bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Using Data to Alter Instructional Practice: The Mediating Role of Coaches and Professional Learning Communities
Authors: Marsh Julie A. , Bertrand Melanie , Huguet Alice 
Published: November 2021

Background Despite increased access to student learning data, scholars have demonstrated that teachers do not always know how to use these data in ways that lead to deep changes in instruction and often lack skills and knowledge to interpret results and develop solutions. In response, administrators have invested in instructional coaches, data coaches, and professional learning communities (PLCs) to support teachers in this process. Despite their popularity, there is limited research on the ways in which coaches and PLCs mediate teachers’ use of data and the various types of expertise brought to bear on this process. Purpose This exploratory study examined how working with a coach or PLC shaped teachers’ responses to data in six middle schools and the factors that influenced the activities and effects of coaches and PLCs. Our intent was to deeply examine processes and identify key constructs and relationships to guide future research and practice. Research Design Our research involved a year-long comparative case study of six low-performing middle schools in four districts that supported teacher data use via literacy coaches, data coaches, or PLCs. We draw on cultural historical activity theory and data from 92 interviews, 6 focus groups, 20 observations of meetings, and monthly surveys of case study teachers (15), coaches (4), and PLC lead teachers (2). Findings We found that coaches and PLCs played important roles in mediating teachers’ responses to data and were often associated with instances in which teachers used data to alter their instructional delivery (as opposed to surface-level changes in materials and topics). Further, the dynamic relationship between vertical expertise (an individual's knowledge and skills) and horizontal expertise (knowledge that is co-created through interactions and movement across contexts) may help explain the ways in which PLCs and coaches facilitated deeper level changes in pedagogy. Finally, dialogue was a central mediating practice, and school leadership and the district-level context shaped the possibility for change. Conclusions Our research adds conceptual clarity to what types of expertise may be needed to ensure that teachers respond productively to data. The study suggests that administrators should consider multiple facets of expertise when designing interventions, recruiting coaches, assembling PLCs, and developing professional development for coaches and teacher leaders. The centrality of dialogue also suggests the need for policies and structures allowing for uninterrupted time for educators to collectively reflect on data.
Prompting Reflections for Integrating Self-Regulation into Teacher Technology Education
Authors: Michalsky Tova , Kramarski Bracha 
Published: November 2021

Background Technology represents a major topic in educational research. Nevertheless, a gap in the research remains concerning how teachers can bring technology into the classroom. This study focuses on the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) framework, which aims to consolidate the multidisciplinary professional knowledge related to technology, pedagogy, and content that teachers need so that they can teach and students can learn effectively using technology tools. Purpose The goal of the present study was to investigate the value of modification reflection prompts (“think ahead”) as a complementary reflective framework during the teacher preparatory program, beyond the more traditional judgment reflection prompts (“think back”). In particular, we examined how preservice science teachers may capitalize on learning from modification prompts versus judgment prompts versus both (“think back” and “think ahead”), compared with learning from generic prompts (“stop and think”) based on the IMPROVE model oriented to TPCK. We examined these four treatments’ effects on preservice teachers’ actual design of science lessons and development of their own self-reflection abilities. Participants Participants were 199 first-year preservice science teachers in their preparatory programs at a university in central Israel. Research Design We created a quasi-experimental opportunity for four groups of preservice science teachers to systematically contemplate ready-made TPCK-oriented lesson designs. Each used one of four different reflective methods (the independent variable): modification, judgment, combined modification+judgment, or generic prompts. Then we examined the differential contribution of these treatment methods to the two dependent variables: (1) preservice teachers’ skills for designing actual science lessons and (2) their judgment-type and modification-type self-reflection ability regarding the planning, monitoring, and evaluation phases of their lesson-design process. Data Collection and Analysis Data were scored by coding schemes and were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance and follow-up analyses of variance with repeated measures. Findings Results indicated that preservice teachers who contemplated a combination of both judgment and modification reflections in treatment improved more in their lesson-design skills and in their self-reflection ability (of both types at the three phases), compared with preservice teachers who contemplated only a single type of reflective prompt (generic or only judgment or modification). Lasting effects (after a semester without the IMPROVE model, prompts, or TPCK focus) revealed that the combined approach continued to significantly outperform the single approaches. Recommendations The current study reinterprets the instructional-reflective framework of teacher education programs to include modification reflection too as a means of developing preservice teachers’ capacity to integrate technology in their lesson designs.
Examining the Parent Trigger as a Strategy for School Reform and Parental Engagement
Authors: Rogers John , Lubienski Christopher , Scott Janelle , Welner Kevin G. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Parent trigger policies have become a popular option in the education reform toolbox, giving parents the potential ability to induce substantial structural changes at their local public school. This reform approach emerged in California during the Great Recession, and has since proliferated to a number of states, spurred on by policy advocates, philanthropic funders, and associated reform organizations. These state-level policies allow a majority of parents at low-performing schools to petition to force school transformation through conversion to charter school status, replacement of school leadership and/or staff, or other corrective actions expected to improve outcomes at the school. Purpose This analysis considers the emergence, evidentiary basis, and potential of parent trigger policies. In particular, we focus on the policy, political and social circumstances in which parent trigger legislation emerged in California, the efficacy of the school improvement levers on which it draws, and the underlying assumptions about democratic engagement that inform the approach. Research Design This policy analysis draws on multiple forms of evidence to examine the efficacy of the parent trigger approach for school improvement and community engagement. The initial examination of the emergence of parent trigger considers public policy positions, media statements, and press accounts to trace the nuances of this policy landscape. Then, in lieu of useful research evidence on parent trigger itself, we turn to the research literature on the remedies that parent trigger tends to adopt, including studies in school choice, charter schools, and various school improvement strategies, as well as the implications for parental empowerment. Findings Reviews of extant evidence on policy remedies implicit and explicit in parent trigger indicate that, although parent trigger may have emerged from a deep-seated desire to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, it is unlikely to actually improve the educational quality of schools, given that the overall effects of these policy interventions are mixed, at best, and parent trigger adds another element of instability to already unstable school communities in disadvantaged areas. Conclusions/Recommendations Our analysis suggests that parent trigger tends to assume an aggregative model of democratic action drawn from a market-style economic premise. Unless policy makers promote a more deliberative model of community engagement, empowerment, and school governance, it is likely that parent trigger could contribute to continual corruption of democratic institutions and avenues for school governance.
English Language Learner Classmates and the Classroom Social Skills of Students with Disabilities
Authors: Gottfried Michael A. , Polikoff Morgan S. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Though the development of social skills in kindergarten is critical, a research gap exists in how the context of the general education classroom may influence the social skills outcomes of students with disabilities: None have considered the role of peer effects in this domain. This gap is critical to address, as multiple high-needs groups are increasingly present in the same general education classroom settings. Purpose/Objective This study asks two key research questions: (1) In kindergarten, to what extent do the classroom social skills outcomes of children with disabilities differ based on the number of ELL classmates? (2) In kindergarten, to what extent do the classroom social skills outcomes of ELL students differ based on the number of classmates with disabilities? Population/Participants The data are sourced from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K), which is a nationally representative sample of students, teachers, and schools. Information was first collected from kindergartners (as well as parents, teachers, and school administrators) from U.S. kindergarten programs. This study utilizes data collected at the fall and spring of kindergarten. Research Design This study combines secondary data analyses and quasi-experimental methods. There are three social skills outcomes: (1) approaches to learning, (2) interpersonal skills, and (3) self control. The study begins with a baseline, linear regression model. To address issues pertaining to omitted variable bias, the study employs multilevel fixed effects modeling. Findings The coefficients indicate that students with disabilities tend to have improved social skills with an increase in the number of ELL classmates. The effects remain significant even after accounting for multiple omitted variable biases. Notably, the reverse relationship does not hold: The number of classmates with disabilities has no significant influence on the outcomes of ELL students. Conclusions/Recommendations This research offers more in-depth insight into how the classroom context and the effects of classmates may have a unique relationship for specific high-needs groups such as students with disabilities—a strand of research in this area that is often overlooked. School practices can thus be guided by determining not simply if one group of students performs better or worse on average, but rather by asking, better or worse for whom in particular?
Research on Curricular Development for Pre-Kindergarten Mathematics and Science
Authors: Kinzie Mable B. , Whittaker Jessica Vick , Mcguire Pat , Lee Youngju , Kilday Carolyn 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context As increasing attention is paid to preparing students to succeed in school, the development and adoption of research-based curricula have become progressively more important. However, many curricular designs lack a basis in scientific evidence; research and curricular design are frequently treated as two separate enterprises. Purpose/Objective In this paper, we present the Research on Curriculum Design (RCD) model, first advanced by Clements in 2007, with results from its application to the design and iterative development of pre-kindergarten mathematics and science curricula. Research Design RCD is an example of design-based research, with the additional specific goals of the production of an effective curriculum and the evolution of theoretical guidelines to inform future curricular designs. Our implementation spanned two years and involved iterative development and testing of two, year-long curricula. Findings/Results Application of RCD methods informed our understandings of the target population, the knowledge and skills to be developed, and the theoretical and research-based models that guided the designs. Subsequent iterative development and evaluation in five pre-K classrooms enabled refinement of the curricular design, as well as the evolution of design guidelines useful for informing future curriculum development efforts. A culminating test of the resulting curricula in eight pre-K classrooms suggests the success of the RCD approach, yielding high-quality, high-fidelity teacher implementation, with teacher fidelity and curricular dosage predicting students’ mathematics learning gains across the year. Conclusions/Recommendations Results support the value of the RCD model for achieving research-based curricula that have the potential to effectively support teachers in their practice and positively impact children's early learning.
Languages across Borders: Social Network Development in an Adolescent Two-Way Language Program
Authors: Kibler Amanda K. , Atteberry Allison , Hardigree Christine N. , Salerno April S. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Two-way dual-language programs have become an increasingly popular educational model in the United States for language minority and majority speakers, with a small but growing number of programs at the high school level. Little is known, however, about how adolescents’ social networks develop in the contexts of these programs. Purpose/Objective This study examines how a two-way, dual language enrichment program for Spanish-language learner (SLL) and English-language learner (ELL) adolescents influenced students’ social networks with peers of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Setting The program took place in a south-Atlantic state at a suburban/rural high school that has substantial within-school linguistic segregation. Population/Participants Program participants included 20 students: 10 English-dominant learners of Spanish, and 10 Spanish-dominant learners of English. Intervention/Program The two-way dual-language program was a voluntary extracurricular program in which adolescent Spanish-dominant ELLs and English-dominant SLLs participated in collaborative and student-led bilingual activities designed to foster the sharing of cross-linguistic expertise and cross-cultural knowledge over a seven-month period. Research Design In this mixed-methods study, student-level Likert-scale data is analyzed quantitatively and supported through analysis of qualitative interview responses and observational field notes. Quantitative results compare ELL and SLL participants’ demographic and baseline social characteristics, before-and-after social networks, the changing nature of reported relationships over time as a function of language status, and magnitude of growth in relationships’ strength before and after the program. Qualitative results examine the qualities and conditions of these relationships and the conditions under which they developed. Findings/Results Results suggest that despite participants’ demographic differences, ELL and SLL students in the dual-language program reported building new, strengthened, and mutually recognized relationships, particularly with students of different language backgrounds who worked together within long-term collaborative small groups. Conclusions/Recommendations When students are provided with a carefully designed instructional and ecological context that provides authentic purposes for using language and building peer relationships, this research suggests that both ELLs and SLLs may be able to build linguistically integrated social networks.
When to Begin? Socioeconomic and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Financial Planning, Preparing, and Saving for College
Authors: Hillman Nicholas , Gast Melanie J. , George-Jackson Casey 
Published: November 2021

Background With college tuition and student loan debt rising, high school students and their families are increasingly concerned about “how to” pay for college. To address this, federal/state policy makers encourage individuals to financially prepare for college early in their child's life. Drawing from social reproduction theory, we anticipate wide inequalities in who engages in college financial preparations and savings and when they begin these activities. Purpose This study updates and extends the literature on how families financially prepare for college. Data High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), a nationally representative sample of 9th grade students who began high school in 2009. Research Design We use logistic and multinomial regression to estimate four different outcomes: (1) whether the family plans to help the student pay for college; (2) whether the family has financially prepared for college; (3) whether the family has opened a college savings account; and (4) when families financially prepare for college (kindergarten, elementary, or secondary school). Results Our results have implications for social reproduction theory as we find that socioeco-nomically privileged families have greater likelihoods of financially preparing their children for college before or soon after their children enter formal schooling. Conclusions Current policy efforts to encourage college financial preparation may disproportionately benefit already-privileged families and likely exacerbate educational inequalities.
Continuing a Conversation with Maxine Greene in Comics
Authors: Sousanis Nick , Suzuki Daiyu 
Published: November 2021

Purpose To illuminate the concepts of aesthetic experience and wide-awakeness in the philosophy of Maxine Greene by using the aesthetic approaches she discussed - in this case, using the comic book form as a means of visually embodying and extending her ideas. Setting In Maxine Greene's living room, the view through the window, and on the sidewalk across the street from her apartment—under the tree that she looked upon each day. Research Design Philosophical-aesthetic inquiry. Conclusions/Recommendations This philosophical-aesthetic inquiry has left us with more questions than answers as we engaged in an imaginative dialogue with Maxine Greene. Maxine lived her philosophy not just in her work, but in her daily life. Her lived example leaves us with some of the following questions: How do we—as educators, researchers, and philosophers—reconcile the separation between our intellectual lives and personal lives? What does it mean to cultivate our imaginative capacities for social change? How do we see the unseen? How do we see movements in what seems static, and changes in what seems permanent? How do we refuse to accept given “truth” as true and so-called “reality” as real? How do we attend our world anew each day? Maxine's method of asking, rather than answering, opened her to seeing greater possibilities in her world. And it is this attitude for seeing and for asking rather than any “ism” that we take into our own work and seek to convey with this piece.
How Do New Critical Pedagogies Develop? Educational Innovation, Social Change, and Landless Workers in Brazil
Authors: Tarlau Rebecca 
Published: November 2021

Background Over the past 30 years, the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), one of the largest social movements in Latin America, has developed a series of pedagogical practices for public schools that support the movement's struggle for agrarian reform in the Brazilian countryside. The MST's educational initiatives can be viewed in terms of their place in the debate about how grassroots movements develop alternatives to dominant educational practices. Purpose This article examines the diverse pedagogies and educational theories that MST activists have drawn on, while also assessing the political implications of this participation in the public schools. Setting Research took place in Brazil, in several dozen public schools located in MST communities. Population Research participants included MST activists, students attending schools in MST communities, teachers working in these schools, administrators, and public officials. More than 150 people were interviewed. Research Design This research is an ethnographic, qualitative case study, examining the MST's educational initiatives in four different regions of Brazil. Field research took place over 15 months, between October 2010 and December 2011. Research methods included semi-structured interviews, classroom observation, participation observation, analysis of primary documents, and focus groups with teachers and students. Findings Although the MST initially invested only in informal, popular education, by the late 1980s activists began to realize that transforming public schools was necessary for the realization of the movement's social and political goals. By drawing on their previous experiences with popular education, as well as the theories of several outside intellectuals, activists developed educational utopias that allowed them to solidify their educational proposals in practice. Conclusions This article provides insights into the process of grassroots educational innovation, illustrating that communities draw on a diverse set of educational theories that resonate with local practices and beliefs to develop alternative proposals for their schools. The article also suggests that certain questions arise about the purpose of public education when social movements with particular visions of societal transformation demand participation in the public school sphere. The article argues that this social movement participation is appropriate if activists can mobilize parents, students, teachers, and other community members to implement this vision through a collective process of participatory governance.
Two Models of Learning and Achievement: An Explanation for the Achievement Gap?
Authors: Yeh Stuart 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Despite decades of research, the persistence of the gap in student achievement between disadvantaged minority students and their middle-class peers remains unexplained. Purpose/Objective The purpose of the current article is to propose a new model of the achievement gap. Research Design Data were analyzed from three nationally representative data sets: The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K), the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS), and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS). Findings/Results The achievement gap may be explained as a consequence of the conventional structure of schooling and the failure to individualize task difficulty and provide performance feedback in a way that is necessary to ensure that all students experience mastery. Many students become disengaged and the effect is most severe for disadvantaged minority students. Alternative theories of the achievement gap do not adequately explain the observed pattern of data. A league table analysis indicates that interventions based on the proposed model of the achievement gap are more efficient than 21 alternative approaches for raising achievement and suggest a promising strategy for addressing the achievement gap.