Urban School Contexts Research Articles

Outdoor and nature-based teaching in small, urban primary school contexts

The current evidence base for outdoor and nature-based education in a context of education for sustainability is limited and unrepresentative of the realities of small, urban schools, which tend to be characterised by small outdoor spaces devoid of nature. To address this research gap, we carried out two studies in Malta, as an example of a densely populated and heavily urbanised context. A survey conducted among educators in Maltese primary schools explored the occurence and frequency of outdoor teaching and factors that influence attitudes, perceptions, and practice of outdoor teaching. A complementary study mapped built, hard and soft landscapes of all primary school footprints in Malta. The two studies converge to shed light on possible systemic or physical factors leading to a low incidence of outdoor teaching and in particular, of nature-based teaching in small, urban schools. Nonetheless, our findings show strong interest in such teaching approaches amongst study participants. Our study thus establishes a research priority to identify factors that could support outdoor teaching in such contexts.

Outdoor learning in urban schools: Effects on 4–5 year old children's noise and physiological stress

Natural outdoor environments reduce physiological stress. But in an urban school context, does outdoor learning still have beneficial effects even where nature exposure is more limited? The current, pre-registered study used wearable devices including heart rate monitors and actigraphs to examine physiological stress in 4–5 year old children across 8 matched indoor and outdoor sessions (N = 76 children, N = 601 sessions in total). Results revealed that children's resting heart rates while seated and listening to a teacher were significantly lower when outside compared to indoors (p < 0.001, d = 0.512). Children also moved more while seated during indoor sessions (p < 0.001, d = 0.546). Despite activities and resources being matched across conditions, outdoor learning sessions were significantly quieter than indoor ones, both when children were seated, listening to a teacher (p = 0.004, d = −0.455) and when actively engaged in play and learning activities (p < 0.001, d = 1.064). There was a significant positive correlation between noise levels and resting heart rate in the indoor condition (r(97) = 0.364, p < 0.001) but not in the outdoor condition. These findings suggest that learning outdoors, even in urban settings, associates with lower physiological stress in children and that this effect may partly be due to reduced noise. The fact that noise associates with resting heart rate indoors but not outdoors may indicate that being outside buffers children against the stressful effects of excess noise.

A comparison of two group cognitive behavioral therapy protocols for anxiety in urban schools: appropriateness, child outcomes, and cost-effectiveness.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for pediatric anxiety is efficacious for reducing anxiety symptoms and improving functioning, but many children are unable to access CBT for anxiety in community settings. Schools are an important setting in which children access mental health care, including therapy for anxiety. In this setting, therapy is usually delivered by Masters-level therapists. Friends for Life (FRIENDS), a 12-session, manualized, group CBT program for anxiety has demonstrated effectiveness when implemented in schools. However, prior research has also found challenges regarding feasibility and cultural fit when delivering FRIENDS in the urban school context. To address these challenges, we adapted FRIENDS for implementation in the school setting so that it might be more feasible and culturally appropriate for low-income, urban schools in the United States, while maintaining the core components of treatment. The current study uses a mixed-method approach to compare the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and perceived appropriateness of FRIENDS and CATS when delivered by Masters-level therapists with train-the-trainer support. First, we compared change scores for student outcomes (i.e., child-report MASC-2 total score, parent-report MASC-2 total score, teacher-report Engagement and Disaffection subscale scores) from pre- to post- treatment between students receiving FRIENDS and students receiving CATS to assess whether the two conditions resulted in equivalent outcomes. Second, we compared the cost and cost-effectiveness between the groups. Finally, we used an applied thematic analysis to compare appropriateness of the interventions as perceived by therapists and supervisors. The mean change score for the child-reported MASC-2 was 1.9 (SE = 1.72) points in the FRIENDS condition and 2.9 (SE = 1.73) points in the CATS condition; results indicated that the conditions were similar in their treatment effects, and symptom reductions were small in both groups. The modified protocol, CATS, was shown to cost significantly less to implement compared to FRIENDS and showed greater cost-effectiveness. Finally, compared to therapists and supervisors in the CATS condition, therapists and supervisors in the FRIENDS condition more strongly described aspects of the intervention that were not appropriate for their context and in need of more extensive adaptations. Relatively brief, group CBT for anxiety, with adaptations to improve cultural fit, is a promising approach to treat youth anxiety symptom when delivered by school-based therapists with train-the-trainer implementation support.

Disentangling the Reproductive From the Liberatory in Urban School Contexts: Trauma-Informed Practice for Racially Just Systemic Teaching

The writing in this issue is inspired and springs from what hooks and Duncan-Andrade have called critical hope. A transgressive hope invoked by critical scholars and practitioners for centuries. Hope that strives, at every turn, to break systems of oppression that produce and reproduce trauma. Hope for the ways in which we can leverage trauma-informed practice (TIP) as a practice of liberation. In this special issue, authors illuminate how TIP can advance collective goals of urban education as liberation, speaking to multiple facets of urban education, as advanced by Milner and Lomotey, with particular attention to youth voice, multidisciplinary perspectives, policy, teaching and teacher education, and families and communities.

Students’ development of deliberative competences: The contribution of democratic experiences in urban schools

IntroductionA democratic school culture has been identified in previous research as a lever for the development of deliberative competences. However, the antecedents of deliberative competence development at school level are less examined. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of student characteristics (age, gender, finality), urban school contexts (location of the school, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of the student population) and different dimensions of the perceived democratic school culture (fair support, responsibility, co-decision, discussion, acceptance) on students’ mastery of three deliberative competences: tolerance, curiosity, and empathy.MethodsA multilevel analysis of a survey, completed by 5,165 Dutch-speaking Belgian secondary school students was conducted.ResultsThis study revealed the importance of the perceived fair support from teachers, opportunities to discuss, and acceptance by peers at school for the mastery of deliberative competences. Furthermore, urban schools were discovered to be strong negative predictors of all three competences, although fair support and discussion opportunities appear to partially compensate for this effect.DiscussionThese results highlight the importance of a democratic school culture, especially in urban schools, for developing empathy, tolerance, and curiosity. Moreover, the detailed results of this study could guide urban school teams in shaping democratic learning environments.

Revisiting Teaching Quality Gaps: Urbanicity and Disparities in Access to High-Quality Teachers Across Tennessee

There is continued concern over the inequitable distribution of highly experienced and effective teachers among historically marginalized student populations. Using longitudinal data from Tennessee, this study assesses whether students of racially/ethnically minoritized and economically disadvantaged backgrounds have unequal exposure to teachers based on alternate definitions of teaching quality. We find minoritized and economically disadvantaged students are 5 to 15 percentage points less likely to be exposed to high-quality teachers. These teacher quality gaps tend to be the largest in urban school contexts. Moreover, school-level exposure gaps tend to be associated with several school, district, and neighborhood factors.

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

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

The Influence of Gender on Women's College-Going Behaviors in an Urban School Context

The Influence of Gender on Women's College-Going Behaviors in an Urban School Context

The Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday (PRAISE) Program: Adaptations to Overcome Subgroup Differences in Program Benefits.

The Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday (PRAISE) Program is a school-based program that has shown promise for reducing aggression. PRAISE, 20-session classroom-based universal prevention program, was designed to be appropriate and responsive to the needs of youth within the urban school context. A preliminary trial of PRAISE evinced positive effects for girls but was less effective for boys. Following the trial, the PRAISE program was adapted to enhance its impact for boys while maintaining its impact for girls. The current paper describes the changes and a new 3-school trial of the PRAISE program that examines its impact on subgroups. Results indicate that girls in PRAISE classrooms showed improvements in knowledge of social problem-solving strategies (SIP), reductions in hostile attributions (HAB), decreases in relational aggression, and suppression of overt aggression. Boys in PRAISE classrooms showed decreases in relational aggression and improvements in academic engagement, but no improvement in knowledge of SIP or HAB. Pooled analyses comparing boys' results from the initial trial and the current trial showed significant improvements in relational aggression and relational HAB with no differences in overt aggression, overt HAB, or SIP knowledge. Taken together, this iterative adaptation of PRAISE overcame many subgroup differences in program effects.

Identity, agency, parenthood, and balance: Examining influential factors on former practitioners’ decisions to leave P12 education

Underpinned by theories of professional socialization, teacher identity, and post-structural feminism, this narrative study investigated the experiences of five former practitioners who worked in rural, suburban, and urban P12 school contexts across the United States. Four former teachers and one former counselor participated in a series of four individual interviews over the course of one year to describe influential factors on their decisions to leave the field. Findings revealed conflicts with the practitioners’ professional identities, limitations in their professional agency, conflicts between their identities as parents and professionals, and enduring competition related to work-life balance. Their stories provide insight into the lived experiences of practitioners who decided to leave within five years of entering the education field, as well as shed light on persistent and emergent issues related to gender inequity and the influence of COVID-19 on the educational landscape, respectively.

High-Stakes Assessment in an Elementary Teacher Preparation Program: A Case Study of Multiple Stakeholders

ABSTRACT In response to increased accountability demands placed on teacher preparation programs across the US, some programs are using standardized teacher performance assessments, such as edTPA. A recent mandate for this study’s elementary teacher preparation program is teacher candidates’ successful completion of edTPA for teacher certification. A case study design explored the experiences and views of multiple stakeholders (instructors, supervisors, administrators, teacher candidates, and cooperating teachers, N = 60) as they engaged in edTPA. Data were collected via two surveys and individual interviews. The effects of edTPA were visible across the data in a variety of ways, as stakeholders found the assessment overwhelming, often taking precedence because of its high-stakes nature. Changes were questioned, as this program was already held in high regard and produced high-quality teachers prepared for urban school contexts. Analysis of the interview data revealed three themes: Assets of edTPA, edTPA-produced Changes, and Not a Fair Measure.

It Don’t Affect Them Like it Affects Us: Disenfranchised Grief of Black Boys in the Wake of Peer Homicide

Black boys’ grief coping with peer homicide remain under-researched and undertheorized (Bordere in Omega J Death Dying 58:213–232, 2008; Smith in Am J Public Health 105(3):483–490, 2015; Smith and Patton in Am J Orthopsychiatry 86(2):212–223, 2016; Voisin et al. in J Interpers Violence 26: 2483–2498, 2011). This is especially significant when combined with the emerging understanding that Black boys may experience homicidal death in significantly different ways and durations than others (Piazza-Bonin et al. in OMEGA J Death Dying 70(4): 404–427. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222815573727 , 2015). This manuscript examines the experiences of three Black boys attending an urban school, in the wake of the homicidal death of their peer. We purport the absence of grief counselors and the lack of administrative sensitivity, created a misalignment between the boys’ need to grieve, systems within an urban school context that denied and erased trauma. Drawing from concepts of disenfranchised grief (Doka in Handbook of bereavement research and practice: advances in theory and intervention. American Psychological Association, pp 223–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/14498-011 , 2008; Rowling in Disenfranchised grief: new directions, challenges, and strategies for practice. Research Press, pp 275–292, 2002), we situate our analysis using Brofenbrenner's theory of proximal processes (Making human beings human: bioecological perspectives on human development. Sage Publications Ltd, London, pp 106–173, 2005). This framework reveals a perspective that counters the hegemonic ontologies which deny Black boys’ the right to grieve. Furthermore, in examining one Black male mentor’s support of the boys in the aftermath of this tragedy, this manuscript contributes to an increased awareness of the need for urban school policies and practices that reflect reframed understandings of Black boys' mourning.

Comparative Study of English Language Learning Motivation of Senior High School Students in Rural and Urban Contexts of Ibarra and Atuntaqui

The teaching and learning of a foreign language (FL) is undoubtedly a complex process that involves many factors to achieve a high degree of development by students. These factors range from students' linguistic skills, cultural socio-economic elements of educational institutions and the methodologies used by teachers. The field of foreign language research has found a recurrent factor which can greatly influence the learners' second language achievement or foreign language acquisition, this pivotal factor is motivation. This study is aimed to compare English language learning motivation in urban and rural high school contexts. The sample included students from 16-18 years old. This study took a quantitative approach using a cross-sectional analysis with an exploratory scope. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the relationship between motivation in English language learning and urban or rural context. Utilizing Dörnyei's second language (L2) Motivational Self System as the theoretical framework, for this study, sections from 4 validated questionnaires were utilized. The results showed there is no marked and regular numerical difference for the variables studied. However, throughout the discussion, there were some significant differences in certain variables, so that the particularities represented by them can lead to important conclusions. These outcomes allow having greater clarity about the importance of contextualizing the English language as a foreign language teaching in both settings to improve the motivation of the students in the process.

Reconfiguring relational space: a qualitative study of the benefits of caring for hens for the socio-emotional development of 5 – 9-year-old children in an urban junior school context of high socio-economic exclusion

ABSTRACT A reconfiguration of relational space in schools is investigated to challenge a diametric spatial opposition between nature and culture, highlighted as a Western biased construct by Descola’s anthropological framework, building on Lévi-Strauss’ cross-cultural contrasts between diametric and concentric structured systems. Though a neglected research and policy domain, there is growing interest internationally in combining a focus on outdoor education with personal and social development for educational contexts of socio-economic exclusion. This action research study sought to evaluate socio-emotional benefits for children of keeping hens in school and its potential to provide teachers with an intervention for developing such socio-emotional competences in boys and girls, 5–9-years old, in a junior urban primary school of high socio-economic exclusion. The qualitative, focus group results revealed benefits for the children regarding responsibility, empathy, respect for the natural world, cooperation and relaxation. These were also perceived by their teachers, who additionally reported improvement in motivation and child-led, hands-on and peer-assisted learning processes.

Gentrifying Neighborhoods, Gentrifying Schools? An Emerging Typology of School Changes in a Gentrifying Urban School District

An increasing number of central cities across the U.S. are experiencing a growth in white middle-class population, which is associated with gentrification in historically disinvested and racially segregated urban neighborhoods. These changing neighborhood dynamics are starting to shift the context of urban schooling in some districts across the nation. While we know that racial and socioeconomic demographic shifts are associated with neighborhood and school gentrification, there is little conceptual clarity about how school gentrification unfolds over time and the varying conditions of schools in gentrified neighborhoods. To advance scholarship on the topic, researchers need an organizing framework. This study addresses this gap by drawing on existing research, 16 years of Census and American Community Survey data, and 6 years of district data in Austin, Texas. Highlighting Austin, an urban city with growing neighborhood gentrification, we put forth a typology to explain the experiences of schools in the district. We conclude with implications for future research.

Motivating teachers’ commitment to change through distributed leadership in Chinese urban primary schools

PurposeUnderstanding the relationship between distributed leadership and teachers commitment to change in the Chinese urban primary school context was the purpose of this study.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative research method is used in this study. For ensuring comprehensiveness, this research employed a random sampling method. This study took place in Chinese urban primary schools. A total of 350 questionnaires were circulated, 318 questionnaires were returned, and 291 questionnaires were valid, with a response rate of 90.9 per cent and a validity rate of 91.5 per cent.FindingsThe results of path analysis indicated that various dimensions of distributed leadership, including collaboration and cooperation, responsibility and accountability, and values and beliefs, had significant effects on group competence. Collaboration and cooperation and decision making had significant relationships with task analysis. Collaboration and cooperation, responsibility and accountability, and values and beliefs had significant effects on collective teacher efficacy as a single variable.Originality/valueThese findings contribute to the understanding of educational management in the Chinese context and advance knowledge about distributed leadership theories in an East Asian context.

Nepantleras Building Bridges toward College Readiness: Latina/o/x Educators Fostering Equity in an Urban High School

This article builds on previous studies that establish urban high school contexts that Latina/o/x students likely navigate as under-resourced and deficit. Guided by the frameworks of community-oriented teachers of Color and nepantleras, this study takes an asset-based approach to examine how Latina/o/x educators fostered college aspirations and how they developed college-going structures to support college aspirations of Latina/o/x students. Findings clarify that through self-reflection and collaboration, teachers engaged in college information workshops, college exploration assignments, and supported students with applying to extracurricular internships. The study proposes the concept of community-oriented nepantlera educators who aim to develop a bridge between high school and college for Latina/o/x first-generation college students.

Us and Them: Using Social Identity Theory to Explain and Re-envision Teacher–Student Relationships in Urban Schools

Within a framework of social identity theory (SIT), this paper utilizes social cognitive psychological theories to explain how and why White urban teachers often struggle to create loving spaces in urban classrooms, particularly when their students are from social groups different from their own. Social categorization theory is useful for describing how the sociocultural context of urban schools and schooling created and sustains the archetypal teacher savior identity. Social identity theories of intergroup behavior and organizational role theory are employed to explicate how the group norms of teacher saviors describe and prescribe pedagogical practices that create a hierarchy between teachers and students, leaving little room for warmth and caring. Finally, guided by Howard’s (We can’t teach what we don’t know: White teachers, multiracial schools, 2nd edn. Teachers College Press, New York, 2016) concept of a transformationist teacher identity, I offer suggestions for how teacher educators can help preservice teachers cultivate positive teacher–student relationships in their future classrooms by knowing themselves, knowing their students, and knowing their practice. Ultimately, SIT suggests that urban teachers must be metacognitive about the ways in which their identities are constructed and enacted in schools if they are to care about and for their diverse students.

The neglected issue of sleep: A curricular and home-based intervention for improving sleep patterns among sixth-class children in an Irish urban school with high levels of poverty

This study seeks to examine the importance of sleep health in an Irish urban school context of high poverty. It adopts an action research approach to conduct small-scale research with a non-probability sample of twenty-four sixth class pupils, to ascertain whether a five-week school and home based intervention can improve; sleep behaviours among the participants; self-reported daytime sleepiness of participants; and self-reported motivation to improve sleep health. The results indicated a notable improvement in child-reported daytime sleepiness, particularly among high-risk children. There was also a reduction in children reporting a bedtime post-midnight after the intervention. This intervention is innovative in its approach, as it provides a possible model for implementing a sleep health programme in the Irish primary curriculum to address the current Irish national policy neglect of this issue. It incorporates a parental involvement element, which has been recommended by previous international sleep interventions [Blunden et al. 2012. “Does Sleep Education Change Sleep Parameters? Comparing Sleep Education Trials for Middle School Students in Australia and New Zealand.” The Open Sleep Journal 5: 12–18]. In addition, it aims to exert behaviour change, not just changing attitudes. These results, coupled with a positive feedback from children, their parents and class teacher, suggest positive potential for curricular multi-disciplinary model interventions in addressing sleep health needs among school-aged children.

Divergent paths, same destiny: A Bourdieusian perspective on refugee families' negotiation of urban school transition in the US

AbstractThis article documents five refugee families and their children's efforts to reestablish themselves in an urban school context in the US. A thematic analysis of the families’ negotiation with the urban school system, the language programmes and their home engagement practices suggests that they were subjected to symbolic violence brought upon by the precarious context of reception, the monolingual ideologies and the hegemonic practices of the urban schools and resettlement policies and agencies. Such symbolic violence systematically fractured their language learning, educational success, and upward social mobility. Therefore, despite their divergent paths of immigration and resettlement, the children shared similar stories of system blockage, inertia, and fragmentation. These shared trajectories suggest the need for multi‐layered changes to remove blockages in the education and immigration system, transform the dispositions and practices of the key players, including policy makers, school administrators and teachers, and raise critical consciousness among the refugees.