American Educational Practices Research Articles

Huck Finn's America

Huck Finn's America

Description of an Iterative Process for Intervention Development

Abstract Recent efforts to improve American educational practices have focused on determining the efficacy of interventions and instructional practices via randomized controlled trials. Aligned with this effort, the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), the primary funding agency for experimental research in education, has organized grant funding into goals which include Development and Innovation (Goal 2) in order to ready interventions for an efficacy trial. The literature, however, provides little guidance for conducting the iterative process of intervention required to develop an intervention. We describe a multi-phase process that we used to develop a comprehensive intervention package for secondary age students with social, emotional, and behavioral problems. The intervention package was developed as part of the Center for Adolescent Research in the Schools (CARS) in preparation for an efficacy trial. In the past decade we have witnessed increased efforts to improve American education. Duplicating advancements in other fields (e.g., randomized controlled trials of medications) these efforts have implicated the reliance on research-proven practices. Through mandates such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 as well as other federal K-12 grant programs, The United States Department of Education has implored educational practitioners to identify and implement evidence-based interventions in order to improve children's educational outcomes. For the most part, evidence of effective practice is defined by randomized controlled trials (Coalition for Evidence Based Policy, 2003). The field of education is replete with practices that lack research support. At the same time, conducting randomized controlled trials is costly and time consuming. Because of the effort and expense of randomized controlled trials, interventions should have preliminary evidence of effectiveness. In addition, interventions need to be developed to the extent that they can be specifically described for broad implementation (e.g., manualized). Aligned with the requirement of intervention readiness, the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), the primary funding agency for experimental research in education, has organized grant funding into goals, including Development and Innovation (Goal 2), Efficacy and Replication trials (Goal 3), and Scale Up Evaluation (Goal 4). This phased process allows researchers to develop and pilot interventions prior to conducting randomized controlled trials. Intervention development, as defined by IES, requires "an iterative process of designing, testing, revising, and testing to produce a product or system that functions in the way that the developer intends for it to function and that can be implemented in actual education delivery settings (e.g., schools)" (Institute for Education Sciences, 2010, pg. 8). Although the majority of grants funded by IES fall under Goal 2, Development and Innovation (e.g., among the five goals, 67% of 2010 funded grants were Development) unfortunately, there is little guidance detailing the iterative process. Specifically, to date there are few published studies that depict a comprehensive process for intervention design, testing, revision, and retesting that is called for by IES. Several studies have described isolated strategies for developing interventions. For example, Haerens and colleagues (2009) sought to develop a community-based healthy eating intervention for young children for use in eight different countries. Twenty focus group interviews were conducted to examine the perspectives of various stakeholders (i.e., community leaders, parents, teachers and children). The focus group interviews were tape recorded and subsequently analyzed and summarized by two researchers. The information allowed the researchers to identify variables that influenced dietary behaviors among young children, which led to the development of an initial intervention. …

Internationalizing the Assessment Criteria to Build Cross-Cultural Competency

ABSTRACT International business programs, universities with international students, and educators who seek to internationalize their teaching need to make informed decisions about teaching, testing, and assessment criteria. The infusion of American business curricula throughout the world as well as the need to train American business students for leadership roles in global contexts calls for teaching and assessment practices which explore a plurality of cognitive, affective and behavioral pedagogical strategies. This article considers traditional education and assessment in China in light of American educational practices currently used for assessment in business training. It explores how an understanding of modern Confucianist values can shape assessment choices in both American and overseas programs as an example of developing cross-cultural awareness. The authors call for an assessment process in business education which draws from a plurality of methods adapted to teaching, learning and testing for global awareness.

Overcoming the Paradox of Change without Difference: A Model of Change in the Arena of Fundamental School Reform

Fundamental shifts in American educational practices have been difficult to accomplish and sustain. Most reform efforts that have sought to significantly alter accepted patterns of schooling have emerged in practice as shadows of their original intent. This article reviews four perspectives on educational reform that provide insights into the historical paradox of change without difference. None of those previous perspectives, however, adequately accounts for the complexity of the reform process. A new model of educational reform, the Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform (TCSR) model, integrates the previous perspectives and highlights teacher thinking as a central factor shaped by the interdependent influences of the general context of reform, a teacher’s personal profile, and the structural and cultural contexts of teachers’work within embedded systems. The authors provide examples that illustrate how the TCSR provides a more comprehensive framework for the design and evaluation of reform initiatives.

Identifying Gaps in Mathematics Preparation That Contribute to Ethnic, Gender, and American/Foreign Differences in Precalculus Performance

Prior to a precalculus course, 2,000 Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White college students were graded on three dimensions of mathematical achievement-Early Skills, Later Skills, and Formulation. Later Skills was substantially most important to successful completion of course. Poor preparation in skills most needed for subsequent mathematics success may reinforce a tendency toward lack of academic striving, which Ogbu (1992) identified as contributing to academic difficulties for members of involuntary minorities such as African Americans. Black and White American students, especially Black males, learned disproportionately fewer Later Skills than their foreign-born counterparts. This study provides evidence that for both Black and White students, environment (American vs. foreign-born) can play a decisive role in of skills needed for academic success in precalculus. Attempts have been made to explain widely observed ethnic differences in academic performance. Lomax, West, Harmon, Viator, and Madaus (1995) found that minorities in America are receiving less quality education. In mathematics education, Tate (1997) found that course taking was a powerful variable, often resulting in similar achievement gains across diverse (p. 652). The 1995 Summer Yearbook of The Journal of Negro Education was devoted to theme of Myths and Realities: African Americans and Measurement of Human Abilities. This followed release of Herrnstein and Murray's (1994) book, The Bell Curve, in which authors claimed that it is implausible that environmental differences alone could explain substantial differences in Black and White student test performance. The lead editorial of 1995 Summer Yearbook called for the presentation of experimental results that refute pseudoscientific findings of such works, and of constructs that present a more soundly based and equitable approach to educational practice, assessment, and intellectual development (Johnson, 1995). Viewing immigrant and American-born ethnic groups in terms of their minority status has proven effective in explaining differential performance. Ogbu (1992) cites several instances where members of an involuntary minority (a minority group that has been incorporated into a society by colonization, conquest, annexation, or slavery; Ogbu, 1987) did not perform as well as members of same ethnic group in another country where their presence was voluntary. Moreover, he points to less academic striving as a significant impediment to school success for members of involuntary minorities. Gibson (1991) found that when both American- and foreign-born minority groups could, instead, be classified as an immigrant minority (the case where separate minority group identity is maintained beyond first generation), more comparable performance between American- and foreign-born minority groups could be expected. In this study, three empirical dimensions of student responses are investigated on a standardized test to determine what levels of procedural or conceptual knowledge matter most to subsequent success in a college precalculus course. Precalculus is important because it represents a gateway to careers in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET). Data on differences in mathematical preparation are gathered, comparing (a) American- and foreign-born students, (b) ethnic groups, and (c) gender groups. Analysis proceeds with an eye toward possible reforms in American educational practice that might enhance career opportunities in SMET for groups that are underrepresented in those fields. Current efforts to reform mathematics education in United States were first introduced by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1989), prompting use of standards across K-12 mathematics education curriculum. Of interest in present study is Curriculum Standard 1 for K-12: Mathematics as Problem Solving. …

Tracking in Schools: Can American Social Scientists Objectify Such a Sensitive Topic?

Tracking, or grouping children for instruction on the basis of ability and/or demonstrated academic achievement, has long characterized American educational practices in as much as it presumably provides a closer fit between what an individual student can learn and what is expected of that student in classrooms. Massive schooling changes introduced by forced busing created new educational issues: in virtually all school districts, tracking translated into a new form of racial segregation: a higher proportion of white children and a lower of minority children, were placed in advanced classes. Consequently influential educational reformers urge the demise of tracking and placement of students in classes irrespective of whether they can master course content. This paper urges more carefully empirical investigations before uncritical jettisoning of tracking.

Individualism and Individuality in American and Japanese Early Education: A Review and Critique

Comparisons of Japanese and American early education frequently rely on a contrast between so-called Japanese groupism and American individualism. This article suggests that this simplistic contrast leaves unexamined the different cultural understandings of the individual that underlie Japanese and American educational practices. Drawing on and integrating existing literature on early education and the self in Japan, this article suggests that a distinction needs to be made between individualism and individuality, with Japanese education tending toward a focus on individuality and American education toward individualism. The article explores the implications of this distinction for educational practices and for cultural self-critique among American educators.

Martin R. Delany's Philosophy of Education: A Neglected Aspect of African American Liberation Thought

Martin Robison Delany (1812-1885) is rarely acknowledged in the historiography of African American education (Anderson, 1988; Bullock, 1967; Butchart, 1980). He is not counted among African American educators, perhaps because he neither featured prominently in the establishment of schools nor philosophized at length on education. On the contrary, he built his reputation largely on his nationalist activities and on his extensive publications which advanced his political theories and values. Yet, few 19th-century African Americans matched Delany's concern for the education of his people. In all the phases of his life, he held up education as an indispensable factor. Without it, he warned, Blacks had a very slim chance of becoming meaningfully and effectively and elevated in U.S. society. Though Delany did not write any lengthy works on education, he infused his political writings and speeches with commentaries on its significance and role. His frequent critiques of 19th-century African American educational practice underscored certain ideals and values that he insisted should inform any educational scheme designed for Blacks. For this, he certainly deserves recognition as an educator.Few 19th-century African Americans felt the pinch of educational deprivation as painfully as Delany. He was born a free Black in Charlestown, Virginia (now in West Virginia) at a time when the education of Blacks was a crime under Virginia law. Growing up in what appeared to be an integrated neighborhood instilled in young Delany a false sense of security and comfort. He mixed freely with the White children of his neighborhood. He was, however, rudely awakened early in his life to the ugly realities of his second-class citizenship when he attempted to help himself to the Virginia system. Upon accompanying his White playmates to one day, he was refused entry to the classroom and informed that education was for Whites only (Sterling, 1971).Delany's opportunity for an education came when his parents acquired a copy of the New York Primer and Spelling Book from an itinerant peddler. The family kept the treasured acquisition a secret and held nocturnal study sessions. Soon, every member had attained literacy. In their excitement, however, the Delany children threw caution to the wind and began to play school and openly recite the lessons. News of their accomplishments soon spread, and the family became the subject of much gossip and curiosity. Persecution seemed imminent. On September 22, 1822, the Delanys were forced to flee Charlestown. They resettled in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (Rollin, 1868).Chambersburg was little better than Charlestown. Despite a more permissive atmosphere, racism persisted there. Young Martin was, however, able to continue his elementary education in the public system, where he encountered values that were meant to induce acceptance of the prevailing perception of Blacks as inferior. Yet, instead of acceptance, Delany grew skeptical, assuming an anti-orthodox posture to societal norms and developing an uncanny disposition to venture beyond established limits. Of the liberal arts, he enjoyed history the most, particularly accounts of African history, most of which, to his dismay, depicted Africa as a continent of barbarism (Sterling, 1971). The persistence of derogatory images of Africa strengthened his determination to seek the truth.Upon completion of his primary education, Delany's drive for knowledge came to a screeching halt as Chambersburg made no provisions for education beyond the elementary stage (Hutton, 1930). Dissatisfied, Delany left for Pittsburgh in July 1831 to continue his quest for a meaningful education. There, he encountered a thriving, energetic, and equally determined community of Blacks, mostly migrants like himself, all of whom were propelled by the desire to conquer ignorance and degradation. He enrolled in the Cellar School of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, where his exposure to the arts and humanities continued (Rollin, 1868). …

Building Groups on Students' Knowledge and Experience

A common American educational practice is to ask students to discuss topics in small groups (Peterson and Wilkinson 1984). Typically the procedures used to place students in these groups are based on convenience or efficiency; for example, counting off, clustering people who are sitting in the same section of the room or in the same row or asking students to join a group they choose (Duncan 1980; Olmstead 1974). Using convenient or efficient procedures makes sense because teachers may have only 50 to 75 minutes to cover a particular topic, and their class size or class load may prohibit knowing students' abilities, interests, or preparation for discussing a topic. Under some circumstances, however, what is convenient and efficient in the short term can undermine or conflict with the achievement of the long-term goals of a course. I have been motivated to devise alternative

How to Handle Large Classes

How to Handle Large Classes

Doing History: A Skills Approach

FOR a number of years now, the cry has been abroad in the land that the explosion of knowledge is so extensive that we must place increasing emphasis on teaching students how to learn. What they know may not be so significant as knowing how to learn what they may need to know at any given moment. Unfortunately, American educational practices have not sufficiently kept pace with the need to change, reminding one of Mark Twain's statement about New England weather: Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. The teaching of history from grade school through graduate school seems particularly impervious to change in this regard. While teachers and scholars in other fields have been working for the last decade to articulate the structure of their disciplines as one way to approach the problem of helping students to learn how to learn, the very few historians who have devoted their time and energies to history education in the schools have either ignored or sidestepped the problem of identifying the structure of the discipline after some desultory debate over whether history has or does not have a structure in the first place.

Evaluations of Biarritz American University

A MERICAN educational institutions will soon have both the opportunity of and the responsibility for appreciably advancing international understanding. Plans of the United Nations for world reconstruction include proposals for the exchange of large numbers of students and instructors among the schools, colleges, and universities of friendly nations. Educational institutions of international scope which will admit students from all countries are being forecast by men of vision and sound perspective. Two principles which are being more truly understood and accepted are that exchange of knowledge among peoples is an imperative condition for peace and mutual understanding, and, second, that understanding among different peoples depends upon direct personal associations, in addition to the exchange of information through such mediums as the printed page, the moving picture, and the broadcast. Educational institutions in the United States are having their responsibilities greatly extended beyond their traditional spheres of operation and previously defined obligations. The State Department reports that forty-five thousand foreign students applied for opportunities of study within the United States last year (1946). Not only do educators and students from the nations of Europe and Asia wish to visit the schools, colleges, and universities in the United States but they are anxious to learn about American educational materials, procedures, standards, and personnel. An unusual opportunity of getting evaluations of American educational practices by foreign students and of acquainting a small number of European students with American universities was afforded by the army universities organized at Biarritz and Shrivenham. The administrators of Biarritz American University realized their unusually favorable situation not only for a small experiment in international education but also for a gesture of inter-Allied good will. Therefore, during the third term of the University's short but historic career, they invited guest-students, most of whom were in the military services of Allied countries, to study with American soldier-students and instructors at Biarritz. Invitations were sent to twelve European nations, asking small groups of students to attend the third and final session of the University, which covered the period from January I4