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The education of immigrant children is a persistent concern in many western countries. Taiwan has begun to face this challenge in the last decade. The immigrants in this context are mostly females from Southeast Asia and mainland China, on the basis of marriage to a Taiwanese resident. Since Taiwanese society holds a prejudice against them, the children born to foreign mothers are believed to have a negative impact on the quality of the Taiwanese population and to create particular educational problems. The study employs an interpretive approach combining components of international comparison and policy research. Within this qualitative methodology, mixed methods were used to collect data and gain multiple understandings of the phenomenon in Taiwan. These methods of document analysis, semi-structured interviews and participant observation of foreign mothers’ communities, along with a documentary review of the UK experience of educational policy for immigrant children from the 1960s onwards, provide a comparative perspective that has considerable reference value for Taiwan. It was found that the children of immigrant mothers in Taiwan do not appear to underachieve or fall behind, in contrast to the prejudice held by Taiwanese society. The study also explores the characteristics of disadvantage of children born to immigrant mothers. Through the comparative historical review of the UK and Taiwan, the study also found that when people are faced with different cultures, their attitudes appear to move through in a similar process of adjustment which interacts with and responds to policy formulation. In addition, some recommendations for educational policy for children of immigrant mothers in Taiwan are discussed. The study proposes that learning plural mother tongues is a means to improve these children’s self-identity, allowing them to develop bilingual advantages and contribute to the country’s competitiveness.

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ABSTRACT This cross-case study of building and district administrators was designed to describe and explain the experience of elementary school administrators implementing a Problem-Solving Team (PST), the core feature of a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework. The Multi-Tiered System of Support Problem-Solving Team (MTSS-PST) organizes the review of student learning data to identify problems, apply solutions, and evaluate progress towards grade level learning outcomes (Cook, Burns, Browning-Wright, & Gresham, 2010; Eagle et al., 2015; Gamm et al., 2012; Tilly, 2008). Outside of the MTSS framework, the PST is recognized as a best practice approach to identifying and implementing academic and social emotional interventions to improve learning outcomes (Algozzine et al., 2014; Burns & Symington, 2002; Doll et al., 2005; Shinn, 2005). Contemporary policy implementation research frames MTSS-PST as complex educational policy whose implementation is contingent upon, and situated by, interactions between the people implementing it, the policy itself, and the place where implementation occurs (Honig, 2006). There is little research, however, on MTSS-PST implementation. This study was designed to add to scholarly understanding of the MTSS-PST implementation process by examining how and why school building-level administrators were thinking about and planning for it. Analysis of the data revealed the following: (a) MTSS-PST implementation is understood by building-level administrators as an essential component in fulfilling the school district’s K-12 directive to reduce special education referrals with a Multi-Tiered System of Support framework; (b) Building-level administrative thinking and planning for MTSS-PST implementation is focused on reorganizing and improving how the school’s support team sorts students for support services; (c) Building administrator’s implementation decision-making is influenced by the simultaneous feeling of relief and burden brought on by the early success of implementation and the significant challenges it faces due to limited planning and resources. Analysis also showed that implementation is rooted in a transactional approach to change focused entirely on meeting districtwide objectives to increase the efficiency and efficacy of the school’s teaching and learning services with no reference to the transformative potential cited in the research literature. Lastly, analysis of the findings revealed that more than 70 different interactions that occurred between people, policy, and place shaped the MTSS-PST implementation process demonstrating that implementation of this policy is both situated and contextual.

Most departmental policy statements on the education of gifted and talented students recommend their retention, where possible, in mainstream classes in neighbourhood schools. The educational experience in such classes, of 14 students identified as academically gifted by their teachers, was investigated using a case study approach. Their cognitive style was studied by reference to information processing strategies as revealed in WISC-R subtest scores. Interpersonal and communication skills were investigated through classroom observation and structured interviews. The theories of deviance and authority were applied in interpreting this data. Results indicated relationships between students' cognitive style and teachers' identification methods, and between students' cognitive style and their school satisfaction. Sex differences in teacher response and student interaction were also noted.

This project examines the communicative structure of the contemporary rhetoric of crisis and reform narrative dominating public conversation about education, as a post-industrial body of discourse deeply embedded in historical ideals for a mass system of public education. In challenging the crisis-centered narrative, this work seeks to identify historical discourse strands that have shaped thinking and action in the construction of educational policy, legislation, administration and pedagogy. This work evaluates the misalignment in the assumptions which guide the perception that an academic relationship exists between higher education and secondary school which is in contrast to the original purpose for a mass system of public education. In part, this research is a response to discourse that applies responsibility to colleges and universities in the ongoing rhetoric of crisis and reform calls for greater accountability and assessments as a means by which the problems of education may be reversed. It is the position of this research that these systems are not aligned yet increasingly, public discussions about educational failures assume that secondary school is the preparatory ground for the transition to higher learning. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts / Communication and Rhetorical Studies / PhD / Dissertation

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, fundamentally changed the focus of education in the United States from that of providing an opportunity for all to learn to mandating that all do learn. Central to this Act are the measures of school accountability established through assessment of learning policies. The development of these policies initiate with federal, state, and local governance bodies, but implementation takes place by individual teachers. Therefore, the failure of individual teachers to implement assessment policies with fidelity creates a fissure at the core of institutional credibility. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between teachers’ values and ethical frames and behavior with respect to academic misconduct. Findings offer clues as to how academic dishonesty might be reduced. There exists a large body of research that has probed academic dishonesty, values and ethical frames; however, there appears to be a void in research that distinctly connects the three. Utilizing a survey instrument, data were collected from elementary teachers (N=155) in one suburban school district. The collected data were then analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical tests to inform six research questions. In some incidents, the small sample size produced violations of the assumptions of nonparametric statistical tests, thus hindering deeper analysis of selected data. However, the results in general appeared to support the hypothesis that elementary teachers appeared to engage in academic misconduct. The findings also appeared to suggest misconduct was influenced by social adaptation theory (R2N = .32); organizational socialization (Wald (1) =5.79, p < .05), values (Wald (1) =5.16, p < .05), and ethical frames (Wald (4) =25.22, p < .001). Thus, this study concluded that factors such as collaboration and professional development can possibly be utilized to reduce policy violations.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

In this study, I explore the potential impact of differing educational policies and reform efforts that influence state and federal standards-based assessments and their interpretations. Specifically, I examine the educational policies of Arizona (Structured English Immersion [SEI]) and Texas (bilingual education) for their effect on the belief systems of students, parents, and teachers. I also examine the role of identity and language in the motivation to learn and student disposition toward school among English Language Learners (ELLs). In support of a co-regulation model of emerging identity, acculturation, acculturative stress, and student perceptions of scholastic competence, student disposition toward school, and student motivational dynamics contributed to the accurate prediction of 77.5% of the participants' group membership in either SEI or bilingual education. ELLs in bilingual education had higher perceptions of scholastic competence than ELLs in SEI (d = .54). Four types of dispositions toward school, Pride in Achieving, Participation and Belonging, Literacy, and Math, were higher for ELLs in bilingual education than for ELLs in SEI. Contrary to the hypothesized results, however, there were no differences in the Rigid and Right disposition between ELLs in SEI and bilingual education. In reference to motivation, scores on Disengaged and Distracting were higher for ELLs in SEI (Arizona) than for ELLs in bilingual programs (Texas). However, contrary to the hypotheses, Good Worker/Engaged Learner, and Struggling and Persistent were higher for ELLs in SEI than for ELLs in bilingual programs. I conclude by discussing the potential impact of differing educational policies and reform efforts on the belief systems of ELLs, their parents, and teachers.

The research aim is to create and substantiate the research methodology of educational policy implementation problems (context of education reform in Lithuania).