‘This is my new normal’: teachers’ accounts of evaluation policy at local school board meetings

In this study, we seek to illuminate teachers’ constructions of US teacher evaluation policies through close analysis of the way teachers in one district describe these policies. We conducted a thematic discursive analysis of 60 teachers’ speeches, recorded during local school board meetings in a Tennessee school district. Using discursive psychology as a lens, analysis focuses on the teachers’ constructions of teacher accountability policies and their own positioning within the policies. We also attend to the linguistic resources teachers used in justifying their decision to speak during the meetings. Findings showed that while drawing upon repertoires of human capital and one-size-fits-all education, the teachers’ patterned participation involved the contestation of status quo practices of teacher evaluation and effectiveness by contrasting them with imagined possibilities of what evaluation could be instead. Implications for developing teacher evaluation are discussed.     

Putting Pupils’ Needs First

Paul Cooper, Department of Educational Studies, Oxford University, and Professor Graham Upton, School of Education, Birmingham University, discuss recent developments in the education of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The aim is to draw attention to the value of consultative and cooperative approaches to these problems and the tension between these approaches and the contrary pressures created by educational policy in England and Wales. They argue that the needs of pupils who present emotional and behavioural difficulties are in danger of being neglected, as they are squeezed between confusions and compromises which abound as a result of recent policy changes and divergent attitudes towards their needs.     

Caught on Camera: Youth and Educators’ Noticing of and Responding to Failure Within Making Contexts

A lot of attention has been given to the role failure plays in learning and innovation. Yet, we know little about the conditions necessary for the experience to result in positive outcomes. In this study, we sought to answer three research questions: (1) What is the relationship among attend, interpret, and respond when experiencing failures within making-related activities? (2) How does youths’ and educators’ noticing of failure within making-related activities differ by tasks? (3) How does youths’ and educators’ noticing of failures within making-related activities differ by context? To address these questions, we used data collected from youths participating in making experiences in three different contexts: schools, a science museum, and an afterschool program run by science museum educators. Analysis of approximately 90 h of video revealed differences in how youths and educators attended, interpreted and responded to failures that suggest differences in the sophistication of their response. Educational implications from these findings support less direct oversight by educators and increased use of techniques to have the youth demonstrate positive troubleshooting behaviors.

     

Researching and promoting phonological awareness in the nursery class

The paper summarises the pilot study and the first two phases of a longitudinal study which set out to prevent the emergence of written language difficulties, by addressing the ability of pre-schoolers to make phonological judgements. It describes the assessment procedure which was used with 240 nursery-class children, aged 4 years 5 months, and the activities which were designed to give these children experience in attending to the sound structure of language before the assessment was carried out. Following assessment 41 children were identified as having poor rhyme awareness and were targeted for one-to-one training. In the second phase of the study, also discussed here, 21 were given training in the skills supporting phonological awareness and the remainder were assigned to a control group for equivalent training in categorisation skills. It is intended that the literacy skills of both groups will be assessed when the children are 7 years old.     

Examining the engagement of career academy and comprehensive high school students in the United States

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the levels of student engagement of career academy students to those at a traditional comprehensive high school using propensity score matching and structural equation modeling. We found that academy students had significantly higher levels of emotional engagement and significantly lower levels of behavioral engagement than those at comprehensive schools. We also found no statistically significant differences in the levels of cognitive engagement of academy students compared to comprehensive school students. We believe the academy model has the promise of transforming the high school experience for students as it relates to their attachment to the school, their relationships with peers and teachers, and their sense of belonging and safety. However, academies need to work with students to create and develop co-curricular and extracurricular activities of interest to engage students in their schools at a higher level.     

Teachers use of writing to support students’ learning in middle school: A national survey in the United States

A random sample of middle school teachers (grades 6–9) from across the United States was surveyed about their use of writing to support students’ learning. The selection process was stratified so there were an equal number of English language arts, social studies, and science teachers. More than one-half of the teachers reported applying 15 or more writing to learn strategies at least once a month or more often. The most commonly used writing to learn strategies were writing short answers to questions, note taking for reading, note taking while listening, and completing worksheets. While teachers reported using a variety of writing to learn strategies, most of them indicated they received minimal or no formal preparation in college on how to use writing to learn strategies to support student learning, less than one-half of teachers directly taught students how to use the writing to learn strategies commonly assigned, and the most commonly used writing to learn strategies did not require students to think deeply about the material they were learning. We further found that teachers’ reported use of writing to learn strategies was related to their preparedness and the composition of their classroom in terms of above and below average writers, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities.     

Integrating PCR theory and bioinformatics into a research-oriented primer design exercise

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a conceptually difficult technique that embodies many fundamental biological processes. Traditionally, students have struggled to analyze PCR results due to an incomplete understanding of the biological concepts (theory) of DNA replication and strand complementarity. Here we describe the design of a novel research-oriented exercise that prepares students to design DNA primers for PCR. Our exercise design includes broad and specific learning goals and assessments of student performance and perceptions. We developed this interactive Primer Design Exercise using the principles of scientific teaching to enhance student understanding of the theory behind PCR and provide practice in designing PCR primers to amplify DNA. In the end, the students were more poised to troubleshoot problems that arose in real experiments using PCR. In addition, students had the opportunity to utilize several bioinformatics tools to gain an increased understanding of primer quality, directionality, and specificity. In the course of this study many misconceptions about DNA replication during PCR and the need for primer specificity were identified and addressed. Students were receptive to the new materials and the majority achieved the learning goals.     

Associations between peer‐perceived status and aggression in young adolescents

Different functions within different forms of aggression were examined in relation to peer‐perceived preference and popularity among middle school students. Two hundred and three 7th grade students were nominated by a subset of their grade mates based on indices of likeability, popularity, and aggressiveness. Both linear and curvilinear associations were examined. Lower peer preference, but higher popularity, was associated with increased levels of all types of aggression, supporting the need to differentiate the relationship between aggression and these two facets of peer status. Relational aggression was associated with both low and high levels of popularity. Overt aggression was related to low peer preference and, to a lesser degree, high peer preference. It appears that what separates low‐ and high‐status students is not the presence of aggression per se, but how effectively their displays of aggression achieve their social goals. Findings are discussed in respect to social dominance theory, and implications for practice are considered. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.