O percurso teórico desta tese se inicia por uma reflexão de teor psicanalítico sobre a Didática Magna de Comênio, reflexão por meio da qual se pretende dar a ver as muitas \"ressonâncias\" que há entre o comeniano \"ensino de tudo a todos\" (ensino esse que, a despeito das aparências, não chega de fato a ser \"totalizante\", \"completo\", ou \"acabado\") e o \"ensino não-todo\", tal como é pensado no âmbito da Psicanálise e Educação. E ora, um ensino não-todo é precisamente o que contempla as hiâncias estruturais ao conhecimento (uma vez que este é, necessariamente, inacabável, inconcluso, não-findo etc.). Nesses termos, na medida em que um professor veicula um ensino \"inacabável e inacabado\" ou um ensino que coloca em ato o não-saber o aluno pode então encontrar espaço para se interrogar e, logo, para se implicar subjetivamente com o que lhe é ensinado (e de tal forma que se constitua para ele - muito embora em negativo ou latentemente - um saber singular a partir da transmissão de conhecimentos socialmente validados). Em outras palavras: no avesso do imprescindível ensino escolar de conhecimentos, de conteúdos, de enunciados relativos ao que é já-sabido, é crucial que tanto o professor quanto o aluno sejam invocados - a partir de diferentes posições discursivas - ao nível mesmo do desejo inconsciente que os habita, isto é, que sejam invocados em sua estrutural falta-em-saber, em suas enunciações, em sua irrepetibilidade, e sem o que a reprodução de conhecimentos manifestos - seja por parte de quem ensina ou de quem aprende - não passaria senão de massificação, de mera universalização uniformizante. Eis, assim, que um ensino não-todo demandará que o professor não se posicione como um replicador de conhecimentos públicos, já que deve ele colocar em tal ensino algo de singular, algo de seu, de sua irrepetível enunciação. Ou como diz Comênio: a erudição e os instrumentos já preparados não dispensam a viva voz do professor. E é, precisamente, essa viva voz que, em princípio, pode dar vida aos conhecimentos livrescos (os livros são nossos mestres mudos, disse Comênio), e de modo que se suscite o desejo do aluno de vir a despertar para uma nova vida tais conhecimentos públicos. Eis que nisso é que se encontra cifrada a transmissão. / The theoretical trajectory of this thesis begins with a discussion of psychoanalytic sense about Comenius´s Magna Didactics. Through this reflection we aim to demonstrate many \"resonances\" that exist between the comenian \"teach everything to everyone\" (teaching that despite appearances is not in fact \"totalizing\", \"complete\" or \"finished\") and the \"not-all teaching\", as it is thought within Psychoanalysis and Education. And so, a not-all teaching is precisely the one that contemplates the structural gaps of knowledge (since it is necessarily endless, inconclusive, non-ending, etc.). In these terms, it is as a teacher conveys an \"endless and unfinished\" teaching or a teaching that puts in act the not-knowing that the student may find chance to bring something into question and thus, imply him or herself subjectively in what is taught (and so that it constitutes to oneself - even though in \"negative\" or latently - a singular knowledge from a transmission socially validated). In other words, on the reverse of an indispensable teaching of school knowledge, the content, the statements related to what is \"already-known\", it is crucial that both teacher and student are invoked - from different discursive positions to the level of unconscious desire that dwells in them, that is to say, that they are invoked in their own structural lack of knowledge, in their utterances, in their uniqueness, and without which the reproduction of evident knowledge no matter if it is related to the one who teaches or learns would be just a massification, a mere uniforming universalization. Then, a not-all teaching will require that the teacher does not put him or herself just as a replicator of public knowledge, since he must deposit in such teaching something unique, something of his, something from its unrepeatable enunciation. Or as in Comenius: erudition and tools already prepared do not exempt the living voice of a teacher. And it is precisely this alive voice that in principle may bring life to bookish knowledge (books are our dumb masters, said Comenius), and so that can raise a students desire to awake such public knowledge to a new life. Thus, that is how transmission is cyphered.

The history of public education in the United States is replete with attempts to define the purpose, aims, or mission of K-12 public education at the local, state, and national levels. However, given the historical precedent of the local control of schools and the legal precedent of state-level governance of public education, this study sought to address the more limited question of the purpose of K-12 public education in the state of Virginia. Specifically, within the context of the contemporary educational planning theory of strategic planning, this study sought to determine what content characteristics concerning the mission of public education were shared among the school divisions in the state of Virginia. Through content analysis of division-level mission statements, the study identified not only the content but also the degrees at which such content was shared among division-level mission statements. The study further addressed the similarities and differences between the mission statements of school divisions and that of the state itself, a statement written by Thomas Jefferson some two hundred years ago. The findings illuminate the relative presence and absence of de facto consensus concerning the mission of K-12 public education in Virginia.

Despite long-standing debates about the nature of professions and professionalism related to teaching, little consensus has been reached due in large part to an ever-changing political climate and a number of competing ideologies and interests (Bair, 2014; Hargreaves & Goodson, 1996). This lack of consensus fosters variable expectations of teachers, creating opportunities for the generation and implementation of initiatives that ultimately control and undermine teachers’ work (Ingersoll, 2003). While the quality of our nation’s education system depends on teachers' capacity to have professional input regarding their work, concepts of teacher agency and professionalism remain ill-defined, and few studies explore teachers’ experiences in spaces where they are asked for such input. This constructivist study examined teacher agency and professionalism, given the ideal of democracy and the reality of neoliberalism. Utilizing agency theory and participatory democratic theory, this study sought to explore teachers’ perceptions of their professionalism and agency by co-constructing knowledge with 18 members of the Richmond Mayoral Teacher Advisory Council (MTAC). This study took place over seven months and included seven focus group interview sessions, two MTAC meeting debrief sessions, and multiple writing prompts focused on teachers’ narratives of their professional experiences. The study revealed several themes related to teachers’ professionalism, particularly teachers’ focus on student-centered, morally-grounded views of their work. This study’s iterative inquiry process culminated in the development of a Moral Professional Agency framework that may serve useful in future constructivist work with teachers regarding their professional work.

Conventional wisdom suggests effective and timely school communications increase parental involvement. Guided by this wisdom and contemporary parental involvement theory, effective educational institutions have established systems that foster communication and collaboration between school representatives and the local community. Despite such efforts, research has revealed persistent declines in parental involvement within schools. This phenomenological study documented 16 parents' perceptions of communication between teachers and parents at 2 K-8 schools in the American southwest. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore parents' perceptions of the effectiveness of various school-based communication systems and the specific impact these systems had on parental involvement. NVivo software was used to facilitate identification of common themes. Emergent themes addressed (a) communications that elicit parent involvement, (b) effective communications, (c) regular and timely communications, (d) preferred communication mode, and (e) parent communication center. Findings revealed that both schools lacked effective communication tools, inhibiting the ability to reach students' families and negatively impacting participation. Proposed for future consideration was development of a strong foundation for parents' participation in their child's education and enhancement of unrestricted, bidirectional communications. The anticipated social impact of this study is that effective practices could be brought to the forefront, leading to ideas to increase timely communication between home and school and parental involvement.

Philosophy of education not only forms the background for curriculum construction and pedagogy but there is a connection between epistemology and education within the economic power structure of society in the United States (Aronowitz & Giroux, 1993/1991, p. 88). Public education in the United States often functions as a propaganda delivery system which conserves the economic power structure by use of a conservative and objectivist philosophy of education which instrumentalizes education into vocational preparation, compliance to a governing ideology and uncritical acceptance of knowledge as absolute truth (Aronowitz & Giroux, p. 22). This project aims to construct a philosophy of education which could transform the education system into a counter-propaganda institution with the potential to transform the power structure of society. A critical postmodern philosophy of education which synthesized critical and postmodern philosophies of education would emphasize epistemological skepticism, counter-propaganda knowledge construction and social transformation (Aronowitz & Giroux, p.22). In addition, the project contains a literature review of critical theory, postmodern theory and critical postmodern theory on education as well as theory on a critical postmodern philosophy of history education, philosophy of correctional education and ideas for the implementation of the philosophy of education into specific pedagogical and curricular practices. Attached to this manuscript is a PowerPoint presentation focused on stimulating discussion of this philosophy of education.

Recent charter school enrollment trends suggest that a growing number of parents have opted to transfer their children from neighborhood public schools into charter schools, despite data indicating public school achievement equal to or above charter schools. This trend encourages school leaders to examine parent choice. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gather perspectives from parents in the study community who chose to enroll their children in charter schools instead of public schools and identify reasons parents chose charter schools. The humanistic theories of Maslow and Rogers, which emphasized the importance of choice, creativity, values, and self-realization as considerations for parent choice, formed the conceptual framework. Qualitative data were collected through an electronic questionnaire from 84 parents who have chosen 1 of 2 charter schools, designed to gather demographic information as well as perceptions about the processes and determinant factors involved in making school enrollment choices. Individual semi-structured interviews using a purposeful sample were conducted with 7 parents to determine their perceptions about choosing charter schools instead of traditional public schools. Data analysis included open coding and identification of emergent themes. The findings suggested criteria that parents considered in addition to standardized accountability measures as part of the school choice process. The resulting project included a professional development seminar for public educators in the local community to understand the public school choice marketplace, a marketing plan for their school, and follow-up implementation coaching. This study may contribute to social change through educators' increased understanding of competition in public education and the development of best practices to improve public schools and student enrollments.

During the past few decades, holistic education has increasingly emerged in academia. However, limited research has been conducted on how holistic education impacts instructional practices in real life situations like the well-being of cancer patients. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how a holistic education program impacts instructional practices designed to improve the well-being of cancer patients. The conceptual framework was based on transformative learning theory and learner-centered teaching. This single case study was conducted at a non-profit cancer center in the Western United States which emphasizes multiple dimensions of well-being for cancer patients, including holistic education. Participants included four instructors at the center. Data were collected from individual interviews with these instructors, reflective journals that they maintained, and documents and archival records related to the center and its education programs. Data analysis involved line-by-line coding and categorization to identify patterns and themes. Results revealed that holistic education improves the knowledge, comfort, self-efficacy, and empowerment of cancer patients. Results indicated that it would be useful to conduct more studies to explore the impact of holistic instructional practices on patients with cancer. This study contributes to social change by providing instructors and health professionals with a deeper understanding of holistic instruction and how it can be used to improve whole-person healing.

Physical education (PE) is recognized by public health officials as a medium capable of addressing various health-related behaviors, and middle school students perceptions and attitudes toward a cooperative PE curriculum have yet to be identified. This study sought to determine the perceptions and attitudes 10 middle school students have toward cooperative activities in PE class with the notion that the results would benefit both teachers and researchers. Two theories were used to guide this study: Bandura's social cognitive theory, and Harter's competence motivation theory. The research questions focused on identifying the attitudes and perceptions middle school students have toward cooperative activities in PE class and utilized a qualitative study with a case study approach. Focus groups, observations, and teacher interviews were data sources analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Triangulation of the data stemming from the three data sources supported the emergent theories that middle school students feel good participating in cooperative activities when they are done in small groups, there are chances to help others, and the activities provide an opportunity for all students to equally participate both physically and verbally. It is recommended that PE teachers, curriculum writers, and trainers of PE teachers consider cooperative activities when deciding how PE classes can be structured for middle school students. Implications for positive social change included empowering students to have more autonomy with their PE curriculum, which can lead to increased participation. Training PE teachers to effectively facilitate cooperative activities could provide students the opportunity to learn and build motor skill while learning experientially and benefiting mentally and physically.

Despite research that indicates that internationally adopted children are at greater risk for poor developmental outcomes than their non-adopted peers (Bimmel, Juffer, IJzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2003; Juffer, & van IJzendoorn, 2005), girls adopted from China into Western culture tend to thrive, exhibiting high self-esteem, low behavior problems (i.e., both externalizing and internalizing), and excelling academically (Rojewski, Shapiro, & Shapiro, 2000; Tan & Jordan-Arthur, 2012). However, few studies have examined whether this trend continues into adolescence, as well as to what factors lead to these positive outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate predictors of mental health outcomes among internationally adopted adolescent Chinese girls, particularly factors that predicted levels of internalizing pathology (e.g., depression and anxiety) in adolescence. To fulfill this purpose, a secondary data analysis (N = 167) of information collected as part of a longitudinal study of U.S. international adoptions of Chinese children (2005-present) was completed using a hierarchical regression approach. Overall, these variables (e.g., age at adoption, pre-adoption adversity, family stress, parenting style, adolescent self-esteem, and academic competence) predicted 35% of the variance in internalizing behavior outcomes. The positive adjustment that has been seen in childhood continued to adolescence in this study, with 88% of the adolescent girls reporting Total Internalizing T-scores of less than 60 (i.e., in the normal range) on the Youth Self-Report form on the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001b). Authoritative parenting style and self-esteem showed the strongest relations to internalizing behaviors. Implications of the study for practice and discussion of future research based on these findings are explored.

This Cultural Studies dissertation comes from extended research on three East Tennessee school districts as they attempted to integrate after the Supreme Court mandated an end to segregation in the United States. The study focuses on the experiences of former students of Austin High School, the segregated black school on the eastern edge of Knoxville, Tennessee. From looking at their schooling experiences in the context of the area's failed attempts to integrate, I address the myriad ways these participants and white citizens took up the term community to advance or block integration efforts. Community, I argue from this research, is a socially constructed discourse situated in a specific context of power that can simultaneously empower and oppress targeted groups in its creation. This study that centers on the stories of alumni of Austin High shows the negotiation of local power as defined through the efforts to maintain geographically separate spaces for each race in their schools and neighborhoods. In my research, I developed a methodology called historical ethnography to address these questions. By employing a historical ethnographic approach, I attempted to show that the history of education must take into account that schooling is not an experience lived and remembered, but one that is continually relived in every act of remembering. Therefore, it is not a standard historical account of a segregated school. It is an interdisciplinary exploration of how power can be recreated in schools through claims to community and how my participants engaged that power still in recounting their own school experiences.