American Educational Research Journal current issue

Reexamining Social Class Differences in the Availability and the Educational Utility of Parental Social Capital

Ream, R. K., Palardy, G. J. — 2008-05-21

Emergent ethnographic research disentangles "social capital" from other components of social class (e.g., material and human capital) to show how class-stratified parental social networks exacerbate educational inequality among schoolchildren. The authors build upon this research by using survey data to reexamine whether certain forms of parental social capital create educational advantages for socioeconomically privileged students vis-à-vis their less economically fortunate peers. By drawing a distinction between the availability of social capital and its convertibility, the authors find that whereas larger stocks of parental social capital accompany higher rungs on the social class ladder, its educational utility is less clearly associated with class status. A possible exception to this pattern pertains to the educational utility of middle-class parents’ ideas about the collective efficacy of influencing school policies and practices. At issue is whether a more inclusive understanding of the material and sociological reasons for educational inequality can spur educationally useful social exchange among parents across social class boundaries.

The Emotional Ambivalence of Socially Just Teaching: A Case Study of a Novice Urban Schoolteacher

Chubbuck, S. M., Zembylas, M. — 2008-05-21

The authors contend that studying emotional perspectives can facilitate understanding of the complexities of socially just teaching. They explore the intersection between emotions and socially just teaching via a case study of a White novice teacher at one urban school as she struggles to formulate socially just teaching practices. Drawing from feminist and critical theory, the authors propose the term critical emotional praxis to denote critical praxis informed by emotional resistance to unjust pedagogical systems and practices. The authors’ analysis may assist in the development of socially just teachers: First, emotions and their expression play an important, ongoing role in socially just teaching, and second, emotional negotiation related to socially just teaching can provide deeper understanding of possible change, perhaps even in counterresponse to wider social, political contexts of schools.

Effects of Schooling on Reading Performance, Reading Engagement, and Reading Activities of 15-Year-Olds in England

Luyten, H., Peschar, J., Coe, R. — 2008-05-21

This article reports the findings of an analysis into the effect of one year’s schooling for 15-year-olds in England on reading performance, reading engagement, and reading activities. The analyses were done on PISA 2000 data by applying a regression discontinuity approach within a multilevel framework. The effect of schooling is estimated as the difference between students from two consecutive grades minus the effect of age. A remarkably modest effect on reading performance was found, and no significant effects were found for the other two measures. The effect on reading performance was found to be somewhat stronger in schools with disadvantaged student populations.

Channel One: When Private Interests and the Public Interest Collide

Blokhuis, J. C. — 2008-05-21

If the notion of public and private spheres seems somehow quaint or old-fashioned, the distinction between public and private corporations will be that much more obscure. Yet Channel One broadcasts in a public school classroom are indisputably the result of a contract between a private corporation (Alloy Media + Marketing) and a public corporation (a local school board). Public school administrators operate within a social and institutional context in which there often appears to be no line between private interests and public interests. The author argues that there is such a line and that public school administrators unwittingly cross it when they make Channel One–type deals. This article examines how the regulatory history of private corporations has shaped the social and institutional context in which public school administrators operate.

Classroom Effects on Children's Achievement Trajectories in Elementary School

Pianta, R. C., Belsky, J., Vandergrift, N., Houts, R., Morrison, F. J. — 2008-05-21

This nonexperimental, longitudinal field study examines the extent to which variation in observed classroom supports (quality of emotional and instructional interactions and amount of exposure to literacy and math activities) predicts trajectories of achievement in reading and math from 54 months to fifth grade. Growth mixture modeling detected two latent classes of readers: fast readers whose skills developed rapidly and leveled off, and a typical group for which reading growth was somewhat less rapid. Only one latent class was identified for math achievement. For reading, there were small positive associations between observed emotional quality of teacher-child interactions and growth. Growth in math achievement showed small positive relations with observed emotional interactions and exposure to math activities. There was a significant interaction between quality and quantity of instruction for reading such that at higher levels of emotional quality there was less of a negative association between amount of literacy exposure and reading growth.

Prospective Teachers' Problem Solving in Online Peer-Led Dialogues

Wade, S. E., Fauske, J. R., Thompson, A. — 2008-05-21

In this self-study of a secondary teacher education course, the authors investigated whether there was evidence of critically reflective problem solving on the part of prospective teachers who participated in a peer-led online discussion of a teaching case about English-language learners. They also examined what approaches to multicultural education the peer-led dialogues suggested. Using the tools of discourse analysis to analyze the dialogue, they found some evidence of reflective problem solving. However, few students engaged in critical reflection, which entails examining the sociopolitical consequences of solutions and promoting social change through community action projects. Furthermore, many responses reflected deficit theories, stereotypical thinking, and technical-rational problem solving. Interwoven with the analysis of the students’ discussion is a self-study dialogue reflecting on the instructor’s curriculum and pedagogy. The self-study addresses what the authors have learned about how teacher educators foster critically reflective problem solving regarding issues of language, culture, and race.

Experimental Evaluation of the Effects of a Research-Based Preschool Mathematics Curriculum

Clements, D. H., Sarama, J. — 2008-05-21

A randomized-trials design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a preschool mathematics program based on a comprehensive model of research-based curricula development. Thirty-six preschool classrooms were assigned to experimental (Building Blocks), comparison (a different preschool mathematics curriculum), or control conditions. Children were individually pre- and posttested, participating in 26 weeks of instruction in between. Observational measures indicated that the curricula were implemented with fidelity, and the experimental condition had significant positive effects on classrooms’ mathematics environment and teaching. The experimental group score increased significantly more than the comparison group score (effect size = 0.47) and the control group score (effect size = 1.07). Early interventions can increase the quality of the mathematics environment and help preschoolers develop a foundation of mathematics knowledge.

Uninvited Guests: The Influence of Teachers' Roles and Pedagogies on the Positioning of English Language Learners in the Regular Classroom

Yoon, B. — 2008-05-21

Grounded in positioning theory, this study examined regular classroom teachers’ views of their roles with regard to English language learners (ELLs) and the relationship between their teaching approaches and the students’ reactions and positioning of themselves in the classroom. Findings suggest that the teachers’ views of their roles varied based on their positioning of themselves as teachers for all students, as teachers for regular education students, or as teachers for a single subject. The teachers’ different approaches were related to the ELLs’ different levels of participation and their positioning of themselves as powerful or powerless students. The study breaks important ground in our understanding of the complex interactional classroom dynamics that influence the teaching and learning of ELLs.