A widely accepted orthodoxy is that it is impossible to do replication studies within qualitative research paradigms. Ontologically and epistemologically speaking, such a view is largely correct. However, in this paper, I propose that what I call comparative re-production research--that is, the empirical study of qualitative phenomena that occur…

This article traces the reflections of the author as she remembers her time in Illinois as a graduate student and American Educational Research Association (AERA) postdoctoral research fellow. She remembers herself as a strong, independent, outspoken woman from a large east coast city who was attempting to fit into academic life while trying to…

Women aspiring to be principals and superintendents in the U.S. public school system have little information concerning optimum career paths to leadership. This article considers recent research and theory regarding career planning in the context of K-12 schools, and the different approaches adopted by male and female aspirants. The choice of…

In 2001, National Louis University and the Academy for Urban School Leadership partnered to create the country's first Urban Teacher Residency (UTR) program. Ten years later, with the assistance of Teacher Quality Partnership funding, the program quadrupled in size. As the UTR expanded, an increasing theory-practice gap became apparent, reflecting…

Transformed into a large collaborative learning environment, the Internet is comprised of information reservoirs namely, (a) online classrooms, (b) social networks, and (c) virtual reality or simulated communities, to expeditiously create, reproduce, share, and deliver information into the hands of educators and students. Most importantly, the…

Social science methodologies of intervention programming for college and career readiness, particularly in regard to evaluation, must be situated within a larger context of racialized readiness for college and career. The policy context for this argument is a state-level evaluation of college and career readiness legislation in Illinois using…

Recent decades have witnessed the rise in popularity of a handful of related yet distinct approaches to governance and decision-making in many different contexts that either relocate the level and location at which decisions are made or how they are made, or both. True for developing as well as developed countries, and for both the public and…

The suicide rate among American adolescents between the ages of 14-25 has dramatically increased during the last 50 years, and this fact has been the focus of extensive social-scientific investigation. To date, however, research focusing on the joint effects of mental health, family, and contextual-level predictors on adolescents' suicidal…

Objective: To describe the development and testing of a theory-based interview guide. To increase awareness of adulterated silicone use among Transgender. Design: A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews. Setting: Interviews were conducted in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Method: Seven transgender adults aged 18 and over were interviewed…

Art teachers are renowned for their claims that the creative properties of their senior secondary pupils' artworks occur as a result of the realisation of a creative process. Drawing on my recent ethnographic studies in senior art classrooms in Sydney, Australia, and Illinois, USA, I uncover a sociological, rather than a psychological explanation…

Purpose: This study was designed to improve the measurement of financial exploitation (FE) by testing psychometric properties of the older adult financial exploitation measure (OAFEM), a client self-report instrument. Design and Methods: Rasch item response theory and traditional validation approaches were used. Questionnaires were administered by…

This paper examines a burgeoning network of organizations that is inventing new forms of community renewal and citizenship education. Their names vary--some call themselves public policy institutes, others centers for civic life--yet they share a common methodology, one aimed at tackling tough public issues, strengthening communities, and…

The aim of this paper is to explore the demand side of the market for educational research. That is, what types of educational research do teachers find useful for advancing their instructional practice and under what conditions do they access the research currently available? Although teachers have mixed opinions--both positive and negative--of…

In this piece, drawing from performance autoethnography, third world feminism, and postcolonial/cultural studies, the author interrogates "how do I play scholar?" The author uses Judith Butler's question "how do I play gender?" and her notions of performativity to dance around, using the voices of the "Thug" and the…

This paper addresses elements of the bilingual program for English language learners (ELL) in Illinois School District U-46 (U-46). Beginning with the context of bilingual education in the United States, the paper also introduces the current state of bilingual programming in U-46. ELL initiatives in light of the U-46 partnership with the Stupski…