bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Do Incentive-Based Programs Improve Teacher Quality and Student Achievement? An Analysis of Implementation in 12 Urban Charter Schools
Authors: Kaimal Girija , Jordan Will J. 
Published: November 2021

Context Policymakers have increasingly advocated for incentive-based approaches for improving urban schools. Purpose of the Study Few studies have examined the implementation of incentive based approaches in the urban charter school context. This paper presents research findings from a 4-year longitudinal study of the implementation of a comprehensive incentive-based program for school improvement. Setting The study was conducted in cluster of 12 charter schools in a large urban school district. Participants/Subjects Participants in the study included classroom teachers, administrators, and staff in the charter schools; program staff from the school district; and consultants to the project. Research Design The study used a mixed methods design, which included a comparative case study, and quasi-experimental design. Data Collection and Analysis Qualitative data elements included semistructured interviews and observations of program activities. Quantitative data elements included the official classroom teaching evaluation scores, teacher attitudes survey data, standardized student achievement scores from state and district assessment programs, and researcher-developed surveys of teacher and administrator perceptions. Results The results suggest that, in addition to questions about the viability of this comprehensive incentive model, there were several challenges related specifically to the context of the schools that affected program implementation. These included: misconceptions about performance pay; difficulties learning, understanding and sustaining a complex professional development model; poor fidelity of program implementation; varying capacities of the leadership teams; inability to sustain the incentive component; differences in the contexts and missions of the participating schools; and high teacher turnover at the schools. All the 12 schools reported some improvement in student achievement which led to performance rewards; however, this was not substantial or consistent over the course of the 4 years of implementation. The program also did not impact teacher retention at the schools. Schools that benefited the most from the program demonstrated an alignment of goals between the program staff, school leadership, and teachers. Conclusions/Recommendations The study findings suggest that even comprehensive incentive-based models are not yet viable and have limited effectiveness. Educators needed significant salary increases to be incentivized by money and incentive-based models need to be simpler in design for participants to understand them. The aspect that was somewhat sustained was the professional development and collegiality among the teachers indicating that a professional community is what teachers appreciated most from the program.
The Informational Significance of A–F School Accountability Grades
Authors: Adams Curt M. , Forsyth Patrick B. , Ware Jordan , Mwavita Mwarumba 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Despite problems with accountability systems under No Child Left Behind, the policy has been widely commended for exposing the depth and breadth of educational inequality in the United States. As states implement new accountability systems, there is growing concern that attention to achievement gaps and the performance of marginalized children has faded. Many approved accountability plans no longer report achievement by student subgroups or include subgroup performance in the calculation of accountability indicators. Research Purpose This study examined the informational significance of Oklahoma's A–F accountability grades relative to the policy objective of achievement equity. Informational significance as explained in self-determination theory provided a framework to explore the usefulness of an A–F grade for understanding achievement differences within and between schools. Research Design We evaluated the informational significance of Oklahoma A–F school grades by analyzing reading and math test scores from over 25,000 students in 81 elementary and middle schools. The study was designed to address two questions: Do students in “A” and “B” schools have high average achievement and small achievement gaps compared to students in “D” and “F” schools? What is the difference in average achievement and achievement gaps between school grades when holding constant contextual school conditions? Results We found test score gaps attributed to Free and Reduced Lunch qualification and minority status. Free and Reduced Lunch and minority students average about one standard deviation lower in math and reading than their peers. Test score gaps varied across A–F school grades with the largest gaps existing in “A” and “B” schools. HLM results showed that A–F grades do not differentiate schools by effectiveness levels. For reading, we did not find statistically significant main effects attributed to letter grades. For math, the only statistically significance difference was between students in “A” and “B” schools and students in “F” schools. This difference had a small effect size. School grades did moderate achievement gaps, but gaps moved in a direction opposite from what would be desired of an accountability system that measured achievement equity. Conclusions Progress made under NCLB in exposing achievement inequity in the U.S. has taken a step back with Oklahoma's A–F school grades. Our evidence suggests that a composite letter grade provides very little meaningful information about achievement differences.
Transgender and Gender-Creative Students in PK–12 Schools: What We Can Learn from Their Teachers
Authors: Meyer Elizabeth J. , Tilland-Stafford Anika , Airton Lee 
Published: November 2021

Context A growing body of work refects the ways in which gender-creative and transgender students are ill-served by current social climates in the vast majority of public schools. Few studies have explored this topic from an educator's perspective. Purpose This study was designed to develop a conception of the barriers and supports that exist for educators working to create learning environments that affirm transgender and gender-creative students. Participants Twenty-six Canadian educators who all had direct experience working with gender-creative and transgender students in school settings with an average of 10 years’ experience in schools and mean age of 43. Research Design: This project is a Social Action Research (SAR) project designed to identify what are common challenges and why these challenges are present. Data Collection and Analysis Each educator was interviewed for 60–120 minutes using a flexible interview guide and audio recordings were transcribed for analysis. Data analysis was conducted via an ongoing and exploratory design. We also performed a cross-case analysis to compare experiences and perceptions across teachers in elementary and secondary schools as well as alternative and traditional schools. Findings We identified barriers and supports experienced by our participants. Barriers included: (1) the pervasiveness of transphobia; (2) high frequency of school transfers; (3) the propensity for gay and lesbian educators to take on an “expert” role; (4) ethnocentrism; (5) relying on a “pedagogy of exposure” and using certain students as “sacrificial lambs”; (6) the overlapping challenges of working with youth who also have behavioral and learning difficulties; and (7) the balancing act required to navigate complex issues with little training and support. Supports identified were: (1) alternative schools as sites of refuge and spaces where transgender and gender-creative students are reportedly thriving; (2) empowered transgender and gender-creative students; (3) vigilant and protective adults; and (4) best practices. Recommendations In order to address systemic barriers we advocate for an application of principles and best practices aligned with critical, queer, and anti-oppressive pedagogies. We recommend that schools: (1) develop a more student-centered, flexible curriculum; (2) promote interdisciplinary and project-based learning; (3) model and promote creativity; (4) establish restorative justice programs; (5) reduce or entirely remove sex-segregated activities and spaces; (6) integrate discussions of gender diversity as a social justice issue throughout the curriculum.
Whose Problem is It? Gender Differences in Faculty Thinking about Campus Service
Authors: O'Meara Kerryann 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Empirical evidence suggests women faculty spend more time in campus service than men, which perpetuates inequality between men and women because research is valued more than service in academic reward systems, especially at research universities. Purpose/Focus of Study In this study I apply insights from research on gender inequality to examine whether women and men faculty at a research university were thinking about their campus service differently. I add to the literature by (1) making faculty thinking about campus service visible, (2) examining how this thinking is constrained by gender, and the gendered nature of organizations, and (3) revealing how individualistic and cosmopolitan orientations, and communal and local orientations appear together in faculty thinking about campus service. Research Design My research assistants and I conducted 60–75 minute-long, semistruc-tured interviews with 88 faculty including 34 men and 54 women on their work environment experiences. Interview questions focused on choices that faculty had made to emphasize different kinds of work (teaching, research, service), balance work priorities, and succeed. Findings/Results Overall, more women framed campus service in communal terms and expressed local orientations toward campus service; more men positioned service as a campus problem, and noted their own interests to avoid or minimize involvement in campus service so as not to hurt their career. In a smaller group of cases, (e.g., four men and five women) the faculty member expressed the dominant pattern for the other gender; however, even in these cases participants provided examples of the dominant pattern for their gender as well. In all cases, women and men were influenced by gendered ways of thinking about work, and gendered organizational practices that permeated their socialization and work environments. Conclusions/Recommendations Findings suggest that interventions are needed to affect thinking about campus service within university environments, as thinking shapes gendered divisions of labor. Sharing campus service data transparently, developing department consensus about appropriate levels of service contributions, and developing a sense of collective ownership for academic programs are examples of organizing practices that could generate change toward more gender neutral divisions of labor. Addressing the complex issue of inequality in campus service is not only about counting the numbers of service activities, although this is important. It is also critical to understand how faculty may be approaching the issue, the forces shaping their thinking, and the consequences of their thinking for individual careers and the future of the academic community.
The Transformation of Schools’ Social Networks during a Data-Based Decision Making Reform
Authors: Keuning Trynke , Geel Marieke Van , Visscher Adrie , Fox Jean-Paul , Moolenaar Nienke M. 
Published: November 2021

Context Collaboration within school teams is considered to be important to build the capacity school teams need to work in a data-based way. In a school characterized by a strong collaborative culture, teachers may have more access to the knowledge and skills for analyzing data, teachers have more opportunity to discuss the performance goals to be set, and they also can share effective teaching strategies to achieve those goals. Although many studies on data-based decision making (DBDM) foreground the importance of teacher collaboration, our knowledge of what such collaboration looks like and how such collaboration may change during a DBDM reform remains limited. Objective The current study uses a social network perspective to explore how collaboration in 32 elementary schools in the Netherlands takes shape in the interactions among teachers as they engage in a DBDM reform project. Research Design Schools’ social networks were examined at the start of the intervention and after having participated 1 year in the DBDM reform. Social networks regarding three DBDM topics are examined: (1) discussing student achievement; (2) discussing achievement goals; (3) and discussing instructional strategies. The density, reciprocity, and centralization of these networks were calculated, and multivariate multiple regression analysis was used to analyze changes over time. Conclusion Findings suggest that teachers’ DBDM related networks transform during the intervention, especially regarding the discussion of student achievement data: although the number of relationships remains stable, more reciprocal relationships are formed, and this network becomes less centralized around one or a few influential staff members.
Formative Justice: The Regulative Principle of Education
Authors: McClintock Robbie 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Concepts of justice relevant to making personal and public decisions about education. Purpose To clarify a concept of formative justice that persons and the public often ignore in making decisions about educational effort. Setting “The windmills of your mind.” Research Design Reflective essay. Conclusions/Recommendations • Problems of justice arise whenever persons and polities cannot have it all, whenever they must choose between competing “goods,” positive or negative. • Different types of justice arise because persons and polities have to make constrained choices between different types of goods—with distributive justice, they allocate scarce material goods and benefits among many claimants; with social justice, they reconcile conflicting rights and responsibilities; with retributive justice, they determine sanctions and punishments; and with formative justice, they channel effort to pursuing particular possibilities out of the many open to them. • Problems of formative justice arise because persons and polities always face the future and find more potentialities unfolding before them than they have the energy, time, ability, and wherewithal to fulfill. They must choose among their purposes and allocate effort and attention to pursuing their potentials. In doing so, they form their unfolding lives. • Conceptions of formative justice concern principles with which persons and polities choose their controlling aspirations and allocate effort towards their fulfillment. • Formative justice is difficult because persons and polities always face an indeterminate future, one fraught with uncertainties. In the face of indeterminacy, they must irrevocably make their formative choices, hoping these will prove both successful and sustainable. • Formative justice is important because persons and polities will suffer or enjoy, as the case may be, the capacities for feeling, thought, and action by which they live.
Rethinking Discussions of Justice in Educational Research: Formative Justice, Educational Liberalism, and Beyond
Authors: Thompson Winston C. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Educational research tends to borrow accounts of justice from scholarship embedded within the structures and commitments of other disciplines or fields of study. This has created a body of educational research that largely responds to the “justice” goals of those disciplines rather than education qua education. Purpose/Focus of Study Responding to the context, this article questions whether educational research might be able to forward its own account of justice. This educational form of justice (formative justice) would allow educational researchers to pose questions that are primarily concerned with education on its own terms. Research Design This philosophical work provides a conceptual analysis of an account of justice within educational research. Conclusions/Recommendations This article finds that educational researchers can indeed pursue an educational account of justice. By detailing the benefits and general shape of a theory of educational justice (“justice as preservation”) embedded within educational liberalism, this article suggests that educational researchers can utilize their unique insights and expertise to pose educational questions within previously under-explored areas.
Reasons for Becoming a Postdoc: Differences by Race and Foreign-Born Status
Authors: Huang Ying , Cantwell Brendan , Taylor Barrett J. 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context The postdoctorate has become an important component of research careers in a growing number of science and engineering (S&E) fields. However, a tight academic job market, the growing number of postdocs, and the heightened internationalization of the position in the United States call the traditional definition of the position into question. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Doctorate recipients who aspire to research careers may be forced to remain postdocs while waiting for their desired permanent position to become available. We hypothesize that foreign-born doctoral recipients, particularly those who are female and/or non-White, are more likely than their U.S.-born, male, or White counterparts to become a postdoc for reasons not related to professional training and development. Research Design To explore these hypotheses, we have analyzed individual-level data from the 2006 administration of the U.S. National Science Foundation's Survey of Doctorate Recipients using multinomial logistic regression. Findings/Results We find that the reasons for working as a postdoc differ by race, foreign-born status, and the interaction of these two factors. In particular, foreign-born Asians are much more likely than their White U.S. counterparts to accept a postdoc job because no other options are available.
A Formative Experiment to Align Middle-School History Instruction with Literacy Goals
Authors: Colwell Jamie , Reinking David 
Published: November 2021

Background/Context Recent curricular trends based on new standards emphasize the centrality of reading and studying texts in history instruction. That trend suggests a closer alignment between middle-school history instruction and goals for developing literacy. Yet potential obstacles identified in the literature, particularly a teacher's stance toward teaching history, imply challenges to instantiating that alignment. Relatively little research has addressed how relevant conceptual positions such as disciplinary literacy might be realized in authentic practice. Purpose/Objective The objective was to investigate how middle-school history instruction could be transformed to align with the literacy goals addressed in new curricular standards and to better understand within a typical instructional context the pedagogical influences and outcomes associated with such a transformation. The intent was to lay the groundwork for an emerging pedagogical theory that could guide efforts to align history instruction and literacy goals. Intervention/Program/Practice The researchers and the teacher collaboratively planned the instructional intervention that entailed three essential elements: (a) reading primary and secondary historical texts, (b) scaffolding strategies for reading such texts, and (c) writing blog reflections about readings. The teacher implemented the intervention in five topical history units taught during 10 consecutive weeks. Research Design We employed a formative experiment to determine what factors enhanced or inhibited the intervention's success in achieving its aim, how it could be modified in light of those factors, what unanticipated outcomes were observed, and the extent to which the teaching and learning environment was transformed. Data Collection and Analysis We collected qualitative data from multiple sources. During the intervention, we used an embedded case study to frame data collection and analysis. We conducted a retrospective analysis after the intervention phase in order to generate pedagogical assertions as a first step in establishing an emergent pedagogical theory. Conclusions/Recommendations Three key assertions emerged that mediated the teacher's efforts to align her history instruction with literacy goals: (a) the influence of her beliefs grounded in her previous, imagined, and enacted practice; (b) blogging as a motivational catalyst; and (c) instructional enhancements that occurred when she observed the intervention's positive effects on achieving her pedagogical goals for students. These assertions comprise an emerging theory of how history instruction might be aligned with literacy goals and, as such, inform the literature on disciplinary literacy and how it might be achieved in authentic practice.