George W. Noblit - Böcker

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods in Education has brought together scholars from across the globe who use qualitative methods in their research to address the history, current uses, adaptations for specific knowledge domains and situations, and problematics that drive the methodology. The two-volume set is the most comprehensive resource available on qualitative methods in education. For novice researchers, these volumes enable a broad view of the methods and how to enact them in the studies that early-career researchers may wish to conduct. For the experienced researcher, the range of approaches and adaptations covered enables the development of sophisticated methodological designs. For those who are qualitative research methodologists, this book reveals where the methodology has come from and where it is going. Methodologists can use these volumes to discern where new ideas and practices are needed, and provide the bases for new methodological works. For those who teach these methods, the Encyclopedia is an invaluable compendium that can be tapped for inclusion in courses and to enable the instructor to be able to quickly respond to specific student needs with high-quality methodological resources.

Education research has seen a phenomenal growth in studies that explore the multiple, fluid, and changing complexities of culture and identity work. The nuanced, contradictory, and process-oriented nature of identity and identification has meant that the studies in education are largely, and appropriately, qualitative and ethnographic. However, because qualitative studies are marked by their focus on the particular, it has been difficult to discern exactly what these studies contribute to identity theory collectively.In Cultural Constructions of Identity, a set of meta-ethnographic syntheses of qualitative studies addressing identity become the vehicle to speak across single studies to address cultural identity theory. Meta-Ethnography, first developed by Noblit and Hare in 1988, incorporates a translation theory of interpretation so that the unique aspects of studies are preserved to the degree possible while also revealing the analogies between these studies. While the studies in this book examine the various intersections of race and ethnicity with respect to gender, age, class, and sexuality, Cultural Constructions of Identity turns its primary focus on what these studies reveal about identity and identification theory itself.

A groundswell of interest has led to significant advances in understanding and using Culturally Responsive Arts Education to promote social justice and education. This landmark volume provides a theoretical orientation to these endeavors. Examining a range of efforts across different forms of art, various educational settings, and diverse contexts, it foregrounds the assets of imagination, creativity, resilience, critique and cultural knowledge, working against prevailing understandings of marginalized groups as having deficits of knowledge, skills, or culture. Emphasizing the arts as a way to make something possible, it explores and illustrates the elements of social justice arts education as "a way out of no way" imposed by dominance and ideology. A set of powerful demonstrations shows how this work looks in action. Introductions to the book as a whole and to each section focus on how to use the chapters pedagogically. The conclusion pulls back the chapters into theoretical and pedagogical context and suggests what needs done to be done practically, empirically, and theoretically, for the field to continue to develop.

A groundswell of interest has led to significant advances in understanding and using Culturally Responsive Arts Education to promote social justice and education. This landmark volume provides a theoretical orientation to these endeavors. Examining a range of efforts across different forms of art, various educational settings, and diverse contexts, it foregrounds the assets of imagination, creativity, resilience, critique and cultural knowledge, working against prevailing understandings of marginalized groups as having deficits of knowledge, skills, or culture. Emphasizing the arts as a way to make something possible, it explores and illustrates the elements of social justice arts education as "a way out of no way" imposed by dominance and ideology. A set of powerful demonstrations shows how this work looks in action. Introductions to the book as a whole and to each section focus on how to use the chapters pedagogically. The conclusion pulls back the chapters into theoretical and pedagogical context and suggests what needs done to be done practically, empirically, and theoretically, for the field to continue to develop.

Examines how schools function as agents and transmitters of moral life in communities.It's time to face an inevitable conclusion: School reform does not reform schools. That's because reform movements conceive of schools as being about transmitting knowledge. Yet, schools are not primarily about knowledge. They are about the construction of meaning and morality in the lives of students and communities. In this book, the authors argue that to break this recycling of reform efforts, we must understand how schools construct moral life.The focus is on two elementary schools: Rougemont, an historically African American school that was closed during school desegregation in the 1970s, and Cedar Grove, an historically white school to which the former Rougemont students were sent. Described are the histories of these schools, the communities in which they are located, and some of the people who influenced and were influenced by the schools. From those contexts the authors then make explicit the "virtues" that these communities and schools constructed and valued, and describe how those virtues came to influence lives.The oral histories of the two schools and their communities provide the basis of a novel critique of the value conflict that has characterized educational reform in this country. The social construction of virtue offers an alternative perspective on the moral purpose of schooling in America.

Looks at the educational experiences of poor, working class, and middle class students against the backdrop of complicated class stratification in a shifting global economy.Winner of the 2007 Critics' Choice Award presented by the American Educational Studies AssociationLate to Class presents theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical perspectives on social class and schooling in the United States. Grounding their analyses at the intersections of class, ethnicity, gender, geography, and schooling, the contributors examine the educational experiences of poor, working class, and middle class students against the backdrop of complicated class stratification in a shifting global economy. Together, they explore the salience of class in understanding the social, economic, and cultural landscapes within which young people in the United States come to understand the meaning of their formal education in times of changing opportunity.

How can ethnographic studies be generalized, in contrast to concentrating on the individual case? Noblit and Hare propose a new method for synthesizing from qualitative studies: meta-ethnography. After citing the criteria to be used in comparing qualitative research projects, the authors define the ways these can then be aggregated to create more cogent syntheses of research. Using examples from numerous studies ranging from ethnographic work in educational settings to the Mead-Freeman controversy over Samoan youth, Meta-Ethnography offers useful procedural advice from both comparative and cumulative analyses of qualitative data. This provocative volume will be read with interest by researchers and students in qualitative research methods, ethnography, education, sociology, and anthropology. "After defining metaphor and synthesis, these authors provide a step-by-step program that will allow the researcher to show similarity (reciprocal translation), difference (refutation), or similarity at a higher level (lines or argument synthesis) among sample studies....Contain(s) valuable strategies at a seldom-used level of analysis." --Contemporary Sociology "The authors made an important contribution by reframing how we think of ethnography comparison in a way that is compatible with the new developments in interpretive ethnography. Meta-Ethnography is well worth consulting for the problem definition it offers." --The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease "This book had to be written and I am pleased it was. Someone needed to break the ice and offer a strategy for summarizing multiple ethnographic studies. Noblit and Hare have done a commendable job of giving the research community one approach for doing so. Further, no one else can now venture into this area of synthesizing qualitative studies without making references to and positioning themselves vis-a-vis this volume." -Educational Studies

How can ethnographic studies be generalized, in contrast to concentrating on the individual case? Noblit and Hare propose a new method for synthesizing from qualitative studies: meta-ethnography. After citing the criteria to be used in comparing qualitative research projects, the authors define the ways these can then be aggregated to create more cogent syntheses of research. Using examples from numerous studies ranging from ethnographic work in educational settings to the Mead-Freeman controversy over Samoan youth, Meta-Ethnography offers useful procedural advice from both comparative and cumulative analyses of qualitative data. This provocative volume will be read with interest by researchers and students in qualitative research methods, ethnography, education, sociology, and anthropology. "After defining metaphor and synthesis, these authors provide a step-by-step program that will allow the researcher to show similarity (reciprocal translation), difference (refutation), or similarity at a higher level (lines or argument synthesis) among sample studies....Contain(s) valuable strategies at a seldom-used level of analysis." --Contemporary Sociology "The authors made an important contribution by reframing how we think of ethnography comparison in a way that is compatible with the new developments in interpretive ethnography. Meta-Ethnography is well worth consulting for the problem definition it offers." --The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease "This book had to be written and I am pleased it was. Someone needed to break the ice and offer a strategy for summarizing multiple ethnographic studies. Noblit and Hare have done a commendable job of giving the research community one approach for doing so. Further, no one else can now venture into this area of synthesizing qualitative studies without making references to and positioning themselves vis-a-vis this volume." -Educational Studies

Taking a close look at the issue of the arts and school reform, this book explores in detail how the incorporation of the arts into the identity of a school can be key to its resilience. Based on the A+ School Program, an arts-based school reform effort, it is much more than a report of a single case - this landmark study is a comprehensive, longitudinal analysis of arts in education initiatives that discusses the political, fiscal, and curricular implications inherent in taking the arts seriously. Offering a model for implementation as well as evaluation that can be widely adapted in other schools and school districts, this book will inspire arts educators to move from advocating more arts to advocating the arts as a way to reform schools. Administrators and policy makers will see how curriculum integration can be used to revitalize and energize schools and serve as a springboard to wider reform initiatives. Researchers and students across the fields of arts education, school reform, organizational change, and foundations of education will be informed and enlightened by this real-world scenario of large-scale school reform.

Taking a close look at the issue of the arts and school reform, this book explores in detail how the incorporation of the arts into the identity of a school can be key to its resilience. Based on the A+ School Program, an arts-based school reform effort, it is much more than a report of a single case - this landmark study is a comprehensive, longitudinal analysis of arts in education initiatives that discusses the political, fiscal, and curricular implications inherent in taking the arts seriously. Offering a model for implementation as well as evaluation that can be widely adapted in other schools and school districts, this book will inspire arts educators to move from advocating more arts to advocating the arts as a way to reform schools. Administrators and policy makers will see how curriculum integration can be used to revitalize and energize schools and serve as a springboard to wider reform initiatives. Researchers and students across the fields of arts education, school reform, organizational change, and foundations of education will be informed and enlightened by this real-world scenario of large-scale school reform.

This volume is a series of studies of schooling in its social context. The intent is to reframe the policy debate of the 1980s by examining schooling from this viewpoint. The first section focuses on becoming and being a teacher. The second section focuses on the school and the district, and the implementation of change. The third part attempts to establish how effectiveness is defined and operationalized in practice. The final section concerns the transition to adulthood and explores the ways young workers learn on the job.

Drawing on a three-year post-critical ethnography, this volume counters deficit-based notions of disability to present a new social and dialogic theory of thinking and learning for students with significant support needs.Dismantling ideas around ableism/disableism, Social and Dialogic Thinking and Learning offers a uniquely theoretical and conceptual contribution to special education and capability research. Illustrating how students exhibit varied practical, social, and creative abilities, possess agency and perform identity, chapters present a challenge to the restrictive ways in which disability is constructed through prescriptive forms of teacher-student interaction and instruction. The text ultimately offers a powerful re-imagining of how educators and researchers can perceive, observe, and respond to students beyond current institutional and cultural norms.This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in inclusion and special educational needs, disability studies, and the theories of learning more broadly. Those specifically interested in educational psychology and the study of severe, profound, and multiple learning difficulties will also benefit from this book.

Drawing on a three-year post-critical ethnography, this volume counters deficit-based notions of disability to present a new social and dialogic theory of thinking and learning for students with significant support needs.Dismantling ideas around ableism/disableism, Social and Dialogic Thinking and Learning offers a uniquely theoretical and conceptual contribution to special education and capability research. Illustrating how students exhibit varied practical, social, and creative abilities, possess agency and perform identity, chapters present a challenge to the restrictive ways in which disability is constructed through prescriptive forms of teacher-student interaction and instruction. The text ultimately offers a powerful re-imagining of how educators and researchers can perceive, observe, and respond to students beyond current institutional and cultural norms.This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in inclusion and special educational needs, disability studies, and the theories of learning more broadly. Those specifically interested in educational psychology and the study of severe, profound, and multiple learning difficulties will also benefit from this book.

It is evident that urban education has become the central focus of educators at the present time. In the U.S., for example, almost one third of all school age children attend schools in large urban school districts. It is in these urban schools where the diversity of cultures and languages is highest and where student learning is most problematic. What has emerged from recent work to improve urban schools is the insight that there is no one-size-fits-all panacea. Rather, we have discovered that the local context shapes, in critically important ways, what will be effective at the school level. The universality of the problematics with urban education, together with the importance of understanding the local, or situated, context of improvement interventions, brings into sharp focus the importance and timeliness of an undertaking like the International Handbook of Urban Education. An important focus of the International Handbook of Urban Education will be the interrogation of both the social and political factors that lead to different problem posing and subsequent solutions within each region. An important question to be answered, for example, is what it takes in terms of resources, political will and policy actions to improve urban education.

In the USA, the Comer programme assists underachieving urban schools by examining their system and their students. The implications of the successes reported in this volume show that children from all backgrounds can gain vital social and academic skills when education addresses their needs.

In this book, the authors explore the position that systemic reform requires addressing the culture of individual schools, and that various reform efforts address school culture in different ways. The chapters promote that the key to success is the match between the strategy in use and the setting. In the chapters, reforms and their interactions in particular schools and school cultures are explored through fieldwork. They clearly Illustrate that when accountability policy has run its course, there is a need to re-engage systematic reform. Such dramatic change requires schools to be both restructured and recultured. The reader can learn from the cases in this book what it takes to mount and sustain a systemic reform initiative at the school level. This book is intended for parents, school principles, teachers, and others as a window into how to think about reforming their schools, even as they must comply with the demands of accountability policy.

In this book, the authors explore the position that systemic reform requires addressing the culture of individual schools, and that various reform efforts address school culture in different ways. The chapters promote that the key to success is the match between the strategy in use and the setting. In the chapters, reforms and their interactions in particular schools and school cultures are explored through fieldwork. They clearly Illustrate that when accountability policy has run its course, there is a need to re-engage systematic reform. Such dramatic change requires schools to be both restructured and recultured. The reader can learn from the cases in this book what it takes to mount and sustain a systemic reform initiative at the school level. This book is intended for parents, school principles, teachers, and others as a window into how to think about reforming their schools, even as they must comply with the demands of accountability policy.

This volume is an examination of how school districts and national school reform organizations can work together to promote effective school reform district wide. It is based on 10 years of research and evaluation studies with James Comer School Development Program (SDP). Using a set of urban school district cases, it analyzes how districts and the SDP learned to collaborate and what mechanisms seem to be especially promising in bringing systemic reform to life. The book also analyzes what school districts should look for in a national reform organization and how districts have learned to support reform efforts by taking on some of the processes of the national reform organization as their own.

This volume is an examination of how school districts and national school reform organizations can work together to promote effective school reform district wide. It is based on 10 years of research and evaluation studies with James Comer School Development Program (SDP). Using a set of urban school district cases, it analyzes how districts and the SDP learned to collaborate and what mechanisms seem to be especially promising in bringing systemic reform to life. The book also analyzes what school districts should look for in a national reform organization and how districts have learned to support reform efforts by taking on some of the processes of the national reform organization as their own.

In striving to reduce racial achievement gaps, schools and youth development programs are increasingly turning to youth mentoring programs. But how to ensure success? Here, accomplished educators Graig Meyer and George Noblit reveal how one such program challenged institutional racism and eliminated persistent achievement disparities in a local school system that boasts a national reputation for excellence. The authors share personal lessons, strategic guidance, and detailed practical advice for education and community leaders seeking to create successful youth mentoring programs. Their story, backed by research, offers real-world perspective on the important work of challenging systemic racism in schools. Meyer and Noblit demonstrate how mentoring and advocacy come together in a strengths-based program that boosts academic success and post-secondary enrollment for youth of color, while also creating change to benefit all students in a school system.

In striving to reduce racial achievement gaps, schools and youth development programs are increasingly turning to youth mentoring programs. But how to ensure success? Here, accomplished educators Graig Meyer and George Noblit reveal how one such program challenged institutional racism and eliminated persistent achievement disparities in a local school system that boasts a national reputation for excellence. The authors share personal lessons, strategic guidance, and detailed practical advice for education and community leaders seeking to create successful youth mentoring programs. Their story, backed by research, offers real-world perspective on the important work of challenging systemic racism in schools. Meyer and Noblit demonstrate how mentoring and advocacy come together in a strengths-based program that boosts academic success and post-secondary enrollment for youth of color, while also creating change to benefit all students in a school system.

Moving beyond traditional critical ethnography, postcritical ethnographies accept as a key premise that studies which are critical of the social world must also turn critique back on the ethnographer, the study, and its process.

Moving beyond traditional critical ethnography, postcritical ethnographies accept as a key premise that studies which are critical of the social world must also turn critique back on the ethnographer, the study, and its process. The book includes an introduction to the evolutions of critical ethnography and postcritical ethnography and exemplar chapters from contributors who engaged in long-term ethnographic studies. Accompanying each chapter is an introductory preface and margin notes created by the editors to underscore the methodological ‘moves’ made by each author.Addressing the distinct orientations critical and postcritical ethnographies take, the book illuminates how different authors think, enact, and represent their critical and postcritical/post-critical work. In this way the book is pedagogical within and across each chapter. Each contributor has produced a chapter that includes a brief summary of their respective long-term inquiry project with emphases on relation in the being, doing, and theorizing of qualitative research. Contributors discuss their navigation of commitments across the arc of their research and engage critical social theory, interrogating issues of power and ideology. Each chapter includes retrospective analytical reflections on the long-term ethnographic work contributors completed. The chapters address interpretivist commitments to emic analyses, metaphor, and representation and each contributor’s personal and professional commitments to equity and justice. The chapters engage critical social theories, crip horizons, critical race theory, and queer theory, as well as critical and queer pedagogies, de/colonialism, and post-humanism. A summary chapter addresses key issues in contemporary postcritical/post-critical qualitative research.The book is designed to prepare novice qualitative researchers to craft, conduct, and represent postcritical/post-critical qualitative research. The book provides guidance for researchers who are interested in social critique, equity, and justice and who seek to avoid the failures in the last quarter of the 20th Century of critical ethnography.

This volume will introduce the readers to an alternative nexus of education, equity and economy, pointing to economies and educations that promote a less stratified and exploitive world, and as the chapter authors demonstrate, this view has a wide range of applications, from technology, mathematics, to environmental catastrophes and indigenous cultures.This first volume in the new book series not only introduces the series itself, but also several authors whose chapters that appear here presage the in-depth analysis that will be offered by their volumes in the series.Education is invoked repeatedly in the ‘class warfare’ that pits the population against the elites as the investment that makes the difference, in terms of both policy and individual commitment, in the economy. The economy in this scenario is competitive, accumulative, exploitive and stratifying, implying education should mirror this and prepare people to fit this economy. However, educationhas other historic goals of developing common cultures, national identities, and civic engagement that belie this form of economic determinism. This volume and the series will explore this new nexus of economy and education with equity.

This volume will introduce the readers to an alternative nexus of education, equity and economy, pointing to economies and educations that promote a less stratified and exploitive world, and as the chapter authors demonstrate, this view has a wide range of applications, from technology, mathematics, to environmental catastrophes and indigenous cultures.This first volume in the new book series not only introduces the series itself, but also several authors whose chapters that appear here presage the in-depth analysis that will be offered by their volumes in the series.Education is invoked repeatedly in the ‘class warfare’ that pits the population against the elites as the investment that makes the difference, in terms of both policy and individual commitment, in the economy. The economy in this scenario is competitive, accumulative, exploitive and stratifying, implying education should mirror this and prepare people to fit this economy. However, educationhas other historic goals of developing common cultures, national identities, and civic engagement that belie this form of economic determinism. This volume and the series will explore this new nexus of economy and education with equity.

This second handbook offers all new content in which readers will find a thoughtful and measured interrogation of significant contemporary thinking and practice in urban education. Each chapter reflects contemporary cutting-edge issues in urban education as defined by their local context. One important theme that runs throughout this handbook is how urban is defined, and under what conditions the marginalized are served by the schools they attend. Schooling continues to hold a special place both as a means to achieve social mobility and as a mechanism for supporting the economy of nations. This second handbook focuses on factors such as social stratification, segmentation, segregation, racialization, urbanization, class formation and maintenance, and patriarchy. The central concern is to explore how equity plays out for those traditionally marginalized in urban schools in different locations around the globe. Researchers will find an analysis framework that will make the current practice and outcomes of urban education, and their alternatives, more transparent, and in turn this will lead to solutions that can help improve the life-options for students historically underserved by urban schools.