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The purpose of this research was to determine if the variables included in the Mississippi Report Card 2003-2004 utilized for the calculation of AYP can be used to predict with accuracy greater than that which can be attributed to chance, whether or not Mississippi LEAs will attain adequate yearly progress in reading and math using the logistic regression technique. An additional goal of this study is to identify whether the inclusion of a variable representing the proportion of teachers in each Mississippi LEA with a one-year teaching certificate can notably enhance the explanatory power of the logistic regression models. This study addressed two research questions: Research Question 1: Can variables (included in the Mississippi Report Card 2003-2004) required for the calculation of adequate yearly progress be used to successfully predict Adequate Yearly Progress using the Logistic Regression technique with an accuracy greater than that which can be attributed to chance? Research Question 2: Could the addition of another predictor variable (Percentage of Teachers with One-Year Educator Licenses) notably add to the predictive accuracy of the model? This study demonstrated that using the variables utilized for the calculation of AYP, a predictive model can be successfully utilized to classify Mississippi LEAs that will and will not attain AYP in reading and math with an accuracy greater than that which can be attributed to chance. This study also established that the inclusion of a variable corresponding to the percentage of teachers in a LEA with one-year educator licenses does not add to the predictive accuracy of the model.

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"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) has generated considerable attention within the education world. The purpose of this thesis is to question how local governments, i.e., local Boards of Education, have reacted to the current involvement and demands of the federal government. NCLB has only started to have an impact on local schools in the last few years as they have begun to fall into various categories of being "in need of improvement" based on failing to meet established goals. School boards are put in a position to rethink their programs and reevaluate their own efforts as they attempt to insure students are meeting the benchmarks established by the federal and state governments and that Highly Qualified Teachers are in every child's classroom. This thesis looks at the actions of six districts in southern New Jersey that are not meeting these mandates and the actions of the Boards of Education towards student achievement and hiring teachers. Demands and requirements of federal and state legislation and policies are narrowing the areas in which school boards can take action. Those actions that are being taken appear to be led by the district Superintendent. This lack of leadership by the elected officials may eventually lead to school boards that are more and more community advisory boards and less and less governing bodies. / Master of Arts

I den här uppsatsen synliggörs tendenser i hur barns och ungas läsning framställs i rapporter från fyra nationella läsfrämjande insatser som utförs på regeringsuppdrag, och deras koppling till demokratiska ideal och underliggande politiska motivationer för läsfrämjande. Uppsatsen har kritisk diskursanalys som teoretisk och metodologisk utgångspunkt och Faircloughs tredimensionella analysmodell används för att synliggöra diskurser ur ett kritiskt perspektiv i fyra rapporter från Kulturrådet och Skolverket: Bokstart i Sverige (2020), Nuläge om barns och ungas läsning (2023), Med barn och unga i fokus (2024) samt Utvärdering av Läslyftet (2019). Motivet för uppsatsens ämne är baserat på en ökning av läsfrämjande insatser som ett resultat av bland annat rapporter om barns och ungas sjunkande läsförmåga och PISAresultat. I analysens resultat framkommer flera exempel på ideological struggle, då det uppstår ideologiska konflikter både inom och utanför skolan om målgruppen för läsfrämjande och behovet av långsiktig utvärdering av insatser. I analysen synliggörs även hur Kulturrådet och Skolverket tilldelas maktpositioner genom sina regeringsuppdrag som främjar deras centrala roll som samverkande och kunskapsdelande myndigheter, och i analysen används bland annat power in discourse och power behind discourse för att förklara hur dessa maktpositioner reproduceras genom rapporterna- och hur barn och unga som en konsekvens hamnar i en underordnad maktposition. Detta relateras till mer övergripande diskursordningar och sociala strukturer som är ett resultat av dominerande konventioner i utbildnings- och kulturpolitik. / The purpose of this thesis is to highlight trends in how children's and young people's reading is portrayed in reports from four national reading promotion initiatives carried out on behalf of the Swedish government, and their connection to democratic ideals and underlying political motivations for reading promotion. The thesis has critical discourse analysis as its theoretical and methodological starting point, and Fairclough's three-dimensional analysis model is used to analyze discourse practices from a critical perspective in four reports from the Swedish Arts Council and the Swedish National Agency for Education: Bokstart i Sverige (2020), Nuläge om barns och ungas läsning (2023), Med barn och unga i fokus (2024) and Utvärdering av Läslyftet (2019). The motive for this essay is based on an increase in reading promotion efforts as a result of, among other things, reports on children's and young people's declining reading ability and PISA results. The results of the analysis show several examples of ideological struggle, as ideological conflicts arise both within and outside the school about the target group for reading promotion and the need for long-term evaluation of efforts. The analysis also reveals how the Swedish Arts Council and the National Agency for Education are assigned positions of power through their government assigned projects that promote their central role as collaborating and knowledge-sharing authorities, and the analysis uses, among other terms, power in discourse and power behind discourse to explain how these positions of power are reproduced through the reports - and how children and young people as a consequence end up in a subordinate position of power. This is related to broader structures of orders of discourse and social structures that result from dominant conventions in educational and cultural policy.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Marjorie R. Hancock / With the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (PL 107-110), Kansas state reading standards, benchmarks and indicators have been aligned to meet the recommendation of the National Reading Panel (2000). The components that are aligned with the Kansas reading standards are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. High stakes testing and test scores disaggregated by race creates accountability in meeting instructional reading indicators for all students, specifically African American students. With increased pressures to meet and exceed the reading standards and close the achievement gap between Black and White students, schools are searching for instructional factors supportive of to meeting No Child Left Behind requirements. This mixed method study was conducted in three urban school districts in the state of Kansas. The quantitative study was conducted by analyzing African American fifth grade state reading assessment scores before and during implementation of No Child Left Behind to determine whether No Child Left Behind is positively impacting test scores. Data analysis revealed that African Americans increased in being at or above the standard, while decreasing the number below the standard. Out of the 180 schools in the three districts, six high performing schools were identified based on the percentage of African American students in the school, average mean scores before and during No Child Left Behind , and percentage of students at or above the standard from 2000-2007. Data were collected through detailed observational field notes and interviews with fifth grade teachers and principals in order to determine their perceptions of the instructional factors impacting reading scores. Data analysis revealed the following instructional factors impacting reading scores: analysis of data, quality professional development, teacher collaboration, high expectations, and parental involvement. Instructional reading indicators were coded throughout the observation of fifth grade classrooms. Observed indicators taught were phonics, vocabulary, comprehension of text types and text structures. This study provided perspectives of instructional strategies essential to increasing the reading strategies, skills and test scores of African American students while closing the literacy achievement gap between Black and White students in Kansas schools.

<p>In this dissertation, I explore the impact of several public policies on civic participation. Using a unique combination of school administrative and public–use voter files and methods for causal inference, I evaluate the impact of three new, as of yet unexplored, policies: one informational, one institutional, and one skill–based. Chapter 2 examines the causal effect of No Child Left Behind’s performance-based accountability school failure signals on turnout in school board elections and on individuals’ use of exit. I find that failure signals mobilize citizens both at the ballot box and by encouraging them to vote with their feet. However, these increases in voice and exit come primarily from citizens who already active—thus exacerbating inequalities in both forms of participation. Chapter 3 examines the causal effect of preregistration—an electoral reform that allows young citizens to enroll in the electoral system before turning 18, while also providing them with various in-school supports. Using data from the Current Population Survey and Florida Voter Files and multiple methods for causal inference, I (with my coauthor listed below) show that preregistration mobilizes and does so for a diverse set of citizens. Finally, Chapter 4 examines the impact of psychosocial or so called non-cognitive skills on voter turnout. Using information from the Fast Track intervention, I show that early– childhood investments in psychosocial skills have large, long-run spillovers on civic participation. These gains are widely distributed, being especially large for those least likely to participate. These chapters provide clear insights that reach across disciplinary boundaries and speak to current policy debates. In placing specific attention not only on whether these programs mobilize, but also on who they mobilize, I provide scholars and practitioners with new ways of thinking about how to address stubbornly low and unequal rates of citizen engagement.</p> / Dissertation

The 19th century is recognised as a period of mass emigration from Cornwall, with a significant proportion of the male population leaving to work overseas, mainly in the mining industry. Less appreciated is that many of these migrants were married men who left wives and children behind in Cornwall. This study seeks to shed some light on the experiences of these women, known as 'married widows'. It adopts a multi-faceted approach, which draws upon crowd-sourcing and digital resources, in combination with more traditional methodologies. Scattered and fragmentary qualitative evidence (drawn from correspondence, newspapers, remittance and poor law records, supplemented by personal testimony recorded in family histories) is examined within a quantitative framework produced by an innovative database created from census records and a longitudinal study of outcomes. This thesis describes how tens of thousands of wives were 'left behind' in the mining communities of Cornwall, and the wide range of resources they drew upon in the absence of their husbands. It examines the interaction between the wives and the State in the form of the Poor Law and the Courts, identifying a pragmatic response to the needs of the emerging transnational nuclear family. Male migration from Cornwall is revealed to vary widely in type, intent and duration, leading to great diversity of experiences and outcomes for the wives 'left behind'. The establishment of temporary male labour emigration from the Cornish mining communities is shown to have occurred earlier than in many other emigration centres, creating greater potential for cultural acclimatisation to the challenges of spousal separation. The findings of this study challenge existing, generalised, perceptions of the wives as passive victims in the Cornish emigration story. Levels of destitution or desertion appear low compared to the scale of the phenomenon, and wives are shown as active participants and influential voices in family strategies. Nonetheless, this study highlights the vulnerability and greater risks faced by the wives 'left behind', and identifies financial and emotional insecurity as common elements of their experience. This thesis demonstrates a methodology and reveals insights that might be applied to the study of wives 'left behind' in other parts of the British Isles, and a comparator for existing studies of those elsewhere in the world.