Walking through Walls: the sexual harassment of high school girls

For most females, crude language and other forms of sexually harassing behaviour are part of the fabric of our daily lives. To date, however, our focus on sexual harassment has been limited primarily to the experiences of adult women in academic and work place settings. What has not been explored is the prevalence of sexual harassment in schools and the way it interferes with young women's education. Equal opportunity programmes are of limited use if, for example, we urge female students into traditional male courses but we neglect to consider the hostile climate they encounter there. In this study I explored young women's experiences of sexual harassment in the setting lauded as their gateway to opportunity: school. Based on their testimonies I make recommendations for educators who are committed to making high school a more equitable place for female students.     

Interpersonal violence among youth: A challenge for school personnel

Although interpersonal violence in the school setting is not a new phenomenon, the problem has escalated considerably in this last decade. Both urban and rural school systems are being affected. This paper seeks to explore the extent of interpersonal violence and its impact on students and school personnel. The multiple factors that lead to school violence are examined. Select curricula used in school systems to reduce or prevent violence are highlighted. The article emphasizes that student violence is not a problem limited to the school environment, but one that should and must find a solution through cooperation of all the institutions present in the community, family included. Finally, suggestions are presented for developing preventive strategies.     

Possibilities for pedagogy in further education: harnessing the abundance of literacy

In this report, it is argued that the most salient factor in the contemporary communicative landscape is the sheer abundance and diversity of possibilities for literacy, and that the extent and nature of students' communicative resources is a central issue in education. The text outlines the conceptual underpinnings of the Literacies for Learning in Further Education project in a social view of literacy, and the associated research design, methodology and analytical framework. It elaborates on the notion of the abundance of literacies in students' everyday lives, and on the potential for harnessing these as resources for the enhancement of learning. It provides case studies of changes in practice that have been undertaken by further education staff in order to draw upon students' everyday literacy practices on Travel and Tourism and Multimedia courses. It ends with some of the broad implications for conceptualising learning that arise from researching through the lens of literacy practices.     

Teachers of Color Speak to Issues of Respect and Image

This paper explores the issue of the respectability and changing image of public school teachers through interviews with 114 teachers of color in three urban school districts: Cincinnati, Ohio; Seattle, Washington; and Long Beach, California. Almost one half of the respondents felt that either the negative image or the low status of teaching was one of the main reasons that students of color are not entering the profession. This assessment seemed to have little to do with money and a great deal to do with self-respect as defined in terms of dress, posture, and class. There was strong consensus that a professional image is important to people of color. The judgment that there has been a decline in respect for teaching was mixed. Many informants perceived themselves as leaders within their communities and as professionals and claimed that their people and their families did respect teachers. The problem seemed to lie less with communities of color and more with the dominant society, which devalues teaching.     

Effects of Consultation on Professional Learning Communities

ABSTRACT

School psychologists can impact student outcomes by consulting with teams around data. The current study investigated the effects of consultation with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) teacher teams. The study included four teacher teams, observing their PLC practices and providing consultation. Each team was observed with a PLC-implementation rubric using a multiple baseline design, including baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. The specific areas of observation on the PLC Implementation Rubric were “How Effective Teams Work,” “What Students Need to Know and Do,” and “Assessment for/of Learning.” The data were visually analyzed and a nonoverlap of all pairs effect size was computed. During the intervention phase, each team chose an item to focus on from the same observation strand. Therefore, the data were analyzed on the single strand and the three strands taken together. The results from the study indicated a change in PLC implementation occurred when consultation was added, and the change was maintained after consultation ended. However, the improvements for each team during the intervention and maintenance phases were small in comparison to the baseline phase. In addition, teams displayed greater improvements in implementation fidelity on the single strand in comparison to the three strands taken together. Future research is needed to determine the impact of consultation with PLCs on student outcomes. Implications for research and practice, limitations, and future directions are discussed.     

Teachers of Chinese Ancestry: Interaction of identities and professional roles

The research presented in this paper, based on ethnographic interviews with 19 female and 6 male Canadian teachers of Chinese ancestry, is part of a larger study examining perceptions of careers in teaching by secondary school and university students as well as practising teachers, all of minority Chinese or Punjabi Sikh ancestry (Beynon, Toohey & Kishor, 1992; Beynon & Toohey, 1995; Beynon & Toohey, 1998; Hirji & Beynon, 2000). Drawing on Britzman's (1992) theoretical distinction between teachers' roles and identities, the thesis of our research is that "role", which Britzman describes as impermeable and prescribed by normative institutional practices and ideologies, is, rather, potentially porous. We see that teachers of minority ancestry infuse their roles with new dimensions that draw on their identities. Hall's (1996) materialist theorizing helps us to see how identity, multifaceted and fluid, can be a source for negotiating roles. We recommend changes in teacher education and schools that would help to authorize transformation so that these settings which presently privilege the values, practices and discourses of the dominant Anglo-European Canadian society can become more inclusive of the identities and experiences of minority teachers.     

Reasons for Attending,Expected Obstacles,and Degree Aspirations of Asian Pacific American Community College Students

This study examined how the academic aspirations of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) attending community colleges are influenced by their demographic and educational background, reasons for attending, and obstacles they expect to encounter. The sample consisted of 846 APAs out of a total student sample of 5,000 in an urban community college district. The analyses compared results for ethnic groups within the APA community as well as APAs with other racial groups. The key finding—that APA community college students often consist of recent immigrants—should lead institutional researchers to collect data on their numbers, characteristics, and needs.     

Teenagers’ Experiences With Social Network Sites: Relationships to Bridging and Bonding Social Capital

Many studies have examined the relationship between social network sites (SNSs) and the development of social capital. However, most studies to date have only considered college and adult populations. This study examines the patterns of SNS use in an urban, teenage sample in the United States. It tests the hypothesis that use of SNSs is related to higher levels of social capital. The results show that youth who use Facebook and Myspace report higher social capital in both their school and online relationships. In addition, the analysis suggests that distinct modes of SNS experiences are differentially related to bridging and bonding social capital. Time spent in SNSs is related to bridging capital, while positive or negative experiences are related to bonding capital. The study offers new insights into how youth experience SNSs and the relationship of that experience with their connection to the world.     

‘Do You Have to Pack?’—Preparing For Culturally Relevant Science Teaching in the Caribbean

This paper reports on the attempts by some Caribbean science teachers to make links between their students' everyday lives and school science in their planning for teaching. It describes how these teachers drew on their exposure to a university graduate course on science education and culture in seeking to access the background cultural knowledge of their students and to incorporate this knowledge in their plans for teaching science. The paper critically examines the experiences of these teachers and highlights both the rewards and challenges that ensued as these teachers prepared for culturally relevant science teaching