Education Commons^™

Self Portraits: How The Arts May Be The Key To Equitable And Authentic Engagement For Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Student Populations, Betsy Sostak

Dissertations

As the linguistic and cultural diversity across America’s classrooms steadily increases, educators are searching for ways to meet the needs of their students. The linguistic and cultural resources our students bring are a tremendous asset, yet our country has not been able to fully realize the potential of a diverse population. While multilingual students are often perceived to lack background knowledge, connections to school, and linguistic resources, the arts have the capacity to increase engagement, connect to diverse cultural backgrounds, and transcend language barriers. In this study, I explore the ways in which educational equity may be achieved to a …

Ai-Supported Academic Advising: Exploring Chatgpt’S Current State And Future Potential Toward Student Empowerment, Daisuke Akiba, Michelle C. Fraboni

Publications and Research

Artificial intelligence (AI), once a phenomenon primarily in the world of science fiction, has evolved rapidly in recent years, steadily infiltrating into our daily lives. ChatGPT, a freely accessible AI-powered large language model designed to generate human-like text responses to users, has been utilized in several areas, such as the healthcare industry, to facilitate interactive dissemination of information and decision-making. Academic advising has been essential in promoting success among university students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Unfortunately, however, student advising has been marred with problems, with the availability and accessibility of adequate advising being among the hurdles. The current study …

Staying The Course: Toward Strong Hqim Implementation In Delaware, Grace Mccarty, Molly Gurny, Michelle Cao, Alison Drileck, Mahima Golani, Robert Mccarthy, Krista Morales, Nathan Small

Center for Public Research and Leadership

With the implementation of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and curriculum-based professional learning, Delaware educators, students, and families have ventured into promising, challenging new territory. HQIM ask a great deal of their users. Educators are called upon to abandon traditional approaches to instruction, allowing kids to loudly drive classroom discourse rather than passively taking notes on teacher lectures. Students are asked to grapple with rigorous, problem-based subject matter that offers no easy answers and requires deep analytical thinking and collaboration. Families are asked to support their children’s learning when the materials and resources that come home may feel unfamiliar and overwhelming. …

Reading On The Ropes: A Pilot Study Of An Accelerated Remediation Program With Alternative High School Students, Joanne V. Coggins, Laura C. Briggs

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

High school students must read to learn curriculum, yet few interventions are proven to substantially help close literacy gaps for older students with reading deficits. Students with large literacy deficits particularly benefit from explicit, systematic instruction of interventions emphasizing the structure of language (i.e., phonology, orthography, syntax, morphology, semantics, pragmatics), aspects of cognition (i.e., problem solving, attention, reasoning, and inferencing), and organization of spoken and written language.

A 14-week pilot study of Readable English, a reading intervention using these structured literacy elements, provided embedded interactive orthography to scaffold online grade level content for students at two alternative high schools ( …

E2: Equity And Excellence Framework, Adrienne Coleman, Traci Ellis

Publications & Research

Both the United States and the United Nations have identified, examined, and put out a call to action to address the educational inequities that have disproportionately and negatively affected racially minoritized students, as well as those from a lower socioeconomic background, and poorer countries. Data from the Nations Report Card and the Global Monitoring Report provide evidence of disparities in academic performance and access to equitable educational resources. The outcome of these inequities impacts countries throughout the world, as their residents will not possess the skills and knowledge to thrive in a rapidly evolving global society, nor possess the critical …

Vcu And The Virginia Course Materials Survey, Jessica Kirschner

Open and Affordable Course Content at VCU

In Fall 2021, VIVA, Virginia’s Academic Library Consortium, distributed the Virginia Course Materials Survey to a selection of students at Virginia higher education institutions. The survey hoped to explore:

1. The relationship between educational equity and textbook costs, and

2. Which textbook features most benefited students’ learning experiences.

This report presents the results from this survey, focused on Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Included is an executive summary, full report, and data set for the VCU summary level data, available as percentages, and select student quotes from the free response.

Defining Critical Literacy: A Challenge To A Power Structure, Matt Albert

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Defining the concept of critical literacy is a difficult task because of its inherently murky boundaries. As time has progressed in the last four to five decades, attitudes and perceptions of literacy have shifted in ways which necessitate a redefining of the concept. This paper presents a retelling of an actual task presented to a graduate student by his committee. In that task, the committee asked for a concise (150 words or fewer) construction of a definition of critical literacy. This article begins with a very brief reflection on the task itself followed by the execution that attempted to circumvent …

Transforming Afterschool Programs Into "Engines Of Development": A Policy Analysis Of The Federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Jane Quinn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although schools receive most of the attention in discussions of and research about educational policy, an equally important—and under-investigated—arena is the non-school hours. American students spend more time outside of school than in school, and a host of studies have shown that the ways young people spend their discretionary time can greatly influence their short-term and long-term outcomes. Issues of educational equity are deeply embedded in the topic because opportunities to participate in high quality out-of-school learning experiences are not evenly distributed in American society. The single most important policy target in this aspect of student life is the federal …

Building A Culture Of Collaboration And Shared Responsibility For Educational Equity Work Through An Inclusive Teaching Community Of Practice, Francesca Marineo, Chelsea Heinbach, Rosan Mitola

Collaborative Librarianship

For libraries to be equitable spaces as educational institutions and places of employment, it is necessary that educational equity be a shared, collaborative goal. Unfortunately, equity and inclusion work in libraries has historically been an individual pursuit that falls disproportionately on the shoulders of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) library workers. Communities of practice employ social learning principles to facilitate praxis and offer opportunities to develop shared goals, language, and responsibility. This article explores how we developed and implemented an inclusive teaching community of practice with members of our instruction department in order to foster a culture of …

Implications For Educational Equity Due To Master Scheduling Decisions Made By Site Administrators, Rachel Pittman

CGU Theses & Dissertations

It is well documented that excellent teachers are not equitably distributed among students in traditional public high schools. Research shows teacher labor market economics and the micropolitics of schooling significantly facilitate the migration of excellent teachers between districts and schools and within schools so the teachers may secure course assignments that house the most academically successful students. No study has yet addressed within-school assignment of teachers made by site administrators through the mechanism known as the Master Schedule. This dissertation examined the factors that influence teacher–course pairing decisions made by site administrators in traditional high school settings in California and …

Forward Together: Building A Field That Works For Families, Center For Public Research And Leadership

Center for Public Research and Leadership

The coronavirus pandemic revealed the necessity, the complexity, and the tremendous value of building strong ties between schools and families. To ensure continuity of learning, schools were forced to rely heavily on families and caregivers to support learning in the home.

But the conversation around family engagement is not new. The value of family involvement in education has been clear for decades, with strong evidence establishing this engagement as a critical driver of student academic and socioemotional outcomes.

Building on this robust research base, the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY) in 2016 began to explore a strategy of building …

A Quasi-Experimental Study On How Free College Influences Educational Equity In The United States Based On Analysis Of The Excelsior Program, Zhuoyao Liu

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

ABSTRACT

Educational equity has long been an important issue to which the U.S. government, academia, and the public have paid great attention in past decades. The federal government and state governments have successively promulgated policies to reduce the equity gap between well-represented and underrepresented students. As such, the Promise Program (a representative of free college policy) has become a popular tool to address the educational equity issue. New York was the first state in the United States that announced a statewide Promise (called the Excelsior Program) applying the free college policy to all public higher education sectors for its state …

Fundamental 4: Pandemic Learning Reveals The Value Of High-Quality Instructional Materials To Educator-Family-Student Partnerships, Elizabeth Chu, Andrea Clay, Grace Mccarty

Center for Public Research and Leadership

The COVID-19 pandemic caused enormous disruptions to PK-12 school systems, including long-held beliefs about teaching and learning. After several months of unexpected virtual and hybrid learning, some school systems have emerged with a new understanding of the instructional core. Commonly thought of as the relationships between teacher, student, and instructional materials that support student learning, these leaders have expanded their understanding of the instructional core to include families.

We conducted nearly 300 interviews with students, families, and educators from nine school districts and charter school organizations to learn more about the expanded instructional core. In Fundamental 4, we share …

Breaking Barriers And Bread To Build Bridges: How Do Latina/O Families And Schools Develop Meaningful Home-School Relationships?, Cathy A. Shappell

Education Doctorate Dissertations

There is a plethora of research that shows parental engagement is a key contributor to student success. The Latina/o population is the fastest-growing demographic group in our country. Statistical evidence supports that by the year 2050, one out of every three students in our public schools will identify as Latina/o (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Latina/o parents overwhelmingly identify education for their children as a top priority and hope to engage with schools to help improve the educational system and advocate for the needs of their children. However, there are significant barriers that still exist including language, logistical issues, …

“They’Re In The Shadows”: School Counselors Share The Lived Experiences Of Latino/A Undocumented Students, Katherine E. Bernal-Arevalo, Sergio Pereyra, Dominiqua M. Griffin, Gitima Sharma

Journal of College Access

Latino/a undocumented students are among the population of students who are in danger of not graduating or pursuing college due to the unique set of challenges they face navigating education in the U.S. This study aims to understand undocumented students' experiences and the factors that impede them from furthering their education. As professionals in education, school counselors can offer a unique perspective on the barriers that college-bound undocumented students face when pursuing higher education. Using a phenomenological approach, data was gathered from counselors (N=14) across 10 school districts. The findings revealed undocumented students are faced with a myriad of challenges, …

Learning From The History Of Language Oppression: Educators As Agents Of Language Justice, Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo, Ferial Pearson

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

There is a long history in this country of language oppression that has led to policies currently in place that affect the way educators are asked to teach. Therefore, educators must understand national and local language policy to know how it affects their students and how they can perform their duties as educators. Even though the U.S. does not have an official language, states have enacted language policies through court decisions and legislation. These policies have led to students being denied access to English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual education programs, resources, and accommodations, all of which lead …

Anonymous Gift Given To The Wabanaki Center Will Wabanaki Student Higher Education, Megan Ashe

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

In late November 2020, an anonymous donor gifted $100,000 to the Wabanaki Center at the University of Maine. Working closely with the Center’s coordinator, professor John Bear Mitchell, the pair created the Wabanaki Student Development and Success Fund at the University of Maine Foundation. The money in this fund will go towards Wabanaki students who are pursuing an undergraduate degree. Some money will be made immediately available while another portion of the donation will be used to promote success in the future.

Teaching Practices, Institutional Cultures, And Access To Music Learning, Jonah Garcia

Honors Scholar Theses

The mission of the National Association for Music Education is “to advance music education by promoting the understanding and making of music by all” (NAfME, n.d.-b). Despite these aspirations of equality, research suggests that both demographics and geography have a role in determining who is able to participate and who will choose to participate in school music (Elpus & Abril, 2019; Salvador and Allegood, 2014). This study examined the factors that influence school music participation and the representation of student populations in the music programs of two Connecticut secondary schools. Names of schools and participants have been changed to preserve …

Educational Equity And Informal Stem Field Trip Programming, Sal Alper

Master's Theses

Informal STEM field trip programming is a large, yet under-researched area of the education landscape. Informal STEM education providers are often serving a more privileged section of society, leading to a risk of perpetuating inequalities seen throughout the education landscape. In an attempt to address the lack of research, this thesis explores the relationship between educational equity and informal STEM field trips. The intention was to collect data using a critical ethnography approach to the methods of qualitative questionnaire and interviews of informal STEM educators. A change in circumstances from the global pandemic of COVID-19 caused a shift in this …

Searching For A Vision: Understanding Educational Equity In Rural Minnesota, Jessica Murphy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The level of clarity and commitment to educational equity varies from district to district and is different in a rural district as opposed to an urban district. The purpose of this dissertation study is to clarify the educational equity work in a rural setting for myself and others. This qualitative study utilized grounded theory analysis and autoethnography1 to answer the primary question of What are the skills, dispositions, and content knowledge that equity specialists in rural Minnesota describe as being effective to better prepare them in their work toward achieving educational equity? The study focused on perspectives shared from equity …

Interdistrict Choice And Teacher Beliefs: Implications For Educational Expectations, Equity, And Policymaking, Eric P. Ambroso, Erin Rotheram-Fuller, Daniel D. Liou

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Interdistrict choice, which allows families to choose between schools outside of their districts of residence, is currently serving more students than any other choice program in the United States. Yet, despite this popularity, there is a pressing need for more research on how interdistrict choice may affect educational equity within U.S. public schools. Drawing on the analytic framework of educational racial contract, this study examines the issue of teacher beliefs in the context of interdistrict choice at a large, urban high school in Arizona, where market-based school choice programs have been continually expanded for nearly three decades. Data were collected …

State Of The University Address Delivered By President Ferrini-Mundy, Maria Maxsimic

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

On Feb. 4, 2020, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy delivered the State of the University address to a crowd of community members, faculty and alumni. Dr. Eric Wilmot, a professor in mathematics and statistics, introduced the University of Maine Orono and Machias’ president. During the address, Ferrini-Mundy touched upon a number of different successes that the two campuses had celebrated in the past year. Additionally, she described the challenges that the universities are expected to face this coming year and what the plans are to address the foreseen problems. Ferrini-Mundy acknowledged the beginning of Black History Month, which is celebrated during the …

Rethinking Constitutionality In Education Rights Cases, Joshua E. Weishart

Arkansas Law Review

Education rights cases often devolve into a farce of constitutional brinkmanship played by a miserable cast of reluctant courts and recalcitrant legislatures. Between successive rounds of litigation and tepid legislative fixes, come threats of impeaching judges, closing schools, stripping courts of jurisdiction, and holding legislators in contempt. Despite all the bluster, judges and legislators both anxiously await the curtain call, when they can bow out and terminate the matter. In the end, what passes for constitutionality in the successful cases is a school funding scheme judged “reasonably likely” or “reasonably calculated” to achieve an adequate or equitable education—as opposed to …

Supporting Self-Efficacy Through After-School Progamming, Rene' J. Alford

Education Projects

Over the years, much attention has come to the disproportionate achievement of minority students versus their other race peers. Although many initiatives have been implemented across the nation to address the achievement gap, our school systems still show a considerable difference in student achievement, specifically between White and Black subgroups. Although varying from school district to school district, White students across the country continue to score almost two grade levels higher than Black students on average (Barshay, 2019). To address this issue, school systems are realigning professional development practices to reflect more culturally responsive instruction, moving to a mentality that …

Canadian Postsecondary Leaders’ Understanding And Promotion Of Social Justice And Educational Equity, Pamela Jacqueline Cawley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Canadian universities are educating an increasingly diverse student body and have a role in rectifying inequities and educating students to contribute to a democratic and inclusive society, but little is known about how mainstream leaders understand such leadership. The purpose of this study was to examine how mainstream Canadian postsecondary leaders in Canada describe and understand their leadership related to social justice and educational equity. Critical social theory and applied critical leadership theory guided this study. This basic qualitative study using semistructured interviews explored how 11 mainstream postsecondary leaders have understood and promoted social justice and educational equity. Data analysis …

Pushing The Field & Practice: Ofelia García’S Reflective And Responsive Approach To Educational Innovation, Laura Ascenzi-Moreno, Sara Vogel

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

Ofelia García’s vision for educational equity for emergent bilinguals has always put children and their agency within social contexts at its heart. This essay draws upon Ofelia’s own writing and the experiences of the authors -- a current and a former student of hers -- to explore how centering people’s dynamic bilingual practices has been a source of innovation for bilingual education theory and practice.

Retrofitting Educators Through Sheltered Instruction Training: A Longitudinal Case Study Examining The Efficacy Of A Five-Year District-Wide Intervention Effort, Marisa Ferraro

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the impact of a district-wide professional development initiative to foster equitable pedagogies and practices for emergent bilingual students. The initiative spanned five years, 2012-2017, across one of the largest school districts in the Northeast. This quasi-experimental, mixed methods case study was conducted across twelve schools to investigate the efficacy of a sheltered instruction professional development program in three areas: 1) teacher learning and knowledge about sheltered instructional practices (n=1457) and application of the newly learned practices (n=70), 2) student learner outcomes, as measured by a standardized assessment, through three cohorts of third through eighth graders (n=457) and …

Critical Discourse Analysis And Critical Qualitative Inquiry: Data Analysis Strategies For Enhanced Understanding Of Inference And Meaning, Mary Ziskin

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This manuscript describes an approach to critical qualitative data analysis that combines (1) Carspecken’s critical qualitative methodological framework (1996; 2012) with (2) the conceptual resources of critical discourse analysis (CDA), as framed by Fairclough (2003, 2016) and colleagues (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Fairclough & Wodak, 1997). Carspecken’s methodological theory illuminates the connection between sociopolitical power and culture by introducing the content of validity claims into analysis of discourse. In turn, CDA helps to support the analysis of validity claims in that these are often expressed or legitimated through implicit references, and through the rhetoric, shape, or tone of what is …

Inside The Black Box: Stakeholder Perceptions On The Value Of Arts Field Trips, Angela Watson

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This descriptive, qualitative study, an extension of an experimental primary study, documents stakeholders’ experiences and perceptions of attending multiple field trips where urban elementary students in fourth and fifth grades were randomly assigned to receive three arts field trips including an art museum, a live theater performance, and a symphony concert. Evidence of declining K-12 attendance to educational cultural or arts field trips has been mounting for decades. Further, minority students in struggling schools and their teachers report attending fewer field trip experiences, as well as limited access to arts experiences in their schools. The full impact of this declining …

Arts Smarts Or Random Visits: Arts Field Trips In The American Education Policy Context, Angela R. Watson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The school field trip is as much a part of the American educational experience as letter grades and recess. However, in response to a variety of pressures such as accountability, safety, and funding, the school field trip is reported to be in decline. Traditional field trip destinations, like museums and zoos, claim that attendance has declined. Further, these institutions feel pressure to connect field trips directly to state educational standards, or even design field trips to meet state standards that may be outside their areas of expertise, in order to justify a field. In this collection of three studies, I …