American Scholars Press

Gabriele Strohschen, a native of Berlin (FRG), completed her studies at Northern Illinois University in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. She worked in Chicago's historically disenfranchised communities until joining joined DePaul University as director for the graduate programs at the School for New Learning in 2003. Dr. Strohschen conducted action research, program design and evaluation, and teacher training in Germany, Czech Republic, Kenya, China, Mexico, Thailand, and around the USA. In Afghanistan, she completed a program evaluation project for the Afghan Ministry of Education’s Women Literacy Project, funded by UNESCO, with Dr. Elazier. Retired from DePaul University with the title of professor emerita, she collaborates with community residents, organizations, institutions of higher education, students, artists, and activists in social justice projects, virtually around the world and locally at her Pilsen Storefront in Chicago. She provides program and resource development along with teacher training services and is currently spearheading the development of an international advocacy and training institute for the education of adults. “Dr. G.” has been working with American Scholars Press since its inception. gstrohsc@depaul.edu

Dr. Daphne W. Ntiri is a Distinguished Service Professor at Wayne State University. Her work is notable for its blend of high-caliber scholarship with community participation and service, epitomizing the goals of engagement that are the hallmarks of her institution. Her remarkable career which spans over three decades is marked by countless accolades such as the international Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame, Career Development Chair and the President’s Excellence for Teaching Award., 

Prof. Ntiri’s integrated research focuses on African/African American studies covering adult education and literacy, gender and feminist/womanist frameworks, race and racism and the marginalized adult learner in a globalizing world. These interdisciplinary themes are captured in over 40 publications in national and leading international journals. Her latest book, Literacy as gendered discourse: Engaging the voices of women in global societies examines the intersection of gender inequality and literacy. The impact of her scholarship may be gauged from both national and international presentations to countless institutions of higher education around the world.

Dr. Ntiri served as a consultant on illiteracy eradication and gender equality to UNESCO in field assignments in Dakar, Senegal (BREDA) and at the Teacher Training College in Kismayo, Somalia. She was an Invited Visiting Scholar to the Centre for Gender Research, University of Uppsala studying immigration patterns of low literate Somali women.  She was a two-time Fulbright Scholar to the Universities of Namibia and Ouagadougou and was an IFESH Visiting Scholar to the University of Djibouti teaching and researching gender equity and new pathways to advance Adult Education in an Islamic context.

Dr. Ntiri is a prolific and highly funded scholar and a tireless advocate for women and the underserved. She has developed a model of sustainable academic units at the University - WSU Another Chance and promoted community-based organizations including the City of Detroit Literacy Task Force and the Detroit Literacy Coalition, all of which she spearheaded with over $10.8 million secured from federal, state and foundation sources.  
Dr. Ntiri is a consulting editor and reviewer for Adult Education Quarterly, Journal of Research and Practice in Adult Literacy, Adult Learning Journal and The Journal of Negro Education and a founding member of Dialogues for Social Justice journal. She received her graduate degrees from Michigan State University and her bachelor’s from Fourah Bay College, the University of Sierra Leone.

This article is an application of transformative learning (TL) theory to my experiences as an adult literacy scholar and West African female immigrant in the United States. According to Tennant, TL is an effective instrument for self-development and change. I employ the insights of TL to my educational experiences, from taking my first overseas study trip as a college student, to transitioning to the US as a graduate student, to teaching adult students in an urban research university. Essentially, my story is a case study in TL. It is about how self and society intertwine and how such interrelationships can play out in our lives and shape the ways in which we come to understand ourselves and others. I have employed autoethnography as the methodology as it documents autobiographical details that expose the self as central to the reflexive process, which results in greater understanding of human experience.

adult literacy, African female, autoethnography, immigrant, transformative learning

Mr. Reagan Adjei Sarpong is an ICCR Research Fellow from Ghana. He is a doctoral research student and a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Educational Administration, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Prior to his admission to the doctoral research program, he has served the Ghana Education Service in various capacities in the Sene East and Sene West Districts, including as a Research and Data Collection Officer, Trainer of Trainees and Focal Person for Differentiated Learning, Assistant Headmaster, and Classroom Teacher. He holds an MA in Educational Leadership and Management from the University of Ghana. He holds completed a Bachelor of Education and a Teachers' Diploma at the University of Education, Winneba and Mampong Technical College of Education, Mampong-Ashanti respectively. He is a graduate of Amaniampong Senior High School and Kwame Danso SDA Junior High School. His research interests are Primary Education, Higher Education, Educational Leadership and Educational Technology. His PhD research focuses on the digital capability and the research culture in the universities of Ghana. 

Dr. Karanam Pushpanadham is a distinguished professor in the field of Educational Management at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India. He currently leads the Department of Educational Administration at the university. His work spans over 30 years, contributing extensively to research, teaching, and community outreach in education. He has guided numerous Ph.D. scholars and served as a consultant on several educational initiatives, particularly in teacher development and leadership. He was born in a traditional Kapu teachers; family and was educated in the Vizianagaram of Andhra Pradesh. In addition to his work in India, Prof. Karanam Pushpanadham has held visiting professorships at international institutions such as Stockholm University in Sweden, Aarhus University in Denmark, University of Cork, Ireland, and universities in Thailand. He has been involved in various projects, including collaborations on global citizenship education and rural transformation through education.

He is the International Coordinator of a Research Network on Digitisation of Higher Education at the ASEM LLL Hub and representing DAAD at the Asia- Europe Meeting on Lifelong Learning. He has visited several countries and addressed academic forums and research collaborative meetings. He addressed more than 500 academic conferences and seminars across the globe, visited more than 20 countries and published books and journals in the area of Educational Management. Currently, he is working in the area of Education for Global Citizenship with the Swedish Council for Higher Education, Education for Rural Transformation with MGNCRE Government of India and Educational Leadership and Management with University of Teacher Education, Switzerland. He is also a member of several prestigious academic bodies, including the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), and serves on the editorial boards of multiple national and International academic journals.

Data Analytics is an emerging area of study in the digital age and knowledge-based society. Data provides a base for informed decision making for quality improvement and policy making. Educational data has got its prominence in the educational sector planning and administration. Several countries have started capturing educational data at all levels and using them in developing educational policies and programs. In this paper the authors have highlighted the nature of educational data and its importance for quality educational planning and administration. The article also presents the various initiatives of different countries across the world by highlighting the challenges of collecting educational data and integrating with educational policies and practice.

big data, data mining, educational planning and administration, educational policy and Practice

Dr. Marquis B. Holley is an Assistant Research Professor in the Institute for School and Community Partnerships (ISCP) at the University of South Florida. He is a certified educator of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He has research foundations in Critical Thinking, Multicultural Education and DEI concepts on a local, national, and global scale. His research highlights the misuse and abuse of Black and Brown faculty and staff professionals in higher education. Additionally, he examines the in/out of school suspension rates for Black/African American students (K-12), and how this (dis)connects with student success and/or failure in schools, such as the school-to-prison pipeline, expulsion rates, and discipline disparities. Dr. Holley is a CRT scholar, and fuses Arts-Based and Action Research to employ community engagement with students, faculty, parents, administrators, school resource officers, and other community stakeholders for empowerment, representation, participation, and innovation in education. 

Ms. Winsome D. Nisbett is a scholar-practitioner and administrator at the University of South Florida. She is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education Administration program in the College of Education. Her research is focused on the lived experiences and epistemic freedom of Black women in the cyber, technology and computing spaces.  Understanding how Black women create and advance technology within historically white, patriarchal spaces is important to the future of global equity in all spaces. Winsome has worked in enrollment management for over a decade and (over)stands that institutions of higher learning still play a role in the caste system of American education and often cements the roles that are placed on people of differing genders, race, sexuality and economic status. Her research operates through the lens of Black Feminist Thought, intersectionality and critical race theory where her co-participants are empowered to tell their truths.  

In Spring 2018, as we sat in our Critical Race Theory (CRT) class, it became apparent that not only were the ideas we had about Black life in America steeped in white patriarchy, but the ideas we had about our identities as first-generation Black doctoral students (F-GBDS) were also framed in bias. Using CRT as a framework, we asked our classmates to address how master narratives often conceal the true histories of Black people in America. Since then, we have seen major (un)biased efforts to conceal, erase, and omit the narratives of Black people surrounding American history. As junior faculty and doctoral candidate, we now evaluate how these same historical conundrums have shadowed our paths in the Ivory Tower. Our journeys have been marred at times with conflict over equitable research agendas, justifications for the use of non-traditional methods and lack of funding by our institutions for conference presentations about Black life in America. We notice that neither our progress nor persistence is exceptional as the deficit framework would have us believe.

We used qualitative research to co-create narratives with our participants, as this methodology reflects the storytelling traditions of Black Americans in the antebellum South that were intrinsic for mapping out safe houses and freedom maps. Once we learned about art-based research, it became clear that we were following the tradition of those torn from Africa who still used cultural artifacts and knowledge to survive by creating pieces identical to those they had lost on the journey. Understanding how historical narratives have been shaped to portray Black Americans has enlightened our understanding of the epistemic power that shapes doctoral programs and research agendas that are often forced on first-generation doctoral students. As an encouragement to those persisting toward these degrees, we affirm belonging on our journeys and resilience taught from our own ancestral stories, which is why we selected Intercultural Programming for this conversation. 

critical race theory, counter narratives, doctoral journeys, epistemic power

Ms. Jenifer Immaculate. A is a Verbal Trainer at 6th Sense Academy, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. She is pursuing a PhD as a part-time scholar under the guidance of Dr. M. Amutha, Assistant Professor, Department of English, St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), which is affiliated with Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. She completed her BA and MA at St. Mary’s College and V.O.C. College, respectively, and her MPhil at V.O.C. College. Her broad area of research is diasporic literature, and she focuses majorly on identity.

Dr. M. Amutha is an Assistant Professor of English at St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), which is affiliated with Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. She has been teaching in various colleges for the past 23 years. She has mentored seven PhD scholars in her guidance and is presently mentoring four scholars. She has published more than 25 research articles in international and national journals, published two books, and collections of poems. Among them, one is an international publication, and the other is a national publication. She has edited three anthologies of students' articles. She has attended several international and national conferences, workshops, and seminars. She has also been a development resource person for several programs.

This research shows how various cultural influences modify one’s personality and way of thinking, thereby modifying even one’s destiny. The researchers investigated the connection between culture and identity to unveil how culture plays a significant role in creating different identities in an individual. Culture and identity are interconnected, and they enhance each other. To validate the strong relationship between an individual and their cultural influences, a key source is Moyez G. Vassanji’s novel A Delhi Obsession.  The characters in his novels live through the past and the present hoping for a better future and the novel reveals how their identities

culture, identity, globalization, cultural product, cultural influence

Dr. Daniel Kwalipo Mbangula is a Namibian academic and publisher with profound interests in education leadership, philosophy, and administration. He is lecturing educational modules and provides research supervision at both undergraduates and postgraduate levels at the University of Namibia. His research interests include educational management, leadership and administration, higher education learning, online learning systems, Artificial Intelligence, and assessment systems as well as lifelong learning. His research background focuses on diverse issues not only limited to management and leadership but also how research contributes to wide social issues such as Artificial Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence, education and culture, formal and non-formal education. 

One of the main pillars of society is education, and the quality of education is impacted by the quality of educational leadership. Principals and other school administrators are examples of educational leaders who impact and change learning environments. This study aims to clarify how effective leadership can improve teaching and learning, encourage student engagement and well-being, and eventually result in better learning outcomes. This study employed a systematic review of the secondary data on educational leadership practices. The findings demonstrated that improved teaching performance was significantly predictable given a transformational leadership and a positive school culture. The findings also provide insight into ways to enhance school culture and educational leadership to put policies into place that will improve student outcomes. These results give school administrators important new information about how important school culture is to attaining teaching excellence. 

educational leadership, effective teaching and learning, instructional leadership

Dr. Rona Robinson-Hill, an African American female, is a science educator at Ball State University (BSU), where she serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Biology. She is also the principal investigator of the BSU Training Future Scientist (TFS) Program. In this program, she is responsible for developing and implementing the pedagogy for the K-12 science  methods courses she teaches at BSU, She also coordinates STEM Shadow-A-Scientist research experiences for secondary education majors each spring as part of their secondary science methods course.

The Training Future Scientist Program (TFSP) was developed and implemented at a predominantly White Midwestern university for mostly White female preservice teachers (WPSTs) to teach innovative pedagogical approaches for elementary science education methods course during the Fall 2015 to Spring 2018. TFSP draws synergistically upon sociocultural theory, and utilized co-teaching practices, the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5E Learning Model (Bybee, 2006), and the caring in action approach advocated by Geneva Gay (2010) and Gloria Ladson-Billings (1989). The primary objectives for the elementary teachers were to: 1) identify the fears and/or worries PSTs have when they teach science to culturally diverse underserved students, and 2) identify the specific experiences during the practicum that support female WPSTs to overcome their fears and/or anxiety before student teaching? The mentorship of an African American researcher, intended to model culturally responsive approaches, grounded in authentic philosophies to influence the WPSTs' teaching practices. The program underscored the value of learning innovative pedagogical interventions employed prior to student teaching and equipping future teachers to navigate culturally diverse classrooms effectively. The implications and results of these pedagogical approaches taught in the program are vital for enhancing science teacher education programs to better serve culturally diverse and underserved student populations.

culturally responsive teaching pedagogy, K-12 pre-service teachers, biological science curriculum study 5E learning model, inquiry