Berkeley School of Education

When experienced analysts explore data in a rich environment, they often transform the dataset. For example, they may choose to group or filter data, calculate new variables and summary measures, or reorganize a dataset by changing its structure or merging it with other information. Such actions background, highlight, or even fundamentally change particular features of the data, allowing different types of questions to be explored. We call these actions data moves . In this paper, we argue that paying explicit attention to data moves, as well as their purposes and consequences, is necessary for educators to support student learning about data. This is especially needed in an era when students are expected to develop critical literacy around data and engage in purposeful, self-directed exploration of large and often complex datasets.

When middle school students learn science content withgraphs, the graphing and science knowledge may be mutuallyreinforcing: understanding the science content may help stu-dents interpret a related graph, and information from a graphmay illustrate a scientific concept. We examine this relation-ship between graphing and science by studying how studentslearn from interactive computer models with accompanyingdata graphs. The computer models provide an animated simu-lation that illustrates an unobservable phenomenon, while thedata graph tracks one or more quantities over time. This or-dering study, on middle school students learning about photo-synthesis, indicates that engaging with novel graph conceptshelped students interpret their data as they experimented withthe computer model. The study also provided some supportfor the opposite direction: experimenting with the model firsthelped students make sense of the graphs.

The Multidimensional Conceptual Framework for Understanding Servingness in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) made a significant contribution to HSI practice and research. Despite recent federal attacks on HSIs and loss of funding, HSIs will continue to enroll a significant number of Latine students and grapple with the question, “What does it mean to serve?” The servingness framework helps HSIs answer this question, providing a tool for assessment and reflection. Since its publication in 2019, the number of HSIs has increased by 11%, the number of articles published about HSIs has increased by 110%, and the concept of servingness has evolved, warranting an updated framework. Through a systematic review of peer-reviewed HSI articles published between 2018 and 2024, we propose the Servingness 2.0 Framework that includes updated structures for serving and indicators of serving and calls attention to external and peripheral influences, including systems of oppression, that help and hinder the institution’s ability to adequately serve Latine students. The Servingness 2.0 Framework makes a significant advancement in theory and praxis and informs organizational processes and behaviors for advancing equity and inclusion. It is an organizational change framework that enables educators, leaders, students, alumni, and legislators to envision postsecondary transformation.

Assumptions about the nature and acquisition of knowledge—­‘epistemological assumptions’—profoundly influence education, particularly through curricula. However, this influence is indirect and implicit, thus requiring careful tracing to uncover its impacts. Although prior research has examined from different perspectives the influence of epistemological assumptions on curricula, few studies have systematically traced their effects across key curricular dimensions, extending down to their impacts on student learning. This paper introduces a multi-level framework that traces the influence of epistemological assumptions across five interrelated levels: (a) epistemological assumptions, (b) educational epistemological assumptions (assumptions about how knowledge should be taught and learned), (c) pedagogical principles, (d) instructional methods, and (e) effects on student learning. The framework’s utility is demonstrated by comparing curricula informed by empiricist epistemological assumptions with those of developmental education (DE), or (Neo-)Vygotskian approaches, grounded in dialectical–materialist assumptions, opposed to empiricist epistemologies. This multi-level comparative analysis illustrates how alternative epistemological foundations can produce significant cascading effects on teaching and learning, with DE curricula here mitigating recurrent difficulties common in empiricist-informed education. By showing how distinct epistemological assumptions shape curricula and student learning, this framework provides a valuable tool for critically analysing curricula, exploring alternatives, and rethinking educational theory and practice.

Abstract This chapter draws on four papers developed over an extended period as part of a longitudinal research project that explores key lessons on educational leadership and resilience, focusing on amplifying the voices of California school leaders as they navigated their leadership journeys during challenging times. The chapter shares lessons learned from these narratives across multiple school contexts. The project was initiated by the first author during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the initial aim of understanding the risk factors school leaders were experiencing. What began as an urgent inquiry into the challenges of a global health crisis evolved into a deeper investigation of how resilience among school leaders develops across time and context. The aim of this longitudinal project is to better understand which groups of California’s principals are most vulnerable to burnout and what factors protect them from burnout or exacerbate their risk of burnout. Methodologically, we adopted a mixed-methods approach, collecting experiences of school leaders through surveys and interviews designed to identify the emerging risk and resilience factors. The integration of these data sources offered a more layered and comprehensive understanding, ultimately leading to the development of three lessons presented in this chapter; The Struggle to Navigate Persistent Risk to Wellbeing; Leadership Identity Matters and School Context Matters.

Abstract This chapter highlights the building of resilience by following the stories of school leaders as they developed their leadership skills during a global pandemic. By elevating experiences of school leaders from their own perspectives, the authors attempt not only to present the struggles the leaders experienced, but also to highlight the strategies used to open new pathways in challenging times for public education in California. The authors’ study employed socio-ecological system theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and risk and resilience theory (Edwards, 2007; Moos et al., 2011) to examine how principals’ resilience and wellbeing were developed through interactions with their surrounding systems. The study data was collected from open-ended questions in a broad survey of 209 school leaders, as well as qualitative data in the form of interviews. Explanatory mixed method design was used to examine the risk factors and protective factors the leaders used. The voices of the school principals are heard throughout in conjunction with sharing ways in which they cultivate resilience in unusual and challenging times to assert more socially just educational possibilities. School principals seemed to struggle to harmonize performance in their roles as effective leaders by overcoming the external risk factors created by the school, district and policy contexts along with individual risk factors. The school principals’ experiences are examined in order to inform school and district leadership practices and explore ways in which protective factors can be put into action to support teachers and school principals.

In an era marked by uncertainty and rapid change, how do educational leaders sustain resilience, not just for themselves, but for their entire school communities? Leading With Resilience: Voices of Leaders in Challenging Times brings together powerful narratives and research-driven insights from teachers, school leaders, and system-level changemakers navigating some of the most challenging moments in recent history. brings together powerful narratives and research-driven insights from teachers, school leaders, and system-level changemakers navigating some of the most challenging moments in recent history. Drawing from three longitudinal projects in California, this compelling volume explores how resilience can be cultivated through intentional leadership, community care, and equity-centered practices. From the frontlines of the global pandemic to the lived experiences of AAPI educators and women of color pursuing superintendency, each chapter offers a unique lens on the emotional, cultural, and systemic dimensions of resilience. These stories illuminate the strategies that have helped leaders not only survive but thrive, fostering wellbeing, driving change, and inspiring hope. Whether you’re an educator, policymaker, or aspiring leader, this book offers a timely and deeply human look at what it means to lead with strength, compassion, and purpose in times of crisis.

Executive functions (EFs) are related to academic performance, but interventions designed to leverage EFs to improve academic outcomes have shown inconsistent results. Academic achievement is also subject to layers of personal, social, task-relevant, and cultural contexts, all of which impact students’ EF engagement in any given task. The EF+Math Program explored the potential for EFs to positively impact math achievement by supporting inclusive research and development of EF learning approaches that are contextually embedded and attend to the needs of diverse students. Researchers, developers, and educators worked collaboratively across a portfolio of projects to co-design and evaluate learning approaches for middle school mathematics classrooms. Here we share examples of our contextualized research, and our updated conceptualizations of EFs arising from shared insights. We propose an updated, integrated framework for EF assessment and intervention in the context of middle school mathematics achievement. We conclude with calls to action for continuing inclusive research and development to advance insights across, theory, assessment, and intervention in EF research.

Background Educational researchers have been using multimodal data (e.g., eye-tracking) to study teachers’ instructional practices. Yet, by and large, these technologies have not been handed over to teachers as resources for self-reflection. Aims This exploratory study aimed to develop and evaluate novel methodologies for supporting teachers in using multimodal data, specifically eye-tracking-overlaid multiple-point-of-view videos, as resources for deepening their understanding of learning and teaching. Sample and methods Five pre-service mathematics teachers (PSMT) participated in this study. First, they collaboratively constructed a body-scale polyhedron while wearing eye-tracking devices. In a subsequent structured reflection session, the participants collectively analyzed eye-tracking-overlaid multiple-point-of-view recordings of their construction activity. Drawing on Goodwin's Co-Operative Action theory, the researchers then qualitatively micro-analyzed the PSMTs' individual and interactive multimodal behaviors in both activities. Results The technology enabled the PSMTs to highlight, code, and elaborate on nuanced aspects of individuals’ perceptual and social behaviors during the construction activity. These insights led to a spontaneous generalization of pedagogical implications for their own prospective facilitation of classroom group work. Conclusions Supplementing PSMTs' video-based reflection on their own activity with multiple-point-of-view gaze data from their mobile eye trackers enriches the PSMTs’ microgenetic analysis of their own collaborative multimodal learning process, in turn potentially leading more generally to pedagogical inferences for their own prospective professional practice.