<p> Active shooter events in K-12 schools have increased since 1990, and developing response policies to such events is a responsibility of school personnel. A paucity of data regarding options-based response practices existed with no focus on policy processes. The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to describe the decision-making processes used in school districts when approving the inclusion of options-based responses to active shooter events in Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs). The research questions addressed processes that shaped the development of options-based responses to active shooter policies in 3 K-12 school districts within the Midwest. The conceptual framework was informed by the theory of policy paradox and the concepts of situational awareness and resilience. Structured interviews were conducted with 12 school personnel and safety professionals involved in 3 high schools; EOPs and state and federal regulations and guidelines were reviewed. An analysis of the interview responses and document reviews using four levels of descriptive coding required a cross-case analytic technique to discover patterns, connections, and themes. Law enforcement and school personnel worked together to create policy and to implement trainings related to options-based response. Results included enhancing situational awareness and empowering teachers and students to become responsible for their safety. These findings can be used to inform and guide school leaders in their efforts to make policy and implementation decisions regarding active shooter policies in EOPs. The potential for social change exists in more school personnel understanding and implementing options-based response policies and making the lives of K-12 students safer.</p><p>

<p> This study examines the causes, effects, and prevention strategies that influence a student&rsquo;s decision to drop out of high school. Three research questions are explored: </p><p> 1. What causes 21st century high school students to drop out of high school? </p><p> 2. Why are current dropout prevention measures not meeting the needs of today&rsquo;s students? </p><p> 3. What patterns emerge in participant responses to the question, &ldquo;Why did you leave high school prior to graduation?&rdquo; </p><p> The researcher collected data from 92 students attending orientation for the adult high school program at a small, rural community college who left school prior to graduation. Ten students were selected and agreed to a one on one interview with the researcher in order to provide a rich context to support their decision to drop out of high school. Data collected included academic background, school experiences, family characteristics, parental investment, disciplinary actions, and attendance patterns throughout the student&rsquo;s school career. The study identified precipitating causes for students to withdraw from school including perceptions of education by the student and family, teen pregnancy, socio-economic characteristics of the family and community, disciplinary actions taken against the student, and the student&rsquo;s need to find full time employment. A 5 x5 Chi Square analysis was done to find the degree of relationship between the basic characteristics of poverty to the causes for dropping out. The results of the analysis were not significant, indicating that living in poverty does not cause students to drop out of high school. The data from the surveys, interviews, and chi square analysis showed that dropping out of high school is not a spontaneous decision, but a result of years of academic struggle, personal and family issues, and the need to provide for basic needs. It is a long process, mired in struggle. The study also revealed a lack of school-related incentives and effective dropout prevention programs to address the issue.</p><p>

<p> After the Syrian Civil War began, refugee exodus gained unprecedented momentum. Turkey, as one of the major destinations of Syrian refugees, experienced problems regarding the accommodation of a high number of refugees (Dorman, 2014; UNICEF, 2014; USAID, 2015). The scholars widely debated the problems regarding educating refugee (Akkaya, 2013; Arabaci et al. 2013), but the available studies do not focus on experiences of refugee students in the schools.</p><p> This dissertation study, therefore, examines the schooling experiences of Syrian child refugees in a Turkish public school with a developing conceptual framework named as Middle East Refugee Protection Model (MRPM). The MRPM originates as a result of the different expectations and motives among the host countries located in Europe and the Middle East.</p><p> This study uses Critical Qualitative Research. The data is collected through interviews and classroom observations. I employed the reconstructive data analysis strategies and used NVivo qualitative data analysis software to analyze the data.</p><p> The results show that the Syrian refugee students&rsquo; experiences in the school in Turkey are not dependent on the liability of the legal instruments but social norms and values. The school staff and classroom teachers use a child-centric approach to educate and integrate refugee students through accentuating values such as transparency and honesty, determination and commitment, and approving authority. Syrian refugee students in the public school face challenges due to their language skills, the host communities&rsquo; social expectations, and the lack of sustainable refugee education policy. As they continue facing challenges, refugee students begin constructing survival skills and these survival skills help them become an independent being and develop a sense of agency.</p><p> Based on the interpretation of the results, I have created two models to explain the refugee education strategies in the school, and how refugee students make sense of the school staff's approach in educating them. The first model is the refugee education and protection model. It explains the concepts and principles that school staff uses to regulate their refugee education system. The second model is agency and independence development, which explains the stages that refugee students go through to be an agent and an independent student. This dissertation suggests theoretical, political and practical implications of the use of models and effective strategies for educating refugees.</p><p>

<p> There are very few studies on the views of school administrators and state legislators regarding federal government mandates for schools. Bolman and Deal (2015) believed people align themselves to survive and thrive in the political framework where resources are scarce, and the aspects of power and conflict inform decisions (Douglas &amp; Mehra, 2015; Pourrajab &amp; Ghani, 2016). This study focused on the thought processes of both school administrators who implement federal mandates and state legislators who navigate funding for federal mandates. Leaders of the political parties of Missouri and school administrators were interviewed to gain insight into the motivation and political views which drive decision making at the state and local levels. The findings of this investigation indicated opinions varied widely on the nature of federal government involvement in education, and political party affiliation had some influence on the belief systems of the participants interviewed. This affiliation runs deep in today&rsquo;s politics and may be difficult to overcome. Data from the study clearly indicated public school administrators favored funding for preschool education yet did not support charter school expansion. Findings from the study offer more than a few implications for both administrative and legislative practice. Administrative interview data could be used to inform legislative decisions for public schools. Bipartisan conversations among stakeholders may offer common ground on these topics for the benefit of Missouri students.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

The purpose of this research study was to examine underlying issues related to poor performance by Haitian students in Boston Public Schools on standardized testing mandated under the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). Performance on these tests determines students’ eligibility to graduate high school and receive their diploma. A descriptive ethnographic approach was used in the study, focusing on students in one high school in the Greater Boston area. This approach is considered appropriate for qualitative research in the context of “cross-cultural comparison,” and it was useful in this case because of the depth of investigation and analysis it allows, especially when studying the culture of a particular ethnic group. In this study, it helped to reveal the attitudes of Haitian youth toward high-stakes testing in the United States. The study was designed to explore Haitian students’ attitudes toward the MCAS testing process and its potential effects on their future academic and career success. In order to investigate and analyze these perspectives, a sample group of 13 students was interviewed over a period of 10 weeks. All of the students were Haitian, and many of them had only been in the US for approximately one year. Most of the students were in the 10th grade, which is the scholastic level at which all students are required to take the MCAS tests under Massachusetts law. Based on the oral interviews collected, it was clear that the majority of the students in the study group believed they had difficulty passing the MCAS tests due to their limited English proficiency and their lack of cultural understanding in the new environment. They clearly expressed their fears that the testing process would negatively affect their academic standing in school, and indeed their career prospects in the long term. Key findings from the study suggest that Haitian youth studying in the US are motivated to realize their academic potential, but that factors such as limited English proficiency, lack of literacy and numeracy in their native language, and cultural discontinuity may prevent them from passing mandated standardized tests and achieving their academic goals.

Includes bibliographical references / Given the low levels of educational standards in the developing world, the World Education Forum adopted the Dakar Framework for Action (DFA) in 2000, calling for quality 'Education for All' children of school-going age. Heeding to this call, many sub-Saharan African countries instituted Free Primary Education (FPE) policies. Lesotho instituted the FPE programme in 2000 on a grade-by-grade basis; first abolishing school fees in grade one, and then in successive higher grades each following year. This thesis consists of a short introductory chapter, three self-contained analytical chapters which empirically evaluate the importance of the FPE policy and family factors on education in Lesotho, and the summary chapter. It first examines the effect of the FPE policy on primary school enrolment in Chapter 2 using household level data for before and after the policy. A difference-in-differences strategy is employed to tease out the FPE effect. This exploits the variations in enrolment rates over time and across grade-groups (i.e. grades covered versus those not-yet covered) created by the implementation strategy of the programme. The findings demonstrate that the policy significantly increased enrolment of primary school-age children by at least 9.3 percentage points (or 13.2 percent). There is also evidence that this policy disproportionately raised enrolment levels of children from poor households and that of boys (the historically disadvantaged group), thereby bridging the gender- and wealth-related educational (enrolment) inequalities. In Chapter 3, the thesis draws on grade six pupils' standardised maths and (English) reading test scores from 2000 and 2007 to analyse changes in educational achievement and educational inequality, and the determinants of such changes. The analysis of the data shows that educational achievement increased significantly for both low- and high-ability pupils over the period of analysis. Nonetheless, this increase in achievement was accompanied by a significant rise in educational inequality, especially in reading test scores. The analysis further shows that these changes are statistically related to policy measures taken under the FPE programme. In particular, the results show that pupil-teacher ratio is negatively correlated with changes in reading performance of low-ability pupils, while teacher effort (i.e. subject-testing frequency and teaching hours per week) and grade repetition have a positive influence on changes in educational achievement. These results suggest that the fall in pupil teacher ratio between 2000 and 2007 has helped increase educational achievement. The analysis, however, reveals that much of the increase in educational achievement and educational inequality is unexplained by both school and pupils' family characteristics, which suggests that there could be other unobserved family and school factors that influence achievement and inequality. Therefore, in Chapter 4 of the thesis I shift focus from FPE policy effects and look at the impact of family factors on human capital accumulation. Specifically, Chapter 4 examines the effect of a child's order of birth on human capital development (i.e. enrolment, educational attainment, and schooling progression) using family-fixed effects models. Birth order has received much attention in the economics and psychology literature. Contrary to much of the evidence from developing countries, I find that birth order has a strong negative effect on human capital development. These birth order effects are pronounced in large families, and families with first-born girls, thereby revealing the strong girls' education preferences in Lesotho. Turning to potential pathways of these effects, I find that birth order effects are not propagated through family wealth, but mainly though birth- (or child-) spacing. These results suggest that there are some intra-household inefficiencies that could explain the changes in educational achievement and inequality.

No description available.

This study compared the teaching practices and efficacy beliefs of traditional middle school teachers and International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) teachers in an urban school district using the framework of Stronge's Model of Effective Teaching (2007), Stronge and Tucker's (2003) Teacher Effectiveness Behavior Scale, and Tschannen-Moran & Hoy's (2001) Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale. Recommended practices for effective teaching were extracted from the following four categories of Stronge's (2007) Model of Teacher Effectiveness: classroom management and organization, implementing instruction, monitoring student progress, and construct of teacher's sense of efficacy.;A stratified random sample of teachers was selected from four middle schools in a large urban district. There were approximately 10 teachers selected from each school which gave a total of 40 teachers who participated in the study. There were 20 (n=20) IBMYP teachers and 20 (n=20) traditional middle school teachers who agreed to participate. A total of 18 IBMYP and 16 traditional teachers completed the online TSES questionnaire.;There was a significant difference (p<.05) in instructional differentiation, assessment for understanding, classroom management and encouragement of responsibility for International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme teachers compared to traditional middle school teachers. However, there was not a significant difference (p<.05) in efficacy for student engagement, efficacy for instructional practices, efficacy for classroom management, instructional focus on learning, instructional clarity, instructional complexity, expectations for student learning, use of technology, quality of verbal feedback to students, classroom organization, caring, fairness and respect, and enthusiasm for International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme teachers compared to traditional middle school teachers.