abstract: In this study, I uncover the coded meanings of "urban" within the music education profession through an exploration and analysis of the discourse present in two prominent music education journals, Music Educators Journal (MEJ) and The Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME). Using critical discourse analysis (CDA), I investigate how the term "urban" is used in statements within a twenty-year time span (1991-2010), and how the words "inner-city," "at-risk," "race," and "diversity" are used in similar ways throughout the corpus. An in-depth examination of these five terms across twenty years of two major publications of the profession reveals attitudes and biases within the music education structure, uncovering pejorative themes in the urban music education discourse. The phrase "urban music education" is rarely defined or explained in the corpus examined in this study. Rather, the word "urban" is at times a euphemism. Based on a CDA conducted in this study, I suggest that "urban" is code for poor, minority, and unable to succeed. Relying on the philosophical ideas of Michel Foucault, I uncover ways in which the profession labels urban music programs, students, and teachers and how the "urban music education" discourse privileges the White, suburban, middle class ideal of music education. I call for an evaluation of the perceptions of "success" in the field, and advocate for a paradigm shift, or different methods of knowing, in order to provide a more just teaching and learning space for all music education actors. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music Education 2015

This research is part of the thematic field of urban education and its various forms of expression in the city. Thus, it is appropriate to perceive the complexity of the contemporary city, a space which brings forth diversity, information, contradictions and potentialities. Since the individuals interact in coexisting contexts and at the same time in multiple and different spaces, the city has an educational potentiality which can contribute to the learning of the individual in his everyday life. Indeed, the goal of this research is to understand the urban education in its various forms of expression in the urban environment as a possible path to get an active and critical citizenship. A qualitative and applied theoretical approach has been used, as well as a dialectical way of methodological approach, since the urban education has to be considered in its various aspects, relationships and connections. Regarding the classification, this research is descriptive and exploratory. About the technical procedures, it is basically bibliographical and documentary. The premises of urban education are based on learning about the city, learn in the city and learn from the city, which are understood from the point of view of the sociological background from Boaventura de Sousa Santos and the Principle of Hope from Ernst Bloch. Considering the dynamic urban processes and its many educational practices, the individual lives in a symbolical and existential urban environment and produces meanings and knowledge through experience. Since the city is a space for an active and critical citizenship, it is inferred that urban education opens a horizon of possibilities that has been growing stronger in recent years. / Esta investigação enquadra-se no campo temático da educação urbana e suas formas de expressão na cidade. Assim, justifica-se ao se observar o grau de complexidade da cidade contemporânea, que se consolida como um espaço inesgotável no qual emergem diversidades, informações, contradições e potencialidades. Onde os sujeitos se inter-relacionam em contextos coexistentes e ao mesmo tempo em espaços múltiplos e diversificados, a cidade guarda uma potência educativa que pode contribuir para a formação do sujeito cotidianamente. Com efeito, o objetivo desta investigação é compreender a educação urbana em suas diversas formas de expressão e interação no ambiente urbano como um caminho possível à conquista da cidadania ativa e crítica. Assim, a pesquisa teórica aqui proposta é qualitativa e de natureza aplicada. No que se refere ao método de abordagem, a investigação utiliza o dialético, pois que a educação urbana, objeto desta pesquisa, é estudada em seus variados aspectos, relações e conexões e, como método de procedimento, o histórico. No concernente à classificação, a pesquisa enquadra-se como exploratório-descritiva e quanto aos procedimentos técnicos, a investigação é basicamente bibliográfica e documental. Com efeito, as reflexões teóricas do trabalho se fundamentam no aprender sobre a cidade, aprender na cidade e aprender da cidade como premissas da educação urbana, compreendidas do ponto de vista dos fundamentos sociológicos não convencionais de Boaventura de Sousa Santos e pelo Princípio Esperança de Ernst Bloch. No processo dinâmico da cidade e seus diversos processos educativos, o sujeito se articula no espaço simbólico e existencial do ambiente urbano, atribuindo-lhe sentidos e produzindo conhecimento por meio das experiências. Ao passo que o urbano acaba sendo ressignificado como espaço de cidadania ativa e crítica, conclui-se que a educação urbana abre um horizonte de potencialidades que tem ganhado força nos últimos anos.

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Thesis advisor: Patrick Proctor / Youth of color are owed an “education debt” from this country, built on systems that sought to disenfranchise people of color, from colonialism and slavery to legacies of redlining and present-day criminalization practices (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Black, Indigenous and Latinx youth have consistently been pushed out of schools at higher rates than other groups (Morris, 2016). In recognizing this problem, this dissertation examined the ways that one alternative program in an urban-area in the Northeast sought to re-engage youth of color through emancipatory pedagogical models. All students, except for one, were youth of color with the majority of students being of Caribbean origin (i.e. Haitian, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Trinidadian, St. Lucian, Jamaican). In examining a need for emancipatory pedagogies, I conducted interviews with alumni and focus groups with current students to understand the multitude of reasons that students had been pushed out of traditional schools in their previous educational experiences. I then conducted interviews with past and present staff, as well as observations in the program, to understand the different pedagogies that were created that promoted decolonization and liberation in this particular alternative program. I then analyzed the short and long-term impacts of the program, primarily in understanding how the program shaped student identities. This study employed a qualitative approach, including a Youth Participatory Action Research component, to examine the factors listed above. MAXQDA was used to code transcripts of focus groups and interviews to determine themes in understanding the development and impact of emancipatory pedagogical models. Findings indicated the importance of creating a foundation for emancipatory pedagogies through staff spaces and conversations to understand implicit biases and teaching philosophies. This work should then be enhanced by building deep and supportive relationships with students and teaching in ways that uplift students’ cultures and promote critical consciousness. Key impacts of these pedagogies were found in racial identity, which was tied to gender identity and academic identity. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Katherine L. McNeill / Teacher attrition rates are high in urban schools, particularly for new teachers and science and math teachers compared to other subjects (Ingersoll & May, 2012). Research indicates teachers who remain committed to teaching in high-need schools are unique; they tend to identify not just as teachers, but as teachers devoted to the mission of social justice and working with underserved students (Moore, 2008). Teacher education programs have an important role to play in the preparation of teachers within this social justice framework (Picower, 2012a). But, the transition from university preparation to in-service teaching is difficult (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2011), particularly for science teachers who encounter contradictory contexts in urban schools that undermine the pedagogical practices and mindsets learned in preparation (e.g. Rodriguez, 2015). However, little research has addressed how science teachers can be prepared to effectively bridge the divide between preparation and urban teaching. This dissertation utilizes the theoretical frameworks of identity (Gee, 2000) and agency (Archer, 2007) to address this gap in the literature. I employed a case study methodology of one cohort of four teachers from the Science Educators for Urban Schools (SEUS) program at Boston College, which serves as a critical case of an effective preparation program for urban science educators (Yin, 2013). Data, primarily interviews, surveys, and written reflections, were collected from study participants during preparation and their first year of teaching. The findings indicate the SEUS Scholars expressed a student-centered, inquiry-oriented approach to teaching science for social justice. While the SEUS Scholars struggled to implement their ideal science instruction as first year teachers given the contradictory contexts of urban schools, the social justice ideology of the pre-service program shaped their professional identity and feelings of agency. These findings illuminate the role of teacher preparation to support the development of: 1) a strong educational philosophy grounding their pedagogical approach to science teaching, and 2) pedagogical context knowledge to effectively navigate urban schools. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

This mixed-methods study combined pragmatism, sociocultural perspectives, and systems thinking concepts to investigate students' engagement, thinking, and learning in science in an urban, K-8 arts, science, and technology magnet school. A grant-funded school-university partnership supported the implementation of an inquiry-based science curriculum, contextualized in the local environment through field experiences. The researcher worked as co-teacher of 3 sixth-grade science classes and was deeply involved in the daily routines of the school.The purposes of the study were to build a deeper understanding of the complex interactions that take place in an urban science classroom, including challenges related to implementing culturally-relevant instruction; and to offer insight into the role educational systems play in supporting teaching and learning. The central hypothesis was that connecting learning to meaningful experiences in the local environment can provide culturally accessible points of engagement from which to build science learning.Descriptive measures provided an assessment of students' engagement in science activities, as well as their levels of thinking and learning throughout the school year. Combined with analyses of students' work files and focus group responses, these findings provided strong evidence of engagement attributable to the inquiry-based curriculum. In some instances, degree of engagement was found to be affected by student "reluctance" and "resistance," terms defined but needing further examination. A confounding result showed marked increases in thinking levels coupled with stasis or decrease in learning. Congruent with past studies, data indicated the presence of tension between the diverse cultures of students and the mainstream cultures of school and science.Findings were synthesized with existing literature to generate the study's principal product, a grounded theory model representing the complex, interacting factors involved in teaching and learning. The model shows that to support learning and to overcome cultural tensions, there must be alignment among three main forces or "causal factors": students, teaching, and school climate. Conclusions emphasize system-level changes to support science learning, including individualized support for students in the form of differentiated instruction; focus on excellence in teaching, particularly through career-spanning professional support for teachers; and attention to identifying key leverage points for implementing effective change.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The purpose of this research is to explore if policy makers and implementers shift and/or change their understandings of the portfolio management model (PMM) when engaged in equity-oriented transformative professional learning. The portfolio approach to urban education, at present, is being implemented or considered by over one third of the US. There are 20 states, 40 cities, and the District of Columbia that are pursuing and/or implementing the portfolio management model (PMM). This research study examines how systemic, socio-political, socio-historical, and interconnected policy networks have resulted in inequity. Furthermore, this study focuses on how policy makers and implementers engage with one another and their context(s) while learning about educational equity. This occurred via facilitating transformative professional learning opportunities aimed to illicit critical self-awareness, reflection, and examination of perhaps the more pernicious underpinnings of authentic decision and choice making in US education reform. The study also explores the ways in which institutional context and the research design itself may have impacted and/or impeded shifts in learning. The study’s theoretical frameworks guided the decision to use critical qualitative inquiry and narrative inquiry to investigate the raced, gendered, sexed, and classed experiences of policy makers and implementers, and further, implications for policy implementation regarding other forms of othering such as ableism, linguicism, ageism, etc. Thematic analysis of the data, analyzed using critical frameworks, were articulated as interspliced data vignettes. Findings suggest that learning is social and that designed experiences around educational equity can provide ways in which policy makers and implementers can formally intervene in their own practices of developing and/or cultivating critical consciousness, as well as decision-making toward PMM adoption and implementation in their respective contexts. Participant’s narratives both challenge and perpetuate dominant, historical approaches of urban education reform adoption and implementation, and exposes how US urban education policy arenas have not systemically centered critical consciousness, resulting in equity-oriented policies being interpreted and implemented in inequitable ways. Findings from this study guide future research and practice that focuses on urban education policy creation, adoption, and implementation.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Many Americans espouse “post-racial” conceptions of race and its role in children’s access to equitable learning opportunities; however, recent studies have illuminated the need to examine the ways in which “new” forms of institutionalized and interpersonal racism continue to hinder the schooling experiences of students in urban schools. Despite that students in urban schools are predominantly African American (27%) and Latinx (41%), the teaching force remains predominantly white (71%). Within these schools, white teachers’ lack of cultural competence and racial literacy marginalize students’ opportunities for social, emotional, and academic development and, thereby, foster racially hostile learning environments. However, cases of teachers in urban schools who create and sustain learning environments in which their students thrive socially, emotionally, and academically exist and need to be studied. This case study investigated the pedagogical beliefs and practices enacted by two highly regarded African American educators who created racially safe learning environments in two racially hostile urban elementary students. Ethnographic data was collected over a five-month period. Using constant comparative analysis within and across both cases, several significant findings emerged. Findings revealed how “new racism” manifested in the discourses, policies, and practices at both schools and, thus, illuminated the ways in which race marginalized not only the schooling experiences of African American and Latinx students, but their African American educators as well. Findings examined how each teachers’ pedagogical enactments aligned with the ideologies, beliefs, and practices associated with African American pedagogy and revealed how they fostered cultures of community, love, and achievement within their classrooms. Findings suggest that their culturally specific pedagogical beliefs and practices have the potential to create racially safe learning environments within, otherwise, racially hostile schools. Although African American pedagogical excellence is often relegated to discussions of practices needed to reach African American students, this study expands the knowledge base needed to center AAPE in discussions of best practices for teachers in urban schools. This study adds critical insights to discussions of race and its role in the schooling experiences and opportunities to learn in racially hostile urban schools.

Teacher preparation programs are making concerted efforts to prepare practitioners to transform urban education. Current studies rely heavily on self-reported data with little to no inclusion of the voices of teachers or perceptions of principals. This qualitative case study aimed to fill that gap by exploring how alumni of one social justice–themed University Teacher Preparation Program (UTPP) defined and implemented socially just teaching practices in urban elementary classrooms. Participants included six teacher alumni in their first, second, or third year of teaching, two supervising principals, and one UTPP staff member. Methods included semistructured interviews, full-day classroom observations, and a review of program documents. The study was guided by 12 characteristics of socially just teaching outlined in a new practice- based conceptual framework. Major findings combatted current critiques of social justice education and highlighted the importance of relationships, collaboration, craft, and selection in teacher preparation. Minor findings revealed the impact of school culture, critical reflection, and teaching experience on social justice pedagogy. Recommendations include a need for UTPP to pay greater attention to the craft of teaching for social justice, develop assessment literacy in preservice candidates, and model activism inside and outside the classroom.

Many contemporary policymakers and philanthropists interested in fixing problems in urban education look to business practices and market-based reforms. Venture Philanthropy (VP), draws its practices directly from the financial sector, using strategic investment to increase the capacity and achievement of funded organizations and to promote social goals. VP firms are increasingly a part of the education environment yet currently there is little empirical data on the specific meaning, ideas, and logic through which these organizations understand and investment in education, particularly urban education. This research sought to answer the research question, what is the theory of action of a venture philanthropy firm focusing on educational improvement and what new meanings and practices does it produce in one urban district? This study collected data using embedded ethnographic methods including over 200 hours of observations, 21 interviews, and document collection creating a case study of a single education VP, the Center for Educational Advancement (CEA). Using Foucauldian disciplinary theory to analyze CEA's perspective on and practice of educational investment, this study found that CEA sought to transform the instruction and culture within its portfolio of urban schools by using the disciplinary practices of observation, judgement, and examination, thereby producing for its donors a student achievement return on investment. / Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies