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Descriptors:
Information Literacy; College Readiness; High School Students; Urban Schools; Partnerships in Education; Academic Libraries; Public Libraries; High Schools; School Libraries; College School Cooperation; Best Practices; Outreach Programs; Advanced Placement Programs; Program Implementation; Program Development

Abstract:
This article describes a nearly decade-long partnership between three institutions representing school, public, and academic settings in Westchester County, New York. The program, designed to improve the academic performance of local high school students, is unique due to the extensive contact students have with academic librarians during the school year, including two day-long orientations and individual consultation sessions. Using experiences as partners in this collaborative effort, interviews with six teachers and librarians, and the existing literature, this article identifies best practices and key factors for academic libraries that are considering or currently providing instructional and outreach activities to high schools. (Contains 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Acceleration (Education); Rating Scales; Urban Schools; Academically Gifted; Rural Schools; Suburban Schools; Rural Urban Differences; Teacher Attitudes; Social Influences; Emotional Experience; Student Needs; Teachers; Longitudinal Studies; Extracurricular Activities; Teacher Surveys; School Policy; Parent Attitudes; Measures (Individuals); Focus Groups

Abstract:
Despite extensive research supporting its use, including the 2004 publication of "A Nation Deceived," acceleration is an underutilized strategy for meeting the academic needs of gifted and talented students. Parents' and educators' attitudes and beliefs about acceleration influence the extent to which it is implemented in schools. This study investigated gifted and talented educators' attitudes toward acceleration using a 7-point rating scale measuring concerns about acceleration, beliefs about acceleration, and support for specific acceleration strategies. Data indicated there were no differences in attitudes among teachers from rural, suburban, or urban school districts. Overall, the least popular acceleration strategies were also the easiest to implement, but caused the greatest change in students' environments (i.e., grade-skipping and early entrance to kindergarten). As expected, the educators were most troubled by social issues and least concerned about academic issues related to acceleration. (Contains 6 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academically Gifted; Student Attitudes; Play; Rural Schools; Focus Groups; Online Surveys; Talent; Urban Schools; Suburban Schools; Socialization; Barriers; Attention Control; Learning Motivation; Retention (Psychology); Teamwork; Problem Solving; Cognitive Development; Social Development; Physical Development

Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of play through the eyes of talented and gifted (TAG) fifth- and sixth-grade students. Three focus groups consisting of fifth- and sixth-grade TAG students were conducted in one urban, one suburban, and one rural school district in the Midwest. Students were asked to describe the value of play in the cognitive, physical, and social domains. Additional open-ended questions were asked about the importance of play and its relevance to their lives. From these results, an online survey was created. Data from an additional 162 fifth- and sixth-grade TAG respondents substantiated that play is a significant activity for learning and socializing in the general classroom, gifted programs, and outside their classrooms. Despite its importance, students experienced structural barriers for time to play. Putting the Research to Use: Results of this study hold implications for teachers to acknowledge the value of play as a tool for learning. Children see play as a renewal activity. They see play as motivating and as a way to increase attention, retention, and focus in learning. Children emphasized that play develops teamwork and problem-solving skills. Play enhances meaningful activities in the talented and gifted program as well as the general classroom. Results of this study suggest that parents should acknowledge their children's need for play in all three domains (cognitive, physical, and social) and allow time for self-directed play after school with limits on scheduled activities. (Contains 4 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Principals; Educational Change; Urban Schools; Elementary Schools; Instructional Leadership; Participative Decision Making; Elementary School Teachers; Hispanic Americans; Parents; Low Income Groups; Social Capital; Empowerment; Capacity Building; Leadership Role; Role Conflict; Coping; Community Organizations; Parent School Relationship; Educational Cooperation; Interviews; Observation

Abstract:
Purpose: Educational leadership is key to addressing the persistent inequities in low-income urban schools, but most principals struggle to work with parents and communities around those schools to create socially just learning environments. This article describes the conditions and experiences that enabled principals to share leadership with teachers and low-income Latino parents to improve student learning. Methods: This study used interviews, observations, and documents to examine the perceptions and experiences of the principals of three small autonomous schools initiated by a community organizing group in California. Data analysis was conducted in iterative phases using shared leadership, social capital, and role theories as lenses to identify themes, triangulate across data sources, and examine alternative hypotheses. Findings: Findings illuminate how a design team process initiated principals into a model of shared leadership with teachers and empowered parents that focused on deep relationships and capacity building. Principals enacted this model of the "principal as organizer" in the newly-opened schools, but they struggled to navigate conflicting leadership role expectations from district administration. Implications: Organizing approaches to education reform can cultivate shared leadership in principals and the capacity to partner with empowered, low-income Latino parents. District expectations and principals' broader social networks may be critical in navigating and sustaining such leadership. Further research on districts that collaborate with community organizing groups may provide promising insights into the development of a new generation of educational leaders. (Contains 1 table and 9 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Teacher Selection; Teaching Methods; Caring; Public Schools; Teacher Characteristics; Principals; Classroom Techniques; Teaching Skills; Mixed Methods Research; Administrator Attitudes; Interviews; Online Surveys; Teacher Behavior; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Urban Schools

Abstract:
Purpose: Relatively little is known about how principals make decisions about teacher hiring. This article uses mixed methods to examine what characteristics principals look for in teachers. Research Methods: Data were gathered using a mixed method approach, including in-depth interviews with a representative sample of 31 principals as well as an online survey of 368 principals in the Chicago Public Schools. Data analysis techniques included both qualitative analysis to look for patterns and themes and exploratory regression analysis of surveys to examine variation in preferences across school and principal characteristics. Findings: Results indicate that principals focus on behaviors and skills rather than qualifications. Principals report looking for teachers who care about students, have content knowledge, are willing to go beyond contractual obligations, and have classroom management skills. Principals, in general, talk extensively about caring, classroom management, and willingness to "give extra," while most say little about content knowledge or teaching skills. Preferences vary substantially across low- and high-achieving schools. Implications: Whether the skills and behaviors that principals report focusing on during the teacher-hiring process are those that will benefit their students most is an important question, particularly because even ineffective teachers are rarely dismissed from public schools. (Contains 4 tables and 5 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; Teacher Effectiveness; Elementary School Students; Grade 5; Teacher Persistence; Faculty Mobility; Elementary School Teachers; Labor Turnover; Teacher Influence; Language Arts; Reading Achievement; Mathematics Achievement; Scores; Racial Differences; Low Achievement; Grade 4; Urban Schools; At Risk Students; Minority Group Students; Observation

Abstract:
Researchers and policymakers often assume that teacher turnover harms student achievement, though recent studies suggest this may not be the case. Using a unique identification strategy that employs school-by-grade level turnover and two classes of fixed-effects models, this study estimates the effects of teacher turnover on over 850,000 New York City fourth- and fifth-grade student observations over 8 years. The results indicate that students in grade levels with higher turnover score lower in both English language arts (ELA) and math and that these effects are particularly strong in schools with more low-performing and Black students. Moreover, the results suggest that there is a disruptive effect of turnover beyond changing the distribution in teacher quality. (Contains 3 figures, 17 tables, and 16 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Language Usage; Language Variation; Foreign Countries; Ideology; Multilingualism; Official Languages; Monolingualism; Friendship; Urban Schools; Neighborhoods; Bilingualism; Self Concept; Language Planning; Language Attitudes; Comparative Analysis; Sociolinguistics; Educational Environment; Spanish; Romance Languages

Abstract:
Monolingual speakers of a national language continue to be the ideal figures on which national identities and senses of community are built. Yet this longstanding equation between nation and language is being contested by other ideologies. Alternatives are emerging from such disparate social locations as the European Union, now advocating for trilingualism as the mark of the "truly" European (Gal 2012), and urban schools and neighborhoods like those described in this issue. Significantly, Barcelona lies at the intersection of several scales of political organization, each with language policies that arise from and impact ideologies and practices. As an economically dynamic urban center with a flow of increasingly diverse immigration, it is located within an autonomous (and linguistically distinct) community, in a large state that has a linguistic project of its own, and is itself a member of the European Union, with its own language policies. The articles in this special issue show that friendship networks, neighborhoods and schools can be differently located within this matrix. Comparisons across such institutional contexts can be further aligned with comparisons over time (enabled by the high quality of earlier fieldwork), thereby illuminating how various factors contribute to change. But scale is not only a matter of political organization and policy but also of perspectives in interaction: How speakers locate themselves vis-a-vis their interlocutors, as they inhabit person-types that are imagined within envelopes of space-time (chronotopes). Of the many interrelated phenomena described in these articles, the author focuses on three: (1) the creation of new registers in schools; (2) the limitations of schools as sites for sociolinguistic research; and (3) a matter of perspective: how informants seem to have their eyes on varying scales of comparison and judgment when they evaluate the social significance of their own and others' linguistic practices. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Teaching Methods; Educational Change; Student Behavior; Phenomenology; Grade 8; Academic Achievement; Computer Uses in Education; Middle Schools; Interviews; Student Attitudes; Teacher Attitudes; Educational Technology; Classroom Environment; Interpersonal Communication; Professional Development; Urban Schools; Laptop Computers

Abstract:
The impact of a one-to-one computing initiative at a Midwestern urban middle school was examined through phenomenological research techniques focusing on the voices of eighth grade students and their teachers. Analysis of transcripts from pre and post-implementation interviews of 47 students and eight teachers yielded patterns of responses to illuminate how one-to-one computing changed students' learning experiences and teachers' instructional practices. Key themes that emerged were changes in teacher pedagogy, effect on student learning experiences, impact on classroom behavior and management, potential for improved communications, and suggestions to address professional development needs. The students demonstrated their learning in varied and creative ways through the use of computer-based lessons. However, the altered format presented new demands on teachers as a delivery model. Although some students were distracted by gaming and chatting opportunities, learning benefits were reported for students of varied ability levels. This study builds on the theoretical framework supporting the role and use of technology to foster learning and to prepare students for a global economy. The focus on student and teacher voices provided the opportunity to explore a new perspective and engage middle school students, teachers, and administrators in school change efforts. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Aesthetic Education; Educational Change; Neoliberalism; Urban Teaching; Urban Schools; Beginning Teachers; English Teachers; Secondary School Teachers; Accountability; Testing; Qualitative Research; Interviews; Ethnography; Social Justice; Theory Practice Relationship; Teacher Education

Abstract:
This article presents 7 years of qualitative research into the emerging understandings of a population of 456 beginning 7 to 12 urban teachers who supplied 130 participants who were enrolled in a total of 26 MSEd English Language Arts courses over 7 years. These were interviewed while teaching in urban schools focused primarily on testing and accountability systems, and their class writings were used to present seven of their voices in this study. The study investigates participant engagement in two theoretical frameworks emphasized in the courses: first, the neoliberal ideology of testing and accountability; second, the transactional tradition of aesthetic education. The study finds that education students need not passively acquiesce to neoliberal reforms, but can reclaim a culturally critical stance in their teaching. (Contains 1 table and 2 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Activism; Teacher Education Programs; Urban Schools; Race; Professional Identity; Ethnicity; Politics of Education; Minority Group Teachers; Student Teachers; Student Teaching; Arabs; North Americans; Power Structure; Social Influences

Abstract:
Understanding teaching as a political act is often assumed to be a strength for teachers; however, this assumption conceals important aspects of their processes of becoming politicized. I argue that seeing teaching as a political act can be a liability for prospective teachers of color who engaged with college student activism if these assumed qualities are not productively addressed in teacher education programs. I examine trajectories of change in a prospective teacher's sense-making about activism over the course of her first year in a master's and credential program and explore the implications of these findings for programs of teacher education. (Contains 1 table.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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