This article explores student empowerment in a restructured urban Title I middle school. The study includes data from eight participants in an action research project that involved a critical inquiry unit in an eighth-grade language arts class that asked students, "How are you empowered and disempowered by school?" Findings reveal that…

Dual-language immersion is an educational practice in which "literacy and content instruction" is provided in two languages at school (Howard et al., 2007, p.1). The students in these programs have been the center of many studies including student literacy development (Genesee & Jared, 2008), academic achievement (Lindholm-Leary,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Iranian women's gendered identities and language learning through the theoretical frameworks of feminist poststructuralism of gender and language, imagined communities, and communities of practice. Additionally, these theoretical constructs were linked to the concepts of agency…

The purpose was to investigate common experiences of superintendents as they responded to realignment of leadership responsibilities during an organizational change initiated by mayoral control. To discover the shared essence of changes in leadership responsibilities experienced by superintendents, individuals "told their stories" to…

English language learners (ELL) are students with a primary language spoken other than English enrolled in U.S. educational settings. As ELL students take on the challenges of learning English and U.S. culture, they must also learn academic content. The expectation to succeed academically in a foreign culture and language, while learning to speak…

Research to date about the English government's policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the "macro" level of national policy and at the "micro" level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part, explores changes at the "meso" level--the locality. The article…

This paper examines Chinese migrant young people's lifestyles and physical activity experiences in relation to the values and cultural investments of their families in Australia. The data in this paper were taken from a larger-scale study underpinned by a critical and interpretive ethnographic method conducted in two school sites. The young…

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of students as English language learners in the nursing classroom. Employing interpretive phenomenological methodology, participants at an urban community college in the Northeast engaged in open-ended interviews that yielded new understandings of everyday concerns that impacted their academic…

District educational leaders throughout the nation are answering the call to action to provide both equitable and excellent schools for all learners, particularly for students who have been traditionally marginalized. Yet ironically, we know little about how district leaders are responding to this call as the voices of superintendents are scarcely…

Chicago has long struggled with racial residential segregation, high rates of poverty, and deepening class stratification, and it can be a challenging place for adolescents to grow up. "Unequal City" examines the ways in which Chicago's most vulnerable residents navigate their neighborhoods, life opportunities, and encounters with the…

This Foucauldian case study examines the academic conflicts of Mexican American women and girls, how they negotiate those conflicts, and the identity effects of their negotiations. It extends Gloria Anzaldua's (1999) work and builds upon those who have studied the schooling experiences of Mexican American women and girls. Similar conflicts for…

The purpose of this research is to describe how an alternative school leader taught at-risk students and their parents to advocate for students' educational interests and how this affected students' academic and social success. In social justice leadership literature, parents and students are described as passive recipients of a strong social…

The Delaware Education Research and Development Center (DERDC) conducted a two-part study to determine the impacts of this program on participating schools in the state. In the first part, DERDC interviewed a sample of administrators and teachers from 6 of the 15 participating schools. Their responses helped design a survey that was administered…

The purpose of this case study was to describe the role of teacher knowledge in the instructional methods of a community college developmental literacy instructor and determine in what ways that knowledge may have impacted the perceptions of the student participants regarding their authority over their academic progress in the class. Therefore,…

This article argues that in Britain dominant educational discourses of "the ideal pupil" exclude minority ethnic pupils and prevent them from inhabiting a position of authentic "success". It suggests that "the successful pupil" is a desired yet refused subject position for many minority ethnic young people--even for…