bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ability Grouping in the Early Grades: Long-Term Consequences for Educational Equity in the United States
Authors: Buttaro Anthony , Catsambis Sophia
Published: November 2021

Background

Ability grouping has resurged in U.S. schools despite long-standing debates over its consequences for educational equity. Proponents argue that it is the best response to variation in academic skills because it allows teachers to customize the content and pace of instruction to students’ diverse needs. Critics answer that this practice places students in divergent educational paths that reproduce educational and social inequalities. Despite the contested nature of ability grouping, research has yet to produce reliable longitudinal evidence to evaluate critics’ claims.

Objective

We examine the degree to which exposure to within-class grouping for reading instruction from kindergarten to third grade is predictive of students’ reading test scores and English coursework in the middle grades.

Research Design

We use multilevel achievement growth models predicting average reading achievement from kindergarten to eighth grade as a function of years of exposure in low, average, or high ability groups in kindergarten through third grade and control variables relevant to each grade. We evaluate the achievement differences between students who are grouped in these ability groups for one or more years and those who were never ability grouped. We use multinomial logistic regression models to estimate the degree to which number of years in each ability group in K–3 grades predicts placements in eighth-grade English classes (below grade or honors, as opposed to regular English classes).

Data

We use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS–K), a national panel study of the 1998 U.S. kindergarten cohort sponsored by National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Our sample consists of 7,800 students with data for fall of kindergarten, and spring of kindergarten and first, third, fifth, and eighth grades.

Findings

Compared with similar students who were ungrouped in the early grades, those in high-ability reading groups have higher test scores, whereas those in low-ability groups have lower test scores in every grade from kindergarten to the eighth grade. In addition, compared with their ungrouped counterparts, students in low-ability groups in the early grades are more likely to enroll in eighth grade English classes that are below grade level, whereas those in high-ability groups in these grades are more likely to enroll in honors eighth-grade English classes. Achievement gaps between previously grouped and ungrouped students increase with every additional year of exposure to ability grouping.

Conclusions

Students’ ability group placements in the early grades evolve into divergent educational paths that grow further apart with multiple years of grouping. These findings provide the first longitudinal evidence linking ability grouping to the reproduction of educational inequalities.
Perspectives on Kindergarten Assessment: Toward a Common Understanding
Authors: Deluca Christopher , Pyle Angela , Roy Suparna , Chalas Agnieszka , Danniels Erica
Published: November 2021

Context

The standards-based movement in U.S. public education has reached as far as kindergarten. Early primary teachers are increasingly required to teach academic standards in core subject areas, while engaging in increased levels of student assessment. In kindergarten, this growing emphasis on academic standards and student assessment is expected to operate alongside longstanding social and personal developmental expectations. However, recent research has identified a significant tension as teachers endeavor to negotiate a balance between traditional developmental programming and new standards-based academic curricula.

Purpose

The purpose of this scoping review is to synthesize research related to three kindergarten traditions—Reggio Emilia, Waldorf, and Montessori—to develop a common understanding of key tenets for kindergarten assessment that can inform policy and practice in public education contexts.

Research Design

A scoping review methodology was used to analyze research on assessment practices native to three kindergarten traditions—Reggio Emilia, Waldorf, and Montessori. This methodology followed a five-stage framework: (a) identifying the research question, (b) identifying relevant studies, (c) study selection, (d) charting the data, and (e) summarizing and reporting the results. Guiding the collection of articles was the following research question: “What does the extant literature on practices native to the three focal kindergarten traditions tell us about the assessment of kindergarten (4–6-year-olds) students’ learning?” In total, 80 texts satisfied the inclusion criteria across all traditions and were included in this study.

Conclusions

Empirical and non-empirical literature pertaining to each tradition were analyzed and considered in relation to their potential contribution to public education. In comparing across traditions, differences were evident based on their (a) assessment discourses and purposes, (b) reference systems, (c) assessment methods, and (d) uses of assessment information. However, the three traditions also maintained key commonalities leading to the identification of core tenets for kindergarten assessment. Specifically, three core priorities for kindergarten assessment were identified: (a) a commitment to child-centered and developmentally appropriate teaching, (b) a continuous embedded formative assessment approach, and (c) the use of multiple methods for gaining assessment information. In addition to core priority areas, results from this study suggest consistent processes that facilitate assessment practices at the kindergarten level. These four iterative processes are: (a) participation in teaching and learning, (b) reconstruction of teaching and learning, (c) engagement in assessment dialogues, and (d) integration of feedback for enhanced teaching and learning.
Discourse within University Presidents’ Responses to Racism: Revealing Patterns of Power and Privilege
Authors: Jones Veronica
Published: November 2021

Background

Recent incidents of racism at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) have gained increased national attention. The backlash to individuals speaking out against racialized practices is often masked through discourse that dismisses the adverse effects of racism. Because university administrators often center their responses to incidents of racism on upholding free speech, scholars should analyze the ways that administrators’ responses might reinforce the existence of such racist behaviors and affect marginalized students.

Purpose and Research Questions

Rather than placing the burden on students to disrupt institutionalized racism, the author critically analyzed the discourse administrators utilized in their responses to understand the role of power in language. The following research questions informed the study: (a) what are the various characteristics of the discourse of university administrators as they respond to incidents of racism? and (b) how do university administrators’ responses to racism support or disrupt larger patterns of social power and privilege?

Research Design

The author utilized critical discourse analysis (CDA) to deconstruct relationships between the speech patterns of university presidents and larger Discourses about social power. Through a process of description, interpretation, and explanation, the author sought to reveal the underlying ideologies that go beyond surface-level discourse about free speech.

Data Collection and Analysis

Based on the context of increased police brutality and student protests on college campuses, the author reviewed data on recent incidents of racism at PWIs. The three final cases chosen for analysis represented varying approaches utilized by administrators to respond to racist incidents. Through multiple phases of coding, the author interpreted relationships between textual patterns to reveal a larger narrative about administrative accountability.

Findings

Each university president utilized a different approach to campus racism. The major discourse patterns represented were (a) a direct reproach of individuals as accountable for racism; (b) an indirect and theoretical approach to the reality of racism; and (c) a denial of or diversion from racism through authority.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Across the cases, administrators utilized speech that either downplayed the existence of racism or defined it through privilege or colorblind ideology. With the last incident resulting in the firing of the president, the analysis revealed ways that presidents can utilize emotional speech without substantial action. In order to be more responsive to marginalized communities, administrators need to intentionally engage with marginalized groups who are often silenced because their beliefs do not fit the standard of the dominant norm.
How Do 2-Year College Students Beginning in STEM View Themselves as Learners?
Authors: Wang Xueli , Sun Ning , Wagner Brit , Nachman Brett Ranon
Published: November 2021

Background

Two-year colleges are uniquely positioned to diversify science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Yet limited existing scholarship sheds light on how 2-year college students view themselves as learners as they experience STEM courses and programs. An in-depth and nuanced understanding of 2-year college STEM students’ self-perceptions as learners presents a powerful vehicle for identifying venues of interventions aimed at cultivating and supporting the STEM talent pool toward success through and beyond the 2-year college sector.

Purpose of the Study

We address the following research question: How do 2-year college students participating in STEM classes and programs perceive themselves as learners? Our inquiry is aimed at revealing the fundamental structure underlying these students’ experiences as their self-perceptions as STEM learners are formed and transformed.

Study Setting and Participants

We collected the data for this study as part of an ongoing longitudinal mixed methods study of students beginning in STEM programs or courses in Fall 2014 at three large 2-year institutions in a Midwestern state. The sample selection of the present qualitative study drew on maximum variation sampling, yielding a final sample size of 31.

Research Design

We adopted descriptive phenomenology to answer our research question. In-person interviews were conducted with each participant. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the procedures aligned with the descriptive phenomenological method proposed by Colaizzi. In addition, we adopted analytical techniques from grounded theory in order to effectively organize our process of documenting, describing, and making sense of the data.

Findings

Our findings show that self-perceptions as 2-year college STEM learners are deeply intertwined with self-perceptions as mathematics learners, constantly evaluated and reevaluated in relation to others, driven by an internal process of recognizing the rewards and negotiating the challenges of studying STEM, and shaped by an external process of validation. While these themes stand on their own as prominent defining elements of the phenomenon of our interest, they are also inherently interwoven pieces of a cohesive, complex whole.

Conclusions

Our study captures how students’ self-perceptions as learners are formed and transformed, and illustrates how their prior and current learning experiences, self-perceptions as mathematics learners, background characteristics, and relationships with others interweave to shape and reshape how they view themselves as learners. Future work should further determine what specific measures and venues 2-year colleges can capitalize upon to develop confident and collaborative learners who embrace the rewards and challenges of studying STEM.
Dismantling Roadblocks to Equity? The Impact of Advanced Placement Initiatives on Black and Latinx Students’ Access and Performance
Authors: Roegman Rachel , Allen David , Hatch Thomas
Published: November 2021

Background

Increasing access to Advanced Placement (AP) coursework has been a long-term goal of the College Board and many districts across the country, yet achieving this goal has remained elusive, particularly for African American and Latinx youth and youth in poverty.

Purpose

In this study, we analyze the work of five districts that have identified inequities in AP participation and developed initiatives to address these inequities. We examine these districts’ strategies, as well as their impact on both access to AP coursework and success on AP exams. We consider how efforts to increase access to AP have affected different racial/ethnic student groups.

Participants

The five districts are led by superintendents who were members of the Instructional Leaders Network (ILN), a statewide network that focuses on supporting superintendents’ system-wide, equity-focused improvement. The districts vary in demographics, size, and socioeconomic status.

Data Collection and Analysis

This mixed methods study includes five years of AP enrollment and performance data for four districts, and two years of data for one district. We also identified two of these districts as case studies of AP initiative development and implementation and conducted a series of interviews with administrators from the districts over the five years of the study. We analyzed quantitative data descriptively and used Bonilla-Silva's (2018) concept of color-blind racism to analyze these data in relation to the interview data.

Findings

All districts adopted strategies focused on students as a whole, which for the most part led to an increase in access for all racial/ethnic groups, but no consistent pattern of reducing over- or under-representation. In terms of outcomes, in some districts, more students received scores of 3 or higher from all racial/ethnic groups, but disparities in average test scores remained. Additionally, across all districts, Black students continued to receive the lowest scores.

Conclusions

As school districts, individual high schools, and the College Board continue their focus on increasing equity in both access and performance, their approaches need to involve ongoing data collection and evaluation on how different programs and initiatives are positively or negatively affecting student populations that have been traditionally under-served as well as students in general. This research demonstrates that color-neutral policies need to be constantly interrogated by K–12 administrators and other stakeholders to ensure that the policies do not reinforce and sustain existing inequities. If districts seek to target groups of students who are underserved, they need to consider strategies and policies that explicitly and directly address those groups.
What Works: Learning Outcomes Due to Design Variations in Community College Student Success Courses
Authors: Hatch-Tocaimaza Deryl K. , Garcia Crystal E. , Mardock-Uman Naomi , Rodriguez Sarah L. , Young Dallin George
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Based on well-established evidence that certain student success skills and college knowledge are closely associated with academic achievement, persistence, and completion, community colleges increasingly implement various types of first-year student success courses and programs. However, by looking only at the distal impact of program participation, the question of whether these programs actually influence those mediating skills of college success has scarcely been investigated in the higher education literature, let alone which program features may be determining factors.

Purpose/Objective

This study examined the scope and design of community college student success courses to address which program features relate to learning objectives of student success skills, college knowledge, and engagement.

Population/Participants/Subjects

Participants were students and instructors drawn from 47 student success course sections at 42 public community colleges in 24 states, representing all U.S. geographic regions.

Research Design

The study adopted a multimodal research design, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods while primarily relying on quantitative analysis.

Data Collection and Analysis

Students in selected student success course sections completed a pre- and postsurvey. Instructors participated in a structured interview and provided course syllabi. Course design information was quantitized and merged with student-level data to model variation in learning outcomes as a function of course features, according to an activity theory conceptual framework. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.

Conclusions

Findings from this research point to several recommendations for practice by highlighting the reality that one term may be too little to learn some student success skills and that particular features of course designs may result in unintended adverse effects. Results indicate that structural elements are the most impactful features and that the skills-based curricular features that receive the most attention may be in fact the least influential features in realizing desired skills and knowledge outcomes. The study points to methodological ways forward to further explore and unpack the relationship between success course design features and educational outcomes.
Framing the Common Core: An Analysis of Four Key Policy Actors
Authors: Sánchez Juan Gabriel
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

In recent years, the American political context has become increasingly divided, as exemplified by the debate over the Common Core State Standards. Initially a bipartisan national venture, the standards became immersed in controversy soon after their introduction in 2010. In the aftermath, a growing body of research has examined the Common Core at the policy level; yet little empirical research has analyzed the public messaging of key interest groups involved in the Common Core debate.

Research Design

This empirical study draws on frame analysis to unpack the public discourse of four policy actors involved in the debate over the Common Core: the Gates Foundation, Heritage Foundation, National Education Association, and education historian Diane Ravitch. It examines policy documents released by each actor to first understand the central public frames present in their discourse about the standards, then unearth the implicit logics embedded in these frames.

Findings/Results

Four underlying logics—market, technical, democratic, and pragmatic— emerged from the explicit frames used by the four actors. These logics overlap, some existing on both sides of the debate, with opponents such as Gates and Heritage Foundations often using competing public frames about innovation or freedom, while also drawing on similar implicit market-based assumptions about the purpose of education to inform their arguments for and against Common Core respectively.

Conclusions/Recommendations

These findings suggest intriguing similarities in the discourse of key actors involved in education reform and add nuance to growing fears that market-based logics dominate modern education policy. Yet some of the discourse still draws on democratic logics, the expressions of which between different actors. Methodologically, frame analysis emerges as a productive means of unpacking hidden or obscured ideas within policy and the discourse about that policy, especially when paired with the concept of logics, which mediate values and action.
Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander Student Progression through Community College: A Disaggregated Transcript Analysis
Authors: Ngo Federick , Sablan Jenna
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Research on the postsecondary education of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) students has typically focused on attainment within four-year colleges and neglected the experiences of API students in community colleges. However, many API students pursuing postsecondary education, particularly Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander (SEAPI) students, do so through U.S. community colleges. The progress and achievement of these students in community college remains largely unstudied, due in part to the limited availability of disaggregated data.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

(1) To what extent do API students, and specifically SEAPI students, achieve community college progress milestones, such as enrollment, completion of gatekeeper courses, and attainment of degree- and transfer-applicable credits? (2) How are these students progressing through developmental math?

Research Design

We examine the academic progress of API students using transcript data from a large California community college district. The disaggregated race/ethnicity data allow us to focus on oft-overlooked API subgroups. Focusing on SEAPI students, we analyze momentum towards key college persistence and completion milestones. We also track progression through developmental math education, one of the key barriers community college students face in completing community college.

Findings

In our disaggregated transcript analysis, we find that SEAPI students are less likely than their peers to achieve college milestones such as completing math courses and earning the degree-applicable units necessary for degree completion or transfer. Seeking explanations for these differences within the context of developmental education, we observe that SEAPI students are significantly less likely than their peers to attempt developmental math courses, though the data suggest they are more likely to complete courses when they do attempt them. These relationships hold after controlling for differences in the demographic characteristics of these students.

Conclusions/Recommendations

These findings point towards non-academic and institutional explanations for lower rates of college persistence and completion and offer direction for policy efforts and institutional practice to support these students.
The Challenges of Bridging the Research–Practice Gap through Insider–Outsider Partnerships in Education
Authors: Phelps David
Published: November 2021

Background

Partnerships between schools and universities are increasingly advocated as a way to bridge the research–practice gap in education. Empirical research has revealed a wide variety of benefits that these partnerships can bring to merging research and practice. Yet, empirical studies also demonstrate that merging research and practice through partnerships at local sites is neither straightforward nor a guaranteed process. Rather, it is a fragile process fraught with tension that often stems from the relationship between the school and university partners.

Purpose

Kornfeld and Leyden reflected that if schools and universities are to successfully partner, they “should be ever mindful of … the infinite complexities and potential pitfalls in the relationship.” The purpose of this literature review is to document these complexities and pitfalls more fully so that schools and universities involved in partnerships can have more realistic expectations of the demanding work entailed in maintaining healthy relationships. Realistic expectations can help school and university partners to more successfully navigate the fragility of their work. Furthermore, the research literature suggests that when partners work collaboratively to address these challenges, they will strengthen their relationships.

Research Design

A literature review was conducted using an intellectual social network analysis and an extensive database search. A total of 56 studies were selected for analysis using relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Findings

The 56 studies reveal that challenges to maintaining partnerships emerge from the differences in schools and universities along three high-level categories: organizational structures, discourse practices, and power relations. Yet, schools and universities can mitigate these challenges by working together to collaboratively build organizational infrastructure, shared meaning, and trusting relationships.

Recommendations

Schools and universities that partner to close the gap between research and practice at local sites should be mindful of the ways that their differences in organizational structures, discourse practices, and power relations can complicate their work together. At the same time, schools and universities can strengthen their relationships by intentionally working to collaboratively build organizational infrastructure, shared meaning, and trusting relationships. By working to reconcile the differences between themselves, schools and universities can better learn how to navigate the fragility inherent in their partnership.
Race, Emotions, and Woke in Teaching
Authors: Grant Carl A.
Published: November 2021

This chapter queries the meaning and arc of social justice for teachers engaging in mindfulness pedagogy and pursuing the role of emotion in classroom instruction. In particular, this chapter problematizes the relationship between being “woke” and having emotional granularity in relation to one's practice as a teacher. Among other questions, it investigates: How may teacher educators support prospective and new teachers in thinking through what their emotions mean for teaching students who differ from them racially, ethnically, in social class, and in other dimensions of identity? How can prospective and new teachers enact curriculum and practices that embrace students as intellectually able, promising scholars?

One cannot fully understand the world in which we live without trying to integrate and understand its emotions. (Dominique Moisi, 2009, p. x)
When the Tears Just Pop Out of Your Eyes: Reconfiguring Social-Classed Literacies through a Posthuman Teacher Education Pedagogy
Authors: Jones Stephanie , Huston Breanne , Spector Karen
Published: November 2021

This chapter draws on theories of new materialisms that assume the discursive (language, ideology, emotions) and the material (physical space, material objects, bodies) are always entangled and act together to produce phenomena. We use these theoretical concepts to persuade readers that the ways we perceive, judge, and discriminate based on social-class difference are literacies that we acquire and produce across time and space. The authors argue that these literacies are acquired by the body through our material-discursive intra-actions and are often felt viscerally, even when we don't have access to language appropriate for articulating what we know. We use vignettes from teacher education courses to support a call for tending to the body, space, social-classed texts, and emotions in the design of curriculum and pedagogy aimed at approaches to teaching and learning that are sensitive to social class.
Welcome to Cloud2Class: Social Media in Education
Authors: Brandon Diana L. , Daly Alan J. , Frank Kenneth A. , Greenhow Christine , Hu Sihua , Rehm Martin , Torphy Kaitlin T.
Published: November 2021

This chapter welcomes the reader to the study of social media in education. It begins with a description of the background, ranging from general use of social media in today's society to the importance of social media in education. The study of social media in education will inevitably draw on interdisciplinary concepts and networks of relationships among ideas and people. Furthermore, social media can help researchers and educators cross current boundaries, such as the organizational boundary of the school, and the domains of teachers and leaders. Social media also reveals boundaries that have been reinforced or are emergent with social media, such as intergenerational and cross-cultural boundaries, and standard boundaries of chronology. The contributors themselves come from interdisciplinary backgrounds (all focused on education, but from computer science, technology, sociology, policy, psychology, etc.), and they consider their own agency in shaping the field of study of social media in education. This includes generating theory, raising ethical issues, and providing practical advice. After describing the organization of the yearbook, most importantly, this introduction directs readers to opportunities to engage the field (#cloud2class).
Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries: Mapping Educational Science in the Discourse on Social Media
Authors: Rehm Martin , Manca Stefania , Brandon Diana L. , Greenhow Christine
Published: November 2021

Social media has attracted considerable scholarly interest. Previous research has demonstrated the need for a more comprehensive overview of social media research across diverse disciplines. However, there is a lack of research that identifies the scope of social media integration across educational settings and how it relates to research in other academic disciplines. Harnessing the search terms of previous literature reviews, this study collected data on 80,267 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection database using search terms that were based on previous literature reviews. The data were analyzed using a combination of co-citation and bibliometric analyses via a mixed-methods approach. Our results show that there has been a constant increase in the number of publications concerned with social media, both as a transversal topic and within the educational sector. We are also able to show a range of topical domains in which the vast majority of research on social media is conducted. Our findings have practical implications for scholars and practitioners alike. Scholars can benefit from these types of analyses to identify authors and topic clusters that might otherwise have been unrecognized. Similarly, practitioners can benefit from this overview of the current “state-of-the-art” on social media.
Exploring Adolescent Social Media Use in a High School: Tweeting Teens in a Bell Schedule World
Authors: Rutledge Stacey A. , Dennen Vanessa P. , Bagdy Lauren M.
Published: November 2021

This multilevel exploratory case study examined the intersection of adolescent social media use and administrators’ and teachers’ work in one Florida high school. Through a survey and activities with 48 high school students and interviews with 37 students and 18 administrators and teachers in a Florida high school, we explored the different ways that students and adults used social media both outside and in school. We found that students and adults engaged in active and intentional community building and informal learning across social media sites, however, these activities were largely separate from the formal activities in schools. We discuss the implications of this separation and its potential to energize high schools.
Integrating Computer-Based Curricula in the Classroom: Lessons from a Blended Learning Intervention
Authors: Anglum J. Cameron , Desimone Laura M. , Hill Kirsten Lee
Published: November 2021

Context

This study analyzes the implementation of a blended learning middle school mathematics intervention in a large urban school district in the northeastern United States. Blended learning models integrate online instructional tools within traditional methods of classroom instruction.

Focus of Study

As their use increases in classrooms across the country, there remains much unknown about how teachers integrate blended learning strategies into their pedagogical practices and what factors, including school, teacher, and student attributes, facilitate or hinder these approaches. Our findings provide insight into how teachers integrate computer-based curricula in their classrooms, findings particularly instructive for under-resourced urban school districts.

Research Design

The study is designed as part of a within-teacher randomized controlled field trial, a design which enables direct comparisons of teacher practices between each of his or her two mathematics classrooms. To draw these comparisons, we utilize a range of detailed teacher survey data as well as rich teacher interview data.

Conclusions

We believe our findings about the choices teachers make in using software in the classroom and the barriers they face in doing so are applicable to the implementation of a wide variety of computer-based interventions in urban environments, whether they are part of curricular innovations, blended learning instructional strategies, or targeted academic interventions.
New Standards and Old Divides: Policy Attitudes About College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Students with Disabilities
Authors: Edgerton Adam K. , Fuchs Douglas , Fuchs Lynn S.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) requires that all students with disabilities (SWD) receive a free, appropriate public education designed to meet their unique needs to prepare them for post-school education and employment (American Psychological Association, 2018). In the past two decades, momentum has grown for a supplementary idea: that schools be held accountable for SWD achieving grade-level standards. Thus standards-based reform for SWD is often caught between ideals of standardization and principles of differentiation.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which district administrators, principals, general educators, and special educators differ in their policy perceptions of the newest college- and career-readiness standards (CCRS) for SWD versus other learners. Our research questions were: To what extent do teachers of SWD report delivering similar or different instructional content compared to general education teachers? What types of instructional supports do teachers provide, what types of professional development do teachers receive, and how do these differ by teacher type? How do policy perceptions differ between teachers of SWD and general education teachers? How do district administrators, principals, and teachers differ in their policy perceptions of the CCRS as they relate to SWD?

Research Design

In three states (Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky), we surveyed a stratified sample of teachers, principals, and district administrators on the implementation of their state's standards and directed them to respond for SWD who participate in the regular accountability system.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Results indicate an environment where SWD continue to receive less grade-level content and, in Texas and Ohio, are served by personnel who do not believe that the standards are appropriate. Kentucky demonstrated greater consistencies between general education and SWD instruction and policy environments. Findings raise questions about whether CCRS are being implemented for all students.
Cross-Sector Collaboration to Support College and Career Readiness in an Urban School District
Authors: Malin Joel R. , Hackmann Donald G. , Scott Ian M.
Published: November 2021

Background

School reforms requiring collaborations spanning multiple sectors are increasing in prevalence, but extant research has primarily focused only upon cross-sector partnerships involving education and social services. College and career readiness (CCR) reforms, such as the one highlighted in this study, are also often intrinsically cross-sectoral in nature. It is necessary to understand how such complex collaborations are developed and maintained. Purpose: This study examined how cross-sector collaboration has shaped the development and implementation of district-wide high school career academies in a large urban school district.

Research Design

We applied case-study methodology to examine a mature cross-sector collaboration that guides and supports the district's career academy reforms. A meta-framework concerning cross-sector collaboration—developed by Bryson, Crosby, and Stone—supported our design, data collection, and analysis.

Conclusions

Findings disclose a complex system of structures and processes to support reform implementation and illuminate the role and nature of cross-sector collaborations. This study provides an initial step toward understanding the elements, processes, and leadership required to develop and sustain cross-sector CCR reforms. The findings hold relevance for practitioners (e.g., how to develop and strengthen such complex reforms), community partners, and researchers (e.g., theory-building regarding reform-supporting elements and their interactions).
Do Community College Students Benefit from Federal Work-Study Participation?
Authors: Yu Hongwei , Mckinney Lyle , Carales Vincent D.
Published: November 2021

Background

Prior studies suggest that Federal Work-Study (FWS) participation is positively associated with student learning, persistence, and academic achievement at four-year institutions. Limited research, however, has evaluated whether FWS participation improves academic success among students attending community colleges.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to determine whether and how FWS participation impacted academic performance and enrollment outcomes among a racially/ethnically diverse sample of students attending a large, urban community college (UCC) system in Texas. There were two research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of students at UCC who participated in FWS, compared with their peers who did not participate? (2) After controlling for self-selection bias, are there significant differences in academic success (i.e., cumulative GPA; credential attainment and/or four-year transfer) among UCC students who did and did not participate in the FWS program?

Research Design

The longitudinal data set (fall 2010 through summer 2016) analyzed in this study was built using detailed student-level transcript data records. The full sample included 8,837 students who had filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (a necessary step to receive FWS funding), but the primary focus was on the subsample of FWS participants (n = 260). Descriptive analysis was performed to compare the demographic and academic characteristics of FWS participants with nonparticipants. To assuage self-selection bias, propensity score matching (nearest neighbor matching algorithm) was used to match similar students who did and did not participate in FWS. We employed multiple regression and logistic regression techniques on the matched data to investigate whether FWS participation was associated with students’ academic outcomes.

Results

Relative to their non-FWS peers, FWS participants at this community college were more likely to be female, African American, 24 years of age or older, very low income, and academically underprepared. After successfully matching FWS participants with similar non-FWS participants, results indicated that FWS participation was associated with a higher cumulative GPA and significantly higher odds of credential completion and/or vertical transfer.

Conclusions

There are important equity implications in our findings; the results suggest that the FWS program can improve educational outcomes for student populations that are often marginalized and underserved by the higher education system. We describe several ways that the FWS program could be redesigned and expanded to better meet the needs of community college students.
Tensions Between Envisioned Aims and Enacted Practices in the Teaching of Muslim Young Adult Literature
Authors: Glenn Wendy J. , Ginsberg Ricki
Published: November 2021

Context

Research notes the repeated existence of a disconnect between teachers’ aims and practices, particularly when their work is done in communities with significant numbers of students who are minoritized by dominant societal norms. Simply wanting to do this work is not enough and can result in harm to students and the communities they inhabit.

Research Question

How does a teacher envision instructional aims and enact classroom practices as she infuses young adult literature with Muslim characters and content into her curriculum?

Setting

Freshman classroom in a diverse school community in the northeastern United States.

Participant

This study examines the thinking and teaching practices of one classroom teacher. It focuses on how the findings have resonance and transferability for other scholars who are studying the phenomenon and who seek to use the findings as a model to conduct related research.

Practice

During 10 weeks as a regular part of their English course experience, one class of freshman students read and discussed young adult novels that contain Islam-related content and a Muslim protagonist. The classroom teacher facilitated the sessions. At least one university researcher on the project attended one class session each week to observe and collect data.

Research Design

This qualitative study uses an inductive methodological approach to establish clear links between the raw data and research question in systematic and iterative ways.

Data Collection

Data sources from the 10-week instructional period included: four semi-structured participant interviews (one prior to the start of instruction, two during the instructional period, and one following instruction); 16 weekday reflections generated by the participant; and 10 weekly classroom observations conducted by the research team.

Findings

While the teacher had clear purposes for her instruction of the texts, her enacted practices did not always align with or result in the attainment of her goals. The teacher's aims of being a teacher expert conflicted with practices that rationalized a lack of the knowledge necessary to enact this role. And the teacher's aim of teaching for equity and justice clashed with her practices, which reflected a valuing of safety over conflict.

Conclusions

The study intimates the inadequacy of simply wanting to teach less familiar cultural content and argues that an anticipation of cognitive dissonance seems essential to determining culturally responsive aims that are strongly connected to enacted practices as teachers choose to bravely navigate unfamiliar territories.
College on the Margins: Higher Education Professionals’ Perspectives on Campus Basic Needs Insecurity
Authors: Broton Katharine M. , Miller Graham N. S. , Goldrick-Rab Sara
Published: November 2021

Background

A substantial share of undergraduates are basic needs insecure, meaning they lack consistent access to essential material goods like food and shelter. These material hardships are associated with poorer academic success, but we know very little about higher education professionals’ perspectives on the matter.

Purpose

This paper examines how higher education professionals perceive, understand, and support college students who experience basic needs insecurity.

Research Design

Using data from interviews with 59 professionals who work at eight broad-access public colleges and universities across five states, we employ an institutional logics perspective to understand how they draw on normative scripts, rationales, and schemas to guide their responses to campus basic needs insecurity.

Findings

Higher education professionals have considerable discretion when working with students who are basic needs insecure, and they draw on organizational, professional, and broader social spheres to guide their interactions. We identify three distinct logics—systemic, quiescent, and cautious—that are unique from one another on two dimensions: locus of control and individual response based on perceived locus of control.

Conclusions

The design and implementation of initiatives designed to support vulnerable students must consider the ways in which on-the-ground professionals understand students, their needs, and the sources of their challenges.
A Metric to Assess Brokerage Positions within Social Networking Sites
Authors: Rehm Martin , Cornelissen Frank , Notten Ad , Daly Alan J.
Published: November 2021

Background/Context

Teachers and educational professionals can draw on (informal) networks to foster their professional development. Moreover, a growing number of studies have shown that teachers use social networking sites (SNSs), such as Twitter, to keep up to date with the latest news on education and share resources with colleagues. Additionally, social capital can help to explain potential benefits of networking and has already been used to better understand professional development.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

The aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the informal networking of educators in SNSs. To achieve this goal, we first indicate how the concept of social capital can be used to assess communication flows within SNSs. Then, we consider social networking metrics and question whether they are as relevant in an online realm. Next, we argue for an adjusted brokerage index, namely the social brokerage index (SBI), which can help to shed light on how brokerage positions are shaped by different people within SNSs. Finally, we provide empirical data from six educational hashtag conversations on Twitter to test the relevance and applicability of the SBI.

Research Design

Using Twitter data from six (international) hashtag conversations between teachers and educational professionals, we apply social network analysis methods to assess the potential formation of social capital. In applying this method to the Twitter conversations in question, we first collected data on the Twitter users who contributed to the applicable hashtag conversation. Subsequently, we built directed unweighted one-mode networks based on mentions, and replies matrices. Second, we computed the in-degree, out-degree, and overall degree centrality metrics of all users (nodes) taking part in the applicable hashtag discussions. Additionally, we also determined users’ brokerage positions, which is another indicator for social capital formation within networks. Questioning the relevance of these metrics in the context of SNSs, we propose the SBI, which departs from previous work that has largely been framed by considerations around general account characteristics (follower/following ratio), general communication patterns (retweet/mention ratio), or in-degree metrics.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Based on our findings, we believe that our proposed SBI has added value to the analyses of network behavior beyond the scope of Twitter. More specifically, the SBI could help to understand what type of discussions draw what type of participants and thereby shed more light on how SNSs contribute to social capital formation among teachers and educational professionals.