways that do not address certain structural conditions underlying the problem. Frances Hoffmann provides a feminist critique of the problem of sexual harassment and of the institutional responses to it. She also offers guidelines for formulating policies and procedures that make clear connections between sexual harassment and social/cultural conditions and that empower victims and potential victims.
A Discourse Not Intended for Her: Learning and Teaching Within Patriarchy
Authors: Lewis Magda , Simon Roger
Published: May 2015

The overwhelming experience of women in a society dominated by men is that of being silenced. Feminist writers have shown that women are often silenced everywhere they turn,including in the classroom. Magda Lewis and Roger I. Simon, one as female student and the other as male teacher, describe and analyze the process of silencing as it occurred in their graduate seminar designed to explore the relationship between language and power.
Creative Education for Bilingual Teachers
Authors: Ada Alma Flor
Published: May 2015

The author prescribes a bilingual teacher-training process that is based on a critique of the current condition of bilingual education and the professional concerns of bilingual teachers. Her approach would enable bilingual teachers to discern and analyze interpersonal, social,and political issues unique to their struggles. She suggests a "creative" approach to teacher training that she believes will strengthen the image of bilingual teachers and, consequently,benefit both teachers and students.
Radical Perspectives on the Empowerment of Afro-American Women: Lessons for the 1980s
Authors: Davis Angela
Published: May 2015

This paper is a revised version of a speech delivered at the Tenth National Women's Studies Association(NWSA) Conference, co-sponsored by Emory University and Agnes Scott College, held at Emory College in Atlanta, Georgia, in June 1987. Angela Davis was invited by NWSA conference organizers to address the audience as one of the keynote speakers because of her ability to provide historical information often missing from mainstream text and to present conceptions of political systems and vehicles for social change that are different from those usually thought about. The Editors offer her remarks as one point of departure for movement toward an education for the liberation of both women and men in our society.
Teachers and Teaching: Beyond the Classroom
Authors: Stumbo Carol
Published: May 2015

Traditionally, little is expected of students in the area of eastern Kentucky where Carol Stumbo teaches. It is as true today as it was when Stumbo, the daughter of a coal miner, was growing up. Like many other cultural minorities, Appalachians are normally educated to "fit in" to the majority culture and to devalue their own history and culture. "Success," then, often comes at the expense of their Appalachian identity. In this article, the author discusses an oral history project designed to make the acquisition of writing skills more palatable to her students, and the unexpected and far-reaching consequences the project has had on her view of her own education and teaching, her students, and her community. This article captures the seriousness and honesty with which Stumbo confronts these changes and reflects her deep commitment to, and belief in, her students.
Alternative Institutions of Education for Africans in South Africa: An Exploration of Rationale, Goals, and Directions
Authors: Mphahlele Es'Kia
Published: May 2015

In South Africa, education is one of the social institutions manipulated by the apartheid government to develop and maintain an unequal society. In this provocative article, Es'Kia Mphahlele, a Black South African educator, describes the Blacks' struggle for educational improvement through alternative education. Mphahlele, who was forced into exile for two decades because of the stand he took against inferior education for Blacks, returned home to be part of a struggle for a system of education of which Blacks can take charge. He describes a vision of how alternative education in South Africa can draw from "the souls of people" and pave the way for a transformative and humane educational system for all people in the country.
Transferencia y Apropiación en Intervenciones Educativas Comunitarias: Un Marco de Referencia para su Análisis
Authors: Vaccaro Liliana
Published: May 2015

En este artículo, Liliana Vaccaro discute la experiencia educativa de un programa de educación popular, especificamente, los Talleres de Aprendizaje. Este programa, que ha existido durante los pasados doce años, ha evolucionado en diversos aspectos. Vaccaro documenta dicha evolución explicando la forma en que las prácticas de enseñanza han mejorado, la forma en que los educadores populares han tomado control completo de algunos programas y más recientemente, la forma en que los educadores populares se han unido para coordinar sus esfuerzos y así proveer de una manera permanente recursos educativos en las comunidades. La autora identifica estrategias y procesos que son esenciales para alcanzar un nivel de apropiación, en otras palabras cuando educadores populares están motivados y preparados para tomar control del programa educativo en sus comunidades. Este artículo nos presenta los esfuerzos de la gente, que a pesar de las condiciones de pobreza en que viven y de la indiferencia que historicamente el gobierno chileno ha tenido hacia sus problemas y necesidades,se han dedicado a mejorar sus condiciones de vida y han tomado control de sus destinos. Vaccaro habla sobre el empeño de personas que trabajan para construir una sociedad destinos democrática en donde se garantice una educación de calidad, la salud y seguridad personal y las oportunidades para el mejoramiento propio de todos.
Dilemmas of Knowing: Ethical and Epistemological Dimensions of Teachers' Work and Development
Authors: Lyons Nona
Published: May 2015

In this article Nona Lyons explores the nature and meaning of the dilemmas teachers encounter in their classrooms as they, along with their students, respond to and interpret the tasks of learning. Through analyses of teacher narratives, Lyons reveals how the teachers' perspectives toward knowledge and their view of themselves and of their students as knowers enter into their work and can at times be part of their development. In taking up these epistemological issues, Lyons illuminates features of the student-teacher relationship and offers an alternative perspective to current discussions about teachers' knowledge.
Twenty-four, Forty-two, and I Love You: Keeping It Complex
Authors: Duckworth Eleanor
Published: May 2015

In this article, Eleanor Duckworth focuses on the nature of understanding by leading the reader through the process of extended clinical interviewing. Duckworth describes some of her own explorations of science and how those experiences showed her what learning could be like. Those experiences included working with "a highly imaginative bunch of scientists and teachers of science" while developing the Elementary Science Study, a curriculum development program. As she describes it, Duckworth "got hooked" on the excitement of learning and has been an educator ever since, working to develop engaging learning experiences for both teachers and students. This article continues her effort to do just that, with lengthy descriptions of her own and her students' struggles — and enjoyment — as they attempt to understand and define various phenomena. And with that, she opens the discussion of "keeping it complex.
Teachers and Teaching: Teaching Undergraduates about AIDS: An Action-Oriented Approach
Authors: Christensen Kimberly
Published: May 2015

Since 1981, over 100,000 Americans have died from AIDS. More than 1.5 million others are infected with HIV, the virus believed to cause AIDS. Schools and colleges across the country have responded to the AIDS epidemic by providing a variety of education and risk-reduction programs for their students. In this article, Kimberly Christensen describes the content and pedagogy of an action-oriented, semester-long undergraduate course she taught on AIDS at the State University of New York College at Purchase in the spring of 1990. It is her view that educators must not only teach risk-reduction behavior, but also explore the deeper causes of the AIDS epidemic:the social forces that grant differential access to information, health care, and social services for people of different race, gender, sexual orientation, and social class. Furthermore, she suggests that successful AIDS educational efforts should also be designed to help students combat their pervasive feelings of powerlessness by actively involving them in efforts to end the AIDS crisis. In this article, Christensen provides a critique and evaluation of the content and pedagogy of the course, shares her students' reactions to the class, and makes suggestions for designing similar courses.
Thinking as Argument
Authors: Kuhn Deanna
Published: May 2015

In attempting to define intelligence in real-world contexts, psychologists have focused primarily on the kinds of thinking that people do in work-related environments. In this article,however, Deanna Kuhn describes another form of thinking that should be central to efforts to describe real-world intelligence: thinking as argument. It is in argument, the author maintains, that we find the most significant way in which higher order thinking and reasoning figure in the lives of most people. Kuhn describes her research, which examines the extent to which a process of reasoned argument underlies the beliefs people hold and the opinions they espouse about important social issues. Her results indicate that argumentive reasoning ability does not differ systematically as a function of sex or age (from adolescence through the late sixties), but is strongly related to education level. Kuhn believes that social contexts,such as the classroom, are the most promising arena for practicing and developing argumentive thinking skills.
Teaching and Practice
Authors: Ballenger Cynthia
Published: May 2015

Teachers often learn techniques to manage the behaviors of the children in their classrooms with the assumption that those techniques are universal, rather than culturally based. In this article,Cynthia Ballenger shares her process of coming to understand the cultural assumptions that lie at the heart of effectively managing her class of four-year-old Haitian children. Through multiple"conversations" with a teacher-researcher group, with Haitian teachers and parents in a daycare center, and through her work with Haitian teachers in a child development class, Ballenger learns about Haitian cultural ways and queries the assumptions that shape her own experience as a North American teacher. Her story demonstrates a model of teacher reflection on both theory and practice that can illuminate the practices of other teachers who encounter children of differing cultural, racial, or class backgrounds.
Teaching and Practice
Authors: Wehmiller Paula Lawrence
Published: May 2015

In this article, Paula Lawrence Wehmiller addresses the need for restructuring our schools in ways that encourage educational reform, the integration of school and community, and the building of covenants that take to heart the eradication of ignorance and the hierarchical trappings that prevent systemic change. This article is a revised version of the keynote address given by the author at the 1991 Country Conference for School Heads in Maryland, which was sponsored by the Association of Independent Maryland Schools and the Association of Independent Schools in Greater Washington.
Voice, Play, and a Practice of Ordinary Courage in Girls' and Women's Lives
Authors: Rogers Annie
Published: May 2015

In this article, Annie Rogers explores the etymology of courage, and links the "ordinary courage" of eight- to twelve-year-old girls with an old meaning of the word: "to speak one's mind by telling all one's heart." She then observes how this ordinary courage is lost as many girls reach early adolescence. Her observation is embedded in a newly emerging psychology of women based on empirical studies of girls, which have documented a striking loss of voice, of resiliency, and of self-confidence in girls as they enter early adolescence. These studies have identified this as a time of particular vulnerability and risk in young women's psychological development, as it becomes increasingly dangerous for them to speak their minds truthfully within the context of cultural conspiracies to silence women's knowledge. In order to capture the girls' inner life of feeling, Rogers introduces a "poetics of research," a particular discourse grounded in feminist epistemology and methodology, as well as the voice-centered,relational practice of research she has helped to create.
The Relationship between Educational Policy and Practice: The Reconstitution of the College-Preparatory Gymnasium in East Germany
Authors: Mintrop Heinrich , Weiler Hans
Published: May 2015

In this article, Heinrich Mintrop and Hans Weiler examine how the recent political reunification of Germany has affected schools in two states in the former East Germany. Through the voices of administrators and teachers working in upper track college-preparatory Gymnasien (high schools), the authors describe the curricular and structural changes occurring within secondary schools. Among other issues, Mintrop and Weiler explore the central issue of tracking in a European context under conditions of rapid institutional restructuring and cultural reorientation. The authors' initial research suggests that tracking, in addition to being an equity issue, is also a practical, social, and vocational concern. At a more general level, the authors conclude that because disjunctures remain between state-mandated reforms and teachers' perceptions of the goals of education, only partial implementation of a unifying school structure has been possible.
A Postmodern Vision of Time and Learning: A Response to the National Education Commission Report Prisoners of Time
Authors: Slattery Patrick
Published: May 2015

In this article, Patrick Slattery challenges the assumptions underlying many educational policy documents, such as the 1994 Report, Prisoners of Time, which, in Slattery's view, depict time as both an object to control and as a dictator of the linear sequencing that shapes schooling. Slattery argues for a proleptic understanding of time in education. That is, he calls for an understanding that acknowledges how time interconnects with classroom life by providing an overview of various perspectives from classical physics that illuminate the interdependence of the space-time continuum, by addressing the role of personal history in influencing the relationships of students and teachers, and by advocating for curricula that connect to the realities of students' lives.
How We Find Ourselves: Identity Development and Two Spirit People
Authors: Wilson Alex
Published: May 2015

Psychological theorists have typically treated sexual and racial identity as discrete and independent developmental pathways. While this simplifying division may make it easier to generate theory, it may also make it less likely that the resulting theory will describe people's real-life developmental experiences. In this article, Alex Wilson examines identity development from an Indigenous American perspective, grounded in the understanding that all aspects of identity (including sexuality, race and gender) are interconnected. Many lesbian, gay and bisexual Indigenous Americans use the term "two-spirit" to describe themselves. This term is drawn from a traditional worldview that affirms the inseparability of the experience of their sexuality from the experience of their culture and community. How can this self-awareness and revisioning of identity inform developmental theory? The author offers personal story as a step toward reconstructing and strengthening our understanding of identity.
"To Take Them at Their Word": Language Data in the Study of Teachers' Knowledge
Authors: Freeman Donald
Published: May 2015

In this article, Donald Freeman traces how the field of research on what teachers know and how they act in classrooms, including studies of teacher thinking, teacher learning, and teacher socialization, has assumed that words can represent thought, and have thus focused on language as a way "into" understanding the inner worlds of teachers. Freeman argues that this view of language as providing a vehicle for thought — what he terms a representational view of language data — only provides part of the story. Drawing on concepts from linguistic theory, he argues that a presentational view of language data is necessary as well if we are to more fully understand the concealed relationships and social context that language embodies. He proposes an integrated approach to research on teacher knowledge that uses both views to develop a fuller understanding of teachers in relation to social context, the ways in which their thinking changes and evolves, and the role that the research process plays in shaping the data as it is gathered and analyzed.
Inclusion, School Restructuring, and the Remaking of American Society
Authors: Lipsky Dorothy Kerzner , Gartner Alan
Published: May 2015

In this article, Dorothy Kerzner Lipsky and Alan Gartner discuss recent developments in special education and measure them against their inclusionary model. This article expands and updates their 1987 HER article, "Beyond Special Education: Toward a Quality System for All Students," a review of the implementation of PL 94-142, which, though the basis for placement in the least restrictive environment, in fact provided legal support for the development of separate educational systems for students with special needs. Here, Lipsky and Gartner continue their argument that the special education model must not separate those with special needs. They argue that inclusion provides all students with a quality education that is both individual and integrated, citing recent court cases that support their contention that all students can and should be educated in the same classroom. Lipsky and Gartner conclude by showing how their inclusionary model adds to the school restructuring debate, which until now has excluded any mention of students with disabilities. They believe that special education should be viewed as a matter of social justice and equity, and see inclusion as a way of both restructuring education and remaking American society.
Between Nationality and Class
Authors: Aronowitz Stanley
Published: May 2015

In this article, Stanley Aronowitz argues that "American" ideology contains two elements. First, the United States is believed to confer equality of opportunity on each citizen. Second, unlike other advanced industrial nations, the United States is considered an "open society" that allows and promotes social mobility. In this paradigm, racial minorities and women have the same chances to escape the ranks of the working poor as White men. Aronowitz uses a class-based analysis nested within ethnicity to expose the fallacy of this ideology. Since higher education is most often pointed to as a source of social mobility, Aronowitz focuses his argument on the meritocratic norms that are replacing democratic norms within higher education, and on the devolution of educational opportunity for the poor, working class, and racial minorities.
Rewriting the Discourse of Racial Identity: Towards a Pedagogy and Politics of Whiteness
Authors: Giroux Henry
Published: May 2015

In this article, Henry Giroux places the study of Whiteness in a historical context, recognizing the various modes in which racial identity has been used by conservative ideologues and critical scholars who seek to expand the discussion of race and power. The author also points out the limitations of the current scholarship on Whiteness. Although this scholarship has successfully expanded the study of race to include the study of Whiteness as a historical, cultural, and political construction, it has not shown the liberating potential of deconstructing Whiteness in the public sphere. With an analysis of Dangerous Minds and Suture, two movies with contrasting narratives of race, the author provides an example of the possibilities for critically discussing, in a classroom, the representation of race and ethnicity in the media. Through such a discussion, students of different races and ethnicities can reflect on the representation of themselves and others and the position of Whiteness as the dominant referent. There is a need for Whiteness to be theorized and discussed in a manner that recognizes the potential for criticism, as well as the possibility for White students to recognize their own agency and legitimate place within the struggle for social change and an anti-racist society.
Language in Thinking and Learning: Pedagogy and the New Whorfian Framework
Authors: Lee Penny
Published: May 2015

In the field of linguistics, the ideas of Benjamin Whorf continue to generate as much controversy as they did when they first became known more than half a century ago. This continued interest in Whorf's theories about relationship between language, mind, and experience has now extended beyond the realm of linguistics. Today, anthropologists, cognitive psychologists, and even education researchers are rediscovering Whorf's insights with enthusiasm. In this article, Penny Lee argues that Whorf's theory complex, which includes the linguistic relativity principle (sometimes also referred to as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis), has important implications for education, particularly with respect to the role of language in teaching and thinking. From the theory complex, Lee draws a new Whorfian framework that provides some starting points for educators to reflect on language-mind-experience relationships, and, ultimately, to improve their classroom practice.
Women and Education in Eritrea: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis
Authors: Stefanos Asgedet
Published: May 2015

In this article, Asgedet Stefanos examines women and education in the east African nation of Eritrea. She tackles as her central questions whether, and to what extent, Eritrean women have been achieving emancipation; and, if so, what role education has played in that process. Stefanos begins by providing a historical overview that delineates Eritrean women's general social condition and access to education in pre-colonial traditional society and during the eras of Italian and British colonialism. She then evaluates developments during Eritrea's protracted national liberation struggle against Ethiopia and the four years since independence. Stefanos documents significant advances in the emancipation of women and highlights education as a vital arena for change. She observes shortcomings in the Eritrean political leadership's strategy to establish effective educational equity for women, as well as disparities between the goals and assessments of policymakers and the aspirations and experiences of women. Her discussion of contemporary Eritrea is informed by policies and commentary of political leaders and interviews with a diverse sample of Eritrean women. Stefanos concludes by asserting that the current situation confronting an independent Eritrea promotes new obstacles and challenges to a vigorous pursuit of female rights and gender equality, and that the prospects for expanding women's gains in education are very much in the balance.
The Hidden Half: A History of Native American Women's Education
Authors: Almeida Deirdre
Published: May 2015

In this article, Deirdre Almeida presents an overview of Native American education since the Europeans' arrival in the Americas, with a focus on its effect on Native American women in the United States from 1878 to the present. Until recently the history of Native American women has only been touched upon, but over the past decade, Native American women scholars have emerged to present their perspectives on the influence of both traditional learning and formal Western-based educational programs on Native women. Almeida examines the educational experiences of Native American women resulting from U.S. government policies, focusing in particular on the off-reservation boarding school program of 1878–1928. Throughout her study, Almeida demonstrates how education was, and still is, connected to the political power of Native American women. Traditional learning has been the means by which Native American women have established and maintained their voices and empowered themselves through gender roles. However, Western-based education, under government control, has been used as an instrument to destroy the traditional power of Native American women, through the shifting of these roles. The voices of the Native American women presented in this study illustrate their resistance to the breakdown of traditional political standing and the use of education to reclaim and protect it.
Afterword: Narratives of Possibility and Impossibility: What Unites Us and What Separates Us
Authors: de los Reyes Eileen
Published: May 2015

As a feminist researcher, I adopt the posture described in this Symposium by Kathleen Weiler of "mov[ing] uneasily between historical narrative and a self-conscious analysis of texts" (p. 652). This self-conscious analysis requires the researcher to acknowledge and make part of the research her/his race, ethnicity, class, gender, beliefs, assumptions, and ideology. As feminist scientist Sandra Harding explains, the researcher "must be placed within the frame of the picture that she/he attempts to paint" (1987, p. 9). The inclusion of the researcher's biases and experiences relevant to the research is not meant to be a therapeutic or healing device for the researcher, but is included as part of the body of knowledge that the reader must have if she/he is to arrive at "a contrary hypothesis about the influence of the researcher's presence on her/his analysis" (Harding, 1987, p. 9). As I analyze the articles in this Symposium, it is essential for the reader to know what parts of my identity had an impact on my reading of these texts, individually and as a whole, and the ways in which my history and ideology help, hinder, and mediate my analysis.
Cognitive Skill and Economic Inequality: Findings from the National Adult Literacy Survey
Authors: Raudenbush Stephen , Kasim Rafa
Published: May 2015

Few would deny that the civil rights and women's movements have substantially changed U.S. society. Yet ethnic and gender inequality in employment and earnings remain large. Even when comparisons are confined to persons of similar educational attainment, African Americans and Hispanic Americans earn less than European Americans, women earn less than men, and African Americans suffer a substantially elevated risk of unemployment. One prominent explanation for ethnic differences in earnings and employment is that, holding constant access to schooling, differences in economic outcomes reflect differences in cognitive skills that have become decisive in the modern labor market. A prominent explanation for the gender gap emphasizes gender differences in occupational preference, with women choosing occupations that are lower paying. Based on an intensive analysis of data from the U.S. National Adult Literacy Survey, the authors find that these two explanations are only partly successful in illuminating ethnic and gender inequality in employment and earnings. Alternative explanations emphasizing labor market discrimination and residential segregation cannot be ignored. In this article, Stephen Raudenbush and Rafa Kasim consider the implications of this new evidence for current debates about affirmative action and educational reform.
On the Theoretical Trappings of the Thesis of Anti-Theory; or, Why the Idea of Theory May Not, After All, Be All That Bad: A Response to Gary Thomas
Authors: Rajagopalan Kanavillil
Published: May 2015

"A radically atheoretical posture is conceivable only in a purely theoretical world of wild fancy," writes Kanavillil Rajagopalan in response to Gary Thomas's article, "What's the Use of Theory?" published in the Spring 1997 issue of the Harvard Educational Review. While agreeing with Thomas that educators and researchers often depend too heavily on theory and that theory often does not translate into actual practice, Rajagopalan points out that Thomas's call for the complete abolition of theory does not translate into actual practice either. In fact, Rajagopalan asserts, in arguing against the use of theory in education, Thomas winds up creating a new theory—a theory of anti-theory—fraught with many of the same problems Thomas identifies in other people's theories. Rajagopalan's critique focuses on three points: first, humans may by nature be theorizing creatures, making the call for the abolition of theory impossible in reality; second, Thomas himself cannot help but fall into the trap of using and relying on the frameworks of theory to make his argument against theory; and third, Thomas's notion of "the hegemony of theory" would be more accurately written as "the hegemony of a theory"—that is, theory is not necessarily the problem, but particular theories are problematic. In the end, Rajagopalan believes that throwing out theory is not the most effective way to deal with the increased dependence on theory in education. Instead, educators must first analytically break down theories to prevent individual theories from being used as the basis for sweeping educational assertions, and then "push a number of theories to flourish and proliferate, trying to make each theory hegemonic."
Hispano Education and the Implications of Autonomy: Four School Systems in Southern Colorado, 1920–1963
Authors: Donato Ruben
Published: May 2015

In this article, Rubén Donato explores the experiences of Hispanos, a segment of the Mexican American population, in four southern Colorado school systems — San Luis, Del Norte, Monte Vista, and Trinidad — between 1920 and 1963. Through a combination of historical research; interviews with former students, teachers, and administrators; and examination of public records, Donato finds that Hispanos with similar backgrounds had different educational experiences in each of these school systems. In examining why this occurred, Donato argues that the presence or absence of Hispano autonomy was a powerful factor in determining the relative success or failure of Hispanos in these school systems. Essentially, he maintains that whoever controlled the schools determined who taught in them, who administered them, what sorts of social and academic environments were created, and which students were prepared to pursue post-secondary education.
Voices Inside Schools - La Verneda-Sant Martí: A School Where People Dare to Dream
Authors: Aroca Montse Sanchez
Published: May 2015

In this article, Montse Sánchez Aroca describes the philosophy, activities, and achievments of La Verneda-Sant Martí, a school for adults in Barcelona, Spain, where Sánchez has taught for ten years. Started as a grassroots project, La Verneda is exceptional as a school for adult education because of the level of involvement of the adults and the democratic process by which students (who refer to themselves as participants), teachers, volunteers, and community members take part in the school's decisionmaking process. Learning and creating are the responsibility of and for the benefit of the entire school community. This is accomplished through egalitarian dialogue, in which everything is discussed and decided collectively; there is no hierarchy in the school's structure. Sánchez illustrates why people in La Verneda say that the school is the realization of a dream. As an example, she describes how students with little formal schooling organize literary circles where they read books by authors such as James Joyce, and invite the best writers in the country to their gatherings. They also create associations that make their voices heard at the educational policymaking level. Some of the students at La Verneda go on to receive university degrees and become highly qualified professionals. Sánchez's descriptions and examples clearly present La Verneda as an example of an emancipatory school for adult education.
Literacy Learning and Economic Change
Authors: Brandt Deborah
Published: May 2015

In this article, Deborah Brandt discusses two cases from a larger study in which she documents the changing conditions of literacy learning as experienced by ordinary people in the twentieth century. Her discussion of the lives of two women, Martha Day and Barbara Hunt, is grounded in principles of oral history and life history research. She presents the analytic concept of a "sponsor" to identify any agent who supports or hampers opportunities for literacy learning in the lives of her subjects. Her discussion of sponsorship in the lives of these two women highlights the relationship between literacy learning and economic change. Though these women were born two generations apart, they both witnessed, albeit from different points in time, the steady decline of a farm-based economy and its transformation by the forces of industrialization and consolidation of land under corporate control. Brandt argues that the accounts of these two women can aid speculation about how economic changes impact the processes of literacy learning. She also discusses how the concept of sponsorship can be useful to teachers as a way of helping students to recognize who is interested in their literacy, and why.
Writing Development: A Neglected Variable in the Consideration of Phonological Awareness
Authors: Vernon Sofia , Ferreiro Emilia
Published: May 2015

In this article, Sofía Vernon and Emilia Ferreiro present the results of an experimental study that looks at the relationship between the development of phonological awareness and the development of writing in Spanish-speaking kindergartners. The results of this study speak to the ongoing controversy about approaches to early literacy instruction — that is, whether children's ability to segment words into phonemes (phonological awareness) is a prerequisite for learning how to read and write. These results show that phonological awareness is not an either/or phenomenon, but that it develops across levels and that this development is related to children's writing development. Vernon and Ferreiro discuss several important educational implications based on their findings: first, that children's ability to benefit from systematic phonics instruction depends on their level of writing development; and second, that encouraging children to write in kindergarten and first grade is an important way to stimulate the analysis of spoken words or other meaningful units.
Voices Inside Schools - Notes from a Marine Biologist's Daughter: On the Art and Science of Attention
Authors: Sullivan Anne McCrary
Published: May 2015

Through an autobiographical lens, Anne McCrary Sullivan explores the sensory and emotional aspects of attending and their implications for teaching, learning, and research. Her poetry and stanzaic prose attempt to awaken in the reader an artistic engagement with the various meanings of attention. Her use of this genre challenges traditional approaches to representing knowledge.