The pressure to perform on standardized tests in the United States has become intense. Increased accountability has caused principals to think about their perceptions of standardized testing with regard to accountability measures, test validity, use of test data, impact of testing on the curriculum, and stress related to testing. The purpose of this study was to investigate kindergarten- through 12th-grade principals' perceptions of standardized testing. The study included 91 principals of Title I and nonTitle I schools located in 8 rural East Tennessee school districts. Data were gathered using a survey instrument to determine principals' opinions of standardized testing. There were 4 predictor (independent) variables in this study: Title I status of the school measured by status (Title I school and nonTitle I school), gender predictor variable, predictor variable of highest degree earned by principals (master's, specialist, and doctorate), and predictor variable of experience in current position (1-6 years, 7-14 years, and 15-39 years). The data analysis focused on 5 dimensions of standardized testing. The 5 (dependent) variables were: (a) general impact-accountability, (b) validity of standardized tests, (c) use of standardized tests in individualizing instruction, (d) impact on curriculum, and (e) stress related to standardized testing. The findings reflected that in general, principals had a positive view of standardized testing; however, the study showed that there was agreement among principals that standardized testing has limitations, particularly in the area of fairness to ethnic groups. The research indicated that principals use test data in many ways to improve their schools. Regardless of Title I status, gender, highest degree earned, and years of experience in current position, there were no significant differences in principals' opinions of standardized testing regarding the 5 dimensions of standardized testing.

The number of students enrolling in Advanced Placement (AP) classes has been increasing in Florida and across the nation over the last decade. However, this trend is not happening for traditionally underserved groups of students such as African Americans, Hispanics, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These minority groups are underrepresented in AP classes, while Asian and White students are overrepresented. This trend is alarming because there are qualified minority students who have a great chance of being successful in AP classes according to AP Potential data. For some reason though, these qualified minority and low income students are nevertheless not enrolling in AP classes. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether or not the extension of inviting messages to enroll in AP courses was dependent upon students' ethnic and/or socioeconomic background. A mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed to examine how the role of invitational theory affects minority student enrollment in AP classes. Mean scale scores from a survey were used to measure student attitudes about how welcoming and inviting schools were when it came to student recruitment into AP classes. T-tests and an analysis of variance were used to determine if there were differences in attitudes among students currently enrolled in AP classes, students of various economic means, and students of various ethnicities. Results from this study found that students already in AP classes felt very invited to challenge themselves in AP classes by teachers, administrators, parents, and peers. Richer students, Whites, and Asians also felt more invited to join AP classes than did poorer, African American, and Hispanic students, though these results were not statistically significant. To increase enrollment in AP classes, the overwhelming response from students was that schools should advertise the pros and cons of taking an AP class. Future research should examine students' perspectives regarding inviting school cultures in regions outside of the southeastern United States. Researchers should also focus on students in urban high schools as previous research has only examined student attitudes in rural and suburban high schools. Finally, future research should examine inviting school cultures from other stakeholders' perspectives such as parents and teachers.

[pt] O Brasil possui aproximadamente 54 milhões de pessoas consideradas analfabetas funcionais, segundo o Índice Nacional de Alfabetismo Funcional (INSTITUTO PAULO MONTENEGRO, 2016). Com base na premissa de que os consumidores só estão aptos a interagir no mercado se são capazes de responder adequadamente aos elementos da sua comunicação, é necessário analisar como os indivíduos com baixo letramento deveriam ser abordados para acessar bens e serviços de forma transparente. Neste contexto, o presente estudo objetiva explorar como os consumidores analfabetos funcionais interpretam a comunicação de marketing feita no Brasil. Para tal, foram realizadas dezessete entrevistas em profundidade com sujeitos com baixo letramento e os dados gerados foram analisados utilizando técnicas de análise do conteúdo. Os resultados indicam que uma parte dos entrevistados não diferencia o que é atividade de merchandising (product placement) do que normalmente é difundido como notícias e entretenimento por meio de programas de TV. Outra questão relevante foi o desafio frente à dificuldade de abstração dos sujeitos de pesquisa. Nesse sentido o estudo corrobora uma evidência presente na literatura estrangeira sobre o tema, que relata a maior facilidade de processamento e memorização por parte destes sujeitos de elementos que guardam correspondência de 1 para 1 com a realidade. Por fim, a pesquisa aponta características da interação dos sujeitos com o mercado, abordando pontos como a dependência de uma pessoa de referência; a preferência por compra em varejo de autosserviço; e o afastamento do comércio online quando não há assistência de outras pessoas. / [en] Brazil has approximately 54 million functionally illiterate individuals, according to the National Index of Functional Literacy (INSTITUTO PAULO MONTENEGRO, 2016). Based on the premise that consumers are only able to interact if they respond adequately to the elements of communication in the market, it is necessary to analyze how individuals with this type of limitation should be approached so that they can have a fair chance to access to goods and services. In this context, the present study aims to explore how functional illiterate consumers interpret a marketing communication made in Brazil. Thus, seventeen in-depth interviews with low-literate subjects were performed and the data generated was analyzed using content analysis techniques. The results indicate that some of the respondents do not differentiate between product placement and what is usually broadcast as news and entertainment through TV programs. Another relevant finding challenged the difficulty of abstraction of the subjects. In this sense the study corroborates evidence presented in the foreign literature on this subject, which reports the greater ease of processing and memorization by these subjects of elements that keep 1 to 1 correspondence with reality. Finally, the research points out characteristics of the interaction of the subjects with the market, addressing points such as the dependence of a reference person, the preference for retail self-service purchases and the removal of online commerce when there is no assistance from other people.

No description available.

Thesis (MDev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Institutional transformation is a complex process that necessitates meticulous planning and management. As a result, it is imperative that an institution establishes effective leadership that will best steer the institution toward the desired objectives. Higher education and training is one sector that identified the need for transformation of its public tertiary institutions because of historical inequalities and imbalances, particularly with historically disadvantaged institutions. This magnitude prompted research on the effect of leadership on the transformation of historically disadvantaged institutions. The study used an exploratory sequential mixed-method approach that relied equally on primary and secondary data collection. Questionnaires, interviews, document analysis, and past publications were used to collect data that contributed to the study's conclusions. The findings of the study clearly show that effective leadership is a key factor in attaining the institution's transformational goals. The recommendations revealed that the institution's leadership should adopt a full transformational style of leadership qualities to ensure effective institutional transformation. This will provide the institution with greater opportunities and broaden its impact on society.

The study’s aim was to examine how Swedish municipalities navigates the housing paradox as a right and a commodity and how they manage housing inequality. This was done by analyzing five municipal guidelines for housing provision. The analysis was carried out through a document study and a directed content analysis. The directed content analysis entails that the previous research and literature has formed the basis of the study’s analytical framework.  The study showed that the municipalities described that certain groups have a claimable right to housing. They also described groups that don’t. The municipalities mainly navigate the paradox by providing support actions and by formulating the guidelines. The municipalities point out certain groups that experience a vulnerable position on the housing market. Constituting these groups are mainly the elderly, households with poor resources, students and young adults. The municipalities provide different support actions to support and help these groups on the housing market. The studied municipalities have a housing shortage, which they describe further complicates the vulnerable groups' situation. The study’s conclusions are therefore that navigating the paradox is a hard task for the municipalities and that housing inequality certainly is a problem that further needs to be treated.

Parental engagement with schools is often considered one of the major contributing factors to a child’s success in school. There is not, however, a definition of parental engagement that takes into account the social, historical, and cultural factors that shape a parent’s view of their own engagement. This qualitative case study examines how African American parents in a high poverty, urban, charter middle school, come to understand practices and beliefs at their child’s school, while building relationships with other parents and school staff. Through the lenses of critical race theory and cultural-historical activity theory, the researcher analyzes how the convergence of race, power, history, and culture frame perspectives of policy makers, those who work in schools, and parents. Through the voices of African American parents, in a socioeconomically disadvantaged school community, they define their own engagement.

This thesis aims to explore the current situation, challenges, and proposed recommendation of digitally-disadvantaged languages (DDL) in the social and digital context from six stakeholders' perspectives: academia, civil society organizations, for-profit corporations, government, language community, and language supporters, with additional language policy analysis in Indonesia and Sweden. Three interrelated theories - the digital divide, ecolinguistics, and digital justice - provide a framework for understanding digitally-disadvantaged languages' situations and challenges. The thesis employs semi-structured interviews for data collection and thematic analysis to analyze the collected data, and a comparative policy analysis accompanies it on digital language regulation in Indonesia and Sweden. Two established frameworks on general digital development issues, Principles for Digital Development (PDD) and Digital Justice Principles (DJP), were introduced to compare these languages’ challenges and propose recommendations for their future. Although the comparison demonstrates a strong connection between these established principles and these languages, there is still a need for a tailored framework focused explicitly on digitally-disadvantaged languages. The thesis concludes with the final result: collaborative efforts among stakeholders, especially the language community as the central actor and the government as the regulator, are the key to improving digital support and accommodating the need for digitally-disadvantaged languages.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the instructional outcomes in the independent school districts and charter schools in relation to the expenditure of public funds for instruction and total operating expenditures from the general fund. The study considered Texas elementary charter schools and independent school districts, whose school populations were identified as having greater than or equal to 50% of economically disadvantaged students, according to the Texas Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS). The study made use of multiple regression and was an ex post facto cross-sectional analysis utilizing production function theory. The study’s outcomes reported the difference in student achievement between elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools were small to negligible for math and reading achievement. The study also reported, there is no statistically significant difference in per pupil expenditure of public funds between elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools. Furthermore, there is no statistically significant relationship between student achievement and per pupil expenditure of public funds on elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools.

The aim of this investigation was to determine the modes of thinking and learning of South African disadvantaged learners as well as to discover whether the teaching methods used by their teachers, encourage diverse cognitive skills and learning styles amongst learners. A survey of existing literature on this subject identifies a number of theories that indicate that learners come to school with diverse modes of thinking and learning. Furthermore, existing literature, indicate that educationally disadvantaged learners tend towards a Field Dependent, socially orientated mode of cognitive processing and a largely visual and kinaesthetic mode of sensory processing information. Research also reveals that teaching methods and teacher expectation of learner potential play a vital role in the academic achievement of disadvantaged learners. Teachers tend to have lower expectations of the academic potential of disadvantaged learners. Moreover, teachers tend to favour teaching methods that meet the needs of learners who use Field Independent cognitive and Auditory sensory processing. Another aspect acknowledged in existing literature that influences the academic achievement of disadvantaged learners is the role of family and the community. Disadvantaged learners generally do not have the support and security of a stable home and are frequently exposed to violence and an educationally impoverished environment. Parents and guardians tend to be less involved in the education of their children. Disadvantaged learners who were part of this empirical study conducted in the Ekhuruleni Metropolitan area, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, showed a more concrete approach to academic activities and revealed a tendency towards Field Dependency and a visual and kinaesthetic sensory approach to processing information. Learners preferred more frequent social interaction during academic activities. The study also found that the teaching method most commonly used in the geographical area mentioned above, took the form of lecturing or `chalk-and-talk' and that teaching aids generally took the form of worksheets. Hence the teaching approach most used by teachers in the study, did not address the modes of thinking and learning of disadvantaged learners in the schools that participated in the empirical study and generally did not encourage deeper cognitive structures. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)