Education is considered the single most important factor in determining the economic and social well-being of a state. This statement aptly applies to the State of Georgia which ranks very low among other states in the nation in overall educational financing. Though education is a state responsibility in Georgia, there is a considerable measure of local control. Local financial contribution toward education in the state is met mainly through the property tax which differs markedly among the school districts/systems. This difference reflects in the amount of money available to the schools for educational purposes. An analytical study of randomly selected school districts in Georgia reveals that the wealthy districts spend more on education, levy less property tax, and can afford to support their schools on money derived from their tax base with or without state supplemental funding. The study further shows that disparities in wealth among school districts· create problems for equalizing educational opportunities and makes recommendations aimed at meliorating the situation.

The purpose of this study is to explore the current conceptual cognition of elementary school teachers toward Educational Priority Areas as well as to analyze the impact of cognition on the program executive effectiveness. So that the result of the study would proffer referential information for educational authorities , elementary school principals and teachers and hence helps to promote efficiency and effectiveness. The methodology of this study is as follows :firstly , based on theoretical literature and empirical research on related subjects, an assessment tool is developed : Questionnaire-¡§The executive effectiveness between the elementary school of the Educational Priority Areas in Kaohsiung city and Pingtung county¡¨ and content validity is constructed by professionals. Pilot test is conducted at Stage 2 to construct the reliability and validity of questionnaire via statistical measurements such as item analysis and factor analysis. In the questionnaire, regarding the Item ¡§Conceptual Cognition¡¨, the overall Cronbach £\ value obtained is .9128, the total explained variances are 48.42%¡Fregarding the Item ¡§Program Executive Effectiveness¡¨, the overall Cronbach £\ value is .9673, the total explained variances are 67.27%. Then, formal test is proceeded on education staff members at Stage 3.Among a total of 453 copies of questionnaire issued, 387 copies are collected, the usability is 85.43%. Descriptive statistics , variances analysis, product-moment correlation, regression analysis, independent sample two-ways analysis of variance are applied for statistics and analysis of assumptions proposed in this study. I draw the following conclusions based on the results of statistical analysis: 1. The result of overall sampling indicates a positive recognition on the relationship between the conceptual cognition of elementary school teachers and executive effectiveness of Educational Priority Areas. 2. Senior educators have a more positive viewpoint towards the ¡§Conceptual cognition¡¨ and ¡§Executive effectiveness¡¨ of the Educational Priority Areas. 3. Educators, who hold different positions, have similar ¡§Conceptual cognition¡¨ on the Educational Priority Areas, but teachers with administrative positions have better performance on the ¡§Executive effectiveness¡¨. 4. Educators between Kaohsiung city and Pindung county, who have similar ¡§Conceptual cognition¡¨ of Educational Priority Areas, but those in Kaohsiung city have better ¡§Executive effectiveness¡¨. 5. Educators, who have higher ¡§Conceptual cognition¡¨ on Educational Priority Areas, achieve the higher ¡§Executive effectiveness¡¨. 6. There are close relationships between the ¡§Conceptual cognition¡¨ of Educational Priority Areas and ¡§Executive effectiveness¡¨. 7. The ¡§Executive effectiveness¡¨ can be effectively predicted through the ¡§Conceptual cognition¡¨ of Educational Priority Areas. Among the predications, ¡§Equity of educational opportunity¡¨ is most predicable. 8. The executive effectiveness will be different due to location, seniority, degree of teachers. Based on the above conclusions, I would propose concrete suggestions for educators as the referential foundations to promote the executive effectiveness in Educational Priority Areas.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of junior high school educators¡¦ attitudes in Tainan county toward the school-based finance management¡Bthe equality of educational opportunity and school efficiency. With the result¡Awe may analyse the expectation on the equality of educational opportunity and school efficiency. This study was conducted by the questionnaires survey. The valid samples are 271. The data was collected by self-designed questionnaire, and analyzed by statistic methods of mean, standard deviation, independent samples t-test, one way ANOVA , Pearson's product-moment correlation and stepwise multiple regression. The following conclusions are derived¡G First, generally speaking, the junior high school faculties in Tainan county hold the positive attitudes toward school-based finance management. Second, there would be different attitudes toward school-based finance management with different school occupations. Third, there would be different attitudes toward the equality of educational opportunity with different school occupations. Fourth, entirely speaking¡Athe attitudes of junior high school faculties in Tainan county toward the expectation of school efficiency with school-based finance management are positive. Finally, support for school-based finance management would explain 36.2¢H of the equality of educational opportunity and 40.3¢H of school efficiency by total variance explained. Keywords¡Gschool-based finance management¡Bthe equality of educational opportunity¡Bschool efficiency

Thesis advisor: Andy Hargreaves / Research often overlooks students who are of Brazilian origin when considering educational equality and opportunity for different racial and ethnic groups. This qualitative study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the experiences and forces that influence the educational aspirations of Brazilian students and students of Brazilian origin living in the United States during their eighth grade year of middle school. It specifically considers students' educational aspirations including the influence of families, the school, and the community on students' ambitions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with students, their parents, and educators (i.e., teachers, guidance counselors, a social worker, and a principal) from a middle school in the Northeast. Data showed that many students had developed postsecondary plans by the conclusion of their eighth grade year, including students' thoughts relating to college, careers, and work. Students' ambitions were significantly influenced by family members, especially parents, as well as by experiences with their families as immigrants in the United States. Legal status particularly affected students' intended pathways. Findings from this study suggest the following three areas of need for Brazilian middle school students: (a) educational planning during middle school, (b) emphasis on the role of family connectedness and engagement for Brazilian families, and (c) adaptation to circumstances related to immigration status. One way of comprehending the needs of Brazilian middle school students and students of Brazilian origin in relation to the development of their educational aspirations is through integrating the theories of family and social capital. Family capital emphasizes the role of families in shaping students' educational pathways; social capital highlights the need to develop ties beyond close networks as a means for accessing knowledge and resources that further students' educational opportunities. Therefore, it is hoped that further attention to the family and social capital of Brazilian families in research, policy, and practice will build upon students' ambitions and improve their educational opportunities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This study investigated educational stratification in Nigeria to determine how socioeconomic status, gender, and regional differences influence achievement in education using the nationally representative 2010 Nigeria Education Data Survey (NEDS). These cross-sectional data are among the first quality household survey data available for assessing aspects of education in Nigeria. In the last four decades, Nigeria has experienced dramatic expansion of its educational system. Following the introduction of educational policies and programs, growth in enrolment at the primary and secondary levels has largely been sustained. For instance, enrolment of pupils in primary education increased from 3,515,827 in 1970 to 14,383,487 in 1985 and to 20,080,986 in 2010. However, this impressive gain was followed by dwindling quality in the educational system, which has reported differing educational outcomes for different groups. Prior research in Nigeria has not examined how socioeconomic status influences achievement in education using large scale representative data. In this study, I primarily focused on assessing socioeconomic status to determine how it predicts achievement in reading and numeracy in Nigerian school children, ages 5 to 16 years. Nigeria is also known to have wide gender and regional gaps in education. Thus, I assessed gender and region variables to determine how much they contribute to the variance in educational achievement. I analyzed NEDS 2010 data and reported the findings of the descriptive and multivariate regression statistics. Descriptive statistics show the frequencies and distribution of the variables in the study. The multivariate regression analyses were employed to determine the relationship of socioeconomic status, gender, and region (the main predictor variables) with achievement in reading and numeracy (outcome variables). Given the use of survey data, both the descriptive and regression statistics were based on weighted statistics. This study found a significant wealth gap in reading and numeracy achievements among Nigerian children. I also found that family wealth, parental education, and region explain differences in academic achievement. Family wealth was found to be the most important variable influencing achievement in reading and numeracy, followed by mother's education and then region. Overall, the findings in this study suggest no significant differences in reading and numeracy achievement for boys and girls. Although gender was not found to be consistently associated with academic achievement in this study, it should not be assumed to mean that gender equality in education exists in Nigeria. It is widely reported elsewhere that gender-biased educational opportunity plays a major role in influencing educational attainment and achievement. More research, preferably using a longitudinal study design, is needed to identify the trends and patterns of gender roles in Nigerian educational attainment and achievement. The findings in this study provide the foundation for making further investigations on the association of social, economic, and cultural factors with academic achievement and to assess inequality in education in Nigeria.

Using archival records preserved by Iowa’s community colleges, private four-year colleges, and public universities, this dissertation examines how Iowa’s established higher education institutions responded to and adjusted to the presence of new two-year colleges from 1965 to 1975. This decade was a critical period of development for Iowa two-year colleges as they were most vulnerable to and influenced by other education institutions during an economic downturn. This study also explores how the curricular tension between vocational education and liberal arts education shaped early relationships between Iowa’s new two-year colleges and other higher education institutions. Specifically, this dissertation examines six two-year colleges, seventeen private four-year colleges, and three public universities to understand how the curricular purpose, mission and identity, position in the higher education hierarchy, and reputation of each type of institution played a role in early relationship-building. Ultimately, this study sought to answer the question whether the state’s new two-year colleges developed relationships with other higher education institutions that increased educational opportunities for Iowa students. Chapter 2 explains how officials from Merged Area I and Western Iowa Tech, two of Iowa’s two-year colleges founded as vocational-only institutions, persisted in their efforts to offer liberal arts education. Officials from neighboring private colleges resisted their efforts because they believed two-year colleges that offered liberal arts education posed a competitive threat. Chapter 3 explores how Iowa’s two-year colleges posed a financial threat, as well as a curricular threat. Part I highlights how Iowa private college officials confronted the financial threat by collaborating with the Iowa Association of Private Colleges and Universities to advocate for the Iowa Tuition Grant. Part II shows how eight private colleges responded to the curricular threat in three distinct ways: strengthening their role as a liberal arts college, making significant institutional changes for long-term survival, and changing or creating new curricular programs. This dissertation also considers the contributions of Iowa’s three public universities, Northern Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Iowa. Chapter 4 explains how each university responded in a distinct way to the presence of two-year colleges. This dissertation concludes by explaining how this study contributes to the debate between scholars about whether two-year colleges were egalitarian institutions or diversion institutions, specifically, whether two-year colleges and their relationships with other higher education institutions provided Iowa students with more educational opportunities and the path to a baccalaureate degree. I concluded that the presence of Iowa’s two-year colleges pressured private college officials to respond in ways that increased educational opportunity, and officials from Iowa’s three public universities to respond in ways that helped two-year colleges secure a stronger position in the higher education system hierarchy, which strengthened the ability of two-year colleges to provide a path to a baccalaureate degree.

Education is development. It helps to create choices and opportunities for people, reduce the twin burdens of poverty and diseases, and give a stronger voice in society. For nations it creates a dynamic workforce and well-informed citizens able to compete and cooperate globally - opening doors to economic and social prosperity.This study examines how a small group of students coped under conditions of adversity. It follows in the tradition of a wide body of qualitative work that has investigated ethnic minorities and their educational experiences. Much of the existing work, however, focuses on merely describing thematically and/or conceptually, what goes on. This study aims to construct an integrated conceptual understanding of how a minority group engaged in the coping process. More specifically, this study seeks to develop a substantive theory that can help explain and predict human behaviour. Grounded theory methodology was used in aid of the theory development process (Glasser and Strauss, 1967). Put simply, grounded theory is an inductive methodology that attempts to understand action from the perspective of social actors (Brooks, 1998).To uncover the coping process, the Turangitukua students and their Hapu (sub tribe) in New Zealand are used as the main data source. Two other student groups were used for comparative purposes. Data was obtained by a number of means; including interviewing, focus groups, hui (meetings), and documentary analysis. The collected data was summarised and analysed over a two- year period.This study contributes to three areas of research. First, it adds to the small but growing body of work relating to Turangitukua hapu (sub-tribe) in New Zealand. Second, it contributes to research in the area of Maori and non-Maori relationships, especially work that focuses on interaction. And finally, it adds to the formal theoretical literature on indigenous educational settings and its management.

This thesis investigates whether luck egalitarianism can provide a cogent and coherent interpretation of educational equality. Historically, the belief that each child should receive an equally good education has exerted a strong influence on policy makers and thus on educational practice, and this despite the vagueness of the egalitarian formula. More recently however, the ideal has been undermined in practice by the rise of neoliberalism and in theory by a number of thinkers advocating other principles of educational justice. But it is vital to be clear about what each child is owed because of the profound effects of education on a person’s life prospects. The motivation for this work is therefore to determine whether educational equality can be rescued as a desirable and animating ideal of educational justice. In order to achieve this, I examine luck egalitarianism, a theory of distributive justice that has its origins in the work of John Rawls, but is now the major rival to his account of egalitarian justice. I probe at the fundamental moral intuitions underpinning luck egalitarianism and how it brings together the morally potent ideas of equality, luck and choice. I argue that these are of relevance for the education each child is owed and I propose a luck egalitarian conception of educational equality, argue that it is a cogent interpretation of egalitarian justice, and conclude that a luck egalitarian conception shows educational equality to be an ideal that is relevant, coherent and what morally matters most for justice in education. I describe luck egalitarianism as resting on three basic moral beliefs: that distributive equality is a fundamental demand of justice; that luck undermines fair equality; and that a person’s genuine choices can sometimes, under certain background conditions, render some otherwise objectionable inequalities not unjust. I then examine whether these three beliefs are compatible with each other and what, if anything, links them. Next, I consider luck egalitarianism’s status as a theory of distributive justice and argue that far from this being a weakness, as Elizabeth Anderson (1999) has notably argued, it is a strength of the position. But to appreciate this it needs to be seen that luck egalitarianism makes no claim to being all of justice and that the equalisandum of equality is complex and egalitarianism is intrinsically pluralist in nature (with a particular understanding of what is meant by pluralist). I consider too whether it is a mistake to say that inequalities that are largely due to luck can really be thought of as unjust. Thomas Nagel (1997) has argued that it is merely misfortune, unless the result of deliberate actions or social structures for which someone is responsible. I reject that position and argue that no one has to be responsible for an inequality for it to be unjust. Having interrogated luck egalitarianism and found it to be a sound account of egalitarian distributive justice, I turn to looking at whether it can illuminate our understanding of educational equality. Educational equality is often interpreted in terms of equality of educational opportunity. I look particularly at a conception of equality of educational opportunity, strongly influenced by Rawls, that has been thoughtfully and carefully articulated by Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift (2008). I find their conception powerful, but flawed, and argue that a luck egalitarian conception can account for the appeal of their conception, but is an advance on it. I end by looking at a specific question of educational justice to test the luck egalitarian conception – is there anything inegalitarian about ability grouping? I conclude that, while still needing to have its implications worked out in full, particularly as regards choice, a luck egalitarian conception provides a compelling account of educational equality and reasserts that equality matters for justice in education.

Education is development. It helps to create choices and opportunities for people, reduce the twin burdens of poverty and diseases, and give a stronger voice in society. For nations it creates a dynamic workforce and well-informed citizens able to compete and cooperate globally - opening doors to economic and social prosperity.This study examines how a small group of students coped under conditions of adversity. It follows in the tradition of a wide body of qualitative work that has investigated ethnic minorities and their educational experiences. Much of the existing work, however, focuses on merely describing thematically and/or conceptually, what goes on. This study aims to construct an integrated conceptual understanding of how a minority group engaged in the coping process. More specifically, this study seeks to develop a substantive theory that can help explain and predict human behaviour. Grounded theory methodology was used in aid of the theory development process (Glasser and Strauss, 1967). Put simply, grounded theory is an inductive methodology that attempts to understand action from the perspective of social actors (Brooks, 1998).To uncover the coping process, the Turangitukua students and their Hapu (sub tribe) in New Zealand are used as the main data source. Two other student groups were used for comparative purposes. Data was obtained by a number of means; including interviewing, focus groups, hui (meetings), and documentary analysis. The collected data was summarised and analysed over a two- year period.This study contributes to three areas of research. First, it adds to the small but growing body of work relating to Turangitukua hapu (sub-tribe) in New Zealand. Second, it contributes to research in the area of Maori and non-Maori relationships, especially work that focuses on interaction. And finally, it adds to the formal theoretical literature on indigenous educational settings and its management.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Com a presente tese, buscou-se investigar as desigualdades educacionais que permeiam o ensino médio, principal gargalo do sistema educacional brasileiro. Inicialmente, questionou-se o papel central da educação como legitimadora das desigualdades sociais nas sociedades democráticas. Apresentaram-se os estudos pioneiros da Sociologia da Educação que procuraram explicar as desigualdades educacionais para, então, abordar as hipóteses teóricas elaboradas sobre as tendências da desigualdade de oportunidades educacionais (DOE) ao longo do tempo. Em seguida, testaram-se empiricamente essas hipóteses a partir de modelos de regressão logística sequenciais que permitiram estimar a evolução do efeito das características da família de origem nas chances condicionais de entrada e conclusão do ensino médio durante um período de mais de vinte anos. Observou-se de forma inédita, de 1986 a 2009, que a DOE relativa ao ingresso e à conclusão desse nível de ensino se manteve significativa e relativamente constante, mesmo no período mais recente no qual as taxas de transição no ensino médio vivenciaram seu maior crescimento. Esses resultados corroboram aqueles previstos pela hipótese da Desigualdade Maximamente Mantida (MMI) e aqueles encontrados por estudos anteriores. Incluiu-se também uma análise das mudanças qualitativas da DOE, evidenciando-se um significativo crescimento, entre o ano de 1982 e a década de 2000, no impacto das variáveis que medem o capital cultural e econômico dos estudantes nas chances destes frequentarem a rede de ensino médio particular. Logo, a estratificação entre a rede pública e particular no ensino médio está cada vez mais marcada pela desigualdade na seleção dos seus respectivos alunos, reforçando a dualidade de desempenho que caracteriza essas duas redes de ensino, conforme previsto pela hipótese da Desigualdade Efetivamente Mantida (EMI). Além dessas análises da evolução quantitativa e qualitativa da DOE no ensino médio, investigou-se o quadro geral de desigualdades que incidem sobre o ensino médio técnico à luz das experiências internacionais, tendo em vista que essa é uma modalidade ainda incipiente no Brasil, mas cuja rede está em rápida expansão. Diferentemente do que ocorre na maioria dos países, os jovens de origem menos privilegiada não são os maiores beneficiários dessa modalidade. Apesar de a mesma ser propagada como principal solução para a falta de qualificação juvenil, a ampliação desse tipo de ensino deve ser avaliada com cautela, tendo em vista o público que está sendo efetivamente atingido e o potencial impacto negativo em termos de estratificação educacional observado nos países que seguiram esse caminho. / With this thesis, we sought to investigate the educational inequalities in the upper secondary education, the main bottleneck of the Brazilian educational system. Initially, the central role of education as a way of legitimating social inequalities in democratic societies was discussed. Classic studies of Sociology of Education that tried to explain those educational inequalities were presented, and the theoretical assumptions about trends in inequality of educational opportunities (IEO) over time were addressed. Subsequently, those hypotheses were empirically tested using sequential logit regression models, which allowed the estimation of the evolution of the social background effects on educational transition related to high school during a period of more than twenty years. It was observed, in an unprecedented way, from 1986 thru 2009, that the IEO related to entrance and completion of this educational level remained significant and relatively constant, even in the most recent period, when the transition rates to high school experienced its greatest growth. Those results corroborate the ones predicted by the hypothesis of Maximally Maintained Inequality (MMI) and those found by previous studies. An analysis of the qualitative changes of the IEO was also included, demonstrating significant increase, between 1982 and the 2000s, of the effect of variables that measure the economic and cultural capital of high school students on their chances of enrollment in private high schools (vs. public ones). Hence, the stratification between the public and private high schools is increasingly marked by the inequality in the selection of their respective students, reinforcing the performance duality that characterizes those two school systems, as predicted by the hypothesis of Effectively Maintained Inequality (EMI). In addition to those quantitative and qualitative IEO analyses, the general framework of inequalities concerning the vocational high school was investigated in light of international experiences, taking into account that such type of education is still incipient in Brazil, but expanding rapidly. Unlike what happens in most countries, young people from less privileged background are not the greatest beneficiaries of that educational scheme. Despite being propagated as the main solution to the lack of youth qualification, the expansion of that sort of education should be evaluated with caution, considering the public effectively reached and the potential negative impact in terms of educational stratification observed in countries that followed that path.