This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Dennis N. Corash, Eunjung Lee, Bongani D. Bantwini, Kathryn M. Obenchain, Pat Thomson, Robyn Ewing, David Grueber, Julie L. Pennington, Lesley Scanlon, and Terry Wrigley.
(2012). Pedagogies of Transformation: Keeping Hope Alive in Troubled Times, Critical Studies in Education. This paper seeks to challenge the view that there are no alternatives today to global neo-liberalism and its manifestation within schooling systems and educational practices, particularly as high stakes testing and reductive pedagogies and curricula. The paper challenges the fast and shallow learning endemic to these practices, arguing instead for a different temporality of learning and school change. Indeed, the paper argues that there is a pressing need for progressive educational change and that ideas are an important component for such change and for rethinking practices, although not enough in and of themselves. The paper works with a broad Enlightenment construction of pedagogies and a conception of school reform framed by values of democratic citizenship and social responsibility and the need to connect with school communities, especially those communities disadvantaged by contemporary economic and policy settings. In disadvantaged communities, schools and teachers need to work with community funds of knowledge to scaffold to valorised high status school knowledge. The school also needs to function as a quasi democratic "polis", while the reach of curriculum needs to be global. The focus of the paper is thinking about new pedagogies of teaching and school change as resources for hope. [More] Descriptors: School Restructuring, Democracy, Disadvantaged, Educational Practices
(2012). Competing Issues in Australian Primary Curriculum: Learning from International Experiences, Education 3-13. There is no doubt that the increasing politicisation of education in an economically rationalist climate is contributing to less equity, access, participation and, therefore, social justice for many Australian primary children. This article initially explores how the development of the impending national Australian curriculum replete with a high stakes testing regime and a website, "My School", with its propensity to create league tables is problematic if an improved quality education for all Australian children is the goal. It contends that continuing to ignore the need for new ways of thinking about curriculum and pedagogy will continue to contribute to educational inequities. Recent research and writing from similar educational initiatives in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America support these assertions. Secondly, this article discusses the need to consider research about the potential role the arts can play in transforming children's learning across the curriculum to improve both academic and affective outcomes. The implications for teacher education and the preparation of primary teachers for the profession are considered throughout the discussion. [More] Descriptors: Social Justice, Educational Quality, Educational Change, Foreign Countries
(2012). Integrating Reading, Science, and Social Studies: Using the Bogan Differentiated Instruction Model, Online Submission. In the age of standardized testing, science and social studies are not given the same priority as mathematics and reading in the curriculum of United States schools. High stakes testing is viewed as having heavily biased schools toward teaching tested subjects and away from less frequently tested subjects. This paper is premised on the notion that all subjects are important and none should be neglected; and the general education classroom can be best described as a place for learning with inclusion as the focus. Essential is a model for integrating reading, science, and social studies to enhance inquiry, problem-solving, interest, critical thinking skills, and learning. To meet the standards of inclusion teachers need a model that helps to integrate the content standards, incorporates backward design philosophy, gives a standard format for lesson framework, and allows for differentiated instruction and flexible grouping to teach via inclusion of using taxonomies for adapted learning. Thus, the authors present and discuss the BDIM (Bogan Differentiated Instruction Model) which combines major teaching concepts to develop interdisciplinary teaching. This model addresses the concept of adding differentiated instruction to curriculum integration. In conclusion, a framework that ensures that the lesson objectives and essential questions are interrelated is presented. [More] Descriptors: Individualized Instruction, Curriculum Development, Social Studies, Educational Change
(2012). Visibility, Availability, Credibility: School Personnel and Community Involvement, Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review. In these days of high stakes testing, it is imperative that a sense of trust and mutual respect be developed for all stakeholders–students, parents, and school personnel–as they work together for optimal student achievement. A simple conversation can often open the doors of understanding. If parents and guardians feel at ease with their child's teacher, they will be more apt to ask questions or seek help for their child. Students must be able to trust their teachers and that trust can be heavily influenced by an educator's perception of their students' family and the community as a whole. When educators participate in community events, they will come to learn about students' family dynamics and inter-family relationships. Strategies for community involvement are diverse, and credibility must be earned and validated over a period of time. This article provides several ways school staff can get involved with the community. Active participation by school personnel is imperative for positive working relationships in the community. The benefits for both staff and community are clear. Community knowledge can be shared between school personnel, and families and students can get help to improve academically. [More] Descriptors: Stakeholders, School Personnel, Credibility, Family Relationship
(2012). Keeping Young Gifted Students Engaged through Science, Understanding Our Gifted. Many children fall in love with science at an early age. There is just something about exploring critters, crud, gears, pulleys, and other "stuff" that has fascinated generations of young students. Unfortunately, in many schools across the nation, science in the elementary classroom is relegated to the back burner as other curricular areas have become more important in the eyes of many teachers, parents, schools, and districts. It is frequently the subject replaced by practice for high stakes testing. When it is offered, it is commonly textbook based reading about science rather than truly doing science. Few in the world of gifted education would dispute the need for science to be offered to all children. In this article, the authors assert that science, the real "doing" of science, is a highly effective avenue by which many gifted students stay engaged and motivated to learn throughout their formal education; remaining passionate to learn the worlds' secrets, answer many of its questions and solve some of its most pressing problems. [More] Descriptors: Academically Gifted, Learner Engagement, Learning Motivation, Young Children
(2012). Helping Students to Become Money Smart, Journal of Instructional Psychology. Being money smart has value that offers individuals skills for a lifetime. "Lawmakers had no way of knowing in 2007 that the U. S. economic situation would be where it is today, making financial education for students now even more crucial than at any other time in recent history" (Black, 2009, p. 1). According to Beverly & Burkhalter (2005, p. 1), financial education or financial literacy is the "knowledge and skills related to money management." With the increased focus on preparing students for high-stakes testing in schools, a reasonable approach to teaching students about being money smart (financial literacy) is through varied instructional methods. It is recognized that the knowledge of money enables "changes in financial behavior" (Johnson & Sherraden, 2007, p. 122). Hence, from early childhood to adulthood, the value of money has significance. "To ensure that students make sound financial decisions as adults, financial education experts contend that schools and families should start fostering financial literacy before the teen years" (Allen, 2009, p. 5). As teachers and educators, we are responsible to enhance learning in our classrooms and prepare students. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the opportunities and strategies to teach students to be money smart. Godfrey (2006) states, "Our children are financially illiterate and unable to inherit the global economy unless we start to educate them in elementary school" (p. 1). [More] Descriptors: Money Management, Financial Services, Teaching Methods, Educational Strategies
(2012). Valuing Little Steps toward Inquiry, Science and Children. In a climate of high-stakes testing that emphasizes content, it can be challenging to teach science from an inquiry perspective. In addition there is a widespread call for a new approach to science education that includes science practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas (NRC 2011). However, it is not imperative for teachers to implement elaborate units of study to build a classroom environment conducive to inquiry. It is important to value little steps toward the full practice of science inquiry. These steps can involve small but significant shifts in the ways teachers present core ideas and encourage students to communicate their scientific thinking. This article illustrates ways that science educators can lay groundwork that nurtures an environment for inquiry-based science instruction in their own classrooms. The authors share here examples of "little steps" from second-, third-, and fourth-grade classrooms where teachers were involved in a yearlong project funded by the state department of education. The goal of the grant was to provide professional development for certified elementary teachers who had minimal preparation in teaching inquiry-based science. [More] Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Science Instruction, Elementary School Teachers, Inquiry
(2012). "Why Didn't They Ask Me?": Student Perspectives on a School Improvement Initiative, Improving Schools. This is the first in a series of articles which will examine the results of a qualitative, longitudinal study of school improvement initiatives from the perspective of school stakeholders. The article captures the responses of students from a low socio-economic status school in NSW, Australia to a school initiative that restructured the learning and teaching environment of the senior school. This initiative, undertaken in the context of high stakes testing and public accountability, aimed to "break the cultural mould" of poor attendance, retention and below state average examination results in the senior school. After explaining the senior school restructure, the article briefly reviews the literature on cultural change and student voice within the context of school improvement. The qualitative methodology is examined and this is followed by an exploration of the findings where students identify the salient dimensions of the initiative which had an impact on their learning and teaching environment. The discussion examines the findings within the context of the research literature of school improvement, cultural change and transition. [More] Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Accountability, Stakeholders, Foreign Countries
(2012). One Size Fits All: The Increasing Standardisation of English Teachers' Work in England, English Teaching: Practice and Critique. English teachers in England have experienced a lengthy period of external constraint, increasingly controlling their practice. This constraint was originated in the 1989 National curriculum. Although in its first version it was in harmony with practice, its numerous revisions have moved it a long way from teachers' own values and beliefs. This move is illustrated through research into the teaching of literature, which is seen by English teachers as often arid and driven by examinations alone. This period has been increasingly dominated by high-stakes testing, school league tables and frequent school inspections. Another powerful element has been the introduction of Standards for teachers at every career level from student teachers to the Advanced Skills Teachers. Research demonstrates that this introduction of Standards has had some beneficial effects. However, research also shows that the government decision to replace all these, hierarchically structured standards, with a single standard is seen by many teachers as a retrograde step. Evidence from Advanced Skills Teachers of English shows that the government's additional proposal to bring in a Master Teacher standard is equally problematic. The decline of the National Association for the Teaching of English, the key subject association for English teachers, is discussed in relation to this increasingly negative and constraining environment, concluding that many English teachers are choosing a form of local resistance which, while understandable, weakens the credibility of the profession and erodes the influence of its key voice, NATE. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Teaching (Occupation), National Standards, Neoliberalism
(2012). Exploring Self-Esteem in a Girls' Sports Program: Competencies and Connections Create Change, Afterschool Matters. Self-esteem has been problematic for researchers because it is complex, stable, and hard to measure. When assessing the self-esteem of out-of-school time (OST) program participants, some researchers may think their instruments will not detect changes, either because the program does not last long enough to make a difference or because self-esteem is multidimensional and difficult to change. Some may respond to high-stakes testing and the pressure to demonstrate program outcomes by assessing concepts or behaviors with the strongest potential to show change, regardless of how they fit with program objectives. These responses can create a chasm between practitioners and researchers. Practitioners see firsthand that participants change how they feel about themselves, but researchers either have trouble capturing this phenomenon or are substituting other attributes for self-esteem. This article attempts to address these gaps by reviewing research about self-esteem and adolescent girls, presenting findings from a study exploring girls' experiences in a sports-based youth development program, and attempting to engage practitioners and researchers in new conversations about self-esteem and how they assess it. [More] Descriptors: Females, After School Programs, Researchers, Athletics
(2012). Linking Learning: Connecting Traditional and Media Literacies in 21st Century Learning, Journal of Media Literacy Education. Media literacy, the abilities "to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of forms" (NAMLE), is necessary to help people understand the information presented to them and make informed decisions. However, despite decades of work to include media literacy education in academic learning (Hobbs and Jensen 2009), American education continues to emphasize its focus on testing of traditional literacy. While there must be continued efforts to teach new literacies in mainstream education, it is also crucial for educators to understand how traditional literacies can be supported by media literacy in ways that meet the demands of today's high-stakes testing environment. This article strives to do just that: detail key links between literacy in its most traditional sense and how people are reading and writing in the 21st century so educators can immediately help learners build media literacy skills while developing traditionally tested skills and critical thinking abilities demanded in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative. [More] [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, State Standards, Testing, Media Literacy
(2012). Exploring Equity Properties in Equating Using AP® Examinations. Research Report No. 2012-4, College Board. In almost all high-stakes testing programs, test equating is necessary to ensure that test scores across multiple test administrations are equivalent and can be used interchangeably. Test equating becomes even more challenging in mixed-format tests, such as Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) Exams, that contain both multiple-choice and constructed response items. This report examines (1) the performance of various equating methods in terms of first- and second-order equity properties using mixed-format tests; (2) the effect of underlying psychometric models on the assessment of the performance of the equating methods; and (3) the relationship between reliability and equity properties in equating. Three AP Exams (Biology, English Language and Composition, and French Language and Culture) were analyzed with the common-item, nonequivalent-groups design. The 11 equating methods were analyzed, and the results were obtained and compared based upon two different psychometric model frameworks: the two-parameter beta binomial and item-response theory (IRT). In general, the results showed that the performance of various equating methods in terms of equity properties depended on the psychometric model assumed. Furthermore, this report provides empirical evidence that the magnitude of reliability plays a role in achieving the equity properties for the various equating methods. Tables and figures are appended. [More] Descriptors: Test Construction, Test Interpretation, Test Norms, Test Reliability
(2012). The (Absent) Politics of Neo-Liberal Education Policy, Critical Studies in Education. Despite its ideological saturation, recent neo-liberal education policy has been deeply depoliticising in the sense of reducing properly political concerns to matters of technical efficiency. This depoliticisation is reflected in the hegemony of a managerial discourse and the decontestation of terms like "quality" and "effectiveness", as well as in the apparent consensus around the necessity of particular practices, such as the adoption of "standards" and the implementation of high-stakes testing regimes. The reduction of the political to the technical is not only anti-political but also anti-democratic, with violence often unrecognised behind appeals to consensus, commonsense and "rationality". This study draws on the work of political theorists like Mouffe and Ranciere to critique the depoliticisation reflected in recent Australian federal government recent education policy, particularly its notion of an "education revolution" that pre-empts politics through a utopian harmonisation of difference and a reduction of the political to the merely technical and instrumental. This article concludes with some potential starting points for crossing, or traversing, fantasies in education which, along with a recognition of the inescapability of social and political antagonisms, could serve as a basis for a renewed emphasis on the importance of the political in education policy. [More] Descriptors: Neoliberalism, Educational Policy, Ideology, High Stakes Tests
(2012). We Elect a President: Using Literature to Teach Decision-Making Skills, Social Studies and the Young Learner. The integration of social studies and literacy is often touted as a way to bring social studies back into the literacy- and math-dominated classroom of the high-stakes testing era. Curricular integration done well is difficult; if done poorly, essential social studies content, concepts, and skills may be only superficially addressed. The authors designed a four-day presidential election lesson to explicitly teach content, concepts, and skills in both social studies and literacy. They used children's literature as the vehicle to teach the social studies concept of voting and skills of decision-making, as well as the social studies and literacy skills of reading and interpreting various types of texts. The overarching goal of this lesson is for students in the second and third grade to understand that choosing a president is an important decision made by citizens. Specific learning objectives include: (1) identifying the qualities of a good leader; (2) identifying the president as the leader of the United States; (3) establishing criteria to make a decision; (4) reading and identifying details from text; (5) comparing and contrasting information in various texts; and (6) writing and using information from texts. [More] Descriptors: High Stakes Tests, Childrens Literature, Literacy, Social Studies
(2012). Teachers' Perceptions of the Use of an External Change Agent in School Curriculum Change, Australian Educational Researcher. An external change agent (ECA) was recently employed in three Queensland schools to align the school curriculum with the requirements of the state's high stakes test known as the Queensland Core Skills test (QCS). This paper reports on the teachers' perceptions of a change process led by an ECA. With the ever-increasing implementation of high stakes testing in Australian schools, teachers are under mounting pressure to produce "results". Therefore, in order to maximise their students' success in these tests, schools are altering their curricula to incorporate the test requirements. Rather than the traditional method of managing such curriculum change processes internally, there is a growing trend for principals to source external expertise in the form of ECAs. Although some academics, teachers, and much of the relevant literature, would regard such a practice as problematic, this study found that in fact, teachers were quite open to externally led curriculum change, especially if they perceived the leader to be knowledgeable and creditable in this area. [More] Descriptors: Teacher Attitudes, Curriculum Development, Alignment (Education), Outsourcing