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

The purpose of this research was to assess how prepared Florida's State University System (SUS) institutions have been during the past five years (2008-2013) in responding to the challenges of globalization. The research also established institutional trends for the past five years (2008-2013) and projections for the next five years to seize the opportunities offered by globalization and to produce graduates with global competency skills. Ten of the 12 SUS institutions studied in this research were Florida A&M University (FAMU), Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), Florida International University (FIU), Florida State University (FSU), University of Central Florida (UCF), University of Florida (UF), University of North Florida (UNF), University of South Florida (USF), and University of West Florida (UWF). The research was conducted as a case study using multi-method approach. The quantitative analysis was based on the information collected from the institutions and from the integrated postsecondary education data system (IPEDS). The qualitative analysis was based on the institutional mission statements, vision statements, and strategic plans. The quantitative analysis used six data parameters to compute a globalization composite index (GCI) for institutional comparisons and for establishing trends and future projections. Integrating quantitative and qualitative analyses led to the research findings of this study. Based on this study, the institutional preparedness for globalization has been low for six SUS institutions (FAMU, FAU, FGCU, UCF, UNF, and UWF) and has been medium for the remaining four (FIU, FSU, UF, and USF). The trend analysis showed that institutional preparedness could be improved significantly if robust and focused efforts are made over the next five years. In that case, the institutional preparedness for FAMU, FGCU, UNF, and UWF could ascend to medium; for FAU and UCF, it could improve to medium+; and for FIU, FSU, UF, and USF, it could reach high. The research concluded with some recommendations to help the leadership of Florida and the SUS institutions in responding effectively to the challenges of globalization. A few recommendations for future research in this field also are provided. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

School reforms in New Orleans have brought sweeping changes to the way public schools are governed and managed, and to the way in which students are assigned to public schools. Non-profit charter school boards now govern over 90% of public schools, and families are able to choose the public school in which they enroll. Competition within the system of schools is expected to compel schools to differentiate themselves from each other in order to attract and retain students. School-level budgetary data provide one source of information with which to examine the priorities schools establish as they seek to differentiate themselves. There is a significant body of research comparing the resource allocation patterns in traditional public schools to those in charter schools. Often, however, these comparisons are drawn between schools that do not operate in a single educational marketplace. Rather, they compare schools within different geographic areas that may not be in direct competition with each other. Many of the studies also fail to distinguish between non-network charter schools and those run by centralized charter school networks. This quantitative case study uses the New Orleans public school marketplace as a critical case for examining how governance and management structures impact school spending. Specifically, the study aims to identify, describe, and understand whether and how school-level resource allocation patterns differ across schools of different governance and management structures, and how those patterns might be influenced by market competition. This research uses linear regression models to estimate differences in resource allocation between traditional public and charter schools in the educational marketplace, after controlling for student and school-level characteristics. School expenditures are examined over a variety of expense categories and human resource indicators. Data from New Orleans suggest that privatization and decentralization have a significant impact on how resources are allocated at the school level. Importantly, however, no significant spending differences emerge when data are aggregated to the level of the local education agency. In other words, spending in the traditional public school district, charter management organizations, and single site charter schools appear similar, irrespective of governance and management structure of those organizations.

The complex and thorny relationship between school-district leaders, sub-city political and community figures and teachers’ unions on the subject of charter schools- an interaction fraught with racially charged language and tactics steeped in civil rights-era mobilization - elicits skepticism about the motives of education reformers and their view of minority populations. In this study I unpack the local politics around tacit and overt racial appeals in support of New York City charter schools with particular attention to Harlem, New York and periods when the sustainability of these schools, and long-term education reforms, were endangered by changes in the political and legislative landscape. This dissertation answers two key questions: How did the Bloomberg-era governing coalition and charter advocates in New York City use their political influence and resources to expand and sustain charter schools as a sector; and how does a community with strong historic and cultural narratives around race, education and political activism, respond to attempts to enshrine externally organized school reforms? To answer these questions, I employ a case study analysis and rely on Regime Theory to tell the story of the Mayoral administration of Michael Bloomberg and the cadre of charter leaders, philanthropies and wealthy donors whose collective activity created a climate for growth of the sector. I then construct a lens through which we may view African American leadership as having varied temporal and philosophical associations to the civil rights movement, shedding light on how some, with stronger ties to the business community, may be amenable to school choice policies. Results show that a pro-charter regime in New York City rapidly expanded the sector using colocation and through attempts to elect charter-friendly members of the state legislature, through direct campaign donations and targeted parent organizing. While the latter largely failed as a means to obtain electoral influence, a shift in tactics enabled charter leaders to keep pro-union Democrats from dominating the charter policy debate. In Harlem, the community’s response was mixed. While demand for seats increased, so did the tension as activists and elected officials expressed concern over loss of traditional public-school spaces which doubled as community-based institutions, and encroachment on their long-held view of self-deterministic education policy. Much of the pushback by the community may also be a proxy for the effects of rapid gentrification occurring in the neighborhood, exacerbating tensions over external influence in local communities and a disruption of social capital. Finally, I show that through the loss of political allies at City Hall, in the State legislature, and a reduction in the political theater around parent mobilization, the charter sector locally and nationally may experience slowed growth in terms of charter authorization, public support and applications by potential students.

Because of the complexity of the phenomenon being studied, a qualitative methodology was adopted for the study. The research was anchored in the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism. Interviews formed the chief data collection method. Eleven secondary school principals from Shanghai were selected through a form of purposive sampling. The study aimed to derive categories, typologies and theoretical models from the data to help explain the realities of the Chinese principalship. / Further interpretation across the major categories and initial typology exposed a set of tensions which captured some of the basic dynamics of the principalship in China. A dominant subtext across these tensions was the multiple accountabilities confronting the principals. The study found that the principals placed unquestionable emphasis on upward accountability. Among the various stakeholders, superiors and the higher level government departments and officials were regarded as the most important audience. Finally a set of five propositions was proposed as a way to capture succinctly the major features of the role of the principalship in China. / The context within which the research was conducted was one full of uncertainty and constant change. As a result of systemic and sustained reform efforts to restructure education, principals are caught between the often contradictory forces generated by educational imperatives, market forces, political hegemony and managerial complexity. It would be naive to believe that Mainland China is immune to the universalising tendency of educational reform. However, without careful study we are unsure whether Chinese principals are faced with similar dilemmas, paradoxes, and difficulties as their Western counterparts. There is thus a need to conduct more contextually sensitive research to unveil the intricacies of the role played by Chinese principals in the change context and to delve into the meanings they attach to their work. / The research findings were integrated into a framework comprised of three major categories, namely, stage, unwritten libretto and performance. The school constituted the most important stage that enabled and constrained their principalship. School status was found to be the most important influence in that it framed the role set within which each principal was situated. Despite the influence exerted by each principal's immediate context, a number of commoalities were identified when the eleven cases were pulled together. These common issues, defined as unwritten libretto in the study, included maintaining guanxi with the government, ensuring internal harmony within the organisation and the need to win resources. The knowledge of these rules was found to be indispensible to a principal in China and formed the instinctive grounds upon which they based their actions. Influenced by both the stage---where they were, and the unwritten libretto---their knowledge about how to be a principal in China, principal performance varied. An initial typology was constructed comprised of four types of principals. These types were Leading Actors, Supporting Actors, Opportunists and Marginal Actors. / The research has implications for the knowledge base of school principalship. It stretches this base beyond its current near-exclusive grounding in Western theory and provides some empirical understandings about the principalship in China. The development of a list of propositions also serves as a starting point to explicate the meanings of 'leadership' in the context of Chinese schools. The research findings also have substantial implications for principal development in China. Some suggestions are provided for program providers that may help to make the development programs more effective. / This study investigates how Chinese school principals perceive and enact their roles. Given that there is a conceptual crevice in our understanding of the Chinese principalship, the study intends to add a much needed dimension to the Anglo-American dominant leadership discourse. / Qian, Haiyan. / Adviser: Allan Walker. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-01, Section: A, page: 0045. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-258). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

During recent decades the educational community around the world has witnessed an increasing interest in programmes aiming at providing teachers as well as learners of all ages with direct access to personal computing devices and the vast amount of information such provision enables. These types of programmes are known as “one-to- one computing”, a term that indicates a very widespread distribution of computers in educational settings. Research into such patterns of provision has accordingly become a priority. Understandably, the realities of one-to-one programme implementation vary considerably across the nations, since cultural setting, educational system, customs of technology use and teachers’ experiences are all significant aspects that influence the process. However, there can be certain commonalities across all these aspects in countries whose educational systems have a largely shared history, as is the case in the former Soviet Union states. Azerbaijan’s experience in the field, as one of the countries with a post-soviet educational system going through curriculum reforms, was very attractive for a comprehensive study with the primary focus on identifying the factors influencing the infusion of one-to-one computing into learning and teaching. The research question developed for this study was: “What factors influence the integration of one-to-one computing into teaching and learning?” Qualitative research methods were used to gather data at three purposively selected schools, two in the capital city of Baku and one in a provincial town. The research data were collected by conducting classroom observations, interviews and focus group discussions with main stakeholders of the programme allowing for investigation of students’, teachers’ and parents’ experiences throughout the implementation process. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach the gathered data were analyzed in two major stages: the first one employed the ‘helicopter view’ approach to attain a preliminary picture, followed by the process of coding, memo-writing and analysis. The second stage of the analysis resulted in a thematic summary into teacher, student and classroom-dynamics-related categories. The findings revealed that the students were the most enthusiastic about the changes brought to the learning process with the introduction of the lightweight, small and inexpensive devices, commonly known as netbooks. The students improved their technological skills and knowledge and applied these skills in acquiring domain knowledge. By providing students with netbooks, the one-to-one programme introduced anytime, anywhere, and individualized learning opportunities. The study also revealed that the introduction of netbooks was leading to students developing collaborative learning skills. In addition, the study found that most of the teachers were developing new teaching methods to continue the programme implementation. They invested extra time and worked hard, notwithstanding the lack of guidelines both on the integration of technology with pedagogy and on meeting newly-set National Curriculum standards. Some teachers overcame the technological challenges that arose along the way eagerly, while others used them as an excuse to discontinue the programme implementation. The parents’ opinions varied considerably, some of them supported the innovation, while others considered the frequent usage of technology excessive, unnecessary and potentially damaging to their children’s health. The latter group of parents expected their children to be taught similarly to them, with a primary focus on the development of handwriting and speaking skills as well as the habits of reading printed books. The research has identified eight major factors influencing the integration of one-to-one computing into teaching and learning: embedding ICT in the curriculum, fostering of exploratory learning, student satisfaction, new learning practices, professional development, school leadership support, teacher beliefs and parental support. Most importantly, the findings have revealed the importance of addressing teacher professional development in terms of integrating technology with pedagogy and meeting curriculum standards through technology-infused teaching methods. These factors indicate the improvements needed for successful programme implementation. It is hoped that the results can be adopted by educational leaders to inform their decisions on one-to-one programmes, thereby contributing to successful integration.

Abstract This single, embedded case study focused on educators’ experiences of educational change as they adopted, implemented, and sustained a one-to-one computing innovation over 20 years. The purpose of the study was to explore the innovativeness, the capacity of a school community to take on change for continuous educational improvement over time. Through interviews and focus groups with administrators, teachers, students, and graduates, observations of current classroom practices, and archival data, the study provides an understanding of how individuals experienced change and how a school sustained change over an exceptionally long period of time. Data analysis revealed multiple rationales for the implementation of one-to-one computing, including the development of a constructivist environment, the empowerment of women, preparation of students for college and the 21st century work force, and the need to keep the school’s educational program on the “cutting-edge.” The study of this individual school community suggests the importance of a strong educational philosophy, flexibility of implementation, an environment that encourages risk-taking, and collegiality. The study also demonstrates that change occurred on a continuum and continued to progress as hardware, software, and the Internet evolved, and as faculty became more knowledgeable of the application of the program to teaching and learning.

Attempts to restructure public high schools by establishing separate school-within-a-school (SWS) models have not endured beyond 3 to 5 years. This qualitative case study examined a SWS that has thrived for more than 12 years. The study investigated how teachers at the school explained the success of the SWS, their experience of working at the SWS, and their resilience in addressing the challenges that led to the lack of success of other SWS schools. The theories and models of educational change developed by Fullan, Hargreaves, and Giles and Hord provided a conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through open-ended questions in individual interviews with 8 teacher participants who each had more than 5 years of experience at the SWS. According to study results, teachers experienced the challenges that led to the closing of other SWS high schools. However, at the inception of the SWS, the leadership established a commitment to the vision of the SWS, a tradition of collaboration among the SWS teachers, and a positive reputation among parents and alumni. The faculty of the SWS maintained its commitment through multiple leadership changes, changes in school/district policies, challenges to the vision, and changes to SWS teachers' workloads and classroom assignments. Sustaining educational change depends on the strength of implementation of the change: strong leadership, stakeholder commitment to the vision, and establishment of a collaborative professional community of teachers. These results provide guidance for educational leaders attempting to implement and sustain educational change, such as the implementation of a SWS.

Thesis (PhD. (Education)) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / This thesis is a study on the effect of resistance to change on quality education in Limpopo Province. The study investigated basic challenges in the change process at schools. The empirical research was done by using semi-standardized interviews where predetermined questions were posed to each participant in a systematic and consistent manner but allowed the participants to go on discussing issues on the effect of resistance to change on quality education beyond the questions confines. (cf. Struwig & Stead, 2001:98). Observations and perusal of documents complemented the interviews to gather information. Data was analyzed through tables. The study has revealed the reasons why do people (educators) resist change, pin-pointing the source of the resistance which makes it possible to see what needs to be done to avoid resistance or convert it into commitment to change. The literature review has brought to the light that change is not only needed because of what has happened in South Africa in the past, but made it very clear that education is changing everywhere in the world. South Africa has not only an opportunity to heal the crippled system of education but to simultaneously catch up with the world. The relevance of theory to the effect of resistance to change on quality education has been highlighted. The study is based on the ambiguity theories which stress uncertainty and complexity in schools and other organizations characterized by problematic goals, unclear technology and fluid participation in decision making with reference to the new approaches of facilitation and learning The study also attempted to look at policy initiatives with reference to uniform systems for schools and governance to promote quality education. Also, an attempt was made to integrate educational laws, policies and regulations with regard to the provision of quality education. Finally, recommendations to deal with resistance to change were high-lighted. In education, the megatrends are already making themselves felt for those who attempt to resist the change, the future holds frustration, unhappiness and ultimately defeat. For those interested in the improvement of quality education and for those who are willing to recognize the changes coming, there will be opportunities, challenges and the thrill of having participated in one of the most existing periods in history. It is the researchers wish that each South African hope to be equal to the task, for failure will have disastrous consequences not only for our learners, but ultimately for the System of Education and the entire Society.

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The advent of democratic governance in South Africa necessitated changes in all sectors of the country; the education sector also required urgent reform. The policy framework for education reform was passed nationally and implementation strategies were cascaded to provinces and districts nation-wide. The outcome of national policies manifests itself at district levels where implementation takes place in schools. This study assesses the manner in which public high schools in Ekurhuleni South District of the Gauteng Department of Education, implement educational reforms. The research was conducted as a qualitative study to determine the role and experiences of key stakeholders in the implementation of educational reform in the district. The investigation focused on what I termed the „basic drivers of reform‟ in education, namely: school governance (SGBs); performance management (IQMS); Outcomes Based Education (OBE); and redeployment of teachers. Other aspects that influence change in education were not excluded from the discussions, but were treated as complements of these basic drivers. An in-depth literature review was conducted to assess the views of other researchers on the topic. The study found that there has been lot improvement in the education system, especially in public high schools, since 1994. However, there are serious challenges related to policy directives and implementation strategies, which need to be addressed in order to reap the full benefits of a reformed education system. Some of these challenges are the results of policies formulated out of excitement for the newly created democratic order after 1994 while others are associated with shortage of skills and resources. Underestimation and exaggeration of education-related challenges also seem to prevail in public discourse, hence the reality is sometimes distorted. The results of the fieldwork and literature review were used to formulate recommendations to improve implementation of the reform process. Building the confidence of teachers in the education system by involving them in all reform initiatives seems to be a realistic solution.