American Educational Research Journal 53卷3期

1. Exploring the For-Profit Experience: An Ethnography of a For-Profit College

Author: Constance Iloh

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 427-455,.

Abstract:

The for-profit college sector is arguably the most controversial and least understood sector of higher education today. The past decade has ushered in a wealth of public concern and scrutiny as to whether for-profit colleges and universities are providing a quality education to underserved student populations. While their politicization has captured immense attention, there is far less empirical research on student experiences at for-profit institutions to better inform conceptual, institutional, and practical understanding of this sector of postsecondary education. Using ethnographic data from one midsize for-profit college in a suburban city, the author spent seven months exploring educational culture from the perspective of enrolled students. The findings illuminate four themes: (a) student desire for institutional transparency, (b) the perception of high-quality in-person instruction, (c) varied experiences based on student schedule and learning needs, and (d) the role of age in shaping peer interactions.

2. Selecting Expertise in Context: Middle School Mathematics Teachers’ Selection of New Sources of Instructional Advice

Author: Anne Garrison Wilhelm, I-Chien Chen, Thomas M. Smith, and Kenneth A. Frank

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 456-491.

Abstract:

Given prior research indicating that teachers can learn through their social network interactions with colleagues, it is important to understand more about the choices teachers make about whom to go to for advice. In this study, we investigated the degree to which middle school mathematics teachers change from whom they seek advice when confronting new teaching standards and external accountability pressures (e.g., standardized tests). We found that colleagues’ ability to improve student achievement was significantly related to advice seeking. In particular, teachers were more likely to seek new advice from colleagues who were better at improving student achievement. In contrast, relative differences in other types of expertise were not associated with advice seeking.

3. Student Perceptions of School Climate as Predictors of Office Discipline Referrals

Author: Nicholas A. Gage, Alvin Larson, George Sugai, and Sandra M. Chafouleas

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 492-515.

Abstract:

Research indicates that school climate influences students’ academic, social, and behavioral outcomes. Therefore, improving school climate provides a promising avenue for preventing academic, social, and behavioral difficulties. Research has examined school-level measurement of school climate, but few studies have examined student-level responses to school climate and student perceptions of school climate and their academic, social, and behavioral performance in school. In this study, we examined latent classes of students, based on their perception of school climate, and identified specific items within each class that predicted student social and behavioral performance as measured by office discipline referrals (ODR). Finally, we explored the academic, social, and behavioral profiles and demographic profiles within each class and discussed implications for practice and research.

4. Using Embedded Visual Coding to Support Contextualization of Historical Texts

Author: Christine Baron

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 516-540.

Abstract:

This mixed-method study examines the think-aloud protocols of 48 randomly assigned undergraduate students to understand what effect embedding a visual coding system, based on reliable visual cues for establishing historical time period, would have on novice history students’ ability to contextualize historic documents. Results indicate that using multiple embedded images per time period significantly improves students’ ability to source and contextualize historical sources.

5. Teachers’ Rights Versus Students’ Rights: Race and Professional Authority in the New York City Public Schools, 1960–1986

Author: Diana D’Amico

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 541-572.

Abstract:

In 1968, New York City’s unionized teachers participated in three separate strikes that spanned two school years. Teachers clashed with Black parents and activists who called for community control as both groups sought authority and recognition in the schools. Racialized assumptions in place before and extending beyond the labor skirmish infused teachers’ professional identity as well as how they understood their students and the communities they served. This article provides a history of how constructions of Blackness and Whiteness permeated teacher preparation programs, administrative policies, and the teachers’ union, in turn delimiting teachers’ collective professional persona. This historical analysis provides a framework to understand the persistent strains between social institutions and the communities they serve.

6. Interest Groups, the Courts, and Educational Equality: A Policy Regimes Approach to Vergara v. California

Author: Benjamin Michael Superfine and Alea R. Thompson

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 573-604.

Abstract:

In Vergara v. California (2014), a trial-level court ruled that California laws governing teacher tenure and dismissal were unconstitutional. This study analyzes Vergara in light of the shifting use of the courts to promote equal educational opportunities and the changing power bases of educational interest groups, including educational advocacy groups and teacher unions. This study particularly uses policy regimes theory to analyze the relationship between political interests, ideas, and institutions and highlights how the case represents an inversion of how educational interest groups have traditionally used the courts as vehicles for effecting education reform. Grounded in this analysis, this study explores legal and policy implications for both courts and reformers acting in this new context.

7. Figured Worlds of Citizenship: Examining Differences Made in “Making a Difference” in an Elementary School Classroom

Author: Eve Mayes, Dana L. Mitra, and Stephanie C. Serriere

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 605-638,.

Abstract:

This article explores how two elementary school students responded to their teacher’s invitation in a civic classroom to make a difference to the world. We consider how the teacher framed the construct of civic efficacy and how the students refracted these ideas in their navigation of a civic education project. Closely analyzing these students’ experiences and responses, we question what differences are made when students are encouraged to think of themselves as citizens who can make a difference. Noting dissonances and ambivalences in the students’ responses, the conceptual resources of “figured worlds” enable an analysis of the interplay of discourses, interactions, sensory experiences, and material artifacts as civic identities are constituted. The two students’ differing responses are analyzed in relation to other figured worlds that students and teachers daily negotiate: of compliant citizenship, productive citizenship, and consumer citizenship. The overlaps, dissonances, and/or divergences in discourses and artifacts from various figured worlds of citizenship render some students more recognizable as civically “engaged” and “efficacious” than others.

8. We Come to Form Ourselves Bit by Bit: Educating for Citizenship in Post-Conflict Guatemala

Author: Beth C. Rubin

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 639-672,.

Abstract:

Over the past several decades, the implementation of democratic citizenship education has become a common prescription for the civic reconstruction of post-conflict societies. Across the globe, educational changes are seen as fundamental to the creation of peaceful, tolerant, and democratic civic identities, the key to “social reconstruction, a better future, and a lasting peace.” Drawing on qualitative data from varied schools in postwar Guatemala, this article illustrates a critical dilemma in post-conflict civic education: the difficulties of engaging directly with past and present injustice while moving toward a shared national identity. Global models of democratic, multicultural, and human rights education alone are inadequate for creating a new sense of citizenship in a country in which young people’s sense of belonging and their interpretations of the past are deeply connected to how their communities are positioned within a profoundly inequitable power structure.

9. Education Versus Family: Institutional Logics in the Early Care and Education Field

Author: Anna C. Colaner

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 673-707,.

Abstract:

Non-parental arrangements for young children serve a dual function as supports for parental activities and educational inputs for children. However, arrangements that are suited to meet families’ specific needs and preferences are sometimes in tension with experts’ definitions of “quality.” Researchers and policymakers increasingly emphasize that educational goals cannot be met until this tension is reconciled. I offer new institutionalism as a conceptual framework for these emerging conversations and propose two ideal-typical institutional logics: the logic of the family and the logic of education. This perspective emphasizes that different expectations and goals are related to individuals’ differing social and institutional locations. Secondary analyses of the National Institute of Child Health and Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) data offer preliminary empirical evidence.

10. Full- Versus Part-Day Kindergarten for Children With Disabilities: Effects on Academic and Social-Emotional Outcomes

Author: Michael A. Gottfried and Vi-Nhuan Le

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 708-744,.

Abstract:

Despite the vast body of research examining the relationship between full-day kindergarten attendance and children’s outcomes, little is known about the effects of full-day kindergarten on children with disabilities (i.e., students with 1 of the 13 categories of disabilities recognized under federal law). This study fills this research void by examining whether full-day kindergarten participation predicts differences in achievement and social-emotional outcomes for children with disabilities. Using a national data set of kindergarten students from the 2010–2011 school year (ECLS-K:2011) and employing propensity matching, this study finds that relative to part-day kindergarten (PDK), full-day kindergarten (FDK) attendance is associated with higher achievement scores but also with higher frequencies of internalizing behaviors and lower incidences of self-control at the end of the kindergarten school year. The relationships between FDK attendance and outcomes varied by type of disability classification, such that significant achievement effects emerged only for children with learning and communication disorders. In addition, less time spent on child-initiated activities was associated with higher mathematics scores for children in FDK programs but not for children in PDK programs. Policy implications of the results are discussed.

11. Are Flunkers Social Outcasts? A Multilevel Study of Grade Retention Effects on Same-Grade Friendships

Author: Jannick Demanet and Mieke Van Houtte

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 745-780.

Abstract:

We examine the association between grade retention and the number of same-grade friendships. Moreover, we investigate the effect of a school’s proportion of retained students on these friendships and the moderating effect of this school characteristic on the relationship between retention and the number of same-grade friendships. Multilevel analyses on data from 11,759 students in 83 Flemish secondary schools show that secondary school retention is related to a lower number of friendships. Primary school retention is unrelated to friendship quantity in secondary education. Furthermore, students attending schools with a higher percentage of retained students have fewer same-grade friendships. The retention composition also moderates the effect of individual grade retention on the number of same-grade friendships. The implications are discussed.

12. Does Developmental Education Improve Labor Market Outcomes? Evidence From Two States

Author: Michelle Hodara and Di Xu

Source: American Educational Research Journal (Jun. 2016): 781-813.

Abstract:

Many community college students start college in developmental education and leave before enrolling in college-level coursework or making much progress toward a degree; thus, developmental education courses represent the primary education these students receive. Using student-unit record data from two large community college systems linked to wage record data, this is the first study to estimate the labor market returns to developmental education. For two cohorts of students who attended community college in North Carolina and Virginia, we find that earning developmental English credits led to an increase in earnings due to an increased likelihood of employment. In contrast, in both states, developmental math credits had negative impacts on earnings, particularly for those assigned to the lowest level of the developmental math sequence.