The Use of Local Statistics in High School Courses in Sociology and Social Problems

Since the inception of mandated testing in reading and mathematics, social studies instruction has been marginalized in elementary and middle schools. After the genesis of several state-mandated testing programs and nearly a decade after the launch of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the effects of limited K–8 social studies instruction are being recognized at the high school level, specifically in high school test score data. This article reveals the obstacles generated by marginalizing social studies in the elementary and middle schools and offers a model for helping teachers understand their role in offsetting the problems associated with early social studies marginalization. The article also provides a way to help teachers collaboratively fill the social studies content gaps.     

Elementary ELA/Social Studies Integration: Challenges and Limitations

Adding instructional time and holding teachers accountable for teaching social studies are touted as practical, logical steps toward reforming the age-old tradition of marginalization. This qualitative case study of an urban elementary school, examines how nine teachers and one administrator enacted district reforms that added 45 minutes to the instructional day and implemented a series of formative and summative assessments. Each participant was treated as a particular case and a within-case analysis was used. Through classroom observations, interviews, time journals, and official school documents, I describe underlying perceptions and priorities that were barriers to any positive impact time or testing might have afforded social studies. Findings suggest that scheduled or mandated ELA/social studies integration does not always materialize and there are reasons for this gap.     

Developing a Vision for the Common Core Classroom: What Does Elementary Social Studies Look Like?

In each edition of their book Doing History: Investigating with Children in Elementary and Middle Schools, Levstik and Barton (2011) encourage us to take a mental journey to imagine classrooms where students regularly “do history” (xi). The social studies experiences that many educators envision for elementary classrooms include teaching students to frame questions, read for information, and organize primary and secondary sources to share their knowledge with classmates. NCSS provides an infrastructure for social studies goals in which knowledge, skills and attitudes are developed in meaningful social studies lessons. When viewed through the lens of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS ELA), we recognize the fundamental nature of aligning social studies standards with literacy strategies for elementary teaching and learning. The purpose of this article is to examine the usefulness of CCSS ELA for teaching elementary social studies. The authors share a vision for the “common core classroom” that includes a range of literacy strategies for teaching standards-based social studies.     

Infusing Career Development to Strengthen Middle School English Language Arts Curricula

An approach is presented for strengthening middle school standards‐based English language arts (ELA) classroom instruction by infusing theory‐ and research‐supported career development constructs and practices. Over an 8‐week period, 90 urban 7th graders participated in an integrated ELA–career development curriculum. Career agency emerged as an important construct for students. It was related to key markers of ELA achievement (i.e., standardized test scores, grades, and positive change in 6th‐ to 7th‐grade test scores) and elaborated on in nuanced ways by students in their written narratives. Four themes related to career agency were identified in student writings: time perspective, challenges of self‐direction, career development, and social and emotional development. Advantages for students and schools related to synergy, scale, and sustainability are discussed.     

Assessing Performance Consequences of Changes in Educational Policy: Toward Systematic Experimentation

This paper argues that schools of social work should determine the empirical consequences of risk-taking changes in educational policy. A commitment to systematic experimentation rather than random innovation is urged in order to promote effective curriculum designs, establish an empirical basis for educational policy decisions, and provide quasi-theories about educational policy change. CSWE is seen as a potential coordinator and repository of data about the effects of changes in educational policy. Furthermore, most schools have the resources to carry out significant studies. With these commitments, we can make policy changes that are predictive of desired outcomes.     

Children of Divorce

This mixed methods study identified six elementary teachers, who, despite the widespread marginalization of elementary social studies, spent considerable time on the subject. These six outliers from a sample of forty-six Michigan elementary teachers were interviewed, and their teaching was observed to better understand how and why they deviate from the norm. An autonomy-versus-control continuum is used to frame how teachers decide what, when, and how to teach. Challenging existing literature that suggests that additional attention to elementary social studies comes from testing pressure or by providing teachers with autonomy, findings of this study reveal that five of the six teachers taught social studies frequently and extensively because their schedules were externally controlled to designate specific time for social studies instruction.     

Local implementation of disability policies for “high incidence” disabilities at public schools in Japan and the U.S.

This study examines educators' responses to the local implementation of national special education policy changes for children with “high-incidence,” (mild cognitive and behavioral) disabilities. Sensitized by a sociocultural, developmental perspective, we examined Japanese and U.S. national educational policies for the support of children with high incidence disabilities and their implementation in local public schools. Twenty-six Japanese and 18 U.S. elementary school educators participated in individual interviews and discussed their experiences and perceptions of special education policies and their local implementation. Educators in both countries expressed common challenges, specifically, balancing legal requirements with everyday practices, adjusting to policy shifts, and negotiating support for children within and outside of their classrooms. Yet their experiences were culturally nuanced reflecting 1) relatively flexible (Japan) or fixed (U.S.) legal requirements, 2) shifts to more specialized (Japan) or more classroom-based (U.S.) support, and 3) established practices of classroom-based support (Japan) or pull-out support (U.S.). These cultural differences are examined in historical and sociocultural contexts, and implications are discussed for educators, social work practitioners, and policy makers in both Japan and the U.S.     

Meeting of the Middle States Association of History and Social Science Teachers

Elementary schools have a significant role in creating democratic attitudes and attainments in children. During elementary education, children are prepared for life, becoming familiar with rules in social life in addition to gaining academic knowledge and abilities. In this article, the importance of educating children about democracy in elementary schools and some activities that can be done in schools to teach children the efficiency of democracy are pointed out. During the research, the opinions of experienced social sciences teachers who work in elementary schools were consulted. The suggested activities are presented with samples of in-class implementation prepared by expert teachers.     

The Manifestation of Campbell's Law: Consequences of Eliminating of Social Studies From the Curriculum

The manifestation of Campbell's Law is examined in light of the current era in American public schools of high stakes testing inclusive of narrowed curriculums and teaching to the test. The decades-long practice of reducing instructional time of non-tested subjects, which includes social studies fundamentals, has resulted in a less informed citizenry. Social studies instruction promotes citizens who are able to make informed decisions that are inclusive of differentiating between facts, generalizations, and opinions without bias. The construction of individual viewpoints through a narrow lens without discrimination between opinions and historical facts is of concern today as Americans form opinions regarding controversial social issues and engage in social activism.     

Culture and national S&T performance: A framework for analysing socio‐institutional factors in RTD policy making

Since the 1970s, policy makers and researchers have attempted to understand what factors influence national S&T performance. Whereas researchers predominantly aimed at explaining disparate economic development paths by understanding the role of innovation and technological advance in the evolution of economic systems, policy makers hoped to discover those mechanism that would enhance national S&T performance. The work of Mary Douglas provides a framework for systematically comparing organizational and institutional cultures. Although Mary Douglas originally devised the approach to explain her African fieldwork data, successive social scientists, most notably Aaron Wildavsky, Michael Thompson, and Steve Rayner, have adapted the model to suit the needs of policy analysis.     

“We're All Kids!” Picture Books and Cultural Awareness

Picture books engage young learners across the elementary curriculum and can effectively help teach about a variety of social studies topics. Social studies may be a neglected subject in many elementary schools, but purposefully incorporating it through children's literature provides an effective means of advancing both literacy skills and social studies understanding. In this study, first graders from two different schools were each provided with five books related to social studies ideas as part of a summer reading program. A picture-sorting activity with six of the students as they began second grade found variations in cultural awareness. Students were found to display chauvinism and presentism more with images relating to a country they had not read about (China) than with one that was included in the books (Tanzania). This study found that providing students with opportunities to read picture books with text and images that accurately reflect contemporary life in different countries can help young students become attuned to cultural similarities and differences, which promotes cultural awareness.     

Social order,cultural capital and citizenship*

The question of whether education should be seen as an instrument of social order is an old topic in the social sciences. There exist several theories concerning this question. Two of these rival theories are dealt with in this paper. On the basis of each, historical data have been looked at anew and empirical research has been carried out into the prevailing conditions in the Netherlands. On the basis of the first theory, which was inspired by Bourdieu and which concerns economic, cultural (including educational) and social capital, data on the Dutch history between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries have been reanalysed with respect to the attitude of the diverse sections of the dominant class towards culture in general and the university in particular. Dutch history can be regarded as a national variant of the universal tensions between ‘culture’and ‘knowledge’and between ‘culture’and ‘economics’in human societies. On the basis of Bourdieu's theory it is assumed that under the prevailing social conditions elementary schools will differ in ‘educational status’in the schools market. Empirical investigation confirms this hypothesis. The ‘educational status’of elementary schools mediates (reproduces) almost all of the influence of the childrens’social background on their school career, and reinforces this influence. On the basis of the second theory, which is based on the work of Meyer, Boli and Ramirez, data on the Dutch history in the Enlightenment period have been reanalysed with respect to the rise of mass education. These historical data give substantial evidence to the theory that the construction of the nation-state is of decisive importance for the rise of mass education. Our empirical investigation, however, does not confirm the hypothesis that in the actual situation elementary schools differ in ‘comprehensiveness’. Neither schools nor parents are oriented towards integration. Rather, the contrasts seem to be getting sharper in the 1980s and the schools as well as the social classes seem to be distancing themselves further from each other. Various sections of the dominant class are busy strengthening their position of power in education. In short, the use of schools to constitute citizens does not lessen the pressure towards differentiation. Thus, the theory of Boli and Ramirez explains the rise of mass education, but cannot explain its social class bound form, a fact that can be explained very well by Bourdieu's theory. Therefore the theories of both Bourdieu and Boli and Ramirez should be regarded not as rivalizing, but as complementary.     

Comparing Ourselves to Others: International Knowledge and Attitudes

The authors focus on the collaboration between a university methods professor and two classroom teachers in teaching social studies methods as a way of bridging the gap between university preparation for teaching social studies and putting that preparation into practice in elementary classrooms. The teachers offer recommendations from their own teaching experiences for how preservice teachers can find time for powerful social studies teaching despite pressures to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind in literacy and mathematics. They integrate social studies with literacy and math, use "teachable moments" and transitions between subjects, and incorporate social studies research with computer and media skills. In addition, they employ class meetings to practice the democratic processes of collectively setting and revising class rules, accepting responsibility for those rules, and working together to solve classroom problems. Informal feedback from the preservice teachers reflects their appreciation of advice from classroom teachers with current experience in addressing the challenge of making time for powerful social studies teaching.     

Jamaican Children with Special Needs: concerns, realities and possibilities

Official documentation on Jamaican children with special needs attending mainstream schools is limited. Consequently, the extent to which 'education for all' is a reality cannot be assessed. The absence of a national special education policy adds to the concern. To ascertain the presence and status of children with special needs attending mainstream secondary schools, individual interviews were conducted with guidance counsellors from 24 secondary schools and 102 children attending those schools. Information was also obtained from the national census data-base. There was evidence that children with a variety of special needs were present in these schools. Concerns of both students and teachers including inappropriate teaching methods and large classes were highlighted, and suggestions for improvement made. The researchers made recommendations including the better utilisation of existing services.     

Local and state school-based substance use surveys. Availability,content, and quality

School-based substance use surveys are an important data source for prevention and evaluation researchers, but access to students has become progressively restricted by schools. Because almost all states and many districts conduct their own regular surveys, archived data are a potential resource for informed policy and practice decisions. In this study, substance use survey data were successfully collected from 69 of 105 targeted school districts located in 12 states. Results indicate the availability and quality of extant data currently limit their usefulness. Recommendations are made regarding how schools could be assisted to improve the value of their substance use surveys.     

If all you have is a hammer,everything looks like a nail: Operationalization matters

Operationalization has been the focus of less research than many other methodological topics. In this article, we argue that considering operational decisions is particularly critical for those who study stratification, because measures of inequality often involve multiple layers of operationalization: researchers first decide how to assign individuals to social groups (e.g., race), which are then themselves used to construct measures of group‐level differences and inequality (e.g., racial segregation). We provide examples of this by drawing on contemporary debates about how to operationalize social groups based on class, race, gender, and religion. Then we discuss three examples (religion, racial segregation, and family type) of second layer operationalization decisions, focusing on the consequences of operational decisions for research findings. We conclude by discussing the broader implications of operational decisions, focusing particularly on issues of power and applications for policy makers.     

III. Implications of the Report of the Commission on the Social Studies of the American Historical Association

In a world that is, on the one hand, determined to sustain distinct national and group identities and, on the other hand, becoming increasingly globalized, interconnected and interdependent, social studies educators are regularly faced with the challenge of supporting diversity, creating a unified national community, and promoting global perspectives through education. This paper explores how the Singapore education system addresses these disparate goals through its national social studies curriculum for secondary schools, particularly through its use of international case studies. The Singapore social studies curriculum also serves as an interesting case study of how a national social studies curriculum has been shifted away from an exclusive focus on a nation-centric paradigm to one that is more globally oriented in nature, while still being firmly anchored to the nation-state and its priorites.     

Social work educators and social policy: a cross-professional perspective

This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate within European social work on the role of social work educators in influencing social policy. It reports on a study that examined the role of social work educators in furthering social policy by comparing Israeli social work educators’ engagement in policy with faculty members in professional schools with strong ties to social policy, namely education and healthcare. While the findings show some similarities between the three groups of educators, they also underscore marked differences between educators in social work and the other professions. In particular, social work educators are more involved in, and more committed to, social policy engagement than faculty members of other professional schools are. These divergences are attributed to the greater focus upon policy practice in social work and its prevalence in teaching programmes, as well as to the profession’s focus on disenfranchised clients, who are especially impacted by social policies.     

The limits of planning in China: equalizing basic education through the Internet

Planning, in its reinvented form, is an important tool for government macro-steering, but the role of the Internet in planning has been overlooked by researchers. Educational reforms are illustrative of the planning processes that characterize policy-making in China. Through a case study of educational policy in Qingbaijiang District in Chengdu, this paper examines how the Internet changes the limits of planning in educational equalization. The trial-site status of the district allows us to see how pragmatic adaptation of the new technology works on the ground, enabling an overall improvement in quality. However, at the same time, this strengthens elite schools, thus, paradoxically, creating inequality on a different level. Hence, this is a unique case to understand the limits of planning in China, and the key implication for research is that the Internet – and indeed techno-science as a social order – should be included in future analyses of planning.     

From conflict to cohesion: Involving stakeholders in policy research

The transitional period in South Africa, coupled with the general societal context of uncertainly, poses several challenges to policy researchers. While policies which address the inequities of apartheid are urgently needed, the time and resources available for policy formulation are limited. These policies often have to accommodate the views of a range of stakeholders who, at best, have had little prior contact with one another or, at worst, are openly hostile. This article describes our experience as health policy researchers in employing research techniques to partially address these problems. The article makes use of examples from several large studies which were conducted over the past 5 years. All of the studies evaluated primary health care services in disadvantaged communities and were unusual in the extent to which they involved community representatives and health authorities at local, regional and national levels in the formulation of recommendations. The first section of the article describes the process we follow in achieving participation, the second highlights the advantages of this approach and the last section describes the difficulties associated with the approach. We conclude by emphasizing the facilitatory role which may be played by independent researchers in times of transition.