<p> <i>Objective:</i> This study explored views of outstanding leadership among the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals working in the United States within the business and industry sector. U.S. STEM occupations are projected to experience 11.1% growth between 2016 and 2026, higher than the projected 7.4% growth for all occupations (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017a). The U.S. has undertaken aggressive STEM educational reform and recruiting, to ensure the nation&rsquo;s continued prosperity and national security (National Science Board, 2018b; U.S. Department of Education, 2018). A shift in U.S. STEM demographics will present challenges for business leaders, human resources (HR) practitioners, and educators who prepare leaders for the increasingly cross-cultural workplace. <i> Method:</i> This correlational study applied the GLOBE leadership scales to explore study participants&rsquo; views according to gender, age, national origin group, number of years worked in the U.S, and workforce category. <i> Results:</i> The five leader attributes rated as most contributing to outstanding leadership were: (a) trustworthy, (b) clear, (c) sincere, (d) inspirational, and (e) diplomatic. There were 64 statistically significant correlations of low strength and 1 of moderate strength.</p><p>

<p> Today, colleges and universities are tasked with understanding complex and sometimes conflicting data on female students. Until 2018 and the #METOO movement, media narratives proclaimed that Western women lived in a postfeminist world where &ldquo;sexism no longer exists&rdquo; (Pomerantz &amp; Raby, 2017, p. 11). Meanwhile, researchers have demonstrated in multiple studies that the experiences of undergraduate women differ from those of their male peers (Kim &amp; Sax, 2009; Wharton, 2012). </p><p> Looking at committees on the status of college women is a way to understand how the institutions preparing young people for the world metabolize conflicting data on female students and approach equity issues. The purpose of this study was to examine how three universities&mdash;Duke University, Princeton University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology&mdash;researched and wrote about the status of female undergraduates and to assess the impact of each university&rsquo;s work. </p><p> Through analyses of reports and interviews with campus leaders and current students, I concluded that the work of the committees at Duke and Princeton was framed as &ldquo;women&rsquo;s work&rdquo; for administrators, faculty, staff, and students. This framing is consistent with neoliberal ideology: The committees saw the impact of cultural and institutional gender inequity but described it in a way that made it only the work of some&mdash;it was &ldquo;women&rsquo;s work,&rdquo; and female students should adapt, cope, or change. </p><p> At MIT, the report was &ldquo;women&rsquo;s work&rdquo; because two female students spearheaded and led it. Their approach to data collection could serve as a model for other campuses that want to understand the extent to which the undergraduate experience is gendered.</p><p>

<p> This thesis analyzes the political genesis of Brazil&rsquo;s recent reform of its upper-secondary education system, the Novo Ensino M&eacute;dio Reform. This latest reform has been highly controversial and linked by many to the government of President Michel Temer. However, this argues that the reform is much larger than the Temer administration that produced it. This reform, that creates a seven-hour school day and allows upper-secondary students to choose an area of specialization, is a continuation of a history of incremental reform that has taken place against the backdrop of shifting educational priorities. This reform coincided with a shift towards a human capital centric ideology that is heavily influenced by international organizations, such as the World Bank. Furthermore, the reform is also largely the result of a bipartisan commission whose work preceded the Temer administration. The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff brought President Temer to power and allowed for the construction of a new majority. The new administration in turn adopted the already existing proposal for reform of upper-secondary education and modified it to fit their agenda of market friendliness and public burden reduction. The new majority was largely supportive of the reform but the reform also found support amongst the opposition who saw the reform as the logical next step in Brazil&rsquo;s long march towards universalization of upper-secondary education.</p><p>

<p> <b>Purpose.</b> The purpose of the study was to identify the recommendations a Delphi panel of expert practitioners judges to be the most important for improvement of the funding formula for public education in California. This study was also designed to determine the level of importance and degree of feasibility of the recommendations. </p><p> <b>Methodology.</b> This study utilized the Delphi technique to collect data in three iterative rounds. Twenty expert practitioners provided responses to a series of three questionnaires. Additionally, a priority matrix was used to analyze the importance and feasibility of the recommendations. </p><p> <b>Findings.</b> The expert panelists identified 20 recommendations for improvement of the funding formula. The panel reached consensus on the level of importance for 14 recommendations and on the feasibility of 17 recommendations. Two of the priority recommendations for improving the funding formula were related to the base grant funding amount: Experts recommended increasing the base dollar amount allocated to districts and establishing a method to ensure the base grant grows at a rate greater than cost increases incurred by districts. Additionally, two of the priority recommendations were to include students with special needs in the calculations of the funding formula. The experts also identified the need to protect against the addition of new categorical programs. </p><p> <b>Conclusions.</b> The recommendations identified by the expert panel reflect the need to revise the funding formula to adequately cover the basic needs of school districts by providing sufficient funds at the base grant level. Additionally, the recommendations demonstrate a need to revise the eligibility for supplemental and concentration grant funds so districts are able to provide supports for students with disabilities in their accountability plans. </p><p> <b>Recommendations.</b> Specific recommendations were made to improve the funding formula for public education in California: Increase base grant amounts by providing additional funds or adjusting the supplemental and/or concentration grants proportionally. Students with disabilities should be considered at risk and included in the calculations for supplemental and concentration grants. Protect the integrity of the LCFF and LCAP by reducing restrictions on the use of supplemental and concentration grants and restricting new categorical programs.</p><p>

<p> For centuries, education policymakers have sought to identify the most effective way to assess a potential teacher&rsquo;s readiness to enter the classroom. These assessments evolved from multiple choice examinations to performance-based assessments focused on teacher actions. The latest iteration of these performance-baed assessments is edTPA. </p><p> edTPA&rsquo;s structure mirrors that of the assessment for National Board Certification (NBC) designed for veteran teachers. The NBC assessment has shown to be educative for teachers who complete it, leading to positive changes in their post-assessment practice (Athanases, 1994; Hattie &amp; Clinton, 2010; Sato, Darling-Hammond and Wei, 2008; Steeley, 2003). This study examines whether edTPA has similar educative impacts on early career teachers. </p><p> Since edTPA is relatively new, little research has been completed on its impact on teacher practice. Most of the current literature on edTPA focuses on its implementation or on pre-service candidate perceptions of completing the assessment. This interview study also examines candidate perceptions but focuses on whether they felt completing edTPA was educative and impacted their current practice. </p><p> This study includes twenty teachers who participated in two hour-long interviews given roughly six months apart. All of the participants were recent secondary mathematics education graduates from one university. This study is among the first studies of edTPA to include teachers who both completed edTPA and have been teaching for at least two years. Another unique strength of this study is that, prior to the second interview, candidates reviewed their actual edTPA portfolio to help recall components of the assessment and to potentially make clearer connections between edTPA and their current practices. </p><p> The study results support the notion that edTPA can be educative and influence a teacher&rsquo;s current practices around planning, instruction, and assessment. The level of influence that completing edTPA has on a teacher&rsquo;s practices may be impacted by school or district policies that either hinder or support high-scoring edTPA practices. The results demonstrate how edTPA can not only be seen as a summative tool at the end of pre-service teaching, but also a formative tool that impacts the teaching practices of early career teachers.</p><p>

The scholarship regarding the education of American Indians has focused primarily on the trials and atrocities of the period between 1870 and 1930. This thesis expands this analysis and explores the shifts in Indian educational policy that occurred in the mid to late twentieth century. Whereas federally controlled institutions had served as the primary means of educating Indian students prior to the 1930s, between the 1940s and 1960s, the federal government began shifting Indian children into state-controlled public schools. Unbeknownst to federal policymakers, this shift effectively limited federal control of Indian education by putting this control largely in the hands of local white communities whose goals for Indian education often differed greatly from those of the federal government. This limiting of federal power was most clearly demonstrated in the 1970s, when federal policymakers attempted to create a policy of self-determination for Indian education that was applied in only a limited fashion by state public schools.

<p> This study explored the relationship between a National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) College Readiness Program (CRP) Grant and student achievement outcomes in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and on AP Exams in four Alaska high schools. A logistic regression model returned the odds of students obtaining an A or B versus a C, D, or F in an AP course, and earning a passing score versus a failing score on the exam. The results indicate there are more frequent significant differences in exam scores than in course grades based on the independent variables in the regression model. Free-and-reduced lunch (FRL) status and a school&rsquo;s location were the most frequent predictors, followed by gender, grant status, and ethnicity. The lack of difference in AP course grades suggests that non-White, female students receiving FRL, attending an urban high school with the grant may be able to achieve at levels comparable to their more advantaged peers. Furthermore, the percent growth in exam pass rate at the grant schools in the study was higher than the non-grant schools and similar to other state-level studies of the NMSI CRP grant. Beyond the consistent increases in exam pass rate at grant schools, enrollment also grew by 13% for underrepresented students at the urban grant school and by 6% at the suburban grant school. These results can be understood in context of Bioecological Systems Theory, which posits that individuals who experience interactions that underlie development in one environment, which they have not routinely experienced in other environments, will show greater development. In light of this study, this means underserved students may be able to close to the achievement gap to their more affluent peers if they have the necessary academic support. As a result, this study supports reducing barriers to advanced course enrollment, and creating systems to extend time for classroom instruction and teacher professional development.</p><p>

<p> Much attention has been given to &ldquo;bridging the gap&rdquo; between research and practice since neuroscience research first made claim to its potential impact in classrooms. With the inception of Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) as a new interdisciplinary field, an unprecedented opportunity to explore the educational implications of new research coming out of neuroscience has presented itself. And yet, the gap between research and practice persists while new problems arise as education looks to brain science for answers with ongoing social and academic difficulties faced by students. A critical bicultural methodology, grounded in a decolonizing interpretive approach, is utilized to interrogate the field of MBE in order to shed light on the epistemological power dynamics and social justice issues that inform the field. By examining the historical, philosophical, economic, and ideological roots of neuroscience and education, a colonizing epistemology and hidden curriculum of inequality is revealed. The lack of awareness of how MBE, if left unexamined, will continue to fall short of the democratic and socially just goals of education is also addressed. The argument made is that there exists an abyssal divide within the field that epistemologically privileges neuroscience with its reductionist, Eurocentric, and positivist discourse. The case is made that the field must move toward an itinerant position that honors hierarchical dialogue and praxis and places the voices, scholarship, and values of educators and students at the forefront of this educational movement, in order to close the gap between research and practice in emancipatory ways.</p><p>

<p> In the United States, a staggering four thousand students drop out every school day. Moreover, in 2016, the graduation rate in Oregon was only 74.8%, one of the lowest in the nation. Research shows that a disproportionate number of youth leaving school are from historically marginalized communities. Many of these youth resiliently return to education at alternative schools. This research sought to explore the educational experiences of youth in alternative schools in their own voices and perspectives. From a theoretical framework based in sociocultural theory, cultural capital, and critical theory, this study underscored the importance of youth voice in changing the education system by incorporating qualitative methods and YPAR (Youth Participatory Action Research). Working alongside seven youth co-researchers who attended an alternative school in Oregon, we interviewed eight other students at the same school about their educational experiences and perceptions of the education system. The youth co-researchers and I co-constructed four themes collectively: &ldquo;I felt invisible to the teachers&rdquo;; &ldquo;Teaching is a sacred act&rdquo;; &ldquo;Regular high school is like drowning, it&rsquo;s cruel&rdquo;; and &ldquo;Dropping out was [actually] a success.&rdquo; We also compiled counternarratives in the words of the eight student participants, which highlighted how the school system pushed them out despite their desire to learn. Finally, we spoke truth to power, in solidarity with the youth in this study, by presenting our recommendations for educational change to teachers, including how they can co-create spaces with students that foster care and empathy, value youth voice, and are culturally sustaining and identity affirming.</p><p>

<p> Advocates of market-based reform strategies such as school choice claim they will offer families better options to obtain a high-quality education for their child, yet empirical studies offer inconclusive evidence of gains in student achievement and point to the growing trends of racial and economic segregation emanating from increased schooling options. Furthermore, research indicates numerous contextual factors affecting families&rsquo; participation and benefit from the expanded marketplace, with marginalized populations facing considerably more barriers in their search for high-quality education. This is particularly true for Latinx families, whose unique cultural, linguistic, social, and economic backgrounds influence their schooling decisions in ways that vary from the normative expectations of choice policies. Although their enrollment in public schools across the United States is steadily increasing, their participation in choice schools is often limited and impedes equitable access to high-quality schools. Because few empirical studies focus on this sector of the population, there is a great need for more comprehensive understanding of the behaviors and decisions of Latinx families across various nationalities, generations, and social classes. </p><p> This study aims to begin to fill this void in the literature, using a descriptive case study design to examine the ways in which Latinxs are and are not participating in the school choice process in Mecklenburg County. Data was triangulated among interviews of 17 immigrant Latinx families and four school personnel, public documents providing school data and county demographics, and participant observations of school choice related events. Findings revealed a trend in the timing of families&rsquo; participation: a majority did not engage in the educational marketplace until the middle or high school levels. A second notable trend was in the sectors of their participation: a majority of families applied to public magnet schools; the home school option was not mentioned; private schools were out of reach for the one family who looked into them; and charter schools were unfamiliar options to all but one family. Though parents sought to utilize their individual and cultural assets to obtain improved educational opportunities beyond their traditional public school, they faced numerous constraints in their participation due to their social stratification as immigrants with limited financial resources. These findings suggest implications for policy and practice particularly in resolving theoretical contradictions emanating from economic applications to democratic education.</p><p>