A survey was created and mailed to 500 school psychologists randomly selected from the National Association of School Psychologists' membership lists. The final sample consisted of 228 school psychologists working at least half-time in a school setting. The survey's purpose was to gather information from school psychologists on their perspectives on crisis training and on crises experienced by public schools, as well as what schools have for crisis plans/teams, and what they do for crisis response. Nearly all of the participants (98.2%) reported that they had some type of crisis intervention training. The majority of respondents indicated that their schools had both crisis plans (95.1%) and teams (83.6%). Most of the participants reported that their schqols have experienced and responded to serious crises. Respondents indicated that lll psychological debriefing was being used by the majority of schools (67%). Many participants suggested that additional training and practice would improve schools' crisis responses.

A survey instrument was designed to yield information regarding hearing conservation activities. This instrument was then distributed to those individuals identified as the coordinators for the various district programs.

For several decades, the institutionalizing of pilot projects has been part of school reform designs in many countries. In the context of developing countries, this reform design accumulated into the establishment of so-called International Standard Schools (ISS). ISS are not traditional private international schools but public institutions drawing on private sector initiatives. ISS are typically national projects based on borrowing educational innovations that have been long-standing practices and ideas in the private education sector and adapting them to the public education sector. The exploratory case study focuses on the design of a scale-up reform wherein national actors involved international service providers in order to adapt and disseminate curricular innovations from the autonomous system of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) to the system of regular public schools. The study applies the notion of international standards as broadly defined international best practices and global education policies (e.g., competency-based education, outcomes-based education, and English as a medium of instruction) that national governments endeavor to adopt in their public school systems. The study seeks to understand the national school system’s attraction to certain international standards and borrowing ideas and policies offered by international education providers in Kazakhstan. The study explores how and why the selection, local adaptation and scale-up of international standards occurred in Kazakhstan’s public school system. The study draws on case study methodology and combines an embedded single case-study approach with mixed methods research design. The application of this methodological strategy is explained by the complex nature of the scale-up phenomenon that requires the researcher to examine perspectives of heterogeneous actors involved in the development and implementation of the scale-up reform. The study found that the design and establishment of NIS occurred due to the long-standing reforms characterized by a protracted policy conflict and the socially constructed modern school system based on the projections of various countries and regions as ‘world-class school’ systems. Avoiding the reduction of the state to one unitary actor, this embedded single case study found country-specific and sociological reasons for the establishment of NIS as a school reform modality in Kazakhstan from the perspectives of various policy actors including schoolteachers. The scale-up of curricular innovations had different meanings for different stakeholders of the same reform.

In this exposition, the writer has attempted to give a clear idea of the origin, organization, and curricua of the three types of schools of the Mexican public educational system. The information was gathered from first-hand knowledge, from careful study and analysis or publications of the department of Education, visits to schools, Interviews with school pen, and from various earler works on the subject of Mexican education.

The primary purpose of this study was to analyze the recent racial desegregation trends in the school cityJ of Indianapolis, Indiana, particUlarly with respect to pupil personnel, teacher personnel, and school administration policies. Such an analysis would be incomplete, however, without a prefatory, updated history of events that made up "The Indianapolis Story II of desegregation in its public schools. A still third concern of this study was a survey of major legal developments pertaining to school desegregation procedures elsewhere in the nation. These developments have set the national climate in which trends might be further predicted and in which future Indianapolis school policies might be made.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effects that Montessori and public school environments have on the moral cognition of children and to assess the differences using modified moral dilemma stories. Through the analysis of these children's responses on moral dilemma stories this thesis reveals that there are stark and statistically significant differences in the children's responses on two of the three stories. The Montessori children scored higher on the morality level and the answers reflected altruism over authority on story one and story three. Through these results the researcher surmised that school environment can have an impact on moral cognition of children and that further research needs to be done in this field.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether significant relationships existed between character education and the number of incidents of crimes and violence, attendance rates, and academic achievement in Florida public schools. Proponents of character education such as Lickona (1991) and Murphy (1998) posited that there was a positive correlation between teaching and practicing the six pillars of character education, and student achievement, and increased attendance. They also posited that there was a negative correlation between character education and incidents of crime and violence. The researcher acquired data in an attempt to determine whether or not the views of Lickona (1991), Murphy (1998) and others holding this view would yield similar results in the Florida public schools. The theoretical framework for the study was Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental theory of moral reasoning. The study was compiled between 2003 and 2004 based on data for the 1998-1999 school year and the 2002-2003 school year. These dates were chosen because they were the pre-implementation year (1998-1999) and four years after the character education mandate went into effect. Data from 67 Florida counties were solicited and 10 counties selected as samples of effective character education implementers and non-effective character education implementers in their elementary schools. Utilizing Statistical Package for Social Science (2004), data were analyzed for statistically significant relationships in order to confirm or negate the null hypotheses. The tests utilized were repeated measures ANOVAs. The study found a statistically significant relationship between those counties that effectively implemented a character education program in their elementary schools and student attendance, as compared to counties that did not effectively implement a character education program in their elementary schools. The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between those counties that effectively implemented a successful character education program in their elementary schools and student achievement, as compared to counties that did not effectively implement a character education program in their elementary schools. The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between those counties that effectively implemented a successful character education program in their elementary schools and lowered incidents of crime and violence, as compared to counties that did not effectively implement a character education program in their elementary schools. In all school districts studied, however, over the four-year period incidents of crime and violence were reduced, the absenteeism rate was reduced, and achievement had increased. This could have been due to the implementation of any type of character education program or it may have been due to other programs implemented in the Florida schools.

The publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983 has prompted a series of attempts to revise the educational system's outcomes. Legislative and executive reform bills have resulted in Educational Vouchers being a prime source of reform. A case study of the perceptions of public high school principals in Florida that are at Voucher Eligible high schools to those perceptions of principals at schools graded 'A' as of the 2002-03 academic school year was the focus of this study. Four public high school principals from two Florida districts were used in this study. Two schools were identified as Voucher Eligible and graded "F" and two were examples of best practices or graded "A" or "B". Analyzed data identified recurring patterns between the four schools.Both advocates and detractors view of vouchers would be given a full historical review. Included in the research were the four major educational criteria of educational vouchers that were used in voucher development policy. The three major components of Florida's Voucher Programs, along with the No Child Left Behind Act were examined along with accountability measures and parent/student rights. The data revealed that there was a positive relationship between the minority rate of a school and the school's grade. Data also revealed that it would be beneficial for all schools and communities to work together to address the reading level issue as these programs have shown a positive relationship between the overall reading level and the school's grade.

This qualitative study examines the experiences of key stakeholders such as school administrators, the families of children with emotional and behavioral disabilities, special education advocates and the representatives of the advocacy organization that train them and their perceptions of the characteristics and core competencies that make special education advocates helpful in their support to families. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts yielded the following findings: 1) The low barrier to entry into special education advocacy leads to inconsistent approaches, 2) Differing perceptions of what motivates stakeholders create tension during IEP meetings, 3) Special education advocates serve as the voices of parents, 4) Advocates affect the emotional well-being of parents during IEP meetings positively, 5) Meetings are objectively and qualitatively different when advocates attend. The research findings also reveal that special education advocates who are helpful to families embody the following qualities and core competencies: 1) Knowledge of special education laws and procedures, 2) relationship building skills, 3) communication skills, 4) familiarity with available resources to support families. Specific recommendations targeted for each group of stakeholders were provided.