<p> Historically, disenfranchised students in the American education system have been promised opportunity through successful participation in the school system. These promises are voiced in legislation like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and by executive actions like President Obama&rsquo;s Race to the Top Initiative. Evidenced by the continuing education gap, the promises of success through education continue to evade many American children across the nation, especially students who are most in need of the support promised in these quixotic visions of opportunity.</p><p> This is a qualitative interview study that aimed to gather the voices of educators involved in the implementation of the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (ELA CCSS) to investigate the potential benefit of an information loop during the time period Bridges (2009) labeled the Neutral Zone, a period when change agents can reflect on and possibly enhance the iv implementation of an initiative. The study aimed to answer the following research question: What are the experiences of teachers, school principals, and district-level administrators during the transition to the ELA CCSS in three public school districts in the greater Los Angeles area? The narratives constructed throughout the interview process with the study&rsquo;s participants point to the value of establishing an information loop during the Neutral Zone as an untapped vein of knowledge in the change process. This information can potentially be used to take inventory of the trajectory an implementation process has taken.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine if poverty impacts average daily attendance, discipline infractions, or dropout rates of students in today&rsquo;s society. The study included an in-depth analysis of homelessness, the influence it plays when educating children across the country, and the barriers schools face when dealing with families who live in poverty. According to Blad (2014a), enrollment of homeless students and those who qualify for free and reduced price meals are at record highs in the United States. Over half of the students in Missouri schools qualify for free and reduced price meals (Rapheal, 2014). The effects of an intervention program implemented by one rural Missouri school were addressed. The academic achievement of this particular subgroup in comparison to those who did not receive the intervention were closely examined. Data over a six-year period of time, three years before implementation and three years after implementation of the program, were analyzed to determine if a measurable impact could be noted. After review of the data, a significant impact could only be noted in number of discipline referrals. Although the dropout rate and average daily attendance slightly improved, the change was not enough to warrant a significant difference as measured by a t-test.</p>

<p> In the current educational discourse there have been urgent calls for the United States to develop programs to prepare students for post-secondary success and to develop in students the skills necessary for workplace success. One avenue suggested to do this more effectively is to create more robust partnerships between educational institutions and employers. In particular, President Obama&rsquo;s &ldquo;Blueprint for an America Built to Last&rdquo; (2012) calls for &ldquo;new partnerships between community colleges and businesses to train and place 2 million skilled workers.&rdquo; He also indicated that in order to address future workforce needs, he will &ldquo;support partnerships between high schools and industry to create more career academies, which combine instruction in academic subjects and industry skills&rdquo; (4). The Cristo Rey model of high school education is one variation of this model of partnership between the world of academics and the world of work. </p><p> This study is designed as a program evaluation of the Cristo Rey model of education whereby each student from a low SES family works five days a month in an entry level professional job for each year of attendance. In particular, this study seeks to examine alumni perceptions of the impact their high school corporate work-study program at one particular Cristo Rey School, Cristo Rey St. Martin, has had on their lives. In addition to alumni perceptions, this study will also gather the perceptions of workplace supervisors. The study will also look at how alumni are doing in terms of college persistence and completion. In particular, it will look at how the classes of 2011, 2012, and 2013 are doing in terms of post-secondary enrollment and persistence relative to national averages and relative to peer group (low SES) averages utilizing the National Student Clearinghouse database and reports. By triangulating these data points, the study seeks to answer the following question. What impact is the corporate work-study program (CWSP) having on the graduates? </p>

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a better understanding of the policy making process by developing a policy model and a Blended Framework to apply to the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program policy. Three substantive policy frameworks that are applied to the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program in Florida, which was in existence from 1998-2010, include the Multiple Streams Framework, Advocacy Coalition Framework, and a Blended Framework. Analyses of the frameworks and policy model are provided. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / December 6, 2017. / Education, Juvenile Justice Education, Public Policy / Includes bibliographical references. / Linda B. Schrader, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Patrice Iatarola, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Thomas G. Blomberg, University Representative; William Bales, Committee Member; Robert Schwartz, Committee Member.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Education, June 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb. 22, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisors: Dr. Joyce Piveral and Dr. Phillip Messner. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> While it is important to recognize the economic background of students and home factors contributing to their achievement, the purpose of this study was to discover what best practices schools were implementing with low socioeconomic students to narrow the achievement gap in communication arts (Darling-Hammond &amp; Richardson, 2009; Gorski, 2013; Snell, 2003). The research design incorporated mixed-methods by employing data collected from surveys, interviews, and secondary data sources. A triangulation of data was used to increase the credibility and validity of the study (Fraenkel et al., 2012; Mills, 2014). For this study, the quantitative data were collected using a survey as well as Missouri Assessment Performance (MAP) scores. The qualitative data were collected through interviews. In addition to increasing the validity of the study, the benefits of using triangulation also included creating varied ways to understand and reveal the results of the study (Fraenkel et al., 2012; Guion, Diehl, &amp; McDonald, 2011; Mills, 2014). The results of this study indicated a blend of research-based best practices can make a positive impact in narrowing the achievement gap in students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in the area of communication arts. The significance of this research is the results provide educators an outline of successful research-based instructional strategies to assist communication arts students.</p>

<p> This qualitative study was designed to investigate the perceptions of participants in the TRIO Student Support Service (SSS) program, a government-funded student retention program for first-generation college students, low-income students, and students with disabilities. There was little research on the perceptions of students who represent the target population in this government-funded program. Tinto&rsquo;s (2012b) model of student departure was used to interpret the findings. The study was guided by three research questions used to investigate possible barriers or benefits to the participants while attending the university, and also asked participants for suggestions to improve the TRIO SSS program. Interviews with first-year TRIO SSS participants at a Midwest university were conducted. The students in this study discussed their experiences; and three themes emerged as issues with which they had to deal: adjustment, integration, and personal growth. These findings mirrored prior research on this target population, all of whom have been found to struggle with academic preparation, study skills, college procedural knowledge, and with wanting to fit into college both socially and academically (Johnson, 2012). The findings in this study are also consistent with the theory of student departure put forth by Tinto (2012b). Program improvement suggestions included, additional social gatherings, increasing the number of advisory meetings, provide a TRIO SSS program-specific orientation meeting, facilitate workshops to address study abroad programs and understanding income taxes. The TRIO SSS program services and staff were perceived by the participants as meeting the participants&rsquo; needs and should continue the practices already in place.</p>

<p> Historically, the state of Missouri has utilized the Performance-Based Teacher Evaluation (PBTE) system developed by Dr. Jerry Valentine from the University of Missouri (Valentine &amp; Harting, 1986). The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 mandated more rigorous accountability standards for state education systems (Moe, 2014). The 2012 revisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provided to Missouri by the U.S. Department of Education relieved the original mandates of the NCLB Act (MODESE, 2015a). However, added were provisions for teacher and administrator accountability which required evaluation of research-based principles of effective instruction (MODESE 2015a). In this study, the researcher reviewed one evaluation system, the Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE) teacher evaluation system, to determine if a correlation existed between principal evaluation data and student perception data of specific classroom teachers in relation to student performance on state assessments. Of the six research questions included in the case study, the data generated for question three with a bivariate correlate for the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient for the NEE Evaluation Indicator 4.1 principal&rsquo;s evaluation and student survey data for Indicator 4.1 revealed the best line of fit with <i>r</i> = .63. The significance output of <i>p</i> &lt; .01 was the greatest significant correlation of the study. These data indicate both the students and the principal recognize the teacher&rsquo;s level of implementation for Indicator 4.1 (teacher instructional strategies leading to student problem-solving and critical thinking). No other correlates were found to be significant for this study.</p>

<p> This study examined how an Early Head Start and Head Start grantee, the Institute for Human and Social Development (IHSD), implemented the Office of Head Start&rsquo;s research-based Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework. This study also evaluated IHSD&rsquo;s performance and determined whether the organization accomplished its set intention of fostering family engagement in support of positive child development and education outcomes. </p><p> This formative, outcome-based program evaluation utilized qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate IHSD's systematic implementation of engagement. Parent survey data, interview transcripts, and a review of existing agency data provided a parent-oriented perspective on the IHSD&rsquo;s engagement outcomes relative to the PFCE Framework. </p><p> Participants included parents of children in each of IHSD's five program options during 2012&ndash;2013 or 2013&ndash;2014. They participated by completing either a parent survey (<i>n</i> = 842) or an interview (<i> n</i> = 12) regarding engagement-focused services, focusing on the parents&rsquo; perspectives of the services&rsquo; implementation and outcomes. Results from the surveys and interviews were analyzed with available IHSD data related to family services as well as child outcomes, including gains in social-emotional development and language and literacy development within the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP). Results indicate that the children made improvement gains within the DRDP domains investigated. Parents surveyed and interviewed identified the program environment as engaging and named the staff&rsquo;s helpfulness as responsible. Among the aspects of the program they were asked to rate, parents identified the strategies of parent training, parent leadership council membership, home activities, home visits, parent meetings, and volunteerism as ideal in meeting their needs. </p><p> In general, IHSD is a high-quality agency providing early childhood education that engages families and grows parent engagement by teaching parents to be their children&rsquo;s advocates and teachers. The results of this study indicate that if IHSD continues to effectively implement strategies and incorporates feedback from these findings, the organization&rsquo;s child development programs will likely continue to excel.</p>