Seeking advice

Jay Lemke (JLLBC who-is-at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU)
Fri, 13 Sep 96 14:49:21 EDT

A while ago I had asked for, and received, a number of suggestions
from people on the list regarding critical current issues in education
of which teachers should be aware.

I have now met with the group of teachers, from secondary schools
across all subject areas, teaching in urban contexts. After a general
discussion, I distributed a list of topics based on your suggestions
and my own, and additional topics were added from the teachers. They
were then asked to list a few (most listed four) that they were especially
interested in and/or considered most important.

28 teachers responded in writing. Four topic areas or clusters each
received endorsements from more than 40% of the teachers. One other
topic was selected by about 30%, and no other topic was chosen by
more than 4 teachers.

The topics of greatest concern were:

Education and cultural differences, including bilingual education
Education and social inequality (linked to the previous topic in discussion)
(60% combined)

Schools and communities, including role of parents, after-school centers,
and business and community sponsorship of schools and students (53%)

New educational technologies (42%)

Alternative assessment (42%)

New social theories of teaching and learning (30%)

Despite their being on the distributed list, and being mentioned by
teachers in the discussion, there was little ultimate interest
expressed in Gender issues, Systemic reform and national curriculum
standards, or Interdisciplinary education. Each of these was selected by
only 2-4 teachers in the group. A number of other topics were chosen
only by a single teacher.

For two of these topics, I would like advice regarding useful
research articles that either summarize the current literature,
or make insightful analyses: Alternative Assessment, esp. portfolio
assessment; and School-Community Collaborations, including role of
parents _in secondary schools_ (most of this literature seems to
refer only to elementary education).

I would also be interested in a critical macro-social and/or
economic analysis of social inequality in US education and its
origins and effects.

In each case, a journal article, or chapter from a volume would
be most helpful.

I will be happy to share with the group the final reading list,
and to send comments on how the teachers responded to each topic
and reading.

Thanks for your help and advice! It's easy to find titles, but
hard to judge which ones represent the best quality work without
the help of thoughtful colleagues like you ... JAY.

JAY LEMKE.
City University of New York.
BITNET: JLLBC who-is-at CUNYVM
INTERNET: JLLBC who-is-at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU