Learning Environments: A Review of the Literature on School Environments and Student Achievement

65 pagesTheoretical traditions concerning school environments and student achievement are described, and their insights are linked with analyses of school and classroom interactions to develop a simple conceptual model of environmental influences on student achievement. The literature regarding environmental influences is then reviewed, and.the last section of the paper summarizes the analysis and suggests specific areas for future research. The literature review suggests that the learning environment can enhance individual achievement somewhat, beyond the level expected given individual background traits. This enhancement occurs through altering the "non-cognitive" traits--by developing an atmosphere in which students are expected and feel able to achieve. The researchers' conceptual model provides a framework to describe these influences, divided into factors of group norms and group relationships. It is suggested that school analysts should recognize the attachments to schools that students display and acknowledge that relationships within schools are often better described with a conflict model than a consensus model. The basis of conflict needs to be determined in order to enhance achievement. The task for researchers and school officials is understanding why this resistance to officially sanctioned norms occurs and how it may be adequately addressed to promote learning. A 13-page bibliography is appended

Deweyan tools for inquiry and the epistemological context of critical pedagogy

This article develops the notion of resistance as articulated in the literature of critical pedagogy as being both culturally sponsored and cognitively manifested. To do so, the authors draw upon John Dewey\u27s conception of tools for inquiry. Dewey provides a way to conceptualize student resistance not as a form of willful disputation, but instead as a function of socialization into cultural models of thought that actively truncate inquiry. In other words, resistance can be construed as the cognitive and emotive dimensions of the ongoing failure of institutions to provide ideas that help individuals both recognize social problems and imagine possible solutions. Focusing on Dewey\u27s epistemological framework, specifically tools for inquiry, provides a way to grasp this problem. It also affords some innovative solutions; for instance, it helps conceive of possible links between the regular curriculum and the study of specific social justice issues, a relationship that is often under-examined. The aims of critical pedagogy depend upon students developing dexterity with the conceptual tools they use to make meaning of the evidence they confront; these are background skills that the regular curriculum can be made to serve even outside social justice-focused curricula. Furthermore, the article concludes that because such inquiry involves the exploration and potential revision of students\u27 world-ordering beliefs, developing flexibility in how one thinks may be better achieved within academic subjects and topics that are not so intimately connected to students\u27 current social lives, especially where students may be directly implicated

Family unity objectives of parents who teach their children: Ideological and pedagogical orientations to home schooling

This article examines parents who teach their children at home. Using the results from two qualitative studies the article suggests, while families have complex motives for teaching their children at home, an important commonality underlies their decision. Regardless of their orientation to home schooling the parents in these two studies felt that establishing a home school would allow them to maintain or further develop unity within the family. The article suggests a family's decision to home school is often made in an attempt to resist the effects on the family unit of urbanization and modernization. The policy implications of this finding are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43875/1/11256_2005_Article_BF01112403.pd

Challenging the sounds of silence: Gay-straight alliances and implications for school change.

Through the voices of students, teachers, and administrators, this paper explores the efficacy of one increasingly familiar safe school intervention Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA). Data from a qualitative research study that examined (a) the relationship between membership in a GSA and student functioning across various domains, and (b) GSA activities and school change efforts, highlights the ways in which safe school efforts and practices both facilitate and hinder systemic school change efforts. The paper emphasizes that systemic change efforts are greatly impeded by the imposition of boundaries on GSA activities that hinder their efforts to engage the wider school community in substantive discussions about the heteronormative organizational and interactional structures of school environments that continue to stigmatize sexual minority youth

Challenging the sounds of silence: Gay-straight alliances and implications for school change.

Through the voices of students, teachers, and administrators, this paper explores the efficacy of one increasingly familiar safe school intervention Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA). Data from a qualitative research study that examined (a) the relationship between membership in a GSA and student functioning across various domains, and (b) GSA activities and school change efforts, highlights the ways in which safe school efforts and practices both facilitate and hinder systemic school change efforts. The paper emphasizes that systemic change efforts are greatly impeded by the imposition of boundaries on GSA activities that hinder their efforts to engage the wider school community in substantive discussions about the heteronormative organizational and interactional structures of school environments that continue to stigmatize sexual minority youth

School reform for LGBT youth: A case study of GSAs.

Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) have become increasingly popular in America’s high schools, but research is lacking on the efficacy of GSAs for disrupting hostile school environments for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered youth. This case study highlights school practices that either strengthen or weaken antigay school environments and practices. Interviews were conducted with GSA student members, GSA advisors, high school principals, and district-level administrators in a large, metropolitan southeastern school district. Three themes are highlighted: (1) silence and passive resistance; (2) the provision of safe spaces; and (3) attempts and challenges to breaking the silence. The limitations of current efforts to establish positive school environments for sexual minority youth and the need for systemic school reform are discussed

Challenging the sounds of silence: A qualitative study of Gay-Straight Alliances and school reform efforts.

We explore the efficacy of one increasingly familiar strategic intervention designed to disrupt antigay school environments--Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). Despite the increasing popularity of GSAs, there has been little research on the ways in which they d0--and do not--impact school climate. The ubiquity of antigay and homophobic attitudes throughout schools highlights the importance of documenting the advantages and disadvantages of this tactical intervention. Using research with GSA student members, GSA advisors, high school principals, and district-level administrators from a case study of high schools, we identify school practices that either support or destabilize antigay school environments: Silence and passive resistance, the provision of safe spaces, and attempts and challenges to breaking the silence. We then explore the limitations of current efforts to create safe-school environments for sexual minority youth and end by discussing how systemic school reform efforts could be used to transform the broader social context