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Harold Thomas III
No full textHarold Alexander Thomas III was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1948. In 1949, his family moved to the Amsterdam NYCHA Housing Project in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan, where Thomas grew up. In this oral history recorded by Fordham student Matthias Lai, Thomas discusses his childhood in the neighborhood and going to school at P.S. 191, as well as the impact of the Lincoln Square Urban Renewal Project in the late 1950\u27s and early 1960\u27s on the neighborhood, and how the Amsterdam community has changed over his lifetime
Eleanor Jones
No full textIn this interview, Eleanor Jones discusses growing up in Mount Vernon, vacations with family to the Poconos, her marriage, children, her recent stroke, and her relationship with her sister (Audrey Donely, also interviewed in this collection. Jones currently lives in the Bronx with Donely, and the sisters frequent SAGE often for community and social life
Linkages Between Biculturalism and Executive Functioning Among Immigrant Latinx-American Youth
No full textDue to globalized movement, the U.S. has a growing population of Latinx adolescents who are exposed to two cultures, the mainstream and the heritage culture, and are in a critical period of identity and cognitive development. The process of continuously negotiating dual cultures, and attaining bilingualism, may have ramifications for youth’s development of executive functioning (EF) skills. Limited research has examined the dynamic of biculturalism, and EF skills while considering bilingualism, particularly among Latinx adolescent youth within the U.S. The present study investigated how biculturalism contributors such as cultural identification and bicultural identity integration related to three EF skills: inhibition, shift, and working memory based on youth-report and parent-report with 81 Latinx adolescents ages 13-15. Hierarchical regressions analyses results did not support cultural identification nor bicultural identity integration as predictors of EF inhibition, shift, or working memory skill. However, bilingualism was a consistent predictor across the three skills for youth-rated EF outcomes. This finding has implications for further understanding the linkages between bilingualism, a carrier of culture, and supporting Latinx adolescents in their academic achievement and psycho-social well-being. GPA was also a consistent predictor across the three parent-rated EF outcome skills, having implications for understanding parental conceptualizations of youth’s achievement bridging GPA with EF skill
The Impact of Teacher Leadership and Peer Collaboration on Middle School Teacher Retention
No full textTeacher retention is a challenge for schools across the country. For private and independent schools, teacher attrition is twice that of public and charter schools. The rate of teacher attrition has increased dramatically attributable to the global pandemic, making this a critical issue for K-12 education. Using an Improvement Science approach, this mixed methods research study examined teacher departures at the Essex School, a pseudonym, a small independent school in the Northeast U.S. which saw teacher attrition escalate to 26.6% for the 2019-2020 school year. Three primary drivers were identified: 1) teacher collaboration, 2) teacher leadership, and 3) school culture. Three change ideas were implemented: 1) a teacher leadership committee; 2) structured administrative support to encourage teacher collaboration; and 3) teacher thought partnerships. Overlapping PDSA cycles gathered data from teacher surveys, reflective journals, and focus groups. The lagging measure of teacher retention was measured by contract renewals. Three master themes emerged that support teacher retention: 1) leadership and professional value, 2) collaboration and professional relationships, and 3) perceptions of school culture. Teacher leaders stepped confidently into leadership and exhibited strong ownership of study outcomes. Teacher collaboration increased when supported in meaningful ways by the administration. The combination of leadership and collaboration increased teacher commitment to and engagement in the school. Teacher retention for the teachers participating in the study (87.5%) was significantly higher than for the general population of teachers (67.2%)
An Oasis in Crisis: Lesotho Highlands Water Project Turned Drought
No full textWater insecurity in underdeveloped countries is one of the most pressing issues for the longevity of our exponentially developing global economy. Countries like Lesotho, which are land-locked within another, more developed country, have few resources for water, food, and power without the aid of external forces. This paper investigates the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), its relationship to South Africa, and the ramifications faced by local communities. Further, this paper can serve as a case study into what we can avoid in the future, as water initiatives are both inevitable and crucial. Chapter 1 explores quantitative data regarding water scarcity in Lesotho and South Africa, and lays the groundwork for why this water project was initially established. Chapter 2 explains the history of LHWP and the timelines it promised versus those it fulfilled. This chapter also models the pitfalls that the Basotho and South African national governments demonstrated when creating this agreement. Chapter 3 focuses on the economic consequences of the World Bank’s involvement, something that remains controversial within what could be a strictly binational agreement. Information about Lesotho’s domestic economy is also provided. Chapter 4 delves into the displacement and resettlement of local communities and the degradation in living standards they’ve absorbed, although they were guaranteed the opposite. This chapter also considers that many of LHWP\u27s shortcomings are rooted in the reparations themselves, not necessarily the motives of the initiative. Chapter 5 proposes policy reforms for these reparations and how to best move forward regarding aid to underdeveloped areas while avoiding extractive capitalism
Conflict and Coltan: Resource Extraction and Collision in The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Venezuela
No full textResource extraction has played an essential role in shaping human development and is an essential tool for technological improvement. However, resource extraction is also inherently exploitative of the environment, and therefore of people. This paper evaluates the relationship between Coltan, a mineral necessary for the creation of electronic capacitors, and the conflict it creates locally, regionally, and internationally through the case studies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Venezuela. These case studies illustrate the relationship between export and consumption based countries and how this relationship keeps “developing” countries in a never ending cycle of development, and developed countries in a cycle of constant dependence. Given the complex relationship between export and consumer countries, the comparative case studies of the DRC and Venezuela help illuminate different layers of the resource curse especially in context of rare resources like coltan that are necessary for tech development and the green energy transition. Although policy will aid the transition to sustainable use of coltan, in its current iteration, coltan mining keeps society trapped in a cycle of conflict given that the export is necessary for funding developing countries while its use is necessary in technological development. Yet, the associated conflict creates instability at every level of society. Therefore, multi-prong policy with a focus on national investment and infrastructure development, supply-chain transparency, and global accountability is necessary
Helen Diane Foster Interview
No full textSummarized by Alan C. Ventura
In this extensive interview, Helen Diane Foster talks about her upbringing across different areas of the Bronx, her relationship with her father, Reverend T. Wendell Foster—the first black elected official to serve the Bronx—and her time spent on the city council, in turn becoming the first black woman elected to that position within Bronx County. Listen in as she and Dr. Mark Naison relive this monumental time in Bronx history, which most notably involved Foster’s attempts to stop the seizure of Macombs Dam Park for Yankee Stadium
The Miseducation of Black Boys: The Impact of Leadership Support on the Implementation of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
No full textAt Sankofa Preparatory Academy (SPA), a pseudonym, Black male students continued to trail behind their peers academically, especially in reading; only 16% of Black boys reached proficiency levels compared to 28% of all other students tested. SPA was located in a neighborhood characterized by high poverty, high unemployment, and low educational attainment. Students were entirely Black or Hispanic. Using an Improvement Science approach, three primary drivers were identified: engaging Black boys in reading, addressing teacher bias, and fostering collaborative professional learning. Two Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were employed: a book study and culturally responsive teaching focusing on lesson planning and teacher rounds. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed through the lens of three theoretical frameworks: adaptive leadership, adult development theory, and the dysfunctions of team. Instrumentation included exit tickets, the street data protocol, analytic memos, lesson planning templates, the CRIOP-2, and the Courageous Conversations tools. The study found five key leadership attributes supported the intervention: 1) building trust, 2) inviting teachers onto the balcony and showing them the future, 3) pacing the work: honoring people and process 4) distributed leadership and equity of voice, and 5) giving the work back, with trust
Hearts and Minds: Impact of Pre-Service Social Emotional Learning Training on School Children
No full textThis descriptive case study explored the impact on children of a 2-hour pre-service Social Emotional Learning (SEL) consultation module for teachers and school psychologists at Fairfield University. Also explored was the impact on children of Fairfield’s extensive school psychology SEL pre-service training (i.e., mindfulness, psycho-education, multi-tiered SEL, systemic consultation). Twelve Fairfield alumni were interviewed (teachers and school psychologists). Results showed that the 2-hour module created SEL teacher buy-in. Teachers voluntarily incorporated SEL into their job roles and academic lessons, and they designed unique SEL interventions. School psychologists actualized their extensive training in schools with multi-tiered SEL and to a lesser extent in schools without it. Those who worked in schools one-day-a-week found SEL integration difficult. Overall, as SEL pioneers, school psychologists became leaders in SEL integration and systemic consultation on both school and district levels. Both teachers and school psychologists impacted children on the six outcome measures discussed in the research literature (Durlak et al., 2011; Payton et al., 2008). A call to open universities’ gates to preventative pre-service SEL training is discussed, as are barriers, facilitators, and implications for pre-service, in-service, future research, and policy