Exploring the Meaning and Paths of Advocacy for Undocumented Students’ Access to Education

There is widespread national debate over how to address and advocate for undocumented immigrants in the United States. Education is key to the economic, occupational, and social mobility of young unauthorized immigrants, but policies and practices can hinder or open their access to education. Educators pursue a range of activities to support undocumented students in school. This article identifies the conceptualizations, strategies, and thought processes of educators who advocate for undocumented students. The results reveal that advocates’ backgrounds, resources, goals, identity, and the communities in which they advocate influence their perceptions and practices of advocacy.     

Recovery Supports for Young People: What Do Existing Supports Reveal About the Recovery Environment?

This article seeks to address how our understanding of the recovery process and resulting supports can be made more comprehensive: How can links from treatment to home to school to communities be made so that there are fewer and fewer recovery gaps for adolescents? Using the ecology of recovery model developed by White (2009) as the impetus for such a review, the article discusses the challenges inherent within adolescent substance abuse recovery, factors impacting successful recovery, and programs addressing this issue that have been empirically studied. Studied programs can be categorized as (a) formalized aftercare recovery and (b) recovery communities, and both examples are described using existing literature. From the review of existing recovery support research and resources, the discussion highlights gaps and future research areas in order to address the complexity of recovery among young people.     

What Constitutes Effective Curricula for Students With Severe Disabilities?

During the last quarter century, the definition of effective curriculum for students with severe disabilities has changed dramatically. This article reviews the development of curriculum practices for students with severe disabilities and examines 3 components of the 1997 Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that have the potential to significantly impact curriculum design. These components include (a) IDEA's emphasis on preparing students for employment and independent living, (b) mandates for student access to the general curriculum, and (c) students with disabilities in state- and district-wide assessments. The benefits and challenges of implementing these changes are explored in relation to the current literature on effective curriculum models. Future research questions for evaluating the impact of IDEA's framework on student outcomes are presented.     

Rubrics as a Tool for Learning and Assessment: What Do Baccalaureate Students Think?

Rubrics are increasingly used as tools to evaluate student work. This study examined BSW students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of using rubrics. Pre- and posttest questionnaires were administered to 35 students in two sections of a diversity course. Students judged the use of rubrics favorably. Rubrics communicated the instructors' expectations, clarified how to write course assignments, explained grade and point deductions and, in general, made course expectations clearer. Students suggested that the rubric design should be self-explanatory and easy to follow. If carefully developed, rubrics may be a useful tool for advancing student learning in social work programs.     

What is an ‘Interesting Curriculum’ for Biotechnology Education? Students and Teachers Opposing Views

Of concern is an international trend of students’ increasing reluctance to choose science courses in both their final years of secondary school and tertiary levels of education. Research into the phenomenon indicates an influencing factor to be the ‘uninteresting curriculum’ (OECD 2006) of school science. This paper presents an exploration of what biotechnology key ideas students and teachers consider to be interesting. A survey was constructed and completed by 500 Australian students and their 35 teachers. Interviews were conducted with a sample of students and teachers. The Chi-square statistics revealed a significant difference between the student and teacher survey responses in four of the six a priori factors. A rank ordering of the key ideas, based on whole group mean scores, indicates only a small overlap in modern biotechnology key ideas of interest to both the students and teachers. The results suggest the key ideas teachers are interested in and incorporate into their curriculum, are not the key ideas students are interested in learning about. This mismatch is particularly prevalent and problematic in situations where curriculum choice is available within a mandated framework or syllabus, which is the case for these teachers and students. The study also found students withdrawing from biology courses in post compulsory settings due to lack of interest and perceived lack of relevance of the course.     

The Relationship Between Academic Major and Environmentalism Among College Students: Is it Mediated by the Effects of Gender,Political Ideology and Financial Security?

Several studies have found a relationship between college students’ academic majors and their environmental attitudes and behaviors. Results from this study of incoming first-year students at a medium-sized public university suggest that students majoring in different programs of study were likely to have different environmental attitudes and behaviors. There were also differences in the proportions of women, political liberals, and financially secure students in each of the different majors. When controlling for the effects of gender, political ideology, and financial security, incoming business majors scored lower on two of the four measures of environmentalism than incoming students in the other majors. The findings in this study suggest that incoming students choose majors that are consistent with their worldviews.     

Students’ Research-Informed Socio-scientific Activism: Re/Visions for a Sustainable Future

In many educational contexts throughout the world, increasing focus has been placed on socio-scientific issues; that is, disagreements about potential personal, social and/or environmental problems associated with fields of science and technology. Some suggest (as do we) that many of these potential problems, such as those associated with climate change, are so serious that education needs to be oriented towards encouraging and enabling students to become citizen activists, ready and willing to take personal and social actions to reduce risks associated with the issues. Towards this outcome, teachers we studied encouraged and enabled students to direct open-ended primary (e.g., correlational studies), as well as secondary (e.g., internet searches), research as sources of motivation and direction for their activist projects. In this paper, we concluded, based on constant comparative analyses of qualitative data, that school students’ tendencies towards socio-political activism appeared to depend on myriad, possibly interacting, factors. We focused, though, on curriculum policy statements, school culture, teacher characteristics and student-generated research findings. Our conclusions may be useful to those promoting education for sustainability, generally, and, more specifically, to those encouraging activism on such issues informed by student-led research.     

What Mathematics Education May Prepare Students for the Society of the Future?

This paper attempts to engage the field in a discussion about what mathematics is needed for students to engage in society, especially with an increase in technology and digitalization. In this respect, mathematics holds a special place in STEM as machines do most of the calculations that students are taught in K-12. We raise questions about what mathematical proficiency means in today’s world and what shifts need to be made in both content and pedagogy to prepare students for 21st Century Skills and mathematical reasoning.     

Border Brokers: Teachers and Undocumented Mexican Students in Search of Acompañamiento

This article examines the deployment of border conocimiento and the subsequent cultural production of third spaces for transnational Mexican youth by Chicano educators who I call “border brokers” at a northern California high school. It examines the micro-level insurgent actions on the part of a small group of educators at Bosque High to engage Mexican migrant youth through a different educational vision and narrative—a vision based on communal notions of learning and belonging and border epistemology, what I call Acompañamiento, where the meaning and scope of membership in the community in which one lives are addressed. Demonstrating a border epistemology, border teachers understood intimately the need to go beyond narrow constructions of academic success to join in the struggle for full realization of their students’ humanity and need to be in community. Using ethnographic data from a year-long study at a northern California high school and town, this paper examines the different ways that educators came together to claim space and create place for displaced transmigrants in what I call acts of acompañamiento—a fluid cultural practice of solidarity, advocacy, and relationship/community building based on cultural knowledge situated in border zones.     

What if we could Imagine an Ideal University? Narratives by Students with Disabilities

This article presents the results of a project entitled, ‘Analysis of University Barriers and Aids Identified by Students with Disabilities’, carried out in a Spanish University. The study used the biographical–narrative methodology, which emphasises the importance of people talking about themselves without silencing their subjectivity. Different types of data collection instruments, such as biographic interview, timelines and photography, were employed to acquire this information. The Results section presents proposals made by students with disabilities which could contribute to developing a more inclusive university. Some of their suggestions were that students with disabilities should be better informed and oriented, academic staff should be better trained to favour their educational inclusion, the settings and infrastructures should be accessible, and universities should be prepared to deal with people with disabilities. The conclusions discuss the main findings of the analysis, comparing them with other previous studies, and making some proposals that help universities progress towards inclusive education.     

University Students with Reading Difficulties: Do Perceived Supports and Comorbid Difficulties Predict Well‐Being and GPA?

We examined the impact of the number of comorbid difficulties, social support, and community support on life satisfaction and academic achievement among 120 university students or recent graduates with self‐reported reading difficulties. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing perceived social support, perceived community support, the number of comorbid difficulties in addition to reading difficulty, life satisfaction, and academic achievement (grade point average). Results supported a main effect model in which the number of comorbid difficulties and social, but not community, support predicted life satisfaction. Social and community support did not moderate the relationship between the number of comorbid difficulties and life satisfaction, lending no support to the buffering effect hypothesis. However, a mediation model showed that social support partially mediated the relationship between the number of comorbid difficulties and life satisfaction. Academic achievement did not correlate with any included variable.     

What Do We Know About Online Coursetaking,Persistence, Transfer,and Degree Completion Among Community College Students?

ABSTRACT

Surprisingly, and despite the vast literature on the subject, there is little agreement on the most vital issues surrounding online learning in community colleges. While some studies report that community college students are hampered by online course enrollment, others have found that community college students who take online courses are more likely to persist and succeed in the long term. With this in mind, the present essay will review and synthesize the empirical research literature in order to establish what is known about online coursetaking and the effects on community college students with regard to course completion, persistence, transfer, and degree completion.     

Liberalism,Pluralism, and Political Education: Paradox or paradigm?

Inspired by concern about promoting civic participation and preserving the liberal democratic state, political theorists have recently reignited a debate about the nature of political education in a liberal society. These theorists' arguments in favor of teaching toleration are significant for the progress of education reforms currently being debated and implemented in current liberal democracies and some emerging nations. Despite the increasing attention paid to the value of liberal civic education, however, its specific content is typically left virtually blank. This article aims to redress this gap in the literature by developing a coherent and comprehensive (albeit still very general) curriculum for liberal political education. To this end, Section I analyses the nature of the ideal liberal democratic state and develops a general curriculum for liberal political education based on the type of citizens needed to preserve and take advantage of such a state. It concludes by introducing two potentially illiberal outcomes of this curriculum: children's forced development of the capacity for autonomy, and the reduction of diversity in the state. Section II argues that the development of autonomy is actually central to liberal theory and liberal education more broadly conceived, while Section III suggests that civic and social diversity will persist, but rightly play a secondary role to the goals of liberal political education. The article concludes, therefore, with a reassertion of the content and importance of liberal political education.     

Effective Teachers for At-Risk or Highly Mobile Students: What are the Dispositions and Behaviors of Award-Winning Teachers?

What distinguishes effective teachers of at-risk or highly mobile students was the essential question addressed in this study. We conducted a cross-case analysis of US national or state award-winning teachers who taught in schools with student populations characterized as highly mobile, homeless, and/or high poverty. Six teachers meeting the criteria were selected as participants. Frameworks of effective teaching characteristics were adapted from prior research and from a review of the literature to gather on-site classroom observational and interview data from participating teachers. The data were examined in light of extant research related to teaching at-risk or highly mobile students and yielded information regarding beliefs and practices. Teachers' interview responses focused on 2 main areas of teacher effectiveness: the importance of student–teacher relationships and instructional delivery. These teachers emphasized affective and academic needs in their planning, instruction, and assessment. They had high expectations of students and were committed to ensuring that students had what they needed to succeed. Teachers maintained high student engagement and used a variety of instructional activities and a wide range of cognitive levels in the questions asked during their instruction which was primarily teacher-directed. Additional research into effective teaching and working with at-risk or highly mobile students is recommended.     

Students with an undisclosed hearing loss: a challenge for academic access, progress, and success?

It has been suggested that only 8% of postsecondary students in the United States who have a hearing loss have disclosed that hearing loss to their institutions. Consistent with this suggestion, two anonymous surveys of students enrolled in courses with the Open University in the United Kingdom suggested that there were roughly 9,000 students in the Open University itself and over 42,000 students in higher education across the United Kingdom as a whole who had a hearing loss that they had not disclosed to their institutions. These students tended to be older people with a relatively mild hearing loss that did not disrupt their communication with other students or their active engagement with learning activities. The impact of the students' hearing loss upon their approaches to studying seemed to be relatively slight, but it was associated with an increase in the students' perceived academic workload.     

'Good for Them, or What?' The Arts and Pupils with SEN

Melanie Peter, Advisory Teacher with Norfolk Local Education Authority, explores the value of arts experiences for pupils with special educational needs (SEN), and places the arts firmly in the current educational context. She believes that the arts are 'therapeutic' as distinct from 'therapy' and recognises their unique contribution to the curriculum.