The major purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between Japanese colonial policies and colonial education, and its impact upon the contents of public elementary school and the language textbooks. Through a variety of analyses, the study intended to discuss the issues relating to the formation and implementation of Japanese colonial educational policies in Taiwan, and to prove the colonial elites to reproduce specific Japanese cultural values, political orientations on the minds of Taiwan¡¦s children in public elementary school. This study, based upon the result of review of related literature and documents and the analyses of the contents of public school¡¦s language textbooks, traced several controversies in the formation and implementation of Japanese colonial educational policies during the occupation period. To deepen the researchers¡¦ understanding of the process, some in-depth interviews of educated people aged over 70 were also conducted. The final conclusions were reached through the combination of these three steps of explorations and some suggestions have been achieved. The conclusions of this study were as follows: ¢¹. The implementation of colonial policies is based on the extent of how the colonial education was practiced. The goals and intentions of colonial elites could also be found in the colonial education policies. ¢º. The colonial education policies changed along with the needs of social situations in Taiwan and in Japanese, and perspectives of the key colonial elites. ¢». The key components which the language textbooks were trying to brain wash Taiwan¡¦s children were teaching Japanese language, moral education, knowledge and skills in life, the spirit of Japanese culture, and the development of healthy bodies in students. ¢¼. The contents of language textbooks changed along with the changes of colonial education policies. The perspectives of colonial elites could also be found in the changing of shifts of emphases in the contents of the language textbooks. ¢½. The formation and implementation of colonial educational policies in Taiwan are based on Japan¡¦s colonial policies, and the control of contents and their ideology in language textbooks were the major approaches. Two suggestions for further study were provided by the researcher as follows¡G ¢¹. Suggestion for related studies Based upon the conclusions of the study, interested researchers can deepen their understanding of the topic by analyzing textbooks of other subjects, extending the study¡¦s span to include elementary schools in 1941-1945, and conducting more oral history interviews. ¢º. Suggestion for comparative studies The conclusions of this study could be the starting points for the researchers to conduct a comparative study the contents of school textbooks in Japan, Taiwan, Manchu and Korea during the colonial period.

<p> Recent initiatives aimed at improving the quality of Head Start programs have included an increased focus on the instructional strategies of Head Start teachers. One factor that researchers have associated with higher quality classroom instruction and increased child achievement in the K-12 grades is teachers' sense of self-efficacy (Berman &amp; McLaughlin,1978; Ghaith &amp; Yaghi, 1997; Guo, Piasta, Justice &amp; Kaderavek, 2010; Justice, Mashburn, Hamre &amp; Pianta, 2008; Nie et al., 2013). Thus far, research on early childhood teacher self-efficacy has almost exclusively relied upon survey and other types of quantitative data to answer questions about this important construct.</p><p> This study of Head Start teacher self-efficacy builds upon this body of research by utilizing a multiple case study to explore Maine Head Start teacher self-efficacy. This qualitative study examined the ways in which self-efficacy is developed and influenced by the context in which teaching occurs. Interviews with Head Start teachers and educational leaders as well as onsite observations were conducted to examine teachers' delivery of instructional support and their belief in their ability to do so in ways that benefit children.</p><p> Findings from this study indicate that elements of the teaching environment such as time for planning and reflection, relationships with colleagues, and the amount of time with children can and do influence teachers' provision of instructional supports. In addition the study found that teachers embed instructional supports within a cycle of intentional teaching that includes formative assessment data used to plan for, modify, and individualize instructional supports for children. Formative assessment data also confirmed the benefits of instructional support strategies for the teachers in this study and acted as evidence of mastery that sustained teachers' instructional self-efficacy. </p><p> These findings offer important information for educational leaders and other professionals who wish to optimize the conditions under which Head Start teachers provide effective instructional supports and build instructional self-efficacy. Information from this study can also be used to inform the types of policies and practices that best support teachers in their instructional support of children.</p>

<p>Higher education can present many challenges for students including managing and scheduling classes, assignments, projects, and professional and social obligations. This experience can be even more difficult for students living with chronic illness, many of whom face the additional challenges of debilitating pain, fatigue, social misconceptions, and frequent medical care. To succeed some students with chronic illnesses will need support and accommodation in order to achieve their goals and complete their degrees. In this thesis I explore the barriers I faced as a student with chronic illness in higher education and what accommodations may help remove those barriers for future students. With this thesis I hope to participate in social, political and academic conversations as a means to increase understanding among fellow students, faculty, staff, and administrators. It is my hope that these conversations will contribute to a movement that will help support and encourage students with chronic illnesses. </p>

<p> Corporal punishment is a controversial method of student discipline used in schools world-wide. There are opposing viewpoints to this practice; corporal punishment is considered as a viable means of discipline, while on the other hand, non-advocates associate corporal punishment with abuse. Currently, corporal punishment is permitted in 19 states, while 31 states have abolished corporal punishment in the school setting. The practice is most predominant in the south, which includes Louisiana. Louisiana is one of 19 states where corporal punishment is deemed legal in a school setting. </p><p> The purpose of this study was two-fold. The primary purpose was to examine and describe Louisiana corporal punishment data retrieved from the Louisiana Department of Education. Secondly, potential relationships between corporal punishment data and three demographic variables (at-risk student counts, district locale, and district performance scores) were explored. There are 54 districts that authorize such practices, but only 42 have reported data to the state for the three reporting cycles. The essential questions dictating this research are: 1) What were corporal punishment practices (student numbers and events) in Louisiana public schools for school years 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14? 2) What distributional characteristics exist for students corporally punished and corporal punishment events in Louisiana during the school years 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14? 3) What percentage of Louisiana school districts experienced changes in corporal punishment practices between school years 2011-12, 2012-13, or 2013-14? 4) What is the relationship between at-risk student count, district locale type, and district performance scores with corporal punishment (student numbers) from an analysis of school districts for school year 2013-2014? </p><p> The federal government has outlawed physical punishment in prisons, jails, and medical facilities, yet students sitting in a classroom are targets for getting hit. It has been 150 years since the first state banned this practice in schools. Since then, an additional 31 states have done the same, but it is still occurring every day in this nation and in Louisiana. </p><p> Results and conclusions from this study may assist local school boards in deciding if corporal punishment should be used within their school districts. </p>

<p> Administrators of 2-year colleges are working in an environment where they seek to balance the social development of the student and the community&rsquo;s demand for a trained workforce to achieve economic development. This balance has resulted in ambiguity about the mission and purpose of 2-year colleges. The purpose of this case study was to explore a community college&rsquo;s experiences with mission change by exploring the interaction between a neoliberal public policy environment and the traditional social democratic mission of academia. Harvey&rsquo;s conceptualization of neoliberalism was used as the theoretical framework. Data were collected through 15 semi-structured interviews with members of college leadership, faculty members, staff, and members of the college&rsquo;s advisory council. Other data included documentation about policy, mission, and publicly available documents related to the mission change at the institution. These data were deductively coded, and then subjected to content analysis. Key findings indicated that the college initially stalled in the mission change process, and as a result, identified alternative pathways to achieve the goals of career-relevant training the neoliberal environment demanded. In this sense, the perspective of academic capitalism was born from necessity for self-reliance and illustrates the commonality of finding entrepreneurial solutions. The implications for positive social change include recommendations to leaders of 2-year colleges on managing mission change in a way that responds to the needs of the college community while retaining the relevance of students&rsquo; social development.</p>

<p> For low-income minority and marginalized communities, American democracy&rsquo;s educational mission remains unfulfilled. Student voices have provided insight into ways that schools disserve and serve students and how schools can improve in promoting academic achievement; however, academically successful low-income students&rsquo; voices&mdash;particularly those at the elementary school level&mdash;are largely excluded from the literature. Providing a platform for student voices, this qualitative, intrinsic critical case study explored six high achieving low-income students&rsquo; views of their academic success and how that success was achieved. Participants were six fifthgrade students, their parents, and teacher, in a school-wide Title I urban public school. Data were collected over a 12-week period through individual interviews, observation, participation, and semiformal conversations. Using an immersive pattern analysis, four main categories emerged from the student interview data: student beliefs about their role; classroom structures; teacher practices; and family support. The study found four principal success factors: a dynamic effortdriven view of success and intelligence; a rigorous dialogic classroom that prioritized student voice, critical thinking, collaboration, and social imagination; an accountable classroom culture viii of high expectations and mastery learning; and the richly diverse experiences and teachings of parents and families as valuable funds of knowledge. Implications and recommendations are included for policy, practice, and future research.</p>

The Conservative Educationalists made their first appearance on the British political stage in 1950. After twenty-five years of vigorous political activity they were well on their way to becoming the most important body of individuals seeking to influence Conservative education policy. The thesis seeks to examine and explain the progress of the views of the Conservative Educationalists over the formation and formulation of education policy in the postwar Conservative Party. An historical analysis was employed to answer the main research question and the subsidiary hypotheses. Whenever possible, primary sources were used including the private papers of Lord Boyle, Professor Brian Cox and Sir Gilbert Longden, and papers held in the official Conservative Party Archive. The thesis establishes that prior to 1970 there was a vacuum in Conservative Party thinking on the aims of education (Chapters 2-3). It shows how the ideas of a body of individuals (termed the conservative Educationalists by Lord Maude in an interview with the author) came to fill this vacuum between 1970 and 1974 (Chapter 4). This body was strongly critical of the Party's existing treatment of education and pressed the Party to fashion a conservative educational policy more in line with Conservative philosophy (Chapter 5). This loose-nexus of individuals changed over a period of time but its intellectual base (preservationist/ excellence in education) became firmly rooted. Between 1975 and 1979 the actions and prescriptions of the conservative Educationalists were instrumental in the construction of a conservative educational policy premised on the notion of excellence in education (Chapters 5-6). Elements of this policy were adopted by the Conservative Government after 1979 (Chapters 7-10). The thesis demonstrates that the contribution of the Conservative Educationalists (notably the preservationists) to the making of Conservative education policy was far greater than has previously been acknowledged.

This study described the relationship between leadership behavior, parental involvement and student achievement in the areas of reading and mathematics in focus middle schools. A questionnaire designed by Bell South Laboratories was used to elicit teachers' perceptions of their principal's behavior in the areas of discipline, climate, communications, community relations, and instructional leadership. The instrument was field tested by a panel of experts whose feedback was used to improve the instrument. Information relative to parental involvement was secured from Board of Education minutes outlining the number of parents who join the PTA and the number of parents who volunteer in the school. Analysis of the data was made by using the Pearson (r) to determine if a relationship existed between the variables. Table values were used to determine the significance of the Pearson r. The statistical tools were utilized to test the 14 null hypothesis in the study. The following significant findings of the study are that: 1.There were significant relationships found between the variables of climate and reading and mathematics, community relations and reading and mathematics, communications and reading and mathematics, PTA and reading and mathematics, volunteers and reading and mathematics. 2. The relationships found crossed focus boundaries. 3. There were non-significant relationships found between discipline and reading and instructional leadership and mathematics. 4. The relationships for non-significant relationships cross focus boundaries. 5. The study revealed that focus status was neither an issue in teachers' perceptions of the principal's behavior, nor was it an issue in the variable of parental involvement.

<p> This quantitative study of summer learning for Maine students in grades three through grades eight analyzed changes in academic achievement level in mathematics and reading that occurred during the summer recess of 2009. </p><p> For mathematics, it appeared that when school was not in session, students showed a cumulative loss of nearly 11 percent of a standard deviation. Although small, the change in performance over the summer was not uniform across all grades studied. For the youngest students in this study, the summer recess represented a time where children collectively lost nearly 40 percent of a standard deviation in mathematics. While gender did not show a statistically significant affect on a child&rsquo;s mathematics achievement over the summer, a child&rsquo;s socioeconomic status (SES) did. Taken cumulatively over the course of this study, high-SES children made a cumulative gain of just over one third of a performance level in mathematics as compared to their low-SES classmates. </p><p> For reading achievement, it appeared that when school was not in session, students showed a slight gain in reading of just about 2 percent of a standard deviation. Again the change was not uniform: children in the youngest grades of the study appeared to gain in achievement level during the summer, while the oldest children in this study lost nearly 32 percent of a standard deviation. Both gender and SES had a statistically significant impact on a child&rsquo;s summer learning. Over the five grade spans of this study, high-SES children gained nearly 25 percent of a performance level over their low-SES classmates while female students gained nearly 40 percent of an achievement level over their male classmates. </p><p> The patterns of learning exposed in this study for different categories of students during the summertime have meaningful implications for policymakers attempting to close the achievement gap. First, it suggests that efforts to close the achievement gap must include efforts to address out-of-school learning factors. Second, by including the summer learning in their calculations accountability measures that use an annual assessment to measure the effectiveness of teachers and schools at closing the achievement gap contain a substantial error.</p>

<p> Athletic programs have been an exciting staple of the higher education experience for over a century. Although student athletes have been studied near exhaustively in higher education research, less attention has been paid to the relationship of athletic academic staff members and corresponding institutional operations in supporting student athlete goals. This study was designed to create a full, rich description, ultimately contributing to the literature of the cultural, social, economic, and academic environment of the staff of the athletic academic support unit from 1991-2014. The overall research question is thus: How has NCAA legislation shaped the administrative institutional action at the "Big Football University" athletic academic support unit from 1991-2014? </p><p> A case study methodology was chosen for the research design. The study utilized a constructivist epistemological orientation and two theoretical lenses: Organizational Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory. Data collection was conducted through interviews with key informants and primary and secondary document analysis. Data displays, domain analysis, and open coding was be used to answer the research question. To increase both internal and external validity, trustworthiness tactics were used ensuring that the results matched reality, that there was a saturation of data, and that a truthful portrayal was created by providing a clear synthesis of patterns found. During data analysis, four constructs were used as macro categories for themes including University Responses, Identity Changes, Legislative Influences, and Leadership and Role Conflict.</p><p> The results from this study led to three major findings. First, the data collected has the ability to contribute data furthering research in the fields of Social Identity Theory, Organizational Identity Theory, and constructivist epistemology influences in higher education environments. Next, the hyper focus of the study on one institution's administrative choices was a pragmatic choice by the researcher to be able to recommend how other schools can adjust their own support services if they are faced with similar scenarios. And lastly the study highlights the need for more athletics research to improve practice within the field.</p>