Esta pesquisa analisa o Programa de Apoio Pedagógico implementado na Rede Municipal de Ensino de Ribeirão Preto, a partir da percepção dos profissionais. A pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, foi realizada entre agosto de 2011 e junho de 2013, e utilizou-se de análise documental; entrevistas com gestores municipais; aplicação de questionários a Professores de Apoio Pedagógico (PAPs) atuantes no ano letivo de 2012; e entrevistas com PAPs e Professores Titulares que atuaram com Professores de Apoio. A inserção de um segundo professor em sala de aula foi verificada em quantidade significativa em diferentes Redes de ensino em todo o país. Para compreensão das diferentes experiências de introdução do segundo professor em sala de aula, foram identificadas diferentes realidades em que a implantação do Professor de Apoio tem sido efetivada: o Professor de Apoio em Portugal, dentro de uma perspectiva de educação inclusiva, o collaborative teaching, nos Estados Unidos, a docência compartilhada, em Porto Alegre (RS), e o Auxiliar de Ensino nas Redes Municipal e Estadual de Ensino de São Paulo. A proposta do segundo professor parece ter se difundido no Brasil a partir da década de 1990, quando é iniciada uma profunda reforma no Estado Brasileiro, com importantes implicações para as políticas educacionais. Em relação ao Programa objeto de análise, foi constatada ausência de documentos oficiais que relatassem seu histórico e suas orientações teórico-metodológicas. A partir dos dados dos questionários e das entrevistas com os Professores, buscou-se apresentar o Programa de Apoio Pedagógico segundo a percepção dos profissionais. Os dados obtidos permitiram verificar a existência no Programa de entraves na efetivação de uma educação na perspectiva de qualidade social. A fragilidade da política foi identificada na indefinição clara de objetivos, a ausência de orientações e de formação específica para a função de Professor de Apoio Pedagógico, a ausência ou insuficiência de materiais destinados ao Programa, e a ausência de instrumentos formais para sua avaliação. Observou-se que a prática do Professor de Apoio Pedagógico ainda não foi consolidada, e que as dificuldades de implantação do segundo professor reiteram os obstáculos presentes no primeiro programa de atuação de voluntários que o antecede. / This research analyzes the Educational Support Program implemented in Municipal Schools of Ribeirão Preto, from the professionals perception. The research was qualitative, was conducted between August 2011 and June 2013, and used document analysis, interviews with municipal managers; questionnaires with Educational Support Teachers (PAPs) who worked in the academic year 2012, and interviews with PAPs and Teachers who worked with Support Teachers. The insertion of a second teacher in the classroom was found in significant amounts in different school systems throughout the country. To understand the different experiences of introducing the second teacher in the classroom, it was identified different realities in which the implementation of Support Teacher has been effected: Support Teacher in Portugal, within a perspective of inclusive education, the collaborative teaching in the United States, shared teaching, in Porto Alegre (RS), and Teaching Assistant in the São Paulo´s Municipal and State Education Systems. The proposal of second teacher seems to have been widespread in Brazil from the 1990s, when it began a profound reform in the Brazilian State, with important implications for educational policy. Regarding the analyzed program was observed absence of official documents to report on its history and its theoretical and methodological orientation, necessitating the use of oral sources through interviews with management team´s representatives of the researched city´s Municipal Department of Education. From the data of questionnaires and interviews with teachers sought to present the Educational Support Program by professionals perception. The obtained data showed the existence of barriers in the Program to actualize an education from the perspective of social quality. The fragility of the politics were identified in undefined clear goals, the absence of guidelines and specific training for the role of Educational Support Teachers, the lack or the failure of materials for the Program, the absence of formal instruments for its evaluation. It was observed that Pedagogical Support Teacher´s practice has not yet been consolidated, and the difficulties of implementing the second teacher reiterate the obstacles in the first program of volunteers work that precedes it.

Esta pesquisa é um estudo de caso sobre o Conselho de Acompanhamento e Controle Social (CACS) do Fundo de Manutenção e de Desenvolvimento do Ensino Fundamental e de Valorização do Magistério (Fundef) do Município de São Paulo, cuja perspectiva de análise foi identificar as ações de seus membros na realização das atividades do próprio Conselho e, desta forma, compreender quais foram as condições reais que tiveram para realizar o acompanhamento e o controle social das contas do Fundef no Município de São Paulo. Além disso, procurou analisar a dinâmica adotada por este Conselho para realizar suas funções de acordo com a legislação, por se tratar de um Conselho recente na história da Educação no Brasil. O estudo de caso foi realizado com material produzido, no período de 1998 a 2006, na forma de Atas das Reuniões e dos Relatórios Anuais. Entrevistas com membros do CACS serviram de complementação à análise efetuada na pesquisa. Como resultado do estudo, identificou-se que as quatro primeiras gestões não conseguiram analisar as respectivas contas do Fundef do município de São Paulo nos períodos correspondentes aos mandatos dos Conselheiros e somente a 5ª gestão conseguiu elaborar os Relatórios do seu período de mandato. Concluiu-se, ainda, que a atuação dos Conselheiros foi dificultada devido à falta de dados para a análise das contas, à morosidade da administração pública municipal em designar novos conselheiros, às dificuldades para a formação dos Conselheiros ao longo dos mandatos e às constantes substituições de membros, especialmente do segmento de pais. Apesar de ter efetivamente pouca interferência nas ações dos governos municipais, o CACS configura-se como um espaço importante para o debate acerca da Gestão Democrática do Financiamento da Educação. / The aim of this dissertation, which is a case study about the Council for the Accompaniment and Social Control (CACS) of the Fund for Development of Fundamental Education and Valorization of Teachers (FUNDEF) of the Municipality of São Paulo, is to investigate the actions of the Council Members while carrying out the activities of the Council and thus comprehend what the real conditions they had to carry out the accompaniment and the social control of FUNDEF\'s bills in the Municipality of São Paulo were. In addition to that, we also investigated the dynamics adopted by this Council to carry out its duties according to the Brazilian legislation, for being a recent-created Council in the Education history in Brazil. The case study was carried out using the Meeting Minutes and the Annual Reports written between the years of 1998 and 2006. Interviews with CACS members complemented this investigation. As a result of the study, it was possible to observe that during the first four managements they were not able to analyze FUNDEF\'s bills of the Municipality of São Paulo, only during the fifth management the Council Members were able to draw up a report of their management period. It was also observed that what hindered the Council Members\' performance was the lack of data to analyze the bills, the moroseness of the municipal public administration to name new Council Members, the troubles the Council Members have learning the Brazilian legislation and doing accounts during their managements, and the constant substitution of members, specially the segment of parents,. In spite of effectively having low interference in the actions of the Municipality Government, the Council (CACS) is an important place to discuss about the Democratic Management of the Education Financing.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal entender como as migrações são apresentadas e desenvolvidas nas apostilas de professores e alunos da rede estadual de São Paulo, desde a introdução de currículo e material unificado em 2008. As mudanças que a escola paulista sofreu desde essa data fazem parte de uma política educacional neoliberal adotada pelo governo estadual de São Paulo que sofre influências de instituições financeiras internacionais, como o Banco Mundial, que relaciona desenvolvimento econômico ao ensino. Para tanto, avaliamos tais materiais conforme nossas considerações e experiências vivenciadas dentro da sala de aula e também pelos critérios de avaliação de livros didáticos do Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD). Além das avaliações das migrações nos materiais didáticos unificados, serão também discutidas as influências internacionais no ensino de São Paulo; a formação do aluno conforme os interesses internacionais; as consequências sofridas por alunos, professores e pela escola; o currículo unificado de Geografia implantado em 2008; a utilização das apostilas em sala de aula; a nova função do professor, entre outros, que se relacionam às expectativas e a atual realidade do ensino paulista. / This work has as main objective to comprehend how migrations concepts are presented and developed in the São Paulo state schools textbooks, since the introduction of the unified curriculum and didactic material in 2008. The changes that schools underwent since 2008 are part of a neoliberal educational policy adopted by São Paulo state government, which is influenced by international financial institutions, such as World Bank, that link economic development to education. For that, we evaluated the textbooks following our considerations, based both on our own experiences in classrooms and on the evaluation criteria of the Textbook National Program (Programa Nacional do Livro Didático PNLD). In addition to evaluating migration in the textbooks, we will also discuss the international influences on São Paulo education; the student education following international interests; the consequences suffered by students, teachers and the school; the curriculum of Geography adopted in 2008; the use of textbooks in the classroom; the new role of teachers; among others, which are related to the expectations and current reality of teaching in São Paulo.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:54:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Klivia de Cassia Silva Nunes.pdf: 1960095 bytes, checksum: b190d107bef98a924a87949cd9da8e17 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-28 / This study aims to discuss the country area teachers, to diagnose the insertion of the economical-social-cultural relity of the Pedro Afonso town in the educational policy and its implications in the pedagogical practices. The problem is centred in the pedagogical concept of the teacher´s formation in the country zone at the TOCANTINS´UNIVERSITY (UNITINS) and questions: Which is the pedagogical conception for the trainning of elementary school teachers of UNITINS from 2002 to 2006? The problem leads to the hipothesis that the referred formation of teachers in this institution´s historica-cultural conception. As theoretical framework, the research was based on the dialectic materialism, to deal with country area as a scenary about Education, of the work relations in education,making it necessary to do a quantiqualitative research. Supported in this theory of research it was based on Marx and Engels (FRIGOTTO 1996, 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2006), (IANNI 1988, 1997, e 1999), (MARTINS 2000) and (CARNEIRO 1988), (ENGUITA 1989, 1993 e 2004), (BIANCHETTI 1996) for the context´s analisys of the capitalism and neo-liberalism and in Pessoa (1999, 2006 and 2007)about ecucation and country; ´s social-historical(1984) Brzezinski (2000 and 2003) for teacher´s formation. For the data collect it was used a semistructured interview and questionnaires with open and closed questions and register of information. The data analisys worked with: ANALYTICAl CONTRADICTIONS, educational policies, country education, pedagogical praxis, teacher´s formation and country information. The results showed that thereis not a political formation for country areas.Concluded that reflexions about these country education challenges for this area,highlighting the importance of approaching them to two realities: the university one and the country zone one. / Este estudo discute a formação dos professores da área rural, a fim de diagnosticar a inserção da realidade sócio-cultural e econômica do município de Pedro Afonso na política educacional e sua implicação na prática pedagógica. A problemática centrada na concepção político-pedagógica de formação do/a professor/a da zona rural na Fundação Universitária do Tocantins (UNITINS), questiona: Qual concepção político-pedagógica orienta a formação de professores/as de 1ª a 4ª série do Ensino Fundamental na UNITINS de 2002 a 2006? O problema encaminha a hipótese de que a referida formação de professores nesta instituição se orienta pela concepção histórico-cultural. Como subsídio teórico, a pesquisa se apoiou no materialismo dialético, por tratar o campo como palco de conflito acerca da Educação Rural, das relações de trabalho e da educação, fazendo-se necessária a articulação da pesquisa qualitativa e quantitativa. Apoiada nessa teoria essa pesquisa utilizou os seguidores de Marx e Engels (FRIGOTTO 1996, 1997, 1999, 2004 e 2006), (IANNI 1988, 1997, e 1999), (MARTINS 2000) e (CARNEIRO 1988), (ENGUITA 1989, 1993 e 2004), (BIANCHETTI 1996) para análise do contexto capitalista e políticas neoliberais e em Pessoa (1999, 2006 e 2007) para educação e ruralidades; Vygotsky (1984) teoria histórico-cultural e Brzezinski (2000 e 2003) para a formação do professor. Para a coleta de dados usou-se como instrumentos a entrevista semi-estruturada, os questionários com questões abertas e fechadas e registros das observações. A análise dos dados trabalha as seguintes categorias analíticas: contradição, políticas educacionais, educação rural, prática pedagógica, formação de professores e ruralidades. O resultado da pesquisa demonstrou que não há política de formação de professor para o meio rural. Conclui apresentando reflexões acerca da situação atual da educação rural e desafios da formação de professores para esta área, evidenciando a importância de aproximá-la das duas realidades: a da universidade e a da educação rural.

Submitted by Heloisa Silva (heloisa.silva@utp.br) on 2018-05-08T14:44:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 A POLÍTICA DE FECHAMENTO.pdf: 4222953 bytes, checksum: 2331571bf09c707d25359b6246cafa88 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-08T14:44:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 A POLÍTICA DE FECHAMENTO.pdf: 4222953 bytes, checksum: 2331571bf09c707d25359b6246cafa88 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research problematizes the schools closing in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba (Parana State, Brazil). It aims to analyze the policy of closing public schools located in the countryside in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba and understand which the motivations for this policy are. This research is based on historical-dialectical materialism using the method of quantitative-qualitative approach, with the following procedures: 1) collection of documentary data of the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba 2) documentary analysis of the documents that register the closing of rural schools, and the Guidelines of countryside Education, 3) bibliographical review, 4) theoretical discussion considering reference authors. The fundamental category of analysis is contradiction. It was observed that the closure of schools located in the metropolitan region is an expression of the concept of Rural Education, since it is carried out from the governmental sphere. It was observed the existence of educational policies that leads to the closing of schools and can be highlighted: the policy to consolidate isolated schools until the decade of 1985, the policy of school centralization and children transport to school. This situation is due to the existing field project, closely linked to the capitalist production structure. In this sense the closing of schools is the result of a field option, taking into consideration the concentration of land and wealth generates inequalities and express negative consequences to peasants. It can be seen that the policy of closing schools in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba is marked by several motivations: political, social and economic. These include: the advance of capitalist agriculture, the promotion of children transport to school policy, the denial of peasant social practices, the lack of attention from the governmental sphere, the similarity with urban-centric pedagogical practices that deny the potential of a work focused on human formation, demobilization of community about school issues. We believe that in order to modify such relationships it is necessary to mobilize the subjects of the field. It is necessary to act from the context and reflect on it by democratically incorporating the social function of the school in dialogue, regarding the principles of countryside Education. / Esta pesquisa problematiza o fechamento de escolas na Região Metropolitana de Curitiba. Objetiva analisar a política de fechamento de escolas públicas localizadas no campo na Região Metropolitana de Curitiba e compreender como os determinantes dessa política se expressam. A pesquisa ancora-se no método do materialismo histórico-dialético com a abordagem metodológica quantitativa-qualitativa, com os seguintes procedimentos: 1) levantamento de dados documentais da Região Metropolitana de Curitiba 2) análise documental dos documentos de fechamento de escolas rurais, das Diretrizes da Educação do Campo, 3) estudo bibliográfico, 4) discussão teórica com autores que sustentam a construção teórica da investigação. A categoria fundamental de análise é a contradição. Constata-se que o fechamento de escolas localizadas no campo é uma expressão da concepção da Educação Rural uma vez que é realizada desde a esfera governamental. Coexistem políticas educacionais que forjam o fechamento de escolas, com maior expressividade a política de consolidação de escolas isoladas até a década de 1985, a política de nucleação de escolas e a política de transporte escolar. Esta realidade se efetiva mediante ao projeto de campo existente, intimamente ligado ao modo de produção capitalista. Nesta lógica o fechamento de escolas é o resultado de uma opção de campo, no sentido que a concentração de terra e de riqueza gera desigualdades e expressa consequências negativas aos camponeses. Constata-se que a política de fechamento de escolas na Região Metropolitana de Curitiba é marcada por diversos determinantes: políticos, sociais e econômicos. Destacam-se: o avanço da agricultura capitalista, o impulso à política de transporte escolar, a negação das práticas sociais dos camponeses, a falta de atenção da esfera governamental, a vinculação à práticas pedagógicas urbanocêntricas que nega a potencialidade de um trabalho voltado à formação humana, distanciamento da comunidade escolar. Acreditamos que para modificar tais relações torna-se necessária a mobilização dos sujeitos do campo. É preciso atuar desde a realidade e refletir sobre ela incorporando democraticamente a função social da escola em diálogo aos princípios da Educação do Campo.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal entender como as migrações são apresentadas e desenvolvidas nas apostilas de professores e alunos da rede estadual de São Paulo, desde a introdução de currículo e material unificado em 2008. As mudanças que a escola paulista sofreu desde essa data fazem parte de uma política educacional neoliberal adotada pelo governo estadual de São Paulo que sofre influências de instituições financeiras internacionais, como o Banco Mundial, que relaciona desenvolvimento econômico ao ensino. Para tanto, avaliamos tais materiais conforme nossas considerações e experiências vivenciadas dentro da sala de aula e também pelos critérios de avaliação de livros didáticos do Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD). Além das avaliações das migrações nos materiais didáticos unificados, serão também discutidas as influências internacionais no ensino de São Paulo; a formação do aluno conforme os interesses internacionais; as consequências sofridas por alunos, professores e pela escola; o currículo unificado de Geografia implantado em 2008; a utilização das apostilas em sala de aula; a nova função do professor, entre outros, que se relacionam às expectativas e a atual realidade do ensino paulista. / This work has as main objective to comprehend how migrations concepts are presented and developed in the São Paulo state schools textbooks, since the introduction of the unified curriculum and didactic material in 2008. The changes that schools underwent since 2008 are part of a neoliberal educational policy adopted by São Paulo state government, which is influenced by international financial institutions, such as World Bank, that link economic development to education. For that, we evaluated the textbooks following our considerations, based both on our own experiences in classrooms and on the evaluation criteria of the Textbook National Program (Programa Nacional do Livro Didático PNLD). In addition to evaluating migration in the textbooks, we will also discuss the international influences on São Paulo education; the student education following international interests; the consequences suffered by students, teachers and the school; the curriculum of Geography adopted in 2008; the use of textbooks in the classroom; the new role of teachers; among others, which are related to the expectations and current reality of teaching in São Paulo.

En 1983, le rapport A Nation at Risk déclencha un mouvement national de réforme de l’éducation visant à faire de l’excellence scolaire la priorité des politiques éducatives des États. La Californie s’impliqua fortement dans ce mouvement, particulièrement dans le domaine de l’histoire. En 1988, les nouvelles Recommandations pour l’enseignement de l’histoire et des sciences sociales adoptées par le conseil californien de l’Éducation mirent l’histoire au centre du programme de social studies. Alors que les guerres culturelles divisaient le pays, la Californie élabora un programme qui visait à allier excellence scolaire et multiculturalisme. En 1998, la Californie définit des normes scolaires et des objectifs de niveau pour les écoles. À partir de là, les écoles furent tenues pour responsables des performances scolaires de leurs élèves. Contrairement à ce que les réformateurs avaient initialement prévu, les tests standardisés ramenèrent la mémorisation de faits isolés dans les classes d’histoire, au détriment du raisonnement critique et de la participation sociale. À travers le cas du district scolaire unifié de Los Angeles, nous étudions le mouvement pour l’excellence scolaire dans le contexte de l’hyperpluralisme politique et culturel californien. Nous isolons les étapes successives du processus de réforme depuis l’État jusqu’aux écoles afin de mettre en évidence plusieurs aspects de la politique éducative californienne : les objectifs politiques et la culture institutionnelle sur lesquels elle s’appuie, la complexité de la mise en oeuvre par les districts et les exigences contradictoires qui pèsent sur les enseignants. / In 1983, the report A Nation at Risk launched a national education reform movement to make academic excellence the states’ education policies top priority. California became deeply involved in this movement, particularly in the subject area of history. In 1988, the new History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, adopted by the State Board of Education, made history the focus of the social studies curriculum. While cultural wars were dividing the country, California drafted a framework aiming to combine academic excellence with multiculturalism. In 1998, California set academic standards and goals of achievement for schools. From then on, schools were held accountable for their students’ performance. Contrary to what reformers had initially planned, standardized testing brought memorization of discrete facts back to the history classroom, to the detriment of critical thinking and social participation. By focusing on the case of Los Angeles Unified School District, we examine the academic excellence movement within California’s political and cultural hyperpluralism. We single out the successive steps of the reform process from the state level to the schools to emphasize several aspects of California’s education policy: the political goals and institutional culture supporting the reform, the complexity of implementation at the district level, and the contradictory demands made on teachers.

This study accesses the professional artistry of teaching which I argue is being eroded by the representation of teaching in a discourse of technical rationality (Fish, 1991, 1995). Accessing professional artistry is the first step towards identifying how it figures in teaching practice and how it can be (mis)represented in theory, policy and teachers' own talk about their practice. The research method involved: analysing the official New Zealand documents pertaining to teacher performance management to demonstrate how the dominant or hegemonic discourse of technical rationality marginalises the contesting discourse of professional artistry (Schon, 1983, 1987, 1995) and impacts negatively on the profession; collecting interview data through a process of video stimulated recall with student teachers to allow them to reflect on their own professional artistry; exposing the complexity of the student teachers' decision making in action through analysing the video stimulated recall data using the membership categorisation tools (Sacks, 1996; Baker, 1982, 1997, 2000) available in discourse analysis; using Fairclough's (2001) framework for Critical Discourse Analysis to explore the discursive and semiotic aspects of an identified social problem, namely teachers' disillusionment with the teaching profession and their alienation from their professional artistry, 'to produce knowledge which can lead to emancipatory change' (Fairclough, 2001, p.30). I argue that the identified problem is so deeply embedded in the discursive and semiotic aspects of the networked practices in which teaching is carried out, that a common sense interpretation of teaching is inadequate to expose the complexity of teachers' work and therefore inadequate to allow the professional artistry of teaching to be accessed and appreciated. A growing rhetoric/reality gap between teaching theory/educational policy and teaching practice serves to entrench the problem in the New Zealand Education System, positioning teachers in a disempowering discourse of technical rationality in which they are 'not to be trusted with more than the technical aspects of the job' (Fish, 1991, p.31). I argue that the contesting discourse of professional artistry valorises teachers' agency in interpreting and framing the problems of practice, crafting individual solutions to them and wanting to do a good job from a personal and professional commitment to their work and that this is the discourse in which teaching is represented at the local level by teachers themselves. This discursive positioning of teachers, contrasted with their positioning in the official discourse of educational policy offers an enlarged view of all aspects of professional practice as having the potential to inform theory as well as be informed by it, and therefore to generate new knowledge about teaching possibly leading to emancipatory change.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to develop a reliable and valid psychometric instrument, the Teacher Political Self-Efficacy Scale (TPSE Scale), for measuring K-12 teachers’ political self-efficacy in abilities to engage in activities that may directly or indirectly influence education public policymaking. Using Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory as a theoretical lens and the TPSE Scale for measurement, the problem of weak classroom teacher voice in education public policy process is explored. Two separate studies confirmed the reliability of the TPSE Scale. Construct and other forms of validity were confirmed using additional measures of Political Efficacy as citizens, teacher Instructional Efficacy, and teacher level of actual Engagement in political/civic/professional activities. Other elements to the investigative framework included Number of Years teaching, Gender, level of Educational Attainment, School Setting, and teacher perception of adequacy of school district Funding. Teachers’ reported overall low levels of TPSE which was also positively and significantly correlated to level of Engagement. While Political Efficacy as citizen and Number of Years teaching were positively and significantly related to TPSE, Instructional Efficacy was not. Male teachers were found to have significantly higher means of TPSE compared to female colleagues but there were relatively few men in the sample. Teachers with advanced degrees had significantly higher means for TPSE compared to those with bachelor’s degrees. Teachers who held perceptions that their school district had inadequate Funding had significantly lower means for TPSE compared to their colleagues who felt otherwise. There were no significant differences in the means for TPSE based on School Setting. In addition to establishing TPSE Scale reliability and validity, study results contribute to the understanding of marginalized K-12 teacher voice in education public policymaking. Results may inform the design of interventions for building teacher confidence and skill in this political domain of functioning. Scale use may also sensitize teachers to existing avenues for exercising voice that have been previously underutilized or that were not fully understood as opportunities for influencing a political process. It may influence teachers’ future choices about level of engagement.

The bond between the state and education has become stronger due to expended role and control of the state over education especially in the 21st century. Control of the state on education is embodied in educational policies which are the apparatus of modern states used to shape the education system in accordance with the basic interests and values of the society. However, educational policy is a complex, dynamic and multi-tiered concept that is formulated in a diverse sociopolitical system. Understanding the context and the dynamics of educational policy making is required to understand the dynamics of any educational system. This study aimed to investigate the formulation process of educational policies in Turkey and the U.S. through the perceptions of key actors in policy making process. On a broader perspective, this study tried to examine how certain issues became the agenda of the governments, how educational policies were formulated, under what conditions, in which context, and by which agents (persons or groups). For this purpose a qualitative comparative case study design was applied. Two specific policy initiatives of teacher education and teacher quality policies in Turkey (Career Ladders for Teachers, 2005) and Wisconsin, U.S. (Teacher Education Program Approval and Licenses: PI34, 2000) were focused as cases. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and document analysis. Seven key policy makers in each case were interviewed, and primary and secondary documents related to policies were collected. A descriptive, analytical and comparative approach was followed during the data analysis and interpretation. Results of this study showed that policy formulation process in education in two countries is highly complex and under the influence of various factors which determine the policy context in which the policy is developed. Policy context, in both countries, is intertwined by political, economic, social and international factors as well as the culture, values, beliefs, experience, variety and number of the policy actors. Policy process in Turkey, on the account of CLT, can be described as more politicized, and bureaucratic, more straightforward without policy games, and serious conflicts among the policy actors, yet more constrained, top-down, closed, government oriented and elitist process in which democratic procedures were ignored. Wisconsin, on the other hand, demonstrates a more complex policy contexts nested in different levels of government and high number of interest and pressure groups competing with each other, and based on consensus building and participation in within the realms of pluralist tradition.