Education Commons^™

Growing Up Fast: Implications For Foster Youth When Independence And Early Adulthood Collide, Brenda M. Morton

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Foster care alumni face overwhelming challenges as they transition from care to independence. Torn between their desire to be independent, yet acknowledging they need support, they struggle to find their footing. Adopting a survivor self-reliance mind-set, they set out to earn a bachelor's degree on their own. As they struggle, they compare themselves to non-foster peers who, by enlarge, have a support system enabling them a prolonged entrance to adulthood, which provides a safety net. Without a safety net, and with a focus on independence, decisions youth from foster care make, result in few alumni earning a bachelor's degree.

Trauma-Informed School Programming: Applications For Mental Health Professionals And Educator Partnerships, Brenda Morton, Anna A. Berardi Phd.

Faculty Publications - College of Education

An alarming number of children experience significant trauma or chronic stress throughout childhood, manifesting in cognitive, social, physical, and emotional impairment. These challenges are expressed in the P-12 academic setting through difficulties with behavioral and emotional self-regulation, academic functioning, and physical ailments and illness. Advances in trauma-informed care, as applied to the school environment, have inspired new hope for educators who observe first-hand the learning challenges facing traumatized children. This article defines the nature of the problem along with a guiding framework to assist educators and mental health professionals in transforming to a trauma-informed school culture.

Lessons From Alternative Grading: Essential Qualities Of Teacher Feedback, Jay C. Percell

Faculty Publications - College of Education

One critically important step in the instructional process is providing feedback to students, and yet, providing timely and thorough feedback is often lacking due attention. Reasons for this oversight could range from several factors including increased class sizes, vast content coverage requirements, extracurricular responsibilities, and the generally hectic daily schedules of teachers. This article synthesizes the findings from a year-long qualitative study investigating the alternative grading practices of five high school teachers and gives particular attention to the nature of the feedback these teachers provided to their students. Teachers’ feedback is pared down to its essential qualities in order to …

Engaging Lbgtq Issues: It’S Still Complicated, Gary F. Sehorn Dr.

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Public school administrators deal with a range of culture war conflicts on a regular basis, and LBGTQ issues are particularly challenging. When I joined my Christian university’s faculty after a long career working as an Evangelical administrator in public schools, I looked forward to shifting from experiencing these conflicts as a public school administrator to equipping others to handle them. Instead, the challenges have become even more complicated.

When Women Faculty Write: The Power Of Community In Scholarship, Eloise Hockett, Brenda Morton

Faculty Publications - College of Education

With the variety of teaching and leading roles placed on faculty members within higher education institutions, finding time to engage in scholarship can be very challenging and often problematic. One way to support scholarship requirements, is finding like-minded colleagues who can provide encouragement and assistance in such efforts. This article describes the formation of a women’s faculty writing group at one Christian higher education institution, and how the support from within that group, helped to facilitate and increase each member’s scholarship agenda and productivity.

Musembe School: How One School And Surrounding Community Was Transformed, Eloise Hockett, John Muhanji

Faculty Publications - College of Education

"The story of Eloise and John's work in the Muliro Village area of rural Kenya perhaps best represents all of the tenets of cultural humility in play at the same time. Eloise and John had the unique opportunity to enter into a project that had not been on their radar, nor one they had envisioned or planned for. However, God had specific plansfor one small primary school known as Musembe, and the surrounding community of Muliro Village."

Collaborating With Theatre, Nature, And Stem: A Multigenerational Family Event, Anni K. Reinking, Michael J. Vetere Iii, Jay C. Percell

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Family engagement can take many different formats, including community events. In this study, the researchers designed an event to encourage multigenerational family involvement using STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and DAT (developmentally appropriate theater). The study was also designed in an outside environment to encourage interactions with nature and outdoor physical activity. The researchers found that families enjoyed the event and understood the academic and social benefits of nature and arts based education. Overall, this study continues a conversation focused on the importance of engaging families in nature and art based activities.

Faithful Educators: Evangelism In Public Schools, Gary Sehorn

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Evangelicals serving in public schools share a religious mandate with fellow Evangelicals to spread the gospel. That mandate must coexist with role-based professional obligations to students, staff, and the school community. In this paper, evangelizing in public schools by teachers and administrators is explored with emphasis given to evangelistic instincts rooted in religious socialization. Christian educators generally seek to offer a Christian witness within the boundaries of the law and there is evidence that most Evangelical educators avoid overt proselytizing, however counterexamples are plentiful. An analytical frame is proposed that describes common approaches to evangelism in public schools and points …

Maximizing Academic Success For Foster Care Students: A Trauma-Informed Approach, Anna A. Berardi Phd., Brenda M. Morton

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Children in foster care have experienced significant trauma due to the loss of primary attachment figures and the circumstances associated with that loss. Children who have suffered trauma generally present with cognitive, social, physical, and emotional vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are often expressed in the P–12 academic setting through difficulties with behavioral and emotional self-regulation, academic functioning, and physical ailments and illness related to chronic stress-induced compromised immune systems. This results in academic failure for half of all children in care. Training in how to respond to children who have suffered trauma is essential to ensure that children are comfortable and …

Thinking Critically About Data Displays, Luke Duesbery, Jenelle Braun-Monegan Stone, Kimy Liu, Jan Mccoy

Faculty Publications - College of Education

The quality of a data display can have an impact on the interpretation of those data. A survey of the literature indicates that data displays can vary in quality of accuracy, clarity, and efficacy. In this study we develop and apply an evaluative rubric to graphs in a sample of six education journals: three research and three practitioner. Results indicate that graph quality is typically high in educational journals, however, in practitioner oriented journals issues around graph clarity and efficacy should be addressed. Common error patterns are pinpointed, and four recommendations are made to authors and editors: focus on meaningful …

Subtraction Involving Negative Numbers: Connecting To Whole Number Reasoning, Laura Bofferding, Nicole Wessman-Enzinger

Faculty Publications - College of Education

In this article, we explore how students attempt to bridge from their whole number reasoning to integer reasoning as they solve subtraction problems involving negative numbers. Based on interviews with students ranging from first graders to preservice teachers, we identify two overarching strategies: making connections to known problem types and leveraging conceptions of subtraction. Their initial connections suggest that rather than identifying the best instructional models to teach integer concepts, we should focus on identifying integer instructional models that build on the potentially productive connections that students’ already make; we propose an example of one such form of instruction.

Wertheimer's "Faith Ed.: Teaching About Religion In An Age Of Intolerance" (Book Review), Gary Sehorn Dr.

Faculty Publications - College of Education

A review of:

Linda K. Wertheimer

Faith Ed.: Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance

Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2015 pb 211pp ISBN 978-0-8070-8616-2

Examining Pinterest As A Curriculum Resource For Negative Integers: An Initial Investigation, Joshua T. Hertel, Nicole Enzinger

Faculty Publications - College of Education

This paper reports an investigation of mathematical resources available on the social media site Pinterest. Pinterest is an online bulletin board where users create visual bookmarks called pins in order to share digital content (e.g., webpages, images, videos). Although recent surveys have shown that Pinterest is a popular reference for teachers, understanding of the mathematical resources available on the site is lacking. To take initial steps in investigating the curriculum resources provided by Pinterest, we used keyword searches to gather a database of pins related to the topic of negative integers. A content analysis was conducted on the pins with …

Preservice Teachers’ Algebraic Reasoning And Symbol Use On A Multistep Fraction Word Problem, Amanda Miller, Jennifer Tobias, Elif Safak, J. Vince Kirwan, Nicole Enzinger, Megan Wickstrom, Jae Baek

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Previous research on preservice teachers’ understanding of fractions and algebra has focused on one or the other. To extend this research, we examined 85 undergraduate elementary education majors and middle school mathematics education majors’ solutions and solution paths (i.e., the ways or methods in which preservice teachers solve word problems) when combining fractions with algebra on a multistep word problem. In this article, we identify and describe common strategy clusters and approaches present in the preservice teachers’ written work. Our results indicate that preservice teachers’ understanding of algebra include arithmetic methods, proportions, and is related to their understanding of a …

Promotion To Dean: 7 Best Ways To Guarantee Failure, Amy Lynn Dee

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Solid faculty members with longevity at a Christian college often find themselves in new roles. This can be the result of their own choice or sometimes even coercion, such as when failed searches or limited financial resources “force” faculty into these new roles.

The Teacher's Authority (Chapter 13 In What Teachers Need To Know: Topics In Diversity And Inclusion), Ken Badley

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Excerpt: "Why should students follow their teacher’s lead? Why should they do what their teacher asks or tells them to do? These questions move us directly into the important and complex question of the teacher’s classroom authority. The importance of understanding teachers’ authority is obvious; classrooms without a leader usually sink into chaos. While almost everyone intuitively grasps the importance of teachers’ authority, many miss its complexity. Even the two questions at the start of this paragraph reveal some of that complexity: Why should students follow their teacher’s lead? Why should they do what their teacher asks or tells them …

Relationships With Families: Have Educators Overlooked A Critical Piece Of The Puzzle?, Karen S. Buchanan, Thomas D. Buchanan

Faculty Publications - College of Education

While the importance of a professional teacher’s collaboration with diverse families is clearly highlighted in the US Department of Education’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and in US teaching standards, research consistently reports that teachers feel unprepared to do this aspect of their work. The failure of the teaching profession to grow in partnering with families is a persistent and puzzling challenge in education. In this article, we argue that educators often overlook a critical piece of that puzzle. A foundational step in building effective partnerships with families is the development of relationships with parents. A careful review of the …

The Story Of A Growing Partnership Between The George Fox University College Of Education And The Ramallah Friends School, Keelan Lofaro, Scot Headley, Lynette Elwyn

Faculty Publications - College of Education

The following is a story of the first step in a growing collegial partnership between two Quaker institutions: George Fox University (GFU) and Ramallah Friends School (RFS). George Fox University began functioning in 1891 as Pacific Academy, a preparatory school. Friends settlers who had located in the Willamette Valley community of Newberg, Oregon desired a school for their children (George Fox University-History, 2017). At present, the University has grown into a thriving institution serving undergraduate and graduate students in Newberg and other sites across the state of Oregon. One of the core themes that both faculty and students at George …

Promoting Educational Opportunity And Achievement Through 1:1 Ipads, Gayle Y. Thieman, Tatiana Cevallos

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to expand the growing body of research on the educational impact of 1:1 mobile devices, investigating the iPad’s potential to reduce the disparity of access to high-quality instructional technology and achievement for low income, racially, and linguistically diverse students.

Design/methodology/approach – This three-year, mixed-method study investigated the degree to which a 1:1 iPad initiative reduced the disparity of technology access and instructional use and improved student learning and attendance. The research design included survey data on student technology skills, experiences and use and teacher focus groups to confirm and contextualize the survey …

Mexican Dance Group: Breaking Barriers One Tap At A Time (Chapter In Emerging Issues And Trends In Education), Tatiana Cevallos

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Excerpt: "With a growing number of Hispanic students in schools (Díaz-Rico & Weed, 2014; Oregon Department of Education, 2012), many educators wonder how to make the school community more accessible to Hispanic parents (González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Gorski & Pothini, 2014; Valdés, 1996; Wink, 2005). The dance group described in this chapter demonstrates a natural way in which one teacher has accomplished Hispanic parental accessibility and, in doing so, positively impacted her school community. Rosa Floyd, the director of Nellie Muir’s Dance Group, has been teaching in Spanish-English bilingual classrooms for more than nineteen years. She came from Mexico …

The Starting Point For Empowering Your Students (Chapter 12 Of Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning), John Spencer, A.J. Juliani

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Excerpt: "Student ownership is a big idea. It takes time to develop the systems and structures for things like student-selected intervention, enrichment, and student self-assessments. Besides, you probably have great lessons that aren't necessarily choice driven (like that amazing read-aloud with that Socratic Seminar built into it).

This is the start of a journey. It will take years to figure out what works for you. But that's okay. Every small act of student ownership is another step in the journey.

Sometimes it helps to start out with one choice-driven project. This allows you to spend some time planning and reflecting …