Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-91). Also available via the World Wide Web.

President Ma Ying-jeou proclaimed the 12-year compulsory education plan on January 1st, 2011 (the 100th Year of Republic of China). From 2014 onward, both senior high and vocational schools will require no tuition, and most of them can be attended without the requirement of students passing an entrance exam. This policy marks a milestone in Taiwan¡¦s high school admission system. In the future, students graduating from junior high schools may choose a school they favor, rather than having no choice but to attend the one according to their exam results, as was the practice in the past. Purposive sampling was adopted with the freshmen in eight public senior high schools in Kaohsiung as the subjects; two classes in each school were sampled with the questionnaire based on four dimensions: ¡§background of the senior high schools¡¨, ¡§influencing factors occurring during the process of choosing a school¡¨, ¡§main information channels to better understand the senior high schools¡¨, and ¡§related consultations on how to choose a senior high school.¡¨ The aim was to compare the behaviors in choosing a senior high school among the students who do not follow the conventional school ranking as determined by the entrance exam and those who do, in order to explore the factors that affect the process of choosing a senior high school by those who do not follow the practice. The study results show that: 1. Both the students who follow the practice and those who do not, value the dimensions: ¡§background of the senior high schools¡¨ the most, such as ¡§ratio of students entering a university¡¨, ¡§school image (reputation)¡¨, and ¡§school ranking in accordance with the entrance exam result¡¨, etc. 2. Those who do and do not follow the practice differ in choosing a school in terms of four aspects: ¡§whether there is a classmate attending the same senior high school¡¨, ¡§whether background information on the senior high school is available¡¨, ¡§whether the senior high schools hold recruitment activities on the students¡¦ campus¡¨, and ¡§whether related consultation data is issued by the junior high schools they are attending.¡¨ Through a logistic regression analysis, it was found that the three aspects ¡§classmate¡¨, ¡§background information¡¨, and ¡§consultation data¡¨ are significantly predictive regarding the behavior of choosing a senior high school by both groups of students. According to the study results, suggestions are proposed regarding senior high and vocational schools¡¦ planning of future marketing strategies and junior high schools¡¦ provision of consultations about choosing a senior high school. In addition, suggestions are advanced to education administrative organizations for the implementation of the 12-year compulsory education. Finally, suggestions for follow-up studies are also listed.

This study offers a hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry into the experiences of Malaysian parents who selected an international education for their children. Data collection was conducted at one international school in Kuala Lumpur, and consisted of both a survey and interviews. The study focused on parents’ own educational background and experiences, their expectations and motivations for selecting an international school, factors affecting school choice, and attitudes to cultural and self-identities within the context of international education. Findings suggest that Malaysian parents from different age groups as well as varying ethnic and linguistic backgrounds had similar motivations for sending their children to an international school. From the data analysis, three themes emerged: aspirational priorities, discouraging influences, and enabling factors. By scaffolding my examination within the theory of reproduction in education and notions of social and cultural capital, I examined how multiple forms of economic, cultural, and social capital are recognized and mobilized in the search for a quality education in an increasingly globalized market. I conclude that Malaysian parents in this study chose an international school for their children based on experiences forged in four spheres of influence: individual, social, national, and global. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2010-06-30 07:36:19.755

Thesis(Ph.D.)--Cleveland State University, 2009. / Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 29, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-183). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center and also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 2007. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 2007. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation examines three labor market issues regarding public school administrators in Texas using personnel records from the 1994-95 school year until the 2003-04 school year. The first essay explores promotion rates of men and women to school principal, a position that requires certification. I find ignoring gender differences in desire for promotion yields results similar to the existing literature: men hold an advantage in the promotion process. However, restricting the analysis to only those individuals who have expressed interest in an administrative position, those who became trained and certified as a principal, I find men and women face no statistically significant difference in the probability of promotion. Duration analysis shows that although men are most often promoted four years after they become certified and women are most often promoted six to seven years after becoming certified, women face a much higher hazard of promotion than men. This cannot be explained by a higher exit rate from the education sector by men. The second essay examines the effect of restrictive licensing on the quality of the entrants into a profession. Theory suggests that requiring minimum competency standards truncates the low end of the quality distribution, however, increased costs of entry encourage talented potential entrants to pursue outside opportunities. Using the public school principal profession in Texas and measuring teacher quality by changes in student achievement, I find evidence that lower entry costs increase the quality of entrants. As a robustness check, I categorize observations geographically into control and treatment groups to ensure the estimated effect is a result of reduced entry costs and not unobserved factors. The third essay examines the effect of increased school choice on the earnings and abilities of school administrators. I find an overall positive effect of competition on administrators' earnings suggesting that productivity gains from hiring talented managers outweigh the pressure to reduce costs by cutting salaries. However, the results are sensitive to the level of competition, the type of labor market, and the administrators' position. I control for possible endogeneity both mechanically and with outside instruments and my conclusions are largely unchanged.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-104).

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the use of discursive practice in the media public sphere as part of the educational policymaking process. The theory of definitional advantage suggests that powerful policy players have preferred access to media accounts of educational issues. Links between educational policy research and media research suggest that this definitional advantage translates into educational policy settlement. My research begins from the premise that this theory requires further clarification as recent evidence suggests definitional advantage and links to settlement are context specific and more complex than initially envisioned. This study focuses on policy player representations in newspaper accounts of educational choice issues in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta from 1990 to 2005, with attention to who was saying what, when, and with what authority. A fifteen year timeline was chosen in order to illuminate periods of policy crisis and settlement, and contrasting case study sites were chosen due to key differences in school board resistance and local policy implementation. While newspaper accounts shifted overtime in response to local conditions, main narrative issue themes focused on charter approval challenges, administrative issues, and monitoring and support needs. Policy players also weighed in on the school choice debate by articulating claims related to equity, quality, and the need for diversity of educational opportunities. Charter school, school board, and government players were best able to articulate their positions in the public sphere as evidenced by measures of access, recognition, responsiveness, and intertextuality. Teachers’ union representations were surprisingly limited in both newspapers. Differences across local sites reveal strategies for effective counter-hegemonic work in the public sphere. By reinforcing their position of accommodation, connecting to local conditions, and limiting their assertions, the Edmonton board stopped the spread of charter schools early in the policymaking process. In contrast, the Calgary school board took an aggressive position of resistance that reinforced public perceptions of self-interest and mediocrity. Educational policy players should be encouraged that power is not a prerequisite for definitional advantage. Rather, connecting to local conditions, avoiding blame, and targeting assertions are effective policymaking strategies to be used in the public sphere.