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The purpose of this study is to empower preservice teachers (PSTs) to leverage relevant technology-based practices and be equipped with various tools and strategies appropriate for English Language Learners (ELLs) in PreK-12 grade settings. Now, more than ever, teacher candidates need to be prepared to understand the challenges faced by ELLs and provide various pedagogies for online platforms. This qualitative investigation explored 57 educators' perspectives from PreK-12 schools, districts, and preparation programs in higher education in an effort to obtain relevant approaches in technology strategies and pedagogical frameworks that support ELLs' remote learning. The study also draws on the knowledge needed to implement Social and Emotional Learning. Based on the findings, the study revealed (a) there are gaps between what teachers gain from the districts and what they have previously learned from their teacher preparation programs; (b) some teachers were not completely aware of the Social and Emotional Learning approach; (c) participants identified three pedagogical frameworks as most commonly used and they interchangeably used frameworks, programs, some online platforms, and resources in one section; and (d) educators' insights highlighted what teachers should take into consideration (e.g., scaffolding/differentiated strategies) when planning, creating, and delivering instruction for ELLs in an online platform. Overall, participants emphasized the much-needed dedication to explore technology tools for various pedagogical approaches in hybrid/virtual learning spaces.

This transnational comparative study between Costa Rica and the United States provides an in-depth understanding of the similarities and differences of the early literacy practices of educators in the Pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten classroom settings. Drawing upon Costa Rica's curricular approach to Early Childhood Education, based upon the Ministerio de Educación Pública, this study positions the learner as the center of the schooling process and considers the teacher as a facilitator, mediator who knows the learners and their families. The main conceptual framework which has guided this research project is the National Reading Panel six pillars of literacy instruction. Specific findings include similarities in early literacy practices for both Costa Rica and the United States include role-playing, hands-on activities, and visual aids. General findings revealed that Costa Rica's approach to early literacy practices was more holistic and integrated, in comparison to the United States with a more focused and analytical approach.

This ethnographic case study examined how 16 Latinx community college students experienced the transition to a selective 4-year public research-intensive university. Participants encountered challenges with social isolation, adapting to a fast-paced quarter system and to large course sizes, limited access to information on resources, restricted access to majors, and maintaining healthy lifestyles while attending to academic achievement. Participants benefited from involvement with student organizations, family, and professors, and accessing selected university resources for transfer students.

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe successful innovations in educational leadership preparation programs. Professors of educational leadership from across the nation nominated innovations of 12 programs. Based on review of descriptions of the innovations provided by nominees, further documentation on the innovations was requested from the programs. Various stakeholders in the programs with the most promising innovations were interviewed to gather additional data on those innovations. Data analysis in relation to three criteria for selection--fidelity of implementation, positive student learning outcomes, and adaptability to other programs--resulted in the identification of six successful innovations.

Parents who vary in their experience with formal schooling are likely to use different types of informal guidance with their children. However, rather than assuming a deficit approach we need evidence regarding how parents with limited schooling support their children's learning. Forty U.S. families of Mexican-heritage, from two levels of schooling experience, engaged with their children in a sink-or-float activity. Parents' questions and evaluations and children's decision-making and questions were observed and coded. Parents with higher schooling asked more questions and made more evaluative comments about their children's performance, whereas parents with basic schooling tended to evaluate their own performance more often. Parents made more decisions about items overall; however, children whose parents had basic schooling made more decisions and asked more conceptual questions than those with higher schooling parents. Children of higher schooling parents asked more procedural questions. These findings suggest that parents with basic schooling engaged with their children as collaborators, using open-ended inquiry. Conversely, parents with more schooling experience took an instructor-like role, which may have limited children's opportunities to engage in critical thinking.

This study examined how heritage language and cultural funds of knowledge of Spanish-dominant Latinx immigrant families served as powerful resources for their concientización--critical awareness of important problems and social conditions--and bridged their cultural worlds of home, community, and school policy. The study drew on three complementary theories: Cultural Historical Activity Theory or Funds of Knowledge, Critical Pedagogy, and Bridging Multiple Worlds; all challenge common deficit models that these parents lack sufficient knowledge and concern for their children's formal education. Qualitative ethnographic study of Latinx immigrant parents in a parent engagement program revealed how dialogic interaction or plática, using colloquial funds of knowledge through dichos (words with extended metaphorical cultural significance) and refranes (proverbs conveying cultural wisdom about how to live and act), and cultural brokering from parent-coordinators helped parents author persuasive petition letters to school officials. The discussion addresses implications for research and practice supporting meaningful parent engagement.

A case study of a Latinx parent-school engagement program is presented illustrating how immigrant parents became collective political actors providing input into their California school district's formulation of its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The LCAP was part of newly adopted statewide Local Control Funding Formula policy providing supplemental funding to schools in support of services needed by students who were identified as low-income, English Language Learners (ELLs), and foster-care. The study investigated how Latinx parents developed a face-to-face understanding of the LCAP policy and planning process, and their rights and collective power as advocates for their children's education. Focused attention is given to one parent group advocating for summer academic programs and how parents negotiated rhetorical and linguistic formulation of arguments in their letter petition to the local school board. In so doing, parents drew on their cultural funds of knowledge and developed sensitivity to the communicative practices of school boards, and to the need of parents to present their voice and stances persuasively and assertively indicative of their rights as community members. The study helps ground theories of political action in the face-to-face world of parent engagement programs.

This proof of concept study investigated a secondary science teacher preparation intervention in six university programs across Arizona, California, and Texas. Researchers and science method instructors (SMIs) collaboratively restructured respective science method courses to hold fidelity to an interrelated set of instructional practices that attend to science learning as envisioned in a Framework for K-12 Science Education, while also creating contextualized spaces for language and literacy development targeted to English learners (ELs), but also supportive of "mainstream" students. We observed the teaching of SMIs and preservice teachers (PSTs) with observation rubrics to gauge the fidelity to which they implemented practices. Across programs, SMIs provided opportunities for PSTs to experience the instructional practices as intended, although there was less opportunity for pedagogical development around them. The strongest evidence of PST fidelity to the intervention was found for two practices: "Increasing student interaction" and "Facilitating student talk." Considerable variation was found across the programs for other practices including some evidence of negative effects. We discuss results in terms of promises for preparing novice secondary science teachers, as well as future directions to overcome challenges that researchers, SMIs, and novice teachers are likely to face when preparing novice science teachers.

Several pressing issues call for institutions charged with the responsibility to educate prospective teachers to rethink their model of teacher preparation to better address the educational needs of English Language Learners (ELLs). It is projected that by 2025 one in four students in the U.S. will be from homes where a language other than English is spoken (NCES, 2006). For at least thirty years, the achievement of ELLs has lagged behind that of native English speakers in science and literacy (Buxton, 2006; Lee & Luyxk, 2006; NCES, 2006). In 2010 report, the National Academy of Science identified improving the preparation of teachers to teach science to ELLs as a national priority that would increase the successful participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM careers and degree programs (NAS, 2010). This paper describe the findings of a research and development project that involved science education faculty at three universities in developing and implementing an experimental science teacher education program to prepare pre-service teachers to use research-based instructional strategies in science teaching to improve the science learning of ELLs. A quasi-experimental study was used to examine the impact of the experimental program on 85 student teachers' instructional practice and compared with the practice of 50 student teachers who participated in the control "business as usual" program. The results showed that experimental group student teachers implemented significantly more ELL-responsive practices while they taught science during their clinical practices than control group student teachers.

Air pollution is among the world's greatest environmental health threats. Still, little strategic communication research has addressed it. We report two pre-registered experiments examining narrative and statistical message effects. Study 1 (N = 1,282, U.S.) showed little effect for either. Study 2 (N = 754, California), which accounted for potentially problematic design features of Study 1, found effects for both types across a range of attitudinal outcomes (emotional response, efficacy, risk). Narrative messaging also had a small effect on mitigation intention. Carefully designed messages may produce positive changes on this issue, but success depends on alignment between message construction, recommended behaviors, and audience relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify (1) teacher-leaders' descriptions of their roles and activities, (2) perceptions of characteristics, knowledge, and skills of successful teacher leaders, (3) barriers to and support needed for teacher leadership, (4) the extent to which teacher leaders helped teachers understand and respond to different cultures, and (5) the rewards of teacher leadership. Phase I of the study consisted of a survey of 177 teacher leaders across eight states representing all regions of the country. In Phase II we conducted interviews with 20 of the survey respondents to supplement survey data. Findings point to the complex nature of the roles and activities of teacher leaders. The data have implications for teacher leadership preparation and the ongoing support teacher leaders will need to actualize their roles within schools.

This article describes an expanded case study methodology that was used to explore the value that art therapy processes have in expression and understanding of the complications of immigration and acculturation. Data collected from two art therapy groups of Hispanic/Latino youth and immigrant women at an urban parish were analyzed to develop an understanding of art therapy as a support in the sharing of difficult and complex cultural stories.

In this article we examine the socialization of respect in a racially integrated science classroom in Northern California that employed a character education program called Tribes. We focus on the ways scripts derived from this program are enacted during Community Circle activities and how breaches to these scripts and the norms of respectful behavior they espouse create productive opportunities for explicit socialization in the classroom. We find that respect in this classroom consisted predominantly of controlling both bodily comportment and discursive production. Our analysis sheds light on the ways curricular initiatives, such as the one utilized in the Tribes approach, while purporting to democratize classroom learning, may in fact function as vehicles for reproducing institutional hierarchies of power. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures, and 5 excerpts.)

Drawing on human capital, social capital, and acculturation theories, gender differences in income were examined among 7,760 self-employed Hispanic Americans in California, using 1990 census data. Hispanic self-employed women earned less than Hispanic self-employed men and were more likely to be in service occupations. Having less than a high school education decreased income more for men than women. (Contains 34 references.) (TD)

Thirteen California K-12 teachers of bilingual education and English as a second language participated in a 3-year program to create new teaching strategies based on the Natural Approach theory. Their involvement in research-informed teaching enhanced their bilingual education practices and renewed their confidence and enthusiasm in their teaching abilities. (Contains 18 references.) (TD)

In interviews with 300 Latina women in Los Angeles County, 100 reported experiencing sexual abuse before age 18, and 60 had not disclosed the abuse to anyone. Victims did not differ from other Latina women in demographic characteristics, citizenship status, or level of acculturation. Nondisclosure was related to lower levels of acculturation. Contains 28 references and interview questions. (SV)

Describes five units used to help students build the skills required for successful study of world history. The units focus on (1) geography, (2) note-taking and paragraph writing, (3) library and reference skills, (4) charts, graphs, and statistics, and (5) major world regions. (JDH)