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This case study assesses the elementary school choice decision-making process of black middle-class families living in the Algiers community of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. The concept of community has been central to the success of blacks in America since Reconstruction. However, as the Civil Rights Movement helped eliminate some of the legal obstacles facing blacks and provided them with more access to opportunities, it also had the unfortunate consequence of redirecting the attention of blacks more inwardly to the success of their own families, thus diminishing some of the formerly needed sense of community responsibility. These families are not oblivious to the racism that still exists. Yet, they go about a process of prioritizing their options within their choice sets in order to strike the best, if not optimal, balance of school characteristics, such as Catholic tradition, racial diversity and academic rigor, to ensure the success of their children.

Worldwide, school principals, especially those in secondary schools, have felt increased pressure in their roles as many countries press for higher levels of student attainment. At the same time, education reforms and, in many systems, increased delegation to school leaders, have greatly increased principals' responsibilities and made the job much more complicated. Given their strategic importance, it is not surprising that the role of principals has attracted great attention since the 1990s. The central focus of this thesis was an investigation and analysis of the impact of recent education reforms on the role of secondary school principals in China. At the time of writing no clear picture of the expectations placed on principals in China exists, though there is no doubt that these expectation are greatly increased. The aim of the study was to investigate principals' own views of their role, their main activities and priorities, and the main influences on these. Consideration was also given to the major challenge or problems confronting school principals, and to identify similarities and differences between the principals' roles and attitudes in China and in the West. Naturalistic qualitative methods were used to investigate the experiences of 28 school leaders regarding how their role has developed in China during this period of major education reforms. Semi-structured interviews and shadowing these principals as they went about their work were the main methods of data collection drawn on in this study. Further information was extracted from documents about training policies and programmes accessible via official websites. Thematic analysis of the interview data was conducted, to identify key themes and issues. The analysis suggests that school principals encounter new challenges as 'curriculum leaders', in developing with their staff new pedagogies that shift the balance away from 'teaching' onto 'learning', and in dealing with the expectation of multiple stakeholders. It also emerged that the principals felt that they did not have sufficient autonomy to lead their schools as they would wish, which restricted curriculum development. Regarding the key findings, the main worry of the principals was with poor student attainment. Under the 'high-stakes' testing system, invisible pressure is exerted on the school for improving test results. The quality of education has never been subject to so much scrutiny from such a wide range of stakeholders, including parents, the community, and employers. As a result, the role of principals has become more complicated, and they are under increasing pressure from higher expectations amongst those both in and outside of the school. Leadership development has been embraced as an important factor in meeting those expectations. However, the thesis argues that there is not sufficient training provided for principals to develop their skills to meet these expectations.

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This study has addressed three core questions: What is the current state of School Library Services? How is the Education Reform Act affecting these services? Why are specific choices being made by School Library Services from the options available post-ERA? Information was gathered from questionnaires, consultation, seminars etc., and also by contact 1989-91 with 14 authorities in England and Wales. Specific matters investigated over the two-year period were: Structures; Policies; Service range and level; Relationships. The study found evidence that ERA had a significant effect during this period on library support services to schools, but that other influences on change were at work, most notably the community charge and its repercussions. All the School Library Services in the contact authorities changed between 1989 and 1991, although in different degrees, and it was observed that the effect of national legislation was being mediated by local cultures. The hypothesis that 'The Education Reform Act is leading to new perceptions of School Library Service effectiveness' was upheld, and factors making for effectiveness were identified.

Education reform has grown into a major policy issue at the state and national level in the United States and for that matter around the world. The purpose of this study was to determine the political and social forces supporting, the rationale behind, and the growth and impact of education reform policies in the K-12 public education system of the United States from 2001-2011. Through mixed-methods data analysis a descriptive and analytical picture of education reform was able to be concluded. The results of the analysis showed that with an increase in education reforms from 2001-2011, legislators, predominantly Republican, created state level education reforms which fell in line with both neoliberal economic (market based policies) and neoconservative political (smaller government and increased individualism) ideals. With a focus on accountability, achievement, and choice, reformers, proliferated in profiles of corporations, PACs and other organizations outside the realm of traditional public education, school systems in the United States continued on similar paths of education reform as other post-industrialized countries that have grown out of an economically globalized world.

The purpose of this study was to assess the climate for the adoption of a proposed reform model for secondary trade and industrial (T&I) education in Virginia. Vocational administrators and T&I instructors beliefs about the extent to which the adoption of the proposed model would precipitate selected outcomes were measured by using an instrument developed specifically for this study. The population of this study included two sub-groups: secondary vocational administrators and secondary T&I instructors. Equal representation from the groups could not be guaranteed as a result of the sampling procedures employed for this study. Questionnaires were mailed to 145 vocational administrators identified from the list provided by the Virginia Department of Education. Responses were received from 120 administrators 83%). Two-hundred-ninety-five questionnaires were distributed to T&I instructors. Responses were received from 129 instructors (43.7%). The study examined the climate for change in secondary T&I education programs in Virginia. It examined whether vocational administrators and T&I instructors believe that implementation of the proposed model would be likely to increase access to, the flexibility of, or the cost effectiveness of T&I programs. The extent to which administrators and instructors believed that increasing access, flexibility, and cost effectiveness would affect selected outcomes was also investigated. Finally, the study examined the degree of personal importance administrators and instructors placed on selected outcomes. There was a similar belief between both groups that implementation of the proposed T&I reform model would result in increased access, flexibility, and cost effectiveness. Both groups were optimistic that access and flexibility would be increased with slightly less optimism being shown for increased cost effectiveness. Also, both groups were optimistic that outcomes dealing with "quality" issues (improve quality of programs and increase student quality) would be affected positively as a result of model implementation and that the image of T&I programs would also be improved by implementation of the proposed T&I reform model. In general, administrators believed some reform outcomes less likely to be affected by increased access, flexibility, or cost effectiveness than others. Specifically, they believed it less likely that resources will increase or that the number of qualified instructors will increase merely as a result of implementation of the proposed model. Instructors' responses were optimistic for all outcomes except the extent that increased cost effectiveness would achieve selected outcomes. Instructors, like administrators, did not show strong support concerning the likelihood of model implementation increasing cost effectiveness. As a whole, both sub-groups appeared to be receptive to change. Although the proposed trade and industrial reform model may not in its current form accomplish the needed changes, administrators and instructors would seem to be accepting of attempts to reform secondary trade and industrial education in Virginia. / Ph. D.

In current higher education paradigms, art and science are often siloed fields rather than subjects that inform each other. This dichotomy or hyper-specialization of art and science in higher education is a result of the industrial revolution with production as the telos. The product of this educational paradigm divorces art and science from each other. But how should we educate students for jobs that don't exist today? What learning environments are most conducive to creativity and innovation? What are the potential benefits of teaching art and science as one? What disciplines would work best together? Are their patterns in ones perception of the relationship between art and science? Are trans-disciplinary learning environments a possibility or an ideal? This thesis investigates the hypothesis that the walls between art and science exist only in our minds. This research consists of 27 one-on-one interviews conducted with students, professors and other higher education affiliates, who visualize the relationship between art and science.) The interviews use everyday objects as prompts to build a baseline to the investigation. The instrument consisted of seven questions that investigated if the use of quotidian, everyday, objects as prompts expose the false dichotomy between art and science. Additionally, the research tries to uncover the possible patterns that exist in how disciplines visualize/diagram the relationship between art and science. Each participant was asked to draw how they view the relationship between art and science. The researcher used these drawings as data points to lead the analysis. The researcher developed a series of field notes (thinking sketches) as interpretations of the themes of the participant's drawings. These thinking sketches were then translated into four thinking prototypes (three-dimensional models) which later inform the development of four simple yet profound findings called quotidian proverbs. / Master of Science

Authoritarian governments have long wielded education as political tools by which to transmit their conceptions of nationalistic identity, but does the same hold true of democratic governments? Transitioning from martial law to full democracy in the 1980s and 1990s, Taiwan serves as an ideal case study. As authoritarian rulers, Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang (KMT) imposed education curriculum that legitimized their claims to be the rulers of all China. After martial law was lifted in 1987, dissenters could freely vocalize a Taiwanese identity that advocated for a sovereign Taiwan separate from the Chinese nation. Contemporaneously, Lee Teng-hui rose to power as a loyal KMT member, but as president he shifted away from Chinese identity to promote a sense of Taiwanese identity. Preceded by nationalistically Chinese KMT stalwarts and succeeded by one who pushed Taiwan even closer to independence, Lee was a transitional leader whose own ideological evolution reflected Taiwan’s shift from a staunchly Chinese political entity to a possibly independent state separate from the mainland. During Lee’s presidency, controversy erupted over the content of textbooks for a junior high course entitled Understanding Taiwan [renshi taiwan] that focused for the first time on Taiwan in its own right instead of as only one small part of China. The textbooks instigated a debate on identity, for how one regarded the accuracy or appropriateness of the textbooks reflected one’s views of Taiwan in relation to China. The debates and the textbooks’ contents revealed clearly that despite the considerable democratization occurring in Taiwan over the decade, curriculum content continued to mirror the convictions espoused by the central government—led by the democratically elected president Lee Teng-hui (1988-2000)—in much the same way that it had done so under the authoritarian rule of Chiang Kai-shek (1949-1975). / text