The Politically and Culturally One-Sided Campus: Causes, Consequences, Remedies: Pernicious Politicization in Academe: Victims of the One-Sided Campus: Advocacy in the College Classroom

The three papers that follow were delivered on 22 April 2006 at a conference of the California Association of Scholars at the Annenberg School on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The aim of the panelists was to diagnose the political and cultural imbalance in higher education, to analyze its causes and consequences, and to look for remedies. Other essays from that conference may appear later in AQ.     

Building and destroying students’ ‘academic identities’: the power of discourse in a two‐way immersion classroom

Two‐way immersion is a model for bilingual education designed to help language‐minority students develop additive bilingualism while at the same time offering language‐majority students a chance to learn a second language. There is a great deal of rhetoric around two‐way immersion that claims these programs aim to improve overall equity among diverse groups of learners. The article begins with a brief review of the available research on two‐way immersion education. Then, using Bakhtin’s concept of dialogue and Bourdieu’s and Gee’s ideas of discourse/Discourse, this article takes a close‐up look at the discourse patterns in one second‐grade two‐way immersion classroom in Northern California, with an eye to uncovering how the teacher deliberately attempts to expose students to ‘alternative’ discourses and to lead language‐minority students to construct positive identities as learners. The ultimate question the article attempts to address is whether and to what extent any classroom program can create lasting change in the larger society through exposing students to ‘alternatives’ to mainstream dominant discourses within the context of classroom norms and activities.     

Effects of Supervised Counseling on Dominance

To ascertain the effects of supervised counselor experience on measures of dominance, graduate students were drawn from three departments at the University of Illinois, Urbana, and given the dominance and self-acceptance scales of the California Psychological Inventory and the California Fascism Scale. In the analysis of variance, the experimental group scored significantly higher (p <.05) on dominance than did the control group from pretest to posttest, and the correlation between dominance and self-acceptance was. 66 (p<. 01). The correlation between dominance and fascism was not significantly different from zero. When the effects of participants' additional counselor (or teacher) experience were partialed out of posttest dominance scores, the results were not significantly changed. The results implied that a supervised counseling practicum effected more of an increase in participants' feelings of well-being than did other counselor (or teacher) experience.     

The politics of similarity within difference: A pedagogy for the other

The cultural political struggles of five female teachers in a heavily populated minority urban school in Southern California depicts bothsimilarity anddifference. Similarly, each teacher struggles to help overcome her own and students' oppression, subordination, and alienation. Through understandingsimilarity, different teacher and student voices make understanding the other easier. It is argued that understanding similarity within difference opens space for a democratic imaginary, that, while not clearly articulated at any one moment, acts to variously challenge the oppressive forces existing within and outside of schools.     

Research Scientist Beyond and Within the Classroom: An Interview With Ecotoxicologist–Teacher Sven Strnad

How to read and understand poetry Edgar Allan Poe American story poems Pleasantville, New York: Educational Audio‐Visual, Inc.

The Cousteau oceanography series: “The Water Planet, Sets I and II” Burbank, California: Walt Disney Educational Media Company

Amazing world of Dinosaurs multimedia kit

Burbank, California: Walt Disney Educational Media Company     

Latina Mothers of Emergent Bilinguals as Policymakers? Barriers and Opportunities toward Critical Participation in LCAP

Understanding why and how stakeholders become involved in education governance, and with what consequence, is critical to the success of any equity-minded participatory policy. This area of inquiry is especially salient to California’s education law called the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). LCAP requires local district officials to include families of emergent bilinguals in deciding how to spend nearly $48 billion in education funds. Moreover, it specifically calls for the direct involvement of historically marginalized families, including parents of emergent bilinguals in setting and evaluating LCAP policy decisions. Findings from this study highlight the adversity, tension, and suppression faced by 10 Latina immigrant mothers (mamás) active in a district-level District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC). Despite the challenging environment, every mamá regards her involvement as important and intends to continue her advocacy work. Findings also highlight that active mamás do not share a common or clear understanding about LCAP or the role of parents in the new policymaking process – issues that can create barriers to authentic parent engagement in participatory policymaking processes. These issues, however, could be addressed if meaningful dialogue and deliberation opportunities were constructed between parents and district officials.     

The Institutionalization of Racism at the University of California at Berkeley

Editor's Note: The following is adapted from a letter and accompanying essay that were sent to each of the regents of the University of California at the close of the spring semester, 1990, by Prof. Sarich.     

Professionalism and Politics in High School Teaching Reform

This paper takes the case of math educationreform in California to analyze problems andprospects for reforming high school teaching.The experiences of three math departmentsreveal the profoundly political nature of highschool mathematics reform. First, changing mathinstruction means rejecting established normsfor professional practice in mathematics and inteaching more generally. I argue that radicalteaching reform depends upon professionalismand sustained commitment of teachercommunities, as well as on the knowledge ofreformed practice they generate. Second,successful reform engages politics beyond theteaching profession, as the California ``mathwars' attest. After describing the course oforganized opposition to a reformed high schoolmath department, I examine the rhetoric andvested interests that figure prominently inparents' mobilization against mathematicsreform. The analysis brings into focus the dualproblems for high school teaching reform ofchanging professional practice and engagingpolitical opposition to educational change. Thestunning success of anti-reform politics inAmerican mathematics education highlights theimportance of activist professionalism inteaching.     

African American students’ college choice processes in a post 209 era

Abstract

High-achieving African American students in California are not attending University of California (UC) campuses. Due to hyper-implementations of Proposition 209, which limited UC campuses’ ability to use race as a significant admission criteria, the UC system and individual UC campus policies have scaled back their efforts to recruit high-achieving African American students from California. This article presents findings from the qualitative portion (n?=?74) of a convergent mixed-method study of over 700 African American college-going students. Findings convey the critical role that access, outreach, diversity, and climate plays in the college choice process of African American high achievers. Drawing upon higher education and critical race literature, the findings further reveal the challenges and opportunities for states and elite universities in retaining its brightest students from diverse backgrounds. This research also conveys the potential of research to inform state, systemic, and institutional policies to increase access to selective public universities.     

Measurement Issues in the Alignment of Standards and Assessments

Abstract

This study examined the impact of rater agreement on decisions concerning the alignment between the Golden State Examination in High School Mathematics (California Department of Education, 2001a Academic Senate of the California State University. 1997. Statement on competencies in mathematics expected of entering college students Sacramento, CA: Author.  [Google Scholar]) and the University of California (UC) Statement on Competencies in Mathematics Expected of Entering College Students (Academic Senate of the California State University, 1997 Academic Senate of the California State University. 1997. Statement on competencies in mathematics expected of entering college students Sacramento, CA: Author.  [Google Scholar]). The UC faculty and high school mathematics teachers (N = 20) rated the mathematics items of the Golden State Examination relative to the expectations identified in the UC competency statement, identifying item features related to content and dimensionality. Raters assigned values for a primary topic, a secondary topic, item/topic centrality, and depth of knowledge. Agreement within these criteria was the basis of the assessment of alignment. Results showed considerable variability in judgments across raters and different pictures of alignment depending on the particular subset of raters providing the ratings. A few differences emerged between rater types.     

Building and Supporting a Validity Argument for a Standards‐Based Classroom Assessment of English Proficiency Based on Teacher Judgments

Using an argument‐based approach to validation, this study examines the quality of teacher judgments in the context of a standards‐based classroom assessment of English proficiency. Using Bachman's (2005) assessment use argument (AUA) as a framework for the investigation, this paper first articulates the claims, warrants, rebuttals, and backing needed to justify the link between teachers' scores on the English Language Development (ELD) Classroom Assessment and the interpretations made about students' language ability. Then the paper summarizes the findings of two studies—one quantitative and one qualitative—conducted to gather the necessary backing to support the warrants and, in particular, address the rebuttals about teacher judgments in the argument. The quantitative study examined the assessment in relation to another measure of the same ability—the California English Language Development Test—using confirmatory factor analysis of multitrait‐multimethod data and provided evidence in support of the warrant that states that the ELD Classroom Assessment measures English proficiency as defined by the California ELD Standards. The qualitative study examined the processes teachers engaged in while scoring the classroom assessment using verbal protocol analysis. The findings of this study serve to support the rebuttals in the validity argument that state that there are inconsistencies in teachers' scoring. The paper concludes by providing an explanation for these seemingly contradictory findings using the AUA as a framework and discusses the implications of the findings for the use of standards‐based classroom assessments based on teacher judgments.     

Creating Pathways to College for Migrant Students: Assessing a Migrant Outreach Program

Migrant students are among the most disadvantaged of any groups in the United States, yet little is understood about factors that facilitate their college access. College access outreach programs rarely collect data on whether and where their students go to college. This longitudinal study tracked the college-going behaviors of migrant students who participated in the Migrant Student Leadership Institute (MSLI), a program whose goals include increasing migrant students' 4-year college access. The program emphasizes developing students' capacity for critical thinking about sociopolitical conditions, as well as their academic preparation for, and knowledge about, college. Results from analyses using an equivalent comparison group suggest that the program positively affected participants' application rates to, and enrollment rates in, more selective California public higher education institutions, including campuses of the University of California (UC) system. This article addresses factors that potentially accounted for these outcomes.     

“Shaping Communities” as a Christian Practice and Popular Religion: Their Implications for Latina/o Religious Education in the United States

This article sets Dorothy Bass' Christian practices movement in critical dialogue with U.S. Latina/o popular religion in order to explore ways that these distinctive sets of practices could enrich one another. Then, it focuses on shaping communities as a Christian practice and correlates it with the U.S. Latina/o popular religious practices enacted by a predominantly Mexican-American congregation in East Los Angeles, California. It concludes by examining the implications for U.S. Latina/o religious education in light of José Irizarry-Mercado's concepts of bilingual aesthetic and inter-cultural experience.     

Are the Effects of Student–Faculty Interaction Dependent on Academic Major? An Examination Using Multilevel Modeling

Using multilevel models, this study examined whether and why the strength of association between student–faculty interaction and student cognitive skills development varies across academic majors. The study utilized data from the 2008 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) and a sample of 43,014 students from 119 academic majors across nine campuses. The results indicate that the impact of interaction with faculty on students’ cognitive skills development significantly varies by academic major. Findings also suggest that some aspects of departmental climate can potentially magnify the effects produced by student–faculty interaction.     

Television and education: A review of research

Summary The existing research on television of interest to educators was analyzed and found to be grouped into four general categories: (a) studies of the general social effects of television, (b) content analyses, (c) studies of the educational effects of television, and (d) technical studies. Studies in each of these four categories were reviewed and generalizations drawn from them. No attempt was made to review related research that is, no doubt, applicable to the problems of television. For example, the vast amount of research information developed in the audio-visual field during the past 30 years was not touched. Future investigators will find that the existing television research and the existing audio-visual research provide only a sketch map of the field of audio-visual communication. To use these important instruments wisely, and this is particularly true of television, it is necessary that we know and understand much more. This is the challenge for future research. To the knowledge of the editor, this is the first comprebensive review of educational television research to be published. The organizing of the research into four categories—general social effects, content analyses, educational effects, and technical problems—the rather detailed reviewing of the results, and the drawing of general conclusions should greatly aid the educator in understanding the unique contributions of educational television. An attempt will be made in future issues of Audio-Visual Communication Review to supplement this review of research by regularly publishing, in “Research Abstracts,” reviews of the most recent television studies. Dr. James D. Finn is Associate Professor of Education and Chairman of the Audio-Visual Education Department, University of Southern California. This paper was originally prepared at the request of the California State Department of Education for inclusion in theBrochure of Background Materials: Educational Television for the Governor’s Conference on Educational Television, held in Sacramento, California, December 15–16, 1952. It was necessary to develop the material in a very short time, and the writer wishes to express his indebtedness to F. Dean McClusky and May V. Seagoe of the University of California, Los Angeles, and to Lester F. Beck and Nicholas Rose, his colleagues at the University of Southern California, as well as to several of his graduate students for helping in locating copies of the studies reviewed.     

The virtues of improbability: Joan Aiken

David Rees has written over 20 novels for children and young adults, includingThe Exeter Blitz (Carnegie Medal, 1978),The Green Bough of Liberty (Other Award, 1980), andThe Flying Island, just published. He has also taught at Exeter University and at California State University, San Jose. Rees has published two collections of critical essays on children's writers,The Marble in the Water andPainted Desert, Green Shade, and is currently at work on a third collection.     

Critical liberal education: an undergraduate pedagogy for teacher candidates in socially diverse university settings

This article addresses the lack of attention universities have given to adjusting liberal education, the undergraduate major for teachers in California, to the increase of multi‐ethnic, multi‐racial, and social class heterogeneity in state universities. This article argues for a revised pedagogy for undergraduate liberal arts education for teacher candidates in California called critical liberal education. This pedagogy emphasizes the interdisciplinary knowledge and inquiry skills of a traditional program in conjunction with intercultural competence, civic engagement and an ethical stance toward social justice. This pedagogy brings liberal arts education in line with living in our complex multicultural democracy to create analytic, engaged teacher‐citizens for the twenty‐first century.     

From voicing your opinion to politicised voice: a youth-led social justice class at an urban continuation high school

This article examines the work of three urban youths as they designed and taught a social justice class at an urban continuation high school in California, USA. Drawing from a two-year ethnographic study of the project, it shows that youth participants constructed a set of imagined binaries to frame teachers, schoolwork and coercion in opposition to students, voice and liberation. The article examines how the youths distinguished ordinary coercive teaching from their own liberatory teaching, creating a coercive/liberatory binary that served as metaphor for a series of binaries shaping their approach to social justice education: teacher/student, adult/youth and schoolwork/voice. It concludes that although the social justice class accomplished many important aims, the reconstruction of and reliance on a coercive/liberatory binary within the project ultimately limited its effectiveness as a social justice education effort.     

Mathematics Standards,Cultural Styles,and Learning Preferences: The Plight and the Promise of African American Students

The 2007 film Freedom Writers portrays the real-life experiences of Erin Gruwell, a teacher at an inner-city high school in Long Beach, California. This article discusses the educational theories underpinning Gruwell's pedagogical practice, as seen in Freedom Writers, and identifies four themes—rewriting curriculum, treating students as creators of knowledge, creating classroom community, and teaching as self-realization—that make Gruwell's teaching successful.     

Talk About Field Placement Within Campus Coursework: Connecting Theory and Practice in Teacher Education

Worldwide, scholars and policymakers have called for teacher education to link fieldwork and coursework. This article examines teacher candidates’ opportunities to talk about field placement within their campus coursework as one way of doing so. It reports on survey data (n?=?270) and observation data (n?=?52 hours) from 3 teacher-education programs in Norway, Finland, and California in the USA. Findings suggest that candidates have extensive opportunities to talk about field placement. However, the characteristics of the talk, the degree of specificity and detail provided, and the level of complexity and connectedness to theory vary extensively. The article argues that, to be generative for professional learning, talk about field placement needs to be systematically scaffolded within a pedagogy of teacher education.