Urban High School Research Articles

“I Don’t Really Feel Prepared for This Now That We’re Talking about it”: What is Educating for College and Career Readiness in an Urban District?

The purpose of this qualitative study is to better understand how urban high schools prepare their students of color (SoC) for “college and career readiness” through asking the following: What does educating for “college and career readiness” look like? How are students being educated for “college and career readiness”, and How do students learn about and interpret “college and career readiness?” With these central questions and responses from two Greenwood City School District (GCSD)* principals and nine GCSD students, we learn the focus within the “college and career readiness” paradigm is largely dedicated to student’s college preparation and occupational exposure, but not much in the way of introducing challenging aspects of tomorrow’s occupational landscape including neoliberalism, globalization, automation, and workplace discrimination. This study concludes with recommendations that education practitioners critically deconstruct the language used to imply sufficiency of the college degree in yielding reliable, secure employment for students of color, as well as encourage more transparency with students pertaining to what likely lies ahead in the workplace of tomorrow.

Civic Sovereignty: Indigenous Civic Constructs in Public School Spaces

Context:This study examines how urban American Indian high school students negotiate their civic identities within the settler colonial structures of urban American public schools.Research Question:How do urban American Indian students negotiate civic identities in spaces where civic concepts are taught, such as American history classes in an urban public high school and a Native Youth Council (Native YC)?Research Design:This critical participatory ethnographic study examines the negotiation of civic identity by 11 urban Indigenous students in social studies classes, a Native YC, and a school in Washington State, where the STI curriculum is taught. Safety zone theory and tribal critical race theory were used to understand students’ experiences and their stories from observations, participant interviews, and focus groups, which were employed as data.Conclusions/Recommendations:The study found that the social studies classes and Native YC were zones of sovereignty (ZoS), forwarding survivance and self-determination for Native students. Students learned about the Indigenous civic constructs of sovereignty, self-determination, dual citizenship, tribal self-government, and federal Indian policy inside and outside of school, all of which supported Native students in civic identity development. Recommendations on teaching Indigenous civic constructs to all students as part of teaching for critical democracy in public schools as a component of social studies classes and extracurricular activities are discussed.

Why and how should high school students learn Basic Life Support?

Introduction:
 Cardiovascular deaths (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in India. Basic Life Support (BLS) training of target groups can help in reducing mortality and morbidity in out of hospital cardiac arrests. High school students are uniquely positioned for this training through a structured learning program, but very is known about high school students’ awareness of BLS.
 Aim: This study aims to understand the awareness about BLS and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) among high school students.
 Methods: A questionnaire-based survey about awareness and willingness to learn BLS and CPR was sent online to 120 students of an urban high school.
 Results: A total of 114 students with a mean age of 15.2 +1.8 years responded. 48 students were male (42%) and 66 students were female (58%). Only 38% participants had previously heard about BLS. A vast majority of students correctly answered the full form of BLS (88%), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) (94%), and CPR (99%). However, relatively few students (10%) had a BLS-certified family member and 64% of students chose the wrong option for national medical emergency helpline. Despite these numbers, this student population indicated willingness for training in BLS (79%) and willingness to perform CPR in future (78%). When asked who they would prefer to be trained in BLS by, 67.5% believed healthcare workers would be most appropriate.
 Conclusion: Although there is an overall lack of awareness of BLS amongst high schoolers, they show signs of willingness to learn BLS and apply their skills in potential lifesaving situations.

A Corporate Mentoring Program Cross-Cultural Experience and the Impact on Self-Identity for Students From an Urban Community

Cross-cultural mentoring can lead to personal development through experiencing cultural differences that cultivate individual virtues and values. Culture is an aspect of self-identity. Self-identity for adolescents is important for their long-term development. This study examines a corporate mentoring program that offers a cross-cultural experience for participants. It aimed to determine if the mentoring program influenced participants’ self-identity and if there was a correlation between culture and their self-identity. The study was guided by identity control theory. A 10-question Likert scale survey was administered to the 20 urban high school students at the completion of their mentoring program for the academic year, which included nine sessions. The study found that the corporate mentoring program did impact the self-identity of urban youth; however, there was no correlation between the cross-cultural experience and their self-identity. This finding adds to the research on youth identity formation. Further research is needed on how different cultural influences may contribute to youth identity formation.

Personal and Contextual Variables Predicting College Aspirations Among Latinx High School Students

This study used path analysis to examine personal and contextual variables that hinder or foster college aspirations in Latinx high school students in the framework of social cognitive career theory (Lent et al., 1994). A total of 247 Latinx high school students from an urban high school in Southern California completed a survey that measured self-efficacy, outcome expectations, supports, and barriers to college aspirations. The findings indicate that contextual factors (supports and barriers) were better predictors of college aspirations than personal factors (self-efficacy and outcome expectations). Barriers were the biggest negative predictors, while academic performance was a positive predictor of college aspirations. Additionally, supports were the biggest predictor of personal factors. The results also suggest that personal and contextual variables were moderated by student gender and immigrant generation type. Environmental conditions affected the college aspirations of Latino males and first generation immigrants more than the college aspirations of Latina students and older generations. Implications for practice and future research are also discussed.

“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.

Research on the development of urban and rural basic education based on analytic hierarchy method

In order to analyze the factors affecting basic education, such as the number of schools, the condition of basic equipment, the number of teachers, and the proportion of school area in elementary, middle, and high schools, we derived the time difference between urban and rural basic education for this period by finding various types of data for rural and urban areas from 2010 to 2022 and then comparing and analyzing the various types of data for rural and urban areas. The analytical hierarchy was then used to determine the importance of these indicators. This shows that the gap between urban and rural basic education has widened over time in these areas discussed. From 2010 to 2022, the changes in the penetration of information technology, the number of multimedia devices, the promotion rate, and the students' and physical education; satisfaction with the use of multimedia devices and the problems that teachers encounter when using multimedia were analyzed for both urban and rural primary and secondary schools. The TOPSIS integrated analysis was used to determine the most important influencing factors and their impact on the level of basic education. Finally, it was concluded that multimedia technology has both favorable and unfavorable effects on the level of basic education, but the favorable effects far outweigh the unfavorable effects, and overall it still greatly promotes the development of the level of basic education and helps to promote the balanced development of education. Before the implementation of the double reduction policy, we looked for the extracurricular tuition of rural and urban primary, middle and high school students, the promotion rate of rural and urban primary and secondary schools, and the proportion of extracurricular activities. Then we looked for corresponding data after the implementation of the double reduction policy, analyzed the correlation of these data, determined the impact of these data on the level of basic education, and used the analytical hierarchy to rank the importance of these factors. This policy has reduced the pressure of involutional competition for urban students and enriched their after-school life. For rural children, transfer rates have increased.

Dimensions of hope and the school environment: Results from a school-wide needs assessment at an urban high school

Dimensions of hope and the school environment: Results from a school-wide needs assessment at an urban high school

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.

“My People Wouldn’t Stand For This”: Ethnic Studies as Critical Civic Education

Using testimonio method and methodology, this paper provides the stories and narratives of three Chicanx teachers who developed and taught an Ethnic Studies course to Latinx students in a large urban high school. Long celebrated as a way to fill in missing history, art, literature, resistance, and knowledge of communities of color, this paper argues that Ethnic Studies is also a vehicle to grow and embolden student sense of critical civic literacy. Through the narratives that emerge from these three teachers, the curriculum and pedagogy offered by these teachers positively impacts and propels students to advocate for themselves and their communities through civic and political action. The purpose of this article is to highlight the curricular and pedagogical choices of three teachers teaching Ethnic Studies and how Ethnic Studies can be used as a tool to increase Critical Civic Literacy.

Seasonal Changes in the Diet of Urban Raccoon Dogs in Saitama, Eastern Japan

We examined the food habits of raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) at an urban high school in Saitama, Japan. The study place is surrounded by residential areas but is adjacent to a pond. Fecal samples (n = 126) were collected from January to December 2022 and analyzed using the point frame method. Fecal composition was diverse in winter, including leaves, fruits, seeds, and artificial materials. In spring, the proportion of Japanese toads (Bufo japonicus formosus) and insects increased, whereas in summer, proportion of hackberry (Celtis sinensis) fruits, insects, and red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) increased. In autumn, fruits of hackberry and muku tree (Aphananthe aspera) were predominant. Consumption of toads and swamp crayfish suggests that the raccoon dogs are opportunistic feeders. We recovered seeds from only ten species, including fruits from five wild plants; these numbers were lower than those reported previously in rural areas of the same district, where raspberries (Rubus spp.), mulberries (Morus spp.), and Eurya japonica have often been recovered at great proportions. A wide range of artificial materials were recovered but in low quantities. These results reflect the characteristics of the study area, which is an urbanized environment with limited trees and adjacent to a pond.

Effect of RISE Bundle implementation on school adoption of a student-centered return-to-learn program in Washington state.

Appropriate concussion care in school is vital for full recovery, but school return-to-learn (RTL) programs are lacking and vary in quality. Establishing student-centered RTL programs may reduce disparities in RTL care. To examine the effect of RISE Bundle (Return to Learn Implementation Bundle for Schools) implementation on high school adoption of a student-centered RTL program. A convenience sample of fourteen (4 rural and 10 urban) small and large Washington (WA) State public high schools were enrolled in a stepped-wedge study with baseline, end of study, and monthly measures over the 2021-2022 academic year. Schools identified an RTL champion who led RISE Bundle implementation in 6-week steps. Concussion knowledge and impact of RTL program on concussion care were examined. Ten schools (71.4%) successfully completed RISE Bundle implementation and established a functional RTL program. Self-reported concussion knowledge from RTL Champions increased post intervention. Establishing RTL programs facilitated provision of tailored accommodations, and perceived variation and inequities in RTL care were reduced. RISE Bundle implementation proved feasible, supported the establishment of a functional RTL program, and perceived to reduce disparities in concussion care in rural and urban WA State public high schools of varying sizes.

Factors associated with food choice motivations among urban high school students in Indonesia

Factors associated with food choice motivations among urban high school students in Indonesia

Shaping of the Stoicheiometry Concept in Secondary Education: Greek Minor Urban Area High Schools

A study is carried out by means of distributing a pair of questionnaires to secondary education students in minor urban areas of Northern Greece. The content of the questions is related to the concept of stoicheiometry (Note 1) as it is presented in the textbooks and described in the Greek chemistry curriculum for secondary education. The two questionnaires were distributed in the beginning and in towards the end of the school year with the scope of mapping the degree of assimilation of the stoicheiometry related concepts by the students. The concept is not introduced to a considerable extent in junior high-school while it is among the main topics addressed in the second grade of senior high-school, when Organic Chemistry is explicitly discussed. The target group therefore, was students of second grade of senior high-schools. The first questionnaire, therefore, serves as exploratory in the determination of the starting point of overall understanding of chemical concepts by the students. The validity of the questionnaires and their efficiency in fulfilling the scope of the current research was carried out by the application of certain post-statistical indices with the final goal being their utilization as a diagnostic tool for probing student understanding of chemical concepts.

STEM Education and the Contradictory Realities of School Policies: An Essay Review of Eisenhart, M. A., & Weis, L. (2022). STEM Education Reform in Urban High Schools: Opportunities, Constraints, Culture, and Outcomes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press

STEM Education Reform in Urban High Schools critically examines the reality of STEM at a school level in the United States. In essence, its fundamental questions include: What actually happens in schools—and especially to students—when STEM becomes the prime focus? What happens to STEM itself? Given the intense pressures on schools, does STEM often become largely rhetorical? When there are different results, what structures, resources, and commitments explain this? The focus is on two cities—Buffalo and Denver—and on schools that have large populations of minoritized students. In this essay, I discuss the contributions that the authors make to our understandings of the complex and contradictory realities of STEM education. At the same time, I also point to a number of the criticisms of the often uncritical acceptance of STEM and STEAM educational policies and practices.

Understanding the Role of Leisure in Portuguese Adolescent Wellbeing Experience

Because adolescent leisure is important to development, we consider its role in Portuguese adolescent wellbeing. Data for this study came from 303 adolescents in grades 10, 11, and 12 living in a large urban area in northern Portugal. Self-report data were collected in classrooms using a cross-sectional design in two urban high schools. Hypothesis testing used seven hierarchical linear regression models. Except for subjective happiness, experiencing boredom in leisure and/or the ability to make a boring situation more interesting were strong predictors of each wellbeing experience in the predicted direction. Perceptions of healthy leisure were associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, subjective happiness, self-esteem, and positive affect. Active leisure was important to adolescent self efficacy and positive affect. Those who could restructure a boring situation into something more interesting exhibited higher levels of wellbeing experience. Adolescents who perceived parental autonomy control were more likely to experience boredom in leisure.

Attitudes of Science and Social Studies Department Students in Urban and Village High School in Papua Province Concerning HIV/AIDS

The knowledge of students in cities and villages about HIV is higher in the low category at 55.2%, then in the medium category at 24.7%, and in the high category at 20.1%, students in cities are most in the medium level of knowledge category while students in villages are most in the high level of knowledge category. The attitude of students in cities and villages has a positive attitude category about HIV prevention. The purpose of this study is to determine the comparison of attitudes of students majoring in science and social studies about reproductive health and HIV in urban and rural high schools in Papua Province. This study used quantitative method with a cross-sectional research design to identification the differences in attitudes between students majoring in science and high school social studies in cities and villagesFrom this study give some implication such as identified the differences in attitude of students majoring in science and social studies. The result of this study shows that the level of Science students have a more positive attitude towards HIV prevention than social studies students in high schools in cities and villages.

Screening for Social Communication and Mental Health Needs in Schools: Initial Validation of the School-Based Social Communication Skill Set Screener (SBSCSSS)

Social communication is closely related to overall and general adolescent mental health and predictive of problem behaviors in adulthood. However, adolescents with social communication deficits remain an underidentified and underserved population, especially in school-based settings. In part, this is due to the dearth of social communication measures developed for use, and within, school contexts. The School-Based Social Communication Skill Set Screener (SBSCSSS) was developed as a schoolwide rapid assessment measure for students’ perceptions of their own skills and problems stemming from potential social communication issues. This study aims to provide initial psychometric evidence for the SBSCSSS by analyzing a data set of schoolwide needs assessment responses conducted at an urban Appalachian high school. Exploratory factor analyses identified a three-factor structure across 23 items. Internal consistency calculations found that each factor, including a global factor, had high levels of internal consistency. Convergent validity findings are also provided. Initial psychometric evidence for the SBSCSSS indicates a potential valid and reliable tool to examine perceived social communication skills for high school students. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for future research and practice.

On Being Ed Emcees: Toward Hip-Hop Educational Leadership Theory, Research, and Praxis

ABSTRACT Advocating for the advancement of hip-hop based education, critical qualitative research, and leadership for educational equity, I explain a theory of hip-hop educational leadership and discuss findings from my hip-hopography of hip-hop educational leaders who are spoken word artists, poets, rappers, or emcees and serve as community partners inside urban high schools across the United States. Using blackout poetic transcription to analyze data, I suggest that these individuals can be called educational emcees, who invoke love as a condition for learning and engagement in their schools through a series of meaningful practices. These individuals also embody poetry and spoken word as an organic hip-hop pedagogy. Opportunities for additional qualitative research about hip-hop educational leadership and educational emcees are presented, along with implications for education leadership preparation, recruitment, and development.

What are the ways in which a culturally responsive school leader influences the learning environment of historically marginalized students in an urban high school?

This qualitative case study describes one urban school leader’s behaviors in the process of implementing culturally responsive school practices. Through deductive and inductive analysis, this study identifies key behaviors of urban culturally responsive school leaders that promote sustainable culturally responsive practices in their schools. Evidence from interviews, observations, and documents shows the unique actions that culturally responsive school leaders embody and how they respond to culturally unique school contexts. Further research is recommended to expand the understanding and knowledge of culturally responsive school practices and strategies used by school leaders in relation to community contexts and influence.