This article analyzes challenges states identify in implementing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with the Obama administration's proposals for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization. Drawing upon information from six states, this study shows that the Obama administration Blueprint for Reauthorization of ESEA responds to a number of state concerns with NCLB but fails to acknowledge the sheer magnitude of the challenges states face. The Blueprint addresses the overall concern for greater flexibility in timing, focus, and remedies that states express. Furthermore, the Blueprint acknowledges but does not fully address the importance of teacher and leader quality and the distributional challenges. The Blueprint falls short, however, in addressing the need for a more robust body of knowledge regarding effective intervention, the pragmatic obstacles to redistribution of high-quality teachers and leaders, and the political and fiscal challenges that states combat in intensifying and funding the level of performance it demands. 相似文献
In rural settings, leaving for college can mean a young person's first step in leaving home forever (Sherman & Sage, 2011). That presents a serious challenge for college recruiters as they ask parents from Indian reservations or close-knit Hispanic or rural farming communities to allow their children to consider postsecondary opportunities. In this article, the authors discuss impediments to college-going that rural students face and shine a light on several efforts in central Washington State that help students connect to job opportunities in fast-growing, lucrative STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers in the region. Beyond inviting STEM professionals to job fairs, these efforts can expand opportunities for collaboration between STEM professionals and rural schools and teachers. Such opportunities might include enriching the K–12 curriculum with locally relevant problems of science, using local STEM professionals to collaborate on learning projects, and possibly engaging students to contribute to national databases and studies. These programs represent one way to highlight the real-world application of postsecondary education, encouraging students to pursue STEM college programs and careers. 相似文献
Given the increasing influence of technology and the explosion in data collection demands, the acceptance and assimilation of new paradigms and technologies require today's educators, researchers, and evaluators to consider alternative tools, and apply them effectively. One of these alternatives, handheld computers, also known as personal digital assistants (PDAs), makes the benefits of computerized data collection more accessible to field-based researchers. An evaluation of handheld computers as data collection tools in research settings requires an understanding of their use from different perspectives in existing research. This review examines the willingness of teachers to adopt handheld data collection systems by focusing on 5 main features: (a) ease of use, (b) usefulness, (c) subjective norms, (d) intention to use, and (e) dependability. 相似文献
This article provides an overview and summary of selected issues related to the development of universal service to networked information resources and services in a global networked environment. Complex issues have yet to be addressed regarding basic concerns such as defining the term “universal service” as it suggests a range of meanings and uses given different societal contexts. The model for universal service being developed in the United States offers some lessons and concerns for other nations attempting to promote universal service as a national policy. The article concludes with a number of recommendations that address selected policy issues related to universal service in a global networked environment. 相似文献
Activist research engages all participants as co-researchers in order to challenge the status quo in hopes of creating spaces in which they will actively participate in their education and feel responsible for their own and others’ learning. There are a number of challenges that researchers might face when engaging in activist research with co-researchers. In that sense, researchers must be open to multiple perspectives and critical attitudes in order to negotiate the challenges that arise in the process. This paper describes the challenges that the lead author faced in learning to become an activist researcher in a socially vulnerable sport context and how these challenges were negotiated. The lead author, supervised by the second author, conducted a six month activist research study in a soccer program in a socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhood in Brazil. Participants included two researchers (lead and second authors), 17 young people, four coaches, a pedagogic coordinator and a social worker as co-researchers. Multiple sources of data were collected, including 38 field journal/observations and audio records of: 18 youth work sessions, 16 coaches’ work sessions, three combined coaches and youth work sessions, and 37 meetings between the lead author and the second author. By using an activist approach four challenges were identified and negotiated: learning to become more comfortable with an activist approach, helping young people to articulate what they know and the researcher to see what they say, valuing co-researchers’ knowledge, and negotiating the culture of sport. We argue that challenges are essential, necessary and significant in an activist research project in order to transform ourselves as researchers and our relationship with others. 相似文献
Background: Student-Centered Inquiry as Curriculum (SCIC) is an activist approach [Oliver, K. L., and H. A. Oesterreich. 2013. Student-Centered Inquiry as Curriculum as a Model for Field-Based Teacher Education. Journal of Curriculum Studies 45 (3): 394–417. doi:10.1080/00220272.2012.719550] inspired by years of research with youth. It was designed as a means of listening and responding to youth in order to better facilitate students’ interest, motivation, and learning in physical education settings. While we have a strong and growing body of activist research with youth in physical education, SCIC as a specific approach to working with youth is in its infancy; thus, there is a need to further explore the challenges teachers/researchers face learning to use this approach to teaching.
Purpose: This study explores how educators, in different contexts, learn to use an activist approach called SCIC, in order to better facilitate students’ interest, motivation, and learning in physical education and physical activity settings.
Research setting and participants: Participants included a university professor, a college instructor, a postdoctoral student, a doctoral student, and a pre-service teacher. Data were collected between January and May 2016.
Data collection and analysis: Data collection included weekly field notes and debriefings following observations, teacher artifacts, weekly collaborative group meetings, and two individual interviews per teaching participant.
Discussion and conclusions: The main challenge that emerged was learning how to move from a theoretical understanding of student-centered pedagogy to the practice of student-centered pedagogy. Specifically, the amount of time that was necessary to build a foundation that allowed for student and teacher understanding, respect, and comfort, negotiating teacher and student assumptions that were embedded in the status quo of physical education (PE), and the struggle to gather and use meaningful data to guide pedagogical decisions. We negotiated these challenges through our professional learning community whereby we worked to all be able to see and name what was happening in our individual classes and collectively planned what was needed to move forward through these challenges. 相似文献
Finding appropriate instructional settings in science for students with disabilities is challenging, and the range of services
or placements used is currently unknown. This study identifies administrative structures, instructional settings, and special/general
education teacher roles in teaching science to students with disabilities. A phone survey was conducted with special education
coordinators of fifth graders in 137 districts in Texas. Survey data indicated that while nearly all districts reported special
education settings for the instruction of science for students with disabilities, some districts provided only general education
settings. Theoretical and practical implications for teacher preparation are discussed. 相似文献