bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Strengthening Grade 3-5 Students’ Foundational Knowledge of Rational Numbers
Authors: Good Thomas L. , Wood Marcy B. , Sabers Darrell , Olson Amy M. , Lavigne Alyson Leah , Sun Huaping , Kalinec-Craig Crystal 
Published: November 2021

Background American students have done poorly in algebra and that has generated policy concerns about preparing students for STEM careers. There has been growing recognition that the algebra problem may begin in earlier grades when students do not adequately master rational numbers. Purpose The study provided a series of workshops organized around problematic issues that students have in learning rational numbers. The research was designed to help all grade 3-5 teachers in a single school district help students gain in their knowledge of rational numbers. Population The population was drawn from one large school district (13 schools) and included 140 teachers and 2,845 students matched pre to post. Research Design The study used a quasi-experimental design. As all teachers in the district were involved, there was no control group. Findings On the basis of pre-post testing, girl and boy students, as well as students from diverse SES schools demonstrated large gains in their knowledge of rational numbers. There were no significant differences in gains for girls and boys at any of the three grade levels, but SES remained a main effect for gains in achievement for grades 3 and 4 even after entering prior achievement as a covariate and the interaction between SES and gender was significant for grade 5. Recommendations The findings provide clear evidence that students can make notable gains in learning rational numbers if they are given the opportunity to do so. The authors provide their intentions to further analyze the quantitative data (presented in this paper) with qualitative data that were collected in the study (e.g., providing open-ended response opportunities for students to respond to rational number questions like, “What is a fraction? What is a decimal? What is a percent?”
Making Space: A Gay-Straight Alliance's Fight to Build Inclusive Environments
Authors: Collin Ross 
Published: November 2021

Background Education researchers are paying increasing attention to student activism and to the social production of school spaces. Few studies, however, have brought these two concerns together to examine how student activists work to rebuild school spaces in line with their political commitments. In the present study, I address this gap at the intersection of two important research trends. Purpose I examine how a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) endeavored to build its school as an inclusive environment open to students of different sexual orientations. Focusing on the semiotic dimension of spatial production, I investigate how a conflict over a sign on the GSA's bulletin board functioned as one front in an ongoing struggle to produce the school's main hallway as a particular kind of space. As signs and constructions of space may be interpreted in different manners, I provide alternate ways of reading the conflict. Setting The setting for this study is a school serving a racially diverse, working class neighborhood in a major city in the Northeastern United States. Participants The participants were members of their school's GSA. Research Design This is a qualitative site-based investigation. I collected data by using ethnographic tools including observation, interviewing, and document collection. Specifically, I sought to gather data on different actors’ different understandings of the conflict over the bulletin board. I analyzed data by using methods of naturalistic qualitative analysis and semiotics-focused discourse analysis. Findings Study participants read the conflict over the bulletin board in different manners. Each reading construed the conflict as (re)building school spaces in particular ways. Crucially, each construction either validated or invalidated LGBTIQ identities in the space of the school. Conclusions No one reading of the conflict and no one construction of the space of the school were necessarily “conclusive” or “correct.” Rather, the meaning of the conflict and the features of school space were struggled over and negotiated by actors at the school. These struggles highlight how conflicts over meaning are often disagreements over the construction and inhabitance of social spaces. In light of these findings, researchers should expand their analyses of student activism to consider how, through semiotic activity, activists work to rebuild and act in school spaces. Furthermore, researchers should produce studies helpful to activists working to build schools as more just and inclusive environments.
Toward an Integral Approach for Evolving Mindsets for Generative Learning and Timely Action in the Midst of Ambiguity
Authors: Yorks Lyle , Nicolaides Aliki 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context The implications of complexity theory have become a recurring topic in the literatures of a wide range of scholarly and professional fields including adult education. This paper builds on literature calling attention to the educational need for pedagogically addressing the implications of the intensifying complexity in the environments that confront adults in their professional and personal lives. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Three theoretical streams, (a) Complex adaptive systems; (b) learning through experience; and, (c) adult developmental theory provide the basis for the pedagogical approach that is presented. The focus is on contingently applying these distinct streams of theory into learning designs. We share our experiences in experimenting with course designs for preparing adult learners for taking action on personal, civic, and professional challenges embedded in ambiguity and uncertainty in which rigid application of ready-made solutions is not possible. Our goal is to stimulate deeper experimentation. Accordingly, the question guiding this paper is, “How can we as adult educators create conditions in our classrooms, and other learning venues, for addressing the need for preparing adults to mindfully learn through the challenges that confront them in the context of increasing complexity?” Setting For purposes of illustrating our experience and provoking questions, we draw on examples from our work in three graduate level courses in distinct disciplinary settings—specifically, organizational psychology and adult learning, adult education, and technology management. Research Design This paper is an analytical essay drawing out the implications for generative learning from an integrative literature review connecting the three theoretical streams identified above that guide our thinking and work. We provide a framework for creating generative learning spaces based on the implications drawn from this integrative literature review, along with examples of application. Conclusions/Recommendations Our experiences in a range of settings suggests that applying the framework can provide educative structures in which adults may stretch their capacity to make meaning, and learn how make choices for timely action, under conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity generated by the complexity their socio-economic environments. The approach also provokes new challenges for faculty as well as students, challenges that require more systemic research. We conclude with an agenda for future research.
Trusting Our Judgment: Measurement and Accountability for Educational Outcomes
Authors: Steiner David M. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Education policymakers across the country face an urgent problem: we know there is wide disparity in teacher effectiveness, but we lack meaningful tools to identify and reward the most effective teachers or to ensure that the least effective improve or leave the classroom. Purpose This article considers the value of the national move toward value-added measures and our current fascination with objective measurements – a fascination that stems from our collective distrust of our teachers and ourselves, and our reluctance to make judgments about the substantive narratives we teach students. Research Design This is an analytical and reflective piece that draws upon the author's experience serving as New York State Commissioner of Education and dean of a teacher education institution in New York City. Conclusions Value-added measures of teachers’ impact on student learning are an imperfect but important tool; however, by often refusing to take responsibility for what is worth teaching, we risk cutting off important opportunities for democratic education and ultimately impoverishing students’ own ability to make meaningful judgments about their world, regardless of their test scores.
Student Off-Task Behavior in Computer-Based Learning in the Philippines: Comparison to Prior Research in the USA
Authors: Rodrigo Ma. Mercedes T. , Baker Ryan S. J. D. , Rossi Lisa 
Published: November 2021

Background Off-task behavior can be defined as any behavior that does not involve the learning task or material, or where learning from the material is not the primary goal. One suggested path for understanding how to address off-task behavior is to study classrooms where off-task behavior is less common, particularly in Asia, in order to understand why off-task behavior is less common in those settings. Purpose In this paper, we discuss three studies that examine the differences in the off-task behavior of students using intelligent tutoring software in the Philippines and the United States. We investigate whether Filipino students using intelligent tutors exhibit significantly less off-task behavior than their American counterparts, in line with the previously observed patterns of off-task behavior in traditional classrooms in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Using identical intelligent tutors in both countries allows us to control for confounds due to differences in curricula. Research Design In the first study, approximately matched cohorts of students in classrooms in the United States and Philippines used the same educational software (the Scatterplot Tutor) for an equal amount of time and according to an identical research protocol. In the second and third studies, students in the Philippines used different intelligent tutoring systems for a fixed amount of time. Data Collection and Analysis As students used the software, researchers used a quantitative field observation protocol to record their behaviors. From the quantitative field observations, we computed an approximate percentage of time that each student was off-task and then calculated the average time off-task for each group under study. An additional behavior, gaming the system (intentional misuse of educational software) was also coded. Findings In the first study, students in the United States were off-task, on average, seven times more than students in the Philippines. Interestingly, however, the proportion of gaming the system was higher in the Philippines than in the United States. In the second and third studies, the incidence of off-task behavior was comparable to the frequency of off-task behavior in the Philippines in the first study, and substantially lower than the frequency of off-task behavior in the United States in the first study or in prior research on off-task behavior in the United States. Conclusions / Recommendations The results of the first study suggest that the previously observed differences in off-task behavior between the United States and Asia cannot be attributed simply to differences in curricula. Understanding the relative roles of cultural factors and past experiences with adaptive educational technology in student off-task behavior is an important area of future work.
School Diversity, School District Fragmentation and Metropolitan Policy
Authors: Holme Jennifer J. , Finnigan Kara S. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Over the past several decades, the structure of school segregation has changed significantly. In the past, students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds tended to be separated into different buildings within school districts; increasingly, however, students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds are likely to be separated into entirely separate districts (Clotfelter, 2004). This growing problem of between-district segregation poses a unique set of challenges for districts and policymakers seeking to advance integration, as districts have administrative authority only over policies that cover their own boundaries. The changing configuration of school segregation, therefore, requires a better understanding of, and more creative solutions aimed at, this policy problem. Focus of Study This article explores the dilemmas created by between-district segregation and school district fragmentation in terms of efforts to diversify schools. In our analysis, we examine four predominant approaches that have been used in city governance reform to address the problems of municipal fragmentation: annexation, consolidation, mobility programs, and metropolitan governance reform. Within each section, we examine the potential of each of these approaches as a solution to the problems associated with school district fragmentation. Data Collection and Analysis We first review existing research to examine what is known empirically about between-district segregation, and the role of school district fragmentation as a contributing factor. We then review literature about policy efforts to address problems caused by fragmentation in noneducational domains. Conclusions Each of the policy efforts discussed in this article offer insights as to potential policy directions to improve integration and address the costs of fragmentation. We conclude by considering the types of structures that could serve as potential vehicles for school districts to address the problems of fragmentation, and by discussing how regional cooperation between school districts can incentivized.
School Resegregation in the Mississippi of the West: Community Counternarratives on the Return to Neighborhood Schools in Las Vegas, 1968–1994
Authors: Horsford Sonya D. , Sampson Carrie , Forletta Felicia 
Published: November 2021

Background School desegregation and resegregation in the Mountain West remain understudied despite the substantial impact the region's growth and demographic change have had on racial balance and diversity in schools. Home to the largest school district in the Mountain West and fifth largest school district in the country, Las Vegas's unprecedented rise in students identified as Latino, Asian, and immigrant English-language learners living in poverty, coupled with its legacy of racial segregation, reflect trends and conditions critical to national conversations around racial diversity and school resegregation in the post-Civil Rights Era. Purpose This article describes the events surrounding the Kelly v. Mason (1968) case, which led to Las Vegas's mandatory school desegregation plan and the African American community's request in 1992 to abandon the mandatory busing plan for a return to neighborhood schools. Its secondary aim is to disrupt a tradition of advocacy for school integration absent the voices, experiences, and, in many cases, forewarnings of Black community stakeholders who questioned whether school desegregation via forced busing would actually result in equal education and genuine racial integration. Research Design and Methods The present analysis employs a qualitative research design, historical case study methods, and critical race theory's call to context and counter-narratives to tell the story of school desegregation and resegregation in Las Vegas between 1968 and 1994. Conclusions The article concludes with implications and future directions for school desegregation research and policy, particularly given the under-examined nature of school resegregation in the Mountain West.
Segregation or “Thinking Black”?: Community Activism and the Development of Black-Focused Schools in Toronto and London, 1968–2008
Authors: Johnson Lauri 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context On January 29, 2008 the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) approved a city-wide Africentric elementary school under their Alternative School policy, sparking a contentious debate. Calls for Black-focused schools also arose in 2008 in London in response to the disengagement of African Caribbean youth. The historical record indicates, however, that community campaigns for Black educational programs stretch back over 40 years in both cities. Focus of the Study This paper analyzes the development of Black-focused education in Toronto and London from 1968 to 2008 through the responses of Black parents and community activists to the historic underachievement of African Caribbean students (particularly males) in the public schools of both cities. Black-focused education is situated within the larger social, political, and national contexts and the critical incidents that fueled the development of race equality policy. The article explores how the “politics of place” influenced the trajectory of Black-focused education in each city. Research Methodology Two parallel historical case studies were conducted using primary source material from community-based archives, secondary sources on the history of African Caribbean immigration and the development of Black community organizations, and oral history interviews with 10 Black education activists in Toronto and 7 activists in London. Conclusions This comparative study conceptualizes this transnational phenomena as “resistance to racism” and examines how Black-focused curriculum and ideology was adapted to local conditions in Canada and Britain. Parents and community activists aimed to develop the citizenship rights of African Caribbean students, establish a diasporic sensibility, and promote the right of children of African descent to a quality education wherever they may reside.
Seven Legitimate Apprehensions About Evaluating Teacher Education Programs and Seven “Beyond Excuses” Imperatives
Authors: Amrein-Beardsley Audrey , Barnett Joshua H. , Ganesh Tirupalavanam G. 
Published: November 2021

Background Via the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), stronger accountability proponents are now knocking on the doors of the colleges of education that prepare teachers and, many argue, prepare teachers ineffectively. This is raising questions about how effective and necessary teacher education programs indeed are. While research continues to evidence that teachers have a large impact on student achievement, the examination of teacher education programs is a rational backward mapping of understanding how teachers impact students. Nonetheless, whether and how evaluations of teacher education programs should be conducted is yet another hotly debated issue in the profession. Purpose The purpose of this project is to describe how one of the largest teacher education programs in the nation has taken a lead position toward evaluating itself, and has begun to take responsibility for its impact on the public school system. This research also presents the process of establishing a self-evaluation initiative across the state of Arizona and provides a roadmap for how other colleges and universities might begin a similar process. Setting and Participants This work focuses on the Teacher Preparation Research and Evaluation Project (T-PREP) that spawned via the collaborative efforts among the deans and representative faculty from Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU), and the University of Arizona (UofA). The colleges of education located within each respective university are the colleges that train the vast majority of educators in the state of Arizona. Participants also included other key stakeholders in the state of Arizona, including the deans and representative faculty from the aforementioned colleges of education, leaders representing the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), and other key leaders and constituents involved in the state's education system (e.g., the state's union and school board leaders and representatives). Research Design This serves as a case study example of how others might conduct such self-examinations at the collaborative and the institutional level, as well as more local levels. Conclusions This work resulted in a set of seven “beyond excuses” imperatives that participants involved in the T-PREP consortium developed and participants at the local level carried forward. The seven key imperatives are important for other colleges of education to consider as they too embark on pathways toward examining their teacher education programs and using evaluation results in both formative and summative ways.
Social Studies Teacher Education in the Early Twentieth Century: A Historical Inquiry into the Relationship Between Teacher Preparation and Curriculum Reform
Authors: Jacobs Benjamin M. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context The field of social studies education is hardly lacking in historical investigation. The historiography includes sweeping chronicles of longtime struggles over the curriculum as well as case studies of momentous eras, events, policies, trends, and people, with emphases on aims, subject matter, method, and much more. Curiously, scant attention has been paid to the history of social studies teacher education. This study fills a gap in the literature by considering what effect, if any, teacher education in the social studies has had on the development of the field over time. Specifically, the study focuses on history/social studies teacher education in the decades immediately preceding and following the National Education Association's landmark report, The Social Studies in Secondary Education, which commonly is credited with establishing social studies as a school subject. Purpose A basic premise underlying this study is that stability and change in social studies curriculum and instruction may be someway related to stability and change in social studies teacher education. Because the enterprise of social studies teacher education exists in large part for the sake of supporting the enterprise of social studies in the schools, changes in social studies in the schools may well affect the preparation of teachers to teach the subject, and changes in social studies teacher preparation may well affect the teaching of the subject in schools. This study interrogates how teacher education programs contributed and/or responded (or not) to the emergence of social studies as a school subject in the early part of the twentieth century. Research Design This document-based historical study looks back nearly a century to the origins of the social studies field and considers the interrelationship between social studies as it was envisioned in the schools and social studies as it was configured in teacher education programs. The study is based on published monographs, reports, and articles on the status of history (pre-1916) and social studies (post-1916) teacher preparation programs that largely have been overlooked by social studies historians to date. Findings/Conclusions The story that emerges reinforces some longstanding assumptions about the development of the field: For example, there was little agreement among subject matter and education specialists regarding what constituted the social studies curriculum, so there was little agreement on what social studies teachers and students needed to know. But, it also suggests that disarray in the social studies field may have been as much a function of disorder in the realm of teacher education as it was of conflict among curriculum-makers about the nature of social studies in the schools.