bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Reimagining Indian Higher Education: A Social Ecology of Higher-Education Institutions
Authors: Tierney William G. , Sabharwal Nidhi S. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Developing countries desire institutions ranked as “world-class,” and want to increase postsecondary participation. Limited public monies require decisions that usually augment the welfare of one objective at the expense of another. An additional conundrum concerns the need for quality assurances. Research needs to be rigorous; students need to be well trained. The authors suggest that the social ecology of higher education has a crucial role to play in India. The challenges are whether to accommodate rapid expansion, how to improve the overall quality of the system, and invest in a research infrastructure. Purpose/Objective/Research Questions/Focus of Study The article's purpose is to ask if the social ecology of postsecondary education that has been created in India is in its best interests. Social ecology refers to the universe of postsecondary organizations that account for the 35,357 institutions in India. Insofar as the ecology is “social,” the citizens and government determine the shape of the ecology. The authors first offer a traditional definition of what has been meant by the public good and then turn to a consideration of India's social ecology of higher education. The article's purpose then, is specific to India and more generalized to postsecondary education in a globalized world. The text situates the institutions and systems of higher education into a social ecology that until recently has been framed by the idea of a public good. Setting The study took place in India during 2015–2016. Research Design The text is an analytic essay that utilized secondary texts pertaining to the structure and quality of the postsecondary system in India. Conclusions/Recommendations The authors suggest that the “'alphabet soup” of institutional forms that currently exists in India does not serve the country well; the taxonomy tends to obscure, rather than clarify, roles and responsibilities. They argue that a new social ecology of higher education needs to be put forward that streamlines relationships, clarifies roles and regulations, improves data analysis, and focuses on quality rather than quantity.
Applying to College: The Role of Family Resources in Academic Undermatch
Authors: Roksa Josipa , Deutschlander Denise 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context While K–12 research places parents at the center of understanding students’ educational outcomes, empirical analyses of academic undermatch, and transition into higher education more broadly, have focused primarily on students’ attitudes and behaviors. Family is implicitly present in the background but rarely brought to the fore. In this article, we integrate K—12 and higher education literatures to illuminate how family social and cultural capital are related to the probability of academic undermatch and to social class inequality in this outcome. Research Questions We address three related questions: what is the relationship between family social and cultural capital and the probability of academic undermatch? To what extent is that relationship explained by students’ college-going attitudes and behaviors? Finally, how do family social and cultural resources contribute to social class inequality in academic undermatch? Research Design We use recent data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS). ELS is a nationally representative sample of students who were 10th graders in 2002 and have been followed through the end of their high school education and into college. The analytical sample includes 5,370 students. The outcome examined is academic undermatch in college application, which occurs when a student applies to colleges at a selectivity level below the selectivity of colleges the student is academically prepared to attend. Results Family social and cultural capital play an important role in academic undermatch at the point of applying to college. More specifically, they influence students’ attitudes regarding what is important to consider when choosing colleges (such as college costs and living at home) and students’ college-going behaviors (primarily the variety of information sources consulted and the number of applications submitted). These variables collectively account for approximately 40% of the socioeconomic status (SES) gap in academic undermatch, net of controls. Moreover, we find no statistically significant interactions with SES, indicating that family resources, as well as specific attitudes and behaviors examined, benefit all students equally. Conclusion Students’ attitudes and behaviors related to college-going are deeply embedded in family contexts. Understanding academic undermatch, and college decisions more broadly, necessitates an explicit attention to family social and cultural resources, and mechanisms through which those resources are translated into specific educational outcomes. Policies and practices that aim to reduce social class inequality in college access would benefit from engaging parents, not only students.
Patterns and Volatility in State Funding for Higher Education, 1951–2006
Authors: Delaney Jennifer A. , Doyle William R. 
Published: November 2021

Background Numerous studies have addressed the determinants of higher education appropriations. Extending prior studies that only consider the relationship between higher education and one other state budget category, Delaney and Doyle develop and test an empirical model of the relationship between higher education and all other budget categories. Delaney and Doyle propose that higher education takes the form of a balance wheel in state budgets. They find that higher education is cut more than other budget categories in bad budget years and given larger increases in good budget years. Although previous work advances understanding of how states budget for higher education, it is limited in the length of time considered. Purpose This study makes two important contributions to the literature. First, it documents changes in the amount of volatility in state funding for higher education. Second, it identifies patterns in the volatility, and does so over a longer time period than has been investigated in past research, using data that spans over a half century (1951–2006). Research Design This study uses a unique panel dataset spanning the period from 1951 to 2006 to quantitatively document changes in the extent of volatility in state funding for higher education. It also identifies and tests for patterns of volatility. Findings We find that the level of volatility in state budgeting for higher education has changed over time. We also find evidence of linear (incremental), quadratic (countercyclical), and cubic (balance wheel) patterns of volatility at different points in time. Recommendations Our findings indicate that the role of higher education in state budgets is not static and has varied over time. In policy discussions about higher education funding, we think it is important to consider both absolute funding levels and the amount of volatility in funding. We recommend that higher education leaders discuss not only funding levels with their state legislatures, but also discuss volatility in funding patterns. States and higher education have operated under different funding relationships in the past; therefore, it seems possible that policymakers and higher education officials could change their current funding relationship to conform to a pattern that better serves the needs of the state, institutions, and students.
What Guides Pre-K Programs?
Authors: Graue Elizabeth , Ryan Sharon , Wilinski Bethany , Northey Kaitlin , Nocera Amato 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Early childhood education joined the standards movement in 2002 with the Good Start, Grow Smart initiative, with advocates arguing that standards were a tool for creating more continuity and coherence in Pre-K systems. Critics posed concerns about a perceived poor fit between standards-based and developmentally appropriate practices, pointing to standardization and pressure from the K–12 system. With growth in public Pre-K programs guided by state early learning standards, we set out to understand what guides Pre-K programs. Setting We sampled two states with mature Pre-K programs: New Jersey (NJ), a targeted, highly regulated full-day program for 3- and 4-year-olds and Wisconsin (WI), a universal, local control half-day program for 4-year-olds. Both programs implement Pre-K programs in schools, Head Start, and child care classrooms. Purpose/Focus of Study The purpose of the project was to compare the role of standards in Pre-K programs in NJ and WI, analyzing standards conceptualization and enactment by district administrators and teachers. Research Design We designed a multi-state, comparative case study including interviews with state actors who identified rural, midsize, and urban districts for fieldwork, weekly observations of Pre-K classrooms in elementary schools, Head Start, and childcare centers and interviews with the teachers in these sites. Conclusions Policy and standards alone were not very good predictors of the Pre-K programs’ enacted practices. The logic of practice embedded in standards evolved through policy enactment in the local context, through the work of actors, like local child care advocates, the administrative designs of district leaders, and the policies of the adjacent K–12 system. The nonlinear implementation of early learning standards in this study shows the importance of looking beyond policy inputs and child outcomes and the need to include the administrative and instructional practices between if we are to understand how to best support young learners and their teachers.
A Special Kind of Ambition: The Role of Personality in the Retention of Academically Elite Teachers
Authors: Jones Brady K. 
Published: November 2021

Background Creating greater stability in the teacher labor force and improving teacher quality is an important education policy priority in the United States. While there is a robust literature on the external, environmental reasons teachers stay in or leave the occupation, little is known about the role internal, person-level factors play in teacher retention, especially among academically elite teachers. Focus of Study This study explores the role of personality, holistically defined, in teacher commitment. Participants The sample for this study consists of 107 graduates of a single teacher preparation program. They are classified as “academically elite,” as this preparation program is very selective and demands high GRE scores. Research Design Discriminant function and regression analyses are used to test which of a rich set of personality measures, both traditional self-report measures and coded narrative accounts of life and career high points, predict long-term commitment to teaching in this sample. Results Discriminant function analysis exploring differences between very long-term committers (15+ years) and short-term committers (7- years) suggests that long-term committers are distinguished by a “special kind of ambition”: they set goals that are both more difficult and more prosocial than their counterparts with a shorter commitment to the occupation, and in personal narratives they more often show “enlightened self-interest,” a combination of self-interest/self-promotion with concern for and connection to others. In addition, regression analyses show that these personality variables significantly predict retention in the sample as a whole, even when controlling for school advantage. Conclusions These results provide evidence that personality does play an important role in teachers’ occupational commitment, call into question pervasive stereotypes in the United States of teachers as unambitious, and suggest ways academically elite teachers might be able to shift the ways they think about their work in order to sustain themselves in the occupation.
More than a Number: A Capabilities Framework for Conceptualizing Community College Success
Authors: Topper Amelia Marcetti 
Published: November 2021

Context Community colleges in the United States are increasingly tasked with demonstrating their commitment to improved institutional outcomes even as measures of student success are critiqued for failing to capture the colleges’ diverse missions and student populations. Purpose This paper offers an alternative framework for understanding and evaluating community college student success based on the normative and interdisciplinary capabilities approach. Setting The larger study on which this paper is based took place at a large, diverse community college located in the southwestern United States. Participants The sample for this study consists of 958 e-survey respondents (N = 17,080; response rate 6%), and semi-structured follow-up interviews with a heterogeneous group of 40 community college students. Research Design The study uses mixed methods consisting of a large-scale e-survey, student interviews, participant- and researcher-generated visual methods, and in-depth reviews of the community college and capabilities approach literatures. Results The author used a top-down/bottom-up process to generate a final empirical list of 12 community college capabilities that are informed by both the literature and student voices: practical reason, knowledge and imagination, learning disposition, social relations and networks, respect and recognition, emotional health, bodily health, economic opportunities, love and care, language competency and confidence, autonomy, and refuge. This paper also transparently documents the methodological process the author uses to generate these capabilities to aid both researchers and practitioners in their efforts to help students flourish and thrive as they navigate the higher education landscape. Conclusions The results of this study provide educational researchers and practitioners with a methodological process for developing their own locally sourced understandings of student success. As proposed in this paper, reframing the educational experience around capabilities and capabilities development provides colleges—and education institutions more generally— with a new, more responsive and democratic set of tools to use in understanding all the ways in which community colleges help students build and sustain meaningful lives.
Spreading the Word: Boundary Crossers Building Collective Capacity for Data Use
Authors: Hubers Mireille D. , Poortman Cindy L. , Schildkamp Kim , Pieters Jules M. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context The data team intervention was designed to support schools in using data while developing a solution to an educational problem. The participating data team members are responsible for building collective capacity within their school for using data and implementing actions related to the improvement plan. This can be challenging, because although they have gained knowledge and experience with data use and the educational problem, their colleagues who were not on the data team have not. As a result, there is a heightened risk for discontinuity between the behaviors of such colleagues and of the data team members: Colleagues will not automatically use data nor implement the actions for improvement. These discontinuities are referred to as boundaries. To establish common ground with their colleagues, data team members need to act as boundary crossers by brokering their knowledge. Purpose The present study used a process view to determine how data team members acted as boundary crossers by studying what content they had brokered, the level at which they had addressed that content, and what activities they had used to cross boundaries. Intervention Data teams consist of six to eight educators who collaboratively learn how to use data to analyze and address an educational problem at their school. They work following a cyclical procedure. Research Design A longitudinal qualitative case study was conducted in four Dutch schools that implemented the data team intervention. Data Collection and Analysis Artifacts were collected and all team members were interviewed twice. Log files, minutes of the meetings, and progress reports were used to obtain a complete picture of boundary crossing and to provide background information. A coding scheme was used in order to determine what content was brokered, the level at which the content was addressed, and the activities used to broker the content. Findings/Results Findings illustrated that team members mainly brokered knowledge about the educational problem and data use as applied to the educational problem, but rarely about data use in general. Overall, content was almost exclusively addressed at the level of awareness, indicating that only basic information was brokered. Conclusions/Recommendations Successful boundary crossing cannot be taken for granted: Team members brokered their knowledge in ways less likely to be effective. When they receive additional support for this, they are likely to increase their team's effectiveness in building school-wide capacity for both data use and the implementation of actions related to the improvement plan.
Online Stratifcation: How Academic Performance Indicators Relate to Choices between Cyber Charter Schools
Authors: Mann Bryan A. , Kotok Stephen 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context A primary argument that supports charter school policy assumes students favor schools with high academic performance ratings, leading to systemic school improvement. Previous research challenges this assumption but has limited generalizability because geographic and enrollment constraints limit student choice sets. Purpose/Objective This study examines student enrollment patterns within cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania, a state where elected policymakers tend to view choice as a means for school improvement. Cyber charter schools are advantageous to study in this context because they have fewer enrollment barriers, helping researchers account for constraints found in previous studies. Research Design Using consecutive years of student-level enrollment data, we use descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression analyses to answer the following questions: Is a particular cyber charter school more popular if it displays relatively higher performance on academic indicators? To what extent do enrollments in the highest performing cyber charter school relate to the demographics of students and school environments that they left? Findings/Results The findings suggest that despite the more accessible choice sets inherent in the cyber charter school sector, academic performance indicators still are not linked to popularity within the sector. Enrollment clustering persists along student demographics and feeder district traits. Conclusions/Recommendations These findings suggest that even in the cyber charter school sector where key enrollment restrictions are removed, inequitable enrollment patterns persist. These findings continue to challenge basic assumptions used in school choice policy framing. Policymakers should consider this evidence when and if they design and implement charter school policy, creating policy that accounts for inequitable enrollments that occur under current policy logic.
Activist Principals: Leading for Social Justice in Ciudad Juárez, Baltimore, and Brazil
Authors: DeMatthews David Edward , Tarlau Rebecca 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context A growing interest in how principals address issues of social justice in schools has emerged with an emphasis on critically interrogating school practices, policies, curriculum, and instructional approaches. Yet, many injustices, which prompt calls for social justice, are created outside of the school by larger socioeconomic arrangements and require greater consideration and collaboration between schools and communities. Given the interrelatedness of schools and communities, this study explores the principal's role in addressing social injustices through activism and utilizing the community's resources and emerging political opportunities to promote social justice. Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how, if at all, do principals with social justice orientations engage in activism, particularly in relation to their school-community context and the networks and political opportunities that are available within and around the school. Setting Data were collected in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; Baltimore, United States; and Ceará, Brazil. Research Design This qualitative multicase study used in-depth interviews and observations to explore the leadership actions of principals with social justice orientations. Findings Findings revealed the specific actions taken by principals to understand the social and political context in which they work. The principals in the study utilized their understanding of context to inform their avenues for organizing activity and how they lead to strategically position their schools as resources to support communities and families. Challenges to an activist approach to leadership were also identified, including (a) tensions associated with the multifaceted nature of social justice and the demands; (b) ethical obligations of being a principal within a system and needing to adhere to district policies and priorities; and (c) the unpredictability and uncertainty of outcomes in certain school-community contexts. Conclusions/Recommendations Major conclusions and recommendations for this study include the need to instill in principals a recognition that what happens in society impacts schools, and therefore, requires leadership to be attentive to community needs and activist-oriented. Preparing and supporting principals requires additional attention to how principals can lead for social justice with communities and in ways that are responsive to context. The potential constraints associated with being employed by a school district or connected to a social movement with predetermined priorities needs to be further explored and considered.
What We Mean When We Talk about Teaching: The Limits of Professional Language and Possibilities for Professionalizing Discourse in Teachers’ Conversations
Authors: Horn Ilana Seidel , Kane Britnie Delinger 
Published: November 2021

Background Long-standing calls to infuse technical language in teaching—what we call the Professional Language Project—have been revived in recent years along with the core practices movement in teacher education. The Professional Language Project has been identified as a desired outcome of research and a potential benefit to teacher education. Objective Drawing on sociolinguistic studies of teachers’ sensemaking, we critique the Professional Language Project to show its limits in making the intended contribution to teaching and teacher education. Research Design This analytic essay uses a practice perspective on both language and teaching to interrogate the premises of the Professional Language Project. Specifically, we hold up its goals against empirical findings about how teachers use language to make sense of instructional decisions in their workplaces. Conclusions Empirical studies of teachers’ in situ language use point to two fallacies in the Professional Language Project. First, the presence or absence of technical terms in teachers’ talk does not relate to the depth of their sensemaking or instructional sophistication, indicating that technical terms do not accomplish the conceptual goals that some Professional Language Project advocates suggest. Second, a prevailing common-sense discourse culture in teaching often results in conceptual slippage in the use of technical terms, leading words to be absorbed into existing conceptual systems more than they catalyze new understandings.