In recent years evaluation has become a very important element in the public administration. The Swedish state administration to a significant extent both evaluates and is evaluated. This means that the evaluating state is at the same time the evaluated state. In this dissertation the institutionalization of evaluation is studied in a field within which this development has been particularly lively and interesting, namely the field of higher education. The dissertation focuses on evaluation activity that has been carried out in conjunction with central public authorities within higher education: the Office of the Chancellor of the Universities and Colleges in Sweden, the National Swedish Board of Universities and Colleges, and the Office of the University Chancellor, and encompasses the period 1964-1995. A newly revived research tradition within political science – historical institutionalism – is used as a perspective and a methodology. Since the application of this tradition has not yet been fully tested, another purpose is to examine the practical utility of this analytical tool and the kind of knowledge that it produces. The dissertation thereby combines the fields of education policy, evaluation research and institutional theory. The beginning of the institution has been dated to the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s. In the dissertation the forces behind the initiation of the institution are taken up. Events and developments in the field that have influenced the further development of the institution have been identified and analyzed. Developments reveal that the institution has been stable during the entire period of time under study, despite some changes. The use of historical institutionalism as a perspective and methodology has proven satisfactory on a general level. However, special solutions have been required as problems and ambiguities have arisen. The dissertation concludes with reflections on the practical utility of historical institutionalism in political science research.

This dissertation examines the evolution of Britain’s and Canada’s early childhood education and child care (ECEC) sectors, especially the growing number of policy initiatives adopted in both countries over the past thirty years. I contend that policy coalitions in both countries have been able to promote gradual but nevertheless important policy changes by grafting new purposes onto inherited institutions. The result of these incremental changes has been ECEC systems that often appear incoherent and disjointed. The dissertation also explores how Canada and Great Britain have increasingly followed distinct trajectories. In particular, I demonstrate that while a growing proportion of ECEC services are provided by the commercial sector in Britain, Canada has instead increasingly relied on the non-profit sector to deliver such services. I contend in this dissertation that differences between the two cases are the result of distinct policy coalitions that have emerged in both countries. I make the case that the character of these coalitions and their capacity to promote, institutionalize, protect and further their policy preferences are the result of, first, the sequence of policy development and, second, the territorial organization of the welfare state in both countries. In short, as a result of the federal nature of Canada, Canadian child care activists were able to ensure the early institutionalization of a regulatory framework that constrained the expansion of for-profit services. By the time Britain adopted a national framework, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on the other hand, the for-profit sector had already established a strong presence. Covering more than one hundred twenty five years of policy development in both countries, this dissertation draws both on extensive archival research and on interviews with policy-makers and ECEC activists.

The first of the three purposes of this study was to describe and analyze current Saskatchewan and local secondary school Personal Program Plan (PPP) policies. The second purpose was to compare the perceptions of current school and classroom practises to current provincial policy. The third purpose was to explore the perceptions of selected stakeholders in relation to effective and ineffective PPP practises for students with learning disabilities (LD) among Saskatchewan secondary programs. <p>This was an inductive study conducted in a multiple phase case study design. Research was conducted through individual and group interviews in six voluntary secondary programs. The study also included the analysis of 100 survey responses from 19 secondary programs. In addition, this study analysed 25 Saskatchewan school division PPP policies then compared these policies to the provincial PPP policy. The conceptual framework was based on a policy model which included influential factors, stakeholders interpretations, implementation variables, with perceived effective or ineffective practises. The provincial policy was designed for all students with special needs, including those with LD. However, some school division policies delimited PPPs to particular populations (i.e. to only students with designated funding). Additionally, school division polices varied in specificity and detail creating inconsistencies in and across programs. In some cases the PPP content and implementation followed the provincial policy; however, in other cases the PPPs were not aligned to the provincial policy guidelines. Funding was found to be the most influential factor to the design and implementation of PPPs. Other factors included the timing and range of distribution of the PPP, teacher response to added responsibilities, adequacy of communication between stakeholders, and level of implementation training. Where stakeholders evidenced an understanding of the policy, the PPPs were used effectively used and appreciated by those involved in the process. Participants who used PPPs indicated that they felt this increased their ability to teach students with LD and contributed to students success. Perceptions of ineffective practises associated with the policy included inconsistency, insufficient time for planning, development and implementation of PPPs, poorly written PPPs, and the lack of professional development. <p>Implications for theory included the influences at the various stages of policy design and PPP policy implementation. This resulted in the reconceptualization of the framework wherein the implementation of the PPP policy and the influencing factors are highlighted. Among the implications for policy was the attention that needs to be given to policy intention, implementation and experience in order to close the gaps. Implications for practise included considerations related to pre- and in-service training, preparation time for teachers, communication between programs, and a common understanding of funding purposes. Implications for future research included the continuity of services from elementary to middle to secondary programs for students with LD. In addition, the researcher suggests that future research of exemplary inclusive classrooms and the effective use of the PPPs in these settings.

Principals as agents in secondary schools shape the meaning of what goes on in the school. To some extent, what happens in the school is a reflection of their beliefs, values and the dominant societal norms. School-community partnerships are a result of competing values, beliefs and visions of what can contribute to the success of the school from the perspective of the principal, the policy of the district school board and the teachers’ interests. School-community partnerships are therefore generally a compromise between the values of the principal and the teachers in the school through nurturing relationships and interpersonal leadership style. This study focused on the role of principals in establishing and maintaining school-community partnerships in an urban district school board in southern Ontario. The study employed qualitative research methods, drawing on two case studies in secondary schools. Data for the study was collected over a period of eight months through in-depth interviews of two principals and sixteen teachers. I used a micropolitical conceptual framework to analyze the principal’s role in school-community partnerships. The conceptual framework contributes to revealing the role of agency in organizations. The study revealed that principals initiate, support, coordinate, approve, allocate resources and evaluate school community partnerships. Through these roles, principals influence how partnerships unfold in the school. Principals’ roles in school-community partnerships are a reflection of the leadership style they enact in schools. The role is indicative of her/his values, beliefs and preference. This insight is important as a variable to how policies are implemented at different levels on the chain of implementation. It confirms other research that have strongly suggested that policies can be implemented best if the principals’ and teachers’values and beliefs are consistent. The implementation of policies are negotiated on daily basis between the principal and the teachers and principals have upper hand in determining their outcome. The result from this study illustrates how the roles of individuals in an organization mirror their values and beliefs and in turn affect how policies are implemented. The presence of school-community partnerships in secondary schools, although mandated by the district school board policy are the result of the role played by principals rather than merely policy provision. The role of the principal that was not clear was evaluating partnerships. There is need for further study to examine the criteria of evaluating partnerships in schools in order to ascertain the total contribution of the same to the success of schools.

This dissertation examines the evolution of Britain’s and Canada’s early childhood education and child care (ECEC) sectors, especially the growing number of policy initiatives adopted in both countries over the past thirty years. I contend that policy coalitions in both countries have been able to promote gradual but nevertheless important policy changes by grafting new purposes onto inherited institutions. The result of these incremental changes has been ECEC systems that often appear incoherent and disjointed. The dissertation also explores how Canada and Great Britain have increasingly followed distinct trajectories. In particular, I demonstrate that while a growing proportion of ECEC services are provided by the commercial sector in Britain, Canada has instead increasingly relied on the non-profit sector to deliver such services. I contend in this dissertation that differences between the two cases are the result of distinct policy coalitions that have emerged in both countries. I make the case that the character of these coalitions and their capacity to promote, institutionalize, protect and further their policy preferences are the result of, first, the sequence of policy development and, second, the territorial organization of the welfare state in both countries. In short, as a result of the federal nature of Canada, Canadian child care activists were able to ensure the early institutionalization of a regulatory framework that constrained the expansion of for-profit services. By the time Britain adopted a national framework, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on the other hand, the for-profit sector had already established a strong presence. Covering more than one hundred twenty five years of policy development in both countries, this dissertation draws both on extensive archival research and on interviews with policy-makers and ECEC activists.

Principals as agents in secondary schools shape the meaning of what goes on in the school. To some extent, what happens in the school is a reflection of their beliefs, values and the dominant societal norms. School-community partnerships are a result of competing values, beliefs and visions of what can contribute to the success of the school from the perspective of the principal, the policy of the district school board and the teachers’ interests. School-community partnerships are therefore generally a compromise between the values of the principal and the teachers in the school through nurturing relationships and interpersonal leadership style. This study focused on the role of principals in establishing and maintaining school-community partnerships in an urban district school board in southern Ontario. The study employed qualitative research methods, drawing on two case studies in secondary schools. Data for the study was collected over a period of eight months through in-depth interviews of two principals and sixteen teachers. I used a micropolitical conceptual framework to analyze the principal’s role in school-community partnerships. The conceptual framework contributes to revealing the role of agency in organizations. The study revealed that principals initiate, support, coordinate, approve, allocate resources and evaluate school community partnerships. Through these roles, principals influence how partnerships unfold in the school. Principals’ roles in school-community partnerships are a reflection of the leadership style they enact in schools. The role is indicative of her/his values, beliefs and preference. This insight is important as a variable to how policies are implemented at different levels on the chain of implementation. It confirms other research that have strongly suggested that policies can be implemented best if the principals’ and teachers’values and beliefs are consistent. The implementation of policies are negotiated on daily basis between the principal and the teachers and principals have upper hand in determining their outcome. The result from this study illustrates how the roles of individuals in an organization mirror their values and beliefs and in turn affect how policies are implemented. The presence of school-community partnerships in secondary schools, although mandated by the district school board policy are the result of the role played by principals rather than merely policy provision. The role of the principal that was not clear was evaluating partnerships. There is need for further study to examine the criteria of evaluating partnerships in schools in order to ascertain the total contribution of the same to the success of schools.

The first of the three purposes of this study was to describe and analyze current Saskatchewan and local secondary school Personal Program Plan (PPP) policies. The second purpose was to compare the perceptions of current school and classroom practises to current provincial policy. The third purpose was to explore the perceptions of selected stakeholders in relation to effective and ineffective PPP practises for students with learning disabilities (LD) among Saskatchewan secondary programs. <p>This was an inductive study conducted in a multiple phase case study design. Research was conducted through individual and group interviews in six voluntary secondary programs. The study also included the analysis of 100 survey responses from 19 secondary programs. In addition, this study analysed 25 Saskatchewan school division PPP policies then compared these policies to the provincial PPP policy. The conceptual framework was based on a policy model which included influential factors, stakeholders interpretations, implementation variables, with perceived effective or ineffective practises. The provincial policy was designed for all students with special needs, including those with LD. However, some school division policies delimited PPPs to particular populations (i.e. to only students with designated funding). Additionally, school division polices varied in specificity and detail creating inconsistencies in and across programs. In some cases the PPP content and implementation followed the provincial policy; however, in other cases the PPPs were not aligned to the provincial policy guidelines. Funding was found to be the most influential factor to the design and implementation of PPPs. Other factors included the timing and range of distribution of the PPP, teacher response to added responsibilities, adequacy of communication between stakeholders, and level of implementation training. Where stakeholders evidenced an understanding of the policy, the PPPs were used effectively used and appreciated by those involved in the process. Participants who used PPPs indicated that they felt this increased their ability to teach students with LD and contributed to students success. Perceptions of ineffective practises associated with the policy included inconsistency, insufficient time for planning, development and implementation of PPPs, poorly written PPPs, and the lack of professional development. <p>Implications for theory included the influences at the various stages of policy design and PPP policy implementation. This resulted in the reconceptualization of the framework wherein the implementation of the PPP policy and the influencing factors are highlighted. Among the implications for policy was the attention that needs to be given to policy intention, implementation and experience in order to close the gaps. Implications for practise included considerations related to pre- and in-service training, preparation time for teachers, communication between programs, and a common understanding of funding purposes. Implications for future research included the continuity of services from elementary to middle to secondary programs for students with LD. In addition, the researcher suggests that future research of exemplary inclusive classrooms and the effective use of the PPPs in these settings.

The research applied qualitative methods such as historical approach, documentary analysis and semi-structural interview survey to collect data, so as to explore how would the rotation of ruling parties influence the certification of education taken in the Mainland China. It has been a decade since the policy of such certification was initiated by the KMT President Lee Teng-Hui and followed by DDP President Chen Shui-Pien. Though the approach had been set perfectly, it just could not be promulgated and implemented, the KMT government led by President Ma Ying-Chiu had finished the legal procedures for the certification of education taken in the Mainland China and the permission of PRC students to study in Taiwan, but the legislation limits the certification of medical education taken in the Mainland China, and PRC student are prohibited from studying relevant departments of national security and registering the exams for civil services and any licenses. What on earth are the crucial factors for those situations? That¡¦s the very problems the study would like to explore. There were 4 main research purposes for the study to take: (1) To explore the reasons why such certification policy constituted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) would change. (2) To expound how the rotation of ruling parties influenced the policy change for constituting the certification of education taken in the Mainland China. (3) To research the approach and process for MOE to forward and lay out the policy of certificating the education taken in the Mainland China. (4) To explore the ultimate factors of decision-making for such certification policy. As browsing the research conclusion generally, it could find that 1. The MOE couldn¡¦t independently dominate the permission of PRC students to study in Taiwan and the certification of education taken in the Mainland China, but only has the competence to lay out relevant approaches. 2. The certification of education taken in the Mainland China was not purely educational issue, but public issue that was politicized. 3. Taiwan is a democratic country, any decision-making related to public affairs would have to emphasize political consultations and respect the perception of the people. 4. The policy of certifying the education taken in the Mainland China was decided by the ruling party¡¦s domestic and foreign policy toward the Mainland China.

The intent of this study was to systematically investigate the relationship between African American disproportionality in school discipline which is the overrepresentation of students for exclusionary discipline practices (i.e., out-of-school suspensions and/or expulsions) - and student performance. Utilizing official disciplinary records and performance data obtained from the Colorado Department of Education and a single urban school district within the same state, a series of quantitative analyses that included correlations and logistic and multiple regressions, were conducted to determine how out-of-school suspensions and expulsions impact African American students. The premise upon which the present study is based relies heavily on the tenets of Critical Race Theory as it applies to education, which in part asserts that American schools are permeated by racism and that White privilege is used to preserve school inequities through the use of stratification. Given this, it is argued that out-of-school suspensions and expulsions have been used, or rather misused, to perpetuate the disproportionate exclusion of African American students from the classroom for relatively minor offenses; which in some ways, can explain why this group typically suffers from poor student performance. This dissertation was guided by two separate, yet interrelated studies, which posed the following research questions where the first study asks; What factors are important in predicting the likelihood of being suspended and/or expelled from school? and Are suspensions and race correlated? Here, the interest is in exploring the influence of race, class, gender and other possible demographic characteristics, such as school level and behavior role, on exclusionary discipline practices. The second study asks; How does the overrepresentation of African American students for exclusionary sanctions impact student performance? The interest, here, is in identifying the relationship between school suspensions and/or expulsions and its impact on the dropout rate, graduation rate, and performance on high stakes tests. This dissertation study produces two findings that are not only unprecedented; they are cutting-edge and provocative. First, female and elementary students were found to be more likely to face suspension and/or expulsion in comparison to male and secondary students, respectively. Second, by increasing the number of suspended and expelled African American students, school districts improved their overall student performance on high stakes tests. With the contribution of these findings, a paradigmic shift in research and discourse on disproportionality in school discipline is both fitting and warranted.

<p> Este estudio fue uno de tipo descriptivo. Su objetivo principal fue examinar los factores determinantes de los cambios demogr&aacute;ficos que est&eacute;n relacionados con los servicios complementarios en las escuelas p&uacute;blicas de Puerto Rico entre 1970 y 1990. En el mismo se describi&oacute;, la matr&iacute;cula y nivel escolar que utiliz&oacute; los servicios. Entre las variables se encuentran: orientaci&oacute;n, trabajo social, transferencias, m&eacute;dicos y comedor escolar. Igualmente, se analiz&oacute;, transportaci&oacute;n, escuelas y matr&iacute;cula por zonas geogr&aacute;ficas demarcadas por el Departamento de Educaci&oacute;n. Los indicadores principales fueron: el cambio porcentual del servicio y la matr&iacute;cula, el por ciento que utiliz&oacute; el servicio y la distribuci&oacute;n porcentual del servicio atendido. </p><p> Los resultados revelaron que un porcentaje considerable de los estudiantes matriculados en los tres niveles educativos utilizaba los servicios complementarios en las escuelas p&uacute;blicas de Puerto Rico durante el periodo de estudio. Estos fluctuaron desde -35.3 % de la matr&iacute;cula total en el servicio de comedores escolares hasta un 350.2 % en los servicios de trabajadores sociales. Observ&aacute;ndose, un incremento en los servicios ofrecidos por los trabajadores sociales y los orientadores. Una situaci&oacute;n adversa se reflej&oacute; para los servicios m&eacute;dicos y los comedores escolares. Adem&aacute;s, se reflej&oacute; que el nivel elemental fue el que m&aacute;s utiliz&oacute; los servicios durante el periodo de estudio. </p><p> Se estudi&oacute; la densidad de la matr&iacute;cula por milla cuadrada, as&iacute; como el promedio de estudiantes por zona geogr&aacute;fica. Se registr&oacute; una alta densidad de matr&iacute;cula en la zona urbana tanto en el 1970 como 1990. As&iacute; como, una zona rural superabundante con un incremento en el promedio de estudiantes, durante el periodo. En conclusi&oacute;n, existen factores determinantes de los cambios demogr&aacute;ficos que impactan los servicios complementarios de los estudiantes en las escuelas p&uacute;blicas de Puerto Rico. Entre &eacute;stos se identificaron los siguientes: densidad de matr&iacute;cula y de escuelas por millas cuadradas, tama&ntilde;o y volumen de la poblaci&oacute;n, tasa anual de crecimiento y balance migratorio. Entre las implicaciones relacionadas con los determinantes demogr&aacute;ficos se encuentra la reducci&oacute;n de la poblaci&oacute;n estudiantil matriculada en escuelas p&uacute;blicas, la cual impacta la cantidad de maestros, salones y escuelas.</p>