This paper is written in response to Alberto J. Rodriguez and Deb Morrison's article entitled, "Expanding and Enacting Transformative Meanings of Equity, Diversity and Social Justice in Science Education." The authors provide a historical account of science education social justice research efforts within the USA and support the need to…

A long-time researcher of "education in the New Latino Diaspora" considers how ephemeral the demographic and sociopolitical contexts were for the endeavors captured in "Building the Dream" but concurs with the aptness of considering the five focal students' participation in a local Spanish radio program as acts of…

In a symposium at the 2012 National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education annual conference, Claremont Graduate University Professor Daryl G. Smith, a pioneer in the study of diversity in postsecondary educational contexts, critiqued the disproportionate framing of diversity-related research around past, present, and future U.S.…

We commend the measured tone and clearly stated arguments in Alba, Kasinitz and Waters' commentary on our article. It is particularly welcome because, in combination with our own conclusions, it lays out before the relevant audiences the substance of the debate in this field. Based on the commentary's opening statement, it would appear that there…

This paper focuses on some of the conceptual implications of changes in youth transitions over the last 40 years. I argue that changes have often been exaggerated with researchers too enthusiastic to jump on theoretical bandwagons without due regard for empirical evidence. While I suggest that there are important changes that impact on the ways in…

The work and lives of teachers have always been subject to external influence as those who are nearing the end of their careers will attest, but it is arguable that what is new over the last two decades is the pace, complexity, and intensity of change as governments have responded to the shrinking world of economic competitiveness and social…

The author responds to comments by Barone (2009), Clandinin and Murphy (2009), and M. W. Smith (2009) on "The Construction Zone: Literary Elements in Narrative Research" (Coulter & M. L. Smith, 2009). She clarifies issues regarding point of view, authorial surplus, narrative coherence, and the relational qualities of narrative research. She…

Publications about postgraduate studies and the supervision address issues and concerns such as supervisory orientations and strategies, ways to handle postgraduate students, challenging postgraduate education practices, factors related to success in postgraduate studies, the benefits of advanced studies, transition to independent research and…

In commenting on Coulter and Smith (2009), the author explores issues related to the place of the political in education research and in literature, but especially in forms of narrative research that possess both scientific and literary dimensions. More specifically, the author examines four sets of issues related to the researching and writing of…

The importance of personal experiences of a researcher that are "outside" of the research domain in dealing with the researcher's object of study is explored. It is equally true that research questions can also affect how one understands or experiences topical issues in a later personal experience. The researcher's personal experience…

In the last years of the nineteenth century, educational psychologists created what they called a "science of education." Their aim was to make education a professional field, thereby freeing teachers and school administrators from political interference, and they believed they could do this by concentrating on studies that might…

Today, there are critics of teacher education who believe that the system itself is archaic. These critics say that "schools of education" are by their very nature incapable of educating teachers. They say there is nothing worth preserving in them. In this paper, the author proposes that teacher education should engender a set of…

A participatory action research project (a minieconomy) raised the following issues: unpredictability of outcomes, degree of control over the agenda, understanding of what is meant by "research," and the struggle to engage in systematic reflection during the experience. (SK)

Examines trends in participatory research and the need for clarification of it as a process of "disindoctrination" to the status quo and a means of bringing about the structural transformation of society. Issues of popular organization and strategies for increasing viability are discussed. (SK)

After reviewing the implications of nonreflective and reflective stances, the conclusion is that applied researchers adopting a social action perspective actually maximize their obligations as scholar-scientists even though a nonneutral posture is assumed. (Author/BW)