Current Issues in Education (E-Journal, Arizona State University)
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Progressive Educational Practices and Environments in Sweden: Preparing Students to Live and Work in the Global Age
Get PDFA multi-site case study of three Swedish schools examined the dimensions of trust, responsibility, shared power (democracy), and global workforce competence as required by a decade-old national education reforms. A key finding was the existence of progressive educational practices including constructivist epistemology, evidenced by the schools organizational structure, the instructional methods employed, and the various roles engaged in by the teachers, students, and administrators. These progressive practices and the mechanisms used to sustain them in one Swedish public school system may be conducive to effective preparation of workers and citizens for the post-industrial economy and to live in a participatory democracy
The Impact of High School Teacher Behaviors on Student Aggression
Get PDFAggressive student behaviors are of concern to every school in the nation. Discovering ways to help teachers prevent and/or respond to such student behavior is of great importance. This reported research sought to discover if and how teacher behaviors impact student aggression in the classroom. In doing so, the researcher did not set out to blame teachers for student aggression; the goal was to discover how teachers might modify behavior and react in ways that will help create positive and peaceful classroom environments and prevent student aggressive behaviors that can result in violence
Scaling up Teacher Professional Learning: How to Grow Teacher Knowledge while Growing School Networks
Get PDFThis research reports data from case studies of three intermediary organizations facing the challenge of scaling up teacher learning. The turn of the century launched scaling up efforts of all three intermediaries, growing from intimate groups, where founding teachers and staff were key supports for teacher learning, to large multi-state organizations. The authors drew on data from three earlier qualitative studies of professional development at Big Picture Learning, Expeditionary Learning, and the Internationals Network, and reveal some of the benefits and challenges of taking teacher learning to scale.
Teacher Candidates as Innovative Change Agents
Get PDFConfronting the educational directives of high-stakes testing and accountability is achievable through inference and implementation of innovative change. Using the lens of learners as inquirers, teacher candidates designed and implemented action research projects to create alternate instructional strategies, management systems, and methods to reach disenfranchised students. The primary investigators challenged their teacher candidates to exercise inference for innovation expanding their potential for critical thinking in a society of transition, and manage transformational skills allowing them to be ongoing change agents
Typology of Analytical and Interpretational Errors in Quantitative and Qualitative Educational Research
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to identify and to discuss major analytical and interpretational errors that occur regularly in quantitative and qualitative educational research. A comprehensive review of the literature discussing various problems was conducted. With respect to quantitative data analyses, common analytical and interpretational misconceptions are presented for data-analytic techniques representing each major member of the general linear model, including hierarchical linear modeling. Common errors associated with many of these approaches include (a) no evidence provided that statistical assumptions were checked; (b) no power/sample size considerations discussed; (c) inappropriate treatment of multivariate data; (d) use of stepwise procedures; (e) failure to report reliability indices for either previous or present samples; (f) no control for Type I error rate; and (g) failure to report effect sizes. With respect to qualitative research studies, the most common errors are failure to provide evidence for judging the dependability (i.e., reliability) and credibility (i.e., validity) of findings, generalizing findings beyond the sample, and failure to estimate and to interpret effect sizes
Effects of State Testing Programs on Elementary Schools with High Concentrations of Student Poverty - Good News or Bad News?
Get PDFIn school districts across the country, accountability enacted through testing initiatives is beginning to play a more important role in documenting student attainment of high academic standards. Critics of the testing movement have argued that standardized testing is narrowing the curriculum resulting in instructional practices ineffective in promoting meaningful student learning. Using a nationally stratified random sample, public school teachers were surveyed on the effects of state testing programs on their practices. Results indicate that classroom practices were affected, most of these effects afflicted teachers in impoverished schools. Findings suggest that increases in test scores is not necessarily a result of student academic attainment but more of test preparation, calling into question the validity of such outcomes
ICTs in Language and Literacy Education in Bangladesh: A Critical Review
Get PDF The advancement of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has challenged the traditional notion of literacy as print-based reading and writing. In this article, I discuss why integration of ICTs into language and literacy curricula is important from the perspectives of the pedagogy of multiliteracies and sociocultural theories of learning. After reviewing the state of ICT use in language and literacy education in Bangladesh, I argue that the use of ICTs does not automatically guarantee improved student learning. On the contrary, it may reify transmission models of education and situate teachers and students in certain identity positions as passive consumers of pre-packaged curricula. Building on Althussers notion of interpellation, I give an example of how a top-down ICT-integrated curriculum may severely restrict teachers and students agency to interrogate assumptions about power and politics around schooling and to develop a language of critique and hope. I conclude the article with a call for integrating the principles of critical pedagogy into teachers professional development programs so that teachers may learn to use ICTs in liberatory ways.
School Location and Teacher Supply: Understanding the Distribution of Teacher Effects
Get PDFRecent research suggests that lower-income schools have less effective teachers than do more affluent schools. This study seeks to build upon this literature by also examining how teacher effectiveness varies across urbanicity and location. The results of this study support the notion that teacher effectiveness is not equal across the poverty level of schools, as it finds a meaningful and robust connection between school FRPL rates and teacher value-added scores. This study also finds that teacher effects vary across location, as does the connection between teacher effects and school FRPL rates. Evidence is put forth which suggests that this variability may do due in part to the supply of teachers in a given region, and policy solutions are explored.
A Typology of Errors and Myths Perpetuated in Educational Research Textbooks
Get PDFThis paper identifies major errors and myths perpetuated by educational research textbooks. The most pervasive errors and myths advanced by methodology textbooks at the following eight phases of the educational research process are described: (a) formulating a research problem/objective; (b) reviewing the literature; (c) developing the research purpose/research question(s) and hypotheses; (d) selecting a research design/method; (e) collecting data; (f) analyzing the data; (g) interpreting/validating the data; and (h) communicating the findings. Second, the implications of these errors and myths are provided. It is shown how research textbooks can be reframed to break down the barriers between quantitative and qualitative research