American Educational Research Journal

September 2010; 47 (3)

* Eric Haas and Gustavo Fischman
Nostalgia, Entrepreneurship, and Redemption: Understanding Prototypes in Higher Education, pp.532-562
Recent developments in cognitive science and linguistics provide strong evidence that understanding decision-making processes in higher education requires close attention to not only rational and consciously controlled dynamics but also those aspects that are less consciously controlled than previously assumed. When deciding to favor or reject higher education policies, people use prototypical ways of thinking, involving unconscious reaction and comprehension. This research uses Rosch’s and Lakoff’s notions of prototypes and Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis as the main tools for understanding the prototypes for the conceptual category institutions of higher education. The data for this study come from a sample of all the higher education editorials and opinion articles (1,000 pieces) published over 26 years in three influential U.S. newspapers. Three higher education prototypes are identified and their elements described: academic nostalgia (present but not dominant), educational entrepreneurship (dominant, both positive and negative), and redemptive educational–consumerism (emerging).

* Richard M. Ingersoll and David Perda
Is the Supply of Mathematics and Science Teachers Sufficient? , pp. 563-594
This study seeks to empirically ground the debate over mathematics and science teacher shortages and evaluate the extent to which there is, or is not, sufficient supply of teachers in these fields. The authors’ analyses of nationally representative data from multiple sources show that math and science are the fields most difficult to staff, but the factors behind these problems are complex. There are multiple sources of new teachers; those with education degrees are a minor source compared to those with degrees in math and science and the reserve pool. Over the past two decades, graduation requirements, student course taking, and teacher retirements have all increased for math and science, yet the new supply has more than kept pace. However, when preretirement teacher attrition is factored in, there is a much tighter balance between supply and demand. Unlike fields such as English, for math and science, there is not a large cushion of new supply relative to losses—resulting in staffing problems in schools with higher turnover.

* Nonie K. Lesaux and Michael J. Kieffer
Exploring Sources of Reading Comprehension Difficulties Among Language Minority Learners and Their Classmates in Early Adolescence pp.596-632
This study explores the nature of reading comprehension difficulties among early adolescent language minority (LM) learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Sixth-grade students (399 LM learners, 182 native English speakers) were screened for difficulties, using a standardized measure of reading comprehension. Of these, 262 students (201 LM learners, 61 native English speakers) with a score at or below the 35th percentile were administered measures of oral language and reading. More LM learners than their peers were classified as struggling readers (60% vs. 40%, respectively). However, latent class analysis demonstrated that the two populations were evenly distributed among three skill profiles of struggling readers. Despite relative differences in word reading accuracy and fluency, each profile was characterized by low vocabulary knowledge. The majority of struggling readers were found to have developed basic fluency skills. The findings demonstrate the need for middle schools to identify why students are having comprehension difficulties and to target instruction to meet their specific needs, given the wide variation in the struggling reader population. Moreover, they suggest that treating LM learners as a separate group based on their status as second-language learners may not be appropriate.

* Ming-Te Wang and Rebecca Holcombe
Adolescents’ Perceptions of School Environment, Engagement, and Academic Achievement in Middle School
This short-term longitudinal research examined the relationships among middle school students’ perceptions of school environment, school engagement, and academic achievement. Participants were from a representative, ethnically diverse, urban sample of 1,046 students. The findings supported the theoretical conceptualization of three different, but related, dimensions of school engagement: school participation, sense of identification with school, and use of self-regulation strategies. The results also indicated that students’ perceptions of the distinct dimensions of school environment in seventh grade contribute differentially to the three types of school engagement in eighth grade. Finally, the authors found that students’ perceptions of school environment influenced their academic achievement directly and indirectly through the three types of school engagement. Specifically, students’ perceptions of school characteristics in seventh grade influenced their school participation, identification with school, and use of self-regulation strategies in eighth grade that occur therein and, in turn, influenced students’ academic achievement in eighth grade.

* Mary Kay Stein and Julia H. Kaufman
Selecting and Supporting the Use of Mathematics Curricula at Scale, pp. 663-693
This article begins to unravel the question, “What curricular materials work best under what kinds of conditions?” The authors address this question from the point of view of teachers and their ability to implement mathematics curricula that place varying demands and provide varying levels of support for their learning. Specifically, the authors focus on how teacher capacity (their level of education, experience, and knowledge) and their use of curriculum influence instruction. The study sample is 48 teachers implementing two standards-based mathematics curricula—Everyday Mathematics and Investigations—in two school districts. The data include interviews and surveys with teachers, as well as observations of instruction, over a 2-year period. Findings indicate that teachers’ implementation of Investigations was considerably better than teachers’ implementation of Everyday Mathematics in terms of maintaining high levels of cognitive demand, attention to student thinking, and mathematical reasoning. These implementation measures were not correlated to measures of teacher capacity across school districts. However, implementation measures were significantly correlated with teachers’ lesson preparation that took into account the big mathematical ideas within curriculum. Further qualitative analysis indicated that the Investigations curriculum provided more support to teachers for locating and understanding the big mathematical ideas within lessons compared to Everyday Mathematics.

* Russell Gersten, Joseph Dimino, Madhavi Jayanthi, James S. Kim, and Lana Edwards Santoro
Teacher Study Group: Impact of the Professional Development Model on Reading Instruction and Student Outcomes in First Grade Classrooms pp.694-739
Randomized field trials were used to examine the impact of the Teacher Study Group (TSG), a professional development model, on first grade teachers’ reading comprehension and vocabulary instruction, their knowledge of these areas, and the comprehension and vocabulary achievement of their students. The multisite study was conducted in three large urban school districts from three states. A total of 81 first grade teachers and their 468 students from 19 Reading First schools formed the analytic sample in the study. Classroom observations of teaching practice showed significant improvements in TSG schools. TSG teachers also significantly outperformed control teachers on the teacher knowledge measure of vocabulary instruction. Confirmatory analysis of student outcomes indicated marginally significant effects in oral vocabulary.