Urban School Teachers Research Articles

More Alike or More Different Over Time? Exploring Urban Charter and Public School teachers’ Characteristics and Working Conditions

ABSTRACT Using six waves of the Schools and Staffing Survey and the National Teacher and Principal Survey that span two decades, our study explores the differences between urban charter and traditional public school teachers and how those differences become more or less pronounced over time. During this time frame, the charter sector experienced substantial growth and this growth could have the effect of making charter schools more like traditional public schools. We find that charter school teachers are different from their traditional public school counterparts in both their personal characteristics and working conditions, but grow more similar in their satisfaction/commitment and turnover.

Managing Stressful Conditions in Inclusive Classrooms: A Case of Gweru Urban Secondary School Teachers

Managing Stressful Conditions in Inclusive Classrooms: A Case of Gweru Urban Secondary School Teachers

Leading urban school teachers of Black and Brown students during social injustice and the pandemic

ABSTRACT This case study illustrates how leadership for learning and cultural competence could be used as theories of action during times of disruption to lead and transform urban teachers’ sense of self, sense of others, and motivation for change. The case study focuses on educators from a large urban charter school whose response to the pandemic and the social justice movements was using a year-long professional development to provide continuous support and foster a growth mindset among educators. Self-evaluation on the cultural proficiency scale showed that the principal and thirty teachers differed in their levels of proficiency. The principal and six teachers with middle and high levels of proficiency were then interviewed to probe their personal interpretations of the connections among their cultural competence, their awareness of structural inequities, and the ways this awareness might have impacted how they teach Black and Brown students in their classrooms. Regardless of where they were on the scale, Black and White educators benefited from self-reflections and group dialogue about how they value, model, and practice cultural proficiency with their Black and Brown students. These findings have implications for urban public charter school leadership during times of continued change and uncertainty.

Teacher self-efficacy, inclusion and professional development practices: cultivating a learning environment for all

ABSTRACT This paper explores the nature of the relationship between teacher self-efficacy for inclusion in schools, and professional development practices. The research draws on qualitative data from a larger 3-year study involving 140 primary teachers in rural, regional and urban schools throughout the state of New South Wales, Australia. The article focuses upon the professional development practices of a sub-sample of teachers who identified as ‘highly efficacious’ (n = 21) in relation to inclusion and those who identified as ‘lower efficacious’ (n = 20). Drawing upon a broad thematic analytical approach, the research reveals the varied ways PD was experienced by more and less efficacious teachers. These experiences pertained to: 1) teachers’ categorisation of students on the basis of perceptions of students’ ‘needs’; 2) teachers’ approaches to classroom access and willingness to collaborate, and; 3) teachers’ roles and levels of engagement with professional development for inclusion (whether as facilitators or as passive recipients). In comparison with their less efficacious colleagues, more efficacious teachers adopted a more holistic and inclusive understanding of students’ needs in relation to the PD they experienced, engaged with other teachers in ways that were more mutually beneficial, and took more facilitative rather than passive roles in relation to their PD experiences.

A Comparison of Urban and Rural Primary School Teachers Attitude on Childhood Asthma

A Comparison of Urban and Rural Primary School Teachers Attitude on Childhood Asthma

Distance Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison between Schools in Urban dan Rural Area in Bali

Covid-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to the education system. Most schools with limited or no experience with online learning and schools with no prepared online learning sources will encounter some challenges. This research analyzes similarities and differences between the difficulties faced by teacher and students for schools in different locations. Schools in rural and urban area of Buleleng were chosen, 2 elementary school, 2 junior high school, and 2 senior high schools. Teacher and students in those schools were observed and interviewed related to their online learning implementation, their difficulties, as well as their ways to cope with the difficulties. In analyzing the qualitative data consists of three steps such as, data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing. The result shows that the difficulties faced were not so much different, between urban and rural school teachers and students. Most of them mention internet connection as the problem. However, their ways to cope with the difficulties are varied. Urban and rural teachers and students have their own way to solve their problems. These differences give insight in order to face difficulties in implementing online learning.

A Collaborative Effort to Develop and Implement an Online Social Justice Professional Development for Urban School Teachers

A Collaborative Effort to Develop and Implement an Online Social Justice Professional Development for Urban School Teachers

“Writin’ain’t my thang”: creating high school student writers with ongoing support through an urban school–teacher education partnership

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of a year-long writing intervention located in an urban high school in partnership with a university teacher education professor and the students. The goals were as follows: to increase student self-efficacy about writing overall; to increase the number of students who successfully improve scores on writing assessments; and to increase ACT exam scores, making students more qualified candidates for college admission.Design/methodology/approachThe main method used for the research is a quantitative longitudinal study method, which involves collecting from each student, at pre-intervention and post-intervention, a writing sample. There are 54 students in the study.FindingsFindings showed an increase in student proficiency overall, with an increase of 0.53 holistically. Effective writing instruction asks students to write often to develop their writing will and skill. There are many more factors beyond the teaching of “ACT prep” writing skills that must be considered, particularly when teaching marginalized groups. This study found that the following are important: building and sustaining positive rapport; using their language as part of the learning process; creating space for students to write regularly; writing on a variety of topics; reflecting on and monitoring their writing; and receiving timely and targeted feedback.Originality/valueThis paper discusses the impact of the writing intervention and describes the practices that were a part of the intervention for marginalized students in an urban school to increase their writing scores.

Qualitative Study of Urban High School Teachers’ Beliefs about Students’ Agentic Engagement

Agentic engagement refers to students’ proactive and constructive contribution to the flow of instruction. The literature on student agentic engagement is missing the voices and perspectives of teachers. Given that the field knows little about what agentic engagement means to teachers, the goal of this study was to describe agentic engagement from the perspectives of urban high school science teachers. We conducted focus groups with 16 teachers to examine how, why, when, and who questions regarding students’ use of agentic engagement in science classes. Results revealed the following themes: (a) Teachers initially struggled with the agentic engagement concept, but also acknowledged that a variety of strategies could be used, though rarely enacted. (b) Teachers emphasized the importance of students’ approach for enacting agentic engagement in constructive ways that would increase teacher receptibility. (c) Teachers identified three categories of benefits, including benefits for students, benefits for teachers, and benefits for the class community. (d) Teachers highlighted considerations for effective agentic engagement in their classrooms, including their desire to maintain control. Teachers’ deficit-based assumptions of student difficulties in science was identified as a potential barrier to supporting student agentic engagement. Implications for future research and implementation of agentic engagement interventions are discussed.

Literacy and STEM Teachers Adapt AI Ethics Curriculum

This article examines the ways secondary computer science and English Language Arts teachers in urban, suburban, and semi-rural schools adapted a project-based AI ethics curriculum to make it better fit their local contexts. AI ethics is an urgent topic with tangible consequences for youths’ current and future lives, but one that is rarely taught in schools. Few teachers have formal training in this area as it is an emerging field even at the university level. Exploring AI ethics involves examining biases related to race, gender, and social class, a challenging task for all teachers, and an unfamiliar one for most computer science teachers. It also requires teaching technical content which falls outside the comfort zone of most humanities teachers. Although none of our partner teachers had previously taught an AI ethics project, this study demonstrates that their expertise and experience in other domains played an essential role in providing high quality instruction. Teachers designed and redesigned tasks and incorporated texts and apps to ensure the AI ethics project would adhere to district and department level requirements; they led equity-focused inquiry in a way that both protected vulnerable students and accounted for local cultures and politics; and they adjusted technical content and developed hands-on computer science experiences to better challenge and engage their students. We use Mishra and Kohler’s TPACK framework to highlight the ways teachers leveraged their own expertise in some areas, while relying on materials and support from our research team in others, to create stronger learning experiences.

Perceived Sources Stress: A Cross Sectional Survey among Urban and Rural Public Secondary School Teachers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Perceived Sources Stress: A Cross Sectional Survey among Urban and Rural Public Secondary School Teachers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Secondary School Learners’ Migration Impact in Urban Schools in South Africa

This study employed a qualitative research approach to explore the impact of learner migration in urban secondary schools of OR Tambo Inland District in the Eastern Cape Province, RSA. The study was triggered by the observation of increasing learner enrollment in urban schools whereas declining in rural schools. The study was grounded on the assumption that understanding the factors that contribute to learner migration will help to identify its impact and come up with ways of mitigating the situation. The study adopted an interpretive-constructive paradigm where a case study research design was employed. Verbatim accounts and natural meaning units were used to present and analyse data. The study found that there is an influx of learners from rural to urban schools. Learners migrate to urban schools in pursuit of better quality education in urban schools. This according to findings leads to overcrowded classes and shortages of resources in urban schools. The study recommended that attention be given to rural schools as they sometimes lack necessary resources like infrastructure and human resources. The study also recommended that urban school teachers be equipped with the necessary skills on how to deal with overcrowded classes. This research adds to the existing literature on learner migration. Keywords: Learner Migration, Overcrowded Classes, Quality Education, Rural Schools, Urban Schools

Teachers’ Perceptions and Appropriation of EFL Educational Reforms: Insights from Generalist Teachers Teaching English in Mexican Rural Schools

Educational reforms and educational policy changes have favored the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) in public education. Empirical research has examined how EFL specialist teachers in urban public schools perceive these changes or the extent to which they adopt a new curriculum. Nonetheless, the new EFL policies have also had an impact on rural schools where generalist teachers are forced to teach English along with other areas of the curriculum. In this context, little research has explored teachers’ perceptions and appropriation of ongoing curricular changes. The present study explored this issue among generalist rural secondary school teachers in the southeast of Mexico. To this end, an explanatory sequential mixed method was adopted with a sample of 216 generalist teachers. During the quantitative phase, the participants completed two Likert scale questionnaires. Then, a semi-structured interview was conducted with a sub-sample of participants who obtained high (n = 7) or low (n = 7) results in the perceptions and appropriation questionnaires. The statistical analyses showed a weak but positive correlation between perceptions and appropriation. The qualitative data provide some insights that explain the weakness of the correlation.

STRATEGIES, CHALLENGES FACED, AND EXPERIENCES OF SCIENCE TEACHERS AND SCIENTIFIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS AMONG RURAL AND URBAN SCHOOLS

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the strategies, challenges faced, and experiences of science teachers and the scientific performance of students among rural and urban schools in Liliw, Laguna. This study aimed to answer the following questions What is the profile of science teachers in terms of Type of School where they teach, Age, Years in Teaching, Teaching Position, and Educational Attainment? What are the Strategies of Science teachers in rural and urban schools? What are the Challenges Faced by Science teachers in rural and urban schools? What are the Experiences of Science teachers in rural and urban schools? What is the level of performance of Grade 6 pupils in Science? Is there a significant difference between strategies, challenges faced, and experiences of Science teachers and the level of pupils performance in Science 6 in rural and urban schools? Is there a significant difference between the level of performance of pupils from rural and from urban schools? Is there a significant effect between the profile of the Science teachers and the level of performance of pupils in Science 6 from rural and urban schools? Is there a significant effect between the strategies of Science teachers and the level of performance of pupils in Science 6 from rural and urban schools? Is there a significant effect between the challenges faced by Science teachers and the level of performance of pupils in Science 6 from rural and urban schools? Is there a significant effect between the experiences of Science teachers and the level of performance of pupils in Science 6 from rural and urban schools? The respondents of the study were the forty-two (42) Science teachers and two hundred and fifty-two (252) students from the different urban and rural schools in the district of Liliw in Laguna. A descriptive survey method was employed in this study. The following were the significant findings of the study There is a significant difference between strategies, challenges faced, and experiences of Science teachers and the level of pupils performance in Science 6 in rural and urban schools There is a significant difference between the level of performance of pupils from rural and urban schools There is a significant effect between the profile of the Science teachers and the level of performance of pupils in Science 6 from rural and from urban schools There is a significant effect between the strategies of Science teachers and the level of performance of pupils in Science 6 from rural and from urban schools There is a significant effect between the challenges faced by Science teachers and the level of performance of pupils in Science 6 from rural and from urban schools and, There is a significant effect between the experiences of Science teachers and the level of performance of pupils in Science 6 from rural and urban schools. Based on the results gathered from the study, the following are being recommended: The strategies, challenges faced, and the experiences of teachers should be brought into consideration in improving the education system in the Philippines since they have an impact or influence on students academic performance, particularly in Science Discrimination between the performances of students from rural and urban is highly discouraged since there is no significant difference between where the school is located, whether rural or urban and, Implementation of such programs for teachers and students that are related to Science is recommended.

Challenges, Workload and Views of Secondary School Teachers on the Implementation of Home Base Teaching and Learning (HBTL) During the Covid-19 Pandemic Era

The hit Covid-19 has had various impacts on teachers ’workloads such as teaching and learning shifting from conventional to online, more challenging and complex HBTL preparation, school side assignments and so on. Therefore, this study aims to identify the challenges of teachers, workload and views of teachers in the implementation of HBTL in the era of covid-19 pandemic. This study uses a mixed design and involved 52 urban and rural secondary school teachers in Temerloh, Pahang. Data collection was done using questionnaires and structured interviews. The data obtained were analyzed descriptively statistically using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 26 and qualitative data analysis methods. The findings of the study showed that the level of teachers' challenges and teachers' workload were at a high level and teachers' views were positive on HBTL. The findings of this study also show that there are differences between the level of teacher challenge in HBTL, the level of teacher workload and teachers' views with urban and rural school locations. This study shows that the Ministry of Education Malaysia and schools need to provide various approaches and methods of teaching and learning in a structured and planned to teachers optimally to help teachers increase the use of ICT in HBTL and reduce the workload of teachers. In addition, ministries and schools need to ensure adequate internet access and digital devices to reduce the gap between urban and rural schools related to the challenges, teacher workload and teachers' views in HBTL.

Availability and Utilization of Educational Technology in Primary Schools of Ethiopia

The purpose of this study is to look into the availability and utilization of instructional technology in Ethiopian primary education, using some urban and regional schools as case representatives. 165 in-service teachers were recruited using available sampling method from Addis Ababa and Amhara regional state primary schools. A questionnaire and semi-structured interview items were created and administered to collect data. The study used a descriptive survey design with a mixed methods research approach. Major findings revealed that teachers in the case primary schools do not have accesses to properly utilize educational technologies in the teaching-learning processes. Multiple regression analysis results showed that there is no significant difference in the use of educational technology between regional and urban school teachers.

Knowledge regarding autism spectrum disorder among mainstream primary teachers in masvingo urban schools in Zimbabwe

Knowledge regarding autism spectrum disorder among mainstream primary teachers in masvingo urban schools in Zimbabwe

Анализ эргономической доступности образовательного пространства в городских и сельских школах Казахстана

Today, one of the topical areas in Kazakhstani education is the consideration of ergonomic aspects in the learning space. This is due to the fact that the creation of a comfortable and safe environment has a positive impact on the quality of the educational sphere. Undoubtedly, the ergonomic approach in secondary education will contribute to increasing the efficiency of the educational process. This article presents the result of a study in terms of the open satisfaction of teachers in urban and rural schools regarding the quality of their ergonomic educational space.

Implementation of verbal and written feedback classroom practices by teachers

Teachers use feedback to modify student thinking or behaviour to improve their learning. In order for students to achieve better, teachers must use different strategies and ways of teaching. In this article we reflect on the practical application and impact that written and verbal feedback have on learners. Through the research reported on here we aimed to contribute to reflection about different concrete feedback models that are helpful to teachers and students. Seventy-four teachers of the curriculum area, society and environment (civic education, geography and history), in urban schools (n = 39) and rural schools (n = 35) from 10 lower secondary schools answered the questionnaire. The results show that teachers provide students with written and oral feedback and that there is no significant difference in the application by teachers in urban and rural schools, nor among teachers who teach subjects in the curriculum area, society and environment. We recommend that teachers receive continuous training on how to use formative assessment techniques.

Impact of Teachers’ Racial Diversity on School Culture

Leaders set the tone and the culture for their schools. The purpose of this phenomenology study is to examine how the increase in racial diversity among urban middle school teachers impacts the school's culture. The author utilized the Invitational Education model as a conceptual framework. The researcher conducted a total of 28 interviews with teachers, leaders, and students. Findings indicated that students were mostly the ones benefiting from the increase in racial diversity among teachers. Challenges pertained to the educators’ lack of cultural proficiency which negatively affected the school culture. This study contributes to the leadership literature and offers recommendations to leaders and policy makers.