This study examines innovative practices that have been implemented in a summer session for an elementary school district in the Chicago area, and how program practices of a community college program work to provide academic support for first-generation, college-bound students from low-income households to encourage postsecondary educational attainment. Underlying these practices are empowering messages conveyed to the students, showing them ways to transform their academic and social lifeworlds. The messages intended for reading audiences are to advocate for and demonstrate praxis as the highest form of human activity having the power to affect change and ensure social justice as the condition of plurality. Significantly, we question “ready-made truths” through critical dialogue as a powerful force to explore the social, the political, and the personal.
AdelmanC. (2006). The toolbox revisited: Paths to degree completion from high school through college. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
2.
AlexanderK. L.EntwisleD. R.OlsonL. (2007). Summer learning and its implications: Insights from the beginning school study. New Directions for Youth Development, 2007, 11–32. doi:10.1002/yd.21
3.
AppleM. W. (2000). Official knowledge: Democratic education in a conservative age (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
4.
ArendtH. (1998). The human condition. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
5.
ArendtH. (2005). The promise of politics. New York, NY: Schoken Books.
6.
CohenL.ManionL.MorrisonK. (2008). Research methods in education (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
CorwinZ. B.TierneyW. G. (2007). Getting there and beyond: Building a culture of college-going in high schools. Los Angeles, CA: Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis.
9.
CreswellJ. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Boston, MA: Pearson.
10.
Darling-HammondL. (2005). Teaching as a profession: International lessons in teacher preparation and professional development. Phi Delta Kappan, 87, 237–240.
11.
Darling-HammondL.BransfordJ.LePageP.HammernessK. (2007). Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
FreireP. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.
14.
GilmoreJ. E.SpireL. M.DolichI. J. (1981). How high school students select a college. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED 208705)
15.
HabermasJ. (1972). Knowledge and human interests (ShapiroJ. J., Trans.). Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
16.
Hesse-BiberS. N.LeavyP. (2011). The practice of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
17.
HollandN.Farmer-HintonR. (2009). Leave no schools behind: The importance of a college culture in urban public high schools. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
18.
hooksb. (2010). Teaching critical thinking: Practical wisdom. New York, NY: Routledge.
19.
KreberC. (2013). Authenticity in and through teaching in higher education: The transformative potential of the scholarship of teaching. Oxford, England: Routledge.
20.
LentR. W.BrownS. D.HackettG. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45, 70–122.
21.
LernerJ. B.BrandB. (2007). The impact of secondary-postsecondary learning options on college preparation. Peer Review, 9. 27–30.
22.
LinJ.OxfordR. L.BrantmeierE. J. (Eds.). (2013). Re-envisioning higher education: Embodied pathways to wisdom and social transformation. Charlotte, NC: IAP.
23.
LipmanP. (2004). High stakes education: Inequality, globalization, and urban school reform. New York, NY: Routledge.
24.
LippA. (2007). Developing the reflexive dimension of reflection: A Framework for debate. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 1, 18–26.
25.
LukenchukA. (Ed.). (2013). Paradigms of research for the 21st century: Perspectives and examples from practice. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
26.
McLarenP. (2006). Life in schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
27.
MerriamS. B. (2002). Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and analysis. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
28.
MezirowJ. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
29.
MurrellP. C.Jr (2007). Race, culture and schooling: Identities of achievement in multicultural urban schools. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
30.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2008). Status and trend in the education of Blacks (NCES 2003-034). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
31.
NoddingsN. (2012). The caring relation in teaching. Oxford Review of Education, 38, 772–773.
32.
Sanders-FunnyeS. (2014). Reaching beyond challenges and surpassing limits: Personal narratives of African American women aspiring for success through postsecondary education(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). National Louis University, Chicago, IL.
33.
SchubertW. (1991). Teacher lore: A basis for understanding praxis. In WitherellC.NoddingsN. (Eds.), Stories lives tell: Narrative and dialogue in education (pp. 207–233). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
34.
SchunkD. H.ZimmermanB. J. (2007). Influencing children’s self-efficacy and self-regulation of reading and writing through modeling. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 23, 7–25.
StakeR. E. (2005). Multiple case study analysis. New York NY: Guilford Press.
37.
StanageS. M. (1987). Adult education and phenomenological research. New directions for theory, practice, and research. Malabar, FL: Krieger.
38.
TierneyW. G.BaileyT.ConstantineJ.FinkelsteinN.HurdN. F. (2009). Helping students navigate the path to college: What high schools can do. A practice guide(NCEE#2009-4066). Washington, DC: National Center for Education and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. department of Education. Retrieved fromhttp://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/practiceguides/
