bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Kindergarten Teachers’ Instructional Priorities Misalignment and Job Satisfaction: A Mixed Methods Analysis
Authors: Gaias Larissa M. , Jimenez Manuela , Abry Tashia , Granger Kristen L. , Taylor Michelle 
Published: November 2021

Background Instructional priority misalignment—the difference between how much time teachers would ideally spend on certain subjects/skills compared with how much time teachers actually spend on certain subjects/skills—is a novel measure addressing aspects of teacher autonomy that could have implications for job satisfaction. This misalignment may be particularly salient for kindergarten teachers, who have experienced recent shifts in instructional priorities as standards-based academic learning has been increasingly integrated into the classrooms of our youngest students. Thus, misalignment in teachers’ instructional priorities regarding Common Core academic topics (math, English) and socio-emotional learning skills may be especially important for kindergarten teachers’ job satisfaction. Research Questions (a) To what extent do teachers experience misalignment between their ideal and actualized instructional priorities in Common Core and socio-emotional domains? (b) Is misalignment in Common Core and socio-emotional domains related to teacher job satisfaction? (c) Which perceptions of the teaching profession contribute to job satisfaction for kindergarten teachers who report high misalignment but high job satisfaction? (d) How do their responses compare with the responses of teachers who report high misalignment but low job satisfaction? Setting and Participants A total of 911 kindergarten teachers (99% female, 83% Caucasian) from the state of Arizona participated in the study. At the time of data collection, Arizona had adapted the Common Core standards for math and literacy but had not implemented socio-emotional standards for kindergarten. Research Design Participants completed a survey in which they reported on their ideal and actual instructional priorities, their job satisfaction, and why they felt satisfied or unsatisfied with the profession. Data Collection and Analysis We used mixed methodology with concurrent data collection but sequential data analysis to answer our research questions. Findings/Results In the quantitative phase (Phase 1), we found that teachers experienced significant misalignment between their ideal and actual instructional priorities regarding socio-emotional development priorities, but not regarding Common Core academics. Additionally, a logistic regression demonstrated that for both domains of instruction, misalignment negatively predicted job satisfaction. Qualitatively, highly misaligned teachers who reported higher job satisfaction levels more often described psychological well-being, positive student characteristics, and the ability to tend to the needs of their family and friends as reasons for their job satisfaction than highly misaligned teachers with lower job satisfaction. Conclusions The present study has implications for teacher training, recruitment, and professional development aimed at supporting job satisfaction in kindergarten teachers.
Developing the “Will”: The Relationship between Teachers’ Perceived Policy Legitimacy and Instructional Improvement
Authors: Kim Jihyun , Sun Min , Youngs Peter 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context As part of a nationwide initiative that re-conceptualized teacher evaluation, Virginia issued the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers on July 1, 2012; these guidelines marked a significant overhaul of the state's approach to teacher evaluation. Previous studies examined the impact of teacher evaluation policies on student achievement, but there has been little empirical research on factors that lead teachers to change their instructional practices in response to teacher evaluation. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study We focused on an important element of policy implementation: teachers’ perceptions of the legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies. Specifically, we asked: 1) How do teachers’ perceptions of the legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies influence their efforts to improve their instruction? and 2) What school supports are associated with an increase in teachers’ perceived policy legitimacy? Our examination of teachers’ perceived legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies is critically important because individuals’ beliefs affect their willingness to respond to externally initiated reform in productive ways and to generate sustainable changes in instruction. Research Design To examine the potential impact of teachers’ perceived legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies on their instruction and the effects of various supports on teachers’ perceptions, we drew on teacher survey data and teacher evaluation ratings from two school districts in Virginia. We collected two years of teacher survey data, and three years of teacher evaluation ratings. Combining two different data sets, we provided evidence of an association between teachers’ perceived legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies and their instructional practice. Conclusions/Recommendations Our findings indicate that teachers’ perceived legitimacy of evaluation policies is positively correlated with their likelihood of taking actions to improve their instruction. That is, developing teachers’ perceptions of policy legitimacy seems to be a fruitful strategy for promoting changes in instruction. Moreover, teachers’ perceived legitimacy of teacher evaluation policies seems to have a positive relationship with various school supports, such as principal leadership, professional development, and time and resources. “The consequences of even the best planned, best supported, and most promising policy initiatives depend finally on what happens as individuals throughout the policy system interpret and act on them … Policy success depends critically on two broad factors: local capacity and will.” (McLaughlin, 1987, p. 172)
Pursuing Deep Equity in “Blended” Classrooms: Exploring the In-Person Teacher Role in Supporting Low-Income Youth through Computer-Based Learning
Authors: Pollock Mica , Yonezawa Susan , Gay Hilary , Rodriguez Lilia 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Efforts to increase low-income, underrepresented students’ access to coursework increasingly tap computer-based course materials. Yet as we turn increasingly to computers for instruction, what might the in-person teacher still be needed to do? This paper presents seven in-person “teacher roles” that precollege low-income youth and their teachers deemed necessary for supporting students as they used computer-based materials. Data were collected across two years in 19 summer school classrooms where 400 high school students took computer-based college-preparatory courses supported in person by teachers and teachers’ assistants (TAs). We offer an empirically informed conceptual framework supporting next research on (and innovation of) equity-minded “blended” classroom practice. We define “equity” effort as active effort to meet the needs of each student and all groups of students; here, the effort was to sufficiently prepare each and all students for college. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study We used focus groups, classroom observations, and interviews to study the roles that teachers embraced and students valued. We asked two research questions: (1) How do in-class teachers (teachers and TAs) support students as students access material online? (2) According to student and adult participants, which teacher supports are key to student success in the courses? Research Design Researchers observed classrooms to capture patterns of frequently repeated adult-student and peer interaction. Through informal and semi-structured ethnographic interviews and focus groups, we invited participants to comment on needed supports for classrooms and on the supports they saw as particularly valuable (or not). We conducted approximately 46 hours of interviews and focus groups and 500 hours of observation. Conclusions/Recommendations We describe three in-person teacher roles that participants said assisted students in achieving basic equity with computer materials—that is, precollege content access and course credit otherwise denied. We explore four in-person teacher roles that participants called particularly necessary for deep equity—to support students’ individual and collective comprehension of the online materials, often through dialogue. We conclude that the teacher's overarching role for achieving equity in these blended classrooms was to continually adjust pedagogy as needed to ensure each and all students both accessed and understood the precollege content. This suggests that adding technology to classrooms to support all students fundamentally requires teachers.
Private Interests in a Public Profession: Teacher Education and Racial Capitalism
Authors: Anderson Lauren 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context This article offers an analysis of the contemporary policy context surrounding teacher education in the United States. It lays out recent policy shifts that have come to frame the field, particularly university-based teacher preparation as “broken,” and to fuel forward certain strands of disruptive innovation. Purpose/Objective The article's aim is to prompt consideration of how teacher educators are navigating and might navigate, on their own and together, the tentacles of neoliberalism climbing from K–12 into teacher education. Specifically, it explores the outsize influence of pro-privatization entities and teacher educators who have partnered with them, and it raises questions about the compromised positions that the enduring structures of racial capitalism and the neo-liberal turn in education policy seemingly extend to teacher educators in these times. Conclusions/Recommendations The article closes by arguing that even well-meaning teacher educators can end up ensnared in destructive reform, and for reasons far more complicated than simple character flaw, carelessness, or collusion. Thus, while teacher education needs “transformers,” it needs for them to be conscious, careful, and accountable when it comes to the structures of racial capitalism and the (neoliberal) web into which present-day privatizing interests would like to see them profitably woven.
Beyond Damage-Centered Teacher Education: Humanizing Pedagogy for Teacher Educators and Preservice Teachers
Authors: Andrews Dorinda J. Carter , Brown Tashal , Castillo Bernadette M. , Jackson Davena , Vellanki Vivek 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context In our best efforts to increase preservice teachers’ critical consciousness regarding the historical and contemporary inequities in the P–12 educational system and equip them to embody pedagogies and practices that counter those inequities, teacher educators often provide curricular and field experiences that reinforce the deficit mindsets that students bring to the teacher education classroom. For many social justice-oriented teacher educators, our best intentions to create humanizing experiences for future teachers can have harmful results that negatively impact preservice teachers’ ability to successfully teach culturally diverse students in a multitude of learning contexts. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this article, we propose a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that is informed by our experiences as K–12 teachers and teacher educators in a university-based teacher preparation program. We focus on the general questions, How can university-based teacher preparation programs embody and enact a humanizing pedagogy? and What role can curriculum play in advancing a humanizing pedagogy in university-based teacher preparation programs? Research Design In this conceptual article, we theorize a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education and propose a process of becoming asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented teachers. This humanizing pedagogy represents a strengths-based approach to teaching and learning in the teacher preparation classroom. Conclusions/Recommendations We propose core tenets of a humanizing pedagogy for teacher education that represent an individual and collective effort toward critical consciousness for preservice teachers and also for teacher educators. If university-based teacher education programs are committed to cultivating the development of asset-, equity-, and social justice-oriented preservice teachers, the commitments to critical self-reflection, resisting binaries, and enacting ontological and epistemological plurality need to be foundational to program structure, curricula alignment, and instructional practice.
How Do Effective Upper Elementary Teachers of English Language Learners Show Support?
Authors: Banse Holland W. , Palacios Natalia A. , Martin Anna 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Latino English language learners (ELLs) comprise a rapidly growing portion of the student population, and much empirical attention has been devoted to supporting their English language and literacy proficiency. Less is known about how to support Latino ELLs’ social-emotional needs. Latino ELLs face the dual challenge of learning English and academic content simultaneously; they also may face stigma, anti-immigration sentiment, and deficit perspectives from teachers and peers. Consequently, they may be in especial need of support from their teachers. Research Question This study addresses the question, How do effective teachers show support within upper elementary classrooms with varying levels of English language proficiency? Research Design We employed a multiple and comparative case study approach to answer this question, using videotaped English language arts lessons from the Measures of Effective Teaching data set. We compared how teachers demonstrate supportiveness in three types of fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms: (1) high-ELL and high-gains; (2) no-ELL and high-gains; and (3) high-ELL and low-gains. Conclusion/Recommendations We observed that only high-ELL, high-gains teachers showed supportiveness in the following distinct ways: through contingent and effusive praise, by describing the relevance of content, and by advancing relationships with students. We discussed why these demonstrations of supportiveness may be important, particularly for Latino ELLs. We conclude with ideas for future research and practical implications for teachers and teacher preparation programs.
Difficult Decisions: Commuting for the Academic Career
Authors: Sallee Margaret W. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context As the academic job market becomes more competitive, some faculty find it necessary to move away from their partners in order to secure a position, thus leading them to become part of a commuting couple. Despite their presence in the academy, little research exists on how commuting shapes academics’ personal and professional lives. Purpose The purpose of the study was to understand the experiences of faculty members who are members of commuting couples. The study used Ryan and Deci's self-determination theory—which suggests that three basic needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness must be met to facilitate well-being—to explore why some commuters thrive in the arrangement more than others. Participants Interviews were conducted with 36 participants who were part of academic commuting couples; participants were 31 academics and five nonacademic spouses. The sample included diversity based on gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, and parental status. Research Design This comparative case study contrasted the experiences of those who were satisfied in commuting couples with those who were not. Data were collected via semistructured interviews and analysis of artifacts submitted by participants that helped capture their experiences in a commuting couple. Data were analyzed with both concept- and data-driven codes that emerged from the literature/theory and the data, respectively. Findings Participants who attained autonomy, competence, and relatedness in personal and professional domains were more accepting of commuting than those who did not. Nearly all commuters appreciated the autonomy that separation from their partners brought in terms of allowing them to work more; however, the unhappy commuters were more likely to feel that they did not make the choice to commute, but were forced into it by the job market. Similarly, most participants discussed valuing their careers as academics (competence), which led unhappy commuters to struggle with whether to leave the field. Finally, participants discussed a lack of connection with colleagues (relatedness) across the sample. Unhappy commuters were more likely to report struggling with their separation from their partners as a result of commuting. Recommendations Given the competitiveness of the job market, more academics may find themselves in commuting couples. Findings suggest that there are ways that institutions can help this population, including scheduling meetings and other obligations at times that would help facilitate their relatedness with colleagues.
Parental Educational Decision Making: The Information They Seek and What They Want from Data Systems
Authors: Mandinach Ellen B. , Miskell Ryan C. , Gummer Edith S. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Parents are important consumers of educational information, especially with stipulations in ESSA. Yet, research on parental information needs is limited. It is important to understand how the information is displayed for parents in accessible and understandable ways. This study uses a theoretical perspective of parental engagement and social networking to ground the research. Purpose/Objective/Research Questions Education is awash with information. This study sought to understand the nature of the information parents seek to make decisions about their child's education. It also sought to understand the characteristics of data displays that would make information accessible and understandable. What information do parents seek to make decisions about their children's education? Where do parents go to obtain educational information? What sources do parents access to obtain the needed information? What design characteristics do parents prefer to help them navigate websites and understand the presented information? Setting The study took place in focus groups held across Missouri. Population/Participants Twenty-one focus groups were convened with 118 parents from urban, suburban, and rural areas of Missouri. Intervention/Program/Practice Focus groups addressed the need to involve parents in educational decisions and their need for data. They were asked a series of questions to elicit responses about the information they seek to make decisions about their child's education. Parents were also asked about the design, ease of access, and understandability of data displays. Research Design The study used small focus groups and a standardized interview protocol. To elicit more detailed and deeper focused responses, alternative prompts were used to ensure that participants understood what was being asked. Data Collection and Analysis Parents responded to structured questions and visual displays. Responses were recorded through comprehensive note taking. The responses were analyzed using ATLAS.ti to identify underlying themes. Findings/Results Parents seek qualitative data sources that supply descriptions of schools and districts. They want not only test scores and school grades but also information that helps them understand the schools. They want details about the teachers, leaders, and programs offered and information about safety and processes. Parents want the information presented in accessible and understandable formats that include better graphics and more easily understood details. Conclusions/Recommendations Education agencies need to consider how to present diverse information that will meet stakeholders’ needs. This is relevant because not all parents are familiar with data displays. Parents seek descriptive data that are locally relevant and represented on school or district websites and data systems.
“Theoretically all Children are Equal. Practically this can Never be So”: The History of the District Property Tax in California and the Choice of Inequality
Authors: Kelly Matthew Gardner 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Dealing mostly in aggregate statistics that mask important regional variations, scholars often assume that district property taxation and the resource disparities this approach to school funding creates are deeply rooted in the history of American education. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This article explores the history of district property taxation and school funding disparities in California during the 19th and 20th centuries. First, the article documents the limited use of district property taxation for school funding in California and several other Western states during the 19th century, showing that the development of school finance was more complicated than standard accounts suggest. Then, the article examines how a coalition of experts, activists, and politicians worked together during the early 20th century to promote district property taxation and institutionalize the idea that the wealth of local communities, rather than the wealth of the entire state, should determine the resources available for public schooling. Research Design This article draws on primary source documents from state and regional archives, including district-level funding data from nine Northern California counties, to complete a historical analysis. Conclusions/Recommendations The history of California's district property tax suggests the need for continued research on long-term trends in school finance and educational inequality. Popular accounts minimizing the historical role of state governments in school funding obscure how public policies, not just market forces shaping property values, create funding inequalities. In turn, these accounts communicate powerful messages about the supposed inevitability of funding disparities and the responsibility of state governments to correct them. Through increased attention to long-term trends in school funding, scholars can help popular commentators and policymakers avoid assumptions that naturalize inequality and narrow the possibilities for future funding reforms.