T he Asian American 1 presence in schools, as captured by cartoonist Garry Trudeau here, has a compelling grasp on the public imagination. Scholars (Dong, 1995;Wu, 2002) have utilized the pointed cartoon strip to emphasize the criticality of understanding how insidious and pervasive is the myth of Asian Americans as model minorities, especially in education. The Asian American model minority image is alluring yet troubling. On one hand, the supposed academic achievement of Asian Americans is used as a beacon to highlight the prototypical American success story, a group to be admired and emulated by others. At the same time, however, it is used to produce a heightened sense of fear, particularly in schools, where the Asian "horde" will take over the classrooms to raise test scores and ruin the grading curve, resulting in a new form of "White flight" (Hwang, 2005). These concerns exist at the K-12 level as well as in the realm of higher education admissions, as captured by Trudeau. In either case, one thing remains clear: Asian Americans are cast outside the peripheries of normalcy.

This study examined the relationship between high school transition preparation (school and family based) and selfdetermination among postsecondary students with disabilities. Seventy-six participants from 4-year universities completed a two-part online survey. The first part of the survey measured three dependent variables: psychological empowerment, hope, and locus of control. The second part measured the independent variable quality of high school transition preparation. Correlational analyses were conducted between the quality of a student's high school transition preparation and perceived self-determination (i.e., psychological empowerment, hope, and locus of control). Although significant correlations existed among the scales used to measure self-determination, the relationships between high school preparation and the role of families and self-determination was of interest.Keywords family involvement, self-determination, postsecondary education, student-focused planning, correlation researchThe 1990 reauthorization of the Individuals With Dis abilities Education Act (IDEA) for the first time ensured greater student involvement in transition planning, which has lead to an increased focus on "engaging students in the transition and education planning as a means to promote self-determination" (Wehmeyer & Field, 2007, p. 47). The 2004 reauthorization strengthened the inv olvement of students by adding the consideration of student strengths to the previously mandated focus on preference, interests, and needs when developing the transition plan (Konrad, Walker, Fowler, Test, & Wood, 2008). The 2004 reauthorization also added language requiring the development of measurable postschool goals in the areas of employment, education/training, and, if appropriate, independent living. In addition, under IDEA 2004, states are now compelled to report student postschool outcome performance (Individuals With Disabilities Education Imp rovement Act, 2004), thereby amplifying the importance of tying transition planning and services to student postschool success. National organizations have acknowledged the need to increase student participation in postsecondary education and addressed that need by advocating for improved high school transition services, including instruction and opportunities to increase student self-determination (National Council on Disability, 2004aDisability, , 2004b.Despite these efforts, the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS-2) has indicated that although the rates of college enrollment for out-of-school youth with disabilities have improved over the past 20 years, outcomes fall far below those of their peers without disabilities (Blackorby & Wagner, 1996; Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Carza, & Levine, 2005). Most recently, it was reported that 31% of youth with disabilities had enrolled in postsecondary coursework at vocational/trade schools, 2-year or community colleges, or 4-year colleges. Of those enrolled in post secondary settings, the largest percentage (19%) was enrolled in 2-ye...

No abstract

In order to address the issue of persistent teacher shortages, urban districts increasingly rely on alternatively licensed teachers who are often viewed as well-suited to work in urban areas because of their greater age, life and work experiences, and understanding of diverse communities. Yet, research on the retention of these teachers remains inconclusive, with some notable studies suggesting that alternatively licensed teachers are as likely as their traditionally prepared counterparts to quit teaching or migrate out of urban school settings. In this study, we explore the process and salient considerations of five alternatively licensed math and science teachers deciding whether or not to continue teaching in a Midwestern, urban school district. Whereas previous studies typically examine teacher recruitment and retention issues through a narrow analysis of labor market incentives and other external inducements, our study situates teachers' career decisions within a more holistic narrative that illustrates how individual actions are never determined by any single factor, but rather a web of simultaneous and sometimes contradictory forces generated by prior expectations and immediate realities that are professional as well as personal in nature.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to discuss the experiences with me-search among scholars in the field of education, defined as the conduct of research about one's own identity or in one's own setting.Design/methodology/approach -Centered around the tensions inherent in the training received around objectivity and subjectivity, these individuals discuss how they came to conduct me-search and the challenges inherent in it, with a particular focus on the teaching and advising of students conducting this kind of qualitative work.Findings -Applying Richardson and St. Pierre's (2005) concepts of writing stories, the following reflections provide a grounding of the "me" in methodology, with an eye toward using this methodology to create social change.Originality/value -While this is a common research approach, relatively little guidance exists on the practice of "me-search", particularly for young scholars.