‘They didn’t tell me anything’: women’s literacies and resistance in rural Mexico

Drawing from ethnographic case studies, this article considers issues of women’s access to education by exploring the literacy experiences of four women in rural Mexico. Ironically, as physical access to education in this area has increased, women’s literacy experiences have become more complex, rather than more libratory. Formal literacy, as it plays out for women in this community, is experienced as both an oppressive force as well as a tool for resistance to other forms of oppression. More importantly, the stories in this article highlight the socially dynamic nature of literacy as these four women utilise interpersonal relationships in order to subvert oppressive norms. These findings have implications both for theories of literacy as well as for educators who wish to work in more engaged ways with women and their children who emigrate from areas like rural Mexico.     

Neighborhood Press and Immigration

This research studied the way immigration is depicted by the neighborhood press of Barcelona. Mainstream media tend to give visibility to immigrants when problems arise. Through this visibility based on problems, and the processes of framing, a virtual social identity is constructed and given to the immigration population. However, the neighborhood press of Barcelona, inscribed within the Catalan regional press’ own idea of journalism, offers a different approach to this issue due to its history, neighborhood and commitment to the region. Through a frame analysis, three main frames gave a depiction of the immigrants different from the one the mainstream media use. The results show that this differentiated depiction still stereotypes immigrants while not granting them enough visibility even when there is no blaming or attack. In this sense, while accounting for the differences, the neighborhood press of Barcelona misses a chance of depicting immigration in a more accurate way.     

A national survey investigating consultation training occurring in school psychology programs

The 203 school psychology training programs in the United States were surveyed regarding their approaches to consultation training, and responses were obtained from 60% of these programs. Forty percent of the programs offer at least one course devoted solely to consultation, while 60% do not offer such a course; more of the doctoral programs responding offer consultation training than do the nondoctoral programs; and practicum experience is considered an important aspect of consultation training. It is concluded that a greater emphasis on consultation training may help to promote implementation of this role.     

African American women and violence: gender,race, and class in the news

This study uses discourse analysis to examine the representation of violence against African American women in local TV news coverage of Freaknik, an annual “spring break” ritual that drew African American college students from throughout the country to Atlanta, Georgia in the 1990s. It draws on Black feminist theory in its examination of the ways that gender, race, and class intersected to shape the representation of the victims, the perpetrators, and the violence. The results indicate that the convergence of gender, race, and class oppressions minimized the seriousness of the violence, portrayed most of its victims as stereotypic Jezebels whose lewd behavior provoked assault, and absolved the perpetrators of responsibility. Coverage also reinforced race and class stereotypes by representing locals as underclass troublemakers prone to crime while students were linked to law‐abiding, middle class values and norms. In demonstrating the utility of addressing the intersectionality of gender, race, and class, this study argues that such an approach is necessary to the study of representation.     

The Informational Text Structure Survey (ITS2): An exploration of primary grade teachers’ sensitivity to text structure in young children's informational texts

There has been no research reported about if or how well primary grade teachers can identify information text structures in children's authentic informational texts. The ability to do so accurately and reliably is a prerequisite for teachers to be able to teach students how to recognize and use text structures to assist them in comprehending informational texts. The authors report the development of the Informational Text Structure Survey (ITS²). Prior to training, primary grade teachers demonstrated low accuracy and reliability in identifying traditional expository text structures in well-structured children's grade level–appropriate informational texts. Results after training with the ITS² instrument showed significant improvements in the teachers’ accuracy and reliability in identifying traditional informational text structures in well-structured children's grade level–appropriate informational texts after training with the ITS² instrument.     

School Turnaround Principals: What Does Initial Research Literature Suggest They Are Doing to Be Successful?

As the research literature on principals leading school turnaround grows, determining whether or not real differences between good, even effective, principals and turnaround principals becomes increasingly important. Recent federal government policy and investment established turnaround models that emphasize the role of the school principal, suggesting that turnaround principals do need to be different than other principals in some meaningful ways. But any difference in skill or characteristic remains undefined. For this article, we conducted a systematic review of empirical research literature to identify studies of principals who led successful school turnaround initiatives. We reviewed 18 empirical studies to categorize the education leadership areas in which turnaround principals must excel. We also present the limited evidence regarding attitudes, traits, or perspectives principals leading turnaround should likely possess. Finally, we consider implications of our findings for research and practice.     

The Relationship Between Students’ Perceptions of “Good Practices for Undergraduate Education” and the Paradigmatic Development of Disciplines in Course-Taking Behavior

Our study uses data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education to interrogate the affinity disciplines hypothesis through students’ perceptions of faculty use of six of Chickering and Gamson’s (AAHE Bull 39(7):3–7, 1987) principles of good practice for undergraduate education. We created a proportional scale based on Biglan’s (J Appl Psychol 57(3):195–203, 1973) classification of paradigmatic development (with higher scores on the scale corresponding to students taking a higher proportion of courses in ‘hard’ fields compared to ‘soft’ fields), our study tests differences by the paradigmatic development of the disciplines or fields in which students take their courses within the first year of college. Our findings suggest that as paradigmatic development increases (toward a higher proportion of courses taken in hard disciplines), student perceptions of both faculty use of prompt feedback and faculty use of high expectations/academic challenge decrease, while student perceptions of cooperative learning increase. Further, no statistically significant differences were found between the paradigmatic development of fields in which students’ take their courses and students’ perceptions of faculty use of student-faculty contact, active and collaborative learning, or teaching clarity and organization. This study replicates the findings from Braxton et al. (Res High Educ 39(3):299–318, 1998) using student-level rather than faculty-level reports of faculty use of good teaching practices.     

A pragmatic epistemology for free‐choice learning

A critical review of the epistemological foundations of free‐choice learning (FCL) theory was undertaken to evaluate how this theory treats knowledge, whatever importance we might attach to it. It is argued here that free‐choice learning has great promise yet would benefit from theoretical adjustments that modify Vygotsky’s learning theory by using Dewey’s pragmatic epistemological theories. It is suggested that the concept of intramental knowledge in free‐choice learning needs to be grounded on Dewey’s pragmatic conceptions of knowledge, in order to valorise the learner’s own knowledge, and their volitional activity in choosing their beliefs, and to provide a more robust foundation for the conceptualization of knowledge. It is further argued that the notion of intermental knowledge needs significant adjustment, as it seems implausible that knowledge actually exists between people. However, in order to keep the focus of free‐choice learning on the importance of social exchanges in learner construction of knowledge, Dewey’s compatible notion of the importance of the learning exchange is proposed as a substitute for intermental knowledge. It is also suggested that there is a need for additional guidance to educators on how most effectively and sensitively to mediate learner values and interests, given that educators working with learners have interests, aims, and values of their own. I suggest a solution based on pragmatic epistemological and learning theories.