Suburban School Research Articles

The Editor’s Note: Stepping outside the little boxes

Editor-in-Chief Teresa Preston discusses the highlights of the February 2023 issue of Kappan, which puts the spotlight on suburban schools. The growing diversity of the suburbs has sparked conflict as some community members speak out against change. And this conflict has implications for schools. Instead of taking sides against each other, communities need to look together for solutions to their shared problems.

Loudest voices and unequal opportunities in the suburbs: A conversation with John B. Diamond

Within racially diverse suburban high schools, an opportunity exists. Black and Latinx students do not do as well as their white peers, even as the school overall performs well. Brown sociology professor John B. Diamond has studied this phenomenon and attributes the gap to several factors, including implicit bias among teachers and administrators, and the oversized influence of white parents trying to get advantages for their children. In his book, Despite the Best Intentions: How Inequality Thrives in Good Schools, with his coauthor Amanda Lewis, they interview students, teachers, parents, administrators, and community members in a diverse suburban high school. In this Kappan interview, he discusses their research and how educators can disrupt the inequities in schools and districts.

Finding Integrated Schools? Latino Families Settle in Diverse Suburbs, 2000–2015

Diverse Latino families continue to settle in suburbs, hunting for better neighborhoods and educational opportunities. But do they discover more integrated schools relative to segregated city schools? We find that Latino children attending suburban elementary schools were exposed to a greater share of White peers nationwide between 2000 and 2015 than were Latinos attending urban schools. But exposure to White peers in suburbs declined on average during the period. Demographic forces within suburban districts, especially rising family poverty, contribute to worsening segregation of Latino children, as do institutional features. Districts enrolling fewer children and increasing spending per pupil remained more integrated during the period, as identified by two-level fixed-effect (Mundlak) estimation. Many heavily White districts served growing shares of Latino children without losing White families.

Under the Law: Is there a sports advantage in suburbia?

Participation in school sports has a variety of benefits for students. But not all students are able to participate in school athletics programs. In this column, Robert Kim explores the different levels of access suburban, urban, and rural students have to sports programs. And he considers whether students, regardless of where they live, have a right of equitable access to sports. Rural schools may offer more opportunities to participate in sports than suburban or urban schools. But suburban students are more likely to feel locked out of sport participation, either because the available programs do not interest them or because they are too costly. However, suburban students who do participate in sports tend to start earlier and play more, often in programs outside school. Legal advocacy involving unequal access to school sports will require creativity and a broad approach to address statewide disparities.

Little Boxes All the Same? Racial-Ethnic Segregation and Educational Inequality Across the Urban-Suburban Divide

Suburbs were once a haven for advantaged, White families to avoid city life and access high-status schools. This urban-suburban divide, however, has changed in recent decades as suburban communities (and their school districts) have diversified. This study provides an updated cross-sectional portrait of recent racial-ethnic segregation and inequality between and within urban and suburban school districts in U.S. metropolitan areas. We find that the urban-suburban divide remains an important stratifying force—a substantial portion of racial-ethnic residential and school segregation, as well as racial-ethnic inequality in school poverty and test scores, occurs between urban and suburban school districts. Significant segregation and inequality also occur between and within suburban school districts. Suburban stratification is a key feature of the geography of inequality, warranting theoretical and methodological attention.

Political battles in suburbia

Media reports have shown suburban school officials being threatened and school board meetings erupting into chaos. Rachel S. White, Michael P. Evans, and Joel R. Malin examine whether these politically contentious experiences are occurring everywhere, or if there is something distinct about the contentiousness suburban superintendents face. Drawing on a national survey of superintendents, they asked: How do political experiences of rural, suburban, and urban superintendents differ? The results paint a bleak picture about the stresses of the superintendency, and the direct toll they have on some superintendents’ well-being. However, they also identify ways to support suburban superintendents as they face political challenges.

Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.

Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.

“The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations”: Perceptions of Teacher Expectations Among Black Families in a Suburban School

Building upon literature that has shown that Black students hold definitive beliefs about their teachers’ expectations and knowing these notions have impact on Black student achievement, we explore the experiences within a school district where diversity and inclusion efforts have been ongoing. The participants of this study were high-achieving students and their parents, a nuance that provides depth to understanding Black families’ perceptions of teacher expectations. Critical Race Theory (CRT) served as the theoretical framework and the tenets of permanence of racism, interest convergence, critique of liberalism, and whiteness as property, were employed as categorical themes to centralize the focus on how the families made meaning of their educational experiences through a CRT lens. Findings revealed that the participants were subject to unjust, low expectations that created and maintained a racial hierarchy and an anti-Black ideation on the part of teachers and school authorities. Implications include the need for teachers to raise their awareness of how their actions are interpreted, their role in creating a culture of mistrust, and the need to counter individual level and institutional racialized structures.

Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive survey to determine the prevalence of lice infestation in a pre-high school, Lak Hok subdistrict, Pathum Thani Province, in central part of Thailand. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents/guardians toward head lice in female children during February-April 2020 were evaluated. A total of 83 out of 111 parents (74.8%) agreed to complete consent forms and questionnaires. The prevalence of pediculosis found in this study was 68.7%. The infestation was found in the primary school level (87.5%), which was significantly higher than pre-primary school (29.6%; p < 0.05). Itching scalp was revealed in 93.0% of pediculosis. The results showed that occupation, religion, education, and income showed no significant difference between lice infested and non-infested students (p > 0.05). There was no significant association between sex, occupation, religion, education, income, status of parents, and family size among lice infested and non-infested students (p > 0.05). The parents/guardians showed the middle level of knowledge concerning with pediculosis capitis (66.8%). The lack of knowledge leading, first, to the belief that pediculosis does not need any treatment (89.2%), followed by boys getting head lice more frequently than girls (85.5%), and the belief that sharing infested combs, brushes, or hair ribbons does not result in lice transmission (79.9%). More than 75% of the parents/guardians had experienced infestation of head lice and showed themselves willing and able to diagnose and treat their family. However, 50.6% of them did not feel shame when their children were infested with head lice. Children washing their hair by themselves were found to be a significant factor in infestation (88.5%). High rate of pediculosis in this suburban school needs more intensive care by parents/guardians and teachers. Furthermore, improvement strategies to prevent and control lice in the school need to be more specifically planned and scheduled by teachers and health administrators.

Digital divide and teaching modality: It's role in technology and instructional strategies.

This quantitative study aimed to better understand how teachers implement technology in a variety of teaching modalities to enhance content delivery and student engagement. More specifically, it aimed to investigate the digital divide of technology usage based upon school setting and usage frequency.Responses were collected using a random sampling method of full-time K-12 public school teachers in a Mid-Atlantic state. The instrument was developed from prior research and examined educator usage frequency of instructional technology in urban, rural, and suburban schools dependent upon teaching modality. A total of 423 participants responded to the researcher-created questionnaire and yielded practical implementations for further study. The findings uncovered significant differences in usage frequency of rural, urban, and suburban teachers utilizing technology dependent upon modality (ex. cooperative learning, small group instruction, student-led research, problem-solving). Results of this investigation contribute to the field through an attempt to foster a discussion of disparities between the integration of technology and school setting. The purpose of this discussion is to identify gaps in the digital divide, apply frameworks geared toward equity, and create professional development opportunities for all educators to differentiate technology usage across multiple teaching modalities.

The Aftermath of Disproportionality Citations: Situating Disability-Race Intersections in Historical, Spatial, and Sociocultural Contexts

We used a situated approach to examine the aftermath of citations for racial disparities in special education and discipline. The study was conducted in one suburban school district and examined staff’s interpretations and responses to multiple disproportionality citations. We found that historical, spatial, and sociocultural contexts mediated stakeholders’ interpretations and reactions to citations and the consequences of their responses. Our findings demonstrate how a history of race relations in the district and the community as well as spatial opportunity structures shaped disability and discipline racial disparities; the consequences of a damaged imagery for multiply marginalized youth and their families in explanations of disproportionality citations; and the shortcomings of the district’s symbolic and predominately color-evasive responses as a consequence of ambiguous federal and state policy mandates.

Adolescents Who Vape Nicotine and Their Experiences Vaping: A Qualitative Study.

Understanding adolescent perceptions of vaping and roles it plays in their lives is needed to design effective interventions to help adolescents quit. We explored vaping experiences of 11 adolescents from initiation through quit attempts. A convenience sample of students who vaped in the last 90 days was recruited from one suburban high school in Massachusetts. Qualitative interviews were transcribed and coded. An inductive thematic analysis approach was employed. Areas of agreement and range of responses in code reports were summarized. Eleven open-ended semi-structured interviews were conducted (mean = 32.5 minutes each). Vaping initiation often occurred when socializing with friends who also supplied vaping devices. Vaping was "something to do" and new flavors engaged adolescents further. Solitary activities coupled with vaping included video gaming, getting ready for school, talking on the phone, or studying. Peak hours for vaping included morning, before and after school, before parents returned from work, and after parents went to bed. Several vaped to address anxiety/stress. For some, anxiety control was a main reason for vaping. Participants were concerned about health effects and nicotine dependence. Cost and health effects were drivers of quitting. Quit strategies relied on willpower and distraction. Peers have powerful influences on the initiation and maintenance of adolescent vaping. Vaping habits can become routinized into adolescent lives. Addiction is a concern although nicotine's anxiolytic effects were valued by many. Social connection was enhanced by communal vaping, sharing, and common vernacular, secrecy and rule-breaking. We describe the context in which adolescents vape nicotine, their reasons for vaping, and reasons to quit. This information can inform the development of interventions to better address adolescents' triggers to vape, and social and psychosocial barriers to quitting. Our findings suggest a desire to quit vaping but a limited awareness of quitting strategies.

Teacher-Principal Ethnoracial Matching, Geography, and Novice Teacher Career Outcomes

Nationally, many school districts are facing a teacher workforce sustainability crisis, and job retention for novice teachers of color is a key area of focus for educational leaders and policymakers. In this study, we draw on nine years of administrative data from Texas K–12 public schools to better understand how teacher-principal ethnoracial matching is associated with patterns of teacher retention and system-exit. Teacher labor markets are geographically small, so we link data from the National Center for Education Statistics containing geographic locale information to explore how the relationship between ethnoracial matching and novice teacher career outcomes varies across urban, suburban, rural, and town school contexts. We find that matching is associated with an increase in the probability of retention and a decrease in the probability of system-exit, with important variation for novice Black and Latinx teachers working in some nonurban school locales.

Addressing confirmation bias in middle school data science education

&lt;p style='text-indent:20px;'&gt;More research is needed involving middle school students' engagement in the statistical problem-solving process, particularly the beginning process steps: formulate a question and make a plan to collect data/consider the data. Further, the increased availability of large-scale electronically accessible data sets is an untapped area of study. This interpretive study examined middle school students' understanding of statistical concepts involved in making a plan to collect data to answer a statistical question within a social issue context using data available on the internet. Student artifacts, researcher notes, and audio and video recordings from nine groups of 20 seventh-grade students in two gifted education pull-out classes at a suburban middle school were used to answer the study research questions. Data were analyzed using a priori codes from previously developed frameworks and by using an inductive approach to find themes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style='text-indent:20px;'&gt;Three themes that emerged from data related to confirmation bias. Some middle school students held preconceptions about the social issues they chose to study that biased their statistical questions. This in turn influenced the sources of data students used to answer their questions. Confirmation bias is a serious issue that is exacerbated due to endless sources of data electronically available. We argue that this type of bias should be addressed early in students' educational experiences. Based on the findings from this study, we offer recommendations for future research and implications for statistics and data science education.&lt;/p&gt;

New Perspectives of Equity, Access, and Meaningful Use of School Library Resources and Services

ABSTRACT Data collected from a study of school libraries in Massachusetts provide source material that identifies barriers and enablers related to equitable access and meaningful use of school library resources and services. These quantitative and qualitative survey data supplied by school librarians across rural, urban, and suburban schools describe staffing, resources, instruction, and funding which suggest barriers and enablers related to equitable access and meaningful use. An in-depth analysis reveals underlying factors that determine policies and practices such as traditional library values, educational beliefs, and social justice principles that are operational in the access and use of school libraries.

Effective School Leaders in Nepal

This paper contributes knowledge of the reasons behind a few public schools achieving good results in students' learning and attracting many students despite almost all public schools suffering from falling education quality and student numbers. The cases of two schools-one from city-located affluent and another sub-urban poor schools were taken to conduct an ethnographic study and cross-validate the findings. The study suggests that the role of the chairperson is more dominant than the head teacher in selected schools. Visionary commitment, devotion, and repeated tenure of chairpersons of the school management committee are the source of school effectiveness, the gradual progress in education quality, and the incremental growth of students. Chairpersons’ performances are boost by their motivation of fulfilling their needs of 'social recognition' and 'experimenting quality education' through school leadership or bringing changes in school; they have already fully filled their physiological needs (Maslow, 1943). Meanwhile, these chairpersons are influenced by the socioeconomic ideology of 'quality education in public schools is the state's accountability for promoting equality and access to the marginalized group'. It also suggests that chairmanship is a process thanthe traits, anyone can lead a school regardless of academic and work experience if guided by an ideology and motivated to fulfill higher level needs.

Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality Assessment of So2 and No2 in Suburban Schools in Imphal, Manipur

Air quality assessments for NO2 and SO2 levels in indoor and outdoor environments were conducted in three suburban schools in Imphal. Season-wise, the highest NO2 and SO2 concentrations were observed during winter, while the lowest occurred during the monsoon. The concentration of SO2 in the indoor air was comparatively cleaner than in the outdoor air. Similarly, indoor air was found to be cleaner than outdoor air with respect to NO2. The overall concentration obtained for the entire study period for SO2 was 4.9±1.5 µg m-3, and for NO2, it was 9.2±3.0 µg m-3. The concentrations of the two gases obtained during the study were below the NAAQs and WHO permissible limits. Seasonal variation of SO2 concentrations between the pre-monsoon period and monsoon months and also between the monsoon period and winter months (at p&lt;0.001) was significant. For NO2, seasonal variation in the concentrations between the monsoon and winter (at p&lt;0.001) was found significant. The estimated I/O ratios for the two studied gases, which were below one, plus the positive correlation between the classroom and campus environment concentrations of NO2 (r=0.96), and SO2 (r=0.96), reflected the influence of the indoor air quality by outdoor pollution sources. Data on similar studies for the country’s northeastern region, in particular, is scanty, and that’s why it may provide valuable insights to the scientific world.

Moving Out and Apart: Race, Poverty, and the Suburbanization of Public School Segregation

Purpose: As US suburbs experience profound demographic shifts, scholars have expressed concern of rising segregation among suburban public schools. We extend this work by examining exposure to poverty by race and racial differences in exposure to economic disadvantage in the wake of the Great Recession across a typology of suburban neighborhoods in the Chicago metropolitan area. Research Methods/Approach: We merge enrollment data from schools with census data on the demographic and economic attributes of residents and examine racial differences in exposure to school poverty. Findings: We find intrasuburban variation, with all racial groups seeing a stark increase in economic school segregation between 2007 and 2018, with Whites experiencing the largest growth in inner suburbs, and Black and Hispanics increasingly disadvantaged in outer suburbs. Implications: Our findings underscore complex forms of suburban disadvantage in rapidly diversifying suburbs.

Exclusivity of Animation Industry Education Curriculum Raden Umar Said Vocational School Kudus

This research was conducted based on observations of Raden Umar Said Vocational High School (SMK), which was originally a suburban Vocational School turned into an international standard superior school with a level of progress in the animation industry education curriculum in the applied learning process. The purpose of this study was to analyze the learning process in the implementation of the animation industry education curriculum at Raden Umar Said Kudus Vocational School. This type of research uses descriptive qualitative methods with a phenomenological approach to reveal more deeply the phenomenon of the industrial education curriculum and the learning process as curriculum implementation at Raden Umar Said Kudus Vocational School. Data collection techniques are carried out by means of observation, interviews, and documentation. The source of this research data is primary data obtained from interviews with the Principal, Deputy Head of Curriculum, teachers, and students at SMK Raden Umar Said Kudus. Research data validity techniques using method triangulation and theory triangulation. The results of the study can be concluded that the learning process uses a teaching factory based on project based learning (PjBL) and PBL which develops the entrepreneurial spirit of its graduates. Students find conceptual understanding after going through the practical process in the studio. Fun studio and learning space by combining general and productive material (thematic learning) with the essential curriculum. Learning is supported by complete and sophisticated facilities from the animation room, recording room, sound editing, color grading room, mini theater. Teaching factory learning uses job sheets, block schedules, there are products and markets with assessments in the form of final assignments and work exhibitions. Industrial learning with a block learning system with learning target achievements determines the duration of learning time. Curriculum development carried out at RUS began with: 1) integrated/ synchronous curriculum alignment with industry; 2) essential curriculum (non-productive curriculum that supports major material); and 3) one competency material in the major concerned. Keywords: Curriculum, Curriculum Development, Animation Industry Education.

A Longitudinal Study Identifying the Characteristics and Content Knowledge of Those Seeking Certification to Teach Secondary Biology in the United States.

Teacher content knowledge has been identified as a key prerequisite to effective instruction, and current educational policies require measurement of teacher content knowledge to assess candidacy for licensure. The primary instruments used in the United States are the Praxis Subject Assessment exams, which are designed to measure the subject-specific content knowledge needed to be a teacher. The Praxis Biology Subject Assessment exam, used by 42 U.S. states in the past decade, is the most common national measure used to determine biology content knowledge for teacher certification. Demographic and performance data from examinees (N = 43,798) who took the Praxis Biology Subject Assessment from 2006 to 2015 were compared to present a much-needed picture of who is seeking certification to teach biology, how different groups of aspiring biology teachers have performed, and how demographic makeup of prospective biology teachers compares with reports in previous studies describing the composition of the biology teacher workforce. Results indicate the majority of students self-reported as White (76%), female (66%), having undergraduate grade point averages (GPAs) at or above a 3.0 (76%) and majoring in biology (45%). Additionally, the demographic data were included in a linear regression model to determine the factors that explained the most variance in performance of the examinee. The model revealed substantial differences in average performance and pass rates between examinees of different genders, races, undergraduate majors, undergraduate GPAs, and census regions. This suggests that if the examinee is a White science, technology, engineering, and mathematics major, man with a 3.5 or higher undergraduate GPA, resides in the western United States, or plans to teach in a suburban school, the examinee will on average outperform their counterparts on the exam. From our analyses, we suggest several measures for the improvement of the biology teaching workforce and establish potential issues in the teacher pipeline that may impact the quality and diversity of U.S. biology teachers.