Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The purpose of this research is to explore if policy makers and implementers shift and/or change their understandings of the portfolio management model (PMM) when engaged in equity-oriented transformative professional learning. The portfolio approach to urban education, at present, is being implemented or considered by over one third of the US. There are 20 states, 40 cities, and the District of Columbia that are pursuing and/or implementing the portfolio management model (PMM). This research study examines how systemic, socio-political, socio-historical, and interconnected policy networks have resulted in inequity. Furthermore, this study focuses on how policy makers and implementers engage with one another and their context(s) while learning about educational equity. This occurred via facilitating transformative professional learning opportunities aimed to illicit critical self-awareness, reflection, and examination of perhaps the more pernicious underpinnings of authentic decision and choice making in US education reform. The study also explores the ways in which institutional context and the research design itself may have impacted and/or impeded shifts in learning. The study’s theoretical frameworks guided the decision to use critical qualitative inquiry and narrative inquiry to investigate the raced, gendered, sexed, and classed experiences of policy makers and implementers, and further, implications for policy implementation regarding other forms of othering such as ableism, linguicism, ageism, etc. Thematic analysis of the data, analyzed using critical frameworks, were articulated as interspliced data vignettes. Findings suggest that learning is social and that designed experiences around educational equity can provide ways in which policy makers and implementers can formally intervene in their own practices of developing and/or cultivating critical consciousness, as well as decision-making toward PMM adoption and implementation in their respective contexts. Participant’s narratives both challenge and perpetuate dominant, historical approaches of urban education reform adoption and implementation, and exposes how US urban education policy arenas have not systemically centered critical consciousness, resulting in equity-oriented policies being interpreted and implemented in inequitable ways. Findings from this study guide future research and practice that focuses on urban education policy creation, adoption, and implementation.

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Many contemporary policymakers and philanthropists interested in fixing problems in urban education look to business practices and market-based reforms. Venture Philanthropy (VP), draws its practices directly from the financial sector, using strategic investment to increase the capacity and achievement of funded organizations and to promote social goals. VP firms are increasingly a part of the education environment yet currently there is little empirical data on the specific meaning, ideas, and logic through which these organizations understand and investment in education, particularly urban education. This research sought to answer the research question, what is the theory of action of a venture philanthropy firm focusing on educational improvement and what new meanings and practices does it produce in one urban district? This study collected data using embedded ethnographic methods including over 200 hours of observations, 21 interviews, and document collection creating a case study of a single education VP, the Center for Educational Advancement (CEA). Using Foucauldian disciplinary theory to analyze CEA's perspective on and practice of educational investment, this study found that CEA sought to transform the instruction and culture within its portfolio of urban schools by using the disciplinary practices of observation, judgement, and examination, thereby producing for its donors a student achievement return on investment. / Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies

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Science education reform movements have long urged the use of inquiry methods in all science instruction. More recently, standards and accountability reform efforts have emphasized measuring and improving student science achievement. Researchers have questioned the alignment and balance between these reforms (Lane, 2004; Yeh, 2001). This study addresses issues faced by secondary science teachers as they simultaneously meet the goals of these reform movements. Mixed methods were used to answer the questions: 1) Can a teacher's beliefs and practices regarding inquiry teaching methods be correlated with his/her assessment practices?; 2) What item types are most commonly employed by teachers that use an inquiry pedagogy?; and 3) What assessment strategies do teachers describe to assess scientific inquiry? Secondary science teachers, mostly from one western state, responded to a survey (N = 83) and provided a teacher-made classroom assessment (n = 30). Survey responses were used to assign a teacher inquiry score based on described frequency of pedagogical practices supporting or detracting from an inquiry focus. A rubric based on cognitive complexity was used to determine a numeric value for each test item with the sum of item scores providing an overall assessment score. Using regression analysis and Pearson's correlation this study found a moderate correlation (r = 0.0447, p = 0.0133) between teacher inquiry scores and assessment scores. A modest correlation was also established between teacher inquiry levels (high, medium, and low categories assigned using cut scores) and overall assessment scores using an ANOVA (DF=2, p = 0.0262) and Tukey-Kramer pairwise analysis (low to medium p = 0.046; low to high p = 0.057). Correlations indicate that teachers are able to simultaneously focus on inquiry in pedagogical and assessment practices. Cognitively complex items used by teachers with an inquiry focus measure the same cognitive skills as scientific inquiry. Survey responses to open-ended questions provided additional qualitative data supporting the study's findings. Respondents reported challenges in creating assessments that measure student scientific inquiry competency, but also noted that labs, observation and questioning, and performance assessments are useful in measuring inquiry skills.

The goal of the most recent science education reform movement in the U.S. is science literacy for all Americans. Science literacy among U.S. students remains low, however, as compared with students in other industrialized countries, and is lowest among English Language Learner (ELL) students. Although there are barriers to developing science literacy for all adolescent students, ELL students often experience additional barriers that make developing science literacy even more challenging without support. Because textbooks are often heavily relied upon by secondary science teachers, the opportunity for many ELLs to develop science literacy may depend upon the support for these students included in science textbooks. Many textbook publishers have included textual tools for teaching ELLs in the teacher's editions of science textbooks they claim will help teachers support the learning of ELLs in the ways that are recommended by national standards, which describe appropriate science content, pedagogy, and language supports. These standards, referred to in this study as ELL standards, include the Benchmarks for Science Literacy, the CREDE standards, the WIDA standards, and the TIMSS standards. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative content analysis was to determine how the textual tools for teaching ELLs found in three widely used secondary biology textbooks in the U.S. are aligned with the ELL standards. All textual tools were read, reread, and coded using the ELL standards as a priori coding categories. The results indicate that some of the textual tools in the biology textbooks align with the ELL standards. However, the frequency of alignment between the textual tools and the ELL standards is not high. Further, many of the instances of alignment between the textual tools and the ELL standards are implicit, rather than explicit, indicating that the alignment between them is weak. Finally, many of the textual tools that are aligned with the ELL standards are only aligned with one of the categories within a given standard and ignore other, important, categories. It is recommended that textbook publishers update the textual tools for teaching ELLs in future editions of their textbooks to make them more aligned with the ELL standards. It is further recommended that secondary science teachers be better prepared so they will not have to rely on the textual tools for teaching ELLs in their instruction.

The CAR (confront, address, replace) Strategy is an antiracist pedagogy aiming to drive out exclusionary terminology in engineering education. “Master-slave” terminology is still commonplace in engineering education and industry. However, questions have been raised about the negative impacts of such language. Usage of exclusionary terminology such as “master-slave” in academia can make students—especially those who identify as women and/or Black/African-American—feel uncomfortable, potentially evoking Stereotype Threat (Danowitz, 2020) and/or Curriculum Trauma (Buul, 2020). Indeed, prior research shows that students from a number of backgrounds find non-inclusive terminologies such as “master-slave” to be a major problem (Danowitz, 2020). Currently, women-identifying and gender nonbinary students are underrepresented in the engineering industry (ASEE, 2020) while Black/African-American students are underrepresented in the entire higher education system, including engineering fields (NSF, 2019). The CAR Strategy, introduced here, stands for: 1) confront; 2) address; 3) replace and aims to provide a framework for driving out iniquitous terminologies in engineering education such as “master-slave.” The first step is to confront the historical significance of the terminology in question. The second step is to address the technical inaccuracies of the legacy terminology. Lastly, replace the problematic terminology with an optional but recommended replacement. This thesis reports on student perceptions and the effectiveness of The CAR Strategy piloted as a teaching framework in the computer engineering department of Cal Poly. Of 64 students surveyed: 70% either agree or strongly agree that The CAR Strategy is an effective framework for driving out exclusionary terminologies. Amman Asfaw first presented certain portions of this thesis at the virtual 2021 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition. The original publication’s copyright is held by ASEE (Asfaw, 2021); secondary authors included Storm Randolph, Victoria Siaumau, Yumi Aguilar, Emily Flores, Dr. Jane Lehr, and Dr. Andrew Danowitz.

Latin American countries have shifted from a model of education governance based on hierarchical rules and centralized authority to a results-driven model with shared responsibility among state and non-state actors. Yet, adopted governance models show remarkable cross-national variation. This dissertation aims at explaining this variation amid convergence through the qualitative comparative analysis of education governance in Chile, Argentina, and Colombia during three distinct periods of development, namely centralized education planning from the standpoint of manpower needs (1960s-1970s), market-oriented governance mechanisms (1980s-1990s), and accountability-oriented education for all (2000s-2010s). This analysis demonstrates that while diffusion of widely recognized policy ideas about education governance produces convergence, political contestation of domestic organized actors produces variation that ranges from full adoption to outright rejection of foreign recommendations. My study qualifies insights from institutional and diffusion theories by specifying the conditions in which domestic actors are able to modify both, domestic institutions and powerful foreign ideas. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Education reforms in several Latin American countries follow a global trend characterized by at least three changes: 1) from selective student recruitment towards the universalization of secondary education and school choice for families; 2) from a centralized curriculum towards curricular autonomy; and 3) from student evaluation exclusively delegated to teachers towards national standardized tests. Yet, adopted governance models show remarkable cross-national variation. Chile has traditionally emulated global ideas and become a quasi-market of education. Argentina was more reluctant to global norms and made only moderate changes to the state-run governance model. Finally, Colombia left the education of the wealthy to the market, while centralized the authority over the education of the poor. Through a comparative historical analysis of these three countries, this study explains the way in which global ideas are domestically translated through the interaction between diffusion mechanisms, domestic policy legacies, and the ability of domestic actors to negotiate the implementation of foreign recommendations. The evidence provided by this dissertation suggests that the level of organization, the closeness to the decision-making process, and the impact of the power resources of supporters and opponents of global ideas define the extent to what these ideas are adopted. If global ideas favor the interests of powerful actors and opposition is weak the more likely result is the emulation of foreign recommendations. Yet, the more the opposition obtains resources to force powerful actors to bargain, the more the chances for global norms to be resisted or rejected. This analysis explains how the encounter between global norms and domestic institutions shapes processes of domestic institutional entrepreneurship and uncovers paths through which this entrepreneurship is more likely to produce emulation or rejection of global ideas. This dissertation qualifies insights of historical and sociological institutionalisms and contributes to the literature on education policy globalization.

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