Michelle D. Young

In this paper, we use critical policy analysis to examine the strategy of institutional neutrality and its relationship to the longstanding agenda of US conservatives to limit the societal and political influence of higher education within society. Specifically, we posit that policy ambiguity creates fertile ground for fear-based narratives to shape institutional meaning making and steer policy direction. As Stone, a political theorist, pointed out, ambiguity is an inherent part of political decision-making because policy goals, problems, and solutions are open to multiple interpretations. We examine ambiguity surrounding institutional neutrality for higher education institutions, interrogating its contours, functions, and implications. Drawing on Giroux's concept of the disimagination machine and scholarship on the politics of fear, we examine how political actors have reframed the public's thoughts about higher education and attitudes toward their proper role in society. As part of this analysis, we investigate the role of fear in the recent widespread adoption of institutional neutrality policies by universities across the U.S. and critically engage the range of critiques of institutional neutrality as an organizational strategy for higher education institutions. We conclude with a discussion of alternatives to institutional neutrality and their relationship to academic‘freedom.

Though increasingly popular, educational equity audits are not the panacea for equity change. Without careful consideration, equity audits can become just another equity practice that can perpetuate inequities. This chapter provides guidance on evaluating and determining which equity audit tools and processes will ensure that equity will be advanced and that the tools and methods we select will not inadvertently perpetuate inequities. The chapter then outlines a four-phase process for completing equity audits that aligns with this guidance.

Globally, many school systems face leadership shortages and challenges in building strong principal pipelines, making career intentions to pursue school leadership a critical area of study. This study examines how key features of educational leadership preparation programs (ELPPs) influence graduates’ intentions to become school leaders. Guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), we analyzed data from 2994 graduates across 51 U.S.-based ELPPs collected between 2016 and 2020, using structural equation modeling and estimation thinking to assess direct and mediated relationships among program features and career outcomes. Findings reveal that internship quality plays a pivotal role as both a direct predictor of career intentions and a mediator for other program features, including faculty quality, program rigor and relevance, and peer relationships. Faculty quality influences intentions primarily through rigor and relevance, while cohort participation contributes indirectly by fostering peer relationships and internship quality. Graduate attributes, including prior leadership experience, also shape career aspirations. This study extends SCCT by demonstrating how ELPP features shape candidates’ career intentions through interconnected pathways, offering insights that inform policy and program design aimed at strengthening pathways into school leadership.

Critical education policy research has a deep-rooted history, evolving over four decades to challenge traditional positivist approaches. Reimagining epistemology, theory, and methods, scholars pioneered critical policy analysis (CPA), examining power dynamics and contextual influences on educational experiences. In the ensuing paragraphs, we explore how the articles in this volume exemplify critical approaches to policy analysis, examining topics such as racial inequalities in college recruitment, platform technologies’ impact on policy, and racialized discourses in corporal punishment policies. Embracing critical theories and methodologies, scholars reveal how language, hierarchy, and privilege construct realities, perpetuate inequities, and reinforce power structures, and they advocate for equitable policy solutions, challenging the status quo to envision a more just educational future.

This handbook offers a contemporary and comprehensive review of critical research theory and methodology. Showcasing the work of contemporary critical researchers who are harnessing and building on a variety of methodological tools, this volume extends beyond qualitative methodology to also include critical quantitative and mixed-methods approaches to research. The critical scholars contributing to this volume are influenced by a diverse range of education disciplines, and represent multiple countries and methodological backgrounds, making the handbook an essential resource for anyone doing critical scholarship. The book moves from the theoretical to the specific, examining various paradigms for engaging in critical scholarship, various methodologies for doing critical research, and the political, ethical, and practical issues that arise when working as a critical scholar. In addition to mapping the field, contributions synthesize literature, offer concrete examples, and explore relevant contexts, histories, assumptions, and current practices, ultimately fostering generative thinking that contributes to future methodological and theoretical breakthroughs. New as well as seasoned critical scholars will find within these pages exciting new ideas, challenging questions, and insights that spur the continuous evolution and grow the influence of critical research methods and theories in the education and human disciplines.

In this chapter, we examine the issue of validity within critical education research. Critical views of validity are also nuanced, as there are many methodological traditions and epistemological schools in the critical family. We begin with a discussion of validity from a historical perspective as grounded in positivist assumptions concerning the appropriateness of the scientific method for the human sciences. We then explore the appropriation and transformation of validity within the qualitative research community. We provide an overview of key concerns raised and practices adopted to address such concerns. Unlike in traditional quantitative research—wherein the goal is to minimize all sources of invalidity—in qualitative and critical research, different concerns, logics, and practices are prioritized. In the end, our intent is to initiate conversations and critical thinking around the issue of validity in critical research, as well as to provide novice scholars with a resource for thinking about, experimenting with, and using different approaches for increasing the trustworthiness of their research.

This handbook offers a contemporary and comprehensive review of critical research theory and methodology. The significant focus on and activity around critical research methodologies in recent years can be compared to the generative expansion of qualitative methodological innovation during the 1990s when Denzin and Lincoln were planning and developing their first handbook (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). One significant difference is that contemporary critical researchers are harnessing and building on a variety of methodological tools, including but extending beyond qualitative methodology to also include critical quantitative and mixed-methods approaches to research. A second difference involves the evolution and expansion of critical theories and their use. The contributors to this handbook are part of a growing community of educational researchers who are using and adapting new and established critical theories. A third difference is the nature of the sociopolitical context in which research takes place; this has shifted dramatically over the last 30 years, and scholars are exploring societal issues in new and different ways. The opening chapter in Section One, by Linda C. Tillman, explores some of this history in an attempt to capture key developments that brought us to the current moment. In this introductory chapter, we contextualize the handbook within the field of critical (and primarily qualitative) research, define the field of critical education research, and provide a brief introduction to the handbook sections and chapters that follow.

Critical to effective fire management is the protection and preparedness of highly trained wildland firefighters who routinely face extreme physical and psychological demands. To date, there is limited scientific evidence of psychosocial education intervention effectiveness in this context. The objective of the current study is to utilise a cluster randomised control trial study design to evaluate fitness training and psychosocial education intervention programs across a wildland fire season. Wildland firefighters (n = 230) were randomly assigned by their work location to one of four experimental conditions. Pre- and post-season assessments of primary (e.g. psychosocial risk factors, physical fitness and psychological capital) and secondary (e.g. work engagement, job stress and incidence of injury) outcomes facilitated comprehensive evaluation. The psychosocial education intervention program was effective at buffering participant appraisals of 12 of 13 psychosocial risk factors, namely: organisational culture, civility, psychological demands, balance, psychological support, leadership expectations, growth and development, influence, workload management, engagement, protection and safety. Participants in the psychosocial education intervention also reported lower stress relating to organisational support compared with those who not receiving the intervention program. Wildland firefighters receiving either or both intervention programs reported a significantly lower incidence rate of injury (9.9%) compared with the organisation’s 5-year average (16.0%).

Leadership preparation is essential in developing critical skills of effective school leaders. Educational leadership preparation programs vary greatly in terms of program features, it is important to identify which specific elements are likely associated with program quality. Using multiple years of Initiative for Systemic Program Improvement through Research in Educational Leadership (INSPIRE) data, this study analyzes the relationships between program features and graduates’ assessments of overall program quality. Our main finding is that multiple program features matter in quality preparation, including cohort model, face-to-face course delivery, field-based assessment, and strong district partnerships. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Multijunction solar cell design is guided by both the theoretical optimal bandgap combination as well as the realistic limitations to materials with these bandgaps. For instance, triple-junction III-V multijunction solar cells commonly use GaAs as a middle cell because of its near-perfect material quality, despite its bandgap being higher than optimal for the global spectrum. Here, we modify the GaAs bandgap using thick GaInAs/GaAsP strain-balanced quantum well (QW) solar cells with excellent voltage and absorption. These high-performance QWs are incorporated into a triple-junction inverted metamorphic multijunction device consisting of a GaInP top cell, GaInAs/GaAsP QW middle cell, and lattice-mismatched GaInAs bottom cell, each of which has been highly optimized. We demonstrate triple-junction efficiencies of 39.5% and 34.2% under the global and space spectra, respectively, which are higher than previous record six-junction devices.