Researchware

In his paper "Slogging and Stumbling Toward Social Justice in a Private Elementary School: The Complicated Case of St. Malachy" appearing in Education and Urban Society, Vol. 42, No. 5, pp 572-598 (July 2010), author Martin Scanlan of Marquette University used HyperRESEARCH to reveal the myrad of factors affecting one school's efforts at inclusivity as one component towards a broader effort of social justice.

From the Abstract: "This case study examines St. Malachy, an urban Catholic elementary school primarily serving children traditionally marginalized by race, class, linguistic heritage, and disability. As a private school, St. Malachy serves the public good by recruiting and retaining such traditionally marginalized students. As empirical studies involving Catholic schools frequently juxtapose them with public schools, the author presents this examination from a different tack. Neither vilifying nor glorifying Catholic schooling, this study critically examines the pursuit of social justice in this school context. Data gathered through a 1-year study show that formal and informal leaders in St. Malachy adapted their governance, aggressively sought community resources, and focused their professional development to build the capacity to serve their increasingly pluralistic student population. The analysis confirms the deepening realization that striving toward social justice is a messy, contradictory, and complicated pursuit, and that schools in both public and private sectors are allies in this pursuit."

The full text of the paper is accessible here.