Education

In this essay, Sarah Stitzlein and Amy Rector-Aranda, drawing on John Dewey's theoretical suggestions regarding how to best form publics capable of bringing about change through deliberation and action, offer teachers guidance on how to form and navigate spaces of political protest and become more effective advocates for school reform. Using Aaron Schutz's analysis of teacher activism as a point of departure, Stitzlein and Rector-Aranda argue for the development in schools of " small publics, " that is, Deweyan democratic spaces within which teachers can dialogue and exchange ideas about the problems they face in the classroom. While Schutz treats this type of space merely as a stepping stone toward the real locus of political action, the power public, Stitzlein and Rector-Aranda argue that small publics are themselves important spaces where teachers can work together to frame problems and build coalitions and solidarity with other groups in order to take action in the wider public sphere and bring about change in schools. One hundred years ago, John Dewey offered a vision of the relationship between schools and democracy in his Democracy and Education. At that time, and especially in the decades immediately following the book's publication, Dewey was active in guiding and responding to teachers, unions, laborers, war protestors, and others who were speaking out about their frustrations and against injustices in their professions and in the world around them. He analyzed their efforts, marched alongside them, and joined organizations working in solidarity for their causes. Dewey's lived experiences in the midst of protests and his theoretical suggestions regarding how to best form publics capable of bringing about change via deliberation and action can help teachers today as they navigate the spaces between privately expressed irritations and public struggles over power. Today, many teachers from across America are equally frustrated by the pressures of high-stakes testing, loss of curricular influence, labor struggles, changes in state standards, teacher evaluation systems, and many other educational issues. Many of these teachers express their frustrations to colleagues in staff lunchrooms, to family over the dinner table, and to sympathetic listeners in other relatively safe spaces with like-minded individuals. But these acts do little to effect actual change, operating more as a mere venting of their exasperation rather than actually functioning to solve social problems. It is worthwhile today to return to Dewey's insightful suggestions on how to proactively form publics through communication and community building, in order to apply and adapt those ideas within the current school context in hopes of supporting teachers as they move from privatized frustration to public resistance. The new millennium has brought significant changes to the practice of political dissent in America, whether on street corners or in our schools. Early on, we witnessed the squelching of criticisms of the United States after 9/11 and, in education , limitations on teachers' voices through increasingly burdensome testing and EDUCATIONAL THEORY

Authors: Ingrid Colón, Marlon James, Mahjabin Chowdhury, Amy Rector-Aranda, and Michael Burgess

Due to a shift in federal policy, more than 200,000 Salvadorans' immigration status was jeopardized due to the revoking of their Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Yet, many school-aged Salvadorans were born in the U.S. or came to the country so young that the U.S. is their home. How can schools more effectively collaborate with parents to support the emotional, social, cultural and educational needs of Salvadoran learners? The present qualitative study of six Salvadoran parents explores their experiences in U.S. schools, and offers recommendations for actualizing an ethos of humanitarianism in schools. ABSTRACT: Due to a shift in federal policy, more than 200,000 Salvadorans' immigration status was jeopardized due to the revoking of their Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Yet, many school-aged Salvadorans were born in the U.S. or came to the country so young that the U.S. is their home. How can schools more effectively collaborate with parents to support the emotional, social, cultural and educational needs of Salvadoran learners? The present qualitative study of six Salvadoran parents explores their experiences in U.S. schools, and offers recommendations for actualizing an ethos of humanitarianism in schools.

Authors: Taylor Gilley and Amy Rector-Aranda
The Urban Student Teacher Advanced Residency (USTAR) Program is a partnership between Texas A&M University (TAMU) and Spring Independent School District. Four EC-6 Education students were selected to participate in the pilot year of the USTAR program. Rather than participating in their traditional senior year at TAMU, these four Education students relocated to Houston, Texas to experience a full year of multicultural teaching in an urban environment during the 2016-2017 academic school year. A survey and follow up interviews near the end of the 2017-2018 school year determined ways in which the USTAR program prepared these teachers for their first year of employment at a Title I school.

This qualitative study of six recently arrived parents from El Salvador who have been in the U.S. for no longer than a year explores their experiences in U.S. schools and offers recommendations for actualizing an ethos of humanitarianism in schools. In particular, the study addresses the perspectives of recently arrived Salvadoran parents about their children's education and how can schools effectively collaborate with parents to support the emotional, social, cultural, and educational needs of their children. The study drew on testimonios to learn about Salvadoran parents' perspectives about their children's education to improve the services their children need in schools.