Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Anthropology and School of Education, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 16, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-10, Section: A, page: 3877. Adviser: Thomas A. Schwandt.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2110. Adviser: Brian Powell. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed June 21, 2007)."

<p> A review of sociological literature reveals a long history of the study of gender, and an increased popularity in the application of feminist theories and ideas to sociological research. As transmitters of the discipline, introductory-level textbooks have been heavily studied over the past quarter-century to assess the accuracy with which they portray the field of sociology. In order to update the literature available on the topic, this study analyzed the current cohort of top-selling, introductory-level sociology textbooks for coverage of feminist theory and gender issues. Each of the ten textbooks was read cover-to-cover and coded for both latent and manifest data using a coding sheet. The researcher found a notable increase in the incidences of both feminist theories and gender issues within the current cohort of textbooks. The specific treatment of each topic varied widely across books, and within each book the topics were presented one-dimensionally and were ghettoized to feminized chapters. Definitions of feminist theory and feminism within the books primarily described liberal feminism and little else, and discussions of both feminist theory and gender were most heavily featured in the gender and family chapters. Generally, the gender issues present in the textbook sample were mostly to do with women, and erased non-binary experiences of gender. Additionally, an intersectional approach to discussions of gender was applied about one-third of the time. This study concludes that the current textbook cohort is still far from the ideal model, and the feminization and marginalization of these topics is likely due to the textbook production cycle and the specific phenomenon of textual isomorphism.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of professional learning communities (PLCs) on elementary school students&rsquo; performance in reading and mathematics using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort of 1998 (ECLS-K). This study also investigates whether PLCs have differential effects on student performance based on student characteristics such as socioeconomic status (SES), race, and whether they are academically at-risk and school characteristics such as school type, school size, minority enrollment, and percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL). PLCs are seen as a promising way of remedying the traditionally isolated nature of teachers&rsquo; work by facilitating a network through which teachers can share expertise, receive support, and disseminate effective practices. The underlying theory is that by facilitating teachers&rsquo; access to a network of their peers, they will be able to improve their instruction, which will ultimately lead to improved student achievement. This study addresses the need for more empirical evidence on the impact of PLCs on student performance using a large, national dataset. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify correlated PLC items from the ECLS-K teacher questionnaire. Hierarchical and cross-classified random effects modeling (HCM) was then used to analyze the impact of student-, teacher-, and organizational-level variables&mdash;including two PLC variables&mdash;on students&rsquo; reading and mathematics performance. The analysis found that teacher collaboration had a significant positive effect on growth in reading and math scores, while a positive school climate was associated with significantly higher initial reading scores. Rarely did either PLC variable show differential effects based on student- or school-level characteristics.</p><p>

Intra-district open enrollment policies are increasingly implemented as a means of expanding children’s educational opportunities and promoting greater racial integration in urban schools. However, racial segregation continues to endure in many choice-oriented urban school districts, to the extent that schools are often more segregated than their surrounding communities. I investigate the interplay between family, school, and neighborhood racial characteristics as they relate to pre-k and kindergarten school choice patterns in Boston, Massachusetts. Findings suggest school choice is a function of a variety of factors, with a school’s racial composition remaining salient even after accounting for academic achievement, discipline records, and distance from home. Furthermore, racial background moderates school choices such that White and Asian families displayed similar behavior, as they tended to choose schools with higher proportions of White and Asian students and lower proportions of Black students and students receiving free and reduced-price lunch subsidies. Neighborhood racial composition was not found to be a significant factor in families’ choices, but the average racial profile of the neighborhood schools did shape White and Asian families’ decisions to stay local or not. Finally, I found that families from neighborhoods with higher levels of ethnic heterogeneity and lower levels of socioeconomic advantage were more willing to travel longer distances for schools. The results underscore the importance of acknowledging the persistent salience of race in school choice processes, even when also accounting for various aspects of schools’ academic achievement, discipline, and location. / Culture, Communities, and Education

Abstract not available.

This thesis discusses the role of academic institutions in the vitality of the French-speaking community, in the metropolis of Moncton, over the past 20 years. Moncton is located in the Southeast of the province of New Brunswick in Canada. The three cities (Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview), which form this urban centre of Moncton, have a particular function in the linguistic balance of the area. The urbanization process has largely changed the social space in Moncton, which leads us to ask the following question: "Do French institutions play an important role on the geographical distribution of the French-speaking people in Moncton over the past 20 years?" By using the Census Data of the Statistic Canada of 1981 to 2001, we study the historical development of the principal French-speaking institutions compared to the significant transformation of the social space of Moncton, in particular the increased presence of the Acadians.

Cette thèse porte sur: Les inégalités de réussite scolaire dans les institutions d'enseignement supérieur de Guinée: le cas de l'Université de Conakry. Elle est structurée en deux parties. La première comprend quatre chapitres dont le premier porte sur la problèmatique des inégalités de réussite scolaire, les objectifs et l'hypothèse de la recherche. La revue de la littérature est exposée dans le chapitre deux. Le troisième est un essai de conceptualisation de certains termes. Le quatrième chapitre traite de la méthodologie de la recherche. La deuxième partie quant à elle comprend deux chapitres. Le premier présente le cadre d'étude. Le deuxième est consacrée à la présentation et à l'interprétation des donnees collectées. Une conclusion achève la présente thèse.

This thesis is an exploration of expressions and representations of heteronormalized gender and sexuality discourses constructed by a group of students and educators involved in a pilot program at an eastern Ontario vocational high school. These performances of stereotyped queer identities or experiences overpower and silence the performances of identities outside the norm. Moreover, by defining what queerness is through a heterosexual frame, mainstream curricula defines what is acceptable (in education), and what is perceived as unwanted deviant queerness. Within this study I will reiterate the students' and educators' responses, reactions and opinions on a range of queer issues, and through autoethnography and currere methodologies, I will analyse my past and present reactions to queerness within the classroom in order to inform pedagogical strategies that one could possibly approach issues of heteronormalization in the future.

No description available.