Educational Researcher recent issues

Fourth Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research--Lessons Learned and Opportunities Ignored Since Brown v. Board of Education: Youth Development and the Myth of a Color-Blind Society

Spencer, M. B. — 2008-07-23

The scholarship of Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark, referenced in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, emphasized the nation’s color line, not only in the Jim Crow South but in American cities overall. The Clarks pointed out the critical role of context; however, they applied it narrowly to the issue of "harm" as an inevitable consequence of segregation. The author of this article argues that the Clarks and their social science colleagues missed an opportunity to view Black youth as diverse human beings engaged in normal developmental tasks under difficult conditions. She denotes the role of context as key, especially when linked with human growth and psychological processes. Her findings from a sample of impoverished multiethnic youth reaffirm that America is not colorblind and suggest that these youths’ political beliefs and concerns about government vary by ethnicity, gender, family structure, and skin color preferences.

2008 Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture--The Centrality of Culture to the Scientific Study of Learning and Development: How an Ecological Framework in Education Research Facilitates Civic Responsibility

Lee, C. D. — 2008-07-23

This article was presented as the 2008 Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in New York City. It argues that, to generate robust and generative theories of human learning and development, researchers must address the range of diversity within human cultural communities. The argument is warranted on implications from brain science regarding human adaptability and on core findings with regard to relations between cognition, perceptions, and emotions, all influenced by broad ecological contexts that influence human functioning. Implications for education are discussed, with examples of research that address fundamental questions of learning through examinations of practices within communities of color.

Cultural Discontinuity: Toward a Quantitative Investigation of a Major Hypothesis in Education

2008-07-23

Education researchers have suggested that the academic challenges faced by many ethnic minority students are linked to perceived cultural discontinuity between students’ home- and school-based experiences. However, there has been very little empirical inquiry into the existence and effects of cultural discontinuity for these students. The purpose of this article is to offer a definition and methodology to be used in the quantitative investigation of cultural discontinuity. A description of the cultural values and corresponding behaviors of African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American students, along with those values and behaviors salient in most public schools, is offered. Next, a method for investigating cultural discontinuity is proposed. Finally, future research directions to further examine cultural discontinuity are offered.

Methodology, Praxis, and Autoethnography: A Review of Getting Lost

Childers, S. M. — 2008-07-23

From the Desk of the Executive Director: AERA and the National Research Council Address FERPA

2008-07-23

Meeting of National Board for Education Sciences Looks to Past, Present, and Future

2008-07-23

AERA Launches Initiative on Education and Adolescent Health

2008-07-23

AERA Grants Program Awards, 2007-2008

2008-07-23

Call for Applications for AERA Grants Program

2008-07-23

Summary of AERA Journal Operations, 2007

2008-07-23

Classifieds

2008-07-23

Who Is Given Tests in What Language by Whom, When, and Where? The Need for Probabilistic Views of Language in the Testing of English Language Learners

Solano-Flores, G. — 2008-06-02

The testing of English language learners (ELLs) is, to a large extent, a random process because of poor implementation and factors that are uncertain or beyond control. Yet current testing practices and policies appear to be based on deterministic views of language and linguistic groups and erroneous assumptions about the capacity of assessment systems to serve ELLs. The question Who is given tests in what language by whom, when, and where? provides a conceptual framework for examining testing as a communication process between assessment systems and ELLs. Probabilistic approaches based on generalizability theory—a psychometric theory of measurement error—allow examination of the extent to which assessment systems’ inability to effectively communicate with ELLs affects the dependability of academic achievement measures.

Achieving Excellence in Teacher Workforce and Equity in Learning Opportunities in South Korea

Kang, N.-H., Hong, M. — 2008-06-02

Akiba, LeTendre, and Scribner (2007) identified two problems with mathematics education in the United States: (a) a shortage of qualified mathematics teachers and (b) unequal access to those teachers by students of high and low socioeconomic status. Akiba et al. called for further research on how South Korea and other countries have achieved excellence in their teacher workforces and equity in access to qualified teachers. They also called for research on what mediates the relationship between opportunity and achievement gaps. In response, the authors of this article describe pertinent South Korean educational contexts and policies. To ensure teacher quality in the United States, the authors propose establishing teaching as a professional occupation by offering competitive salaries, improving working conditions, and increasing teachers’ out-of-class time for planning and professional development. As a way to close the achievement gap, they recommend that accessible supplementary learning opportunities be provided for students who lack family and community resources.

Reporting Practices in Quantitative Teacher Education Research: One Look at the Evidence Cited in the AERA Panel Report

Zientek, L. R., Capraro, M. M., Capraro, R. M. — 2008-06-02

The authors of this article examine the analytic and reporting features of research articles cited in Studying Teacher Education: The Report of the AERA Panel on Research and Teacher Education (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005b) that used quantitative reporting practices. Their purpose was to help to identify reporting practices that can be improved to further the creation of the best possible evidence base for teacher education. Their findings indicate that many study reports lack (a) effect sizes, (b) confidence intervals, and (c) reliability and validity coefficients. One possible solution is for journal editors to emphasize clearly the expectations established in Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications (AERA, 2006).

From the Desk of the President: The Circle of Knowledge and the 2009 Annual Meeting

2008-06-02

EEPA Call for Editors

2008-06-02

Raudenbush to Present 2008 Brown Lecture in Education Research

2008-06-02

Record-Breaking 2008 Annual Meeting in New York City Focuses on Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities

2008-06-02

Silver Delivers Decade of Behavior Distinguished Lecture

2008-06-02

American Educational Research Association 2009 Awards Call for Nominations

2008-06-02

AERA Nominating Committee Seeks Recommendations for Nominees

2008-06-02

Call for Proposals, Professional Development and Training Courses, AERA 2009 Annual Meeting, April 12-17, 2009, San Diego, California, Deadline: September 5, 2008

2008-06-02

American Educational Research Association 2009 Annual Meeting Call for Proposals

2008-06-02

Erratum

2008-06-02

Classifieds

2008-06-02

Diversity, Group Identity, and Citizenship Education in a Global Age

Banks, J. A. — 2008-04-24

Worldwide immigration and quests for rights by minority groups have caused social scientists and educators to raise serious questions about liberal assimilationist conceptions of citizenship that historically have dominated citizenship education in nation-states. The author of this article challenges liberal assimilationist conceptions of citizenship and citizenship education. He argues that citizenship education should be reformed so that it reflects the home cultures and languages of students from diverse groups, and he contends that group rights can help individuals to attain structural equality. In the final part of the article, he discusses the implications of his analysis for transforming citizenship education.

Scientific and Pragmatic Challenges for Bridging Education and Neuroscience

Varma, S., McCandliss, B. D., Schwartz, D. L. — 2008-04-24

Educational neuroscience is an emerging effort to integrate neuroscience methods, particularly functional neuroimaging, with behavioral methods to address issues of learning and instruction. This article consolidates common concerns about connecting education and neuroscience. One set of concerns is scientific: in-principle differences in methods, data, theory, and philosophy. The other set of concerns is pragmatic: considerations of costs, timing, locus of control, and likely payoffs. The authors first articulate the concerns and then revisit them, reinterpreting them as potential opportunities. They also provide instances of neuroscience findings and methods that are relevant to education. The goal is to offer education researchers a window into contemporary neuroscience to prepare them to think more specifically about the prospects of educational neuroscience.

An Ecology Metaphor for Educational Policy Analysis: A Call to Complexity

Weaver-Hightower, M. B. — 2008-04-24

Educational policy might productively be conceptualized with an ecology metaphor. Each policy, thus considered, exists within a complex system that reflects varied international, national, regional, and local dynamics. Using this metaphor provides policy analysts with a view of the regularities and irregularities of any policy, its process, its texts, its reception, and its degree of implementation. The characteristics of policy ecologies alert analysts to the possibilities of great transformation, for good or ill, and give them a way to conceptualize how such transformations occur. Perhaps most important, using an ecology metaphor suggests specific ways that progressive researchers might positively intervene in the policy process.

Events With William F. Tate, AERA President 2007-2008

2008-04-24

Progress on Establishing a World Education Research Association Continues at Third International Meeting

2008-04-24

AERA and Hechinger Join Forces at Annual Meeting to Strengthen Public Communication

2008-04-24

AERA Cosponsors a Retreat on Enhancing Diversity in Science

2008-04-24

AERA Emphasizes Research Ethics and a Fellows Program: Two New Standing Committees Established

2008-04-24

RER and AERJ-SIA Editors Appointed

2008-04-24

2008-2009 AERA Council

2008-04-24

Classifieds

2008-04-24

Methodological Concerns About the Education Value-Added Assessment System

Amrein-Beardsley, A. — 2008-03-07

Value-added models help to evaluate the knowledge that school districts, schools, and teachers add to student learning as students progress through school. In this article, the well-known Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) is examined. The author presents a practical investigation of the methodological issues associated with the model. Specifically, she argues that, although EVAAS is probably the most sophisticated value-added model, it has flaws that must be addressed before widespread adoption. She explores in depth the shortage of external reviews and validity studies of the model, its insufficient user-friendliness, and methodological issues about missing data, regression to the mean, and student background variables. She also examines a paradigm case in which the model was used to advance unfounded assertions.

Terminology, Emphasis, and Utility in Validation

Kane, M. T. — 2008-03-07

Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007) have proposed an operational definition of validity that shifts many of the questions traditionally considered under validity to a separate category associated with the utility of test use. Operational definitions support inferences about how well people perform some kind of task or how they respond to some kind of stimulus. Such interpretations can be useful for some purposes, but they do not support any richer interpretations of scores. The author argues that validation should involve an evaluation of the proposed interpretations and uses of test scores. Test developers may choose to adopt a narrow operational interpretation of test scores, but if they do so, they should label the test accordingly.

CHAT-IT: Toward Conceptualizing Learning in the Context of Formal Organizations

Ogawa, R. T., Crain, R., Loomis, M., Ball, T. — 2008-03-07

This article is intended to spark a discussion between two research communities—scholars who study learning and scholars who study educational organizations. A secondary purpose is to encourage researchers to look beyond schools to examine learning in other types of educational organizations. The authors outline a framework to guide research on the relationship between learning and the social contexts afforded by formal organizations. The framework combines elements of cultural historical activity theory, a sociocultural theory of learning, and institutional theory, which is a constructivist theory of organization. The authors employ preliminary findings from research and secondary historical accounts to illustrate the potential of the framework for guiding research that ties learning to contexts in formal organizations.

Assessing Educational Measurement: Ovations, Omissions, Opportunities

Cizek, G. J. — 2008-03-07

A Private Public

Shannon, P. — 2008-03-07

Social Justice Research: The Power to Reveal Hidden Agendas

Mertens, D. M. — 2008-03-07

A Response to "Social Justice Research," by Donna M. Mertens

Shannon, P. — 2008-03-07

A Response to "A Private Public," by Patrick Shannon

Mertens, D. M. — 2008-03-07

2008 AERA Annual Meeting Highlights: Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward Civic Responsibility

2008-03-07

Additional AERA Lectures and Presentations Abound: Be a Part of It . . . New York, New York!

2008-03-07

Research Policy and Research Support Opportunities: A 2008 Annual Meeting Feature

2008-03-07

Town Hall Meeting: AERA Annual Meeting Quality

2008-03-07

2008 AERA Annual Meeting Divisional Highlights

2008-03-07

Meet Fellows in Education Research at the 2008 Annual Meeting

2008-03-07

Special Sessions Link History and Education

2008-03-07

AERA Career Center at the 2008 AERA Annual Meeting

2008-03-07

The 2008 AERA Annual Meeting Exhibit Hall

2008-03-07

2008 AERA Election Results In: New Officers Take on Leadership Roles

2008-03-07

Classifieds

2008-03-07