Rachel A. Lotan

Producing Equal-Status Interaction in the Heterogeneous Classroom:

Emphasis on tracking and ability grouping as sources of inequality and as goals for reform ignores processes of stratification within heterogeneous classrooms. Research literature on effects of classroom status inequality is reviewed. The article presents a test of two interventions derived from expectation states theory and designed to counteract the process of stratification in classrooms using academically heterogeneous small groups. The design focuses on variation in the frequency with which teachers carried out status treatments in 13 elementary school classrooms, all of which were using the same curriculum and the same system of classroom management. There was good support for the hypotheses that the use of status treatments would be associated with higher rates of participation of low-status students and would have no effect on the participation of high-status students. Analysis at the classroom level revealed that more frequent use of these treatments was associated with more equal-status interaction.

Can Groups Learn

This is a study of assessment of the work of creative problem-solving groups in sixth-grade social studies. We test the proposition that providing students with specific guidelines as to what makes an exemplary group product (evaluation criteria) will improve the character of the discussion as well as the quality of the group product. To assess the group’s potential for successful instruction, we examine the character of the group conversation as well as the quality of the group product. We present a statistical model of the process of instruction that connects the use of evaluation criteria, group discussion, creation of the group product, and average performance on the final written assessment. This is a study of assessment of the work of creative problem-solving groups in sixth-grade social studies classes. We test the proposition that providing students with specific guidelines as to what makes an exemplary group product ~evaluation criteria! will improve the character of the discussion as well as the quality of the group product. To assess the group’s potential for successful instruction, we examine the character of the group conversation as well as the quality of the group product. We present a statistical model of the process of instruction that connects the use of evaluation criteria, group discussion, creation of the group product, and average performance on the final written assessment.

Developing Language and Mastering Content in Heterogeneous Classrooms

In this chapter, I describe what teachers need to do to set up classroom conditions that support development in English, the language of instruction, as well as mastery of subject matter content in academically and linguistically hetero- geneous classrooms. To support my argument, I use data from a study conducted in six diverse 7th grade social studies classrooms in Californias Central Valley where teachers used complex instruction, a pedagogical approach that supports teaching at a high intellectual level in classrooms with a wide range of previous academic achievement and linguistic proficiency. Students from different language proficiency levels benefited similarly from the intellectually rigorous curriculum and from the quality of interactions with peers during group work. Based on this study, we suggest that schools rethink linguistic segregation and ensure access to challenging and grade-appropriate curricula and equitable instruction for all students. Furthermore, I present to teachers a model of effective, research-based practice that could expand their repertoire of strategies for heterogeneous classrooms.

The Use of Evaluation Criteria to Improve Academic Discussion in Cooperative Groups

Abstract Teachers remark that during Cooperative Learning (CL), the academic nature of the group discussions and the resulting group products can be disappointing. Often, this may be due to a lack of understanding on the students’ part on the elements that make up an exemplary product. This study examined whether clearly articulated evaluation criteria (ECs) would alter the nature of the groups discussion and subsequently improve students’ learning. The groups using the EC spent more time evaluating their products, discussing the content of their unit and task than students not using the evaluation criteria. The evaluative and task‐focused talk at the group level were modestly, yet significantly correlated with individual scores on an essay test following the unit. These findings suggest that the presence of clear and accessible criteria for evaluation can improve the academic nature of group discussions and individual learning gains. The findings provide a practical way to apply current assessment practices to classrooms using CL strategies.

A Balancing Act: Dilemmas of Implementing a High-Stakes Performance Assessment

Dilemmas abound in the design, implementation, analysis, and interpretation of the outcomes of a summative performance assessment of teaching when used for licensing, for individual and program evaluation, and for accountability purposes. In this article, we explore the impact of the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) on the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP). Specifically, we explore ways in which this high-stakes assessment influences programmatic priorities and drives structural and curricular decisions that might or might not be at odds with the conceptual frame and stated mission of the program. We highlight two thorny dilemmas that have challenged our program in the implementation of the PACT Teaching Event—a high-stakes performance assessment for teachers—and our attempts to manage these dilemmas “satisficingly.”

Teacher as Supervisor of Complex Technology.

The literature on the hidden curriculum, for example, argues that the latent function of experience in classrooms is to produce a docile and obedient adult worker (Carnoy & Levin, 1985, Chapter 5). This metaphor, however, has been applied too narrowly. The reader pictures the classroom as a factory. Workers toil at routine tasks under the watchful eye of a boss, who uses direct supervision to make sure tasks are carried out in the prescribed fashion. The image of the factory, however, is not the only possible analogy; routine work and direct supervision are not the only forms of work arrangements in organizations. In this article, we use organizational theory to extend the metaphor to situations in which work is by no means routine, and in which authority is delegated to the worker. Instead of the image of student-workers laboring over routine tasks, let us think of studentworkers as scientists and engineers in the research and development department of a high-tech corporation. The student-scientists work in teams, making discoveries and solving problems. The teacher-supervisor holds the teams accountable for

Talking and Working Together

Psychologists, curriculum developers, and reformers of mathematics and science education recommend active learning in which students in small groups talk and work together. Small groups provide an opportunity for students to construct their own knowledge in a way that develops conceptual learning and higher-order thinking skills. Noddings (1989) sees this latter school of thought as originating in the work of Dewey and the social constructivism of Vygotsky (1978). Educators and researchers belonging to the “constructivist” school of thought assume that suitable discourse or conversation within the small groups and/or a process of discovery is a prerequisite for conceptual learning.

Social and Cultural Influences on Teacher Education

The central argument of this article contends that, presently, globalization is reflected in two aspects of teacher education programs in many national systems: in the diversity of the student population that teacher candidates are required to support, and in the rhetoric of the proclaimed goals of these programs. The realization of the proclaimed goals, however, is influenced by historically and politically established local social and cultural factors. Program entry and exit requirements, description of major program components, and attractiveness of teaching as a career in different societies are discussed, and the tensions between global and local aspects of teacher education illuminated.