Educational Reform

This chapter aims at examining the nature of educational reforms in general, access how they impact on the lives of the citizens, and identify some of the global perspectives of educational reforms. It examines how education could be reformed to make it equitable, address inequality and social injustice that still persists in our society. Educational programs in many parts of the world continue to undergo reformation due to governments' policy changes or ideology, yet so many people seem not to be satisfied with the nature of education delivery. The chapter concludes that educational reform should not only aim at introducing just new courses, restructure the curriculum per se but should aim at ensuring that it equips the citizenry to make them develop entrepreneurial skills, be able to find solutions to their problems and self-reliant. Reforms must also address the social inequality, social injustice, and lack of equity, social and racial discrimination that still persists in our societies today.

An Overview of International Students and Discrimination in Higher Education

This chapter focuses on the international students' exposure to unequal treatment in higher education institutions. The study aims at explaining how international students are perceived by hosting institutions and societies. The first part gives information about the international students. It explains the approaches of higher education institutions to international students in terms of their contribution to the internationalization of institutions, international students' contribution as a financial sector and as a market, and international students' contribution to increase diversity and interaction. The second part includes the experiences of international students as the subjects of discrimination. The experiences may help to identify the suspects of unequal treatment and to understand which characteristics that students have targeted by hosting society. The third part identifies the reasons of unequal treatment and negative perception about international students. This study tries to schematize types, reasons, and results of unequal treatment towards international students.

Envisioning Change and Extending Library Reach for Impact in Underserved School Communities

This project aimed to improve and promote the school libraries in a K-12 district which serves primarily African American and Latino students. Surveys about the libraries were distributed to each teacher, student, and parents. Students independently and overwhelmingly reported that they enjoyed the author visits, the new books, and the library research projects which utilized them. Reactions to this district-wide library initiative contributed to the students' positive reviews of these aspects of their school libraries in roughly equal parts; in other words, students don't only appreciate the ability to surf the internet. Students in this underserved population mentioned that their class research projects turned out better, that they were able to find more information in books and online via new library computers, and that they found exciting new materials to read. Students, teachers, and parents consistently reported that they felt more interested and more successful in library research after their school library was updated and its resources were promoted.

A School Model for Developing Access to Higher Education for African American

This chapter discusses the social inequalities in school choice and the racial disparities of college access. Utilizing the theories of social capital and social inclusion, the author provides a conceptual framework for developing a college-going school culture in charter schools. Through this lens, the author considers that the level of school support needs to be equitable to the varying stages of self-efficacy, academic behaviors, and post-secondary aspirations that students enter school with. The author suggests the importance of the RECIPE (rigorous curriculum, expectations, collegiality, interconnection, parental engagement, and exposure) to prepare African American students for college.

An Examination of How Legal Status Affects Enrollment and Graduation Rates

This chapter explores the educational choices of immigrants and how the issue of legal or immigration status contributes to social inequality in the United States classrooms and institutions of higher learning. Immigrants within U.S. population have increased dramatically, yet their educational attainment remains small in comparison to native-born Americans. Although large numbers of immigrant students graduate from high school, their path to higher education remains difficulty with fewer getting college degrees. Drawing on literature from multiple disciplines, the issue of immigration status in relation to immigrant education is examined. The chapter recommends the adoption of immigration reform legislations that create better pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and progressive educational provisions. This chapter benefits immigrants and educational leaders in institutions of higher learning.

Peer Support of Graduate Students of Color Through a Formal Graduate Student Association

This chapter explores the experiences of graduate students of color and examines the support systems in place to promote their success in the academy. The authors provide an overview of the relevant literature and pertinent theoretical frameworks, including critical race theory and self-determination theory, as they relate to the experiences of graduate students of color. Furthermore, the chapter describes the initiation and early development of a Graduate Students of Color Association at Merrimack College, a private, Catholic college in New England. The chapter include both benefits and challenges of participating in and sustaining the group, while offering recommendations for future practice and research. It may be of particular interest to graduate students of color; faculty, staff, and administration in graduate education; and researchers focused on graduate degree attainment among individuals of color.

Re-Conceptualizing Race in New York City's High School Social Studies Classrooms

In New York State Public Schools, social studies education centers on employing interdisciplinary approaches to help students learn civic values and historical events. Increasingly, due in no small part to the influence of popular culture, social studies education research is making fewer distinctions about racial and ethnic identities. Following some trends in the larger academic community, more of the research in social studies education categorizes ethnically and religiously diverse European and African groups into the narrow categories of White or Black. This practice of flattening diverse European and African groups into current day race frameworks can be problematic when teaching high school social studies, particularly in highly diverse urban centers, because it perpetuates binary racial constructions that both are rooted in the historical fallacy of presentism and tend to contradict the students' ontological realities.

What Are We Missing?

“Silenced voices” is an oft-used metaphorical term for marginalized and oppressed peoples. It pervades studies and literature related to important issues of social justice. However, recent research has prompted a literal reconceptualization of the term, raising the question: Are we aware and attentive to voices that are silent and not silenced? This reflective piece is a call to attention that best practices result from empirically based results of studies but on a population of students that attend school on a regular basis. As we know, this population is limited, so this chapter draws attention to limitations of data from researchers who have restrictions to certain populations, including minors.

Types of Leadership

Leadership is an important component for performance of every organization. Schools like any other organization also need leadership that will make things happen. The social inequalities existing in schools make it very important for school authorities to appreciate that although leadership is a key to improvement in every school, there is the need for school authorities and stakeholders to appreciate that not every type of leadership is needed in every situation of the school. Different situations need different types of leadership. Therefore, the inequalities in schools also calls for different leadership types. This chapter critically examines the various types of leadership needed in PK-12 educational setting and how such leaders could help address the social inequalities that exist in our schools.

Parental/Guardian Subsidization of Extra Tuition and the Marginalization of the Poor in Zimbabwe

This chapter focused on the issues of social exclusion in the education sector in Zimbabwe. The primary focus was on the primary and secondary school education systems in the country. Using the lenses of the social exclusion concepts, the chapter looked at how the inequalities are informed by a chain of historical developments including colonialism, the effects of the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the 1990s, and the effects of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme, as well as the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment acts. The chapter submits that the children in urban high-density areas, farming, and rural areas are victims of structural inequalities that have led to social exclusion in the education sector. There is the need for the Government of Zimbabwe to address these inequalities as a matter of urgency.