Recent Education News

The latest education papers. Last updated Monday December 23, 2024 at 03:13 PST.

A personal reflection on the importance of participatory action research

Monday, 23. December 2024 | .

Action research cultures: Transforming university systems, norms, and practices

Saturday, 21. December 2024 | Action Research, Ahead of Print.

Unlocking engagement: A case study on digital games in mathematics instruction

Friday, 20. December 2024 | .

Correction

Friday, 20. December 2024 | .

Feeling well, feeling cared for? Using participatory and arts-engaged research to improve understanding and professional responses to the mental health needs of care-experienced young people

Friday, 20. December 2024 | .

Autonomy Supportive Teaching Behaviors: Perceptions of Teachers in Special, General, Gifted, and Bilingual Education Settings

Friday, 20. December 2024 | .

A bibliometric review of studies on mathematics teacher professional development with an emphasis on mathematics coaching research

Friday, 20. December 2024 | Abstract

The professional development of mathematics teachers stands as a cornerstone in advancing pedagogical practices and enhancing educational outcomes. Examining the significance of professional growth for mathematics teachers becomes imperative in fostering effective teaching methodologies and enriching students' learning experiences. This bibliometric analysis of 514 articles on Mathematics Teacher Professional Development (MTPD) investigates the realm of professional development among mathematics teachers working at different school levels, specifically centering on the domain of mathematics coaching research. The analysis systematically explores the existing literature on professional development initiatives for mathematics teachers, highlighting the concept of mathematics coaching. The results show that in recent years, studies on MTPD have shifted their focus toward coaching studies. The analysis of 65 coaching-focused articles revealed highlights of the core attributes of mathematics coaching, the impact of mathematics coaching, and mathematics coaching models and strategies and complexity of mathematics coaching.

Workplace Cyberbullying: Nature, Characteristics, and Implications

Thursday, 19. December 2024 | Evaluation Review, Ahead of Print.
The information technology revolution has fundamentally altered company operations around the world. The Internet has significantly enhanced employee connectedness in the workplace, eclipsing the antiquated brick-and-mortar model. Nonetheless, as information technology advances, cyberbullying has grown in popularity in the professional environment. Cyberbullying is not geographically, temporally, or milieu-specific. Arguments concerning this ubiquitous danger have plagued scholars and professionals for several decades as they debated its conception, prevalence, and implications. The current research digs into many facets of cyberbullying to facilitate the creation of constructive policies and effectively manage the labor environment. Additionally, a few ideas and remedies are offered, as well as the future course of action for effectively addressing the crucial issue of cyberbullying.

Preservice subject teachers’ beliefs about teacher subject interest: love for a subject as a resource and a challenge

Thursday, 19. December 2024 | .

Putting lived experiences at the heart of research: showcasing the creative use of participatory inquiry in health and social care

Thursday, 19. December 2024 | .

Are Community-College Students Increasingly Choosing High-Paying Fields of Study? Evidence from Massachusetts

Thursday, 19. December 2024 | AERA Open, Volume 10, Issue , January-December 2024.
The labor-market payoff to workers with associate degrees in healthcare and STEM occupations is very high in Massachusetts. We examine whether this induced a growing proportion of students in MA community colleges (MACCs) to earn an associate degree (AD) in one of these fields. We do this by using multinomial logit analysis to compare trends across 12 cohorts of MACC entrants in the proportion of students who earned an AD in a healthcare or STEM program within six years of entry.We find a substantial increase across cohorts in the proportion of students who earned an AD in a STEM program, but not in the proportion who earned an AD in a healthcare program. We found differences in degree attainment by student gender, race/ethnicity, family income, and 10th-Grade mathematics score. Interviews with MACC program leaders revealed that supply constraints hinder expansion of many healthcare AD programs, but not STEM programs.

Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Hiccups and Professional Noticing During Technology-Rich Teaching and Learning

Thursday, 19. December 2024 | Abstract

This paper presents a case study of two prospective teachers’ perturbations and professional development during lesson demonstrations which focused on technology-rich mathematics teaching and learning by analyzing a series of individual and collaborative video-based reflections to support the prospective teachers’ learning. Drawing on the construct of hiccups in technology-rich mathematics teaching, our analysis highlights the different types of hiccups the prospective teachers noticed in their lesson demonstrations; how they responded to the hiccups they identified; their professional learning from these experiences; and the differences in the prospective teachers’ noticing from the perspectives of the lesson teacher and the student audiences. Results highlight the strengths and limitations of prospective mathematics teachers’ noticing during technology-rich teaching and learning; for example, prospective teachers taking the role of student audiences during lesson demonstrations allows for different and additional in-the-moment noticing compared to them taking the role of teachers. Results also suggest the need for multiple reflection opportunities to help prospective mathematics teachers develop their noticing skills in technology-rich classroom contexts.

Addressing Threats to Validity in Supervised Machine Learning: A Framework and Best Practices for Education Researchers

Wednesday, 18. December 2024 | AERA Open, Volume 10, Issue , January-December 2024.
Given the rapid adoption of machine learning methods by education researchers, and the growing acknowledgment of their inherent risks, there is an urgent need for tailored methodological guidance on how to improve and evaluate the validity of inferences drawn from these methods. Drawing on an integrative literature review and extending a well-known framework for theorizing validity in the social sciences, this article provides both an overview of threats to validity in supervised machine learning and plausible approaches for addressing such threats. It collates a list of current best practices, brings supervised learning challenges into a unified conceptual framework, and offers a straightforward reference guide on crucial validity considerations. Finally, it proposes a novel research protocol for researchers to use during project planning and for reviewers and scholars to use when evaluating the validity of supervised machine learning applications.

Racial Justice Cannot Be Opt-In

Wednesday, 18. December 2024 | Educational Researcher, Ahead of Print.
Despite a wave of support for anti-racist pedagogy and practices in the spring of 2020, authentic adoption remained limited, signaling an uphill battle during the present era of racial backlash. This brief, which relies on interviews with 55 New York teachers, found that most teachers showed interest in adopting anti-racist approaches but struggled due to limited support from district and local leadership. These findings suggest that large pedagogical shifts, such as anti-racist curriculum and instruction, are unlikely to be achieved without more broad-based and proactive support from administrators at all levels, especially given the ever-increasing politicization of anti-racist teaching.

Personalized Learning Policy and Student Voice: A Statewide Case Study

Wednesday, 18. December 2024 | Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
This qualitative study examines the experiences of student leaders working in partnership with teacher leaders to implement Vermont’s Act 77, a state mandated personalized learning policy. Drawing on a theoretical framework that connects the zones of mediation and knowledge brokering research, this study explores the question: How do youth and adults experience youth leadership around the implementation of Vermont’s Act 77? Drawing on focus group data, interviews, and observations of youth leadership of personalized learning policy implementation across 18 high schools between 2014 and 2018, the study identifies the opportunities challenges of youth acting as knowledge brokers around state education policy in their schools. It concludes with implications for educational leaders and policymakers.

Teacher Mental Health and District Employee Support in Rural Communities: A Sequential Exploratory Mixed Methods Study

Wednesday, 18. December 2024 | Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
Although existing research explores the need for mental health for students in P-12 schools, scholarship regarding mental health needs and support for teachers is lacking, particularly in rural contexts. This study used sequential exploratory mixed methods to explore mental health needs and support in school districts in a predominantly rural state. Analysis included qualitative survey data from P-12 teachers in school districts about how teaching impacts mental health, and a quantitative analysis of employee assistance programs in participant school districts. Findings demonstrated teachers struggling with mental health, and a lack of employee support available. Implications and exploration of district policy are discussed.

“They Don’t Even Realize They’re Learning”: Enacting Core Practices in Teacher Education Through Board Games

Wednesday, 18. December 2024 | .

The (activity-)effect of manipulatives on algebraic generalizations: a construtivist teaching experiment

Wednesday, 18. December 2024 | Abstract

To understand the ways that manipulatives might support changes in students’ reasoning about algebraic generalizations, a constructivist teaching experiment was conducted with two sixth-grade students. The students interpreted numerical situations with units of one and could construct units of units in mental activity. Initially, the students’ reasoning about Cuisenaire® rods did not lead to changes in their algebraic generalizations, whereas their reasoning about linking cubes did lead to such changes. The students’ learning with linking cubes is explained by their enactment of physical operations with units of one on the linking cubes, which were consistent with their mental operations in numerical situations. Over time, and after learning to generalize with linking cubes, the students also began to attribute meaning to their physical operations with Cuisenaire® rods. Thus, instruction with manipulatives that reflected the student’s interpretation of numerical situations supported their construction of algebra as generalized arithmetic. Instructional implications are discussed.

First- and third-person mathematics-related teacher identity: capturing the learning pathway of an out-of-field teacher of mathematics acquiring mathematics teacher certification

Wednesday, 18. December 2024 | Abstract

This study captures the teacher learning, understood as identity change, of John, an experienced out-of-field [OOF] teacher of mathematics undertaking a national professional development program, the Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching [PDMT]. This research draws on the commognitive framework to document John’s first-person mathematics-related teacher identity—a collection of stories told by John to a third party about being a mathematics teacher, and John’s third-person mathematics-related teacher identity, a collection of stories told by the researcher about John’s teaching practices. Data, in the form of interviews and lesson video and audio recordings, were collected over a 17 month period to elicit John’s learning pathway while he participated in the PDMT. Sociolinguistic tools and thematic analysis elicited the endorsed narratives that shaped how John viewed himself as a mathematics teacher and his mathematics teaching practices and enabled the researcher to recognise consistencies and changes in John’s mathematics teaching practices across the different timepoints. This methodological approach uncovered unanticipated outcomes of the PDMT that may inform the design of future professional development programs for OOF teachers of mathematics.

Guest Editorial for Special Issue “Digital Experiences in University Mathematics Education: Advances and Expectations”

Wednesday, 18. December 2024 |

Reviewer Acknowledgments

Tuesday, 17. December 2024 | AERA Open, Volume 10, Issue , January-December 2024.

Exploring the Link Between Students’ Sense of School Belonging and Shared Leadership in U.S. High Schools

Tuesday, 17. December 2024 | AERA Open, Volume 10, Issue , January-December 2024.
This study investigated whether and to what extent shared leadership in school was associated with a positive and equitable sense of school belonging among students from diverse backgrounds in the United States. We denoted shared leadership as collective practices that take place in schools in which principals enact inclusive practices in the decision-making process and teachers collaborate with their colleagues to support all students’ learning. We used linear mixed-effects modeling to analyze a nationally representative sample from the base-year data of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Our exploratory analyses revealed that shared leadership practices in school were positively associated with all students’ school belonging. We also found that shared leadership practices in school contributed to American Indian/Alaska Native students’ positive sense of school belonging through a cross-level interaction effect.

Geographical and methodological trends in ESM and JRME from 2014–2023

Tuesday, 17. December 2024 | .

A Critical Participatory (Action Research) adaptation in the Teaching English as a Second Language Practicum: developing individual and collective reflective practices towards equitable practices

Monday, 16. December 2024 | .