bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Coaching in Context: Exploring Conditions that Shape Instructional Coaching Practice
Authors: Hannan Maggie Quinn , Russell Jennifer Lin 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context The literature shows that one constant in coaching is the high degree of variation in coach roles and contexts, suggesting that understanding coaching practice requires that we also understand the role structures and organizational conditions that shape coaches’ work. Research on both instructional coaching and instructional change is increasingly attending to the organizational and social factors that shape, facilitate, and constrain the web of interactions that coaching work comprises. Past research points to the complex systems and social networks that shape critical elements of coaching practice, emphasizing the interdependency of organizational processes and the critical importance of considering not only the outcomes of implementation, but also the contextual factors that shape them. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Given that multilayered social, technical, and organizational factors shape the practice and impact of instructional coaching, understanding the combinations of factors that are most consequential is key for both policy implementation and instructional coaching research. Consequently, understanding coaching requires attending to specific practices, the structural contexts in which those practices are embedded, and varied implementation processes across system levels and diverse school districts. Therefore, we built this study on the foundational idea that coaching work inherently and continuously interacts with the complex systems in which it takes place and that understanding and analyzing coaching requires attending to the organizational and social structures that shape it. Accordingly, this article focuses on the following research question: What contextual conditions facilitate and constrain coaching, and why? Research Design To understand the interactions between coaching work and these many social and technical factors, we investigated how a group of coaches implemented a mathematics coaching model, focusing specifically on the relationship between coaching contexts and coaching practice. Our case-focused, mixed-methods approach, which included both qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and case-study methods, allowed us to explore the interrelationships between coaching and the system conditions that shape, enable, and constrain instructional change. Conclusions/Recommendations Our findings support the argument that coaching cannot be extricated from the surrounding system factors that shape it. On the contrary, we found that supports for and barriers to robust coaching practice are context-specific phenomena, suggesting that any coaching intervention ought to be tailored to its specific organizational location. Accordingly, we argue that different combinations of contributing factors can affect coaching in different ways, thereby contributing to the theory that a nested-systems perspective on instructional coaching is key to understanding its effects.
Equitable Teaching and the Core Practice Movement: Preservice Teachers’ Professional Reasoning
Authors: Kane Britnie Delinger 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context The Core Practice movement continues to gain momentum in teacher education research. Yet critics highlight that equitable teaching cannot be reduced to a set of “core” practices, arguing that such a reduction risks representing teaching as technical work that will be neither culturally responsive nor sustaining. Instead, they argue that preservice teachers need opportunities to develop professional reasoning that takes the specific strengths and needs of students, communities, and subject matter into account. Purpose This analysis takes up the question of how and whether pedagogies of investigation and enactment can support preservice teachers’ development of the professional reasoning that equitable teaching requires. It conceptualizes two types of professional reasoning: interpretive, in which reasoners decide how to frame instructional problems and make subsequent efforts to solve them, and prescriptive, in which reasoners solve an instructional problem as given. Research Design This work is a qualitative, multiple case study, based on design research in which preservice teachers participated in three different cycles of investigation and enactment, which were designed around a teaching practice central to equitable teaching: making student thinking visible. Preservice teachers attended to students’ thinking in the context of the collaborative analysis of students’ writing and also through designed simulations of student-teacher writing conferences. Findings/Results Preservice teachers’ collaborative analysis of students’ writing supported prescriptive professional reasoning about disciplinary ideas in ELA and writing instruction (i.e., How do seventh graders use hyperbole? How is hyperbole related to the Six Traits of Writing?), while the simulation of a writing conference supported preservice teachers to reason interpretively about how to balance the need to support students’ affective commitment to writing with their desire to teach academic concepts about writing. Conclusions/Recommendations This analysis highlights an important heuristic for the design of pedagogies in teacher education: Teacher educators need to attend to preservice teachers’ opportunities for both interpretive and prescriptive reasoning. Both are essential for teachers, but only interpretive reasoning will support teachers to teach in ways that are both intellectually rigorous and equitable. The article further describes how and why a tempting assumption—that opportunities to role-play student-teacher interactions will support preservice teachers to reason interpretively, while non-interactive work will not—is incomplete and avoidable.
The Rollout of Computer Science Education to Every Student in New York City: A Socio-Contextual Social Network Analysis
Authors: Holbert Nathan , Disalvo Betsy , Berland Matthew 
Published: November 2021

Background CS4All is an $81 million private-public investment aimed at creating the necessary infrastructure to provide computer science experiences to all New York City public-school students by 2025. Purpose In this paper, we examine the history of the CS4All initiative and document the network of actors and their relationships in the system such that we can understand how this reform is enacted, how it might be reactive to external contexts and pressures, and how the structure and pathways of this particular social network might inform similar efforts elsewhere. Research Design To structure our analysis of CS4All, we first examine the most recent historic example of a large-scale curricular reform—Man: A Course of Study (MACOS). By reflecting on the network structure of CS4All in light of the design, enactment, and eventual failure of MACOS, we can identify potential pain points and opportunities in CS4All's 10-year effort. We conducted interviews with core members of the CS4All initiative and examined available public records to construct and analyze a social network of key CS4All stakeholders, other actors, processes, and institutions. Conclusions In our analysis of the CS4All social network, we document how well-connected individuals simultaneously mobilized government resources and grassroots enthusiasm to create the conditions necessary for the initiation of this massive curricular reform effort, and describe the current pathways in place for decision making and resource distribution. Comparing the history and structure of the CS4All initiative to Man: A Course of Study —a failed nationwide curricular reform in the 1960s—we find that CS4All's centralized decision-making process and failure to create and distribute high quality formative assessment tools may lead to challenges to adoption. However, explicit efforts to solicit input from and communicate initiative values to the large diversity of stakeholders throughout NYC, as well as the innovation of a decentralized “buffet-style” curricular approach, may put CS4All on more sure footing.
Black Men in Engineering Graduate Programs: A Theoretical Model of the Motivation to Persist
Authors: Burt Brian A. , Roberson Justin J. , Johnson Jarrel T. , Bonanno Anne 
Published: November 2021

Background A growing body of research highlights the experiences of Black men students who successfully navigate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational pathways. Many Black men graduate students in engineering describe moments when their advisors, peers, and, at times, community members make them feel different because of their race and gender. Needed is a better understanding of what motivates Black men to persist in graduate school despite such challenges. Purpose This study advances a new theoretical model, “Black Men's Graduate Engineering Motivation” (BMGEM), to describe the overlaying factors and sources of motivation—and their interrelations—that influence Black men in engineering graduate programs to persist. Research Design To explore the motivational factors that influence Black men in graduate engineering programs at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) to persist, this study of 42 students used an eight-item demographic form, one-on-one semi-structured interviews, and follow-up focus groups. Data analysis was conducted using adapted grounded theory techniques. After the completion of data collection and multiple iterations of analyses (both inductive and deductive), existing conceptualizations of motivation were used to help make sense of data. The connection to existing literature, code development, their placement into categories, and placing categories into themes led to the creation of a substantive, practice-informing theory: Black Men's Graduate Engineering Motivation. Findings Data analysis resulted in the theory of Black Men's Graduate Engineering Motivation (BMGEM). The BMGEM explains the overlaying factors that influence individuals’ experiences and motivations to persist (i.e., sociocultural factors, personal factors, social identities, pre-graduate school experiences), and external and internal motivational sources that also influence students’ motivations to persist (i.e., desire to earn a graduate degree, desire to become an engineer, challenges during graduate school, peers, family members, [under]representation, self-coaching practices, career and professional goals). Conclusions and Recommendations The findings from this study inform future research, and practice-based strategies around broadening participation, that aid in Black men's progress through science and engineering pathways. With this new information, we charge engineering colleges to make true commitments to broadening participation, which means centering students—in this case, Black men—as contributors to STEM. In doing so, engineering colleges need to commit to helping Black men succeed. Assisting in their motivation to persist is a key to meeting this charge.
Teacher Data Analysis and Assets-Based Discourses about Multilingual Youth: Exploration of Relationships
Authors: Molle Daniella 
Published: November 2021

Context The pervasiveness of deficit-based discourses about multilingual students has long been documented in the scholarly literature. Such discourses severely erode the learning and well-being of multilingual youth. One of the spaces in which deficit-based discourses about students may be transformed is professional development. Focus of the Study The study connects a key practice of high-quality professional development, the analysis of classroom evidence of student learning, to student-focused discourses about multilingual youth. The research questions the study addresses are: As they make sense of data together, (a) how do teachers discursively position multilingual youth? and (b) what factors reinforce and undermine assets-based discourses about multilingual youth? Research Design Leveraging a case study approach, I explore how a team of three middle-school teachers positions students while analyzing classroom evidence during a one-year professional development designed for educators of multilingual youth. I rely primarily on transcripts of professional development sessions to trace student positioning by the team over time as teachers analyze dissimilar types of classroom evidence. Findings The findings reveal complex mediational relationships among teachers’ data use, student positioning, and shared theories of student engagement. These co-constructed theories reinforce deficit views of students when student reasoning and participation in learning are obscured by the data teachers are exploring. When the data make the process of student engagement available for reflection, however, teachers shift toward assets-based discourses. In addition, the findings shed light on relationships between type of evidence and implications for classroom practice. The teachers in the study shift their focus from teacher-centered instruction to the scaffolding of student interaction when the data make visible student participation in learning. Conclusions The study contributes to a nascent knowledge base about the complex relationships between teacher analysis of classroom evidence and assets-based discourses about all students and multilingual students in particular. The findings expand current conceptualizations of teacher data use by foregrounding student positioning over time as a key element of teacher sensemaking, and revealing the significant mediational role that shared theories of student engagement play in teachers’ data use. In terms of practical implications, the study offers insights into the mechanisms through which assets-based discourses about multilingual youth can be fostered across learning contexts.
Disparities Across Time: Exploring Absenteeism Patterns between Cohorts of Students with Disabilities
Authors: Gottfried Michael A. , Le Vi-Nhuan , Kirksey J. Jacob 
Published: November 2021

Background It is of grave concern that kindergartners are missing more school than students in any other year of elementary school; therefore, documenting which students are absent and for how long is of upmost importance. Yet, doing so for students with disabilities (SWDs) has received little attention. This study addresses this gap by examining two cohorts of SWDs, separated by more than a decade, to document changes in attendance patterns. Research Questions First, for SWDs, has the number of school days missed or chronic absenteeism rates changed over time? Second, how are changes in the number of school days missed and chronic absenteeism rates related to changes in academic emphasis, presence of teacher aides, SWD-specific teacher training, and preschool participation? Subjects This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS), a nationally representative data set of children in kindergarten. We rely on both ECLS data sets— the kindergarten classes of 1998–1999 and 2010–2011. Measures were identical in both data sets, making it feasible to compare children across the two cohorts. Given identical measures, we combined the data sets into a single data set with an indicator for being in the older cohort. Research Design This study examined two sets of outcomes: The first was number of days absent, and the second was likelihood of being chronically absent. These outcomes were regressed on a measure for being in the older cohort (our key measure for changes over time) and numerous control variables. The error term was clustered by classroom. Findings We found that SWDs are absent more often now than they were a decade earlier, and this growth in absenteeism was larger than what students without disabilities experienced. Absenteeism among SWDs was higher for those enrolled in full-day kindergarten, although having attended center-based care mitigates this disparity over time. Implications are discussed. Conclusions Our study calls for additional attention and supports to combat the increasing rates of absenteeism for SWDs over time. Understanding contextual shifts and trends in rates of absenteeism for SWDs in kindergarten is pertinent to crafting effective interventions and research geared toward supporting the academic and social needs of these students.
Collaboration versus Concreteness: Tensions in Designing for Scale
Authors: Cannata Marisa , Nguyen Tuan D. 
Published: November 2021

Background Substantial research on reform implementation highlights numerous challenges to implementing innovations at scale with depth and sustainability, yet new reforms continue to encounter many of the same challenges. This has led to calls for researchers to work in partnership with practitioners to design, implement, and scale educational innovations. Although these approaches hold promise, little is known about the internal operations of these improvement approaches and the experiences of their participants. Purpose Through a case study of a research–practice partnership that uses a continuous improvement approach to design and development, this article explores how the collaborative design process shaped the resulting innovation design. Research Design: This is a qualitative case study that included interviews with members of the district and school design teams, observations and field notes from design team meetings, and participant feedback forms. Findings/Results The evidence converges on three main challenges in the design process. These challenges point to tensions in maximizing all the design factors because they sometimes conflicted with each other: (1) Members were most engaged when the work was very specific and deemed feasible in a particular context, (2) Efforts to develop more specificity in the design emphasis were limited by efforts to engage educators in a collaborative process in which school-level actors had ownership over key design decisions, and (3) The abstractness of the emerging reform led to difficulties in establishing a shared deep understanding of each core component of the reform. Finally, the ability of school teams to productively resolve these tensions was related to the existing capacity of the school. Conclusions This case study of a collaborative design process in a research–practice partnership illustrates the complexities of the co-construction of a set of reform practices between researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders and highlights the need for a delicate balance between specificity of the design and local engagement. We showed how a collaborative process fostered high engagement as researchers and practitioners co-constructed the reform, and how the team struggled to define the core strategies in sufficient detail to allow for implementation planning in a way that maintained the co-constructed design. There appeared to be a tension between achieving the necessary concreteness or specificity in the reform design that would be implemented across contexts, and a process that valued local ownership and collaborative decision-making.
Putting Performance Pay to the Test: Effects of Denver ProComp on the Teacher Workforce and Student Outcomes
Authors: Atteberry Allison , Lacour Sarah E. 
Published: November 2021

Context In 2005-06, Denver became one of the first U.S. districts to implement a pay-for-performance (PFP) compensation system, and Denver's ProComp is now the longest-running PFP policy in the country. The national proliferation of PFP systems in education has been controversial, with mixed evidence and competing narratives about its impacts. During Denver's 2019 strike, disagreements arose about whether 13 years of ProComp have helped or harmed efforts to retain effective teachers to improve student outcomes. This article addresses this policy debate. Research Questions We use a 16-year panel to analyze the effects of ProComp on both student and teacher outcomes. We focus on the onset of the second version of the policy, ProComp 2.0, in 2008. Intervention The ProComp policy is a pay-for-performance teacher compensation system, which includes ten distinct financial incentives, some of which are awarded schoolwide. Annual payouts represented 12% of base-pay, on average, among full-time teachers. Research Design We use comparative interrupted time series (CITS) to examine pre/post ProComp trends in outcomes in DPS relative to similar districts across the same period. When CITS is not possible, we conduct interrupted time series (ITS) analysis in DPS using a panel up to five years pre-PC1 and up to ten years post-onset. Results ProComp may have had a positive effect on ELA, math, and writing achievement that was not evident in comparable districts with similar achievement trends prior to 2005-06. We also find descriptive evidence that more effective teachers were recruited to DPS once ProComp began and that the overall decline in teacher retention across districts in this time period was less precipitous among DPS’ highly effective teachers during ProComp. Conclusions Our results can help reflect on which of the hypothesized mechanisms undergirding PFP policies find empirical support in the field. The onset of ProComp shifted the composition of the DPS teacher workforce through recruitment and retention of certain kinds of teachers. These results at first appear to contradict teacher perceptions that the program coincided with a dramatic decline in teacher retention and was thus ineffective. However, retention did, in fact, decline throughout the period. Yet DPS retention patterns were not that different from other comparable Colorado districts during this period. Thus, while teachers’ perceptions of reduced teacher retention were accurate, it would be very difficult to see from within DPS that retention rates were not necessarily distinct from secular trends outside DPS.