Šiame darbe analizuojama, kaip Lietuvoje aiškinamas multikultūralizmo reiškinys ir kokie yra multikultūralizmo elementai Lietuvos švietimo politikoje. Šiandienos globalizacijos sąlygos atveria vis platesnes galimybes multikultūralizmo plėtrai, kultūrų dialogui ir integracijai. Kaip ir kiekvienas reiškinys, multikultūralizmas įvairių šalių skirtingose visuomenėse yra suvokiamas skirtingai, o tai lemia nevienodas iškylančias problemas ir diskusijas jas sprendžiant politiniame kontekste. Lietuvos viešojoje erdvėje multikultūralizmo sąvoka įsitvirtino visai neseniai, šiandien ją matome ir kai kuriuose Lietuvos švietimo politikos dokumentuose. Pastebima, kad Lietuvoje multikultūralizmas dažniausiai suvokiamas primityviai ir yra menkai nagrinėtas reiškinys. Pasirinkto darbo objektas – Lietuvos švietimo politika multikultūralizmo kontekste. Darbe keliama hipotezė, kad Lietuvoje iki šiol nėra nuoseklios multikultūralizmo politikos, kadangi švietimo politika formuojama tautinės – etninės politikos kontekste, įgyvendinti multikultūralizmo politiką trukdo siauras šios sampratos suvokimas. Darbe siekiama atskleisti ir įvertinti multikultūralizmo apraiškos formas Lietuvos švietimo politikoje, išanalizuoti jos ypatumus ir perspektyvas. Darbe keliami uždaviniai: apžvelgti multikultūralizmo teorijos modelius, juos palyginti su Lietuvos ir kitų šalių patirtimi, atskleisti, kaip Lietuvoje yra suprantama etninė kultūra, išnagrinėti pagrindinius teisinius dokumentus, identifikuoti, kuo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The master’s final work analyses how manifestation of multiculturalism is explained and what the elements of multiculturalism in Lithuanian education policy are. Nowadays the conditions of globalization are opening wider possibilities for the development of multiculturalism, for the dialogue of cultures and integration. For that reason every manifestation of multiculturalism in different societies of various countries is differently understood, consequently it influences various arising problems, discussions and their solutions in the political context. The concept of multiculturalism has become stronger not so long ago and it is obviously visible in some Lithuanian education political documents. Noticeably, that multiculturalism in Lithuania is perceived primitively and is rarely discussed manifestation. The studying object of this work is Lithuanian education policy in the context of multiculturalism. The framed hypothesis in this work claims that there is no consecutive multicultural policy in Lithuania as the education policy is formed in the context of nation – ethnic policy. The narrow-minded understanding of this concept hinders to imply the policy of multiculturalism in everyday life. The work seeks open and estimates the forms of manifestation of multiculturalism in Lithuanian education policy, to analyze its peculiarities and prospects. The objectives of this work are to observe the models of multiculturalism theory and compare them with Lithuanian and other... [to full text]

There is no doubt that relevant and up-to-date elementary school curriculum is vital for the adequate education and socialization of youth, however, when a society is characterized by ideological pluralism and multiple visions of morality the debates over curriculum can be acrimonious and tempestuous. These debates are particularly heated when sex education is concerned since adults in Western society have a longstanding cultural discomfort with child and adolescent sexual knowledge and, more specifically, there is a strong belief that sexual knowledge compromises the “natural” innocence and ignorance of young people. This research focuses on a debate that occurred in Ontario in April and May of 2010 after the Government attempted to revise Health and Physical Education curriculum for grades 1-8, the subject that contains sex education. Following considerable backlash, the Ontario Premier shelved the proposed revisions a mere 54 hours after the curriculum was publicized. What led to this curriculum being received so poorly by the public and what were the contributing factors that led to this abrupt reconsideration? My research examines the debate that the new sex education curriculum produced and draws attention to the ways in which the deep seated anxieties of adults regarding adolescent and child sexual knowledge were able to overpower the voices of researchers and educational experts who were promoting the revisions. Some adults were concerned about the way that the curriculum presented a particularly liberal vision of sexual morality and argued that the new content would corrupt, mislead, and confuse youth. Though there were some individuals and groups who supported the revisions, arguing that they were relevant, necessary and overdue, their voices were not as organized or influential as the religious and social conservatives who dominated the debate. I argue that the proposed revisions to the Ontario sex education curriculum failed to gain public support because of the Government’s inability to adequately prepare for and mediate the Province’s competing liberal and conservative sexual ideologies. In my defense of the abandoned revisions, I explore how they failed to gain support not only because of the vociferous opposition of conservative religious groups who did not want to see a more liberal vision of sexual morality in the curriculum, but also due to a longstanding cultural discomfort with child and adolescent sexual knowledge and an unwillingness to fully affirm non-heterosexual identities and practices within the education system. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2011-06-07 14:50:24.526

Darbo tema: Švietimo politika ir švietimo kokybė – Baltijos valstybių lyginamoji analizė ir perspektyvos. Šio darbo tikslas – apžvelgti Lietuvoje įgyvendinamą švietimo politiką bei aukštojo universitetinio mokslo kokybę ir palyginti Baltijos valstybių vykdomą politiką aukštojo universitetinio mokslo sistemoje. Pirmoje darbo dalyje atlikta mokslinės literatūros analizė. Analizuojamos skirtingų autorių pateikiamos švietimo politikos, švietimo kokybės sampratos, Lietuvos aukštojo mokslo teisinė pokyčių aplinka, aukštųjų universitetinių studijų kokybė, studijų kokybės vertinimas Lietuvoje, bei analizuojama Baltijos valstybių aukštojo mokslo politika ir faktiniai jų pokyčiai. Empirinėje dalyje, anketinės apklausos metodu atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas – išanalizuoti kaip universitetinių studijų studentai vertina savo studijas universitete. Studentų nuomonė padės įvertinti vykdomą švietimo politiką, studijų kokybę, sudaromas sąlygas ir suteikiamas galimybes studentams. Apklausoje dalyvavo 100 atsitiktinių universiteto studentų. Tyrimo problema, aktualumas: Aukštasis mokslas Lietuvos valstybei strategiškai svarbi sritis. Iki šiol atliktuose tyrimuose dažniausiai nagrinėjamos finansavimo problemos, tarptautinis bendradarbiavimas, „protų nutekėjimo“ priežastys. Paskutiniu metu reikalavimai kokybei nuolatos didėja, kokybės gerinimas, šių dienų įgyvendinamos politikos viena iš aktualiausių temų. Nuolat besikeičianti Europos aplinka ir noras įsilieti į bendrą Europos aukštojo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Thesis: Education policy and education quality – comparative analysis and perspectives on the Baltic countries. The aim of this work is to review education policy and higher university education quality in Lithuania and to compare it with the policy in the system of higher university education in the Baltic countries. Analysis of scientific literature was performed in the first part of the work. Education policies and education quality concepts of various authors, legal change environment of Lithuanian higher education, quality of higher university studies, evaluation of quality of studies in Lithuania, Baltic countries’ higher education policy and factual changes are analyzed there. Empirical part provides a research which was carried out using the method of questionnaires, the aim of the research is to analyze how university students evaluate their studies at university. Students’ opinion will help to evaluate education policy, quality of studies, conditions and opportunities for students. Research problem, topicality: Higher education is a strategically important area for Lithuania. In research which has been carried so far, the most frequently analyzed topics have been the problem of sponsorship, international cooperation, reasons of “brain drain”. Recently, requirements for quality have been increasing, and quality improvements as well as policies implemented these days are topical today. Constantly changing European environment and wishes to interblend into the space... [to full text]

<p>This dissertation consists of three essays on the topic of education policy. In the first essay, I evaluate the impacts of a teacher quality equity law that was enacted in California in the fall of 2006 prohibiting superintendents from transferring a teacher into a school in the bottom three performance deciles of the state's academic performance index if the principal refuses the transfer. The primary mechanism through which the policy should affect student outcomes is through the mix of the quality of teachers in the school. Using publicly available statewide administrative education data, and two quasi-experimental methodologies, I assess whether the policy had an effect on the district-wide distribution of teachers with varying levels of experience, education and licensure and on student academic performance. I extend the analysis by examining whether the policy has differential effects on subgroups of schools classified as having high-poverty or high-minority student populations. I find that, as a result of the teacher quality equity law, low-performing schools experienced a relative increase in fully-credentialed teachers and more highly educated teachers, but that did not necessarily translate to an increase in academic performance. I also find evidence that the dimension along which the policy was most effective was in improving teacher pre-service qualifications in schools with high minority student populations.</p><p>In the second essay, I estimate racial, ethnic, gender and socioeconomic differences in teacher reports of student absenteeism and tardiness while controlling for administrative records of actual absences. Subjective perceptions that teachers form about students' classroom behaviors matter for student academic outcomes. Given this potential impact, it is important to identify any biases in these perceptions that would disadvantage subgroups of students. I use longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 in conjunction with longitudinal, student-level data from the North Carolina Education Data Research Center to employ a variation of a two sample instrumental variables approach in which I instrument for actual eighth grade absences with simulated measures of eight grade absences. I find consistent evidence that teacher reports of the attendance of poor students are negatively biased and that math teacher reports of male attendance are positively biased. There is mixed evidence with regard to student race and ethnicity.</p><p>The third essay is a co-authored work in which we employ a quasi-experimental estimation strategy to examine the effects of state-level job losses on fourth- and eighth-grade test scores, using federal Mass Layoff Statistics and 1996-2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress data. Results indicate that job losses decrease scores. Effects are larger for eighth than fourth graders and for math than reading assessments, and are robust to specification checks. Job losses to 1 percent of a state's working-age population lead to a .076 standard deviation decrease in the state's eighth-grade math scores. This result is an order of magnitude larger than those found in previous studies that have compared students whose parents lose employment to otherwise similar students, suggesting that downturns affect all students, not just students who experience parental job loss. Our findings have important implications for accountability schemes: we calculate that a state experiencing one-year job losses to 2 percent of its workers (a magnitude observed in seven states) likely sees a 16 percent increase in the share of its schools failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind.</p> / Dissertation

<p> The cry continues with A Nation at Risk, No Child Left Behind, and now the Common Core State Standards. There are groups of students who are finding success within public education and groups who are not. The groups who are not finding this success continue to be minority students who continue to run into the public education system rather than running with it. African American males seem to experience running into the system at greater number than other racial and gender groups. However, there are African American males that are finding success in public education. This study looks at the schooling and educational perspectives of twenty-four African American male K-12 public education students. Using grades and standardized assessments as a criterion, fifteen of the students were considered academically successful and nine were not. Twenty-two of the males were 18 years of age and two were 12 years old. Nineteen participants were high school seniors, one was a sophomore, and two were in middle school. Looking through the lenses of Critical Race Theory and Resiliency Theory using qualitative inquiry and data derived from interviews, data was collected to determine what contributed to the success of some participants. First both successful and non-successful groups were able to speak about having goals for the future and the importance of working hard in school. Secondly, relationships were also seen as essential to academic success, whether these relationships were with parents, teachers, or mentors for academic success to occur. Racial stereotypes were seen as something to overcome by the academically success. Race was viewed as a road block difficult to overcome by less successful participants. Having a father and mother or frequent access to more than one caring adult increased an African American male&rsquo;s ability to be academically successful. Even having two parents that may not have been supportive of the African American male appeared to be more beneficial than having supportive friends.</p><p> Recommendations to help African American males to be academically successful include starting early with relationship support and mentoring, life skills courses, and increased interaction with successful African American males. </p>

Proposition 209 banned the consideration of race or ethnicity in admission decisions to the University of California (UC). The UC “clarified” their policy in 2008, recognizing that Native Americans enrolled in a federally recognized tribe enjoy a political status that enables them to be offered affirmative action, even when the consideration of race or ethnicity is banned. The Clarification led to a statistically significant surge in the Native American applicant share, acceptance rate, admit share, and enrollment share. Enrollment share increased by 56% from 2008 to 2010 at the UC, even as the three-tiered California system of higher education saw a 40% drop in Native American enrollment. The study also finds that Prop 209 shifted Native American students from the more selective to the less selective campuses. The results suggest that affirmative action is a strong determinant of both the number and the location of Native Americans at the UC.

<p> Leave as is.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to explore (a) issues perceived by Filipino American middle school students in the Los Angeles area of Southern California as having an adverse impact on their educational experience and cultural identity; (b) ways in which students have personally mediated these issues; and (c) student perspectives related to the types of programs and activities believed to have the most positive impact on the educational experience and cultural identity development of Filipino American middle school students. </p><p> The middle school experience within the Los Angeles area of Southern California has provided Filipino American students with a standard-based curriculum and school-based activities for learning. However, the school curriculum and school-based activities limits opportunities for Filipino American middle school students to deepen their knowledge of Filipino American education experiences and cultural identity development. Therefore, there is a tremendous opportunity to explore the educational experiences and cultural identity development of Filipino American middle school students in Southern California area of Los Angeles. </p><p> The literature has revealed that Filipino American students who graduate from public schools enter postsecondary education unprepared and academically challenged. Further review of the literature has revealed that little research has been done to determine the issues perceived by Filipino American middle school students, how they mediate issues, and what types of programs and activities have the most positive impact on their educational experience and cultural identity development. </p><p> This study explored the lived experiences of 16 Filipino American middle school students within the Los Angeles area of Southern California. The top seven topics that emerged included racial discrimination, drama, talk &amp; dialogue, problem solving, community programs, impact of Filipino club, and club activities. Findings support the need for Filipino American students to have (a) participation in culturally relevant activities, (b) contact with knowledgeable Filipino American teachers, (c) participation with community-based activities that allow them to dialogue and reflect on their experiences, and (d) involvement in cultural celebrations at school. Filipino American middle school students rely and benefit from programs and activities that will prepare them culturally in the school and community as they progress toward postsecondary education.</p>

<p> English Language Learners (ELLs) are one of the fastest growing student populations throughout the country. With ELLs come unique challenges schools must navigate to best serve these students. One challenge is the identification of these students and proper placement and service within ELL programs offered by schools. Another challenge is determining if an ELL also has a disability, particularly a learning disability, since language proficiency problems can mimic learning disability symptoms. This study sought to discover how states identify ELLs, and especially ELLs with disabilities (ELLWDs). The researcher examined the policy documents of all 50 states, analyzing and coding those documents for key elements relating to ELLs and ELLWDs found within previous research. Additionally, to better triangulate data, the researcher examined student populations for a sample of 15 states through state reported USDOE sources and US Census sources to determine how well the subgroups of ELLs and ELLWDs might be identified based on population comparisons. The study found that states tend to use the federal definition of limited English proficient as a basis for their definition of ELLs and that a little more than half of the states addressed the issue of ELLWDs at all. They do not have a formal identifying definition for these students. While federal DOE and OCR oversights have increased awareness and service for ELLS, more work remains, in particular with creating a common identification matrix for ELLWDs and raising awareness of their presence in the student population.</p>

<p> The current study tested the hypothesis that student spirituality would relate positively to the construct of calling and that these constructs together would lead toward career decidedness. To test this model, a sample consisting of 1139 students from a large Midwest university was surveyed. Results supported these hypotheses only in part. The results suggest the spirituality construct to consist of spiritual identity, spiritual quest, and equanimity consistent with the Astin, Astin, and Lindholm spirituality study. Both search for calling and presence of calling consisted of three parts consistent with Dik and Duffy's concept of calling: transcendent summons, purposeful work, and prosocial orientation. The career decidedness construct also consisted of three domains in accordance with Savickas' formulation: career path, academic major, and occupation. </p><p> Spirituality, in general, highly correlated with search for calling. Correlations were also high between search for calling and presence of calling. Because of this, search for calling was found to mediate an indirect influence of spirituality on presence of calling. However, the manner in which career decidedness related to the model was not expected. According to the data, career decidedness weakly but directly correlated with presence of calling and was determined to be a predicting influence, contrary to the hypothesis. Although no meaningful correlations were discovered between spirituality and career decidedness, equanimity was discovered to meaningfully associate with both spirituality and career decidedness. Theoretical and practical implications are explored.</p>