This descriptive study attempted to discover through the perceptions of elementary school teachers and principals whether existing practices for evaluating instruction are intended to help elementary school teachers improve student learning. Specifically, two major research questions guide the study. (1) What are the similarities and differences in perceptions of elementary school principals and teachers regarding the major purposes of teacher evaluation? (2) What changes do elementary school principals and teachers recommend so that teacher evaluation may be more effective in increasing student learning? Two questions are asked of principals and teachers in the Target Schools (TS) to gather in-depth information that complements the data for the above research questions. (TS1) In what ways is teacher evaluation in Target Schools designed to help elementary school teachers improve instruction and increase student learning? (TS2) What are the perceptions of elementary school principals and teachers in Target Schools regarding the current effectiveness of teacher evaluation as a means of improving student learning in their local schools and classrooms? Two populations are utilized for this study. 34 elementary school principals (General Schools) and 5 principals and 42 teachers from five elementary schools (Target Schools) filled out the survey questionnaires. Written documents such as teacher contract and teacher evaluation instruments currently used in schools were also requested from the Target School principals. Principals and teachers listed accountability, teachers' growth as professional, and improvement of curriculum and instruction as the three most important purposes. Only seven principals (20.59%) believed that the purpose of teacher evaluation was to improve student achievement and enhance student learning, a view shared by all teachers and most principals from Target Schools. Principals and teachers considered goal setting, teacher-principal conferences and improvement of curriculum and instruction as the most effective parts in teacher evaluation. Principals would like to spend more time with teachers and teachers would have liked to see their principals more often in their classroom rather than the once a year, fifteen-minute visit to evaluate their annual performance. Peer coaching, as an alternative to formal principal evaluation, was strongly advocated by both teachers and principals. Teachers would like to get more involved in designing and implementing teacher evaluation and to get feedback from more sources. Teacher evaluation can be a powerful means for improving student learning. Through evaluation, teachers will become more effective in reaching and teaching all children of all families.

This thesis explores the relationship of the confrontation at Ocean Hill-Brownsville and the change away from New Deal liberalism and toward separatism. Through historicizing this issue, I also critiquethe changing nature of professionalism, the push for community control and decentralization of schools, and how these ideas influence democracy in education. Various people involved in the confrontation during the summer and fall of 1968 represent the particular positions of each side of the issue. Further, these two sides are also personified in the AFT (American Federatino of Teachers)and the advocates of community control and decentralization. Through my examination, I attemtp to locate the importance of the experiment in community control in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville district under the greater context of American liberalism. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2008. / August 21, 2008. / Professionalism, Liberalism, Decentralization, Democracy, Community Control, Neoliberalism / Includes bibliographical references. / Dennis Moore, Professor Directing Thesis; Susan Wood, Committee Member; Neil Jumonville, Committee Member.

When Sherman Dudley's black barber character, Raspberry Snow, took to the stage in 1910, his pre-promoted "shiftless" personality fulfilled American audiences' conditioned, pejorative expectations for blackness. A closer look at the storyline, however, suggests Dudley fashioned Snow's predictability to be an example of the opportunity for subversion of power that exists for stereotyped individuals. Embodying the surface attributes of the stereotype designed to confine them, a number of American performing personae escape persecution, and even profit by lulling their "audiences" (read: adversaries) into believing all is well. Quite often, performing the stereotype is as simple as donning a notably "black" hairstyle, or presuming the supposedly docile attributes associated with black barbers. Moreover, there is strong evidence to suggest that since at least the early nineteenth century, storytellers both black and white have contributed to the promotion of this powerful secret. Black hairstyles and barbers that subvert racist intentions are a recurring theme throughout American lore, and their inclusion in tales by Dan Emmett and Herman Melville resurface in later works by Charles Chesnutt and Sherman Dudley. This paper traces a lineage of characters who successfully subvert an imposed power structure, and whose messages continue to recycle themselves in modern-day performances that suggest black and white are not as far apart as conventional wisdom would have us believe. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of American and Florida Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2005. / February 28, 2005. / Sherman Dudley, Barbershop, Passing, Benito Cereno, Shine, Toba, Toasts, Hip Hop, Shock Wig, Minstrelsy, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Topsy, Babo, Chesnutt, T.D. Rice, Jim Crow, Espn, Ada Walker, Melville, Dan Emmett, Stereotypes, Barbers, Hairstyles / Includes bibliographical references. / William T. Lhamon, Professor Directing Thesis; Leon Anderson, Committee Member; Sally Sommer, Committee Member.

The history of music scenes is a topic that has been misunderstood. Scholarship has tended to focus on sociological theory as a basis for understanding how and why music scenes exist and motivate youth. While accomplishing important work and connecting the study of scenes to academia, theory has left uncovered the narrative history of music scenes. Setting scenes in their specific historical, social and cultural context allows them to be examined by a different set of research goals and methods. In this paper, I outline a historiography of music scenes, from the original implications of subcultural research to ethnography in the early 1990s. Tracing the literature on scenes, I argue that studying scenes from my position in 2009 must be accomplished with a historical point of view, not ignoring theory, but placing narrative history as the primary methodology. The growth of post-punk music scenes in America throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s had extensive effects on popular culture, and through understanding the history first, I propose researchers will have a better grasp on what a scene is, why it functions in society, and how it has affected regional and national subcultural identity. I used Gainesville, Florida as an example of this method. The social characteristics of Florida and the shifts in the national subculture throughout the 1990s are two essential points I bring to bear in the case study of Gainesville. Overall, I hope to introduce Florida's scenes as anomalous instances of subcultural activity and to spur further inquiry on the topic of (re)writing music scenes into the history of youth culture, especially in the 1990s. / A Thesis submitted to the Program in American and Florida Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2009. / April 28, 2009. / Subculture, Scene, Florida, Gainesville, Punk, Music, No Idea Records, The Fest / Includes bibliographical references. / Neil Jumonville, Professor Directing Thesis; Frank Gunderson, Committee Member; Barry Faulk, Committee Member.

This study explores the "futurizing" role educators can play, since learning about alternative futures appears essential to the meaningful understanding of individual, societal, and historical development. The purpose of this study is to provide a rationale for introducing futurism into the schools, and more specifically into the secondary school social studies curriculum. The rationale presented in Chapter Four is based on social studies and future studies literature reviewed in Chapters II and III. A conceptual model of a future-oriented secondary social studies course which educators may adapt to specific needs is presented in Chapter V. Three questions provide direction for this study: (1) In what general ways do educators' assumptions and attitudes regarding the future influence what is taught and learned? (2) To what extent do existing secondary school social studies curriculum materials provide students significant opportunities to consider alternative futures? (3) What are some ways the structure, content, and goals of secondary school social studies programs would be affected if futurism were introduced? The rationale for introducing futurism is also constructed from the larger futurist rationale, the futurist critique of contemporary American education, and specific futurist educational prescriptions. Discussions of the controlling assumptions and attitudes accepted by educators and the importance of the future imagining capacity provide additional information from which to devise reasons for introducing futurism into the secondary school social studies curriculum. Several conclusions are derived from this study, including tentative answers to the three posed questions. First, the controlling assumptions and attitudes of educators, especially those of classroom teachers, significantly influence what is taught and learned. Second, available evidence indicates that existing secondary school social studies curriculum materials do not provide students significant opportunities to consider alternative futures. Third, the structure, content, and goals of secondary social studies programs would each be altered in different ways and to varying degrees if futurism were introduced.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation of the SSP Biology in five provinces of Kenya and its relationship to the examination system. Procedure. Factors affecting the implementation of the SSP Biology course were identified through relevant literature and interviews with Kenyan educational policy makers. Only the SSP Biology course development and its implementation in Kenya since 1965-1980 was examined. The SSP Biology secondary schools were selected utilizing criteria developed by the researcher. The instruments used in collecting data in this study included the following: (1) student questionnaires, (2) teacher questionnaires, (3) interview/questionnaires for educational policy makers and program personnel and (4) personal observations. All the instruments were designed and developed by this researcher. These facets were examined and analyzed: (1) patterns of the SSP Biology course implementation: (i) the teaching method, (ii) objectives, (2) factors affecting the implementation of the course: (i) teacher training, (ii) science equipment, (iii) national examinations and curriculum, and (iv) attitudes towards the SSP Biology course. Findings. The data-collecting instruments revealed several common factors affecting the implementation of the SSP Biology course. First, the positive factors: (1) Congruity between the SSP Biology course objectives and the national exams objectives; (2) High teacher interest in the heuristic teaching method; (3) Generally positive attitudes toward the SSP Biology course. Second, the impediment factors were: (1) Inadequate teacher inservice training in the heuristic method; (2) Inadequate supervision and follow-up of teachers by the Inspectorate; (3) Exams-dominated system pressured teachers to teach to the exams; (4) Inadequate supply of science equipment and curriculum materials; (5) Excessive difficulty of some units and shallowness of other units; (6) Lack of consistent involvement of teachers in the development and revision of the course.

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