Lois Weiner

Bio: Lois Weiner is an academic researcher from New Jersey City University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Teacher education & Higher education. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 36 publications receiving 1115 citations.

Research in the 90s: Implications for Urban Teacher Preparation

Abstract: In this article I review scholarship in a number of disciplines within education, including psychological and social foundations, policy, instruction and curriculum and analyze implications for urban teacher preparation. I define the distinguishing characteristics of urban school systems, and analyze and synthesize relevant research about the diverse social and political contexts that have influenced urban schools and urban teacher preparation, paying particular attention to implications for the "ecological" paradigm of school reform. I suggest how the challenges in urban teacher preparation in the U.S. have changed in the past decade because of the linkage between education and the economy, as well as alterations in the knowledge base of teaching, especially data about cultural diversity. While a growing consensus has emerged among researchers that learning is enhanced when it occurs in contexts that are socioculturally, linguistically, and cognitively meaningful for the learner, policy has been driven b...

Urban Teaching: The Essentials

Abstract: A Book of Advice for Prospective and New Urban Teachers * What's Different About Teaching in Urban Schools? * Dealing with the Urban School System * The Urban School Setting * Your Relations with Teachers, the Union, and Administrators * Your Students * Managing Your Classroom * Your Moral and Political Obligations.

Preparing Teachers for Urban Schools: Lessons from Thirty Years of School Reform

Abstract: Poses the question: "Do urban teachers of at-risk students require special preparation, and if so, who can best provide it?". Weiner argues that the attempt to identify individual student and teacher deficits has been unproductive and explains why the issue must be placed in a broader context.

The global assault on teaching, teachers, and their unions : stories for resistance

Abstract: Neo-Liberalism, Teachers, and Teaching: Understanding the Assault: The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and Teacher Unions Mary Compton & Lois Weiner 'Remaking the World': Neo-Liberalism and the Transformation of Education and Teacher's Labor Susan Robertson Neo-Liberalism's Global Footprint: Education Reform under Strangulation John Nyambe Teaching for the Factory: Neo-Liberalism in Mexican Education Rodolfo Rincones, Elaine Hampton, & Cesar Silva Neo-Liberal Education in Denmark Jette Steensen Higher and Tertiary Education in the West Indies: Ensnared by GATS Margueritte Cummins Williams The Education World is Not Flat: Neo-Liberalism's Global Project and Teacher Unions' Transnational Resistance Larry Kuehn The Need for Unions to Defend Public Education: Teachers and their Unions: Why Social Class 'Counts' Kathleen A. Murphey Campaign Against the Opening of City Academies in England Ian Murch An Inner-City Public School Teacher's Story from China Yihuai Cai What Teachers Want from their Unions: What We Know from Research Nina Bascia Challenging Neo-Liberalism: Education Unions in Australia Rob Durbridge Teaching, a Profession under Attack: Contradictions and Tensions in the Place of Teachers in Educational Reform: Reflections upon the Role of Teachers in Recent Educational Reforms in the United States and Namibia Ken Zeichner Universalization of Elementary Education in India: A Dream Deferred is a Dream Denied Basanti Chakraoborty Educational Restructuring, Democratic Education, and Teachers Alvaro Moreira Hypolito Neo-Liberalism, Inequality, and Teacher Unions: Sodexho in the Chicago Public Schools Kyle Westbrook Homophobia in St. Lucian Schools: A Perspective from a Select Group of Teachers Urban Dolor Work on Aboriginal Education in a Social Justice Union: Reflections from the Inside Chris Stewart South African Teachers and Social Movements: Old and New Shermain Mannah & Jon Lewis Schooling and Class in Germany: An Interview with Eberhard Brandt and Susanne Gondermann Mary Compton Education or Mind Infection? Nurit Peled-Elhanan Going on the Offensive: Interview with Thulas Nxesi, President of the Education International Mary Compton The Context of Teachers' Democratic Movements in Mexico Rodolfo Rincones In Mexico, to Defend Education as a Social Right, We Must Fight for Union Democracy Maria de la Luz Arriaga Lemus A History of the Search for Teacher Unity in South Africa Harold Samuel British Teacher Unions and the Blair Government-Anatomy of an Abusive Relationship Mary Compton Building the International Movement We Need: Why a Consistent Defense of Democracy is Essential Lois Weiner

Preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools : Research and the overwhelming presence of whiteness

Abstract: This article reviews data-based research studies on preservice teacher preparation for multicultural schools, particularly schools that serve historically underserved communities. In this article, the author reviews 80 studies of effects of various preservice teacher education strategies, including recruiting and selecting students, cross-cultural immersion experiences, multicultural education coursework, and program restructuring. Although there is a large quantity of research, very little of it actually examines which strategies prepare strong teachers. Most of the research focuses on addressing the attitudes and lack of knowledge of White preservice students. This review argues that although this is a very important problem that does need to be addressed, it is not the same as figuring out how to populate the teaching profession with excellent multicultural and culturally responsive teachers.

Teacher Education and the American Future.

Abstract: For teacher education, this is perhaps the best of times and the worst of times. It may be the best of times because so much hard work has been done by many teacher educators over the past two decades to develop more successful program models and because voters have just elected a president of the United States who has a strong commitment to the improvement of teaching. It may be the worst of times because there are so many forces in the environment that conspire to undermine these efforts. In this article, the author discusses the U.S. context for teacher education, the power of teacher preparation for transforming teaching and learning, and the current challenges for this enterprise in the United States.

Evidence in Management and Organizational Science: Assembling the Field's Full Weight of Scientific Knowledge through Syntheses

Abstract: This chapter advocates the good scientific practice of systematic research syntheses in Management and Organizational Science (MOS). A research synthesis is the systematic accumulation, analysis and reflective interpretation of the full body of relevant empirical evidence related to a question. It is the critical first step in effective use of scientific evidence. Synthesis is not a conventional literature review. Literature reviews are often position papers, cherry-picking studies to advocate a point of view. Instead, syntheses systematically identify where research findings are clear (and where they aren't), a key first step to establishing the conclusions science supports. Syntheses are also important for identifying contested findings and productive lines for future research. Uses of MOS evidence, that is, the motives for undertaking a research synthesis include scientific discovery and explanation, improved management practice guidelines, and formulating public policy. We identify six criteria for establishing the evidentiary value of a body of primary studies in MOS. We then pinpoint the stumbling blocks currently keeping the field from making effective use of its ever-expanding base of empirical studies. Finally, this chapter outlines a) an approach to research synthesis suitable to the domain of MOS and b) supporting practices to make synthesis a collective MOS project.

The neoliberal cascade and education: an essay on the market agenda and its consequences

Abstract: Education has been powerfully affected by the rise of a neoliberal political, economic and cultural agenda The Australian experience since the 1980s is outlined Educators need to understand neoliberalism, and also to think about the nature of education itself, as a social process of nurturing capacities for practice Education itself cannot be commodified; but access to education can be Markets require a rationing of education, and the creation of hierarchies and mechanisms of competition Hence, the redefinition of schools and universities as firms, and the striking revival of competitive testing, as well as the expansion of public funding of private schools Teachers are placed under performative pressures that tend to narrow the curriculum in schools, and make the sector's workforce more insecure Even the knowledge base of education is impacted, with technicization of professional knowledge and a growth of cultural fakery around education Bases for alternatives exist, but have not yet found instit