Teachers College Record The Voice of Scholarship in Education

Wang, Xueli

doi: 10.1177/016146811611801202pmid: N/A

Background/ContextTransfer from community colleges to selective four-year institutions is an issue that assumes great importance for the democratization of postsecondary education. Yet research on what influences transfer to selective four-year institutions is surprisingly sparse. Transfer research typically lumps four-year schools receiving community college transfers into one group. This approach neglects heterogeneity in institutional selectivity and fails to study forces underlying the varied pathways to four-year institutions.PurposeThis research fills the gap in the literature by exploring the following question: What student and institutional factors are associated with transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions of varying selectivity? This study is aimed at identifying beneficial experiences to support community college students’ pathway to the baccalaureate, especially at selective institutions.Research DesignThis study drew upon several national data sources and a nationally representative sample of all first-time postsecondary students beginning at a public two-year college in 2003–2004. Based on the study's conceptual framework that depicts the relationship between transfer and various individual and institutional factors, I analyzed the hypothesized relationships using a multilevel path model.FindingsThe study shows that few community college students transferred to highly selective institutions. In terms of individual factors that distinguish those who transfer to highly selective institutions from their counterparts who transfer to moderately or less selective schools, holding baccalaureate expectations and transfer intent seems to benefit those who transfer to selective institutions much more strongly than those who transfer to less selective ones. Similarly, rigorous course-taking distinguishes not only those who transfer from those who do not, but also those who transfer to highly selective institutions from their transfer counterparts headed toward moderately or less selective colleges. However, integrative experiences and first-term GPA show no significant relationship with upward transfer. As for institutional characteristics, percentage of certificates and vocational associate degrees awarded is negatively associated with transfer to highly and moderately selective institutions, while it does not particularly affect chances of transfer to less selective institutions. Furthermore, employment of part-time instructional faculty and staff does not benefit or hurt community college students’ chances of transfer, and, overall, proximity to selective institutions does not appear to be influential either.ConclusionsThis study's findings reinforce persistent issues associated with access and transfer to selective institutions for community college students. Both education policy and research must continue to tackle challenges and create opportunities to help broaden community college student access to four-year institutions.

Kiyama, Judy Marquez; Harris, Donna Marie; Dache-Gerbino, Amalia

doi: 10.1177/016146811611801205pmid: N/A

Background/ContextThe experiences of Latina youth in the United States are embedded within a larger social context influenced by gender, ethnic/racial identity, socioeconomic status, language, and sociospatial and political characteristics that can negatively impact their daily lived experiences. Given the challenges that young Latinas encounter, it is necessary to understand the systemic barriers that complicate their educational progress as they confront dominant institutions and systems that marginalize them.Purpose/ObjectiveThis article is informed by intersecting forms of violence and the relationship between violence and systems experienced by adolescent Latinas. Its purpose is to explore the oppressive structures that influence Latinas’ educational opportunities and to illustrate how Latinas respond to these structures. This article is guided by the following research questions: How are Latina students’ schooling experiences influenced by acts of violence? How do Latina students respond to these acts of violence?ParticipantsAnalysis for this article was drawn from seven focus groups with 39 Latinas, ages 11–18. The majority (82%) of the Latinas identified as Puerto Rican, inclusive of biracial and multiracial identities.Research DesignThe data in this article originated from a larger mixed-methods study examining the barriers that prohibit Latina/o students from successfully progressing through K–12 schooling. We used focus groups to collect data from the participants and drew upon narrative analysis techniques to represent the stories of the young Latinas.FindingsFindings highlight how systemic forces position and oppress Latinas, resulting in physical violence, stereotypes, and environmental violence, each of which intersect with Latinas’ gender, race, ethnicity, social class, and language. The authors present the findings by associating key themes of resistance, resiliency, and agency with Latina participant experiences with violence.Conclusions/RecommendationsThe authors argue that these forms of systemic violence must be interrogated further, as future educational opportunities for Latinas will continue to be impacted. Spaces must be created to recognize and further cultivate the resistance strategies that Latinas are developing, especially as they learn to critique and fight against the social systems in which they are embedded.I don't fight in school but they always wanted to, they always wanted to see me fight and they never ever got to see me fight, they saw me once but not in school. It was downtown. Girl, I feel better here because there's no girls trying to fight me. I'm making more friends … but in the street, there ain't no friends in the street.—Katia, Puerto Rican, current GED student

Kavanagh, Sarah Schneider

doi: 10.1177/016146811611801208pmid: N/A

Background/ContextAs states and districts have begun adopting texts inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, debates about how LGBTQ issues should be represented in the curricular canon have emerged. While existing research investigates curricular questions that are arising as a result of LGBTQ curricular inclusion, scholarship has been slow to address the instructional questions presented by the introduction of inclusive curricula.PurposeThis study explored how seven secondary English Language Arts teachers facilitated student engagement with LGBTQ-related topics. Analysis of data on teachers’ instructional practice and related decision-making sought to (a) determine what instructional dilemmas arose for teachers as they taught LGBTQ-inclusive content and (b) analyze the instructional decisions that teachers made to address these dilemmas.ParticipantsParticipants in this study were seven secondary English Language Arts teachers who (a) held strong reputations in their professional communities for supporting LGBTQ students and (b) had strong intentions to support LGBTQ students through LGBTQ curricular inclusion, reducing student prejudice, and advocating for and with LGBTQ students.Research DesignThis comparative case study was embedded in a larger qualitative study that investigated the instructional practice of LGBTQ-supportive teachers. This article reports on findings from an analysis of all data from this project that pertained to how teachers engaged students when teaching LGBTQ content. Data was collected over a six-month period and includes 22 teacher interviews, 28 observations of classroom instruction, 70 teacher log entries, and 25 teacher questionnaires.Findings/ResultsAnalysis showed that participants felt a tension between a desire to make LGBTQ identity visible and a desire to offer LGBTQ students privacy. Participants employed two different approaches to navigating the visibility–privacy tension. Some created parallel engagement strategies for students, some public and some private, while others simultaneously allowed for privacy and visibility through the use of anonymity.Conclusions/RecommendationsAs conceptions of diversity expand to include sexual diversity, this study has implications for teacher preparation and professional development aimed at supporting teachers to attend to the unique needs of LGBTQ students within instructional practice.

Bastian, Kevin C.; Fortner, C. Kevin; Chapman, Alisa; Fleener, M. Jayne; Mcintyre, Ellen; Patriarca, Linda A.

doi: 10.1177/016146811611801204pmid: N/A

Background/ContextTeacher preparation programs (TPPs) face increasing pressure from the federal government, states, and accreditation agencies to improve the quality of their practices and graduates, yet they often do not possess enough data to make evidence-based reforms.Purpose/ObjectiveThis manuscript has four objectives: (a) to present the strengths and shortcomings of accountability-based TPP evaluation systems; (b) to detail the individual-level data being shared with TPPs at public universities in North Carolina; (c) to describe how data sharing can lead to TPP improvement and the challenges that programs will need to overcome; and (d) to detail how three TPPs are using the data for program improvement.SettingNorth Carolina public schools and schools of education at public universities in North Carolina. Importantly, this individual-level data sharing system can be instituted among TPPs in other states.Population/Participants/SubjectsTeachers initially-prepared by public universities in North Carolina.Research DesignWith individual-level data on program graduates, TPPs can conduct a range of analyses—e.g., regression analyses with program data, primary data collection with interviews, and rubric-based observations—designed to aid program improvement efforts.Conclusions/RecommendationsTeacher preparation programs and researchers or state education agencies need to establish partnerships to share individual-level data on program graduates with TPPs. This individual-level data sharing would help TPPs to develop systems of continuous improvement by examining whether their preparation practices align with the types of environments in which their graduates teach and how graduates’ preparation experiences predict their characteristics and performance as Teachers of Record. Unlike other initiatives targeted at TPP improvement, individual-level data sharing, and its focus on within-program variability, can benefit TPPs at all levels of performance.

Zeichner, Kenneth; Conklin, Hilary G.

doi: 10.1177/016146811611801203pmid: N/A

Background/ContextFor over two decades, there has been a steady call for deregulating U.S. teacher education, closing down allegedly poor quality college and university programs, and creating greater market competition. In response to this call to disrupt the dominance of colleges and universities in teacher education, and because of the policies and funding allocations of the U.S. Education Department and private foundation funding, non-university providers of teacher education have proliferated in certain areas of the country. A critical aspect of the current call for greater deregulation and market competition in teacher education has been the declaration that university teacher education has failed. While there is no dispute about the need for improvements in the dominant college and university system of teacher education, it is also important to critically evaluate the warrants for the value of programs that critics claim should replace college and university programs.PurposeThe focus of this paper is to illustrate how research has been misrepresented to support policies and programs that would simultaneously reduce the role of colleges and universities in preparing U.S. teachers and support the expansion of the role of non-university providers. We also examine the print news media's role in uncritically reproducing a narrative of failure about university teacher education and promoting the success of new non-university programs—attention that has served to inflate the public perception of these organizations and programs beyond what is warranted by the available evidence.Research DesignFour cases are presented that illustrate the efforts to manufacture a narrative of the failure of colleges and universities in preparing teachers, and to construct a narrative of success for the non-university programs that have been funded to replace them. The authors use the concepts of echo chambers and knowledge ventriloquism to show how this process operates.Conclusions/RecommendationsFollowing the presentation of the cases, specific recommendations are offered for raising the quality of the debates about the future of U.S. teacher education. These include greater transparency in the process of reform, better communication between researchers and stakeholders, using research that has been vetted to inform the debates, and genuinely exploring different policy options for teacher education.

Colwell, Jamie; Reinking, David

doi: 10.1177/016146811611801201pmid: N/A

Background/ContextRecent curricular trends based on new standards emphasize the centrality of reading and studying texts in history instruction. That trend suggests a closer alignment between middle-school history instruction and goals for developing literacy. Yet potential obstacles identified in the literature, particularly a teacher's stance toward teaching history, imply challenges to instantiating that alignment. Relatively little research has addressed how relevant conceptual positions such as disciplinary literacy might be realized in authentic practice.Purpose/ObjectiveThe objective was to investigate how middle-school history instruction could be transformed to align with the literacy goals addressed in new curricular standards and to better understand within a typical instructional context the pedagogical influences and outcomes associated with such a transformation. The intent was to lay the groundwork for an emerging pedagogical theory that could guide efforts to align history instruction and literacy goals.Intervention/Program/PracticeThe researchers and the teacher collaboratively planned the instructional intervention that entailed three essential elements: (a) reading primary and secondary historical texts, (b) scaffolding strategies for reading such texts, and (c) writing blog reflections about readings. The teacher implemented the intervention in five topical history units taught during 10 consecutive weeks.Research DesignWe employed a formative experiment to determine what factors enhanced or inhibited the intervention's success in achieving its aim, how it could be modified in light of those factors, what unanticipated outcomes were observed, and the extent to which the teaching and learning environment was transformed.Data Collection and AnalysisWe collected qualitative data from multiple sources. During the intervention, we used an embedded case study to frame data collection and analysis. We conducted a retrospective analysis after the intervention phase in order to generate pedagogical assertions as a first step in establishing an emergent pedagogical theory.Conclusions/RecommendationsThree key assertions emerged that mediated the teacher's efforts to align her history instruction with literacy goals: (a) the influence of her beliefs grounded in her previous, imagined, and enacted practice; (b) blogging as a motivational catalyst; and (c) instructional enhancements that occurred when she observed the intervention's positive effects on achieving her pedagogical goals for students. These assertions comprise an emerging theory of how history instruction might be aligned with literacy goals and, as such, inform the literature on disciplinary literacy and how it might be achieved in authentic practice.

Naraian, Srikala

doi: 10.1177/016146811611801207pmid: N/A

Background/ContextThe goal of inclusive education is universally recognized as the fundamental restructuring of schools to engage hospitably with all forms of difference, including ability. However, inclusion, at least in practice, has come to mean the physical placement of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The conundrum of inclusion as currently implemented is that its entanglement with place weakens the possibility of the required large-scale transformation of school spaces. Additionally, analyses of place and disability/inclusion generally assume the concept of place to represent a fixed, stable entity with determinate boundaries, making it difficult to disrupt the linkage between place and disability.Purpose/ObjectiveThis article is an attempt to explore a new conception of place that would permit educators to engage with student learning differences without associating them with fixed environments. Rather than consider place as a fixed, naturalized entity, I draw on theorists who develop the spatial dimension of human experience alongside the social and temporal. Within this theoretical perspective, school places are not merely containers within which events take place; rather, they are formed in the interaction of webs of ideas and people. The research questions for this article, therefore, were as follows: How is place constructed within the discourse of teachers? To what extent do such constructions reflect prevailing notions of special education or inclusion as a place?Research DesignData for this article drew primarily on 19 interviews I conducted with nine educators during the course of a series of ethnographically-oriented studies conducted between 2005 and 2014. Each of the studies addressed in this article was conducted in schooling sites in the U.S. where general and special education teachers were supporting students with a range of disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Teacher interview data from a nine-month professional development sequence in inclusive practices were also used for this article. The development of categories during data analysis for this article emerged from triangulating interview data with extensive field notes maintained for each site.FindingsData analysis disclosed that teachers participated in maintaining the boundaries of places through their conceptions of students as learners, even as their own professional identities were produced via the historically mediated beliefs and practices that were implicated within those places. As educators struggled to create places of inclusion, the identities of such places differed depending on the logic in which they were anchored: student connectedness or learning need.ConclusionsSupported by an alternate conceptualization of learning need, I draw on the linkage between teacher identity and place to propose that a diasporic sensibility can enable different relations between the two, making inclusion a spatially fluid project involving changing networks of people and experiences.

Seider, Scott; Graves, Daren; El-Amin, Aaliyah; Clark, Shelby; Soutter, Madora; Tamerat, Jalene; Jennett, Pauline; Gramigna, Kathryn; Yung, Jennifer; Kenslea, Megan; Sklarwitz, Sherri

doi: 10.1177/016146811611801206