Den tredje december 2013 gick Skolverket ut med ett pressmeddelande ”Kraftig försämring i Pisa”, med anledning av att svenska 15-åringar presterade dåligt i det internationella kunskapstestet Pisa 2012. I samma veva började medierna rapportera om att det var fråga om en ”skolkris”, och många samhällsaktörer började diskutera problemet, dess orsaker, konsekvenser och lösningar. Mot denna bakgrund så tar denna undersökning sin utgångspunkt. Den handlar om hur ”skolkrisen” artikuleras som ett socialt problem i den svenska dagspressen och den handlar om hur samhällsaktörerna i den politiska offentligheten uppfattar detta som ett socialt problem genom den betydelseförhandling som de för. Ovanstående bakgrundsbeskrivning leder fram till följande problemformulering: hur skapas, ut-vecklas och upprätthålls skolkrisen som ett socialt problem i den svenska dagspressen? Syftet med undersökningen är att lämna ett bidrag till forskningen om hur sociala problem konstrueras, samt att lämna ett bidrag till fältet för politisk kommunikation. Undersökningen bygger på en kvalitativ textanalys med narratologiska inslag som fokuserar på skolkrisen som berättelse, vad den handlar om och hur den berättas. Empirin utgörs av 46 nyhetsar-tiklar som hämtats i från tidningarna DN och SvD under tidsperioden 3 december 2013 till 31 mars 2014. Skolkrisen skapades i och med att Skolverket publicerade pressmeddelandet ”Kraftig försämring i Pisa” och genom att medierna legitimerade krisen då de började rapportera om det som Skolverket lyft i pressmeddelandet. Att det problematiska förhållandet benämndes just som en kris och att me-dierna skapade nyhetsteman bidrog också till etablerandet det sociala problemet. Skolkrisen utveck-lades genom att olika samhällsaktörer började debattera om orsaker till förhållandet, om vem som ansågs vara ansvarig och offer respektive vinnare och förlorare, och de började dessutom diskutera lösningar. Skolkrisen upprätthölls dels genom mediernas skapande av nyhetsteman, men också ge-nom åtgärdsdebattens hjälpare och motståndare. Genom att det fanns många lösningsförslag till krisen och på grund av att det fanns många röster för och emot dessa förslag, och mediernas uppgift är att höra båda sidor, resulterade det i att rapporteringen blev omfattande och att den därmed upp-rätthölls. Ytterligare några slutsatser som är särskilt viktiga är att allmänheten har svårt att förstå vad som försiggår ifråga om Pisa-debatten, då medierna rapporterar ensidigt och partiskt till förmån för medielogiken. Dessutom styr den politiska logiken över medielogiken vilket gjort att det är ett pågående maktspel mellan medierna och politiken, där politiken styr över medierna, snarare än en offentlighet som allmänheten har möjlighet att ta ställning till.

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English language learner (ELL) is a term to describe students who are still acquiring English proficiency. In recent decades, ELLs are a very rapidly growing student group in United States. In school classrooms, ELLs are learning English and their academic subjects simultaneously. It is challenging for them to hear lectures, read textbooks, and complete tests in English despite of their inadequate English language proficiency (Ilich, 2013). As a result, the increasing number of ELLs in public schools has paralleled the increase in ELLs’ low mathematics performance (NCES, 2016). Due to the popularization of international large-scale assessments in the recent decade, it is necessary to analyze their psychometric properties (e.g., reliability, validity) so that those results can provide with evidence-based implications for policymakers. Educational researchers need to assess the validity for subgroups within each country. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), as one of the influential large-scale assessments, allows researchers to investigate academic achievement and group membership from a variety of different viewpoints. The current study was to understand the nature and potential sources of the gaps in mathematics achievement between ELLs and non-ELLs. The nature of achievement gap was examined using three DIF methodologies including Mantel-Haenszel procedure, Rasch analysis, and Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model (HGLM) at the item level instead of total test level. Amon the three methods, HGLM was utilized to examine the potential sources of DIF. This method can take into account of the nested structure of data where items are nested within students, and students nested within schools. At the student level, sources of DIF were investigated through students’ variations in mathematics self-efficacy, language proficiency, and student socioeconomic status. At the school level, school type and school educational resource were investigated as potential sources of DIF after controlling for the student variables. The U.S. sample from PISA 2012 was used, and 76 dichotomously coded items from PISA 2012 mathematics assessment were included to detect DIF effects. Results revealed that ten common items are identified with DIF effects using MH procedure, Rasch analysis, and HGLM. These ten items are all in favor of non-ELLs.The decreasing number of items showing DIF effects in HGLM after controlling for student-level variables revealed mathematics self-efficacy, language proficiency, and SES are potential sources of DIF between ELLs and non-ELLs. In addition, the number of DIF items continued to decrease after controlling for both student and school-level variables. This finding proved that school type and school educational resources were also potential sources of DIF between ELLs and non-ELLs. Findings from this study can help educational researchers, administrators, and policymakers understand the nature of the gap at item level instead of the total test level so that United States can be competitive in middle school mathematics education. This study can also help guide item writers and test developers in the construction of more linguistically accessible assessments for students who are still learning English. The significance of this study lies in the empirical investigation of the gap between ELLs and non-ELLs in mathematics achievement at an item level and from perspectives of both students and schools.

The Swedish school system during the 2000s, performed worse in terms of students' performance. In response to these results, two camps emerged regarding school discipline, and how this can help to reverse the deteriorating results. One camp wants to increase discipline, give the school the right to punishments such as detention. The second camp are opposed to greater discipline and believes that there are better methods to focus on. Methods, theories and research like progressive discipline, postitive behavior support, teacher and student centered strategies are applied to Swedish politicians' arguments about school discipline. To investigate the credibility of the increase or decrease in school discipline as a good method to reverse the ever deteriorating pupil results in Swedish schools. Chronologically, the work is limited to the years 2009 and 2012 with the intention to keep the work as relevant as possible, and to compare PISA results from 2009 and 2012 to ensure a decline in student achievement in the 2000s. The work is finalized by the Swedish school systems’s problems is ensured and that the politicians' arguments about school discipline is in relation to research and empirical data.

Denna studie ämnar sammanställa resultat från de internationella jämförelser av elevers läsförståelsekunskaper som Sverige deltagit i, med särskilt fokus på svenska pojkars prestationer i dessa undersökningar. Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka trender som går att skönja i pojkars läsning, och analysera hur skillnader mellan svenska pojkar och flickors läsning ter sig över tid. En överblick ges dessutom av svenska pojkar och flickors samlade resultat i läsförståelsestudier. Totalt har material från tio internationella studier insamlats och analyserats. Data har hämtats främst från de Skolverket-rapporter som författats efter varje undersökning. I resultatanalysen påvisas bland annat att svenska pojkar såväl som flickor försämrat sina läsförmågor signifikant sedan första undersökningen 1970. Dessutom har könsskillnaden vuxit och i den senaste undersökningen, 2012, registrerade svenska elever rekordhöga könsskillnader i läsförmåga, en skillnad som till stor del kan attribueras till pojkars kraftigt försämrade läsförmågor. Vidare så framkom det i analysen att svenska pojkars såväl som flickors läsattityder har försämrats det senaste decenniet. Denna trend var emellertid tydligast bland pojkar. / This study aims to compile results from international surveys of students’ reading competence that Sweden has participated in, with particular focus on the results of Swedish boys. The purpose of the study is to reveal trends in boys’ reading, and analyse how differences between Swedish boys and girls’ reading has developed over time. The paper also offers an overview of Swedish boys and girls’ general performances throughout all surveys. In total, material from ten major international surveys has been analysed. Foremost, data has been collected from the survey reports written by the Swedish National Agency for Education. In analysing the material it was found, among other things, that Swedish boys as well as girls significantly have worsened their reading competence since the first survey in 1970. Furthermore, the gender differences in reading have increased considerably, and in the latest survey, PISA 2012, Swedish students registered historically high gender differences, a circumstance that largely could be attributed to the deteriorating results of Swedish boys. In addition, it became apparent that Swedish students’ reading attitudes have worsened the last decade, a trend particularly salient among boys.

Studies have shown that creative mathematically founded reasoning (CMR) outperforms algorithmic reasoning (AR) in regards to retention and (re)construction of knowledge. This suggests that creativity should be encouraged in national high-school mathematics curricula. The aim of the present study is to compare how creativity is framed in different national high-school mathematics curricula, using the following definition: creativity is the characteristics of people, processes, and environments which lead to new and original products that are useful or otherwise attractive to an individual or a society. Utilizing content and discourse analysis, the present study thus contrasts how the high-school mathematics curricula of Singapore, Hong Kong, Sweden, and Norway handle and value creativity, and also examines which role creativity takes in each curricula. Findings suggest that Singapore’s curriculum emphasizes creativity the most, and frequently does so in relation to assessment. Hong Kong’s curriculum is found to emphasize creativity in diverse ways, often using words with connotations to playfulness. Analysis of Sweden’s curriculum indicates a relatively minute focus on creativity, tending to put it in a teacher-centered context. A feature of Norway’s curriculum is an increasing emphasis on creativity as courses approach tertiary education. This also suggests a rising value of creativity in its curriculum. A similar though not as pronounced trajectory is found also in Singapore’s curriculum. In the Asian and Norwegian curricula, creativity is expressed both as a means and an end, while in Sweden’s curriculum it is only seen as an end. The results are discussed in terms of potential reasons for the prominent national features, and the study also includes an evaluation of the aptness of the suggested definition of creativity, a review of the limitations of the study, as well as propositions for further research. Finally, two recommendations are given to the National Agency for Education in Sweden – Skolverket – based on the results of the study: 1) diversify the emphasis on creativity in the curriculum, and 2) ensure alignment between what teachers value and what Skolverket values with respect to creativity.

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