Esta pesquisa trata de questões de natureza teórica e tem como objetivo conhecer o trabalho do filósofo Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), como professor primário, realizado de 1920 a 1926 junto a crianças em idade de alfabetização. Esta atividade no magistério ocorreu em escolas primárias da zona rural austríaca e resultou na publicação, em 1926, da obra Dicionário para Escolas Primárias (Wörterbuch für Volksschulen). Nossa hipótese, ao longo desta investigação, é de que este período como docente de crianças contribuiu significativamente para a mudança do pensamento de Wittgenstein, colocando em questão as afirmativas referentes às relações entre linguagem, pensamento, mundo e a forma lógica existentes no Tractatus, sua grande primeira obra filosófica, o que levou o filósofo a formular posteriormente as noções de uso e formas de vida, presentes nas obras da segunda fase do seu pensamento. Consideramos pertinente levantar aspectos históricos da vida do filósofo e compreender o que o levou a atividade do ensino escolar. Além disso, buscamos compreender as diretrizes da Reforma Escolar austríaca dirigida por Otto Glöckel, movimento de transformação escolar no qual Wittgenstein esteve envolvido e que julgamos ter influenciado sua antiga forma de pensar. / This research analyses theoretical matters and aims at understanding the work of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), as a primary education teacher, developed between 1920-1926 with children who were being alphabetized. This educational work was developed in primary schools in the Austrian countryside. As a result of the experience Dictionary for Primary School (Wörterbuch für Volksschulen) was published in 1926. Our hypothesis in this research is that the period Wittgenstein worked as a primary teacher contributed, to a large extend, to a change in his beliefs, putting into question the statements concerning the relationship between language, thought and the world; as well as the logic form present in the Tractatus, his first great philosophical work. Later on, this experience lead the philosopher to formulate the notions about the use and forms of life, present in the works of the second period of his thought. We considered it was pertinent to discuss historical facts about the philosophers life and understand the circumstances that lead him to work in the primary education. Besides that, we aimed at understanding the guidelines of the Austrian School Reform under Otto Glöckel, a school transformation process in which Wittgenstein was involved and that we believe to have influenced his previous thought.

This case study addressed the factors that enhanced or constrained the success of one Promise Academy at an elementary school in the northeastern United States. A large number of schools in an urban district have continuously failed to make adequate yearly progress (AYP). The study school implemented the Promise Academy model in September 2010, to dramatically improve and transform the learning environment in this underperforming school. Promise Academies, the district turnaround model, was implemented in 11 schools, all of which have failed to produce increases in student outcomes. The theoretical framework supporting this study was Michael Fullan's theory of educational change. Using a qualitative goals based program evaluation, the research questions explored the stakeholders' perspectives on the implementation of one Promise Academy. For this qualitative study, interview data were collected and analyzed by using open coding and analytical coding. The common themes identified helped to examine and understand the factors that participants' reported as having constrained and enhanced the implementation of the Promise Academy model and student achievement. The key stakeholders in this case study included 10 teachers, 3 parents and 2 administrators. The results included in the evaluation report reflected that the implementation of the Promise Academy had a positive impact on student learning during the first 2 years of the model, however, this was followed by a decline in student achievement during the third year and beyond. The recommendations included a continued plan of action throughout the intended duration of the reform model. Positive school turnaround can lead to higher graduation rates which can positively affect the quality of the community, which will ultimately lead to positive social change.

The purpose of this research is to study the new curriculum in the topic of modern languages in the upper secondary school, and compare the curriculum from year 2011 with the one from year 2000 and thus try to find differences in the content and wordng. The research also aims to investigate teachers' interpretations and understanding of the new curriculum. The study is divided into two sub‐studies and those are based on the two methods of text analysis and interview. Text analysis of policy documents is made parallell with some aspects found in the background materials of the upper secondaryschool reform, which can be summarized as precision and globalization. My results also show that the subject presentation in the new curriculum of modern languages was diminished in scope and summaized. The interview study connects to the aspects that have emerged in the text analysis. The results of the interview study is that teachers find it difficult to interpret the new curriculum in an equivalent way, and this probably has to do with the fact that they have not received a sufficient or equivalent preparation in the new policydocuments. The general opinion of the teachers is that they have noticed the attempts of  precision in the new curriculum, but they would wish even more precision. The new curriculum has mostly changed their teaching in the aspect of the new grading scale.

The Ministry of Education of Turkey changed the national education programs in accordance with recent approaches in education as part of the educational reform that covers basic and secondary levels of schooling in 2005-2006 academic year. This educational reform that was proposed to change the formerly traditional, behaviorist, and teacher-centered programs into constructivist and student-centered programs will obviously have effects on millions of students, educators and families. Its long-term influence is expected to be seen on the whole society in coming years. The purpose of this study is to describe how school culture, values on professionalism, perceptions on the new programs, and organizational structure and leadership of schools will ease or impede with the implementation of the new national educational programs. A pure qualitative research design was used to study this problem. Multiple case study was carried out with semi-structured, face-to-face interviews as the method of data collection. The data sources for the interviews were teachers and administrators from four schools of different socio economic regions in Istanbul, one of which was a private school. Some of the official documents of the Ministry of Education were also used as supportive evidence to the data collected through the interviews.

This study examined the commitment of teachers to the implementation of ninth grade academies and their perceptions of school leadership during the reform process. Concern for successful high school completion prompted the redesign of ninth grade into a school-within-a-school format within a Florida school district. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the type of commitment and form of leadership evident in this reform initiative along with the relationship between them. As a mindset for change, commitment was represented as affective, normative, and continuance. Leadership styles were delineated as transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant along with related outcomes of effectiveness, satisfactions and extra effort. This study utilized an electronic survey with purposive sampling. Five questions concerning the type of commitment, the form of leadership and outcomes, and the correlation between commitment and leadership guided this research. Descriptive analysis of the responses from 105 teachers produced findings of both affective and normative commitment to change and evidence of transformational leadership as well as the contingent reward dimension of transactional leadership. Leadership outcomes of effectiveness, satisfaction, and extra effort were also expressed by teachers. The results validated the presence of affective and normative commitment of teachers responsible for reform efforts and indicated a relational influence between transformational and transactional leadership behaviors with these two forms of commitment to change. Current pressures of accountability have channeled schools into models of continuous improvement. If schools are to enact lasting change, an understanding of commitment and leadership is needed to produce sustainable school reform.

Transformation is change—especially under challenging circumstances—that is significant, systematic, and sustained, resulting in high levels of achievement for all students in all settings (Caldwell, 2006). Urban education is the primary focus and target of the school reform movement. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) includes explicit requirements to ensure that students served by Title I are given the same opportunity achieve to high standards and are held to the same high expectations as all other students in each state. Urban public school superintendents confront social and economic challenges unique to urban districts and are under pressure to meet NCLB’s accountability standards and mandated policies. This study started with a broad question about effective urban public school superintendent management concepts and strategies. The study was designed and conducted to (a) identify the prevailing management concepts and strategies initiated by the superintendent to attain organizational clarity and effectiveness in improving student performance; (b) examine the degree to which the superintendent’s leadership and management concepts and strategies were understood, supported, and embraced by key members of the organization; and (c) examine how the management concepts and strategies used by the superintendent align with a business management concept that may be useful to district leaders and administrators seeking a concept or strategy to sustain organizational change. This researcher used a single-case study to examine the management concepts and strategies used by an urban public school district superintendent. This study was conducted in the largest urban public school system in Texas. The superintendent, 6 members of the district’s leadership team, and five principals were interviewed and answered online questionnaires. A board member was also interviewed. Finally, student achievement data were examined. The study found the superintendent implemented management leadership concepts and strategies that prevailed over the social and economic barriers faced by urban students. Use of these strategies increased and sustained student performance. Despite limitations, this study opens opportunities for further research in management leadership. Opportunities include further research within this urban district, outside the school district, or on each management leadership concept or strategy identified in this study. / text

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the associations between systemic equity pedagogy (SEP) practices in highly diverse high schools and their students' science achievement and college readiness. This study focuses on science programs in ten highly diverse Texas high schools serving students who exhibit high science achievement and college readiness. According to the Policy Research Group in Science Education, only two percent of all culturally diverse high schools within the state of Texas demonstrate high science achievement and college readiness on state-tracked school-level indicators. Transforming a school context where achievement disparities exist among student groups in science classrooms necessitates that public school officials understand key factors, or “drivers,” and associated indicators contributing to SEP in programs. A model for programs is suggested using a framework for SEP based on data collected from ten highly successful, high diversity high schools. The following research questions address the research gap regarding indicators of SEP associated with high science achievement and college readiness in highly culturally diverse high schools. How do data from ten highly successful, high diversity high schools inform the development of a comprehensive SEP rubric? How do high achieving high schools of culturally diverse student populations score on a comprehensive SEP rubric? How do teachers’ perceptions toward implementing SEP practices vary in different schools? Three research papers detail the research of this dissertation. The purpose for the first paper is to increase understanding of indicators facilitating systemic and equitable teaching and learning practices, otherwise referred to as systemic equity pedagogy (SEP). Results of the study show indicators of a comprehensive SEP rubric. Together, 127 indicators, thirty categories, and eight SEP drivers form a model framing equitable teaching and learning practices associated with high science achievement and college readiness. In conclusion, indicators within the SEP rubric can be described as action-oriented descriptors that science teachers engage formally or informally in order to facilitate quality science education for all students. The purpose for paper two is to score equitable teaching and learning practices in highly successful high school science programs based on the SEP rubric. Findings reveals that implementation of various equitable teaching and learning practices vary across science programs and these practices can be described as both pedagogical and non-pedagogical. In conclusion, varying degrees of implementation exist for indicators in the SEP rubric. In paper three, the purpose is to understand science teachers’ attitude and approach toward implementing systemic teaching and learning practices. Results from this study provide scores that indicate science teachers’ perceptions of their approach to SEP. This study concludes by suggesting high achieving science programs may operate within a continuum for implementing equitable teaching and learning practices.

This doctoral thesis investigates the interrelatedness between school policy and practice. In the thesis, the construction of “the teacher” is analysed in school policy documents and teacher interviews. I am particularly interested in the relation between school policy and school practice in light of the two latest curriculum reforms 1994 and 2011 and the teacher accreditation registration reform of 2011. The analysis focuses on two topics: grading and the professional teacher. In fact, an analytic link is made between the emphasis on grading and the discursive construction of the teacher in Swedish education policy. The theoretical framework is positioned within institutional theory within which I combine curriculum theory and the sociological new institutionalism with discourse theory. The analyses of policy documents reveals three types of different discursive constructions of “the teacher”. In the period of deregulation and decentralization, a professional teacher is constructed and the need for an autonomous teacher for school quality is expressed. By the 1990s -2000s an unprofessional grading teacher is constructed. In the period signifying the teacher accreditation and registration reform, a quality assured teacher is constructed. It is a teacher who is formally authorized and in need of continuing evaluation. In the focus groups interviews teachers constructs two types of professionalism. One is in line with the professionalism articulated in the policy texts and is about control and formal regulation and the other is about autonomy. Furthermore, the teachers relate to grading and teachers' ability to act in accordance with their overall teaching assignment. Grading were often constructed opposed to teaching. Demands for documentation, quality reports or the requirement of teacher accreditation is described as institutional practices defined from above. These practices make it difficult for teachers to complete their teaching assignments. The study indicates that teachers' ability to operate in an increasingly regulatory schooling culture has, through the types of requirements for transparency in teachers’ work, resulted in the decline of autonomy in their professional practice.

Esta dissertação analisa o processo de implementação da reestruturação curricular do ensino médio ocorrida no estado do Rio Grande do Sul entre os anos 2012-2014, pelo qual se instituiu o Ensino Médio Politécnico. A partir da perspectiva construcionista social do currículo sugerida por Ivor Goodson, se considera a análise curricular em três dimensões: préativa, escrita e ativa. Apresenta-se, primeiramente, as principais reformas do ensino médio da Era Vargas até a atualidade. Ao longo da história, as reformas expuseram diversas disputas sociais que envolviam a relação entre educação e trabalho. Na dimensão pré-ativa do currículo, consideramos que a apresentação da proposta de reestruturação pela Secretaria de Educação do Rio Grande do Sul gerou controvérsias e expectativas nos meios acadêmicos e na opinião pública. Na dimensão do currículo escrito, verificamos que as leis e documentos criados para subsidiar a reforma do ensino médio no Brasil e no Rio Grande do Sul expressam uma tentativa de conciliar a histórica dualidade entre educação e trabalho no país. Na dimensão ativa do currículo se observou que os atores envolvidos no processo de reforma percebem a reestruturação de diferentes maneiras, persistindo uma visão positiva do processo, apesar da identificação de diversos problemas. A reforma do ensino médio ocorrida no Rio Grande do Sul é uma política de reestruturação curricular que se insere em um contexto maior de reforma deste nível de ensino abrangendo a esfera nacional. Todavia, a reforma se mostrou problemática, pois grande parte dos professores e gestores escolares não compreendem bem os conceitos e fundamentos estruturantes desta política, manifestando práticas pedagógicas organizadas sensorialmente, principalmente no que se refere a nova disciplina, Seminário Integrado, se diferenciando da organização referenciada no campo científico como a proposta da Secretaria Estadual de Educação se apresenta. / This thesis analyses the process of implementation of the curricular restructuring of high school conducted in the state of Rio Grande do Sul between the years 2012-2014, by which the Ensino Médio Politécnico (Polytechnical High School) was implemented. Based on the social constructionist perspective of the curriculum suggested by Ivor Goodson, the curricular analysis is considered in three dimensions: pre-active, written and active. Firstly, the main high school reforms from the Vargas Age until today are presented. Throughout history, the reforms highlighted many social disputes involving the relation between education and work. On the pre-active dimension of the curriculum, we consider the presenting of the restructuration proposal by the Secretariat of Education of Rio Grande do Sul has generated controversy and expectation in the academia and in the public opinion. On the written dimension of the curriculum, we verified that the laws and documents created to subsidize the high school reform in Brazil and in Rio Grande do Sul express an attempt to conciliate the historical duality between education and work in the country. On the active dimension of the curriculum, it was observed that the actors involved in the reform process perceive the restructuring in different ways, maintaining a positivistic view of the process, despite the identification of many problems. It is believed that the high school reform which has taken place in Rio Grande do Sul is a curricular restructuring policy, inserted in a larger reform context of this level of schooling encompassing the national sphere. However, the reform has proven problematic, for the great part of teachers and school managers do not understand well the concepts and structuring fundaments of this policy, manifesting sensorially organized pedagogical practices, chiefly concerning the new discipline, Seminário Integrado (Integrated Seminar), differing from the organization referred in the scientific field as the proposal of the State Secretariat of Education presents.

xv, 224 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Arguably, the most popular current in school reform today is around "small schools". Small schools reforms are predicated on a body of research that suggests students learn better in smaller schools--or, schools of about 400 students or less--rather than large, "comprehensive" high schools. While existing studies of these reforms highlight the benefits for students and the challenges associated with school restructuring, they avoid a frank discussion of how school change affects teachers. Further, these studies fail to address how the politics of change affect prospects for sustainable success. This project redirects the focus of school reform research back towards teachers' work and the importance of democratic teacher participation via an examination of the Oregon Small Schools Initiative, an Oregon-based small schools reform. Using original survey and interview data, I examine how the politics of reform mediate the effects of school conversion on teachers' work. My data suggest that teachers from schools that engaged in a democratic change process fared better than their peers from schools where change was implemented in a more authoritarian fashion. I found that the relationship between politics and work is largely based on that fact that, in democratic schools, teachers had more power and voice regarding school conversion, and school administrators were more likely to listen to and incorporate teachers' feedback into the restructuring process. By viewing teacher criticism as constructive input--as opposed to simply "resistance"--personnel from democratic schools were better able to decide upon a locally appropriate model of reform that fit the needs of both their teachers and students. / Committee in charge: Caleb Southworth, Chairperson, Sociology; Kenneth Liberman, Member, Sociology; Robert O Brien, Member, Sociology; K Brigid Flannery, Outside Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences