Education and Urban Society

Shamsuddin, Shomon

doi: 10.1177/00131245231224762pmid: N/A

Despite high aspirations, many students do not complete postsecondary education. Some scholars advocate for providing more college information to increase enrollment and reduce attainment gaps but this approach overlooks what school counselors and students do with information. Based on interviews and participant observations drawn from 20 urban high schools, this study explores how counselors and students make use of online college information in postsecondary education guidance. The findings reveal that counselors feel students hold responsibility for many aspects of their college searches. Students easily find college information online but experience challenges in understanding it, which leaves them with unanswered questions. Abundant college information may enable counselors to adopt the role of managing the college search process instead of directly guiding students. Scaffolding, active engagement, and additional resources are needed to support counselors and students in college guidance.

Trull-Oliva, Carme; Noell, Judit Fullana; Pallisera, Maria; Planas-Lladó, Anna

doi: 10.1177/00131245231224761pmid: N/A

This article forms part of research into the role of support offered to children and youth by different community agents during the pandemic. In order to carry out the research, an online questionnaire was designed and administered between October 2021 and January 2022, to which 1,216 people in Catalonia (Spain) aged between 9 and 18 years responded. This article presents the results of the analysis of the open questions, in which participants specified the type of support and help they had received. The results show that the support offered by schools mainly focused on the continuity of the learning process; that the family was a main source of emotional support; and that communal leisure activities contributed to health and recreation. It concludes underlining the importance of the community, and the need to strengthen the complementarity of the various surroundings as support providers when situations of generalized adversity arise.

Tiwari, Ashwini

doi: 10.1177/00131245231220899pmid: N/A

Pre-service teacher perception of inclusive education plays a critical role in the field of K-12 education, ensuring that students with disabilities receive the best possible instruction in the least restrictive environment. This qualitative case study used one-to-one interviews and focus groups to gather data from 16 pre-service teachers enrolled in an Urban teacher preparation program in a major city in Texas, United States. The data analysis highlighted the pre-service teachers’ understanding of differentiation instruction for students with disabilities. Furthermore, the pre-service teachers felt positive about meeting the needs of the special education students in the general education classrooms. However, they expressed concerns related to limited coursework that helps them acquire teaching strategies to meet the needs of the special education students in the general education classrooms. The research findings offer valuable insights into the factors behind pre-service teachers’ perceptions of inclusion, underscoring the importance of coursework specifically targeting their preparedness for inclusive education.

Welsh, Richard O.

doi: 10.1177/00131245231208170pmid: N/A

School discipline is a significant educational policy and equity issue in K-12 education due to well-documented racial inequality in exclusionary discipline and the deleterious effects of exclusionary discipline on academic and adult outcomes. Drawing on interviews with district and school administrators and teachers in an “urban-emergent” district, this exploratory qualitative case study identifies and explicates the key factors that shape disciplinary practices within schools. Two major factors emerge as critical to school discipline practices in K-12 schools: (a) teacher preparation and (b) modeling of effective school discipline practices (how school leaders support teachers and how mentors support school leaders in the disciplinary process). Four key themes regarding teacher preparation emerge (a) relationship building, (b) classroom management, (c) cultural responsiveness and proficiency, and (d) experiential learning. The race and gender of educators permeate these factors. Implications for education policy and practice are discussed.

Rong, Liying; Deng, Feng; Zhong, Zhen; Spours, Ken

doi: 10.1177/00131245241226671pmid: N/A

Investment in preschool education is increasingly seen as a policy priority in middle and high-income countries due to the early benefits it provides children in their educational journeys. This article discusses the impact of recent increased investment in preschool education in China which has served as a correction to relative historical neglect. In this study a parental satisfaction survey evaluated the cost-sharing, equity of enrollment and quality of preschool education in a local urban governmental-led and multi-participant public service system of preschool education. In the context of the continued challenges of bridging gaps between policy and practice, results show that Government investment is beginning to have positive effects in terms of cost-sharing of preschool education with benefits to family incomes and significantly increasing the quality of preschool education. Parents of children in public provincial kindergartens provided higher satisfaction ratings for students’ development than parents of those in private provincial kindergartens. The article concludes by discussing the differing, but related roles of the Government and private providers in Chinese preschool education including the development of what is termed a “High-Quality Collaborative Education Ecosystem.”

Lin, Lin; Zhou, Danhua; Hu, Xinyi; Wang, Jingying; Wang, Yu

doi: 10.1177/00131245241229666pmid: N/A

With the introduction and implementation of core literacy, scientific thinking (ST) has become an essential goal and key dimension of science teaching. At present, there is no agreement on how to cultivate students’ ST. This study took 238 sixth grade students from a public primary school in urban China as research sample, built a theoretical model of scientific thinking development based on the theory of the Bronfenbrenner’ ecological systems theory, and used multiple data to explore and analyze the impact path of ST development of primary school students using the fuzzy sets of qualitative comparative analysis method (fsQCA). The development of urban primary school students’ ST is the result of multiple factors at the level of individual drive, family environment, school teaching, and social resources. The result of data analysis showed that the influence path of ST development of urban primary school students driven by multiple factors includes three paths: parent participation leading, scientific practice leading, and home-school-community integration. We have interpreted the influence mechanism of each path in detail and put forward the enlightenment for science education policy and practice.