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This research examines the relationship between ethnicity, ethnic identity, self-efficacy, and academic achievement within a multi-ethnic mid-sized city in the US Midwest. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, middle and high school adolescents (Fall, N = 482; Spring, N = 392) were surveyed and interviewed over the course of one year to investigate the interaction of these variables within the context of their school climate. Quantitative analysis indicated that prior Math achievement and ethnic identity predicted self-efficacy. The qualitative results support this finding, indicating that for some minority groups, a strong ethnic identity may be a protective factor in efficacy development. The complexity of the relationship between youth ethnic identity on an individual level and within the context of school climate and community is highlighted through the mixed methods analysis.

The relationships between adolescent ethnic identity and attitudes toward school and school climate are investigated in a small, multiracial/multiethnic city in the Great Lakes region with ethnically diverse adolescents taught by primarily White teachers. The mixed methods investigation of 986 eighth through eleventh grade students during the 2010-2011 academic year suggests that the relationship between ethnic identity and attitude toward school is a complex interaction among individual characteristics of ethnicity/race, ethnic identity, gender, and ecological context. Quantitative results reveal that White female and Hispanic and African American male students exhibit strong ethnic identity that correlates positively with school attitude; however, qualitative results indicate very different paths in getting to those outcomes. Hispanic students appear to benefit from a strong ethnic identity that assists with positive relationships at school, while African American male students utilize parental cultural socialization as a protective function in school. The results emphasize the implications of positive school climates for all students.

This paper analyses recent policy statements around international education produced by US state boards of education and their international education advisory councils, and investigates policy developments in two US states, Ohio and Indiana, to better ground the discussion of education policy-making in the local political, economic, and educational environment. Since 2001, several US states have published policy statements encouraging the expansion of international education in public schools, particularly world-language study and student and teacher exchange programmes. However, this analysis of the broader aims of this push to internationalize curriculum suggests that they are grounded in local and state issues. Rather than expanding the goals and aims of education from the local to the global, this study argues that these policies establish clear boundaries that limit international education to local economic and national security concerns. (Contains 3 tables and 8 notes.)

Since 1989, large numbers of "ethnic returnees" have settled in Germany and Japan. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, 2.8 million "Aussiedler," or ethnic German returnees, came to Germany from the former Soviet Union. In Japan, immigration reform driven by low-skill labor shortages induced nearly 300,000 "Nikkeijin," or people of Japanese descent, to come from South America in the 1990s. This article analyzes the development of language education at the local and national level for the "Aussiedler" and "Nikkeijin" since 1989. In particular, the authors investigate how the policy makers and educators have problematized the returnees and in what ways discourses of national identity, citizenship, and belonging have (not) adapted to the slow integrations of the "Aussiedler" and "Nikkeijin" into the larger German and Japanese communities. The return of large numbers of "Aussiedler" and "Nikkeijin" to Germany and Japan, respectively, in the 1990s challenged the foundations of ethnic identity in both countries. The development of language education policies for the returnees over the past 15 years also illustrates how national and local officials have problematized return migration and how notions of multiculturalism and national identity have evolved. The authors' analysis of these policies suggests that the comprehensive national policy framework in Germany has not resulted in substantially better outcomes for the "Aussiedler" than the local and nongovernmental implementation framework they found in Japan. Further, the authors show that in the case of "Aussiedler" and the "Nikkeijin," whose heritage are tied to the notion of Germanness and Japaneseness, respectively, the returnees' inability to speak their ancestral language is consistently offered as the primary reason for their lack of integration. (Contains 4 footnotes.)

This research examines the relationship between ethnicity, ethnic identity, self-efficacy, and academic achievement within a multi-ethnic mid-sized city in the US Midwest. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, middle and high school adolescents (Fall, N=482; Spring, N=392) were surveyed and interviewed over the course of one year to investigate the interaction of these variables within the context of their school climate. Quantitative analysis indicated that prior Math achievement and ethnic identity predicted selfefficacy. The qualitative results support this finding, indicating that for some minority groups, a strong ethnic identity may be a protective factor in efficacy development. The complexity of the relationship between youth ethnic identity on an individual level and within the context of school climate and community is highlighted through the mixed methods analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rolf Straubhaar's 2015 article, "The Stark Reality of the "White Saviour' Complex" is the author's critical self-reflection as a young development worker in Mozambique confronting and developing his understandings of his position and privilege as an upper-middle income, White American. Drawing from his journal entries during a year working as an ethnographer for an education development project, Straubhaar interprets his activities and interactions as a Freirean educator and not surprisingly, finds himself falling short of those ideals. As a similarly situated upper-income White male whose earliest professional experiences were cross-cultural, and then international, many of Straubhaar's reflections and self-checks rang true to me. But it also made me reflect on how the contexts in which I taught - a proudly community-controlled school on the Navajo Nation, and in public schools in Japan, were profoundly different from that of the author. In this chapter, I argue that Straubhaar's experience wrestling with this the "White Saviour" necessitates deeper historical and cultural contextualization. In addition, I argue that Straubhaar's interpretation of his hosts' actions can be re-conceptualized through a reading of Marcel Mauss' The Gift, as neutralizing the "White Saviour" by reciprocation. I will finish the article by briefly articulating some principles for pre-departure training for (White) Americans involved in international education and development to neutralize the White Savior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationships between adolescent ethnic identity and attitudes toward school and school climate are investigated in a small, multiracial/multiethnic city in the Great Lakes region with ethnically diverse adolescents taught by primarily White teachers. The mixed methods investigation of 986 eighth through eleventh grade students during the 2010-2011 academic year suggests that the relationship between ethnic identity and attitude toward school is a complex interaction among individual characteristics of ethnicity/race, ethnic identity, gender, and ecological context. Quantitative results reveal that White female and Hispanic and African American male students exhibit strong ethnic identity that correlates positively with school attitude; however, qualitative results indicate very different paths in getting to those outcomes. Hispanic students appear to benefit from a strong ethnic identity that assists with positive relationships at school, while African American male students utilize parental cultural socialization as a protective function in school. The results emphasize the implications of positive school climates for all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report reviews service learning activities performed by student teachers in the American Indian Reservation Project in their placement communities across the Navajo Nation. Parameters for this required, academic assignment included the selection of activities independent of their schools' academic or extracurricular programs; completion of activities with supporting Navajo community members; and adherence to the "three R's:" realistic tasks serving the community, a strong reflective component, and reciprocal exchange between equals. Many varying service-learning projects were performed. The student teachers' insightful written reports described important outcomes in terms of new knowledge acquired, a deeper appreciation for the circumstances of others' lives, and greater acceptance in their placement communities. Knowledge of the community and its people, including their backgrounds, beliefs, traditions, and values, contributes to the creation of a classroom context in which teachers can more effectively serve their elementary and secondary pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationships between adolescent ethnic identity and attitudes toward school and school climate are investigated in a small, multiracial/multiethnic city in the Great Lakes region with ethnically diverse adolescents taught by primarily White teachers. The mixed methods investigation of 986 eighth through eleventh grade students during the 2010-2011 academic year suggests that the relationship between ethnic identity and attitude toward school is a complex interaction among individual characteristics of ethnicity/race, ethnic identity, gender, and ecological context. Quantitative results reveal that White female and Hispanic and African American male students exhibit strong ethnic identity that correlates positively with school attitude; however, qualitative results indicate very different paths in getting to those outcomes. Hispanic students appear to benefit from a strong ethnic identity that assists with positive relationships at school, while African American male students utilize parental cultural socialization as a protective function in school. The results emphasize the implications of positive school climates for all students.