<p> This study examines the causes, effects, and prevention strategies that influence a student&rsquo;s decision to drop out of high school. Three research questions are explored: </p><p> 1. What causes 21st century high school students to drop out of high school? </p><p> 2. Why are current dropout prevention measures not meeting the needs of today&rsquo;s students? </p><p> 3. What patterns emerge in participant responses to the question, &ldquo;Why did you leave high school prior to graduation?&rdquo; </p><p> The researcher collected data from 92 students attending orientation for the adult high school program at a small, rural community college who left school prior to graduation. Ten students were selected and agreed to a one on one interview with the researcher in order to provide a rich context to support their decision to drop out of high school. Data collected included academic background, school experiences, family characteristics, parental investment, disciplinary actions, and attendance patterns throughout the student&rsquo;s school career. The study identified precipitating causes for students to withdraw from school including perceptions of education by the student and family, teen pregnancy, socio-economic characteristics of the family and community, disciplinary actions taken against the student, and the student&rsquo;s need to find full time employment. A 5 x5 Chi Square analysis was done to find the degree of relationship between the basic characteristics of poverty to the causes for dropping out. The results of the analysis were not significant, indicating that living in poverty does not cause students to drop out of high school. The data from the surveys, interviews, and chi square analysis showed that dropping out of high school is not a spontaneous decision, but a result of years of academic struggle, personal and family issues, and the need to provide for basic needs. It is a long process, mired in struggle. The study also revealed a lack of school-related incentives and effective dropout prevention programs to address the issue.</p><p>

<p> There are very few studies on the views of school administrators and state legislators regarding federal government mandates for schools. Bolman and Deal (2015) believed people align themselves to survive and thrive in the political framework where resources are scarce, and the aspects of power and conflict inform decisions (Douglas &amp; Mehra, 2015; Pourrajab &amp; Ghani, 2016). This study focused on the thought processes of both school administrators who implement federal mandates and state legislators who navigate funding for federal mandates. Leaders of the political parties of Missouri and school administrators were interviewed to gain insight into the motivation and political views which drive decision making at the state and local levels. The findings of this investigation indicated opinions varied widely on the nature of federal government involvement in education, and political party affiliation had some influence on the belief systems of the participants interviewed. This affiliation runs deep in today&rsquo;s politics and may be difficult to overcome. Data from the study clearly indicated public school administrators favored funding for preschool education yet did not support charter school expansion. Findings from the study offer more than a few implications for both administrative and legislative practice. Administrative interview data could be used to inform legislative decisions for public schools. Bipartisan conversations among stakeholders may offer common ground on these topics for the benefit of Missouri students.</p><p>

The purpose of this research study was to examine underlying issues related to poor performance by Haitian students in Boston Public Schools on standardized testing mandated under the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). Performance on these tests determines students’ eligibility to graduate high school and receive their diploma. A descriptive ethnographic approach was used in the study, focusing on students in one high school in the Greater Boston area. This approach is considered appropriate for qualitative research in the context of “cross-cultural comparison,” and it was useful in this case because of the depth of investigation and analysis it allows, especially when studying the culture of a particular ethnic group. In this study, it helped to reveal the attitudes of Haitian youth toward high-stakes testing in the United States. The study was designed to explore Haitian students’ attitudes toward the MCAS testing process and its potential effects on their future academic and career success. In order to investigate and analyze these perspectives, a sample group of 13 students was interviewed over a period of 10 weeks. All of the students were Haitian, and many of them had only been in the US for approximately one year. Most of the students were in the 10th grade, which is the scholastic level at which all students are required to take the MCAS tests under Massachusetts law. Based on the oral interviews collected, it was clear that the majority of the students in the study group believed they had difficulty passing the MCAS tests due to their limited English proficiency and their lack of cultural understanding in the new environment. They clearly expressed their fears that the testing process would negatively affect their academic standing in school, and indeed their career prospects in the long term. Key findings from the study suggest that Haitian youth studying in the US are motivated to realize their academic potential, but that factors such as limited English proficiency, lack of literacy and numeracy in their native language, and cultural discontinuity may prevent them from passing mandated standardized tests and achieving their academic goals.

This dissertation critically analyzes Jamaica’s educational policy responses to the alleged needs and promises of the current globalization era. The research focuses on policies being developed and implemented in the areas of educational governance, management, and financing. I argue that the emerging policy approaches, though intended to achieve liberatory goals, are generally having the unintended consequence of perpetuating disempowerment of low income Jamaicans. I use qualitative content analysis of policy documents as the primary analytic method. I employ postcolonial theory to historicize and contextualize Jamaica’s turbulent educational policy experience. I also draw on Foucauldian discourse theory in order to frame policy as discourse, which I define as an institutionalized way of thinking that governs and is reflected in both state policy rhetoric and practice. Here, I explicitly identify Jamaica’s emergent policy discourses as decentralized governance and education as investment and explore the internationalized norms and national economic constraints within which they develop. I analyze the ways in which neoliberal ideology partly drives these discourses and note their inconsistencies with much of the post-war/post-independence social welfare approaches that Jamaica used to address social asymmetries of colonialism. The contradictions are brought out by examining the changing relationship between the citizen and the state that the new policy approaches engender. In this regard, I interrogate the institutionalized practices and the newly proposed roles of educational stakeholders—the nation-state, the citizens, and institution—that the emerging discourses prescribe. The results show that the discourse of decentralized governance primarily fractures accountability, and education as investment increasingly predicates educational opportunity on capacity to pay. However, the intensity of these effects varies based on educational level, becoming more pronounced at the later stages. Key words: Jamaica, educational policy, policy discourse, post-colonialism, educational governance, educational management, educational financing, developing country.

<p> Beginning teacher attrition is a problem that exacerbates the inequity of opportunities for all students, especially for those in schools that are already challenged by poverty. This study makes use of the <i>Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Survey</i> (covering the period between 2008 and 2012) and U.S. Census data to identify which teachers leave and to explain why. Beyond that, it also offers a look into the characteristics of those teachers who stay at the same school for five years. The empirical investigation is embedded in a conceptual framework that draws from motivation and identity theories and brings in insights about the importance of geography and of neighborhood effects from works on poverty and education.</p><p> The study utilizes a dataset with survey responses from approximately 1,800 full-time teachers from a sample designed to represent the overall population of beginning teachers in the United States. By combining individual-level longitudinal data with information about communities, it makes an important contribution to the study of new teacher placement, attrition, and retention. The evidence is presented using a variety of descriptive and inferential statistics, and the analysis includes factor analysis and logistic regression models. </p><p> The results show that indicators of leaving the profession before the fifth year become apparent early on, as factors measured at the end of year one have significant effects on early career outcomes. Most prominently, higher degrees of burnout reported by teachers, which includes factors such as decreased enthusiasm and increased fatigue, are associated with increased risks for leaving the profession without the prospect to return to it and with transferring to a different school district. Several other factors on the individual and school-level emerge as relevant to career outcomes. Teachers who have Highly Qualified Teacher credentials and report a supportive school climate are at less risk to leave the profession. On the other hand, teachers with alternative certification and master&rsquo;s degrees are more likely to move to a different school or districts in the first five years.</p><p> In terms of socio-geographic factors that help explain teacher retention and attrition, the only significant variable in the regression models used in the analysis is the percentage of White residents at the Census tract of the Year 1 school. When everything else is held constant, decreasing this percentage from 100 to 0 increases the predicted probability of leaving the profession by approximately 20%. Considering that a vast majority of beginning teachers both in the sample and in the overall population are White, this findings fits in with theories about &ldquo;the pull of home&rdquo; and cultural habitus. The magnitude and significance of this finding suggest that it warrants further exploration, as racial composition of the communities is likely a measurement proxy for complex processes of inequality.</p>

<p> Human capital, financial support, and other resources are often provided to schools by private organizations such as corporations, community organizations, universities, and governments. There is a wealth of research on the benefits of public school-external partnerships (Barnett, Hall, Berg, &amp; Macarena, 2010; Gardner, 2011; Norman, 2009, Semke &amp; Sheridan, 2012), however, there is little information on the sustainability of public school&rsquo;s external partnerships. Beabout (2010) argued that external relationships can be difficult for school leaders to establish and maintain. Since partnerships are essential to offset school shortage and provide opportunities for students, it is crucial to expand our understanding of how schools maintain their external partnerships. </p><p> This qualitative study involving interviews of 23 partnership organizers examined how schools maintained their long-term partnerships. This study explored institutional theory as a theoretical framework to examine how schools and organizations function as institutions. Powell and DiMaggio (1991) and Selznick (1957) stated that as an organization is &ldquo;institutionalized&rdquo; it tends to take on a special character and to achieve a distinctive competence, in other words, a trained or built-in incapacity. The study drew on Bolman and Deal&rsquo;s (2003) four frames for how people view the world: structural, human resource, political, and symbolic.</p><p> Partnership organizers described effective communication as an important factor in maintaining partnerships. Key factors in effective communication were establishing points of contact for both the school and the partner, understanding each other&rsquo;s roles, and having clear expectations. Partnership organizers shared that collaboration that moves the partnerships forward were key. That kind of collaboration involved understanding and respecting the school culture and procedures as well as building buy-in for the school and the organization stakeholders and it offered real world experiences to students. Participants cited a commitment to working through barriers with a focus on commitment, flexibility, and dedication as key factor.</p><p> Based on the partnership organizers experiences, this study offers a deeper understanding of the factors that contribute to maintaining public school-external partnerships, with implications for existing and future school partnerships. This study also offers implications for policy on school partnerships.</p>

<p> Despite rapid expansion of charter schools since the first enabling legislation was passed in 1991 there remains little understanding of the relationship between charter school law components and their relation to the percent charter school enrollment. This study focuses on the twenty charter school law components identified by the National Alliance of Public Carter Schools as being necessary for a strong charter school law and their correlation to charter school enrollment. Results suggest that, of the twenty components, Multiple Authorizers and Equitable Access to Capital Funding are most strongly correlated with an increase in the percentage of charter school enrollment. An additional five components, Equitable Operational Funding, Access to Retirement Systems, Adequate Authorizer Funding, Automatic Exemptions from State and District Rules and Regulations and Multi-school Charter Contracts Allowed, had a moderate correlation to the percentage of charter school enrollment. Additionally, one component, Authorizer and Program Accountability, shows a negative correlation to the percent of charter school enrollment. These findings suggest that if policymakers desire to increase the percentage of charter school enrollment they should carefully consider inclusion of these components in state law.</p>

<p> Required experiential learning within the context of higher education is on the rise. This dissertation endeavors to expand current understandings of resistance to required experiential learning including root causes, implications, and opportunities to address and alleviate resistance. The debate regarding the merits of required service, service-learning, study abroad, and other experiential learning opportunities is examined. In addition, access to such opportunities, causes and effects of resistance that develops for some participants, and ways of addressing this phenomenon are identified. To this end, an exploration of existing literature related to required experiential learning and reluctant participation is offered. In addition to a case study of Susquehanna University&rsquo;s Global Opportunities program, data for this study was gathered through research methods including focus groups and semi-structured, open-ended interview. Findings reveal a variety of causes of resistance, why resistance manifests for some students prior to required study away, and strategies that practitioners in the field of experiential education employ to address such resistance.</p>

<p> This analysis considers whether or not second-career/career-changer teachers are possibly more effective than traditional, first career teachers in teaching tasks and building relationships with students in low socioeconomic status (SES) schools. Analysis of the differences between those entering the education profession as traditional college students and those who are <i>career- changers</i> provides insight into an alternative type of diversity the latter may bring to the classroom and how that diversity might positively impact students who are not only trying to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for academic and career success, but also a sense of identity and purpose, as we continually transition to a more global society. Challenges unique to second-career teachers are addressed, as well as ways administrators and teacher educators might support these teachers during the early stages of their new vocation. Indications for additional research that could further explore this unique facet of the teaching profession are discussed. </p><p>

<p> To comply with The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations, parents of high school students taking college classes as part of a dual enrollment program have to employ alternative monitoring practices to remain informed about their students&rsquo; academic progress. This quantitative research study explored how parents&rsquo; perceptions of access to student academic progress information correlated with their students&rsquo; academic performance based on cumulative grade point average (GPA) in college classes. Credit-based transition programs (CBTP) and parent monitoring theory provided the framework. All 867 parents of students under age 18 enrolled in the dual enrollment program at an urban community college in a western state during the winter quarter 2015 were asked to respond a 10 question survey instrument, modified from Stattin and Kerr (2000) and six demographic indicators. The results of 59 returned questionnaires were linked to GPAs of students using descriptive and correlational statistics. A small response (6.8%) limited the ability to correlate parental perceptions and dual enrollment success in college courses. No significance was demonstrated; however, when cumulative GPAs and parent responses on the survey instrument were correlated using split-cases with demographic indictors, six significant correlations appeared. These indicated that parents do appear to play some significant role in supporting their dual enrollment student&rsquo;s success in college courses. As a result, colleges may want to find mechanisms for parents of dual enrollment students to stay engaged without compromising the FERPA regulations.</p>