bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cracks in the Continuum: A Critical Analysis of Least Restrictive Environment for Students with Significant Support Needs
Authors: Mccabe Katie M. , Ruppar Andrea , Kurth Jennifer A. , Mcqueston Jessica A. , Johnston Russell , Toews Samantha Gross 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Federal laws require equitable access to education for students with disabilities through educational placement in the least restrictive environment (LRE). However, research has determined students with significant support needs (SSN) are overrepresented in segregated educational placements. Focus of Study This study explores justifications of LRE placement decisions for students with SSN through a critical qualitative analysis. We evaluated how individualized education program (IEP) teams interpret LRE and justify placement decisions for students with SSN. Additionally, we sought to understand how the interpretation of LRE permits or restricts access to general education for students with SSN. Population Students with SSN are those who require support across multiple domains and often have disabilities in the categories of autism, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, and deaf-blindness. Research Design We used a qualitative methodology situated in a critical geography framework. Data were derived from the LRE statements found in IEPs of students with SSN. Each statement included in this study was used to identify the three power relationship spaces derived from critical geography theory: utopia, dystopia, and heterotopia. Findings Three types of placement decisions were identified. Students with SSN were most often offered conditional placements and less frequently closed or open placements. Rationales for LRE decisions revealed barriers to accessing general education contexts related to hidden power dynamics, attempts to maintain social norms, and the use of ambiguous terminology. Data analysis also revealed that LRE justifications generate special education heterotopias that create illusive access to the general education context and content for students with SSN. Conclusions/Recommendations The application of critical theory assists in understanding the continued overrepresentation of students with SSN in placements that limit access to general education. Findings from this study suggest the discontinuation of the continuum of special education placements to dismantle the inequitable structures of special education for students with SSN.
A Decade of Research on K–12 Teaching and Teacher Learning with Social Media: Insights on the State of the Field
Authors: Greenhow Christine , Galvin Sarah M. , Brandon Diana L. , Askari Emilia 
Published: November 2021

Background and Context The increasingly widespread use of social media to expand one's social connections is a relatively new but important phenomenon that has implications for teaching, learning, and teachers’ professional knowledge and development in the 21st century. Educational research in this area is expanding, but further investigation is necessary to better determine how to best support teachers in their professional development, collaboration, and classroom teaching. Prior literature reviews have focused extensively on higher education settings or particular platforms or platform types (e.g., Facebook, microblogging). This article provides needed insights into K–12 settings and encompasses work from a variety of social media types. We describe a systematic review of more than a decade of educational research from various countries to present the state of the field in K–12 teachers’ use of social media for teaching and professional learning across various platforms. Research Questions To define social media's potentially beneficial roles in teaching and learning, we must first take an in-depth look at teachers’ current social media practices. Toward this end, we approached our review with the following research question: How are social media perceived and used by K–12 teachers for their teaching or professional learning, and with what impacts on teachers’ practices? Research Design Guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) established standards for rigor and quality in systematic literature reviews, this article reviews empirical research to examine how social media are perceived and used by K–12 teachers with what impacts on teachers’ practices. Findings We find that social media features offer several benefits for helping teachers fulfill their goals for classroom teaching, including enhancing student engagement, community connections, and teacher–student interactions, but these affordances come with challenges that must be navigated. The literature also suggests that social media features provide benefits for teachers’ professional learning within both formal professional development programs and informal learning networks. Conclusions Implications of this literature review for future research and the design of educational practices are discussed in the final section. Among our conclusions are calls for more data triangulation between teachers’ and students’ learning and experiences on social media, more attention to teachers’ observational behaviors on social media, and further exploration of how social media facilitates interplay between teachers’ formal and informal learning.
“Say What you Really Believe”1: Freedom Schools, Youth Empowerment, and Black Power in 1960s Milwaukee
Authors: Suchor Katerina 
Published: November 2021

Background The historical literature on the civil rights movement has tended to underemphasize the movement's educational activities, while literature on the civil rights and Black Power movements has overemphasized ideological and tactical differences between these chapters in the struggle for Black liberation. A few studies have examined Freedom Schools—educational projects established as part of larger civil rights campaigns—but these studies have focused almost exclusively on Freedom Schools in the Southern context. Purpose Focusing on Freedom Schools organized as part of a school desegregation campaign in Milwaukee during the mid-1960s, this article explores the pedagogical purpose and philosophy of the Freedom Schools, as distinct from other protest activities undertaken as part of the campaign, as well as the legacy of the Freedom Schools after the campaign's conclusion. Research Design This historical analysis examines materials such as lesson plans, flyers, and correspondence from the archives of the Milwaukee United School Integration Committee (MUSIC), the organization responsible for the school desegregation campaign. Findings This article shows that core components of the Freedom School curriculum, which sought to challenge deficit-oriented policies and empower youth to create social change, foreshadowed key tenets of Black Power ideology. Conclusions These findings suggest that the Freedom Schools, as important sites of ideological development, highlight continuity between the civil rights and Black Power movements and situate the Freedom Schools as part of a longer tradition of education for liberation and self-determination.
“Hay poder en numeros”: Understanding the Development of a Collectivist Latinx Parent Identity and Conscientizacao Amid an Anti-Immigrant Climate
Authors: Fernández Érica , Rodela Katherine C. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Given our current anti-immigrant context, it is pertinent that we understand how (un)documented parents who are members of a parent-organized and parent-initiated group come to develop a collectivist Latinx identity within oppressive and marginalizing structures and policies. Purpose/Objectives This study analyzes the processes and actions of a Latinx parent group that led to the establishment of a collectivist identity and the activation of a collective conscientizacao/critical consciousness amid an anti-immigrant climate. Research Design Based on a 2.5-year critical ethnography, we analyzed data that included in-depth interviews, participant observations, photographs, and documents. In doing so, we were able to center the experiences of a parent organizing group in an elementary school in the Midwest during a period of heightened immigrant surveillance and anti-immigrant legislation. Findings/Results Our research suggests that critical consciousness was activated among this group in three stages: (1) Stage 1 describes the actions/strategies FUV took to develop a collective critical consciousness; (2) Stage 2 details the ways in which FUV members activated (i.e., enacted) their collective critical consciousness; and (3) Stage 3 discusses FUV's ongoing efforts to nurture a collective critical consciousness. Conclusions/Recommendations This study combats oppressive, marginalizing, and prevailing academic and public parental involvement discourse, thus having direct implications for how school officials center and support (un)documented Latinx parents and families in schools.
The Better Book Approach for Education Research and Development
Authors: Stigler James W. , Son Ji Y. , Givvin Karen B. , Blake Adam B. , Fries Laura , Shaw Stacy T. , Tucker Mary C. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Despite advances in the learning sciences, a persistent gap remains between research and practice. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this project, we develop and try out a new approach to education research and development in which researchers, designers/ developers, and instructors collaborate to continuously improve an online interactive textbook. Intervention/Program/Practice Using a “learn by doing” strategy, we first created a highly instrumented online textbook for introductory statistics. The design of our online book is based on the practicing-connections hypothesis: Instead of learning individual “bits” of information and then hoping that learners end up with transferable knowledge, we designed a curriculum to engage students in repeated practice of the connections—between core concepts, representations, and the world—that make knowledge transferable. The textbook includes more than 1,200 formative assessments, generating large amounts of data relevant to both the process and outcomes of college students learning of statistics. Using the affordances of technology, we then began working to apply routines and practices from open software development (Git) and improvement science (Toyota Kata) to build an improvement community focused on continuous improvement of the online book. We also are building a technology platform (CourseKata) to publish the book from markdown files stored on GitHub; distribute the book through widely used learning management systems; collect detailed student data and deliver it back to instructors and, in a de-identified form, researchers; and manage experiments that randomly assign different versions of content to different students within a single class, and then assess the effects on students’ learning. Research Design Our research design is a mixed-methods design research and improvement study. We gauge success through measures of process, outcome, and transfer. Conclusions/Recommendations We are at only the beginning of what we see as a lengthy project. We are encouraged, however, by our progress, and invite others—including researchers, designers/developers, and instructors—to join us in our improvement community focused on improving the transferable learning of basic statistical concepts at scale.
Crystallizing Coaching: An Examination of the Institutionalization of Instructional Coaching in Three Educational Systems
Authors: Woulfin Sarah L. 
Published: November 2021

Background Instructional coaching has gained popularity as a reform instrument, yet it varies widely across contexts. This variability plays a role in weak implementation or even rejection of coaching within schools. Further, there are gaps in our understanding of how coaching is adopted and accepted in different educational systems. Purpose: This article uses concepts from organizational institutionalism to gauge the legitimacy and taken-for-grantedness of coaching in two charter-management organizations and one public school district. It surfaces the processes as well as the outcomes of the institutionalization of coaching. Research design I collected qualitative data for this study in three systems to draw out comparisons in the structures, practices, and norms regarding coaching: This included 38 interviews, over 20 observations, and over 30 documents. I coded and analyzed the interview, observation, and document data to answer questions about how and why coaching was institutionalized in each system. Findings My findings reveal that coaching was more highly institutionalized in the two charter-management organizations than in the public school district. In particular, coaching was deemed appropriate and desirable by most educators in the charter systems. Additionally, coaching was embedded in system-level policies and school-level routines in the charter systems. My findings also indicate that organizational structures, actors’ role definitions, and artifacts were associated with the institutionalization of coaching. Conclusions This study sheds light on how and why coaching, as a counternormative lever for instructional reform, is institutionalized in various educational systems. It points to the importance of system and school leaders’ routines for increasing the legitimacy and taken-for-grantedness of coaching.
Opportunities to Study, Practice, and Rehearse Teaching in Teacher Preparation: An International Perspective
Authors: Hammerness Karen , Klette Kirsti , Jenset Inga Staal , Canrinus Esther T. 
Published: November 2021

Background Around the world, policy makers and teacher educators are paying increasing attention to how teacher candidates learn to study and enact teaching and to grounding preparation more deeply in teachers’ classroom practice. Evidence from the United States and the Netherlands suggests that efforts to tie preparation to practice may significantly impact pupils’ learning. However, the nature of teacher candidates’ opportunities to study, practice, and rehearse teaching remains underexplored, especially in international studies. Purpose Our research analyzes opportunities to study, practice, and rehearse teaching in teacher education coursework in five different programs in five countries. We focus specifically on the degree to which campus coursework provides candidates with opportunities to study, practice, and rehearse actual teaching practices. What kind of opportunities exist in these international programs’ coursework to study, practice, and rehearse teaching? Are there any typical patterns and connections that teacher education students encounter more often than others? Research Design Our multiple case study design uses data from surveys of program candidates, observations of methods courses, and interviews with program faculty and students. We highlight our inclusion of observation of methods courses, which are relatively rare in studies of teacher education. We collected these data in five programs in five countries: Chile, Cuba, Finland, Norway, and the United States. Findings Analysis of all data revealed frequent opportunities for candidates to analyze artifacts from teaching and to do work that pupils will do. Candidates had some opportunities to plan, to rehearse teaching strategies, and to experience their teacher educator modeling teaching practices. Despite a growing focus on student learning in the United States and in other countries, there were few opportunities for teacher candidates to analyze student learning or to examine samples of students’ work. The dearth of opportunities for candidates to examine and analyze student learning was especially surprising: We underscore this finding as critical for teacher education. Conclusions These findings about opportunities to study, practice, and rehearse teaching can provide helpful lenses for teacher education programs to examine where and how they offer these opportunities. Teacher educators may wish to consider the balance of learning opportunities within programs. The programs offered ample opportunities to plan for teaching, for instance. However, substantial experiences may come at the expense of others, especially when compared with the few opportunities to examine student learning.
Time to Teach: Instructional Time and Science Teachers’ Use of Inquiry-Oriented Instructional Practices
Authors: Kolbe Tammy , Steele Caitlin , White Beth 
Published: November 2021

Background There have been repeated calls for more widespread use of inquiry-oriented science instruction in K–12 education. At the same time, questions have been raised regarding whether the amount of time in school schedules for science instruction is sufficient to support inquiry-based teaching. This study investigates the relationship between the time available for science instruction and the extent to which eighth-grade science teachers used inquiry-oriented instructional practices in their teaching. Research Questions We consider two research questions: (1) To what extent is teachers’ use of inquiry-oriented instructional practices related to the time available for science instruction during the school week? (2) To what extent do differences in teachers’ professional training to teach science impact the relationship between instructional time and science teachers’ use of inquiry-based instructional practices? Research Design We use data from the 2011 NAEP Grade Eight Science Assessment and multilevel linear modeling to analyze the relationship between instructional time and science teacher practices. Our analyses include approximately 11,520 eighth-grade teachers in 6,850 public schools. Findings The extent to which science teachers used inquiry-oriented instructional practices in their teaching was related to the amount of time available for science instruction. Teachers with 5 or more hours per week were more likely to use inquiry-oriented instructional practices, and the extent to which teachers engaged in reform-oriented science instruction increased with more time for instruction. The relationship between instructional time and teacher practice was largely independent of teacher qualifications, suggesting that instructional time impacts teacher instructional practice regardless of teachers’ educational background, training, or science teaching experience. Conclusions Identifying optimal allocations of instructional time is a relevant consideration in efforts to promote the types of reform-oriented science teaching called for by the National Research Council's Framework for K–12 Science Education, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and other national and state science assessments. Although investments in teacher training and professional development are also necessary and important investments, with insufficient time, even the most qualified or best trained science teachers may struggle to use inquiry-based instructional approaches.
Early Warning Indicator Systems in Action: Considerations from Identification to Supports
Authors: Baharav Hadar , Sipes Laurel 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context School transitions pose a variety of social-emotional and academic challenges to students, especially those who are more vulnerable due to home, health, or academic challenges. With this awareness, a growing number of school districts have developed and implemented early warning indicator systems (EWISs) aimed at early identification of and support to vulnerable students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study While a growing body of research has documented EWISs use objective criteria to identify vulnerable students, there is scant scholarship about student identification using subjective tools, the processes that facilitate information sharing and collaboration between sending and receiving schools, and effective student supports. Our study aimed to narrow the gaps in the literature by providing insight about EWI identification, between-school communication, and student supports through the case study of one school district that implemented both objective and subjective EWISs. Our research questions were as follows: (1) Which students have been identified through the district's objective and subjective EWISs?; (2) How have school staff shared information stemming from the EWISs?; and (3) What supports do school staff offer students identified by the objective compared to the subjective EWISs? Research Design We used a mixed-methods approach, including statistical analysis of student-level administrative records, interviews with district staff, a survey of school staff, and multiple interviews with site staff at a sampling of schools. Conclusions/Recommendations: Identification Our study found that subjective criteria may be more effective in identifying students who are more likely to be missed by automated identification systems, such as “internalizers.” Moreover, stakeholder perception of specific indicators may have an impact on the selection of indicators in use. Sharing of information The practices that schools use to share information about transitioning students is an area ripe for future research. Our study revealed the importance of designing information-sharing mechanisms with the end user in mind. Developing a standardized rubric and incorporating a scale measure for relative urgency could increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the process. We also identified a tension between the need to share information and the will to protect students’ privacy. We see value in localized efforts to mitigate the unintended effects of such tension. Supports A primary consideration in an EWIS is its alignment to the district's model for the distribution of resources to support students. EWIS design considerations We identified the existence of tradeoffs between site-level autonomy and system-level coherence in the design of EWISs.
An Exploratory Study of how to Use RPPs to Build Trust and Support the Use of Early Warning Systems
Authors: Kochanek Julie R. , Scholz Carrie , Monahan Brianne , Pardo Max 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Emerging experiences suggest that research-practice partnerships (RPPs) can benefit both research and practice. As researchers and practitioners become part of the same social network, they also can become trusted sources of information for one another. By modeling the research use process, practitioners can incorporate what they learn into their own research acquisition and interpretation processes and researchers can gain a better understanding of how their work can be designed and conducted so that it is directly relevant to practice. Purpose/Focus of the Study Prior literature on research-practice partnerships has identified common challenges of these partnerships such as turnover, trust, common language, and complex systems. The study follows a grounded theory approach to better understand challenges and dynamics within research-practice partnerships. Setting The study included members of eight research-practice partnerships including two focused primarily on the use of early warning indicators to reduce high school dropout. Partnerships were diverse in their location and maturity. Five partnerships were located in the Midwest, one partnership was located in the South, and two partnerships were located in New England. Half of the partnerships were less than two years old at the time of the interviews, and the oldest partnership was 8 years old. Research Design Using a grounded theory approach to better understand challenges and dynamics within RPPs, we analyzed qualitative interview data inductively to identify common themes discussed by respondents. Data Collection and Analysis The study team conducted telephone interviews with two researchers and two practitioners from eight RPPs, for a total of 31 interviews – one researcher was interviewed for two different partnerships. The team used semi-structured interview protocols aligned to the four research questions. In analyzing the interview data, we identified themes, categories, and theories that emerged from the data and confirmed or refuted our initial impressions.