Urban School Setting Research Articles

Novice teachers’ challenges of teaching physical education in urban schools

ABSTRACT Guided by occupational socialisation theory (Lawson [1983a] Toward a model of teacher socialization in physical education: The subjective warrant, recruitment, and teacher education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 2(3), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2.3.3; Lawson [1983b]. Toward a model of teacher socialization in physical education: Entry into schools, teachers’ role orientations, and longevity in teaching (part 2). Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 3(1), 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.3.1.3; Lortie [1975]. Schoolteacher. University of Chicago Press) and culturally relevant physical education (CRPE) (Flory and McCaughtry [2011]. Culturally relevant physical education in urban schools: Reflecting cultural knowledge. Research Quarterly Forexercise and Sport, 82(1), 49–60), this study aimed to identify the challenges experienced by two novice physical education teachers working in urban schools. To accomplish this, two participants completed five written reflections and five in-depth interviews each across eight months. Despite strong academic backgrounds, successful internships in urban settings, and teacher education programs intentionally designed to prepare them for teaching in urban school settings, the participants described two overarching challenges they experienced: a lack of resources and issues implementing the curriculum. Considering the participants’ prior experience and context-specific training to work in urban school settings, the results reinforce the necessity for additional training, support, and stronger partnerships between universities, schools, and districts to bolster teacher retention in urban schools.

Rural and Urban Kindergarten Teachers’ Self-Efficacy: Implications for the Implementation of the Standard-Based Curriculum in Ghana

The study examined rural and urban kindergarten teachers’ teaching efficacy and its implications for the implementation of the standard-based curriculum in Ghana. It also examined whether kindergarten teachers’ teaching efficacy differs in terms of teaching experience. It also sought to determine the influence of gender, academic and professional qualification, job satisfaction, and teaching and learning resources on teaching efficacy. The Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) was used to collect online data from 375 kindergarten teachers drawn from rural and urban school settings. Findings from the study showed that kindergarten teachers in rural school settings reported higher levels of teaching efficacy in the area of instruction and pupil engagement than their urban counterparts. Again, rural and urban kindergarten teachers’ teaching efficacy differs across the different categories of teaching experience in areas of instruction and engagement but not for classroom management. The findings further showed that job satisfaction did not influence kindergarten teachers’ teaching efficacy. It is concluded that the Ghana Education Service should organize continuing professional development programmes to boost and sustain kindergarten teachers’ self-efficacy in areas of instruction, classroom management, and engagement. Implications of the study’s findings to research and practice are also discussed.

A Qualitative Exploration of Research-School Partnerships During COVID: How to Better Serve Our Community Partners During Times of Crisis

ABSTRACT Most youth access mental health care through their school. As such, research has targeted schools as ideal service settings to reduce disparities in service use among adolescents. The COVID shutdowns were associated with elevated stress and depression across caregivers, teachers, and students, and increased rates of suicide amongst youth. In the virtual space, schools had difficulty maintaining needed supports. Negative impacts were disproportionately experienced by Black communities and urban school settings. The shutdown also disrupted most research efforts occurring in school settings, leaving schools with even fewer supports when most in need. Thus, the current qualitative study aimed to obtain feedback from personnel in an urban high school system on how research-community partnerships could better support schools generally and especially during times of crisis. Our sample consisted of 17 teachers and school-based mental health providers who participated in virtual qualitative interviews or focus groups. Four key themes emerged, calling for reform in how research partners interact with school partners: 1) embed the researcher in the community, 2) utilize the researcher as an allied communicator, 3) empower the researcher to adapt in response to shifting demands, 4) establish the researcher as a long-term partner. Findings call for reform in how community-based research is funded to better allow researchers to develop long-standing, culturally responsive, and mutually beneficial partnerships, particularly in times of crisis.

School Effectiveness Factors and Student Achievement: A Longitudinal Study in an Urban School District

In this study we explore the longitudinal impact of effective school factors on student achievement over a five-year period in an urban school district. By collecting teacher survey data from urban schools in a Midwest school district and analyzing the survey data alongside student achievement, we identified several factors associated with student achievement growth. Our findings reveal that Shared Vision and Goals is positively associated with student achievement growth in math and reading. Furthermore, Student Behavior Expectations and Behavior Management Practices are positively associated with growth in reading achievement. Our research contributes to the understanding of effective school factors from a longitudinal perspective, particularly in an urban school setting.

EFL Students’ Learning Strategies During Covid-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Study Between Urban and Rural School Settings

The present research is a descriptive quantitative research design using a survey method. There are 30 items adapted and modified from the SILL (Strategy Inventory for Language Learning) theory used to measure students' strategies in learning English. There are two senior high school (SMA) and 2 junior high school (SMP) contexts or equivalent as the subject of this research, namely students who study in the city of Mataram (urban school setting) and outside the city of Mataram (rural school setting). There were 112 students who participated in this study. Data analysis was carried out by calculating the total score of each question to determine the percentage level of relevance of the statement to the student's condition. The results of this study indicate that the English learning strategies of students in the city and outside the city are almost the same where they use the six learning strategies. Affective strategies and metacognitive strategies remained as the most favorable learning strategies for the EFL students.

Educators engaged in curriculum work: Encounters with relationally responsive curriculum practices

AbstractThe Culturally Nourishing Schooling (CNS) project is focused on whole‐of‐learning community efforts that aim to improve the educational experiences and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners. The project supports school‐based professional learning strategies, broad school or system‐level initiatives and deep engagement with local community, including students and their families. One of the professional learning strategies in the project is a 2‐day intensive curriculum‐focused workshop, which ran for the first time in 2021 within urban, regional, and remote school settings across New South Wales, Australia. The first day of the curriculum workshop introduces teachers and local Cultural Mentors to three analytic frameworks that they utilise to appraise curriculum resources available in the public domain. The curriculum resources appraised are all examples of curriculum designed to support educators with embedding an Indigenous knowledges focused National Cross‐Curriculum Priority into their curriculum. On the second day of the workshop, teachers are tasked with appraising and revising a curriculum unit of work that they or colleagues have planned for the upcoming teaching semester. The curriculum workshop culminates with the revised teaching and learning resources being presented to the full group of workshop participants, and subsequently each teacher is asked to write a reflection about the curriculum work that they have engaged in. For this paper, data analysis draws on ‘three sensibilities’ that invite enacting a form of onto‐epistemic heterogeneity. These sensibilities are multiplicity, horizontality and dialogicality. This analytic undertaking simultaneously explores the entanglements, and grapples with the possibilities, of re‐imagining curriculum and related pedagogical practices that seek to ‘delink from the colonial matrices of power’.

Mindful Movement Intervention Applied to at Risk Urban School Children for Improving Motor, Cognitive, and Emotional-Behavioral Regulation.

Preliminary evidence has supported the notion that mindful movement-based practices may offer benefits for self-regulation, particularly for vulnerable children. However, this evidence has principally stemmed from subjective assessments of behavioral change, leaving the underlying mechanisms undetermined. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of an in-school mindful movement intervention (MMI) for at-risk children within an urban public school for enhancing motor, cognitive, and emotional-behavioral regulation, including control of disruptive and inattentive behaviors characteristic of ADHD. Participants included 38 (age 7-8years) children who received twice weekly, in-school MMI, including a modified Tai Chi sequence, yoga and biomechanical warm-ups, imaginative play, and reflection. Parent and teacher ratings of disruptive behaviors, and objective measures of motor and cognitive control, were collected at baseline and after 5months of MMI. Significant improvements in teacher ratings of inattentive, hyperactive/impulsive, oppositional, and other disruptive behaviors were observed. Significant improvements were also observed for objective measures of both cognitive control and motor control with particular reductions in both right and left dysrhythmia. MMI was associated with improvements across objective and subjective assessments of motor, cognitive, and behavioral control. This proof-of-principle investigation provides preliminary support for the efficacy and feasibility of a novel MMI implemented as part of the school day in an urban school setting with 7-8-year-old children to augment development of at-risk youth. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-022-02063-7.

Study of the dietary and anthropometric profile and identification of determining factors in adolescents at school in the Khemisset region of Morocco.

The nutritional status and dietary diversity of adolescents play a crucial role in their growth, development, and overall health. The aim of this study is to assess the nutritional status and determine the dietary diversity score in urban and rural school settings among Moroccan adolescents. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study in public schools in Khemisset in the municipality of Sidi Allal El Bahraoui, Morocco. We used a questionnaire to collect sociodemographic data and a 24- hour dietary recall to calculate the dietary diversity score. This study included 215 students. The mean BMI was 21.06 ± 0.23 kg/m2, with 60.8% of students having a normal BMI, 24.5% being underweight, 11.8% overweight, and 2.8% obese. The mean dietary diversity score was 5.672±0.956, with 21% having a low dietary diversity score, 12% having a high score, and 67% having a moderate score. Factors associated with nutritional status were place of residence, type of delivery, and age, while the dietary diversity score was associated with school level and BMI of adolescents. The data from the study show that the diet of adolescents in the Khemisset region of Morocco is moderately diversified. In addition, the prevalence of underweight and overweight was worrying, underlining the need for multiple strategic interventions to improve the health status of adolescents.

A scoping review of community-based mental health intervention for children and adolescents in South Asia.

Abstract Children and adolescents in South Asia are exposed to significant mental health risks. Yet, policy to prevent or treat youth mental health problems in this context is underdeveloped, and services are difficult to access. Community-based mental health treatment may offer a potential solution, by increasing resource capacity in deprived settings. However, little is known about the current community-based mental health provision for South Asian youth. A scoping review was conducted across six scientific databases and hand searching of reference lists to identify relevant studies. Study selection and data extraction were performed by three independent reviewers using predefined criteria, an adapted version of the template for intervention description and replication checklist and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. The search identified 19 relevant studies published from January 2000 to March 2020. Studies most frequently addressed PTSD and autism, were conducted in India and Sri Lanka, used education-based intervention and were based in urban school settings. Community-based mental health provision for the South Asian youth is in its infancy, but holds promise for providing essential resources to treat or prevent mental health disorder. New insights on approaches are discussed, which are valuable for South Asian settings, primarily task-shifting and stigma reduction, with implications for policy, practice and research.

School counseling for college and career readiness using Existential Theory model: A humanistic approach to counseling students of color in urban school settings

AbstractUrban school counselors face unique challenges, and traditional approaches have proven inadequate. Grounded in existential theory and Super's Career theory, the School Counseling for College and Career Readiness Using Existential Theory (S3CRET) model fosters identity development and existentialist understanding within postsecondary decision‐making. Implications and suggestions for implementation are discussed.

The English Language Arts hundred years’ war: Subverting the stigma of film in America’s English classroom

Against the backdrop of the century-long stigma associated with film in America’s English classroom, which persists despite its codification in the English Language Arts (ELA) standards, this study investigated the question: How do American high-school English teachers make sense of and instruct with film? Employing semi-structured interviews with 12 high-school English teachers who instruct with film, from suburban, urban, rural and private school settings, the findings suggest that the stigma staining film in America’s English classroom is systemic. Participants shared their view that film is not an inherently passive medium, and when purposefully and actively facilitated, it possesses unique and efficacious pedagogic promise. Employing strategies typically associated with teaching printed texts, maintaining high classroom expectations, and integrating twenty-first-century pedagogic technologies when teaching with film may allow instructors to fulfil film’s remarkable learning potential, and consequently subvert misperceptions of, malpractices with, and the stigma surrounding film in America’s English classroom.

Assessment of a Program for SARS-CoV-2 Screening and Environmental Monitoring in an Urban Public School District

Scalable programs for school-based SARS-CoV-2 testing and surveillance are needed to guide in-person learning practices and inform risk assessments in kindergarten through 12th grade settings. To characterize SARS-CoV-2 infections in staff and students in an urban public school setting and evaluate test-based strategies to support ongoing risk assessment and mitigation for kindergarten through 12th grade in-person learning. This pilot quality improvement program engaged 3 schools in Omaha, Nebraska, for weekly saliva polymerase chain reaction testing of staff and students participating in in-person learning over a 5-week period from November 9 to December 11, 2020. Wastewater, air, and surface samples were collected weekly and tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA to evaluate surrogacy for case detection and interrogate transmission risk of in-building activities. SARS-CoV-2 detection in saliva and environmental samples and risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection. A total of 2885 supervised, self-collected saliva samples were tested from 458 asymptomatic staff members (mean [SD] age, 42.9 [12.4] years; 303 women [66.2%]; 25 Black or African American [5.5%], 83 Hispanic [18.1%], 312 White [68.1%], and 35 other or not provided [7.6%]) and 315 students (mean age, 14.2 [0.7] years; 151 female students [48%]; 20 Black or African American [6.3%], 201 Hispanic [63.8%], 75 White [23.8%], and 19 other race or not provided [6.0%]). A total of 46 cases of SARS-CoV-2 (22 students and 24 staff members) were detected, representing an increase in cumulative case detection rates from 1.2% (12 of 1000) to 7.0% (70 of 1000) among students and from 2.1% (21 of 1000) to 5.3% (53 of 1000) among staff compared with conventional reporting mechanisms during the pilot period. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in wastewater samples from all pilot schools as well as in air samples collected from 2 choir rooms. Sequencing of 21 viral genomes in saliva specimens demonstrated minimal clustering associated with 1 school. Geographical analysis of SARS-CoV-2 cases reported district-wide demonstrated higher community risk in zip codes proximal to the pilot schools. In this study of staff and students in 3 urban public schools in Omaha, Nebraska, weekly screening of asymptomatic staff and students by saliva polymerase chain reaction testing was associated with increased SARS-CoV-2 case detection, exceeding infection rates reported at the county level. Experiences differed among schools, and virus sequencing and geographical analyses suggested a dynamic interplay of school-based and community-derived transmission risk. Collectively, these findings provide insight into the performance and community value of test-based SARS-CoV-2 screening and surveillance strategies in the kindergarten through 12th grade educational setting.

TeaTime4Schools: Using Data Mining Techniques to Model Litter Decomposition in Austrian Urban School Soils

Litter decomposition plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle, but is difficult to measure on a global scale, especially by citizen scientists. Here, citizen scientists, i.e., school students with their teachers, used the globally applied and standardized Tea Bag Index (TBI) method to collect data on litter decomposition in urban areas in Austria. They also sampled soils to investigate the linkages between litter decomposition and soil attributes. For this study, 54 sites were selected from the school experiments and assembled into a TBI dataset comprising litter decomposition rates (k), stabilization factors (S), as well as soil and environmental attributes. An extensive pre-processing procedure was applied to the dataset, including attribute selection and discretization of the decomposition rates and stabilization factors into three categories each. Data mining analyses of the TBI data helped reveal trends in litter decomposition. We generated predictive models (classification trees) that identified the soil attributes governing litter decomposition. Classification trees were developed for both of the litter decomposition parameters: decomposition rate (k) and stabilization factor (S). The main governing factor for both decomposition rate (k) and stabilization factor (S) was the sand content of the soils. The data mining models achieved an accuracy of 54.0 and 66.7% for decomposition rates and stabilization factors, respectively. The data mining results enhance our knowledge about the driving forces of litter decomposition in urban soils, which are underrepresented in soil monitoring schemes. The models are very informative for understanding and describing litter decomposition in urban settings in general. This approach may also further encourage participatory researcher-teacher-student interactions and thus help create an enabling environment for cooperation for further citizen science research in urban school settings.

The Effect of Video Self-Modeling for Black Boys with Challenging Behaviors in an Urban Setting

Black boys generally have the most disparate outcomes (i.e. exclusionary punishment and office referrals) in regard to discipline in schools, which necessitates the need for interventions to help alleviate this issue. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a video self-modeling (VSM) intervention on students’ challenging behaviors in an urban school setting. Utilizing an A-B-A-B withdrawal design, four Black boys in elementary school participated in the intervention. Results of visual analysis and Tau-U (Zion −1, p = 0.0018; DeAndre −1, p = 0.0027; and Malik = −0.6775, p = 0.0343) indicated significant and positive effects of VSM in relation to students’ behavior. Furthermore, teachers found the intervention to be acceptable based on the Intervention Rating Profile-15 (IRP-15). Future research and implications for the use of video self-modeling in urban schools are discussed.

Evaluating the Financial Sustainability of the School-Based Telemedicine Asthma Management Program.

Using telemedicine to improve asthma management in underserved communities has been shown to be highly effective. However, program operating costs are perceived as the main barrier to dissemination and scaling up. This study evaluated whether a novel, evidence-based School-Based Telemedicine Enhanced Asthma Management (SB-TEAM) program, designed to overcome barriers to care for families of urban school-aged children, can be financially sustainable in real-world urban school settings. Eligible children (n = 400) had physician-diagnosed asthma with persistent or poorly controlled symptoms at baseline. Total costs included the cost of implementing and running the SB-TEAM program, asthma-related health care costs, cost of caregiver lost productivity in wages related to child illness, and school absenteeism fees. Using data from the SB-TEAM study and national data on wages and equipment costs, the authors modeled low, actual, and high-cost scenarios. The actual cost of administering the SB-TEAM program averaged $344 per child. Expenses incurred by families for medical care ($982), caregiver productivity cost ($415), and school absenteeism costs ($284) in SB-TEAM were not different from the costs in the control group ($1594, $492, and $318 [P > 0.05]). The study findings remained robust under sensitivity analyses for various state- and school-specific regulations, staffing requirements, and wages. The authors concluded that the SB-TEAM program operating costs may be offset by the reduction in health care costs, caregiver lost wages, and school absenteeism associated with the program health benefit.

Towards an organic model of collaborative practice in a post-primary school setting – insights from a teaching and learning group (T&L Club)

This article reports on a case study conducted in an urban post-primary school setting, which investigated a teaching and learning group, called a T&L Club, as a model of sustainable professional development for teachers. The group consisted of 18 members from a whole staff of 90 teachers and had been in existence for four years at the time of the research. The student cohort was approximately 1200 students. The case study is underpinned by theories of communities of practice (COPs), equally referred to as professional learning communities (PLCs), affect and ethics of care theory and teachers’ professional development. Findings show that the T&L Club shares some characteristics with COPs and PLCs but distinguishes itself from them by refusing to incorporate accountability. Members of the group assert that the emotional gains made from the membership of the group act as a continuous source of motivation for their professional development, and these gains ensure the sustainability of the group. Although the group does not possess all the characteristics prevalent in effective PLCs and COPs, according to the literature, nonetheless the group is fulfilling the professional learning needs of its members. The article explores the potential of such a structure to support continuous professional development at a time of immense curriculum reform at the junior cycle level in Ireland.

Supports and Barriers for the Implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in Urban Middle Schools in Low-Income Areas

Identifying factors that help or hinder the implementation of school environment interventions such as the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is needed to inform strategies that bolster implementation quality in low-income urban middle school settings. We used qualitative methods to identify supports and barriers for OBPP implementation from the perspective of administrators, Bullying Prevention Coordinating Committee members, and teaching staff at two urban middle schools in low-income attendance zones that primarily served African-American adolescents. Interviews and focus groups with 42 participants (Mage = 46; 74% female; 79% African-American) yielded seven themes that impeded OBPP implementation: (1) lack of time, (2) unanticipated changes and events, (3) varying staff commitment and implementation consistency, (4) school context, climate, and structural changes, (5) difficulty identifying bullying incidents, (6) social media influences that exacerbated bullying behaviors, and (7) limited fiscal and staff resources. Participants also identified four themes that supported implementation: (1) endorsing the OBPP as seen by administrator prioritization of the program and staff presence, involvement, and commitment, (2) staffs’ clear communication about OBPP roles and responsibilities, and teamwork and collaboration within and across levels of organizational leadership, (3) intervention dynamics (e.g., flexibility in class meeting delivery), and (4) logistics such as having support materials for class meetings and staffing resources. These findings inform OBPP efforts, especially those focused on enhancing program implementation in urban middle school settings located in low-income areas.

Teacher corps stability: articulating the social capital enabled when teachers stay

PurposeThe evidence is strong that the instability of teacher rosters in urban school settings has negative consequences for student learning, but our concern is with the opposite phenomenon: What is the value added to the organization when a school's teaching roster is stable over time? Our theory of teacher corps stability hinges on the claim that the stability of a teacher corps over time is a sine qua non that, under certain conditions, permits formation of the social capital needed to catalyze school effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachWe test this claim using longitudinal data from 72 schools in a large, urban southwestern US school district. We first identified a subset of 47 schools with either chronic teacher turnover (high, stable turnover) or a stable teacher roster (low, stable turnover) via school-level HLM growth modeling techniques. These classifications were then used as a covariate in a series of HLM growth models investigating its relationship to growth in structural, relational and cognitive social capital over time.FindingsOur findings sustain a claim of the importance of teacher corps stability. In our sample of urban schools, we found robust increases in the relational and cognitive dimensions of social capital over time in those schools with stable rosters. Furthermore, schools with chronic turnover were declining significantly in relational social capital, but no appreciable growth in structural social capital was found in either stable roster or chronic teacher turnover schools.Practical implicationsGiven the nature of teacher corps stability and its relationship to key organizational outcomes, school leaders play a central role in realizing teacher corps stability within their school. A certain amount of this effort must necessarily be focused on retaining a stable corps of quality, happy, committed teachers. However, building social capital concerns the active engagement of all actors; thus, school leaders need to think beyond retention to how the teachers that remain can play larger leadership roles in this process.Originality/valueFew studies have examined the positive benefits that can emerge in schools where the majority of teachers remain year after year. Collectively, the study findings suggest that teacher corps stability can provide fertile conditions for the development of social capital that has the potential to enhance school effectiveness and that its staff can leverage for school improvement.

Cultivating the Sense-of-the-Other/Sense of Community: An Autoethnographic Case Study of Psychotherapy with High-Risk, Urban Adolescents

This paper presents an autoethnographic case study in order to discuss interpersonal psychotherapy and work conducted with high-risk adolescents in an urban school setting. The author discusses how the sense-of-the-other developed by counseling sessions possibly fosters a sense of connection for students, and the sense of belonging to a school. This paper argues that counselors often encounter students’ resistance and/or hesitance to mental health counseling because of a lack of awareness of such services within the wider community. Such cultural barriers should be taken into account in order to understand better the lived-experiences of a community. Group sessions, or the facets of the interactions at school that successfully facilitated self-expression, could function as a safe refuge for students and ultimately develop a sense of community. Such an educational context possibly constitutes a link between marginalized individuals and a school in a community.

What Do Preschool Teachers Know About Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Does It Impact Ratings of Child Impairment?

Among preschool children referred for psychological assessment and intervention, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed disorder. In order to create school-based interventions that are consistently and effectively implemented by teachers, it is important to understand teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about ADHD, as studies have identified lack of knowledge as a barrier to treatment integrity. The present study seeks to fill the important gaps of previous work and gain an understanding of preschool teachers’ knowledge and opinions of ADHD, and how knowledge of ADHD impacts teachers’ perceptions of child impairment across domains. The present study includes teachers (n = 107; 97.2% female; 59.2% Hispanic or Latino; 16.8% Black or African-American) of ethnically and linguistically diverse preschool students in an urban school setting who were being referred for a summer treatment program. Teachers’ knowledge of ADHD was investigated and related to teacher characteristics (i.e., education, years of experience, classroom type, professional development) and ratings of child impairment across domains. Overall, preschool teachers achieved 38.3% accuracy on the knowledge of ADHD measure, with highest levels of inaccurate knowledge related to the symptoms and treatment for ADHD. Generally, teachers with more misperceptions and knowledge gaps regarding ADHD rated children as more impaired on several domains. The results of the current study reveal large gaps in preschool teacher knowledge of ADHD. As such, there are important implications for future teacher training and professional development.