Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

As the evaluation of teachers becomes prominent in the current climate of educational reform, the details of teacher evaluation systems become important. The goal of the research was to gain perspective about a little-studied group key in education reform efforts to improve teacher evaluation--the peer evaluator. Teachers serving as peer evaluators were interviewed to reveal their perceived lived experiences before undertaking the role, benefits and challenges they perceived during the role, and their perception of how the experience will impact their future as educators. Extensive profiles of three peer evaluators were crafted based on in-depth interviews. The themes revealed from phenomenological reduction analysis included Idealism, Non-Collegial Reality, Valued Experience and Residual Optimism. The study found common elements in the backgrounds and interests of the participants, including previous leadership roles and a shared a sense of idealism entering the role. The study also found that participants' perceived expectations of being able to help fellow teachers were not fully met as they progressed in the role. Among the perceived challenges and benefits of being a peer facilitator, the study found that time constraints and dealing with non-receptive teachers were perceived as the most challenging for participants, while they valued seeing a "bigger picture" beyond a single classroom as beneficial. As such, the ability to see the bigger picture, along with being a good time manager and communicating well with teachers were perceived by the participants as being most useful in performing their jobs. Finally, the study found that the participants predominantly found their experiences as peer evaluators to be affirming of their previously held educational perspectives, and that the overall experience would impact their future performance as educators in positive ways.

This ethnographic study examines the relationship between teachers’ literacy teaching practices and the pressures created from large-scale reform and high-stakes testing. The participants were staff members at one elementary school that primarily serves Latino students, with a history of low-test scores. Primarily drawing on field notes of classroom observations and meetings as well as interview transcripts, this study demonstrates how testing infiltrated literacy teaching at the school and classroom level. Organizational decisions were made to support test preparation in 3rd-5th grades, but resulted in uneven support for teachers and students in the form of monetary resources and how support staff were used. In terms of bilingual education, informed decisions determined students’ language of instruction and testing, but otherwise received little attention. At the classroom level, test preparation infused daily literacy instruction despite a general consensus among teachers that teaching to the test was against their own beliefs. The subsequent literacy teaching practices resulted in narrow definitions of literacy reduced to disconnected skills in isolation without clear connections to meaningful uses of literacy. The ways in which test preparation affected the classroom life could be seen in the ways teachers organized their class schedules to accommodate test preparation, the specific strategies test-taking strategies they taught, and the use of assessments to track student progress and make instructional decisions. While teaching to the test presented challenges for their beliefs, a minority of teachers found ways to make their practices as theoretically defensible as possible while still supporting students with test preparation, such as through the use of high quality children’s literature. Some teachers also participated in conferences and organizations outside of the school as a way of extending their teaching and the curriculum. The findings from this study expand on what we know about teachers’ response to reform and testing because of their ability to respond with agency in a context that otherwise positions them as less-than-professionals. These teachers offer a heartening example of what we really need—proactive decision makers in the classroom who can navigate the demands of working in a high-stakes testing culture while still promoting quality literacy instruction. / text

The purpose of this study was to explore the implementation experiences of school leaders and teachers in a public, all-female, single-sex campus that experienced successful student outcomes. This research examined the participants' views of the factors that influence successful implementation of this model. Three research questions guided the study: (1) What are stakeholder perceptions of the factors that influenced the successful implementation of an all-female, single-sex, whole-school reform? (2) What are stakeholder perceptions of the successes experienced during the successful implementation of an all-female, single-sex, whole-school reform? (3) What are stakeholder perceptions of the challenges to the successful implementation of an all-female, single-sex, whole-school reform? This qualitative study used a grounded theory approach and a case study design to examine the implementation of whole-school, single-sex reform on a campus that experienced successful student outcomes, as evidenced by receiving the highest rating from the state accountability system in 2010-2011. Participants for this study were selected through purposive, theoretical sampling using a referral technique to generate the participant pool. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, an open-ended questionnaire, and a review of documents. To produce a substantive theory, data analysis followed the open, axial, and selective coding processes outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1990). The participant perceptions and major findings were analyzed to determine the relationships between causal conditions in order to develop theoretical explanations about the factors that influenced the implementation. The major factors influencing the implementation of the all-female, single-sex campus in this study were: (1) Community, (2) External factors, (3) District-level factors, and (4) School-level factors. The data and findings from this research were used to generate a substantive theory regarding the factors that influence successful implementation of this model so that leaders in public school districts may have a greater knowledge base with which to augment the decision-making process when considering the implementation of all-female, single-sex campuses as a whole-school reform model. Also, districts planning to implement this model may use the findings as a guide when considering the factors in their own districts that may influence implementation. / text

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Post-conflict army reconstruction is an important element of security sector reform (SSR), tracing its origins to at least 1980, before the SSR concept itself was formulated. Reconstruction of security forces is an important element in wider postconflict reconstruction, and for political reasons, an army has almost always deemed necessary. Since 1998, SSR itself has been increasingly conceptualized, with principles for SSR having been laid down by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since 2004. Yet SSR faces a host of philosophical and practical problems, perhaps the greatest being the gap between theory and practice (Chanaa's 'conceptual-contextual divide'). To make SSR efforts more successful, the underlying principles need to be revised and amended. Post-conflict army reconstruction experience since 1980, and associated academic study, military doctrine, and work by international organizations (particularly the OECD) can provide a basis for such revision. This thesis aims to survey post-conflict army reconstruction activities since 1980, draw overall lessons from that review and field study in Liberia, and propose amendments to the SSR principles on that basis. / © Cranfield University, 2011

By the beginning of the nineteenth century imprisonment was slowly becoming the favoured form of punishment for criminals in Britain and wider Europe. The nineteenth century was therefore a time when penal institutions were coming under scrutiny. In British-India, the Prison Discipline Committee of 1838 and the 1864 Inquiry Committee attempted to address a number of issues within the colonial Indian jails ranging from discipline and administration to health, labour and rehabilitation. There are important questions that need to be more thoroughly explored in relation to these periods of reform: What were the different points of emphasis of the proposed reforms in each period? What continuity or change can be observed between 1838 and 1864 and what accounted for it? The prison reform of this period in India reflected the various and fluctuating ideas on punishment and criminality that also characterised Britain, America and Europe. However, the approach of the 1838 Prison Discipline Committee and the 1864 Inquiry Committee often attested to the British preoccupation with “progress” and asserting control over the Indian population rather than addressing the needs of the prisoners. Furthermore, the conceptualization of Indian criminals by the British impacted upon ideas relating to convict rehabilitation. Although work has been done in this area of British-India’s history, there is a need to draw together the various threads of reform to create a clearer picture of the overall character and development of prison reform in nineteenth-century British-India.

Many modern democracies have a hard time dealing with religion. The question of how much religious identity should be respected by government is one that America has spent a great deal of time and intellectual effort on. Because this paper looks at Jewish political communities, it first looks at what kind of religiously-rooted political activism is desirable. It finds that both groups of Jews in this study meet Amy Gutmann’s strict criteria for healthy religious and political entanglement. For the empirical part of this study, Jews have long been of interest to political scientists because their partisan ties are stronger and more uniform than most other groups. This paper looks at how Jewish political identity is shaped by Jewish elite messages in the forum of worship. Earlier studies have shown empirically that there are not substantive systematic differences in the political views of Conservative and Reform Jews. This earlier research has not addressed the issue of differences in Jewish denomination and elite political messages. Specifically, this paper explores the differences in the political tenor of the messages of the leaders in a Conservative Congregation and those of leaders in a Reform Congregation in Fort Worth, Texas. Based on the data collected in nine in-depth interviews with Rabbis, board members, Jewish Federation Executive Directors, and other active community members, this paper looks at how elites express their political views in their respective congregational settings. It finds that elites in the Jewish Reform movement in Fort Worth are more overt in their combination of worship and politics, while Jewish Conservative elites feel less comfortable with politicizing the bimah. / text

State-owned banks in China have been among the last institutions to undergo reform. Over the last ten years, new institutions and regulations have been created and the banks have undergone a process of divesting themselves of bad policy loans in preparation for public listing. Three of the “Big Four” are now exchanged on Chinese stock markets, though majority ownership remains with the state. The recent reforms of China’s financial system have been tested by a financial crisis that has toppled banks around the world; yet China’s banks remain profitable. They have been able to weather the storm because of the unique institutional relationships they have with various state vehicles. In particular, state ownership as manifested through asset-management companies have given the Chinese banks an edge over the international competition. However, this relationship is not without its risks. There still remains a great deal of dependence within China’s financial system on the state and its favorable policies, subjecting the banks to continued interference. / text

This dissertation focuses on designing new structural election models and applying modern estimation techniques to quantify policy reform questions. All three chapters use models that are based on individual decision-making and estimate the parameters using a novel data set of U.S. House of Representative elections. These models provide new opportunities to analyze and quantify election policy reforms. The first chapter utilizes a unique compilation of primary election expenditures to see if general election voters value the primary nomination signal. While producing new results on the relationships between primary elections and general elections and between candidate characteristics and vote shares, this model allows me to show that campaign finance reform can have an unintended consequence. A limit on expenditures would have little effect on the competitiveness of elections and substantially decrease voter turnout in the U.S. House elections. In contrast, it is shown that a mandatory public funding policy is predicted to increase competitiveness and increase voter turnout. The second chapter examines why unopposed candidates spend massive amounts on their campaign. The postulated answer is that U.S. House of Representative candidates are creating a barrier to entry to discourage candidates from opposing them in the next election. This barrier reduces competition in the election and limits the voters’ choices. An unbalanced panel of congressional districts is used to quantify how an incumbent’s expenditure in previous elections impacts the probability of running unopposed in a later election. The third chapter estimates the value of a congressional seat based on the observed campaign expenditures. Campaign expenditures are modeled as bids in an asymmetric all-pay auction. The model produces predictions on how much a candidate should spend based on the partisanship leaning of each district. The predictions and observed expenditures are then used to estimate the value of a congressional seat. Along with analyzing how expenditures would change with new campaign finance reforms, this model has the capability of quantifying the effect of redistricting. After 2010 Census results become available, the majority of states will redraw their congressional districts changing the distribution of partisan votes. This model can be used to quantify the effect that the change in voter distribution has on campaign expenditures. / text