Kelly Chandler-Olcott

Student Cohorts Communities of Critique or Dysfunctional Families

The study was designed to trouble the commonsense notion in the field that cohorts, groups of students who move through an educational program together, provide the optimal structure for preparing future teachers. Using collaborative inductive methods, this study by two university researchers of their teaching within a preservice education program explored the following questions: What is the relationship between the positive aspects of being a community and students’ ability and willingness to become critical practitioners? What happens to relationships between students and between students and faculty when there are ruptures or critical incidents within the community? How is the role of faculty members teaching cohorts different from the role of faculty members teaching classes organized in more traditional ways? The study raises questions about various factors that affect community within the cohort and about differences between students’ and faculty’s perceptions of critical ruptures within the classroom.

Spotlighting Social Class: An Exploration of One Adolescent's Language and Literacy Practices.

Drawing on five years of data, this case study presents an exploration of the influences of social class on one adolescents language and literacy practices as she moved from high school in an isolated rural community to college in an urban environment. The study draws on several theoretical frameworks, including multiple literacies (Gallego & Hollingsworth, 2000), Gees (1996) theory of Discourses, and sociocultural conceptions of social class (Anyon, 1981; Fine & Weis, 1998). Although Crystal, the focal informant, was a successful learner by most conventional standards, she experienced considerable struggle to stay in school and to adopt the dominant discourses of postsecondary education. As a rural high school student, she used a variety of language and literacy practices to “pose” as middle class. When she crossed to college, some of these practices served her better than others. Ultimately, she became alienated by college courses that did not acknowledge language competencies related to her status as a working-class person and that did not allow links between her interests in popular culture and her formal assignments. Implications for practice include the following: that secondary literacy teachers make social class a more salient category for inquiry and that college instructors make deliberate attempts to learn about the preferred discourse practices of their students. The study also suggests the importance of “insider” knowledge in studying the influence of social class on literacy and the need for further research examining how learners negotiate workplace discourses after college.

Bypass, augment, or integrate: How secondary mathematics teachers address the literacy demands of standards-based curriculum materials

This 3-year qualitative study examined how 26 teachers in four U.S. secondary schools addressed the literacy demands of curriculum materials based on standards from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It was grounded in sociocultural perspectives that encourage study of language in local contexts, including classrooms, communities, and disciplines. The research question asked, “How do secondary mathematics teachers in a teacher–researcher collaboration understand and address the literacy demands of standards-based curriculum materials?” An interdisciplinary team of literacy and mathematics education researchers and graduate students worked with teachers to examine required curriculum materials, plan lessons, and share resources, while collecting qualitative data to capture teachers’ understandings and actions. Findings indicated that teachers responded in three ways to the materials’ literacy demands: (a) they used the materials selectively to bypass or reduce the literacy demands, (b) they augmented use of the materials with literacy support, or (c) they integrated use of the materials into long-term frameworks to develop mathematics and literacy learning simultaneously. The study suggests the value of using insights from mathematics and literacy to inform mathematics curriculum design and reminds us to take teachers’ perspectives toward such materials seriously, particularly when they collaborate to address issues about the materials’ use in their own school contexts.

Multiple Perspectives on the State-Mandated Implementation of a High-Stakes Performance Assessment for Preservice English Teacher Candidates

ABSTRACT Drawing on situated learning and communities of practice, this teacher-research study examined multiple stakeholders’ perspectives about the purpose, design, and inaugural implementation of the edTPA, a teacher performance assessment mandated for state certification. Participants included teacher candidates, mentor teachers, a field placement supervisor, and a teacher educator involved with one English education program. Data included edTPA-related documents, artifacts from a student-teaching seminar, and interviews. Findings indicated differences in perspective. Mentors had the most negative views and the least information about the assessment, as well as the most skepticism about its positioning within the state’s reform agenda. Candidates and the field supervisor identified benefits and concerns about the impact on student teaching. The teacher educator expressed anger and fear related to the new mandate but, over time, identified some aspects of the assessment aligning with past practice. Implications for research and practice are suggested.

Seeing all students as literate

Contents: Preface. P. Kluth, D.P. Biklen, D.M. Straut, Access to Academics for All Students. P. Kluth, D.M. Straut, Toward Standards for Diverse Learners: Examining Assumptions. T. Knight, Academic Access and the Family. K. Chandler-Olcott, Seeing All Students as Literate. S.M. Davidenko, P.P. Tinto, Equity for All Learners of Mathematics: Is Access Enough? D.M. Straut, K. Colleary, Accessing Power Through Intentional Social Studies Instruction: Every Day for Every Student. J.W. Tillotson, P. Kluth, Auto Mechanics in the Physics Lab: Science Education for All. K. Madsen, Providing Access to Arts Education: An Illustration Through Music. M. Sapon-Shevin, P. Kluth, In the Pool, On the Stage, and at the Concert: Access to Academics Beyond Classroom Walls. D.P. Biklen, D.M. Straut, P. Kluth, Academics, Access, and Action.