Showing papers in "Harvard Educational Review in 1992"

Understanding and Validity in Qualitative Research

Abstract: Qualitative researchers rely — implicitly or explicitly — on a variety of understandings and corresponding types of validity in the process of describing, interpreting, and explaining phenomena of ...

The Color of Success: African-American College Student Outcomes at Predominantly White and Historically Black Public Colleges and Universities

Abstract: Black students' participation in higher education has experienced periods of growth and decline. The recent resurgence and proliferation of racial incidents on college campuses, coupled with a floundering economy, signals a need to place this issue at the forefront of our educational agenda once again. In this article, Walter R. Allen presents the results of a quantitative study on the differences in the college experience between Black undergraduates who attended historically Black colleges and universities and those who attended predominantly White colleges and universities. Building on the results of a number of related studies and analyzing data from the National Study on Black College Students, Allen further examines the effects of key predictors on college outcomes among these two groups of students. He thus sets the stage for some provocative conclusions, with implications that extend beyond the boundaries of academia.

Talking About Race, Learning About Racism : The Application of Racial Identity Development Theory in the Classroom

Abstract: The inclusion of race-related content in college courses often generates emotional responses in students that range from guilt and shame to anger and despair. The discomfort associated with these emotions can lead students to resist the learning process. Based on her experience teaching a course on the psychology of racism and an application of racial identity development theory, Beverly Daniel Tatum identifies three major sources of student resistance to talking about race and learning about racism, as well as some strategies for overcoming this resistance.

Thinking as Argument

Abstract: In attempting to define intelligence in real-world contexts, psychologists have focused primarily on the kinds of thinking that people do in work-related environments. In this article, however, Deanna Kuhn describes another form of thinking that should be central to efforts to describe real-world intelligence: thinking as argument. It is in argument, the author maintains, that we find the most significant way in which higher order thinking and reasoning figure in the lives of most people. Kuhn describes her research, which examines the extent to which a process of reasoned argument underlies the beliefs people hold and the opinions they espouse about important social issues. Her results indicate that argumentive reasoning ability does not differ systematically as a function of sex or age (from adolescence through the late sixties), but is strongly related to education level. Kuhn believes that social contexts, such as the classroom, are the most promising arena for practicing and developing argumentive th...

Teacher Research as a Way of Knowing.

Abstract: In this article, Susan Lytle and Marilyn Cochran-Smith, two university-based teacher educators, argue for a different theory of knowledge for teaching — one that is drawn from the systematic inquir...

Power, Knowledge, and the Rationalization of Teaching: A Genealogy of the Movement to Professionalize Teaching

Abstract: In this article, David Labaree presents a genealogy of the current movement to professionalize teaching, focusing on two key factors that define the lineage of this movement and shape its present character and direction. First, he argues that teacher professionalization is an extension of the effort by teacher educators to raise their own professional status. Second, he examines the closely related effort by this same group to develop a science of teaching. Given these roots, the reforms proposed by the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession and The Holmes Group may well do more for teacher educators than for teachers or students. More importantly, they may promote the rationalization of classroom instruction by generating momentum toward an authoritative, research-driven, and standardized vision of teaching practice.

Challenging Venerable Assumptions: Literacy Instruction for Linguistically Different Students

Abstract: In this article, Maria de la Luz Reyes identifies, discusses, and challenges widely accepted assumptions that undergird and guide literacy instruction for linguistically different students.1 Citing examples from current research, Reyes shows how the "one size fits all" belief, and its corollary assumptions about the practice of process instruction with limited- and non-English-speaking students, mitigate against the success of these students. The author draws from the findings of a case study that provides an example of process instruction that proved to be successful not only for mainstream students, but also for those who are linguistically different. In concluding, she makes a strong appeal for efforts to tailor literacy instruction to account for the cultural and linguistic diversity of all students. For the author, such adaptations cannot be an afterthought; rather, if teaching practices are to be inclusive of all learners, they must "begin with the explicit premise that each learner brings a valid l...

Sex differences in performance on the mathematics section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test: A bidirectional validity study.

Abstract: In this article, Howard Wainer and Linda Steinberg examine sex differences in scores on the mathematics section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT-M) by comparing the SAT-M scores of men and women who performed similarly in first-year college math courses. Matching almost 47,000 men and women on type of math course taken and grade received, the authors found that, on average, women had scored about 33 SAT points lower than men who had taken the same course and received the same grade. The authors then analyzed the same data using prospective regression analysis and found somewhat larger sex differences in the same direction. Though the data do not allow any conclusions about the cause of these differences in SAT-M scores, they do provide evidence of sex differences in the validity of the SAT-M as a predictor of college math performance. The authors conclude with a discussion of how educators might respond to possible inequities in test performance.

Money, Equity, and College Access

Abstract: In this article, Gary Orfield explores the nature of the relationship between money and access to college, particularly for minority and poor students. Decades after a massive federal government commitment to making a college education available to all, Orfield contends, minority and low-income access is declining, and financial aid is going to middle-class students who could manage without it.Orfield relates how the goal of making higher education accessible to all got sidetracked as he chronicles the policy debate over student aid through the 1980s and early 1990s. He tells a story of political opportunism, insufficient outreach, bureaucratic insensitivity, and a failure to distinguish cultural differences with regard to borrowing — a story of institutions and faculties protecting themselves through tuition increases without seriously debating social consequences. It is not, however, a story of declining interest in, or aptitude for, college among low-income and minority students. Orfield shows a substa...

Teaching and Practice

Abstract: Teachers often learn techniques to manage the behaviors of the children in their classrooms with the assumption that those techniques are universal, rather than culturally based. In this article, Cynthia Ballenger shares her process of coming to understand the cultural assumptions that lie at the heart of effectively managing her class of four-year-old Haitian children. Through multiple "conversations" with a teacher-researcher group, with Haitian teachers and parents in a daycare center, and through her work with Haitian teachers in a child development class, Ballenger learns about Haitian cultural ways and queries the assumptions that shape her own experience as a North American teacher. Her story demonstrates a model of teacher reflection on both theory and practice that can illuminate the practices of other teachers who encounter children of differing cultural, racial, or class backgrounds.

Participation and Degree Attainment of African-American and Latino Students in Graduate Education Relative to Other Racial and Ethnic Groups: An Update from Office of Civil Rights Data.

Abstract: In this article, Gail Thomas uses 1988-1989 degree completion data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights Survey to track the number of Black and Latino students awarded gra...

Teaching Narratives: A Source for Faculty Development and Evaluation

Abstract: In this article, Diane Wood describes a narrative-based teacher evaluation program, a form of faculty development and evaluation intended to provide a more humane process for experienced, competent, professional teachers who are actively seeking ways to further their professional and personal development. Wood describes this evaluation program in two ways: first, through a grounded, general description of the process; and then, in greater detail, through the personal accounts of four teachers, who share their experience of the process and offer their evaluative opinions. Finally, Wood outlines the implications of implementing such a program within schools, demonstrating how this method draws on the strengths, experience, and expertise of teachers themselves.

Labels, Literacy, and Enabling Learning: Glenn's Story.

Abstract: Too often, the school system regards students who do not learn quickly enough or in a conventional manner as "deficient," and labels them in ways that keep them from joining in a dynamic learning process. In this powerful account of what a creative and trusting relationship between teacher and student can accomplish, Colleen Fairbanks tells of a young man's determination to overcome his "learning disabilities" label and of the consequences the labeling process had on his school life. In so doing, her own story emerges as a teacher who encourages him to explore his feelings about his learning as he struggles to confront his school history. Most important, Glenn's story illustrates an overwhelming need to reevaluate our educational practices for learning disabled students.

Teaching as a Profession: The Rochester Case in Historical Perspective

Abstract: In this article, Christine Murray provides an analysis of teacher professionalization using a case study of the Rochester (New York) City School District. She examines the conceptual and practical changes that have occurred for teaching as a profession during three distinct time periods: the turn of the century and its growing urban school settings, the 1960s and the rise of teacher unions, and the reform movements of the 1980s. Her analysis provides a general overview of national trends, while using the Rochester case to detail changes in teacher professionalization in the context of a large urban school district.

Equity, Equality, and Biculturalism in the Restructuring of New Zealand Schools: A Life-History Approach

Abstract: In this article, Sue Middleton draws on interview data from the initial phase of "Monitoring Today's Schools," a research project to monitor the impact of New Zealand's educational restructuring. Unlike restructuring movements in other countries, the New Zealand movement specifically included goals of social equity and cultural inclusiveness, and Middleton focuses on the reactions of parents, teachers, and administrators to the restructuring efforts surrounding these issues. After presenting a brief historical overview of the development of and debate over equity and cultural inclusiveness in New Zealand education, Middleton presents excerpts from interviews with members of three different schools' boards of trustees, which were created as part of the restructuring effort to move more authority to the local school level. She includes their reactions to the impact of social equity and cultural inclusiveness policies on their schools and their children, and concludes by describing recent developments in New...

A Pre-History of Educational Philosophy in the United States: 1861 to 1914

Abstract: In this article, James Kaminsky describes what he calls the "pre-history" of educational philosophy — that period before the discipline was established, when Americans were reacting to the economic and social changes associated with industrialization and urbanization. According to Kaminsky, the early stages of this discipline involved the social reform movement of the 1890s, populism and progressivism, the history of social science, American literary history, muckraking, Hull House, the English intellectual Herbert Spencer, and, of course, the intellectual work of John Dewey. What was radical and new in the pre-history of educational philosophy was not its methodologies or intellectual concepts, but rather its alliance with the complex forces of social reform that were emerging as the United States entered the twentieth century.

Can We Be Heard? A Reply to Leach

Abstract: When we submitted our article "Dialogue across Differences: Continuing the Con­ versation" for publication, we were prepared for many responses that would take issue with what we said. We were even prepared for responses that misunderstood us and attributed to us positions we did not advocate. What we were not prepared for were responses that attributed to us positions that we explicitly denied in our article. Mary Leach's response, to our great dismay, does just this. Could we have made our points so badly? In this response we will try, first, to reply to these issues by juxtaposing some of Leach's criticisms with what we actually said in our article. Second, we will ex­ plain more fully what we mean by "communicative virtues," and why we think they are educationally significant. Third, we will describe what we see as points of underlying concern that we think we share with Leach, even if we may not agree about their precise origins or what to do about them.

Essay Review: Education for an Apartheid-Free South Africa

Abstract: It is not difficult to justify the twin themes of domination and exploitation that per­ vade studies of education in South Africa. Official sources bear ample testimony to the claim that the linkages between education, the state, and the coercive labor market in South Africa were crafted to reflect the terse and elemental logic that underlies apartheid: Whites are educated to control the political and economic arenas; Blacks are trained to serve and occupy menial positions. Now apartheid has irreversibly come undone, and employers require more than the sullen labor force they once were content to exploit with the aid of steady repression. Changes in economic development and the associated emergence of working-class militancy motivated this important change. As South Africa made the transition to capitalintensive production in the age of monopoly capitalism in the late 1960s and 1970s, employers were able to wean themselves off of unskilled, migrant Black labor, and they began to take a greater interest in the residential stabilization of an increasingly skilled and better-paid work force. The emerging militancy among these industrial workers raised the prospect of continuous debilitations in the in­ dustrial arena. With the limitations of South Africa's highly repressive growth model exposed, employers called for the "stabilization" of the urban Black popula­ tion and an acceleration in the standards of Black education; somewhat less enthu­ siastically they conceded the need for mechanisms to institutionalize conflicts be­ tween capital and labor. Conscious of their capacity to influence the direction of change, in the 1980s Blacks "turned to politics" to formulate and press their demands. 1 From approximately 1980 onwards, opponents of the apartheid regime responded to President Botha's stalled reform program by launching an extra-