Of the nearly 1,000,000 children of active duty members of the military, around 80% attend civilian schools not affiliated with the Department of Defense Education Activity ([DoDEA] DoDEA, 2018; Department of Defense [DoD], 2018). This creates a need for schools to be aware of the challenges that military-connected (MC) students face and understand how best to support them. Recent research indicates that the prevalence of mental health problems in MC youth populations has been rising since the war on terrorism began (De Pedro et al., 2011). MC youth experience an array of internalizing and externalizing problems, including stress disorders (Gorman et al., 2010) and emotional problems (Chandra et al., 2010). One main concern among MC youth is that they may be at a higher risk for suicidality than their non-MC peers (Gilreath et al., 2016; Reed et al., 2011). Creating a positive and supportive school climate may actually prevent suicidality among adolescent students (Birkett et al., 2009; Hatzenbuehler et al., 2014). However, research indicates that MC students may experience a less positive school climate than their non-MC peers (Berkowitz et al., 2014). This study focused on understanding the experience of MC students within a public secondary school in the Mountain West region of the United States. This study utilized a case study approach. A researcher interviewed five staff members serving as teachers, counselors, or administrators who had been employed at the school for at least two years and who had experience working with MC students. Overall, there did not appear to be a reliable way to identify MC students within the school. Further, participants’ perceptions varied on who they thought was best able to identify MC students and whether it would be useful for staff members to know which students were connected to the military. MC students at the school appeared to be supported through school wide supports rather than through supports specific to the military student population. It is recommended that schools consider whether identifying MC students within their population and implementing supports for these students would be beneficial. Districts, particularly those located near military bases, should consider guiding schools on policies and common practices when working with military populations. State organizations should assess the value of collecting data on military student outcomes throughout their state.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / There is a growing body of literature on no-fee public schools in South Africa. The vision of this policy is to ensure that all citizens have equal access to quality basic education. This study, conducted an assessment of the funding-management strategies in three no-fees public primary schools within the Western Cape Education Department. This is vital as post-1996 the African National Congress embarked on the transformation of education in the country to ensure that all citizens have unfettered access to quality education as stipulated in the 1996 Constitution Section 29 (1) (a) which expresses that everyone has the right to basic education. This is also supported by the White Paper on Education, the School Act of 1996 and the policy document on School Fee Exemption and no-fee of Schools of 2007. As a follow-up to the no-fee policy, there was the creation of no- fees schools in Cape Town.

The problem of this study was to evaluate the quality of service and the adequacy of financial support by the State of the Texas public school transportation system and to indicate what improvements, if any, are needed in order to met ideal standards.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) organization promotes distributed leadership as the ideal leadership model for implementation of all of its 4 programs, and researchers have noted that this leadership model in private international schools with multiple IB programs has been vital to school wide success. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how distributed leadership influenced the implementation of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (IBMYP) in a public middle school that has been successful in meeting academic goals. Spillane's distributed leadership model served as the basis for identifying the organizational structures, routines, and tools that influenced the implementation of the IBMYP and improvement in students' academic achievement. Data included interviews with 2 administrators, 3 teachers, 2 support staff, and 1 coordinator, and documents collected from participants, a district leader, and the school's website. Data analysis entailed coding to identify emerging patterns and themes. Findings from this study indicated that distributed leadership had a positive influence in the implementation of the IBMYP. Major themes included effective distributed leadership practices of positional and informal leaders; collaboration amongst faculty members; positive relationships between administrators and others; shared academic vision; effective organizational structures, routines, and tools; shared learning; and students' behavioral challenges. Positive social change may come from providing leaders in the IB organization, as well as district leaders, strategies for distributing leadership that were found in this study that may increase successful implementation of the IBMYP in public schools and improvement in student academic achievement.

This thesis is a historical case study of the Ute Indians of eastern Utah. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how federal Indian education policy is implemented at the local level. Ute children attend school in the Uintah and Duchesne county school districts. The thesis traces Ute experiences in public schools during crucial transitions in federal policy. From 1900 to 1930, the federal government sought to enroll Indians in public schools in order to teach them white ways. Indian enrollment increased in the 1940s and 1950s when federal funding made the attendance of Ute children lucrative to the school districts. After the reservation boarding school closed in 1952, nearly all of the Ute children attended public schools and faced a school system that was hostile to their culture. A key transition occurred in the 1970s when federal policy shifted to one of self-determination. The Indian Education Act of 1972 made mandatory the direct participation by Indian parents in the implementation of federally funded programs. Many parents failed to grasp the new opportunity. The Ute Tribal Education Division became heavily involved in running Ute history and language classes in the public schools under Title IV of the Indian Education Act of 1972 and under Title VII of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Despite the existence of a policy that advocated self determination, Utes were not really allowed to determine how federal money was spent. The 1972 Indian Education Act established an advisory role for parents rather than an administrative one. Local school districts still controlled the purse strings. Programs run under this act were not integrated into the core curriculum of local schools. Federal Indian education policy changed from decade to decade but local attitudes remained essentially the same, blunting each policy's effectiveness. When the federal government desired assimilation, local residents and Indians fought that goal. When the federal government switched to a policy of self-determination, misunderstanding and outright hostility kept it from fulfillment at the local level. In addition to problems associated with local attitudes, federal legislation also proved unworkable because it gave Indians no real power to make the school districts listen to them.

Retaining qualified teachers is critical to the long-term success of students who receive special education services. Special education teacher retention is particularly important during the middle-school years, as this time is a marked period of transition between elementary and high-school that may place increasing demands upon teachers. Further, teachers in their first five years of working may be especially vulnerable to leaving their positions. I sought to identify the factors that contribute to public middle school special education teachers desire to leave teaching. Correlational analyses conducted on self-report data from 446 current public school special education teachers indicated classroom behavior, academic achievement, family involvement and communication, salary, potential for job advancement, and work attitude were significant predictors of whether teachers considered leaving. Based on the findings from the quantitative data, the original intent on focusing the research on middle-school became problematic as the statistical significance was not measurably different across grade levels taught. The qualitative information from open ended responses supports the quantitative results. The implications of these findings, future directions, and possible remediation strategies to improve retention are discussed. / Educational Administration

This study aimed to discover the possibilities of using the board as an agent because of the position of the board numbers in relation to the school and the community. The study provided summary of findings.

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The purpose of this dissertation was to determine if the foundational constructs (student engagement and ethical care) were experienced by the 8th grade students that participated in a morning tutoring program: Future Problem Solvers. A mixed methods design was adopted for the purpose of this study including raw data, survey data, informal observations, and face-to-face interviews. The goal was to determine if the 28 participants (male and female) demonstrated academic success on the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (Science). The study was also conducted in order to explore the level of student engagement and the development of reciprocating relationships based ethical care between the teacher and the students. The findings from the quantitative analysis using the Mann Whitney U indicated that the FSP participants did make academic gains on the FCAT (Science) test to a higher degree than non-participants: Non-Participants (Mean Rank = 182.37) and Participants (Mean Rank = 332.96). The significance was established where p = .00. The quantitative analysis using frequency data also revealed that the majority of the participants reported that they were engaged in learning and made strong efforts when doing and completing their schoolwork. They also participated in class, as well as school based activities. Furthermore, they reported that they felt a sense of belonging and were supported by the staff. The findings from the qualitative analysis indicated that the teacher did model care to the students. He engaged them in dialogue about caring relationships and confirmed and encouraged the best in them. The responses on the interviews completed by the teacher and the principal, as well as the students give evidence that strong relationships developed between the students and the teacher. Moreover, that these reciprocating relationships were built on trust and care. The discussion and interpretations emphasizes the need for professional development, and the need for policy that strives to support student engagement and ethical care above high stakes testing.

No description available.