Modeling Resilience in an Alternative Education Context

Black and Latino students and the educators who serve as their advocates must be resilient in a highly contentious and racialized public education system. Modeling resilience in the public education system relies on individual assets and the extent to which one’s school possesses the resources and support needed to cultivate such assets. This study used interviews and site observations to explore the degree to which educators and students model resilience in an alternative education program. Findings suggest educators engage a sense of agency when they advocate for inclusion of Black and Latino students. In addition, an alternative education context can provide resources and cultivate strong relationships, a sense of self-efficacy and future orientation among educators and students. These findings highlight the assets educators and advocates need and the programs required to promote resilience in the public education system.     

Dual identities: organizational negotiation in STEM-focused Catholic schools

In the last decade, STEM-focused schools have opened their doors nationally in the hope of meeting students’ contemporary educational needs. Despite the growth of these STEM-focused institutions, minimal research exists that follows how schools make a transition toward a STEM focus and what organizational structures are most conducive to a successful transition. The adoption of a STEM focus has clear implications for a school’s organizational identity. For Catholic schools, the negotiation of a new STEM focus is especially complex, as Catholic schools have been shown to generally possess a distinct religious and cultural organizational identity. The adoption of a second, STEM-focused identity raises questions about whether and how these identities can coexist. Framed by perspectives on organizational identity and existing conceptualizations of the cultural and religious hallmarks of Catholic schools, this study utilizes a multiple-case study design to explore the organizational transition of four Catholic K-8 institutions to Catholic STEM-focused schools. These cases demonstrate the particular challenges of negotiating multiple organizational identities. While variation existed in how the four schools accommodated these identities, the most promising environments for successful transition drew upon an aggregative model of identity negotiation, that is, when schools attended to both identities, but ensured that the original Catholic identity of the school remained foundational to all decisions. The least successful identity negotiations occurred when there was a lack of common understanding about what comprised a STEM-focused school, leading to minimal buy-in from stakeholders or when a school sought to make the transition for recruitment or marketing rather than mission-driven reasons. Discussion of the more successful identity aggregation provides a framework for schools within and beyond the religious sector that desire to adopt an additional STEM-focused identity.     

Peer nominations among adolescents experiencing severe learning difficulties: an exploratory study using sociometric techniques

This paper reports on a small-scale exploratory study which piloted the use of sociometric techniques with a class group of adolescents attending a day special school for pupils experiencing severe learning difficulties (SLD). The aim of the study was to investigate peer relationships and aspects of friendships among this population. The results indicated that the relationships and friendships of these adolescents appeared genuine and to be of significance. Statistical analysis and observation of actual behaviour indicated that choices made were stable and valid and appeared to be based on similar criteria of acceptability to 'mainstream' choices. The majority of adolescents were able to provide rational justifications for their choices and some were able to evaluate the relationship of others with him or her. The implications of the results are discussed with reference to a continuing trend towards inclusion.     

Charging to the End: Course Activities for Semester‐Long Student Engagement in an Undergraduate Product Development Capstone Course

Setting instructional goals to drive student engagement in the classroom is essential, as research has shown that improved student engagement in a course will affect student success, as well as the development of key personal and professional skills. Student engagement is a multifaceted concept with multiple perspectives. In focusing on the behavioral perspective of student engagement, various effective teaching practices can be implemented to encourage engagement in a diverse study body. Utilizing validated tools, such as the Natl. Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Engagement Themes and Indicators, can ease the development of classroom approaches to student engagement with convenience and flexibility. Semester‐long student engagement in a food science undergraduate product development capstone course was encouraged through instructional approaches styled around the NSSE Engagement Themes and Indicators. The variety of instructional approaches utilized in the capstone food science course are described in detail and discussed in relation to the NSSE Engagement Themes and Indicators with which they align.     

The Burden of Teaching Teachers: Memoirs of Race Discourse in Teacher Education

This paper presents the views and educational experiences of two African American female scholars, from a critical race and black feminist theorist perspective, teaching in the area of social justice to predominantly white female pre-service teachers. These testimonies reveal the struggles encountered by these scholars when engaging students in a historical and contemporary examination of race, privilege, and systemic inequalities. The objectives of this paper are to expand on the literary dialogue of such resistance and attempt to bring awareness into the arenas that need the most exposure, i.e. departmental, faculty, and tenure review meetings. It is commonly written and verbalized that institutions are interested in attracting and retaining faculty of color. We argue that the ways we are supported must shift. This problem of student resistance, who they resist and why, should become open for discussion on college campuses across the nation. Dawn G. Williams is an Assistant Professor of Educational Administration and Policy at Howard University. Venus Evans-Winters is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University.     

Who’s fault is it? An analysis of the press coverage of football betting scandals in France and the United Kingdom

Sport betting is a lucrative business for bookmakers, for the lucky (or wise) punters, but also for governments and for sport. While not new or even recent, the deviances linked to sport betting, primarily match-fixing, have gained increased media exposure in the past decade. This exploratory study is a qualitative content analysis of the press coverage of sport betting-related deviances in football in two countries (UK and France), using in each case two leading national publications over a period of five years. Data analysis indicates a mounting coverage of sport betting scandals, with teams, players and criminals increasingly framed as culprits, while authorities and federations primarily assume a positive role. As for the origin of sport betting deviances, French newspapers tend to blame the system (in an abstract way); British newspapers, in contrast, focus more on individual weaknesses, notably greed. This article contributed to the growing body of literature on the importance of these deviances and on the way they are perceived by sport organizations, legislators and the public at large.     

Re-theorising inclusion and reframing inclusive practice in physical education

Inclusion remains a key political agenda for education internationally and is a matter that teachers across subject communities and phases of education are challenged to respond to. In physical education specifically, research continues to highlight that current practice often reaffirms rather than challenges established inequities. This paper critically explores the understandings of inclusion that contribute to this situation and addresses the challenge of advancing inclusion in physical education from conceptual and pedagogical viewpoints. DeLuca’s [(2013). “Toward an Interdisciplinary Framework for Educational Inclusivity.” Canadian Journal of Education 36 (1): 305–348] conceptualisation of normative, integrative, dialogical and transgressive approaches to inclusion is employed as a basis for critical analysis of current practice and for thinking afresh about inclusive practice in physical education in relation to curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Analysis informs the presentation of a set of principles that are designed to assist teachers and teacher educators to transform inclusive practice in physical education and in doing so, realise visions for physical education that are articulated in international policy guidelines and contemporary curriculum developments.     

An Empirical Assessment of Cooperative Groups in Large, Time-compressed, Introductory Courses

We measured student knowledge and motivation at the beginning and end of a three-week general psychology course. Two large lecture sections (N = 215 and N = 154) were compared; one used a cooperative learning process, and one did not. Student knowledge significantly improved in both sections, but there was no additional benefit derived from using cooperative learning. Interestingly, student motivation significantly decreased in the cooperative learning section. With recognition of the study’s limitations, we conclude that cooperative learning has limited efficacy in large enrollment, compressed courses. Dawn Vreven is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She received her Ph.D. from Brown University. Her research interests include visual perception and cognition. Susan McFadden is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She received her Ph.D. from Drew University. She co-edits the “Teaching Tips” column for the Association for Psychological Science’s Observer and has published a number of articles on teaching and learning. This work was supported by the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Program.     

Understanding institutional image

An organization's image is not a clear, concise concept but rather a set of an individual's perceptions about the institution. An educational institution has a multifaceted image that includes academic, social, political, and perhaps stylistic dimensions. We discuss the use of the semantic differential research tool to investigate one institution's image. Specifically, we explore the following questions: (1) What are the differences between the institution's desired image and current image? (2) Do various constituencies view the institution differently? If so, how do alumni perceptions differ from those of current students? Does the institution's internal image differ from its external image?Presented at the Thirty-Second Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Atlanta, GA, May 10–13, 1992.