Search

In this paper, I present a design case of the problem-identification process prior to the initiation of a Networked Improvement Community (NIC). A NIC is a type of research-practice partnership (RPP) that brings together researchers and practitioners to tackle complex problems of practice, and in doing so, proposes a social reorganization of the traditional education change processes. Central to initiating a NIC, and RPPs more broadly, is the identification of a common problem of practice, but this step often takes place before research on a partnership begins. To investigate how a problem of practice is identified, I use the case of PiPNIC, the Personalization in Practice -- Networked Improvement Community, in which a team of university-based researchers used participatory design methods to identify a common problem of practice that would ultimately bring together educators from five schools to participate in the NIC. In the case, I show how the research team constructed a rich problem-solution space and identified a different problem of practice than the research team initially conceived. The problem-identification process, I therefore argue, should be included as a critical component of the NIC initiation framework, and I suggest the "problem-solution space" as a conceptual tool for the joint negotiation of problem identification. The case illuminates how NICs operationalize a social reorganization of research and development in education.

Independent schools are increasingly looking to research as a strategy for building equitable systems and practices, through the creation of an embedded researcher position. This commentary grapples with how independent schools are building internal research capacity find. Using a self-study methodology with interviews, job document review, and educational autobiographies, we examine the practices and positions of researchers at six independent schools--five in the United States and one in Turkey--through the lens of research as a strategy for equity. We that researchers and leaders conceived of the research roles as aligned with equity-focused improvement, yet implementation was contingent on how the role was situated in the organization and the ability of the researcher to negotiate definitions of research and research processes with leaders, teaching faculty, and students. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications of using research and the role of an embedded researcher as a strategy for equity-focused school improvement in independent schools.

The redesign of the physical spaces of classrooms and schools has become a prominent feature in many K-12, personalized learning schools, though it is often dismissed as a peripheral aspect of change. Through observations and interviews at four public schools, I examine the affordances of these new spaces and the narrative of their design. I situate these spaces-turned-places as pedagogical artifacts in a participatory design process to examine how educators and students create functional and meaningful learning spaces. Reframing the physical spaces in this way suggests how the spaces may be supporting the sustainability of the reform.

Personalized learning refers to a collection of practices designed to place student interests and needs at the heart of schooling. Schools that implement personalized learning need leaders that support educators and students in redesigning the core practices of teaching and learning in K-12 schools. To answer the question of how leaders support this redesign, we use distributed leadership theory to focus on the macrotasks and microtasks that leaders enact to create the conditions for personalized learning practices. Drawing on a five-year, qualitative study of 11 personalized learning programs in the Midwest, we identify three macrotasks supporting personalized learning: reorganizing learning environments to support student voice and choice, assembling idiosyncratic technology ecosystems to distribute teaching and learning tasks, and redesigning instructional time to prioritize student's interests, agency, and learning relationships. After we describe a number of microtasks associated with each macrotask, we discuss how a consideration of these kinds of leadership tasks can open the contemporary discussion of personalized learning from a narrow focus on learning technologies to an expansive vision of student-centered school reform.

Background: Within more than 1,600 preK–12 member schools in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in the United States, there were only seven Asian American women heads of schools in 2019, representing 6% of all heads of color, 1% of all women heads, and 0.4% of all heads of schools. There has been limited research on intersectionality in educational leadership, particularly in the context of independent schools. Purpose of Study: This article sets out to address the research gap in current literature as it pertains to examining the intersectional impact of race, gender, culture, and epistemology on the leadership experiences of Asian American women heads of independent schools, and to deconstruct mainstream leadership narratives by unearthing and complicating critical narratives of a small group of educational leaders who are women of color. Research Design: This qualitative study employs intersectionality theory as the conceptual framework, culturally responsive school leadership as the leadership framework, and elements of portraiture, critical Indigenous studies, and critical race theory as the research methodologies and analytical tools. Data Collection and Analysis: A background information survey was emailed to all seven Asian American women heads of schools to collect contextual and demographic information. The goal of the survey was to find commonalities among the heads and their schools so that a portrait of these seven individuals and their schools could be drawn as an intelligible whole before delineating specific experiences of the research participants. Perceptual information was collected via interviews. The interview protocols were designed to gather information around participants' pathways to leadership, and their epistemological foundation and its impact on their leadership journeys and styles. Elements of portraiture were used to analyze participants' experiences based on interviews in this qualitative study. Findings: This study connects culture and epistemologies to leadership practices and shines a light on how these Asian American women heads of schools—despite experiencing stereotype threats, microaggressions, and oppositions—negotiate between the transactional nature of independent schools and the transformational power of educational leadership, and make powerful contributions toward reimagining schools as places with radical possibilities. Conclusions: Asian Americans are a historically disadvantaged racial minority group, and Asian American women in education and academia have faced a long history of discrimination grounded in racism, xenophobia, and misogyny. The NAIS leadership team should better understand what challenges Asian American women face on their pathways to leadership and develop a better support system for all women of color aspiring leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study is part of a larger study of 18 aspiring school leaders that aims to understand how gender identity and gender performance impacted their experience in the K–12 independent school leadership pipeline. One of the key findings was that meritocracy played an important role in how individuals understood what the outcomes of their ascent to leadership should be. This article focuses on that finding through the voices of aspiring K–12 independent school leaders who have tried to enter the pipeline or have come through the pipeline. Method: This study uses Carol Gilligan's Listening Guide method of data analysis. It was important to use a method and frame the study in a methodology that enabled marginalized voices to be heard. The Listening Guide requires the research to go through three "listenings" of the data: listening to the landscape, where the researcher takes note of everything that was said in the interview and what was not said; listening for the I, where the researcher makes I poems out of all of the I statements in the interview to hear for a deeper layer of consciousness; and finally, listening for contrapuntal voices, which acknowledges that people speak in multiple voices. Through these three listenings, a voice emerged from the data of the keepers of the flame: White women believed that specific work would guarantee them access to leadership. Findings: White women believe and are complicit in upholding meritocracy while White men articulated meritocracy as a lie that they benefit from. One of the interviewees, Joe, was unique among the men I interviewed—he was the only sitting head of school that I interviewed, and he was the only man who spoke so pointedly about the leadership pipeline advantaging someone like him. Black women, on the other hand, have always known from their racialized and gendered experience of the world that their hard work will be overlooked. This also came through in study interviews with Black women aspiring to leadership. For them, keeping silent is an issue of survival. As Carol Gilligan wrote, the story of women's voices and women's silences is not a simple one: It is not a question of one gender or race being above another. Rather, it is a story about resistance. An individual's belief about how much work is necessary to gain access to leadership proves how White patriarchy centers the pipeline and either enforces silence or enables voice in one's ability to move up. Meritocracy, and whether or not the individual believed it, turned out to be explicitly tied to one's gender and racial identities. More diverse school leadership may lead to more equitable independent schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of Teachers College Record —"Minding the Gap in Education Discourse: Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Independent and International Schools"—aims to bring attention to independent and international private schools through the lenses of equity, inclusion, and belonging. In this issue, scholars and practitioners address gaps in education and education leadership discourse regarding considerations of equity, inclusion, and belonging. Historically, education discourse regarding equity, inclusion, and belonging has skewed largely toward public and charter education. While, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), just 9% of PK-12 students nationally are enrolled in independent schools, independent schools nationally have much to contribute to the critical conversation concerning equity across the educational ecosystem. When we expand our attention to include international private schools, the numbers and scale shift dramatically. According to ISC Research, international private schools serve 6.74 million students. When the growing engagement of international private schools in the work of equity, inclusion, and belonging is considered, even more questions and possibilities emerge for the examining, understanding, and acting in research-informed ways on behalf of equity, inclusion, and belonging in education writ large. This special issue insists on the importance of considering schools as national and global systems of learning and socialization, and independent and international schools in particular as important players in the ecosystem of education in the United States and globally. The works in this issue tune us to the complex, multileveled ecosystem that we refer to as PK–12 schooling and to the importance of noticing and acting at all levels of that ecosystem to ensure research-informed thinking, decision-making, action, and impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent schools are increasingly looking to research as a strategy for building equitable systems and practices, through the creation of an embedded researcher position. This commentary grapples with how independent schools are building internal research capacity find. Using a self-study methodology with interviews, job document review, and educational autobiographies, we examine the practices and positions of researchers at six independent schools—five in the United States and one in Turkey—through the lens of research as a strategy for equity. We that researchers and leaders conceived of the research roles as aligned with equity-focused improvement, yet implementation was contingent on how the role was situated in the organization and the ability of the researcher to negotiate definitions of research and research processes with leaders, teaching faculty, and students. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications of using research and the role of an embedded researcher as a strategy for equity-focused school improvement in independent schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an increasingly individualistic society in which the economic forecast has been uncertain for the past several years, independent schools have struggled to understand donors' motivations for giving. In addition, schools continually examine the way their annual giving campaigns articulate how donors' gifts align with the schools' missions and future strategic goals. This case study aims to form an understanding of giving practices for independent schools. Because annual giving is central to the financial sustainability and success of a school, this study's aim is to fully examine the extent to which school constituents (parents, grandparents, alumni, faculty members, parents of alumni, administration, and students) are involved in the annual giving process and aware of its impact. There is a distinct disparity in the outcome of fundraising efforts of long-standing independent schools and institutions with existing endowments and newer independent schools. The question becomes, How do the latter schools better educate their constituents about the importance of the annual fund? Using qualitative data elicited from survey and interview methods, this study examines the motivating factors that have a significant impact on annual giving practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender disparity at the leadership level of large (defined by the National Association of Independent Schools [NAIS] as > 700 students) K–12 independent schools is a critical and persistent issue in the ongoing effort to foster equity and justice in historically white and male-led independent schools in the United States. The number of women leading all independent schools has increased from 31% in 2009 to 41% in 2021. However, while a greater number of women lead independent schools today than in years past, they more often achieve the headship in small and K–8 schools and remain less likely (22%) to achieve headship of large (> 700) independent schools. Using mixed-methods research conducted with 30 of the 45 women leading large K–12 independent schools in 2020, this study identified some of the unique leadership literacies, or skills and competencies, that women possess and perform as heads of school. Refracted through the rhizomal lens of multiple literacies theory, findings from this study reframe traditional, gendered leadership theories and posit the importance for women leaders of habitually negotiating gender bias, anchoring in the personal, and demonstrating expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many educators are considering ways to increase student intercultural competence and support student identity development as they seek to create more inclusive and equitable schools and contribute to more just societies. This study provides analysis of one type of learning experience intentionally designed around intercultural engagement—independent high school programs that immerse students in international contexts for short-term learning experiences. This mixed-method study included 191 young alumni from six different independent schools in North America and focused on better understanding how these learning experiences have lived with their participants over time. Due in part to adolescent neuroplasticity, the study demonstrates that intercultural experiences that immerse students in relational learning beyond their home culture can influence them over time, including in their intercultural and identity development. The study specifically demonstrates that participants self-report continued influence of the program on their intercultural communication and perspective-taking skills and behavior frequency. The study identified two areas of limitations, namely that participants reported a conflicted or negative response to community service-focused programs over time and that participants with a transnational identity reported limited influence. These limitations and the participant reflections on the importance of relational learning suggest a dialectic approach as an effective way to reach the full potential of immersive learning for adolescents. Educators who strive to teach essential intercultural competencies that support school or districtwide efforts to create more inclusive and equitable school cultures might gain insights from this study's findings on the power of relational intercultural engagement for student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: Few studies have examined civic identity development among international individuals on educational sojourns in the United States. This study broadens our understanding of processes that facilitate meaning making of sojourn experiences among socioeconomically diverse international students from Thailand. Specifically, I focus on examining transnational spaces as platforms for social interactions, exchange of ideas, and development of individual and collective practices, and their overall impact on the civic self. Research Design: Data for this study were collected through semi-structured individual interviews with 21 Royal Thai Scholars who pursued multiyear study in the United States and then returned to their home country to contribute their knowledge and skills. Participants were at different points of their educational sojourns at the time of the data collection; 16 were enrolled in boarding schools, colleges, or universities, and five completed their studies and returned to Thailand. Conclusions: Findings suggest that transnational spaces play three roles that contribute to the development of civic self: they afford opportunities for connection with other transnational individuals to process sojourn experiences and help develop strategies to navigate them; they serve as political socialization spaces in which youth become aware of and connected to their communities; and they serve as platforms where youth develop criticality, voice their opinions, and build empathy. The study highlights the importance of creating intentional opportunities for international students that help them develop cognitive, emotional, moral, and active engagement skills, process their experiences, and facilitate the formation of their transnational civic identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: The experiences of Black girls navigating elite, predominantly white independent schools remain underresearched in the academy despite this issue being integral in disciplines such as sociology, education, and African American studies. Within such institutions, Black girls must navigate the duality of their privilege in having access to the highest quality and resourced education with the marginality of being a demographic minority within a space controlled by cultural elites. Purpose: This study investigates the experiences of Black girls in independent schools via the accounts of Black-woman-identifying alumni of such institutions. This study utilizes a Black feminist framework for understanding the often overlooked excess challenges that Black girls are forced to face. Research Design: Through qualitative semi-structured, conversational interviews with 13 Black women graduates of 10 Mid-Atlantic and New England boarding and day schools, this study explores how the graduates reflect on their experiences navigating elite schooling during formative adolescent years, decision-making processes, and management of Black girl identities within the exceedingly white and wealthy context of independent schools. Conclusions: Significant themes that emerged from the qualitative data generated by this study include feelings of rootlessness from Black and white communities, difficulty navigating a racialized and gendered social hierarchy, and heightened levels of social anxiety and self-consciousness about physical and ideological selves. Through a thematic retelling from those who have lived through the challenges and understand how they are presented in these contexts, the significance of this study's exploration of Black girls in independent school is the (1) liberation of these historically marginalized voices and (2) potential to provide current school leaders a framework for how best to support their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

In this article, we consider the intersection of experiential learning and equity work through the lens of a 10-week project: "Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard" (L2BB), undertaken in collaboration with a group of six high school seniors at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in the spring of 2022. L2BB was part of a broader undertaking known as The Workshop, an experimental school-within-a-school that seeks to reimagine education beyond the restrictive norms or "grammar" of schooling. Mirroring the emergent and adaptive methods of L2BB, this article incorporates student voices, narrative interviews, and methodological reflections to advance our claim that an embodied, listening-first model of learning avoids common pitfalls of community-based learning while enabling students to develop a more accurate picture of racial and religious minorities in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: The landscape of English-medium independent schools today is increasingly multilingual, challenging traditional monolingual norms of English testing and teaching. Multilingual learners—students who are able to navigate school in more than one language—are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of standardized tests in English because in many schools, these assessments are used solely to determine students' proficiency for placement, labeling, or tracking purposes. International schools provide a useful context in which to investigate the intersection of language and equity. As independent institutions situated in complex transnational and postcolonial linguistic ecosystems, international schools determine their own local policies and programs for English language assessment and support. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article is about the relationship between testing and teaching, and how educators describe this relationship within a particular network of international schools. Examining the relationship between English language assessment and instruction for multilingual learners helps to describe pathways toward more inclusive schools. Inquiring into how schools can build on the assets of multilingual learners requires rethinking the monolingual norm of English as an exclusive path for learning and a marker of privilege. Additionally, studying a global network of schools illustrates how resources that were developed in the United States can be used more globally: at the classroom level, within a whole-school context, and across a transnational educational consortium. Research Design: I use a mixed-methods analysis to investigate how educators describe programs that serve multilingual learners. I analyze school-based narratives written by educators across a global consortium of 500 international schools to inquire into the relationship between testing and teaching. Findings/Results: Within this particular global network, I found that educators describe links between English language assessments and other program components: an asset-based approach, professional learning, and school-wide systems to serve multilingual learners. I explain how a systemic approach to connecting assessments and instruction can contribute to more equitable schools for multilingual learners. Additionally, by comparing schools that recently joined the network and schools that had been members for three or more years, I identified a developmental trajectory, moving from a primary focus on English language assessments to increased collaborative practices for serving a multilingual school community. Conclusions/Recommendations: This initial research has important implications for independent schools and educators of multilingual learners. Understanding how the global and the local integrate illustrates how schools can adapt rather than adopt new assessments and instructional resources: both changing and being changed by new tools. By describing the impact of an English language assessment tool and an associated community of practice on school-wide systems to better serve multilingual learners, this study has the potential to inform future school improvement efforts. Although critical questions remain about the role of multilingualism in independent schools, this study provides a lens through which to understand the movement of ideas and practices across diverse spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As predominantly White institutions (PWIs), independent schools in the United States can alienate students who are either not White or do not possess the cultural capital necessary to navigate those spaces. Scholars have argued that alliance/affinity spaces help students of color acclimate to PWIs and help create a sense of belonging. My work with the Asian Student Alliance (ASA) over the past 2 years has shown that, while the ASA leadership can and has supported its affinity members, the lack of attention that the school administration gives to events outside of the campus puts the onus on student leaders to become adults and process complex events without feeling that the institution cares for them. The students, however, do not necessarily want to take on the task. In the end, school administrators and teachers should work to challenge the model minority myth and the perpetual foreigner stereotype: school leaders must work with student leaders to address AAPI hate at the institutional level, and history teachers at PWIs must cover Asian American history and activism more in the curriculum to challenge these two stereotypes and invite students to consider, and discuss, how they can engage in their own form of activism with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: Although the study of elite schools has been quite popular in recent years, elite all-boys schools in the United States have largely remained outside the gaze of researchers. Purpose: Two stories are presented to identify possibilities for advancing gender justice in those schools. Methods: Drawing on interview data of participants at two schools, the stories presented reflect common practices and relations found in a larger study on the lessons that 127 recent alumni of elite all-boys schools across the United States learned through their experiences at these institutions. Findings/Results: The stories reveal the disturbing ways in which hegemonic masculinities are reproduced through practices of homophobia, heterosexism, and misogyny within elite all-boys schools that highlight the challenges of engaging in gender justice work. Conclusions/Recommendations: Three areas of practice for elite all-boys schools are proposed that are imperative in working toward gender justice: (1) school climate and environment; (2) leadership for and commitment to gender justice; and (3) teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Lifting Voices" is a reflection on both my own identity journey and that of several Black women educators as a means of examining how schools can be more intentional in supporting the identity development of their Black female students. By drawing connections across the educational experiences of the Black women I interviewed and putting them in conversation with the issues we address as educators who work with Black female students, I assert that our experiences do not exist in isolation—rather, many aspects of them are shared and transcend time and place. To recognize the manifestations of misogynoir still present in schools is to own that there is still work to be done without minimizing the progress that has been made. I primarily highlight representation in faculty and curriculum, educator training, and access to resources as concrete steps toward greater institutional support of Black girls and more broadly, the establishment of more inclusive school communities that nurture all students and celebrate differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educators are increasingly facing questions around LGBTQ+ equity and belonging in their practice, and they may struggle to identify a position that does justice to the weight of these matters. Those with limited training and experience in LGBTQ+ equity work may find that relying on popular opinion or a search engine to develop answers feels unprofessional at best, and potentially dangerous at worst. This article proposes instead a conceptual framework with which to consider four prominent ethical lenses that educators may use in evaluating LGBTQ+ matters: professional, cultural, legal, and health and safety. The purpose of the framework is to apply these lenses to support equity, belonging, and identity affirmation for LGBTQ+ students. Each lens is laid out with relevant research and is designed with the specific context of international schools in mind, including those operating within socially conservative settings. The framework serves as a practical tool for conscientious educators seeking guidance to carefully and intentionally address varying perspectives around the sensitive and important topic of LGBTQ+ identity affirmation in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: An increasing body of literature reveals how systems of racism, sexism, and classism intersect to marginalize Black girls in contexts of schooling. Few studies have explored this topic from the perspectives of Black girls in all-girls independent schools pursuing antiracist school reform. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study examined the experiences of Black girls in all-girls independent schools to understand how they perceived themselves as mapped into or left out of conversations about race in school and society. Research Design: The study employed a qualitative research design. A total of 42 middle and high school students participated in a semi-structured focus group interview lasting 60–120 minutes. Interviews were conducted in person and online. Audio-recordings were transcribed for analysis. Data analysis involved a multilayered approach. First, transcriptions of the focus group interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques to identify recurring themes and patterns. A Black Girl Cartography framework was employed to distinguish the spatial and relational aspects of the participants' experiences and identities. Finally, critical discourse analysis was applied to examine the interplay between power, identity, culture, and spatiality within the participants' narratives. Findings/Results: Data revealed that Black girls were navigating conversations about race across one-on-one, peer group, advisory meeting, classroom-based, and schoolwide interactions, where they perceived themselves to be physically and epistemologically marginalized and/or excluded. We identified dimensions of racetalk that aided in their experience of marginalization and exclusion: (1) placelessness, (2) selflessness, and (3) Blackgirlhoodlessness. Data also revealed that while participants were navigating ideologies, practices, and procedures that threatened their opportunities for development, they were also charting spaces for their individual and collective joy, healing, and racial socialization. Conclusions/Recommendations: Implications from these data explore the ways in which all-girls independent schools overlook Black girls' unique geopolitical locations in schools and society and, in so doing, miss opportunities to nurture their development. This study contributes to a rich understanding of the complex interplay between power, identity, culture, and spatiality that Black girls navigate in schooling and society. We advocate for an application of principles and best practices aligned with culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogies that center the experiences of Black girls. We recommend that schools (1) employ situated and intersectional approaches to antiracist educational reform, (2) center Black girl mattering in schooling, and (3) nurture Black girl self-love, joy, and racial literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, scholars and educators have criticized exclusionary language ideologies and policies within international schools. International schools often emphasize proficiency in English as a language of power instead of valuing students' and teachers' dynamic multilingual practices. Focus of Study: Although oppressive language ideologies and policies in international schools are a central concern for critical education scholars, relatively little is known about international schools that are negotiating a shift toward more inclusive and equitable approaches. To understand the role of language ideologies and policies within an international school context, I examined the following research question: What language ideologies influence language policy creation and appropriation at Colegio Colombiano (CC)? Research Design: To answer this question and further understand the complex and shifting roles of language ideologies and policies within international schools, I conducted a case study at CC, an international school in Colombia. Data Collection: Through collaborative research with nine teachers, I examined how teachers engaged with more equitable approaches to multilingual education. I collected and analyzed various types of data, including school language policies, lesson and unit plans, classroom observations, teacher and student interviews, and a teacher questionnaire. Findings: Through analyzing the collected data, I found a spectrum of language ideologies and language policies, as many faculty demonstrated a significant shift away from oppressive and exclusionary language ideologies and language policies through an increasing recognition of Spanish. On the other hand, although explicit messages about English as superior were no longer officially promoted, colonialistic ideologies and policies persisted that valorized English, denigrated Spanish, and ignored other societal and home languages. To analyze these findings further, I critically examined the described spectrum of language ideologies and policies through Pennycook's (2000) framework of language ideologies. Conclusions: I conclude with key considerations for educators and researchers across diverse contexts as they critically reconsider and decolonize current approaches to multilingual education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary, Purdy calls independent schools to grapple with their complicated and full institutional histories. Offering examples of schools and individuals doing this work, Purdy contends that independent schools need histories of diversity, equity, and inclusion that span the entirety of United States history, like those being uncovered by higher education institutions that are delving deeply into the relationship between their institutions and legacies of enslavement. Purdy presents a concise history of what we know now about how independent schools have reflected the racism embedded in United States society, how the civil rights movement pushed independent schools to desegregate and admit more Black students, and how Dr. William Dandridge, the first director of Minority Affairs for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in the 1970s, challenged independent school leaders on their thinking about race. This commentary concludes by encouraging independent schools to ask the hard questions, because even with all the progress that has been made to make independent schools more diverse, inclusive, and equitable, Black students continue to shed light on the institutional and interpersonal racism that they contend with today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: Ongoing tensions surrounding equity and diversity work, particularly around race and gender, in independent schools have led to various responses. Many independent schools have made statements and pledges, and have crafted strategic plans to address systemic racism after receiving internal and external pressure to take action following the murder of George Floyd. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study examines how young adolescent cisgender Black and Latinx students, specifically cisgender boys at two independent middle schools, navigate the often-contradictory forces of gender, race, and class. Research Design: Drawing on one year of participant observation and 33 semi-structured interviews, I examine how these students contend with the simultaneity of color-blind and race-conscious realities in the United States. Conclusions/Recommendations: This study finds that as teachers, administrators, and boards engage in subsequent equity and diversity efforts, they must pause and reconsider our students' lived experiences that are part and parcel of ongoing calls for action. Moreover, educators should center the interrogation of what it means to be human in independent schools—in our missions, policies, culture, curriculum, traditions, admissions, and hiring—as one of the most urgent institutional tasks needed to activate the most liberating possibilities of schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent schools are increasingly engaging in conversations regarding racial bias, prejudice, and privilege ([1]). "Unspoken Rules, White Communication Styles, and White Blinders: Why "Elite" Independent Schools Can't Retain Black and Brown Faculty" is a reading I plan to share with school leadership to capture this struggle. Interestingly, protests over anti-racist curricula and inclusive policies overshadow whether these "elite" independent schools are, in fact, a part of the problem regardless of the stated mandates of these schools as engines of social change. [Extracted from the article]

Michelle Purdy's I Transforming the Elite: Black Students and the Desegregation of Private Schools i tells the story of the struggle for educational changes for Black southerners during the civil rights movement. Centering the experiences of the first Black students to desegregate The Westminster Schools and national efforts to diversify private schools, Purdy expertly weaves social history and policy analysis into a well-crafted narrative, shedding light on this impactful history. [Extracted from the article]

We conducted a controlled investigation to examine whether a combination of computer imagery and tactile tools helps introductory cell biology laboratory undergraduate students better learn about protein structure/function relationships as compared with computer imagery alone. In all five laboratory sections, students used the molecular imaging program, Protein Explorer (PE). In the three experimental sections, three-dimensional physical models were made available to the students, in addition to PE. Student learning was assessed via oral and written research summaries and videotaped interviews. Differences between the experimental and control group students were not found in our typical course assessments such as research papers, but rather were revealed during one-on-one interviews with students at the end of the semester. A subset of students in the experimental group produced superior answers to some higher-order interview questions as compared with students in the control group. During the interview, students in both groups preferred to use either the hand-held models alone or in combination with the PE imaging program. Students typically did not use any tools when answering knowledge (lower-level thinking) questions, but when challenged with higher-level thinking questions, students in both the control and experimental groups elected to use the models.