In this philosophical thesis, I propose global education as one approach for fostering global citizenship which, I believe, leads to a global consciousness. This increasingly interconnected and interdependent world calls for a global consciousness that not only nurtures a sense of caring about global as well as local and/or national issues, but also encourages contributive action. Once I introduce the rationale and goals for promoting a global consciousness, I then focus on education as one avenue for promoting the global citizenship that is essential for a global consciousness. However, global education faces its own challenges that impede its ability to foster global citizens. I specifically highlight six areas of concern that need to be addressed. To achieve a greater understanding of the complex relationship between citizenship and education, I explore the ideologies of traditional and more contemporary philosophers. Having established the linkage between citizenship, both as a nation-state and global concept, and education, I present a philosophy of education which is rooted in the teacher-student relationship. I advocate this bond as a primary step that leads to the promotion of global education in classrooms. By tying together all my main points in section five, I establish the foundation and steps that foster the emergence of a global consciousness.

This study examines the challenges and complexitites within the role of a building principal during a time of reform. Presented from the lens and voice of an experienced principal who came to a struggling urban elementary school, this portrayal represents three years of key moments of change as collected, described and interpreted from the lens of the principal. Compiled as a series of narrative accounts, the storied snapshots were crafted from personal jopurnal notes along with the supporting details obtained from sources such as meeting notes, emails, surveys and other day-to-day documents reflecting a change in practice. Organized around several collections of "key moments of chsange", rich description and additional narrative devices are used to examine variuos human experiences related to leading during change. A representation of stakeholders within a building are portrayed- teachers, support staff, parents. Along with a description of the external environment and context from this single instance of change, the underlying emotions, hopes, reactions and moral dispositions of the building level leader interacting with others is examined and interpreted. This study reveals that leading during change holds unique challenges that are frequently in conflict. Both a sense of rigidity needed to meet the present accountability required from schools yet a flexibility to deal with the diverse human side of teachers, students and parents is required within the role. Throughout the study, specific examples of these paradoxes and dichotomies are described and interpreted.

As a foreign language observer, the author became increasingly interested in language education in American society. The United States has been home to several non-English languages; nonetheless, there seems to be a lack of choices when it comes to a career that involving foreign language. The choices, based on foreign language course enrollment, consistently seem to be Spanish, French, and German, regardless of the focus of the nations global participation. As a basis for this study, the author decided to explore the American attitude, between the 1700s and 2006, that has fostered the current state of foreign language education in the United States. The author presents an argument based on contextual factors which are likely to have affected foreign language education in the United States. The factors explored in this work are immigration, foreign language instruction, federal funding for foreign language instruction, and foreign language course enrollment.

The purpose of this study was to analyze elementary school principals sense of self-efficacy as leaders of reading instruction in their elementary schools. The researcher used an electronic survey to gather data to examine the self-efficacy beliefs of principals in their role as instructional leaders of reading education. The Tri-State Area School Study Council aided the researcher in identifying a sample group of 80 elementary school principals to participate in this study. The researcher developed two research questions that guided his study. One research question was designed to identify the perceived rating of elementary school principals personal leadership efficacy as reading education leaders. The second question sought to learn how elementary school principals rated their self-efficacy, from various backgrounds and various schools, pertaining to their role as reading instructional leaders in their schools. The results of the study demonstrated that experience as a principal and teacher did not correlate with the perceived self-efficacy of principals. Rather, experience as a reading teacher correlated with the principals that rated themselves highly efficacious. Support from teachers, superintendents, central office, and parents proved to be significant factors in the principals self-perception of efficacy. The results of the study also revealed that a majority of the elementary school principal respondents did not find their principal preparation program helpful in preparing them to be instructional leaders of reading instruction. An analysis of the data also indicated that female principals rated themselves more efficacious than male principals. These results support the need to further examine elementary school principal certification policies to better prepare elementary principals to lead reading instruction. Elementary school principals are responsible for supervising and evaluating reading teachers to enhance their reading instruction. This study suggests that some elementary school principals may not be prepared for this role.

The Argentinean higher education system suffered an overarching reform since the mid 1990s. The literature for the study of higher education reform policies in Argentina focuses mainly on broad reform policies and on issues of university autonomy. This dissertation reveals the impact of global trends on higher education reform policies in Argentina and it explores the goals of the Argentinean national state in the design of the higher education reform policies, plus the tensions and misalignments between policy goals and implementation at two universities, and the outcomes of the policies on professors work and academic professionalism. The purpose of this study is to analyze the tensions and impacts initiated by the Argentinean higher education reform policies of 1995 (and subsequent policies) on the ways in which professors and academic staff perceive the roles of the professoriate at two Argentinean universities. This research is designed as a policy case study complemented with the method of focused synthesis. This study is sustained by different type data such as archival data, and interviews. Policy actors, such as policy makers, as well as academic staff, and professors working at two Argentinean universities were interviewed using open-ended interviews. A coding schema rooted in the theoretical framework was the research tool utilized to construct the research findings. The research findings reveal that the Argentinean state intended the modernization of the higher education system in the context of state reform. The improvement of quality of both the system and the professoriate was also among the goals of the reform movement. Different system stakeholders influence both the design and implementation of the policies. Their perceptions about academic professionalism have a weak impact in the process of policy implementation. Nevertheless, professors work has been deeply affected by the implementation of these policies. This study will contribute to the scholarship of higher education reform policies from a global scope. The focus of the policy outcomes on the professoriate opens an unusual topic that will ultimately be the source of further comparative analysis of the effects of these policies on professors lives and work.

This study examines teacher evaluation in a Catholic school system and the problematic and recommended practices that effect teacher formative development in the teacher evaluation process. The Department of Catholic Schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia expressed an interest in improving the teacher evaluation process in its school system. Informal comments from teachers and principals indicate that the process does not improve the formative development of teachers. Historically, there has been limited literature about teacher evaluation in Catholic schools. Literature about teacher evaluation in general and in public schools, as well as one doctoral dissertation focusing on teacher evaluation in a single Catholic school, reveal that the formative development of teachers is a critical part of the evaluation process and that formative development is often lacking in the teacher evaluation process. The literature outlines both problematic practices that hinder teacher formative development in the evaluation process and recommended practices that promote teacher formative development in the evaluation process. Three focus groups of teachers and three focus groups of principals representing the schools in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston were conducted by the researcher. Focus groups were chosen as the method of data collection to best explore and understand the full range of perceptions of the principals and teachers about the teacher evaluation process. The problematic and helpful aspects of the current teacher evaluation process and elements to promote teacher formative development within the teacher evaluation process were discussed by the teachers and principals. A close relationship was found between the problematic and recommended practice identified in the literature and by the focus groups. Additionally, the focus groups stressed the inclusion of Catholic Identity as the most important component of the teacher evaluation process. The larger significance of this study for the teacher evaluation processes in other dioceses as well as in public schools is discussed. Based on information in the literature and the focus group discussions, the researcher discusses implications for policy, practice, and future research in the teacher evaluation process to improve the formative development of teachers in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

This study followed students in a suburban middle school (grades 6, 7 and 8) in Western Pennsylvania and confirmed predictions made by the 4Sight benchmark tests (given during the 2007-2008 school year) when compared to the actual student results on the spring 2008 PSSA exam. The researcher evaluated the ability of the 4Sight tests to accurately predict students scores on the PSSA exam. The Success for All Foundation claimed that this formative assessment can predict (using a linear regression model) how students would have scored on the PSSA test if it had been given on the same day. The researcher confirmed this allegation with a case study with an entire school population. The Western Middle School administered four rounds of 4Sight testing during the 2007-2008 school year with the last round being administered one week after the PSSA exam. A comparison was analyzed between the third and fourth round of tests administered in January and April and the PSSA test in April. In their 2007 Technical Manual, the Success for All Foundation used third quarter test results to analyze correlation to the PSSA test. The researcher duplicated this process to compare correlations and added the fourth test analysis for additional findings. A Kappa coefficient formula was also used to compare predicted and actual PSSA classification categories. Since the 4Sight exam is new, little research has been done to track its effectiveness. Students raw score results were charted (by grade level) from the four 4Sight exams. Along with their raw score is the predicted categorical classification created by the Success for All Foundation that coincides with categories reported after PSSA testing. The last column of the test score data shows students actual raw score results and actual categorical classifications on the 2008 PSSA test (published near July of 2008). This format allowed the researcher to chart students progress from the third and fourth 4Sight exams and analyze correlation among predicted and actual results.

Perceptions of Key Stakeholders Representing School Districts Included in the Standard and Poors Study on School Consolidations in Pennsylvania James A. Budzilek, M. Ed. University of Pittsburgh, 2008 Abstract There is a natural predilection in American education toward enormity, and it does not serve schools well. William J. Fowler, Jr., 1992 Because of recent studies, it appears that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is indirectly advocating or pursuing the idea of merging or conoslidating smaller school districts, including those that are rural. And, it appears that, the Pennsylvania state legislature is encouraging schools falling into this category to pursue the process. Recent studies have addressed the need to share services or merge districts that are in close proximity to on another. Although the literature on this topic is abundant, not only in Pennsylvania, but across the nation, no definite conclusions about school size, academic achievement, and cost effectiveness regarding school size exists at this point in time. This research examines the perceptions of selected school leaders on school merger possibilities in Pennsylvania. Specifically, the study notes what these stakeholders perceive as important factors to maintain the status of their district and their beliefs on any merger prospective. The study also details participant knowledge of the recent Standard and Poors Study on School Consolidations published in 2007. Key stakeholders include: superintendents, school board presidents, and teacher association presidents. With the 2008 voluntary merger of the Monaca and Center Area School Districts, other school districts must be aware of the merger v process experienced by these districts. This situation may have established a procedural precendent for other districts to follow across the Commonwealth. Through surveys, that include closed- and open-ended questions, this researcher desires to achieve a greater insight on the current climate of the districts represented in the study. A number of small school districts, particularly the rural ones, in many areas throughout the Commonwealth are struggling financially. This study includes ten districts from southwestern Pennsylvania. The districts represent small rural, suburban, and urban schools and were included in the 2007 Standard and Poors study.

As educators work to improve achievement within the current policy environment of accountability and "subgroups," their attention has been drawn to considerations of race, culture, and learning in schools. Yet few school leaders have the preparation or knowledge to assist teacher learning about these issues. Theories of culturally relevant pedagogy focus on how teachers can teach subject matter in a culturally appropriate manner, and previous scholarship has considered culturally relevant pedagogy in relation to teaching and learning. This inquiry examines it in relation to leadership content knowledge. Critical race theory offers a lens through which to examine the relationship of beliefs and knowledge when considering race and racism in the American educational system and for further situating an examination of school leadership and cultural competency. The research questions I address are: 1. What kind of perspective toward students is held by educators in the school? How do these perspectives connect with teaching, learning, and leadership? 2. How is culturally relevant pedagogy represented in the schools? How do school leaders foster or hinder CRP in their schools? 3. In which contexts and events in the practice of school leadership do issues of race, culture, and learning surface? How are the issues mediated by the principal and other school leaders? This case study of three White principals reveals that they faced many issues of race, culture, and learning, yet tended to be colorblind and colormute. Even when they identified issues, they were reluctant to address them or without resources, thus ignoring situations that could have served as sites of teacher learning. Several White teachers held dynamic and nuanced asset perspectives toward children of color. New teachers in particular learn a "repertoire of racialized and 'cultural' comparisons" (Pollock, 2001) as a key component of belonging to their community, a repertoire that knowledgeable school leaders could begin to disrupt through efforts to assist teacher learning and development toward an asset perspective. In addition, several teachers were trying to implement features of culturally relevant pedagogy, and one or two were seeking knowledge about issues of race and racism. An assistant principal who was African American assisted teacher learning about students' funds of knowledge. Nevertheless, these efforts were not supported by the broader professional community or White school leadership. This study may be useful to policy makers and professors of education in encouraging a reexamination of requirements for leadership preparation which currently lack an emphasis on culturally relevant leadership content knowledge or social justice. Leadership content knowledge that includes knowledge of culturally relevant pedagogy, particularly critical consciousness that problematized colorblind ideologies, could play a significant role in deepening teacher understanding of the relationship of race and culture to teaching and learning, and thus, in instructional improvement.

Private student loan borrowing has increased dramatically over the last decade. But because private student loans have only recently emerged as a major source of student financial aid, little research has been done to measure the impact of the borrowing trend. This research study used longitudinal data at one private institution to ascertain whether the borrowing trend has influenced its persistence and graduation rates. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship of private student loan borrowing on persistence & graduation rates, while controlling for the following other variables: SAT scores, high school grade point average, college grade point average, family income, race, gender, parent education level, federal student loans and institutional grants/scholarships. The sets of independent variables used to address the research questions were determined to have goodness of fit in almost all instances according to their Hosmer and Lemeshow statstics. Private student loans as independent variables, however, were not significant contributors in the results for any of the research questions according to their Wald statistics. Consequently, it appears that no statistically significant relationship exists between private student loan borrowing and persistence & graduation rates when controlling for other noted factors. Although the evidence suggests that no relationship exists between private student loan borrowing and persistence & graduation rates, the results of this study contains other valuable information. Several of the other independent variables were shown to have statistically significant relationships to persistence & graduation rates. The independent variables with statistically significant relationships with persistence status were: SAT, college GPA, gender, race, institutional grants and federal student loans. The independent variables with statistically significant relationships with graduation status were: SAT, college GPA, race, institutional aid and federal student loans.