Christopher Andrew Brkich and Elizabeth Yeager Washington
This article focuses on the following questions: 1) How do secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color experience pedagogical negotiations when trying to teach…
Abstract
This article focuses on the following questions: 1) How do secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color experience pedagogical negotiations when trying to teach students thoughtful, critically informed citizenship and government and school accountability mandates? and 2) How does teaching with lessons grounded in the principles of authentic intellectual work (AIW) affect this negotiation experience? We employed a phenomenological framework as the methodological basis for eliciting two classroom teachers’ experiences, both of whom have advanced degrees in social studies education and several years of teaching experience in schools of color and of poverty. The findings show that prior to the incorporation of lessons based on the principles of authentic intellectual work, these teachers’ negotiation experiences had strong negatively affective dimensions based on a zero-sum pedagogical conceptualization of curriculum. Following the introduction of lessons based on AIW, these negatively affective dimensions began to recede from their experiences and were replaced by more positive ones. Given that classroom teachers are the ultimate arbiters of curriculum in their classrooms, this research has implications for improving the experiences of secondary social studies teachers working in schools of color.
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Amanda Clymer, Whitney Bowman, Elizabeth A. Yeager and Brian C. Briggeman
The purpose of this paper is to examine the optimizing behavior of agricultural supply and marketing cooperatives in the US Midwestern states.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the optimizing behavior of agricultural supply and marketing cooperatives in the US Midwestern states.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses firm-level data from CoBank, the primary lender to agricultural cooperatives, to evaluate optimizing behavior of 77 Midwestern agricultural marketing and supply cooperatives from 2014 through 2017. The study uses the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the weak axioms of cost minimization and profit maximization to identify whether or not a cooperative is following a cost minimization and/or profit maximization objective.
Findings
In contrast to previous research, results provide stronger support for profit maximization as the behavioral objective of agricultural cooperatives instead of cost minimization, especially for larger cooperatives.
Practical implications
Traditional firm theory for investor-owned firms states that businesses seek to maximize profits. Agricultural cooperatives however, could aim to maximize profits so as to redistribute profits back to user-owners as patronage refunds. Or, they could minimize costs so as to lower cost of products sold and services provided to their user-owners. Given users-control the cooperative, knowing the primary objective of agricultural cooperatives will allow for better design of research and education programming.
Originality/value
Given recent changes and consolidation in the agricultural industry among farms and agricultural cooperatives, this study reexamines past work that evaluated the optimizing behavior of agricultural cooperatives. Changes in industry and the necessity to remain competitive from an agribusiness standpoint have resulted in an anticipated shift toward a profit maximizing objective. The value of this study is providing an evaluation framework, using a firm-level comprehensive dataset, that represents the cooperative system.
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Elizabeth Anne Yeager and Stephanie van Hover
This paper examines how a beginning teacher in Virginia and a beginning teacher in Florida make sense of the high-stakes tests in their state. By examining beginning teachers in…
Abstract
This paper examines how a beginning teacher in Virginia and a beginning teacher in Florida make sense of the high-stakes tests in their state. By examining beginning teachers in two states where the tests are so very different, we gain important insight into whether there are similarities and differences across states and how the nature of the test affects the teaching and learning of history. We first offer insight into the context of accountability in Virginia and Florida and then discuss what ambitious teaching and learning look like in these states as informed by the literature. Then, we turn to our research methods, findings, and implications for the field of social studies.
Brian K. Lanahan and Elizabeth Anne Yeager
The threatened status of social studies instruction in elementary schools demands strong methods instruction to preserve the subject. This threatened status and other factors…
Abstract
The threatened status of social studies instruction in elementary schools demands strong methods instruction to preserve the subject. This threatened status and other factors create issues specific to elementary social studies methods instruction. Moreover, university-level methods instruction can be idiosyncratic due to the various educational and professional backgrounds of the instructors. This study examined individuals serving in the “dual roles” of inservice teacher and elementary social studies methods instructor. While teaching the methods, participants encountered issues related to methods students, the filling of dual roles, and the status of elementary social studies and field placements. In addition, filling these dual roles facilitated their methods instruction through their ability to relate/react to methods students’ experiences and concerns.
Eric Ofori, Terry Griffin and Elizabeth Yeager
Precision technologies have been available at the farm level for decades. Some technologies have been readily adopted, while the adoption of other technologies has been slower…
Abstract
Purpose
Precision technologies have been available at the farm level for decades. Some technologies have been readily adopted, while the adoption of other technologies has been slower. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing farmers' time-to-adoption decisions as duration between year of commercialization of precision agriculture (PA) technologies and year of adoption, at the farm level.
Design/methodology/approach
Time-to-adoption, which is the difference in years between technologies becoming commercially available and the year of adoption was determined using non-parametric duration analysis, and the impact of specific farm/farmer characteristics on time-to-adoption were estimated using a semi-parametric Cox proportional-hazard (CPH) model, based on a panel dataset of 316 Kansas farms from 2002 to 2018.
Findings
The findings indicate that, time-to-adoption for embodied-knowledge technologies such as automated guidance and section control were statistically shorter than for information-intensive technologies such as yield monitors, precision soil sampling and variable rate fertility. Duration was indirectly (directly) proportional to commercialization date of embodied-knowledge (information-intensive) technology. More so, time-to-adoption statistically differed among technologies within these two broad categories. Time-to-adoption varies across farm location and between both types of technologies. Millennial farmers are more likely to adopt both types of technologies sooner compared to baby boomers. Net farm income, percentage changes in debt-to-asset ratio, corn to total crop acres and machinery investment had no significant impact on the time-to-adoption for both information-intensive and embodied-knowledge technologies. On the other hand, while variations exist, time-to-adoption of PA technologies is mainly driven by location of farm, generation of farmer, number of workers, years of farming experience, total acres cropped and the cost of crop insurance.
Originality/value
This study investigates how the financial position of farms, amongst other important factors might influence time-to-adoption of PA technologies. Results are useful to extension personnel and retailers for planning marketing or farm outreach programs taking into consideration that, time-to-adoption differs across regions and by specific characteristics, key amongst them: generation of farmer, number of workers, years of farming experience, total acres cropped and the cost of crop insurance.
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Stephanie van Hover, David Hicks and Elizabeth Washington
This qualitative case study explores how one secondary world history teacher, teaching in a high-stakes testing context in a district pushing teachers to utilize differentiated…
Abstract
This qualitative case study explores how one secondary world history teacher, teaching in a high-stakes testing context in a district pushing teachers to utilize differentiated instruction, makes sense of this pedagogical approach. We examine teacher sense-making within a conceptual framework of policy realization and ambitious teaching and learning. The teacher made no claims to being an expert on differentiation; yet, the findings indicated that she did possess an understanding of differentiation congruent with the literature and, whether she recognized it or not, used many strategies suggested by Tomlinson and other experts on differentiation. Her thinking about differentiation also appeared to be shaped by relational and contextual issues. Stated differently, the Virginia Standards of Learning exams and the pressure from administration for high pass rates appeared to shape how the teacher thought about her students, her content, her instruction and, ultimately, her approach to differentiation.
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Elizabeth Yeager Washington and Travis Logan Seay
The authors describe an original unit plan that draws from local and national concerns for truthful history education about the history of racial violence in the United States…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors describe an original unit plan that draws from local and national concerns for truthful history education about the history of racial violence in the United States. The unit plan contextualizes one impetus for truth and reconciliation in a community with a history of anti-Black violence.
Design/methodology/approach
The participants partnered with the Equal Justice Initiative to pilot the unit in their district’s new African American History course. The unit drew on historical research and cultural memory to situate local history within a broader context of racism and violence.
Findings
The teachers identified eight goals for the unit so that students could understand racialized violence, acknowledge racism as the lived experience of many of their students, and participate in a collaborative learning environment with productive discussions. Speaking from their own experiences with racism, and creating opportunities for students to do the same, the teachers aided the community in voicing long-silenced memories.
Research limitations/implications
Besides bridging some of the gaps between local, regional, and national histories, more research is needed to further examine historical trauma and its implications for both the past and present, in order to amplify and humanize experiences of racism. Additional research is a critical step in developing more thoughtful, empathic and holistic discussions of history and racism at the local level.
Practical implications
In the wake of the recent past, the authors have learned that teaching about the history of racial violence can be enhanced and empowered by reference to relevant current events. The resurgence of racially charged language and violence over the past few years makes this goal more urgent than ever. This unit gives practical guidance to teachers who face this challenge.
Social implications
The sociopolitical reality of historical trauma and racism must be confronted, and proximity to key events is important in conveying the urgency of racial violence and the need for history education that addresses it. Teachers are making difficult decisions about their options for teaching about race, and they are understandably concerned about any perceived missteps. Nonetheless, inclusive, truthful history education is an appropriate and essential response to narratives of exclusion and silence as the authors help students to develop deliberative skills concerning difficult topics such as racial violence. Teachers and students, together, can do the crucial work of remembering.
Originality/value
The stripping away of narrative agency, identity and history can cover up stories about the stripping away of life and dignity. In the unit plan, the authors recognize truth and reconciliation—especially in the education of people who have relatively little exposure to topics of race and racism—as elemental to a restorative stance against racism.
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Joleen C. Hadrich, Joseph Janzen, Xiaoli Liao Etienne and Elizabeth Yeager
Kathryn Marley Magruder, Janet Ann York, Rebecca G Knapp, Derik Edward Yeager, Elizabeth Marshall and Mark DeSantis
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate provider outcomes in response to two modes of suicide prevention training (e-learning and in-person) and a control group. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate provider outcomes in response to two modes of suicide prevention training (e-learning and in-person) and a control group. The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) was adapted for e-learning delivery to US Veterans Administration mental health providers. Outcomes include: self-evaluated beliefs, ability, and self-efficacy in managing suicidal patients.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a multicenter, randomized, cluster design to test the effectiveness of e-learning vs in-person conditions CAMS for changes in provider outcomes.
Findings
Survey scores showed significant improvements for both the e-learning vs control and the in-person vs control between pre-intervention and post-intervention; however, the e-learning and in-person conditions were not significantly different from each other.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of the study include that there were drop-outs over the study period and the survey questions may not have captured all of the aspects of the CAMS training.
Practical implications
Results suggest that e-learning training modules can provide comparable outcomes to in-person training for suicide prevention.
Social implications
More providers may have accessible training materials for managing suicidal patients.
Originality/value
Currently practicing providers now can choose between two equivalent training modalities for improving the management of suicidality in their patients.
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Michael L. Wehmeyer, Karrie A. Shogren, Jennifer A. Kurth, Mary E. Morningstar, Elizabeth B. Kozleski, Martin Agran, Lewis Jackson, J. Matt Jameson, John McDonnell and Diane L. Ryndak
Since the passage of Public Law 94-142, federal law has prioritized the education of students with disabilities with their non-disabled peers in the context of the general…
Abstract
Since the passage of Public Law 94-142, federal law has prioritized the education of students with disabilities with their non-disabled peers in the context of the general education classroom. This chapter examines the progress, and often lack thereof, with regard to educating students with extensive and pervasive support needs in inclusive settings. We examine current trends in placement, factors that contribute to those placement practices, and what IDEA says about the education of students with extensive and pervasive support needs. We examine what the research suggests happens in substantially segregated settings and then, in contrast, examine impacts and outcomes for students with extensive and pervasive support needs who are educated in inclusive settings. We also examine trends resulting from changing paradigms of disability that provide new opportunities for re-invigorating efforts to educate students with extensive and pervasive support needs in inclusive classrooms.