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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / An important component of President Johnson's War on Poverty, Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 represented government's first legislative acknowledgement of the educational challenges that children who live in poverty face. The original and abiding goal of Title I is to meet the special educational needs of disadvantaged students by providing supplementary funding to the schools that serve them; this funding purchases additional programming and resources that should, in theory, enable disadvantaged students to achieve at levels comparable to their more privileged peers. Despite its noble intent, more than forty years of research on the effects of Title I shows that it has had, at best, little effect on the achievement of disadvantaged students and, at worst, no effect at all. In an effort to determine why Title I has not measurably impacted the achievement of disadvantaged students, this research turns to the international community to understand similar policies employed in other countries. After classifying and describing the most common international policies for targeting financial and other resources to disadvantaged youth, the author attempts to link, via regression analysis, three different models of targeting funding and resources to student outcomes on the 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examination. Citing a lack of sufficient data to establish a relationship between prevalent models and student level outcomes on PISA, the author goes on to present case studies of the policies in place in three different countries, each of which represents a particular model of targeting funding and resources to disadvantaged students. The three case studies focus on The Netherlands, England, and Spain. Drawing from an analysis of policy documents and survey and interview data, each case study describes 1) how a particular international model of targeting resources looks in implementation and 2) the extent to which policies employed within each model align with documented best practices for the education of disadvantaged students. The research concludes with an assessment of what the United States can learn from each of the countries studied and with a comprehensive set of recommendations for the reauthorization of Title I. / 2031-01-02

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-111). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-111). Also available on the Internet.

Today there is a large consensus about the importance of Swedish schools providingconditions enabling students to develop the ability to manage and learn through information technologies (IT). The goal of this study was to describe and examine how national education goals for the use of IT transformed into municipal IT-strategies for the school. A content analysis was conducted of thirty-eight municipal IT-strategies collected from Swedish municipal websites on the Internet. The content in the municipal IT-strategies was compared with the content in both the Swedish education act and the national curriculum. The results showed that the content in the Swedish education act and the national curriculum in fact was translated into municipal IT strategies, but that the range of strategies concerning technology, pedagogy and content in relation to IT was broad. In several of the IT-strategies, aspects of technology and pedagogy were clearly expressed while links to content was given a limited attention.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between professional characteristics and training of building level school administrators in Virginia and their knowledge of special education law. The research question was, to what extent and in what manner can school administrators' knowledge of special education law be explained based upon administrative position, school level, number of special education courses, number of school law courses, and experience? Knowledge of special education law was a total score on a survey instrument developed by Hines (1993) and updated to include eight areas of the 1997 Amendments to IDEA. A second part of the instrument collected information on professional characteristics and training. The survey was mailed to school building administrators throughout Virginia. The subjects in the study were randomly selected from Virginia public K-12 schools. Sampling was stratified by school level and wealth. The data were analyzed using a step-wise regression. Number of special education courses accounted for 4% of the variation in knowledge. Number of school law courses completed also entered into the analysis but had an inverse correlation with knowledge. The average knowledge score for administrators in this study was 18 or 56% correct. Identification of factors which have the greatest influence on principal knowledge of special education law can be used to plan effective preparation of school building administrators. School building administrators who are knowledgeable of special education law can ensure the protection of the rights of disabled students, build positive relationships within the community, and avoid costly litigation. / Ed. D.

This study examined the policy letters and verbal testimony transcripts submitted by interest groups to the United States Department of Education (USDE) in response to the proposed regulations pertaining to the implementation of the 1997 reauthorization of P. L. 105-17, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Specifically, this study analyzed the emerging themes in the area of discipline. Responses were received from the following interest groups: (a) school administrators, (b) parents, (c) teachers, (d) state educational agencies (SEAs), (e) national educational organizations, and (f) members of the United States Congress. In addition to analyzing the emerging themes, the study compared these themes to ones found in the current literature and court cases.

In mandating new curriculum, state legislatures frequently have opted to require school districts to "infuse" new content rather than adopt a new course. The lack of procedural guidelines in these legislative mandates leaves curriculum specialists to struggle with an "infusion dilemma," the problem of implementing the new curriculum without knowing how it should appear, once implemented. The purpose of this study was to examine interpretations of infusion held by persons responsible for operationalizing an infusion mandate. The interpretations of "infusion" held by people concerned with the implementation of the 1977 Economic Education Act in Texas were investigated. Selected legislators, state agency personnel, curriculum consultants, economics educators, and classroom teachers were interviewed about the concept and process of infusion.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka vilka förutsättningar skolkuratorer i Stockholmupplever sig ha för att arbeta förebyggande och hälsofrämjande med psykisk ohälsa bland unga. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats då nio intervjuer med skolkuratorer verksamma på gymnasieskolor i Stockholmsområdet har genomförts. Delar av Lipskys (2010) teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater och deras handlingsutrymme samt en organisationsteori från Abrahamsson (2000) användes för att analysera empirin. Resultatet visade att de intervjuade skolkuratorerna upplevde sig ha varierande förutsättningar att arbeta förebyggande och hälsofrämjande med psykisk ohälsa bland eleverna. Vidare framkom att det är otydligt definierat, både i skollagen (2010:800) och på de enskilda arbetsplatserna, vad det innebär i praktiken att arbetaförebyggande och hälsofrämjande. Genomgående uttryckte skolkuratorerna en önskan om att arbeta mer på gruppnivå vilket också var deras definition av förebyggande och hälsofrämjande arbete. Resultatet visade att skolkuratorernas ambitioner inte stämde överens med hur de beskrevatt de arbetade. Avslutningsvis diskuteras skolkuratorernas upplevda svårigheter med att vara den enda personen som bedriver psykosocialt arbete i en organisation som skolan, där fokus främst är måluppfyllelse. / The aim of this study was to investigate how school counsellors in Stockholm experienced their work conditions and their own abilities to work with mental health prevention and health promotion among young students. The study was conducted trough nine qualitative interviews with school counsellors at nine upper secondary schools, in the Stockholm area. To analyze the empirical data, we have used parts of Lipskys (2010) theory about “street level-bureacrats” and their discretion, and Abrahamssons (2000) theory about organization. The results showed different conditions and abilities among the interviewees for working with prevention and health promotion projects among young students. Our results also showed that the Swedish Education Act and school counsellors job descriptions was vaguely defined regarding the prevention and health promotion projects. Througout the interviews, the school counsellors expressed a desire to work more with group projects, which was also their definition of prevention and health promotion. The results also showed an inconsistency between the school counsellors ambitions and the way they currently carry out their work. In the conclusion we discuss how the school counsellors feel about being the only employee that works with social work, in organisations that primarily focus on achievements.