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The aim of the article is to offer a base for discussions on educational equality from the viewpoint of changes in the world causing widening disparities between pupils and students. The essence and possibilities of educational equity and equality in the Nordic educational realm are discussed from six viewpoints. The outcome is that all children have the moral right to access equal opportunities even though they are different and unique. Second, we cannot find absolute equality between individuals because all individuals are different and unique. Third, we should find political and pedagogical ways in which to handle educational inequalities. Fourth, students who are not motivated and skilled to undertake independent work may be in danger of being left behind. Fifth, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the differences between students and diminished the possibilities of students who are vulnerable. Finally, new technologies may open new paths to reduce educational inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This research article explores the evolving landscape of education in India, focusing on the critical role of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the context of the Right to Education Act. India's government schools face resource constraints, prompting increased private sector involvement in education. This article discusses the impact of PPPs on education access, equity, and quality, drawing on a field survey conducted in Vadodara. Demographically, the survey reveals heightened awareness of the Right to Education Act, especially among women, underscoring its importance. An overwhelming majority recognizes PPPs' role in enhancing education but highlights the need for greater awareness regarding the nuances of these partnerships. Additionally, opinions vary on the adequacy of the Act's 25% reservation policy, signalling potential room for improvement. Teachers' perspectives showcase widespread compliance with reservation policies in public schools. Yet, concerns arise over private school reservations' efficacy. Respondents emphasize the Act's positive impact on education quality, affordability, and infrastructure, underscoring the comprehensive demand for improved educational access. However, doubts linger regarding PPPs potentially exacerbating educational inequalities, challenging competition, and privatizing the sector. Clear policies and safeguards are imperative to address these concerns. In sum, this research underscores the transformative potential of PPPs in realizing the Right to Education, while advocating for greater awareness, policy refinement, and equitable outcomes to ensure quality education for all in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement can both reflect the degree to which students' academic achievement is affected by SES and reveal detailed information about educational equity in a country/economy. Based on PISA 2018 data, this study investigated the effects of SES and its components on student academic achievement at both the student and school levels in a population of 15-year-old students from Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang (China). Results showed the following: (1) B-S-J-Z (China) students' academic achievement was positively related to their family SES and school SES. (2) The effects of different SES components on academic achievement varied, and the most predictive variables were the father's occupational status, the father's level of education, and the mother's occupational status. (3) School disciplinary climate was shown to moderate the effects of SES on academic achievement. Drawing on the research findings, this study suggested that the government should (1) further promote education equity with a primary focus on disadvantaged student groups; (2) improve the enrolment policy and increase the diversity of student backgrounds; (3) promote teacher professional development and continuously improve school effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how access to adult education (AE) in Germany meets the principle of “Leaving No One Behind” and explores the dynamics and challenges of the sector. It categorises AE into company-based AE, individual vocational AE, and non-vocational AE, and examines the complexities and challenges of mobilising resources for these sectors. Using Schuetze’s (2009) theoretical framework on the financing of lifelong learning, this study critically examines the allocation of resources within the German AE landscape. Drawing on current policy documents and recent research, the analysis highlights key policy adjustments needed to ensure equitable access to AE for all. While Germany has made progress in certain areas, the research points to partial compliance with the principle of “Leaving No One Behind” and highlights persistent inequalities that are inadequately addressed by existing policies. This article calls for more inclusive and comprehensive approaches and emphasises the need for a strategic mobilisation of resources.

Both the United States and the United Nations have identified, examined, and put out a call to action to address the educational inequities that have disproportionately and negatively affected racially minoritized students, as well as those from a lower socioeconomic background, and poorer countries. Data from the Nations Report Card and the Global Monitoring Report provide evidence of disparities in academic performance and access to equitable educational resources. The outcome of these inequities impacts countries throughout the world, as their residents will not possess the skills and knowledge to thrive in a rapidly evolving global society, nor possess the critical thinking and analytical skills to solve the problems of the world. Considering there is a national and global equity focus, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy engaged in a process of participatory action research to institutionalize and operationalize equity and excellence, ultimately addressing educational inequities. This resulted in the development of the E2: Equity and Excellence Framework, inclusive of the following equity pathway steps: Educational Equity Impact Case, Equity and Excellence Policy, Equity-mindedness Capacity Building, Equity-mindedness Data Collection, Equity-mindedness Meaning-Making, Equity and Excellence Plan, and Equity Scorecard. This framework is a comprehensive, research-informed, equity-minded, inclusive pathway towards advancing educational equity that centers the voices of those with the most risk of experiencing inequities. Educational institutions that want to confront, diminish, and potentially eliminate educational inequities can apply this scalable and adaptable framework.

The pandemic forced final year clinical students in six health-profession programs in a Caribbean University to suddenly transition from a clinical learning environment to an exclusively online environment for clinical instruction. The change in curriculum delivery allowed students to compare teaching of clinical skills using clinical and online learning environments. In June 2020, 278 students (78% response rate) completed a survey rating the online teaching experience. Students from each discipline also participated in a focus group discussion. Of the sample, 88% of students felt that the online environment was enthusiastic and stimulating but did not view it as satisfactory for skills transfer; 77% felt connected with their teachers but deprived of the social connectedness, peer support, and vicarious learning afforded by face-to-face instruction. Clinical students perceived the online environment as a convenient and beneficial platform to deliver didactic components of the clinical curriculum, thus providing downtime for students and ensuring equitable exposure of all students to all teachers. In the post-pandemic era, medical teachers should make the effort to maintain and refine online approaches, not just for use in times of emergency, but for integration into curriculum delivery strategies to improve the clinical learning environment and student satisfaction, while maintaining the hands-on method of clinical instruction.

Underrepresented minority (URM) college students have been steadily earning degrees in relatively less-lucrative fields of study since the mid-1990s. A decomposition reveals that this widening gap is principally explained by rising stratification at public research universities, many of which increasingly enforce GPA restriction policies that prohibit students with poor introductory grades from declaring popular majors. We investigate these GPA restrictions by constructing a novel 50-year dataset covering four public research universities’ student transcripts and employing a dynamic difference-in-difference design around the implementation of 29 restrictions. Restricted majors’ average URM enrollment share falls by 20 percent, which matches observational patterns and can be explained by URM students’ poorer average pre-college academic preparation. Using first-term course enrollments to identify students who intend to earn restricted majors, we find that major restrictions disproportionately lead URM students from their intended major toward less-lucrative fields, driving within-institution ethnic stratification and likely exacerbating labor market disparities.

Abstract Background Integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education initiatives are becoming an increasingly popular approach to narrow the opportunity gap among underrepresented minority (i.e., Black, Hispanic, and first-generation) students. However, there are limited studies on the impact of exposure to integrated STEM education on academic achievement and an even lesser amount on performance among underrepresented minority (URM) groups. Students exposed to STEM programming in middle school are more likely to pursue a STEM field in college or a STEM-related career. However, despite increases in middle school STEM programming initiatives, STEM college graduation rates have declined, particularly among URM populations. This meta-analysis aims to determine the effectiveness of STEM education in middle school, focusing on URM students. Results A total of 20 studies containing 45 independent samples met the study criteria. The studies included were published from January 1, 2011 to May 1, 2022, and identified from the following academic databases: ERIC, Google Scholar, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, and SCOPUS. Integrated STEM programming was most impactful when: engineering was incorporated into science courses and at full STEM integration, occurring over one academic year (d = 0.89) and occurring in 8th grade (d = 1.55). Overall, the effect size estimate demonstrated heterogeneity, with a large positive significant effect across the studies (d = 0.558, 95% CI [0.514–0.603], p

This study examines how inequality manifested during the emergency remote COVID-19 transition in higher education. We use 35 in-depth interviews with college students, conducted virtually, in real-time, during spring 2020 lockdowns, to examine how the transition impacted their lives. Students in the sample from lower-income backgrounds reported significant basic needs insecurity, financial instability, and academic struggles. Latino and Black students in the sample, in particular, reported financial instability, mental health crises, and academic struggles. Meanwhile, affluent white students and affluent Asian students in the study tended to face only minor setbacks or even flourish during this time. University and government policies exacerbated the negative experiences of marginalized students, often due to faulty assumptions that all college students have families who provide for their needs. While the particulars of this crisis were unusual, and this study took place at one institution of higher education, these findings suggest that higher education administrators must consider the implications of policies on the most disadvantaged students.

Linguistically and culturally responsive assessment is key in addressing growing global issues such as educational inequity. Although research has been conducted on pupils' performance in assessments that include linguistic accommodations and on culturally responsive assessment practices, there is a gap in the literature on teachers' views and practices on linguistic and cultural diversity in assessment, particularly in international school settings. Based on semi-structured interviews with in-service teachers (n = 11), this exploratory study therefore aimed to gain insights into the extent to which linguistic and cultural diversity are considered in assessment practices in international primary schools. A content analysis revealed that most participants claim to consider linguistic and cultural diversity in their formative assessments, though there is a lack of awareness of the potential of testing accommodations in adapting summative assessments. The findings also suggest that participants' willingness and ability to consider cultural diversity in assessment are more developed than for linguistic diversity. Further research that employs a mixed-methods longitudinal approach is required to gain a deeper understanding of what types of linguistically and culturally responsive assessments primary teachers implement to improve inclusion, their attitudes towards testing accommodations, and how their practices evolve over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research reported on in this article investigates a question that continues to perplex educators: How might a carefully designed course that provides opportunities for changes in participants' learning and practices be used in the preparation of the next generation of scholars/practitioners as equity-minded agents of change? Data analyzed from a course, taught to students for over a decade, designed around this question revealed development of conceptual, epistemological, and behavioral change in participants. We propose that instruction that strategically combines three critical components of the course—referred to as a trifecta —could facilitate generative thinking and serve as a catalyst in preparing agents of change who are able to confront inequality and enact social justice in urban schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) to date has mostly focused on identifying the aspects of education that already work for Black, Indigenous, and Students of Color. Building on this important literature base, this qualitative study examines the implementation, rather than the identification, of CRE practices. The seven New York City public schools that participated in the study were making school-wide changes for CRE as part of a program for Competency-Based Education (CBE) for personalizing learning for students. Both CRE and CBE are employed in schools to address common issues associated with educational inequities such as irrelevant lessons, teacher biases, one-size-fits-all instruction, and systemic racism. Based on interviews with teachers at the study schools, our findings demonstrated that teachers translated CRE theory into their CBE practice in three key ways: (1) deficit practices, where instructional choices were treated as neutral; (2) access practices, where instruction was differentiated but was not culturally responsive; and (3) transformative practices, where student agency challenged traditional structures. We argue that for schools and educators to meaningfully grapple with the issues of power they seek to address by engaging in CRE, they must embrace and nurture a more radical CRE imagination that leads to deeper school transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Education Research (1680-6360) is the property of Angle Publishing Co., Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International & Comparative Education is the property of International & Comparative Education Editorial, Beijing Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Equity and access to advanced learning opportunities have been issues of concern for educators in the field of gifted education for decades. Gifted programs are noted as some of the most segregated learning environments in schools today. This study was designed to investigate how school districts have addressed educational equity through the lenses of school district administrators. Researchers conducted semistructured 1-hr interviews with 32 superintendents or their designees (e.g., gifted coordinator, Director of Equity, etc.) about school district initiatives designed and implemented to improve equity and access to advanced and accelerated learning opportunities, with a focus from 2015 to early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were asked about the definition of educational equity in their district, targeted equity initiatives in highly capable programs, challenges or barriers they encountered when they implemented change, and their experiences with diversifying their work force and professional development. Findings included changes in curriculum and improving access to advanced learning opportunities while addressing persistent challenges in school funding and diversifying the workforce. The findings of this study addressed a significant gap in gifted education research: actions taken by school district administrators that went beyond changes in identification processes to increase equity and access to advanced learning opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate a series of stochastic frontier cost functions for elementary schools, using a short panel of Texas data that allows us to account for student characteristics, input prices, environmental factors and student outcomes. Texas currently uses information about the share of students participating into the Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRL) program to determine compensatory funding to provide to schools. The FRL measure has been criticized as a relatively poor measure of need. We consider a new, recently developed, measure of poverty, the Spatially Interpolated Demographic and Economic (SIDE) measure, as a possible complement or alternative to the FRL measure. SIDE uses the income of the neighborhood in which the school resides as the basis to assess need and poverty. We find that using both poverty metrics highlights the additional costs associated with serving high poverty populations in high poverty locations, i.e., neighborhood locations matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Medical Education Technology is the property of China Medical Education Technology Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Spatially equitable educational facilities play an important role in narrowing the gap between social strata. This paper, taking the example of Lanzhou, aims to classify households into different social strata by the hierarchical cluster method and analyze their spatial feature to identify the strata attributes of the community and calculate the spatial equity of educational facilities within different strata by constructing a fairness index model. We verify the positive correlation between social stratification level and educational equity, which has been largely ignored in previous studies based on basic education facilities. The results indicate that the spatial differentiation trend of social strata in Lanzhou shows that a circle structure of the center belongs to the upper social stratum and the marginal areas belong to the lower social stratum. Urban villages in the urban fringe are an important area of social stratum differentiation. Different social strata have significant differences in terms of access to educational facilities. The spatial fairness of educational facilities from high to low is the wealthy and the elite class (WEC), the middle class (MC), the low class (LC), and the lower class (LEC). The higher the social class level is, the greater the equity difference. The lower the social class is, the smaller the difference. The equity of educational facilities within the WEC and the MC is obviously better than that of the LC and the LEC. The spatial distribution of educational facilities among social strata is unfair, and at the urban edge, there exists an obvious weakening phenomenon of spatial justice and social equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animating equity in teaching and learning depends on teacher dispositions—orientations to self, others, and society that underlie how we think and act. Teacher dispositions are virtues or qualities of moral character that modify the ways we interact with students and educator colleagues. Although interest in "measuring to improve" teaching and teacher education has grown recently, most measures lack validity evidence for practical usefulness. Integrating Messick's "unified validity framework" with Janssen et al.'s notion of "practicality" (as face validity), we find through an iterative, mixed-methods analysis of interviews with equitable educators and survey responses from teacher candidates that incorporating recognizability, relevance, and feasibility concerns of equity disposition concepts (i.e., Social Awareness, Meekness, Advocacy for Students) within survey items enhances item-to-factor structure of a self-report measure. We discuss implications (a) to develop and appraise formative measures and (b) to support teacher learning and development to become equitable educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Careful implementation of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs is necessary in order for programs to achieve the policy goal of college and career readiness, which involves expanding student opportunities for career-relevant learning without limiting their academic preparation for postsecondary degrees. As programs become more widespread, little work has examined how practitioners actually implementing CTE make sense of programs' intended outcomes. Through interviews and observations with 52 education leaders and their partners in workforce development, I found that education stakeholders believed CTE was important for providing students with the option to pursue financially low-risk pathways toward middle-skill careers that didn't require bachelor's degrees. Yet in their efforts to valorize sub-baccalaureate (sub-BA) pathways, they sometimes exaggerated the long-term returns to sub-BA credentials, leaving students with inaccurate information on which to base their postsecondary goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School integration and inclusion are important for educational equity, yet inclusionary educational policies often end up being exclusionary in practices. In this article I contribute to our understanding of school level mechanism underlying this process. I draw on 2 years of data collection in a progressive culturally responsive school implementing a voluntary students assignment policy to increase the share of low-income students of color in the school. I show how a conflict with dissenting mothers over gender-unlabeled bathrooms became a conflict over the meaning of inclusion when school leaders applied deficit thinking that saw low-income parents of color as less likely to support the program, despite heterogeneity in dissenting mothers' background, and how as result dissenting mothers felt excluded from the school community and the needs of transgender students were unmet. These findings have important implications for theory and practice and for creating inclusive schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hispanic-Serving Institutions' (HSIs) diversification and Title V's anemic funding present a ripe condition for inequity. Hence, I interviewed 29 institutional actors across 17 HSIs to understand how they view their competitiveness for these grants and sources of inequity of this program. I identified four themes, demonstrating that an HSI's institutional capacity, (in)actions, knowledge, and leadership inform its competitiveness for Title V funding. The findings show that HSIs have unequal organizational conditions and reveal ways this program may (re)produce inequity among HSIs. Without increased Title V appropriations and policy modification, HSIs will vie for funding on increasingly unequal terms, resulting in greater inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From extensive school closings and abrupt transitions to distance learning in spring 2020 to varied levels of face-to-face, hybrid, and virtual learning in school year (SY) 2020–2021, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has disrupted education across the world. While several studies have examined academic changes that have occurred over the past year, fewer studies have documented changes in non-instructional investments during COVID-19 or centered principals' perspectives. Yet, non-instructional investments that address students' physical and socio-emotional needs are critical to a Whole Child approach to learning, and principals are essential for school change. Accordingly, this quantitative study examined principals' reports of changes in non-instructional investments from SY 2019–2020 to SY 2020–2021 using data from a national sample of U.S. pre-kindergarten through 12th grade schools. We discuss implications of the study's findings for expanded implementation of Whole Child reform principles post-COVID-19 and opportunities for principals to serve as change leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI), once a phenomenon primarily in the world of science fiction, has evolved rapidly in recent years, steadily infiltrating into our daily lives. ChatGPT, a freely accessible AI-powered large language model designed to generate human-like text responses to users, has been utilized in several areas, such as the healthcare industry, to facilitate interactive dissemination of information and decision-making. Academic advising has been essential in promoting success among university students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Unfortunately, however, student advising has been marred with problems, with the availability and accessibility of adequate advising being among the hurdles. The current study explores how AI-powered tools like ChatGPT might serve to make academic advising more accessible, efficient, or effective. The authors compiled a list of questions frequently asked by current and prospective students in a teacher education bachelor's degree program in the United States. Then, the questions were typed into the free version of ChatGPT, and the answers generated were explored and evaluated for their content and delivery. ChatGPT generated surprisingly high-quality answers, written in an authoritative yet supportive tone, and it was particularly adept at addressing general and open-ended career-related questions, such as career outlook, in a clear, comprehensive, and supportive manner using plain language. We argue that AI-powered tools, such as ChatGPT, may complement but not necessarily replace human academic advisers and that these tools may very well serve to promote educational equity by empowering individuals from a wide range of backgrounds with the means to initiate effective methods of seeking academic advice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Feifei Chen,1,2 Rohaya Abdullah2 1Department of College English, Zhejiang Yuexiu University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, MalaysiaCorrespondence: Feifei Chen, Zhejiang Yuexiu University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8013957567140, Email chenfeifei@student.usm.myBackgrounds and Aims: Though EFL teachers now generally hold an equity-oriented mindset, they are often blamed for not implementing equitable practices in the actual teaching. The contributing factors causing cognition-practice inconsistency should be recognized and highlighted to ensure equitable teaching. Therefore, by taking an interpretative qualitative approach, this study explored in-depth the contributing factors that caused the mismatch between EFL teachers’ equity-oriented cognition and practices.Methods: We adopted classroom observation and stimulated recall interviews with 10 university teachers to examine the contributing factors that lead to cognition-practice inconsistency.Results: Our results showed two experiential factors (unpleasant schooling experiences and limited effective training) and five contextual factors (unfavorable student factors, inharmonious classroom climate, toxic school contexts, equity-deficient education system, and negative social cultures) mediated the relationship between teachers’ equity-oriented cognition and practices.Conclusion: The findings shed light on an association between influential factors and teachers’ equity-oriented cognition-practice mismatch. Moreover, an equity-oriented teaching framework was thus proposed to help eliminate the constraining effect of these factors.Keywords: educational equity, English as a Foreign Language, EFL, contributing factors, cognition-practice inconsistency

In this conceptual essay, the author draws on the concept of bad faith to explore its connections to Niceness and role in sustaining the historical failures of U.S. teacher education to prepare future teachers to effectively teach learners from diverse backgrounds through culturally responsive pedagogy. Bad faith is a useful, albeit underutilized, concept in considering and challenging the patterned historical inequities maintained by Niceness in teacher preparation programs. Applying a critical race theory (CRT) methodology and analysis, the author presents and interrogates three representative exemplars of a logic of racism operationalized through bad faith, then insulated by Niceness in U.S. teacher education. These exemplars serve as conceptual case studies that are constituted as composite scenarios of patterned enactments of bad faith authorized by Niceness within U.S. teacher education; these cases demonstrate how [and why] the bad faith–Niceness interplay informs the work and [good] intentions of stakeholders most often in ways that further, rather than challenge, historical failures of U.S. teacher education for culturally responsive pedagogy.

This paper examines school leaders’ evasive attitudes towards race in Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah, between 1969 and 1975. Salt Lake’s unique demographic status as predominantly white and Mormon underscored elements of white anti-Black racism under the guise of innocence. Utilizing critical whiteness theory and historical inquiry to analyze archival documents and interviews, I highlight one white superintendent, Arthur Wiscombe, and his failed attempts to confront anti-Blackness in schools as he navigated his conflicting values of racial justice, good intentions, and white Niceness. Framing the past as prologue, I uncover the historical legacy of white supremacy’s influence on local school policies and leaders’ actions, and make explicit connections to the repetition of these patterns today. Contemporary iterations of white supremacy rely on the same tools of whiteness used during intense periods of integration and racial awareness in Salt Lake City in the 1960s and 1970s. I conclude that white educational leaders must look more closely at the ‘nice’, color-evasive discourse that enables them to maintain power and privilege in their communities.

Background: Between early 2020 and today, our society has experienced a distressing global pandemic, horrifying brutalities committed against BIPOC individuals and communities, uprisings for racial justice, and a violent attack on our nation's capital. While these events and phenomena have been challenging and traumatic, they have also inspired calls for equity-focused action within and beyond schools. Purpose: Many schools have intensified their diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and anti-racism (DEIJA) work by revising their curricula, providing equity-focused professional development for educators, offering extracurricular programs like affinity and accountability spaces for BIPOC and white students, and many other initiatives. However, this work has occurred against a contentious backdrop, including parent and caregiver resistance to DEIJA work and attacks on schools for allegedly teaching critical race theory. Research Design: Between the summer of 2020 and the spring of 2022, we conducted research with one independent school, called the Waterford School, in a metropolitan area as it engaged in intensified DEIJA work. During this time, we surveyed and ran focus groups with caregivers, students, faculty, staff, and administrators to capture their experiences with and perspectives on school DEIJA work. White caregivers were the most vocal and resistant constituent group, and in this article, we examine the perspectives that they brought to these conversations on Waterford's DEIJA initiatives. Conclusions: This analysis shows how, in both their support of and dissent to the DEIJA work, white caregivers' perspectives often reflected and reinforced characteristics associated with white supremacy culture (WSC). We also show how caregivers' perspectives on the DEIJA work and pressure on Waterford often posed racial equity detours, which created an illusion of progress toward racial equity while obscuring ongoing racial inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the formal professional development teachers experience consists of short-term workshops that maintain – rather than disrupt – the systems of power that reproduce educational inequities. In response, some scholars have advocated critical professional development (PD) as a means of supporting teachers' interrogation of these inequities and empowerment to effect change. Critical PD is based on Paulo Freire's ideas of dialogue, problem-posing, and praxis, and it tends to emerge within grassroots organisations that function independently from the school systems. There are two drawbacks to this autonomous structure, however: the legitimacy problem, or the fact that the pedagogies advocated within these groups may be difficult to implement without the institutional support of participants' districts; and the resource problem, or the fact that teachers' time and efforts within these independent organisations is typically uncompensated. In this essay, we describe a research – practice partnership in which we co-developed critical PD on culturally responsive teaching with district leaders. The form of the PD, critical action research, allowed the participants to engage in problem-posing and praxis in order to analyse systems of power and their own positionalities within these systems. Recommendations for those with and without access to research – practice partnerships are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges to Vietnamese education has been the schooling inequality between students of the ethnic majority and those of ethnic minorities. This paper, therefore, reports on research that explored the challenges to educational equity for ethnic minority students in Vietnam from stakeholders at the lowest levels. Data were collected from interviews with teachers, school principals, an educational leader and the researchers' notes of field trips to ethnic minority villages. The findings indicate the challenges lie in the inadequate preparation of teachers for teaching ethnic minority students and the students' language barriers. Beyond the school setting, ethnic minority students' schooling opportunities were hindered by the ethnocentric attitude of the ethnic majority towards their learning capacity. Political and economic constraints in local communities also prevented ethnic minority students from accessing high-level education. Recommendations for promoting educational equity for ethnic minority students in Vietnam and other similar contexts were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tsinghua Journal of Education is the property of Tsinghua University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The following case study explores the durability of conflict between urban growth machine policies, public-school finance, and educational equity in Columbus, OH. The City of Columbus is one of the fastest growing cities in the Midwest, but it's largest urban public school district (Columbus City Schools) has grown smaller, more segregated, and poorer. Historical development policies enabled the city's growth but undermined the school district. Contemporary conflict has emerged related to the impact of tax abatement programs on public school funding. Our Franklin county analysis suggests previous statewide estimates of public schools revenues lost to abatements were underestimated. Analysis of the relationship between abatements and school finances for all public-school districts in Franklin County finds a weak relationship with per pupil spending, but a strong relationship with district demographics and classroom expenditures. Our case analysis suggests planners should focus greater attention on the intersection of economic development policy and public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideal of U.S. public education as "a great equalizer" remains unrealized across large swaths of the country. Young people in schools are at varying levels of educational advantage and disadvantage owing to wide gaps in learning opportunities and disparate access to high-quality curriculum. Unequal educational achievement has also been linked to inequities affecting some students before they enter school due to socioeconomic circumstances, prejudice, and discriminatory social systems and structures. In this study, we begin to partition the various factors that account for inequality in student outcomes in the context of U.S. geography education. Using large-scale data sets provided by the National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S. Department of Education, we developed a two-level statistical model to analyze the extent to which geography achievement in eighth grade varies systematically with contextual opportunity to learn (OTL) factors and the relative poverty level of neighborhoods around schools. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to account for data clustering, producing an achievement estimate for each predictor and controlling for the effects of all other predictors. Statistically significant OTL predictors included instructional exposure, taking geography prior to eighth grade, teaching experience, and the availability of computers in classrooms. Schools located in neighborhoods with higher income-to-poverty ratios outperformed schools in neighborhoods closer to the federal poverty threshold. Controlling for OTL and school neighborhood effects accounted for some of the geography achievement disadvantage associated with race and other student characteristics. Geographers can further explore these relationships with formal mediational models and educational programs based on equity-oriented frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental access to useful information about schools continues to be a structural barrier that limits the equity potential of school choice programs. While "information interventions" or simplified and readable knowledge resources show promise for counteracting information disparities between families, this line of research has provided limited insight on the particular preferences and needs of parents or the value of person-to-person interpretive assistance in school decisions. This exploratory study uses qualitative methods to investigate parent-school collaboration for the purpose of school selection in Washington, D.C. Drawing on a social capital framework, this study analyzes information transactions from parents' perspectives to clarify ways in which school personnel currently function as liaisons of choice. Findings from this study indicate future opportunities for districts to improve the outcome of school choice through better training of school and district personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As improving low-performing schools has become a critical strategy to achieve educational equity in China, local educational departments have implemented various school collaboration programs. Drawing on international literature and empirical data from in-depth interviews and policy documents in two Chinese urban districts, this multiple-case qualitative study examines local educational departments' roles in the school collaboration implementation. Our analysis shows that both local educational departments set clear district-wide expectations of school collaborations. While various strategies were implemented to improve low-performing schools, limited opportunities were provided for school-based educators to contribute to decision-making processes. Both districts relied more on structural changes to create conditions to improve teaching and learning, and lacked long-term investments in building professional capacity and fostering data-use cultures. Finally, local educational departments' goals of equity and school improvement were sometimes overshadowed by other political and economic priorities. This study offers new evidence on the leadership roles that local educational departments play in Chinese school reform implementation, thus responding to a scarcity of district-level empirical research in Chinese literature. It also expands the existing international research base that is largely Western-focused and not necessarily applicable to all countries, especially developing countries where school improvement efforts are often situated in conflicting policy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]