CLEARvoz Journal (Center for Leadership, Equity and Research)
Not a member yet
120 research outputs found
Sort by
Unravelling Child Language Brokering For Health: Understanding The Complexities Behind Children’s Interpreting For Health Care
Full text linkThe U.S. healthcare system struggles to provide adequate language assistance to medical practitioners and patients. As a result, health providers and patients rely on ad hoc interpreters, including children, to communicate. Bilingual children who regularly interpret for others, whom we refer to as child language brokers, are important linguistic and cultural conduits for their communities and bridge language differences in vital contexts, such as health and medical settings. In this paper, we explore the experiences of 17 adolescent language brokers and consider the settings, tasks, and people they engage with when language brokering for health. Findings illustrate that child language brokering is a real and important component for immigrant family health, that child language brokering for health is not a uniform experience, and that language brokering for health can sometimes have severe ramifications
Perceptions Of Formal And Nonformal Leaders On Cultural Proficiency In Educational Practice And Organizational Change
Full text linkWhen it comes to equity and access through culturally proficient practices, what schools intend to do versus what they actually do can be incongruous by defaulting to traditional accountability metrics over change and innovation. Utilizing the Conceptual Framework for Culturally Proficient Practices, the purpose of this study was to investigate formal and nonformal educational leaders' perceptions regarding the barriers and next steps of Cultural Proficiency implementation following a 10-day Cultural Proficiency training. Findings indicated variations based on individual identity, position in the school system, and external socio-political factors that influence how individuals perceive the implementation, advancement, and/or limitations of Cultural Proficiency work
Book Review
Full text linkAs student populations continue to diversify at an exponential rate, issues of cultural dissonance between students and their teachers become increasingly problematic in American schools. Despite the growing diversity of student populations, teacher demographics have remained stagnant (Milner et al., 2019)
Kicking It In California!
Full text linkPhysical education classrooms reflect a range of learners, movers, and abilities. Incoming physical educators report lacking confidence and knowledge in their ability to create inclusive lesson plans. Many undergraduate and liberal studies students are required to take one adaptative physical education pedagogy course; thus, incoming educators tend to lack an array of instructional tools to ensure all students are participating in activities and engaging with peers. The goal of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is for teachers to use a range of strategies by removing barriers to learning and giving students opportunities to experience physical education to the best of their ability. Physical educators have the foundational tools; they just need to envision using those tools differently. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how, by combining the physical education and UDL frameworks, educators can implement an inclusive lesson with a skills rubric and a summative assessment
Foreword: The Ubiquity Of Wars And The “Good Danger” Of Praxis
Full text linkFor a long time, great thinkers like Noam Chomsky and Paulo Freire, among many others, have always been viewed as “dangerous” and even more so in recent days and years. Both are illustrious thinkers and actors who are considered radicals in their own ways, given their defiance against the “banking system” of education; while both men simultaneously pinpoint the “paradoxes of democracy” that hamper creativity and independent thinking of students, educators, administrators, and leaders. Chomsky and Freire have dedicated their work that cultivates the power of language as a means for educational emancipation, intellectual freedom, and social empowerment within overarching universal principles of humanity, justice, and equity. For them, language is the currency for understanding the world realities and the essence of what it means to be human free from bias or prejudice. As such, education should be grounded in emancipation rather than oppression, enlightenment rather than ignorance, and empathy rather than apathy. More importantly, education should be praxis-based in which learners and educators are not brainwashed but constantly brain-triggered to freely dialogue, interact, think, reflect, analyze, apply, and take action to become skillful rather than full of skills
Administrator And Teacher Experiences Implementing Restorative Practices: A Phenomenological Study
Full text linkExclusionary disciplinary practices negatively and disproportionately impact Black students academically, socially, and emotionally and have been attributed to the school-to-prison pipeline. This research was conducted to determine the impact of restorative justice practices on exclusionary discipline by evaluating the lived experiences of school leaders and teachers. The findings of this research determined that restorative justice practices can effectively interrupt the over-suspension and expulsion of Black students if implemented as a practice as opposed to a program. Additionally, the following barriers to implementation were identified through this study: time, mindset, lack of resources, and professional development and involvement of all stakeholders. Critical race theory and labeling theory were the theoretical lenses through which this research was conducted. Sixteen school leaders and teachers were interviewed using Zoom. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify themes. Through this research, some of the barriers to implementing restorative justice practices were identified based on the lived experiences of school leaders and teachers. Additionally, this study identified how restorative justice practices can impact exclusionary disciplinary practices. From the results emerged the following themes and subthemes: sense of community; school avoidance; negative impact on learning and growth; restorative circles as prevention and healing; developing communication and building relationships; shift in school culture; training and resources; times; mindset and stakeholder involvement. Based on the results of this study, three recommendations were made for future research. A qualitative study can be done comparing and contrasting the lived experiences of Black girls at schools that implement restorative justice practices and schools that do not. Another suggestion for future research would entail a qualitative study that requires engaging in a restorative circle as a participant observer. The third recommendation would be a mixed methods study evaluating the effectiveness of the Restore and Heal Wheel on various elements of school culture
Applying A Stem Engagement Framework To Examine Short-Term Retention Of Latinx And Other Underrepresented Groups In An Undergraduate Stem Scholar Program
Full text linkStudying STEM Intervention Program (SIP) retention, particularly what distinguishes those students who remain in the program from those that leave, may be a key to better understand how to keep students on track towards STEM degree completion. This study focuses on the participation of Latinx and other underrepresented racial/ethnic minoritized (URM) groups in a STEM intervention and support program. Applying London, Rosenthal, Levy, and Lobel’s (2011) STEM Engagement Framework on five cohorts of participants in a SIP, this study found that maintaining higher levels of scientific identity was related to program retention. Therefore, intentionally designing programs that address systemic inequities and celebrate and affirm minoritized groups’ experiences can facilitate adjustment and success. Moreover, women-identified participants were also more likely to remain in the SIP relative to their men-identified counterparts. For practitioners and institutions alike, these results indicate the need to create and implement support programs for women in STEM that go beyond the traditional components of academic support
A Latina Leader’s Consejo: Get To Know Your People And Get Them On The Path Of Continuous Improvement
Full text linkThe author explains, in detail, strategies used in her experience to develop a shared vision, with every group she led, to serve as their guide for all improvement efforts. These are strategies that she used throughout her leadership experience. The first strategy helps the leader know the school and the community partners. The second strategy is designed to clearly define a compelling future of excellence for the organization. The Theory of Action is simple: Once every single member of the school community shares in this vision and sees themselves as a contributing member, they find purpose in the endeavor. This shared vision becomes a call to action and the commitments they bring to the school are materialized. The mandates become an opportunity for change and a shift from a "Compliance to a Commitment" mindset begins. Through her Testimonio, the author will help readers understand the importance of developing a clear road map that can be revisited multiple times to keep the teams focused on top priorities for all students. The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of using social capital and the will of the team members to activate a vision in any educational setting ensuring an equitable approach to begin the journey of continuous improvement (Bryk et al., 2017)
Foreword: The Need for Shifts In Mindsets And Leadership Roles In PK-20 Schools And Communities: Challenges And Opportunities
Full text linkLet us frame the preface to this edition from a few lenses that might help in drawing practical implications for each contribution by the authors. First, the current cycles of ignorance and vicious war against schools and the academy should not be ignored especially by those who have continued to mislead through hypnotizing rhetoric that might lead people to believe that equity and social justice are on the top of their agendas. Second, the contemporary realities around us provide ample testimony that the much-needed change has been hampered by complicity, silence, and often resistance to change by those who enact passive roles in social and educational institutions. Third, narrowing the leadership gap is a fundamental prerequisite for combating racism and achieving equity and social justice in schools and beyond. More importantly, the paradigm shifts should be measured against informed and courageous actions, rather than words, that contribute to the meaningful and desired change of the status quo and its beneficiaries
Black Minds Matter: A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Persistent Underrepresentation Of Black Students In Gifted Education Programs
Full text linkGifted education programs have facilitated educational segregation since their inception and recent research has determined these programs to be the most inequitable in the field. Although a substantial body of research has established that racial inequities in gifted placement practices exist, there is an existing gap in the research around how discriminatory placement trends have evolved over time. The present study examines longitudinal gifted program enrollment data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) between 2011 and 2018 to compare participation rates between White and Black students over time. The analysis revealed that White students have consistently participated in gifted programs at a significantly higher rate than their Black peers over this timeframe. Moreover, despite a tendency to assume that although equity in gifted education programs has not yet been achieved, it is slowly becoming more equitable over time, the analysis also revealed that Black students have become even less likely to participate than their White peers since 2011. The need to adopt and widely implement effective approaches to diversify gifted education programs has become more dire over time, and this study serves as a call to action to ensure that educational opportunity is equitably distributed to students regardless of race