bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Kindergarten Teachers’ Instructional Priorities Misalignment and Job Satisfaction: A Mixed Methods Analysis
Authors: Gaias Larissa M. , Jimenez Manuela , Abry Tashia , Granger Kristen L. , Taylor Michelle
Published: November 2021

Background

Instructional priority misalignment—the difference between how much time teachers would ideally spend on certain subjects/skills compared with how much time teachers actually spend on certain subjects/skills—is a novel measure addressing aspects of teacher autonomy that could have implications for job satisfaction. This misalignment may be particularly salient for kindergarten teachers, who have experienced recent shifts in instructional priorities as standards-based academic learning has been increasingly integrated into the classrooms of our youngest students. Thus, misalignment in teachers’ instructional priorities regarding Common Core academic topics (math, English) and socio-emotional learning skills may be especially important for kindergarten teachers’ job satisfaction.

Research Questions

(a) To what extent do teachers experience misalignment between their ideal and actualized instructional priorities in Common Core and socio-emotional domains? (b) Is misalignment in Common Core and socio-emotional domains related to teacher job satisfaction? (c) Which perceptions of the teaching profession contribute to job satisfaction for kindergarten teachers who report high misalignment but high job satisfaction? (d) How do their responses compare with the responses of teachers who report high misalignment but low job satisfaction?

Setting and Participants

A total of 911 kindergarten teachers (99% female, 83% Caucasian) from the state of Arizona participated in the study. At the time of data collection, Arizona had adapted the Common Core standards for math and literacy but had not implemented socio-emotional standards for kindergarten.

Research Design

Participants completed a survey in which they reported on their ideal and actual instructional priorities, their job satisfaction, and why they felt satisfied or unsatisfied with the profession.

Data Collection and Analysis

We used mixed methodology with concurrent data collection but sequential data analysis to answer our research questions.

Findings/Results

In the quantitative phase (Phase 1), we found that teachers experienced significant misalignment between their ideal and actual instructional priorities regarding socio-emotional development priorities, but not regarding Common Core academics. Additionally, a logistic regression demonstrated that for both domains of instruction, misalignment negatively predicted job satisfaction. Qualitatively, highly misaligned teachers who reported higher job satisfaction levels more often described psychological well-being, positive student characteristics, and the ability to tend to the needs of their family and friends as reasons for their job satisfaction than highly misaligned teachers with lower job satisfaction.

Conclusions

The present study has implications for teacher training, recruitment, and professional development aimed at supporting job satisfaction in kindergarten teachers.
Expanding the Leadership Pipeline in Community Colleges: Fostering Racial Equity
Authors: Eddy Pamela L.
Published: November 2021

Community colleges have more racial diversity in leadership positions of all institutional types, but equal representation in leadership still remains elusive. Top positions remain stubbornly filled by Whites and men, and those in the pipeline indicate scant interest in pursuing top leadership positions. Changing access to the leadership pipeline and the traditional ways leaders have been identified and developed provides a critical step in fostering racial equity in community college leadership. New visions of leadership require questioning who can be considered for leadership and where leadership occurs. Institutional policies can help create a climate that fosters more diverse leadership and addresses structural barriers. Development of mid-level leaders and changing norms that control access to leadership development provide leverage for change. Real change can occur with focused efforts and questioning of historical norms of leadership.
Implementing Restorative Justice as a Step toward Racial Equity in School Discipline
Authors: Mansfield Katherine Cumings , Rainbolt Stacey , Fowler Elizabeth Sutton
Published: November 2021

The purpose of this multimedia research is to provide a blueprint for change that is centered on an alternative disciplinary approach referred to as restorative justice or restorative practices. First, we provide a short overview of the problem of racially based discipline practices in American schools. Then, we share the philosophical underpinnings of restorative justice, describe key components essential to its implementation, and provide links to videos that illustrate the successful implementation of restorative practices in authentic school settings. Thereafter, we offer what we believe is vital for institutional change: understanding the role Whiteness plays in disparate treatment and engaging in anti-racist school leadership. In the final section of the paper, we share specific strategies educators can use to navigate the change processes necessary to work toward racial equity in school discipline.
Developing the “Will”: The Relationship between Teachers’ Perceived Policy Legitimacy and Instructional Improvement
Authors: Kim Jihyun , Sun Min , Youngs Peter
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

As part of a nationwide initiative that re-conceptualized teacher evaluation, Virginia issued the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers on July 1, 2012; these guidelines marked a significant overhaul of the state's approach to teacher evaluation. Previous studies examined the impact of teacher evaluation policies on student achievement, but there has been little empirical research on factors that lead teachers to change their instructional practices in response to teacher evaluation.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

We focused on an important element of policy implementation: teachers’ perceptions of the legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies. Specifically, we asked: 1) How do teachers’ perceptions of the legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies influence their efforts to improve their instruction? and 2) What school supports are associated with an increase in teachers’ perceived policy legitimacy? Our examination of teachers’ perceived legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies is critically important because individuals’ beliefs affect their willingness to respond to externally initiated reform in productive ways and to generate sustainable changes in instruction.

Research Design

To examine the potential impact of teachers’ perceived legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies on their instruction and the effects of various supports on teachers’ perceptions, we drew on teacher survey data and teacher evaluation ratings from two school districts in Virginia. We collected two years of teacher survey data, and three years of teacher evaluation ratings. Combining two different data sets, we provided evidence of an association between teachers’ perceived legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies and their instructional practice.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Our findings indicate that teachers’ perceived legitimacy of evaluation policies is positively correlated with their likelihood of taking actions to improve their instruction. That is, developing teachers’ perceptions of policy legitimacy seems to be a fruitful strategy for promoting changes in instruction. Moreover, teachers’ perceived legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies seems to have a positive relationship with various school supports, such as principal leadership, professional development, and time and resources. “The consequences of even the best planned, best supported, and most promising policy initiatives depend finally on what happens as individuals throughout the policy system interpret and act on them … Policy success depends critically on two broad factors: local capacity and will.” (McLaughlin, 1987, p. 172)
Pursuing Deep Equity in “Blended” Classrooms: Exploring the In-Person Teacher Role in Supporting Low-Income Youth through Computer-Based Learning
Authors: Pollock Mica , Yonezawa Susan , Gay Hilary , Rodriguez Lilia
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Efforts to increase low-income, underrepresented students’ access to coursework increasingly tap computer-based course materials. Yet as we turn increasingly to computers for instruction, what might the in-person teacher still be needed to do? This paper presents seven in-person “teacher roles” that precollege low-income youth and their teachers deemed necessary for supporting students as they used computer-based materials. Data were collected across two years in 19 summer school classrooms where 400 high school students took computer-based college-preparatory courses supported in person by teachers and teachers’ assistants (TAs). We offer an empirically informed conceptual framework supporting next research on (and innovation of) equity-minded “blended” classroom practice. We define “equity” effort as active effort to meet the needs of each student and all groups of students; here, the effort was to sufficiently prepare each and all students for college.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

We used focus groups, classroom observations, and interviews to study the roles that teachers embraced and students valued. We asked two research questions: (1) How do in-class teachers (teachers and TAs) support students as students access material online? (2) According to student and adult participants, which teacher supports are key to student success in the courses?

Research Design

Researchers observed classrooms to capture patterns of frequently repeated adult-student and peer interaction. Through informal and semi-structured ethnographic interviews and focus groups, we invited participants to comment on needed supports for classrooms and on the supports they saw as particularly valuable (or not). We conducted approximately 46 hours of interviews and focus groups and 500 hours of observation.

Conclusions/Recommendations

We describe three in-person teacher roles that participants said assisted students in achieving basic equity with computer materials—that is, precollege content access and course credit otherwise denied. We explore four in-person teacher roles that participants called particularly necessary for deep equity—to support students’ individual and collective comprehension of the online materials, often through dialogue. We conclude that the teacher's overarching role for achieving equity in these blended classrooms was to continually adjust pedagogy as needed to ensure each and all students both accessed and understood the precollege content. This suggests that adding technology to classrooms to support all students fundamentally requires teachers.
Private Interests in a Public Profession: Teacher Education and Racial Capitalism
Authors: Anderson Lauren
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

This article offers an analysis of the contemporary policy context surrounding teacher education in the United States. It lays out recent policy shifts that have come to frame the field, particularly university-based teacher preparation as “broken,” and to fuel forward certain strands of disruptive innovation.

Purpose/Objective

The article's aim is to prompt consideration of how teacher educators are navigating and might navigate, on their own and together, the tentacles of neoliberalism climbing from K–12 into teacher education. Specifically, it explores the outsize influence of pro-privatization entities and teacher educators who have partnered with them, and it raises questions about the compromised positions that the enduring structures of racial capitalism and the neo-liberal turn in education policy seemingly extend to teacher educators in these times.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The article closes by arguing that even well-meaning teacher educators can end up ensnared in destructive reform, and for reasons far more complicated than simple character flaw, carelessness, or collusion. Thus, while teacher education needs “transformers,” it needs for them to be conscious, careful, and accountable when it comes to the structures of racial capitalism and the (neoliberal) web into which present-day privatizing interests would like to see them profitably woven.
Beyond Damage-Centered Teacher Education: Humanizing Pedagogy for Teacher Educators and Preservice Teachers
Authors: Andrews Dorinda J. Carter , Brown Tashal , Castillo Bernadette M. , Jackson Davena , Vellanki Vivek
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

In our best efforts to increase preservice teachers’ critical consciousness regarding the historical and contemporary inequities in the P–12 educational system and equip them to embody pedagogies and practices that counter those inequities, teacher educators often provide curricular and field experiences that reinforce the deficit mindsets that students bring to the teacher education classroom. For many social justice-oriented teacher educators, our best intentions to create humanizing experiences for future teachers can have harmful results that negatively impact preservice teachers’ ability to successfully teach culturally diverse students in a multitude of learning contexts.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

In this article, we propose a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that is informed by our experiences as K–12 teachers and teacher educators in a university-based teacher preparation program. We focus on the general questions, How can university-based teacher preparation programs embody and enact a humanizing pedagogy? and What role can curriculum play in advancing a humanizing pedagogy in university-based teacher preparation programs?

Research Design

In this conceptual article, we theorize a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education and propose a process of becoming asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented teachers. This humanizing pedagogy represents a strengths-based approach to teaching and learning in the teacher preparation classroom.

Conclusions/Recommendations

We propose core tenets of a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that represent an individual and collective effort toward critical consciousness for preservice teachers and also for teacher educators. If university-based teacher education programs are committed to cultivating the development of asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented preservice teachers, the commitments to critical self-reflection, resisting binaries, and enacting ontological and epistemological plurality need to be foundational to program structure, curricula alignment, and instructional practice.
How Do Effective Upper Elementary Teachers of English Language Learners Show Support?
Authors: Banse Holland W. , Palacios Natalia A. , Martin Anna
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Latino English language learners (ELLs) comprise a rapidly growing portion of the student population, and much empirical attention has been devoted to supporting their English language and literacy proficiency. Less is known about how to support Latino ELLs’ social-emotional needs. Latino ELLs face the dual challenge of learning English and academic content simultaneously; they also may face stigma, anti-immigration sentiment, and deficit perspectives from teachers and peers. Consequently, they may be in especial need of support from their teachers.

Research Question

This study addresses the question, How do effective teachers show support within upper elementary classrooms with varying levels of English language proficiency?

Research Design

We employed a multiple and comparative case study approach to answer this question, using videotaped English language arts lessons from the Measures of Effective Teaching data set. We compared how teachers demonstrate supportiveness in three types of fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms: (1) high-ELL and high-gains; (2) no-ELL and high-gains; and (3) high-ELL and low-gains.

Conclusion/Recommendations

We observed that only high-ELL, high-gains teachers showed supportiveness in the following distinct ways: through contingent and effusive praise, by describing the relevance of content, and by advancing relationships with students. We discussed why these demonstrations of supportiveness may be important, particularly for Latino ELLs. We conclude with ideas for future research and practical implications for teachers and teacher preparation programs.
Difficult Decisions: Commuting for the Academic Career
Authors: Sallee Margaret W.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

As the academic job market becomes more competitive, some faculty find it necessary to move away from their partners in order to secure a position, thus leading them to become part of a commuting couple. Despite their presence in the academy, little research exists on how commuting shapes academics’ personal and professional lives.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to understand the experiences of faculty members who are members of commuting couples. The study used Ryan and Deci's self-determination theory—which suggests that three basic needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness must be met to facilitate well-being—to explore why some commuters thrive in the arrangement more than others.

Participants

Interviews were conducted with 36 participants who were part of academic commuting couples; participants were 31 academics and five nonacademic spouses. The sample included diversity based on gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, and parental status.

Research Design

This comparative case study contrasted the experiences of those who were satisfied in commuting couples with those who were not. Data were collected via semistructured interviews and analysis of artifacts submitted by participants that helped capture their experiences in a commuting couple. Data were analyzed with both concept- and data-driven codes that emerged from the literature/theory and the data, respectively.

Findings

Participants who attained autonomy, competence, and relatedness in personal and professional domains were more accepting of commuting than those who did not. Nearly all commuters appreciated the autonomy that separation from their partners brought in terms of allowing them to work more; however, the unhappy commuters were more likely to feel that they did not make the choice to commute, but were forced into it by the job market. Similarly, most participants discussed valuing their careers as academics (competence), which led unhappy commuters to struggle with whether to leave the field. Finally, participants discussed a lack of connection with colleagues (relatedness) across the sample. Unhappy commuters were more likely to report struggling with their separation from their partners as a result of commuting.

Recommendations

Given the competitiveness of the job market, more academics may find themselves in commuting couples. Findings suggest that there are ways that institutions can help this population, including scheduling meetings and other obligations at times that would help facilitate their relatedness with colleagues.
Introduction to Yearbook on Emotions in Teaching and Teacher Education for Social Justice
Authors: Lachuk Amy Johnson
Published: November 2021

In this chapter we provide an overview of our understandings of emotion, using Barrett's work on the construction of emotion. We then link this framework to the discussion of three landmark texts in teacher education: Waller's The Sociology of Teaching (1932), Jackson's Life in Classrooms (1968), and Lortie's Schoolteacher (1975). We examine these texts for what they bring to our understandings of emotions in teaching. While these landmark texts elide the emotions tied to teaching culturally and racially diverse learners, what excites us about them is how they work together to create composite sketches of classroom teachers at particular points in time. We identify an often unacknowledged emotional undercurrent to their work that fascinates us. We then discuss how this collection's contributors take up this call to focus on emotion within their particular work in teacher education.
Sometimes Leaving Means Staying: Race and White Teachers’ Emotional Investments
Authors: Leonardo Zeus , Gamez-Djokic Blanca
Published: November 2021

Emotional praxis is not a phrase usually associated with teaching and teacher education. Yet when race enters educational spaces, emotions frequently run high. In particular, Whites are often ill-equipped to handle emotions about race, either becoming debilitated by them or consistently evading them. Without critically understanding the relationship between race and emotions—or, simply, racialized emotions—teachers are unprepared to teach one of the most important topics in modern education. This chapter addresses this gap in education and teacher training by surveying the philosophical, sociological, and burgeoning literature on emotion in education to arrive at critical knowledge about the function and constitutive role it plays in discourses on race. Specifically, the argument delves into white racial emotions in light of the known fact that most teachers in the United States are White women. This means that our critical understanding of emotion during the teaching and learning interaction entails appreciation of both its racialized and gendered dimensions, and attention to both race and gender becomes part of emotional praxis. Finally, the essay ends with a proposal for an intersubjective race theory of emotion in education.
The Social Side of Educational Policy: How Social Media is Changing the Politics of Education
Authors: Daly Alan J. , Supovitz Jonathan , Fresno Miguel Del
Published: November 2021

Social media are online technology platforms that focus on synchronous and asynchronous human interactions with a local and global reach unprecedented in human history. The Internet and its architecture have enabled the development and use of these platforms, which are designed to support social interactions and give rise to a complex interplay between communication, social practices, and technology infrastructure, challenging existing “traditional” media sources. Social media are adding a new ingredient to and level of impact on the educational political and policy-making process that is still in its infancy in terms of research and relevance. In this chapter, we examine the high-level social side of social media (Twitter) in an effort to analyze, visualize, and make sense of the often hidden world of online interactions around educational policy. In addition, we look deeply into the ways in which messages and meaning are crafted in social media space around the Common Core State Standards, with special attention to the role of bots and how influence is wielded. This work offers insights into the what, who, how, and impact of transactions among “socially influential” individuals over time in this new social media/educational policy space and potential impact on educational policy-making and practice.
Social Media, who Cares? A Dialogue between a Millennial and a Curmudgeon
Authors: Frank Kenneth A. , Torphy Kaitlin T.
Published: November 2021

This is a dialogue between a curmudgeon and a millennial regarding the import of social media for education and for educational research. The dialogue emerged out of conversations the authors have had with policy makers, researchers, and practitioners over the last three years regarding the impact of social media on education (see teachersinsocialmedia.org). It was presented in the context of Kenneth Frank's research group meeting January 4, 2018. The topics covered include a broad understanding about what social media are and how they relate to teaching and curriculum; understanding about social media as a data artifact; a discussion about how social media platforms shape the interactions of participants; the quality of resources available on social media; why teachers engage in using social media; the lack of research on social media; and how social media may give teachers more power relative to the status quo. We invite you to follow along as these topics emerge in the authentic flow of a conversation. There are opportunities for reader participation on Twitter.
Parental Educational Decision Making: The Information They Seek and What They Want from Data Systems
Authors: Mandinach Ellen B. , Miskell Ryan C. , Gummer Edith S.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Parents are important consumers of educational information, especially with stipulations in ESSA. Yet, research on parental information needs is limited. It is important to understand how the information is displayed for parents in accessible and understandable ways. This study uses a theoretical perspective of parental engagement and social networking to ground the research.

Purpose/Objective/Research Questions

Education is awash with information. This study sought to understand the nature of the information parents seek to make decisions about their child's education. It also sought to understand the characteristics of data displays that would make information accessible and understandable. What information do parents seek to make decisions about their children's education? Where do parents go to obtain educational information? What sources do parents access to obtain the needed information? What design characteristics do parents prefer to help them navigate websites and understand the presented information?

Setting

The study took place in focus groups held across Missouri.

Population/Participants

Twenty-one focus groups were convened with 118 parents from urban, suburban, and rural areas of Missouri.

Intervention/Program/Practice

Focus groups addressed the need to involve parents in educational decisions and their need for data. They were asked a series of questions to elicit responses about the information they seek to make decisions about their child's education. Parents were also asked about the design, ease of access, and understandability of data displays.

Research Design

The study used small focus groups and a standardized interview protocol. To elicit more detailed and deeper focused responses, alternative prompts were used to ensure that participants understood what was being asked.

Data Collection and Analysis

Parents responded to structured questions and visual displays. Responses were recorded through comprehensive note taking. The responses were analyzed using ATLAS.ti to identify underlying themes.

Findings/Results

Parents seek qualitative data sources that supply descriptions of schools and districts. They want not only test scores and school grades but also information that helps them understand the schools. They want details about the teachers, leaders, and programs offered and information about safety and processes. Parents want the information presented in accessible and understandable formats that include better graphics and more easily understood details.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Education agencies need to consider how to present diverse information that will meet stakeholders’ needs. This is relevant because not all parents are familiar with data displays. Parents seek descriptive data that are locally relevant and represented on school or district websites and data systems.
“Theoretically all Children are Equal. Practically this can Never be So”: The History of the District Property Tax in California and the Choice of Inequality
Authors: Kelly Matthew Gardner
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Dealing mostly in aggregate statistics that mask important regional variations, scholars often assume that district property taxation and the resource disparities this approach to school funding creates are deeply rooted in the history of American education.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

This article explores the history of district property taxation and school funding disparities in California during the 19th and 20th centuries. First, the article documents the limited use of district property taxation for school funding in California and several other Western states during the 19th century, showing that the development of school finance was more complicated than standard accounts suggest. Then, the article examines how a coalition of experts, activists, and politicians worked together during the early 20th century to promote district property taxation and institutionalize the idea that the wealth of local communities, rather than the wealth of the entire state, should determine the resources available for public schooling.

Research Design

This article draws on primary source documents from state and regional archives, including district-level funding data from nine Northern California counties, to complete a historical analysis.

Conclusions/Recommendations

The history of California's district property tax suggests the need for continued research on long-term trends in school finance and educational inequality. Popular accounts minimizing the historical role of state governments in school funding obscure how public policies, not just market forces shaping property values, create funding inequalities. In turn, these accounts communicate powerful messages about the supposed inevitability of funding disparities and the responsibility of state governments to correct them. Through increased attention to long-term trends in school funding, scholars can help popular commentators and policymakers avoid assumptions that naturalize inequality and narrow the possibilities for future funding reforms.
Stealing an Education: On the Precariousness of Justice
Authors: Joldersma Clarence , Perhamus Lisa M.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

This article examines a 2011 court case in which an Ohio state court convicted and jailed a poor, single, Black mother of two school-aged children for “stealing an education.” Using a false address, the mother, Kelley Williams-Bolar, enrolled her daughters in a public school district that was more privileged and amply resourced than their home district in order to provide her children a “better education.” The court's ruling and public opinion on this case (as illustrated through media) serve as the context of this article's analysis.

Purpose

Employing Judith Butler's concept of precarity, Jacques Derrida's theory of justice to come, and Hannah Arendt's and Walter Benjamin's ideas about state violence, the article offers a conceptual framework of the precariousness of justice to analyze the implications of this case. Through the precariousness of justice framework, the article examines the ways that racial and class societal inequities manifest themselves through the judge's juridical determination and journalistic expressions of public opinion. The purpose of this article is to explicate the intimate and structural connections between racism, classism, educational policy, and the U.S. court system.

Research Design

As a conceptual analysis, the article theoretically examines the Williams-Bolar court case as a demonstration of the ways in which the juridical apparatus of the state (the court system) and mainstream media (public opinion) divide people by race and class within inequitable societal structures. The article uses the theoretical framework of the precari-ousness of justice to examine the political implications of the court's ruling on educational policy regarding school districting.

Conclusions

Findings include that school district enrollment boundaries create borders around people by race and class, and that these educational enrollment borders can lead to people “border-hopping” in an effort to equalize educational access. The court system plays a role in reifying race- and class-based educational boundaries and borders. The concluding analysis situates this case within the context of both state violence and hope.
A Tale of Two Types of Schools: An Exploration of how School Working Conditions Influence Black Male Teacher Turnover
Authors: Bristol Travis J.
Published: November 2021

Context

Ongoing teacher diversity campaigns will not increase the net number of teachers of color if policymakers fail to address the disproportionate rate at which teachers of color leave the profession when compared to White teachers.

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to fill the empirical gap about the mechanisms that influence Black male teacher turnover. Specifically, this study explores the perceived school-based experiences of Black male teachers, with particular attention to comparing the experiences of Black men who are the only Black male teachers in their schools to those of Black men in schools with multiple Black male teachers.

Research Questions

1. In what ways do the school-based experiences differ for Loners (Black male teachers in schools employing only one Black male teacher) versus Groupers (Black male teachers in schools with larger numbers of Black male teachers)? 2. How does a school's organizational context, such as relationships with colleagues and school administration, affect the decisions of Loners and Groupers to stay in their schools or in the teaching profession?

Research Design

This study employed a qualitative method, phenomenology. Two waves of semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with Black male teachers (N = 27) across 14 schools. Seven schools had three or more Black male teachers on the faculty (n = 20), and seven schools had one Black male teacher on the faculty (n = 7). Each semistructured interview lasted approximately 60 minutes.

Findings/Results

Groupers cited challenging working conditions (such as weak administrative leadership) as their primary reason for wanting to leave. The following academic year, almost half of these teachers (9 out of 20) did not return to their schools in the positions they had held the previous year. Counterintuitively, Loners, despite sometimes having hostile interactions with their White colleagues, stayed. While Simon and Johnson theorized that the absence of positive collegial relationships increases turnover, this phenomenon proved less true for Loners’ decisions to remain at their schools.

Recommendations

Given that Groupers were more likely to leave when compared to Loners, policymakers who are interested in increasing the number of Black male teachers must also give attention to retention. Future research should compare the school-based experiences and influences of turnover of Black male Loners and Groupers to other ethnoracial minorities, such as Latinx and Asian teachers. Practitioners, or specifically principals, may also want to become more attentive to interpersonal relationships in schools, particularly between Black male teachers and their White colleagues.
Core Practices and Philosophy of Education: Balancing Effectiveness with Goodness
Authors: Frank Jeff , Mcdonough Joe
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

This paper is part of the special issue “Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education.” In it we respond to the question of what role there might be for philosophy of education in an era marked by the demand that students graduating from teacher education programs be immediately effective, with “effectiveness” often narrowly, if not wholly, defined by the results of student standardized test scores.

Research Design

We address the question by offering an appreciative exploration of core practices approaches to teacher education. We argue (a) that philosophers of education have much to learn by engaging these approaches, and that (b) practitioners and advocates of core practices can deepen their work through a critical appreciation of philosophy of education.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Though philosophy appears marginalized by core practices approaches to teaching and teacher education, we suggest that as core practices gain traction, philosophers of education will find new opportunities to engage with teaching and teacher education. Though much mitigates against this type of work, most notably the pressures related to effectiveness and institutional habits that still often separate methods and foundations courses, we argue that such work is indispensable in rendering teaching, and teacher education, both effective and responsible.
Inquiring into Notions of Educational Improvement by Teaching Where We Think: Philosophical Meditations as a Practice of Teacher Education
Authors: Ghiso Maria Paula , Burdick-Shepherd Stephanie A.
Published: November 2021

Background

This paper is part of the special issue “Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education.” Early childhood initiatives have joined a nexus of educational reforms characterized by increased accountability and a focus on measurement as a marker of student and teacher learning, with early education being framed as an economic good necessary for competing in the global marketplace. Underlying the recent push for early childhood education is what we see as a “discourse of improvement”—depictions of school change that prioritize achievement as reflected in assessment scores, data collection on teacher effectiveness, and high-stakes evaluation. These characteristics, we argue, foster increasingly inequitable educational contexts and obscure the particularities of what it means to be a child in the world.

Purpose

We use the practice of philosophical meditation, as articulated in Pierre Hadot's examination of philosophy as a way of life, to inquire into the logics of educational improvement as instantiated in particular contexts, and for cultivating cross-disciplinary partnerships committed to fostering children's flourishing. We link this meditational focus with feminist and de-colonial theoretical perspectives to make visible the role of power in the characterization of children's learning as related to norms of development, minoritized identities, and hierarchies of knowledge. Research Design: In this collaborative inquiry, we compose a series of meditations on our experiences with the logics of improvement inspired by 12 months of systematic conversation. Our data sources include correspondence between the two authors, written reflections on specific practices in teacher education each author engages with, and a set of literary, philosophical, and teacher education texts.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Our meditations illuminate the value of collective inquiry about what constitutes improvement in schools. We raise questions about how the measurement of learning is entwined in historical and present-day relations of power and idealized formulations of the universal “child” or “teacher” and argue that we must work together to reimagine the framings that inform our work. Ultimately and most directly, these meditations can support dynamic attempts to cultivate meaningful and more equitable educational experiences for teachers and students. Philosophical meditations at the crossroads of philosophy, teaching, and teacher education thus extend beyond critique toward imagining and enacting a better world in our classrooms, even though (and especially when) this path is not clear.
Journeying toward Transformative Teaching in the Age of Alternative Facts and Re-Ascendant Ethnic and Racial Prejudice
Authors: Sinha Shilpi , Rasheed Shaireen
Published: November 2021

Background

We are at a historical juncture that is punctuated by the rise of white nationalism, an exacerbation of racial divisions and tensions, an uptick in hate crimes, and bullying increasingly targeting immigrant youth, all of which, in the current political and cultural climate, have often been legitimized through a recourse to “alternative facts.” However, the current historical moment in the United States is also marked by a postmodern ethos, which is often taken up by the public in a fragmentary manner, highlighted by a general sense of incredulity regarding any form of knowledge. At the same time, the fuller, ethical context of postmodernism complicates how educators may pedagogically address and respond to the tensions and conflict that filter over into the university classroom from the social strife and injustices evident in the society at large. The ethical context of postmodernism warns against changing hearts and minds with a proliferation of the “right” facts assumed to be devoid of attachments of value. It also warns us to be vigilant against the foreclosures, reductions, and exclusions that occur when one draws on metanarratives and universals to mobilize against injustice.

Purpose

We explore what it means pedagogically, for teacher educators in predominantly white institutions, to be situated at a historical juncture that calls out for some form of social advocacy on their part to combat the rise in the politicization of truth and xenophobic and racist sentiment, but are simultaneously compelled to keep in mind the ethical lessons of postmodernism.

Research Design

We utilize critical phenomenological analysis intertwined with a narrative accounting of both authors’ classroom experiences as they attempt to engage college students at a predominantly white university with issues of racism, white privilege, and marginalization. We analyze and reflect on the mixed reactions of our students to a presentation on teaching in a diverse world, given by one of the authors to the other author's class of pre-service teachers.

Conclusions/Recommendations

For teaching that may facilitate white students’ ability to become reflective of their positionality as structured through whiteness and its attendant privileges, it is important to envision pedagogical work taking place within environments that can address not only students’ cognitive capacities but also the white body schema, which operates at a pre-reflective level. Educators may refrain from reducing white students to reified categories of whiteness by cultivating a disposition of wonder that may allow them to understand whiteness through the lens of emergent realities rather than substantive, ontological forces.
Nudging the Opportunity Structure: A Modest and Ambitious Aim for Teacher Education
Authors: Fantuzzo John P. , Dixon Mark
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Teacher candidates are being educated in a political and economic context that calls the value of their professional preparation into question. What is more, a rising generation of teacher candidates has only experienced education during the Era of Corporate School Reform, meaning, the political aims of public education were systematically neglected during their upbringing due to an intensive focus on high-stakes competitions, consumer preferences, and the privatization of public schools. This essay asks how teacher candidates, raised to value a narrow and reductive form of academic success, can be prepared to attend to their students’ flourishing and collectively work towards social justice.

Focus of Study

Stressing the indispensable role of teacher education, with a focus on the importance of educational foundations courses, we argue that teacher candidates should learn in such courses to nudge students towards a pluralistic opportunity structure, defined by political philosopher Joseph Fishkin, as a structure of opportunity comprised of many less harshly competitive and therefore more accessible paths to diverse forms of flourishing and economic opportunity.

Research Design

The proposed aim seeks to reconcile the social ambitions of early progressive theorists with the method of reflective equilibrium used by contemporary educational ethicists. It is developed using a case study method. Cases are drawn from the reflections of three academically successful teacher candidates. Each candidate, for distinct reasons, critiques the conception of academic success they were habituated to value during their P–12 schooling and each urges their peers to not reproduce its harms by teaching differently. The argument proceeds by exploring how their critiques are reflected in the value of equality of opportunity and how their advice for teaching differently is continuous with the work of pluralizing the opportunity structure.

Conclusion

The teacher candidates’ critiques of academic success are not simply private reflections, but nascent expressions of a principle of social justice, a new theory of equality of opportunity, that can be realized by attending to the wellbeing of all students, including advantaged students attending independent schools.
Dis/ability as Mediator: Opportunity Encounters in Hybrid Learning Spaces for Emergent Bilinguals with Dis/abilities
Authors: Martínez-Álvarez Patricia
Published: November 2021

Background

Though there has been some attention to how emergent bilinguals learn in relation to languages and cultures, very little research to date has examined similar processes in emergent bilinguals with dis/abilities, including how to understand dis/ability as a source of strength.

Purpose

In this article, I explore how dis/ability can mediate learning. To do so, I examine how emergent bilinguals with dis/abilities engage with learning activities in a hybrid space in terms of ability, language, and culture; and how these children's learning is mediated in such a hybrid space.

Research Design

This qualitative study documents how 15 bilingual Latinx children with mild dis/abilities in the second through third grades, along with eight bilingual teacher candidates preparing to teach in inclusive bilingual contexts, worked together in a two-year hybrid after-school program.

Findings/Results

Children were able to demonstrate the ability to “compensate” for perceived “weaknesses” and learn in what I characterize as nepantla (in-between) spaces in four different ways: (a) resisting the learning activity; (b) shifting the direction of the learning activity; (c) repositioning the content (within their own knowledge); and (d) using external artifacts.

Conclusions

Opportunity-centered encounters attending to language, culture, and ability, built on hybridity theory, allowed for shifting perceptions of children's academic identities. The study highlights an asset-based perspective on dis/ability that rejects ableism. Implications include the need for careful planning and constant nurturing of the bilingual child's multiple fluid identities.