<p> Place-based environmental education provides myriad physical, cognitive, social, and emotional benefits. In this study, 13 environmental educators illuminated how policy, partnerships and place shaped environmental education in pre-K&ndash;12 schools in Washington, DC. I recruited participants from the local government, nongovernmental organizations, and three public and public charter schools. Place studies and Bronfenbrenner&rsquo;s ecological systems theory influenced the design of this instrumental case study. Data sources included interviews, analyses of policy documents, and observations of participants and teaching settings. Analytic memos and coding using NVivo supported data analysis. Data representation included using narratives to center participants&rsquo; voices. </p><p> Participants described iteratively expanding place-based environmental education for DC students by (a) influencing and enacting policies that promote interdisciplinary engagement with the environment, (b) expanding partnerships between non-formal and formal educators, (c) enriching students&rsquo; sense of place, and (d) promoting students&rsquo; mental and physical wellbeing alongside their academic achievement. </p><p> In DC, interconnected local, regional, and national policies, standards, and initiatives served as catalysts for new funding, opportunities, and partnerships. Among the most relevant were the local DC Healthy Schools Act of 2010, the regional Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 2014, and the national Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS); collectively, these documents addressed wellness, environmental protection, and science education &ndash; all areas relevant to environmental education. </p><p> Multi-institutional partnerships addressed policy goals and enabled teachers to access a) professional development, b) curriculum materials, and c) place-based experiences for students in gardens and on waterways. Through a DC government-funded project, non-formal educators and mentor teachers created an environmental literacy framework that aligned existing environmental education activities with NGSS. Non-formal educators collaboratively led waterway-based fieldtrips that addressed regional efforts to protect the Chesapeake Bay. </p><p> Structured environmental education activities on waterways and in gardens engaged students, inspired educators, and provided links across disciplines, locations, and past experiences. Non-formal educators provided direct instruction, encouraged student inquiry, and fostered relationships with place. By contrast, few educators utilize the school building for environmental education. My findings suggest that expanding place-based environmental education requires engaging diverse stakeholders, including school custodians and others who have not traditionally been consulted as experts.</p><p>

<p> In international schools, a range (75&ndash;80%) of students is non-native English speakers. However, many of these schools do not offer mother tongue (MT) programs to these students. These globally mobile students&rsquo; MT proficiency levels depend on whether or not their school offers an MT program. As a result, MT teachers must teach students who possess a wide range of proficiency levels in their MT. This study applied the lens of sociocultural theory to provide more complete description of the Japanese MT program in an international school including the school&rsquo;s organization, language policy, and MT curriculum development. Rather than just describe instructional MT practices, this single case study examined the educational context of the school and the Japanese MT program by conducting semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and documents in this international school offering an International Baccalaureate Diplomat Program (IBDP). The findings of this study were (a) a lack of written language policy, (b) a lack of common curriculum, (c) a lack of curriculum cohesion, (d) the Japanese MT language program offering combination of the day- school curriculum in grades 7&ndash;10 and the after-school curriculum in grades K-6, and (e) differentiated instruction implemented by the three Japanese teachers to the students who have different MT proficiency levels. Although international schools have a commitment to rich language development, they still need to reflect on how to improve the language curriculum including strengthening the organization structure of MT instruction and enhancing the curriculum cohesion of MT instruction across grade levels.</p><p>

<p> Approximately 80% of students attending community colleges intend to earn a bachelor&rsquo;s degree; however, only 17% attain the goal (Horn &amp; Skomsvold, 2011). The Complete College America (2011) initiative signaled a paradigm shift from access to higher education to public policy defining success as completion, graduation, and transfer. Despite efforts made, community colleges are falling short of reaching their two-year to four-year college completion goals (Monaghan &amp; Atwell, 2015). Attention to transfer students and their role in the college completion agenda has become a focus of recent research. There is, however, minimal understanding of transfer admission pathways such as Joint Admission programs and their relationship to degree completion. </p><p> This non-experimental causal-comparative ex-post facto study investigated the relationship between a Joint Admission Agreement (JAA) program and two-year to four-year degree completion and time to degree completion, and was guided by these research questions: 1. Is there a relationship between JAA student participation and bachelor degree completion? </p><p> 2. Is there a difference in bachelor degree time-to-completion between JAA and non-JAA transfer students? </p><p> 3. To what extent and in what manner is variation in bachelor degree completion rates explained by four-year GPA, total number of transfer credits, degree type, Pell and demographics on JAA and non-JAA? Ex-post facto data of JAA and non-JAA transfers (n = 846) who earned an associate&rsquo;s degree and transferred to a state flagship institution from 2011 to 2015 were collected and analyzed using SPSS software. A t-test analysis indicated participation in JAA (n = 121) showed a positive, significant relationship to four-year degree completion, t = 5.038, p = .001, M = .70 compared with non-JAA M = .47. A t-test analyses showed JAA t = 4.28, p = .001, M = 2.12 had .33 of a year faster rate of time-to-completion over non-JAA, M = 2.45. Results of ANOVA analysis showed demographics has no effect on time-to-degree completion. </p><p> This study filled a gap in the literature in finding a positive relationship between JAA participation and both four-year degree completion and time to completion. The results may suggest consideration of both system and institutional policy initiatives to promote and encourage JAA participation.</p><p>

<p> Despite the growth in the US population of persons of color and the need for allied health professionals to improve healthcare disparity, people of color make up only 20% of the total enrollment in professional occupational therapy education programs (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2016a). Inequalities in the participation of people of color can lead to diminished educational experiences for all students, isolation for occupational therapy students and professionals of color, and decreased healthcare quality for minority clients. This five phase, qualitative interpretive/constructivist study explored the academic experiences of occupational therapists of color, guided by the following research questions: </p><p> 1. How do occupational therapy practitioners of color ascribe meaning to their educational experiences in their OT program? </p><p> 2. How do occupational therapy practitioners of color describe their perceived facilitators and barriers to educational success? </p><p> 3. In what ways do occupational therapy students/practitioners of color navigate their culture of origin and the majority White culture in order to succeed in occupational therapy educational programs and in professional practice? </p><p> AOTA (2016b) professionals (<i>N</i>=14) were solicited by email through their Multicultural, Diversity and Inclusion Network and participated in Phases I, II, and III. Participants completed demographic and interest questionnaires in Phase I; a reflective questionnaire regarding educational facilitators and barriers in Phase II; and depth interviews in Phase III. Using Colaizzi&rsquo;s data analysis strategy (Colaizzi,1978), the results of the Phase III interviews were used to complete the Phase IV elite informant interviews with OT leaders (<i>N</i>=4). Phase V consisted of a document analysis of historical and current policy documents. </p><p> Six themes emerged from this study: 1) Decision to Enroll in an OT program, 2) Educational Program Culture, 3) Faculty Relationships, 4) Peer Relationships, 5) Student Resilience, and 6) Working Professionals.These results reveal participant persistence towards professional OT goals; however, academic and leadership success did not shield participants from marginalization or racism. These results may inform OT professionals regarding enrollment strategies for students of color and the imperative for student-centered program standards and zero- tolerance policies regarding discrimination within OT educational programs. </p><p>

<p> Policy changes influence various aspects of art education such as K-12 art education curricula, state licensure systems, and contexts of art teacher preparation. Despite strong relationships between art education policy and practical fields, few studies have attempted to understand art education from the perspective of policy analysis. This study explores the connections between art education policy and the field of art education through a focus on art teacher preparation in Indiana. Additional attention was paid to perceptions of the appropriateness of alternative licensure routes in relation to policies of academic and quality standards and the extent to which visual art teachers&rsquo; sense of identity as teachers and artists is affected by appropriation of these standards.</p><p> The theoretical framework of this study is the need to understand policy appropriation of standards (including visual art and art teacher preparation standards) as an on-going process, that is continually influenced and changed by internal (human level) and external (institutional level) factors. The appropriation process is effectively expressed through practices, narratives, and texts of practitioners.</p><p> To understand the status and factors of the art education policy appropriation in art teacher preparation, I collected data as printed or digital documents, and as interviews with faculty members and pre-service art teachers in two traditional visual art teacher preparation programs in Indiana. I analyzed external (institutional level) and internal (human level) factors to adopt and work with state and national standards. While national standards for visual art education (were adopted by many states and presented as voluntary policy, in Indiana the national standards were built into the Indiana&rsquo;s Academic Standards for Visual Art Standards for K-12 students. Visual art teachers were required to complete a traditional teacher preparation program and pass examinations to become licensed to teach art.</p><p> Findings reveal that faculty of higher art teacher education programs in Indiana paid attention to the national and state standards in K-12 visual art and the standards for teacher education when preparing students to become licensed K-12 art educators. External motivations were accreditations system for teacher preparation requested by Indiana Department of Education related to NCATE. Schools and districts could be external motivations that pre-service art teachers adopt the standards in order to succeed in a job market. Internal factors were respects of roles and leaders of art education associations, desires to train/be qualified teachers and attain balanced knowledge between art studio and art education. Alternative routes to licensure were viewed as economically advantageous but not supportive of high-quality education. Policy had little impact on issues of identity. I concluded with recommendations for improvement in art teacher preparation that were needs of supportive policies for pre-service teachers&rsquo; teaching and teaching licensure including traditional and alternative licensures.</p><p>

Black and Hispanic students continue to be excluded from the learning environmentmore than three times the rate of their White classmates. The effects of this include low student achievement, reduced chances of graduating from high school, and an increased chance of entering the school-to-prison pipeline. Restorative justice was introduced to schools and school systems as an alternative to suspension and other exclusionary practices. The purpose of this study was to examine how school personnel implement and sustain restorative justice practices to reduce the number of Black and Hispanic students disproportionately affected by zero tolerance policies or exclusionary practices. The overarching research question of this study was the following: How do school personnel describe and understand the implementation of restorative justice practices? To address my research question, I conducted a single case study of a school in a large Atlantic coast school system. Data collection methods included: semi-structured interviews of school personnel and leadership, observations, and document review. Four major findings emerged from this study: (1) Cultural understanding, understanding implicit bias, and student-school personnel relationships create the conditions to reduce schoolwide disciplinary infractions and improve climate and culture; (2) School leadership intentional about supporting the mindset shift of staff from punitive to restorative contributes to the development of a positive learning community and supports the implementation of restorative justice and its associated practices; (3) Sustainability of restorative justice depends on the following levers: consistency of restorative justice practices, staff support, and onboarding of new staff members; (4) Professional development, specifically professional development at the school and district level, served as the vehicle to build the capacity of staff as it relates to restorative justice theory, mindset and cultural proficiency (cultural understandings).

Rizvi and Lingard (2010) suggest that there have been shifts in the development and institutional implementation of education policies, as the values promoted by national systems of education are not just established by the policy actors within the nation state but forged through transnational and global entities. In current studies, there are a number of reductionist accounts of global effects on education policy which do not take account of historical context. Drawing on the policy sociology literature, this thesis empirically investigates the policy process at University College Dublin when it modularised its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. It reviews how supranational processes (including European integration and the work of the OECD) and policy making affected UCD's institutional dynamics and policy production during this process. In documenting and analysing the production of this institutional education policy, evidence suggests that policy is shaped predominantly by local policy actors and global influences situated outside of the nation-state. To explore the influence of macro factors on this policy process, UCD provides an outward-focused case study into this policy process at a micro level. Insight into this process is evidenced by collecting data through textual analysis of policy documents and semi-structured interviewing of 23 key policy actors at UCD and other influential policy agencies. To investigate the ‘black box’ by which power is exerted in this policy process, Bourdieu’s theoretical tools are utilised. Bourdieu’s ‘conceptual triad’ is pervasive in the education policy literature, clarifying why some of these policy practices remain national and localised within the global policy field. The study evidences the effects of globalisation manifest in UCD’s modular policy which responded to both internally generated reform and agencies external to the state. The pursuit and implementation of this policy demonstrates the capacity of non-national political structures, e.g. the EUA, OECD, and Bologna Process, to shape not only national policy (Henry et al., 2001) but also institutional governance and policy. The manifestation of these structures also provide confirmation of governance without government (Rosenau, 1992). This study sustains the suggestion of a global policy field (Lingard, et al., 2005) and demonstrates a resultant reconstitution of the local education policy field.

<p> The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the overall lived experiences of DACAmented Latina/o students enrolled within the California Community College system. Adding to the limited research on the undocumented student population, specifically those who are Deferred Action recipients, findings highlight the experiences of students who have persisted in higher education by drawing on their cultural wealth to pursue their dreams and aspirations regardless of their status. From the voices of 10 students three themes emerged, (a) coming of age as undocumented, (b) navigating higher education, and (c) the impact of DACA. These three themes will demonstrate how this population makes sense of their status and navigates higher education within a time of constant change and uncertainty in our country at both the federal and state level. This study adds to the research on DACAmented Latina/o community college students, offers recommendations for practice and state and federal policy are also discussed.</p>

<p> Even with the controversial history of tracking students by ability and its possible differential, socially reproductive effects on student outcomes, tracking remains a common practice in public secondary schools. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between students' performance on state standardized tests and the type of classroom assignment practice employed. Specifically, students were tracked by ability for English Language Arts (ELA) two consecutive years. Their average performance was compared to the next year's result when, at the same school, the same students were instructed in mixed ability ELA classrooms. With persistent achievement and resource gaps, continued pressures of high stakes testing, and the recent advent of including student performance data in educator evaluations, it was both timely and relevant to re-examine student to classroom assignment practices and their relationship with student achievement. </p><p> Taking advantage of a unique site in which most students experienced both "treatments" of tracked and mixed ELA instruction, changes in student performance were more attributable to time-varying factors, such as the type of classroom assignment, as opposed to time-invariant characteristics, like race, gender, or ability. Multilevel modeling accounted for the nesting of students within classrooms, while other factors such as teacher sequence, race, sex, and initial ability were also included in the model. Overall, non-advanced students who were mixed by ability with advanced students had the most significant achievement gains. Other groups also had gains, though not to a statistically significant level. This finding, with replication, offers promise for the narrowing of the achievement gap between advanced and non-advanced students. As this gap mirrors racial and socioeconomic lines, also seen in this study, mixed ability classrooms may lead to more equitable outcomes, thereby also affecting future life conditions. Educational leaders must be cognizant of how and why student to classroom decisions are being made, paying attention to both results and antecedents. Similarly, as teachers play a critical role in student achievement progress, also supported by this study, leaders must develop and support teachers so they can best meet the varying needs of students. </p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate if and to what extent Northeast PA middle school principals&rsquo; use of a Transformational Leadership (TL) style related to their teachers&rsquo; perceptions of self-efficacy. TL includes four specific leadership behaviors: intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and individual consideration. The sample included 217 middle-grade teachers (4^th&ndash;8^th) from six middle schools in four school districts. Instruments included: the Multi-Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) on Transformational Leadership (TL) behaviors, and Bandura&rsquo;s Teacher Self-Efficacy Scales (TSES). Transformational leadership and teacher self-efficacy were the theories used to undergird the study. Results indicated that principals&rsquo; TL style did have a statistically significant relationship with teacher self-efficacy in regard to total score (<i>r_s</i> = .331, p &lt; .001), and a statistically significant relationship with each of the four components of transformational leadership: intellectual stimulation (<i>r_s</i> = .301, p &lt; .001); idealized influence (<i>r_s</i> = .273, p &lt; .001); inspirational motivation (<i> r_s</i> = .289, p &lt; .001); and individual consideration (<i>r_s</i> = .243, p &lt; .001). Results revealed that teacher perceptions of their principals&rsquo; TL were related to higher levels of teacher self-efficacy. These results offer new insight and add to the existing body of knowledge on how principals can build higher performing schools by transforming teacher self-efficacy through attitudes of empowerment, growth, and improvement. The results of this study have implications for school leaders of all levels, educational researchers, and teachers in regard to facilitating teacher self-efficacy development by engaging in transformational leadership behaviors.</p><p>