Going Down the Rabbit-hole: Teachers’ Engagements with ‘Dialectical Images’ in Canadian Children’s Literature on Social Justice

This article explores the attraction of Canadian elementary teachers to children’s stories that narrate trauma, particularly the trauma associated with First Nations peoples’ experiences in Canadian residential schools as told by Indigenous authors. The teachers’ responses to these texts are conceived of as occurring within a ‘contact zone,’ situated between dominant white culture (the culture shared by the teachers) and the historically marginalized cultures represented in the stories. An interpretative lens of critical nostalgia is developed, placing the question of contact zones within the context of memory studies, trauma studies, curriculum theory and critical pedagogies related to remembrance. The paper identifies the need for developing critical nostalgia as a productive form of pedagogical remembrance, drawing on Roger Simon’s adaptation to an educational context of Walter Benjamin’s notion of the dialectical image.     

Towards leadingful leadership literacies for higher education management

This paper locates ‘leadingful leadership literacies’ as a lens for considering changing contexts for leadership and work in higher education management. It makes a contribution to higher education leadership studies by offering an empirical account of expanded notions of leadership. These extend the field beyond those unwilling to critique managerialist knowledge claims. I will argue that not only managerialist practices per se are of concern as we face discontinuous change in the sector – changes which move well beyond rationalist truth claims – but that these remain largely unchallenged and have moved into spaces that should be (re)claimed by leadership.     

Examining the task and knowledge demands needed to teach with representations

Representations are often used in instruction to highlight key mathematical ideas and support student learning. Despite their centrality in scaffolding teaching and learning, most of our understanding about the tasks involved with using representations in instruction and the knowledge requirements imposed on teachers when using these aids is theoretical. In this study, we examine the task and knowledge demands for teaching integer operations with representations by analyzing teaching practice. Teaching integer operations is used as an intensity case, as integer operations are challenging for students, and teachers are often required to employ several representations to teach this topic. Following a practice-based approach while also taking prior literature into consideration, we first generate a list of tasks entailed in teaching with representations and then discuss the knowledge demands imposed on teachers to successfully undertake this work. We highlight these tasks and knowledge demands by analyzing and discussing an integer addition and an integer subtraction episode for each of two teachers, Bonita and Karen. Based on our analysis, we organize the generated knowledge components using the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching framework. We conclude by drawing implications for teacher educators and curriculum developers.     

Examining relational engagement across the transition to high schools in three US high schools reformed to improve relationship quality

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in students’ relational engagement across the transition to high school in three schools reformed to improve the quality of student–teacher relationships. In order to analyze this data we employed latent growth curve (LGC) modeling techniques (n = 637). We ran three LGC models on three indicators of relational engagement: perceived teacher press (Middleton and Midgley in Contemp Educat Psychol 27:373–391, 2002), perceived teacher support (Goodenow in Psychol Sch 30:79–90, 1993a), and perceived school belonging (Goodenow in J Early Adolesc 13, 21–43, 1993b). For each model we estimated the latent means of the observed variables, the intercept, and the slope. Our hypothesized model for each of the variables included estimates for the contribution of team status (no team, cross-team, pure teamed), total absences in 8th grade, race (white/non-white), gender, gifted status, and socio-economic status. Alternate models were run dropping non-significant exogenous variables from the model one at a time. In each case, the hypothesized models, including five exogenous predictors, evidenced poor fit. However, alternate models including fewer exogenous predictors evidenced better fit, allowed for the estimation of intercept differences and rate of change, and accounted for significant amounts of variance in relational engagement. Findings are situated within the context of school reform designed to improve relational engagement.     

Romantic relationships: an important context for HIV/STI and pregnancy prevention programmes with young people

Romantic relationships are central in the lives of young people. This paper uses data on romantic relationships from urban youth in the USA to illustrate how using a relationships perspective in HIV/STI and pregnancy prevention programmes broadens the skills and content covered, and contextualises the learning to enhance relevance and use. Self-report survey data were collected using electronic handheld devices for a school-based randomised trial. The survey sample includes 911 young people (mean age = 12.4 years) representative of their schools. Logistic regressions explored associations between selected sexual behaviours and relationship characteristics. For all participants, having more boy/girlfriends, dating alone, ever touching and ever having had oral sex were associated with an increased likelihood of having vaginal sex. Among young people with current partners, having a partner three or more years older, length of relationship and ever having oral sex were associated with an increased likelihood of having vaginal sex. The study data confirm the importance of accounting for relationships in sexual risk reduction programmes, and provide avenues for enhancing the relevancy of typical school-based prevention programmes.     

Mediation analysis of an adolescent HIV/STI/pregnancy prevention intervention

Most interventions designed to prevent HIV/STI/pregnancy risk behaviours in young people have multiple components based on psychosocial theories (e.g. social cognitive theory) dictating sets of mediating variables to influence to achieve desired changes in behaviours. Mediation analysis is a method for investigating the extent to which a variable X (e.g. intervention indicator) influences an outcome variable Y (e.g. unprotected sex) by first influencing an intermediate variable M (e.g. self-efficacy to use a condom) and provides a way for empirically validating theoretical hypothesised mediators. In this way, mediation analysis is a critical tool for suggesting which components of complex interventions should be the focus of more efficient and effective interventions in the future. The present study applied multilevel mediation analysis to outcome data from the All4You2! study to begin to examine the relationships between a theory-based HIV/STI/pregnancy prevention curriculum for students attending alternative high schools who were at risk of educational failure. The study targeted psychosocial mediating variables and the primary outcome unprotected sex in the past three months. Results suggest helping young people attending alternative schools identify and avoid exposure to risky situations and improving their self-efficacy to refuse sex should be focal points of future interventions.     

Building an evaluation framework for a competency‐based graduate program at the University of Southern Mississippi

This article describes an ongoing project to build an evaluation framework for a competency‐based graduate program at The University of Southern Mississippi. Many traditional methods of evaluating performance at academic institutions provide only a partial assessment of individual program performance. In an increasingly competitive global economy, program evaluations should also consider the perspectives of students, graduates, and employers in order to develop curricula that will address the critical skills sets needed for strategic and value‐added performance improvement work in the 21st century.     

Development of Instruments to Assess Teacher and Student Perceptions of Inquiry Experiences in Science Classrooms

This study describes the development of two instruments to investigate the extent to which students are engaged in scientific inquiry. As a result of the instrument development process employed, each finalized instrument consisted of 20-items separated into five categories. Both instruments were found to be internally consistent, with high reliability estimates. Factor analysis showed two factors for each instrument that, while not clustering the items into the five categories, did show item clustering that is consistent with research literature about students’ engagement in inquiry experiences. Based on the analyses completed, the instruments appear to be useful instruments for use in comprehensive assessment packages for assessing the extent to which students are experiencing inquiry in science classrooms.     

Measuring the impact of a pilot Geospatial Technology Apprenticeship Program for the Department of Labor

The Geospatial Technology Apprenticeship Program (GTAP) pilot was designed as a replicable and sustainable program to enhance workforce skills in geospatial technologies to best leverage a $30 billion market potential. The purpose of evaluating GTAP was to ensure that investment in this high‐growth industry was adding value. Findings from this evaluation showed that investments in geospatial technology competency development have the potential for high‐systemic payoffs and sustained economic growth.     

Examining behavioral, relational, and cognitive engagement in smaller learning communities: A case study of reform in one suburban district

The purpose of this project was to examine the impact of Smaller Learning Community reform on students’ behavioral, relational, and cognitive engagement in a suburban school district experiencing urbanization. We describe a project in which we evaluated the engagement of a cohort of 8th grade students as they transitioned to high school (n = 605). Specifically, we disaggregated the data to identify how students’ engagement differed as a function of their participation in Smaller Learning Community structures, prior achievement, and race.