Making The Rhetoric Real

Author(s): Jeannie Oakes

Abstract:

On April 29, 1992, the faculty of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA were stunned and angry as they watched their city’s tenuous social contract go up in smoke just hours after the jury delivered its not guilty verdict in the Rodney King beating trial. Their anger turned to action over the next three years to create a new center—Center X—to directly address issues of race, poverty, and inequality in schools. In this paper, Jeannie Oakes chronicles the founding of Center X and details the strategies it created to transform the fields of teacher education, induction, and professional development—a broad-based collaborative effort to make the rhetoric about social justice and multiculturalism real.

This item is accessed for free with permission from the CDL eScholarship repository. Please follow the link below.

Link: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/3361

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Too Angry To Leave

Author(s): Karen Hunter Quartz and the TEP Research Group

Abstract:

While the challenge to retain highly competent teachers affects all schools, the crisis is critical in urban school districts, which historically suffer from a severe shortage of qualified teachers and typically fill vacancies with unlicensed teachers or full-time substitutes. This paper reports research on one effort to curb urban teacher attrition through a non-traditional approach to urban teacher education, induction and ongoing professional development. It combines quantitative data about the retention rates over five years of teachers prepared specifically as “social justice” urban educators with qualitative data about the type of preparation and ongoing support that the teachers experienced. Our analyses of these data allow us to suggest and probe those elements of preparation and support that may be efficacious in remedying “the revolving door” of urban schools. This single case study attempts to extend the broad literature on teacher retention while establishing some groundwork for further investigations of urban teachers’ learning and career paths. The paper concludes with a proposal to reframe the professionalization of teaching debate to fit the realities of urban schools.

This item is accessed for free with permission from the CDL eScholarship repository. Please follow the link below.

Link: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/3264/

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Refining Social Justice Through Collaborative Inquiry

Author(s): Camille Wilson Cooper

Abstract:

Collaborative inquiry in education allows scholars and educators to abandon hierarchical approaches to research that often disenfranchise research participants: instead, it enables both researchers and the researched to share power, voice and privilege. This paper discusses the key rewards and challenges of the first two years of a teacher education collaborative inquiry project. Findings show that collaborative inquiry prompted teacher education faculty members to better define their social justice commitments, enhance the coherence of their department's program, and strengthen their community of practice. While the inquiry process was not easy, engaging in collaborative inquiry characterized by critical reflection, critical dialogue, and community building better positioned teacher educators to be thoughtful and influential change agents within their university and in local K-12 schools. This paper overviews the faculty members' inquiry process and it pinpoints implications for other teacher educators who wish to engage in similar work.

This item is accessed for free with permission from the CDL eScholarship repository. Please follow the link below.

Link: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/3362

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Making Connections: Anti-racist Pedagogy and Social Justice

Author(s): Theresa Montaño, Anne Powell, Faye Peitzman, Jody Priselac, Camille Wilson Cooper, Eloise Lopez Metcalfe, and Leslie Kapner

Abstract:

“Making Connections: Anti-racist Pedagogy and Social Justice Teacher Education” is a chapter in a book we are writing called, Side by Side: The Successes and Challenges of Preparing Urban Educators. Side By Side is a collection of cases written by the faculty of UCLA’s Teacher Education Program. The cases address struggles we faced in our own practice, and struggles we believe others will share. Our hope is that our book will create more national dialogue among teacher educators about the practices of teacher education. The case, "Making Connections," we share here describes a three-day retreat whose goal was to improve  the UCLA Teacher Education Program faculty’s ability to facilitate the “hard conversations” they engage in with their graduate students—conversations about race, class, language and sexual orientation that inevitably bring to surface deeply rooted beliefs and emotions. The retreat’s dual goal was to expand faculty members’ repertoires of facilitation strategies so that they, themselves, could effectively work with their graduate students as difficult issues surfaced. They also wanted this way of negotiating hard topics to serve as a model their students could draw from. Clearly, difficult topics in K-12 classrooms should neither be whitewashed nor ignored, and student teachers need guidance in developing their own skill set.

As the case unfolds, it becomes clear that this enterprise of critical inter-group dialogue isn’t one to be taken for granted and can’t be rushed. What happens when teacher education faculty dedicated to social justice engage in dialogue with their own positionality center stage? What happens when respectful, collegial colleagues meet one another in a way that spotlights the intersection of personal and professional identities? In this case, the story is one of colleagues torn by matters of race and the accompanying issues of positionality and privilege.   

This item is accessed for free with permission from the author. To download the PDF, click the link below.

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020TEPEduPP011.pdf — PDF document, 582Kb

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Childrens' Algebraic Reasoning in Elementary School

Author(s): Victoria R. Jacobs, Megan Loef Franke, Thomas P. Carpenter, Linda Levi, and Dan Battey

Abstract:

A Large-Scale Study of Professional Development Focused on Childrens' Algebraic Reasoning in Elementary School

Through a year-long experimental study, we found positive effects of a professional development project that involved 19 urban elementary schools, 180 teachers, and 3735 students from one of the lowest performing districts in California. Algebraic reasoning as generalized arithmetic and the study of relations was used as the centerpiece for work with teachers in Grades 1—5. Participating teachers generated a wider variety of student strategies, including more strategies that reflected the use of relational thinking, than did nonparticipating teachers. Students in participating classes showed significantly better understanding of the equal sign and used significantly more strategies reflecting relational thinking during interviews than did students in classes of nonparticipating teachers.

This item is available with a small fee through the NCTM (National Council for Teaching Mathematics) eRepository. Follow the link below to access their site.

Link: http://my.nctm.org/eresources/article_summary.asp?URI=JRME2007-05-258a&from=B

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National Board Certification: Supporting African American Teachers

Author(s): Tyrone Howard, Rae Jeane Williams, and Ann Ifekwunigwe

Abstract:

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has sought to advance the overall quality of teaching and learning in U.S. schools through a rigorous certification process. Research has shown that the teachers who achieve certification acquire knowledge and skills that are consistent with exemplary teaching practices. Over the past decade, growing concerns about the disproportionate rates of certification among certain groups of teachers have raised equity concerns about the certification process. African American teachers in particular certify at a significantly lower rate than their peers from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

This study sought to identify support structures that could increase the success rates of African American teacher candidates. Using a writing support structure, technological assistance, and intense mentoring with two different cohorts over a two-year period, this study found that the success rate of African American teachers earning certification was close to 50%, approximately four times higher than the national certification rate for African American teachers.

Main Research Questions:

1. What optimal structures of support can be provided to meet the needs of African American candidates pursuing National Board Certification?
2. How can these structures of support be replicated to increase the number of African American teachers achieving National Board Certification nationwide?

Link: http://www.nbpts.org/resources/research/browse_studies?ID=32

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The Careers of Urban Teachers

Author(s): Karen Hunter Quartz

Abstract:

This paper synthesizes the findings of a six-year longitudinal retention study of more than one thousand urban educators in their first through tenth year of the profession. The educators studied were graduates of UCLA's Center X Teacher Education Program and the results of the study may be generalized to the population of well-prepared urban teachers nationwide, with one exception. Although most Center X graduates are female (79%), which is similar to national trends, the group's ethnic and racial diversity contrasts sharply with national norms (though it reflects California's increasing diversity). The longitudinal study consisted of a range of quantitative and qualitative studies to answer the following questions:

1. What is the effect of specialized teacher preparation on retention?
   
2. What is the effect of career advancement on attrition among highly-qualified urban educators?
   
3. What individual and school characteristics are associated with retention in high-poverty schools?

This paper reports that Center X's specialized approach to teacher education had a positive impact on workplace retention, but not role retention. If they decided to stay in teaching, Center X graduates were much more likely than similar teachers nationwide to stay put in the same school over time. This finding has important implications for the organizational stability and potential reform of urban schools.

Focusing in on the issue of role retention, the paper reports that the proportion of attrition among Center X graduates due to changing roles within the field of education was 70% after eight years in the profession. Although largely hidden from policy view, the paper discusses how role changing is a form of sanctioned attrition that should be added to the landscape of teacher retention research.

Finally, the paper reports findings that stand in stark contrast to a number of studies that have found teachers systematically move away from schools with low levels of achievement and high concentrations of poor children of color. The paper reports how student disadvantage along with the quality of a school's professional learning community contributes to workplace retention in high poverty urban schools. The concluding section outlines promising policy responses for creating and sustaining urban schools where teachers are professionally respected, challenged, and supported; where they have autonomy and voice; and where they feel they can make a difference in the lives of their student.

This item is accessed for free with permission from the CDL eScholarship repository. Please follow the link below.

Link: http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/3360/

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Center X and LAUSD Evaluation of Effectiveness Report

Author(s): Jody Z. Priselac and Megan L. Franke

Abstract:

This report has been prepared by UCLA’s Center X to make evident the effectiveness of Center X’s services to the Los Angles Unified School District (LAUSD). Over the past three years, Center X has provided a variety of professional development opportunities to teachers throughout the District. The findings included in this report convey that the work completed with teachers has contributed to student achievement in the classroom. 

Attachment
010CenterXandLAUSDIP001.pdf — PDF document, 451Kb

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Perceptions of the Parent Curriculum Project's Program Goals

Author(s): Camille Wilson Cooper

Abstract:

This report discusses the findings of an evaluation of the Parent Curriculum Project (PCP) in Lynwood Unified School District (LUSD). Parents, UCLA staff, principals and district officials pointed to four major ways that the Parent Curriculum Project has enhanced the knowledge and leadership skills of parent participants and contributed to the improvement of LUSD schools. They also suggested ways the program can improve.

This item is accessed for free with permission from the author. Please follow the link below to download the pdf.

Link: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~srmevaluationgroup/reports/report2%20.pdf

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Transforming Teacher Education

Author(s): Barbara Miner

Abstract:

In a 2005/2006, Rethinking Schools produced a special issue on Transforming Teaching Education. This issue featured UCLA's Center X as "a groundbreaking effort to improve Los Angeles schools."

This is an online publication. Follow the link below to read the entire issue.

Link: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/20_02/tran202.shtml

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The Education Imperative

Author(s): UCLA Magazine Spring 2004

Abstract:

The Spring 2004 issue of the UCLA Magazine focused on K-12 education and preparation for higher learning. The work of Center X is featured throughout the issue.

This is an online publication. Follow the link below to read the entire issue.

Link: http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/year2004/spring04_02.html

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Center X Forum Center X Tenth Anniversary Issue

Author(s): Various Authors

Abstract:

In October 2005, Center X celebrated its 10th Anniversary and a decade of work to further social justice in Los Angeles schools. In this newsletter, Center X faculty and students share their reflections on this first decade.

This item is a digitized reproduction of the original publication. Follow the link below to download the PDF.

Attachment
CenterXTenth.pdf — PDF document, 1262Kb

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