In 1970, after two decades of disappointing results from development assistance programs, USAID initiated a new policy, the education sector analysis policy. Its objective was to provide the kinds of information necessary for formulating education policy recommendations and assistance programs tailored to the cultural, political, social, and economic realities facing individual countries. / In this study, the origin and evolution of USAID's education sector analysis policies and practices were traced from their inception in 1970 until the present, 1989. Also, a comparative analysis was made of the recommendations from four sector assessments conducted the late 1980s. Overall, this study showed: that USAID did not successfully implement its sector analysis policy, that the analytical methodologies actually implemented obfuscated national differences, and that assessments generated almost identical sets of policy recommendations for the education sector regardless of the country. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 3873. / Major Professor: Sydney R. Grant. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

The purpose of this study was to describe the establishment of the multicultural requirement at Florida State University using the political model (Baldridge, 1971). The research questions focused on six aspects of the policy making process: (1) the nature of the interest in the establishment of a multicultural requirement, (2) type of conflicts, (3) the affect of interest groups or individuals on the policy making process, (4) the process used to translate articulated interests into policy, (5) resolution of conflicts and pressures, and (6) status of the multicultural requirement. / Qualitative research data were collected through interviews and documents. The researcher identified faculty members and others involved in the policy making process. The units of analysis for this study were: (a) the responses of faculty members; and, (b) documents and other information obtained from the case university. The data were triangulated to ensure the trustworthiness of the study. / Based on the findings from this study, institutions that decide to establish a multicultural requirement will face a long and complex political struggle. Each institution will face different challenges depending on the institutional social structure, involvement of groups and individuals who have a vested interest in policy decision, legislative processes, and policy formation and execution. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1194. / Major Professor: Barbara Mann. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This study was grounded on the assumption that the native culture of a sojourner is the main parameter through which he functions whether in his country or abroad. With this in mind, the educational perceptions of 123 male Saudi graduates from American or Saudi universities were identified and compared for the main purposes and goals of higher education, reasons for students to attend university, and acceptance of staff teaching students of the opposite sex. Furthermore, graduates' level of satisfaction with their higher education, and the views of graduates from American universities regarding the effect of their education on their perceptions and values in general, were assessed. / Their perceptions of the two groups were very similar for most items with only a few items displaying any significant difference. This reflected an "individual centered" ideology for Saudi graduates from American universities, and the "role of the national" by graduates from Saudi universities. / "Enhancing one's religion" as a main purpose and goal of higher education, and a reason for students to attend university showed significant difference across groups with Saudi university graduates rating it higher than graduates from American universities. Graduates from Saudi universities did not perceive it acceptable for staff to teach students of the opposite sex in both countries, while American university graduates considered it more acceptable in American universities. / Religion as a main purpose and goal of higher education, and a reason to attend university showed significant difference across groups with graduates from Saudi universities giving it a significantly higher rating. / Saudi graduates from both countries were highly satisfied with their education, with considerable difference in their satisfaction with the development of their technical skills and religious knowledge, and enhancing their understand of other cultures and religious beliefs. Graduates from American universities stated their education had a very positive effect on their concept of education and values in general through learning a new methods and skills, and becoming more tolerant and understanding of other cultures. Perceptual differences were explained using respondents' comments and original culture. / The results verified Schumann's Theory of Social Distance (1976) when extended to adopting a second culture. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0118. / Major Professor: Frederick Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of this study was to explore the content of children's responses to culturally relevant literature in Hawai'i and how their individual understandings and responses evolved over time. This study utilized qualitative research methods and ethnographic techniques. A case study group of six students, three girls and three boys of differing ethnicity, was selected from a fifth grade class in Hawai'i. Children participated in four different literature discussions, a short story, novel study, text set study, and class read-aloud. Data collection included transcripts from literature discussions, interviews, observational field notes, and collections of written artifacts. Categories were constructed through inductive analysis of data. The findings showed that through literature discussions of culturally relevant literature the children defined what it means to belong to their local culture in Hawai'i, refined their beliefs about the concept of culture, used their knowledge about history to build understandings, and shared how they connected with the literature. As a result of the literature discussions, individual children were able to identify with the literature and came to new understandings about themselves and their cultural lives. Children should be encouraged to read books that show representations of their cultural lives. However, merely reading literature is not enough. Children need instructional and teacher support so that they may engage in thoughtful discussions about the literature and find issues that are meaningful to them. Providing opportunities for children to find and discuss personal and cultural issues, establishing a supportive environment to talk about literature, and using powerful selections of literature are ways teachers help children engage in discussions about culturally relevant literature.

This study outlines relationships between ideological construction and conversational performances, or utterances during casual conversation whose aesthetic quality is highlighted. I identify a distinction between native and nonnative English speakers that is imagined in predictable ways and expressed in regularized discourse patterns. The ideology of nativeness is rooted in a monolingualist view of the world--an association of one language with one nation--and intersects with ideologies of race and education. The regularity of patterns associated with this ideology provides resources for performances by white, middle-class U.S. university students about incomprehensible accents, bad teachers, lazy or angry foreigners, and rude code-switching or uses of non-English languages. Speakers use performative strategies such as rhythm, dialogue, and emphatic stress, to frame performances as worthy of special attention. Utterances are interpreted as more or less performative depending on the density and intensity of those strategies. The notion of the discourse frame accounts for speakers' desire to complete performances and for listeners' understanding that they are expected to respond positively. Performance and ideology are reciprocally related, such that performances index and depend on the stability of ideological models while providing opportunities for sudden shifts in ideological position as well as for transformations of those models. As speakers frame performances, they simultaneously create social truths, such as exaggerated hierarchical relationships between linguistic in-groups and out-groups, in ways that become memorable and at least momentarily acceptable. Because performances are bounded and memorable, they are decontextualizable, which enables them to be re-performed by the same speakers or by their listeners in other contexts. Performances thus contribute to the pervasiveness of the ideological discourse patterns that form the basis of those performances. Because of many speakers' drive to establish social solidarity with their listeners, performances can coincide with a dramatic shift in ideological position. Such shifts are also understandable if we recognize that dominant ideologies are embedded in highly regularized discursive patterns, readily available to any speaker who wishes to employ them.

This study was undertaken as a means of describing the language of high school students as they responded to a Cultural Identity course. The purpose of this course was to increase cultural sensitivity and understanding among high school freshmen, and therefore, to reduce violence and cultural misunderstandings on campus. This course made use of the published curriculum, Building Cultural Bridges, in part, and the remaining course design was developed by the teacher-researcher. Specific aspects of the problem studied are included in the following questions that guided the methodology: (1) In what ways are students' attitudes reflected in their written language in response to specific assignments in the course, Cultural Identity? (2) In what ways are perceptions of conflict and conflict resolution reflected in students' written language? (3) In what ways does students' written language indicate an awareness of cultural sensitivity? (4) What language is used in students' oral language during classroom interactions that indicates an awareness of cultural sensitivity? These questions were answered while taking into consideration: (a) the context of the classroom activities, and (b) the social context that students carried with them into the classroom which, therefore, became a presence in the classroom. This study involved a theoretical and pragmatic view of teaching multicultural, anti-racist, and conflict resolution curricula. After a review of the literature and the establishment of the problem, a descriptive design was employed for guiding data collection and analysis. Participants' written language was analyzed which included: (a) students' journal writing in response to teacher prompts, (b) student-generated multicultural conflict and resolution plays, (c) conflict resolution questionnaires, and (d) student-generated informational brochures on relevant topics. Participants' oral language was also analyzed and recorded in field notes. This was taken from conversation and behavior demonstrated by participants during classroom activities. Participants' written language in the prompted response journals indicated a developing awareness of cultural sensitivity. The written language in the multicultural conflict and resolution plays indicated a developing sense of cultural sensitivity and the usefulness of conflict resolution strategies. Written language found in the conflict resolution questionnaires over time indicated an increased awareness of the usefulness of conflict resolution strategies and indicated their understanding of how conflicts are resolved, rather than avoided. The informational brochures demonstrated students' awareness of the effects of stereotyping, shifts in their stereotypical behavior, and demonstrated their use of conflict resolution strategies in classroom interactions.

This study provides an analysis of the historical events that shaped the public school education of Mexican American children in Arizona in the first half of the twentieth century. This study also examines how segregation was established in two cities in northern Arizona and how schooling affected the feelings and emotions of former students. From about 1900 to 1950 Mexican American children were required to attend segregated schools or were segregated in different classrooms even though there were no laws that mandated segregation. Segregation was established under the guise of providing special accommodations for Spanish-speakers. However, it was clear that the education policies of Arizona in the 1930s and 1940s were to prepare Mexican children for "Mexican" occupations. These educational programs had their roots in Americanization policies implemented earlier in the twentieth century. At the root of the Americanization policies in the Southwest was the notion that the Mexican immigrant was culturally inferior and could not be assimilated into the American mainstream until the Mexican culture and language were eradicated. Included in these policies were Mexican Americans, although they were United States citizens. Mexican children in school were publicly humiliated, physically and verbally abused for speaking Spanish on school grounds. The high school dropout rates for Mexican Americans in those years were very high. Mexican students were not encouraged to go to college by educators because they felt that the students did not have the mental skills to achieve academic success and because they did not need a higher education for the "Mexican" jobs they would be working. Most people are unaware of the extent of public school segregation of Mexican Americans in the state of Arizona. The public is generally aware of the segregation of African Americans in public schools and to some degree of the segregation of Native Americans in boarding schools. Segregation of Mexican Americans in the public schools is an important chapter in Arizona history that must be told to illustrate the struggle in the daily lives of past generations of Mexican Americans to overcome the numerous racial and discriminatory practices they experienced.

The Functional Head Constraint (Belazi, Rubin and Toribio, 1994) states that codeswitching is not allowed between a functional head and its complement. This predicts that switches between determiners and noun phrase complements, complementizers and inflected clausal (IP) complements, and auxiliaries and verb phrase complements should be ungrammatical. Conversely, the proposed constraint predicts that verb-complement and preposition-complement switches should be grammatical. This study tested four of these five predictions, using codeswitched Spanish/English sentences which met or violated the Functional Head Constraint. The subjects were Spanish-English bilinguals who had learned both languages before the age of six and who use both languages in their daily lives. Data were collected using the Response-Contingent Matching Task (Stevenson, 1992). Subjects read a sentence displayed on a computer screen and press a button when the reading is completed. They then read a second sentence aligned below the first one and press one of two buttons to indicate whether the two sentences on the screen are the SAME or DIFFERENT. Grammaticality of the codeswitch was established by comparing reading times on all SAME sentences. The sentences that violated the Functional Head Constraint were expected to receive significantly longer reading times than the sentences which comply with the constraint. The results obtained do not support the predictions made by the Functional Head Constraint, but do confirm the validity of the task procedure. The findings are compared with naturalistic data and are interpreted using the Minimalist Theory of Chomsky (1991 and 1992).

A significant number of American Indian women have taught and still teach children in both public and government Indian schools. Yet there is very little written about these Native American women teachers, how they view themselves, and their relationship to their professional teaching careers throughout history. In addition, historical accounts on Native education are often inaccurate, disrespectful, and biased. To address issues about Native American women teachers, a qualitative study was conducted to determine the elements in their lives that influenced them to select elementary school teaching as a career choice, and to identify and examine the common patterns and similarities within those elements. The research documented the key elements for success of Native American female teacher including (a) a supportive family, (b) mentoring and positive role models for young Native American girls in elementary and secondary school is vital to their continuing onto higher education, and (c) a strong sense of cultural identity. Five Native American women elementary public school teachers in a large southwestern city, representing four different tribes, participated in individual in-depth interviews to gather information regarding what elements in their lives lead them to educational success. Two had taught in the public school system for more then 20 years, the other three had been in the classroom for less then five years. The research revealed that Native American mothers today are the most influential family members in terms of their daughters educational success in elementary and secondary school, along with being the primary factor in providing moral support during their college years. Mentors and positive role models for young Native American girls in elementary and secondary school are vital to their continuing on the road to higher education. All participants felt that their strong sense of cultural identity helped them as adults to deal with cultural conflict in the workplace. Recommendations for further study, based on participant comments include: increase the number of teachers involved in the study, and interview these same teachers five years from now to see if their reflections changed.

This ethnographic study illuminates the connections between race, class, and academic engagement and the role that schools and educators exert in shaping them. The critical events portrayed demonstrate the power of social stereotyping and racism in relationship to academic engagement and the aspirations of culturally diverse high school students. At the same time, the study shows that human relationships are at the heart of schooling, and that the power relations of the broader society are often enacted in the interactions that occur between students and teachers in the classroom. Two Latino high school students, one foreign born and one U.S. born, shared candidly their points of view and perceptions about students' attrition and academic disengagement. Their perspectives were later compared to the views of thirty-three educators employed at the same urban educational institutions these students attended. A survey of these educators expanded our understanding of the forces that influence teachers' views of Latino students and their communities. The present study also examined Ogbu's influential theory of differential school success, and the connections between opposition, identity, and academic engagement. However, this study corroborated Jim Cummins' recent work, suggesting that students' behavior and motivation is influenced not only from historically or politically derived structures, but most importantly from day-to-day interactions with members of the institutional setting. During the study, the students spoke at length about school practices and policies that serve to separate students along ethnic and class lines, and that favor certain dominant ideologies over others. Issues of selective enforcement of strict disciplinary school rules, marginalization of Latino students in the curriculum, and a deteriorated school climate characterized by the absence of a true "community" among the diverse ethnic groups represented in the schools were some of the issues that emerged. The study concluded with a summary of the main recommendations for change and reform based on suggestions of the students themselves. These recommendations emanate from the sincere and genuine voices of Latino youth, representing much needed insights if we are to reverse the ongoing pattern of failure among Latino populations.