Publication by Dr. Edna Tan (TEHE) Receives 2021 AACTE Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article Award

Posted on February 24, 2021

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Congratulations to Dr. Edna Tan, professor of science education in the Department of Teacher Education & Higher Education (TEHE), whose paper — “Rethinking High-Leverage Practices in Justice-Oriented Ways” — was selected by the review panel for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education’s (AACTE) Research and Dissemination Committee as the 2021 recipient of the AACTE Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article Award.

Published in the September/October 2020 issue of the journal, Dr. Tan and her co-authors — Dr. Angela Calabrese Barton of University of Michigan and Dr. Daniel J. Birmingham of Colorado State University — will be presented with the award at the virtual AACTE 73rd Annual Meeting Awards Forum on February 25, 2020 from 2:45-3:30 p.m.

The award-winning article focused on how justice-oriented teaching must address how classroom-based disciplinary learning is shaped by interactions among local practice and systems of privilege and oppression. This work advances current scholarship on high-leverage practices (HLPs) by emphasizing the need for teaching practices that restructure power relations in classrooms and their intersections with historicized injustice in local practice as a part of disciplinary learning.

Dr. Edna Tan

Dr. Tan’s research interests include justice-oriented STEM teaching and learning; participatory critical ethnography; community and design-based research, practice, and partnerships; and critical connected learning. In December 2020, Dr. Tan was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her distinguished work in the learning sciences focused on equitable and consequential STEM teaching and learning among underrepresented populations (read more).

“There is much to admire and value about the scholarship that Calabrese Barton, Tan, and Birmingham report in this award-winning piece,” said Elizabeth Birr Moje, dean of the School of Education, University of Michigan. “Their ambitious pursuit of justice-oriented teaching practice, conducted in partnership with teachers, makes invaluable contributions to our understanding of how educators engage in socially transformative teaching.”

For 25 years, AACTE has honored its member institutions, leaders, and individuals who make bold, exceptional, and revolutionary contributions to the field of educator preparation. This award is given annually by AACTE to recognize exemplary scholarship published in the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) during the last volume year. The journal’s editors, based at Michigan State University, nominate several top articles for consideration, and the AACTE Committee on Research and Dissemination selects the winning piece to receive the award. The committee selected this article for the award based upon its relevancy and quality methodology utilizing multiple data sources and detailed coding procedures and analysis.

High-Level Practices (HLPs) is an important topic that addresses the preparation of general and special education teachers. The article sheds light on the use of the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to engage teachers and students as experts and critiques the use of HLPs. It provides a unique perspective of the integration of HLPs and social justice approaches, which adds to the knowledge base.

“This research illustrates the powerful interplay of social activism, theory, rigorous method and steadfast commitment to good work,” said Annemarie S. Palincsar, chair of Educational Studies, University of Michigan.

Read AACTE’s full press release here.