Urban School Board Research Articles

The impact of a children's literature-based cognitive behavioural therapy skills curriculum on middle-school youth who self-report clinically relevant and non-clinical mental health symptomatology

To evaluate potential differences in the impact of a children's literature-based mental health literacy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) skills curriculum on middle-schoolers with and without mental health symptoms that may be clinically relevant. Youth (aged 11-14; grades 7-8) who received a 3-month teacher-delivered intervention embedded in the language arts curriculum (N=196) were compared to a wait-list control group (N=233) from a large, diverse, urban school board in Canada. The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) and Life Problems Inventory (LPI) were administered. Youth were divided according to scores of possible clinical relevance into "clinical" and "non-clinical" groups. A mixed ANOVA (Intervention and Clinical status at baseline are between subject scores and Time is the only repeated measure) was used clustered by classroom. Thirty-three-point six percent of all participants endorsed symptoms of potential clinical relevance on the RCADS and/or one of its subscales. The primary analyses were non-significant but also underpowered to detect outcomes (RCADS β = 0 .14; LPI β = 0.28). LPI scores improved numerically for intervention vs. control youth (clinical: -8% vs. +24%; non-clinical -9% vs. 0%, effect size = .002). This study was underpowered; however, it did identify a potentially clinically meaningful trend in a measure of maladaptive coping (LPI) favouring the intervention. A future, well-powered study is needed to characterize the impact of this intervention.

Growing action research on environmental learning in schools: a school-university partnership

ABSTRACT A team of teacher-researchers in a large urban school board is working in partnership with researchers from a leading Canadian university to use action research to broaden and deepen environmental education in their teaching practice. This research-informed approach involves teachers, students and their communities in collaboratively deepening their knowledge and raising awareness about environmental issues, as well as devising local solutions to global environmental challenges in age-appropriate ways. This article shares the research of this innovative team by introducing their stories and the impact of their studies.

Teaching with Sandbox Games: Minecraft, Game-Based Learning, and 21st Century Competencies

In this paper, we present the findings of a research study, working with 12 educators in a large urban school board in Ontario using Minecraft for 21st century competency development. We identify a number of pedagogical moves teachers made to support 21st century learning through communication and collaboration, both in the classroom and in the game world, and three approaches to play, directed/guided, scaffolded, and open, that represented a three tiers of critical thinking and creativity/innovation. We argue that while an open, exploratory sandbox game such as Minecraft can meaningfully aid students in the development of 21st century competencies, it is in fact teachers’ decisions around how the game will be used in the classroom that determine whether or not 21st century competency development is supported.

Looking Beyond Assumptions to Understand Relationship Dynamics in Bullying

To account for the complex relationships and processes that constitute the phenomenon of bullying, it is critical to understand how students and their parents and teachers conceptualize traditional and cyberbullying. Qualitative data were drawn from a mixed methods longitudinal study on cyberbullying. Semi-structured interviews were held with Canadian students in grades 4, 7, and 10 in a large urban school board, and their parents and teachers. To account for the complexity and interactions of different systems of relationships, the purpose of the current article is to examine how students and their matched parents and teachers understand traditional and cyberbullying. Central to participants' understanding of traditional and cyberbullying was whether they considered bullying to represent harmful relationship dynamics. Three main assumptions emerged as shaping participants' understanding of bullying and appeared to obscure the deep relationship processes in bullying: (a) assumptions of gender in bullying, (b) type of bullying—comparing traditional and cyberbullying, and (c) physical bullying as disconnected from relationship dynamics. It is essential that assessment, education, and prevention and intervention strategies in traditional and cyberbullying be informed by the inherent relationships in bullying and be implemented at multiple levels of relationships and broader social systems.

The Impact of a Harry Potter-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Skills Curriculum on Suicidality and Well-being in Middle Schoolers: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of a Harry Potter-based mental health literacy curriculum, imparting cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills, on suicidality and well-being in middle-schoolers. MethodsStudents (aged 11-14; grades 7-8) who received a 3-month teacher-delivered intervention embedded in the language arts curriculum (N=200) were compared to a wait-list control group (N=230) in the largest urban school board in Canada. Suicidality defined as a composite measure of self-reported suicidal ideation and attempts [primary outcome], self-reported emotion dysregulation, interpersonal chaos, confusion about self, and impulsivity [Life Problems Inventory (LPI)] and self-reported depression and anxiety symptoms [Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS)] were the outcomes of interest. Measurements occurred prior to and after curriculum delivery with independent t-tests used to compare mean change scores between groups clustered by class. ResultsThirty-seven English teachers in 46 classes across 15 schools comprised the planned study cohort. Composite suicidality scores were significantly worse in the control than intervention group at endpoint (0.05±0.54 vs. 0.17±0.47, t= -2.60, df=428, p=0.01). There were also significant improvements in LPI and RCADS scores in the intervention group compared to controls (LPI:-3.74±7.98 vs. 1.16±10.77 t=5.28, df=428, p<.001; RCADS: (-3.08±5.49 vs. -1.51±6.53 t=2.96, df=429, p=0.01). Sub-analyses revealed that these improvements were largely driven by a significant difference in scores in girls. LimitationsSample size constraints as study terminated prematurely during COVID pandemic. ConclusionsThis study demonstrates significant improvement in suicidality, emotional regulation, self-concept, interpersonal difficulties, depression and anxiety in youth, particularly girls following this intervention. Replication studies in larger samples are needed to confirm these results.

Pushing back: How one school board publicly deliberated state-level teacher personnel policies

This case study examines how one urban school board publicly discussed teacher personnel policies that interacted with local teaching workforce interests. Not much is known about how school boards interact with state level policies as they grapple with issues of local implementation. I analyzed archived recordings of school board meetings and documents covering a fiscal year (July–June) in an urban school system in North Carolina. Throughout the course of the 2013–2014 fiscal year, the school board deliberations took a tone of pushing back on state-level teacher and staffing policies. I tracked the types of evidence and problem-framing used by board members during deliberations about teacher personnel policy at public board meetings. The board most often used broad appeals, example, and data (restricted to numerical/statistical) in their deliberations. The problem was usually framed as one of economics. I provide some possibilities as to why the board relied on these evidence types and problem frames and suggest future avenues of research to better understand how school boards interact with state level policies.

Charter School Authorizations as Disputes: How School Board Members Justify Their Votes in a Neoliberal Context1

For charter schools to open they must gain the approval of an authorizing body, most commonly a local school board. When deciding whether or not to authorize a particular charter, school board members often engage in public disputes that entail clashes between multiple and conflicting conceptualizations of the goals of education. Drawing on insights from pragmatic sociology and institutional theory, this paper examines videos of 119 public meetings to document how members of a large, urban school board drew on competing ways of conceptualizing the common good to justify their votes on charter school authorizations. Moreover, it also shows how the neoliberal context of contemporary education limited the range of justifications used. Even school board members who argued against charter school authorizations did with justifications draped in neoliberal language. Neoliberalism thus impacted decisions not by becoming cognitively taken‐for‐granted but rather by shaping the range of arguments made for or against the choice to authorize particular schools.

#Digital parents: Intergenerational learning through a digital literacy workshop

In this article, we present findings of a research study centered around a 10-week digital production workshop developed specifically for families in an urban school board, a population rich with culturally diverse immigrant families and English language learners (ELLs). The aim of this research was to support parents/guardians in an urban community in their development of a practical, hands-on understanding of twenty-first century literacies, using a ‘production pedagogy’ framework that emphasizes learner agency. We sought to critically reflect, alongside parents/guardians, on how new media and new literacies are being utilized in schools today, and to provide models, tools and practices for parents/guardians and their children to enact digital competences together, specifically, through the production of a short digital story.

Benchmarks and Bellwethers in Cyberbullying: the Relational Process of Telling

There is a lack of research that examines and compares the perspectives of students and their parents and teachers with respect to cyberbullying. Qualitative data were drawn from a mixed methods study on cyberbullying among students in grades 4, 7, and 10, in a large urban school board. Interviews with 13 students and their parents and teachers took place during year one and with students and parents in year three. Data analysis occurred through an ongoing process of open, axial, and selective coding. Overall, the youth and adults demonstrated similar understanding of cyberbullying. It emerged, however, that for the youth participants, telling about their cyberbullying experiences was a relational process. In contrast, the adult participants made little mention of these relational aspects in their explanations. We characterize this relational process as students’ use of benchmarks (point of reference) and bellwethers (someone or something that is used as a predictor), throughout their decision-making (both implicit and explicit). It is important that this relational process of telling, for example, deciding whether and to whom to disclose, informs education and intervention strategies.

Money and influence: philanthropies, intermediary organisations, and Atlanta’s 2017 school board election

ABSTRACTNational philanthropies have recently played a prominent role in spending on U.S. urban school board elections, largely seeking to promote candidates who support charter schools. In Atlanta in 2017, 30 candidates competed for nine open school board seats. One practice has been to fund intermediary organisations (IOs) (e.g. advocacy groups, foundations) that disseminate information and research in an effort to shape public opinion. This paper analyses the role of IOs in the 2017 school board race in Atlanta. Drawing on 12 interviews with policymakers and IO representatives, analysis of campaign literature, and media accounts, the authors contrast the ways in which the intermediary and philanthropic sectors attempted to influence leaders’ framing of educational policy issues. Findings reveal a nascent capacity for IOs in Atlanta for shaping support for pro-charter board candidates. The paper discusses implications for understanding the role that IOs may play in the politics of urban education.

Determinants of Priority Conflict on City School Boards

In this article, the authors use original survey data to test the determinants of priority conflict on urban school boards in the United States. The results indicate that school district demographics, including the percentage of English language learners and education spending per pupil, impact the extent to which urban school board members hold conflicting priorities. In addition, boards whose members indicate they engage in continuous strategic planning exhibit comparably lower levels of priority conflict. The results are of interest to scholars studying the nexus of urban governing boards and performance, as well as practitioners serving on urban governing boards.

Principals’ Beliefs About Language Learning and Inclusion of English Language Learners in Canadian Elementary French Immersion Programs

Gatekeepers’ language ideologies and beliefs about language learning determine how learners experience French as a second language programs, in particular, their access to, and success and inclusion in, the French immersion (FI) program. In this article, we explore how FI principals understand language learning and the inclusion of English language learners (ELLs) and how these perspectives shape school policy in FI programs. The study took place in a large urban school board in southern Ontario with student population consisting of 50% ELLs. After conducting a questionnaire with principals across the school board, we interviewed a subgroup of principals gathering quantitative and qualitative data. In addition, we consulted the board’s website and documentation provided to parents regarding enrolling their children in FI. The study highlights convergence or divergence from principals’ beliefs in relation to board policy about access and inclusion to the FI program. Through critical discourse analysis, data revealed that principals have contradictory beliefs about language learning, and at times principals struggle to reconcile these beliefs with official board policy. While FI principals are mostly positive about including ELLs in FI, to provide equal access to the program, they would benefit from (a) moving away from a definition of bilingualism as equalingualism and (b) expanding and developing the meaning of inclusivity beyond physical presence to adapt the FI space for greater inclusion of ELLs.

Story as a Means of Engaging Public Educators and Indigenous Students

Two concerns in public Indigenous education are the education of teachers and the engagement of students. In this study, drawing on stories and multiple perspectives is an approach presented to address both concerns. In open-ended interviews with seven Indigenous educators and leaders in urban public school boards, story was highlighted as a central component of the success of Indigenous students. Participants believed that educators’ understanding and teaching practice is enriched by seeking out stories and multiple perspectives—those of Indigenous students and their families and communities in particular. They also believed that when these stories are valued in school, students’ sense of belonging and engagement increase. This paper explores various angles on drawing on stories in public schools as modes of engagement and learning for both educators and students. These angles address the experiences that students, teachers, and families bring to schools and the stories tied to local communities and embedded in Canadian school systems.

Board conflict and public performance on urban and non-urban boards: Evidence from a national sample of school board members

ABSTRACTIn this article a national sample of survey data collected from U.S. school board members paired with school-district level data from the National Center for Education Statistics are used to test the relationships between board conflict and school district performance. We add to the existing governance literature through our use of a national data set and specific focus on the impact of conflict on urban school boards. The analysis indicates a negative relationship between board conflict and district performance that is magnified on urban school boards. We conclude that school board members in general can improve school district performance by mitigating potential sources of board conflict, and that the importance of reducing conflict is greater on urban school boards.

“Outsiders with Deep Pockets”: The Nationalization of Local School Board Elections

Recent election cycles have seen growing attention to the role of “outside” money in urban school board elections. Using an original data set of more than 16,000 contributions covering election cycles from 2008 to 2013 in four school districts (Los Angeles, CA; New Orleans, LA; Denver, CO; Bridgeport, CT), we show how large national donors play a significant role. Our study links two dynamic fields that are rarely studied together: (1) the behavior of wealthy donors in a changing national campaign finance system and (2) the evolving politics of urban education. By examining donor networks, we illuminate the mechanisms behind the nationalization of education politics and national donor involvement in local campaigns. We show that shared affiliations through education organizations are significantly associated with school board campaign contributions.

Demographic dreams, institutional realities: election design and Latino representation in American education

ABSTRACTStructural elements of the political process can influence whether the interests of racial and ethnic minorities are accounted for by policy-making organizations. This study focuses on these elements by analyzing how the institutional design of local elections impacts the representation of the Latino demographic. We use an original, nationally representative survey of the 1800 largest U.S. school districts conducted over several years to assess the consequences of at-large elections, election timing, and partisanship for Latinos’ political footing within an increasingly salient venue of local politics. A contemporary study of the politics of Latino education is warranted given that Latinos comprise nearly 17% of the general population, and now account for nearly a quarter of all students enrolled in public school districts. Our findings reveal that the institutional arrangement of local elections contributes to Latinos’ persistently low levels of representation on urban school boards throughout the country.

Continuity and Change: Special Education Policy Development in Toronto Public Schools, 1945 to the Present

Background/Context It is frequently assumed that changes in special education policies since 1945 have come mostly from “landmark research” or actions of a few “pioneers.” We argue in this article that there have been many different sources of change, including legislation, court rulings, activism, and even shifts in socially and historically constructed categories of ability. In contrast to the contention that there has been “a gradual but steady progression towards the present inclusive education,” we argue that remarkable continuity has characterized certain elements of policy as well. The article identifies general trends in special education policy development historically that can help to inform the most current thinking about policy change in special and inclusive education. Purpose How has special education policy developed historically? What factors have been involved? How can historical research help education researchers, policy makers, school personnel, and others to deepen their understanding of the development of policy? The Toronto public school system is examined. The developmental trajectory of special education policy in Canada's largest urban school board generally resembles the development of policy in other large American and Canadian cities. The period from 1945 to the present was selected because the shifting character of special education policy across this broadsweep of time is not well understood. Research Design This qualitative study employs historical analysis. It draws on archival documents, school board and provincial government records, and pertinent secondary sources. Conclusions/Recommendations There are a few identifiable general trends in special education policy development historically. Prior to 1970, local school officials were empowered to make many changes in special education policy; since 1970, this ability has been eroded in favor of centralized policy making, with parents and others possessing some ability to influence policy change. Today, policy makers must balance different contextual factors and stakeholder interests that have developed over time, not least of all the interests of teachers who have been important partners to policy implementation. The degree of “policy talk” about inclusion, and about a social model of disability, has exceeded the degree to which either has actually been implemented. Rather, a continuum of services model that hybridizes segregated and inclusive settings continues today to characterize special education policies, as it has since the 1970s. Money matters in special education policy, especially when it is tied to specific policy options and can therefore influence local policy decisions, but also depending on whether the power to raise and disburse funds is held locally or centrally.

A Governance Revolution: Growing Results for Students through Policy Governance

Airick Leonard West is a Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) board member and served as board chair from 2010–2014. During that time, he led the implementation of Policy Governance® in KCPS and currently consults with other urban school boards throughout the United States looking to effectively implement Policy Governance. Here he tells us about KCPS's journey.

Using electronic portfolios to foster literacy and self-regulated learning skills in elementary students.

The research presented here is a continuation of a line of inquiry that explores the impacts of an electronic portfolio software called ePEARL, which is a knowledge tool designed to support the key phases of self-regulated learning (SRL)—forethought, performance, and self-reflection—and promote student learning. Participants in this study were 21 teachers from elementary schools (Grades 4–6) and their students (N = 319) from 9 urban and rural English school boards in Quebec and Alberta, Canada, who participated during the 2008–2009 school year. Students with low enthusiasm for the use of ePEARL were excluded from the main sample as they exhibited different patterns in learning gains and self-regulatory skills as compared with those with high and medium enthusiasm. Multivariate analyses of covariance showed that students motivated to use the software made significantly greater gains compared with controls in 3 of 4 writing and reading skills (p < .01) as assessed by the constructed response subtest of the Canadian Achievement Test (fourth edition). Multivariate analyses of covariance of student survey data revealed that, over time, students who used the software reported higher levels of SRL processes than those in the control group (p < .01). Implications of the findings for school leaders and teacher educators regarding the use of electronic portfolios are discussed.

The Disproportionate Erosion of Local Control

This case study of an urban school board’s experiences under high-stakes accountability demonstrates how the district leaders eschewed democratic governance processes in favor of autocratic behaviors. They possessed narrowly defined goals for teaching and learning that emphasized competitive, individualized means of achievement. Their decision making was private; opportunities for local input were missing. They promoted centrally determined, standardized instructional and administrative practices, not locally driven ones. It concludes that accountability policies that are framed in terms of their potential to further democratic aims by granting greater liberty in exchange for results, and by holding all districts to the same high standards, may disproportionately reduce democratic control in urban settings.