Margaret Smith Crocco

Inquiring Minds Want To Know Action Research At A New York City Professional Development School

This article describes a professional development school (PDS) relationship between Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Beacon School in New York City. In examining this case of an urban high school with a diverse student population working with a college of education, the authors add to the literature on PDS partnerships, which has dealt mostly with elementary school partnerships with colleges of education. The authors focus on the action research projects conducted by teaching interns at Beacon who are also masters students in secondary education programs, chiefly social studies and English, at Teachers College. The authors analyze the impact of this collaboration on participants and institutions, while acknowledging the areas of strain in maintaining the professional development relationship over time.

High-Stakes Teaching: What's at Stake for Teachers (and Students) in the Age of Accountability.

High-stakes testing in New York City (NYC) schools has produced a culture of high-stakes teaching. The latter concept emphasizes both the importance of good teachers to the performance of urban students and the threat to keeping good teachers in NYC schools due to measures such as scripted lessons and mandated curriculum. This essay draws upon interviews with beginning NYC teachers in English and social studies, raising questions about whether such measures will exacerbate the already low rates of teacher retention in urban schools.

Homophobic Hallways: Is Anyone Listening?

Abstract Findings are presented from research in a teacher education course on diversity and the social studies that takes gender and sexuality as subject matter. Five themes emerge from five years of qualitative data related to teaching the course and following the experiences of graduates attempting to apply their learning to new teaching situations. The author offers ideas for infusing discussion of sexuality and homophobia into social studies teaching and teacher education as well as professional development workshops in schools.

Teaching Shabanu: the challenges of using world literature in the US social studies classroom

This paper discusses inclusion of global literature in social studies curricula, especially in teaching about women of the world. It analyses the attraction of, and difficulties with, a popular work of young adult fiction, Shabanu, often taught in US middle‐school social studies and humanities classrooms. It uses the framework of post‐colonial, feminist theorizing and critical, post‐structuralist considerations in history and literature to analyse the novel. It draws on several sources: my experiences in incorporating the book into a teacher‐education course in social studies education; interviews with teachers and teacher educators; testimonials about the book available on the Internet, including the reactions of Muslim groups in the USA; and interviews with Pakistani‐American students about their reactions to the book.

At the Crossroads of the World: Women of the Middle East

The authors offer a brief introduction to the history of women of the Middle East, with a focus on three major religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Schools are paying increased attention to teaching world history, but they are giving too little attention to incorporating women as part of world history. One of the major dividing lines within the Middle East has been religion, a fixed feature of the world history curriculum. The authors attempt to provide insights, based on new research about women in the region, into how religion and culture influence womens lives in this area of the world. They conclude with a brief consideration of how women are organizing for change in the Middle East.

Speaking Truth to Power: Women's Rights as Human Rights

The author considers the treatment of womens rights as human rights in the social studies curriculum. She discusses the role of the United Nations in promoting womens rights since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. She also reviews the treatment of womens rights within social studies curriculum today through a review of the curriculum guidelines of each U.S. state. The author calls for greater attention to placing the study of the worlds women into a human rights framework within social studies curricula across the United States.

Teaching About Women in World History

This article addresses the subject of teaching about women in world history in K–12 schools and in programs of social studies teacher education. It includes a review of the place of gender in teaching about world history to current and future teachers at Teachers College, Columbia University. This informal research serves as the platform for a set of recommendations concerning necessary steps for “gender-balancing” the world history curriculum in social studies teacher education.

Fighting injustice through education

Brian Simon’s life work brought together a set of themes that cross the Atlantic in interesting ways: race and class, contests over education’s aims and structures, equity and equality as different...

Mary Ritter Beard and Marion Thompson Wright: Shaping Inclusive Social Education.

Abstract This article examines the contributions of Mary Ritter Beard and Marion Thompson Wright to inclusive curriculum in social education. Beard established the field of womens history through her writing and public addresses. Wright promoted the application of Black history in the schools through her work as a teacher educator and scholar with the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Wright also was involved in the struggle to end segregation of the nations schools. Both womens contributions suggest the broad perspective which has characterized social education from its inception, more apparent when the focus moves beyond the organizational establishment of the field and the creation of the National Council for the Social Studies.

Teaching the Federal Budget, National Debt, and Budget Deficit: Findings from High School Teachers.

The issues surrounding the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit are complex, but not beyond the reach of young students. This study finds scant treatment of the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit in high schools today. It is hardly surprising that high school teachers spend so little time discussing these topics in their classrooms, another finding of this study. As bleak as we found the current state of education about these topics, we also found significant opportunities to teach them in high school classrooms. Specifically, we discuss four recommendations for teachers to infuse the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit into high school social studies courses.