abstract: Assessment practices in U.S. schools have become a greatly debated topic since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. In response to these new guidelines, schools and teachers have made adjustments in the ways they implement assessment practice and utilize assessment data -- ultimately impacting the lives of students and their educational outcomes. Using elements of Bourdieu's Theory of Practice as a lens to consider both context and implications of assessment practices within this new legislative era, a case study is focused on the lives of teachers and students within a single U.S. middle school. This study synthesizes secondary data in the form of standardized test scores, teacher grades in math and reading, a student grit survey, along with student narratives and teacher observations to reveal the ways in which assessment practice structures the classroom field. Findings reveal the conflicting ways in which teachers and students navigate a system framed by bureaucratic legitimacy. For teachers, issues of assessment rules and time constraints lead to frustrations and bureaucratic slippage. Conversely, students implement strategies to resist and manage the routine assessment practices of teachers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2015

Esssa dissertação trata da percepção da comunidade escolar de uma escola pública na região metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro - Nova Iguaçu sobre a política de provação automática. A política de ciclos, para funcionamento da estrutura de ensino nas escolas, ficou mais conhecida pelo efeito da aprovação automática dos alunos das séries iniciais. A pesquisa procurou acompanhar a forma como professores e pais percebem o efeito de tal sistema sobre aprendizado dos alunos. O trabalho de campo com observação da rotina da escola e as entrevistas realizadas com professores e pais foram os caminhos utilizados para o desenho de tais percepções. / This dissertation deals with the perception of the scholar community from a public school in Nova Iguaçu, at the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, concerning the automatic approval politics. The cycle politics, for the education structure at the schools to operate, became better known bythe effect of the automatic approval of students of the primary grades. The research intent to follow the way as teachers and parents discern the effect of such system over the student`s learning. The working field with observation of the school`s routine and interviews perfomed with teachers and parents, were the paths used to draw such perceptions.

abstract: For many adolescents, high school is a critical period of self-awareness, peer-influence, and identity construction. During this volatile period, young people explore how to express themselves in ways that range from conformity to non-conformity and transgression. This is particularly true when it comes to young people's understanding and expression of gender identity. For some youth, their personal form(s) of gender expression align neatly with social expectations; for others, it does not. When gender expression does not align with social expectations, students may be vulnerable to bullying or harassment by peers or adults. Often, youth who are policed and regulated by their classmates through bullying (or harassment, depending upon the relevant or implemented policy) are targeted based on their perceived identity, be that racial, ethnic, citizenship, or, most frequently, gender and sexuality. This project advances the need for research done from a critical youth studies perspective (both methodologically and ethically) and provides new insight into the types of language and practices used by youth to express, perform and "do" gender. Utilizing qualitative methodology, including participant observation, focus group and individual interviews, surveys, and the collection and content analysis of school ephemera, this research investigated how high school students navigate gender identity amidst other intersecting identities. This project examined how youth both "do" and "perform" gender in their everyday lives as high school students. Their gender identity is frequently understood amidst other intersecting identities, particularly sexual orientation, religion and race. These youth also pointed to several important influences in how they understand their own gender, and the gender identity of those around them, including media and peer groups. Because this research took place at two charter art schools, the findings also provided a framework for understanding how these two schools, and charter art schools more generally, provide alternative spaces for young people to experiment and play with their identity construction. Findings indicate that youth are forced to navigate and construct their gender identity amidst many conflicting and contradictory ideologies. Schools, media, and peer groups all heavily influence the way young people understand themselves. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Justice Studies 2012

abstract: This study looked at ways of understanding how schoolyards might act as meaningful places in children's developing sense of identity and possibility. Photographs and other images such as historical photographs and maps were used to look at how built environments outside of school reflect demographic and social differences within one southwest city. Intersections of children's worlds with various socio-political communities, woven into and through schooling, were examined for evidence of ways that schools act as the embodiment of a community's values: they are the material and observable effects of resource-allocation decisions. And scholarly materials were consulted to examine relationships in the images to existing theories of place, and its effect on children, as well as to consider theories of the hidden curriculum and its relationship to social reproduction, and the nature of visual representation as a form of data rather than strictly in the service of illustrating other forms of data. The focus of the study was on identifying appropriate research methods for investigating ways to understand the importance of the material worlds of school and childhood. Using a combination of visual and narrative approaches to contribute to our understanding of those material worlds, I sought to expose areas of inequity and class differences in ways that children experience schooling, as evidenced by differences in the material environment. Using a mixed-methods approach, created and found images were coded for categories of material culture, such as the existence of fences, trees, views from the playground or walking in the neighborhood at four Tempe schools. Findings were connected to a rich body of knowledge in areas such as theories of space and place, the nature of the hidden curriculum, visual culture, visual research methods including mapping. Familiar aspects of schooling were exposed in different ways, linking past decisions made by adults to their continuing effects on children today. In this way I arrived at an expanded and enriched understanding of the present worlds of children communicated as through the material environment. Visually examining children's worlds, by looking at the material artifacts of everyday worlds that children experience at school and including the child's-eye view in decision processes, has promise in moving decision makers away from strictly analytical and impersonal approaches to decision making about schooling children of the future. I proposed that by weighting of data points, as used in decision-making processes regarding schooling, differently than is currently done, and by paying closer attention to possible longer-term effects of place for all children, not just a few, there is the potential to improve the quality of life for today's children, and tomorrow's adults. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Educational Psychology 2013

Recent scholarship on the impact of neoliberalism in education centers on the creation of policies, curricula, and programming, positioning education as a system that produces marketable, entrepreneurially-minded, global workers (DeLissovoy, 2015; Peters, 2017). What is less known are the ways in which economic principles and mechanisms work in school systems, and how these changes affect teachers and social studies disciplines. Through a critical discourse analysis of policy and other official education documents, interviews, and focus groups with experienced administrators and social studies teachers in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, I argue that changes in education policy between 1994-2016 have altered the purpose of public education, entangling schooling with economic and accountability goals of the province. The purpose of this qualitative study is threefold: first, using Foucault’s (2008), and later Stephen Ball’s (2013a) theorization, I investigate the extent to which neoliberal governmentality shaped education policy changes in Nova Scotia between 1994-2016. Second, I examine how these changes implicate educators in practice, including the ways teachers perceive changes to their jobs over the last decade. Lastly, I explore the state of high school social studies in Nova Scotia as a site to test the micro-effects of neoliberalism and governmentality in changing policies and practices in education. I conclude that neoliberal governmentality has emerged in distinct patterns in Nova Scotia, which articulate with specific policy technologies and practices in education. Such patterns include the strategic use of economic and educational crises to forward neoliberal policy reform, the expansion of governmental mechanisms to track student and teacher performance, and the dis-articulation of social studies disciplines from the education system.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2017-03-13T15:11:39Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Ana Cecília Soares Carvalho - 2016.pdf: 1965163 bytes, checksum: f9166047fb6b1ebe647f0531e32e63ac (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-03-20T12:01:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Ana Cecília Soares Carvalho - 2016.pdf: 1965163 bytes, checksum: f9166047fb6b1ebe647f0531e32e63ac (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-20T12:01:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Ana Cecília Soares Carvalho - 2016.pdf: 1965163 bytes, checksum: f9166047fb6b1ebe647f0531e32e63ac (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-18 / This research aims to analyze whether the content of sociology have connections with the working themes of disciplines of History and Geography (Elementary School). Starting from concept that education aims (or should aim) an integral formation of citizens, providing knowledge and reflections so that student can understand the context in which he lives, and thus transform it; we think of as the most humanistic/reflective training has been conducted in schools, especially in Elementary School and High School. For our study, the Human Sciences of Elementary School has represented here by disciplines: History and Geography, and we analyze the possibilities of these two areas of knowledge and their possible connections/interconnections with sociology. For this, we evaluated official documents and textbooks for better understand how the Social Sciences field contents has worked with our children and youth; and what are the contributions of the sociology as a discipline in the Elementary School curriculum. In our analysis we noticed some mismatches between the goals set for the History and Geography, and how these disciplines are shown in the reality work in schools, punctuating also, the intentions and interests that permeate the critical and reflexive work in schools. Faced with this scenario, we present discussions on the importance of the Human Sciences in education, the contributions and work opportunities between the History, Geography and Sociology. / A presente pesquisa tem o objetivo de analisar se os conteúdos/saberes da sociologia possuem conexões com os temas de trabalho das disciplinas de História e Geografia do Ensino Fundamental. Partindo da concepção de que a educação visa (ou deveria visar) uma formação integral do cidadão, proporcionando conhecimentos e reflexões para que o educando possa compreender o contexto em que vive, e assim, transformá-lo; pensamos em como a formação mais humanística/reflexiva tem sido realizada nas escolas, sobretudo na Educação Básica. Para esse estudo, a Ciências Humanas do Ensino Fundamental está aqui representada pelas disciplinas de História e Geografia; e analisamos as possibilidades destas duas áreas de conhecimento e suas possíveis conexões e interligações com a sociologia. Para isso, avaliamos documentos oficiais e Livros Didáticos para melhor compreender como os conteúdos da área das Ciências Humanas têm sido trabalhados com as crianças e jovens; e quais as possibilidades de contribuição da sociologia enquanto disciplina no currículo do Ensino Fundamental. Em nossa análise notamos alguns descompassos entre os objetivos traçados para a História e a Geografia, e a forma como essas disciplinas se apresentam na realidade do trabalho nas escolas, pontuando também, as intencionalidades e interesses que permeiam e cerceiam o trabalho crítico e reflexivo nas escolas. Diante deste cenário, apresentamos discussões sobre a importância das Ciências Humanas na educação, as contribuições e possibilidades de trabalho entre a História, a Geografia e a Sociologia.

<p> This study examines relationships of African-American high school equivalency (HSE) students' sense of belonging to their peers, faculty, and community college environment. A sense of belonging is an important factor in understanding students&rsquo; internal and external motivations, perceptions, desires, and academic successes. For many African-American HSE students, community colleges are the pathways chosen to enhance their skills for a better education, potential income increase, and possible advancement in the workforce. A sense of belonging, socioeconomic desires, and cultural influences can promote adult learners&rsquo; return to the classroom in pursuit of a high school diploma. The purpose of this study was to examine and gain in-sight on a sense of belonging, educational attainment, and gender gaps of African-American high school equivalency female and male students&rsquo; experiences in quest of a higher education. This mixed-method research study recorded students&rsquo; shared experiences and insight in regards to a sense of belonging; as a result, the findings from this study have implications to change policy, curriculum, and program structure. The significance of this study was to make a contribution to the knowledge on African-American students&rsquo; sense of belonging with peers, faculty, and the community college environment. </p><p>

[pt] Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a problemática da desigualdade educacional à luz das percepções de jovens estudantes do ensino médio das redes pública e privada da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, participantes da pesquisa Juventude, Cidadania e Cultura Cívica, sobre temas como a educação, a escola e o mercado de trabalho. O desenvolvimento desta análise partiu do princípio de que a educação pública no Brasil concorre para a reprodução das desigualdades educacionais e, por conseguinte, das desigualdades sociais, pois não prima pela atenuação das influências da origem familiar sobre o desempenho escolar, o que resulta na desigualdade de oportunidades entre os indivíduos. A análise das percepções dos jovens permite afirmar que estão conscientes das desigualdades que permeiam o sistema escolar nacional e reconhecem que as oportunidades de acesso ao ensino superior e ao mercado de trabalho são diferenciadas. / [en] This dissertation has the objective to analyze the problematic of the education inequality by the perceptions of young students of the city of Rio de Janeiro, participants of the inquiry Youth, Citizenship and Civic Culture , on subjects like the education, the school and the labor. This analysis understands that the public education in Brazil contributes to the reproduction of the education inequalities and, consequently, of the social inequalities, since it does not work for the reduction of the influences of the familiar origin on the school performance, which turns in the inequality of opportunities between the individuals. The analysis of the perceptions of the young students allows this work to affirm what they are conscious of the inequalities that permeate the school national system and recognize that the opportunities of access to the university and to the labor market are differentiated.

The aim of the study presented in this thesis was to understand how 16-19 year old students within three different types of educational institution, approached the process of having to 'market' themselves in the context of applying for university places, and why discourses and practices of self-marketing have become more prominent in recent decades. The research focused particularly closely on the role of the Personal Statement as part of the Higher Education application process, and the ways that the particular characteristics and situations of different schools and colleges may shape distinctive self-marketing practices among their students. A multi-case study model was used, in which interviews were conducted with 36 students and various key members of staff, across three institutions and over three successive research phases. This interview data was supplemented by further data gathered from field observation and documentary analysis. The final interview with each respondent used the student's Personal Statement as a resource to explore their self-marketing behaviour in more detail. Drawing on a Bernsteinian theoretical framework it was found that each institution had developed a pedagogy of self-marketing that was strongly embedded within and shaped by the dominant pedagogic code of that institution - both pedagogies being part of an ongoing strategic response to the conditions of the local education market-place. Self-marketing in the context of making applications to Higher Education institutions involved: firstly the recognition of a 'destination habitus' (a combination of institutional status and disciplinary habitus), and secondly the realisation of that destination habitus through the use of particular discourses in the production of the Personal Statement and, in some instances, performance in selection interviews. Crucially, the 'imaginary subject' projected by the dominant pedagogic code of the school/college was a reflection of the 'destination habitus' of the typical university/course that students from that institution in the main applied to. Individual student's orientations to self-marketing were then summarised in, what I have termed, a 'self-marketing profile', which shaped the discourses they deployed on their Personal Statement, and was itself shaped by the institution's pedagogy of self-marketing. The primary conclusion of this thesis is that the far-reaching education reforms of the late 1980s in England and Wales have created market pressures which powerfully constrain both 16-19 institutions and Higher Education institutions to create market 'niches' for themselves, which then significantly influence students' self-marketing practices. These practices are therefore strategic responses both on the part of the institutions that students are currently located in, and also those they are applying to, and demonstrate that the institution 16-19 year olds attend makes a very significant difference to their orientation toward and experience of self-marketing.

The central question this study addresses is how one school of human services (SHS) became more fully racially diverse while embedded in a predominantly White institution of higher education. The goal was to collect data to answer three questions: (1) How did SHS evolve into a racially diverse organization? (2) How did this transition impact the faculty at SHS? and (3) How does SHS maintain its current level of racial diversity? To conduct this study a descriptive qualitative case study approach was utilized that incorporated 74 hours of field observations, sixteen qualitative interviews with the SHS faculty, and a documentation review of materials relevant to the School's development. The study was carried out from February 1990 to August 1990. To analyze the results of the interviews a White peer reviewer was used to assist the Latino researcher in the verification and reliability of the interpretations of the data. The seven major conclusions and recommendations of this study are that: (1) There is a need to incorporate organizational theories relevant to higher education when undertaking organizational development (OD) or multicultural organizational development (MCOD) in a college or university setting; (2) A mission statement directly tied to teaching and service to communities of color is central to SHS's evolving into a racially diverse school; (3) "Word-of-mouth" networks play a key role in the success of SHS's recruitment and retention processes; (4) By expanding the concept of "qualified" to include racial diversity and the ability to work in a multicultural setting, SHS consistently succeeded in attracting "qualified" candidates (both White and of color); (5) The multiracial collegium at SHS is an intense place to work, full of rewards and challenging conflicts involving vision, trust and issues of organizational power for both White faculty and faculty of color; (6) Therefore, attending to issues of social justice (via MCOD) and effective community building (via OD) are essential to creating more multiracial collegium; (7) Units, schools or institutions interested in racial diversity should consider an open systems approach including more fluid boundaries with communities of color. Finally, this study raised serious methodological concerns about utilizing individualistic qualitative research in examining multiracial settings.