The purpose of this study was to identify relationships between an urban high school*s student participation in an after-school tutoring program and its relationship to accountability measures on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Reading and End of Course (EOC) exams in the 2013-2014 school year. The research aimed to determine the influence of tutoring participation for urban high school students. Participants included students enrolled in one urban high school who participated in the FCAT Reading and EOC assessments and is was identified if they participated in the school tutoring program or not. Quantitative results revealed the relationship between students* frequency of participation and performance outcomes on state assessments. Then, the relationship between achievement on state assessments for all students, students with disabilities, and English Learners who participated in after school tutoring and those who did not participate in after school tutoring were examined. Finally, the relations of frequency of participation in tutoring to corresponding final grades were evaluated. Participants included students enrolled in one urban high school who participated in the FCAT Reading and EOC assessments and it was identified if they participated in the after school tutoring program or not. Statistically significant differences in performance outcomes existed between tutored students in mathematics courses who participated in tutoring and those who did not. However, there was no statistically significant difference in performance outcomes with students in courses that were heavily based on reading as a result of their participation in tutoring. The students with disabilities subgroup as well as the English Learners subgroup both experienced statistically significant differences in reading scores as a result in tutoring participation. These same subgroups did not experience statistically significant difference on other assessments: Algebra 1 EOC, Geometry EOC, Biology EOC, and U.S. History EOC. Although this study identified relationships tutoring participation had with accountability measures achieved by students there is still much to be understood. The structure and approach to tutoring intervention programs should continue to be sought after in research in an effort to continue providing all students with opportunities for success on high stakes testing.

This study explores hospital board governance, particularly the dimensions of accountability, transparency and civic participation, within Local Health Councils (LHCs) in two locations in rural Paraguay. The democratization and decentralization efforts of the Paraguayan federal government in the last 20 years resulted in creation of the LHCs, but little research has been conducted on how these entities are now working in comparison to the expectations envisioned for them. This study examines LHC member understanding and practices by conducting semi-structured interviews with council members in two different locations. I reviewed relevant Paraguayan law and compared LHC member responses with the legal expectations of the role of the LHC and council member responsibilities. I also reviewed several health council organizational documents, such as rules and procedures, financial statements and by-laws, with the same intent. Using interpretive social science methods, I analyzed this data in conjunction with the information I gathered through participant-observation during my Peace Corps service in one of the communities examined here. This study finds that local health councils face numerous challenges to governance, including member role confusion, few implemented planning and oversight processes, weak systems of accountability and a lack of resources and support given to LHCs, creating a great challenge to meet expectations set out for them by federal law. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Niger, a northwest African country with several systemic barriers to development, has made education a priority. In an effort to improve the national education system, Niger has implemented a decentralization program. This study examines the perceptions of local school actors concerning this decentralization policy, which prescribes improving access and quality to education and strengthening institutional capacity. Local interviews and an analysis of relevant policy documents reveal limited policy implementation at the local level accompanied by a lack of state capacity, accountability and responsiveness to local school needs. Moreover, interviewees perceive a decline in education quality due to these reforms. While policy review documents focus on building institutional capacity at the central and regional government levels, the locality examined has responded as best it can to the needs of its schools. These local efforts are hampered by few resources, limited capacity and understanding of the importance of education by citizens, as well as a mistrust in government institutions, including schools, among local community members. Community leadership, development of participatory public space and trust building, could improve local education capacity to a certain extent, however, strong central government that provides additional resources and builds the capacities of school staff is necessary. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

The Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE) has implemented an Educator Evaluation Framework that requires MCAS scores be used as a significant indicator of teacher effectiveness when available. This decision has implications for thousands of Massachusetts public school teachers. To date, DESE has not provided evidence to support the validity of using MCAS scores to make interpretations about teacher effectiveness. A review of the literature reveals much variation in the degree to which teachers use state-adopted content standards to plan instruction. The findings in the literature warrant investigation into teacher practice among Massachusetts public school teachers. The research questions for this study will be: 1.) Are there variations in the degree to which Massachusetts public school teachers use the Curriculum Frameworks to plan Math instruction?; and 2.) Is MCAS as an instrument sensitive enough to reflect variations in teacher practice in the student’s scores? A survey of Massachusetts public school principals and Math teachers, grades three through eight, investigated the research questions. Survey results revealed that Massachusetts teachers use the Curriculum Frameworks to plan instruction to varying degrees. Survey results also suggest a lack of relationship between teacher practice related to the use of the Curriculum Frameworks and student MCAS scores. These findings suggest MCAS scores may not be an appropriate indicator of teacher effectiveness; however, there are limitations to the study that require further investigation into these questions.

What do we owe to each other in civil society? And what do we owe to each other specifically in the aftermath of a large-scale moral transgression that implicates or impacts a large portion of the population? This dissertation, which takes place at the intersection of political and moral philosophy, begins with this question. I argue that in order to make sense of our social and political obligations under the circumstances of so-called transitional justice, we must first interrogate the moral grounding of those obligations — an activity that is all too easy to overlook or engage in non-reflectively. I argue that while a consequentialist approach to ethical value underlies our intuitions in transitional justice as presently practiced, a contractualist approach offers a promising alternative. On my account, a contract-based approach is especially well-suited to transitional moments, not only because it conveys the collaborative nature of the transitional project, but because it reifies the agency and autonomy of previously victimized individuals. Chapter I draws out the distinction between transitional justice as an array of formal mechanisms and practices (‘formal transitional justice’) and transitional justice as a collection of intuitions about response to grievous wrongdoing (‘ideal transitional justice’). Our ideas about transitional justice influence and shape the form it ultimately takes on the world stage, and those ideas are informed in large part by our moral intuitions. To that end, I introduce the notion of ‘transitional ethics’ as a complement to transitional justice. In Chapter II, I make the case that a thorough exploration of transitional ethics requires us to investigate the suitability of various ethical approaches for the transitional moment. While virtue ethical and deontological approaches fail to resonate robustly with the unique demands of the transitional moment, consequentialist and contractualist approaches succeed. Indeed, the former is already implicitly present in most scholarly theorizing about transitional justice, but the latter deserves increased attention. It is with this consideration that the remainder of the dissertation is concerned. Chapter III considers the impact of a contractualist transitional ethic on victim experiences, and makes the case that the contractualist emphasis on relationships lends itself particularly well to the reification of their moral worth and dignity. Chapter IV turns towards perpetrators, particularly to cases of ‘complex’ perpetrators who themselves may also be victims in some sense or another. Chapter V engages with the final puzzle: how can we hold wrongdoers retributively accountable (if indeed such a thing is desirable) when we orient our approach to transitional justice around the recognition of personal dignity? I argue that the recognition of personal dignity, which contractualism emphasizes, is not incompatible with accountability. Rather, conceiving of perpetrators as signatories to the social contract protects their fundamental rights while emphasizing their civil responsibilities.

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