[regional_school] Re: Social Justice and The Regional School
- From: William Cala <wcala9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: regional school <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:31:28 -0400 (EDT)
Wonderful suggestion!
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shirley Sommers" <ssommer4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "regional school" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Dan Drmacich" <dandrmacich@xxxxxxxxx>, "DanielleSmith" <dtsgla@xxxxxxx>,
"Kristin Rapp" <kris@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Camille Aidala" <caidala0@xxxxxxxxx>,
"Hussain Ahmed" <hussainbahmed@xxxxxxxxx>, "Henry Padron"
<padron.diaspora@xxxxxxxxx>, "Chojy Schroeder" <chojy.schroeder@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 9, 2009 6:15:45 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] Re: Social Justice and The Regional School
Hello all,
I agree with the content. I would suggest that we examine not only problems or
causes thereof but also the strengths that marginalized communities have. I
have a lot of resources in social justice education that could be made
available to you if you need them.
Regards,
Shirley Sommers,
Nazareth College
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Cala" <wcala9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Chojy Schroeder" <chojy.schroeder@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Dan Drmacich" <dandrmacich@xxxxxxxxx>, "DanielleSmith" <dtsgla@xxxxxxx>,
"Kristin Rapp" <kris@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Camille Aidala" <caidala0@xxxxxxxxx>,
"Hussain Ahmed" <hussainbahmed@xxxxxxxxx>, "Henry Padron"
<padron.diaspora@xxxxxxxxx>, "regional" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 7, 2009 3:40:07 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] Re: Social Justice and The Regional School
Chojy,
This is Spot On!! It is exactly what I perceive as the fabric of social justice
in the Regional Academy.
Other thoughts????
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chojy Schroeder" <chojy.schroeder@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Dan Drmacich" <dandrmacich@xxxxxxxxx>, "DanielleSmith" <dtsgla@xxxxxxx>,
"Kristin Rapp" <kris@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Camille Aidala" <caidala0@xxxxxxxxx>,
"Hussain Ahmed" <hussainbahmed@xxxxxxxxx>, "Henry Padron"
<padron.diaspora@xxxxxxxxx>, "William Cala" <wcala9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 7, 2009 1:53:01 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Social Justice and The Regional School
Dear interested members,
I do hope you can find the appended material useful. Please advise.
Peace & namaste.
Chojy
P.S. Dear Kristin,
Please let me know if you can attach this to your exquisitely shaped
declaration for social justice.
Chojy
We believe in the teaching and practices of social justice in all our
teaching/learning activities. Our educational philosophy is based on
understanding our role as an individual within our communities and the
importance of fostering social/civic service, i.e., working for those who are
in need of assistance. Our approach will be based on an interdisciplinary
conceptual framework to help practitioners and students understand the meaning
of oppression in its societal institutions, as well as our personal lives. To
instill the philosophy of social justice in our school program, we must accept
the practice of shared-decision making. Through on-going conversation and
common action we will be able to teach and learn from one other.
Our social-justice based curriculum fosters asking questions about the
situations that perpetuate needs in our communities and beyond. In its simplest
form, we need to ask ourselves and search to find answers to this question,
“What does it mean to be involved constructively in our communities and why is
it important for us to advocate for those who are silent despite their
sufferings, e.g., the disadvantaged?” Our goal is to generate a curriculum that
is anti-racist/anti-oppressive, focuses on social work practice and advocacy,
for those in need of immediate assistance and a broader social change. To
advance justice and the common good, we need to teach by including service
learning actions, shared decision making, and on-going, theme-oriented
conversations
As practitioners working in learning communities, we will demonstrate
through our own work the social justice principles and seek to find clear
models of these principles through our every day practices. In our discussions,
we will seek to explore ways of modeling these principles through our every day
practices. We are committed to the belief that positive social change will only
occur when we foster true democratic conversations, “It is not about me, it is
about our common good.”
The process of educating for social justice will include a democratic and
participatory way of governance. This approach entails, at its core,
transparency in decision-making. It is our mission, therefore, to educate
ourselves and our students to develop a broad framework for a critical, social
perspective and do all we can do to generate a curriculum that teaches
cruelty-free living and discourages hating.
By focusing on social justice issues, we will be questioning and responding
actively to;
• the problems and issues facing us in our own communities.
• the problems and issues facing our nation, our world.
• demonstrate the principles of social justice theory in practice.
• placing our learning/s in the service of immediate social transformation.
• the problems of unemployment in our area.
• the problems of the poor in our community.
• the inequity in our educational system.
• the dangers awaiting our African-American and Latino youths in poorer
neighborhoods.
• the problems with our prison system, the death penalty, etc.
• the issues of global warming and its effect on our climate.
• deforestation of our rain forests and the frequent natural disasters, etc.
• ways to develop sustainability.
• care about our natural resources and of our planet.
• sweatshops, human-trafficking, immigration, oppressed and persecuted
individuals for any reason.
• developing a liberatory consciousness.
• ways of transforming the self and the society.
• the process of community organizing.
• understanding and advocacy.
• recognizing the difference between ableism and education.
• analyzing multiple forms of oppression.
• moral and intellectual poise.
• developing and deepening partnerships at school and in the broader
communities.
• developing active commitment to making strategic, targeted ways of forming
response to the educational needs of all students.
• the subtleties of racism and cultural differences, which result in unequal
and differential treatment of those whose genuine needs are ignored.
Our mission is to have the members of our faculty, teachers and other
practitioners at our school, as well as our students to perform social service
and become involved in solving the problems that create the need in the first
place. We want our faculty and our students to understand, as human-beings, how
we are closely related and how the problems of one group can effect our lives.
We believe we must educate our students for social justice through active work.
We must teach them to work in solidarity with the less fortunate and learn form
the many historical perspectives in social justice movements.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are some helpful readings:
Teaching for diversity and social justice
By Maurianne Adams, Lee Anne Bell, Pat Griffin
Teaching world languages for social justice
By Terry A. Osborn
“Teaching for social justice:
Using vignettes to assess attitudes and beliefs”
Joan Barnatt, Karen Shakman, Sarah Enterline, Marilyn Cochran-Smith, & Larry
Ludlow
Boston College
Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
April 2007
Barnatt, J., Shakman, K., Enterline, S., Cochran-Smith, M., Ludlow, L.
Page 2 of 7
Teaching for social justice: using vignettes to assess attitudes and beliefs
Abstract
Despite rich conceptual work about teacher education and social justice, there
are currently very few ways to measure differences among teacher candidates or
to document change over time. This study reports on the development of a
social justice vignettes (SJV) assessment tool for use in pre-service teacher
education. The tool contains five scenarios that relate to social justice
issues in schools and classrooms, which were constructed and piloted with
different groups of teachers/teacher candidates and in different settings.
Data from interviews, field notes, and questionnaires, and quantitative
analysis of response range, as well as factor analysis of response items, offer
support for the use of vignettes as a measurement tool. Social justice
vignettes also offer promise as
a pre-service or professional development tool for addressing issues of social
justice in the classroom.
Objectives & Research Question
This study is part of a larger university-based initiative in teacher
education
reform, Teachers for a New Era (TNE), funded primarily by the Carnegie
Corporation, which focuses on the outcomes of teacher education, including
teaching for social justice.
At this university, researchers have taken a ‘portfolio’ perspective to the
problem of assessing the impact of teacher education, wherein a collection of
complementary studies gather evidence, from multiple perspectives, to explore
the impact of teacher education on teachers and their pupils, and the larger
purposes of education.
This study addresses the question: Can vignettes be developed as a reliable
and valid measure of social justice attitudes, beliefs, and dispositions of
teacher candidates/teachers? This question is posed recognizing that, despite
rich conceptual work on social justice, there are few measurement tools for
capturing aspects of teaching for social justice, identifying differences in
issues of social justice, and documenting change in teacher candidates’ beliefs
about social justice through the teacher education experience.
Theoretical Frameworks
A number of teacher education programs in the US and abroad include social
justice as one of their goals. (See programs and frameworks described in
Cochran-Smith, 1991, 1999; Ladson-Billings, 1999, 2001; Quartz & TEP Research
Group, 2003; Zeichner, 1993; Zeichner & Liston, 1987.) Multicultural
education, culturally relevant pedagogy, and high expectations for all learners
in the constructivist classroom are central tenets of teaching for social
justice (Banks, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1995).
Another aspect, often overlooked in programs, is the role of activism and civic
participation (Greene, 1998 in Ayres; Kahne & Westheimer, 2003). Implicit, and
sometimes explicit, is acknowledgement of the political position of the teacher
(Cochran-Barnatt, J., Shakman, K., Enterline, S., Cochran-Smith, M., Ludlow, L.
Page 3 of 7 Smith, 1998; El-Haj, 2003; Kohl, 1998). Experts also acknowledge
the challenge of working for equity in inequitable school contexts (El-Haj,
2003).
The vignettes, developed for this assessment, draw on this body of work,
especially Cochran-Smith’s (1998) “theory of teacher education for social
change,” and “principles of practice” in learning to teach for social justice
(1999). Gauging social justice beliefs poses particular difficulties in
instrument development. Social justice issues appear in extraordinarily
complex situations that are compounded by interpersonal relationships and
varying school contexts. Teacher’s beliefs about social justice are highly
sensitive, reflecting moral values and professional images. In addition,
differences may exist between the beliefs expressed and actions taken.
Finally, social justice has
different meanings to different individuals, creating a serious challenge of
measurement error when utilizing conventional survey methods.
Two formats, case studies and surveys, represent the current research formats
currently in use in the field to gauge understanding of teacher candidates’
beliefs regarding social justice issues (Cochran-Smith, Davis, and Fries,
2004). The TNE portfolio does approach social justice through these methods,
but recognizes their limitations. Case studies offer rich description and
insight into particular contexts, but limit generalizability due to small
sample size, and cannot provide program-wide data or
comparison over time. Standard surveys offer potential for efficiently
targeting greater
numbers of respondents, but are troubled by limitations of addressing the
complexity of
real events and detailed insight into patterns among responses.
Recent research utilizing vignettes to measure instructional practices in
mathematics classrooms, conducted by the RAND Corporation (Stecher, et al.,
2006)
offers cautious support for this format as a valid means of measuring behaviors
that are
consistent with what is found in classroom observations, and on surveys and
logs.
Additional evidence in favor of vignettes as a format for surveying complex and
sensitive
social issues comes from the fields of psychology, sociology, medicine, and
mental
health. There is evidence that vignettes offer a way of determining the
cognitive
processes that are utilized in making decisions, and suggest which elements of
a situation
are important in solving a dilemma (Morrison, Stettler, and Anderson, 2004).
Furthermore, vignettes have been shown to address complex issues effectively
and
economically with a large number of respondents, thus offering the efficiency
of
quantitative data with a richness that is closer to qualitative research
(Finch, 1987). The
concrete and realistic nature of the vignette contextualizes the scenario so
that it makes
the situation familiar and interesting to the respondent, prompting reflective
responses
(Morrison, Stettler, and Anderson, 2004; Schoenberg and Ravdal, 2000). In
ascribing the
situations to another person, vignettes are found to be less threatening to
respondents as
they make judgments (Barter and Renold, 2000; Schoenberg and Ravdal, 1999).
While
differences in understanding and defining social justice may remain, the
vignette grounds
the respondent in a framework so that responses reflect the participant’s
personal beliefs
and attitudes in response to complex, difficult, and realistic situations.
Methods, techniques and modes of inquiry in Vignette Development
Barnatt, J., Shakman, K., Enterline, S., Cochran-Smith, M., Ludlow, L.
Page 4 of 7
The vignettes for the assessment tool described here were developed drawing on
formats found in the literature, including classic moral dilemmas by Kohlberg
(1976),
and the subsequent development of the Defining Issues Test by Rest, et al.
(1986), which
streamlined Kohlberg’s open-ended questions with multiple choice responses.
The
following formats were also considered: the Social Work Values Inventory
(Pike, 1996),
which provides brief scenarios, requiring respondents to indicate the action
they would
take based on anchoring statements; and the Moral Justification Scale (Gump, et
al.,
2000), with extended vignettes and embedded statements that reflect caring
and/or justice
responses. Respondents are asked to rate the statements, pulled directly from
the vignette,
on a scale of 1 to 10, basing judgments on the importance of the statement in
making a
decision about the dilemma.
Drawing from these resources, five social justice vignettes were developed,
based
on the social justice theoretical frameworks above. Respondents were asked to
read each
dilemma, respond to a series of statements by rating them on a five-point
Likert scale,
and indicate actions they would be likely to take in response to the scenario.
Finally,
respondents were asked to explain, in an open-ended response, why they would
take
these actions. Four vignettes were short written dilemmas reminiscent of
Kohlberg’s
work (1976), and a fifth followed the longer rendition of Gump, et al.
(2000).
Each vignette is drawn from real-world examples in the classroom, either from
the researchers own background or from qualitative case studies of learning to
teach,
which are part of the TNE portfolio mentioned above. For example, one of the
vignettes,
“Speak English, Please!” takes place in a high school classroom in which
students are
reading a novel by a Mexican American author. During the discussion of the
text, two
Latina girls begin speaking excitedly to one another in Spanish, and an
African-American
girl responds, “You’re in America now. Speak English, please!” The questions
that
follow this scenario ask respondents to consider implications of Spanish
language use in
the English classroom, the role of linguistic and cultural diversity in the
classroom, and
the responsibility of the teacher in this situation. Other vignettes focus on
topics such as
differentiated instruction and evaluation, racial diversity, and mandated
curriculum.
Data sources and Analysis
In piloting and refining the vignettes, four different analyses were
conducted.
Analysis 1 involved the use of a think-aloud protocol with two veteran teachers
to
explore the authenticity of scenarios, the effectiveness of the response
formats, and
clarity of information and directions. This initial analysis provided feedback
for how
vignettes and questions should be edited, what additions should be made to
action
statements, and which of the two different formats was more viable. Additional
scale
adjustment was also indicated. In general, the think aloud protocol endorsed
the
vignettes’ realism and indicated that they captured the tensions between
personal beliefs
and realistic possibilities for action in the school setting.
Analysis 2 took place after the draft vignettes instrument was revised and
used as
part of a professional development program for a middle school staff of 25.
Participants
individually completed all vignettes, and then took part in self-selected small
group
Barnatt, J., Shakman, K., Enterline, S., Cochran-Smith, M., Ludlow, L.
Page 5 of 7
assessments of a single vignette. A protocol for review and discussion of the
individual
vignettes in small groups was provided, and participants completed written
comments.
Analysis of responses, field notes of discussion, and small group reports
indicated further
revisions to the vignettes, and rating and action statements. Based on
participant
feedback, the vignette with embedded statements was rewritten to conform to the
format
used in the other vignettes. The Likert scale items were analyzed for range of
responses
and for consistency on responses highlighting an individual principle. Again,
the
response was affirming: the vignettes are realistic, reflect the complexity of
teaching for
social justice, and initiate rich discussion and reflection.
Analysis 3 occurred after the vignettes were piloted in three university
classrooms,
with a total of 59 respondents. Here, the vignettes were presented in a
variety of ways to
determine whether the format impacted the responses. In one set of vignette
questionnaires, the action choices followed directly from the scenarios and
preceded the
Likert scale questions, whereas in the other sets, the Likert scale items
followed the
scenario. In another set of questionnaires, respondents were asked to describe
actions
they would take in response to the scenarios, rather than offered suggestions.
This
allowed us to check the actions we had generated, and make additions or
modifications,
based on their responses. Analysis of these data indicated that fatigue may
have had an
impact on responses, suggesting that the vignettes should be offered in a
staggered
sequence across the sample. Open-ended action responses did not provide new
actions,
and a range of responses was noted, as was consistency among items addressing
the same
principle across vignettes.
Analysis 4 was similar to the second round in which the tool was used for
professional development. The revised vignettes were presented to university
clinical
faculty who supervise student teachers as part of a two-day workshop. The
vignettes
were used as a tool for generating discussion.
Based on the four analyses described above, a revised Social Justice Vignettes
instrument has been developed. This will be administered to approximately 200
entering
teacher candidates, at undergraduate and graduate levels, and will provide
substantial
quantitative data. Analysis 5, which will be completed in December, will
provide data to
determine reliability of the Likert scale items and construct validity through
factor
analysis. Additional analysis will include exploring differences between and
among
curriculum areas and grade levels represented in the population.
The intention is to use the SJV as an instrument to assess teacher candidates
at the
beginning and end of the teacher education program. This instrument has the
potential to
measure changes in the beliefs, dispositions and attitudes of teacher
candidates over time.
These findings will also be analyzed in comparison to other elements of the
portfolio of
TNE research, including twelve items on entering, exit, and one year out
surveys being
conducted on all teacher candidates; qualitative responses on social justice
from a study
following 22 teacher candidates through their master’s program and into the
first year of
teaching; and a comparison study of our teacher candidates with novice teachers
from
other programs.
Barnatt, J., Shakman, K., Enterline, S., Cochran-Smith, M., Ludlow, L.
Page 6 of 7
Results and Educational Significance
Preliminary results indicate that the instrument is useful. That is, we have
found
that a range of responses exists across participants, suggesting that
differences in attitudes
and beliefs about social justice issues are reflected in the ratings. In
addition, consistency
across individual participant ratings for responses intended to measure the
same
principles was also demonstrated in the pilot study. These findings suggest
that vignettes
may provide a useful tool that responds to the limitations presented by
standard survey
methods, while maintaining efficiency in handling large participant numbers.
Reports by participants suggest that the vignettes genuinely reflect the
complex
and tension-filled events that define social justice issues in the classroom.
Additionally,
the vignette format is reported to serve as a potential means of gaining access
to
respondents’ beliefs, attitudes, and dispositions in a non-threatening manner,
encouraging
reflection on practice. As such, the vignettes offer promise both as a
measurement tool
and as a pre-service or professional development tool for addressing issues of
social
justice in the classroom.
This instrument may be relevant to other institutions as there is little
empirical
evidence of the impact or effectiveness of preparing teachers to teach for
social justice,
despite the fact that more and more teacher education programs highlight a
commitment
to diversity and equity, and even explicitly to preparing teachers for social
justice. In an
era of accountability for K-12 schools and teacher preparation institutions,
teacher
educators have a responsibility to challenge what counts as success in a K-12
classroom,
and be able to measure that success. To remain true to the goal of promoting
social
justice in and through teacher preparation, educational research must establish
valid and
reliable ways to measure success in this area. This tool is a step in
capturing this
educational outcome.
References
Banks, J.A. (1995). Multicultural education: Historical development,
dimensions, and
practice. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Handbook of research on multicultural
education
(p. 3-19). New York: Macmillan.
Barter, C., & Renold, E. (1999). The use of vignettes in qualitative
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Justice Research, 25, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey: UK.
Cochran-Smith, M. (1991). Learning to teach against the grain. Harvard
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Cochran-Smith, M. (1998). Teaching for social change: Toward a grounded theory
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(Eds.), The international handbook of educational change (pp. 916-951). The
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Page 7 of 7
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--
Chojy Schroeder
420 Rugby Ave
Rochester, NY 14619
585-328-9596 (h)
585-943-9596 (c)
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