No description available.

<p>The Increased Flexibility for Local School Systems Act (O.C.G.A. &sect;&sect; 20-2-80-84) compels traditional Georgia public school leadership to make a choice whether to operate under a vertical hierarchical operational system compelled to adhere to all Georgia laws, rules and regulations created by state level policy makers or to increase the level of accountability in exchange for autonomy in the form of a horizontal partnership operational system as a contract or charter system. It will be important for education policymakers in these systems to have a clear understanding of the essential elements of the transition process to guide their decisions to best meet the needs of the students. </p><p> The researcher employed a three-round Delphi study to describe the elements that were part of the process of transitioning to a charter system or an IE² contract system. The researcher gathered data from a panel of 11 experts, who were directly involved in their school system's transition. The data analysis revealed 89 elements that were rated by at least 80% of the panelists, as important or essential to the transition process. </p>

<p> According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (2014), 74 percent of Wisconsin&rsquo;s teachers are women, while only 26 percent of Wisconsin&rsquo;s superintendents are women indicating a significant disparity among the educational ranks. Studies have claimed that women are obtaining their superintendent credentials at the same rate as men, yet in the state of Wisconsin, women account for a mere 22 percent of licensed candidates. Much of the previous literature identifies this problem and rationalizes it with the gender biases that have plagued women for centuries. </p><p> This study went beyond that and focused on women in the 26 percent who have overcome barriers and obstacles to their advancement and how they have managed to balance their work and family. This study was a narrative analysis of the personal and professional histories of female superintendents with children. Using qualitative methods through personal interviews of four women, this study addresses the need for role models for work-family balance for mothers who wish to pursue the superintendency. Probing questions were asked to identify what balance means for these women, how they balance their work and family, and what commonalities these women share in their personal and professional lives that relate to their career trajectories. </p><p> Catherine Hakim&rsquo;s Preference Theory was used to identify how these women characterize themselves as <i>home-centered, adaptive,</i> or <i>work-centered.</i> This theory was then applied to these women using the data obtained through their interviews in order to identify commonalities and themes among them as they relate to work-family balance. </p><p> This study did not dismiss the biases and perceptions of women leaders, but instead focused on how these women navigated these perceptions, and to inherently see the light at the end of the tunnel. This study confirmed that women have a choice in their career decisions, that balance is different for each woman and that stages of career and family play an impactful role in what balance looks like. Finally, this study identifies traits found to be common among the participants that have helped them to find their balance and describe what balance looks like for women superintendents.</p>

<p> With an increased focus on global competition, many educators and policymakers relied on international assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to evaluate the ability of their education system to prepare students for the global economy. Students in the United States continued to demonstrate disappointing results on the PISA, which led to an outcry by American educators and policymakers and a call for reform. To lessen the achievement gap between the United States and other countries, experts suggested the importance of identifying the characteristics of high performing countries and adapting effective policies to fit the needs of the United States. </p><p> The current study sought to provide a research-based foundation for school reform in the United States by initially seeking relationships between research-based factors of school working conditions and learning environments (initial teacher education and professional development; teacher appraisal and feedback; school climate; school leadership; and teachers&rsquo; instructional beliefs and pedagogical practices) from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and student achievement. Then, where relationships occurred, the researcher ascertained the extent of differences within those factors between the United States and the top five, middle five, and lowest five performing countries that participated in both the 2012 PISA and 2013 TALIS. </p><p> The analysis of the data revealed several relationships among factors of school working conditions and learning environments and student achievement. The results also indicated several differences within these factors between the United States and the selected countries. Based on these results the researcher offered several recommendations to educators and policymakers in the United States, such as providing teachers with the time and skill to offer each other meaningful feedback, completing further research on the efficacy of utilizing student performance data in evaluation frameworks, allowing teachers more meaningful opportunities to reflect and collaborate in order to foster common beliefs about teaching and learning, and providing additional training to teachers in the United States on the appropriate and effective use of assessment strategies.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to determine if mandatory Advanced Placement courses improve reading comprehension scores for students; especially Hispanic students. Not only is a minority student achievement gap prevalent in American education, but also a minority opportunity gap is present for students in Advanced Placement courses. The literature review detailed educational reform in the United States to include the rise and expansion of the Advanced Placement Program via the College Board. The benefits and drawbacks of Advanced Placement were emphasized as well as obstacles minority students face in participating in advanced courses. The results from the archival student reading achievement on the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program between sophomore students in two rural, Colorado high schools exposed two certainties; the achievement gap remains and mandatory Advanced Placement participation does not positively affect reading achievement. In the 2013 and 2014 school years, uncommon p-values were identified rejecting the null hypothesis. The ANOVA test for interaction produced a p-value of .438 pointing to an uncommon result, and the t-test produced p-values of 1.00 and .996 which are higher than the alpha of .05, and thus the null was rejected. There is no significant effect between Advanced Placement participation and increased reading achievement scores. Furthermore, this study confirmed the school that did not mandate Advanced Placement courses outperformed the mandatory Advanced Placement school on the state reading examination. More research on this topic is necessary. Longitudinal studies of these student populations may determine if the results may be generalized to larger populations. Among the most significant findings from this study are the importance of teacher preparation and leadership in identifying, recruiting, and enrolling minority students in to Advanced Placement and honors programs with greater consistency. </p>

<p>This dissertation examines three unique, but related, research questions as three separate studies. In the first study, I examine the impact of accountability implementation on vertical equity of inputs. I compare changes in vertical equity at the time of NCLB implementation in states that had not previously implemented accountability policies?the treatment group?to states that had previously implemented NCLB-like policies?the control group. I find that the implementation of accountability policies did not improve vertical equity by distributing more resources to high poverty districts and potentially had a negative impact on vertical equity as low poverty districts potentially increased revenue and spending more than high poverty districts as a result of accountability implementation. In the second study, I examine the impact of an accountability policy change that identifies the bottom 5% of schools for corrective action. These schools, known as priority schools, must show increased performance within three years or face the threat of closure. I show that priority schools near the cutoff for determining priority status did not improve relative to those not receiving such designation, and in fact they performed increasingly worse in the three years subsequent to priority designation. In the third and final study, I investigate the impact of court-ordered education finance reform in New York State on equity of educational inputs. I find that equity of inputs in New York did not improve relative to states that did not undergo reform of their system of education funding. This indicates little to no impact of court-ordered education finance reform in New York. I also show that had the finance reform been implemented as intended, there would have been substantial improvements to both vertical and horizontal equity. Therefore, the lack of results seen in New York stems from a lack of follow through rather than a poorly designed plan for fixing equity of inputs.

<p> This study investigated the following overarching questions: Why do some Americans support religious expression and prayer in public schools while others oppose it? What accounts for the variation in support for school prayer? Previous research on this question indicated that support for religious expression and prayer in public schools varies by geographical regions in the United States, whereas Americans in some regions are more likely to support religious expression and prayer in public schools than those living in other regions. In an effort to explain this regional variation, Feig (1990) developed a model that suggested this regional variation is due to four major factors: demography, political orientation, moral values, and religiousness. Were it not for these factors, he claimed, there would be no regional variation for religious expression and prayer in public schools. Hence, regional variation is due mainly to these four factors. </p><p> Viewed as an exploration of Feig&rsquo;s (1990) model, this study shows that the correlation between region and attitude on religious expression and prayer in public schools is partially due to the factors in Feig&rsquo;s (1990) model. It provided evidentiary support by measuring the strength and direction of the relationship between the four factors and support for religious expression and prayer in public school. It also attempted to ascertain how much variation in support for religious expression and prayer in public schools is accounted for by the factor combination.</p>

<p> As restorative justice gained popularity in schools as a potential strategy for helping to reverse the deleterious effects of zero-tolerance policies, numerous misunderstandings and misapplications have emerged. This study focused on the experiences of school-based restorative justice practitioners and sought to foreground their voices and perspectives to highlight what is necessary for restorative justice work in schools to be effective. Critical narratives were used to elucidate participants&rsquo; perspectives and to allow their voices to serve as the focal point for the study. Findings were as follows: (a) the depth and ongoing nature of preparation practitioners undertake to sustain restorative justice work must be emphasized; (b) rather than a program or set of steps, restorative justice must be experienced as a set of principles or a philosophy grounded in genuine care and concern for individual people; (c) a cultural, political, and social shift is required for restorative justice to be implemented with integrity; and (d) restorative justice is a project of humanization and re-establishing democratic ideals. As such, educators in the field are encouraged to embrace the depth and complexity of the philosophical underpinnings of restorative justice and to acknowledge the personal, internal work that must be undertaken to serve a transformative function in school communities.</p><p>

No description available.

As school buildings continue to age, school stakeholders are increasingly concerned about the influence school facilities have on the academic achievement of students, especially in urban low income school districts. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to examine school building conditions through the perceptions of 12 stakeholders including teachers, facility managers, administrators, and school board members in 3 school districts. The research question involved understanding how local school stakeholders perceived or acknowledged the relevance and relationship of school building conditions to student learning, social constructivism and aspects of organizational theory severed as the conceptual frameworks for this study. A recursive coding method and a comparative content analysis of semistructured interviews was completed. Themes that emerged included thermal comfort, technology, and symbolism. Analysis of interview responses revealed stakeholders perceived that thermal comfort and the presence of stationary technology within classrooms are of primary importance to student learning. Also, the analysis highlighted a common perception supporting the premise that the condition of school facilities represents a symbolic measure of the importance placed on student achievement by the school community. Implications for positive social change include a data-driven dialogue involving policies and practices that support providing optimum school buildings and facilities to support low-income and minority student achievement.