School System Research Articles

Questioning Devotions, Reorienting Commitments

This paper is a methodological reflection on my time as a graduate student studying Indian Residential Schools through archival sources. I broadly survey relevant secondary studies to access the current state of the field and to chart prospective avenues for future scholarly engagement. I suggest that, for religionists, the frameworks of church history and mission history can be selectively utilized to examine the history of residential schooling. I argue that the ‘Indian Residential School’ (or IRS) terminology creates a narrowed understanding of colonialism and assimilative education by disregarding other modes of schooling deployed in Indigenous communities: the day schools and mission schools, but also hospitals, convents, and other church-operated institutions. Largely dating to the pre-Confederation period, mission schools especially fade from view when studies focus on the national model of the IRS launched in 1879 and expanded in 1884. In many regional contexts, mission schools of the colonial era laid the literal and conceptual groundwork for the later launching of the IRS system. By studying the works and the records of specific church bodies, religionists might elucidate with greater clarity the evolving differences, synchronicities, or collaborations of ideologies, policies, and practices among members of church and state over several centuries. Attending to pre-Confederation, colonial history also lends a transnational scope to a topic that is often framed in the context of national history, i.e., ‘Canada’s residential school system’. A global perspective on colonial education could assist historians of religion to assess the legacies of church, empire, and imperialism on Canada’s national model of residential schooling.

Storytelling: recontextualizing language in literacy for student learning

The article discusses the recontextualization of language, through storytelling, in literacy to overcome student learning difficulties, based on teacher training. The aim is to identify relevant aspects in storytelling that enhance the learning of students in the process of literacy. Thus, we established a dialogue between different perspectives on literacy to recontextualize written language. The case study included the application of pre- and post-tests to 3rd grade students in the Canoas/RS municipal school system, training for the teachers of these students and pedagogical practices. Based on the data analyzed quantitatively, we found that storytelling makes it possible to explore and construct different situations, contextualizing written language in the expression of meanings and the construction of hypotheses, as well as problematizing everyday life through the stories experienced.

Financial citizenship education and the elusive power of critical inquiry

ABSTRACT It is well established that financial literacy education should incorporate systemic prerequisites, such as financial, economic, and societal structures, to help students develop suitable financial literacy. In relation to financial literacy teaching and learning, critical inquiry and critical thinking have also been identified as key components. However, it remains unclear how to design a teaching approach that invites students to learn about current financial prerequisites while simultaneously encouraging them to critically assess and discuss these systemic features. This study analyzes results from a financial literacy teaching intervention that combines systemic teaching with tools for critical inquiry. The results show that while students express an elaborate understanding of systemic issues, their critical perspectives and discussions remain within the bounds of the current systemic order, which raises further questions about how financial literacy should be formulated as a mandatory feature in school systems.

Feasibility Of Using AI Supervision System to Improve Teaching Quality

In Chinese educational circles, improving the quality of high school teachers' classroom content has become a hot topic of current research, but there are still shortcomings in how to use AI technology to achieve this purpose. This article analyzes the current situation of high school education in China and the possibility of applying an AI supervision system in practical teaching. The analysis of this article shows that the AI system is very effective in actual teaching, and teachers can greatly improve the teaching quality after using this system, and students' concentration and learning efficiency will be significantly improved. Based on this, this paper puts forward the following suggestions, hoping that relevant departments can support the popularization of AI supervision systems in high schools, and teachers can make reasonable use of this system to adjust the teaching methods of students and themselves. Finally, it is also hoped that the AI system itself can continue to improve to complete classroom supervision more efficiently.

The use of alternative methods in working with underachieving students

In a modern school, one of the main tasks is to ensure a high level of student performance and requires constant efforts. This problem concerns such disciplines of the Natural Science direction as physics. Physics lessons include not only complex theory, but also conducting experiments, solving problems. In physics lessons, a high concentration of students is required for more effective assimilation of the material. Unfortunately, in a traditional school, conditions are not always created for this. Taking into account the fact that it is difficult for all students, especially those who are lagging behind, to take up extracurricular activities, we need to implement them. The traditional system may not contribute to not meeting the needs of these students and not increasing their motivation to learn. This paper presents an alternative teaching method in extracurricular activities in the teaching of physics, which successfully integrates into the traditional teaching system and significantly increases the motivation and performance of lagging students. For students who do not have problems with academic performance, the proposed technique further stimulates interest in the subject of physics. The reason for using alternative teaching techniques is related to improving the motivation of students with poor performance to understand and study physics. Since the greatest attention is paid to lagging students in this work, alternative methods make it possible to create favorable conditions for learning and mastering materials in physics. In this technology, non-standard approaches are widely used that allow you to fully reveal the potential of lagging students due to the fact that traditional methods turned out to be ineffective. The relevance of this study is due to the problem of developing methods and techniques for working with lagging students in high school. Currently, the main methods are associated with developing learning, but alternative technologies are becoming more and more important. The advantage of using alternative technologies in extracurricular activities is their ability to surpass traditional methods, and successfully increase the performance of lagging students. Taking into account modern trends and digitalization, alternative technologies promise prospects and provide a wide field for choosing methods in order to improve performance in classrooms. The purpose of this study is to provide modern alternative teaching methods to work with lagging students in school physics lessons, which are easily integrated into the traditional school system. To achieve the goal, the following tasks were set: Analysis of the compatibility of alternative learning technologies with traditional ones. Development of alternative teaching methods for lagging students that successfully integrate into the traditional school system and can be used within the framework of one lesson. Conduct a pedagogical experiment using the methods developed with lagging students, analyze the results and draw conclusions about the compatibility of alternative methods with the traditional school system and their effectiveness for lagging students. The object of the study is the integration of modern methods of alternative learning into the traditional system in order to improve the performance of lagging students. The subject of the study is the degree of integration of alternative teaching methods in a traditional school, based on the analysis of the progress of lagging students before and after the use of these methods. The research methodology involves the development of alternative teaching methods that correspond to current trends and the analysis of the assimilation of the material in physics lessons after their implementation. The novelty of the study is to propose alternative teaching methods that meet current trends in the education system and test them in a traditional school environment. This makes it possible to assess their compatibility with the traditional education system and their effectiveness for lagging students.

Comparing Chinese high school students’stress, anxiety and depression in domestic and international schools

This study investigates the differences in stress, anxiety, and depression among students in the Chinese domestic high school system and the international schools using Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum in China. Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper will analyze the difference between the two systems and explore factors contributing to the difference. The findings from this study will contribute to a better understanding of the mental health challenges faced by Chinese high school students and inform strategies to promote their well-being. In addition, the study will shed light on the potential benefits and drawbacks of the different educational systems, and help stakeholders make informed decisions about educational policies.

Polygenic Risk Underlies Youth Psychopathology and Personalized Functional Brain Network Topography.

Functional brain networks are associated with both behavior and genetic factors. To uncover clinically translatable mechanisms of psychopathology, it is critical to define how the spatial organization of these networks relates to genetic risk during development. To determine the relationship between transdiagnostic polygenic risk scores (PRSs), personalized functional brain networks (PFNs), and overall psychopathology (p-factor) during early adolescence. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is an ongoing longitudinal cohort study of 21 collection sites across the United States. Here, we conduct a cross-sectional analysis of ABCD baseline data, collected 2017-2018. The ABCD Study ® is a multi-site community-based study. The sample is largely recruited through school systems. Exclusion criteria included severe sensory, intellectual, medical, or neurological issues that interfere with protocol and scanner contraindications. Split-half subsets were used for cross-validation, matched on age, ethnicity, family structure, handedness, parental education, site, sex, and anesthesia exposure. Polygenic risk scores of transdiagnostic genetic factors F1 (PRS-F1) and F2 (PRS-F2) derived from adults in Psychiatric Genomic Consortium and UK Biobanks datasets. PRS-F1 indexes liability for common psychiatric symptoms and disorders related to mood disturbance; PRS-F2 indexes liability for rarer forms of mental illness characterized by mania and psychosis. (1) P-factor derived from bifactor models of youth- and parent-reported mental health assessments. (2) Person-specific functional brain network topography derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Total participants included 11,873 youths ages 9-10 years old; 5,678 (47.8%) were female, and the mean (SD) age was 9.92 (0.62) years. PFN topography was found to be heritable (N=7,459, 57.06% of vertices h 2 p FDR <0.05, mean h 2 =0.35). PRS-F1 was associated with p-factor (N=5,815, r=0.12, 95% CI [0.09-0.15], p<0.001). Interindividual differences in functional network topography were associated with p-factor (N=7,459, mean r=0.12), PRS-F1 (N=3,982, mean r=0.05), and PRS-F2 (N=3,982, mean r=0.08). Cortical maps of p-factor and PRS-F1 regression coefficients were highly correlated (r=0.7, p=0.003). Polygenic risk for transdiagnostic adulthood psychopathology is associated with both p-factor and heritable PFN topography during early adolescence. These results advance our understanding of the developmental drivers of psychopathology.

Why is Kazakhstani education system in public schools not as successful in promoting creativity compared to specialized/private schools?

This project delves into the concept of “Creativity” in school settings in Kazakhstan, comparing specialized/private and public schools’ curriculum. The study aims to explore the difference in the teachers’ approach, technology and extracurricular activities availability and teamwork processes during the lessons between both types of schools. This study is significant in understanding school curriculum in Kazakhstan, its effects on students’ learning processes and creative thinking, and students’ needs and aspirations.

Does between-school tracking increase school segregation among migrant students? A difference-in-differences and multiverse analysis of international large-scale assessment data

ABSTRACT This study examines the role of educational tracking in shaping school segregation among first and second-generation migrants, a pressing issue for societal integration. Drawing on the pooled data from international student assessments (PISA, PIRLS, & TIMSS) from 1995 to 2019, we examine a total of 75 countries and assess the extent to which early tracking exacerbates segregation compared to more integrated school systems. Our analysis, based on a Difference-in-Differences approach, reveals no significant differences in migrant school segregation between tracked and integrated systems. Robustness checks, employing multiverse analyses, confirm the stability of our findings across alternative model specifications. However, considerable variation in migrant school segregation exists within both types of education systems. This underscores the importance of investigating additional factors beyond early tracking contributing to variation in migrant school segregation. Our study highlights the complex interplay between educational policies and migrant integration in school settings.

Professional Dilemmatic Spaces in Swedish School-Age Educare

Global interest in the field of extended education has increased over the past two decades. Extended education in the context of Swedish school-age educare has a unique position in the school system due to its voluntariness and governance as well as the free time and leisure activities it offers pupils and the lack of set learning outcomes. These features create dilemmas for teachers; thus, this study aims to generate knowledge about the complex and challenging dilemmas of school-age educare teachers in their professional work. The results are derived from a thematic analysis of two sets of data: oral and written reflections from 22 school-age educare teachers. The three themes of the teachers’ dilemmas identified concern compulsory school vs. SAEC, offering pupils attractive teaching methods and content, and differing experiences and perspectives among the staff. The dilemmatic spaces that are recognised actualise positions and negotiations in everyday practices in relation to the teachers’ professional identities. The findings are expected to be useful as a constructive starting point for policymakers, teacher trainers, and school-age educare teachers to understand this specific educational context and the need for professional development. This study contributes to a further understanding of the multifaceted professional identities of school-age educare teachers.

The Complex Dynamics of Indigenous Education in Mid-Twentieth-Century: Ecuador as a Theater for Political Debate

Abstract Activists in Ecuador established in the 1940s what have come to be remembered as the country's first Indigenous-run bilingual schools. Or at least this is the image that their founders presented when reflecting back on their achievements years later, and what has become fixed in the minds of subsequent educators. Archival records, however, present a more complicated picture. Rather than as “Indigenous” or “bilingual,” the recently formed Federación Ecuatoriana de Indios (Ecuadorean Federation of Indians) had created them as “syndicate” schools to mobilize against the racial discrimination and economic exploitation that agricultural workers faced on government-owned haciendas. In the process, organizers came into conflict with government policies that mandated the creation of public schools in rural communities and on haciendas. The competing school systems became an arena in which public policy debates were carried out with ramifications that extended to rival notions of how society should be properly organized.

Fostering fisheries futures: the promise of localized stewardship education in Nunatsiavut

Nunatsiavut is a self-governing Inuit territory in northern coastal Labrador, where cultural knowledge and social values are incorporated into co-managed subsistence and commercial fisheries. Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio), known as Putjotik in Inuttitut (the Nunatsiavut dialect of Inuktitut), is a co-managed fishery through the Torngat Joint Fisheries Board (TJFB) and plays a crucial role in sustaining the community of Makkovik. Arctic Char (IKaluk) is also harvested in co-managed subsistence and commercial fisheries, and is a staple in local economies and culture. In 2022, the TJFB partnered with Inuit educators to foster youth stewardship in a project called Paigitsiaguk. The Paigitsiaguk project bridges Inuit and scientific knowledge to nurture cultural values and environmental stewardship through providing place and land-based resources to educators. The project team created a comprehensive database of curriculum outcomes required by the Newfoundland and Labrador school system, and then designed culturally relevant learning activities that presented Inuit knowledge with science and social studies for students in Nunatsiavut. These resources include learning activities that are organized into education kits: one of which is centered on Putjotik and another on IKaluk. The Putjotik kit has 23 activities tailored to meet grade-specific learning outcomes, while the IKaluk kit provides 12 place-based learning activities appropriate for multiple grade levels. By providing localized and culturally relevant education resources to teachers that revolve around stewarding local fish species and their ecosystems, youth are connecting to their communities and to the coastal environment. Educational resources and learning activities reflect Inuit and scientific knowledge systems, and position teachers as facilitators to encourage students to learn from the land and Elders, knowledge holders, fishers, scientists, and managers. This paper reflects the promising futures that this work can contribute to; from facilitating intergenerational knowledge transmission from knowledge holders to youth, to encouraging self-determined stewardship activities that encourage care for the ocean and its fisheries.

The After-School Treatment Program: A School-Based Adaptation of the Summer Treatment Program

ABSTRACT Background Intensive treatments, such as the Summer Treatment Program (STP), were developed to target functional impairments of children with ADHD; however, the STP is limited in that it occurs only in the summer, and families often wish to extend the gains made into the academic year. Implementing treatment in the afterschool setting may reduce logistical barriers for families, as the treatment is embedded within the school which the child attends precluding the need to find time and funds to travel. These programs may be especially important for Latino/Hispanic youth, where both practical and cultural barriers may interfere with obtaining treatment. Objective The goals of the current study were to highlight the components of the STP that were translated to an afterschool treatment program, present the demographics of children served by the program, and include preliminary data based on child- and parent-report. Method The After-school Treatment Program (ATP) was developed in consultation with community stakeholders (e.g. school administrators, teachers) to translate components of the STP to a school-based after-school setting to help ameliorate the mental health gap of children in an elementary school in South Florida. Various components of the ATP were translated from the STP. Many components (e.g., parent training, monitoring treatment progress) were modified in consultation with community stakeholders. Feedback from both children and parents was obtained on how they liked the various components of the program. Results Overall, parents found the program to be helpful in teaching them how to set rules, and children enjoyed the various components and felt welcome at the program. Conclusions Lessons learned include working with community stakeholders to adjust programs, and using a tiered intervention system in school to identify students that have more intensive needs and may require additional assistance in the after-school setting.

Constructing a Predictive Model for High School Students' Enrolment Results

Nowadays, data-informed decision-making can assist high-school educational decision-making, especially student test scores, and further education data, then these data can be used to inform decision-making in schools and boost overall school performance. We aimed to assess the relationships among high school students' admission scores, academic performance at school, and psychological tests in the school system. The relationships were used to predict the departmental fields and universities that students would select for advanced studies in the future. This research will utilize data mining algorithms, including Naïve Bayes, SVM, and Neural Network classifiers, to extract and analyze hidden patterns in students' academic records and credentials. When the Bayesian Network model was used to predict whether a student's university is public or private, our results showed 78.46% of the predicted results. Predicting the accuracy of the top three departmental fields, the SVM model achieved the highest performance with an accuracy of 69.77% .Given that students' academic performance varies across high schools, each school should develop its customized predictive model using only its students’ data. This will help students believe in and pursue their interests.

Utilizing the E-Book System in Supporting Students’ Literacy and Independent Learning

The development of the E-Book system in supporting learning literacy is very beneficial for students in the era of globalization. In today’s era of globalization, it has utilized the E-Book system in various schools in the learning system. The use of E-Books in learning has a positive impact on the present and the future. This study aims to understand the concept of utilizing the E-Book system in supporting students’ literacy and independent learning by utilizing the E-Book system in education and to find out the extent of the development of the E-Book system in education. So that teachers and students can use this E-Book system as a means of learning. The method used by the researcher in conducting this study is quantitative, with data obtained through disseminating questionnaires online using Google Forms. The word was processed using the SPSS application by statistical analysis through the ANOVA test; after completing the data test, the researcher presented the data in the form of graphs and tables containing respondents. The results of this study show that the introduction of an offline-based E-Book system will be able to support the literacy and independent learning of students in the world of education. Using the E-Book system in education brings various benefits, such as increasing student participation and supporting the understanding of complex concepts. Learning that utilizes the E-Book system has progressed compared to learning that still uses its own learning method, and cannot compete in the world of education. This study concludes that utilizing the E-Book system, especially independent learning, positively impacts education. The use of the E-Book system is expected to build interactive and effective learning resources. The use of the e-book system in education shows that it can improve the quality of learning and provide advantages in the educational process.

What if … there were no special schools?

AbstractInclusive education is a human right that involves restructuring the school system and closing special schools. However, there is uncertainty about whether all or only some students in an inclusive system should attend regular primary schools and whether all or only some special schools should be closed. This question is usually only discussed in terms of the best possible care and education and the challenge of transportation to school and travel distances is neglected. This article attempts to take both into account. The federal state of Bavaria in Germany does not yet have a fully developed inclusive school system. Using school statistics data for the entire Bavarian primary school population in 2020 (N &gt; 445,000) and geographical data, we simulate deterministically what the Bavarian primary school system could look like with various underlying inclusion models. We analyse the resulting student numbers, support rates of primary schools and school travel distances of former special school students in an urban-rural comparison in four different simulated inclusion models. The results show that all models are potentially feasible. The student numbers at each primary school resulting from the closure of special schools would in most cases not change significantly, whereas the support rate (i.e., the percentage of students with SEN per primary school) would. Schooling close to home favours students in rural areas in particular and significantly reduces their journeys to school by up to 30 km, while for students in urban areas, all inclusive models would be possible. The pedagogical and systemic consequences of the simulated inclusion models are discussed.

Embracing Educational Challenges Through Collaboration

While educators have always experienced challenges in providing leadership and literacy instruction, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted existing challenges and introduced new ones. This qualitative case study looked at information gathered from four suburban K-8 principals and their literacy teachers to identify the post-pandemic challenges at each of their schools. Data provided through interviews and questionnaires gave insights into the challenges facing schools as to how the systems and structures in place may contribute to those challenges. It is important to identify these challenges and understand what contributes to them so that educators and stakeholders in the school system can effectively reflect on and adapt their practices to increase collaboration within schools.

Universal depressive symptom screening in middle schools in Istanbul: An epidemiologic study

IntroductionDepression is a significant public health concern, with severe adolescent morbidity and mortality. Promoting adolescents' mental health is increasingly recognized, and schools are proposed as screening and preventive intervention sites. This cross-sectional study aimed to screen self-reported elevated depressive symptom prevalence among secondary school students in Istanbul, Turkey. The secondary objectives were determining behavioral problems, resilience, positive attitudes, and risk factors associated with depressive symptoms. MethodsData collection was conducted between April–June 2022. Six thousand one hundred ten students from nine randomly selected schools from different city districts were approached. Depression was screened by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used for screening behavioral problems and positive attitudes. Resilience was evaluated by the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM). ResultsThe final study sample comprised 2780 participants (response rate 47.7 %) with a mean age of 12.4 ± 1.1 years (females:52.7 %). Elevated depressive symptoms were detected in 31.2 % of the students. Female students exhibited higher scores in CES-DC and total difficulties but lower resilience scores in CYRM than male students. In a multiple regression analysis, female gender, higher total difficulties score, lower resilience score, and lower perceived academic performance significantly predicted CES-DC [F(6,2279) = 421, p < 0.01]. DiscussionOur findings showed high rates of elevated self-reported depressive symptoms in a city sample among Turkish adolescents at middle schools, in addition to coexisting behavioral difficulties and decreased resilience indicating poor psychosocial functioning. Given the prevalent depressive symptoms, screening and intervention programs involving resilience promotion may involve school systems to prevent adolescent depression.

The Chinese Freedom Schools: Historicizing and intersecting Lau with Brown

AbstractThe Chinese of Chinatown, San Francisco largely opposed the city-wide racial integration plan that would bus their children across the city beginning in 1971. Claiming that it was a violation of their language rights, a need for cultural preservation and continued autonomy from the San Francisco that had long excluded them, Chinatown instituted its own school system called the Chinese Freedom Schools. With this boycott of the public schools, the Chinese were constituted as oppositional to the aims of racial integration, searing constructions of them as being pro-White, anti-Black, and separatist. Yet, such a simplistic and binary argument omits the long history of exclusion including employment, schooling, housing, and voting discrimination as evidenced by the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882–1965), the only law to exclude a specifically named ethnolinguistic group. To historicize and understand the Chinese Freedom Schools, I analyze this phenomenon using a racial matrix where Asians have long occupied a liminal, in-between space as perpetually foreign, unassimilable, and as a suspect class. Drawing from the theories and concepts of LangCrit, raciolinguistic ideologies and Asian American studies, I examine how agents, institutions, the press, and policies imposed, assumed, or negotiated specific identities of the Chinese during the development, implementation, and dissolution of the Chinese Freedom Schools. I analyze how the Chinese were constructed as uncooperative, creating a competitive cleavage among Asians and Blacks, while dismissing the centrality of White families who largely moved out of the system, avoiding critique. Implications for language-in-education policy are proposed for Lau’s 50th anniversary.

General education inclusion of students with significant disabilities: the role of the school-based occupational therapy practitioner

ABSTRACT Since the passage of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, it has been mandatory for disabled children to be educated with non-disabled children within public agencies to the greatest extent possible. While school systems have responded by creating academic and functional programs better suited for educating students with disabilities, they tend to be self-contained environments with limited opportunities for exposure to typical peers throughout the school day. The inclusion of special education students, especially those with significant impairments, is currently not meeting the expectations set forth by IDEA. The reasons for this vary widely and have led to the pervasive restrictive placement of students with extensive support needs (ESN) despite the numerous benefits of inclusive placement presented in available research. This manuscript will compile the existing evidence on the educational placements of significantly disabled students and use it to paint a picture of the current state of inclusion, identify the barriers to its implementation, list the benefits of inclusion for all students, and discuss how occupational therapy practitioners can facilitate, enhance, and expand inclusion of these children. This manuscript serves as a call to action for school-based occupational therapy practitioners to expand their role in this setting by emphasizing their unique skill sets to educators and fully utilizing their strengths to act as advocates for the significantly impaired students they serve.