Classroom Managment in Urban Settings

• In Event: Recent Research on Classroom Management: Toward a New Edition of the Handbook of Classroom Management

Abstract

This presentation will be based on results from 26 articles that have been published on classroom management in urban schools since publication of the first edition of The Handbook of Classroom Management. These articles form the basis for the new chapter. In this presentation, I draw particular attention to themes that emerged from the review and aspects of the scholarship that need addressing in order to move the field of classroom management forward and especially to contribute to urban classroom management. Four broad themes emerged from the literature and will be addressed in the presentation: (1) Teacher Learning and Teacher Education; (2) Teacher Knowledge, Beliefs, and Emotions; (3) Program and Model Evaluation and Assessment; and (4) Classroom Practices. It is important to note that I suggest these themes as sites for further inquiry and development in order to capture and organize a more effective and structured knowledge base for research on urban classroom management because the studies are sporadic and disparate at best at present in the literature.
Issues that are important for understanding classroom management in urban settings will also be examined. Attention to definitions of “urban” and “classroom management” would help establish the context for research and the ability to generalize across studies. Students’ voice is missing from much of the research as is direct observation or other accounts of student behavior, thus producing a restricted perspective on classroom management. Information about students’ test scores, suspension rates, or report card grades provide one level of evidence, but our understanding of who the students are, what they think, and how they respond to teachers is incomplete because of the limited representation of students. Studies that include only summary statistics about “students in poverty” or “students on free or reduced lunch” only provide a basic level of information, and do not present a sufficiently complex picture of student identities or characteristics. Some of the literature exhibits poor cross-paradigm understanding on the part of quantitative researchers for the qualitative tradition and vice versa, contributing to restricted theory development. Greater awareness on the part of researchers for other research traditions as well as more mixed methods research would aid in the development of theory.

Author

• Rich Milner, University of Pittsburgh