Presumably, everyone shares the understanding that teaching for social justice means providing students with a supportive learning environment that is just, fair, democratic, and even compassionate. In reality, people are probably using this term to mean many things without actually embracing it as a perspective for educating students in urban school settings. In this article, the author examines the different definitions and conceptualizations offered by a number of educator-researchers on...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Justice, Urban Schools, Student Diversity, Cultural Pluralism, Teaching Methods,...
School districts often struggle on how to close the digital divide. Digital divide represents students' equity in learning opportunity and productive participation in society. Some schools have this mistaken notion that the problem on digital divide could only be solved by merely providing students with more access to technology. However, the problem on digital divide could only be solved by providing equitable learning opportunities for all students. In this article, the author relates how his...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Access to Computers, School Districts, Educational Opportunities, Equal Education,...
When a teacher plans instruction, he has in mind some prototypical students or group: someone like himself or some group similar to his in ability. With this conception of the prototypical students or group, he teaches only one-third of students to reach a level of achievement. At the end of semester, most teachers give their grades, generally reflecting students' IQ scores, according to a normal distribution curve. There are good learners and poor learners, faster learners and slow learners in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching Methods, Outcomes of Education, Educational Change, Educational Objectives,...
Teachers play a key role in alleviating or exacerbating educational inequality across the nation. Oftentimes this educational inequality is based on ethnicity, class, and gender as well as additional cultural factors. It is essential that teacher education programs include courses that address multicultural issues with the goal of developing true respect for those who are different than one's self. In order to gain respect for "all" others, pre-service teachers need to first...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Equal Education, Cultural Influences, Teacher Education...
Education Queensland's New Basics project has extended conceptions of "equity" to incorporate dimensions such as higher order thinking and student control of classroom activity. This requires a critique of the outcomes attained by even high achieving students. It is therefore useful to interrogate professional discourses that shape pedagogies for particular groups of students. In this paper, discourses on "the Chinese learner" are reviewed. The review raises new issues of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cultural Influences, Academic Achievement, Immigrants, Equal Education, High...
The lack of valid, research-based methods to identify potential artistic talent hampers the inclusion of the arts in programs for the gifted and talented. The Talent Assessment Process in Dance, Music, and Theater (D/M/T TAP) was designed to identify potential performing arts talent in diverse populations, including bilingual and special education students and students who have had no prior formal arts instruction. Research results over 13 years in elementary schools in New York and Ohio...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Talent, Art Education, Prediction, Construct Validity, Content Validity, Interrater...
Dr. Robinson's proposed action plan will serve the needs of highly achieving gifted students. However, defining giftedness as high academic performance based on traditional assessment procedures could reverse the field's fledgling success in supporting culturally diverse gifted children and youth. Changing the focus of equity in gifted education to economic representation will not decrease educators' responsibility to understand the learning needs of racially, culturally, and linguistically...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Academically Gifted, Equal Education, Access to Education, Student...
Gifted students in our nation's schools are being denied needed services because enrollment of underserved minorities in special classes is typically disproportionate. This disproportionality is a direct result of long-standing social inequities and the consequences of poverty. We are punishing the innocent for the sins of a society that has been unable to conquer these problems. A number of well-intentioned remedies have been attempted, but we need to take care that we do not, in the name of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academically Gifted, Equal Education, Minority Groups, Disproportionate...
Grappling with the issues of equity and excellence has become evermore complex, solutions seem more and more remote as the divides between socioeconomic groups become greater and greater, and the ethnic diversity of the student population continues to present ever-increasing stress on the educational system. Robinson's concerns that redress to inequities has been at the expense of a particular subgroup of gifted students are serious. The concerns should spark an important discussion within the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academically Gifted, Self Contained Classrooms, Academic Achievement, Educational...
How should district and school leaders improve education for students traditionally underserved by public education: by increasing control over teaching and curriculum, or by empowering groups of teachers to have more collective autonomy, responsibility, and opportunities for professional learning? The second approach--promoting multiple trajectories of learning among groups of teachers--has advantages, as well as some challenges, as a means of closing various achievement gaps. Sociocultural...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Teacher Collaboration, Educational Change, English (Second...
This article concerns the tragedy of the misuse of power and the power of imagined inferiority. African Americans must lose misconceptions about the majority, heighten understanding about being Black in America and how that makes their children vulnerable to this nation's worst, stop fighting losing battles like affirmative action, and find and maintain a position of power and strength. Here, the reader should note that the full onus of responsibility is on African Americans, and the authors...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African Americans, African American Community, Affirmative Action, Misconceptions,...
Certainly, individuals in many colleges and public schools address the impact of race, class, and power on schools, yet the institutions as a whole continue, even a year after Katrina, to ignore the imperative to explicitly and consistently deal with these issues. Human justice must become an institutional mantra, not just the conversation of a few. The outrage produced by the continuing neglect and abuse of the citizens of New Orleans, America's citizens, must be addressed. In this article,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Social Justice, Natural Disasters, Racial Factors, School Role, Teacher Role, Urban...
There is no shortage of places in higher education--most noncompetitive colleges could admit more students, but institutions often struggle to get the class that they want. Professionals consider the admission process successful when they are able to configure a class that meets the institution's many missions and notions, rather than just attracting a general group of students who want to learn. Therefore, admission actions and policies, to some extent, create a mismatch in supply and demand...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Admission Criteria, Student Recruitment, Access to Education,...
In this article, the author talks about the disproportionate gap in the graduation rates in colleges and universities, which highlights the need for the higher education community to rethink strategies for improving the retention of students of color. To increase the graduation rates of students of color, the author suggests addressing the issue of the hidden curriculum, the unwritten and unspoken values, dispositions, and social and behavioral expectations that govern the interactions between...
Topics: ERIC Archive, First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Graduation Rate, Affirmative...
Research indicates that there is a correlation between exposure of violence in the media and in entertainment and student behavior. Many students have been victims themselves of violent, verbal, and physical assaults. Classroom teachers and educators continue to address this issue locally in classrooms and in their schools. Amid the various questions that emerge from the need to address violence and equity issues in society, three central questions stand out: What is Peace Education? What is...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Multicultural Education, Student Behavior, Teacher...
In the Fall of 2003, the Office of Human Relations Programs (OHRP), the campus-wide equity compliance and diversity education arm of the Office of the President at the University of Maryland, College Park, created, developed, and began implementation of the three-year "Social Justice from Classroom to Community" (SJCC) project through its Student Intercultural Learning Center (SILC). This article is the first of three in a non-consecutive series of articles on the SJCC project. This...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Human Relations Programs, Student Diversity, Human Relations, Learning Centers...
In the last two decades the proportion of children of color in public schools in the U.S. has increased to about 40%. However, this has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in teachers of color. Many college and university teaching institutions have attempted to deal with the increase in the number of students of color in the public schools and the lack of minority teaching candidates by increasing the number of courses offered on diversity as part of their teaching programs....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, College Students, Public Schools, Multicultural...
In this case study, South Carolina's gifted education policy development, changes, and implementation are explored from three perspectives: policymakers, linkers, and adopters. Document review and individual and focus group interviews with policymakers, those who develop statute, regulation, and policy; linkers, district persons who implement policy; and adopters, school-based persons, comprised data sources. Research questions include how did general education reform create change in gifted...
Topics: ERIC Archive, General Education, Gifted, Focus Groups, Educational Change, Case Studies,...
Teaching in a regular classroom has become more complicated than ever with increased student diversity and pressure to connect learning experiences to educational standards and test preparation. Although teaching to the middle is often what occurs in traditional classrooms to meet required standards, it is neither an appropriate nor meaningful method of instruction for coping with the inclusion of both students who are gifted those who have learning disabilities or other disabling conditions....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Independent Study, Gifted, Learning Disabilities, Student Diversity, Science...
For decades, educators and researchers have observed practices of educational inequality in U.S. schools. In a multicultural democracy, schooling without educational equality constitutes injustice. This article explores the limitation of the current traditional teacher education in preparing highly competent and socially conscious teachers needed for today's urban school communities. Specifically, it explores traditional practices in teacher education and how they might contribute to the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Education, Urban Schools, Equal Education, Teacher Education Programs,...
Reflecting on her experiences as an educator over the past four years, the author realizes that the Center for the Study of Border Pedagogy (Bord Pedagogy) has profoundly shaped her vision for education, significantly changed her instructional practice, and effectively focused her efforts for social justice and equity in multicultural schools. During her first year as a professor of education, she joined Border Pedagogy's group of visionary educators from schools on both sides of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Foreign Countries, Justice, Teaching Methods,...
A four year panel study at an ethnically diverse commuter university examines the relationships among assessments of professor performance, GPA, academic program satisfaction, and perceptions of equal treatment of students of varying ethno-racial origins. Repeated analyses of variance indicate that although the first three of these variables do not clearly divide on the basis of ethno-racial origin, non-European origin students are more likely than those of European origin to perceive that not...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Diversity, Grade Point Average, Personality Traits, Satisfaction, College...
This article examines the contribution of the No Child Left Behind Act. The authors believe that the "other means" that can substantially advance equal educational opportunity are to provide "meaningful educational opportunities" for all children in each of the schools that they attend. In this article, the authors discuss meaningful educational opportunity and describe the statutory framework for implementing this standard.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Equal Education, Federal Legislation, Educational Opportunities, Federal Programs,...
Literacy is a process which dispels and promotes rational thinking and moulds human beings into becoming responsible citizens. The absence of literacy directly and indirectly retards the development of individuals, society, community and the country. For the success of any program, people should be motivated by providing necessary congenial environments, socio-economic conditions and committed efforts on the part of implementing bodies. In spite of the number of efforts made by central and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Womens Education, Student Development, Females, Access to...
The author's tertiary learning journey began as a research assistant reviewing educational literature. Among the mountain of lifelong learning literature, the author could find nothing that explained why people are or are not lifelong learners. Eventually he found the British work of Gorard and Selwyn (2005). Mindful of Osborne's (2002) caution about making international comparisons, the author conducted a pilot study investigating whether there might be a "prima facie" case for the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Assistants, Lifelong Learning, Foreign Countries, Masters Degrees,...
Current social and economic circumstances are presenting universities with a more diverse general student intake whose support needs are increasingly similar to those of traditionally defined equity groups. This paper examines a Murdoch University equity program to demonstrate that simply increasing access does not always translate into increased benefit. It presents an argument for the restructuring of existing equity enabling programs and increasing transitional support for all students to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Access to Education, Student Diversity, Student Needs, Equal Education, Educationally...
Higher levels of girls and women's participation in targeted areas are widely apparent, particularly in affluent and middle-class sites. Here, we report on research with young middle and upper middle-class high school girls successfully enrolled in non-traditional advanced placement (AP) courses in mathematics, science, and computer programming in a suburban school district in Midwestern USA. Focus group interviews with 45 of the highest achieving students in this affluent suburb revealed...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Advanced Placement, Females, Focus Groups, Sex Fairness, Womens Education, Self...
This study explored the perspectives of a group of teacher educators of color in an effort to capture their perceptions of teaching and teacher education. The purpose of the study was to find out what teacher educators of color bring to their work and to the teaching profession--what are their experiences, goals, intentions, passions, challenges and hopes--and how they see themselves in relation to their White peers. The data indicate that one strong theme that exemplified the responses of all...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Teaching, Preservice Teacher Education, Teaching (Occupation), Multicultural...
Jonathan Kozol's visit to Portland, Oregon, in April 2005 included a dialogue with 55 urban middle and high school students about inequities in American schools. Students left this conversation with a stronger sense of the systemic impediments to equal education. They also felt that their voice had been heard on a topic of national import. This essay suggests that Kozol provided students with a model of patient civic engagement and that teachers who use Kozol's work should build on this...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Equal Education, Middle School Students, High School Students, Urban Schools, Citizen...
PL 94-142, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, was a landmark legislation at it assured "access" to public education for all children, without regard for disabling condition. In this article, the author presents a brief history of PL 94-142 and describes the significant and important changes in special education services since 1975. She discusses that the notion of equal educational opportunity for all students, including those with disabilities, is now part of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Civil Rights, Equal Education, Disabilities, Educational Opportunities, Public...
On November 29, 1975 then President Ford signed the "Education of All Handicapped Children Act" (EAHCA) into law, mandating for the first time that children and youth with disabilities be afforded the right to a free and appropriate public education, individualized programming, parental participation in the decision making process, nondiscriminatory identification and evaluation, instruction in the least restrictive environment, while ensuring families due process rights and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Civil Rights, General Education, Disabilities, Access to Education, Special...
As accrediting associations and ISLLC Standards for School Leaders attest, school leaders have a critical role to insure equitable educational opportunities for diverse students. But how are they being prepared for multicultural leadership in administrator preparation programs? This qualitative study examined and contrasted four different university programs to answer this question. Findings reveal consistency among the programs, with a fairly traditional array of course offerings. While...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Education, Leadership, Administrator Role, Accreditation...
In this paper the authors describe efforts to help students take a stand for social justice in the College of Education at one predominantly White institution in the western Rocky Mountain region. The authors outline the theoretical frameworks that inform this work and the context of our work. The focus is on specific pedagogical strategies used with teacher education students who primarily were from monocultural (Euro-American) communities in their preparation for diversity and equity in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Social Justice, Cultural Pluralism, Schools of Education, Teaching Methods,...
Richard Murnane observes that the American ideal of equality of educational opportunity has for years been more the rhetoric than the reality of the nation's political life. Children living in poverty, he notes, tend to be concentrated in low-performing schools staffed by ill-equipped teachers. They are likely to leave school without the skills needed to earn a decent living in a rapidly changing economy. Murnane describes three initiatives that the federal government could take to improve the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Graduation Rate, Federal Legislation, School Choice, Program Effectiveness,...
The authors introduce readers to the research documenting racial and ethnic gaps in school readiness. They describe the key tests, including the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS), and several intelligence tests, and describe how they have been administered to several important national samples of children. Next, the authors review the different estimates of the gaps and discuss how to interpret these differences. In interpreting test results,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Readiness, Intelligence Tests, Test Results, Test Theory, Family Income,...
Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in "Brown v. Board of Education" that: "Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment--even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white and Negro schools may be equal." Even with a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Economically Disadvantaged, American Indians, Asian Americans, Court...
One of the most profound demographic shifts in the United States during the past two decades has been the dramatic increase in the Hispanic population, driven both by high birth rates relative to other racial and ethnic groups, and by immigration. The Hispanic population grew by 58% from 1990 to 2000, and in 2003 became the largest "minority" community in the country with a total of 38.8 million people. Today, about one in eight Americans is of Hispanic origin. Although 70% of Latinos...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Birth Rate, Hispanic Americans, Immigrants, Minority Groups, Immigration, Well Being,...
Many young children in immigrant families do not have good access to health and education services. To the extent that their life prospects are compromised as a result, these children--and the entire society--suffer. This article discusses the needs of children from birth to age eight, with a particular focus on the education needs of young children in immigrant families. Key observations include the following: (1) Children's skills in kindergarten and their achievement at the end of third...
Topics: ERIC Archive, After School Programs, Young Children, Family Literacy, Immigrants, Interpersonal...
The study reported in this article was focused on the first field experience in a teacher education program developed around themes of equity and social justice within a larger framework of inclusive education. The community-based field experience entails one-on-one mentoring in which elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) work with African American children in local public housing neighborhoods. This field experience challenges PSTs to work with and get to know children, families, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, African American Children, Preservice Teachers,...
The task of successfully preparing teachers in the United State to effectively work with an ever-increasing culturally and linguistically diverse student body represents a pressing challenge for teacher educators. Unfortunately, much of this practice of equipping prospective teachers for working with learners from different backgrounds revolves around exposing these future educators to what are perceived as the best practical strategies to ensure the academic and linguistic development of their...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Critical Theory, Elementary Secondary Education,...
The Academy for Teacher Excellence (ATE) at the University of Texas at San Antonio and San Antonio College is proposed as a comprehensive model whose overarching goals include: (1) creating a learning ecology that values diversity and prepares teacher candidates for work in diverse communities; (2) increasing the number of Latino students pursuing teacher certification; and (3) preparing all teachers for linguistically and culturally diverse populations. ATE's ultimate outcome is to assure that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Certification, Teacher Education, Teacher Competencies, Hispanic Americans,...
This article examines social justice as a vehicle for equity for all children. It focuses on the training of school leaders who can promote democratic schools and address inequality in K-12 schools. It outlines the needs assessment, consensus building, curriculum, and faculty voice in establishing a doctorate in educational justice. (Contains 1 table.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Needs Assessment, Educational Change, Social Justice,...
Historically, educational administration programs have prepared graduates in a "universal, one-size-fits-all" approach. As the K-12 student population becomes increasingly diverse, this approach is no longer viable since it seldom takes into account the urgency implied by the achievement gap. This article reports on a "transformative colloquium" comprised of educational leadership faculty from CSU East Bay, San Jose State, and Fresno State who studied a "leading for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Education, Elementary Secondary Education, Equal Education, Educational...
To engage in the goal of equity requires a certain amount of rage in one's belly. Understanding the context in which we are presently situated regarding our successes and challenges to achieve equity and social justice can serve to inform our future actions as educational leaders.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Educational Change, Social Justice, Equal Education,...
This article addresses the failure of sustainability of reform efforts in public school systems by reconceptualizing the perplexing notion of sustainability through a case study to discern the skill sets needed of principals to sustain reforms in urban settings. This study draws on perceptual data gathered from principals in 36 schools in one urban district. Findings show a difference in the ranking of skill sets among elementary, middle, and high school principals, suggesting the need for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Change, Public Education, Leadership, Principals, Case Studies, Job...
This invited paper explores challenges involved in developing an equity agenda that will create school and district cultures that can effectively address issues of race that are reflected by the achievement gap. Based on a presentation at the Fall 2005 CAPEA conference, the authors explore issues that influence how school systems work and do not work for parents and students of color. The paper also addresses equity and the ways in which educators need to engage with each other and the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Diversity, Principals, Racial Discrimination, Equal Education, Systems...
In this article, the author discusses African American researchers' perspectives on the experiences, impact and success of Black teachers with Black students in public schools. This study builds on an earlier study that focused specifically on these researchers' insights about the impact of the "Brown versus the Topeka Board of Education" decision on Black teachers, Black students, and Black communities. In this study, the author attempts to focus on what is known about successful...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African American Students, African American Teachers, Teacher Student Relationship,...
To the now-expansive literature on the causes and consequences of segregation in schooling and of inequality in educational opportunity in the United States, the author would like to add a call for more attention to the politics of school districting--that is, to how and why districts are created, in the service of whose interests, and with what consequences for students. Towards that end, this article reconstructs the solidification of a school district in upstate New York, the Spackenkill...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Districts, Politics of Education, Case Studies, Educational History, School...
Standard-driven curriculum, evidence of learning through assessment, meaningful performance outcomes, and the growing diversity of student populations are transforming how inclusion is implemented and evaluated. To provide all students with a quality instructional program that meets individual educational needs in the context of political and social justice, a culture of collaboration, community building, and reflective practice is needed. The areas of socio-educational cultural change...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Physical Education, Student Needs, Program Administration, Educational Change, Equal...
In his recent speech at a Harvard commencement ceremony, Bill Gates said that "reducing inequity is the highest human achievement." He recognizes that the problems of global health in this world, the challenges of alleviating poverty and despair, and the wide disparities in educational attainment require significant investment by those with the capacity to change lives--the philanthropic sector, government, and private industry. Gates made clear that, despite his own unique...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Educational Attainment, Equal Education, Educational Opportunities,...