American School Research Articles

POTTERS AT WORK IN ANCIENT CORINTH: INDUSTRY, RELIGION, AND THE PENTESKOUPHIA PINAKES. By EleniHasaki. Hesperia Supplement 51. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2021. Pp. 448; figures. Paperback, $75.00.

POTTERS AT WORK IN ANCIENT CORINTH: INDUSTRY, RELIGION, AND THE PENTESKOUPHIA PINAKES. By EleniHasaki. Hesperia Supplement 51. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2021. Pp. 448; figures. Paperback, $75.00.

Scales of Educational Resistance Practices Against Critical Race Theory “Bans”

Numerous states have attempted to enact sweeping curricular bans targeting Critical Race Theory (CRT) to prevent educators from teaching content that challenges the white-Eurocentric curriculum of American schooling. In this paper, we build on arguments that curricular bans are not new to education, nor is the resistance enacted by educators to curricular bans. Through centering how educators in three different states are navigating the various tightness of spaces in their resistance, we look to provide a pathway forward for those looking to enact resistance to current (and future) curricular bans. This analysis contributes to how teacher educators and educational foundations scholars can think about teacher activism and resistances as pedagogical praxis.

Centennium of collegiate real estate education: a prospection on “the search for a discipline” in the American school of business

PurposeThis study reviews the teaching of real estate in the USA for the first 100 years after the foundational curriculum was laid down in 1923 by three key institutions: the National Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB), the Institute for Research in Land Economics and Public Utilities (The Institute) and the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Its line of investigative pursuit is the persistent lamentation by American real estate scholars that real estate is not getting the respect it deserves as an academic discipline compared to its peers in the school of business such as accounting, finance and marketing. The study addresses a fundamental question: What is the cause of this endless “search for a discipline”? This is motivated by the belief that identification of the root cause of this “search for a discipline” will lead to the requisite solution: the intellectual foundation of the real estate discipline.Design/methodology/approachThe study used qualitative document analysis to review two primary documents published in 1959 as reports on business education in the USA: (1) Higher Education for Business, financed and sponsored by the Ford Foundation, and (2) The Education of American Businessmen – financed and sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The impacts of the publications on the teaching of real estate to date have been reviewed in the context of scholarly actions and literature that has been generated in relation to the two documents.FindingsThe two primary documents impacted negatively on the teaching of real estate. The committee members who produced the two reports had indicated that real estate did not fit into the business curriculum hence should not be taught in business school. This conclusion led to unintended negative outcomes for real estate education. The negative impact of the reports arose principally because the teachers of real estate misinterpreted the outcome to mean that they should tweak the real estate curriculum to fit in the pedagogical framework of the business school. This reaction is responsible for perpetuating the identity crisis that has plagued real estate as an academic discipline since its inception as a subject of study in 1923. Secondly, at the inception of the real estate education in 1923, while the AACSB accepted real estate as a discipline in the school of business, Richard T. Ely wrote the curriculum under land economics which has led to the persistent collegiate dilemma regarding the teaching of the discipline.Social implicationsThe study sheds light on the situation of business education in the USA and AACSB-accredited colleges internationally. It draws attention to the incoherent body of knowledge of business education and will help schools of business to redesign their curricula to include course contents that rightly reflects the business oriented academic disciplines.Originality/valueThe study is timely as it has been done 100 years since the development of the first standard collegiate real estate curriculum following the 1923 conference at Madison. The study has reviewed the first 100 years in terms of the persistent quest: “in search of a discipline”. In so doing, it has uncovered the root cause of this search during the first centennium; and to end the search, it proposes that real estate should not be taught as a business discipline.

The Use of Research in Schools: Principals’ Capacity and Contributions

Policy expectations for the role of research evidence in educational decision-making have grown exponentially in the U.S. and globally, yet there has been limited attention to school capacity to engage in evidence-informed improvement. In this paper, I address this gap by first conceptualizing principal leadership for evidence use and, second, use this conceptual lens to examine large-scale survey data about school evidence use practices and capacity. Drawing on data from a national survey of more than 4000 educators in 134 schools in the US, I explore school practices and capacity to use research and surface opportunities and needs for principal leadership in evidence-informed improvement. Findings suggest that there is an opportunity to improve the role of research in school improvement decision-making, and that principals may contribute to school capacity in specific ways that relate to developing human capital, influencing culture, leveraging resources, and shaping decision-making. Data reveal moderate evidence of research use in agenda setting and of organizational routines that support research use, but lack of uptake of those routines for research use as well as limited investment in resources (e.g., time). Further, decision-making was distributed across a wide range of improvement initiatives, with evidence of a lack of clarity about goals. Although principals report confidence and experience with using research, overall school staff also reported limited experience with prior research, including coursework or participation in research, and low confidence in critically consuming research. Implications point to the need to strengthen principals’ own evidence use capacity as well as focus on dimensions school capacity as part of evidence use initiatives. Recommendations suggest strategies for developing principals’ knowledge and skills around leadership for evidence-informed improvement.

Difference of Teachers Teaching Objectives Between Chinese High School and American High School

In this paper, the researcher explored the factors associated with different teaching objectives of American and Chinese high school teachers. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with a group of teachers who have rich experience teaching in American or Chinese high schools to understand (1) their teaching objectives, (2) the educational goals of the school, (3) their teaching styles and (4) why they want to be a teacher. Results concluded three key factors: (1) the effect of the schools educational goals; (2) the importance of students reactions and classroom environment; (3) how personal values and interests influence teachers goals.

12 Tips for Including Disability Awareness within Undergraduate Medical Education Curricula

Persons with disabilities (PWD) make up the largest minority group in the U.S. and experience significant health care disparities. Effective training for physicians who will inevitably encounter these patients is warranted; however, as low as 23% of American medical schools have a disability curriculum, which has resulted in a sense of unpreparedness and discomfort among physicians when caring for PWD. The goal of disability training is to provide the proper knowledge and skills to address the unique needs of PWD, mitigate health disparities, and help shape more compassionate and informed physicians. This article presents 12 tips to incorporate disability training into undergraduate medical education. These tips emphasize the inclusion of PWD in all stages of the curriculum, interprofessional education, experiential learning, and exposure to a range of disability types. By leveraging these tips, educators will be able to create effective learning opportunities and improve the future healthcare of PWD.

Exploring the Infiltration Pathways and Methods of American Educational Philosophy in English Teaching for Disabled College Students

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the current status of English teaching for disabled college students through methods such as survey questionnaires and theoretical induction. It reveals the challenges and teaching needs in English learning for disabled college students, emphasizing the necessity of integrating American educational philosophy into English teaching. Drawing upon universal aesthetic theories, this study summarizes methods for applying aesthetic education in English teaching tailored to disabled college students. These methods aim to enhance students' perception of English language beauty, improve teaching efficiency, and cultivate their ability to appreciate, express, and create beauty.

School counselors in the classroom: A systematic review

AbstractThe American School Counseling Association has continuously defined school counselors as having a role in the classroom across four different iterations of the ASCA Model. And yet, the amount of scholarly production is limited along with the amount of time school counselors report actually spending time in the classroom with students. Further, the social‐emotional learning (SEL) movement, among others, has encouraged the utilization of teachers in classrooms to provide lessons and interventions related to the social‐emotional development of students rather than school counselors who have been trained to do so. The current study examines the literature on school counselor‐facilitated classroom interventions over the past 30 years utilizing systematic review procedures to do so. The results indicate that only 40 classroom intervention studies have been published in peer‐reviewed journals over the past 30 years. Implications for counselor education scholars and school counselors are discussed.

Conceptualizing District COVID-19 Response as a Portal for Increasing Equitable Access

ABSTRACT During the pandemic, principals played crucial roles in responding to the exacerbated inequities that accompanied new modes of learning. Much less understood and explored is the role played by school districts in supporting these responses. This study seeks to understand how districts responded to the pandemic, and the potential of these responses to promote equitable access for marginalized students. We analyzed data from three different American School District Panel COVID-19 surveys administered to school districts in 2021 to provide answers to these questions. We report our findings across three themes: ensuring equitable access through direct services, making changes to curriculum and instructional practices, and expanding schools’ capacity to address equity. We conclude with the implications for the role of school districts in supporting principals’ capacity to advance equity-oriented leadership practices, leadership preparation, and future research.

Addressing K-12 Student’s Academic, Mental Health, and Career Development Needs During COVID-19

ABSTRACT Schools provide a place for children and their families to receive academic, mental health, and career development services. COVID-19 shifted the way schools address the needs in each of these areas, specifically the role of a school counselor has changed but the primary model, the American School Counselor Association Model, that school counselors follow has not since the pandemic. In our study, we used consensual qualitative research (CQR) to explore how school counselors addressed academic, mental health, and career needs of K-12 students during the outbreak of COVID-19. Understanding what school counselors prioritized during a crisis and how it changed the way they work, provides insight into how the role of a school counselor and the approach they use may need to adjust. We interviewed 14 practicing school counselors in South Carolina schools representing all the educational levels (i.e, elementary, middle, high). We found 8 domains that support our research question.

Academic Supervivencia and Sesi Irekani: Refusing, Reimagining, and Rearticulating Decolonization in the Social Foundations of Education

The American Educational Studies Association (AESA) was established in 1968 in a context of both local and global social justice movements. The AESA’s mission and ongoing commitment to the analysis of education and society with underlying liberal activist aims has been ongoing since. Although AESA and its membership have been critiqued and questioned for their larger impact in the field, especially in its disconnect between university academics and pk-12 teachers, the original charge and purpose has largely remained. This address seeks to put a spotlight on the foundations of the social foundations of education and by extension AESA by using settler colonial and structural racism frames to examine the enduring problematics of how academia and academic enterprises are, as Quechua scholar Sandy Grande would say, “an arm of the settler state” (p. 47). Namely, I ask, how does AESA and the field of social foundations of education advance settler futurity? However, most importantly, I will also engage, how can AESA, the field and its membership engage in anti-colonial and anti-racist self-reflection and work toward decolonizing the organization and the work that we do as faculty members in this field? To engage in this process of reflexive praxis, I will use Grande’s concept of academic survivance, which includes operating beyond the boundaries set up for us by the institution and toward “an active presence in society and the academy” (p. 12). I slightly modify survivance with Chicana feminist scholar, Ruth Trinidad-Galvan’s concept of supervivencia, which also emphasizes beyond mere survival but from the perspective of Mexican campesinas “left behind” in a context of neoliberal extractivist dislocation. Finally, I draw from my P’urhépecha community ancestry a concept also common throughout many Indigenous communities, Sesi Irekani, el buen vivir, or “the good life.” I will argue that by centering a reflexive praxis based on these saberes-haceres we can refuse, reimagine, and rearticulate a relational comunalidad that unsettles the settler within and recon/figures an alter/Native charge and decolonial practice.

Historical Inequities in Medical Education - Commitment to Opportunity, Diversity, and Equity at the University of Hawai'i School of Medicine.

Medical education in the US has contributed to institutionalized racism through historically exclusionary practices, which has led to health disparities and inequities in health care today. The 1910 Flexner report, which favored schools with greater resources, led to the closure of nearly half of medical schools in the Us, which were mostly small schools located in rural communities that served economically disadvantaged, ethnic minority, and female populations. Closing these schools ultimately limited the availability of physicians willing to serve disadvantaged and minority populations in impoverished and underserved communities. In order to transform medical education to be more equitable, medical schools must be proactive in opportunity, diversity, and equity efforts. This not only includes efforts in admissions and faculty hiring, but also curricula related to social and health disparities, interracial interactions between students and faculty, and service learning activities that engage and work with marginalized communities. The University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine has a longstanding commitment to diversity, which is integral to the school's mission. Providing opportunities to underserved populations has been a priority since establishment of the school. As one of the most diverse univeristies in the US, the school of medicine continues to focus on opportunity, diversity, and equity priorities in both its strategic planning and overall mission.

Teaching Black Educational Philanthropy Through Photography, 1863–1920s

This article explores the use of photography as a strategy for teaching Black educational philanthropy. Ordinary consumer-philanthropists, white and Black, saw value in the production, sale, and circulation of photography for the support of African American schools in the former Confederate states. In reading these historic photographs, students bear witness to the curated photographic collection of liberated children, traveling choirs, and Historically Black College and University (HBCU) campus communities who left little-to-no written records. The materiality and content of the historic photographs enhances the teaching of Black educational philanthropy from the Civil War to the early Jim Crow era.

The sociological dimensions of multicultural education

AbstractThe United States began as a place of bondage, a European‐privileged, segregated state where profit and exploitation ruled the day. American schools developed within this racially discriminate society. Euro‐American officials excluded African descendants and other people of color from political, economic, and educational opportunities. One theory to emerge for including non‐European descendants into America's segregated schools was multicultural education, which theorists established to provide African Americans and others with equal access to mainstream educational services. The popular terms to arise from multicultural education are diversity and inclusion although educators often use the condescending term “minorities” to describe communities of color. Critics of multicultural education believe it is unnecessary because it would create disunity and negate America's core values. Critics also believe multicultural educators do not address the impact of racism on educational development. Unlike multicultural educators, critical race theorists analyze the impact of racism as multicultural theorists tend to view racism as a social anomaly motivated by individual choice. This paper is an exploration of the sociological complexities of multicultural education and its effectiveness as a response to America's unjust society, the possibility of non‐white ethnic groups working together to create an atmosphere of educational equality under the theoretical guidance of multicultural education, and the extent of how students of color may include themselves in standard American school curriculums.

Rachel Carson’s Strategies for Literary Science and Silent Spring

The first publisher of Silent Spring reportedly said that Rachel Carson made concern about pesticides into “literature.” What keeps Silent Spring in print today is not the details of the science she includes, current in the mid twentieth century, but how she helps readers think about scientific issues as accessible and transformational for them. Carson was also bluntly candid when she needed to be: “A quarter century ago, cancer in children was considered a medical rarity. Today, more American school children die of cancer than from any other disease.” Carson could change tone, pace, and rhetorical strategies as needed, to make her arguments effective and memorable—and we can learn from that how to reach a general public now once more ignorant of danger surrounding them.

Critical Inquiry in and Against 21st-Century Authoritarian Times

This paper forwards critical inquiry as a tool for hope against authoritarian movements in American public higher education. We utilize a speculative case study approach to interrogate the present moment, with its rising tide of authoritarian fascism in the United States and its manifestations in higher education. Rather than viewing this case (and its analogue) as solvable, we orient to it as a predicament. After introducing the problem of authoritarianism in higher education and presenting a speculative case rendering of it, we shift to explore three critical theories: queer theory, futures studies, and speculative feminisms. We use each of these theories to reorient the predicament the case study presents. To read the case with these theories enacts critical anticipatory practices, offering new questions by which to teach and inquire with critical theory in our present fascistic moment. Such enactments spark hope for imagining participatory democratic futures.

Threading through the needle of digital education in Sub-Saharan Africa: understanding the concerns of university lecturers

ABSTRACT Adopting the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in education has generated mixed worries, particularly concerning the perceived challenges faced by students, lecturers, and institutions. In this article, we report the findings of a study investigating the lecturers’ concerns about adopting the 4IR in education and what institutions may undertake if it is to be successful. The study, designed as a qualitative descriptive survey, was framed from Fuller’s [(1969). Concerns of teachers: A developmental conceptualization. American Educational Research Journal, 6(2), 207–226. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312006002207] concerns-based adoption model to glean insights from 15 lecturers from universities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Online questionnaires generated data that were thematically analysed. Findings show that lecturers were worried about the inadequacy of the digital infrastructures, increased social inequalities among students, reduced lecturer autonomy, and the threat to their jobs. This study implores governments of developing universities to initiate crowdfunding to set up digital infrastructures that are democratically used to mitigate the imminent exclusion of marginalized students from university education. Moreover, lecturers need to be re-skilled to remain relevant. The study provides emerging universities with policy and practice insights on capacity building in lecturers and a funding alternative for institutional support during technology adoption, drawing from the lecturers’ perspectives whose opinions are sometimes not sought during educational reforms.

Marx and the many lives of Marxism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

ABSTRACT At the turn of the century, pioneers of poststructuralist analysis in the US called for a radical and, as they argued, urgently needed upgrade of historians’ theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of history. Marxist epistemologies of the British and American schools of social history that had come to dominate the postwar decades were reprimanded for their entrenchment in flatfooted materialist determinism and naive disregard of what one scholar called ‘constitutive powers of culture’ in people’s lives. By the beginning of the new century, even those who wrote to counter these critics could not help but agree that Marxism had become a ‘name for everything that now seemed to have been superseded’. In the counter-plot I am proposing, far from being superseded, historical theory and methodology that were developed by Marxist scholars in the second half of the twentieth century play a defining even if unacknowledged role in the making of contemporary fields of social and cultural history in the US.

Comparative Analysis of Teaching Methods: A Cross-Cultural Study of Chinese and American Educational Systems

Chinese and American educational systems represent two separate paradigms that have been influenced by many historical, cultural, and sociological elements. This paper examines the complex interactions defining their instructional strategies, cultural influences, and curriculum priorities. The study analyzes disparities, clarifies how cultural differences affect learning, and offers practical suggestions for international learning environments. It contrasts the participatory, inquiry-based paradigm used in the U.S. with China's teacher-centered approach and rote memorization. The emphasis on knowledge acquisition in Chinese curricula contrasts with that on application and critical thinking in American curricula. The results show the complex effects of these instructional strategies, with Chinese students performing well on standardized tests but having trouble with critical thinking, whereas American students have great analytical skills but struggle with test performance. The psychological and emotional health of the pupils is affected, with American students benefiting from a climate that supports self-expression while Chinese kids are subjected to intense pressure. The duties of teachers vary greatly, with American colleagues encouraging student engagement and critical thought while Chinese educators frequently serve as knowledge transmitters. This study emphasizes that there is no single model for effective teaching and offers suggestions for improving classroom instruction in China, including enhancing teaching resources, encouraging individualized learning, funding teachers' ongoing professional development, and involving parents in the educational process.

Assessing the restorativeness of American school discipline programmes

Assessing the restorativeness of American school discipline programmes