Education Commons^™

The Viability Of Portraiture For Science Education Research: Learning From Portraits Of Two Scientific Classrooms, Cassie F. Quigley, Amy Trauth-Nare, Nicole Beeman-Cadwallader

Cassie F. Quigley

The purpose of this paper is to describe the relevance of a qualitative methodology called portraiture for science education. Portraiture is a method of inquiry that blends art and science by combining the empirical aspects of inquiry with the beauty and aesthetic properties. This method encompasses all aspects of a research study, including protocol, data collection and analysis, and presentation of findings. To examine the viability of portraiture as methodology for science education researchers, we provided two portraits of science teachers and their classrooms to illustrate how context played a significant role in teachers’ experiences and how it influenced their …

The Possibilities Of Being “Critical”: Discourses That Limit Options For Educators Of Color, Thomas M. Philip, Miguel Zavala

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Through a close reading of the talk of a self-identified critical educator of color, we explore the contradictions, possibilities, limitations, and consequences of this identity for teachers and teacher educators. We examine how the performances of particular critical educator of color identities problematically intertwine claims of Freirian pedagogy with crude dichotomizations of people as critical and non-critical. We explore how particular tropes limit the productive possibilities of being critical for other educators of color and erase the centrality of dialogue, reflexivity, and unfinishedness that define Freirian-inspired notions of being critical.

The Threads They Follow: Bank Street Teachers In A Changing World, Linda Darling-Hammond, Ira Lit

Books

This report focuses on graduates of Bank Street College Graduate School of Education teacher certification programs, by examining the quality of their preparation, their teaching practices upon graduation, and the influence they have on their students’ learning. It also looks at the cumulative effects of school-wide practices at schools supportive of the Bank Street approach. The results conveyed here are based on the combined analyses of extensive surveys of graduates and employers; large-scale administrative data related to the impact of program graduates on pupil learning in New York City public schools; in-depth classroom and school observations; and interviews of graduates, …

The Preparation, Professional Pathways, And Effectiveness Of Bank Street Graduates, Eileen Horng, Xinhua Zheng, Ira Lit, Linda Darling-Hammond

Books

Documents the influence of Bank Street teacher preparation programs based upon surveys of graduates, surveys of comparison teachers, surveys of employers, and an analysis of pupil achievement gains. This report is part of a larger study that examines the preparation, practices, and effectiveness of graduates of Bank Street College teacher certification programs over the last decade.

Pathologizing The Poor: Implications For Preparing Teachers To Work In High-Poverty Schools, Kerri Ullucci

Education Faculty Publications

The recent economic downturn highlights that poverty continues to be a significant social problem. Mindful of this demographic reality, it is imperative for teacher educators to pay close attention to the manner in which teachers are prepared to educate students from impoverished backgrounds. Given the number of frameworks that offer reductive recommendations for teaching students from impoverished backgrounds, we seek to accomplish two goals with this work: (a) to summarize mythologies about poverty that impact student–teacher relationships and (b) to offer new perspectives on educating students from impoverished backgrounds by providing anchor questions teacher educators can explore with pre-service teachers.

Urban Teachers Engaging In Critical Talk: Navigating Deficit Discourse And Neoliberal Logics, Heidi Pitzer

Journal of Educational Controversy

This article examines urban teachers’ critiques—their critical talk—as moments of agency, and as potential, but tenuous, avenues for transformation. The article draws on data from a qualitative interpretive study examining the complexities of urban teachers’ work. This research begins from a perspective that is attentive to and critical of both (a) the racialized deficit discourse, a predominant framework in urban schools—often taken up by urban teachers—that constructs poor urban youth and youth of color as deficient, as objects in need of control and correction; and (b) neoliberal approaches to education, particularly the market-based, audit culture logics and …

The Viability Of Portraiture For Science Education Research: Learning From Portraits Of Two Scientific Classrooms, Cassie F. Quigley, Amy Trauth-Nare, Nicole Beeman-Cadwallader

Publications

The purpose of this paper is to describe the relevance of a qualitative methodology called portraiture for science education. Portraiture is a method of inquiry that blends art and science by combining the empirical aspects of inquiry with the beauty and aesthetic properties. This method encompasses all aspects of a research study, including protocol, data collection and analysis, and presentation of findings. To examine the viability of portraiture as methodology for science education researchers, we provided two portraits of science teachers and their classrooms to illustrate how context played a significant role in teachers’ experiences and how it influenced their …

"I Want To Do More And Change Things": Reframing Cte Toward Possibilities In Urban Education, Korina Jocson

Korina Jocson

Deficit Discourse, Urban Teachers' Work And The Blame Game, Heidi Katherine Pitzer

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation explores how urban public school teachers navigate the contradictory social position of having little power over their work and considerable power over their students. This qualitative interpretive study begins from a perspective that is attentive to and critical of both (a) neoliberal approaches to education, particularly the market-based, audit culture logics and practices that devalue, discipline and target teachers as workers, and (b) the racialized deficit discourse, a predominant framework in urban schools--often taken up by urban teachers--that blames poor urban youth and youth of color for school problems, constructs them as objects in need of control and …

How Do Middle School Core Content Area Teachers In A Title 1 School Use Cooperative Learning In The Context Of High Accountability For Student Proficiency: A Multiple Case Study, Martha Cunigan-Wells

Dissertations

This action research case study describes how content area teachers in a middle school with low reading achievement levels utilize cooperative learning and curriculum integration (with a focus on the integration of literacy skills and thinking skills) in their content area given the current context of accountability for student mastery of tested core content outcomes. The participants were four urban middle school teachers from the core areas of science, social studies, mathematics, and language arts who had varying levels of training and experience with cooperative learning and curriculum integration. Data sources included audio-recorded pre-conferences, video-taped classroom observations, audio-recorded post-conferences, and …

The Educational Resilience Of Black Males: An Ecological Analysis Of Inner-City Students, Farris Muhammad

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Black males are often relegated to high poverty schools in inner-cities due to socio-economic status (Task Force on Resilience, 2008). There is a growing concern surrounding the academic achievements of Black males attending inner-city public schools. To this end, a great deal of literature highlights the poor performance of Black males and their challenges faced (Ferguson, 2003; William & Bryan, 2013). Much of the literature insufficiently provide adequate context of the trials incumbent upon these students which dims the light on their resilience. The literature on the educational resilience of Black males in inner-cities is dearth (O’Connor, 1997; Randle, 2012; …

Geometry: A Medium To Facilitate Geometric Reasoning Among Sixth Grade African-American Males, Olufunke Adefope

Georgia Educational Researcher

In this article, the author describes how a curricular unit that provided opportunities for active engagement and participation was used to support the geometric reasoning of sixth grade African American (AA) male students. The curricular unit was designed to support students’ understanding of quadrilaterals. Data sources (pre- and post-tests, video recordings of classroom episodes, mathematics interviews) were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods. Findings showed that students improved in their understanding of quadrilateral classifications. Specifically, students were able to use their knowledge of geometry to evaluate the relationships between pairs of quadrilaterals. However, levels of understanding were varied. Little research …

Teachers’ And Parents’ Perceptions Of Parental Involvement On Inner City Children’S Academic Success, Molly Zhou

Georgia Educational Researcher

Parental involvement (PI) is an important factor in children’s academic learning. In this study, teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of parental involvement on inner city children’s academic success were examined. The setting of the study was in an inner city Tittle I elementary school with a 90% African American student population. A purposeful random sampling method was used in the study. Fifty five parents and 14 teachers participated in the study. The Parental Involvement Survey was used to collect data from the 69 participants. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS. The findings revealed that parents and teachers perceived that family, extended …

Attitudes Toward Using Social Networking Sites In Educational Settings With Underperforming Latino Youth: A Mixed Methods Study, Keith Howard, Margaret Sauceda Curwen, Nicol R. Howard, Anaida Colon-Muñiz

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The researchers examined the online social networking attitudes of underperforming Latino high school students in an alternative education program that uses technology as the prime venue for learning. A sequential explanatory mixed methods study was used to cross-check multiple sources of data explaining students’ levels of comfort with utilizing a social networking site platform as a supplemental communication tool in connection with their schoolwork. Students were found to be significantly less comfortable using social networking sites than other online communication tools in connection with their schoolwork, and females were significantly more uncomfortable than males using such sites in school.

Urban Adolescents' Field Trip Experiences: A Phenomenological Perspective, Julia Elizabeth Anne Borst Brazas

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Evidence is mounting that field trips are vanishing from school life, as districts across the nation report reductions and eliminations of these outings because of funding concerns. The matter is of special importance in urban areas, where a wealth of museums are situated nearby neighborhoods in which poor and minority children live and attend school. These children are absent from the museum, less likely to visit with family because of the powerful exclusionary effect that educational attainment and income level have on museum socialization, making school the place where a connection to the museum is formed. However, opportunities for learning …

"True, She Has The Culture You Need": A White Teacher In An Urban School Critically Reflects On The Hidden, Social, And Academic Curriculum, Mathew Arlen Mclean

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is an auto|ethnography , meaning it places the author's experiences at the center of analysis. The thesis argues that educators from the dominant culture can share the burden of change placed on students of color by critically reflecting on their positionality--or the way they socially construct their understanding of who they are in the world and therefore their relationship to educational structures and school actors. The analysis focuses on the author's transition from suburban to urban teaching and how this experience, combined with a broadening of theoretical perspectives, increased his criticality and, therefore, ability to re-conceptualize his …

I Do Activist Things Even Though I'M Nothing: A Critical Ethnography Of Immigrant Youth Identity Formation In An Urban Community-School, Sophia Rodriguez

Dissertations

This dissertation explores how Latino immigrant youth make sense out of their educational experience, identity, and sense of belonging in an urban, public high school. This critical ethnography examines their social interactions. The youth live in a segregated neighborhood that is largely abandoned by policy-makers and recently impacted by massive school closures by the district. The youth, within the context of a community-school partnership, advocate for immigrant rights, march in solidarity with their teachers, and engage in organizing to transcend their immigration status and/or achievement status. The central question is: How do Latino immigrant youth in a community-school experience identity …

Catholic Schools, Urban Neighborhoods, And Education Reform, Margaret F. Brinig, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Margaret F Brinig

This Article explores the implications of a dramatic shift in the American educational landscape—the rapid disappearance of Catholic schools from urban neighborhoods. Primarily because of their strong track record of educating disadvantaged children, these school closures are a source of significant concern in education policy circles. While we are inclined to agree that Catholic school closures contribute to a broader educational crisis, this Article does not address well-rehearsed debates about educational outcomes. Rather than focusing on the work done inside the schools, we focus on what goes on outside them. Specifically, using three decades of data from the Project on …

Urban Catholic Elementary Schools: What Are The Governance Models?, Erik P. Goldschmidt, Mary E. Walsh

Journal of Catholic Education

The closure of nearly half of Catholic elementary schools in the United States since the 1960s has led to the development of many innovative initiatives to stabilize, strengthen, and sustain urban Catholic elementary education. Improving school governance models has been a common agenda of these efforts. This study examined the governance models in use by urban Catholic elementary schools across the United States. Seven major governance models for urban Catholic elementary schools were identified and studied using structured interviews and document analysis. An eighth model, faith-inspired charter schools, is presented as one alternative to a Catholic school. The variety of …

The Effect Of Poverty On The Achievement Of Urban African American Male Students Successfully Completing High School, Amy L. Welch

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of poverty on the achievement of African American male high school students attending the same large Midwest urban school district. Cumulative grade point average (GPA) at the tenth grade level were compared to the level of poverty provided through census data of African American male tenth grade high school students (N = 162) and compared again two years later using cumulative GPA of the same African American male students at graduation. Standardized achievement test scores, PLAN test taken in the fall of the tenth grade year and ACT test taken …

Profiles And Giving Patterns Of Donors To An Urban Southeastern Community College, John Allen Gyllin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on fundraising in higher education, and specifically community college fundraising. Having transitioned from a traditional four year university setting to a community college, the author found this research helpful, not only for this institution, but for knowledge of community college donors and why they give. By working with data from this institution over the last ten years, and the research on the topic of fundraising for community colleges, donor trends were developed and needed improvements identified to raise significantly more dollars for the college. It is the outcome of this research that will hopefully assist this institution …

The Influence Of A Reform-Based Mathematics Methods Course On Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs, Brian R. Evans, Jacqueline Leonard, Kathleen Krier, Steve Ryan

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Beliefs about teaching mathematics and urban students’ ability to learn mathematics are often overlooked in the discourse on highly qualified teachers. Altering teacher experiences has the potential to change their beliefs. It was found in this qualitative case study that preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching mathematics to urban students were changed after teachers taught brief sample lessons to their peers and watched video episodes of quality teaching. These findings suggest preservice teacher beliefs can be positively changed after taking reform-based mathematics methods courses. Additional studies are needed to determine if these changes can be sustained during teacher induction.

The Leadership Role In Transitioning An Urban Secondary School From A Traditional Service Delivery Model To A Co-Teaching Service Delivery Model For Students With Disabilities: A Phenomenological Case Study, Ginni Elizabeth Mcdonald

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research studies the leadership role in transitioning from a traditional service delivery model to a co-teaching service delivery model for students with disabilities. While there is an abundant amount of information on the service delivery model of co-teaching, sustaining co-teaching programs, and effective co-teaching programs for students with disabilities, the actual studies for the leadership role in transitioning to co-teaching are fewer. This phenomenological case study explores the leadership role in effectively transitioning an urban high school from a traditional service delivery of special education services to a larger continuum of services, specifically co-teaching for students with disabilities. Participants …

Appropriate Urban Teaching Philosophies. A Book Review Of Sketches In Democracy: Notes From An Urban Classroom, Kirstin C. Busch

Democracy and Education

This is a book review for Sketches in Democracy: Notes from an Urban Classroom written by Lisa DeLorenzo, a professor of music education at Montclair State University. DeLorenzo took an extraordinary leap of faith by using her sabbatical year to teach for the very first time within an urban school setting. Her recognition of her limitations in preparing preservice teachers for an urban school environment without herself having had that experience speaks volumes of her reflective capabilities, which she also employed in writing this thought-provoking analytical narrative of her experience teaching in a newly fledged charter conceived as a democratic …

Educating For A Critical Democracy: Civic Participation Reimagined In The Council Of Youth Research, Nicole Mirra, Ernest D. Morrell, Ebony Cain, D'Artagnan Scorza, Arlene Ford

Democracy and Education

This article explores civic learning, civic participation, and the development of civic agency within the Council of Youth Research (the Council), a program that engages high school students in youth participatory action research projects that challenge school inequalities and mobilize others in pursuit of educational justice. We critique the neoliberal view of democracy that dominates in the existing research, policy, and practice around urban school reform and civic education and instead turn to evidence from social movements and critical social theory as a foundation for a reimagined, more robust vision of critical democracy. Through our analysis of the activities that …

International Education Exposure In Secondary Schooling: Impacting Academic Outcomes Among Urban Girls Of Color, Tiffini L. Andorful

Dissertations

Existing literature reveals a gap in research on high school students of color studying abroad. Therefore, this study seeks to provide an understanding and explanation of how international educational travel experiences and global education impact the educational outlook of urban high school girls of color. This study proposes that a positive educational outlook including a student's academic engagement, educational aspirations, motivation, perception of the world, and self-efficacy can later generate school persistence and predict high school completion despite the increasing rates of minority female dropouts and the potential effects of race, class, and gender.

Through a qualitative case study and …

A Quantitative Study Of Persistence Factors For First-Year Students At Urban And Residential Universities, Abigail Parsons Shiban

ETD Archive

Persistence from the first to second year of college can be challenging for students at urban institutions given that they face added pressures and unique situations preventing them from persisting beyond the first year of higher education. While first-year persistence in higher education has been investigated, very little formal research exists on persistence at urban institutions. To bridge this gap, a quantitative analysis of 395 students at two urban and two residential four-year public institutions in Ohio was conducted using the Social Integration and Persistence Intentions Scale (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980) while exploring comprehensive factors such as students' pre-college and …

Social Class And Learning Disabilities: Intersectional Effects On College Students In New York City, Ashleigh B. Thompson

Publications and Research

Purpose - Previous quantitative research documents that college students with disabilities do not attain higher education at rates equal to their nondisabled peers. This qualitative study posits that socioeconomic status (SES) is a determinant of this discrepancy, and explores how SES and disability shape the college experience of New York City (NYC) students with learning disabilities (LDs), specifically.

Methodology - Research findings from semi-structured interviews with students with LDs (n = 10) at a low-SES and a high-SES colleges are presented against the backdrop of administrative data from NYC baccalaureate-granting colleges (n = 44), disability staff surveys (n = 21), …

Hope's Voice: Listening To Urban Youth, Michael Stephen Roth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For several decades, there has been a large gap between the achievement scores of urban youth of color and their white counterparts. This achievement gap persists despite the efforts of educators and policymakers to close it. This descriptive study examined the perceptions of urban youth of color regarding their role in school and the support and barriers they encountered related to academic achievement in school.

Duncan-Andrade (2009) compares schooling in underserved communities to growing roses in concrete. He argues that the conditions of life for urban youth of color are in themselves oppositional forces. He writes that hope is required …

Urban Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives And Practices, Meredith Elise Murray

Doctoral Dissertations

Urban teachers alone cannot solve the complex social and economic problems that plague urban communities and schools; however, their efforts to effectively educate inner-city youth can begin to break the cycle of disadvantage. Therefore, urban teachers’ perspectives are essential in understanding the process of effectively instructing urban youth. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives and practices of five urban educators through a postpositive theoretical lens. Participants for this study were five urban educators kindergarten through fourth grade, all of whom were teaching at one urban school. The participating teachers were chosen by criterion sampling with the …