published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study, The Privatization of Special Education, addresses a shift in the provision of special education and related services to students with disabilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Students with disabilities are being publicly placed in private day and residential schools at public expense. In Virginia, 125 private schools are licensed by the Virginia Department of Education to serve students with Disabilities. The purpose of this study was to develop a profile of programs, services, and interventions offered in private education schools. This nonexperimental design study focused on a secondary data source: the Virginia Department of Education, Private Schools for Students With Disabilities 2010 Annual Survey. Completed surveys were returned by all 125 schools. Results indicated that the majority of private schools licensed to serve students with disabilities are day schools. Students with an Emotional Disability, Other Health Impairment, Specific Learning Disability, and Autism are the most frequently reported disability classifications. Schools tend to be run by corporations and report being accredited by the Virginia Association of Special Education Facilities. Schools offer varying curricula, programs, and services in a variety of settings. This comprehensive profile adds to the body of knowledge or private schools serving students with disabilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

This thesis examines from an historical perspective the series of events between 1995 and 1999 in which the public school teachers’ union, the New South Wales Teachers federation, challenged the NSW and Australian government’s provision of funding to private schools. Such funding is known colloquially as state aid. The state aid struggle is conceived in this thesis as an industrial relations contest that went beyond issues simply of state aid. The state aid struggle was a centrepiece of the Teachers Federation’s broader challenge to government’s intensification of efforts to reduce the federation’s effectiveness in shaping the public school system’s priorities. This thesis contends that the decisive importance of the state aid struggle arose from the fundamental strategy used by governments to lower the cost of schooling over time. To achieve this they undertook the state aid strategy – cost reductions would flow from residualising public schools, de-unionising teachers and deregulating wages and conditions. The state aid strategy was implemented through those areas of policy and funding over which the Federation had negligible control or where the Federation’s membership was disunited. The Federation was undermined by governments using policy initiatives to fragment teacher unity. By the end of 1999, governments’ prosecution of the state aid strategy did not seem to have been diverted from the main thrust of its course by the federation’s struggle. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Woo, Chak Kei Jacqueline. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 338-351). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003. / A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliography.

From Chapter 1: At the 1956 Conference of Headmasters and Headmistresses of Private Schools of South Africa a motion was introduced proposing that the term 'private school' in the title of the Conference should be replaced by that of 'independent school'. The motion was defeated on the grounds that such an alteration would be 'difficult and misleading', (HMC, 1956(1)). This might well have been the case, but the proposer of this motion was no doubt aware that the term 'private school' was equally difficult and misleading.The first problem with the term 'private school' is historical. South Africa was in the British sphere of influence for more than a century and a half and consequently education in South Africa in general and 'private' education in particular has owed a great deal to that influence.

The purposes of this study were (1) to identify the uses of computers in non-public school administration and (2) to determine what factors affect the usage of computers in non-public school administration. An eight per cent (1525 schools) sampling of all nonpublic secondary and elementary in the United States was sent questionnaires. Eight hundred and seventy two (57 per cent) were returned. Some major findings of this study were that 36 per cent of all non-public schools use computers for administrative purposes. Non-public secondary schools use computers significantly more for administration than do non-public elementary schools. Independent schools, those not associated with any religious body, use computers significantly more for administration than do Parochial schools, those affiliated with some religious body. Within the Parochial classification, there is no significant difference in administrative computer usage between Catholic and Other Parochial schools. Schools with an enrollment larger than 500 students use administrative computers more frequently than do smaller schools. Administrators not using administrative computers perceived that the expense of computers and the lack of trained computer personnel were the major reasons they were not using computers. Administrators using computers for administrative functions listed word processing, general accounting, payroll, grading, attendance monitering and budgeting as the most common uses of the computer. Administrators using computers for administrative purposes noticed more time for curriculum development tasks and for supervisory tasks. Additionally, these principals noticed that more office work was done faster with the aid of computers. Seventy-three per cent of the respondents noted that computers are important to administrators for administrative functions.

The purpose of this study was to assess the legal and financial status of public aid for the transportation of private elementary and secondary school pupils in the United States. A combination of legal and survey research methodology was used to approach the study in three phases. A survey was sent to all states to identify those which were providing publicly-funded transportation to nonpublic school pupils through November, 1982. Upon completion of this initial survey all reported state and federal court cases relating to the public financing of private school transportation were then researched, including the landmark Everson case of 1947. Through a second survey financial data for the 1981-82 school year were collected and analyzed for those states identified as providers of private school transportation aid. The study showed that thirty states were providing transportation services to nonpublic pupils in 1982, with twenty-one of these states mandating such transportation by local school districts. The extent of publicly-funded transportation offered to private school pupils in the provider states was found in general to be at least comparable to or possibly even more extensive than that provided at public expense to public school pupils. The study also indicated that, excluding the Everson decision by the Supreme Court in 1947, the issue of nonpublic pupil transportation provision has been decided almost wholly on a state constitutional basis of church and state separation requirements. The exception to this has been the involvement of the federal courts in the 1970’s in deciding the constitutionality of outside-district transportation provided by public funds for nonpublic pupils. In regard to the financial analysis the ten provider states with complete fiscal data reported that $148.6 million was spent to provide nonpublic pupil transportation services. Another $25.5 million was estimated for private school transportation costs in five additional provider states with partial data. While the remaining fifteen provider states authorized private school transportation, a documentation of costs was not reported to the study and it is possible that recorded financial data may not exist to differentiate public and private school pupil transportation costs in these states. / Ph. D.

Text in Afrikaans / Ouers was aanvanklik verantwoordelik vir die onderwys van hul kinders. Namate die samelewing komplekser geword het, het die staat as instelling by die onderwys betrokke geraak met die doel om individue en gemeenskappe te ontwikkel in belang van openbare welsyn. Die onderwystaak van die staat het in so 'n mate uitgebrei dat die staat vandag die onderwys monopoliseer. Mettertyd het die staat en groepe in die samelewing probleme met staatsbeheerde onderwys ervaar. Onderwys het duur geword, en bevredig ook nie die behoeftes van almal in die gemeenskap nie. Privatisering van die onderwys word toenemend beskou as 'n moontlike oplossing vir probleme van die onderwys. Privatisering vind sy oorsprong by die vryemarkdenke van die ekonomie, en dit beklemtoon verantwoordelikheid en vryheid van keuse. Alhoewel privatisering primer 'n ekonomiese motief het, het dit ook ander motiewe, waaronder 'n politieke motief. Privatisering neem verskeie vorms aan en het spesifieke doelwitte asook bepaalde voor- en nadele. Die hantering van die verskaffing van kapitaaldienste in die openbare onderwys in Suid-Afrika bewys dat sekere funksies van die staat in samewerking met die private sektor volledig en suksesvol geprivatiseer kan word. Ander onderwystake is elders geprivatiseer en hou baie voordele in, veral vir die individu en vir groepe in die gemeenskap. Privatisering van die onderwys loop uit op private skole. Bestaande private skole maak baie aansprake, onder meer dat dit onafhanklikheid en kwaliteitonderwys in die hand werk. Dit is egter baie moeilik om klinkklare bewyse vir die aansprake van private skole te vind. Alhoewel private skole van elitisme en separatisme beskuldig word, strewe openbare skole ook na 'n eie etos. Privatisering van die onderwys bied opwindende moontlikhede vir en uitdagings aan die staat, die samelewing en die private sektor. Dit behoort die verantwoordelikheid van die onderwys terug te besorg aan die ouers en die gemeenskap, en sal die soewereiniteit van die onderwys verseker. Privatisering van die onderwys moet egter altyd die belange van die kind eerste stel. Suksesvolle privatisering van die onderwys sal dus deeglike evolusionere beplanning deur die staat en die samelewing verg. / Parents were originally responsible for the education of their children. As society became more complex, the state as an institution became involved in education with the aim to develop individuals and communities in the interest of general well-being. Education has now become the responsibility of the state to such an extent that the state presently monopolises education. The state, and groups within the community, have now come to experience problems with state-controlled education. Education has become expensive and does not make provision for distinctive education for individual groups in the community. Privatisation of education is increasingly regarded as a possible way of solving problems in education. Privatisation originates in the economic concept of the free market, and it stresses responsibility and freedom of choice. Although privatisation has an economic motive, it also has other motives, including a political one. Privatisation assumes many forms and has specific aims, as well as advantages and disadvantages. The handling of the provision of capital of the services in South Africa is proof that certain functions of the state can be very successfully privatised. Other tasks in education have also been privatised and these tasks have many advantages, especially for the individual and for groups in the community. Privatisation of education culminates in the private school. Existing private schools claim, among others, that they promote independence and quality education. It is, however, very difficult to prove, unequivocally, the claims of private schools. Although private schools are accused of elitism and divisiveness, public schools also strive for an own ethos. Privatisation of education offers the state, the community and the private sector exciting possibilities of education and challenges. It should ensure the sovereignty of education and once again place the responsibility for education on the parents and the community. Privatisation of education should, however, always put the interests of the child first. The successful privatisation of education will therefore require thorough and evolutionary planning by the state and the community. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Vergelykende Opvoedkunde)

Repeated instances of bullying plague schools and immobilize the learning environment for many students. Dissimilar views of policies related to bullying make it difficult for school personnel to consistently intervene on behalf of the victim. The purpose of this case study was to bring awareness to the diverse perceptions school personnel have concerning bullying and the constraints those perceptions place on implementing policies and practices set forth by the school. This qualitative case study examined the understanding and knowledge that school personnel had about bullying policies and practices at three private/independent middle schools in the metro Atlanta area. The research questions addressed were: What are school personnel’s understandings of the bullying policies at their school? What were their perceptions of bullying within their school? How does school personnel’s perception of bullying impact their efforts to intervene? Participants for the study included 3 middle school principals, two deans of students, three counselors and nine teachers. Data collected through interviews, non-participant observations, and documentation provided by each school yielded findings that clarity and awareness of bullying policies and practices were not always apparent. Additionally, varying perceptions of bullying impacted intervention efforts by school personnel. The study revealed the need for a clear and concise definition of bullying, along with policies and practices that address the issue. Additionally, school leaders need to monitor and hold school personnel accountable to address bullying consistently within the school.