From positivism to critical theory: school-community relations toward community equity literacy

In recent years, research on urban school–community relations has emerged with renewed vigor and a myriad of suggestions for how to best approach the topic. While most of these suggestions are anchored in positivist and interpretive epistemologies, a growing number of scholars are applying more critical approaches to school–community relations that center issues of equity and unequal power relations. However, these approaches are often perceived as being too impractical for educational leaders to implement. This article thus situates approaches to school–community relations across three epistemologies: positivism, interpretivism, and critical theory to make these ideas more accessible for educational leaders. With a focus on developing educational leaders to work equitably across school and community contexts, this article provides an operating framework for each approach that delineates assumptions, goals, views of families, strategies, and types of leadership. Finally, this article provides an epistemological grounding to propose that educational leaders develop what I call community equity literacy, and concludes with implications for future research.     

Teacher education reform: Issues of equity and accountability

Recent policy changes in teacher education have had a significant impact on equality of educational opportunity for the teaching profession. Improving standards of excellence in the school system while at the same time insuring equality of opportunity has become a major concern. The policy maker interested in promoting equality of opportunity will have to balance the need for teacher quality with the notion of equity. This paper examines some of the policy changes in teacher education and focuses on how they impact the recruitment and retention of minority students.     

The SES equity gap and the reform from modular to linear GCSE mathematics

This article addresses whether the introduction of end-of-course, linear General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations changed the socio-economic equity gap in England. The GCSE is a national examination offered in a wide range of subjects and taken by almost the entire 16-year-old age cohort. Between the years 2007 and 2014, it underwent a number of reforms to both the underlying curriculum and the examination structure. At the beginning of the period, examinations were primarily modular in structure where the course was decomposed into discrete units tested in a staged manner. By 2014, all GCSE examinations were linear and the whole course content was tested simultaneously when study was complete. These structural changes and the curriculum reforms mean that the impact of modular and linear testing on the performance of students has been the focus of recent interest. Some educational commentators suggested that modular examinations are more suitable for lower-performing students, including those with lower socio-economic status (SES). This research has been conducted to monitor the socio-economic equity gap in the light of the structural changes. It focuses on GCSE mathematics and concludes that, although there is still a clear gap in attainment between disadvantaged students and their peers, this gap does not seem to be exacerbated by the examination structure. In other words, the linearisation of GCSE mathematics is unlikely to have increased inequity between students of high and low SES.     

From Policy to Practice: Curriculum reform in South African education

An important development in the post-apartheid South Africa was a departure from apartheid education through an outcomes-based curriculum reform. This resulted in several structural and policy tensions within the system. This paper highlights how these tensions have played themselves out and shows how government and stakeholders have addressed the challenges emanating from them. The paper argues that the tensions that dominated the post-apartheid curriculum reform have resulted in a significant paradigm shift focused on reclaiming knowledge and cognition in the classroom as expressed in the new revisionism in curriculum debate. From a policy point of view, it argues that the South African experience demonstrates how the pursuit of grand philosophies and ideals such as OBE and curriculum 2005 requires, at both macro and micro, systemic and institutional levels, generally and at the level of detail, a great deal of technical and political skills that cannot be achieved overnight. This calls for realism and pragmatism in school reform by focusing attention not only on what schools in society stand for but also on what they can realistically do and achieve, given their legacies and the particular circumstances in which they operate.     

从要素驱动向创新驱动:博士生教育改革的关键

博士生教育的质量与水平直接关乎我国高等教育的质量与水平.当前我国博士生教育迫切需要实现从要素驱动向创新驱动的转变.通过明晰创新主体,建立创新驱动的催生机制和培育适宜创新的环境,以创新驱动博士生教育的改革与发展.     

Considering equity in basic education reform in Japan from the perspective of private costs of education

It is widely acknowledged that the private costs of education occupy a substantial part of the overall education cost and thus they have implications for quality and equity in education. The case of Japan demonstrates that access to basic education at junior high school level is unequal and inequitable when considering private costs of education borne within and outside the school system. It was also found that household spending on supplementary education in public schools is likely to be determined by local implementation of education reforms. Current education reform with its absence of financial and technical support to schools under the guise of deregulation does not seem to generate good levels of choice nor does it seem to sustain quality and equity in education.     

从添加模式到融合模式--我国基础教育课程改革的新趋势

添加模式和融合模式是课程改革中的两种不同模式。论文认为 ,当前我国基础教育课程改革的一个重要特点是课程内容和课程结构的改革从以往的注重添加发展为现在的注重融合。文章在总结这种变化特点的基础上 ,分析了这种变化的原因 ,并就在采用融合模式的过程中应注意的几个问题做了论述。     

从应试教育到课程改革:教育现象学观照

教育现象学是一门追求教育生活中具体现象的学问,悬置成见、回归生活和反思性理解,是教育现象学的三个重要关键词。从教育现象学角度观照,应试教育存在的主要问题包括:教师讲授对悬置的忽视,标准答案情结对学生生活世界的遮蔽,缺乏师生对教材、他者与自我三者关系的反思性理解;课程改革的路径选择包括教师精通教材与悬置的运用,教师主动倾听让学生的生活世界得以显现,教师运用教学机智推进学生关于教材、他者与自我三者关系的反思性理解。     

从学生学习现状看高校教学改革

培养人才是高等教育的基本任务,也是高等教育的核心职能。本文从高等教育面临的新形势入手,在对某高校文科学生学习现状问卷调查分析的基础上,提出了高校教改的对策与建议：首先应更新教育观念,培养创新人才;第二,要与时俱进,改革教学内容、方法以及教学考核方法与评价体系;第三,应建立学生自主学习与教师进行教学方法改革的激励机制,促进学生早日成才。     

从体育课改看教师专业素质的提升

随着河北省高中新课改的不断推进,体育教师的专业素质已成为影响和制约体育与健康课程改革发展的重要因素之一,深入调查和分析新课改中体育教师专业素质的缺失与不足,并提出相应的提升途径,对促进体育与健康课程的改革具有重要的现实意义.     

Equitable science education in urban middle schools: Do reform efforts make a difference?*

A central commitment of current reforms in science education is that all students, regardless of culture, gender, race, and/ or socioeconomic status, are capable of understanding and doing science. The study “Bridging the Gap: Equity in Systemic Reform” assessed equity in systemic reform using a nested research design that drew on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. As part of the study, case studies were conducted in two urban middle schools in large Ohio cities. The purpose of the case studies was to identify factors affecting equity in urban science education reform. Data were analyzed using Kahle's (1998) equity metric. That model allowed us to assess progress toward equity using a range of research‐based indicators grouped into three categories critical for equitable education: access to, retention in, and achievement in quality science education. In addition, a fourth category was defined for systemic indicators of equity. Analyses indicated that the culture and climate of the case study schools differentially affected their progress toward equitable reform in science education. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1130–1144, 2001     

Asking the right questions: An analytic framework for reform of urban teacher education

The second wave of educational excellence reforms has focused on improving teaching and teacher education to restore the nation's economic and industrial health and to reduce poverty in the inner cities. The author examines the theoretical underpinning of the conventional linkage between urban poverty, urban education, and urban teacher education, and suggests an alternative framework. An effective program to train urban teachers must address the bureaucratic conditions that sabotage students and teachers' success and encourage mutually respectful relationships among urban schooling's constituents.     

Pathways to equity in mathematics education: how life experiences impact researcher positionality

This study examined the life histories of a group of emerging scholars in the field of mathematics education who identify themselves as having a particular interest in and concern for issues of equity and diversity. Experiences of being the "other," "bearing witness" to "othering experiences," and "orienting experiences" in relation to issues of equity proved to be prominent themes in participants' life histories. These experiences were then linked to the positionality that these scholars now have in relation to their research in mathematics education.     

Learning to prove by investigations: a promising approach in Dutch secondary education

The Mathematics Department of the University of Nijmegen in collaboration with the Graduate School of Education has developed a math course in the field of fractals and dynamic processes for volunteer students in the second phase of secondary education in the Netherlands. The students, of approximately 16 years of age, show a special interest in, and an aptitude for mathematics and informatics. One of the main goals of the course was to highlight the deductive aspect of mathematics, an aspect that is neglected in the ordinary math curriculum of secondary education in the Netherlands. That goal was pursued by giving the students ample opportunity to conduct investigations on their own and in a way that they would be responsible for judging the correctness of their arguments in making mathematical deductions. In that way proving is imbedded in a larger structure and becomes a tool for the students to convince each other. During the courses we searched for the right way for teachers to coach these investigations, that is: to find a balance between mere concentration on guiding the process of the students' investigations and active intervention in the learning process of proving. In this article we illustrate with two examples – the first from the '95–'96 course and the second from the '96–'97 course – in what way we adjusted our coaching. Our results are explorative, but our approach appears promising and we are convinced that investigations as learning environment for proving would also be a valuable part for the regular secondary math education in the Netherlands. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.