Julia Mahfouz

Global citizenship and the importance of education in a globally integrated world

ABSTRACT As national borders dissipate and technology allows different cultures and nationalities to communicate on a regular basis, more individuals are self-identifying as a global citizen. Using Social Network Analysis and multi-level modelling, this study explores factors associated with global citizen affinity and finds that education plays an important, perhaps the most important, role in individual’s affinity towards this self-identification. Results clearly indicate that more education, not national economic or social integration, is more closely associated with an individual’s positive identity as a global citizen. Additionally, the magnitude of the education effect is greater in more socially integrated societies.

Evaluating Student Cognitive and Social-Emotional Growth During a High School Mindfulness Course Using Mixed-Method Design

Between 2014 and 2017, an interdisciplinary group of researchers examined whether a high school health class that incorporated mindfulness techniques lowered students’ stress and improved their wellbeing. We received a grant from the Institute of Educational Sciences from the United States Department of Education to (1) train high school health teachers to implement the mindfulness-based curriculum and (2) study how the program impacted students. We examined changes in cognitive, social, emotional, and physical wellbeing indicators from before the course to after the course, using a quasi-experimental (intervention and control group with pre and post tests), mixed-methods (concurrent triangulation) design. Data consisted of student responses to psychometric surveys and interviews with a subsample of students. When we compared qualitative findings with quantitative outcomes, we discovered instances of different results through each method. This allowed us to provide explanations and context for certain outcomes. For example, the recent loss of a grandparent explained why one student scored high in social isolation. At other times, the two methods found two different “outcomes stories” from the same student. For example, a student reported in the interview that he was struggling with social interactions, but the psychometric indicators had him in the top quintile of social wellbeing indicators as compared to his peers. This case study discusses methodological approaches to mixed-method educational psychology research, the challenges of making sense of data from different sources, and the usefulness and limitations of mixed-methodologies for psychological outcome evaluations of student wellbeing interventions. We also discuss the process of working as a large group of researchers. This case is useful for students in psychology and education, and it is equally useful for early career researchers.

US international schools overseas and the Common Core

Abstract This qualitative study of U.S. international schools overseas explores the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in six U.S. international schools overseas (The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Kuwait). The Common Core was introduced in 2009 in the U.S. as a national (not federal) ‘standards-based reform’. Such reforms are intended to align components of the education system, including curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development and other resources. Proponents of this national policy reform argued that common standards would improve efficiency within public education, equalise opportunities across disparate states and school districts, and allow all students to graduate without any need for remedial education in postsecondary training or college. In international settings, the reform was implemented for reasons that differ from the reform’s purpose in the U.S. We found that the leaders of these international schools held that implementation of the Common Core supported the building of U.S. culture within their institutions and supported students’ transitions between international and U.S. schools. Global education reform and theories regarding the paradigm of standardisation guide analysis of a highly contested U.S. reform undertaken in international schools in distinct nations. This serves as a contrasting case of global policy adoption where out-of-context policies are poorly adapted; instead, with substantial human and economic capital supporting this reform, there is evidence of the Common Core’s success abroad as it flounders where it was launched.

Leadership Roles of Administration Under the Common Core Reform

This qualitative study focuses on school administrators’ understandings and actions as leaders of the Common Core reform. In interviews with eight school and district leaders from five diverse districts in Pennsylvania, several aspects of Common Core, or PA Core, implementation were consistent across regardless of student population demographics and urbanicity. The findings show that (a) administrators view themselves as leaders of buildings or districts but not of reform implementations; (b) while it may not require them to make drastic changes, the PA Core is considered an opportunity to address aspects of the district or school that are in need of improvement; and (c) administrators are aware of their school context and their diverse students’ needs, but the PA Core is not yet adapted to address these diversity issues. These findings suggest that the Common Core pushes administrators to focus on certain areas of school improvement, such as curricula, assessments, and professional development that attends to the Common Core requirements; yet, the Common Core is similar to previous practice, even if its standards are deemed more rigorous.