Making sense of student agency in the early grades

The development of agency is often described as critically important for all students. Countless school mission statements speak of the need to help young people become independent thinkers, for example. Colleges and universities expect high school graduates to be self-driven learners. And business leaders are forever calling upon K-12 education to prepare the next generation of problem-solvers and entrepreneurs. However, the precise meaning of agency remains elusive. The author suggests a conceptual framework to guide elementary-level teachers in this area.

Download Full-text

A Mission-Based Argument for Private K-12 Student Press

Journalism & Mass Communication Educator ◽

10.1177/10776958211070676 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 107769582110706

Author(s):

Erica R. Salkin

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Private Schools ◽

First Amendment ◽

Mission Statements ◽

Strong Connection ◽

School Mission ◽

Student Journalism ◽

K 12 ◽

Student Press

Although the First Amendment does not guarantee student press within public schools, it does help affirm the value of such opportunities to student communities. Private schools do not enjoy such constitutional support, but may have a more powerful tool closer to home: their own school mission statements. This study coded nearly 500 private K-12 school mission statements to determine whether the priorities identified by these programs align with the documented benefits of student journalism and found a strong connection between both.

Download Full-text

Making sense of K‐12 competency‐based education: A systematic literature review of implementation and outcomes research from 2000 to 2019

The Journal of Competency-Based Education ◽

10.1002/cbe2.1228 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Carla M. Evans ◽

Erika Landl ◽

Jeri Thompson

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Systematic Literature Review ◽

Outcomes Research ◽

Competency Based Education ◽

Making Sense ◽

Competency Based ◽

K 12

Download Full-text

Beyond the Museum Walls: Developing Inexpensive Discovery Trunks for k-12

Biodiversity Information Science and Standards ◽

10.3897/biss.2.25925 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. e25925

Author(s):

Julia Robinson

Keyword(s):

Low Cost ◽

Inquiry Learning ◽

Thinking Skills ◽

Critical Thinking Skills ◽

Student Centered ◽

Analytical Skills ◽

New Knowledge ◽

State Educational ◽

Problem Solvers ◽

K 12

Discovery Trunks - specimen-based educational kits - use museum collections and standardized curricula to catalyze critical thinking skills through inquiry learning. Inquiry learning facilitates the development of new knowledge by examining a novel situation in light of past experience - a crucial skill for a child in today’s unpredictable world. Inquiry learning empowers students by making them stronger and more confident in their discovery and synthesis of information. Discovery Trunks enhance learning opportunities for students, promote the parent institutions, and develop new audiences by taking the institutional mission beyond classroom walls. Such Trunks contain authentic, real world objects and inquiry lessons that align with state educational standards. Discovery Trunks encourage contemplative analytical skills, thoughtful communication, thorough exploration of a topic, and cultivate a citizenry of open-minded problem solvers. Through inquiry-based learning, we see key components of this personal investigation exemplified through student-centered, student-driven activities that connect new knowledge and prior knowledge. This presentation will deconstruct these multidisciplinary kits and their contents to guide museum professionals to explore effective, high value, low cost materials and methods to produce and advertise educational kits to the community. Offered as an essential outreach component, these educational kits cultivate tomorrow’s thinkers, movers, and laborers in an ever-changing society.

Download Full-text

Do Mission Statements Matter? An Evaluation of Dental School Mission Statements

Journal of Dentistry and Oral Sciences ◽

10.37191/mapsci-2582-3736-3(1)-074 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Viyan S Kadhium

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Mission Statement ◽

Mission Statements ◽

Dental School ◽

University Of Michigan ◽

School Mission ◽

Minimum Number ◽

The University ◽

Dental Schools ◽

A Company

Objective: In private enterprise, the Mission Statement (MS) of a company is the compass that shows the direction the organization is heading and is a guide in major decisions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the mission statements of all United States (US) Dental Schools for common themes and to understand how these themes align with current issues in dentistry. Methods: Two reviewers manually searched every United States (US) Dental School website to identify the mission statement of each school and four investigators reviewed the mission statements, identified and listed themes. A qualitative analytical approach was used, and recurring themes were identified. IRB Exemption was provided (HUM00175583Â) by the University of Michigan School of Medicine’s committee on human studies. Results: In this study, 68 dental schools were evaluated, and 18 different themes were identified. The mean number of themes per school was 2 and the median was 4. The minimum number of themes among dental schools was 1 and the maximum was 11 themes. The findings indicated that the most recurring theme in dental school mission statements was research and dissemination of knowledge (76.11%) and the least recurring themes, which are some of the most pressing issues in dentistry were social justice (4.47%), public health (7.46%), and health disparities (8.95%). Conclusion: Missions statements are just as important in schools as they are in business. Therefore, dental schools should consider periodically revising their mission statements to coincide with the demands of current oral health needs.

Download Full-text

Making sense of “STEM education” in K-12 contexts

International Journal of STEM Education ◽

10.1186/s40594-018-0127-2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Tamara D. Holmlund ◽

Kristin Lesseig ◽

David Slavit

Keyword(s):

Stem Education ◽

Making Sense ◽

K 12

Download Full-text

She’s Not There

Review of Educational Research ◽

10.3102/0034654312453343 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 82 (3) ◽

pp. 243-295 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Sally Campbell Galman ◽

Christine A. Mallozzi

Keyword(s):

Preservice Teachers ◽

Women Educators ◽

The United States ◽

Women Teachers ◽

Male Students ◽

Elementary Level ◽

Social Categories ◽

Female Teachers ◽

K 12

For this literature review, the authors asked, “What is the role of gender in research about elementary-level women teachers and preservice teachers in the past 15 years, and what have scholars learned about the gendered nature of women’s experiences in elementary-level preservice and in-service teaching in that time?” To be eligible for inclusion, works had to be published during or after 1995, study elementary preservice or practicing women educators, take place in the United States, focus on gender, and be empirical. Of the 54 articles that warranted in-depth investigation, 42 articles were excluded because teachers’ gender was subsumed under other social categories such as K–12 female students or male students and teachers. The majority of the 12 relevant articles employed small participant samples and exploratory approaches and depicted female teachers as struggling with or marginalized in the profession. A minority presented women teachers as reveling in the legacies of teaching. These findings beg for more research on women teachers’ gendered experiences.

Download Full-text

Do Medical School Mission Statements Align With the Nation’s Health Care Needs?

Academic Medicine ◽

10.1097/acm.0000000000000241 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 89 (6) ◽

pp. 892-895 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Bina Valsangkar ◽

Candice Chen ◽

Hannah Wohltjen ◽

Fitzhugh Mullan

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Medical School ◽

Mission Statements ◽

Health Care Needs ◽

Care Needs ◽

School Mission

Download Full-text

Improving College Access at Low-Income High Schools? The Impact of GEAR UP Iowa on Postsecondary Enrollment and Persistence

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis ◽

10.3102/0162373718778133 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 399-419 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Nicholas A. Bowman ◽

Sanga Kim ◽

Laura Ingleby ◽

David C. Ford ◽

Christina Sibaouih

Keyword(s):

College Access ◽

Low Income ◽

College Enrollment ◽

High School Graduates ◽

Gear Up ◽

Postsecondary Enrollment ◽

Education Status ◽

K 12 ◽

Undergraduate Programs ◽

The Impact

GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is a federal program designed to promote college access and success for students from low-income backgrounds. Although some literature has examined K–12 outcomes, little research has explored the extent to which GEAR UP achieves its intended postsecondary objectives. The present study used a difference-in-differences design with a sample of 17,605 students to explore the impact of GEAR UP Iowa on college enrollment and persistence. The findings indicate that GEAR UP Iowa promotes the college enrollment of high school graduates by 3 to 4 percentage points, whereas it appears to have no effect on college persistence. Results are similar regardless of students’ socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sex, and K–12 special education status.

Download Full-text