Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond Progressive Education: Why John Andrew Rice Really Opened Black Mountain College, Jennifer M. Ritter

Rollins Undergraduate Research Journal

This article analyses the career and personality of Professor John Andrew Rice. It focuses on the events and influences that shaped his decision to Open Black Mountain College in the midst of the Great Depression. His clash with Rollins College President, Hamilton Holt, is discussed at length. Rice’s role at Black Mountain College is touched upon briefly, as is Black Mountains’ emphasis on the arts and progressive teaching methods.

The Context For Change: Reconceptualising The 3rs In Education For Indigenous Students, Elizabeth M. Jackson-Barrett

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract

In 2011, three years on from the Apology given by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd to the Stolen Generations and coupled with the Federal Governments agenda to ‘close the gap’ in education for Aboriginal students, perhaps it is time to retrospectively look at the issues and challenges that have moulded the terrain of Aboriginal education in Western Australia. It is clear that over the last 200 years there has been progress in improving the access of schooling for many Aboriginal students. However the retention and successful completion of compulsory schooling still remain at unacceptable levels. It is these current performance …

The Impacts Of Educational Attainment, Professional Interests, And Residency On Community Involvement And Civic Engagement, Elizabeth Young

Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Journal

Individual civic engagement choices are quite complex and various life events and experiences can influence a person's civic activity or lack thereof. This work examines a group of citizens in a specific location who have chosen to take the first step toward serving their community. The goal of the research is to view civic engagement in broader terms than just a motivation to vote on Election Day, but to provide a sustainable volunteer force for improving communities. The research investigates the role educational attainment plays in encouraging civic involvement.

Teaching Asia In The American South: A Case Study Of An African American Teacher’S Journey, Guichun Zong

Journal of Emerging Knowledge on Emerging Markets

Policy makers and researchers in American teacher education have long called for increased numbers of minority teachers to address the cultural gap between teachers and students, particularly in urban schools. However, very little is known about what these teacher candidates bring to and what happens to them as they progress through their professional development programs. The central purpose of this case study is to gain insights on an African American teacher candidate’ perspectives on teaching about Asia in the era of globalization: its primary purpose, curriculum, and effective strategies and resources to engage students. It also explores factors that shape …

Race To The Top: An Example Of Belief-Dependent Reality. A Response To "Race To The Top Leaves Children And Future Citizens Behind", William J. Mathis

Democracy and Education

Although the federal government claims otherwise, Race to the Top is not research based. Rather, its foundation is in ideology and belief-based realism. The overall effort is fundamentally antiscientific and distracts valuable and needed attention, resources, and focus from the nation's real problems of social, economic, and educational deprivation.

Creating Communities: Working With Refugee Students In Classrooms, Kevin C. Roxas

Democracy and Education

This article critically examines the reality of building community in public schools and specifically identifies the obstacles faced by teachers who try to create community with refugee students. The research in the article focuses on Ms. Patricia Engler, a teacher in a newcomer center for refugee students located in an urban setting. Engler created and fostered a sense of community for middle-school students in her classroom who often felt disconnected to their fellow students, their school, and the neighborhoods in which they lived, and was able to focus on work that she intuitively felt was right for her students based …

Race To The Top Leaves Children And Future Citizens Behind: The Devastating Effects Of Centralization, Standardization, And High Stakes Accountability, Joe Onosko

Democracy and Education

President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top (RTT) is a profoundly flawed educational reform plan that increases standardization, centralization, and test-based accountability in our nation’s schools. Following a brief summary of the interest groups supporting the plan, who is currently participating in this race, why so many states voluntarily submitted proposals, and what features of the plan that are most problematic, eight arguments are offered as to why RTT is highly detrimental to our nation.

A Journey, Not A Destination, James L. Phelps

Educational Considerations

Closing Essay: Much of the motivation and ideas for the articles in this special issue originated with my dear friend, Maris Abolins, Professor Emeritus of Physics at Michigan State University. We started as neighbors and, as our kids grew up together, we socialized frequently. He is responsible for my interest in physics. I would read a physics book, which would become the subject of our next dinner conversation (while our wives talked about other, more social topics). Instead of a compilation of facts, physics became a way of thinking about problem solving. The “unified field” theory was the start of …

Work In Progress, Rachel Hatch

Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, 2002-2017

Several renovation projects near completion and

the new classroom building moves closer to launch.

On The Write Track, Rachel Hatch

Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, 2002-2017

The need to write well is promoted across the University's curriculum.

A Centrist Solution To Central American Violence And Inequality, Devin Joshi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The northern triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) has experienced horrific violence, poverty, and a vicious cycle of human rights violations for decades. Repeated natural disasters and the re-routing of the drug trade through Central America are not helping the situation. On the other hand, nearby Costa Rica has achieved a much higher standard of human rights, public safety, and political stability. Why? Costa Rica has put in place four pillars of development and stability lacking in most other countries in the region: a stronger state, an educated population, inter-racial cooperation, and a more inclusive democracy. For …

Integration Experiences And Youth Perspectives: An Exploratory Study Of School-Going Somali Youth In Melbourne, Australia And Minneapolis, Minnesota, Yusuf Sheikh Omar

Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies

No abstract provided.

The Voices Of Minority Students In An Agricultural Communications And Journalism Program: A Case Study, Rebecca Mcgovney-Ingram, Tracy Rutherford, Alvin Larke Jr.

Journal of Applied Communications

In 1998, the National Association of State University and Land Grant Colleges addressed the “access challenge” for minority students, stating nothing less than open opportunity and commitment would embrace the land grant history. Researchers have documented barriers and strategies for the recruitment and retention of minority students in agricultural education. The experiences minority students have in college are unique, and effective recruitment and retention strategies should only be developed after in-depth, explorative conversations with the students; therefore, the purpose of this study was to begin the dialogue with minority students in agricultural communications. Nine students, eight female and one male …

The Courage To Critique Policies And Practices From Within: Youth Participatory Action Research As Critical Policy Analysis. A Response To “Buscando La Libertad: Latino Youths In Search Of Freedom In School”, Anjale Welton

Democracy and Education

This response to “Buscando la Libertad: Latino Youths in Search of Freedom in School” by Jason G. Irizarry demonstrates how youth participatory action research (YPAR) as an instrument of subverting oppressive school policies and structures is a form of critical policy analysis (CPA). As an evolving method, CPA acknowledges the absent voices in policy, questions policy inequities, fosters empowerment, and influences policy. Youths who engage in YPAR, as demonstrated by Project FUERTE, have the courage to critique school policies that have the power to alter their educational trajectories, which offers more hope for change than scholarly elites who critique policies …

Building And Sustaining Hope. A Response To “Meaningful Hope For Teachers In A Time Of High Anxiety And Low Morale”, Kathy Hytten

Democracy and Education

In this essay, I respond to Carrie Nolan and Sarah M. Stitzlein’s article “Meaningful Hope for Teachers in a Time of High Anxiety and Low Morale” and support their argument for meaningful hope grounded in pragmatist philosophy. I agree that while hope is routinely called for in the educational literature, it is often done so in superficial and vacuous ways. Moreover, hope is often conflated with wishful thinking or naive optimism. A pragmatist vision of hope is different. It is a hope that compels us to act thoughtfully and creatively in the present so as to open up yet unimagined …

Class, Race, And The Discourse Of “College For All.” A Response To “Schooling For Democracy”, Ronald David Glass, Kysa Nygreen

Democracy and Education

We critique the “college for all” discourse by unveiling its relationship to the politics of education, the broader economic and political contexts, and the class and race structures embedded in society and schooling, including higher education. We analyze the current and future labor markets to demonstrate the ways that the “college for all” discourse overstates the need for math and science knowledge and skills within the workforce, and we analyze the debt burdens associated with college attendance and completion to demonstrate that the promised benefits of “college for all” are often illusory for low-income, racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students. …

Democracy And Development: The Role Of Outside-Of-School Experiences In Preparing Young People To Be Active Citizens, Carrie L. Lobman

Democracy and Education

Public schools historically have been the primary institution responsible for preparing young people for participation in a democratic society. However, the almost exclusive focus by today’s schools on knowledge and skills hinders their ability to be environments that support overall development and to produce the kinds of flexible, creative, and critical citizens that are needed to continuously create and recreate democracy. This review of the literature reframes the topic of democracy and education so as to address the relationship between democracy and development specific to youth development. In so doing, it adds practices by and findings from outside-of-school youth development …

Beyond The Catch-22 Of School-Based Social Action Programs: Toward A More Pragmatic Approach For Dealing With Power, Darwyn Fehrman, Aaron Schutz

Democracy and Education

This study examines a two-year effort to engage groups of inner-city students in community engagement projects at Social Action Charter High School, SACHS, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In this project, graduate student volunteers coached small groups of students working on community change projects, collecting data on what happened over time. Kahne and Westheimer (2006) identified a key challenge to projects of this kind. On the one hand, social action projects seem able to enhance students’ belief in their own capacity to solve community problems only if adult allies make sure the students do not encounter any significant barriers to success, although …

Meaningful Hope For Teachers In Times Of High Anxiety And Low Morale, Carrie Nolan, Sarah Marie Stitzlein

Democracy and Education

Many teachers struggle to maintain or build hope among themselves and their students in today’s climate of high anxiety and low morale. This article describes and responds to those challenging conditions. It offers teachers and scholars of education a philosophically sophisticated and feasible understanding of hope. This notion of hope is grounded in pragmatism and grows out of the pragmatist commitment to meliorism. Hope is described as a way of living tied to specific contexts that brings together reflection and intelligent action alongside imagination and gratitude. Such hope is realistic and generative, rendering it well suited for teachers struggling in …

The Fun Factor, Rachel Hatch

Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, 2002-2017

Illinois Wesleyan’s busy students are finding new and healthy ways to relax and let off steam.

Transforming Undergraduate And Graduate Candidate Social Perceptions About Diverse Learners Through Critical Reflection, Tonnie Martinez, Janet Penner-Williams, Socorro Herrera, Diane Rodriguez

Educational Considerations

Each preservice or inservice teacher who faces the prospect of student diversity in clinical experiences or practice settings does so with an individual set of assumptions about cultures and languages that differ from his or her own. Mezirow (1991) maintained that reflections on such assumptions and presuppositions about oneself and others can lead to “transformative learning”; or “learning that transforms problematic frames of reference."

Promoting Diversity Through Multilevel Activism: An Organizational Approach, Patricia Alvarez Mchatton, Barbara J. Shircliffe, Deirde Cobb-Roberts

Educational Considerations

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) was founded in 1954 to serve as an independent body in promoting high quality teacher preparation programs.

From Compliance To Engagement: Lessons Learned From Applying A Transformational Approach To Ncate Standard 4-Diversity, Robert Shockley, John Hardman, Eliah Watlington, Patricia Heydet-Kirsch

Educational Considerations

In March 2007, Florida Atlantic University hosted a joint NCATE/Florida Department of Education site visit. This successful site visit and following Unit Accreditation Board report resulted in full NCATE accreditation with only one weakness cited.

Teaching At The Grass Roots, Iwu Magazine

Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, 2002-2017

Drew Snodgrass ’07 found the ideal place for him to make a difference: in the classroom.

Education For Somali Students In London: Challenges And Strategies, Joseph Rasmussen

Macalester Abroad: Research and Writing from Off-campus Study

No abstract provided.

An Ncate-Approved School Of Education Self-Study On Diversity: Faculty And Student Perceptions, Susan R. Warren, Maria A. Pacino, Tami Foy, Torria Bond

Educational Considerations

Accreditation bodies for institutions of higher education like the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) require colleges and universities to create campus climates and experiences for students that foster diversity.

The Necessity Of Increased Funding For Gifted Education And More Training For Teachers In Charge Of Identifying Gifted Students, Sarah Lichtenwalter

ESSAI

No abstract provided.

Elementary-Teacher Preparation Program, Jennifer Wendt

ESSAI

No abstract provided.

Mental Health Counselor: Is This Career For You?, Bekah Myroup

ESSAI

No abstract provided.

Gifted Students Need Special Programs To Achieve Their Fullest Potential, Kasie-Marie Smith

ESSAI

No abstract provided.