The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the standards-based accountability (SBA) provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on the retention of teachers of color. I am interested in this impact, given the growing body of evidence suggesting a more diverse teacher workforce would benefit all students, particularly students of color (Villegas & Irvine, 2010); however, the teacher workforce is becoming increasingly homogenous and white, in part, due to the declining retention of teachers of color. Overall, I hypothesize that the widespread introduction of SBA as prescribed by NCLB has changed teachers’ instructional practices, thereby changing teachers’ experiences of their job and ultimately their employment decisions. Further, I posit that those changes in teachers’ experience, particularly reductions in perceptions of classroom autonomy, disproportionately impacts the employment decisions of teachers of color (Ingersoll & May, 2011). In this study, I answer three research questions: (1) How have trends in teacher retention changed over time and, how does that vary by teacher race/ethnicity? (2) What teacher-, school-, and organizational-factors influence teacher retention, and how do those vary by teacher race/ethnicity? (3) How has the widespread introduction of SBA through NCLB influenced teacher retention, and how does that vary by teacher race/ethnicity? I use the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and its accompanying Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS) to answer my three research questions. Overall, I confirm an increasing decline in the retention of black and Hispanic teachers and decreasing perceptions of classroom autonomy, which coincides with the widespread introduction of SBA through the signing of NCLB in 2002. However, that decline in retention is only significant for black teachers and not for Hispanic teachers by 2007-08. Additionally, using a linear probability model, I found that the relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention varies by teacher race/ethnicity, and that there is a significant relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention for black teachers in 2007. However, I did not find that relationship for Hispanic teachers or white teachers. Ultimately, using a difference-in-difference (DD) model, I only found a significant decline in retention for Hispanic teachers as result of the SBA provisions of NCLB; however, it is unclear how the SBA provisions of NCLB is driving that decline, since I did not find a meaningful relationship between perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention for Hispanic teachers. In that DD model, I did not find a similar decline for black teachers. On the contrary, I found that black teachers in 2007 in states that had previously adopted SBA provisions similar to those in NCLB (Prior states) experienced a significant decline retention and perceptions of classroom autonomy, despite previous exposures to those SBA provisions. These counterintuitive results lead me to reinterpret my results applying institutional theory. Using institutional theory, I concluded that Prior states were able to implement the SBA provisions of NCLB with greater fidelity and, therefore, the impact of NCLB on perceptions of classroom autonomy and retention was greatest for black teachers in those states. Based on these results, I offer future research and policy recommendations to improve the diversity of the teacher workforce.

High-achieving African American students are not immune to the issues that underlie racial inequalities in school achievement. There is much to learn from these students in terms of how they navigate schools and achieve according to conventional standards. Further, serious questions remain about the social and racial costs to being constructed as high-achieving against broader narratives of African American students as deficient. This qualitative inquiry uses participant interviews and document analysis to explore the Discourses on achievement and leadership produced by minority recruitment programs and the students who participate in them. Specifically, the research uses critical discourse tools to look at the narratives produced both by African American students and by (and through) program documents. It seeks to understanding where these narratives converge and where there might be tension. This research is conducted by incorporating a socio-cultural literacy and critical race theory framework. This dissertation study is at the intersection of equity and access; it problematizes progressive arguments against a segregated curriculum for high-achieving students by invoking a social justice argument in favor of leveling the playing field for traditionally marginalized students, specifically African Americans. Much of the existing literature on high achievement and African Americans takes place in traditional classrooms. Glaringly absent from the literature on achievement are the ways in which some high-performing students of color are positioned to succeed in competitive, non-school environments. Specifically, I look at minority recruitment programs because these programs teach a particular type of literacy. The study explores the degree to which students’ home literacies are being honored. Findings indicate that students’ perspectives on achievement were much more critical than those of the programs with students overtly challenging meritocracy. Students were less critical of leadership, and both programs and students offered views that privileged particular literacies of leadership. The researcher offers recommendations for MRPs that calls for programs to involve students in more critical inquiries through the use of a Critical Race English education lens.

This dissertation is a longitudinal critical ethnographic research study that explores the experiences of four Black and Brown high school girls’ who participated in a hip-hop based science program (Science Genius program). The study employed three distinct yet aligned theoretical frameworks: - sociocultural theory, Pygmalion effect, and Black feminist theory. Given that an ethnographic study looks at the cultural patterns of a group over a period of time, this investigation spanned 2.5 years and involved explorations of the participants’ experiences with science. In addition, there are elements of autoethnography woven throughout the dissertation as my personal experiences as a Black woman in science informs both my research lens and my relationship to the research subjects (Camangian, 2010). By utilizing a qualitative methodological approach, the study gave voice to students who were racially and traditionally marginalized in science education and professions (Ceci & Williams, 2007; Emdin, 2016; Hanson, 2008; Hill, Corbett, & St. Rose, 2010; Mensah, 2012) and provided an opportunity for them to give personal accounts of their experiences in science education. The primary focus of the research involved a critical analysis of the responses of Black and Brown girls to a culturally relevant science curriculum that was based on the foundations of hip-hop pedagogy (Adjapong & Emdin, 2015; Emdin, 2010a, 2010b, 2016; Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995). The findings of this study showed how the girls used the hip-hop based science program as a platform to demonstrate girl empowerment against commonplace Black and Brown girl race/gender biases in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and how they built up their confidence to exhibit their scientific knowledge while defining their scientific identities.

Efforts to increase time and opportunity to learn science in urban, underserved elementary schools have focused on improving teachers’ science instruction through school-based professional development. This dissertation examined how the social justice science teacher identities of two co-teachers of color developed and shaped while participating in a yearlong, school-based professional development in science. It also examined how two teachers of color and one White teacher activated the human and nonhuman resources provided by the science professional development to transform or maintain their science teaching practices and understandings. The theoretical frameworks included situated perspective of learning, social justice science teacher identity, social structures as schemas and resources, and the relationship between structure, agency, and science teacher identity. Data collection methods included interviews, teacher questionnaires, researcher field notes, and teacher-created documents, such as science slides and student handouts. Data analysis methods are drawn from grounded theory and multiple case study. The findings suggest that teachers’ experiences, orientations, views, existing identities as teachers and in relation to science, as well as their philosophies of students and learning all influenced how they participated in the science professional development, the meanings they constructed through participation, and the ways their teaching practices changed. Teachers at different phases in their careers also wanted and needed different kinds of PD supports. The findings suggest that science teacher educators who are developing science professional development models and workshops should be cognizant of all of these influencing factors on teacher learning and provide differentiated PD activities to support the various learning needs, identities, and personal and professional goals of elementary teachers.

La situation sociolinguistique du Chili, historiquement marquée par un processus de glottophagie (Calvet, 1974, 1997, 1999), place actuellement le mapudungun parmi les langues originaires minorisées de cet Etat-Nation officiellement monolingue (espagnol). Le statut de cette langue mapuche et l’abandon progressif de sa transmission intergénérationnelle posent la question de sa «revitalisation» (Hinton & Hale, 2001 ; Costa, 2010) au sein de mouvements militants. Cette thèse de doctorat se fonde sur une recherche ethnographique et collaborative au long cours dans un contexte d’enseignement/apprentissage du mapudungun en direction d’un public urbain de jeunes adultes de Santiago du Chili. Analyser les pratiques pédagogiques contemporaines au sein d’un mouvement militant mapuche et en dégager des pistes pour la didactique des langues minoritaires ont constitué les objectifs prioritaires de cette recherche. Il ressort que l’enseignement du mapudungun, comme celui d’autres langues minoritaires, concerne autant la praxis d’une didactique contextualisée que la prise en compte, dans cette même perspective, d’une tension entre tradition vs modernité qu’il s’agit d’intégrer pleinement à la réflexion didactique pour que le parler des «gens de la terre» ait quelque chance de devenir aussi celui des «gens du bitume». / The sociolinguistic situation of Chile, which has been historically marked by a process of glottophagia (Calvet, 1974, 1997, 1999), now regards mapudungun as one of the native minority languages of this officially monolingual Nation­state (Spanish). The status of the mapuche language and the progressive loss of its intergenerational transmission have raised the question of “revitalization” (Hinton & Hale, 2001; Costa, 2010) among militant movements. This Ph.D study conducts a long­term ethnographical collaborative research on mapudungun learning/teaching contexts for an audience of young urban adults from the city of Santiago de Chile. To analyse contemporary educational practices within a militant mapuche movement and to establish new avenues of research for the didactics of minority languages were the priority objectives of this research.It appears that the teaching of mapudungun, as well as that of the other minority languages, concerns both the praxis of contextualized didactics, and the consideration, in the same prospect, of a tension between tradition and modernity, a question that should be fully integrated in the didactic reflection, so that the language of “the people of the earth” might also become that of “the people of the asphalt”.

Muslim groups in Karlstad are rarely visible online. There is also no previous research about them. Through an interview-based mapping study, I want to research what activities take place in Muslim mosques in Karlstad. The aim of the study is to document and analyze Muslim activities. This study is included in a research project at Karlstad University: Karlstad’s mosque - negotiations on Islam in Värmland. It aims to illuminate Islam’s development in Värmland from various aspects. Religious change and religion collision are theoretical starting points for the study. The results of this study show that three congregations are active in Karlstad: Islamiska Kulturföreningen [sunni], Bosniska Islamiska Kulturföreningen [sunni] and Mahdi Al Montazar [shia]. They established their congregations since 1990s. They are dependent on their main organizations and do not cooperate with other Muslim associations. Members of the congregation are very important for the organization’s existence. The result indicates that the religious activities of groups are not affected by data-based communication. Different branches work for their own community and have different views about Islam. In a Christian society, these Muslim congregations try to adapt to the rules of majority society in different ways. They find new ways to practise their religion. Minority groups want to preserve their own cultural and religious traditions through the mosque building or association board. It will be a way to be included and recognized by the majority.

Thesis. 1979. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 334-339. / by Douglas Johnson. / Ph.D.

This case study seeks to explore three research questions: (1) What science teaching and learning processes, perspectives, and cultures exist within the science classroom of an urban portfolio community high school? (2) In what ways does the portfolio-based approach prepare high school students of color for college level science coursework, laboratory work, and assessment? (3) Are portfolio community high school students of color college ready? Is there a relationship between students’ science and mathematics performance and college readiness? The overarching objectives of the study are to learn, understand, and describe an urban portfolio community high school as it relates to science assessment and college readiness; to understand how the administration, teachers, and alumni perceive the use of portfolios in science learning and assessment; and to understand how alumni view their preparation and readiness for college and college science coursework, laboratory work, and assessments. The theoretical framework of this study encompasses four theories: critical theory, contextual assessment, self-regulated learning, and ethic of care. Because the urban high school studied partnered with a community-based organization (CBO), it identifies as a community school. Therefore, I provide context regarding the concept, culture, and services of community schools. Case study is the research design I used to explore in-depth this urban portfolio community high school, which involved mixed methods for data collection and analysis. In total, six alumni/current college students, five school members (administrators and teachers), and three CBO members (administrators, including myself) participated in the study. In addition to school artefacts and student portfolios collected, classroom and portfolio panel presentation observations and 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand the portfolio-based approach as it pertains to science learning and assessment and college science readiness. Data from the transcripts of two graduating classes were analyzed and the interview transcripts were coded and analyzed as well. Analysis of qualitative data revealed key findings: (1) the school’s Habits of Mind, authentic scientific inquiry, self-regulated learning triggers and strategies, and teacher feedback practices driven by an ethic of care supported students’ science learning and portfolio assessment; and (2) the cyclical and extensive portfolio processes of writing, revision, and submission well prepared alumni for college science laboratory work and coursework, to a certain extent, but not for the traditional assessments administered in college science courses. Analysis of quantitative data revealed that, if based solely on the City University of New York’s Regents score criteria for college readiness, the majority of students from these two graduating classes studied would not have been considered college ready even though all participants, including interviewed alumni, believed the school prepared them for college. The majority of these students, however, were transitioning to college readiness based on their Regents-level science and mathematics coursework. Findings of this study have implications for science assessment, professional development in science, education policy reform, and high school partnerships with CBOs and postsecondary institutions as they pertain to college and college science readiness for students of color in urban portfolio community high schools.

Bakgrund: En neutral och direkt kommunikation är en av de mest avgörande faktorerna för en persons upplevelse av bemötande i samhället. Samhället idag bygger på en heteronorm vilket bidrar till ett exkluderande av personer som inte ingår i denna norm, exempelvis HBTQ-personer. Forskning har visat på att detta fenomen även förekommer inom sjukvården. Syftet:  Analysera homosexuella, bisexuella, trans- och queerpersoners (HBTQ-personers) upplevelser av bemötande från vårdpersonal inom vården samt att analysera om en sexuell minoritetsgrupp som HBTQ påverkas av stigma och diskriminering inom vården. Metod: Sammanställning av kvantitativ- och kvalitativ forskning för att sammanfatta kunskapsläget såsom det ser ut idag. Huvudresultaten: Ett heterosexuellt antagande hade en inverkan på vården och patienternas upplevelser av bemötande på olika sätt. Vidare påverkades HBTQ-personer som en utsatt minoritetsgrupp av direkt och indirekt stigma och diskriminering i varierande utsträckning. Slutsats: Genom en neutral framtoning från vårdgivare kan en stabil patient-vårdgivare relation växa fram. Detta möjliggör en större öppenhet och acceptans inom vården. Slutsatsen visar även att ett holistiskt helhetstänk där varje människa ses med unika behov och egenskaper möjliggör en trygg vård för HBTQ-personer. Som sjuksköterska är det i kliniken viktigt att visa på ovanstående kunskap och förståelse för olika sexuella läggningar och könsvariationer. / Background: A neutral and direct communication is one of the key factors of a person´s experience of attitudes within the society. Society today is based on a heteronorm which contributes to an exclusion of people whom are not a part of this norm, such as LGBTQ-people. Previous research has shown that this phenomenon also exists within the health care. The aim: To analyze LGBTQ-people’s experiences of attitude from caregivers within the health care and analyze if Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer (LGBTQ-people), as a minority group, were affected by stigmatization and discrimination within the health care. Method: for the review was to through quantitative and qualitative data summarize the knowledge of today. Results: The study showed that a heterosexual assumption had an impact of the health care and  LGBTQ-people’s experiences of attitudes from caregivers in different ways. Furthermore the LGBTQ-people were more or less affected by direct- or indirect stigmatization and discrimination. Conclusion:A neutral appearance from caregivers could create a stable patient-caregiver relation. This will enable a greater openness and acceptance within the health care. A holistic attitude, where every human being is seen with unique needs and characteristics, will lead to safer care for LGBTQ-people. As a nurse it is important to show knowledge and understandings of different sexual orientations and gender variations to make the health care a safe place for everyone.

With the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the share of minorities in the total population increased and minority issues in Slovakia became highlighted. Integration and acceptance of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, as a democratic country, is one of Slovakia's key priorities. Opinions on the so called "Hungarian question" change throughout the political spectrum. The composition of the government has therefore an effect on minority policies in Slovakia. The objective of this work lies mainly in the analysis of the status of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia after 1989. The primary goal is to examine how the position of the Hungarian minority changed, depending on the government. The thesis consists of two main parts. The first part will present theoretical knowledge on the issue of minority protection. The core of the other descriptive-analytical part is to examine an attitude of each government to the Hungarian minority. The status of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia will be presented at a cultural and civic-political level.