vip research about inequities of the cde public school system
TRANSCRIPT
Running head: HOW CONCEPTS ABOUT METACOGNITION
How Concepts about Metacognition, Transformation, and Globalization
Influence Education Today
Research Project
That Relates to the Researcher’s Background in Psychology, Phil0sophy, and Education
by
C. Gallagher
Toward Work that Applies to an ME
June, 2013
Gallagher, C. 2
Table of Contents
I. Topic Paper .................................................................................................................................. 3
Proposed Topic: How Concepts about Metacognition, Transformation, and Globalization .................... 3
Influence Education Today ....................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Abridged Literature Review ..................................................................................................................... 5
Problem Statement .................................................................................................................................. 12
Purpose Statement .................................................................................................................................. 14
Research Questions................................................................................................................................. 14
Quantitative Questions ........................................................................................................................... 15
Q1. .......................................................................................................................................................... 15
H0: p≤ .763 ............................................................................................................................................. 15
H1: p > .752 ............................................................................................................................................ 16
Q2. .......................................................................................................................................................... 16
H0: p≥.486 ............................................................................................................................................... 16
H1: p<.486 ............................................................................................................................................... 16
Qualitative Questions ............................................................................................................................. 18
Q1. .......................................................................................................................................................... 18
Q2. .......................................................................................................................................................... 19
Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 21
References .............................................................................................................................................. 23
II. Annotated Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 28
III. Reflective Look at EDD vs. Ph.D. .......................................................................................... 47
References .............................................................................................................................................. 48
Gallagher, C. 3
I. Topic Paper
Proposed Topic: How Concepts about Metacognition, Transformation, and Globalization
Influence Education Today
Numerous studies and research indicate the positive results of instruction that is inherent
in sociocultural, metacognitive, and transformative practices that instill world-view insight,
compassion, and objectivity for the unknown. If these qualities were integrated in curriculum
throughout California public schools, the graduation rates of secondary students should improve.
This work explores these innovative instructional practices that have resulted in the new-
standards based curriculum that is inherent in the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic
Senates (ICAS) (Spring, 2002), and that should influence positive changes in secondary-school
graduation rates.
Introduction
Psychologists, educators, and researchers have offered scientifically founded definitions
and findings about metacognitive, transformative, and world-view instructional perspectives that
should positively influence all students (Lauen & Gaddis, 2012; Bunch, 2011; Jared, Cormier,
Levy, & Wade-Wooley, 2011; Nieto & Booth, 2010; Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010; Dyson,
2010; Grim, 2010; Osterling & Whitney, 2009; Yuill, 2009). They have innovated literature and
research that should be correcting the drop-out rate of secondary students in the state of
California. Many studies indicate positive results in respect to these related instructional
strategies. As these educators continue to develop solutions and programs that apply these
perspectives to new-standards based curriculum that is based in Vygotsky’s original socio-
cultural theory, such as the formative assessment portfolio (Bunch, 2011), they also strive to
solve the literacy and intelligence gaps that are the cause for which almost 25 percent of fourth-
Gallagher, C. 4
year secondary-school are not graduating. A critical problem exists about the total number of
unreported cases that have disappeared into independent special education and remedial
programs that are no longer associated with the public school. The challenge about cognition and
intelligence caused Vygotsky, his associates, and students to continue to develop theories and
studies about higher mental functions and the associated socio-cultural process. They realize
through these studies that students need to sense appreciation for their unique anthropological
and literary background, or that they will sense rejection, and fail to achieve; and, this is what is
happening to at least 25% of all fourth-year secondary students in California.
The factors that make up cultural history involve generations of socialization--the basis of
social learning theory, which also relates to developing cognition, conation, and affectation—
transformational and metacognitive processes about which the Vygotskian sociocultural
approach is based, and that administrators and instructors should be shaping into their
understanding of each of their students. As Osterling and Webb (2009) evaluated teaching
philosophies, they integrated Vygotsky’s Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT),
metacognition, and transformational learning into their evaluative approach, for example, and
their results were beneficial to current educational processes such that some improvement is
apparent. Even Freire and Mezirow have based research on the concepts of metacognition and
transformational learning as they are important to developing language acquisition,
understanding, service-learning, and problem-solving skills across cultures (Hakuta, 2011).
Results about the positive effects of these strategies are nonetheless questioned by reporters and
researchers who indicate that students are vanishing from academic records (Rice University,
2008; Lauen & Gaddis, 2012, p. 185).
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Public Finance Review indicates that school districts and state education agencies (SEA)
are unable to receive enough public funds at national, state, and county levels to achieve their
goals, and that this deficiency also deprives them of the financial assistance that they need to
provide mandatory basic assistance to impoverished and disadvantaged students who are in need
of the food and security that are essential to their achievement of academic proficiency
(Duncombe, Lukemeyer, & Yinger, 2008). Administrators are not even able to maintain an
adequate battery of counselors who may remain updated in educational psychology and current
innovative teaching strategies due to insufficient financing and poor political representation.
Students who are so impoverished or disadvantaged that they are in need of food and clothing
pose a real example about the economic and social problems that are compelling low
achievement and the consequences of poor achievement (Lauen & Gaddis, 2012) and the causes
for political and educational reform (DeBray-Pelot & McGuinn, 2009). Such reform requires
alternate methods for the assessment of instructional efficiency (Bunch, 2011).
Abridged Literature Review
Numerous issues that involve socioeconomic prejudices and social justice have
compelled educational policy to base further theory and practice through the work of Lev
Vygotsky (1896-1934), because his ideas about transitional and metacognitive learning,
scaffolding, CHAT, the zone of proximal development, and sociocultural-educational theory
have continued to benefit instructional methods today, including the new standards-based
curriculum. Educators and researchers are striving to prevent the disadvantages that contribute to
the graduation rates that recognize only about 75 percent of fourth-year secondary students. Even
the ICAS includes language-arts and literary standards that extend globally and classically
through axiology and qualities that the old melting-pot tradition did not support (ICAS, 2002;
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Crawford, 2004). Since the 1954 Supreme Court Decision about Brown versus the Board of
Education and the vacillating implementation of the prominent English Language Empowerment
Act, American education has tended toward ethnic studies as never before. Sociocultural
education has resulted in the Journal of Transformative Education, for example, in which
psychologists such as Dyson (2010) have instilled within all areas of education the transformism
model of teacher education about the development of consciousness, transformation, and the
concomitant growth of a worldview perspective (p. 18). Dyson has extended sociocultural
educational theory to Gardner’s choice theory and Five Minds for the Future, which continue to
emphasize the transformative model of reflective environments that each student needs to replace
learning obstacles with insight and understanding. Educators have instilled western appreciation
for cultural qualities that no longer are based in primitive eugenic theories (Lum, 2009).
Bilingual education and ethnic studies include qualities that are part of the new-standards
curriculum (Ajayi, 2011; ICAS, 2002). Latin and Greek terminology, etymological development,
and concepts are no longer banned by western politicians and educator—primary and secondary
curriculum is inherent in standards about the sciences and social studies that are European-based,
but that advocates of the melting-pot tradition banned until colleges began to include courses in
ethnic studies (Hakuta, 2011). Ethnic studies have been important to classical and historic
literary models and developing theory, and to the civic standards that support multicultural
attitudes (Nadelson et al., 2012). Prominent testing services such as the Educational Testing
Service (ETS) support also support standard-based education that is inherent in ethnic studies
and the formative assessment, which is an innovation that aligns with Benjamin Bloom’s
Taxonomy of Learning Domains. The project of the Formative Language Assessment Records
for English-language learners (ELLs) (FLARE) is aligned with the demands of No Child Left
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Behind (NCLB) to achieve grants (Bunch, 2011). Yet, unknown unreported numbers of students
continue to complicate records of the Department of Education (Rice University, 2008; Lauen &
Gaddis, 2012). The association of special- and remedial-education students with their original
public school causes a loss of information in respect to the graduation, drop-out, and retention
rates of public-school student bodies; consequently, Educational Policy emphasizes the
incentives for political and social reform (DeBray-Pelot, 2008).
Ideas about the means of a higher level of consciousness and evolutionary social learning
theories, which impact psychology with the motivating conations of metacognition, have resulted
recently in the Metacognition Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) in which Vandergrift
and Tafaghodtari (2010) achieved an important educational hypothesis. Students who were
recipients of extra instruction as an experimental-treatment group did perform better in the final
listening-comprehension test than the control group (Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010, p. 474).
Their research verified the hypothesis that concepts about metacognition relate not only with
instruction itself, but with symbol-sound relationships. The Hierarchal Linear Modeling Analysis
has improved understanding by appealing to learners through the concatenations and ambiguities
of humorous riddles as they are impressed by phonological knowledge (Yuill, 2009). Other
researchers have proven that community service positively influences higher-level cognition; for
example, French-language learners who participated in community-service learning at Colorado
State University in 2001 developed intuitive reasoning and discussion skills as positive
developmental influences (Grim, 2010). Higher levels of mental functioning have been achieved
through numerous methods, and all seem to require intuitive discretion and appropriate attention.
Dyson (2010) refers to Mezirow’s metacognitive learning style as he also indicates that
technology has caused a massive breakdown in relationships.
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Madsen (2010) has extended sociocultural and metacognitive theory to the Middle East
through his adaptation of Mezirow’s perspective on metacognitive and transformational learning
to Emirati women, who were students needing to improve their ability to adjust to unknowns.
The Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies features information about Mezirow’s
perspective on the transformation that was essential to the synergy of the Emiratis’ and ability to
adapt themselves to new environments. Counselors from numerous regions have developed
successful reflective environments where nurses, students, and other learners are able to adapt
their thinking toward patient care (Kozub, 2013) as they identify principals of transformational
learning theory that are beneficial to successful interaction and learning. Osterling and Webb
(2009) have also confirmed the benefits of metacognitive or in-depth interviews as qualitative
methods to achieve understanding about the goals and solutions that are inherent in NCLB. The
metacognitive techniques in instruction, discussion, and interaction represent the challenges that
Educational Researcher recognizes to reduce drop-out and unreported rates so as to result in
savings for the criminal justice system (Levin, 2009, p. 16). Other issues that pertain to the
development of higher levels of thinking among secondary-school populations include the
benefits of psychology learning communities, interdisciplinary relationships, legal ethics, and
further sociocultural support in respect to investigative applications and solutions (Buch &
Spaulding, 2011). Further civic capacity (Mitra & Frick, 2011, p. 873) and the resistance of
conscientious teachers through various methods of protest (Grossman, 2010) also relate to the
development of higher levels of thinking through means that are different but that form a synergy
that unites civil and educational communities. The Journal of Educational Psychology includes
essential instructional strategies that involve the foundation of ICAS, sociocultural concepts,
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meta-linguistics, and metacognition, for example (Jared, Cormier, Levy, & Wade-Wooley,
2011).
Literature about metacognition and sociocultural theory that originated through Vygotsky
also relates to an examination of non-Western attitudes about heterogeneous linguistic groups
that have formed for many reasons in pro-Western culture to explain why attitudes must be
modified as necessary into standards, curriculum, and instruction of ELLs who naturally speak a
foreign language. This issue continues to concern those who support the English Language
Empowerment Act, for example, and to result in political tension toward reform--a zeitgeist of
multicultural and bilingual education programs and political leaders who have maintained anti-
immigrant, eugenic rhetoric that altruistic non-Western researchers cannot support (Hakuta,
2011). This innovative literature about metacognition and transformative thinking has resulted in
intercultural programs to cultivate the dialogue and dynamics essential to professional ethics in
order to subdue socioeconomic and ancestral inequalities (Szkudlarek, 2009). The negative
coefficients that researchers of Eastern European Economics recognize, who originally translate
Vygotsky’s Russian work, involves the ethnic divide between Russian and Surzhyk (Constant,
Kahanec, & Zimmerman, 2012), an ethnic divide typical of the subpopulations that disappear
from public schools into private special education and ELL programs. The ethnic divide also
occurs between diverse dialogues of every other bilingual and multilingual system—typical
trends of competition that principals in metacognition and related transcendental thinking are
intended to ameliorate. Some conscientious researchers and diplomats work together to analyze
and to manage regional divides and distributions that are dissimilar (Hakuta, 2011; Üsdiken,
2010; Holden, 2008). Those who have developed meta-linguistics and universal language
systems toward effective translation systems are deciphering between code-switchings,
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declension paradigms, morphological assignment rules, colloquialisms, and language modes to
create benign learning environments and excelled language transfer (Chirsheva, 2009, p. 68;
Grosjean, 2011).
The literature has linked pro-Western and non-Western research through management
systems and research methodologies, which clearly share the hypothesis that perceptual imagery
and impressive motor functions may link to non-stagnant processes of metacognition, perception,
and motor functioning (Spivey, Knoblich, Dale, & Grosjean, 2009). Although Üsdiken (2010),
Szkudlarek (2009), Hakuta (2011), and Holden (2008) have challenged pro-Western
methodologies, they have been unable to ignore the implications of Grosjean (2011) and
Chirsheva (2009), for example, whose applied research contradicts non-Western assumptions as
they relate to those who have translated Vygotsky’s work. The comparative and mixed-method
methodologies will achieve the goal through the validation and the contrasting of pro-Western
and non-Western research in multicultural- and bilingual-education through higher levels of
cognition that involve education.
As researchers have reckoned with the Item Response Theory and quantitative
methodology of Language Testing and the environments that are conducive to excellent
performance (Filipi, 2012), they also have looked to the Assessment of Language Competence
(ALC) by the Australian Council for Educational Research. The ALC contradicts the validity and
reliability of those who question pro-Western technologies that assist French, German, Italian,
Japanese, and Chinese communities to develop rudimentary English competencies. The literature
about metacognition and related practices translated from Russian, for example, has been quite
diverse. Have administrators and instructors of California secondary schools incorporated into
their curriculum methods that have been sensitive to the culture of misfortunate pupils who need
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to develop higher functions as addressed in the Journal of Studies in International Education
(Nieto & Booth, 2010) and in Language Learning (Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010)? Have
they shaped into their strategies authentic service-learning opportunities (Grim, 2010), and
innovative formative assessments such as the new FLARE that result in Title III funding through
NCLB (Bunch, 2011)?
The literature includes empirical studies and conclusions of non-Western researchers,
which reinforces the problem about pro-Western political and educational leaders who maintain
the assumptions of Hakuta (2011) and Üsdiken (2010), for example. When researchers have used
assessment data to focus on uniform standards-based instruction, the inverse survival probability
for the achievement of proficient levels has been evident of performance that Hakuta (2011)
concluded to result in significant achievement of 80% of his students at Sanger Unified School
District in central California. Hakuta (2011) has presented evidence that this research included as
accepted assumptions assessment data and formative assessments, which have been the strongest
predictors of improved student achievement over time. Hakuta (2011) also established the fact
that student access to essential learning materials has been critical to their overall insight and
developing proficiency. For many reasons, teachers teach to the test and forget students who they
placed into special education and bilingual and/or remedial learning programs outside of the
public school system where they began their education near their homes. Such students must be
bused far from their homes, and they result in unreported subpopulations that are not even
recognized in the unreported category as this study has indicated. The literature both validates
and argues premises about two interrelated objectives that involve Europe, which Üsdiken
(2010) has concluded through comparative analyses—that Europe has not followed the
literature-based path of pro-Western United-States researchers, causing non-Western theory
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involving education to differ significantly. Evidence about the high retention and unreported
rates of secondary students continues to cause support for the research of Üsdiken (2010), for
example, which indicates little change in respect to institutional concepts and adapted scientific
theory. Üsdiken (2012) has based much of his work on another work that functions as an
accepted assumption for this research, Hofstede and Kassem’s European Contributions to
Organization Theory (p. 715).
The conclusion of Szkudlarek (2009) has been that Europeans and Westerners have
ignored the ultimate consequences of politics, ethics, and culture, which have compelled
diminished cultural traits that continue to evolve or change over time, and which continues to
cause new generations to maintain cultural and ideological systems that distinctly differ from
their predecessors. Hence, the derivation of higher consciousness and Russian thinking has
resulted in diverse political attitudes about the Marxist conflict, for example, that may be
influencing the problematic trends in California graduation rates of secondary students.
Unreported transfers of special-education, remedial-education, and bilingual education students
to private learning programs are not even recognized in the public school records where the
student began to attend school within walking distance of the students’ home.
Problem Statement
Educators and social service workers must adapt new instructional practices (Nieto &
Booth, 2010; Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010; Jared, Cormier, Levy, & Wade-Wooley, 2011;
Grim, 2010; Bunch, 2011) to prevent unknown and substantial numbers of students from
dropping out of school and falling into the court system (Rice University, 2008; Lauen &
Gaddis, 2012). The California Department of Education (2012) indicates that at least 17.5% of
its secondary students did not graduate last year, a figure that includes students who are 21.9%
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Hispanic, 22.8% American-Indian, 29.2% African-American, 29% English-language learners
(ELLs), 18.3% migrant children, 23.7% special-education learners, and 21.3% socially
disadvantaged learners. National Evaluation and Policy Analysis indicates that the pressure is so
great on administrators, teachers, and students to increase “efficiency, effectiveness, and equity”
in a system that is in such need of reform that virtually no quantitative research even exists about
the truly impoverished and minority students who have transferred or dropped out (Lauen &
Gaddis, 2012, p. 185).
Listening and social interface involve sociocultural, metacognitive, and transformative
processes that educational psychologists believe are important to improved instructional
methods. Researchers maintain that the verbal and reasoning skills of all students, especially of
those who are socioeconomically distressed, may improve through metacognitive and
transformative approaches. They believe that the administration of the Metacognitive Awareness
Listening Questionnaire (MALQ), for example, is among the new instructional-learning tools
that will challenge students to use their metacognitive and meta-linguistic capabilities (Yuill,
2009).
Learning that involves transformational learning should be important to educators and
social service workers who seek effective strategies to direct the attention of each student and to
thereby prevent the problem that involves drop-out and retention rates. Critical consciousness
reflects Friere’s development of Vygotsky’s CHAT, which resulted in definitions about the
higher mental functions that are the basis of the foundation of metacognitive and
transformational learning (Osterling & Webb, 2009, p. 270-271).
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Purpose Statement
The purpose of this mixed-method multiple-case study is to investigate innovative
instructional techniques and programs that coordinate cultural, transformational, and
metacognitive processes, which educational psychologists believe to be important to the attention
of every secondary student, including the ones who are socioeconomically distressed and who
otherwise may drop-out of school in the state of California. A content analysis will involve an
examination of literature that educational psychologists and researchers believe is beneficial to
teaching that will challenge students to meet their goals about graduation (Lauen & Gaddis,
2012; Bunch, 2011; Jared, Cormier, Levy, & Wade-Wooley, 2011; Nieto & Booth, 2010;
Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010; Dyson, 2010; Grim, 2010; Osterling & Whitney, 2009; Yuill,
2009). The research will conclude with a meta-analysis of synthesized information about the
approximate 25% of secondary-school students who did not graduate in 2011 (California
Department of Education, 2012), and information about how the innovative instructional
techniques and programs are influencing the graduation rate of secondary-school students whom
the California Department of Education should be considering in its 2013 report.
Research Questions
The research questions that identify this study evaluate the associations between the
independent variables and dependent variables. The implementation of instructional techniques
and programs that align with the sociocultural components of the revised Intersegmental
Committee of the Academic Senates (ICAS) and standards-based curriculum that relies on
formative assessment is the dependent variable. The influence of standards-based curriculum and
its formative assessment on students who graduated between 2010 and 2011 represents the
independent variable. Numerous subpopulations make up the graduation and cohort dropout
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rates, but those subpopulations must be investigated for their validity. Standards-based
curriculum is intended to focus on and correct such sociocultural deficiencies, and prominent
educators have initiated reform through formative-assessment portfolios (Bunch, 2011). Yet, the
paths of disadvantaged students are severed from constructive goals, such that research is
necessary through emerging case studies. These case studies are important to a solution to the
problem. The qualitative questions involve the success of metacognitive, transformational, and
sociocultural instruction. How are strategies, which are shaped into ICAS, and standards-based
curriculum, improving graduation rates of the main student population and the aggregation of
subpopulations?
The dependent variables about the efficacy of the curriculum in respect to graduation and
retention rates in the California state school structure. Of the following research questions, two
are qualitative in nature, and two are quantitative in nature, and all four align with the Problem
and Purpose Statements about two major populations and numerous different subpopulations of
students.
Quantitative Questions
Q1. If California public school curriculum continues to integrate the sociocultural perspectives
of ICAS and the new standardized curriculum, will the percentages of students who are able to
graduate exceed the graduation rate of 76.3% between 2010 and 2011 and to the graduation rate
of 75.2% between 2009 and 2010? (California Department of Education, 2012)?
H0: p≤ .763: If California public school curriculum continues to integrate the sociocultural
perspectives of ICAS and the new standardized curriculum, the percentages of students who are
permitted to graduate will not exceed the graduation rate of 76.3% between 2010 and 2011; nor
will they exceed the graduation rate of 75.2% between 2009 and 2010.
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H1: p > .752 : If California public school curriculum continues to integrate the sociocultural
perspectives of ICAS and the new standardized curriculum, the percentages of students who are
able to graduate will exceed the graduation rate of 76.3% between 2010 and 2011, and they will
they exceed the graduation rate of 75.2% between 2009 and 2010.
Because the percentages of populations that did not graduate included 26.3% between
2009 and 2010, and 30% between 2010 and 2011, one must reject the null hypotheses and
continue to question the alternative hypotheses also. In fact, the research continues as a mixed
methods design of a multiple case study with content analysis and meta-analysis.
Q2. If California public school curriculum continues to integrate the sociocultural perspectives
of ICAS and the new standardized curriculum, will the percentages of students of the Unreported
Subpopulation decrease in 2013 from the percentage of 48.6 between 2010 and 2011 and the
percentage of 68.2 between 2009 and 2010 (California Department of Education, 2012)? Why
does the total of that 48.6 percent of the subpopulation that graduated, when added to the total of
30 percent of that subpopulation of Cohort Dropout Rates not equal 100 percent? Only 78.6 is
recognized in the entire record of that subpopulation. Other subpopulation information also does
not correlate.
H0: p≥.486: If California public school curriculum continues to integrate the sociocultural
perspectives of ICAS and the new standardized curriculum, the percentages of the subpopulation
of students who are unreported will not decrease from the percentage of 48.6 between 2010 and
2011; nor will the percentage decrease from the 68.2 of 2009 to 2010.
H1: p<.486: If California public school curriculum continues to integrate the sociocultural
perspectives of ICAS and the new standardized curriculum, the percentages of the subpopulation
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of students who are unreported will decrease from the percentage of 48.6 between 2010 and
2011, and the percentage will continue to decrease from the 68.2 of 2009 to 2010.
The subpopulations of ELLs and Special Education students compel unusual effects on the
hypotheses. No hypotheses is consistent across subpopulations—total subpopulation data does
not equal 100 percent, and the socioeconomically disadvantaged comprises .507 percent of the
entire population.
The unique embedded units of analysis of qualitative data that identifies the graduation,
retention, and unreported rates in the secondary schools within California will be represented
through sample populations of Santa Clara, Sacramento, and Alameda Counties. These rates
actually must influence to some degree the figures of the California Longitudinal Pupil
Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and the CDE DataQuest Web at DataQuest, which are
both available through the California Department of Education (2012). This quantitative data is
not accurate when it does not represent students who have transferred and who have disappeared
from their original school. The null hypotheses (H0) is further rejected when the ratio of the
number of students who do graduate and who are not retained in secondary school between 2012
and 2013 and the number of students who transferred or disappeared from the same school
records continues to be 382,558:72,320, as it was between 2010 and 2011—the average number
of graduating students will be at least the same, or it will improve by at least .01p as it evidently
did from 2009 to 2012. Although these percentages are very small, they typically are similar.
Evidence persists about them in respect to their existence that CALPADS and DataQuest does
ignore, and the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage and educational reform (Rice University,
2008; Shelly, 2012; Lauen & Gaddis, 2012; DeBray-Pelot & McGuinn, 2009). The alternative
hypothesis (H1) is evident only when the ratio of the number students who graduate and who are
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not retained exceeds the ratio of the number who have transferred or who have disappeared from
the system. Again, the high percentage rates that equal and exceed 48.6 percent of unreported
and special education students compel significant unstable findings. The Department of
Education perseveres for improvements in the coming years.
Qualitative Questions
Q1. How does research about socio-culture, metacognition, and transformation influence
standards-based curriculum in California? Through the qualitative approach of a multiple case
study, embedded analyses prevail about sub-populations and sub-studies that are quantitative—
means and variances are derivable about central tendencies, variability, population parameters,
and null/alternative hypotheses. However, the research must continue as a multiple case study,
because information continues to emerge, for example, from Science Daily about the causes for
which low-achieving students are transferring and disappearing from records such that their
information is unavailable (Rice University, 2008; Shelly, 2012). Counselors offer first-hand
reports about such issues through correspondence and discussion to further the case studies,
independent of reports of the California Department of Education.
Of the seven sub-populations that comprise the approximate one-quarter that did not
graduate between 2009 and 2010, 26.3 percent of that figure was not reported, and 30 percent of
that population was unreported between 2010 and 2011 (California Department of Education,
2012). Only 75.2% graduated between 2009 and 2010; 76.3% graduated between 2010 and 2011;
therefore, the actual percentages of retained students are 24.8% for 2009 to 2010 and 23.7% for
2010 to 2011. Although quantitative phases are evident in this study, research questions their
validity, thereby continuing the multiple case study that applies to the research problem and
purpose statements about the efficiency of current instructional attitudes, competencies, and
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behaviors in respect to the actual practice of the new standards curriculum, which should
integrate formative evaluations (Bunch, 2011).
This question requires a qualitative approach by which research will reveal descriptions,
interpretations, verifications, and evaluations of real-world circumstances that involve the
knowledge of educators, students, and parents about literature and documents that expound upon
the archives and progress of the new standards-based curriculum. News reports, broadcasts, and
educators associated with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing offer qualitative-
oriented reports, criticism, and other relevant information. Furthermore, invaluable life-long
peers will continue to provide further information about students who have lived and who are
living in socioeconomically distressed areas. Relevant characteristics of the responses will be
presented in the form of tables and graphs. Of further concern, the information about the
knowledge of educators, parents, and students about the open-mindedness of the sociocultural
theory that is inherent in the new movement includes some consistent findings (Levin, 2009).
Numerous sources of sub-category information and data converge into consistent conclusions;
thus, the research will address the process of triangulation that is evident among sub-categories
and subpopulations. Information about this knowledge includes qualitative data that will answer
this single research question in respect to the explanation of Leedy and Ormrod (2010, p. 99).
Q2. What evidence exists that associates metacognition, epistemic cognition, and sociocultural
theory with ICAS and the new standards curriculum? Evidence about the relationship of work by
psychologists, researchers, and educators will be explored that influenced standards-based
curriculum and current related trends and issues. This qualitative research question has caused
numerous surveys to develop as research methods about benefits of cultural and metacognitive
processes that psychologists believe are important to instructional methods and that sociocultural
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components should be included through instructional techniques. Therefore, this question
introduces the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) as an innovative
instructional tool that challenges students to develop long-term memory for metacognitive and
meta-linguistic capacities (Yuill, 2009). The predominant amount of research in respect to
reform, according to National Evaluation Policy, is predominantly qualitative, because little
quantitative research exists about the economically deprived students who have transferred,
dropped out, or disappeared from the educational system (Lauen & Gaddis, 2012, p. 185).
Educators are attempting to manage more surveys, literature, and open-ended discussion to
gather trust from parents whose dilemmas prevent them from the wise management of their
children as they must travel aboard public transportation, for example. This question provides the
initiative to gather and evaluate all artifacts and documents that relate to these problem and
purpose statements.
Typical reactions will be considered of educators, students, and parents in respect to the
new standards-based curriculum that is inherent in ICAS (ICAS, 2002), the work of Paul Friere,
the Journal of Transformative Education, transformational learning, the work of Darling-
Hammond about Teach-for-America (TFA) (Téllez, 2011), and the work of Hakuta (2011) to
instill justice and educational opportunity for disadvantaged students through original
standardized and ad hoc relations. Emerging issues that are associated with the purpose and
problem statements involve the teaching strategies, programs, and classroom behaviors that
pertain to the examination of literature and current reports, and the way that these issues are
causing so many unreported cases that are no longer associated with public school records.
Educational psychologists and researchers have developed literature and instructional techniques
that they believe are beneficial to instruction that will challenge students to meet their goals
Gallagher, C. 21
about graduation (Lauen & Gaddis, 2012; Bunch, 2011; Jared, Cormier, Levy, & Wade-Wooley,
2011; Nieto & Booth, 2010; Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010; Dyson, 2010; Grim, 2010;
Osterling & Whitney, 2009; Yuill, 2009). The qualitative data analysis of the case study will
include a logical order of analytical details about each case, a categorization of information, an
interpretation of significant topics, an identification of patterns and inherent themes, and a
synthesis about each conclusion or finding.
Summary
The data that has been collected and interpreted reverts back to the examination of work
by Holden (2008), Hakuta (2011), Üsdiken (2010), Szkudlarek (2009), Chirsheva (2009),
Grosjean (2011, 2009), and Filipi (2012), about a Marxist conflict and indifference of a few
political influences for those of poor socioeconomic status. Educators such as Hakuta sought to
prevent such problems, and a problem resolution and accurate interpretation of a pro-Western
research course is essential to the problems that are created by unreported populations of
secondary students that do not graduate, an entire group that represents approximately 25 percent
of the entire population of fourth-year secondary students in California. Although instructors are
implementing formative assessments, evidence indicates that they continue to teach to the test
and ignore students who have been placed in other programs such as special education and
remedial programs (Rice University, 2008; Lauen & Gaddis, 2012; Shelly, 2012). Political and
educational reform is mandatory (DeBray-Pelot & McGuinn, 2009). The research takes a cyclic
or helical route as many unreported categories are included by the California Department of
Education (2012). The research presents findings that do refute and support some of the non-
Western evaluations of pro-Western research in respect to the political, ethical, and
Gallagher, C. 22
epistemological divide that continues to cause disrespect about multicultural and bilingual
education over socioeconomic differences.
Gallagher, C. 23
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Dyson, M. (2010, January). What might a person-centered model of teacher education look like
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Grosjean, F. (2012). An attempt to isolate, and then differentiate, transfer and interference.
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Grossman, F. D. (2010, July). Dissent from within: How educational insiders use protest to
create policy change. Educational Policy, 24(4), 655-686. doi:
10.1177/0895904809335110
Hakuta, K. (2011, May). Educating language minority students and affirming their equal rights:
Research and practical perspectives. Educational Researcher, 40(4), 163-174. doi:
10.3102/0013189X11404943
Holden, N. (2008). Reflections of a cross cultural scholar: Context and language in management
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Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates (ICAS) (2002, Spring). Academic literacy:
A statement of competencies expected of students entering California public colleges and
Gallagher, C. 25
universities. Sacramento, CA: ICAS. Retrieved from
http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/reports/acadlit.pdf
Jared, D., Cormier, P., Levy, B., & Wade-Woolley, L. (2011). Early predictors of bi-literacy
development in children in French immersion: A 4-year longitudinal study. Journal Of
Educational Psychology, 103(1), 119-139. doi:10.1037/a0021284
Kozub, M. L. (2013, April). Through the eyes of the other: Using event analysis to build cultural
competence. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, XX(X), 1-6. doi:
10.1177/1043659613481809
Lauen, D. L. & Gaddis, S. M. (2012, June). Shining a light or fumbling in the dark? The effects
of NCLB’s subgroup-specific accountability on student achievement. Educational
Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 34(2), 185-208. doi: 10.3102/0162373711429989
Levin, H. M. (2009, January). The economic payoff to investing in educational justice.
Educational Researcher, 38(1), 5-20. doi: 10.3102/0013189X08331192
Lum, C. H. (2009, May). An historical perspective on the Chinese Americans in American music
education. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 27(2), 27-32. doi:
10.1177/8755123308330047
Madsen, S. R. (2010, February). Leadership development in the United Arab Emirates: The
transformational learning experiences of women. Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies, 17(1), 100-110. doi: 10.1177/1548051809345254
Mitra, D. L. & Frick, W. C. (2010, December 31). Civic capacity in educational reform efforts:
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Nadelson, L. S., Boham, M. D., Conlon-Khan, L., Fuentealba, M. J., Hall, C. J., Hoetker, G. A.,
Hooley, D. S., Jang, B. S., Luckey, K. L., Moneymaker, K. J., Shapiro, M. A., & Zenkert,
A. J. (2012, June). A shifting paradigm: Preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes and
efficacy. Urban Education, 47(6), 1183-1208. doi: 10.1177/0042085912449750
Nieto, C. & Booth, M. Z. (2010, September). Cultural competence: Its influence on the teaching
and learning of international students. Journal of Studies in International Education,
14(4), 406-425. doi: 10.1177/1028315309337929
Osterling, J. P. & Whitney, W. (2009). On becoming a bilingual teacher: A transformative
process for preservice and novice teachers. Journal of Transformative Education 7(4),
267-293. doi: 10.1177/1541344610386470
Rice University (2008, February 16). Negative implications of No-Child-Left Behind: As
graduation rates go down, school ratings go up. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 16, 2013
from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/0802/080214080530.htm
Shelly, B. (2012, February). Executive federalism and the No-Child-Left-Behind Act of 2001.
Educational Policy, 26(1), 117-135. doi: 10.1177/0895904811425912
Spivey, M. J., Dale, R., Knoblich, G., & Grosjean, M. (2010). Do curved reaching movements
emerge from competing perceptions? A reply to van der Wel et al. (2009). Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36(1), 251-254. doi:
10.1037/a0017170
Szkudlarek, B. (2009, September). Through western eyes: Insights into the intercultural training
field. Organization Studies, 30(9), 975-986. doi: 10.1177/0170840609338987
Téllez, K. (2011). A case study of a career in education that began with “Teach for America”.
Teaching Education, 22(1), 15-38. doi: 10.1080/10476210.2010.541238
Gallagher, C. 27
Üsdiken, B. (2010, June). Between contending perspectives and logics: Organizational studies in
Europe. Organization Studies, 31(6), 715-735. doi: 10.1177/0170840610372581
Vandergrift, L., & Tafaghodtari, M. H. (2010). Teaching L2 Learners How to Listen Does Make
a Difference: An Empirical Study. Language Learning, 60(2), 470-497.
Gallagher, C. 28
II. Annotated Bibliography
Bunch, M. B. (2011, July). Testing English language learners under No Child Left Behind.
Language Testing, 28(3) 323-341. doi: 10.1177/0265532211404186
The requirements for an NCLB grant compelled educators since 2001 to develop effective
assessment and curriculum strategies, which have resulted in numerous consortium to acquire
continual financial opportunities toward the development of enhanced assessment strategies,
efforts that require cooperation among state collaborators to acquire Title VI (Section 6112).
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) is the precursor of NCLB. Both
consist of an examination of assessment themes that align with state content standards, and are
high in standards of technical quality and historic artifacts. The effect of NCLB on the
assessment of English language learners (ELLs), assessments, and evaluations represents
numerous challenges to professionals in respect to ongoing language assessment. The study is
qualitative and is associated with Measurement Incorporated, U.S.A. The research is also a
product of the Office of English Language Acquisition (OA), and the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP). The population that was studied included elementary and
secondary students of all stages—four consortium, which included the Comprehensive English
Language Learner Assessment (CELLA), English Language Development Assessment (ELDA),
Mountain West Assessment (MWA), and Assessing for Comprehension and Communication in
English State to State for English Language Learners (ACCESS for ELLs).
Gallagher, C. 29
As per multiple case analyses, researchers have continued to collect and to evaluate data toward
effective reform of content standards that support those of the Intersegmental Committee of the
Academic Senates (ICAS). A scientifically organized process has included the purpose of testing
to develop an effective overall method of evaluation that resulted in the formative assessment.
Findings resulted in the ongoing implementation of formative assessment of ELLs through
support by NCLB grants. The work relates to similar studies and developing language
assessments by J. Abedi of the University of California at Davis in 2007 and the work in 2008 by
Wolf, Kao, Griffin, Herman, Bachman, Chang, and Farnsworth.
DeBray-Pelot, E. (2009, January). The new politics of education: Analyzing the federal
education policy landscape in the post-NCLB era. Educational Policy, 23(1), 15-42. doi:
10.1177/0895904808328524
The scope of the case study was to present to advocates of political and scientific challenges the
influences of academic accountability policy and the accountability pressure of NCLB on math
and reading achievements. The goal of the researchers was to convey information about the
tensions of subgroup-specific accountability inherent in NCLB that may improve assessment
scores among Hispanic, Afro-American, and disadvantaged populations, and that may influence
school position in the achievement of test-score improvement in respect to overall score
distribution across schools. The sample population for the major research included 1.7 million
students from all of the 1800 schools in North Carolina who were in the third to eighth grades.
Researchers developed a multiple case study of schools and students that were failing to achieve
NCLB goals, and that the researchers were striving to improve through their studies of fixed
Gallagher, C. 30
effects, trends, and controls, especially for overall success of Afro-American, Hispanic, and
socioeconomically deprived subgroups. Conclusions indicate that goals about improved high-
and low-stake test scores in respect to NCLB tensions must be within reach and realizable.
Schools with a marginal passing annual yearly progress (AYP) as mandated by NCLB were
required to achieve score levels rather than gains, and that resulted in the risks involving the
control of endogenous factors. Carnoy and Loeb also explored external accountability for
influences on the outcomes of student achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
published the related work in 2002.
Dyson, M. (2010, January). What might a person-centered model of teacher education look like
in the 21st century? The transformism model of teacher education. Journal of
Transformative Education, 8(1), 3-21. doi: 10.1177/1541344611406949
The scope of the study is to introduce the transformative model of teacher education as a step
beyond self-consciousness to empathy and compassion for students. The study embraces
Gardner’s choice theory, which is inherent in his Five Minds for the Future, learning theories,
and choice theory, Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism, Piaget’s Stages of Development, Bloom’s
Taxonomy, Garner’s Multiple Intelligences, and Dewey’s ideas about social environment as
incipient but fragmented attempts to attain transformative thinking that is intuitive and beyond
logical and rational thinking. The qualitative study analyzes literature and experiences that
involve pre-service teaching and globalization, and historic and recent archives that include 150
years of recurrent systemic issues. Invariably reoccurring issues prevail about binaries such as
the synergy between theory and practice to improve student learning. One problem involves Pre-
Gallagher, C. 31
Service Teacher Education (PSTE) and research and development that pertains to metacognitive
experience, which relates to the role of mentors in student learning, Mezirow’s theories and
research in metacognitive thinking, Knowles’ organismic worldview of thinking, and Bauman’s
concept about tertiary learning to develop open-mindedness and insightful thinking midst
expanding global education. Conclusions support the current Transformative Model of Teacher
Education in the Post Modern Digital World of Gardner, which nurtures exclusive positive
attitudes toward a super consciousness and the expansive academic community. The scope
supports the work’s relationship to Glasser’s choice theory for supporting learning practices that
nurture mind-sets that transcend the self.
Grim, F. (2010). Giving Authentic Opportunities to Second Language Learners: A Look at a
French Service-Learning Project. Foreign Language Annals, 43(4), 605-623.
doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720.2010.01104.x
Foreign language students are inspired to learn more of their native language when they have the
opportunity to engage in community service or SL and to introduce their language and culture
through interaction with aspiring community members. The scope of the case study involves the
impact of such SL to the professional inclinations of foreign language students, who in this study
are learning French as their second language, and the hypothesis is confirmed about the impact
of SL. The population of the study involves students of French language who participated in an
SL French course at Colorado State University. The methodology of the case study included
service-training; specifically SL. The findings, which involve service-training and SL, also are
associated with pre-service training, orientation, and staff development in respect to the
Gallagher, C. 32
philosophy, which aligns with consistent program quality. The study supports the findings of
Rosengrant’s research in 1997 and Gascoigne Lally’s research in 2001, who had concluded also
that service training significantly may influence the professional future of a learner.
Grossman, F. D. (2010, July). Dissent from within: How educational insiders use protest to
create policy change. Educational Policy, 24(4), 655-686. doi:
10.1177/0895904809335110
The qualitative research is a case study about the strategies of teachers and administrators of 28
small public schools that effectively exempt them from their state assessment policy. The New
York State Commissioner of Education had granted a waiver to the Teachers and Administrators
of New York (TANY). Grossman examined two questions: The conditions that support
protesters who represent organizations of insiders, and the strategies and tactics of those
organizations to achieve policy change. He collected data through interviews of 50 respondents
of TANY and other facilitators of academic activists, including state legislators and their
assistants, members of the Board of Regents, and workers for the state and city Departments of
Education. Researchers rely on social movement theory to explore the way that members of
TANY effectively protest to retain their waiver, which exempts its students from passing state
exit exams before they may graduate from secondary school. Grossman’s qualitative interviews
revealed emotions and tone that he included in a summary and timeline of events that he related
with their protest-event behaviors. His final methodology includes the archival data of 220
documents, including newspapers, public hearings, affidavits, and briefs, emails, internal-TANY
documents, and TANY press releases. Through his triangulation of all data, Grossman gathered
Gallagher, C. 33
insight for the methods of protest that educator activists utilized to achieve policy change. He
had divided his field notes, interviews, and archive sources into three categories: Strategy,
Emergence, and Development. Through an inductive process, he concluded with 42
subcategories.
The ability of social movements to achieve policy change within the policy-making contexts of
New York State through political, institutional, and social environments requires what Grossman
describes as “mobilization,” an effective voice and an opportunity to direct that voice to policy-
makers. Other works with relationships in standards-based reform include those of Malen and
Cochran, whose work entitled, “Beyond Pluralistic Patterns of Power Research on the Micro-
politics of Schools” was published in the Handbook of Educational Politics and Policy by
Routledge in New York during 2008.
Hakuta, K. (2011, May). Educating language minority students and affirming their equal rights:
Research and practical perspectives. Educational Researcher, 40(4), 163-174. doi:
10.3102/0013189X11404943
As an experimental psycholinguist, Hakuta maintains the hypothesis that educational policy and
politics should change in respect to the benefits of minority American students. Examining the
socioeconomic barriers of bilingual students, Hakuta has sought educational reform as he has
analyzed in-progress achievement data for certain characteristics, such as a reliable timeframe,
that indicate an effective bilingual-education program. His research is based predominantly on
the precedential French-Canadian immersion model, and he has sought to challenge anti-
Gallagher, C. 34
immigrant and eugenic perspectives, which were common in the pro-Western nation of the
United States. For his national research, Hakuta studied the performance of the population of
11,000 students at the Sanger Unified School District—a rural area in central California where
most of the students are impoverished. Hakuta conducted a case study of students who were
socioeconomically deprived. Through his study, he compared past English-language learners
(ELLs) with current ELLs and English-only learners (EOs) for six years, through the California
Standards Test (CST) and the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), in
which the ELLs and Eos attained intermediate proficiency; within seven years, 80% of those
ELLs and EOs attained most significant proficiency. Findings include the inverse survival
probability for the achievement of proficient performance—within two years, 80% of the
students did achieve proficiency. Furthermore, Hakuta’s conclusion included that assessment
data that focused on uniform standards-based instruction were the strongest predictors of
improved student achievement over time. Furthermore, conclusions included evidence about
access to materials and to opportunities for professional development for teachers as well as for
ELLs. Of further importance, Hakuta believes that language presents a challenge that requires
insight—a proficiency that exists between the lines associated with the probability of CELDT
Level 4-5, and a reassignment—a level of functional perception for which this empirical
evidence indicates that national appreciation for the bilingual-community culture will improve
the academic proficiency and equity of the overall community. Hakuta’s work supports other
works and reports about effective bilingual education practices for ELLs, including a 209 case
study from the Council of Great City Schools, which also had acted as a challenge of an
unfavorable review by conservative melting-pot traditionalists who represented at that time the
Gallagher, C. 35
Office of Civil Rights. This study also supports the Common Core State Standards Initiative of
2010.
Jared, D., Cormier, P., Levy, B., & Wade-Woolley, L. (2011). Early predictors of biliteracy
development in children in French immersion: A 4-year longitudinal study. Journal Of
Educational Psychology, 103(1), 119-139. doi:10.1037/a0021284
The scope involves the variables that predict reading progress as a predictor of competency from
one language to another of second-language students. The hypothesis includes evidence about
general cognitive and linguistic abilities that are associated with the ability to identify new
words—abilities that predict reading skills from one language to another, unlike reading
comprehension, which the researchers confirm to be a language-specific ability. The population
included 140 Canadian children, who were enrolled in French-immersion programs, and who
first were tested in kindergarten, and then annually in both English and in French through Grade
3, with measurements about their word-level and passage-level understanding to evaluate their
fluency. Researchers used a hierarchal linear model in the case study to determine which English
variables predicted Grade-3 outcomes and growth rates in English and in French, and to
determine the set of predictors that were associated with the most variance in development and
rates and outcomes in French and English reading. The researchers concluded with evidence that
language-learner adapt some skills that are important to general reading are across languages:
Phonological recognition, rapid automatized naming, and grammatical ability, for example.
Receptive vocabulary of English, however, was language-specific, that students did not transfer
from one language to another. Of greatest interest, J. Cummins has provided in the 1970s and
Gallagher, C. 36
1980s an associated perspective that includes the developmental interdependence hypothesis,
which associates second-language competency with the developmental level of the young
learner’s native language when rigorous exposure begins to a second language early in life. Even
R. Guglielm during 2008 has provided evidence of a model by which learners of limited-English
proficiency achieve bilingual capabilities that produce long-term academic and occupational
results. The researchers also refer to the sociopolitical variable, which they indicate does not
associate American and Canadian studies, because American research includes immigrant
Spanish-speaking learners whose parents represent poor socioeconomic status. The researchers’
findings about this variable are associated with the 2006 research of D. August and D. Shanahan.
Kozub, M. L. (2013, April). Through the eyes of the other: Using event analysis to build cultural
competence. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, XX(X), 1-6. doi:
10.1177/1043659613481809
Participants of a nursing program at Xavier University in Ohio undergo transformative learning
focus groups and surveys to reform their attitudes about their culture as being superior, and to
develop compassion and empathy for others who do not represent similar cultural and
socioeconomic characteristics. Transformational learning is part of event analysis—the
exploration of a circumstance or event from numerous perspectives so as to describe the true and
to reflect on its associated and ultimate consequences. The unique event analysis of each
participant was achieved through the methods of a focus group and a survey that researchers
relied on to evaluate transformational learning in respect to reflective discourse through the inner
consciousness that did empathize and relate to others—the unique event analysis of each
Gallagher, C. 37
participant in respect to understanding, describing, and investigating interpretive occurrences
from numerous possible perspectives. Conclusions involve the value of focus groups and surveys
to influence empathy for other individuals—a part of perceptive understanding that
transformational learning does instill. Findings pertain to cultural competence that extends
beyond the self to the extension of cultural competency in caring for and communicating with
others, especially those who represent different cultural and SES backgrounds. The reflective
tool of discourse is important to reflective dialogue within groups and populations. Individuals
must develop problem-solving discourse, interpreting, confirming, and supporting other
participants of their group so as to transform frames of reference beyond the home base rather
than merely to memorize frames of reference. One must be able to reflect on one’s own ideas,
values, perspectives and ideologies, and to be able to reflect upon the perspective of others to
provide culturally competent care, instruction, and communication. One must approach through
diversity to transform from an ethnocentric base.
The work about Mezirow’s transformational learning is important to the efficacy of Mezirow’s
learning theory and related practice, which are founded in Vygotsky’s ideas about socio-culture.
Kozub refers to Ruth-Sahd, Beck, and McCall, who in 2010 had relied on surveys and focus-
group methodologies to research similar outcomes. Kozub also refers to Sanddin and Bay,
archaeologists who in 2006 had used transformative thinking in 2006 to instill environmentally
logical and socially conscious methods into their work. According to Kozub, Ntseane applied
transformational theory in cultural contexts that required a culturally sensitive approach, such as
Botswana in 2011, where transformational thinking and learning are not bound by Western
ideologies.
Gallagher, C. 38
Madsen, S. R. (2010, February). Leadership development in the United Arab Emirates: The
transformational learning experiences of women. Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies, 17(1), 100-110. doi: 10.1177/
The scope of the research study involves the development of effective leadership programs for
women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); researchers explored the efficacy of
transformational learning theory through the responses of the UAE population that they studied.
The methodology included the qualitative, phenomenological research approach of in-depth one-
hour interviews in the Middle Eastern UAE at the Abu Dhabi Women’s College (ADWC).
Saturation of the research is of concern, since all of the interviews were conducted individually
in a private office, and the interviewed Emirate women were third and fourth-year university
students. Findings support the success of transformational learning, even in unusual cases. These
are precedential findings, because they are the first about transformational learning and
leadership capacities. The findings indicate that Emirati women respond to leadership
development programs with extraordinary reflection, and that they sincerely value the feedback,
advice, and motivational support that they receive. They also respond well to new environments.
The findings or implications of the study also revealed the new ability of the Emirate women to
voice opinions openly—they developed a sense of security in response to their opportunity to
contemplate and to provide feedback during extensive interviews.
According to the authors, other research about the backgrounds and experiences of UAE women
in learning environments is sparse. Jack Mezirow has conducted research in respect to this
Gallagher, C. 39
transformational learning theory, but with other populations that included other professional
women, for example. The work’s relationship to other work pertains to the beneficial influence
of transformational learning to individual development, and how transformational learning is
important to the insights and competency characteristics of leadership development. In 2004,
Bellas conducted research about transformational learning experiences and leadership capacity
that yielded findings about a positive association between the two. Associated research about the
importance of transformational learning to leadership competencies is extensive and includes the
work of Elkins in 2003, Brown and Posner in 2001, Scribner and Donaldson in 2001, and King
in 2003.
Nieto, C. & Booth, M. Z. (2010, September). Cultural competence: Its influence on the teaching
and learning of international students. Journal of Studies in International Education,
14(4), 406-425. doi: 10.1177/1028315309337929
The scope of the mixed-methods approach was to investigate the influence of cultural-
competency levels on the instructional and learning processes of instructors and learners. The
assumed hypothesis was confirmed by the researchers in respect to the levels of cultural
competency. It indicated that (1) instructors demonstrated in contrast to their students, (2) ESL
instructors demonstrated in contrast to non-ESL students, (3) gender was an insignificant
variable, and (4) challenges about cultural competency were most significant in respect to
instructors and international students. The researchers utilized a mixed-methods approach to
yield findings about the high level of intercultural sensitivity that college instructors experience
in contrast to the low level that students experience, and that the indication of females as being
Gallagher, C. 40
more intercultural sensitivity than males was consistent such that as a variable the findings were
insignificant. Findings also included significantly different levels between ESL and non-ESL
instructors, and significant challenges of instructors only in respect to culture and language. The
research supports the Bronfenbrenner Ecology System Theory that confirms how all levels of
human ecology are influenced directly and indirectly by the culture that they also influence.
Osterling, J. P. & Whitney, W. (2009). On becoming a bilingual teacher: A transformative
process for preservice and novice teachers. Journal of Transformative Education 7(4),
267-293. doi: 10.1177/1541344610386470
The scope revolves about Jack Mezirow’s seminal work in transformational learning (1975,
1978) has developed into a powerful and influential theory in education; nonetheless, some
researchers criticize it for its “shortcomings” as they nonetheless find it important and
interesting, especially in respect to Paul Freire’s work on humanization and his concept of
conscientization. Among those who were inspired by Vygotsky’s cultural-historical methods,
Freiri and Mezirow developed transformative theoretical models that reflect Vygotsky’s socio-
cultural approach. Unfortunately, limitations of the study include the close academic relationship
that the project’s participants had maintained for two years with the researchers. The participants
were aware of the interests of the researchers. The methodology follows the structure of an ex
post facto qualitative study designed as a criteria group (Babbie, 2007, Wiersma & Jurs, 2009).
Ex post facto translates as “from what is done afterwards and refers to studies that investigate
possible cause-and-effect relationships by observing an existing condition or states of affairs
while searching back in time for plausible factors” (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007, p. 205).
Gallagher, C. 41
Although ex post facto qualitative studies cannot prove causation, they may provide insight into
the understanding of phenomena of teachers who are preservice (PST) and novice (NT) through
their in-class field notes and post interviews that are open-ended and that permit extensive
thinking. In addition, open-ended interviews of the qualitative methodology are interpretive and
longitudinal—researchers interviewed nontraditional students—a purposeful sample to motivate
them to analyze and revise their visions of reform and innovative teaching techniques.
Researchers concluded that the PST and NT experienced professional and personal
transformation and epiphanies. After two-year tenure in the graduate school of education, they
prepared a teaching philosophy during their first year that preceded the philosophy that they
wrote after much reflection at the conclusion of their second year. The first, which they wrote
during their first semester, was for their course, “Bilingualism and Language Acquisition
Research”; the second, “Research to Practice”, as a part of their capstone course. PSTs and NTs
all realized in respect to their developed ideas about bilingual and second language acquisition
that contradicted their course material such that they experienced a phase of denial /
rationalization / resistance, doubt / contesting, awareness / conscientization—scaffolding trust;
reformulate, reprocess, and reconstruct, and reinforcement with field experience. Vygotsky had
begun intellectual transformation coding scheme; Freire, Mezirow, Taylor, and Kozulin also
contributed to the importance of analysis in intellectual transitions of bilingual PSTs and NTs
who were enrolled in a multilingual / multi-cultural graduate teacher education program.
Szkudlarek, B. (2009, September). Through western eyes: Insights into the intercultural training
field. Organization Studies, 30(9), 975-986. doi: 10.1177/0170840609338987
Gallagher, C. 42
Seeking to fulfill the goal about multicultural education, Szkudlarek has conducted a case study
in which he analyzes the most sophisticated cross-cultural management toolkits for augmented
moral standards in decisions that involve cultural encounters to improve relations between what
he distinguishes as “over-trained ‘sophisticated’ Westerners” and the other group of “primitives.”
He has sought a solution of liberating intercultural training to solve all of the problems about the
inequalities imposed by “hegemonic discourses” and unbalanced power. Szkudlarek has
conducted a qualitative analysis to research the intercultural training industry through his
participant observations of five training-for-trainers sessions, and 31 in-depth interviews with
intercultural trainers, and numerous informal conversational interviews. His hypothesis
corresponded to his case study, which was a response to evidence about essential and effective
intercultural training for global leaders and expatriates. He hypothesized about such training that
he believed should be more than an algorithm of a model for important decisions and for
matrices of embedded cultural software. Through his case study, he identified a grounded theory
that emerges about the necessary decoding of values and dispositions that are inherent, and that
he asserts should either be corrected or eliminated. Szykudlarek has recruited leaders who
represent the unfortunate pro-Western bias of “intercultural meta-narratives” that construct
identities that evoke hostility among non-Westerners. Among the subject that he qualitatively
analyzed, Hofstede and Kassem’s work, European Contributions to Organizational Theory
reinforced Szkudlarek’s hypotheses that identified the Western bias of American leaders, who
were projecting socioeconomic barriers that impeded multicultural education and cross-cultural
encounters at every level. Szkudlarek concludes that Europeans and Westerners have ignored the
consequences of politics, ethics, and culture, compelling diminished cultural traits that continue
Gallagher, C. 43
to deteriorate over time. The work is related to Geert Hofstede’s cultural software model that
assumes the primary center of European socialization to be the family, school, and place of
occupation. Szkudlarek also bases his work on the GLOBE group, which he indicates did share
the objective to determine cultural clusters essential to effective collective regional software.
Szkudlarek’s case study and qualitative analyses also relate to Culture Matters by Harrison and
Huntington—an inclination about a correlation of progressive values of those who prejudicially
condemn others for “backwardness” and socioeconomically related characteristics. Continuing to
uphold and to manifest an altruistic perspective, Szkudlarek has listed all of the works that he
considered in his comparative case study.
Üsdiken, B. (2010, June). Between contending perspectives and logics: Organizational studies in
Europe. Organization Studies, 31(6), 715-735. doi: 10.1177/0170840610372581
Examining the changes and distinctions within organizational studies throughout Europe over the
past three decades, Üsdiken draws his hypotheses from empirical studies of the population of
authors who have been published in Organizational Studies over the past 30 years. The scope of
the case study indicates that the populace has shifted distinctly towards practices that are founded
in “subjectivist” logic. Those studies indicate homogenous conclusions, and researchers of the
United Kingdom continue to maintain alternative perspectives that do not align with those of the
pro-Western American mainstream. In his comparative case study that empirically examines
organizational studies in Europe, Üsdiken distinguishes between European organization theory
and its American counterpart. He indicates that the European perspective identifies
“organization” as structural and abstract, a whole, and part of society, while the American
Gallagher, C. 44
perspective is concerned about what “goes on inside,” what is functional and practical, and about
the individual in society. In respect to methodology, Üsdiken’s case study has revealed that
European researchers tend toward comparative case studies, while American researchers tend
toward surveys, experiments, and single-case, literary studies. Findings validate and argue the
premise about two interrelated objectives: Europe has not followed the American literature-based
path, the unique comparative approach of European researchers has culminated in developing
theory that differs significantly from American theory, and European researchers practice and
contextualize differently than their American counterparts. European researchers believe that
through their openness, they consider diverse paradigms in a manner that does not stagnate and
that does not exclude development and unforeseen change. Üsdiken observed little change
throughout his three-decade case study that was based on institutional concepts and adapted
scientific theory. At the same time, he observed that the pro-Western nation continues to be so
realistic and objective that it cannot adapt to organizational change, qualities about which
European researchers are quite critical as they nonetheless are adopting some pro-Western
theories. The work’s relationship to other works in the area of study begins with Hofstede and
Kassen’s European Contributions to Organization Theory of 1976. Üsdiken reveals that the
European practice of organization often structuralized Marxist ideologies, while American
practice regarded itself as harmony-based in contrast to the conflict-base of Marxism, which
sought to prevent ethno-centricity in education. Üsdiken does emphasize that the pro-Western
and non-Western divide is becoming more pronounced throughout time.
Vandergrift, L., & Tafaghodtari, M. H. (2010). Teaching L2 Learners How to Listen Does Make
a Difference: An Empirical Study. Language Learning, 60(2), 470-497.
Gallagher, C. 45
The influences of metacognition were the scope of an empirical case study that involved the
process-approach to the instruction of a second language (L2). The hypothesis of the case study
involved the fact that the experimental group, which included less accomplished listeners, would
improve more significantly than the group of more skilled listeners. The study confirmed the
hypothesis. The population included 106 participants from six associated sections of courses of
French as a second language (FSL). The experimental group included 59 participants; the control
group included 47 participants. Recruited as students of French-as-a-second-language program,
the learners who participated in the experimental group employed a methodology to listen to
texts that directed them through the metacognitive process—the Metacognitive Awareness
Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) that listeners completed enabled researchers to measure the
developing listening skills of the L2 learners. Under investigation, the metacognitive process
includes the ability to develop skills at planning and/or predicting, monitoring, problem-solving,
and evaluating. The findings verified the hypothesis that the experimental group, which consisted
of participants whose listening skills were originally inferior to the listening skills of the control
group, would improve more than the control group, which did not undergo the MALQ except
during three different points during the case study to emphasize the potential influence of
stimulating the consciousness during competitive tasks. As a supportive pedagogy to improve L2
listening abilities, the metacognition under investigation for this case study could benefit through
more diverse methods as indicated by Goh (2008), who also addressed the theory, performance,
and research implications of metacognition. Further works that relate to this case study include
those of Richards (2005) and Mareschal (2007) in respect to the instructional benefits of a
transcript copy, which would enable learners to decipher meaning from incomprehensible,
Gallagher, C. 46
poorly articulated, or concatenated words and phrases. The ability is beneficial to learners as they
are able to focus on the visual text that represents the sound associated therewith. These studies
also replicate through the incorporation of transcripts those of Field (2003), Robin (2007),
Hustijn (2003), and Wilson (2003).
Yuill, N. (2009). The relation between ambiguity understanding and metalinguistic discussion of
joking riddles in good and poor comprehenders: Potential for intervention and possible
processes of change. First Language, 29(1). doi: 10.1177/0142723708097561
The scope involved ambiguous words and contexts that caused variances in the reading
comprehension of children who were seven to ten years of age. In pairs, the twenty-four children
contemplated, discussed, and resolved the ambiguities that humorous riddles evoked.
Frequencies of metalinguistic comments, which were influenced by the humorous riddles, tended
to improve the reading comprehension skills of that group. Another twenty-four children
comprised the no-treatment control group such that 24 participants from four classes of two
primary schools—48 students altogether in south-east England formed the sample population. If
they did not acquire parental permission or if their teacher declared them to exhibit low literacy
rates or verbal problems, the students were excluded as participants. Six coding schemes
identified levels of metacognition, meta-linguistics, guesses, control talk, and evaluative
responses that children expressed to researchers in a cast study that revealed the metalinguistic
and metacognitive qualities of humorous jokes and riddles. Conclusions reinforced the ideas of
Vygotsky about the function of peer discussion to learning that developing cognition requires,
social interaction, and exchange of discussion and inquiry, and that internalized individual
Gallagher, C. 47
speech is important to higher cognitive processes. Previous related work includes Manion and
Alexander’s work on the advantages of peer communication on the utilization of strategies,
casual metacognitive qualities, and recollection, which was published in 1997 by the staff of the
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
III. Reflective Look at EDD vs. Ph.D.
The research process is critical to the development of improved instruction and
knowledge that prevents and corrects misunderstandings, inaccuracies, and malfunctions across
professions and cultures. Political science and psychology maintain a synergy that began to
influence my professional life since I first studied chemical engineering with the Chief Engineer
of General Electric while I was quite young and a resident of Los Angeles communities. My
research that revolved around political science and psychology also began during that time, first
studied each subject at upper-division and graduate levels through university peers. At that time,
I was recipient of numerous national and county awards, and my peers were publishing my work
through scholarly associations until they did decease. Upon revising works of major publishers
and newspapers, I began the dissertation process through the concept-mapping method that
Kandiko and Kinchin (2012) describe as a radically unique approach to analysis (p. 6).
Instilling appreciation for organization, natural laws and order, and control, I have
continued to provide through my published work support for educational themes at state,
national, and international levels through my associations with Alumni associations, collegial
groups, journalism societies, music societies, and peers who are counselors, for example. In fact,
I maintain distinguished peers who worked with me during important stages of their career, and
who relied on my equipment to complete their dissertations and to publish their peer-reviewed
works in journals that are archived at the Lane Medical Library at Stanford University. My peers
Gallagher, C. 48
moved to the east coast and to Europe, and I correspond as I am able—they have asked me to
report back about my reaction to their work and in respect to my observations of California
public school policy, activities and concepts that evoke McGowan and Pederson (2012).
Having studied several years of German and French as I also maintain Russian-speaking
peers, I have integrated and analyzed very much classical literature about dynamic systems,
philosophy, and ethics into my work, which is uniquely original. The research process relates to
my development of further instruction that influences tolerance among cultures and among
language groups, and that follows the descriptions of Jazvak (2011). Through the opportunity to
develop my dissertation through the structure of Northcentral University, I have access to current
scholarly and peer journals that relate to developing literary and educational themes. Therefore, I
am able to continue case studies, revision, and translation projects that correspond to the
dissertation process at the doctorate level as per the definition of Barratt (2011); furthermore, I
have experience developing not only the quadratic formula but the derivation of statistical
analysis, which I learned to evaluate in respect to populations, samples, phenomenon, and static /
non-static systems.
References
Barratt, B. B. (2011, May). The differences between a professional doctorate and the Ph.D.
Prescott Valley, AZ: Northcentral University.
Jazvac M. M. (2011). Emerging academic identities: How education Phd students experience the
doctorate. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A, 71, (12-A), 2011. pp. 4303.
Gallagher, C. 49
Kandiko, C. B., & Kinchin, I. M. (2012). What is a doctorate? A concept-mapped analysis of
process versus product in the supervision of lab-based PhDs. Educational Research,
54(1), 3-16. doi:10.1080/00131881.2012.658196
McGowan, T. M., & Pedersen, J. E. (2012). No longer 'PhD-lite': Establishing a professional
practice doctorate of substance. In M. Macintyre Latta, S. Wunder (Eds.), Placing
practitioner knowledge at the center of teacher education: Rethinking the policies and
practices of the education doctorate (pp. 233-248). Charlotte, NC US: IAP.