Education & Pedagogy

Recognizing the importance of early childhood education for young children, states are planning and implementing initiatives to assure greater access to high-quality, elementary-school based preschool. In the field of early childhood education the leading professional organizations, such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), have defined recommended practices for teacher preparation (Sandall, McLean, & Smith, 2000). These practices are grounded in producing quality environments and positive child outcomes in early childhood education (Smith, Strain, Snyder, Sandall, McLean, Ramsey, & Sumi, 2002). Specific literature on how preschool teachers are being prepared in institutions of higher education is sparse. Accurate information on factors leading to best practices and outcomes in preschool education is necessary, including preparation of teachers. The focus of this study explored the nature of teacher preparation programs for preschool education, at public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This study contributes to the limited research on early childhood education preschool preparation programs, raising consciousness regarding preschool education teacher preparation practices, and providing baseline information for teacher education programs for preschool education. The eight public institutions of higher education in Massachusetts offering early childhood teacher preparation programs at the undergraduate level were included. Most new teachers are prepared in undergraduate public institutions of higher education (American Educational Research Association, 2005). Massachusetts was the state to create the nation's first independent Board and Department of Early Education and Care, in 2005. The creation of the department was critical to the commonwealth's efforts to develop an effective and accountable system of high-quality early education for all Massachusetts children (Strategies for Children, 2008). In order to offer high-quality early education, well-trained preschool teachers are needed. This multiple case study used qualitative and quantitative research methods. The quantitative methods included the use of descriptive statistics summarizing data with measures of central tendency, frequency counts, and percentages with document analysis and a survey. The qualitative methods included the open-ended questions of the survey, and interviews. Using qualitative data analysis software, NVivo©, aided and strengthened the structure and integration of data collection, management, and analysis. Topics researched include the integration of NAEYC standards for early childhood professional preparation programs in the teacher preparation programs, required course work and field experiences of preschool teacher candidates, teacher educators' academic credentials and experiences, and the challenges in preparing preschool teacher candidates. Different data analysis strategies within NVivo were utilized, including methodological logs, memos, and hierarchical coding. The confluence of two emerging fields of knowledge influenced the context of this study. The first is the research and data supporting quality early childhood education for all children. The second is the set of policy initiatives that created professional teaching standards, strengthened teacher preparation and certification requirements, and transformed the roles of teachers (Holmes Group, 1986, 1990; National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 1989, 2002; National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The following are among the 56 papers included in this proceedings: "Contextual Factors Associated with Evaluation Practices of Selected Adult and Continuing Education Providers in Malaysia" (S. Ahmad); "The Professional Ethic and the Spirit of Post-Modernism" (P. Armstrong); "Transforming the Teacher-Student Relationship" (R. M. Bounous); "Humanistic Adult Education" (R. G. Brockett); "The Postmodern Challenge to Clarity" (S. Brookfield); "The Processes of Adult Learning" (L. A. Cavaliere); "Doing Interpretive Research in a Technocratic Age" (D. M. Chovanec); "Evoking a Global Consciousness" (E. L. Christensen); "Using Cluster Analysis in Adult Education" (G. J. Conti); "The Centrality of Meaning-Making in Transformational Learning" (B. Courtenay, S. B. Merriam, P. M. Reeves);"Knowledge and Self" (S. Courtney); "Nonparticipation in Adult Education Programs" (D. Davis-Harrison); "An Initial Pilot Scheme towards an International Comparative Adult Education Research Approach" (A. Duman); "Post-literacy in Niger" (P. Easton, L. M. Moussa); "Women's Continuous Learning in the Workplace" (T.J. Fenwick); "Women's Learning" (D. D. Flannery, E. Hayes); "The Impact of Language Functioning among African American Adult Learners in an Adult Basic Education Classroom" (D. Flowers, V. Sheared); "Informal Learning" (J. Garrick, P. Hager); "Some Recent Australian Research on Workplace Learning and Training" (A. Gonczi); "Adult Educators as Border Crossers" (A. P. Grace); "Cultural Pluralism as Adult Education" (T. C. Guy, L. O'Neill, A. D. Rose); "Family Literacy" (D. F. Hemphill, A. K. Allen); "Creating a Learning Organization, Creating a Controlling Organization" (S. L. Howell et al.); "The Professional Development of Adult Education Professors" (L. Hwang); "Metaphors across Models" (P. J. Ilecki); "Developing Critical Reflective Thinking among Church Leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa" (C. E. Kingsbury); "The Use of Learning Strategies" (R. C. Kolody, G. J. Conti); "Rediscovering Hope in a New Era" (M. Law); "Faculty Awareness and Use of Adult Learning Principles" (P. A. Lawler, A. D. DeCosmo, S. C. Wilhite); "A Descriptive Case Study of the Impact of Social Learning Experiences on Adult Female Inmates" (J. D. McKinney); "Learning that Comes from the Negative Interpretation of Life Experiences" (S. B. Merriam, V. Mott, M. Lee); "Impact of Economic Crisis and Structural Adjustment on Education and Training in Africa" (D. C. Mulenga); "Ingredients for College Success: Looking through the Eyes of African American Adults" (J. M. Ross-Gordon, F. Brown-Haywood); "Women Mentoring Women" (J. Stalker); and "Feminist Pedagogy and Adult Learning" (E. J. Tisdell). (MN)

This report provides national estimates on distance education at degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the 2006-07 academic year. While this report covers many of the topics in the previous three reports, the data are not comparable. The definition of distance education in the 2006-07 study reflected two major changes from earlier studies. First, the definition no longer included a criterion for instructional delivery to off-campus or remote locations because online courses could be accessed on campus at a convenient time and place, and the definition now included correspondence courses and distance education courses that are designated by institutions as hybrid/blended online courses. The purpose of this report is to introduce new National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information. Selected findings have been chosen to demonstrate the range of information available from the Postsecondary Education Quick Information System (PEQIS) study rather than to discuss all of the observed differences; they are not meant to emphasize any particular issue. The findings are based on self-reported data from postsecondary institutions. Some of the survey responses (e.g., small, moderate, and large extent) were not defined for respondents. Reported findings include: (1) During the 2006-07 academic year, two-thirds of 2-year and 4-year Title IV degree-granting postsecondary institutions reported offering online, hybrid/blended online, or other distance education courses for any level or audience; (2) Sixty-one percent of 2-year and 4-year institutions reported offering online courses, 35 percent reported hybrid/blended courses, and 26 percent reported other types of college-level credit-granting distance education courses in 2006-07; (3) In the 2006-07 academic year, 2-year and 4-year institutions reported an estimated 12.2 million enrollments in college-level credit-granting distance education; (4) Approximately one-third of all 2-year and 4-year institutions reported offering college-level degree or certificate programs that were designed to be completed totally through distance education in 2006-07; (5) Of the estimated 11,200 college-level programs that were designed to be completed totally through distance education in 2006-07, two-thirds were reported as degree programs while the remaining were reported as certificate programs; (6) Twelve percent of all 2-year and 4-year institutions reported offering academic distance education courses for elementary or secondary students in 2006-07; (7) Asynchronous Internet-based technologies were cited as the most widely used technology for the instructional delivery of distance education courses; (8) Most common factors cited as affecting distance education decisions to a major extent were meeting student demand for flexible schedules, providing access to college for students who would otherwise not have access, making more courses available, and seeking to increase student enrollment; and (9) Most 2-year and 4-year institutions that reported offering credit-granting distance education courses indicated that their institutions developed the distance education courses. Three appendices are included: (1) Standard Error Tables; (2) Technical Notes; and (3) Questionnaire. (Contains 3 footnotes and 28 tables.) [For "Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2000-2001. E.D. Tabs.", see ED481027.]

"Spirituality, Religion, and Peace Education" attempts to deeply explore the universal and particular dimensions of education for inner and communal peace. This co-edited book contains fifteen chapters on world spiritual traditions, religions, and their connections and relevance to peacebuilding and peacemaking. This book examines the teachings and practices of Confucius, of Judaism, Islamic Sufism, Christianity, Quakerism, Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and of Indigenous spirituality. Secondly, it explores teaching and learning processes rooted in self discovery, skill development, and contemplative practices for peace. Topics in various chapters include: the Buddhist practice of tonglen; an indigenous Hawaiian practice of Ho'oponopono for forgiveness and conflict resolution; pilgrimage and labyrinth walking for right action; Twelve Step Programs for peace; teaching from a religious/spiritual perspective; narrative inquiry, Daoism, and peace curriculum; Gandhi, deep ecology, and multicultural peace education in teacher education; peacemaking and spirituality in undergraduate courses; and wisdom-based learning in teacher education. Peace education practices stemming from wisdom traditions can promote stillness as well as enliven, awaken, and urge reconciliation, connection, wisdom cultivation, and transformation and change in both teachers and students in diverse educational contexts. In various chapters of this book, a critique of competition, consumerism, and materialism undergird the analysis. More than just a critique, some chapters provide both conceptual and practical clarity for deeper engagement in peaceful action and change in society. Cultural awareness and understanding are fostered through a focus on the positive aspects of wisdom traditions rather than the negative aspects and historical complexities of violence and conflict as result of religious hegemony. Following "Introduction: Toward an Integrated Spirituality for Peace" by Edward J. Brantmeier, this book contains the following: Part I: Great Wisdom Traditions and Peace Education: (1) Confucius' Teaching of Virtues: Implications for World Peace and Peace Education (Jing Lin and Yingji Wang); (2) Islamic Sufism and Education for Peace (Michelle Ayazi); (3) A Jewish Perspective on Peace Education (Reuben Jacobson and Moishe Steigmann); (4) How Christianity Addresses Peace and What This Means for Education (Rebecca L. Oxford); (5) Peace Education and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) (Mary Lee Morrison and Ian Harris); (6) Hinduism and Peace Education (Priyankar Upadhyaya); (7) A Tibetan Peace Perspective (Jia Luo); (8) Indigenous Spirituality as a Source for Peaceful Relations (Four Arrows aka Don Trent Jacobs); and Part II: Peace Education, Teaching and Learning, and Spirituality: (9) Contemplative Practices in Counseling and Education: A Course in Nonviolent Intervention for Counselors and Teachers (Nathalie Kees); (10) Finding Peace via Reconciliation and Awakening: 12-Step Programs and Education for Religion, Spirituality, and Peace (D. Brent Edwards Jr.); (11) The Place of Spirituality in the Life and Work of Ismaili Teachers of Central Asia (Sarfaroz Niyozov and Zahra Punja); (12) Daoism, Narrative Inquiry, and a Curriculum of Peace (Xin Li); (13) Peacemaking and Spirituality: Bridging Faith, Values, Understanding and Life Skills (William M. Timpson); (14) "Self" Re-Education for Teachers: Gandhi, Deep Ecology, & Multicultural Peace Education (Edward J. Brantmeier); (15) Educating for Wisdom (John P. Miller). About the Authors and Index are also included.

Distinguished international scholars from a wide range of disciplines (including curriculum studies, foundations of education, adult education, higher education, and consumer education) come together in this book to explore consumption and its relation to learning, identity development, and education. Readers will learn about a variety of ways in which learning and education intersect with consumption. This volume is unique within the literature of education in its examination of educational sites--both formal and informal--where learners and teachers are resisting consumerism and enacting a critical pedagogy of consumption. This book includes the first chapter, "Introduction: Exploring Consumption's Pedagogy and Envisioning a Critical Pedagogy of Consumption--Living and Learning in the Shadow of the "Shopocalypse" by Jennifer A. Sandlin, and is divided into four parts. Part I, "Education, Consumption, and the Social, Economic, and Environmental Crises of Capitalism", contains the following chapters: (2) Rootlessness, Reenchantment and Educating Desire: A Brief History of the Pedagogy of Consumption (Michael Hoechsmann); (3) Consuming Learning (Robin Usher); (4) Producing Crisis: Green Consumerism as an Ecopedagogical Issue (Richard Kahn); and (5) Teaching Against Consumer Capitalism in the Age of Commercialization and Corporatization of Public Education (Ramin Farahmandpur). Part II, "Schooling the Consumer Citizen", contains the following chapters: (6) Schooling for Consumption (Joel Spring); (7) Schools Inundated in a Marketing-Saturated World (Alex Molnar, Faith Boninger, Gary Wilkinson and Joseph Fogarty); (8) Exploring the Privatized Dimension of Entrepreneurship Education and its Link to the Emergence of the College Student Entrepreneur (Matthew M. Mars); (9) Framing Higher Education: Nostalgia, Entrepreneurship, Consumerism and Redemption (Gustavo E. Fischman and Eric Haas); and (10) Politicizing Consumer Education: Conceptual Evolutions (Sue L. T. McGregor). Part III: "Consumption, Popular Culture, Everyday Life, and the Education of Desire", contains the following chapters: (11) Consuming the All-American Corporate Burger: McDonald's "Does It All For You," (Joe L. Kincheloe); (12) Barbie: The Bitch Can Buy Anything (Shirley R. Steinberg); (13) Consuming Skin: Dermographies of Female Subjection and Abjection (Jane Kenway and Elizabeth Bullen); (14) Happy Cows and Passionate Beefscapes: Nature as Landscape and Lifestyle in Food Advertisements (Anne Marie Todd); (15) Creating the Ethical Parent-Consumer Subject: Commerce, Moralities and Pedagogies in Early Parenthood (Lydia Martens); and (16) Chocolate, Place, and a Pedagogy of Consumer Privilege (David A. Greenwood). Part IV, "Unlearning Consumerism through Critical Pedagogies of Consumption: Sites of Contestation and Resistance", contains the following chapters: (17) Re-Imagining Consumption: Political and Creative Practices of Arts-Based Environmental Adult Education (Darlene E. Clover and Katie Shaw); (18) Using Cultural Production to Undermine Consumption: Paul Robeson as Radical Cultural Worker (Stephen D. Brookfield); (19) Beyond the Culture Jam (Valerie Scatamburlo-D'Annibale); (20) Global Capitalism and Strategic Visual Pedagogy (David Darts and Kevin Tavin); (21) Turning America Into a Toy Store (Henry A. Giroux); and (22) United We Consume? Artists Trash Consumer Culture and Corporate Green Washing (Nicolas Lampert).

"Trajectories of Education in the Arab World" gives a broad yet detailed historical and geographical overview of education in Arab countries. Drawing on pre-modern and modern educational concepts, systems, and practices in the Arab world, this book examines the impact of Western cultural influence, the opportunities for reform and the sustainability of current initiatives. The contributors bring together analyses and case studies of educational standards and structures in the Arab world, from the classical Islamic period to contemporary local and international efforts to re-define the changing needs and purposes of Arab education in the contexts of modernization, multiculturalism, and globalization. Taking a thematic and chronological approach, the first section contrasts the traditional notions, approaches, and standards of education with the changes that were initiated or imposed by European influences in the nineteenth century. The chapters then focus on the role of modern state-based educational systems in constructing and preserving national identities, cultures, and citizenries and concentrates on the role of education in state-formation and the reproduction of socio-political hierarchies. The success of educational reforms and policy-making is then assessed, offering perspectives on future trends and prospects for generating institutional and organizational change. This book will be of interest to graduate and postgraduate students and scholars of education, history, Arab and Islamic history and the Middle East and North Africa. This book is divided into three parts. Part I, Historical Perspectives, contains the following: (1) The Principles of Instruction are the Grounds of Our Knowledge: Al-Farabi's Philosophical and al-Ghazali's spiritual approaches to learning (Sebastian Gunther); (2) Between the Golden Age and the Renaissance: Islamic Higher Education in Eighteenth-Century Damascus (Stephen Tamari); (3) "If the Devil Taught French": Strategies of Language and Learning in French Mandate Beirut (Nadya Sbaiti); and (4) "According to a Logic Befitting the Arab Soul": Cultural Policy and Popular Education in Morocco Since 1912 (Spencer Segalla). Part II, Education and the Post-Colonial State, contains the following: (5) Public Institutions of Religious Education in Egypt and Tunisia: Contrasting the Post-Colonial Reforms of Al-Azhar and the Zaytuna (Malika Zeghal); (6) Palestinian Education in a Virtual State (Nubar Hovsepian); (7) Language-in-Education Policies in Contemporary Lebanon: Youth Perspective (Zeena Zakharia); and (8) Education as a Humanitarian Response as Applied to the Arab World, With Special Reference to the Palestinian Case (Colin Brock and Lala Demirdjian). Part III, Education and Socio-Political Development: Reform, Policy and Practice, contains the following: (9) Naming the Imaginary: "Building an Arab Knowledge Society" and the Contested Terrain of educational Reforms for development (Andre Elias Mazawi); (10) An Introduction to Qatar's Primary and Secondary Education Reform (Dominic Brewer); and (11) Observations from the Edge of the deluge: Are we going too far too fast in our Educational Transformation in the Arab World? (Munir Bashshur).

As the title of this book suggests, how one understands, perceives and experiences democracy may have a significant effect on how he/she actually engages in, and with, democracy. Within the educational context, this is a key concern, and forms the basis of the research presented in this volume within a critical, comparative analysis. The Global Doing Democracy Research Project (GDDRP), which currently has some 70 scholars in over 20 countries examining how educators do democracy, provides the framework in which diverse scholars explore a host of concerns related to democracy and democratic education, including the impact of neoliberalism, political literacy, critical engagement, teaching and learning for and about democracy, social justice, and the meaning of power/power relations within the educational context. Ultimately, the contributors of this book collectively ask: can there be democracy without a critically engaged education, and, importantly, what role do educators play in this context and process? Why many educators in diverse contexts believe that they are unable, dissuaded and/or prevented from doing thick democratic education is problematized in this book but the authors also seek to illustrate that, despite the challenges, barriers and concerns about doing democracy in education, something can, and should, be done to develop, cultivate and ingratiate schools and society with more meaningful democratic practices and processes. This book breaks new ground by using a similar empirical methodology within a number of international contexts to gage the democratic sentiments and actions of educators, which raises a host of questions about epistemology, teacher education, policy development, pedagogy, institutional cultures, conscientization, and the potential for transformational change in education. This books contains the following: (1) Introducing the Global Doing Democracy Research Project: Seeking to Understand the Perspectives, Experiences and Perceptions of Teachers in Relation to Democracy in Education (David Zyngier and Paul R. Carr); (2) Democracy, Critical Pedagogy and the Education of Educators (Paul R.Carr); (3) Re-Discovering Democracy: Putting Action (Back) into Active Citizenship and Praxis (Back) into Practice (David Zyngier); (4) Can We Teach Deep Democracy: And Can It Make a Difference? (Carolyn M. Shields); (5) Getting Beyond Flat-Out Bored: The Challenges and Possibilities of Creating a Democratic Space for Social Justice Education in Publically Funded Schools (Michael O'Sullivan); (6) Preservice Teachers' Conceptions of Democratic Essence: Interpretations of Democratic Principles, and Their Connections to Social Justice, Economic Class, and Spirituality/Religion in the United States (Thomas A. Lucey); (7) What Kind of Citizenship for What Kind of Democracy? Are We Spectators of Everyday Events or Protagonists in History? (Adriana Murriello, Andrea Ledwith, and Cecilia Naddeo); (8) Teacher Education and Democracy: Preparing Teachers in Metropolitan Buenos Aires (Maria Delia Traverso); (9) Education for Democracy in Peruvian Society (Felix Reategui and Susana Frisancho); (10) Doing Democracy in Education: Perspectives of Malaysian Principals (Sazali Yusoff); and (11) "Critical Multicultural Social Studies" for "Deep Democracy": Theory and Practice (Marc Pruyn). "Reflections on the Global Doing Democracy Research Project," a foreword by Schugurensky, is included.

This article is the third of three on "Sources of Authority in Education." All use the work of Amy Gutmann as a heuristic device to describe and explain the prevalence of market-based models of education reform in the US and the business-influenced Global Education Reform Movement. The other two are "Negating Amy Gutmann: Deliberative Democracy, Business Influence and Segmentation Strategies in Education" and "Neoliberalism and Four Spheres of Authority in American Education: Business, Class, Stratification and Intimations of Marketization." All three are intended to be included together as chapters of my "Democratic Education and Markets: Segmentation, Privatization and Sources of Authority in Education Reform." The "Negating Amy Gutmann" article looks primarily at deliberative democracy. The "Neoliberalism and Four Spheres of Authority" article, considers its main theme to be the promise of egalitarian democracy and how figures 'such as Horace Mann, John Dewey and Gutmann have argued it is largely based on the promise of public education. It thus begins with a consideration of what might be called a partial historical materialist analysis -- the growth of inequality in the US (and other countries) since the 1970s that correlates with much of the basis for changes in the justifications and substance of education reform. The present article, "The Odd Malaise of Democratic Education and the Inordinate Influence of Business," continues the argument by offering some historical background and comparisons and ends by considering what happens to the philosophy of education when democracy and capitalism are at odds. It thus starts with recent history, looking at how the content and context of educational policy have changed in the US since Gutmann wrote in the 1980s. Specifically, it concerns itself with the increasing prevalence of twin notions: that our system of education must be reformed because of global competition and that the educational system should emulate the market. The article then goes back a little bit further, to the origins of the common school in the 1600s and Horace Mann's articulation of the principles behind public education, which are shown to be in stark contrast to Education Reform. The narrative describes how the standards movement, variously, coalesced around George H. W. Bush's "America 2000" and Bill Clinton's "Goals 2000" programs, was reflected in a '21st-century schools' discourse, found programmatic form in George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" and it's offspring, Arne Duncan's "Race to the Top." All of the preceding were, to a shocking degree, based on misleading and selective statistical analysis and sets goals that are unreachable even in the best of all possible worlds. The article concludes by considering paradigm change in education and its causes; I draw on both Peter Hall's exposition of social learning and Antonio Gramsci's conceptualization of hegemony. [For "Negating Amy Gutmann: Deliberative Democracy, Business Influence, and Segmentation Strategies in Education," see EJ1255612. For "Neoliberalism and Four Spheres of Authority in American Education: Business, Class, Stratification, and Intimations of Marketization," see EJ1247325.]

Selected papers from an adult education conference are as follows: "Learner Involvement in Literacy Education" (Acton et al.); "Faith in People" (Ambury et al.); "Beginning to Tutor Problem-Based Learning" (Ambury); "Exploring Literacy through Theatre" (Andruske); "Developing Learning Packages for Distance Continuing Nursing Education" (Beckingham et al.); "'Train the Trainer' Series for Nurse Educators" (Beckingham et al.); "Invisible Identity/ies" (Borg et al.); "Research Paradigms in Adult Education [AE]" (Briton); "Remapping AE" (Briton, Plumb); "Work, Workers, and Worker Education" (Brown et al.); "Labour Market Training" (Butterwick et al.); "Rural Learning" (Carley); "An Ethic of Care" (Carr); "Teaching and Learning across Our Historical Differences" (Chapman); "Using Responsive Evaluation to Discover and Respect Diversity in AE" (Chaytor); "Critical Philosophy-in-Action" (Chovanec, Scott); "New Prospects for Program Planning and Evaluation in Adult Continuing Education" (Collins); "Linking AE with K-12" (Collins, Hanson); "Community Development" (Cruikshank); "Historical Development of AE" (Draper); "Making Needs" (Davidson); "Who Knows? Who Says So? Who Decides?" (Dawson et al.); "Bridging the Cultural Gap" (Fisher-Brillinger, Cantrell); "Facilitating Andragogy" (Francis); "Learning in the Workplace" (Frattini); "A Tenant Association in Public Housing" (Geddis); "Dutch 'Pillarization'" (van Gent); "AE as a Maturing Field?" (Gillen); "Finding Our Voices, Telling Our Stories" (Hall et al.); "Tax, Lies and Videotape" (Hall et al.); "Vive la Difference" (Home); "AE and Workplace Learning" (Hommen et al.); "Transformation of Consciousness" (Karpiak); "Is It Realistic to Expect an Adult Educator to Seek Collaboration among a Group Holding Diverse Perspectives?" (Knox); "Working across Our Differences in Community Based Literacy Education" (Leclair); "Women's Learning in Three Contexts" (MacKeracher et al.); "Human Resources Think for Themselves" (Martin, Ketwaroo-Nanoo); "A Model for Continuing Education Participation among Members of Selected Professions" (Matthias); "Comparative AE" (Mlozi, Hian); "From Preacher to Politician" (Oussoren); "Time and Space in AE" (Plumb); "Making Sense of Change in an Increasingly Diverse Workplace" (Pitters, Muzumdar); "Recovering Community in the Adult Education Movement" (Pyrch); "The Stories We Are" (Randall); "A Feminist Framework for Political Action on Peace and Global Transformation in Radical Adult Environmental Education" (Rosenberg); "Self-Surveillance and the Status of Women" (Schick); "Revisiting Theory and Practice" (Selman); "Labour and Educators Conference on SoliNet" (Spencer); "Literacy for Health and Human Development" (Taylor et al.); and "Canadian Pluralism and Dutch 'Pillarisation'" (Thomas). (MN)

Although Individual Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) has mandated states to collect and analyze data to determine if special education disproportionality is occurring within the local education agencies (LEAs), student of color continue to be disproportionately represented in special education programs. Historical trend data revealed that Louisiana public schools experience persistent challenges in addressing disproportional representation of Black students in special education. Despite variations in the way the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) define special education disproportionality, statistical data continues to reveal detrimental effects on Black students. A review of the LDOE's "Significant Disproportionality, Coordinated Early Intervening Report" (CEIS) revealed that Black students were overrepresented under the identification category of intellectual disabilities. Additionally, the CEIS report disclosed that Black students were more likely to receive disciplinary actions than any other group of students in special education. The purpose of this study was to examine contributors of disproportionality and explore remedies used to reduce the overrepresentation of Black students in special education. Although this study investigated contributors of overrepresentation, it aimed to find best practices used to address the disproportional representation of Black students in special education. A two-phase parallel sequential exploratory design was used in this study. In Phase 1, the researcher conducted 13 interviews and focus groups. Individual interviews were conducted with directors of special education. Focus groups were held with general education teachers of K-8 students. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual interviews and focus groups were conducted with the participants. Findings from Qualitative data from Phase 1 were analyzed and used to develop a survey instrument. Hence, the quantitative survey questions were formulated based on the findings from the qualitative data. Pilot testing of the survey instrument was performed using the participants from the focus group. During Phase 2, the survey was administered to a larger sample of teachers within the public education school setting. Six public school districts located in north and south Louisiana participated in this study. The number of schools in each district ranges from eight to 80 with districts located in rural, suburban, and urban areas of Louisiana. Seven special education leaders participated in individual interviews. A total of 40 general education teachers participated in one of seven focus groups conducted by the researcher. Findings from this study revealed that the overrepresentation of Black students in special education is a microcosm of the racial disparities facing society. Decisions made at the state-level affects continuity at the district and school-level. Hence, leadership discontinuity underlies the continuity in education. Educators explicitly support the concept of education equality. However, implicit bias and unconscious beliefs hindered their abilities to make unbiased decisions about Black students. Moreover, prejudicial beliefs interfered with educators' ability to develop positive relationships with Black students and their parents. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]