Urban School Contexts Research Articles

Problems experienced by secondary school deputy principals in diverse contexts: a South African study

This paper reports on research that was undertaken to determine the problems experienced by deputy principals in secondary schools, and the extent to which these problems were experienced. Although some research was conducted on the deputy principalship, no research treats the problems that deputy principals experience upon appointment comprehensively. An understanding of the problems experienced by secondary school deputy principals is a necessary precursor of an induction program to address the problems. A quantitative approach which was underpinned by the post-positivist paradigm was adopted. In order to determine the extent to which the problems were experienced, a survey was conducted among one hundred and fifty seven secondary school deputy principals in the North West Province. The participants came from a diverse context of rural, township and urban schools. The deputy principals who participated in the study included those who were newly appointed (one to three years of service) and those who were experienced (more than three years of service). Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means and percentages. There were no significant differences in the responses of both newly-appointed and experienced deputy principals. The results revealed that deputy principals experienced administrative, financial management, work pressure, personal and physical resources problems. In an attempt to address the problems identified, a context-specific induction program is recommended. The induction program should be an on-going program of professional development and should preferably include specific aims, action steps to be taken to achieve the aims that are set and measures to evaluate progress.

Making Sense of College Readiness in a Low-Performing Urban High School: Perspectives of High-Achieving First Generation Youth

Policy efforts to enhance postsecondary access and completion often emphasize the construct of college readiness (CR). While most research has focused on defining and measuring CR, less has examined the perspectives of first generation students and the urban high school contexts in which many prepare for college. This study utilizes data from an ethnography of college preparation in a low-performing urban high school. Drawing on sensemaking theory, I explore how high-achieving college-bound seniors make sense of CR and what factors shape their sensemaking. Findings offer insight into how CR discourses manifest at the local level to shape opportunity for urban youth.

School Strictness and Education: Investigating Racial and Ethnic Educational Inequalities Associated with Being Pushed Out

There are racial and ethnic disparities associated with school discipline practices and pushout rates. In addition, research suggests that urban schools have stricter school discipline practices and higher pushout rates. What remains unknown, however, is the relationship between racial and ethnic inequality, school discipline practices, and pushout rates across urban, rural, and suburban schools. Therefore, this study draws from the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) to address two questions about the relationship between racial and ethnic inequality, school punishment practices, and academic progress that remain unanswered by the previous literature. First, is the relationship between stringent or lenient discipline practices and pushout rates similar in urban, rural, and suburban school contexts? Second, is the relationship between stringent or lenient discipline practices in urban, rural, and suburban contexts associated with racial and ethnic differences in pushout rates? This study seeks to contribute to racial and ethnic educational inequality research by investigating if there is a relationship between school discipline practices and pushout rates and establishing if there are racial and ethnic differences in urban, rural, and suburban contexts. Findings indicate that there are significant racial and ethnic disparities in pushout rates across all school contexts, particularly for Black/African American and Latina/o American students. Findings indicate that both stringent and lenient school punishment practices have effects on pushout rates; however, there are important and distinctive nuances that are presented and examined.

Mathematics Discourse Communities

This case explores how a monolingual teacher, embedded in a large urban school context, saw and understood her role in supporting emergent bilingual learners’ development of mathematics discourse. Particular attention is paid to the classroom arrangements and curricular and instructional choices this teacher made to facilitate this development. The teacher maintains distinct language ideologies and perceptions of Latina/o learners that tacitly influence her design and implementation of mathematics discourse communities. Assuming that this phenomenon is widespread, this case raises questions about what educational leadership might do to shift the paradigm toward school culture where all school personnel understand the power of specialized discourses, the need to assume a collective responsibility to explicitly support learners’ language development, and their inextricable connection to Latina/os’ subject-area affinities and identities.

Principals’ perceptions of public schools’ professional development changes during NCLB

This study investigated public school principals’ reports of professional development implementation at the school level while working in different state- and local-level contexts (state accountability level, geographic locations, socioeconomic status, demographics, and grade levels). I attempted to measure principals’ reported changes in levels of teacher involvement and alignment of professional development with standards, student learning outcomes, school goals, resources, and district goals during No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Using two-level, Hierarchical Generalized Linear Proportional Odds modeling (HGLM-PO), and three pooled waves of a national sample from the Schools and Staffing Survey (National Center for Education Statistics, 2000, 2004, 2007), I implemented a quantitative, repeated cross-sectional, self-report, extant secondary survey analysis design. Principals reported a decrease in teachers’ planning and presentation of professional development during NCLB implementation across all settings, indicating a potential reduction in teachers’ participation in the professional development process. Principals who worked in urban, elementary, low-SES, and high minority school contexts were more likely to report teachers’ participation in the planning and presentation of professional development, but were also more likely to report an increase in the direction and alignment of professional development with school and district goals, standards, student achievement outcomes, and resources. There is evidence that a school community’s location, socioeconomic status, and school demographics plays a role in how schools may interpret accountability environments and implement teachers’ professional development. In all settings, school leaders need to purposefully focus on and retain collaborative professional development practices with teachers in the context of continued accountability pressures.

Elementary Students' Perceptions of Their School Learning Experiences: Children's Connections with Nature and Indigenous Ways of Knowing

Providing opportunities for primary students to share their perspectives on their school experiences and environments aligns with a methodological and pedagogical approach that values students' interests, understandings of the world, and knowledge. In this study, multimodal methods were used by 35 culturally and linguistically diverse students to represent their valued experiences in a Canadian urban school context, including their experiences at an Outdoor School located on Indigenous land in a mountainous, forested region. Data from the two-year study revealed the significant role the outdoors played in the participants' school experiences, and the importance students placed on their local spaces. This research also addresses the potential impact that student voice can have on existing and future curriculum.

Supporting police community support officers to become effective school link officers: key stakeholder perceptions of a pilot professional development programme

This article presents the findings of a pilot professional development programme designed to support police community support officers (PCSOs) to become effective school link officers (SLOs) within urban secondary schools in the English West Midlands. Findings are presented via perceptions of key stakeholders: SLOs themselves; school-based mentors supporting the work of SLOs; and the West Midlands Police officer coordinating aspects of the project. The agreed professional development model comprised a two-day induction programme; school-based mentoring and coaching; and SLOs’ reflections via a small-scale action research project. Findings reveal the complexities of community policing in contemporary urban secondary school contexts and the challenges of enhancing the professional status of the SLO. Although PCSOs have been working as SLOs for several years, preparation for this role has been inadequate and the issue has generally been overlooked in the literature. The pivotal role of effective school-based mentorship, opportunities for reflection and gaining national professional recognition via the action research project emerge as particularly positive features of the professional development model. With the ultimate aim of safeguarding young people, recommendations are also made to further develop the model to enhance SLOs’ professional learning and effectiveness and to maximise inter-professional working.

Lessons Learned in Evaluating a Multisite, Comprehensive Teen Dating Violence Prevention Strategy: Design and Challenges of the Evaluation of Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships.

This paper describes the multisite, longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) design of the evaluation of the Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Relationships initiative, and discusses challenges faced in conducting this evaluation. Health departments in 4 communities are partnering with middle schools in high-risk, urban communities to implement 2 models of teen dating violence (TDV) prevention over 4 years. Schools were randomized to receive either the Dating Matters comprehensive strategy or the "standard of care" strategy (an existing, evidence-based TDV prevention curriculum). Our design permits comparison of the relative effectiveness of the comprehensive and standard of care strategies. Multiple cohorts of students from 46 middle schools are surveyed in middle school and high school, and parents and educators from participating schools are also surveyed. Challenges discussed in conducting a multisite RCT include site variability, separation of implementation and evaluation responsibilities, school retention, parent engagement in research activities, and working within the context of high-risk urban schools and communities. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our approaches to these challenges in the hopes of informing future research. Despite multiple challenges, the design of the Dating Matters evaluation remains strong. We hope this paper provides researchers who are conducting complex evaluations of behavioral interventions with thoughtful discussion of the challenges we have faced and potential solutions to such challenges.

Do Incentive-Based Programs Improve Teacher Quality and Student Achievement? An Analysis of Implementation in 12 Urban Charter Schools

Context Policymakers have increasingly advocated for incentive-based approaches for improving urban schools. Purpose of the Study Few studies have examined the implementation of incentive based approaches in the urban charter school context. This paper presents research findings from a 4-year longitudinal study of the implementation of a comprehensive incentive-based program for school improvement. Setting The study was conducted in cluster of 12 charter schools in a large urban school district. Participants/Subjects Participants in the study included classroom teachers, administrators, and staff in the charter schools; program staff from the school district; and consultants to the project. Research Design The study used a mixed methods design, which included a comparative case study, and quasi-experimental design. Data Collection and Analysis Qualitative data elements included semistructured interviews and observations of program activities. Quantitative data elements included the official classroom teaching evaluation scores, teacher attitudes survey data, standardized student achievement scores from state and district assessment programs, and researcher-developed surveys of teacher and administrator perceptions. Results The results suggest that, in addition to questions about the viability of this comprehensive incentive model, there were several challenges related specifically to the context of the schools that affected program implementation. These included: misconceptions about performance pay; difficulties learning, understanding and sustaining a complex professional development model; poor fidelity of program implementation; varying capacities of the leadership teams; inability to sustain the incentive component; differences in the contexts and missions of the participating schools; and high teacher turnover at the schools. All the 12 schools reported some improvement in student achievement which led to performance rewards; however, this was not substantial or consistent over the course of the 4 years of implementation. The program also did not impact teacher retention at the schools. Schools that benefited the most from the program demonstrated an alignment of goals between the program staff, school leadership, and teachers. Conclusions/Recommendations The study findings suggest that even comprehensive incentive-based models are not yet viable and have limited effectiveness. Educators needed significant salary increases to be incentivized by money and incentive-based models need to be simpler in design for participants to understand them. The aspect that was somewhat sustained was the professional development and collegiality among the teachers indicating that a professional community is what teachers appreciated most from the program.

Analyzing discourse analysis: Teachers’ views of classroom discourse and student identity

In the current context of urban schools, strict curricula and rigid teaching practices are often used in schools with high linguistic and cultural diversity. To understand how teachers can use more equitable teaching methods in classrooms, it is important to explore how teachers make sense of multifaceted student identities and how those identities play a role in making instructional decisions. Drawing on a discursive understanding of identity, this paper reports on a study that seeks to analyze two cases of teachers who employed discourse analysis with classroom transcripts in a community of practice and how this may lead to new understandings of student identity, particularly in multilingual contexts. As teachers appropriated the research practices of discourse analysis, they began to shift in the way they understood their students’ identities, from initially viewing them through institutional lenses to understanding the agentive positions that students took up in classroom discourse. This study yields implications for teacher development as well as furthering understanding about the relationship between language and identity in urban schools.

Teacher-Researcher-Leaders: Intellectuals for Social Justice

This essay examines the author’s experiences with becoming a teacher-researcher-leader across many years within two contrasting urban public school contexts. The article works against a traditional “myth” that views teaching as de-professionalized, low-skill and instead argues for teaching as professional, collaborative, political, and intellectual. The essay makes this argument by offering thick description of various teacher research projects and teacher leadership moves to illustrate how teacher inquiry can be used to improve student learning, improve teacher practice, and work toward equity and justice in classrooms, schools, and society.

Counterstories about Leadership: A Latina School Principal’s Experience from a Less Documented View in an Urban School Context

Latina/o school leaders are receiving increasing visibility in research based on their representation in K-12 administrative ranks. However, even though they bring cultural knowledge in providing social and academic support to teachers, families, and especially students of color, their own experiences still reflect less documented histories and contributions because of challenges related to racial identity, racism, sexism, and other historically marginalizing emblems of identity, often invisible in the school leadership research and practice. This study highlights one Latina school leader in the National Latina/o Leadership Study and her experiences developing a professional and racial identity within urban school contexts. Employing Critical Race Theory and LatCrit Theory, this includes the following questions: (a) In what ways Latina/o school principals develop their professional and racial identity? and (b) How do Latina/o school principals negotiate these identities in the context of their schools? Findings reveal the development of a professional and racial identity amidst challenges related to White teachers’ resistance in preparing students of color for successful experiences in schools.

A hybrid effectiveness-implementation cluster randomized trial of group CBT for anxiety in urban schools: rationale, design, and methods.

BackgroundSchools present a context with great potential for the implementation of psychosocial evidence-based practices. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based practice that has been found to be very effective in treating anxiety in various community settings, including schools. Friends for Life (FRIENDS) is an efficacious group CBT protocol for anxiety. Unfortunately, evidence-based practices for anxiety are seldom employed in under-resourced urban schools, because many treatment protocols are not a good fit for the urban school context or the population, existing behavioral health staff do not receive adequate training or support to allow them to implement the treatment with fidelity, or school districts do not have the resources to contract with external consultants. In our prior work, we adapted FRIENDS to create a more culturally sensitive, focused, and feasible CBT protocol for anxiety disorders (CBT for Anxiety Treatment in Schools (CATS)).Methods/designThe aim of this 5-year study is to evaluate both the effectiveness of CATS for urban public schools compared to the original FRIENDS as well as compare the implementation strategies (train-the-trainer vs. train-the-trainer + ongoing consultation) by conducting a three-arm, parallel group, type 2 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial in 18 K-8 urban public schools. We will also assess the cost-effectiveness and the mediators and moderators of fidelity. Ninety therapists, 18 agency supervisors, and 360 children will participate. The interactive systems framework for dissemination and implementation guides the training and support procedures for therapists and supervisors.DiscussionThis study has the potential to demonstrate that agency therapists and supervisors who have had little to no prior exposure to evidence-based practices (EBPs) can implement an anxiety disorder EBP with fidelity. Comparisons of the implementation strategies would provide large urban mental health systems with data to make decisions about the adoption of EBPs.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02651402

The limits of role modeling as a basis for critical multicultural education: the case of Black male teachers in urban schools

This article provides a critical analysis of the political significance of role modelling as it relates to envisaging a critical multicultural approach to educational reform. While not rejecting role modelling outright, it calls for a commitment to questioning the limits of common sense understandings that underpin the logic of gender and racial affiliation and homogeneity upon which it is based. The focus is on Black male teachers, given the attention that has been paid to their role in field of boys’ and multicultural education. The article draws on theoretical and intersectional frameworks that raise some epistemological concerns about the logics of racial and gender affiliation that lie at the heart of role modelling discourses. While stressing the limitations of role modelling as a basis for a critical multicultural pedagogic reform project, particularly as it pertains to the role of Black male teachers in the schooling of disadvantaged Black male students, it does not reject the political and transformative potentialities of their embodied presence in urban schools. By drawing on case study narrative accounts of two Black male teachers, the article presents an intersectional analysis that attends to the organizational, intersubjective, representational and experiential dimensions of race, gender and sexuality that are implicated in these men’s everyday understandings of their pedagogical actions and identities in particular urban school contexts in Toronto. While pointing to the limits of role modelling, the cases are employed to draw attention to the crucial significance of the embodied presence of these Black male’ teachers as transformative intellectuals with regards to their self-reflexive articulated activism in the urban school classroom. The article concludes with an exhortation to rejecting the master narratives of racial and gender homogeneity that lie at the heart of a politics of role modeling, but does not reject the political significance of and need for the representation of Black male teachers in urban schools.

“He Is Intelligent but Different”: Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Children on the Autism Spectrum in an Urban Indian School Context

This article explores stakeholders’ awareness of autism and their perspectives on children with autism, in an urban Indian school context. Using an interpretive framework, the article draws on interview data from a study conducted in Kolkata. Findings indicated varying but limited awareness of autism among school staff. Teachers instead described the child as “different” from peers. Further, there was variation in stakeholders’ view on the challenges faced by the child. In contrast to parents and private specialists, school staff gave no importance to social development and perceived behaviour and personality differences as inherent in the child. Nevertheless, there was a consensus among stakeholders on school responsibility as limited to academic input. Challenging school staff's beliefs about child development and purpose of education, along with re-assessing special educator courses and developing collaboration between parents and school, needs to be addressed to meet the educational needs and ensure successful participation of these children.

An Analysis of a White Preservice Teacher’s Reflections on Race and Young Children Within an Urban School Context

Building upon research that theorizes and documents students’ perceptions of race, racial attitudes, and treatment by teachers, this article explores the impact of resegregation on how children of Color see and experience race in schools, specifically in relation to their teachers. Drawing upon our interpretations of a White preservice teacher’s interactions with two African American elementary students, the students’ awareness of her race, and their subsequent “racialized” perceptions of her effectiveness as a teacher, we explore the domino effects of racial and economic segregation on young children’s schooling experiences, particularly as they relate to their relationships with teachers.

An Examination of Black Science Teacher Educators’ Experiences with Multicultural Education, Equity, and Social Justice

Diversity, multicultural education, equity, and social justice are dominant themes in cultural studies (Hall in Cultural dialogues in cultural studies. Routledge, New York, pp 261–274, 1996; Wallace 1994). Zeichner (Studying teacher education: The report of the AERA panel on research and teacher education. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, pp 737–759, 2005) called for research studies of teacher educators because little research exists on teacher educators since the late 1980s. Thomson et al. (2001) identified essential elements needed in order for critical multiculturalism to be infused in teacher education programs. However, little is known about the commitment and experiences of science teacher educators infusing multicultural education, equity, and social justice into science teacher education programs. This paper examines twenty (20) Black science teacher educators’ teaching experiences as a result of their Blackness and the inclusion of multicultural education, equity, and social justice in their teaching. This qualitative case study of 20 Black science teacher educators found that some of them have attempted and stopped due to student evaluations and the need to gain promotion and tenure. Other participants were able to integrate diversity, multicultural education, equity and social justice in their courses because their colleagues were supportive. Still others continue to struggle with this infusion without the support of their colleagues, and others have stopped The investigators suggest that if science teacher educators are going to prepare science teachers for the twenty first century, then teacher candidates must be challenged to grapple with racial, ethnic, cultural, instructional, and curricular issues and what that must mean to teach science to US students in rural, urban, and suburban school contexts.

Understanding and Reversing Underachievement, Low achievement, and Achievement Gaps Among High-Ability African American Males in Urban School Contexts

This article focuses on the achievement gap, with attention devoted to underachievement and low achievement among African American males in urban school contexts. More specifically, the article explains problems and issues facing or confronting these Black male students in urban education settings. A central part of this discussion is grounded in the achievement gap literature on Black students in general and implications for Black males in particular. Another fundamental aspect of this discussion is the need for urban educators to adopt a social justice or civil rights approach to their work, which means an equity-based and culturally responsive approach in philosophy and action. Suggestions for closing the achievement gap and otherwise improving the achievement of gifted, high-achieving, and high potential African American males are provided to urban education educators and families.

The Urban School Reform Opera

Over the past 20 years, there have been numerous calls to reform the practices of school counselors. Some have situated these calls for school counseling reform within the context of urban schooling. This study examined the practices of school counselors in one urban school district, and how those practices aligned with the school district’s vision of ideal school counselor practices. Using Q methodology, 79 school counselors and 1 director of guidance sorted the 43 American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) standards for school counselor performance. Results indicate dissonance between the ideal practice as construed by the district and director of guidance and the practices of current school counselors. Finally, the factors that foster or inhibit congruence between ideal and reality are explored.

Reconstructing the Cultural Context of Urban Schools: Listening to the Voices of High School Students

Through listening to the voices of students, educators and community members can begin to reconstruct the culture of urban schools that are often full of stories about student deficits, genetic explanations about achievement, and cultural mismatch theories that may be traced to historical and sociological ideologies. The purpose of this heuristic qualitative investigation was to explore the ways in which student voice can contribute to reculturing high schools in urban settings. Data sources for this study included videotaped interviews and observations in two Midwestern urban high schools to explore the stories of 28 culturally and linguistically diverse students in grades 10 through 12. Findings suggested that the teens in these urban high schools want caring teachers who listen attentively, provide engaging learning opportunities, and who demonstrate high expectations for achievement. They did not want teachers who, in essence, perpetuate hegemonic discourses via pedagogical practices, and school environments that resemble prisons. At the same time, students wanted more structure to “avoid chaos” and asked teachers to give attention to the paradigm of the personal within the school curriculum. We extend the meaning of the study to include student voice as a critical stance for reconstructing the cultural context of urban schools, which entails listening to students to identify complex and sensitive topics for dialogue and inquiry.