Research Help: Strategic Planning: Educational Theories Exploration

Education Justice

Fitchburg State's working definition: Education Justice is a commitment to equity. It is a belief that access to a quality education is a vehicle for providing students with equity of opportunity. This means a commitment to ensuring that all the resources associated with the educational process are available not only to all students, but especially to those students that have been historically denied equitable access. It is also a commitment to an education that is transformational for the individual and society as whole, since it is committed to empowering students to overcome economic, social and cultural inequities.

Education, Justice and Democracy by Danielle Allen (Editor); Rob Reich (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9780226012629
Publication Date: 2013-03-04
Education, Justice, and Democracy offers an intensive discussion by highly respected scholars across empirical and philosophical disciplines. The contributors explore how the institutions and practices of education can support democracy, by creating the conditions for equal citizenship and egalitarian empowerment, and how they can advance justice, by securing social mobility and cultivating the talents and interests of every individual.

Interview with Patricia Hill Collins on Critical Thinking, Intersectionality and Educational: Key Objectives for Critical Articulation on Inclusive Education
Interview with social theorist Patricia Hill Collins on intersectionality as it relates to education and social justice activism. See page 167: “When it comes to addressing educational inequity, we need first to recognize how structural inequalities within society shape access to and the quality of educational institutions as well how structural inequities within education articulate with gender, class, race and similar broader categories of social inequality.”
The Role of Higher Education in Social Mobility
Discusses the role of higher education in social mobility. See page 129: "Higher education is expected to promote the goal of social mobility and make it possible for anyone with ability and motivation to succeed. To be effective in this role, college and universities must seek out ability, motivation, and preparedness wherever it lies and then provide high-quality educational services to their students."
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education: Equity Agenda
The DHE will develop a statewide strategic plan focused on equity, to be reflected in our policies, programs, and initiatives. The expectation is that, by doing so, the Massachusetts system of public higher education will enhance economic and social mobility for all citizens, but particularly for those that have historically been underserved and underrepresented, especially students of color, throughout all levels of education.

Education Justice Additional Readings

Lift Us up, Don't Push Us Out! by Mark R. Warren; David Goodman
Call Number: LC221.L54 2018 (Print)
ISBN: 9780807016008
Publication Date: 2018-08-21
Parents, young people, community organizers, and educators describe how they are fighting systemic racism in schools by building a new intersectional educational justice movement.

Using Intersectionality as a Tool for Social Justice with Low-Income and Economically Marginalized Children and Youth
From a school psychologist perspective, outlines the intersectional identities of low income children and youth (LIEM), and how to apply intersectionality in education settings. See Intersectionality, LIEM Students, and Systems Advocacy page 17: “deeper study of both race and economic marginalization will prepare teachers to actively intervene when they encounter children of color who live in LIEM.”
A Critical Exploration of Changing Definitions of Public Good in Relation to Higher Education.
Explores the changing definition of public good, in relation to social justice in United Kingdom Higher Education (HE) policies. See Changing Definitions of Public Good page 622: “Current definitions of public good employed in policy documents often seem to be simply the sum of individual, often financial, gains.There is no reference to knowledge in current discussion of public good other than in a very instrumental sense of individual skills for employability.”

Terminology

Inclusive Education
Inclusive Education is a philosophy and pedagogical practice that K–12 schools use to facilitate access for ALL students to general education curriculum as fully participating members in typical classroom environments (Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice).
Education Equity
Education equity is concerned with a just distribution in education resources, which is directly related to educational access and outcomes. Measures of education equity primarily consider whether and how gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes vary across certain groups and countries (Sage Encyclopedia of World Poverty)
Social Mobility
Social mobility is the movement of individuals or groups either upward or downward within a social status system. Social mobility can be measured in two ways. Mobility as measured over the course of an individual’s adult life is intragenerational mobility. Mobility as measured by comparing the status attainment of an individual with that of their parents is intergenerational attainment (World of Sociology, Gale)
Social Stratification
Social stratification is a system by which society divides categories of people into strata or layers that are ranked from high to low. Where social stratification exists, some types of people systematically experience privileges in society while other types of people are repeatedly disadvantaged in society (Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice).

Student-Ready University

"A student-ready college is one that strategically and holistically advances student success, and works tirelessly to educate all students for civic and economic participation in a global, interconnected society. At student- ready colleges, all services and activities- from admissions, to the business office, to the classroom, and even to campus security- are intentionally designed to facilitate students’ progressive advancement toward college completion and positive post-college outcomes." (from the 2016 book Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success, page 13)

Becoming a Student-Ready College by Tia Brown McNair; Susan Albertine; Michelle Asha Cooper; Nicole McDonald
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781119119517
Publication Date: 2016-07-25
To truly become student-ready, educators must make difficult decisions, face the pressures of accountability, and address their preconceived notions about student success head-on. Becoming a Student-Ready College provides a reality check based on today's higher education environment. See page 17: "To better support current and future generations of students, higher education must undergo a paradigm shift - one in which faculty and administrators fully embrace responsibility for serving students."
Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges and Universities by Gina Ann Garcia
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781421427379
Publication Date: 2019-03-12
Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)--not-for-profit, degree-granting colleges and universities that enroll at least 25% or more Latinx students--are among the fastest-growing higher education segments in the United States. As they increase in number, these questions bear consideration: What does it mean to serve Latinx students? What special needs does this student demographic have? And what opportunities and challenges develop when a college or university becomes an HSI?

Are College Faculty and First-Generation, Low-Income Students Ready for Each Other?
Compares student and faculty perceptions of “college ready,” and how that affects student engagement. See Discussion page 210: “When faculty conceptualized student readiness as multifaceted and longitudinal in nature, they were more likely to recognize forms of student readiness, such as social, cultural, and linguistic forms of wealth (Yosso, 2005) that students brought with them to the classroom.”
Grabbing Third Rails: Courageous Responses to Persistent Equity Gaps
Discusses the three major challenges of creating effective student readiness initiatives and support systems, as outlined in the book “Becoming a Student-Ready College.” See The Challenge of Effective Pedagogy page 48: “Typically, it is a teachers’ personal investment—caring, compassion, inspiration— that enhances a student’s educational experience.”
Create a Student-ready Institution by Engaging Everyone on campus.
Provides an outline of attributes and strategies for making a student ready institution. See page 4: “What if we focused on what does it mean for our institution to be ready for the students we already have — not the students that we want [someday] but the students we actually have?”

Student-Ready University Additional Readings

From the Schoolyard to the Campus: Helping Middle Grades Students See Themselves as Future College Students
College immersion programs promote college readiness among middle school students, and provide universities with outlets to adapt college level content for students, a process that can also be applied at the college level. See Recommendations for Planning a College Immersion Plan at Your School page 36: “colleges that offer teacher preparation programs may be interested in professional development opportunities and the possibility of forming and/or improving partnerships with neighborhood schools.”
First-Generation Student Status Is Not Enough: How Acknowledging Students with Working-Class Identities Can Help Us Better Serve Students
Explores the intersectionality of the first-generation student, and how it can be applied to provide better support systems. See Low-Income Student Support in Practice page 24: “While the challenge of being a low-income student is largely financial, it is also tied to our systems and policies.”
(Social) Class is in Session: Becoming Student-Ready for the Working-Class Work
Studies the experiences on working class students at public research institutions, and how universities can anticipate their needs to become student ready. See Centering Anti-Classism page 15: “Too often, campus resources divide students across first-generation, low-income, or working-class and end up missing the bigger picture of social class inequality. The result is that institutions may try to support students impacted by classism, but rarely actually address classism as an issue.”
Reimagining Student Success: Equity-Oriented Responses to Traditional Notions of Success
Qualitative research examining interviews with university faculty and staff members to explore, “how their sense of students’ needs might inform debates about student success broadly.” See Findings on page 486: “Project leads...contested these standardized views of student success, openly challenged these metrics, and even contributed contrasting definitions about what success might entail for the students they served.”
Finding My Way: Perceptions of Institutional Support and Belonging in Low-Income, First-Generation, First-Year College Students
Qualitative case study exploring students’ first hand accounts of experiences with institutional support. See Findings page 917: “Faculty decisions about pedagogical approach, attitude toward students in class and during office hours, and expectations of student knowledge, behavior, and ability frequently shaped student choices about how to respond to a class, a task, or a major.”

Dr. Jillian Kinzie at New England Assessment Conference (2020)

Dr. Jillian Kinzie speaks on education justice and study ready campus
At the 2020 virtual New England Assessment Conference, the keynote speaker was Dr. Jillian Kinzie from Indiana University and NSSE and NILOA. Her focus was on student ready campus. Permission from the conference coordinator has been received to make this keynote available.
Dr. Kinzie starts at 5:48.

Strategic Planning: Educational Theories Exploration

Strategic Planning @ Fitchburg State University - Introduction