Critical Community Conversations: Cultivating the Elusive Dialogue About Racism With Parents,Community Members,and Teachers

Abstract

This article highlights how two researchers started Critical Community Conversations (CCC) with a school community in an effort to learn from one another and build solidarity. The intent was for CCC to focus on some of the most pressing issues facing our nation, state, and local neighborhoods, with a special lens on racism.     

überg?nge in die Ausbildung: Welche Rolle spielt die Ausbildungsreife?

Youth with no or only a lower secondary school degree (Hauptschulabschluss) are increasingly disadvantaged in terms of access to vocational education and training (VET). Their lower chances of obtaining a trainee are explained by the claim that an increasing number of them are ??not mature enough for VET??. These young people would not (yet) meet the training requirements??so the criticism. So far there are no empirical studies that have shown whether such immaturity can indeed serve as an appropriate explanation for differences in training chances of less-educated youth. This paper answers this question by analyses using a panel survey of school leavers after grade 9 from the Hauptschule in Lower Saxony. Central results are: About 45?% of the school leavers had successfully entered into an apprenticeship within three months. School grades in German and mathematics were less important than grades for work attitudes and firm-internships while still at school. In general, our analyses reveal that social behaviour and a firm??s opportunities to discover the strengths of low-achieving youths and not only their weaknesses are important factors for the chances of successful transitions into training.     

Was Hochschuldozierende aus Lehrevaluations-Rückmeldungen lernen k?nnen

The extent to which students profit from a university course depends on the lecturers?? approach to teaching, with a student-focused approach being more supportive for student gains in competences than a teacher-focused approach. Little is known, however, about how to foster a student-focused approach to teaching. In this paper, we want to investigate how to frame the feedback lecturers obtain from students?? course evaluations in such a manner that a student-focused approach to teaching is encouraged. In two studies using either a qualitative or a quantitative methodology it can be shown that providing lecturers with a feedback on students?? subjective gain in competences (output-focused teaching evaluation) is more effective in promoting a student-focused approach to teaching than a feedback on how satisfied students were with the lecturer (process-focused teaching evaluation). Results are discussed in the context of the Bologna reforms which demand a continuous evaluation of all university courses.     

Relationship between inductive arithmetic argumentation and deductive algebraic proof

In this paper, we present a cognitive analysis of the relationship between the argumentation process leading to the construction of a conjecture and its algebraic proof in solving Calendar Algebra problems. To solve this kind of problem, students encounter two sources of potential difficulties: the shift from using arithmetic in the argumentation to using algebra in the proof and the shift from an inductive argument towards a deductive proof. Thus, the aims of this article are to describe these cognitive difficulties and to show how students overcome them. Methodologically, we compare students’ problem solving process corresponding to three problems presented in the first four lessons of a teaching experiment. The analysis and comparison between these three resolution processes is performed using Toulmin’s model.     

Reactions to children's transgressions in at-risk caregivers: Does mitigating information,type of transgression,or caregiver directive matter?

This study examined whether caregivers who exhibit high risk for child physical abuse differ from low-risk caregivers in reactions to transgressing children. Caregivers read vignettes describing child transgressions. These vignettes varied in: (a) the type of transgression described (moral, conventional, personal), (b) presentation of transgression-mitigating information (present, absent), and (c) whether a directive to avoid the transgression was in the vignette (yes, no). After reading each vignette, caregivers provided ratings reflecting their: (a) perceptions of transgression wrongness, (b) internal attributions about the transgressing child, (c) perceptions of the transgressing child's hostile intent, (d) own expected negative post-transgression affect, and (e) perceived likelihood of responding to the transgression with discipline that displayed power assertion and/or induction. For moral transgressions (cruelty, dishonesty, hostility, or greed), mitigating information reduced caregiver expectations that they would feel negative affect and, subsequent to the transgression, use disciplinary strategies that display power assertion. These mitigating effects were smaller among at-risk caregivers than among low-risk caregivers. Moreover, when transgressions disobeyed a directive, among low-risk caregivers, mitigating information reduced the expectation that responses to transgressions would include inductive disciplinary strategies, but it did not do so among at-risk caregivers. In certain circumstances, compared to low-risk caregivers, at-risk caregivers expect to be relatively unaffected by transgression-mitigating information. These results suggest that interventions that increase an at-risk caregiver's ability to properly assess and integrate mitigating information may play a role in reducing the caregiver's risk of child physical abuse.     

How gender fair are German schoolbooks in the twenty-first century? An analysis of language and illustrations in schoolbooks for mathematics and German

Schoolbooks convey not only school-relevant knowledge; they also influence the development of stereotypes about different social groups. Particularly during the 1970s and 1980s, many studies analysed schoolbooks and criticised the overall predominance of male persons and of traditional role allocations. Since that time, women’s and men’s occupations and social functions have changed considerably. The present research investigated gender portrayals in schoolbooks for German and mathematics that were recently published in Germany. We examined the proportions of female and male persons in pictures and texts and categorized their activities, occupational and parental roles. Going beyond previous studies, we added two criteria: the use of gender-fair language and the spatial arrangements of persons in pictures. Our results show that schoolbooks for German contained almost balanced depictions of girls and boys, whereas women were less frequently shown than men. In mathematics books, males outnumbered females in general. Across both types of books, female and male persons were engaged in many different activities, not only gender-typed ones; however, male persons were more often described via their profession than females. Use of gender-fair language has found its way into schoolbooks but is not used consistently. Books for German were more gender fair in terms of linguistic forms than books for mathematics. For spatial arrangements, we found no indication for gender biases. The results are discussed with a focus on how schoolbooks can be optimized to contribute to gender equality.     

Effectiveness of a group-based program for parents of children with dyslexia

Parents of children with dyslexia experience more parenting stress and depressive symptoms than other parents. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a cognitive-behavioral group-based program for parents of dyslexic children on parenting stress levels, parent–child homework interactions and parental competencies. 39 children with dyslexia and their mothers were randomly assigned either to a cognitive-behavioral-therapy group or a waiting-list control group. The intervention lasted for 3 months. Mothers filled in the Parenting Stress Index and a paper–pencil questionnaire assessing dyslexia specific stress, conflicts in homework situations and competencies in dealing with dyslexia. Assessment took place before, immediately after, and 3 months following intervention. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed overall effectiveness of the program (partial η² = .091), which can be mainly attributed to the reduction of parenting stress and dyslexia specific stress as well as an enhancement of parental competencies. Planned contrasts showed that effects could not be approved directly after the training but 3 months later, indicating a delayed effect. Future studies should examine program effects on mothers and fathers on the basis of a larger representative sample.