Effective curriculum planning and decision making process is key to the success of educational programs. The problem with centralized educational systems is that, at the curriculum planning level, the system does not have sufficient data about the needs of the learner, teachers, and the expectations of the society at large for effective curriculum planning to take place. At the implementation level, the system does not give teachers the needed flexibility to implement the curriculum. The major purpose of this study was to investigate curriculum decision making process in Malawi. The research procedures used in this study consisted of systematic document analysis and interviews with selected educators. In addition, a survey of opinions of students, parents, teachers, and heads of schools was conducted. The findings of the study confirmed that the curriculum planning and decision making process in Malawi is centralized. It also found that curriculum planning and development process for the secondary school curriculum was not fully systematised. At the school level, heads of schools and teachers had very little say about the curriculum. The implementation of the curriculum was, therefore, not flexible enough to allow the curriculum to be modified to suit local conditions while at the same time meeting the nationally developed objectives. The following were some of the recommendations the study made: (1) Decisions about the curriculum should be broadly based. (2) The responsibility for national curriculum development should be vested in the hands of the Malawi Institute of Education. (3) The Ministry of Education and Culture should gradually institute a school-based management strategy in order to improve the effectiveness of schools. (4) Lines of communication between the school and the Ministry headquarters should be improved. (5) In order to encourage the application of knowledge and skills into practice, there is need to continue refining performance based assessment techniques for appraising student performance and for placement. It is hoped that the decentralization process now taking place within the education sector, will take into consideration the above recommendations in order to improve the quality of secondary education in Malawi.

In-depth interviews were conducted with ten Black male administrators. The interviewing process used a phenomenological approach which focused on the meaning that Black male administrators at predominantly White four-year institutions of higher education make of their work experiences. The meaning made by the participants is based on their personal interpretations and evaluations of their experiences. The in-depth phenomenological interview procedure utilized three ninety-minute interviews with each of the participants. The first interview asked the participant to reconstruct significant experiences in his life that led him to his current position. In the second interview participants reconstruct aspects of their current experiences in order to give the researcher a better understanding of the participants' work. The third interview is a culmination of the previous interviews where now participants reflect and make meaning of their work. The interviews were audio tape-recorded and later transcribed verbatim in order to maintain accuracy. To do justice to the data the researcher presents the material in two ways: first, as summarized narratives of the participants' experiences at predominantly White four-year institutions of higher education and their work experiences in their own words; and second, as a narrative outlining important themes that connect these individuals experiences to the body of literature presented in this study. Themes are analyzed by comparing the profiles (Appendices A-J) of senior administrators, junior administrators, as well as administrators who have institutional responsibilities versus those who have minority-focussed responsibilities. The common themes that emerged from the data are grouped under eight different headings: Work Environment, Work Experiences, Relationships with Whites, Relationships with Blacks, Mentoring/Support Networks, Being Black, Job Performance, and Issues of Diversity. These headings serve as an organizing framework for discussing institutional implications. The data as well suggests areas of consideration for Black male administrators at predominantly White institutions of higher education.

In the 1990s many educators asserted that interdisciplinary teams of teachers working with students in middle grades 5–8 were more effective than traditional instruction in isolated disciplines. Research reported elements of team teaching positively affect student learning, behavior, and achievement (Arhar, 1990, 1994; Arhar & Irvin, 1995; Dickinson & Erb, 1997; Flowers, Mertens & Mulhall, 1999, 2000; Mertens, Flowers & Mulhall, 1999). This study identifies the characteristics and practices of teaching teams that correlate with higher student performance in mathematics, reading and writing in the eighth grade. Student performance as measured by the New England Comprehensive Assessment Program (NECAP) was compared across teams teaching 7th graders in Vermont. The NECAP scores were adjusted to control for household income within each school district. The independent variables of teaching team characteristics and practices were measured by a team self-assessment survey developed using dimensions of teaching teams identified by the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS), an individual questionnaire completed confidentially about how team members work together, and a survey for principals to identify demographic characteristics of each teaching team. This study found: (1) teaching teams giving students greater roles in decision-making correlate positively with student performance in reading and mathematics; (2) teaching teams communicating with parents via email or website correlate positively with student performance in mathematics; and (3) three descriptors of internal teaching team dynamics are associated positively with student performance. The study also found elements of teaching teams that correlate negatively with student performance. These include: (1) team identity including, motto, logo or mascot, mission, song, apparel, and team awards for students; (2) the extent of control teaching teams have over instruction; and (3) the use of student advisory groups. Finally, the study explored the impact of how teaching teams are formed (careful consideration does not impact effectiveness), the integration of a special education teacher on teams (negative impact on student achievement), and overall school size (schools with larger enrollments performed better).

Access to an adequate education has been widely considered an undeniable right since Chief Justice Warren stated in his landmark decision that “Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments…it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education” (Brown vs. Board of Education, 1954). State constitutions establish rights to public education. State legislatures define expected outcomes and funding mechanisms to operate schools. Over the past sixteen years, plaintiffs have overwhelmingly prevailed in court cases where they have claimed that children have been denied access to an adequate education. Close scrutiny of state education finance systems revealed that few states had seriously attempted to determine objectively the amount of resources actually required to meet children’s learning requirements (Rebell, 2006). The purpose of this study is to assist policy makers in efforts to link resources with expected and mandated outcomes. The central question addressed is “what is the cost of an adequate high school education?” Recommendations focus on: (1) how an adequate education should be defined; (2) understanding conditions that affect student outcomes; (3) using successful school smart practices to allocate resources; and (4) the cost of adequacy. Findings from this study identified three spending thresholds. Vermont high schools that spent below $10,006/pupil in total “current expense,” below $685/pupil in student support services, or below $595/pupil in administrative services, were very unlikely to have provided an adequate education. The statewide cost of adequacy requires an additional 4.2% in spending per pupil if all schools spend at the threshold level (based on 4 year averages 2002-2005). Recommendations articulate the need for policy makers to accept responsibility for setting student-outcome standards within a framework that considers student needs and the resources they are willing to appropriate to achieve mandated results. State funding incentives for allocating resources to schools must be reconsidered to address the inequitable system presently in place. Further research which articulates smart practices related to governance systems, school leadership, experiential learning opportunities, and instructional methods is necessary.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a three-year Professional Learning Community (PLC) staff development initiative that took place in a suburban school district in Connecticut. An operational definition for PLCs was developed. This definition may prove beneficial for future research on PLCs. A comprehensive review of the current literature base was conducted, including the detailed examination of one earlier literature review (Vescio et al., 2008) and six empirical studies which examined the relationship between PLC-like initiatives and student performance. The present study builds upon the relevant literature base, specifically by attempting to determine the relationship between teacher collaboration and two dependent variables: changes in teachers' instructional practice and student achievement outcomes. In addition, the study considered the relationship between the support provided by administrators to PLCs and student achievement outcomes. Achievement outcomes were measured by performance on Connecticut's annual standardized assessments. Correlational and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between the variables. Survey data were drawn from a sample of 325 teachers, while student achievement data were drawn from a sample of approximately 2,270 students. A modest, statistically significant relationship was noted between administrative support for PLCs and student performance in both reading and writing. No statistically significant relationships were observed between collaboration and student achievement outcomes. A significant relationship was noted between collaboration and changes in instructional practice as measured by responses on the survey instrument. In addition, the interaction of teacher collaboration and administrative support served as a predictor for student performance in both reading and writing, suggesting that optimal learning occurs when teachers in PLCs collaborate at high levels while simultaneously receiving strong administrative support. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for policy, professional practice, and future research on the topic of PLCs.

Colleges and universities have become increasingly diverse since Brown .v Board of Education requiring that institutions figure out how to manage a more racially diverse student body. Unfortunately, many predominantly White institutions (PWIs) continue to fall short in attending to the specific needs for students of color to feel included and supported. The primary purpose of this study is to learn more about how students of color experience and make meaning of cross-racial relationships in designated multicultural program. I intend to specifically focus on the experiences of students of color who have self-selected to live in a designated multicultural community. To capture individual student stories and realities that illuminate the complexities of how students of color make meaning at a PWI, group and individual interviews will be facilitated during the academic year. Observation/field notes of the community and the use of a group interview will be used to triangulate the data. Qualitative research will provide the greatest opportunity for an in-depth understanding of individual student experiences.

This paper presents a model of capacity development for public organizations in post-conflict settings. The paper reveals the challenges faced by the author as a `change agent' who tried to understand and develop the basic capacity of the Literacy Department of the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan. The author used an action-research approach and has actively followed events and actions to explore the `how can' of capacity development efforts. The review of organizational change literature provided background knowledge for the author's day-to-day work in a public organization and helped him to develop a Foundational Capacity Development Framework (FCDF). The FCDF offers four complementing components of infrastructure, technical competence, social and organizational participation, and strategic alignment . The framework also recognizes the importance of underlying components of capacity development which are based on the beliefs, values, behavior, ownership, sustainment and institutionalization. The four components in the framework are utilized in ways that address the underlying causes to change individual beliefs and values, creating ownership and empowerment for the sustainment and institutionalization of capacity development efforts in public organizations.

All education systems are charged with improving the language abilities of the students for whom they have responsibility. The challenge is particularly acute for policy makers when the issue as to which languages are to feature in the curriculum is politicized. Language planning has provided educators with many insights into language-in-education issues and how to successfully respond to those issues. However, the contribution of language planning is piecemeal and scattered, and it is the need for a coherent and integrated view that underlies this study. This study has three aims. The first aim is to bring together, as a language-in-education planning model, the processes that occur from when a language-in-education issue emerges from a linguistic environment to when the issue is resolved in an education system by the successful implementation of an appropriate plan. The second aim focuses on part of the model, specifically on ascertaining the resources, by required languages, for each option. The concern is to establish (a) the interrelationship between language linked identity aims, curriculum programs (i.e. mediums of instruction and curriculum subjects) and resources and (b) the consequence for resources when a change in these aims causes a change in the curriculum programs. Resources, by required languages, refers to all those resources which need to have language specific attributes, e.g. the languages that teachers and advisors need to speak and materials need to be written in. The third aim is to apply the language-in-education planning model to the complex, politicized linguistic situation in New Hebrides and Vanuatu from the 1820s to 1991 and to the education system as it was in 1990. Five relevant options are presented and analyzed. The analysis shows that the model successfully discriminates along several important language-in-education planning dimensions. Consequently, the use of the model can result in more explicit advocacy, development of superior options, more informed decision making about the demand for personnel with skills in specific languages, and improved implementation of plans.

This study traces the judicial history and educational impact of Honig v. Doe, the Supreme Court decision concerning the suspension of special needs students. In addition, the related Massachusetts Discipline Policy for Students with Special Needs is reviewed, analyzed and compared to Honig. This study also reviewed alternatives to suspension and related court cases. An integral part of the dissertation is a five-page questionnaire distributed to 150 Massachusetts Special Education Administrators and 150 Massachusetts Junior and Senior High School Principals. The overall response rate was 63.7%. The questionnaire queries the policy, the administrators' knowledge of, and attitudes towards the policy, experience with the implementation of the policy, and the alternative discipline methods being used in Massachusetts. An analysis of these responses indicates that more than three-quarters of the administrators who replied correctly answered questions testing their basic knowledge and understanding of the policy and how it was being implemented in their respective schools or school districts. The survey shows a high degree of compliance with the policy's requirements of keeping records of special needs student suspensions and convening Team meetings whenever special needs students' suspensions are expected to total ten days. Furthermore, 89.5% of administrators indicated they have never used the courts to exclude special needs students from school. Alternatives to suspension were also reported with after school detention and in-school suspension being the most common for both regular and special education. More than half of the administrators believed that the policy, which limited the school's authority to suspend special education students, had a negative effect on discipline for special education students. Recommendations are made to help administrators better understand and implement the policy. Areas in need of further research are indicated, including the availability of administrators' access to and utilization of the school attorney and the extent to which the stay-put provision of P.L. 94-142 has prevented administrators from suspending special needs students.

Discriminatory attitudes towards people with disabilities exist today (Cook, 1992). Studies have found a strong association between intolerance toward racial minorities and intolerance towards persons with disabilities. For example, hearing-impaired persons are especially subjected to the same type of stigmatizing experiences as are ethnic minorities and aliens (Cook & Laski, 1980). These attitudes could be linked to the integration of students with disabilities. In higher education, the success of a student with a disability, even more than that of a student without a specific disability, depends on a match between teacher and student (Marchant, 1990). It is thought that faculty attitudes influence the retention and long term behavioral change of their students (Peterson, 1988). The success of the student/teacher match includes consideration of the teacher's attitude towards students with disabilities which is determined, in part, by the teacher's knowledge of disabilities and experience with teaching students with disabilities. The purpose of this research was to assess the University of Massachusetts at Amherst faculty's knowledge of disabilities, experience with educating students with disabilities, and the attitudes they possess towards students with disabilities using a mailed survey and to determine if there is a relationship between the three factors. Guided interviews of eleven selected deans, department heads, and administrators were conducted in addition to the quantitative analysis of the mailed survey. Nearly one-third of the University's 1,316 faculty completed and returned the mailed survey. Following an initial review of the data obtained from the mailed survey identified the need for increasing faculty awareness of students with disabilities, a qualitative study was constructed to identify the most effective strategies for increasing faculty awareness students with disabilities. Participants were generally unfamiliar with disabilities, students with disabilities, University disability service providers, and disability law. University administrators had not identified the need to implement a disability awareness training program and very few interventions had been initiated to increase faculty awareness of students with disabilities. Based upon responses to the survey questions, participants of both studies could be seen as being supportive of students with disabilities.