Gender Equity in Education Commons^™

The Importance Of Advocating For Lgbtq+ Youth In Schools And The Community., Stefanie N. Hassing

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation is aimed to provide professionals who work with children, including educators, administrators, counselors, and adult volunteers, information regarding the increased risks and needs for the LGBT+ population between the ages of 10-19 and how to advocate for them within community and school settings.

Creating Grace And Space: The Foundation On Which Progressive Educators Build A Sense Of Belonging And Safety For Marginalized Gender And Sexual Diverse High School Students, Lisa M. Ortiz

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This descriptive case study focused on a single high school community which is intentional in its efforts to craft a school culture, fostering belonging and safety in students who are Gender and Sexual Diverse (GSD). The researcher examined the perspectives of classroom-based and non-classroom-based educators, as they strove to articulate how they address the needs of this student-population without negatively impacting academic and other school priorities, and how they incorporate understandings regarding this population into their practice. Through a multi-phase process including interviews, observations, focus group, and document analysis, the researcher explored how seven educator-participants navigate changing demographics both personally …

Seeing Mathematics Through Different Eyes: An Equitable Approach To Use With Prospective Teachers, Christa Jackson, Cynthia E. Taylor, Kelley Buchheister

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Teacher educators need to prepare prospective teachers by encouraging them to critically examine their current beliefs about the teaching and learning of mathematics while also providing opportunities for prospective teachers to develop an equity-centered orientation. Attending to these practices in teacher preparation programs may help prospective teachers observe actions that occur in classrooms and determine effective strategies that provide the opportunity to enhance all students’ access to high-quality mathematics instruction. As mathematics teacher educators, we must recognize what prospective teachers attend to as they direct their attention to various classroom events and how they relate the events to broader principles …

Sybil Ludington: Double The Distance, Half The Recognition, Elizabeth E. Saylor, Mardi Schmeichel, Jillian Tullish

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article describes a lesson for elementary students based on Sybil Ludington’s midnight ride during the Revolutionary War. The tasks and activities presented in the lesson afford students the opportunity to learn about this period in history by comparing Ludington’s ride to Paul Revere’s ride. Through an analysis of the stories told about these midnight rides, students are also encouraged to think about the reasons why Revere’s story is the one most often presented in history books and to consider the consequences of excluding the experiences of marginalized groups when telling stories from the past.

Intention, Questions, And Creative Expression: An Antidiscriminatory Diversity Statement, Hannah S. Bright

Scholarship and Engagement in Education

Supporting education that reflects diversity involves maintaining awareness of one’s personal positionality, creating safe and inclusive learning communities, and using creativity and choice to empower and honor student voice and individual development. When working in educational settings, teachers may involve students in selecting relevant materials, and follow their lead in creating critical dialogue about salient factors of identity.

Educating Incarcerated Youth In Illinois: A Blended Learning Model, John Sonnenberg

Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to better understand the reasons behind the apparent continued success of a blended learning educational model in place since 2012 in the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ). Using a mixed methods approach, data were gathered and analyzed from a variety of records, reports, and other documentation that included: diplomas awarded, courses taken, course completion, enrollment trends, student mobility rates, GED testing information, and special education student enrollment and performance. Data were also gathered through classroom observations and individual and group interviews with the IDJJ district superintendent, principals, and teachers at six different …

Female Education: The Facilitating And Hindering Factors Regarding Female Education In Gilgit-Baltistan Context Of Pakistan, Sultan Alam

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

This paper reports a study conducted in one of the villages of Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan. The purpose of the study is to explore the perceptions of female students and their parents regarding female education. A qualitative case study method was employed to investigate the subject matter. The participants were selected on the basis of pre-determined criteria. The findings of the study showed that female education in the context is influenced by various factors including societal norms, parents perceptions and teachers attitude. It was depicted that female students have adapted such critical circumstances and are motivated to acquire their education. Since …

Identity Politics, State Standards, And On The Ground Realities: A Critical Policy Analysis Of Teaching/Learning Gender/Sexuality In A Virginia Elementary School, Stefanie Hudson

Theses and Dissertations

Even though America has seen an increase in the level of acceptance for people who identify as LGBTQ and/or gender non-conforming, certain aspects within society continue to hinder their rights, especially within public education. Specifically, there are insufficiencies regarding content of and attitudes toward including LGBTQ issues in teaching and leadership training programs. Add to that, the deficits in most Family Life Education (FLE) programs in elementary schools as they lack adequate coverage of developmentally appropriate teaching and learning about gender and sexuality. Taken together, it remains questionable whether the needs of LGBTQ and/or gender non-conforming children can truly be …

Using Student Characteristics, Student Spatial-Content Knowledge, And Teacher Spatial-Content Knowledge To Predict Student Spatial-Content Knowledge Of Lunar Phases, Kyle A. Curry

Theses and Dissertations--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

Student demographic characteristics of gender and race/ethnicity, students’ spatial-content knowledge as measured by pre-instructional performance on the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) (Lindell & Olsen), and post-instructional performance on the Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test (PSVT) (Bodner & Guay, 1997), and teachers’ spatial-content knowledge as measured by the two assessments were considered to predict students’ overall understanding of lunar phases as measured by post-instructional results on the LPCI. A mixed modeling approach was used in a hierarchal manner to evaluate the student learning outcomes. Results showed that student gender was not a significant predictor of post-instructional student performance, but students …

Pre-Service Teacher Candidates’ Knowledge And Attitudes Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual People, Casey M. Halcro

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) mandates teachers to provide equitable access to the core curriculum by maximizing academic achievement for all students, including those who are lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB), (Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2014). Without the knowledge, support, and acceptance of their teachers, LGB youth will experience multiple challenges during their K-12 educational careers. Scholarly literature reveals that the understanding and abilities of pre-service teachers to create safe spaces for LGB youth needs to be developed if pre-service teachers are eventually to become allies for LGB youth (Kearns, Mitton-Kukner, & Tompkins, 2014). Pre-service teacher education bears …

Masculinities, Gendered Expression, And The Social, Emotional, And Academic Well-Being Of High School Boys, Cynthia Bazinet

Educational Studies Dissertations

There has been longstanding concern over the seemingly intractable problem of boys’ academic achievement. Despite extensive research, there is little consensus among researchers and educators regarding best practices and approaches in mitigating and remediating the problem. This mixed-methods study sought to illuminate the issue further by focusing on the meaningful lived experiences of six young men aged 18 to 24 who attended and graduated from a central Massachusetts public high school. The study asked participants to reflect through prompted writing upon the stresses and pressures as well as the factors and conditions that affected their abilities to manage their performativities …

The Impact Of Math Anxiety In The Primary Grades, Amanda R. Anderson-Mix

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Math anxiety is an increasingly common occurrence among individuals when working with mathematical concepts. While researching math anxiety the author came across common gender stereotypes implying: women do not perform as well as men in the field of mathematics, women experience a much higher level of math anxiety than men, and most women do not appreciate performing mathematical tasks. Although the concept of math anxiety is an interesting topic to the author, it's important to look deeper than simply the question, “What is math anxiety?” Seeing these stereotypical assumptions that women have higher math anxiety levels, it made this author …

The Impact And Effectiveness Of Student-Centered Classroom Structure, Amie P. Westberg

Mathematics Graduate Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of student-centered learning as an alternative classroom structure. It is important that we continually reflect on our teaching methods and explore alternatives that can help give our students the best chance to succeed. While the literature is mixed with regard to which classroom style is best, there are many sources showing the benefits of student-centered instruction over a strictly teacher- centered classroom. Sources also showed that teachers do not need to choose exclusively one style of teaching, and that a blended classroom using a variety of teaching styles can be …

“Women Made It A Home”: Representations Of Women In Social Studies, Mardi Schmeichel

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article explores recently published P–12 social studies lesson plans that include women to examine how attending to women is “getting done” in the field and how the lessons represent women and women’s experiences. Using discourse analysis methodologies, the author demonstrates that women have been included as topics in ways that do not work toward disrupting problematic discourses about gender norms. Through their avoidance of issues of power and patriarchy, most of the lessons fall short of addressing gender inequity—in the past or the present—in a significant way. More critical attention to women and gender in lessons, as well as …

The Gender Trap: Parents And The Pitfalls Of Raising Boys And Girls, Mardi Schmeichel

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Book review

The book The Gender Trap: Parents and the Pitfalls of Raising Boys and Girls is an example of the kind of nuanced research that works toward unraveling the complexities of gender as expressed in individual lives as well as larger societal patterns that contribute to problematic assumptions about who girls and boys and women and men must be. Sociologist Emily Kane focuses specifically on the “gender trap” in parenting, which she defines as “a set of expectations and structures that inhibit social change and stall many parents’ best intentions for loosening the limits that gender can impose on …

Feminism, Neoliberalism, And Social Studies, Mardi Schmeichel

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to analyze the sparse presence of women in social studies education and to consider the possibility of a confluence of feminism and neoliberalism within the most widely distributed National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication, Social Education. Using poststructural conceptions of discourse, the author applies second-wave feminist theory and Fraser’s (2009) work on neoliberalism as lenses to illuminate the limited attention to women and feminism in this text during the 1980s in order to better understand how women have been marginalized in social studies education and to consider the possibility that the …