This dissertation highlights the interconnected relationship of community, family, and school by tracing the lived experiences of African American students and parents to capture how they come to terms with where they are situated in racially diverse settings. The research also shows the intergenerational impact of tracking on African American families who attended the same racially diverse school and lived in a segregated African American neighborhood. Racialized tracking and the segregated African American community have contributed to separate and unequal outcomes, treatment, and performances that demonstrate a racialized duplicity in the United States. Utilizing and building on the theorizing of Pierre Bourdieu's (1977a, 1977b) theorizing about habitus, this study reveals how race, place, and class impact the perceptions of African American students and their parents by mapping out their routes, which include their everyday journey from their homes, school, and community. In addition, Michele Foucault's concept of subjugated knowledge captures how tracking and unequal educational experiences are deeply rooted within a larger struggle for equality for African Americans, which results in an uneven distribution of power/knowledge in the United States. The duplicity that African Americans have to confront in schools and communities is what I refer to as Plessy's tracks. This dissertation thus examines and connects the routes, roots, and academic tracks of African American students and their parents to bring an understanding of how they perceived academic placement and their social positions in a segregated community and a racially diverse school.

Increasing access to higher education has led to a diversified student body, suggesting that conceptualising the ‘student experience' as homogeneous is no longer viable. Previous research reported that age and gender exert significant influences on the student experience, but this has generally taken a ‘snapshot' of those experiences rather than tracing differences over time. This study makes a contribution to this area by assessing changes in the student experience over the lifespan of the degree to explore the relative impact of age and gender (and the potential interaction between them). The study employed a longitudinal qualitative design to explore in-depth the experiences of sixty-one students over three years, using an innovative email research method. Data was analysed in two key ways: a thematic analysis of the findings which identified issues including confidence, friendships, social life, paid work and family commitments; the exploration of illustrative case studies used to highlight the experiences of ‘ideal type' students in four demographic groups. Key findings include the following: age and gender influenced the student experience, yet gender exerted the strongest influence. Mature male students were found to share more commonalities of experience with their traditional male counterparts than with female students of varying age. Of the variables which shape experiences, the thesis identified ‘external commitments' as the key factor. This was evidenced by the contrast between the mature female and male groups, with mature women reporting being constrained by family and home responsibilities, whereas mature men were able to create and maintain ‘separate worlds' of university and home life. The thesis argues that the ‘double shift' described as women entered the workplace, has become a triple shift for mature female students attempting to combine home, work and academic responsibilities; notwithstanding this context, this group are the higher performers academically.

What do we know about student experiences and perspectives of schooling in developing country contexts that are relevant to the ‘big debates' concerning Education for All (EFA)? This study, Being ‘Nobodies': School Regimes and Student Identities in Ghana, speaks to the question I pose. It explores the in-school experiences and identities of fifteen students in a rural Ghanaian Basic School using a critical anti-colonial discursive framework. The critical proposition underlying the study is that, aside from the longstanding problems we know of from research on schooling in developing countries, other problems “can be attributed to the dismal failure of the postcolonial state to change the existing system so that it reflects changing times, circumstances and social realities” (Dei, 2004:6). Unlike the dominant positivistic ‘etiology' of challenges to EFA, this school-based ethnographic case study provides strong evidence that persisting colonial school regimes – authoritarian forms of control and the reproduction of knowledge - are implicated in the educational experiences of students and the identities they negotiate within the institution. The three analysis chapters – Chapters Five, Six and Seven – contribute to the wider literature on schooling by specifically exploring students' perspectives on school regimes and student identities. Chapter Five discusses schooling as control. It highlights the more formal institutional regimes (authoritarian school organisation, school timetable as a management tool and the school code of discipline) that organise student experiences of schooling. Chapter Six focuses on the reproduction of knowledge through the delivered curriculum and performance modes of teaching and learning. Chapter Seven explores identities that students develop in relation to the practices discussed in Chapter Five and Chapter Six. It highlights that students see themselves as being ‘nobodies' such that their ‘best' agency is to use silence as an agentic ‘voice'. Despite Ghana's long attained independence, my thesis of the student identities of being ‘nobodies' asserts that, there has been little critical review of bequeathed colonial school practices. By practices, I mean specifically: authoritarian organization; discipline forms; and, performance modes of knowledge production that position students as ‘colonised subjects'. Based on the central analysis of this research, I recommend further research into the ways in which student experiences can inform the ‘big debates' central to EFA.

This study investigates effects of a conditional cash transfer programme (CCT) in Brazil – Bolsa Família (BF) – on school outcomes, particularly children's achievements on standardised tests, pass-grade rates, and dropout rates. The educational conditionality of the programme, requiring enrolment in school and minimum school attendance, figures as a major justification for public investment in BF. It is expected that BF will reduce short-term poverty and boost children's human capital, thus inducing long-term socioeconomic improvement. In order to achieve its long-term objective, BF should be able to improve not only enrolment and attendance rates, but also learning outcomes and grade promotion amongst beneficiary children. However, these effects, particularly learning outcomes, have not yet been reported in the literature. The hypothesis investigated in this thesis is that length of time of participation in the programme and per capita cash amounts received by families are key variables in assessing BF's effects on children's educational outcomes. As the programme improves household income, requires a high rate of school attendance, and monitors children's health and nutritional conditions, a positive effect on children's performance should be expected over time. Similarly, the amount of cash paid to families should have an impact on changes induced in the home environment that are beneficial for children's educational outcomes. Empirically, the dissertation combines three national datasets from governmental agencies for the years 2005 and 2007. These data contain information on test scores in Portuguese Language and Mathematics for fourth grade pupils, school context, and BF parameters (intake, time of participation, and cash value), which are used in cross-sectional and panel analyses to test the above hypotheses. The results show that although beneficiaries tend to attend less well-resourced schools, the influence of individual and household characteristics on test scores overshadow that of school resources, suggesting that demand-side interventions might result in gains in children's performances. The cross-sectional analysis at the school level suggests that BF's contribution to school outcomes depends on the length of time of participation and the per capita cash value paid to families. In addition, these two BF parameters have substitute effects, that is, as the per capita cash increases, school performance increases; however, the contribution of time of participation to gains in school performance diminishes and vice-versa. As a sensitive analysis to test the direct effects of length of time of participation and per capita cash on school outcomes, a subsample was used, which includes only schools in which more than 80% of pupils are beneficiaries. Results from this subsample confirm the positive effects of time and cash on school outcomes, although only cash is statistically significant. Furthermore, a school-and-time fixed effects model is estimated using panel data for 2005 and 2007 for the same school outcomes. The results also suggest that improvements in school outcomes are expected over time as a result of exposure to the programme, although this varies across regions. The findings support the idea that improvements in educational opportunities and outcomes for children of low-income families in Brazil require a non-educational policy measure – the reduction of the immediate income poverty – as intended by BF. Nevertheless, there is also an urgent need to address inequalities in standards of education supply and special attention should be given to children whose families are recipients of BF in promoting access to pre-school programmes. Even though educational policies are necessary, they are insufficient to promote human capital amongst the poorest families in Brazil. In this sense, CCTs do not represent an opportunity cost for educational policies. Instead, they are important allies in promoting education access and equity.

This dissertation examines how teachers and their allies utilize agency and draw on social capital to ignore, modify and altogether undo reforms. Focusing on 10 schools in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, this study investigates the mechanisms employed by teachers, principals, and school administrators across the city to counter a single teacher salary reform and maintain the status quo. This topic is explored in a study combining a mixed methods research methodology that includes analysis of interviews, teacher salary data, policy documents, and observation. The analysis is framed in theories of social capital, power, and human agency as well as in the application of literature on transnational policy borrowing and lending. Through these theoretical lenses, this research contributes to scholarship on the nature of human agency, the impact of professional vitality and resiliency of conviction on resistance to change, and role that stratification and inequality play in shaping the lives of teachers. The study illustrates the endurance of longstanding norms and social hierarchies within the teaching workforce in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan; it shows how salary reforms can challenge longstanding views around teacher compensation norms; and finally, it further advances the argument that the transfer of global teacher policies from one context to another will necessarily result in a process of local adaptation, and one that may yield unintended consequences.

<p> The researcher conducted a mixed-methods study at a private, Midwestern, Predominantly White institution in order to determine the relationship between minority student perceptions of higher education and minority student perceptions of their institution. The goal of the study was to determine whether minority student perceptions of the climate and culture of their institution influenced their perception of higher education as a whole. Another objective was to determine whether minority student perceptions connected to minority student retention. To determine the relationship, the researcher surveyed 20 undergraduate, African American students and conducted one-on-one interviews with three of the students between the fall of 2017 and the summer of 2018. </p><p> The researcher analyzed the results of the climate and culture perceptions survey instruments to determine relationships between minority student perceptions of the culture of higher education and minority student perceptions of the culture of their school. Secondly, the researcher analyzed the relationship between minority student perceptions of the climate of higher education and minority student perceptions of the climate of the school. Through quantitative analysis, the researcher determined there was no relationship between minority student perceptions of the culture and climate of higher education broadly, and their perceptions of the culture and climate of their institution. </p><p> Qualitative analyses suggested students believed their perception of school climate and culture mirrored the climate and culture of higher education. Perceptions included facing racism and microaggressions, a lack of support from faculty, and not feeling intentionally included in campus programming all while having a sense of safety on campus. Regardless of whether student perceptions of higher education were positive or negative, each student who did not graduate that year intended to return the following academic year. Individual reasons for intent to return determined the relationship between minority student perceptions of higher education and minority student retention. </p><p> Recommendations from the researcher included exploring mentoring programs geared toward minority students, investigating the benefits of a diversity course for all students, implementing an African American Studies program, conducting research focused on reasons minority students remain at an institution, and the functionality of other groups considered minority in higher education. Exploring the aforementioned suggestions in depth could lead to a better overall understanding of how minority students can receive support and experience more retention in higher education.</p><p>

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of high school students' reasons for truancy. Findings of the study revealed the perceptions of 916 high school students enrolled in an East Tennessee high school. The review of literature concerning attendance revealed absenteeism as a problem that either directly or indirectly affects all educational stakeholders. Data gathered from the student surveys indicated students are absent from school for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, peer pressure, poor relationships with teachers and administrators, a disconnectedness from their schools, not being interested in the curriculum, bullying, and low self-esteem, substance abuse, language barriers, lack of appropriate social skills, and sexual activity or consequences thereof (pregnancy, teen parenting).

This study was conducted to see if a difference exists in the mean Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills: Oral Reading Fluency scores of students who entered kindergarten as 4 year olds, 5 year olds, and 6 year olds inclusively. Specifically, this dissertation considered the possibility that holding children out of kindergarten an extra year increased their reading level, while sending children to school too young delayed their ability to read and comprehend. A quantitative study was used to find differences between the mean reading levels at the end of 3rd grade for students who entered kindergarten on or after the age of 4 but before 5, those who entered between the ages of 5 and 6 and those who entered kindergarten after turning 6 years old. A quasi-experimental design was selected because preexisting data were collected on 1,384 third grade students in an East Tennessee school system. The scores from the Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills assessment (DIBELS) were collected for each of the students in the study. The population included students who were enrolled in 3rd grade beginning with the 2003 school year and ending with students enrolled in the 3rd grade during the 2009 school year. This study found a significant difference in the means of the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) scores for students who entered kindergarten on or after turning 5 years old and those that entered kindergarten on or after their 6th birthday. No differences were found between males and females of any entry age. Students who started kindergarten on or after the age of 5 but before 6 years read more words in 1 minute than students who started kindergarten on or after the age of 6 years. There were no significant differences for the Oral Reading Fluency scores among the students who entered kindergarten on or after their 4th birthday but before their 5th birthday and the other age groups.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to test the Bean and Metzner Model of Nontraditional Student Attrition (1985) in a small, rural community college environment. The influence of selected sets of background, environmental, and academic variables from the model were tested, in addition to, the individual variables contained within each set. The differences between the persister and nonpersister groups were examined by variables.;Data was collected via the Student Entry Questionnaire and the Student Questionnaire. Everyone who came in for placement testing at Paul D. Camp Community College during the fall of 1991 (n = 148) completed the Student Entry Questionnaire. Based upon a discriminant analysis using all eighteen variables, the model did predict with 92% accuracy. Multiple regression was used to investigate the first four subsidiary questions.;The three statistically significant predictor variables of student attrition were commitment to attend Paul D. Camp Community College (PDCCC), opportunity to transfer, and student's educational goals. In the stepwise regression procedure, commitment to attend PDCCC accounted for over 31% of the variance (R{dollar}\sp2{dollar} =.3140). Opportunity to transfer was the next best predictor variable that added over 2% more to the prediction accuracy (R{dollar}\sp2{dollar} =.0273). The third strongest predictor was student's educational goals which added just over 3% to the prediction (R{dollar}\sp2{dollar} =.0307).;The background and defining variable set provided the most powerful prediction value followed by the environmental variable set. None of the academic variables were found to be significant. There was not a significant interactional effect between the academic and environmental variable sets for predicting attrition.;This study reported the differences between the persister and nonpersister groups according to the eighteen variables examined found from using T-tests. This study presented suggestions and strategies for reducing the negative impact of these factors.;Further study is needed to ascertain the difference between student perception in response to the variables and actual behavior. Follow-up studies of a longitudinal design would increase the efficiency of the model.