Thesis advisor: Joseph M. O'Keefe / This mixed methods sequential explanatory designed study applied the economic theory of marketplace competition as a way to frame superintendents' perceptions of the characteristics of students and parents seeking charter schools. Although studies on charter schools are abundant, there is limited literature on this particular aspect of market competition between traditional districts and charter schools. Through surveys and interviews with superintendents across Massachusetts, this study found that most of the superintendents reported a perception that charter schools "cream-skim" higher achieving students and under-serve or "crop" high needs or more costly students - particularly special education and English language learner students. Additionally, superintendents generally perceive that parents were most likely to choose a charter school because of a perception that it was a more elite option and that parents making those choices were more likely to have been engaged in a child's educational life. Many superintendents reported a strong pressure to find ways to retain high-achieving students while expressing resentment that charter schools under-serve high needs students. In three small urban districts, however, superintendents described charter schools that enroll high-needs students proportional to or exceeding the district's student population, filled a gap or met an unmet need, or provided a specialization from which the district could learn. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This study has investigated how the Swedish Christian Democratic Party (KDS) argued for the right of private actors to operate tax-funded schools outside of the public sector – charter schools. The hypothesis of this study was that KDS were openly positive to such a reform and saw it as a chance to run state-funded confessional schools.The study examined political texts produced by the party during a ten-year period, ranging from 1984 to 1994. The study’s methodological approach was one of a qualitative textual analysis, aided by a theoretical framework adapted from Samuel Moyn’s thesis in his book Christian Human Rights.The study concluded that there is empirical support to the thesis, and that KDS were very positive to a reform of the public school system in order to enable publicly funded private schools. There is less evidence to conclude that KDS intended for these schools to be confessional, although this study proposes that there is evidence to suggest as much.

All states have different perspectives and various statutes within broader constitutional law. Perception of public dissatisfaction with public schools has led to choice schooling options for parents. One of the fastest growing choice options in schooling is charter schools; schools privately run by organizations through public funds. This study analyzes the governance of charter schools and how charters operate under legal guidelines and Florida statutes, with significant legislative events cited. This study answers the following questions as they relate to evolution and legal parameters surrounding the charter movement using exploratory case study method: 1) What is the evolution of the charter school movement in the United States and specifically in Florida, and the legal precedence that comes from this reform effort? 2) What are legal parameters regarding the charter school movement nationally? (e.g. constitutional law, statutory law, administrative law, common or court/case law, and contract law) and 3) What present legal structures and parameters affect Florida’s charter school movement? The significance of this study lies in the need to understand significant legal parameters surrounding the current charter school movement and how policies and law related to charter schools impact stakeholders. All of the findings together signify the important role legislators and the judicial powers execute in the ongoing realization of the charter school movement. The legal support of the charter school movement fosters an opportunity for the development of charter schools. With charter school implementation, several issues arise in the process of the charter school practice. The study shows the following themes impacting the charter school movement: regulations, accountability, Special Education, facility concerns, innovations, and employee and legislative issues. Charter schools provide a niche for certain parents desiring a different approach from the local public school. Charter schools provide a niche to parents seeking alternatives to traditional public school education. Charter schools will continue to exist and cater to parents desiring school choice options.

abstract: Arizona’s district and charter communities have a history of conflict, including working against each other when advocating policy positions at the state legislature. The purpose of this research was to improve the relationship between the district and charter communities through an intervention based on intergroup contact theory. Through her personal network, the researcher formed and facilitated the Arizona Initiative for Public Education Dialogue (AZ iPED), comprised of eight district superintendents and charter leaders. This mixed-methods, action research study explored what happened when Arizona school district superintendents and charter school leaders were brought through intergroup contact to discuss potential policies they could jointly support. This study addressed the following three research questions: To what extent does intergroup contact increase allophilia (positive attitudes) between Arizona school district and charter school leaders? In what ways do participants voice allophilia during in-group dialogue? How do school district superintendents and charter school leaders socially construct and negotiate narratives that support the conflict between their two communities? The members of AZ iPED met four times from October through December, 2016. Allophilia (positive feelings toward the outgroup) data included an Allophilia Scale administered at the beginning and end of the study and transcripts of first and second in-group district and charter focus groups. Results are reported through descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed ranks of matched samples, and content analysis. Findings indicated a non-statistically significant increase in allophilia. Content analysis also indicated increases in the quantity and quality of allophilia talk. Narrative analysis of conflict talk generated the four following themes: competition sets the stage for conflict, actions construct conflict, perceptions sustain conflict, and conflict causes feelings. Those themes provided structure for compiling a collective District Narrative and collective Charter Narrative, which were further analyzed through the lens of conflict-sustaining collective narratives. Narrative analysis of select portions of the transcript suggested processes through which conflict-sustaining narratives were constructed and negotiated during intergroup contact. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2017

No description available.

No description available.

As schools have become more diverse ethnically and linguistically, the likelihood of cultural mismatches among students, families, and teachers has increased (Frank, 1999). Culturally relevant pedagogy has at its core the understanding that incorporating students‘ culture into the practices of the school and the classroom through culturally relevant curriculum is likely to improve student cooperation, inspire a greater understanding of the educational program, and increase academic outcomes (Brown, 2004). These pedagogies have the potential to be a vital tool toward closing the achievement gap, yet the practices associated with them are in danger of meeting the same fate as multicultural education. A lack of knowledge about the theory, practice, and implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy has led to ineffective attempts to meet the needs of students most at risk (White-Clark, 2005). Using the five themes of Critical Race Theory (Solórzano & Yosso, 2001) as the theoretical framework, the research examined how teachers perceive and implement culturally relevant pedagogy, and how students and their families perceive and evaluate these practices. This research conducted at a inner city, charter elementary school was grounded on Ladson-Billings‘ work on culturally relevant pedagogy and the three concepts of knowledge that she identified that teachers must bring to the classroom and impart to their students: a) Academic achievement, b) Cultural competence, and c) Sociopolitical consciousness (Ladson-Billings, 2001). The educational significance of this study resides in an analysis of its potential to influence teaching practices in many existing classroom settings that have an ethnically diverse population of students. On a micro level, through the use of catalytic validity and ongoing dialogue with the participants, the potential arose for members of the school community to have greater input in the structuring of their children‘s education. As members of the school community engage in future decisions regarding culturally relevant strategies, these research findings offer them an informed and critical perspective to work from.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the instructional outcomes in the independent school districts and charter schools in relation to the expenditure of public funds for instruction and total operating expenditures from the general fund. The study considered Texas elementary charter schools and independent school districts, whose school populations were identified as having greater than or equal to 50% of economically disadvantaged students, according to the Texas Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS). The study made use of multiple regression and was an ex post facto cross-sectional analysis utilizing production function theory. The study’s outcomes reported the difference in student achievement between elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools were small to negligible for math and reading achievement. The study also reported, there is no statistically significant difference in per pupil expenditure of public funds between elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools. Furthermore, there is no statistically significant relationship between student achievement and per pupil expenditure of public funds on elementary schools in independent public school districts and charter schools.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees certain rights and protections to students with disabilities enrolled in public schools, and to their families. Even though virtual schools are one of the fastest growing trends in public k-12 education, there is evidence that these schools may not be fully implementing IDEA for enrolled students with disabilities. There has been some concern regarding the appropriateness of virtual education for student with disabilities, as well as some concern for the spectrum of services being offered in virtual schools. This case study examined the implementation of special education supports and services in one public virtual k-12 school in the United States. Interviews, document review, and participant observations were used to collect data. Findings indicated that components of IDEA were not being universally implemented for students with disabilities. Limited programming options, large special education caseloads, and an over-dependence on parents and other non-teacher adults limits students’ access to Free and Appropriate Public Education, Least Restrictive Environment, and Individualized Education Plans. Issues were also identified in the provision of Appropriate Evaluation, Parent Participation, and Procedural Safeguards. Regardless of documented challenges, benefits to virtual education were noted. Parent, faculty and staff participants reported being happier with virtual school than brick-and-mortar. Faculty enjoys easy access to a multitude of academic data. Relationships and communication among community members was reported to be stronger than what was previously experienced in brick-and-mortar schools. Faculty, staff and parent participants discussed students’ emotional and physical safety as a benefit of virtual education.

Orientador: Maria das Graças Conde Caldas / Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto de Estudo da Linguagem e ao Laboratório de Estudos Avançados em Jornalismo, da Universidade Estadual de Campinas / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T13:43:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_StelladeMello_M.pdf: 8269089 bytes, checksum: 5492c5eb56443ea718c8e44a9586a007 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, está centrada na reflexão entre Educação, Comunicação e Cultura, tendo como referencial teórico os Estudos Sociais e Culturais. Objetivou compreender o olhar cultural do professor de Ensino Médio, a partir do uso da mídia na escola e, para isto, foi investigada a revista Carta na Escola - suplemento especializado em Ensino Médio - da revista semanal de informação, Carta Capital. Verificou de que forma os conteúdos jornalísticos sobre acontecimentos da atualidade foram utilizados pelos professores, como complemento paradidático, em diferentes disciplinas - considerando as propostas dos PCNEM para cada uma delas. Examinou, ainda, a recepção e a compreensão de Carta na Escola entre os alunos. O corpus da pesquisa foi constituído por cinco edições da revista, no período de agosto a dezembro de 2011, para melhor entendimento de sua proposta pedagógica. Em seguida, ancorada nos estudos das Teorias de Recepção, a pesquisa usou o método de Grupo Focal - para aprofundamento da análise - com sete professores e oito alunos do 2º ano do Ensino Médio, o que permitiu compreender, numa perspectiva dialógica, como se opera, na sala de aula, o debate cultural e formador da visão de mundo dos alunos. Foram gravadas, em vídeo, todas as aulas com o uso das reportagens de Carta na Escola, bem como aplicados questionários aos professores e alunos para verificar os resultados do uso dessa mídia em sala de aula. Finalmente, por meio do cruzamento dos dados coletados (documentos, entrevistas, observação direta), foi realizada a análise final dos resultados, sob uma perspectiva foucaultiana (1979), tomando por justificativa sua concentração menos ligada a detalhes dos textos e, sim, focada em um olhar historicamente discursivo dos atores sociais subjacentes aos textos e aos contextos. A pesquisa apontou para uma mídia que procura adequar suas propostas didáticas às competências e habilidades descritas nos PCNEM; entretanto, não "ouve" o professor-leitor de maneira sistemática, mas sim, esporádica e genérica. Quanto à seleção de temas, os critérios para sua escolha e diversidade são oscilantes, havendo priorização de assuntos relacionados às Ciências Humanas e suas Tecnologias em detrimento das Ciências da Natureza, Matemática e suas Tecnologias. Os professores e alunos entenderam que o conteúdo programático da escola associado ao uso desta mídia, em específico, facilita o "querer-aprender" à medida que a notícia os coloca - docente e discente - frente a um sentido de pertencimento social, de lógica, de utilidade à vida que segue além das carteiras da escola / Abstract: This research, qualitative in nature, focuses on a discussion involving Education, Communication and Culture, theoretically based on Social and Cultural Studies. It aimed at understanding the cultural perspective of High School teachers through their use of media resources in the school setting. To achieve this goal, we investigated the magazine Carta na Escola [School Letter] - a supplement of the weekly news magazine Carta Capital dealing with High School issues. The study verified how journalistic contents about current events were used by teachers as supplementary educational materials in different disciplines, considering the proposals of the PCN [Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais - Brazilian National Curricular Parameters] for each discipline. It also examined how Carta na Escola has been received and understood by students. The corpus of the research consisted of five editions of the magazine, from August to December 2011, to better understand its pedagogical proposal. Then, anchored in the studies of Theories of Reception, the research used the method Focus Group, for an in-depth analysis. The group was made up of seven teachers and eight second-year High School students, which allowed us to understand, in a dialogical perspective, how the cultural debate operates in the classroom and contributes to the development of the students' worldview. All classes which used the articles of Carta na Escola were recorded on video and questionnaires were filled out by teachers and students to check the results of the use of this media in the classroom. Finally, by crossing the collected data (documents, interviews and direct observation), the final analysis of results was carried out from a Foucaultian perspective (1979), since such approach focuses less on textual details and more on a historically discursive perspective of the social actors behind texts and contexts. The research pointed to a media that seeks to adapt its teaching proposals to the skills and abilities described in the PCNEM [Brazilian National Curricular Parameters for High School]. However, it does not "listen to" the teacher-reader systematically, but rather sporadically and generically. Regarding the selection of topics, the criteria for their choice and variety are oscillating, with priority given to issues related to Human Sciences and their technologies to the detriment of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and their technologies. Teachers and students understood that the curriculum of the school associated with the use of this particular media facilitates the willingness to learn, since news in general brings teachers and students a sense of social belonging, logic and usefulness that goes beyond the formal school teaching / Mestrado / Divulgação Científica e Cultural / Mestra em Divulgação Científica e Cultural