The primary objective of the study is to identify the extent to which the current school choice policy in New Orleans has afforded students in underserved neighborhoods or city planning districts the opportunity to attend quality schools elsewhere in the city. Though all students in New Orleans have access to schools outside their neighborhood, more than two-thirds (68%) of public school students attended a school within their planning district or in the adjacent planning district in the 2011-12 school year. In staying close to home, just one-fifth (22 percent) of students attended a quality school. A clear relationship existed between a planning district’s service level and its socio-economic and racial make-up as well as the performance level of its students’ schools. The results of this analysis suggest that the lack of quality schools in low-income and minority areas significantly limits those families’ access to quality schools even under New Orleans’ far-reaching school choice policy.

[pt] Essa pesquisa analisou de que forma a participação em determinada rede religiosa pode se constituir um fator relevante para garantir acesso e permanência em unidades escolares com bons resultados em avaliações externas. Os objetivos eram identificar possíveis influências das redes religiosas nas estratégias familiares de escolha do estabelecimento de ensino, e verificar em que medida práticas familiares que favorecem a escolarização bem sucedida dos filhos estão relacionadas à participação das famílias nestas redes. A análise quantitativa foi realizada com base em dados nacionais de domínio público, fornecidos a cada dois anos em relação ao desempenho escolar das escolas municipais, em particular as de um conjunto bastante diversificado de bairros e escolas das zonas norte e sul da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. A partir de então, foram selecionadas quatro escolas, que oferecem o quinto ano do Ensino Fundamental, em função de seus resultados no IDEB. Um perfil das unidades escolares foi traçado através de entrevistas com gestores e professores no intuito de complementar a investigação quantitativa com uma análise das percepções dos agentes escolares sobre o tema. A partir de entrevistas com os familiares dos alunos e dos dados das fichas de matrícula nas escolas fornecidos pela Secretaria Municipal de Educação do Rio de Janeiro, foi possível construir um perfil das famílias cujos filhos são atendidos nessas escolas, investigando as possíveis correlações entre fluxo escolar, práticas familiares e filiação religiosa. A consolidação dos dados sobre as escolas estudadas indicou que a concentração de alunos de uma mesma religião nas unidades com bons resultados em avaliações externas está fortemente associada ao nível socioeconômico e ao tipo de arranjo familiar. / [en] This research examined how participation in certain religious network can be a relevant factor to ensure access and retention in school units with good results in external evaluations. The goals were to identify possible influences of religious networks into the familys strategies of choosing the educational establishment and to verify in which level the family practices related to a successful education of the children are related to the participation of the respective families in these networks. Quantitative analysis was performed based on national data of public domain provided every two years about school performance on the municipal schools, in particular those of a very diverse set of neighborhoods and schools in the northern and southern areas of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Since then, four schools, which offer the 5th year of elementary school, were selected according to their performance (results in IDEB). A profile of these school units was charted through interviews with administrators and teachers in order to complement the quantitative research with an analysis of the perceptions of school stakeholders on this issue. From interviews with the students families and data records of the school enrollment, provided by the Municipal Secretariat of Education of the City of Rio de Janeiro, it was possible to build up a profile of the families whose children are attended by these schools, investigating possible correlations among school flow, family practices and religious affiliation. The consolidation of the data obtained in these studied schools indicated that the concentration of students in the same religion in units with good results in external evaluations is strongly associated with socioeconomic status and type of family arrangement.

The purpose of this research is to investigate and describe parents’ perceptions of the private community school at Hareeng Enghs/i Medium Community School in Leribe district. The study uses the conceptual framework of parental choice of school. This is done with a view that parents’ choice of schooling is related to the assumption that the private community school has a good learning environment. Because the parents assume that the school is good, the study shifted to explore the question of what makes a good learning environment. In order to obtain an exhaustive examination, data was derived from three sets of questionnaire. Data was obtained using openended questionnaires from a sample of Hareeng English medium Community school parents and teachers, andPhelane public school teachers. The results show that the parents’ choice in this study is not informed by the idea that the school is either public or private. Instead the study found that parents’ choice is influenced by the idea that the school has a good learning environment. When analysis of parents’ understanding of a good learning environment is done, the study discovered that parents’ understanding though educational, is not consistent with the literature on school quality.

Charter schools have often boasted about differentiating themselves in the educational marketplace. With today’s growing emphasis on student achievement, whether this differentiation has had a positive effect on student learning is still debatable. The purpose of this exploratory mixed-methods study was to establish if innovation is a reported practice in charter schools in Miami-Dade and Sarasota Counties in Florida and to determine if a relationship exists between innovation reporting and student achievement as measured by Florida school grades. A qualitative analysis of School Improvement Plans and school websites for a 62 school sample was utilized. As well as a quantitative measure of the correlation between level of reported innovation in eight categories (organizational structure, ideology and culture, leadership models, professional development for teachers, curriculum, technology, parent involvement, and other) and student achievement, as measured by Florida’s school grade formula. The study found that charter schools in both counties reported innovation at high levels with only three schools reporting innovations in fewer than five categories of innovation. An examination of opposing forces of loose and rigid structure, autonomy and policy control, as well as creativity and standardization led to findings of less reported instances of innovation on average in schools with looser structure, autonomy, and creativity. Furthermore, Title I schools and high minority student population schools (≥50%) showed signs of innovation saturation, with no value added to student achievement (school grade averages) by reported innovation beyond a moderate level. Still, reported innovation level (overall categories of innovation) and student achievement (school grade averages) showed a negligible relationship (r = -.062). In conclusion, reported innovation existed in charter schools despite opposing forces, but was often similar across charter schools. In fact, past a moderate level of innovation, there was no value added to school grades for Title I and high minority charter schools. Yet, a weak, negative relationship existed between specific reported innovations in combination (professional development in pedagogy, tutoring programs, non-district behavior programs and incentive, and multiple levels) and student achievement (school grade averages) which can inform us on the nature of reporting. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

O objetivo desse trabalho é identificar se a Lei de Cotas, Lei sancionada pelo governo brasileiro em 2012 que reserva 50% das vagas em todas as universidades federais para alunos que estudaram o ensino médio integralmente em escolas da rede pública, tem impacto sobre a probabilidade de migração para a rede pública dos alunos matriculados em escola privadas no ensino básico. Como antes de 2012 a maior parte das universidades federais brasileiras já adotavam alguma ação afirmativa, analisamos com maior profundidade, a partir da metodologia de Diferenças-em-Diferenças, o impacto da Lei em dois estados: Minas Gerais e São Paulo. Em Minas Gerais, estado onde a Lei representa uma mudança institucional significativa no acesso ao ensino superior público, estimamos um aumento de 20% na probabilidade média de migração da coorte tratada. Já em São Paulo, onde essa mudança não ocorre no mesmo nível, o aumento estimado é inferior a 8%. Estimamos ainda que, tanto em Minas Gerais, quanto em São Paulo, a Lei de Cotas tem menor impacto sobre os alunos provenientes de escolas privadas de maior qualidade / This thesis intends to identify if the Law of Social Quotas, Law enacted by the Brazilian government in 2012 that guarantees 50% of the seats in all federal universities for students who studied all high school period in public schools, has an impact on the school choice of students enrolled in private elementary schools. As before 2012 most Brazilian federal universities already had adopted some affirmative action, we analyze, building on a Diff-Diff methodology, the impact of the Law in two states: Minas Gerais and São Paulo. In Minas Gerais, state where the law represents a significant institutional change in the access to public higher education, we estimate a 20% increase in the average probability of migration of the treated cohort. In São Paulo, where this change does not occur at the same level, the estimated increase is below 8%. We also estimate that both in Minas Gerais and São Paulo the Law have lower impact on students from higher quality private schools.

Cross-sectional studies suggest a prevalence of mental health problems from the age that children change to English secondary schools but there are few longitudinal appraisals of these issues and how enrolment policies influence psychological wellbeing. This research focuses on key factors linking competition for secondary schools and family responses to such challenges to determine enrolment policies that can sustain wellbeing longer-term. Integrated, model-based multimethodology was used in this urban, case-based study. Views were induced from multi-agency, expert practitioners to agree a system dynamics concept model. Parental decision-making behaviours were deduced by survey to understand key factors for model calibration. Dynamic system sensitivities were abduced from the simulation model before comparing long-term psychosocial impacts on children from expert, policy-support suggestions. Modelling demonstrates that two principal feedback loops influence family psychosocial systems when deciding secondary schools (parent-child wellbeing reinforcement plus knowledge of schools balancing parent concerns). Exogenous competition stressors on psychosocial systems can erode parent knowledge while testing student resolve. Competition guidance to remove risk-laden school options (league table comparison) before sequencing any remaining choices by profit (school visits), are not always used deciding urban secondary schools. Instead, families lacking experience can adopt decisive styles based on parent needs alone. Given autocratic leadership, child wellbeing rapidly deteriorates when student needs cannot be met by schools. Rather than ending student-selective entrance tests or raising knowledge of schools at visits, effective multi-agency support policy helps by increasing school choice debate frequency within families to address psychosocial system imbalances. The research makes a clear, three-way contribution to knowledge. Firstly, intrinsic case study theory is enhanced by data triangulation between induced, deduced and abduced research approaches. Secondly, the system dynamics discipline is strengthened by studying compulsory school enrolment. Finally, developing practice-based policy through multi-agency groups endorses cooperative rather than unilateral solutions, for helping change lives.

Over the last several decades, school choice – in the context of educational systems that are available to choose from as well as the reasons why parents choose what they do for their child – has become a topic of interest to both educational researchers and the public at large. The Seventh-day Adventist school system, like other faith-based institutions, is uniquely positioned in this subject, as it is an educational organization framed by a religious denomination. In addition to the typical factors such as academic standards, curricular offerings and peer influence, the issue of school choice within this context also involves complex layers of culture and religiosity and spirituality. Are parents able to disengage themselves from the trappings of those expectations and beliefs and objectively choose a school system for their child? Or are religious background and experience simply too embedded into one’s psyche – and, as an extension – one’s choices to ever fully disentangle that subtext from the decision-making process? This mixed-methods study sought to better understand the relationship between parental religiosity and school choice, specifically within the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. In order to assess the influence of Adventist culture, doctrinal commitment and general religiosity, a cultural domain had to first be established. Following the methodology as laid out in cultural consensus theory, free-listing and rank-ordering tasks were given to two separate, geographically representative samples from across the continental United States. Derived from those conversations, statements were then developed that captured characteristics and behavior of a member who adhered to traditional Seventh-day Adventist culture. Those statements were written into the survey instrument, alongside validated scales for general religiosity and Adventist doctrinal commitment. The population for this study targeted any Seventh-day Adventist member in America who had K-12 school-aged children. The survey was developed in SurveyMonkey and distributed through church communiqué (websites, bulletins, announcements, etc.), official administrative channels such as ministerial department newsletters and video announcements, and social media. Over 1,000 responses came in and the data was analyzed through SPSS, specifically examining patterns of school choice among those with high or low general religiosity, doctrinal commitment and Adventist culture. The results of the data analysis demonstrated clear and significant associations between several key variables and the dependent variable of school choice. Several variables, such as Adventist culture, doctrinal commitment and a parent’s own educational background, emerged as predictors for school choice when binary logistic regressions were conducted. Adventist culture proved to be a multi-factorial construct, interacting with other variables in different ways. The conclusions from this study point to several implications for K-12 Adventist education, particularly in the area of marketing to Adventist families and further research could certainly explore that more fully.

Across the United States one would be hard pressed to find an urban center that has been unaffected by the phenomenon known as gentrification. From substantial economic growth to the displacement of long-term residents, the benefits and criticisms of the process of gentrification are wide ranging and extend over a thorough body of literature. Commonly associated with increasing levels of education and higher resident incomes, gentrification should be a boon to struggling public schools that are continually plagued by generational poverty. Unfortunately, the continued widening of the education gap and increasing racial segregation in our public schools suggest that any benefits of gentrification are not translating to equity in our public schools. By looking at the city of Portland, this paper attempts to quantitatively explore the complicated relationship among gentrifying neighborhoods, school performance on the 3rd grade standardized Math and Reading tests, and racial demographics of the students. This paper will follow the methods established by Keels et al. in their work on gentrification and school achievement in Chicago. By using 2000 Census and the 2015 ACS data and spatial analysis and mapping in GIS, gentrifying school neighborhoods in Portland will be identified and analysis of student test performance and racial demographics will be conducted to determine if any relationship exists. By exploring how these schools have changed both academically and racially we can expand educational and urban theory around the process of gentrification.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program has been one of the fastest growing accelerated learning programs in recent years. At the high school level, the program offers a focus on critical thinking, combined with the accountability of external assessments of student performance. A significant portion of the program's growth is attributed to its effective marketing, presenting itself as a program that benefits the entire school community, above and beyond the benefits reaped by its graduates. To date, the research literature on IB schools has been clear about the benefits of participation; what remains unclear is how and to what extent the program affects the educational experience of non-IB students as well. In an effort to learn more about these claims, the researcher conducted a qualitative study of an IB school, specifically interviewing teachers and administrators about the IB and its impact on non-IB students. The study identified two general arguments the school was making to this end: 1) the IB benefits the whole school by attracting students (and the funding that follows them) through Open Enrollment, and 2) IB-trained teachers teach non-IB classes, providing the whole school with an improved teacher capacity. The principal findings of this study suggest that offering the IB program benefitted non-IB students in ways that the school claimed--but only to an extent. The results of this study reveal how certain social and political realities emerge alongside program growth, and how these factors influence the distribution of benefits over time. As test scores increasingly signaled program quality, the need to preserve the school's reputation seemed to prompt a corresponding shift of high-quality teachers towards IB. From the interviews, it was clear that IB classes were smaller than general education classes, and that the teachers with the highest status were disproportionately assigned to teach the upper-level classes. When put together, the case study data points at seemingly inevitable inconsistencies between the claims that the IB benefits non-IB students and the ongoing institutional necessities of the program.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 160-163). Also available in print.