Showing papers in "Harvard Educational Review in 2020"
TL;DR: Nicole Mirra and Antero Garcia explore how young people from six demographically distinct communities across the United States understand the social and political issues affecting them as discussed by the authors, and explore how these issues affect them.
Abstract: In this essay, Nicole Mirra and Antero Garcia explore how young people from six demographically distinct communities across the United States understand the social and political issues affecting th...
41 citations
TL;DR: Yurkofsky as discussed by the authors develops the concept of technical ceremonies as a way of theorizing this emerging pattern of school organizations. But these efforts frequently yield unintended, superficial, or even counterproductive changes at the school level.
Abstract: After decades of accountability and market-based reforms in education, school systems are now organizing more around improving teaching and learning. Yet these efforts frequently yield unintended, superficial, or even counterproductive changes at the school level. In this article, Maxwell Yurkofsky develops the concept of technical ceremonies as a way of theorizing this emerging pattern of school organizations. Technical ceremonies involve educators changing their practice to align with new reforms in a way that privileges what is visible and measurable as a way of appeasing external stakeholders over more substantive improvements to practice. He argues that technical ceremonies arise as principals navigate a multitude of surface-level demands from the environment and the uncertainties that pervade efforts to transform teaching and learning.
17 citations
TL;DR: Freidus et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the role of racialized discourses related to disposition, medicalization, family, and community in shaping Hazel's reputation and contrasted her reputation with that of Marquise, a Black boy in her class.
Abstract: This article examines the ways Hazel, a white girl entering kindergarten, became known as a child with a problem rather than a problem child in her gentrifying school. Building on a year of classroom observations and interviews with students, school staff, and parents, author Alexandra Freidus identifies the role of racialized discourses related to disposition, medicalization, family, and community in shaping Hazel’s reputation and contrasts Hazel’s reputation with that of Marquise, a Black boy in her class. Hazel’s and Marquise’s storylines teach us that to fully understand and address the differences in how Black and white children are disciplined, we need to look closely at the allowances and affordances we make for some students, as well as how we disproportionately punish others. By examining the ways educators in a gentrifying school construct white innocence and Black culpability, this study illustrates the relational nature of the “school discipline gap” and helps us understand how and why some children are disproportionately subject to surveillance and exclusion and others are not.
13 citations
TL;DR: Petrone and Rink as mentioned in this paper proposed a repositioning pedagogy framework for teacher education, which disrupts power dynamics by bringing the teacher to the center of the power hierarchy.
Abstract: In this article, Robert Petrone and Nicholas Rink propose a repositioning pedagogy framework for teacher education. They maintain that a repositioning pedagogy disrupts power dynamics by bringing s...
6 citations
TL;DR: Wu et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the lived experiences of mothers raising and educating children with disabilities in contemporary China, and found that mothers raised and educated children with disability in China were more likely to experience discrimination.
Abstract: In this research article, Jinting Wu examines the lived experiences of mothers raising and educating children with disabilities in contemporary China. In the national project of cultivating “qualit...
5 citations
TL;DR: Fried investigates the first six months of a state education department's takeover of a public school district as mentioned in this paper, using interviews, observations, and artifact analysis, and concludes that the state's actions were justified.
Abstract: In this portrait, Simone A. Fried investigates the first six months of a state education department's takeover of a public school district. Using interviews, observations, and artifact analysis, th...
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Liefshitz analyzes conversations between teachers recorded for the StoryCorps National Teachers Initiative to inquire how teachers talk about learning and what they say about it when no researcher is guiding their conversation.
Abstract: In this portrait, Irene Liefshitz considers learning as an aspect of teaching—how teachers learn to teach, what they learn about teaching, and how they are transformed by teaching. Because unsolicited, free-ranging, teacher-to-teacher conversation about teaching rarely makes it to education research, the author analyzes conversations between teachers recorded for the StoryCorps National Teachers Initiative to inquire how teachers talk about learning and what they say about it when no researcher is guiding their conversation. Such centering of teacher voice is a practical and political stance and positions education research as an act of listening. By transmitting and interpreting teachers’ talk, the author makes a case for focusing research agendas on teacher learning based on what teachers say is important to them, for promoting a scholarship of voice in research on teaching, and for further use of the StoryCorps National Teachers Initiative as a rich data source of teacher voice.
4 citations
TL;DR: The use of narratives and storytelling has become an increasingly common strategy in grassroots organizing and advocacy efforts to influence policy change as mentioned in this paper, drawing on qualitative interviews and qualitative interviews to draw on qualitative information.
Abstract: The use of narratives and storytelling has become an increasingly common strategy in grassroots organizing and advocacy efforts to influence policy change. Drawing on qualitative interviews and obs...
4 citations
TL;DR: Johnson et al. as discussed by the authors examined how state characteristics and interstate dynamics influence the policy process related to campus sexual assault and found that the number of forcible sex offenses at public colleges, contributions from women's interest groups, gubernatorial power, Republican influence, and bipartisan sponsorship influence the campus sexual assaults policy process, with varying influence across legislative stages.
Abstract: The persistent problem of sexual assault on college campuses is receiving attention in both the public sphere and state legislatures. Although a considerable body of research examines various aspects of campus sexual assault, such as rates and reporting, scholars have not examined how state characteristics and interstate dynamics influence the policy process related to campus sexual assault. This gap is compounded by an underemphasis on gender in theories of state policy adoption, even as a record number of women serve in state legislatures. Drawing on a data set that captures the introduction and enactment of campus sexual assault legislation between 2007 and 2017, David R. Johnson and Liang Zhang examine in this article how the state policy adoption and diffusion framework explains the introduction and enactment of campus sexual assault policy. The results of their study show that the number of forcible sex offenses at public colleges, the number of female Democrats in state senates, contributions from women’s interest groups, gubernatorial power, Republican influence, and bipartisan sponsorship influence the campus sexual assault policy process, with varying influence across legislative stages. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for researchers interested in policy adoption and gender issues as well as for advocates working on campus sexual assault policy reform.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Margolis draws from complexity theory to explore the negotiation between formal and informal teacher leadership in research and practice, making the case that there has been a drift toward a conception of semiformal teacher leadership.
Abstract: In this article, Jason Margolis draws from complexity theory to explore the twenty-year negotiation between formal and informal teacher leadership in research and practice, making the case that there has been a drift toward a conception of semiformal teacher leadership in the field. Through both theory and examples, he illustrates how semiformal teacher leadership has the potential to afford school systems and educators both information and processors of information they likely would not otherwise have. Teacher leaders, in roles that are neither inflexible or ill-defined, can carve out intentional spaces on the edge of chaos to promote professional learning and communication in ways that solely school teachers or solely school leaders may not. In these spaces, productive complexity, agency, and systemic learning can coevolve.
4 citations
TL;DR: Dreby et al. as discussed by the authors explored the meaning of US citizenship for binational children and its importance to experiences of belonging using interviews with children ages six to fourteen living with their Mexican-born parents in rural Puebla.
Abstract: In this essay, Joanna Dreby, Sarah Gallo, Florencia Silveira, and Melissa Adams-Corral use a transnational frame to explore the meanings of US citizenship for binational children and its importance to experiences of belonging. Drawing on interviews with children ages six to fourteen living with their Mexican-born parents in rural Puebla, their analysis shows that children view US citizenship as signaling their social location in a historically based migratory system and that the meaning of this social location on children’s daily lives differs given their transnational experiences, specifically the extent of US schooling they received. Migration thus engenders understanding of power and privilege among young children and influences how they negotiate among their peers. The authors argue that young children may exhibit “critical postures” arising from their migratory experiences. They conclude that schools on both sides of the border can view migrant children’s experiences and critical perspectives as assets that may provide more flexible spaces for learning and belonging.
TL;DR: Dryden-Peterson as discussed by the authors explores the concept of researcher positionality, focusing on its malleability over time, and presents a methodological analysis in an empirical setting, based on an empirical study.
Abstract: In this research article, Sarah Dryden-Peterson explores the concept of researcher positionality, focusing on its malleability over time. The methodological analysis is situated in an empirical stu...
TL;DR: In this article, Pei Pei Liu identifies the act of unveiling a completed portrait to solicit participant response as central to the conceptualization of portraiture, and this explicit extension of...
Abstract: In this essay, Pei Pei Liu identifies the act of unveiling a completed portrait to solicit participant response as central to the conceptualization of portraiture. While this explicit extension of ...
TL;DR: Schneider and Saultz as discussed by the authors examine how state and federal offices have managed this dilemma through ceremonial reform, looking at two high-profile examples: the transition from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act, and states’ reaction to public criticism of the Common Core State Standards.
Abstract: In this essay, Jack Schneider and Andrew Saultz offer a new perspective on state and federal power through their analysis of authority and control. Due to limitations inherent to centralized governance, state and federal offices of education exercised little control over schools across much of the twentieth century, even as they acquired considerable authority. By the 1980s, however, such loose coupling had become politically untenable and led to the standards and accountability movement. Yet, greater exertion of control only produced a new legitimacy challenge: the charge of ineffectiveness. State and federal offices, then, are trapped in an impossible bind, in which they are unable to relinquish control without abdicating authority. Schneider and Saultz examine how state and federal offices have managed this dilemma through ceremonial reform, looking at two high-profile examples: the transition from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act, and states’ reaction to public criticism of the Common Core State Standards.
TL;DR: Schachter and Freeman as discussed by the authors present the familiar problem in studying and improving teaching: how to connect what teachers know and think with what they do as they teach, and how to improve teaching.
Abstract: In this essay, Rachel Schachter and Donald Freeman present the familiar problem in studying and improving teaching: how to connect what teachers know and think with what they do as they teach. They...
TL;DR: The authors explored the work of four high school bilingual support staff and how they went above and beyond their official job duties to support Latinx students by creating borderlands spaces, enacting pedagogies of acompañamiento, and taking on bridging work between school and students' families.
Abstract: This article explores the work of four high school bilingual support staff and how they went above and beyond their official job duties to support Latinx students. Drawing on eighteen months of ethnographic research in three high schools in Wisconsin, author Julissa Ventura shows how bilingual support staff nourished Latinx students by creating borderlands spaces, enacting pedagogies of acompañamiento, and taking on bridging work between school and students’ families. The study also highlights how bilingual support staff were often marginalized and unsupported in their work. Ventura makes clear that as schools continue to hire bilingual support staff in demographically changing schools, it is important to understand the multifaceted nature of their role and to center their expertise and knowledge in moving toward the nourishment of all students.
TL;DR: In this article, Chung-Hin Kevin Ho, a history education university student in Hong Kong, narrated his search for civic identity through a process of critical and reflective dialogue with his parents.
Abstract: In this essay, Chung-Hin Kevin Ho, a history education university student in Hong Kong, narrates his search for civic identity. Composed through a process of critical and reflective dialogue with H...
TL;DR: Bristol and Esboldt as mentioned in this paper examined the supports and constraints teachers at one midsized urban school serving predominately Latinx students encountered during school-based professional development aligned with becoming a National Board certified teacher.
Abstract: In this article, Travis J. Bristol and Joy Esboldt examine the supports and constraints teachers at one midsized urban school serving predominately Latinx students encountered during school-based professional development aligned with becoming a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT). Research has established that Black and Latinx students have less access to NBCTs when compared to White students, yet few studies offer insight into the organizational conditions that influence urban school teachers’ capacity to earn certification. Drawing on two years of ethnographic observations, interviews, and artifact analysis, this study finds that district and school-based factors constrained teachers’ capacity to earn National Board Certification, reporting that participants believed there was a misalignment between the district’s vision for instructional improvement, which focused on Direct Instruction, and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.