Investigating the Impact of Designing and Implementing Culturally Aligned Technological Systems on Educators' Ideologies

Abstract. Culturally sensitive educational technologies may be able to help improve underrepresented students' learning and engagement when they are deployed in the classroom. However, there may be challenges integrating these systems into the classroom when the cultural components they incorporate are heavily stigmatized in contemporary society. In this on-going work, we are using an action research approach to investigate how involving teachers in the design of these technologies may not only affect the effectiveness of these interventions on students, but also teachers' own ideologies surrounding the targeted stigmatized cultural components

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: A Case Study in Georgia

This study explored the phenomenon of culturally responsive pedagogy to address the problem of limited data to inform best practices in facilitating high teacher self-efficacy with culturally responsive teaching practices. Using a qualitative exploratory case study design with an initial quantitative component, the perceptions of content-area middle school general education teachers regarding culturally responsive pedagogy in their classroom teaching practices were assessed and considered in respect to their reported perceptions of self-efficacy with culturally responsive teaching. The study’s quantitative component used the Teacher Self-Efficacy on Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Scale to assess the perceived self-efficacy with culturally responsive teaching of 150 content-area teachers from three southeastern Georgia middle schools. Scores were distributed across Quartiles 1, 2, 3, and 4 to facilitate the selection of eight teachers to participate in the case study component, consisting of a structured interview, card sorting, and artifact review. Data analysis for the qualitative component followed the interpretive thematic analysis procedure to review, summarize, and compare the case study findings to the existing literature to provide further insight into the relationships of effective implementation of culturally responsive practices, teacher perceived self-efficacy with culturally responsive practices, and administrative support for culturally responsive practices

Responding to COVID-19: Contextual, Pedagogical, and Experiential Considerations from Canadian Northern Postsecondary Educators

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of face-to-face classes in a northern Canadian college in March 2020. Educators and staff went into rapid response mode to continue teaching and supporting students from a distance. Critical reflections were written by the authors to summarize their responses to teaching and learning during the early phases of the pandemic. These reflections were themed, considered individually and collectively, then analyzed and synthesized. In this paper, critical reflection is used as an educational process within the context of critical constructivism and transformative paradigms. We share how teaching during the pandemic solidified our commitment to students and cemented our critical pedagogy by thinking and acting critically to assist students with this disruption in their education. Equipped with these capabilities, educators are empowered to work with students to problem solve and transform our educative lives for a just society. An inter-professional opportunity across programs, spurred by the pandemic, meets organizational strategic directions and fosters a promising relationality. Increased territorial and local technological supports and internal professional development is needed to solidify the immense prospects for distance education as the College transitions to a polytechnic university.La pandémie de la COVID-19 a entraîné l’arrêt des cours en personne d’un collège du Nord canadien en mars 2020. Les éducateurs et le personnel sont passés en mode d’intervention rapide pour assurer la continuité de l’enseignement et soutenir les étudiants à distance. Les auteurs ont exprimé leurs réflexions critiques afin de résumer leurs interventions en matière d’enseignement et d’apprentissage pendant les premières phases de la pandémie. Ces réflexions ont été classées par thèmes, considérées individuellement et collectivement, puis analysées et synthétisées. Dans cet article, la réflexion critique est employée à titre de processus éducatif dans le contexte du constructivisme critique et des paradigmes de la transformation. Nous faisons ressortir le fait que la façon dont l’enseignement a été dispensé durant la pandémie a permis de solidifier notre engagement envers les étudiants et renforcé notre pédagogie critique par le biais de réflexions et d’actions critiques pour aider les étudiants à faire face à cette perturbation scolaire. Grâce à ces capacités, les éducateurs sont outillés pour travailler avec les étudiants afin de résoudre des problèmes et de transformer nos vies éducatives en vue d’une société juste. Une occasion interprofessionnelle entre les programmes, stimulée par la pandémie, satisfait les orientations stratégiques organisationnelles et favorise une relationnalité prometteuse. Il faut du soutien technologique accru à l’échelle locale et territoriale et du perfectionnement professionnel interne pour solidifier les immenses possibilités de l’enseignement à distance pendant que le collège fait la transition vers une université polytechnique

Investigation of Alignment between Goals of Schooling Relevant to Georgia and the Georgia Performance Standards

Since the American Revolution free public education has been a discussion of political debate. The purpose that such an institution should play in society is a debate fervently argued when the founding fathers wanted to build a republic based on meritocracy. The problem this study addresses is the undefined relationship between the goals of schooling relevant to Georgia and the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) which is a critical piece to creating a complete systemic view of public schooling in Georgia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the alignment between the GPS and schooling goals. The guiding question and sub-questions are: How well are the GPS, or the intended curriculum of Georgia schools, and each of the various stated goals of schooling aligned? How relevant are the eighth-grade GPS to the latent themes of each of the stated goals of schooling? How balanced are the latent themes of each of the stated goals of schooling in the eighth-grade GPS? Through a historical investigation of the literature and current policy the author establishes the currently relevant goals of schooling which serve as the latent goals for which the method will seek to find evidence within the Georgia Performance Standards. The study employs a quantitative content analysis of a significant section of the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) looking for themes associated with various stated goals of schooling as indicated by the literature review. The manifest themes, developed from the latent goals of schooling, are incorporated as the dependent variables in the study, while the GPS serve as the independent variable. Neuendorf’s (2001) framework for content analysis is used to develop a new method for investigating the goal-curriculum alignment relationship through new measures of Curricular Balance, Curricular Relevance, and Manifest Theme Presence. This study presents a new visual model to compare a curriculum’s alignment to multiple goals of schooling called the Goal-Curriculum Alignment Measures (G-CAM) model. This study finds that the GPS are strongly aligned to the goals of Americanization, high student test scores, post-secondary enrollment, and national gain, while poorly aligned to democratic participation and social justice. Evidence for these conclusions are discussed and related to the current socio-political literature

“You taught us how to change the world”: A Critical Autoethnography Reimagining the Future of Education

As schools become more culturally and linguistically diverse, we need trained, well-prepared educators that value students for who they are, build on their backgrounds, and maintain their unique identities in the classroom. An asset-based, culturally sustaining approach to teaching incorporates theoretical grounding, a consideration of global identities, and a sociopolitical edge that allows students to thrive and think analytically. Through this approach, we can give students more confidence in their abilities as learners by activating their prior knowledge and experience to break down the content and build understanding of it, and we can connect the students to their learning, providing them with a space to recognize themselves and their identities as valued and as crucial in the classroom. The first critical step in challenging current practices and attitudes in the education system and offering solutions to reconstruct education today to be asset-based and culturally sustaining, is teachers’ self-reflection. Toward that end, my autoethnography provides a model of teacher self-reflection. In my autoethnography, I portray my lived experience as a student teacher by analyzing my lesson plans, reflective journals, and evaluation feedback to uncover the assumptions, challenges, and motivations that I encountered. I hope to inspire future teachers to critically analyze their experiences and to recognize that change starts in our own classrooms with us and our students

Ensuring Equity and Excellence for English Learners: An Annotated Bibliography for Research, Policy, and Practice

Ensuring Equity and Excellence for English Learners: An Annotated Bibliography for Research, Policy, and Practice is comprised of over 350 annotations from both recent and seminal literature (released between 1984–2021) that have significant implications for research, policy, and practice for English learner (EL) linguistic, social, and academic achievement. This annotated bibliography serves as a resource for researchers, policymakers, educators, and advocates who are working for equity and excellence for ELs. The authors provide a comprehensive selection of works focused on theory, research, and practice. The annotations are a result of purposeful searches of 23 topics in empirical and theoretical articles from peer-reviewed journals, books, book chapters, and reports from leading scholars in the field. Among the topics addressed relevant to EL education are broad areas such as: bilingual teacher preparation, teaching and professional development, university and district partnerships, digital learning for ELs, social emotional development, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and English Language Development (ELD) for elementary and secondary level students. The Integrated ELD (content instruction) topic is subcategorized according to specific disciplines including: English language arts, history, mathematics, science, visual & performing arts, and STEM. In order to provide additional information for readers, each annotation includes: (1) the source description (e.g., book, journal article, report), (2) type of source (e.g., empirical, guidance, theoretical), and (3) keywords.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceel_annotatedbibliographies/1001/thumbnail.jp