Advocates For Equity Research Articles

Enacting Critical Cosmopolitanism in Suburban Preservice Teacher Education through Crafting a Pedagogical Third-Space of Ethics

This paper explores critical cosmopolitan literacies as a framework to engage teacher preparation program candidates in re-conceptualizing about their work as active thinkers, ethical decision makers, and agentive global actors. The purpose of the study is to elucidate how preservice teachers, in a secondary literacy teacher education program, respond to ethics-oriented education in addressing complex and controversial sociopolitical issues, such as the dialectics of freedom, human rights, and growing racism in the neoliberal globalized context. The third space theory of ethics is used to interpret participant student teachers’ intellectual epistemology based on their engagement with literary and nonliterary works, as well as multicultural media products. Data consist of observations, discussions, focus-group interviews, reflective journals, and course evaluations. This study contributes to our understanding of how critical cosmopolitan literacies is situated in the intercultural dialogue pertaining to ethical and equitable decision-making as a promising professional enterprise in the preparation of literacy educators as global advocates for equity and social justice.

Association between health inequalities, antibiotic use and antibiotic-resistant infections in high-income countries: a scoping review

Abstract Introduction Health inequalities and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) present public health challenges. National guidance highlights the role of pharmacy professionals in reaching patients at risk of health inequalities.1 Pharmacy teams have the opportunity to involve their patients in shared decision-making and promote antimicrobial stewardship.2 An evidence gap exists regarding the association between factors that commonly contribute to health inequalities and antibiotic use amongst populations and risk of developing antibiotic-resistant infections. Aim To investigate the association between health inequalities, antibiotic use and risk of antibiotic-resistant infections in high-income countries, allowing pharmacy professionals to better understand the challenges and their role in tackling health inequalities and AMR. Methods Factors that commonly contribute to health inequalities and included in this review were: (i) Protected characteristics (age, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation); (ii) Socio-economic characteristics (employment status, deprivation, education, income, insurance); (iii) Vulnerable groups (migration status, sex workers, people who inject drugs (PWID), the homeless); (iv) Geography (region, urban or rural dwelling). The PRISMA-ScR was followed. Systematic literature searches were performed on OVID Embase and Medline and included published papers between January 2010 and April 2021. Exclusion criteria were research undertaken in low- or middle-income countries, viral (including COVID-19) and fungal infections and tuberculosis. Regular co-author meetings provided second checking of extracted data. Results Antibiotic use: Fifty-eight of 402 papers were included; most were from the USA (n=34) followed by the UK (n=12). Fifty papers focused on one or more protected characteristics, 37 on socio-economic characteristics, 21 on geography and 6 on migration status. Sample findings: In England, areas of high deprivation had increased antibiotic prescribing, with most deprived areas showing increased rates of broad-spectrum antibiotic use. In the USA, patients from rural areas were more likely to have nitrofurantoin for urinary tract infections inappropriately prescribed compared to urban dwellers. Antibiotic-resistant infections: Ten of 137 papers were included; the majority from the USA (n=6). Six papers focused on ethnicity, three on age and one each on deprivation, income, migration status, PWID and geography. Sample findings: In the USA, African American and Hispanic patients had higher rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) compared to patients of other ethnicities. Immigrants had lower rates of MRSA infections, but higher rates of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus wound infections, compared to USA-born citizens. Across Europe, E. coli infections resistant to aminoglycosides had strong association with income inequality. Discussion/Conclusion There is evidence for an association between health inequalities and antibiotic use, and health inequalities and risk of antibiotic-resistant infections. Further research is needed to understand how differences in antibiotic use affect AMR spread amongst populations. A study limitation includes addressing each health inequality individually without investigating how they may interact together to affect antibiotic use and infection resistance patterns. A strength is use of the PRISMA-ScR reporting guideline and systematic literature search. The pharmacy profession is trusted by the public3 and ideally placed in community and hospital settings to raise awareness of how health inequalities impact infection management and resistance rates, as well as advocate for equity of access in Core20PLUS populations.

“We’re Not Going to Overcome Institutional Bias by Doing Nothing”: Latinx/a/o Student Affairs Professionals as Advocates for Equity

Higher education institutions continue to be contested environments where the goals of equity and inclusion are often at odds with the permanence of institutional racism. Through a multi-case study of 19 Latinx/a/o mid-level administrators who worked at 16 predominantly white, private four-year universities, the authors uncovered the ways that (a) private universities grant agency to Latinx/a/o mid-level administrators to serve student needs but restrict agency to address the inequitable organizational structures; (b) constituent groups within private universities, namely faculty, mark the racialized boundaries of power and decision-making through credentialing; and (c) private universities use silence as a means of controlling Latinx/a/o mid-level professionals administrators’ equity work. Although Latinx/a/o mid-level administrators have a significant role to play in advancing equity work inside higher education institutions, these racialized organizations will create barriers that maintain whiteness and white interests. Without addressing power structures and the bureaucracy of decision-making at private institutions, progress on equity throughout the organizational structure may be limited. Implications for research and practice for Latinx/a/o/ administrators are discussed.

The College Counselor's Guide to Group Psychotherapy by Michele D. Ribeiro Joshua M. Gross Marcée M. Turner (review)

issn 0362-4021 © 2021 Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society group, Vol. 45, No. 1, Fall 2021 87 1 Faculty counselor, The City University of New York. Correspondence should be addressed to Alice Shepard, PhD, The City University of New York, 303 5th Avenue, Suite 1909, New York, NY 10016. E-mail: aliceshepardphd@gmail.com. Book Review The College Counselor’s Guide to Group Psychotherapy. Edited by Michele D. Ribeiro, Joshua M. Gross, and Marcée M. Turner. New York: Routledge, 2018, 278 pp. Reviewed by Alice Shepard1 Finding new ways to address college students’ urgent mental health needs is the primary task of campus-based counseling centers. The transition into emerging adulthood occurs during one’s college years (Arnett, 2000) and is a tumultuous time for many students. The College Counselor’s Guide to Group Psychotherapy is a welcome resource. The edited work takes on some of the thorniest realities of group treatment without hesitation. It allows readers to feel both informed and connected to the higher purpose of college mental health counseling. The editors—Michele Ribeiro, Joshua Gross, and Marcée Turner—are longtime colleagues in the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) and are considered experts in the field of group therapy with college students. Together, they crafted this guidebook to increase the use and success of groups. Twenty-five mental health practitioners specializing in group work provide contributions to the text, giving it both breadth and specificity. The guide delivers an overview of the core elements of establishing and running groups, and it supplies the rationale for using group therapy models at the university level. The book is divided into seven sections: “Social Realities,” “Research,” “Ethics,” “Marketing and Preparation ,” “Relational Factors,” “Psycho-Education,” and “What’s Next.” In essence, The College Counselor’s Guide to Group Psychotherapy is both a primer and a catalyst to ensure that group therapy programs are integral to the care of students during their college years. Although all the chapters succeed in deepening the conversation around group 88 shepard work, this review will focus primarily on three chapters in particular: “Racial and Social Justice Implications on the Practice of Group Psychotherapy,” by Michele Ribeiro and Marcée Turner; “Trainee Development in Group Psychotherapy,” by Teyva Zukor; and “The Group Coordinator: Promoting Group Culture by Managing Stages of Program Development,” by Joshua Gross. The reason for highlighting these chapters is that they most clearly demonstrate the editors’ central aims of increasing the relevance, quality, and longevity of group treatment on college campuses. Ribeiro, Gross, and Turner purposefully begin the guidebook with a discussion of how societal issues affect group therapy in college counseling centers. The chapter was written before the murder of George Floyd in 2020 but already several years into the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Ribeiro and Turner argue that colleges are becoming increasingly diverse. To better meet students’ needs, the authors contend that a focus on social justice must become primary in college mental health. “College counseling center group therapists, due to their location within higher education, have the opportunity to be strong advocates for equity within clinical work and larger systems level work” (p. 37). The authors call on college counselors to be proponents for students from disenfranchised and underrepresented groups (p. 37). They demand that those in the counseling field challenge their social privilege and engage in a cultural shift within their organizations (p. 39). If they do so, students from nondominant groups will be seen and included in ways they often are not on the larger campus. In an effort to gain allies, Ribeiro and Turner attest that racism also hurts Whites (p. 38). They argue for college counselors to embrace the concept of intersectionality as a way to subvert embedded and inaccurate socialization processes and transform human connection for the greater good (p. 42). A call to increase social justice awareness is also noticeable in the wider group therapy field. Recently, a special issue of this journal focused on ways to incorporate social justice concerns with group treatment (see Group 43.2–4). Students from marginalized backgrounds come to college counseling centers to seek services and find refuge. Failure to engage in issues pertaining to race, ethnicity , class...

The Journey of Humanizing Care for People With Disabilities.

The Max Bramer keynote address at the annual Special Care Dentistry Association (SCDA) conference provided an opportunity for reflection on our journey as health care professionals to humanize care for all people, and particularly those who are disabled. It is important to review the history of disability and discrimination to understand the progress made to date, and then consider the array of steps possible in further refining the humanistic dimensions of dental care. The typologies of tourist, traveler, adventurer, and scout were formulated to consider varieties of humanized care found within articles published in Special Care in Dentistry. Considering exemplars for each of these four typologies leads to reflections about how dentistry can embrace understanding, improve training of new dental professionals, tailor care for people with disabilities, and advocate for equity.

Sports serve as platform for social justice activism

Although COVID‐19 certainly impacted Akilah R. Carter‐Francique, Ph.D., in her first year as the Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change at San Jose State University, the former student‐athlete has thrived as a scholar, activist, and advocate for equity.

Developing identities of STEM teachers at emerging STEM schools

BackgroundWith the expansion of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools all over the United States and the world, new roles for teachers are being created, and with these roles, identities are evolving. However, these roles and identities remain an ill-defined area in STEM. The purpose of this paper was to explore the developing STEM teachers’ identities in emerging STEM schools, answering two research questions: (1) How do teachers define their roles as STEM teachers within a STEM school? (2) What do teachers identify as being important characteristics of STEM teachers? A multiple case study design was used to explore the research questions within a bounded context of two emerging STEM schools. Data for this study were drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted with eight teachers from two developing STEM schools within a large urban district in the Midwestern United States. Teams of teachers at each of the schools worked throughout the year to develop and implement their vision for STEM.ResultsUsing an inductive data analysis process, three major themes that characterized a STEM teacher identity emerged. These were the unique nature of STEM teachers’ identity; professional characteristics of STEM; and personal characteristics of STEM teachers. Collaboration, flexibility, awareness of students’ needs, and advocates of equity and inclusion were identified as pivotal characteristics of STEM teachers.ConclusionThis study concluded that STEM teachers’ identity can be viewed as a dynamic, evolving process that results from the interaction of personal and professional traits within new educational experiences exemplified by the STEM endeavor in their schools. An alignment between teachers' personal philosophy and STEM understanding is essential for the success in teaching in STEM schools.

Faculty Assessment Fellows: Shifting from a Culture of Compliance to a Culture of Assessment Advocacy

AbstractThis chapter examines the current pressures and realities in higher education assessment and highlights one campus’ effort toward equipping faculty to move toward a learner‐centered approach in teaching, learning, and assessment. It proposes a model of faculty development that integrates best practices of professional development with cultivating faculty self reflexivity as practitioner and advocate for equity in student learning. The chapter ends with lessons learned in preparing faculty as assessment fellows and recommendations for campuses seeking to engage their faculty in a similar opportunity.

Everyday Practices of Social Justice: Examples and Suggestions for Administrators and Practitioners in Higher Education

Given that there is a general need for college students to learn about social justice and equity issues, and since college is a developmentally meaningful time for students, it is important for colleges and universities to adopt practices and provide opportunities that address power and inequality issues. This paper provides examples of social justice programs and practices in four areas (administrative, academic, co-curricular, and assessment) at a mid-size Midwestern institution, discusses how these practices are important and valuable to challenging power, and how they can be replicated or adapted at other institutions. Examples of everyday administrative programs/practices include creating a diversity/inclusion statement, programs sponsored by university administrators, and dedicating staff to support and advocate for equity and inclusion. Examples of everyday academic programs/practices include incorporating courses that focus on social justice issues into the general academic curriculum, training instructors on teaching and/or facilitating discussions about social justice issues, and creating centers on campus that can be the “academic home” for academic programs and research that focus on social justice issues. Examples of everyday co-curricular programs/practices include creating both reactive (in response to a current event or issue) and proactive/continuing (focusing on social justice issues in general throughout the year) programming and including students in the planning and execution of those programs. Examples of everyday assessment practices include multiple methods of collecting data that allow for a holistic “picture” of what students are learning with regard to social justice issues during their time in college. This paper also discusses how these programs and practices are important for encouraging awareness and challenging power and provides important lessons learned from social justice work in higher education.

Patient preferences for the allocation of deceased donor kidneys for transplantation: a mixed methods study.

BackgroundDeceased donor kidneys are a scarce health resource, yet patient preferences for organ allocation are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to determine patient preferences for how kidneys should be allocated for transplantation.MethodsPatients on dialysis and kidney transplant recipients were purposively selected from two centres in Australia to participate in nominal/focus groups in March 2011. Participants identified and ranked criteria they considered important for deceased donor kidney allocation. Transcripts were thematically analysed to identify reasons for their rankings.ResultsFrom six groups involving 37 participants, 23 criteria emerged. Most agreed that matching, wait-list time, medical urgency, likelihood of surviving surgery, age, comorbidities, duration of illness, quality of life, number of organs needed and impact on the recipient's life circumstances were important considerations. Underpinning their rankings were four main themes: enhancing life, medical priority, recipient valuation, and deservingness. These were predominantly expressed as achieving equity for all patients, or priority for specific sub-groups of potential recipients regarded as more "deserving".ConclusionsPatients believed any wait-listed individual who would gain life expectancy and quality of life compared with dialysis should have access to transplantation. Equity of access to transplantation for all patients and justice for those who would look after their transplant were considered important. A utilitarian rationale based on maximizing health gains from the allocation of a scarce resource to avoid "wastage," were rarely expressed. Organ allocation organisations need to seek input from patients who can articulate preferences for allocation and advocate for equity and justice in organ allocation.

Teaching Other Tongues

Language-the words we use, our syntax and our grammar-is always deployed in a context. We might refer to a collective group as y'all in one context (casually, among friends) but simply as you in another. When students enter our library instruction classrooms, they also enter a new discursive context, this one marked by Boolean syntax, arcane controlled vocabularies, and Aristotelian classification structures that divide the universe of knowledge in ways foreign to the naive user. For example, nothing about using Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) or SocINDEX database descriptors is natural, nor is the use of and and or as formal structures. Students who seek use of library resources inevitably must learn to navigate these strange new linguistic worlds.Library instructors must balance the demand to teach students how to search successfully in these formal linguistic contexts against a desire to respect the languages and modes of thought students bring from elsewhere into the classroom. As advocates for equity of access to materials, librarians must negotiate the realities of dominant, standard structures of language and organization-often our discursive homes-with the diversity of linguistic and cognitive approaches of our students. These politically and ethically impelled negotiations require us to teach library research as a context in which language struggles take place, rather than as an arena where some words and phrases are simply and acontextually Indeed, when students are taught that only one language variety is correct, instructors consciously and unconsciously reinscribe systems of linguistic dominance that allocate access, opportunity, and reward unevenly among social groups.Composition Studies has long explored this difficult balancing act. In the pages that follow, this article articulates the work done by composition scholars to understand and politicize the problem of multiple discourses in the classroom, as well as conceptualize a potential solution. Rather than arguing for or against the use of different language varieties, Composition Studies has used the concept of the contact zone to imagine the classroom as a space of dialogic struggle where no single language is or correct. Instead, the classroom and the blank page become sites of interpretive struggle for meaning.Following this discussion of the contact zone in the writing classroom, I suggest that teaching librarians might re-conceptualize the contact zone in our own field. Library advocacy work on the problem of standardized language has primarily worked to perfect and change that standard language so that it better reflects a pluralist embrace of the language of our users. While a vital part of an ethical linguistic practice, the focus on correcting library language reinscribes the idea that any language can ever be outside the context of its use. Curiously, the library field has paid less attention to conceptualizing the concrete spaces in which these linguistic struggles take place: the search boxes inside our databases and OPACs. Particularly when we teach students to grapple with their own vocabulary and the controlled vocabularies of library resources, we are already teaching in a contact zone. By articulating and conceptualizing a concept of the database search interface as a contact zone, this article suggests that teaching librarians might work to interrupt the power of dominant language and knowledge schemes rather than re-inscribe them as correct through our teaching practice. In deploying a critical approach to the contact zone, library instruction can be a site of productive struggle between our users and the dominant discursive systems we might all seek to change.Language Varieties in the College ClassroomStudents entering college for the first time are entering more than just new physical facilities. They also enter new discursive communities. One of the primary roles of college teaching is to introduce students to these particular discourses. …

Sorting Out Teacher Quality

TEACHER has become a hot topic. Everyone wants to measure it, reward it, or improve it. One reason for this interest is that we now have evidence that teachers differ dramatically in their ability to raise student test scores. We don't know why some teachers are better than others, so we say the differences are due to Another reason for our current interest in teacher is that recent No Child Left Behind requirements focus on highly qualified teachers, so we tend to think about indicators of Yet another reason for this interest is that advocates for equity often seek to ensure that schools serving lower-income students provide the same of teachers as those serving more advantaged students. The problem is that teacher has become such a ubiquitous term that it lacks a clear meaning. As researchers and policy analysts enter into debates about teacher quality, they often use the phrase to refer to very different things. For example, people interested in recruitment tend to use the phrase quality to refer to tested ability. (1) These writers want us to design recruitment practices that entice people with higher test scores to become teachers. For them, test scores are an indicator of teacher quality. Meanwhile, people interested in the equitable distribution of teachers across student populations often use the phrase quality to refer to credentials. (2) These writers want to ensure that all students have access to teachers who have obtained comparable licenses and certificates. For them, certificates and teaching experience are indicators of teacher quality. Still other people use the phrase quality to refer to the of teachers' classroom practices. (3) These writers want to improve the work teachers do inside their classrooms, when actually teaching students. For them, specific teaching practices are indicators of teacher quality. Then there are people who think about school finance and who seek the most productive use of expenditures. (4) They often use the phrase quality to refer to teachers' effectiveness in raising student achievement. For them, gains in student achievement are indicators of teacher quality. And, of course, there are people who want teachers to subscribe to particular beliefs and values. In their minds, such values are the chief indicators of teacher quality. These are not the only definitions available, nor are these indicators--test scores, certificates, and so forth--the only available indicators of teacher quality. Such variations in meanings should not be a surprise, for there are indeed numerous dimensions to teacher quality, each of which may be important for different reasons to different people. But unless we can become more precise in our use of the term, we will not improve our ability to measure it, improve it, or reward it. True understanding of teacher requires us to recognize that these many facets are distinct, not always overlapping, and not always related to one another. Moreover, we aren't even sure how they influence and interact with one another when they do. A TAXONOMY OF QUALITIES Recognizing all these aspects of teacher means that we need to start talking about teacher qualities, rather than This slight change in language reminds us that there are many different dimensions of teacher and if we want to improve the broad, general of the American teacher work force, we need to be able to sort out all the specific qualities that are part of it. More important, we need to understand how these different qualities are related to one another and how they complement, contradict, or influence one another. For example, do teachers' own higher test scores actually lead to different or better classroom practices? Do the practices defined in national curriculum frameworks actually yield better student achievement? …

Graduates' Reports of Advocating for English Language Learners

Beginning teachers, who graduated from a credential program focused on preparing advocates for equity and with attention to teaching English language learners (ELLs), had reported in surveys being well prepared to teach ELLs and promote equity. Focus groups illuminated teachers' reports of ways they advocated for ELLs. Reported classroom acts included creating and maintaining safe environments for English language use and development, differentiating instruction and designing interventions for ELLs, and responding to sociopolitical issues related to race, language, and class. Reported advocacy beyond the classroom included seeing inequity and addressing it with lunchtime and after-school tutorials and clubs, and with family contacts and home visits. Sometimes, such advocacy also included critiquing institutional practices or policy, and proposing or building alternatives. Three cases illustrate accounts of school challenges in meeting needs of ELLs, and document possibilities for how advocacy for ELLs, even in the first years of teaching, can be pursued.

Learning to advocate for educational equity in a teacher credential program

Drawing on a 5-year program-wide investigation of ways preservice teachers learn to teach to diversity, this study uses focus groups of graduates to illuminate survey results of their feeling well prepared to advocate for equity in classrooms and schools. Offering suggestions for improvement, graduates nonetheless reported two broad categories of program strength. The first was the value of infusion of culture, language, and equity content in coursework. Themes in strong coursework included focus on culturally responsive, equity-focused pedagogy; preparation to teach English language learners; developing cultural knowledge and sensitivity; and learning advocacy beyond the classroom. Faculty taught and modeled these concerns through many means. The second, which extended coursework, was sustained and scaffolded apprenticeships in teaching for equity, including student teaching supervisors as equity mentors, placements that support teaching for equity, and ongoing cohort discussions of equity teaching.

Generational equity and privatization: myth and reality.

For more than two decades, policy analysts and advocates have debated question of equity (Williamson, Watts-Roy, & Kingson, 1999). Generational equity refers to distribution of resources among generations. Advocates of equity believe that social welfare programs benefit older adults at expense of young people (Williamson & Watts-Roy, 1999). According to Richard Lamm (1985), former governor of Colorado, name of compassion for elderly, we have handcuffed young, mortgaged their future, and drastically limited their hopes and aspirations (cited in Williamson & Watts-Roy, 1999, p. 14) Generational equity theorists are particularly concerned about social security. Third Millennium, advocacy group for young people, describes social security as a generational scam that requires today's workers to support who, in most cases, are more affluent than those supporting them (Third Millenium, 2000). In light of social security's financial difficulties, young people eventually will be forced to renege on their obligations to retirees or raise payroll taxes to as high as 40 percent (Third Millenium, 2000). This debate has now moved center stage. In a bold move, George W. Bush has proposed partially privatizing social security (Dao & Mitchell, 2000; www.georgewbush.com/speeches/promise.asp). This would allow individuals to invest part of their payroll deduction in individual investment accounts. Although he has yet to provide details, Bush clearly hopes to capitalize on widespread perception that baby boomers and their parents have taken advantage of young people. According to him, without reform, younger workers face...a lifetime of paying taxes for benefits they may never receive (Dao & Mitchell, p. A18). This column considers implications for young people of debate over equity and social security in particular. It also discusses how social workers might get involved in effort to defend social security. EMERGENCE OF GENERATIONAL EQUITY The current debate over equity dates back to 1970s, a time of flux and transition. During early post--World War II era, United States was clearly dominant power in world. While Europe and Asia struggled to recover from war, United States possessed an abundance of... land, food, power, raw materials, industrial plant, monetary reserves, scientific talent, and trained manpower (Hodgson, 1978, p. 19). This wealth and relative advantage helped create the most br6adly based middle class that world had ever seen (Phillips, 1993, p. 14). Many people, particularly those who were white, believed that they and their children were destined to live happily ever after...in a fairy tale of health, wealth, and happiness (Patterson, 1996, p. 311). These grand expectations were shattered during 1970s (Patterson, 1996). The Vietnam War, Watergate, and other events fueled a growing distrust of government (Patterson, 1996; Skocpol, 1997). This distrust was exacerbated by economic changes. During 1950s and 1960s, economic growth and increased prosperity were taken for granted (Patterson, 1996). Beginning in early 1970s, however, economy took a great U-turn' as wages and family incomes stagnated and inequality grew (Harrison & Bluestone, 1990, p. 5). Corporate profits also feil, leading many companies to introduce a Big Stick strategy (Gordon, 1996). During 1950s and 1960s, labor and management in many industries reached accord, linking wage increases with increases in productivity. Consequently, workers generally enjoyed rising standards of living. During 1970s, this agreement broke down, as corporations faced increased competition at home and abroad. Cooperation now gave way to conflict, and many firms went directly after their unions, aiming to tame . …