The purpose of this study was to determine the levels of concern of central office instructional administrators, building level principals, and teachers in Superintendents' Region Seven as they implement Virginias' Standards of Learning initiative. The Stages of Concern (SOC) Questionnaire and demographic sheet were mailed to a sample of 405 instructional personnel of Superintendents' Region Seven in Virginia; 231 responded. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of variance procedures at the a=. 05 level of significance. Results revealed that central office instructional administrators (N=31), elementary principals (N=31), secondary principals (N=32), and elementary (N=33) and secondary teachers (N=33) not responsible for administering SOL Tests possessed profiles indicative of nonusers. The concerns for these groups were typically highest on stages 0, 1, and 2 and lowest on stages 4, 5, and 6. When the data were analyzed for elementary (N=30), and secondary teachers (N=41) responsible for administering SOL Tests, the findings identified these groups as possessing similar concerns. These groups were highest in stages 3, 6, and 2, respectively. A series of ANOVAs and Scheffes' post hoc analyses at the .05 level were conducted to analyze the data according to the group position/user or nonuser in relation to the seven stages of concern. When the participants were grouped according to position/grade level in relation to the seven stages of concern, an analysis of variance and Scheffes' post hoc were conducted to determine if the groups were significantly different at the .05 level. How practitioners feel about and perceive change will in large part determine whether or not change actually occurs in schools. The amount and scope of educational change needed to successfully implement the Standards of Learning is evident. It is believed the results of this study will provide reformers with an assessment of the various perceptions educators in Superintendents' Region Seven have regarding the implementation of the Standards of Learning. The implications and recommendations could aid reformers as they continue to implement the Standards of Learning and as they implement future initiatives. / Ed. D.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Teresa N. Miller / The purpose of this study was to research, develop, and validate a handbook of effective strategies that an instructional leader can implement and that are more likely to bring about and sustain a successful change process. Implementation Strategies for Effective Change: A Handbook for Instructional Leaders was developed using the research and development methodology as recommended by Gall, Borg, and Gall (1989, 1996) and Dick and Carey (1985) through a seven-step development cycle. The review of literature and proof of concept questionnaire provided information for developing the outline and initial prototype. Experts in the field served as preliminary field evaluators using a Likert scale and open-ended questions to provide feedback. Revisions were made based on their feedback. The main field test was conducted with potential users of the guide. Final revisions were based on main field test evaluators’ feedback. The conclusions of the study were: (1) the role of the principal has changed from that of a manager to an instructional leader who possesses a broad base of pedagogical and content knowledge and who understands how to lead a staff through a complicated change process; (2) a handbook that provides guidance and support for principals leading a change process focused on the improvement of instruction to raise student achievement would be a useful resource; (3) development of a comprehensive handbook or guide that blends theory, research, and practice for instructional leaders would be a beneficial resource; (4) the study produced a comprehensive guide to assist instructional leaders who are leading a change process focused on the improvement of instruction to raise student achievement, and (5) the strategies included in the handbook allow principals to adjust and adapt according to their schools’ unique situation and needs. The framework included in the comprehensive handbook provides strategies, tips, and suggestions for (1) developing leadership skills, (2) establishing the organizational structure within the school community, (3) building teachers’ knowledge base, and (4) fostering an understanding of the change process. Throughout the handbook, an emphasis is placed on the improvement of instruction to achieve high academic success for all students.

Educational restructuring is an international phenomenon which emphasises a voucher system, upper secondary schools’ local decision-making and pupils’ choices in contrast to previous bureaucratic governing. For this reason upper secondary programmes and courses on offer, together with the pupils’ individual choices, have a direct impact on what could be called the upper-secondary education market. In terms of teaching subject matter, upper secondary education is, at the same time, broadened by means of introducing three-year programmes for all pupils as well as core subjects. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to develop a deeper understanding of how pupils’ actions of choice create different sorts of integration and differentiation processes within the restructured upper secondary education. In the light of Jürgen Habermas’ theory of communicative action combined with Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, pupils’ actions of choice have been studied within four pedagogical practices: (i) choice of upper secon-dary school, (ii) choice of upper secondary programme, (iii) pupils’ initial time at an upper secondary school and how they cope with the specific culture within a programme as well as choice of courses and subjects, and (iv) pupils’ own sto-ries and points of view on how a core subject, namely Swedish, was taught. Some of the results demonstrate that pupils’ actions of choice can be voca-tion-oriented, career-oriented and consumption-oriented. It is argued that these different types of actions of choice are constituted within a market discourse. The market discourse demands that pupils are able to make suitable choices to achieve an individualistic qualification. From that point of view upper secondary education’s integration and differentiation processes aim at developing citizens' personal opportunities in order for them to benefit to their best ability from what society has to offer. Other results demonstrate that pupils’ group-oriented, inter-est-oriented and tradition-oriented actions of choice are built upon another type of discourse, which is about educating pupils towards active citizenship. It has an inter-subjective point of departure. Pupils are driven into the integration and dif-ferentiation process where they discuss and take a stand in favour of those educa-tional options, which are conceived as the most relevant in relation to a “self-determining ethical-cultural community”. The analysis of these two paramount discourses indicates that pupils' integration and differentiation processes are am-biguous.

This dissertation explores the educational history of Mexican Americans in Arizona. It focuses on the post World War II activism of Tucson Mexican Americans who challenged educational policies, practices, and programs such as segregation, Americanization, and language restriction. These practices shaped Mexican American education for much of the twentieth century. Beginning in 1950, Mexican American men and women engaged in grassroots activism by participating in multiethnic, multifaceted coalitions to challenge educational inequalities and promote meaningful educational reform between 1950 and 1990. Their efforts led to the passage of local, state, and national educational reforms, including the repeal of school segregation state laws, the implementation of Spanish-for-Spanish-speakers and bilingual-bicultural education programs, and the enactment of the federal Bilingual Education Act of 1968. In 1974, Mexican American parents filed a joint lawsuit with Black parents against Tucson School District No. 1, the largest district in the state, charging the district with de jure segregation of Mexican American and Black students. I assert that Mexican Americans promoted institutional reforms from the bottom up that would not only provide Mexican-origin children with equal educational opportunity, but would also meet the community's needs based on their own definition of equity. In doing so, Mexican Americans not only contested their subordinate status in the dominant society by directly challenging the traditional stronghold that Anglo Americans had on the public education system, but they also helped to advance the quest for educational equality and civil rights.

A large number of due process hearings regarding the delivery of special education services to children with disabilities occur nationally and the number is increasing. Differences of opinion between professionals and parents concerning whether or not a child is disabled, the diagnosis of a disability, and the special services recommended or provided has resulted in parent-professional conflict accompanied by substantial financial and emotional costs to parents, professionals and educational agencies. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the origins and dynamics of parent-professional conflict about special education services and identify promising approaches and strategies for preventing and resolving conflict between professionals and parents of children with disabilities.A comprehensive literature review revealed the major origins of conflict about special education services in the schools. These include (a) legislative mandates; (b) attrition of special education personnel; (c) ineffective leadership in the schools; (d) lack of collaboration between general and special educators and parents; and (e) hidden constraints in educational agencies such as time, money, and resources. The combination of "systemic cracks" in the nation's educational system and the failure of professionals and parents to use effective "communication and collaboration skills" were found to be the major sources of conflict between professionals and parents.Five promising approaches and strategies were identified for preventing or resolving conflicts about special education. First, identify systemic problems, initiate school-wide dialogues, and implement a change process to reform problems through legislation, policies, organizational structures, and operating procedures. Second, follow ten basic principles of dialogue and collaboration while communicating with each other. Third, engage in positive dialogue where each party reflects and takes responsibility for reaching a mutually shared alternative solution by understanding the other person's point of view and conversing as equals. Fourth, train professionals to adopt an interest-based approach to dispute resolution by engaging all stakeholders in a school-wide dialogue, addressing underlying interests or needs rather than reacting to demands. Fifth, use third party intermediaries such as parent-to-parent assistance, dispute resolution case managers, individualized education program facilitators and intervene at the onset of the conflict.

Educational reform is vital to meet the educational, social, and personal needs of an ever-changing student population. Many attempts at educational reform have been made over the past century. A number of reforms were originated and directed by policy at the Federal, State and regional levels, and others were developed at the district or school level. Demands for educational change are ever-present, and the acceptance of or resistance to change continues to be a topic of discussion and focus of research. The purpose of this study was to understand change in the implementation of small learning communities (SLCs) at a single high school by examining six years of grade level SLC meeting minutes to explore how the implementation of SLCs influenced teacher collegiality, student-teacher relationships, and instructional practices related to improving student academic outcomes. The primary research question was: How do teachers at a high school focus their efforts to improve student achievement through SLC reform? Three sub-questions guided exploration of the primary question: 1. In what ways did teachers discuss teacher collegiality in their SLC meetings? 2. In what ways did teachers discuss teacher-student relationships in their SLC meetings? 3. In what ways did teachers discuss instructional strategies and practices to improve student academic performance in their SLC meetings? The literature review for this study included an overview of the historical perspective on educational change and reform. As a school-based practitioner, the researcher experienced educational change more locally than globally, so various forms of local organizational change were examined, including charter schools, school-within-a-school, and SLCs. More specifically, literature was explored in relation to SLCs and their influence on collegiality, relationships, and improved student academic performance. This was a case study examining one depository of documents. Qualitative content analysis was used to examine the SLC meeting minutes, in relation to three categories of review: teacher collegiality, teacher-student relationships, and instructional strategies and practices. How a reform gets implemented through ordinary, everyday practices is not always clear. In the case school it was expected that teachers would meet regularly in their SLCs, talk about their students and their instructional practices, and make decisions about what is best practice to support student academic success. Teachers’ reactions to the District’s announcements of the implementation of other reform initiatives on top of the SLC initiative were often less than supportive. Conversations that gained momentum in SLC meetings might be side-stepped or delayed as teachers worked through the implications of a new District initiative, thus delaying the implementation of the SLC model. Initially, it appeared that the three major themes – teacher collegiality, teacher-student relationships, and instructional practices – would drive the process, dialogue, and decisions of the SLCs. Findings of the study suggest that the process, dialogue, and decisions of the SLCs shaped the three major themes and their interactions, providing greater insight into how all three themes resulted in teacher perspectives, decisions, and actions aimed at influencing student achievement. This study offered valuable insights into one aspect of implementation – the nature of the process, dialogue, and decisions that emerge in conversations in SLC meetings and their influence on teachers’ perspectives, decisions, and actions aimed at influencing student achievement.

The problem of this study was the status of higher education in Haiti. The purposes were to analyze the organization, administration, and contributions of higher education to national development from 1958 to 1988 and to provide background information from foreign literature which might assist in the improvement Haiti's system of higher education. In an effort to locate information necessary to achieve these purposes, a computer search was conducted. A survey of available literature in French, Creole, and English and personal and telephone interviews were also conducted. The results of this study reveal that, in the past three decades, higher education in Haiti has merely functioned as a symbol of social prestige. Haiti's system of higher education exhibits no apparent direction, purpose, of long-term goals. With more than 90 percent of its professors part-time and ill-prepared, its curriculum unrelated to the needs of Haitian society, and its student body in revolt for the past three years, higher education in Haiti is urgently in need of radical reform. Any contribution made to national development by the system of higher education is weak at best. The small but oppressive elite group that dominates the economic and political realms in Haiti has proved to be a stumbling block to educational reform. The prospect of the establishment of an adequate system of education depends heavily on the establishment of a democratic government. The State University, which is the prominent instrument for higher education, must be reorganized and strengthened so that it can meet the basic academic standards of a university. This reorganization must include the redesign of the curriculum and the retraining of current professors. It is urgent that the qualitative aspects of higher education be given attention. Higher education should also develop a working relationship with industry in order to prepare individuals who are qualified to fulfill the country's technical needs.

Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / District leaders are under tremendous pressure to narrow disparities in achievement in an effort to close the achievement gap without tremendous guidance from policy makers, researchers or literature. Rorrer, Skrla, and Scheurich (2008) proposed a theory that district leaders enact four essential roles when engaging in systemic reform that improves achievement and equity: (1) providing instructional leadership which consists of building capacity and generating will, (2) reorienting the organization, (3) establishing policy coherence, and (4) maintaining an equity focus. This research examined the essential role of maintaining a focus on equity as a complex multiple construct. This qualitative case study explored how leaders in a Massachusetts public school district that made gains in improving achievement, attempted to maintain a focus on equity when enacting the role of instructional leadership. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews and a review of documents, this study concluded that leaders enacted the role to varying degrees in some ways that were consistent with Rorrer, et al. (2008). Data revealed that leaders attempted to address inequities through responsive leadership practices that connected with their notion of equity as it related to language, special needs, emotional wellness and poverty. Recommendations include how leaders can enact the role in a more informed, intentional, and deliberate manner through the development of Culturally Responsive Instructional Leadership. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Esta pesquisa pretendeu analisar a perspectiva de professores diante de uma etapa do longo processo reformista da educação pública paulista que se desenvolve desde meados da década de 90. Em 2008, foi implantado pela Secretaria Estadual de Educação de São Paulo, o SPfe (São Paulo faz escola), programa que objetivou criar uma base curricular comum para toda a rede de ensino estadual. Afora a proposta curricular, o programa incorporou a adoção de uma política de bonificação financeira atrelada ao uso de um material didático próprio; o reposicionamento da função do coordenador pedagógico como gestor das mudanças propostas; a responsabilização dos professores pelos resultados do processo de ensino e, como desdobramento, a reestruturação da carreira docente e a criação de cursos de formação específica baseados nos conteúdos e metodologias do SPfe. A pergunta de pesquisa proposta foi: como o magistério interpreta as recentes reformas na educação paulista, no âmbito do Programa São Paulo faz escola? A pergunta tinha o objetivo de identificar as mudanças percebidas pela categoria em sua prática, especificamente no que se refere à autonomia no fazer docente diante da imposição do uso de um currículo determinado e de um material didático estruturado. A hipótese de pesquisa é a de que os professores interpretariam as reformas relacionadas ao SPfe como mudanças que retiram a sua autonomia de trabalho, uma vez que o currículo imposto pelo sistema de ensino apostilado, assim como o seu vínculo com avaliações discentes, docentes e processos de formação exerceriam controle na condução do processo pedagógico interferindo, assim, no mandato docente. Para responder a pergunta, fez-se observação e entrevista semiestruturada com oito professores da Escola Prof. Andronico de Mello. De início, os materiais prescritos foram praticamente ignorados, mas, uma grande parcela dos professores da escola passou a fazer algum tipo de uso do material. A reforma curricular, em si, não se mostrou instrumento suficientemente capaz de incluir os materiais didáticos do programa nas práticas docentes. Os professores não se convenceram dos benefícios que os materiais poderiam trazer às suas práticas. Para que isto ocorresse, foram demandados dispositivos complementares que pouco a pouco levaram o professor ao seu uso. O primeiro e mais significativo destes foi o bônus docente, relacionando o conteúdo dos materiais do programa às avaliações discentes (Saresp) e docentes (Avaliação de mérito) com vistas ao incremento salarial. O segundo dispositivo vinculou à formação oferecida aos docentes ingressantes os princípios, metodologias e conteúdos da nova base curricular num processo de (con)formação docente relativa ao programa. Por fim, a escola pesquisada tem um corpo docente com sólida formação e pouca flutuação, uma cultura voltada ao comprometimento e à autonomia, mas, a penetração das diretrizes curriculares do programa está ocorrendo paulatinamente, minando a resistência docente. Isto sugere que em contextos menos estruturados este processo avança a passos mais largos e pode estar rumando à consolidação de um sistema de controle e fragmentação do fazer docente. / This research intended to analyze the teacher´s perspective regarding the long reformist process of the Public Education of the state of São Paulo, in Brazil, which has been taking place since the middle of the 90´s. In 2008, the SEE (Department of Education of São Paulo State) implemented the SPfe (São Paulo faz escola), a program which intended to create a common base curriculum for the entire state´s educational system. Besides the proposal of the curriculum, the program also proposed the adoption of a policy of financial bonus linked to the acceptance and usage of the former; the replacement of the pedagogic coordinator function to manage those changes; making responsible the teachers for the consequences of the teaching process and, as a result, the restructuring of the teaching career and the creation of courses for specific formation based on the contents and methodologies of the SPfe. The question of this research was how the professorship has interpreted those recent reforms in the educational system of São Paulo state, known as São Paulo faz escola? The research had the objective of identifying the changes noticed by the professorship in their practice, specifically regarding their autonomy while teaching before the imposition of a pre-determined curriculum and its correspondent didactic material. The research hypothesis is that teachers interpret reform as SPfe how changes that derive their operating autonomy, since the curriculum imposed by the learnship system, as well as its link with evaluations learners, teachers and processes training have controlled the conduct of the educational process interfering thus the mandate teaching. To answer this question, through empirical research and semi-structured interviews, I interviewed eight teachers of E.E Prof. Andronico de Mello. I concluded that if at the beginning that pedagogical material was rather ignored by the teachers, currently a great number of teachers of that school, somehow employs it in their jobs. That is due to the fact that the curricular reform itself has not proven enough to be adopted as didactic material of the program on the teaching practice. Teachers were not convinced of the benefits that didactic material could bring to their teaching practice. The insertion of those didactic materials into the teaching practices was used driven by some complementary devices that slowly influenced teachers in using them. The first and most important one was the bonus. In other words, correlate the content of that material to the evaluation of students (Saresp) and teachers (evaluation of merit). The second device, linked to the formation of teachers for the new comers through the reinforcing of principles, methodologies and contents of the new curriculum in a process of (con) formation of teachers. Last, I could infer that if that specific school which has a stable group of teachers with a solid formation, besides their culture concerned with commitment and autonomy, the insertion of those curricular guidelines of this new program can be undermining the teachers resistance; we can conjecture that in some other less structured and organized schools, this process advances faster and can be going towards the consolidation of a system of control and fragmentation of the teaching practices.

Esta tese pretende analisar comparativa e criticamente as leis responsáveis pelas reformas educacionais implantadas no Brasil e na Espanha após a redemocratização, período que tem como marco as respectivas Constituições, de 1988 e de 1978. Como as reformas educativas são um fenômeno complexo e multidimensional, serão analisadas somente do ponto de vista estrutural atendose ao ensino médio e curricular atendose à disciplina Geografia. Com base nos documentos do Ministério da Educação (Brasil) e do Ministério de Educación y Ciencia (Espanha), procurarseá investigar as justificativas, as contradições e os conflitos de interesse políticoeconômicos e ideológicos envolvidos nos processos reformistas. Serão pesquisadas ainda as divergências epistemológicas e teóricometodológicas subjacentes à modalidade curricular das reformas. Para tanto, é importante desvendar especialmente o conceito de sociedade do conhecimento, uma das justificativas mais recorrentes para tais reformas, além dos conceitos de reforma educacional, currículo, conhecimentos, competências, ideologia, entre outros. Serão discutidos também os conceitos e as categorias da Geografia, especialmente nos documentos brasileiros, procurando desvendar eventuais incoerências e conflitos teóricometodológicos existentes nesse campo disciplinar. Para atingir os objetivos enunciados acima, a pesquisa se fundamentará no método de abordagem críticodialético. Para sua constituição, serão buscados subsídios na teoria crítica dos pensadores da Escola de Frankfurt, especialmente em Horkheimer e Habermas, e na lógica dialética, particularmente como interpretada por Lefebvre. Com base nos pressupostos desse método de abordagem, é importante verificar se os processos de reforma têm contribuído ou não para a emancipação dos sujeitos professores e alunos a que se destinam. Isso exige uma discussão sobre o significado de emancipação. / The purpose of this thesis is to analyze comparatively and critically the laws responsible for the educational reform implanted in Brazil and Spain after the redemocratization, which is marked by the Constitutions of 1988 and 1978. Due to the fact that education reforms are a complex and a multidimensional phenomenon, they will be analyzed solely from the structural aspect restricting them to high school and curricular restricting them to Geography subject. The justifications, contradictions, as well as the ideological and politicaleconomic conflicts, involved in reforming process will be examined based on documents from Ministério da Educação (Brazil) and from Ministério de Educación y Ciencia (Spain). In addition to that, it will be researched the epistemological and theoreticalmethodological divergence underlying the curricular modality of reforms. Therefore, it is important to unveil especially the concept of knowledge society, which is one of the most appellant reasons for such reforms, beyond concepts of educational reforms, curriculum, knowledge, competencies, ideology and so on. It will be discussed also concepts and categories of Geography, especially in Brazilian documents pursuing unveil eventual contradictions and theoreticalmethodological conflicts existing in the field of Geography. To achieve the purposes mentioned above, the research will be substantiated in the critical theory and the dialectical method. In order to establish it, subsidies on the critical theory of Frankfurt School thinkers will be pursued, especially Horkheimer and Habermas, and on the dialectic logic, particularly interpreted for Lefebvre. Based on prior conjecture of this method of approach, it is important to verify if the processes of reform have contributed or not to the individuals emancipation teachers and students for whom they are designated. That demands a discussion about the meaning of emancipation.