Reconstructing the Cultural Context of Urban Schools: Listening to the Voices of High School Students

Through listening to the voices of students, educators and community members can begin to reconstruct the culture of urban schools that are often full of stories about student deficits, genetic explanations about achievement, and cultural mismatch theories that may be traced to historical and sociological ideologies. The purpose of this heuristic qualitative investigation was to explore the ways in which student voice can contribute to reculturing high schools in urban settings. Data sources for this study included videotaped interviews and observations in two Midwestern urban high schools to explore the stories of 28 culturally and linguistically diverse students in grades 10 through 12. Findings suggested that the teens in these urban high schools want caring teachers who listen attentively, provide engaging learning opportunities, and who demonstrate high expectations for achievement. They did not want teachers who, in essence, perpetuate hegemonic discourses via pedagogical practices, and school environments that resemble prisons. At the same time, students wanted more structure to “avoid chaos” and asked teachers to give attention to the paradigm of the personal within the school curriculum. We extend the meaning of the study to include student voice as a critical stance for reconstructing the cultural context of urban schools, which entails listening to students to identify complex and sensitive topics for dialogue and inquiry.     

Management priorities of college presidents

All U.S. college and university presidents were recently surveyed to determine their priorities among potential planning and management improvements at their institutions. Based on 900 returned questionnaires, the highest priority areas were: (1) communicating institutional strengths to potential students, their parents, and the general public; (2) communicating institutional strengths to the state legislature and state budget officials (for public institutions); (3) integrating program-review results in program-planning and budget processes; (4) resource allocation and reallocation; (5) faculty vitality and renewal; (6) implementing institutional goals and objectives through the planning and budgeting process; and (7) forecasting institutional revenue needs more accurately. Most of these high priority areas were interpreted as reflecting the current invironment of retrenchment and the need to prepare for a noor slow-growth era.     

An ecological approach to promoting early adolescent mental health and social adaptation: family-centered intervention in public middle schools

This study examined the impact of the Family Check-Up (FCU) and linked intervention services on reducing health-risk behaviors and promoting social adaptation among middle school youth. A total of 593 students and their families were randomly assigned to receive either the intervention or middle school services as usual. Forty-two percent of intervention families engaged in the service and received the FCU. Using complier average causal effect analyses, engagement in the intervention moderated intervention outcomes. Families who engaged in the intervention had youth who reported lower rates of antisocial behavior and substance use over time than did a matched control sample. Results extend previous research indicating that a family-centered approach to supporting youth in the public school setting reduced the growth of antisocial behavior, alcohol use, tobacco use, and marijuana use throughout the middle school years.     

Critical Pedagogy in Online Environments as Thirdspace: A Narrative Analysis of Voices of Candidates in Educational Preparatory Programs

Faculty members in teacher and administrator preparation programs have unprecedented opportunities to incorporate advanced technologies, including the expansion of online classes and the use of online discussion forums. Within online environments, the concepts of critical pedagogy are more connected to the landscape of digital information, providing opportunities to focus on local regimes of truth with individuals constructing new knowledge forms. Utilizing qualitative narrative analysis to examine the voices of five preservice teachers, five candidates in a beginning principal preparation program, and five doctoral educational administration candidates, this paper translates the sociological construct of Thirdspace (Soja 1996) as applied to critical pedagogy in online environments. Within Thirdspace, preservice teachers and educational leaders transform their thinking about issues that affect their lives as well as their school communities through ongoing discourse and exploration related to their own cultural backgrounds in order to promote social justice in a culturally pluralistic society.     

Gene synthesis with H G Khorana

??I wish to conclude by hazarding the following rather long range predictions. In the years ahead, genes are going to be synthesized. The next steps would be to learn to manipulate the information content of genes and to learn to insert them into and delete them from the genetic systems. When, in the distant future, all this comes to pass, the temptation to change our biology will be very strong.?? H G Khorana, 1968 [1]