Not available / text

The purpose of this research was to provide a descriptive and critical analysis of the function of evaluation teams in regional accreditation of senior colleges and universities--how evaluators perceive their roles, how they spend their time on site, and how they make decisions. The objectives of the study were (1) to determine the extent to which regional accrediting visits do what they are purported to do in regional policy and procedure statements, and (2) to determine the strengths and weaknesses in the onsite evaluation process as perceived by regional evaluation team members. The methodology involved a three-step process: (1) a content analysis of regional policy statements regarding the evaluation visit, (2) a survey of evaluators from five of the six regional associations, and (3) a review and comment on the draft findings by professional staff of the participating regional commissions. An overall response rate of 82 percent was obtained from the sample of 349 evaluators--without the use of follow-up mailings. Regional cross tabulations of evaluator responses, together with Chi-square statistics and standard errors of the percentages, provided the basis for the analysis. Major conclusions of the study were: (1) The lack of clear specification of the purpose of the evaluation team visit rendered it difficult to determine whether the purported purposes of the visit were being met. (2) The major strengths of the evaluation visit lay in the expertise and dedication of the volunteer evaluators, and in the willingness of the commissions to adapt their procedures to changing needs and new technologies. The major weakness in the evaluation visit was the lack of an evaluation framework or model to guide the work of the evaluation team. The researcher's recommendations included (1) the regional commissions should clearly specify the intended purposes of the evaluation visit in light of the overall purposes of regional accreditation, and (2) the regional commissions should utilize a coordinating group such as the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation and the evaluation expertise within academe to develop a framework, or genre, to guide team members in accomplishing the purposes of the visit.

This mixed methods study investigates the relationship between fifth-grade teachers' social studies knowledge and beliefs and their relationship to classroom practices. Quantitative data were collected through a beliefs and classroom practices survey and 60-item knowledge test covering the areas of American History, America and the World, Political Philosophy and American Government, and The Market Economy, in order to provide a comprehensive picture of fifth-grade teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and self-reported classroom practices relating to social studies. Additionally, qualitative data were collected through individual and focus group interviews. These data were used to provide an in-depth look that expanded on fifth-grade teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and self-reported classroom practices relating to social studies. The findings of this study indicate that there is a relationship between teachers' beliefs and their self-reported classroom practices in the areas of resources, best practice, time, the Sunshine State Standards, and personal interest. While there were no significant relationships between teachers' knowledge of social studies as a whole and their self-reported classroom practices, there were several significant correlations found in the areas of American History and Political Philosophy and American Government. Further findings indicate that teaching experience and demographic variables, such as age, gender, and education level moderate some of these relationships. Implications and suggestions for further research are offered for elementary education, teacher education, and the field of social studies. / by Michele Harcarik. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a difference in how leadership is distributed in Title I and Non-Title I schools and to examine the relationship between distributive leadership and student achievement in Title I and Non- Title I schools. Additionally, the study investigated the relationship between distributive leadership and school culture in Title I and Non-Title I schools. Finally, this study determined if the relationship between distributed leadership, school culture, and student achievement is moderated by Title I status. This study was significant in the realm of education as it explored distributive leadership, its working definition, and possible relationship to increased student achievement and positive school culture. A quantitative method, including three statistical analyses, was implemented to answer each of the five proposed research questions and five corresponding null hypotheses. A bivariate correlation analysis revealed there was not a relationship between distributive leadership and school culture; distributive leadership and student achievement in a middle school setting. Further, a moderation analysis determined that distributive leadership and school culture, distributive leadership and student achievement were not moderated by Title I status. Additionally, a t-test showed there was not a difference in how leadership was distributed within Title I and Non-Title I schools. A discussion of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations for K-12 were explained in detail, followed by suggestions for future research. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Similar to many other countries, over the past decade Chile has developed policies increasing accountability over schools and teachers working with young children, yet little is known about the impact of these policies on teachers and teaching practices. This study contributes to the research on policy implementation by examining the interaction between accountability policies and institutional practices in kindergarten in the context of the Chilean school system. Specifically, this multiple-site case study explored the responses of kindergarten teachers and principals in different school contexts to policies driven by accountability principles. The study employs a critical approach mobilizing a blend of institutional theory and sense-making theory to examine schools’ macro and micro levels of policy implementation. The results indicate that according to teachers there is a disjunction between the traditional aims of early childhood education, and the objectives of current policies that emphasize results over processes. The teachers interviewed in this study felt that accountability policies largely increase control and surveillance over their teaching and privilege standardized performance measures over holistic child development. However, these policies do provide teachers some opportunities to improve their professional legitimacy in an educational context that usually isolates them. The study also reveals a large gap between teachers’ and principals’ knowledge of early childhood education and their views of the impact of accountability policies. One of the main implications of this study is that policy implementation should put in place supporting actions to help teachers implement accountability practices while acknowledging teachers’ expertise and fostering their agency.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 160-163). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Robert Hampel, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

Holding educators more accountable for the academic achievement of their students has been a central feature of recent education reforms. In several prominent instances, accountability schemes have set pecuniary performance targets that condition on prior scores as a means of controlling for student heterogeneity. Yet doing so introduces a potential dynamic distortion in incentives: teachers may be less responsive to the reform today in an effort to avoid more onerous targets in future — an instance of the so-called `ratchet effect.' The main chapters of this thesis consider possible dynamic distortions from three distinct but related vantage points. Chapter 2 builds a theoretical foundation for understanding the origin of ratchet effects in an educational context. Given an environment where school-level targets depend on student prior scores, I show that such dynamic gaming behaviour depends crucially on variation in the grade horizon of students, with teachers distorting their effort less when their decision affects fewer future scores within the same school. Chapter 3 analyzes the ratchet effect from an empirical perspective. Making use of rich educational panel data from North Carolina, I exploit variation in the grade span of schools to identify ratchet effects, finding compelling evidence of dynamic distortions using a difference-in-differences approach. I then directly estimate the structural parameters of the corresponding model, allowing for complementarities in production between teacher effort and student ability. Using these estimates, the grade five score in K-5 schools would be about 1.25 standard deviations lower under a counterfactual setting without any accountability scheme and 4.6% of a standard deviation higher if ratchet effects were eliminated via a prescribed reduction in each school's incentive target. Chapter 4 explores a potentially important class of mechanisms through which the identified dynamic effects might arise. In particular, school principals may re-allocate teachers across classrooms differentially by grade. By examining the yearly change in teacher assignments to tested subjects, I find evidence that principals re-sort higher quality teachers to higher grades and focus more costly re-sorting on lower grades in response to the reform, which is consistent with the overarching dynamic objective and results of the prior chapter.

Holding educators more accountable for the academic achievement of their students has been a central feature of recent education reforms. In several prominent instances, accountability schemes have set pecuniary performance targets that condition on prior scores as a means of controlling for student heterogeneity. Yet doing so introduces a potential dynamic distortion in incentives: teachers may be less responsive to the reform today in an effort to avoid more onerous targets in future — an instance of the so-called `ratchet effect.' The main chapters of this thesis consider possible dynamic distortions from three distinct but related vantage points. Chapter 2 builds a theoretical foundation for understanding the origin of ratchet effects in an educational context. Given an environment where school-level targets depend on student prior scores, I show that such dynamic gaming behaviour depends crucially on variation in the grade horizon of students, with teachers distorting their effort less when their decision affects fewer future scores within the same school. Chapter 3 analyzes the ratchet effect from an empirical perspective. Making use of rich educational panel data from North Carolina, I exploit variation in the grade span of schools to identify ratchet effects, finding compelling evidence of dynamic distortions using a difference-in-differences approach. I then directly estimate the structural parameters of the corresponding model, allowing for complementarities in production between teacher effort and student ability. Using these estimates, the grade five score in K-5 schools would be about 1.25 standard deviations lower under a counterfactual setting without any accountability scheme and 4.6% of a standard deviation higher if ratchet effects were eliminated via a prescribed reduction in each school's incentive target. Chapter 4 explores a potentially important class of mechanisms through which the identified dynamic effects might arise. In particular, school principals may re-allocate teachers across classrooms differentially by grade. By examining the yearly change in teacher assignments to tested subjects, I find evidence that principals re-sort higher quality teachers to higher grades and focus more costly re-sorting on lower grades in response to the reform, which is consistent with the overarching dynamic objective and results of the prior chapter.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed Feb. 1, 2010). Additional advisors: Martha S. Barber, Lois M. Christensen, Dave Dagley, Tondra Loder-Jackson, Boyd Rogan. Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-110).