An important consideration in the education of K-12 students classified as English learners is the program model(s) through which they will receive English language development (ELD) instruction: either as a separate ELD pull-out class or in a general education classroom in which a language specialist co-teaches and/or collaborates with the primary classroom teacher. The efficacy of these models has been the subject of ongoing debate, with co-teaching gaining traction nationwide: in so doing, it raises critical questions about how language is defined, taught, and learned by teachers and students in these settings. This research partnership with multiple Oregon schools uses qualitative methods to explore the development and implementation of ESL (English as a second language) co-teaching as an instructional model designed to support multilingual children and youth’s language development through teacher collaboration. It explores school, teacher, and student development through observation, interview, and support of teachers as they engage in action research around their own co-teaching. Contact: Amanda Kibler
Drawing from methods in historical sociology, this project examines how public universities in California and New York responded to four influenza pandemics: “Asian Influenza" (1957-1960), the “Hong Kong Virus” (1967-1970), the H1N1 pandemic (2008-2009), and COVID-19 (2020-2022). In addition to robust systems of public higher education, California and New York have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and have served as important receiving states for waves of Asian immigrants. We use web scraping techniques to create an open repository of institutional responses to COVID-19 between January 2020 and May 2022, which we combine with materials from university archives, and supplemental community archives from 1957-present. Using a framework of racialized organization practices and situational crisis communications theory, our analysis clarifies how universities’ responses to influenza pandemics signaled both their role as a public good and coalesced with racialized discourses to illuminate the broader systemic inequalities underscored during crises. Our project’s focus on Anti-Asian animus extends our understanding of universities racial histories and will yield a novel virtual repository of annotated responses to COVID-19 for public use.
Initiated under the broader Minority Serving Institution (MSI) category, Asian American and Native American, Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) is an equity-based federal classification used to designate institutions that invest additional resources in supporting low-socioeconomic Asian American and Pacific Islander students. This study utilizes organizational theory to explore how seven of these institutions construct and embody an AANAPISI identity in light of current institutional norms and values. Through interviews, observations, and document analysis, the study seeks to answer the following research questions: How is the AANAPISI identity constructed in light of dominant institutional norms, values and practices? How do institutional agents enact and embody that identity in their behaviors and practices? Answering these questions illuminates a larger question—does this higher education policy matter? Rather than assessing the “effects” of policy on student outcomes, this study examines how federal policy can alter institutional behavior. That is, the extent to which AANAPISIs embody the status’ aims of equity reveals the influence of federal policy on organizational behavior. This project is generously supported by the Spencer Foundation. Contact: Bach Mai Dolly Nguyen
The project advances an ethnographic approach to explore the landscape of racial data utility to increase school and community data literacy through heightened knowledge of data access and analysis. In partnership with a school district and two community-based organizations (CBOs), we aim to 1) identify barriers to data literacy; 2) provide educational opportunities on data accessibility, and analysis; and 3) gain insights to how agencies, districts and states can address data literacy barriers for schools and communities. Theoretically, the project seeks to understand how changes in racial categorization influence individual and structural perception and behavior across the sector of public education in Washington State. The project is generously funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Contact: Bach Mai Dolly Nguyen
LaCuKnoS is a research and development project to test and refine an instructional model for fostering the interplay of language development, cultural sustaining pedagogies, and disciplinary knowledge building to enhance science learning for all students, with a particular focus on the assets and needs of multilingual learners. The project builds on research begun by Dr. Buxton in Georgia, with funding from the National Science Foundation, and is now being implemented and refined in Oregon. The LaCuKnoS project integrates and applies theories from functional linguistics, cultural studies, and the sociology of knowledge, to address the emerging nexus of new standards for science learning, shifting demographics in schools and society, and the changing workforce landscape for high satisfaction, living wage occupations. Central to the project are co-learning workshops where multilingual learners, their families, their science teachers and the researchers all come together to explore the practices that support the LaCuKnoS model. Contact: Cory Buxton
Across science education there is a continuing effort to teach the concepts of science in a contextualized way. This can include project-based learning, applied learning, a "Science-Technology-Society" (STS) focus, culturally-responsive pedagogy, “curriculum in context”, virtual reality, and many other manifestations of contextualization. While these approaches may have contextualization in common, the idea evolved in largely separate trajectories and current practices do not often inform each other. Through this project, the team will conduct a systematic landscape study of contextualization research, identifying trends in ideation and empirical findings across the landscape. The team will use mixed methods bibliometrics network analysis, an approach that has recently become available through advanced computing and machine learning technology. The National Science Foundation- funded project includes researchers and students from OSU, The University of Colorado, University of Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada), and the University of Leiden (The Netherlands). Contact: Michael Giamellaro and Cory Buxton