Higher Education Commons^™

Math And Politics, David Price

Early College Folio

This lesson plan, crafted during the Bard Early College Fellowship, details a unit in which students develop their own voting systems and compare them to voting methods and other social choice procedures actually used throughout society. It reinforces the idea that many mathematical notions are human constructs, with strengths and weaknesses, rather than ideas that exist completely outside of human experience.

Social Justice In The Language Classroom Series: Argentina, Graciela Báez

Early College Folio

This lesson plan, crafted during the Bard Early College Fellowship, details a unit in which students build their oral comprehension, speaking, reading and writing skills in Spanish. Students expand their vocabulary, adopt language to discuss and analyze films, and polish their writing and thinking skills in Spanish while learning about a historical moment that shaped an important social justice movement.

What Is History And How Do We Study History?, Jehan S. Worthy

Early College Folio

This lesson plan, crafted during the Bard Early College Fellowship, details a six-lesson series to help set the foundations of writing a historical research paper by asking students to answer the following questions: Why does history matter? How do we study history?

Early College Pedagogy: An Introduction To The Bard Early College Fellowship, Ligaya Franklin

Early College Folio

The author introduces the Bard Early College Fellowship, an opportunity for faculty from the network of Bard Early Colleges to craft a lesson series which centers Bardian pedagogical methods and student success. The author also highlights five projects that emerged from past fellows, also published in this issue.

Layers Of Inclusion: Arranging Music For Multi-Leveled Ensembles, John Myers

Early College Folio

This paper describes the author’s practice of “layered arranging” in music education. As a response to the range of ages and skill levels of students at Bard Academy and Bard College at Simon’s Rock, this pedagogical approach allows for experienced students to work with level-appropriate material while less experienced students may participate supportively through simplified chord progressions.

The Insistence Of Inclusion: The Black Excellence Project, Cassandra St. Vil

Early College Folio

During the spring semester of 2020, COVID-19 did not stop this group of determined 9th graders at Bard Early College D.C. Together, they embarked on the Black Excellence Project (“BEP @ Bard”) with the partnership of Amateka College Prep. BEP @ Bard provided literacy-instruction while simultaneously teaching Black Excellence: the teaching of historical and contemporary exemplary Black figures who have impacted Washington, D.C. and raised awareness around topics like racism, social justice, and countering anti-Blackness. Throughout instruction, the students learned about multiple Black professionals from a variety of career pathways as they reflected on questions like, “what does Black Excellence …

Initiatives To Find The "Lost Einsteins" Through The Integration Of Independent Scientific Research Projects In Early College, Maria Agapito, Mini Jayaprakash, Tiffany Morris, Carla Stephens

Early College Folio

This exploratory study examines the effects of incorporating Independent Scientific Research Projects (ISRP) into early college biology curriculum. The authors present their findings, which are steeped in the goal of increasing minority students’ interest in STEM careers, by analyzing student engagement in classrooms with and without ISRP integration.

To Be Beholden To Something Yet To Be Made: Points Of Departure For An Education In The Arts Of The Present, Asma Abbas

Early College Folio

This essay, informed by the author’s prolonged experimentation with the triangulation of art, politics, and education, provides a framework for building spaces that transcend the institutional boundaries of the neoliberal university through the notion of the “arts of the present.”

The Need For Early College In The 21st Century, Donald E. Heller

Early College Folio

This essay, a response to Elizabeth Blodgett Hall’s “The House of Education Needs Overhaul,” details the evolution of the early college movement within the American educational system. The author then makes a case for the continued importance and success of early college models in the 50 years since Hall’s initial call for reform.

Early College Pedagogy: Intellectual Development In Community, Kristy Mcmorris

Early College Folio

This essay, a response to Elizabeth Blodgett Hall’s “The House of Education Needs Overhaul,” observes the early college classroom—a space for diverse and independent voices, community-driven intellectual development, and for growing social responsibility. The author describes her own experience as an early college educator and depicts this equity work in action.

Early College As Sites For "Moratorium", Michael Sadowski

Early College Folio

This essay, a response to Elizabeth Blodgett Hall’s “The House of Education Needs Overhaul,” finds common ground in Hall’s depiction of the self-exploration of young students entering her new school and the findings of child and adolescent psychologist Erik Erikson’s identification of a particular point in youth development he dubbed a “psychosocial moratorium.” The author grounds these pioneers’ theories in the transformations he witnessed in students as former director of a Bard Early College program.

Imagine, Patricia Sharpe

Early College Folio

This essay, a response to Elizabeth Blodgett Hall’s “The House of Education Needs Overhaul,” places Hall’s 1967 defense for educational reform in the context of present-day Simon’s Rock and Bard Early College. The author describes the application of early college pedagogy as a disruption of the educational status quo, and details the philosophical and intellectual “overhaul” at work in these environments.

Educational "Overhaul" Expands Pathways To College And Career, Maria Suttmeier

Early College Folio

This essay, a response to Elizabeth Blodgett Hall’s “The House of Education Needs Overhaul,” recognizes how the reform of education through low- or no-cost early college models supports practical and diverse pathways to college and career success.

In Praise Of "Powerful, Head-Strong, Young People", Francesca Gamber

Early College Folio

This essay, a response to Elizabeth Blodgett Hall’s “The House of Education Needs Overhaul,” details the ways in which Bard High School Early College students in Baltimore challenge the systemic racism and economic disadvantages through community and critical thinking. The author describes the ways in which educators must support the courageous actions of these students to seek the resources, power, and a place in American education that they’ve historically been denied.

The House Of Education Needs Overhaul: The Theory Behind Simon’S Rock, Elizabeth B. Hall

Early College Folio

This essay, written by the founder of Simon’s Rock in the summer of 1967 after the school’s first academic year in operation, describes the societal and pedagogical underpinnings that inspired the author’s creation of an alternative educational pathway for bright, young, and motivated students. The piece reviews the academic structure and goals of a liberal arts education at Simon’s Rock, a residential early college.

Deconstructing The Anomaly Of India’S Higher Education Ranking Framework: A Case Of Misdirected Selection Of Evaluation Parameters, Praveen B. Malla Dr.

Essays in Education

Indian higher educational institutions (HEIs) are not making it to the top of the global ranking tables, except for a few. The Indian government has taken cognizance of this failure and launched a domestic ranking framework to foster competition and consequently improve quality of education. Interestingly, the framework is riddled with issues of misdirected metric selection. Given the complexity and vastness of the Indian higher education ecosystem this one-size-fits-all framework is not appropriate.

Public universities are predominantly policy driven and have a charter that is not in line with the mandate of the private and deemed universities. Likewise, institutions of …

Care For Our Common Home In Jesuit Higher Education: A Study Of The School Of Environmental Sustainability At Loyola University Chicago, Michael Polito

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Environmental sustainability has become a critical issue for Catholic commitment to the common good in the twenty-first century. Both the Vatican and the Society of Jesus have spoken with urgency concerning the great educational challenges of forming new convictions and lifestyles in this regard. This paper chronicles the development of environmental sustainability initiatives at Loyola University Chicago within the context of institutional reforms from 2001 to the present. A consideration of these initiatives and environmental sustainability as both a set of operational and academic practices is undertaken with respect to social ethics in Catholic Jesuit higher education from the perspective …

Overview Of The Proceedings Of The 2020 Inclusion In Science, Learning A New Direction, Conference On Disability (Island), Cary Supalo, Jasodhara Bhattacharya, Daniel Steinberg

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Elevating The Voices For All Learners Through Shared Stories Of Science Learning, Lauren Madden, Stuart Z. Carroll, Amy K. Schuler

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

This study examines the science learning experiences across the lifespan of two groups of college students: adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities in a post-secondary inclusive program, and adults in a preservice secondary education teacher candidate program. Data, in the form of personal narrative science stories were collected using a paired-interview approach in which students from each group interviewed one another about their science learning across their lifespans, and recorded responses using an online form. Across the stories, several clear themes emerged. Similarities and differences were found across and within the groups and are shared in a narrative format. Trends …

Putting Research Into “Action”: The Impact Of Brain Energizers On Off-Task Behaviors And Academic Achievement, Rebecca Buchanan, Lauren Davis, Trisha Cury

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

There are many factors influencing the learning environment in public school settings. As such, the recognition of developing a multidimensional approach incorporating a variety of “tools” for a teacher’s toolbox can prove to be very effective. Research indicates that movement is one such tool that can increase the capacity for students to learn (Ratey, 2008). The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of brain energizers in a 1st grade classroom in rural Appalachia. Results of the study indicated that brain energizers had a positive effect on off-task behaviors as well as academic achievement. The incorporation of movement …

Editorial Introduction: To Stay Afloat, Maybe Collaborate?, Suzanne Porath

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Co-Editors, Todd Pagano, Sami Kahn

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.