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Science "for all" programs have been advanced as the model for introducing and maintaining high standards for science education in every classroom. While standards documents have been an important equalizing force in education for the last twenty years, disparities still exist across multiple student indicators in urban schools. Teaching quality is one of the important factors that contribute to such outcomes and these disparities raise the issue of equitable teaching practices, especially in science. A review of the literature at the intersection of science education and urban education supported the creation of a construct for equitable science teaching that goes beyond content-narrowed "for all" pedagogies to more inclusive "by all" teaching approaches. Scholarship on science teaching in urban settings frequently references reform and efficacy beliefs to bound research questions. The task-specific nature of efficacy beliefs as a construct makes it particularly useful for scrutinizing teaching practices. This dissertation used case study methods to examine aspects of equitable science teaching in an elementary school located in a small urban district in New Jersey. The research design was based on models of collaborative action research. Three key informants in two classrooms helped build understanding of teachers' efficacy-related beliefs about equitable science teaching over the course of one year (Spring 2008 through Spring 2009). Within case and between-case analysis of teaching beliefs and practices were conducted. Key findings from the study suggest that it may be possible to observe change in low efficacy teachers' beliefs over time. Quantitative and qualitative data suggest that it may be possible to build equitable beliefs and practices among in-service teachers. An action plan that includes providing non-evaluative support to teachers in the classroom is discussed. Supports that included immediate feedback, individual and small group reflection and specific tools designed to collect teacher-level data were shown to be important elements for practicing teachers as they worked to build both efficacy beliefs and equitable praxis. Equitable science teaching challenges belief systems but allows for practices to change organically and without prescription. Implications for policy makers, teacher educators, administrators and teachers are discussed. / Urban Education

Using Black feminist thought and BlackCrit/critical race theory frameworks, this qualitative study examined Black educators' practices in addressing the behavior of their students in an urban school district. It utilized counternarratives and storytelling to explore the cultural dynamics at play between Black educators and their Black students. The Black educators in this study operated under several behavior systems, including positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), socio-emotional learning (SEL), restorative practices (RPs), and zero tolerance policies (ZTPs). Such systems have been implemented based on research that they have the capacity to train Black students to make appropriate decisions regarding their behavior. These systems are also reinforced under the notion that they create learning spaces which promote academic achievement. Due to their own experiences and understanding about how institutional practices and disciplinary interventions result disproportionately in oppression and violence against Black students, these educators disrupted these practices and utilized cultural approaches that centered Black-ness. In doing so, they were able to address behavior and affirm Black students' well-being. The cultural approaches conceptualized as disruptive pedagogies include aspects of othermothering, otherfathering, critical caring, sermonizing, womanist caring, and Black masculine caring. An analysis of the stories and counternarratives illustrated that Black principals, counselors, and teachers draw from the long tradition of Black resistance and Black radical leadership to create educational spaces that support both emotional well-being and academic excellence. Implications, recommendations and future research are discussed.

Adolescent literacy rates for students who struggle, particularly those with disabilities are alarming, especially in light of increased educational standards. As higher standards place a greater emphasis on reading and writing, addressing students’ literacy needs in the content areas has become a topic of interest in reading education. Although there is much debate about how to address this need, it is clear that content area teachers need support addressing literacy in their subject areas. An exploratory case study design was used to examine the responses of high school content area teachers to an EIE (exploratory, investigative, and experimental) professional development (PD) program. Specifically, the researcher sought to describe what the teachers considered to be valuable and useful aspects of the different components of the experience as it related to their practice, the outcomes they anticipated for struggling students, and their knowledge of literacy in the content areas. Ten content area teachers participated in 21.5 hours of professional development over a period of two months. Data about their PD experiences were collected during focus group discussions, individual interviews, observations, and completed questionnaires. When discussing the teachers’ descriptions and observations of their literacy practices, teachers reported an increased awareness of their practice as it pertained to literacy implementation. In the analysis of the outcomes teachers anticipated for struggling adolescents, including those with disabilities, teachers reported increased sense of control over the academic outcomes of struggling students. When addressing questions in reference to the effective components of the EIE PD experience, the teachers favored equally: (a) applicability of information, (b) exposure to literature, (c) autonomous systems, and (d) collaboration. Lastly, support emerged as an integral component of a constructivist EIE PD approach. All teachers in the study reported that support played a pivotal role in how they learned about and implemented literacy practices in their content area. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends that PD address and validate the current perceptions and concerns among content area teachers in relation to literacy implementation. PD should support teachers as they reflect upon their reported instructional limitations in relation to their needs and their students’ needs. Second, literacy PD for content area teachers must provide systematic support for teachers to explore, investigate and experiment with literacy in their content. Lastly, PD designed to support content area teacher’s use of literacy strategies in the content areas should provide teachers the opportunities to drive the literacy PD content in order to address needs specific to their classroom and school communities.

It was the goal of this study to determine the relationship between student achievement and other selected variable such as principal years of experience, student socioeconomic status, teachers’ perceptions of administrative support, students’ perceptions of teacher support, and teacher attendance to teacher engagement. The study also determined if the variables along with teacher engagement were predictors of attrition. Pearson correlations were used to analyze the data that had the greatest significant relationship to teacher engagement. Regression tests were used to determine if the variables were predictors of attrition. The researcher concluded that student achievement, teachers’ perceptions of principal support, and students’ perceptions of teachers had the most significant relationship to teacher engagement; student socioeconomic status had a negative relationship with teacher engagement. The researcher found that the selected variables were not significant predictors of teacher attrition. Recommendations were suggested for central office leaders, building level leaders, teachers, and future researchers.

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher and parent perceptions of the impact of a high-family engagement model, Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT). Teacher and parent surveys were administered to determine the relationship between the following variables: teacher leadership, administrative support, parental perceptions of effectiveness of communications, parental perceptions of convenience of scheduling of meetings, parental perceptions of usefulness of meetings, family engagement, and student academic achievement. Data from a Pearson correlation and a regression test were analyzed to determine which variables had the greatest significance on the impact of APTT on family engagement and student academic achievement. Based on the results of the study, parental perception of effectiveness of communications, parental perception of convenience of scheduling of meetings, and parental perception of usefulness of meetings had the greatest significance with family engagement and student academic achievement. Recommendations were suggested for policy-makers, district leaders, educational leaders, teachers, and future researchers.

African American female principals typically lead low socioeconomic elementary schools. Administrators in predominately urban schools are familiar with the needs of minority students. Although Title I funds are provided from the national government via local educational agencies (LEAs), this money is normally not enough to keep up with technology integration and programs of more affluent schools. Therefore, African American female administrators rely on culture to develop meaningful relationships with students, teachers, and parents and makeup for any financial hardships, which may exist during the transformation of urban elementary schools. Limited research is available on academic success in urban schools. Over the years, much of the focus has been on failure of underperforming schools with minority students and leaders. Additionally, there is a lack of research on the leadership of African American female school leaders. Thus, it is important to study successful African American female role models in urban schools. The purpose of this study was to examine transformational leadership skills evident in African American female principals at high-achieving, urban elementary schools. What are the transformational leadership skills evident in two African American female principals who work in high-achieving urban elementary schools? It was assumed that African American female principals applied some or all of the skills of transformational leadership when leading in two different urban elementary school settings. Successful transformational leadership can be categorized under the following four components 1) charismatic leadership (or idealized influence, CL or II), 2) inspirational motivation (IM), 3) intellectual stimulation (IS), and 4) individualized consideration (IC) (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1997). Results showed that African American female elementary school leaders displayed all tenets of the transformational leadership theory while leading high achieving campuses. However, the transformational leadership theoy was missing a cultural component from its doctrine.

This study examined some differences between continuing and non-continuing special admission students in areas of academic advising in ways that are more systematic and thorough than past research. The premise of the study is that having a clearer understanding of how academic advising affects retention might provide colleges and universities with information to optimize the collegiate experience for special admission students. Therefore, research on the effect academic advising has on special admission student retention might offer insight into how the interactions between student and advisor affect retention issues. A non-experimental descriptive research design was employed to investigate the differences between the independent variables (advising style, frequency of contact, gender match, and race or ethnicity match) and the dependent variable, student retention. There were three sources of data used in this study. First, data were collected from students through the use of the Academic Advising Inventory (AAI) and External Factors of Retention Survey (EFRS) using online survey software. Second, data were collected from existing databases provided by an urban higher education institution. Finally, brief phone surveys were conducted with non-continuing students. Due to low survey response, no statistical analysis for significance was reported in this study. However, patterns observed from the AAI/EFRS and the phone surveys provided the following results. First, continuing special admission students had more advisor contact than non-continuing students. Second, despite continuing students’ higher average scores on the Developmental-Prescriptive Advising Scale (measure for advising style) of the AAI, the higher perceived advising style scores did not suggest a higher frequency of student-advisor contact in the first semester. Third, perceived advising style may have influenced frequency of student-advisor contact among non-continuing students. Fourth, continuing students had a decrease in frequency of student-advisor contact in consecutive semesters. Fifth, the perception of students that their race or ethnicity are respected by their advisor may matter more than a race or ethnicity match. Sixth, gender match was not related to frequency of student-advisor contact for continuing students. Seventh, clearly stating the objectives of a research study and how participation serves the objectives may aid in the recruitment of difficult to reach populations. Eighth, institutional efforts to reach out to these students could influence the students’ decision to continue enrollment.

The present study consisted of a phenomenological investigation of African American males who have been expelled from traditional educational settings in New Orleans, LA in order to provide educators with information geared towards increasing academic achievement in African American males. It has been noted that one of the reasons that Black males graduation rates are so low is because in addition to other factors that lead to non-completion, black males are more likely to be expelled from school. In this study, I used a Critical Race theoretical framework to explore gain experiential knowledge of these excluded young men, what they perceive as barriers to their success, and their sentiments on the relationships they have had with educators and peers whom they have encountered. Based on the participants’ responses, seven categories emerged from the data including: (a) Race and Racism, (b) Self Perceptions, (c) Family Expectations and Support, (d) Male Role Models and Mentors, (e) The School Environment, (f) School Discipline, and (g) Alternative School. Study participants described the totality of their education experiences by opening up about what they felt were key factors at play. The stories of the participants provided a deeper context of the nuances of racism and how it impacts their day to day educational experiences overall The results of this study provides data that may enable educators to begin steps to dismantle the school to prison pipeline by ensuring at-risk students are supported and successful in school without having to be removed. This information serves as a catalyst for future inquiry into additional nuances that effect the academic achievement of African American male students in K-12 schools.