John Fischetti

Mr Watson, come here . . .: The performance of early college students in their first year at the university and the challenge to P-16 education

Early colleges are one alternative to the traditional comprehensive high school. This article examines whether early college students are academically, socially and emotionally ready for university work at age 16. Preliminary data indicate enough promise in the innovation to revision not only the high school curriculum, but middle school and university curricula as well.

Shifting Paradigms: Emerging Issues for Educational Policy and Practice.

Abstract Within the current national context of educational reform, educators are generating a new paradigm about teaching and learning. This shift is occurring as a consequence of rethinking nearly all aspects of schooling. The new paradigm is competing with, an older one. Time will tell whether or not the new one will replace the old one, but clearly they cannot coexist because they are so fundamentally different. The new paradigm is based on the latest research on cognitive developmental and constructivist theory, and the old paradigm is based on reductionist principles and behavioral theory. This article creates a framework for understanding the paradigm shift, describes how the shift applies to instructional practices, synthesizes several principles and indicators that can guide the observation of teaching, and discusses issues yet to be resolved.

From the Margins to the Mainstream: Potential Impact of Early Colleges on Traditional High Schools

Abstract Early colleges are one alternative to the traditional comprehensive high school. This article describes the establishment of an early college in partnership with a university, including the experiences for students, the challenges for teachers, and the difficulties in bridging higher and kindergarten through Grade-12 educations. The article considers the potential for these new, small high schools to impact the traditional high school.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Transforming the American High School: The Premise and Promise of Small Learning Communities

We are very pleased to serve as guest editors for this edition of the Peabody Journal of Education titled, “Transforming the American High School: The Premise and Promise of Small Learning Communities.” For this issue, we selected a variety of research-based and theoretically based papers from across the United States that explore the impact of the creation of small learning communities at the high school level. Ideas and findings presented in this issue range from modifying the existing structure of high school to creating alternative ways of educating 14to 18-year-olds. We see findings from these articles as an important step in rethinking the large, comprehensive high school. We embrace the recommendations for new models. However, we encourage school leaders to think more radically and with a greater sense of urgency to influence the mainstream conversation about American secondary education. The promise and premise of this era of reform is captured by Bill Gates in the following quote as he launched his foundation’s advocacy for early colleges as a stimulus for changing high schools:

The Purpose of a Professional Development School is to Make a Difference: 10 Years of a High School-University Partnership.

While John was conferencing with Beth after a successful student teaching observation, a freshman came into the classroom. The conference took place during Teacher Guided Assistance (TGA), when students can, with permission, visit a teachers classroom for make-up work, homework assistance, or other academic reasons. Beth was in the University of Louisvilles (ULs) Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program class at Fairdale High School during the previous semester and worked with the student as part of a collaboratively planned project matching UL graduate teacher education students with Fairdale special education students for tutoring, remediation, and general assistance. At their last meeting in December,

Candidate Selection in a Fifth Year Teacher Education Recruitment Model: A Multi-stage Partnership Approach

Clark and Fischetti describe a model for use in recruiting prospective teacher candidates to teach mathematics, science, and English in secondary schools. The article is a detailed descrip tion of MESTEP, a 15 month masters level program, with particular attention to selection processes and interview procedures. The implications for the teacher education community are dis cussed.

Issues in Education: The Rubber Duckies Are Here: Five Trends Affecting Public Education Around the World

In 1992, a cargo ship sailing from Hong Kong to Seattle ran into heavy seas in the Pacific Ocean. During the storm, some freight fell overboard, including 29,000 floating plastic duckies, turtles, ...

This Just Makes Sense: Yearlong Experiences in a High School Professional Development School.

Professional Development Schools (PDSs) are sprouting around the country, and in this article we share the benefits to student teachers, teachers, kids, and teacher educators of a yearlong teacher education program that is part of a larger partnership between Fairdale High School and the University of Louisville (UL). Every school-university partnership has its own version of PDS and its own model. Ours attempts to link the functions of a PDS in ways that benefit all of those involved.

Rethinking the Frameworks that Guide Teacher Education

Around the planet, teacher education is positioned as one of the most important components of government policy in an effort to boost human capacity for a global world. In Australia, for example, “in the last decade alone, there have been no fewer than 40 reports on various aspects of teacher education and since the 1970s, we have seenmore than 100 reviews of teacher education” (Mayer, 2014, p. 462).Many conservative governments see teacher education as a variable to be manipulated to improve economic outputs to promote jobs and growth.More liberal governments see teacher education as a way to promote human capacity, build global-mindedness, and improve the human condition. In many ways, teacher education is a safe target for leaders looking to “blame something” for the changes in the rule book of schooling.We can no longer be satisfied to marginally educate a majority of our people. In addition to the moral necessity for effective universal education for everyone, with the rapid pace of automation, there is nothing to do if you are undereducated in today’sworld. This edition of thePeabody Journal of Education is dedicated to rethinking the frameworks that guide teacher education and its place in this social transformation.

Short- and medium-term impacts of the Just Like You disability awareness program: A quasi-experimental comparison of alternative forms of program delivery in New South Wales’ primary schools:

Given the demands for inclusive and more equitable education, this evaluation compared two versions of the Just Like You disability awareness program delivered in primary schools in New South Wales, Australia, by Cerebral Palsy Alliance. Participants included 297 students from three schools in the Hunter region in the established program and 327 students from four schools in the Sydney region in the newer version of the program. Compared with the established program, the new format comprised a single presenter with a disability, two shorter sessions (rather than one long session) delivered at least one week apart, revised content mapped to the Australian rather than the NSW curriculum and a non-compulsory ‘homework’ activity offered at the discretion of the presenter. Longitudinal data included three successive administrations (i.e. pre-test, post-test and delayed follow-up) of the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps scale. Quasi-experimental comparisons produced intake-adjusted effect sizes favouring the newer program over the established program both in terms of post-test (d = 0.47) and delayed follow-up (d = 0.42) Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps scores. The program evaluation demonstrated the efficacy and sustainability of effects in this short-term focussed disability awareness intervention, with the newer version producing greater improvements in student attitudinal change towards people with a disability than the established version.