Education Commons^™

Closing The Teacher Diversity Gap, Emily Holzknecht

Capstones

In New York City, 43 percent of boys in the public school system may never have a teacher who looks like them. Recruitment initiatives have brought more men of color into the classroom, but challenging work environments are driving these much-needed teachers to find more profitable work in a less stressful environment.

Nationally, minority and non-minority teachers are leaving the profession at an increasing rate. In New York, men of color represent about 8 percent of the teachers, while boys of color make up almost half of the student population. Taking aim at this disparity, the de Blasio administration plans …

Accessibility Services Roundtable Unconference Proceedings 2016, Lacuny Accessibility Services Roundtable, Robin Brown

Events

A group of 16, mostly librarians, met in the Archives Reading Room of City College Library on Friday, June 17, 2016. The format of our meeting was an unconference, which means the conversations were driven by the concerns of the participants. I have no doubt that anyone who reads this document will come away with different impressions. The ideas that jumped out at me include learning a lot more about universal design for learning. Be aware that phones can be used in the classroom as assistive technology. Consider doing a usability study of library resources in concert with students with …

The Remedy That's Killing: Cuny, Laguardia, And The Fight For Better Math Policy, Rachel A. Oppenheimer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nationwide, there is a crisis in math learning and math achievement at all levels of education. Upwards of 80% of students who enter the City University of New York’s community colleges from New York City’s Department of Education high schools fail to meet college level math proficiencies and as a result, are funneled into the system’s remedial math system. Once placed into pre-college remedial arithmetic, pre-algebra, and elementary algebra courses, students fail at alarming rates and research indicates that students’ failure in remedial math has negative ripple effects on their persistence and degree completion. CUNY is not alone in facing …

What Factors Influence Urban School Leaders Arts Programming Decisions, Jennifer Katona

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For some urban school leaders Arts Education is the most essential part of the students’ experience and to others it is something that can be easily taught in one afternoon a week. It is either a means of self-­‐expression or merely something fun for the kids. Where do these perspectives take shape and what role and impact does the school leaders’ belief have on the decisions surrounding offering an arts education in their school building? This study explores current research on the importance of an arts education as it pertains to its intrinsic and extrinsic value of the arts to …

High Impact Practices: Student Engagement And Retention, Giselle Bonet, Barbara R. Walters

Publications and Research

Community college students face special challenges that can impede their academic progress, resulting in lower grades and persistence than students in selective four-year colleges. Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, successfully addresses these challenges with learning communities: small cohorts of students in a blocked program of study, which includes developmental or basic English, a one-credit student skills course, and a social or behavioral science course. This research analyzes the short-term effects of the model by comparing a sample of 267 students enrolled in four learning community and four regular sections of sociology and psychology classes. The results demonstrate a …

Bronx Community College’S Education And Reading Department’S Catalytic Research Programs, Joan Wilson, Edward Lehner

Publications and Research

Faculty driven research is central to the intellectual integrity and financial viability of any college community. Greenwood and Levin (2005) highlight how colleges and universities have increasingly professionalized and commodified investigative practices in such a way that they no longer benefit the communities that they were created to serve. Bronx Community College's (BCC) Education and Reading Research Program is designed to question and interrupt research tendencies which propel self-fulfilling education and learning paradigms to produce and reify inter-generationally lived-realities and socio-economic reproduction of the least-advantaged communities. It is anticipated that the research efforts will also break the continuity of unintended …