International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 2019
Current and former students of two professors in a southern research university and a community e... more Current and former students of two professors in a southern research university and a community educator, all participants in an Africancentered research collaborative/apprenticeship, describe what and how we study together and our struggle to use our knowledge and research in service to our community. We uplift the works of key Pan-African/ Black/Africana Studies/Nile Valley scholars to illustrate the African epistemic foundation of our collaborative/apprenticeship. We describe how we utilized the methodology of narrative inquiry to explore our experiences as participants in the HeKA (Heritage Knowledge in Action) research collaborative and how HeKA has provided ways of knowing and being centered in our culture and heritage. We present our findings, which include some of the dilemmas of Black doctoral students and emerging scholars engaged in HeKA and how this collaborative/ apprenticeship serves as an emancipatory praxis to enable the next generation to realize their goals of partisan research and pedagogy in higher education.
This study examined (1) student perceptions of school connectedness across racial subgroups (Afri... more This study examined (1) student perceptions of school connectedness across racial subgroups (African American, white, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, and Other); (2) the relationships between student perceptions of school connectedness and school-level variables of racial composition, teacher racial composition, and socioeconomic status across African American and white racial groups; and (3) the relationships between school connectedness, teacher racial composition, peer support, adult support, teacher support, discrimination, and expectations when examining African American middle school students perceptions, as measured by the Georgia Student Health Survey 2.0. These relationships were explored using data collected from middle school student (N = 308,887) across 580 public schools in Georgia. This three-part, quantitative study employed one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and an integrated, multilevel modeling approach (inclusive of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling) for statistical analyses. The results indicated that perceptions of school connectedness are practically significantly different across racial groups, with the largest difference between white and African American students. Contrary to extant research, African American students were more connected to schools relative to white, Hispanic, and multiracial and less connected than Asian or Pacific Islander racial groups. Gender had a weak association with connectedness across African American and white racial groups. Connections to school decrease as students advance in grades, above and beyond other school- and individual-level factors included in the study. Lastly, the results point to the need for student-driven conceptions of school connectedness. These findings are discussed in terms of the challenges facing racial equity in understanding, contextualizing, and developing culturally sensitive measures of school connectedness. Study limitations, future directions, and implications are discussed
Structural racism is a multilevel system of ideologies, institutions, and processes that have cre... more Structural racism is a multilevel system of ideologies, institutions, and processes that have created and reified racial/ethnic inequities. As a system, it works in concert across institutions to propagate racial injustice. Thus, efforts to address structural racism and its implications for health inequity require transdisciplinary collaboration. In this article, we begin by describing the process through which we have leveraged our discipline-specific training -- spanning education, epidemiology, social work, sociology, and urban planning -- to co-construct a transdisciplinary analysis of the determinants of racial health inequity. Specifically, we introduce the underlying theories that guide our framework development and demonstrate the application of our integrated framework through a case example. We conclude with potential research and policy implications. Ethn Dis.2020;30(3):381-388; doi:10.18865/ed.30.3.381
In this case study, we examine the consequential validity of using edTPA in a social justice-orie... more In this case study, we examine the consequential validity of using edTPA in a social justice-oriented, urban teacher preparation program. According to the developers of edTPA, a primary purpose is to support teacher candidate learning, yet our analysis suggests that edTPA does not support learning when used during student teaching. Our 16 participants, who are primarily teacher candidates of color and many first-generation college students, and who all passed edTPA, unanimously indicated that edTPA increased their mental and financial stress, which they linked to design elements including high stakes, standardization, and external scoring. Participants also critiqued the construct of teaching represented in edTPA, arguing that dispositions and a social justice orientation are missing and that edTPA is more about following procedures than supporting candidate learning. Moreover, edTPA encouraged inequitable practices, including focusing on high-achieving classes and selecting curricula based on scoring procedures instead of student need. Overall, our analysis indicates that there is not strong consequential validity evidence to support the use of edTPA as an assessment during student teaching, particularly in social justice-oriented programs, yet suggests edTPA could be a useful tool if stakes and proceduralism are reduced and scoring is conducted locally. It's the end of the spring semester, and faculty at our institution are assembled in a college-wide meeting listening to pass rates for edTPA (Educator Teacher Performance Assessment), a performance assessment for teacher candidates. It is one of the first years where a specific cut score is required for state certification, and 95% of teacher candidates in our college of education have passed. Referring to our high pass rate, one of the college's leaders proudly states that "we are now one of 29 states that uses hard, observable, quantitative data using an instrument out of Stanford University [that] allows us to argue in policy arenas … that what people say teacher ed is, is not what teacher ed is, and shows them what we can do." Yet what does this "hard, observable, quantitative data" really represent? High pass rates on an assessment are laudable only to the extent to which the assessment is valid. According to Stanford University's Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education's (AACTE) (2016) report on the validity of edTPA, "the process of validation begins with defining the intended purpose of the assessment and the constructs being measured" (p. 18), and we fully agree with this statement. This report also includes content validity evidence to support the claim that edTPA represents CONTACT Nadia Behizadeh
This article explores the experiences of three Black female doctoral students and one White femal... more This article explores the experiences of three Black female doctoral students and one White female professor as they engaged in a doctoral seminar course on the redesign of an undergraduate urban teacher preparation program at their university. Borne out of a promise to one another to write about our experiences navigating increasingly complex and politicized dynamics within the college, we explore how we, as current and future teacher educators, make sense of reform in teacher preparation. We drew from the literature on neoliberalism, whiteness as a wicked problem in teacher education, colonialism, and teacher educators' work in the "swamp" throughout our course, for our proposals, and this article. We utilized poetic inquiry methodology to explore the real, everyday implications of program redesign in our lives and our careers. Equally important is our use of critical race theory to examine and make sense of our experiences as we engaged in this work. We discuss diff...
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 2019
Current and former students of two professors in a southern research university and a community e... more Current and former students of two professors in a southern research university and a community educator, all participants in an Africancentered research collaborative/apprenticeship, describe what and how we study together and our struggle to use our knowledge and research in service to our community. We uplift the works of key Pan-African/ Black/Africana Studies/Nile Valley scholars to illustrate the African epistemic foundation of our collaborative/apprenticeship. We describe how we utilized the methodology of narrative inquiry to explore our experiences as participants in the HeKA (Heritage Knowledge in Action) research collaborative and how HeKA has provided ways of knowing and being centered in our culture and heritage. We present our findings, which include some of the dilemmas of Black doctoral students and emerging scholars engaged in HeKA and how this collaborative/ apprenticeship serves as an emancipatory praxis to enable the next generation to realize their goals of partisan research and pedagogy in higher education.
This study examined (1) student perceptions of school connectedness across racial subgroups (Afri... more This study examined (1) student perceptions of school connectedness across racial subgroups (African American, white, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, and Other); (2) the relationships between student perceptions of school connectedness and school-level variables of racial composition, teacher racial composition, and socioeconomic status across African American and white racial groups; and (3) the relationships between school connectedness, teacher racial composition, peer support, adult support, teacher support, discrimination, and expectations when examining African American middle school students perceptions, as measured by the Georgia Student Health Survey 2.0. These relationships were explored using data collected from middle school student (N = 308,887) across 580 public schools in Georgia. This three-part, quantitative study employed one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and an integrated, multilevel modeling approach (inclusive of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling) for statistical analyses. The results indicated that perceptions of school connectedness are practically significantly different across racial groups, with the largest difference between white and African American students. Contrary to extant research, African American students were more connected to schools relative to white, Hispanic, and multiracial and less connected than Asian or Pacific Islander racial groups. Gender had a weak association with connectedness across African American and white racial groups. Connections to school decrease as students advance in grades, above and beyond other school- and individual-level factors included in the study. Lastly, the results point to the need for student-driven conceptions of school connectedness. These findings are discussed in terms of the challenges facing racial equity in understanding, contextualizing, and developing culturally sensitive measures of school connectedness. Study limitations, future directions, and implications are discussed
Structural racism is a multilevel system of ideologies, institutions, and processes that have cre... more Structural racism is a multilevel system of ideologies, institutions, and processes that have created and reified racial/ethnic inequities. As a system, it works in concert across institutions to propagate racial injustice. Thus, efforts to address structural racism and its implications for health inequity require transdisciplinary collaboration. In this article, we begin by describing the process through which we have leveraged our discipline-specific training -- spanning education, epidemiology, social work, sociology, and urban planning -- to co-construct a transdisciplinary analysis of the determinants of racial health inequity. Specifically, we introduce the underlying theories that guide our framework development and demonstrate the application of our integrated framework through a case example. We conclude with potential research and policy implications. Ethn Dis.2020;30(3):381-388; doi:10.18865/ed.30.3.381
In this case study, we examine the consequential validity of using edTPA in a social justice-orie... more In this case study, we examine the consequential validity of using edTPA in a social justice-oriented, urban teacher preparation program. According to the developers of edTPA, a primary purpose is to support teacher candidate learning, yet our analysis suggests that edTPA does not support learning when used during student teaching. Our 16 participants, who are primarily teacher candidates of color and many first-generation college students, and who all passed edTPA, unanimously indicated that edTPA increased their mental and financial stress, which they linked to design elements including high stakes, standardization, and external scoring. Participants also critiqued the construct of teaching represented in edTPA, arguing that dispositions and a social justice orientation are missing and that edTPA is more about following procedures than supporting candidate learning. Moreover, edTPA encouraged inequitable practices, including focusing on high-achieving classes and selecting curricula based on scoring procedures instead of student need. Overall, our analysis indicates that there is not strong consequential validity evidence to support the use of edTPA as an assessment during student teaching, particularly in social justice-oriented programs, yet suggests edTPA could be a useful tool if stakes and proceduralism are reduced and scoring is conducted locally. It's the end of the spring semester, and faculty at our institution are assembled in a college-wide meeting listening to pass rates for edTPA (Educator Teacher Performance Assessment), a performance assessment for teacher candidates. It is one of the first years where a specific cut score is required for state certification, and 95% of teacher candidates in our college of education have passed. Referring to our high pass rate, one of the college's leaders proudly states that "we are now one of 29 states that uses hard, observable, quantitative data using an instrument out of Stanford University [that] allows us to argue in policy arenas … that what people say teacher ed is, is not what teacher ed is, and shows them what we can do." Yet what does this "hard, observable, quantitative data" really represent? High pass rates on an assessment are laudable only to the extent to which the assessment is valid. According to Stanford University's Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education's (AACTE) (2016) report on the validity of edTPA, "the process of validation begins with defining the intended purpose of the assessment and the constructs being measured" (p. 18), and we fully agree with this statement. This report also includes content validity evidence to support the claim that edTPA represents CONTACT Nadia Behizadeh
This article explores the experiences of three Black female doctoral students and one White femal... more This article explores the experiences of three Black female doctoral students and one White female professor as they engaged in a doctoral seminar course on the redesign of an undergraduate urban teacher preparation program at their university. Borne out of a promise to one another to write about our experiences navigating increasingly complex and politicized dynamics within the college, we explore how we, as current and future teacher educators, make sense of reform in teacher preparation. We drew from the literature on neoliberalism, whiteness as a wicked problem in teacher education, colonialism, and teacher educators' work in the "swamp" throughout our course, for our proposals, and this article. We utilized poetic inquiry methodology to explore the real, everyday implications of program redesign in our lives and our careers. Equally important is our use of critical race theory to examine and make sense of our experiences as we engaged in this work. We discuss diff...
Uploads
Papers by adrian neely