In the educational sphere, the concept of "democracy" is used in many and varied ways, though the hegemonic school culture often starts from a concept of democracy that is taken for granted, and it is understood that the entire educational community shares a similar concept. As a result of the research project "Democracy,…

This paper is a sequel to the keynote address at the 2017 BCES Conference. The keynote address concluded with the thought that some educationists respond intuitively and spontaneously to neoliberalism and its impact on education whereas others reject neoliberalist precepts and their pedagogical implications on definite principled grounds. This…

Background: This paper adapts the four-frame model of organizational change to the context of higher education. We offer the model as a tool for researchers and change agents who wish to study and enact systemic change within STEM departments. We provide the four frames in contrast to overly simplistic models of change that have been shown to be…

This chapter explores social class as an important aspect of identity among college students. An emphasis is placed on how social class and social class identity are included and excluded from the literature, discourse, and practice in student affairs.

I advance theoretically and empirically grounded arguments for broadening how we frame and understand situational interests. A situational interest refers to the short-term spike in a person's attention and participation in an activity and it is triggered in the interactions between the person and environment features (e.g., novelty and surprise).…

Social studies is by virtue opaque, unwieldly, and rarely neutral. It challenges convention and conventional thought and action. Embedding controversy into social studies instruction allows students to think deeply, critically, and passionately. Yet controversy is fraught with philosophical and pedagogical hurdles that often limit its use. Thus,…

In response to the rise in popularity of concepts of "design" in education research, pedagogy, and curriculum design, in this article we consider how the New London Group conceived of the role of student design practices as an outcome of pedagogy, as well as the parallel role of design in teaching practices. In this descriptive analysis,…

The ability to tell stories can be an important leadership attribute and skill to master in order to be a successful leader (Baldoni, 2003; Denning, 2004; Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Storytelling is a central component of effective communication for leaders and a skill to master for future leadership success. This paper supports active learning,…

The terminology that we use to refer to English learners has shifted over the past two decades, from "limited English proficient" to "English language learner" to what is now the preferred term in California and, increasingly, other states: "English learner." Yet, what has not changed is how this category continues to…

The authors offer guidance on recognizing and resisting test-centric instruction in reading comprehension. They posit that five practices indicate a test-centric view of comprehension: when the tested content is privileged, when the test becomes the text, when annotation requirements replace strategic thinking, when test items frame how students…

Teacher research is lauded as a beneficial enterprise both for practitioners and for learners. However, teachers are sometimes accused of not possessing the necessary knowledge and skills to conduct research effectively. This article focuses on the need for teacher-researchers to find means of addressing the methodological challenges of engaging…

When students walk into a classroom, often the first question is, "What are we going to do today?" It is easy for educators to fall into the trap of using activities exclusively without considering the value or intent of the content. After all, the students are engaged, and if they are busy they must be learning. Simply being busy,…

Policy makers need to recognize that the historically comfortable education environment is changing. The present model of managing the new environment has a growing number of non-achieving student customers being labelled as being dysfunctional. The dysfunctional collective is becoming the new normal as it expands to accommodate students of…

The aim of this study was to create a model which describes the main elements for improving schools with digital technology and helps to reveal differences between schools and identify their best practices and challenges. The innovative digital school model (IDI school) offers a framework for research but also a research-based model for schools to…

The issue of quality enhancement within higher education has attracted considerable research interest and the article suggest that managerial and cultural approaches have thus far dominated the literature in the field. While acknowledging the importance of both management and culture, the article argues for the relevance of 'quality work' as a…