bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Racial Differences in Teacher Perception of Student Ability
Authors: Minor Elizabeth Covay 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Past research has examined many factors that contribute to the black– white achievement gap. While researchers have shown that teacher perceptions of students’ academic ability is an important contributing factor to the gap, little research has explored the extent to which teacher perceptions of students’ academic ability are sustained over time or the extent to which teacher ratings of students’ social and behavioral skills are related to their perceptions of academic ability. The current study focuses on whether teacher perceptions of students’ academic ability and social and behavioral skills differ by student race and the extent to which ratings at the beginning of the school year explain racial differences in perceptions of academic ability at the end of the year. Purpose There are two research questions addressed in this study: (1) To what extent do kindergarten teachers rate black and white students’ academic ability and social and behavioral skills differently? And (2) to what extent do test scores, fall teacher perceptions of students’ academic ability, and social and behavioral skills explain racial differences in teacher evaluations of students’ academic ability in the spring of kindergarten Population This study uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K) kindergarten fall and spring data. The analytic sample used in this study includes students who were in both kindergarten waves with the same teacher and who were identified as black (2,494) or white (9,891) as reported by their parents Research Design This is a quasi-experimental study that uses two data points from kindergarten (fall and spring). Mean differences are used to answer the first research question, and teacher fixed-effects models are used to address the second research question. Conclusions/Recommendations This study finds that teachers perceived black students to have lower academic ability in fall and spring of kindergarten compared to white students as well as lower levels of social and behavioral skills. Teachers’ fall perceptions have lasting implications for how teachers perceive their students in the spring, and this appears to have more negative consequences for black students. Teacher reports of social and behavioral skills are more important for teacher perceptions of student ability for black students than for white students. In other words, behaving well for black students has a larger influence on teacher perceptions of students’ academic ability than it does for white students.
Formative Assessment for the Common Core Literacy Standards
Authors: Calfee Robert , Wilson Kathleen M. , Flannery Brian , Kapinus Barbara 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context As implementation of the Common Core Literacy Standards moves ahead, teachers, students, and schools are discovering that the standards demand a great deal of them in order to achieve the vision of college, career, and citizenship in the global–digital world outlined in the standards. To accomplish the goals and high expectations set forth in the Literacy Standards, teachers confront fundamental changes in their curricular, instructional, and assessment practices. Purpose/Objective This article presents a working model of the formative assessment process that we think will be essential for effective implementation of the standards. Assessment for learning rather than testing of achievement is presented as a way of guiding teachers and students through the progressions needed to college and career-readiness. The paper is organized around four points: (a) the distinctive features of the model, (b) the match between the model and the vision of the standards, (c) a description of the inquiry process that serves as the “engine” for the model, and (d) an account of the Herman–Heritage cycle-time/grain-size concept that supports ongoing management of formative assessment. The model is designed to be embedded in the project-based activities called for in the standards as students conduct short- and long-term research across the disciplines. Research Design This article presents the results of a careful and comprehensive reading of the Common Core Literacy Standards. A focused review of the literature on formative assessment serves as the foundation for the working model presented here. Conclusions/Recommendations The conceptual ideas and practical tools discussed in this article point to the need for substantial and sustained professional development, both preservice and inservice, to support the fundamental changes entailed by the standards. To foster the deep understandings called for by the standards, teachers will require an equally deep understanding of formative assessment as a process in which inquiry is embedded in instruction to monitor learning, provide feedback, and shape students learning as it is taking place.
Cross-Country Generalizability of the Role of Metacognitive Knowledge in Students’ Strategy Use and Reading Competence
Authors: Artelt Cordula , Schneider Wolfgang 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Because metacognitive knowledge includes knowledge about adequate learning strategies, and because an effective use of learning strategies is associated with higher levels of performance, substantial relationships can be assumed between metacognitive knowledge, strategic behavior, and performance. However, such a pattern of results is rarely found in the research literature. In part, this may be due to inadequate indicators of strategy use. Purpose of study Prior research showed that high scores on self-reported strategy use were only mirrored in high levels of performance when students had sufficient metacognitive knowledge. To test the cross-country generalizability of the relationship between metacognitive knowledge, strategy use, and reading competence, we analyzed data from the PISA 2009-study, in which similar measures of metacognitive knowledge as well as of students’ strategy use were used. Research Design The study uses a cross-sectional correlational design. It draws on representative samples of fifteen-year-old students from 34 OECD countries taking part in the PISA 2009 study. The relations between students’ reading competence scores, their metacognitive knowledge as well as their self-reported use of learning strategies were analyzed. We used correlations, mediation, as well as moderator regression analyses to predict students’ reading competence. Findings/Results Results showed consistently moderate to high correlations between metacognitive knowledge and reading competence. There were also lower, but still significant, relationships between strategy use and both reading competence and metacognitive knowledge. Testing a “mediator model” with strategy use as a mediator resulted in small but significant effects of strategy use as mediator. Assuming that metacognitive knowledge might be a necessary precondition for effective strategy use, the study tested whether it served as a moderator. Results confirmed this moderator effect for many but not all countries. However, across all countries, there was a consistently high effect of metacognitive knowledge on reading competence, independent of the level of self-reported use of strategies. Conclusions/Recommendations The results are very similar across countries. Taken together, the findings suggest that metacognitive knowledge as measured by a test tapping declarative, conditional and relational strategy knowledge is an important predictor of students’ reading competence, and contributes significantly to our understanding of what helps students to become better readers. Metacognitive knowledge captures the prerequisite of adaptive strategic processing of texts. Increasing students’ knowledge in this domain is a promising approach when it comes to fostering self-regulated reading.
The Relationship between Item Context Characteristics and Student Performance: The Case of the 2006 and 2009 PISA Science Items
Authors: Ruiz-Primo Maria Araceli , Li Min 
Published: November 2021

Background A long-standing premise in test design is that contextualizing test items makes them concrete, less demanding, and more conducive to determining whether students can apply or transfer their knowledge. Purpose We assert that despite decades of study and experience, much remains to be learned about how to construct effective and fair test items with contexts. Too little is known about how item contexts can be appropriately constructed and used, and even less about the relationship between context characteristics and student performance. The exploratory study presented in this paper seeks to contribute to knowledge about test design and construction by focusing on this gap. Research Design We address two key questions: (a) What are the characteristics of contexts used in the PISA science items? and (b) What are the relationships between different context characteristics and student performance? We propose a profiling approach to capture information about six context dimensions: type of context, context role, complexity, resources, level of abstraction, and connectivity. To test the approach empirically we sampled a total of 52 science items from PISA 2006 and 2009. We describe the context characteristics of the items at two levels (named layers): general (testlet context) and specific (item context). Conclusion We provide empirical evidence about the relationships of these characteristics with student performance as measured by the international percentage of correct responses. We found that the dimension of context resources (e.g., pictures, drawings, photographs) for general contexts and level of abstractness for specific contexts are associated with student performance.
Adolescents’ Interpretations of the Role of Emotion in High School
Authors: Horner Christy Galletta , Wallace Tanner Lebaron , Bundick Matthew J. 
Published: November 2021

Background To persistently engage in academic tasks and efficiently process cognitively demanding material in school, successful learners must employ various self-regulatory systems—including the regulation of emotional experiences and expressions—in response to social and task-specific demands. Furthermore, emotional information helps students derive meaning from and assign causal attributions to events such as academic and social experiences, which influence motivation for action. Thus, it is important to understand the interplay between learners’ emotions and the school environment. Research Questions Two research questions were addressed: (1) What patterns of emotional expression/suppression and emotion coaching opportunities did youth perceive in their relationships with school-based adults? and (2) What social processes do youth attribute to patterns of emotional expression or suppression? Participants Youth from urban high schools (N = 72) in California, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh participated in the study. Research Design Facilitators used a semiflexible protocol to prompt youth in 10 focus groups to discuss identity and relational development. Data Collection and Analysis Focus group sessions were recorded, and NVivo9 software was used to iteratively code and analyze verbatim transcripts. Findings Analyses revealed a strong pattern of emotional suppression in the context of relationships with educators paired with high valuation of opportunities for emotional expression. Sustained emotional suppression was commonly attributed to social expectations in schools. We discuss these results in the context of emotion socialization and school culture to suggest implications for research and practice.
Compensating, Mediating, and Moderating Effects of School Climate on Academic Achievement Gaps in Israel
Authors: Berkowitz Ruth , Glickman Hagit , Benbenishty Rami , Ben-Artzi Elisheva , Raz Tal , Lipshtat Nurit , Astor Ron Avi 
Published: November 2021

Background It is widely agreed among educational researchers and practitioners that schools with positive climates can effectively mitigate the influence of students’ and schools’ socioeconomic status (SES) on academic achievement. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms by which this occurs are unclear. Objective This study aimed to fill that gap, examining student perceptions of school climate, student academic achievement, and student and school SES in Israel to develop a reliable and comprehensive assessment of the role of school climate in the relationship between student and school SES and achievement. Specifically, the study tested whether school climate has an additive contribution to academics beyond students’ and schools’ SES (compensation model), whether the school's SES influences its social climate, which in turn influences academic achievement (mediation model); or whether the relationship between SES and academics changes across schools with different climates (moderation model). Research Design Secondary analysis of a large-scale, nationally representative sample of fifth- and eighth-grade Hebrew-speaking students in public schools in Israel (N = 53,946). Data Analysis Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to examine models with variables both on the student and the school levels. Linear regressions were used to examine student level and school level only models. Results School climate had an additive compensation contribution to academic achievements, both on the student and the school levels. School climate moderated the relationship between students’ SES and academic achievements. However, findings did not support the hypothesis that school climate mediated the relationship between SES background and academic achievement, both at the student and school levels. Conclusions School climate plays an important role in accounting for achievements, beyond students’ and schools’ SES. Results highlight the need to improve school climate, especially in schools serving communities of low SES, to enhance social mobility and equality of opportunity.
We Teach who We Are: Creativity in the Lives and Practices of Accomplished Teachers
Authors: Henriksen Danah , Mishra Punya 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context There is a strong sense in education that creativity should be nurtured in classroom settings, yet there is little understanding of how effective and creative teachers function. Existing research has recognized that successful/creative people in any discipline use creative avocations to enhance their professional thinking. Root-Bernstein demonstrated a strong connection between the professional and personal-life creativity of highly accomplished scientists, which has been applied to other disciplines. Until now, however, this phenomenon has not been applied to exemplary teachers. This study focuses on a broader picture of how exceptional teachers use creativity in the classroom. Purpose/Objective This study documents the ways in which successful, award-winning teachers function creatively in their classrooms. It investigates their beliefs about creativity in teaching—what “creativity” means, and how skilled teachers instantiate it in classroom practices. Finally, this research examined the teachers’ personal creativity (in terms of creative pursuits, hobbies, and habits of mind) and the practical ways this translates into teaching. Research Design A qualitative research design was used for in-depth interviews with highly accomplished teachers. Detailed interview data was gathered from eight recent National Teacher of the Year award winners/finalists, to investigate creative classroom practices and beliefs about creativity among exceptional teachers across varied teaching contexts. Qualitative coding of phenomenological research described important themes arising from the creative practices and beliefs of the participant teachers. Findings Findings reveal how excellent teachers actively cultivate a creative mindset. Results show how excellent teachers are highly creative in their personal and professional lives, and that they actively transfer creative tendencies from their outside avocations/interests into their teaching practices. This study describes common themes in creative teaching, including intellectual risk taking, real-world learning approaches, and cross-disciplinary teaching practices. Conclusions/Recommendations Current U.S. educational policy, with its emphasis on high-stakes testing and scripted, “teacher-proof” curricula, have impeded creativity in teaching and learning. Based on the findings of this study, suggestions for curricula include the incorporation of teachers’ unique personal creative interests in lessons, along with infusion of the arts and music across varied disciplinary content. Teacher education programs and professional development courses should include a focus on both real-world, cross-disciplinary lesson planning, while administrators and policymakers should support opportunities for teachers to take creative and/or intellectual risks in their work.
Is Education Possible Today?
Authors: Hansen David T. 
Published: November 2021

Background/ Context This article was presented as the Weinberg Lecture at Teachers College, Columbia University, on September 26, 2013. On that occasion the author was formally inducted as the John L. and Sue Ann Weinberg Professor in the Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education at Teachers College. In attendance were Sue Ann Weinberg (Ed.D., Teachers College, 1997), President Susan Fuhrman, Provost Thomas James, faculty and students of the College, and guests. Purpose/ Objective The purpose of the lecture was to pose the question whether education is possible today. The author begins by contrasting two prevalent responses to the question: (1) that it is obviously possible since we can see all around us teachers and students working in classrooms, and (2) that it is obviously not possible because the educational system has been subverted to serve the ends of a global economic order. The author argues that while there is evidence to support both responses, they dismiss, in effect, the question of education's possibility and thus undermine its authentic enactment. The article describes an approach to keeping the question open and in public view. Research Design The article is a philosophical essay that examines contrasting views of education and the values they foreground. Conclusions/ Recommendations The author encourages fellow educators to accept the invitation philosophy holds out to them. This invitation is to cross the threshold into a reflective consciousness that our educational actions always mirror underlying values and commitments, which in turn have political ramifications with regards to how we constitute our institutions and practices. Moreover, the invitation to philosophy embodies a gift: in propelling us to examine values and presumptions, it helps make possible education itself, understood as the holistic cultivation of the human being in company with other human beings. The question of education is the one question we need to keep open in order to ensure the continuation of education itself.
Perceptions and Resilience in Underrepresented Students’ Pathways to College
Authors: Perez-Felkner Lara 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Schools have attempted to address stratification in black and Latino students’ access to higher education through extensive reform initiatives, including those focused on social supports. A crucial focus has been missing from these efforts, essential to improving the effectiveness of support mechanisms and understanding why they have been insufficient: how students experience these reforms. Purpose How can the social context of schools keep underrepresented minority students on track to transition to college? This study investigates how students experience the social contexts of their schools in relation to their college ambitions, and the particular attributes of schools’ social contexts that might positively affect their transition to four-year colleges. Research Design Using a mixed-methods case study design, this three-year study examined students’ educational pathways in a Chicago charter high school. Data collection methods included ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and a longitudinal survey. Supplemental secondary data sources were utilized to contextualize the case study. Analysis Interview transcripts and field notes were transcribed and coded to examine variation in students’ experience of their social context and their college transition plans. To contextualize these findings, the author utilized descriptive, associative, and logistic regression techniques to analyze quantitative data from the case study survey and corresponding city and national datasets. Findings The school's organization facilitated academic, social, and college preparatory support through structured relationships. Notwithstanding, there was notable within-school variation in students’ transitions to college. Students in this urban charter school often experienced multiple obstacles that interfered with the college ambitions they generally shared with their families and school peers. School regard is a mechanism identified in this study as central to students’ transition success. Students’ perceptions of their teachers’ and their peers’ regard for their capacity for educational success was associated with their persistence through the transition to college in the face of academic, socioeconomic, and other challenges. Conclusions/Recommendations This study demonstrates the effort and engagement under-represented students expend in the effort to become college-ready, and the risk for burnout as a result of both academic and nonacademic hardships during their high school years. School regard may mitigate these effects. Mere expectations for college appear insufficient in the current access-for-all climate. Rather, it is important that students perceive value and esteem for their potential from school faculty and peers, sustaining their ambitions through the obstacles they encounter in high school and expect in college.
Love and Growth: On One Aspect of James Baldwin's Significance for Education
Authors: Frank Jeff 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Although James Baldwin's work is beginning to receive attention by political and social theorists, his work does not currently influence educational conversations. I believe this is unfortunate, and the goal of this article is to make the case that Baldwin's work has a great deal to teach educators, especially teacher educators. Research Design Reading through all of Baldwin's nonfiction, I draw out interconnected themes that run across his work, and which I found most interesting as I thought about my work as a teacher educator. These themes are: innocence, fear, and love. For each theme, I draw on different aspects of Baldwin's published nonfiction, attempting to create a conversation between aspects of Baldwin's work and issues of importance to teacher educators. Conclusions/Recommendations I conclude by making the case that Baldwin's work deserves a wider hearing, especially his thinking on love. I develop the concept of “tenacious understanding” to highlight the types of teaching that teacher educators will need to engage in if they are to realize Baldwin's prophetic call that I resound in this article.