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Using Activity Theory as both the theoretical and analytical framework, this study investigated whether participation in the Math Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia (MSPGP) had any relationship with changes in PSSA scores and math course taking patterns for students attending 23 partner district high schools. Participation included time spent attending professional development provided by the MSPGP and the level of engagement that a district had with the partnership. Results showed significant gains in PSSA achievement overall (t = 4.03, df = 22, p = .001) and for African American students in particular (t = 2.53, df = 13, p = .025). These results are similar to statewide results in Pennsylvania. The biserial correlation showed a relationship between the overall improvement in PSSA scores and the level of professional development in which schools participated (rp = .62, p < .05). Results also showed a significant gain in higher level math course completions for Latino/a students (t = 3.08, df = 19, p = .006). Although the gain in PSSA scores was not significant for Latino/a students, it was strongly correlated with the level of engagement schools had with the MSPGP (rp = .90, p < .05). Course completions, both overall and higher level, increased for the majority of schools. Achievement gaps persist for many of the schools even though the majority of African American and Latino/a students had increases in PSSA achievement as well as increases in course completions. The study also investigated whether other independent school district variables had any relationship with changes in outcomes. Results of the Pearson Correlation showed a significant relationship between the use of reformed curriculum and changes in PSSA achievement (r = .43, p = .04). / CITE/Mathematics and Science Education

yes / This article explores some of the challenges involved in a collaborative mental health partnership, drawing on the reflections of two project members from the Chainama College of Health Sciences in Zambia and the Leeds Metropolitan University in England. The aim of the project was to support the education and training of the mental health workforce in Zambia as services shift from institutional to community-based care. The discussion is located within Gray’s ‘three-pronged dilemma’ and debates concerning the internationalisation agenda in social work and higher education. The conclusion emphasises the benefits and tensions of partnership working between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries.

Yes / South-South Cooperation SSC) has returned as a significant trope in the contemporary rhetoric of the aid industry. We compare the way that the idea of SSC is being currently constructed. In the 1960s and 1970s, SSC was discussed as constituting a challenge to the ideological dominance of the global north, presented initially as a counter-hegemonic challenge to neo-colonialism. Currently it is framed similarly as a challenge to neoliberalism. However, the current iteration of SSC differs fundamentally from the first round in the early 1970s, largely because of differences in assumptions about who is co-operating with whom and to what end, in the context of SSC. These differences are significant for the material practice of SSC and the ideological function of SSC rhetoric.

Thesis advisor: Eric Dearing / The value of home-school collaboration has been repeatedly touted in psychology and education (e.g., Pomerantz et al., 2007). However, impacts on learning may depend on whether home-school relationships are, in fact, truly collaborative. Indeed, the importance of educators having asset-based partnership attitudes – viewing families as partners who bring strengths to the collaboration, including knowledge, skills, and cultural capital – and the pedagogical skills to make use of these assets has become clear in the literature (McWayne et al., 2022). Yet, many questions remain around how asset-based partnership practices can be supported for teachers working with marginalized and disadvantaged families, especially around teaching early math.The present dissertation study examined preschool teachers’ and families’ uses of early math home-school collaboration kits—Family Math Kits—that were co-designed to build asset-based home-school partnerships in 24 Head Start classrooms in the Boston area. The study aimed to examine implementation testing and correlational indications of kit impact on teachers and families. Four key findings emerged. First, there were large differences in fidelity of implementation both across study sites and within study sites. While site and center leadership was likely critical to some of these differences, teacher and family focus groups also revealed both implementation challenges and opportunities that deserve future attention in the field. Second, despite variability in implementation fidelity, the kits were not only enjoyable for families, but the kits also provided meaningful early math learning opportunities (i.e., uncovering family strengths in their daily lives) that families could communicate with teachers. Third, while teachers were able to learn more about their families (i.e., family strengths) via the kits, challenges remained as to how to best utilize experiences from families in the classroom. Fourth, kits appeared to be positively associated with changes in teachers’ beliefs and attitudes such that teachers who implemented the kits with higher fidelity displayed a trend toward improved attitudes and beliefs (e.g., general pedagogical beliefs to specific beliefs around early math and home-school collaboration), especially around teachers’ math confidence. However, the use of the kits appeared to have somewhat mixed associations with family attitudes and beliefs. Taken together, these study findings underscore the importance and challenges of effective home-school collaboration for early math learning that is strengths-based. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Educators often face a problem of the lack of ongoing contact between the school and students' homes (Delpit, 1995; Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; McCaleb, 1994). Literacy development at school is facilitated by teachers' knowledge of students' home-based discourses (Auerbach, 1989; McCaleb, 1994; Voss, 1996). This dissertation research responded to the question: What do educators need to understand and appreciate about their students' home or living context in order to create partnerships with parents and young students that will nurture literacy growth? This research is an ethnographic study. I spent one school year as a participant observer in a family literacy program. Young mothers who never finished high school and had children under the age of eight attended this program twice weekly. I observed during the family literacy sessions, recorded field notes, and conducted formal and informal interviews with nine family literacy program participants. I visited four women in their homes and conducted interviews. All interviews were tape recorded which were then transcribed. I collected copies of women's written pieces produced during the family literacy program. Data analysis and interpretation (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996) revealed themes and issues consistent within each of six women's stories. The deficiency model (Auerbach, 1989; Purcell-Gates, 1995; Sleeter, 1996) was challenged as each women demonstrated resourcefulness, articulated goals, the use of multiple literacies, commitment to their families' welfare, support and initiative in their children's schooling and a keen awareness of social class barriers. Repositioning our perspectives (Sleeter, 1996) enables educators to discover the strengths in students' home discourses that include multiple literacies (Voss, 1996) and other funds of knowledge (Moll & Greenberg, 1990). We need to move our lens from that of critique and judgement to that of discovery. Each student comes to school with an abundance of family and home experiences that need opportunities for expressions and learning. The pressures of negotiating home discourses with the dominant discourse (Gee, 1990; Sleeter, 1996) create reservoirs of strength for many families that is often masked by non-middle class appearances. / Ph. D.

As the scale and scope of infrastructure projects have increased, so too has the array of stakeholders either involved or impacted. Such projects often take years to come together and evolve with time through the actions of project sponsors and the engagement of various stakeholders. Stakeholders through engagement and input can help legitimize and improve large-scale project initiatives. Stakeholders can also marshal opposition that can delay or block these projects. Consequently, the significance of stakeholder involvement is critical in megaprojects. Governments have increasingly utilized public-private partnerships (PPPs) for megaproject delivery. This method introduces characteristics that distinguish PPP megaprojects from others such as: private control, profiteering, foreign profits, and long-term concessions. This study investigates whether differences exist between PPP and non-PPP megaprojects with respect to stakeholder involvement strategies and stakeholder issues raised in such projects. This research employed a longitudinal multiple case study approach that examined four tolled fixed crossing megaprojects; two of them were delivered as PPPs and two were delivered as design-build (i.e. non-PPP). The approach followed the design of prior studies in this area by De Schepper, Dooms, and Haezendonck (2014) and Winn (2001). Pre and post milestone event analysis captured trends and shifts in involvement strategies and stakeholder issues. Subsequently, stakeholder issue tables (organized by issue themes) and stakeholder mechanism tables (organized by mechanism type and information flow) were utilized for across case synthesis and comparison to identify similarities and differences. Analysis of stakeholder involvements across cases showed that NEPA establishes a baseline for involvement, but its requirements are not sufficient for megaprojects; a more comprehensive strategy is necessary. Further, although participatory involvements may be beneficial particularly in complex settings, these mechanisms must be carefully managed in terms of process and criteria for evaluating stakeholder input. Additionally, when private partners/contractors are involved in megaprojects, they become part of the project team and support a coordinated involvement approach. Examination of stakeholder issues indicated that issues that are common to non-PPP and PPP projects are more prevalent than PPP specific issues. In particular, issues related to tolling are dominant; moreover, toll affordability is extremely sensitive, and its severity is predictable based on affected area demographics and past toll escalation practices. The study provided insights about how megaprojects are shaped through actions of project sponsors as well as impacted and interested stakeholders. It also demonstrated how these projects become artifacts of aspiration for politically powerful figures. Lastly, it identified the main stakeholder issues and suggested a set of guidelines to assist future practitioners in developing better stakeholder involvement strategies, which should both enhance and legitimize megaprojects. / Ph. D.

National calls for improving the prospects of STEM workforce development and broadening participation in STEM place the focus of change within the education system. Despite many efforts towards integrating STEM, and specifically engineering, into pre-college settings, mechanisms for change in schools towards these goals remain underdeveloped. While collaborative solutions involving multiple organizations across sectors towards addressing this complex problem appear promising, more work is needed to develop a critical understanding of the processes involved when such different organizations come together to collaborate towards a social goal. Based in an effort to bring more theoretical literature into the discourse around school-university-industry partnership, the purpose of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of how K-12 STEM interorganizational relationships develop in their initial stages by focusing on the collaborative processes and structures and to develop implications for future success of such collaborations. To accomplish this, I used a multiple case study design to investigate the collaborative processes that emerged in the first year of the partnership within VT PEERS (Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools). I centered my analysis on select adult stakeholders in the collaborative problem who were also programmatic participants including teachers, administrators, industry partners, and university affiliates. Using pre-year and post-year semi-structured interviews with these stakeholders, I characterized the collaborative processes in the first year of the program. Interpretation of results comparing across cases indicated considerations for education and organizational theory literature as well as implications for collaborative practice. Findings confirmed the emergent and negotiated nature of interorganizational collaboration and highlighted the importance of managing communication and reflection in partnership. Organizational culture may impact capacity building when organizations come together towards a complex social goal, particularly when industry is involved, and autonomy and operational issues within the school system and teaching can make collaborating with schools particularly challenging. When organizations come together towards a social goal centered around one of the collaborative partners, equality in exchange may not be a good measure of success. With the caveat that communication needs to be well managed to build credibility among partners, an unequal but equitable exchange of resources may be appropriate in collaborations towards a social goal. While it is tempting to continue to measure quality in interorganizational collaborations narrowly by the outcomes produced, a macro-level look at the collaborative processes involved enables collaborative stakeholders to be intentional about designing for future success. / Doctor of Philosophy / National calls for a higher number and greater diversity of STEM professionals place the burden of change on school systems. Despite some successful efforts, there still remains significant challenges to making change in schools. Partnerships between private companies, universities, and school systems appear promising, but current work is limited in its conclusions. There is a need to reflect more critically on the process of how organizations build relationships in addressing social goals if we are to gain a better understanding of how to make these partnerships successful. To address this, I conducted pre-year and post-year interviews with teachers, administrators, industry partners, and university affiliates during the first year of VT PEERS (Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools). Because the project took place in three different rural school counties, I looked for similarities and differences across the collaborations in each county to build a broader understanding and develop implications for other partnerships. Findings from this study led to several important takeaways about collaborating across organizations towards goals in K-12 STEM. First, collaboration is a process and initial plans will change and develop over time. Reflecting on this and keeping open communication through changes potentially equips collaborators to better weather the ups and downs of partnership. Second, the nature and flexibility of an organization’s work environment impacts how much tension they feel between getting their everyday work done and contributing to the collaboration. Third, unequal costs and benefits may be acceptable in a collaboration as long as collaborators are in agreement on the balance. Again, communication is important to build trust and understanding among partners for a healthy balance to be achieved. Overall, taking a birds-eye view of collaborative processes allows collaborators to be more intentional about designing for future success.