2019 Capstones

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Alicia Camacho
Ethnicity, Race and Migration Program

Abstract:  The “undermatch” problem in higher education—that America’s best students do not necessarilymattend America’s best colleges and universities—has grown to drive conversations about college access. Inspired by Caroline Hoxby’s research on income-based college application disparities, more colleges are expanding the scope of their recruitment efforts to include previously untapped low-income high-achievers. Yet low-income high-achieving rural students, who remain isolated from college-going resources found in metropolitan areas, are more likely than their suburban or urban counterparts to undermatch. Through interviews with selective college admissions officers and partner organizations, this capstone investigates the efforts underway in the selective higher education admissions network to prioritize rural students through recruitment, evaluation, and matriculation. I recommend that selective colleges can increase access for low-income high achieving rural students by expanding recruitment outreach to include rural parts of the country, establishing an institutional priority for qualified rural students, and providing rural-specific programming throughout the admissions process.

Adviser: Carla Horwitz

Second Reader: Grace Kao
Department of Sociology

Abstract:  The goal of this study is to examine the phenomenon of brain drain within rural communities by utilizing the unique and central perspectives of rural educators. In this study, twelve rural educators from the same mostly rural county in Oregon were interviewed. They were asked about their relationship to their community, post-secondary advising practices, and perception of potential “brain drain” in their community. Several common themes emerged. The first is that in order to form a salient identity as a rural educator, teachers first had to be accepted into their communities. Rural educators understood the brain drain phenomenon as a product of both limits on economic and social capital. They saw this as a two-way system that both trapped some students, and pushed others out. Educator’s own experiences, understanding of brain drain and identity in relation to the community shaped how they engaged with students. After interviews were conducted, several programs aimed at increasing access to higher education were reviewed. This analysis put the challenges identified by educators in conversation with the goals and strategies of programs. Areas in which these aligned and diverged were identified. Finally, several strategies are suggested to further utilize the perspectives and experiences of rural educators to improve student outcomes and intervention programs.  

Adviser: Talya Zemach-Bersin

Second Reader: Sarah LeBaron von Baeyer
Department of Anthropology

Abstract:  This study considers how the American occupation of Japan relied on the unique role that progressive education plays in political reconstruction. By linking U.S.-led education reform in postwar Japan to the tools of American progressive educators, it enhances our understanding of how education can be used as a political strategy to control and subdue a wartime enemy towards pacifism and peace. In this way, it seeks to elucidate how the U.S. Educational Mission to Japan (USEM) not only provided a blueprint for postwar education reform in Japan, but also the blueprint for sociopolitical reform—a type of reform that, with the tools of American progressive education, would intentionally infiltrate deep into minds to rear “a new kind of Japanese man.” First, it traces the history of progressive education in the United States, and in particular the rise of social reconstructionism within the movement. Next, it engages primary source literature to argue how the tools of social reconstructionism were leveraged and exploited by the education reformers and Occupation forces at large. Finally, it argues that postwar education reform in Japan had the core mission of pursuing U.S. empire building in the East Asian theater, a project that would only intensify as the contours of the Cold War emerged.

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Carla Horwitz
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  Since its inception in 1969 with the creation of Sesame Street, children’s educational television programs have been working to increase representations of various racial and cultural identities. Scholars have found that children’s television programming, specifically ones produced for public television, have a greater diversity in both character compositions and dialogue than regular television. Because more than other media outlets, children’s educational television reflects the racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity in America, creators of these children’s programs have been celebrated by parents, journalists, educators, and researchers alike. This capstone brings together social scientific research and critical whiteness theories in order to analyze how race is currently represented in children’s educational television and, more importantly, if and how race moves beyond a mere representation checkbox in these shows and serves as a vehicle for larger conversations and subject matter necessary for anti-racist training in television. It explores how race, racism, and white supremacy be an explicit topic of conversation in an age-appropriate way for preschoolers on television. 

Adviser: Carla Horwitz

Second Reader: Mira Debs
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  What it Takes for Literature to Impact Student Attitudes? In this capstone, I investigate how anti-bias education can be used to teach LGBT-inclusive curricula and examine the degree to which classroom teachers incorporate anti-bias scholarship into their practice when teaching an LGBT inclusive curricula. I identify five key practices that educators should employ in order to teach an LGBT-inclusive anti-bias curriculum. Teachers should establish a classroom culture that empowers queer students, target instruction to the dual challenges of homophobia and disrupted psychological development, integrate intersectional LGBT perspectives throughout a yearlong curriculum, show students how prejudiced norms are constructed and how they impact students’ worldview, develop students’ capacity to analyze social systems for prejudice, and facilitate student action against prejudiced systems, while leaving students the freedom to construct their own knowledge. I idenitfy the gaps between this vision of LGBT-inclusive anti-bias education and the classroom reality of five teachers. I conclude with recommendations for how third party resources could help close the gaps I identify.

Adviser: Talya Zemach-Bersin

Second Reader: Zareena Grewal
American Studies Program

Abstract:  In January 2019, the Committee for Accuracy for Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) convened an event at the Jewish Community Center in Newton, Massachusetts to discuss the urgent need to resist anti-Israel bias in America’s public schools. Using the controversy in Newton as a guide, I examine competing narratives and interests at stake in the national frenzy over teaching about Israel in American schools. This study asks, why is this issue so politically potent, and prevalent in the American consciousness? How do controversies over teaching about Israel fit into larger controversies over the preoccupation with K12 teaching, and fights over what narratives can and cannot be taught in American schools? My capstone sheds light on the interaction between culture, politics, and education in efforts to regulate teaching about Israel in the U.S. I explore how this interaction is defined by, and continues to define, American identity and American “interests” in other parts of the world.

Adviser: Richard Hersh

Second Reader: MIra Debs
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  Although public-sector unions cover countless professions such as health care, retail, construction, and law enforcement, this paper will focus on teachers’ unions, particularly on their reactions to Janus v. AFSCME. The literature suggests that politics and finances are the primary reasons for opting out of teacher union membership. As teaching is already a low-paid profession, others believe that the benefits of union membership are not worth the monetary costs. As such, the Janus decision will likely affect membership numbers. Knowing this, unions as a whole must take action to prevent more of these types of losses. They will have to further convince teachers that unions are absolutely essential to their own professional lives in order to retain union members and revenue. So, what are unions doing? How has Janus v. AFSCME impacted them? This capstone project aims to answer these questions and gain a broad understanding of the new landscape for teachers’ unions. Because every state is now “right to work” for public-sector employees—meaning that they cannot be forced to opt in to union membership or pay dues—this project will initiate the literature on how teachers’ unions are working to not only combat this drastic change in public-employment law, but also gain strength from it.

Adviser: Talya Zemach-Bersin

Second Reader: Gerald Jaynes
Department of Economics
 

Abstract:  New Orleans is a city seeped in history. Every piece of the culture has a historical significance; likewise, every contemporary issue has seeds buried deep in the shared consciousness of historians. My project is located at the intersection of education history, economic history, Black history, the history of New Orleans, and contemporary education studies literature on charter school education. This investigation is broken into three chapters reflecting the different segments of New Orleans politics: Race in Education, where I begin by first briefly explaining the history of the education system in New Orleans, starting during Reconstruction, including public school desegregation, and ending with decades before Hurricane Katrina. Then in the next chapter, Enduring the Economy, I briefly describe the economic history of the city from Reconstruction to the present, discussing the development of the tourism industry to contextualize how much the industry dominates and informs the persistence of injustice for Black residents. In the third chapter, Resilience during Recovery, in context of the city’s contemporary political economy I examine the education climate to understand how historic trends either have been sustained or ceased with the presence of the neoliberal charter school system. Throughout this project, I report on the demonstrated resilience of Black New Orleans as that response is part of the thread that ties tourism to education. To exhibit this resilience, I present oral histories with different residents of New Orleans to allow the voices of the community to be heard and to give them space to speak for themselves instead of speaking for them. 

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Talya Zemach-Bersin
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  In 2014, the organization Students for Fair Admissions, founded by conservative legal strategist Edward Blum and backed by anonymous Asian American plaintiffs, made allegations against Harvard University for discriminating against Asian American applicants. The lawsuit went to trial in October 2018, launching Asian Americans, a group that traditionally flies under the radar, into the national political arena. Amidst the fray, reporters and pundits singled out Chinese Americans as the Asian ethnic group least supportive of race-conscious affirmative action. My capstone aims to counter this skewed representation of Chinese American attitudes toward affirmative action through storytelling. Taking as fact that Chinese Americans do not think uniformly about the issue, I interviewed a diverse group of Chinese Americans with widely varying attitudes toward affirmative action. I then created narrative portraits that not only capture the depth and nuance of their feelings toward affirmative action, but also situate each person’s commentary against the backdrop of their own life experiences in an attempt to understand the roots of their beliefs. With this capstone, I hope to combat stereotypes that Chinese Americans are homogeneous and to illustrate how life experiences, big and small, can shape a person’s notions about deservingness, fairness, race, and justice.

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Alicia Camacho
Ethnicity, Race and Migration Program

Abstract:  In this essay I consider two propositions from California – Proposition 227 (1998) and Proposition 58 (2016). When Proposition 58 passed in 2016, it was lauded as a huge success for the state. It repealed Proposition 227, and it brought back bilingual education to the state of California. It was considered a progressive change since the campaign for Proposition 227 had notoriously attacked English Language Learners (ELLs)–particularly of Hispanic descent– for not assimilating quickly enough and therefore posing a threat to American life. However, I argue that although Proposition 58 did not use a language that made ELLs into threats, it made them into assets. Proposition 58 came into existence out of a fear that American children were not being prepared to become leaders in a multilingual, multicultural world. To achieve this goal, supporters argued that in order for America to remain a powerful country, it needed to train its students in multiple languages. This Proposition made the ability to speak a language other than English into an asset that could be exploited for this objective. I argue that although bilingual education should always be available to all children, especially to ELLs, the campaign for Proposition 58 fails to address inequities inside and outside the classroom. Although some will argue that this frame justifies the ultimate goal of bringing bilingual education back, I argue that this framework does not treat non-English speakers as full humans and as equal members of the American fabric. If anything, there is nothing innovative about this project since the United States has other historical examples of using non-white people as assets when it pleased it with no true reforms for those who are disadvantaged and commodified. To make my argument I examine the texts of the Propositions, and speeches and ads made in their favor during and after their successful campaigns by key figures, and place these Propositions in their contexts alongside a longer history of the Spanish language in the U.S.

Adviser: Richard Hersh

Second Reader: William Garfinkel
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  Much of the debate around education reform over the past several decades has centered around school finance. Broadly speaking, school finance reform is concerned with the amount of per-pupil funding that schools receive from the state, making it an easily quantifiable metric that reformers can use to highlight disparities between wealthy and poor, majority white and majority minority schools. The intuitive appeal of school finance reform—the notion that more funding per-pupil will lead to better educational outcomes—is clear and therefore has resulted in nationwide efforts to litigate increased funding for the country’s neediest students. Subsequently, a wide body of literature has developed to assess the effects of these efforts, attempting to determine whether school finance litigation and the resulting reforms actually produce better student outcomes. But this literature has yet to provide a clear answer regarding whether increases in funding lead to corresponding increases in student performance. This capstone attempts to explain why, despite plentiful analyses, we still know very little about when and how more money leads to better performance. I also attempt to highlight the pervasiveness of dollar-centric analyses in the current school finance reform literature, and to elucidate the potential benefits of more comprehensive analyses that look at both financial and non-financial reforms as complementary tools. The Massachusetts case study will serve as a case in pointGiven that there is significant evidence suggesting that Massachusetts’ educational reforms have successfully improved student outcomes, this case study is illustrative of how scholars, by focusing too myopically on spending, have missed opportunities to learn more about the non-financial ingredients that may make school finance reforms successful.

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Richard Lemons
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  This study seeks to understand the role of parental advocacy in local school desegregation initiatives. Observational and interview data from an ongoing initiative in Hamden, Connecticut suggest that the ability to influence the decision-making process fell disproportionately in the hands of privileged parents. Complicating the idea that school desegregation initiatives inevitably crumble under the vehement political pressure of public backlash, this study finds that privileged parents in a small but commanding group known as Whitneyville Mobilize used informal channels of advocacy that provided them both power over decision-makers and protection from scrutiny. Although the Board of Education had initially intended to pursue an ambitious redistricting plan, the fear of anticipated backlash from parents with the social capital and political savvy to obstruct the process drove the Board away from this plan, therefore allowing those parents to maintain their advantaged status in the district’s most desirable school. In contrast, structural barriers to advocacy meant that the voices of parents at Church Street, a school serving the district’s highest need students and that would ultimately be closed, were not considered. These findings have important implications for local education leaders pursuing controversial reforms, highlighting the need for fortitude in the face of opposition and active, intentional engagement of the communities that may face barriers to advocacy. 

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Janna Wagner
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  In response to both cognitive science research that expounds the benefits of high-quality early childhood education for the developing brain, and economic analyses that tout the impressive returns on investment for money spent on high-quality early childhood education, states across the nation are beginning to implement state-provided early education programs. Florida’s approach to its state-provided childcare policy is especially unique as it is the only state to pass early childhood education through direct initiative to the state constitution. In 2002, Florida voters sidestepped their legislature and enacted universal early childhood education for the state’s four-year-olds. Joining Oklahoma and Georgia, Florida became the third and largest state to implement universal care. This paper is intended to be a case study exploring the current Florida early childhood reality and offers recommendations that Florida might implement to improve the quality of their early childhood care.

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Julian Jara-Ettinger
Department of Psychology

Abstract:  As technology gains popularity and prominence in education, software has made it possible for more schools to implement personalized learning. But, by putting the choice of what to learn and how fast to learn it on the student, personalized learning may disadvantage students who might be inclined to choose less challenging work that slows their academic progress. Educators and technologists must research how to help students learn to choose challenging problems. This work documents the development and iteration of an adaptive choice-based computer game for learning multiplication facts. Through a novel point system that places a higher value on difficult problems they have previously avoided, the game attempts to encourage students to practice more challenging problems. The game structure and user interface was developed through the creation of paper and digital prototypes, and through feedback from students and teachers on those prototypes. The final game was tested on a pilot study of 18 children. The data show a trend towards the novel point system increasing the number of difficult questions attempted. This adaptive incentive structure shows potential to shape student choices, and should be further studied in different educational environments.

Adviser: Carla Horwitz

Second Reader: Kristi Lockhart
Department of Psychology

Abstract:  Self-advocacy is a skill that was conceptualized as part of a broader socio-political movement led by a community of people who had a variety of disabilities in the 1970s. It is a skill that helps people communicate their needs and ensure that those needs get me. This project seeks to understand the benefits of self advocacy and provide clear, practical suggestions for teachers for teachers to use in their classrooms. In the literature review, I established the importance of self-advocacy by examining the theoretical underpinnings of self advocacy as described by research done in the fields of developmental psychology and disabilities studies. Following interviews with 5 teachers, I created In addition a guide incorporating their best practices from the classroom and the secondary literature, highlighting techniques that have been shown to be effective in fostering self advocacy and results from teaching self-advocacy effectively.