In theorizing how we should pedagogically approach African American literature, especially in courses for undergraduates, I argue that we have to move away from questions of what was or even what is African American literature and, instead, find ways to teach African American literature in both its historical contexts--artistic and political--and…

This study investigated the extent that the attributes of incoming students and their subsequent academic and social interactions at an institution are related to community college student retention. Student data from a cohort of first-time students (N = 1089) attending a community college in southwest Missouri was analyzed to examine variables…

On a June, summer day at Albion College, Byron Stokes and Dudleigh Vernor, two undergraduate members of the local chapter of Sigma Chi fraternity, sat down at the college organ in Dickie Hall and coined the most famous song in fraternity history, "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" ("The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi," n.d.a). The tune…

The Business Roundtable (2013) website presents a common narrative in regard to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, "American students are falling behind in math and science. Fewer and fewer students are pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and American students are performing at…

The authors of this article are two teacher educators who worked collaboratively to co-teach an interdisciplinary English and US history class to eleventh-grade students in an urban high school. They wanted to ensure the methods they were teaching preservice teachers were current and effective. The article discusses the foundational beliefs that…

This research is an ethnography (Murchison, 2010) that describes the lived experiences of a university professor and former public school superintendent. The work explores racial integration and desegregation of America's public school system. Through a series of seven semi-structured interviews, background information has been collected about the…

This document presents the proceedings of the 25th Annual Research Forum held June 30, 2021, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following eighteen action research papers: (1) Using Modern Events to Teach United States History (Charles Ahern); (2) "We Are All ESL Teachers": Culturally and…

Histories of education in America often discuss how concerns over women's health influenced public opinion on women's participation in higher education in the late nineteenth century. However, these histories almost exclusively focus on literature produced by the medical community--literature claiming that rigorous academic study was detrimental…

Asian Pacific Americans are a racial group that is often viewed in stereotypes, most notably, as a "model minority"--a view that this group is naturally hardworking and successful unlike "other" racial and ethnic groups. Quite often, they are also neglected as U.S. citizens, whose presence and influence in American politics are…

The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at the states that have designed strong history standards and note what has made them exceptional so other states might do the same. They include Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina. The report draws on interviews with individuals from each state who sat on…

Many arguments support mandating American National Government for undergraduates. South Carolina is one of the few states with such a legal mandate, but the law is badly flawed. We briefly review the history of a failed 1994 effort by the SC Political Science Association to improve the law and encourage implementation. We examine the impact of an…

Pre-service history teachers are exposed from schooling to a familiar canon: a story of American exceptionalism, linear social progression, and cultural homogeneity--referred to as a "freedom-quest narrative." Myopic and Eurocentric, this story follows students into their teaching careers; perpetuating a lack of critical understanding…

Many contemporary students are unfamiliar with the cultural history of television programming in the United States. References to iconic series that represented significant milestones in minority representations and discussions of racial issues--such as "I Spy," "Julia," "All in the Family," or even "The Cosby…

Current educational reforms have given rise to various types of "educational Taylorism," which encourage the creation of efficiency models in pursuit of a unified way to teach. In history education curricula, this has been introduced through scripted textbook-based programs such as Teacher Curriculum Institute's "History…

This article traces the development of the "Deaf President Now" (DPN) movement and its similarities to the black civil rights movement. Movements typically begin with a concrete, precipitating event but are usually the result of known or shared incidents on the part of the participants, and the "Deaf President Now" movement…