Increasing parental involvement was made an important goal for all Florida schools in educational reform legislation in the 1990's. A forum for this input was established and became known as the School Advisory Council (SAC). To demonstrate the importance of process and inclusion, a south Florida school district and its local teacher's union agreed on the following five goals for SACs: (a) to foster an environment of professional collaboration among all stakeholders, (b) to assist in the preparation and evaluation of the school improvement plan, (c) to address all state and district goals, (d) to serve as the avenue for authentic and representative input from all stakeholders, and (e) to ensure the continued existence of the consensus-building process on all issues related to the school's instructional program. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent and in what ways the parent members of one south Florida middle school's SAC achieved the five district goals during its first three years of implementation. The primary participants were 16 parents who served as members of the SAC, while 16 non-parent members provided perspective on parent involvement as "outside sources." Being qualitative by design, factors such as school climate, leadership styles, and the quality of parental input were described from data collected from four sources: parent interviews, a questionnaire of non-parents, researcher observations, and relevant documents. A cross-case analysis of all data informed a process evaluation that described the similarities and differences of intended and observed outcomes of parent involvement from each source using Stake's descriptive matrix model. A formative evaluation of the process compared the observed outcomes with standards set for successful SACs, such as the district's five goals. The findings indicated that parents elected to the SACs did not meet the intended goals set by the state and district. The school leadership did not foster an environment of professional collaboration and authentic decision-making for parents and other stakeholders. The overall process did not include consensus-building, and there was little if any input by parents on school improvement and other important issues relating to the instructional program. Only two parents gave the SAC a successful rating for involving parents in the decision-making process. Although compliance was met in many of the procedural transactions of the SAC, the reactions of parents to their perceived role and influence often reflected feelings of powerlessness and frustration with a process that many thought lacked meaningfulness and productivity. Two conclusions made from this study are as follows: (a) that the role of the principal in the collaborative process is pivotal, and (b) that the normative-re-educative approach to change would be most appropriate for SACs.

Desegregation of social and public spaces was the most visible result of the Civil Rights Movement. After 1960, the integration of schools in Mississippi became a source of conflict. The social change of Civil Rights attacked the social order of White Resistance that supported the state superstructure. The public schools were a place for the discovery of identity for Blacks. The integration of the schools caused many Whites to leave rather than be integrated with Blacks. Desegregation of schools was also a slow process because the local and state government could not enforce the decisions of the US Courts, leading Blacks to realize their place in American society could only be secured through individual action. This work explains the role of schooling during the integration of the Holly Springs Separate School System. The process of forging a new identity by local Blacks is examined against the forces of social change and resistance. I addition, this work examines the perils for the Blacks as they faced the uncertainty of change in the crucial Civil Rights years between 1964 and 1974. This work analyzes how the Black community dealt with the problems triggered by the desegregation of the school system in Holly Springs, of a constructed social condition, a psychological state of being, the realities of racism and segregation, and the change and resistance between the individual and the collective. It is based on six months of field work investigation. Although the schools were a crucial aspect of community life for Blacks and Whites, Blacks did form their identity in them. Other institutions, such as churches were more crucial. Second, the aspect of politeness and belief in law made the experience in Holly Springs unique to that place, and thus, warrants further study to determine its place within the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, while the political and economic control of Holly Springs remained with Whites, desegregation led to the resegregation of the public schools as Whites left to private schools.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of educators at one elementary school regarding the changes in the teaching and learning environment and their related effects following the implementation of Florida's A+ high-stakes accountability system. This study also assessed whether these changes were identified by participants as meaningful and enduring, in terms of the definition by Lieberman and Miller (1999). Twenty-one educators, including 17 teachers and four administrators, at Blue Ribbon Elementary school were interviewed. Data were inductively coded and categorized into four major themes: (a) teaching and learning environment consistency, (b) changes in the teaching and learning environment since the implementation of A+, (c) effects of the changes, and (d) significant and enduring change. Findings fell into three categories (a) identified changes since A+ implementation, (b) effects of changes, and (c) what participants believed was significant and long term change, which included those characteristics of the school that had been identified as consistent in the teaching and learning environment. Statements of the participants explained their perceptions about what instructional decisions where made in response to the A+ Plan including the modification of curriculum, the addition or omission of subject matter taught, and the positive or negative impact these decisions had on the teaching and learning environment. It was found that study participants felt all changes and their effects were a direct result of the A+ Plan and viewed many of the changes as being neither significant nor long term Analysis of the educators' perceptions of the changes they experienced revealed the overall feeling that the changes were not indicative of what was necessary to make a school successful. For the participants, the changes lacked the characteristics that they had described as vital in what constituted success. This led to the conclusion that, by Lieberman and Miller's definition, the majority of changes and effects that were implemented at the school as a result of the mandated A+ Plan, were not meaningful and enduring for effective school reform.

The purpose of this study was to determine fifth grade students' perceptions of the Fitnessgram physical fitness testing program. This study examined if the Fitnessgram physical fitness testing experience promotes an understanding of the health-related fitness components and examined the relationship between individual fitness test scores and time spent participating in out-of-school physical activity. Lastly, students' thoughts and feelings concerning the Fitnessgram experience were examined. The primary participant population for the study was 110 fifth grade students at Redland Elementary School, a Miami-Dade County Public School (M-DCPS). Data were collected over the course of 5 months. Multiple sources of data allowed for triangulation. Data sources included Fitnessgram test scores, questionnaires, document analysis, and in-depth interviews. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively for common broad themes, which were identified and defined. Document analysis included analyzing student fitness test scores and student questionnaire data. This information was analyzed to determine if the Fitnessgram test scores have an impact on student views about the school fitness-testing program. Data were statistically analyzed using analysis of frequency, crosstabulations (Bryman & Duncan, 1997), and Somers'd Correlation (Bryman & Duncan, 1997). The results of the analysis of data on student knowledge of the physical fitness components tested by each Fitnessgram test revealed students do not understand the health-related fitness components. The results of determining a relationship between individuals' fitness test scores and time spent in out-of-school physical activity revealed a significant positive relationship for 2 of the 6 Fitnessgram tests. The results of examining students' thoughts and feelings about each Fitnessgram test focused around 2 broad themes: (a) these children do not mind the physical fitness testing and (b) how they felt about the experience was directly related to how they thought they had performed. If the goal of physical fitness was only to get children fit, this test may be appropriate. However, the ultimate goal of physical fitness is to encourage students to live active and healthy lifestyles. Findings suggest the Fitnessgram as implemented by M-DCPS may not be the most suitable measurement instrument when assessing attitudinal changes that affect a healthy lifelong lifestyle. ^

This study examined the effectiveness of the TEAM (Teaching Enrichment Activities to Minorities) program in preparing and identifying underrepresented students for entrance into the gifted program. Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) developed the TEAM program as an intervention program aimed at developing student's thinking skills and critical thinking skills in all subject areas and prepare students for possible placement into the gifted program. A systematic sampling strategy was utilized to select three TEAM schools from each of the six regions in M-DCPS for the sample, for a total of 18 schools. A pool of the students that participated in the TEAM program in 2003-2004 in the 18 schools selected were identified as the TEAM Sample students. A matching sample was created from 18 public schools in Miami-Dade County that did not implement the TEAM program in 2003-2004. The Matching Sample created a match for 806 students in the TEAM sample, for a total of 1612 subjects for the study.

The purpose of this study was to make explicit some meanings teachers give to the process of curriculum implementation, in order to understand how they typically experience this change. From their experiences and meanings, some typical structures of curriculum change were defined. The major question asked was: What are the typical structures of curriculum change? Methodologically this major question was divided into the following questions: 1. How is curriculum change experienced by teachers? 2. What commonalities (i.e typical structures) underlie these experiences? 3. What ideal type of curriculum change emerges from these typical structures? Through taped interviews and subsequent transcript analysis, three structures of change emerged. The first structure was 'actual use', what teachers did during daily activities when working with the new curriculum. The second structure was their experience of 'time', how teachers perceived and organized their time during implementation. The third structure consisted of various 'influences' upon the teachers' experience of implementation. These 'influences' included their beliefs about teaching, their talking with other educators, the kinds of support they received during the change, and the student responses towards the new curriculum. Included in the study were twenty primary teachers within two school districts who were implementing the Ginn 720 Reading Program during the 1979-80 school year. Fourteen teachers were individually interviewed three times: first, to elicit their experiences of change; second to validate the researcher's interpretations of transcript conversations; and third to validate the researcher's conclusions regarding curriculum change as experienced by teachers. Six others who were not involved in the data gathering interviews, also participated in individual interviews as a final validation of the study's conclusions. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This study describes the development of an instrument which would permit educators to carry out more meaningful education goal selection surveys, or "needs assessments", than is presently done. The instrument, called the Reasons Selection Questionnaire (RSQ), enables educators to identify the reasons which people used to judge the worth of educational goals, and provides information needed to select defensible goals. The-study was undertaken in the educational setting of a unique post-primary schooling program, offered in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. The Reasons Selection Questionnaire was field tested using a stratified random sample of people in the community of Honiara, and all the students at the Solomon Island Teachers' College. The data obtained were interpreted to show that the RSQ successfully met appropriate validity criteria, was generally easily understood and completed by the people in the samples, and provided results which had high test-retest stability. Different analysis strategies, appropriate for the RSQ data, are explored in this study. In addition, suggestions are made for potential applications of, and for further research on the RSQ technique. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment or partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR of EDUCATION in the Department of Philosophy of Education at the University of Zululand, 1987. / The study on "The School Curriculum and its Relevance to Black Societal Pressures" is in the field of Philosophy of Education. Some educators may not see how relevant this study is to Philosophy of Education as they maintain that language analysis should be the primary role with which philosophy of education should be concerned. Their contention is that deliberate education should be more precise and scientific, and analysis offers one way for doing this. According to them many educational problems are largely language problems. If these can be solved then education problems may' then be solved. To this view JI Reid in Archambault (1972) replies that analysis is a legitimate part of philosophical analysis - a part only, and a culture wholly devoted to analysis would be decadent. He argues that if analysis loses the sense of the whole it ceases to be an intelligent analysis. This conviction is made clear in the assertion that:- "analysis without synthesis is blind, or at least pointless or -feckless." (p. 24) Philosophy of education should be understood as the use of philosophical instruments. the application of philosophical methods. to questions of education. as well as the relation to education of the relevant results of philosophical thinking. A philosophy of education will be a more worked out. systematic philosophical treatment of those aspects of educational theory that are susceptible to philosophical treatment. Philosophy of education is conceived of by Kneller (1972) as seeking to understand education in its entirety. interpreting it by means of concepts which shall guide choice of educational - ends and policies. Philosophy of education/ "education depends on formal philosophy to the extent that problems in education are of' a general philosophical character~i Criticism of educational Policies or suggestion of new ones cannot be gotten into prior to such general philosophical questions -as: 'the nature of the good life to which education should lead; the nature of man himself. because it is man who is being educated; . the nature of society. since education is a social endeavour; the nature of ultimate reality. that all knowledge seeks to, penetrate . Kneller (1972) maintains that. nothing contributes more to. continuous.• patient and careful reflection "than. the treatment of' an educational problem in its metaphysical dimensions. - Philosophers of education draw on established branches of philosophy and bring them together in ways that' 'are relevant to educational issues. In the same tone the importance of philosophy in determining curriculum trends and decisions-has. been expressed by Hopkins who is quoted by Doll~ (l982: p, 25) as maintaining that:" "There is rarely a moment in a school day when a teacher is not- confronted. with occasions . where philosophy is a vital part of action. An inventory of situations where philosophy was not used in curriculum and teaching would lead to a pile of chaff thrown out of educative experiences." This thesis is founded on Oakeshott’s concept of education as A specific human engagement. This notion is important because it should be recognized. that the neonate does not grow and develop by reacting to the environment like a biological organism, He must be welcomed. be led. 'be brought up. by an adult. and be initiated into the world to be helped to participate in it .. This adult t has a goal of which he is forever conscious. 'A human being is the sojourner in a world of meanings not things.' I t is .a. world of occurrences in some manner recognised. identified. 'understood and -responded to in terms of this understanding. It is a world of sentiments and beliefs. 'I t includes artifacts that 'are expressions which 'have meanings and require to be 'understood in order to be used and enjoyed. Laok of this_ understanding presupposes being a -stranger to the human condition. Human conduct subscribes to . procedures composed of rules and rule-like considerations. to which "human beings should" subscribe if there" is ~something they want to say or do. In Oakeshott's words (1972: p.18-19): "Being human is recognizing oneself to be related to others in virtue of participation in multiple understood relationships and.. in the enjoyment of understood historic languages of feelings. sentiments, imaginings. 'fancies desires. recognitions. moral ~and religious beliefs. intellectual and practical enterprises, customs. conventions, procedures-and . . practices, canons. maxims and principles of conduct. rules which denote obligations and offices which specify duties," Education •then is important for a human neonate because of his human condition that demands that he be. initiated. into an inheritance of human •achievements of understanding, conviction, belief. and attitude.This inheritance is composed of states > of .mind that may be entered into only in an education endeavor. To - be human. involves engaging in Activities, knowing and being aware of what one is doing and why. Initiation into this condition can only be in an engagement in which the child learns to understand.. Education is not a transfer 'of the wisdom of earlier '. generations to the ,child. ',nor "is' the .child to be Adept.. adept at mimicking current adult performances .. Education does ~not involve internalizing a whole gamut. of. ready-made ideas. images. sentiments. beliefs. anxieties, aspirations and .expectations of adults. It demands "acquiring the abilities of looking. listening. thinking, feeling, imagining. believing. understanding, deciding. choosing and wishing. The~ child should develop the ability of throwing. back upon the world his own version of a human: being-in-conduct, which is both a self disclosure and a self-enactment. Educational engagement between the adult and child . rests on the belief of the worth of what is to be conveyed to the child.• The only essential medium through which this spectrum. of knowledge can be transmitted to a child is the curriculum. Such a curriculum, if it must be-effective, should bear the background of a child. The adult must be an active interventionist in the 'education activity. He must explain, instruct as well as guide and stimulate the child positively. What children are taught is to be seen worthy by them. To foster' this, it must be of such a kind that it can by degrees be made their own. Instead of remaining an alien school matter. it must become deeply• formative of, children’s ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. To accomplish this objective the teacher must find the right balance between pressure and permissiveness, between. freedom and authority • between' self-expression and submission' to , disciplines. This help-enables the ,child to find the best in himself in terms of what society thinks to be the best in their culture.

Abstract The study explores the nature of disciplinary knowledge differences and similarities between the sciences and the engineering sciences as these appear in curriculum texts. The work is presented as a case study of curriculum knowledge in thermodynamics, and the epistemic properties are investigated in four sub-cases in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, physics and chemistry. Data was collected from prescribed undergraduate textbooks in the four disciplinary fields. The work is theoretically informed by two fields of scholarly work: the sociology of educational knowledge (in particular the work of Basil Bernstein) and the applied philosophies of science and engineering science, in order to develop a theoretical framework for analysis of the data. The framework allows the study to move beyond the typical binary classification of the sciences as 'hard-pure' and engineering sciences as 'hard-applied' disciplines. Starting from broad teleological considerations, the philosophical concepts of specialisation, idealisation and normativity are explored and developed into modalities and modal continua of variance to allow investigation of the epistemic differences and similarities in the recontextualised disciplinary knowledge from these contiguous conceptual fields. The empirical study identifies important differences in thermodynamics curriculum knowledge in terms of specialisation, normativity and idealisation across the broad disciplinary fields, rendering more complex Bernstein's notions of singulars and regions. The epistemic modalities and modes provide a way to conceive in more detail how the professional engineering science knowledge is orientated towards its field of practice. Curriculum knowledge in the engineering sciences is shown to be remarkably different from the knowledge in the sciences: both mechanical and chemical engineering knowledge emphasise particulars, rather than universals, have stronger normative aspects, and employ a limited form of idealisation in their commitment to physical realisability. By contrast, knowledge in the sciences is more universal, normativity is incidental, and idealisation is used expansively. In addition, the research findings suggest a negative correlation between idealisation and normativity as epistemic modalities: a commitment to normative concerns in the engineering sciences constrains the extent to which knowledge idealisation is pursued, compared to what is observed in the bodies of science curriculum knowledge. Furthermore, over and above differences in curriculum knowledge between the broad fields of science and engineering science, discernible variation exists between the engineering sciences investigated, raising cautions against a monolithic view of curricular epistemic properties across broad disciplinary areas.

This research study was motivated by a research project which observed differences in achievement levels within the creative arts classroom between working class schools and middle class schools. These achievement gaps were largely attributed to inadequate pedagogue skills and content knowledge and the lack of adequate materials in working class schools. The research project sought a way to address this problem by initiating a 2-year pilot extracurricular project at one working class school by introducing a methodology, freespace, which sought to simultaneously bring in facilitators and practitioners who work in the creative arts and also to provide the resources needed. Freespace is described as an informal educational tool which draws its principles from popular education discourse. The purpose of this research study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the transmission of pedagogic discourse between the informal classroom (freespace) and the formal classroom; with a particular emphasis on the regulative discourse inherent to both practices. Furthermore, this research study sought to understand the sort of contribution that informal pedagogic practice might make to the formal creative arts classroom. In order to conduct this study I employed Bernstein's model of the pedagogic device to set out my research design. I also used his methodology of developing an external language of description for coding my data. I conducted interviews with pedagogues and classroom observation to collect my data. The interview data were coded using Maton's development of Bernstein's code theory, namely Legitimation Code Theory (Specialisation) using epistemic and social relations, to allow me to capture the values and intentions of the pedagogues (the intended curriculum). To capture the enacted curriculum, I used Bernstein's framing dimensions to code the data from the classroom observations. The findings of this research study suggest that the pedagogic discourse(s) of both the formal and informal context and their inherent regulative discourses privilege an ideal learner-knower. In conclusion, this research study seeks to suggest that while the cultivated gaze has proven beneficial with respect to inculcating learners into a given dominant discourse, particularly within the creative arts; that an argument can also be made for adopting a social gaze in this particular context (working class school) in order to a) allow learners to be adequately socialised into art practise and b) allow for a plurality of the epistemic in order that both the dominant gaze and notions of achievement and effective pedagogy might be disrupted.