Still flies in buttermilk: black male faculty,critical race theory,and composite counterstorytelling

Driven by critical race theory, this essay employs composite counterstorytelling to narrate the experiences of black male faculty on traditionally white campuses. Situated at the intersections of race and gender, our composite counterstory is richly informed by 11 interviews with black male faculty alongside critical race scholarship that documents the omnipresence of black misandric ideology. Through our protagonist Dr Timesnow, a black male Assistant Professor, we reflect on how his daily experiences incite racial battle fatigue, feed into imposter syndrome, and circumvent an inclusive campus community.     

Academia’s Most Wanted: The Characteristics of Desirable Academic Job Candidates in Criminology and Criminal Justice

Although personal opinions and anecdotal evidence abound, there is a dearth of systematic research into the characteristics that academic criminology and criminal justice departments seek in job candidates. The current study uses a nationally representative sample of faculty members to assess the extent to which a wide array of attributes affects whether an applicant for an assistant professor position would be invited for an on‐campus interview. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we find that several applicant characteristics are related to the likelihood of an interview and that some of these relationships are conditioned by the characteristics of the faculty who decide whether to extend an invitation. We discuss the implications of our findings for the nature of the discipline, and for mentoring doctoral students, designing PhD program experiences, and hiring new colleagues.     

STRATEGIES TO STRENGTHEN EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN GHANA,WEST AFRICA

The field of early care and education has been challenged to raise the level of quality for young children by increasing the number of practitioners with college degrees. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of early care and education professionals working in the field and enrolled in community college early childhood classes, about the benefits of attending classes, and the factors that motivated them to pursue a college degree. The majority of the participants were not attending college for the first time and previously attempted to return to school to complete a certificate or an associate degree. Motivational factors and perceived benefits, which varied by teachers and directors, were influenced by the number of years that the practitioners worked in the field. Personal goals and professional development were main motivators, but younger teachers also valued the degree for their future careers. Directors played a pivotal role in motivating teachers to enroll in college, while scholarship assistance made it possible to act on desires to go to college. These findings point to differentiated, targeted marketing and recruitment for teachers and directors, relevant early childhood college coursework, and continuous available funding to complete degrees.     

“Be the change you want to see”: A three-part semester-long assignment in an interracial communication class

Courses: This three-part semester-long assignment was designed for an undergraduate course in interracial communication. While interracial communication is the primary focus of this assignment, it could easily be adapted to a variety of courses focused on diversity with the goals of improving communication and connectedness among members of other social and cultural groups.

Objectives: The interracial communication course seeks to promote a better understanding of, and sensitivity to, the communication dynamics of interracial interactions.     

STEMulate Engineering Academy: Engaging Students and Teachers in Engineering Practices

Informal science opportunities provide authentic experiences to stimulate students’ interests in science and engineering and foster their curiosity through problem-based investigations. STEMulate Engineering Academy was designed to provide children (Grades 3–5) engineering opportunities and offer teachers a unique professional development experience. The program serves as a practicum experience for teachers seeking a gifted and talented add-on license and the camp also offers free professional development to area teachers. Using a co-teaching approach, students gained firsthand experiences from an engineer in the field, and teachers collaborated with engineers to make the content more relevant. Despite a limited number of contact hours, students and teachers demonstrated growth on pre and post engineering assessments. Informal learning opportunities provided by programs such as STEMulate Engineering Academy could possibly spark student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)––leading them to a promising career in a STEM field.     

Effect of professional development on teaching behaviors and efficacy in Qatari educational reforms

Qatar is undergoing major educational reform that is shifting its educational policy toward an instructional orientation grounded in constructivism and student-centered instruction. Differences in cultural conceptions of knowledge acquisition and the purpose of education are examined to highlight challenges to Qatar’s reform implementation efforts. Self-efficacy theory is reviewed to provide a theoretical framework for our examination of the adequacy of professional development to impact teacher efficacy for implementing reform-based teaching practices. Teaching behaviors in line with the reform and teacher efficacy were quantitatively measured before and after professional development for treatment and control groups. Regression methods were used to examine the impact of professional development on the relationship between teaching behaviors and teacher efficacy. Results indicate a significant interaction effect; for teachers who received the training, the relationship between behaviors and teacher efficacy was negative, while for teachers in the control group this relationship was positive. Implications of the findings for teacher efficacy and professional development are discussed.     

Does rational persuasion influence potential consultees?

Success in collaborative school‐based consultation depends on whether teachers implement interventions suggested by consultants. In business literature, Rational Persuasion (RP) has been identified as one potentially effective way to influence consultee perceptions about proposed interventions. RP includes intervention information, why it is important to decide to use the intervention, and potential objections to the intervention with arguments against those objections. The influence of these RP elements on potential school‐based consultees has not been studied. This preliminary analog study investigated whether presenting RP importance and objections for behavioral interventions influenced teachers' ratings of acceptability, effectiveness, and commitment‐to‐implement. Participants included 71 teachers enrolled in graduate education courses. The within‐subject design included three video vignettes of each of three conditions for three different behavioral interventions (total of nine possible videos, three presented to each group). Results suggest that the influence of RP on acceptability, perceived effectiveness, and commitment‐to‐implement ratings was inconsistent. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 627–640, 2003.     

Examining the influence of teacher behavior and curriculum-based movement breaks

Little research has explored the impact of teacher behavior in the relationship between classroom movement breaks and student outcomes. The authors' primary purpose was to explore teacher behavior during classroom movement breaks to determine if teacher behavior served as a moderating variable in the relationship between physical activity and student achievement. The second major aim was to examine these relationships across two different types of movement breaks: (a) academic-content movement breaks and (b) aerobic-based movement breaks. Children (n = 466) in Grades 3–5 from four elementary schools served as participants in the study. Results found that teachers who encouraged students to move and teachers who moved themselves did not necessary have students with higher activity levels during the movement breaks. However, significant differences across the type of movement break provided were found. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

Preventive Intervention and Outcome with Anxiously Attached Dyads

Anxiously attached 12-month-olds and their mothers as assessed in the Strange Situation were randomly assigned to an intervention and a control group to test the hypothesis that infant-parent psychotherapy can improve quality of attachment and social-emotional functioning. Securely attached dyads comprised a second control group. Intervention lasted 1 year and ended when the child was 24 months. ANOVAs were used to compare the research groups at outcome. Intervention group toddlers were significantly lower than anxious controls in avoidance, resistance, and anger. They were significantly higher than anxious controls in partnership with mother. Intervention mothers had higher scores than anxious controls in empathy and interactiveness with their children. There were no differences on the outcome measures between the intervention and the secure control groups. The groups did not differ in maternal child-rearing attitudes. Within the intervention group, level of therapeutic process was positively correlated with adaptive scores in child and mother outcome measures.