<p> Few studies have examined the intersection of charter school and special education policies. The concerns around the serving of special education students in charter schools must be carefully studied, especially as charter schools continue to grow in numbers and continue to serve a greater percentage of public school students. New policies must not only address equity in access for special education students in charter schools but must also study how charter schools can be leveraged to generate innovative and promising practices in the area of special education. </p><p> This study examines a recent policy change in the Los Angeles Unified School District that provides great autonomy and increased accountability for charter schools in their provision of special education services. This policy change promotes key tenets of charter schools: (a) autonomy and decentralization, (b) choice and competition, and (c) performance-based accountability with the aim of increasing access for students with special needs and increasing the capacity of charter schools to serve them. The research design utilizes a mixed method approach to collect qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate the goals of this major policy change within this particular school district. </p>

<p> Each fall, approximately one million children enter the ninth grade with little prospect of completing high school. Of the 1.1 million students projected to leave school without a diploma for the 2012 school year, a staggering 27 percent (approximately 310,000) will be of Latino descent (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2012). The purpose of this study&mdash;"Dreams Deferred: A Qualitative Study of Latino Youth Who Left High School Prior to Obtaining a Diploma"&mdash;was to examine the perceptions and beliefs of Latino youth as they attempted to make meaning of the factors that led to their leaving school before graduation. Utilizing phenomenological research methods, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with ten individuals who had the shared experience of leaving high school prematurely. The phenomenological in-depth interview research design was chosen because the occurrence of Latino students leaving school without a diploma cannot be examined without consideration of how the experience was defined and felt by the students. In addition, multiple factors must be considered including the subjective impact of the students' social, cultural and educational histories on their school experience. The individuals were participants in a community-based GED program and were selected through purposeful sampling based on pre-identified selection criteria. The study focused on the participants' perceptions of their school experience and the events and influences that precipitated their premature departure from school. Data were collected through the in-depth interviews and detailed field notes of observations made during the interviews and program activities. Data analysis consisted of coding responses and clustering relevant statements into themes and patterns, which were then synthesized into descriptions of the participants' school experience and the factors associated with their leaving school prior to graduation. Data from the study revealed that the participants began to feel disengaged in middle school, and they perceived that their interaction with school personnel had a significant impact on their school experience. In addition, the participants cited multiple factors outside of school that diverted their focus from learning and ultimately contributed to their leaving school without a diploma. Recommendations for practice and additional research are included following a discussion of data.</p>

<p> Among ethnic groups in California, Latinos continue to have the lowest high school graduation rates and the lowest college completion rates. This study focused on understanding the role parents can play and ways schools and educators can support immigrant Latino parents to improve these rates. </p><p> Framed with a <i>funds of knowledge</i> approach (Gonzalez, N., Moll, L., &amp; Amanti, C.,2005), this mixed-methods qualitative and quantitative study was conducted in a public charter high school in a low income area of Los Angeles where the student body was primarily Latino. The mission of the school was to prepare students for higher education at a four-year institution. </p><p> The study results showed that it is possible for a school to engage immigrant Latino parents. With a better understanding of the aspirations, fears, and challenges faced by this community, the information can be provided in a form that is meaningful and that builds upon existing <i>funds of knowledge.</i> Critical components of the college outreach program were seeking parent input, developing a parent outreach plan, making information accessible, encouraging parent college visits, disseminating information beginning in middle school, providing personalized guidance, developing an undocumented student support plan, and creating a college-going culture. Implementing the the college access program encompassed gathering informal and formal feedback, presenting workshops, making documents available in Spanish as well as English, defining terms, arranging college visits, sending and displaying motivating communications, and engaging staff, students, and parents every step of the way.</p>

<p> Cross-border state distance higher education policy is a complex web of complicated and often contradictory regulations stretching across 50 states and 14 US territories. This study examined the applicability of strategic choice theory to state higher education policy innovation in the context of the adoption of polices that regulate the distance education operations of out-of-state, regionally accredited higher education institutions. Using Event History Analysis, the role of power structures and the political and social environment in which policy adoption decisions were made were examined alongside established policy adoption predictors. Significant applicability of strategic choice theory to state distance higher education policy adoption was identified. Findings indicate that cross-border distance higher education policy adoption diverges from established trends in state higher education policy adoption, and that public and non-public institutions have the potential to play key roles in shaping future policy adoption.</p>

<p> Because of marriage-immigrants and migrant-workers, demographic diversity has rapidly increased in South Korea since the late 1990s. Discourses of multicultural education have arisen in the field of early childhood education; they have focused on having children with diverse linguistic backgrounds adapt to Korean language and customs. What are the national goals of multicultural education policies for young children in Korea? This study investigated multicultural education policies for young children. Critical Discourse Analysis was used to examine values and hidden ideologies in policy texts. Findings demonstrate that, by borrowing and selecting favorite words from Western multicultural education models or theories, policymakers reframed early childhood multicultural education to assimilate ethnic minorities in Korea. National educational institutions functioned as the dominant form of producing and controlling the notion of multicultural family and education. It is recommended that policymakers in Korea consider experiences of teachers and voices of parents and children from culturally diverse backgrounds in developing multicultural education programs.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which teachers' academic and professional characteristics predict their classroom effectiveness, as measured by value-added indicators of their students' growth. Teachers' college transcripts, service records, and district records of classroom assignments are used to examine undergraduate content and pedagogy courses, graduate work, and professional experience; the district's own value-added indices are utilized as the measure of teacher effectiveness. The study examines a subset of 318 teachers who were continuously employed over a four-year period at one of 19 "hard-to-staff" secondary schools in one of the nation's largest school districts. The study finds that local experience and college coursework in the teacher's assigned content modestly predict the teacher's classroom effectiveness, which has implications for hiring practices in public schools.</p>

<p>Every college age student should have the opportunity to attend college and earn a degree, but the fiscal realities for lower income students prevent the majority from attending and the vast majority from completing college, thus perpetuating an intergenerational trend of limited postsecondary education and a likelihood of marginal income and status. Past research studies have shown that, among lower income students, those who receive higher levels of grant funding to offset college expenses are more likely to persist toward completing their educations than those who do not receive the same level of grant funding and thus are forced to rely upon other means, such as student loans or employment, to pay for college. The majority of this research was conducted prior to the recession that began in December 2007 (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2008), which has been more severe and longer lasting than any economic contraction since the Great Depression (Dwyer &amp; Lothian, 2012); more current research is needed to determine whether the educational retention behaviors of lower income students in the current challenging economic climate are positively impacted by grant funding. In this study I used quantitative methods to analyze a specific state policy change to determine whether a significant change in the grant funding provided to lower income students resulted in increased retention rates for these students. This study examines school years from 2006&ndash;2010, thus encompassing the recent financial crisis and affording an opportunity to explore the persistence behaviors of lower income students during the greatest financial crisis of modern times. The ultimate purpose of the study is to provide conclusions from the research to postsecondary policy makers in the hopes of informing policy and supporting continuing funding of need-based financial aid for lower income students. </p>

<p> Collegiate secret societies, as distinguished from Greek-letter fraternal organizations, enjoyed prominence within many American campus communities from the early nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century (Baird, 1879; Hitchcock, 1863; Slosson, 1910; Veysey, 1965). The establishment of these elite groups preceded the maturation of university administrative structures responsible for managing students&rsquo; extracurricular life, as well as the mass democratization of American higher education which occurred after World War II (Rudolph, 1990; Cohen, 2010). The presence of prestigious secret societies is documented and celebrated in college yearbooks and newspapers, reflecting a period in higher education's past when the hegemony of the white, male prevailed in student culture and fostered the composite ideal of the &ldquo;Big Man on Campus&rdquo; (&ldquo;B.M.O.C.&rdquo;) &ndash; the handsome varsity athlete, fraternity man, and club president destined for success in American public life.</p><p> Although collegiate secret societies &ldquo;disappeared&rdquo; on many campuses in the Civil Rights Era amidst accusations of elitism and reactions against established white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant norms, their legacy lingers into the twenty-first century, along with many unanswered questions about their historical role as a source of student power on campus. Their roots can be traced to the prestigious all-male boarding schools of the Northeastern United States in the late nineteenth century where patterns of upper-class masculine socialization developed. Due to a dearth of historical research on this topic, however, institutional leaders are challenged to understand the origins, purpose, and legacy of this type of student association that still holds meaning for students and other stakeholders in some campus communities. </p><p> This study utilized critical social theory from Bourdieu and Gramsci and the emerging scholarship of whiteness studies to provide an historical analysis of the rise and fall of the Order of Red Friars senior class secret society that was active at Duke University (Trinity College prior to 1924) between 1913 and 1971. Student leaders who manifested the &ldquo;B.M.O.C.&rdquo; ideal were tapped for membership in this group and collaborated with presidents, trustees, administrators, and select faculty on an agenda for student life (Durden, 1993). Utilizing archival research methods and oral history interviews, I was able to explore the involvement of the Order of Red Friars in the administration of student affairs at Duke University for sixty years during the twentieth century. This study provided basic knowledge about the phenomenon of the collegiate secret society and a deeper understanding of the cultural hegemony from which they emerged that continues to influence campus cultures today.</p><p> The history of American higher education literature documents how faculty discarded their <i>in loco parentis</i> responsibilities for managing student behavior as their field professionalized in the late nineteenth century (Rudolph, 1990; Thelin, 2011; Veysey, 1965) and how specialization of the student affairs profession coalesced four decades later in the 1930s (ACE, 1937; Biddix &amp; Schwartz, 2012; Lloyd-Jones, 1934; Schwartz, 2003). Yet, the historical role of students in the campus power structure of the early twentieth century, and particularly their role in sustaining their extracurricular affairs during this period, has been largely unexamined. This study addresses the gap that exists in the history of higher education literature about collegiate culture in the early twentieth century in the South, as well as the phenomenon of the collegiate secret society as a source of power on campus. (Thelin, 1982; Veysey, 1965).</p>

<p>This study explored the implementation of social science English-taught undergraduate degree programs in Japanese universities and investigated the challenges they face. As higher education institutions in Japan seek to become more competitive, many institutions are introducing undergraduate degrees taught exclusively through the English language. Existing research in non-Anglophone countries has shown that programs differ in their rationales for implementation and in their design and characteristics, and therefore, experience different types of implementation challenges that inspire varied responses. However, in Japan, studies in the English language focusing on the implementation of English as a medium of instruction in higher education are few and concern only short-term and graduate programs. This study used a qualitative multiple-case study design to examine four-year social science undergraduate programs at three universities from the perspectives of those involved with the implementation process. Data were generated via 27 interviews with senior administrators, faculty members and international education support staff. </p><p> The results indicate that the rationales for implementing the programs at the case-study institutions are grounded in a desire to increase competitiveness, with a focus on developing the international competencies of domestic Japanese students. Program design is oriented towards international and Japanese students in the same classrooms and is influenced by the understandings of key program implementers. Structural challenges were found to be the most significant obstacles to program implementation. In particular, institutions struggle with issues relating to program coherence and expansion, student recruitment and program identity. Structural challenges are so prominent that the study proposes a new typology of challenges facing the implementation of English-taught programs in Japan. This typology includes challenges related to the constructed understandings of the programs as institutions within the university. Practical responses to the challenges consist of discrete actions with little movement made that affects the university more broadly. Five salient elements that play an important role in the implementation of all of the case-study programs were also identified. These comprise the presence of committed leadership, implementer orientation regarding the English language, the position of the program within its institution, student recruitment, and the clarification of outcomes and goals. </p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative research case study was to investigate leadership and funding decisions that determine key factors responsible for sustaining arts programs in public schools. This dissertation represents one of eight dissertations in a thematic dissertation group at the University of Southern California. Each researcher conducted a qualitative research case study at a separate, individual school site. While the educational climate, financial constraints and use of standardized testing to evaluate schools continue to threaten arts programs in public education, Eastland High School, the site of this case study, managed to sustain its visual and performing arts program. Understanding the key factors that sustained the arts program at Eastland High School shaped the foundation of this research study. A qualitative lens investigated three research questions to understand: (1) arts programs at the school, (2) leadership decisions that support the arts program, and (3) funding decisions made at the site. The triangulation of data identified several emerging themes relevant to the three research questions. The first significant theme found collaborative leadership built ongoing social and political capital among all stakeholders to support and sustain the arts program. The findings discovered community partnerships represented a second important theme, which contributed toward the longevity of the arts program. A third theme determined resourceful funding decisions guided school leaders to build successful arts programs. The implications of this case study indicated collaborative leadership and resourceful funding decisions sustain viable arts programs in public schools. Based on the evidence analyzed and discussed in the findings, the case study provided educational leaders with recommendations for future research and advice to sustain arts education in public schools.</p>