“Know Your Roots”: Development and Evaluation of an Oral History Curriculum for Native American Middle-School Students

The middle school version of the Washington Assessment of Risks and Needs of Students (msWARNS) is a self-report instrument designed for use by school personnel to identify barriers to school attendance and school success for sixth- to eighth-grade students. It measures six domains relevant to improving school outcomes that include aggression-defiance, depression-anxiety, substance use, peer deviance, home environment, and school engagement. In the present study, a bifactor S − 1 model, for which the aggression-defiance domain was the reference factor for the general factor and the other domains constituted the subfactors, had good fit and better fit than several other alternative models. Results of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis revealed invariance across different groups defined by gender and race/ethnicity (Native American, African American, Hispanic, and White), with a sample of referred middle school students ( N = 2,356; ages 10–15 years). Reliability analyses support the use of the general factor to guide decision-making, the reliable use of the depression-anxiety factor for providing additional insights, and the remaining factors for guiding communication, as part of an assessment and intervention program for middle school students.

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Toward Disciplinary Literacy: Dilemmas and Challenges in Designing History Curriculum to Support Middle School Students

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/0017-8055.85.4.587 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 85 (4) ◽

pp. 587-608 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Leslie Duhaylongsod ◽

Catherine E. Snow ◽

Robert L. Selman ◽

M. Suzanne Donovan

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Middle School Students ◽

Disciplinary Literacy ◽

Theory Of Change ◽

Student Experiences ◽

School Students ◽

History Curriculum ◽

Wide Range ◽

Key Skills ◽

Subject Matter Expertise

In this article, Leslie Duhaylongsod, Catherine E. Snow, Robert L. Selman, and M. Suzanne Donovan describe the principles behind the design of curricular units that offer disciplinary literacy support in the subject of history for middle school students who represent a wide range of reading levels, and for their teachers, whose own subject matter expertise in history varies. The authors elucidate the theory of change from which the design principles derive and reveal dilemmas they faced in enacting disciplinary literacy when adhering to these principles. They use transcripts from classrooms implementing the curriculum to show instances of students demonstrating key skills approximating those used by historians, despite some compromises with authentic historical scholarship in the curriculum itself. By offering high-interest materials, opportunities to connect history to student experiences, and active classroom discussions and debates over historical controversies, the Social Studies Generation (SoGen) history curriculum, a part of the multidisciplinary Word Generation program, is an attempt to reconcile the tension between maintaining high student engagement with history and inducting students into the complex work of real historians.

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Exploring diversity within citizenship behavior

Journal for Multicultural Education ◽

10.1108/jme-04-2016-0027 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 224-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Leisa A. Martin

Keyword(s):

Middle School ◽

Native American ◽

Native Americans ◽

Middle School Students ◽

Personal Development ◽

Citizenship Behavior ◽

School Students ◽

Content Type ◽

Native American Students ◽

The Us

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine middle school students’ citizenship behavior. Design/methodology/approach The study involved an open-ended survey. Findings In a previous study, when asked about citizenship, youth typically emphasized the importance of helping others. However, in this study, a different pattern of citizenship behavior emerged. Overall, 30 per cent of youth discussed personally responsible citizenship, 27 per cent emphasized disengaged citizenship, 25 per cent focused on personal development citizenship and only 3 per cent embraced patriotic citizenship. In addition, ethnic differences occurred. Among the Mohawk students, disengaged citizenship was the most popular form of citizenship. This finding contradicts the previous study on southwestern middle school Native Americans, who emphasized personally responsible citizenship. Research limitations/implications This study was limited to students in the northeastern USA, and the results cannot be generalized to all middle school students. Originality/value Compared to previous research, the students expressed a different attitude about civic engagement. Among the Native American students, disengaged citizenship was the most common expression of citizenship. In addition, the middle school students’ very limited interest in patriotic citizenship (3.70 per cent) suggests that a strong interest in patriotism during the US Civil War may be more of the past than their present. Although attitudes about citizenship are changing, by understanding students’ perceptions about citizenship, citizenship education curriculum can be recalibrated to better meet the needs of students in the twenty-first century.

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The United States Pledge of Allegiance Ceremony

SAGE Open ◽

10.1177/2158244017701528 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 215824401770152

Author(s):

Leisa A. Martin ◽

Glenn P. Lauzon ◽

Matthew J. Benus ◽

Pete Livas

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

High School ◽

Middle School ◽

Native American ◽

High School Students ◽

Middle School Students ◽

The United States ◽

School Students ◽

European Americans ◽

Loyalty Oath

The study evaluated 60 middle school students and 191 high school students on their willingness to recite or not recite the Pledge and their rationale. Overall, 60% of the middle school students and 68.6% of the high school students chose not to recite the loyalty oath. For the European Americans students, the most common rationale among the middle school students for reciting the Pledge was tradition; with the high school students, the most common reason for not reciting the Pledge was the voluntary nature of the Pledge ceremony. With the middle school and high school Akwesasne Mohawk students, the most common reasons for not reciting the Pledge were the voluntary nature of the Pledge ceremony and their Akwesasne Mohawk/Native American status. With their strong rejection of Pledge recitation, the Akwesasne Mohawk tribe has perpetuated a stronger socialization of their youth. However, the act of reciting the Pledge represents just one form of patriotism.

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