NIUSI

part of the Education Reform Networks

Inquiry on School & Schooling

• Black English in a Place Called Waterloo
  For many black students, the school language differs significantly from the home language, but preservice education rarely examines this issue. The author of this article examined implications for teaching children who use two different forms of language to navigate the demands of their contrasting sociolinguistic speech communities.
• Identifying the Prospective Multicultural Educator: Three Signposts, Three Portraits
  The author investigated how prospective teachers respond to social differences they encounter in educational discourse and public schools, identifying three signposts indicative of prospective multicultural educators (desiring change because of identifying with educational inequality, valuing critical pedagogy and multicultural social reconstructivist education, and wanting to understand educational inequality and its causes). The author presented data from observations and interviews with three teacher candidates.
• On Inclusion and the Other Kids:Here's What Research Shows so Far About Inclusion's Effect on Nondisabled Students
  This OnPoint was developed by the National Institute for Urban School Improvement (NIUSI). It summarizes the reserach literature on inclusion's effect on nondisabled students.
• Multicultural Teacher Education for the 21st Century
  The authors discussed multicultural preservice teacher education, recommending that preservice programs be more deliberate about preparing white Americans for teaching diverse students because of the increasing division between white teachers and minority students. The authors examined preservice teachers' fear of diversity and resistance to dealing with race and racism, proposing a two-part program for preparing teachers to work with diverse students.
• Rolling Up Our Sleeves in Social Justice Research: A Collaborative Study of School-Based Coalitions
  The author examined the shared experiences of student and teacher activists in light of current theoretical and political contexts of interest to social justice activists. The study involved collaborative in-depth interviews with and observations of seven student and four teacher activists in Alberta, Canada.
• Local theories of teacher change: The pedagogy of district policies and programs.
  The author examined district officials' theories about teacher learning and change, identifying and elaborating three perspectives (i.e.,behaviorist, situated, and cognitive) based on a study of nine school districts. The behaviorist perspective on teacher learning dominated among the district officials in the study.
• Educational change over time? The sustainability and nonsustainability of three decades of secondary school change and continuity
  This article is about long-term systemic sustainable change and applies to all educational leaders and policy makers. Based on a comparative research students conducted in Canada and the United States (US), the authors presented a conceptual framework, methodological design, and key research findings from a Spencer Foundation-funded project of long-term educational change over time.
• The Role of Critical Multicultural Education and Feminist Critical Thought in Teacher Education: Putting Theory Into Practice
  The authors identified current problems in teacher education by recognizing larger social dilemmas and the need for change. The authors discussed the need to acknowledge one's perpetuation of social problems and examined how to transform schooling through a major shift in critical reflection on social issues.
• Inquiry at the crossroads of policy and learning: A study of a district-wide literacy initiative.
  The authors of this this article presented result of 100 classroom observations and interviews with teachers, district administrators and staff developers on the implementation of the Balanced Literacy Program in NY District #2. They focused on the relationship between policy and practice.
• Extending the Possibilities of Multicultural Professional Development in Public Schools
  The author of this article reported results of a 3-year qualitative study. The author documented and critiqued a city school system's efforts to enlighten faculty and staff through multicultural professional development.
• Foundations for Success: Case studies of how urban school systems improve student achievement
  The authors examined the experiences of three large urban school districts (and part of a fourth) that raised academic performance for their districts as a whole, while also reducing racial differences in achievement.They reported findings from case studies on four urban school districts that demonstrated improvement in student achievement and in narrowing the achievement gap between minorities and whites at a faster rate than two anonymous comparison districts.
• Data mining with a mission - Data-Driven Decision Making Is the Buzz Phrase of Choice for the New Decade. but Once We've Got the Information, How Do We Use It to Yield Results?
  The author discussed issues concerning data-driven decision making in the school setting. A key aspect of data-driven decision making involves looking at information over an extended period of time.
• Special Education Programs for Youth with Disabilities in Juvenile Corrections
  Special education services are available to youth with disabilities in many juvenile correctional facilities in the United States. However in recent years, parents and advocates have challenged the adequacy of services in many states.
• The impact of professional development schools on the education of urban students
  This brief is about professional development schools (PDSs). PDSs were originated a decade ago to provide a new model for teacher education that enables graduate students to have meaningful classroom experiences while they earn their degree.
• Living (and Teaching) in an Unjust World: New Perspectives on Multicultural Education
  This collection of essays is a response to educators who limit multicultural education to "culture of the quarter" or "country of the week." The authors of these essays examined the issues of multicultural education deeply, exploring the just and unjust issues of schooling, the need to move beyond teaching about culture to facilitating self discovery, and the way classrooms mirror larger society.
• Art-Centered Approach to Diversity Education in Teaching and Learning
  The author described the advantages of an art-centered approach to diversity education in teaching and learning, which provided students with both a window into others' reality and a mirror that reflects their own cultural identity and community. She explained how to craft an art-centered approach to diversity education, offering examples of instructional activities and strategies and sample ethnographic research projects.
• The Three Stories of Education Reform
  Michael Fullan discussed large-scale education reform and illustrates the reform through three stories. He differenced that professional learning communities for educators makes in how well students do in school.
• Preventing DISPROPORTIONALITY by Strengthening District Policies and Procedures - An Assessment and Strategic Planning Process
  This document includes a rubric produced by the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) for looking at district practice. The authors designed the document to help State and Local Education Agencies address institutional and systems issues that may affect students from culturally and linguistically diverse populations who continue to experience a wide variety of achievement gaps.
• Hispanic Education in the United States: Raices y Alas. Critical Issues of Contemporary American Education
  This book portrays what works in creating better educational opportunities and effective school reform for Hispanic Americans, offering a reflection on the bicultural experience of minority groups in U.S. schools and showing how and why educational reforms must seek to build upon rather than downplay the native culture and language of minority students.
• The district's role in building capacity: Four strategies
  In this policy brief, the author explored the promises and challenges of four major capacity-building strategies that researchers at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education observed in twenty-two districts in California, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and Texas over a two-year period.
  Download the document here .
• Essentializing Dilemma and Multiculturalist Pedagogy: An Ethnographic Study of Japanese Children in a U.S. School
  The author examined Japanese children's experiences at a U.S. elementary school, noting their teachers' pedagogical responses.
• Multicultural Education in the U.S.: A Guide to Policies and Programs in the 50 States
  This book compiles information to investigate the presence and structure of multicultural education programs throughout the United States.
• Give Us a Taste of Your Quality! A Report from the Heartland on the Role of the Arts in Multicultural Settings
  The authors of this article discusses the role of the arts in multicultural education, explaining how diverse students react to and need support in the arts in order to succeed. They focuses on the efforts of urban elementary and secondary schools in Madison, Wisconsin.
• Educational needs and barriers for refugee children in the United States: A review of the literature.
  Today around globe, 20.8 million refugees are striving to seek a safe place in more than 150 countries. Approximately, half of the refugee population in the world is younger than 18 years old.
• Student Perceptions of Teacher Ethnic Bias: Implications for Teacher Preparation and Staff Development
  The author of this study investigated the perceptions of 2,409 7th-12th graders regarding teacher ethnic bias. Participants comprised three groups: school dropouts, students at risk of dropping out, and a control group of students.
• Developing a Commitment to Multicultural Education // Teachers College Record,102(6), pp.980-1005 Dec 2000
  The author investigated the kinds of lived experiences contributing to teachers' commitment to multicultural education and processes by which teachers became committed. Interviews and surveys involving K-12 and college teachers indicated that teachers developed commitment through various developmental life experiences.
• Beyond the Rhetoric: Moving from Exclusion, Reaching for Inclusion in Canadian Schools
  In this article, the authors reported a 3-year study in Toronto (Ontario) schools. They examined educational practices that engender exclusion or inclusion, especially of racially marginalized groups.
• Schools on the move: Benito Martinez Elementary El Paso, Texas
  This booklet is a one of the Schools on the Move stories produced by the National Institute for Urban School Improvement (NIUSI). It applies to all educational leaders, teachers, and families who are interested in learning about creating successful and sustainable change in schools.
• Disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education: Measuring the problem
  This paper is one of the short practitioner-oriented pamphlets produced by the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt). This practitioner brief is about racial disproportionality in school disciplinary practices.
• Identity as an analytical lens for research in education
  Students' identities, academic engagement and learning are found to be closely connected. Since Erik Erikson, psychologists believe that identity formation of children and youth plays a central role in human development to have an intimate, satisfactory and productive life as adults.
• Outcomes for Students With Learning Disabilities in Inclusive and Pullout Programs
  The authors of this article investigated the relationship between placement in inclusive and pullout special education programs for students with learning disabilities in the United States. Results indicated that the two programs differed significantly.