Education and Urban Society

Sellers, Kathleen M.; MacKenzie, Ann Haley

doi: 10.1177/00131245221121668pmid: N/A

This study draws on Gloria Ladson-Billings’ theory of culturally relevant pedagogy to explore how faculty at a private, Catholic, low-income serving, secondary school translated this theory into practice. Through a three-part action research methodology, the authors sought to answer two primary questions: How indicative are annual plans of culturally relevant pedagogy? How is culturally relevant pedagogy reflected in instructional practice? The data revealed faculty were not uniformly aware of the meaning or implications of culture nor culturally relevant pedagogy and incorporated such fractured knowledge into their annual plans to a limited degree, if at all. When those practices took place, they were often precipitated by student requests and linked directly with specific events in students’ lives in or outside the school environment. Additionally, faculty did not express a strong association between school-wide initiatives that were meant to be culturally relevant and the pedagogical work conducted in their classes. Further, Faculty of Color exhibited a greater level of critical consciousness and enumerated significantly more examples of cultural work than White faculty. Recommendations are made for additional research as well as targeted professional development, changes in staff learning practices, and fairer distributions of cultural work across faculty.

Reynolds, Heather M.; Astor, Ron Avi

doi: 10.1177/00131245221121798pmid: 39991466

Currently, there is a national level debate on security-based school safety policies and practices, particularly in relation to the presence of police in schools. Decisions about school safety are discussed at the district level by administrators and board of education members who may not be aware of the importance of utilizing local data to ensure these decisions are data driven and beneficial to all the stakeholders they represent in diverse, urban districts. Research on security, policing, and social-emotional and school climate-based strategies are discussed, as is research on district-level decision-makers (boards of education and administrators) and decision making. This paper provides local school stakeholders, policy makers, and school safety researchers with a framework for collaborative work to ensure that evidence-based violence prevention programming and local data drive district-level decision making about school safety.

Smith Washington, Vannessa

doi: 10.1177/00131245221121664pmid: N/A

Serving over 1.1 million students in more than 1,800 public schools, the New York City Department of Education is the largest school district in the nation. When individuals graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree in teacher education the New York City Department of Education assign a school-based mentor for one year. The case study examined how a novice special education teacher described his reflective experiences and progress, or lack thereof. The central research question was, “What were the differences, challenges, and successes between novice teachers’ first-year experiences and their third-year mentoring experiences?” Data collection included an individual interview. Data analysis was analyzing themes by manual coding. The findings were a lack of resources and exemplary administrative support. Still, often too late, lack of available materials, qualified mentor-teacher role, impractical standard planning time, meaningful observations, and good work ethics are qualities of mentors and initial dissatisfaction without a mentor. These results can inform school districts what happens when mentors are not assigned and develop improved mentoring programs for new special education teachers. A limitation of this study was one novice teacher was interviewed, and the findings were not generalized to other novice special education teachers. However, the implication was that new teachers, especially special education teachers, need mentors in the first year of teaching and beyond. Social change may include improved mentoring programs for school districts to ensure that novice special education teachers remain in the teaching profession.

Domínguez, Ashley D.; Overholser, Amber; Sampson, Carrie

doi: 10.1177/00131245221121662pmid: N/A

Although research illustrates that community-based organizations (CBOs) offer critical support to the education of historically marginalized youth, less is known about CBOs’ role in developing youth’s critical civic praxis toward social justice. In this case study, we analyzed semi-structured interviews with youth who participated in a college preparation and social justice-focused CBO during high school in an urban community where many of them experienced profound disparities. The purpose of this study was to explore the role that CBOs play in shaping youth’s critical civic praxis during and post high school. The study findings suggest that CBOs can significantly influence youth’s commitment to social justice far beyond K-12 schooling, instilling community values such as reciprocity that reposition the pursuit of higher education as a form of social justice. We offer implications for CBOs who serve historically marginalized youth, whose commitment to improving educational opportunities include social justice for youth and their surrounding communities.

Hypolite, Liane I.

doi: 10.1177/00131245221114882pmid: N/A

Formerly preferred, but increasingly required, a college degree has become a prerequisite in a competitive job market. For Black undergraduates who continue to face systemic disparities in college completion, gaps in hiring are exacerbated by unequal access to leadership positions and professional training, such as internships, during college. Since informal connections and social networks heavily influence occupational access, this research article presents a relational, ethnographic approach to better understand the opportunities and constraints of networking for Black undergraduates in an urban campus context. This study advances prior social capital research by not only offering where networks exist but also presenting how they form and develop over time and across space. The findings show how Black students attending an urban, selective, and historically White institution (HWI) do not merely discover connections but deliberately construct them, illuminating the process through which social capital is made.