(2012). School Engagement among Aboriginal Students in Northern Canada: Perspectives From Activity Settings Theory. Journal of School Health, v82 n2 p65-74 Feb. Background: Educational disengagement is a public health concern among Aboriginal populations in many countries. It has been investigated previously in a variety of ways, with the conventional focus being on the children themselves. Activity settings are events and places, theorized in terms of their symbols, roles, time frame, funds, people, and physical location. According to the theory, particular behaviors and experiences are shaped by different configurations among these elements. This study explored how activity settings theory might provide new insight on school engagement. Methods: Ethnographic study was undertaken at a grades primary to 12 school in a remote First Nations community in Canada's Northwest Territories. We collected data through interviews, focus groups, archival material, and field notes from 7 months of participant observation. An activity settings model acted as template for data collection and interpretation. Results: Different aspects of the school's… [Direct]
(2011). U. S. Mainland-Born and Non-Mainland-Born Children Referred for Special Education. Journal of Multilingual Education Research, v2 Article 4 p35-55 Spr. In this study, we compared the referrals for special education evaluation of U.S. mainland-born children with those of mostly Latino non-mainland-born children in two school systems in the Northeastern United States. The investigation focused on whether there was a significant difference between referrals for special education from each group, based on either language or behavior. According to the literature, nonnatives are both overrepresented and underrepresented in special education, with reasons for referral including problematic use of language and inappropriate behavior. The researchers found that referrals for behavior in our sample were more frequent among natives compared with nonnatives, while referral for language use did not differ significantly between the groups. We discuss variables that could account for these findings including nonnative acculturation, the availability of alternative curricula for these learners, and the fact that many native children in inner-city… [PDF]
(2010). Colleges Serving Aboriginal Learners and Communities: 2010 Environmental Scan. Trends, Programs, Services, Partnerships, Challenges and Lessons Learned. Association of Canadian Community Colleges In 2005, the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) released the first report on college Aboriginal programs and services entitled Canadian Colleges and Institutes–Meeting the Needs of Aboriginal Learners. The 2005 report provided an overview of the programs and services offered and described how colleges work with Aboriginal communities to deliver a diverse range of programs and support services with a view to better serving the needs of Aboriginal learners. Five years later, ACCC conducted an environmental scan of Aboriginal engagement at colleges which included consultations with the ACCC National Aboriginal Programs and Services Committee, a review and analysis of statistics and research on Aboriginal participation in post-secondary education, in particular from Statistics Canada sources, an on-line survey with member colleges to garner policy perspectives on Aboriginal program and service delivery, and a search of college websites to build inventories of Aboriginal… [PDF]
(2011). Coaching (and) Commitment: Linking Ongoing Professional Development, Quality Teaching and Student Outcomes. Professional Development in Education, v37 n2 p197-211. This research conducted in primary schools in Northern Australia evaluated the effectiveness of the web-based program ABRACADABRA (ABRA) as a tool to complement early childhood literacy instruction in an Australian and Indigenous context. A further component of this research was to monitor implementation fidelity. The ABRA training was built around professional development best practices to address the challenges of providing ongoing training in remote areas. Teachers attended a one-day workshop that trained them in the use of ABRA, and continued learning was reinforced by pairing teachers with a literacy coach. Data were gathered through an implementation fidelity measure, researcher field notes, focus groups, teacher logbooks, and the "Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation" tool. This paper outlines challenges and successes that the researcher/coaches experienced while supporting teachers. (Contains 2 tables.)… [Direct]
(2009). Environmental and Science Education in Developing Nations: A Ghanaian Approach to Renewing and Revitalizing the Local Community and Ecosystems. Journal of Environmental Education, v40 n4 p53-63 Sum. Curriculum reform in environmental and science education now taking place in Ghana focuses on the community and ecosystems as the context of education. In Ghana, students conduct science investigations that include games, word searches, crossword puzzles, case studies, role play, debates, projects, and ecological profiles. This curriculum reflects an acknowledgement of the effect of conserving and protecting Ghanaian intergenerational knowledge and skills concerning the natural systems, including those of preserving ceremonies, personal expectations, narratives, beliefs, and values. The authors highlight these efforts to counter notions that Ghanaian education is still developing and to contrast the ideologies of seemingly developed educational landscapes in the United States. The authors argue that educational reform in the United States could benefit from an understanding of environmental and science education in seemingly developing nations…. [Direct]
(2010). Folklore and Culture as Literacy Resources for National Emancipation. International Education Studies, v3 n2 p200-205 May. Literacy counts a lot for development and progress. Efficient literacy induces and sustains good governance. Hence, all nations strive to attain balanced literacy. However any literacy programme that ignores the context of operation is not likely to be very successful. This paper canvasses that folklore and culture are essential ingredients for revitalizing literacy for national emancipation…. [PDF]
(2010). A Typology and Analysis of Drug Resistance Strategies of Rural Native Hawaiian Youth. Journal of Primary Prevention, v31 n5-6 p311-319 Dec. This study examines the drug resistance strategies described by Native Hawaiian youth residing in rural communities. Sixty-four youth from 7 middle and intermediate schools on the Island of Hawai'i participated in a series of gender-specific focus groups. Youth responded to 15 drug-related problem situations developed and validated from prior research. A total of 509 responses reflecting primary or secondary drug resistance strategies were identified by the youth, which were qualitatively collapsed into 16 different categories. Primary drug resistance strategies were those that participants listed as a single response, or the first part of a two-part response, while secondary drug resistance strategies were those that were used in tandem with primary drug resistance strategies. Over half of the responses reflecting primary drug resistance strategies fell into three different categories ("refuse," "explain," or "angry refusal"), whereas over half of the… [Direct]
(2010). Local Links, Local Knowledge: Choosing Care Settings and Schools. British Educational Research Journal, v36 n2 p279-298 Apr. This article draws on data from two recently completed Economic and Social Research Council funded projects in order to examine class differences and similarities in choice of school and choice of childcare. The authors argue that there is every reason to believe that in many circumstances, within its particular mechanisms and practices, choice produces specific and pervasive forms of inequity. The processes by which working-class parents in one study chose care settings and schools could be seen as less skilled, less informed, less careful than the decision making of many of the middle-class respondents. However, this is not an argument that the authors advance, noting instead that the practices and meanings of choice are subject to significant social, cultural and economic variations in terms of who gets to choose, who gets their choices, and what, how and why people choose when they are able to. The authors argue that there are alternative sets of priorities in play for the… [Direct]
(2013). A Practice Guide for Working with Families from Pre-Birth to Eight Years: Engaging Families in the Early Childhood Development Story. Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood This guide was created because parents revealed, through extensive social research, that they often received inconsistent and confusing parenting information from different professionals and practitioners across different disciplines, leading to misunderstandings and a lack of confidence about how best to support their children's development. In response, the Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood (SCSEEC) looked to the neuroscience evidence to determine what key information and practices will help professionals and practitioners to support parents and families to achieve the best outcomes for children. This guide was designed for professionals and practitioners to work from the same starting point, use a common language, and provide consistent messages about the early years regardless of what service, support, or information families access. This guide includes: (1) Shared Values that underpin work with families; (2) Four Key Principles of early childhood… [PDF]
(2008). Toward a Rhetoric of Self-Representation: Identity Politics in Indian Country and Rhetoric and Composition. College Composition and Communication, v60 n2 p321-365 Dec. Scholars in rhetoric and composition have explored political issues of identity and language for some time; however, we have only begun to develop an understanding of why the identity politics of Native scholars are so different from other scholars of color and whites. Native scholars take considerable risks in composing identities–they can face censure from their communities and other scholars of color, perhaps even charges of identity fraud, if their self-representations are not persuasive. I describe and analyze the cases of three Native scholars in order to explore the claims, evidence, and rhetorical exigencies present when a scholar claims to be Native American. Ward Churchill's case establishes the differences between self-identification and self-representation as these relate to the vexing problem of identity fraud in Indian Country. Resa Crane Bizzaro's case reveals a persuasive self-representation because it includes authenticity markers recognized by many Native… [Direct]
(2011). The Way of the Warrior: Indigenous Youth Navigating the Challenges of Schooling. Canadian Journal of Education, v34 n2 p93-111. This study examines the educational experiences of 39 First Nations youth, ages 16-20 years, from two, First Nations, on-reserve, communities in northern Ontario, who share their reflections and experiences of reserve and public schooling. We drew on the Indigenous metaphor of the "new warrior" to analyze how these youth experienced and responded to educational challenges. Their conversations describe how racism framed their schooling experiences and how they made use of their Indigenous sources of strength, which included family and community structures, to address the inequalities in their schooling. (Contains 1 footnote.)… [PDF] [Direct]
(2013). Beyond Assimilation: Tribal Colleges, Basic Writing, and the Exigencies of Settler Colonialism. Journal of Basic Writing, v32 n1 p4-36 Spr. This article discusses basic writing pedagogy at a two-year tribal college, an institution type that has not been visible in the basic writing literature to date. In many tribal college contexts, socioeconomic challenges, under-resourced K-12 schools, and linguistic diversity all contribute to high student placement rates into "developmental" writing courses. Operating from the understanding that tribal college writing curricula are assertions of rhetorical sovereignty, I present a narrative of the pedagogical reasoning that led me to structure my basic writing course around the exigencies of U.S. settler colonialism–that is, the settler state's ongoing political, social, and economic project of controlling Indigenous peoples, lands, and resources. This approach encourages NativeAmerican students to develop critical language awareness and invites them to consider the importance of writing for furthering the interests of their communities and nations while meeting the… [PDF]
(2009). (En)Countering Social and Environmental Messages in the Rainforest Cafe [sic], Children's Picturebooks, and Other Visual Culture Sites. International Journal of Education & the Arts, v10 n22 Sep. Our study critically examines social and environmental messages in a range of visual sites educating about rainforest environments. We focus primarily on the Rainforest Cafe, an international series of rainforest-themed edutainment restaurant/stores, whose inherent contradictions between consumption and conservation are quite disturbing when viewed as part of the null curriculum (Hollins, 1996). We then propose an alternate approach to teaching and learning about rainforest environments. This approach teaches students how to deconstruct visual culture environmental messages, such as those in the Rainforest Cafe, fine art, popular films, and children's picturebooks to learn from both accurate and inaccurate images while promoting environmental caring for the rainforest \and\ students' own environments through art. (Contains 13 notes.)… [PDF]
(2010). Teacher Education for World English Speaking Pre-Service Teachers: Making Transnational Knowledge Exchange for Mutual Learning. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, v26 n6 p1300-1308 Aug. Pre-service teachers are taught that the funds of knowledge their students bring to school provide intellectual resources to be engaged through productive pedagogies. Teacher education may assist and/or hinder World English Speaking (WES) pre-service teachers in gaining access to the teaching profession by doing likewise. The interpretative case study presented in this paper involves exploring possibilities for teacher education programs to make transnational knowledge connections through WES pre-service teachers. Evidence from interviews with WES pre-service teachers and their Anglophone teacher educators are analysed to elaborate issues confronting teacher education programs involving World English Speakers. The findings indicate that teamwork which is constructed to privilege the knowledge of Anglophone pre-service teachers over their WES peers is questionable. Further, WES pre-service teachers are not only structurally disadvantaged by teamwork practices that privilege local… [Direct]
(2010). International Teacher Professional Development: Teacher Reflections of Authentic Teaching and Learning Experiences. Teaching Education, v21 n1 p47-59 Mar. The article examines 21 biliteracy teachers who studied and taught in schools through an eight-week in-service professional development program with indigenous children in the state of Altacomulco, Mexico. In the process of documenting their international teaching experiences, a study was conducted to ascertain biliteracy teachers' development of their teaching ideology as a result of their participation and critical reflection, using Spanish as the primary mode of instruction. Five themes are discussed: globally minded teachers; linguistic and culturally relevant curriculum; passionate pedagogy ("amorosidad"); community authentic engagement; and political and ideological clarity…. [Direct]