This study examined and evaluated the results of one Massachusetts school district's decision to provide special education services in the regular classroom through the implementation of a model of service delivery commonly called inclusion. This decision caused radical changes in how special education services were delivered to students who had wide-ranging special needs. This study examined the changes in perceptions about whether this new service delivery model was meeting the needs of the students receiving them, given their varied special needs, as well as cost and enrollment changes from 1993 to 1996. The perceptions of the respondents about the effectiveness of the special education services provided through the utilization of the new service delivery model indicated that it did not meet the needs of the students who received them. The respondents did, however, believe that there were increased social benefits for students who have disabilities who received their special education services through the utilization of the inclusion model. There were increases in the costs of providing special education services between 1993 and 1996 that were substantially higher than the comparable costs for providing regular education services. There were decreases in the enrollments in special education programs while, conversely, there were increases in the enrollments of regular education programs from 1993 to 1996. There were also some conclusions that can be presented about whether the utilization of this service delivery model maximized the utilization of educational resources. It did not seem that the inclusion model of providing special education services maximized the utilization of educational resources, nor did it appear that the inclusion model of providing special education services to students who have special needs was a cost-effective way to provide these services.

This dissertation explores the political and organizational activities of the Tanzania Teacher Union (TTU). This study attempts to find an organizational model for teacher unions in Africa that will increase their ability to influence policies, taking the example of the Tanzanian Teacher Union. The study is based on data collected from an open ended questionnaire survey, documentation, the union, relevant literature, focus group interactions developed by the participants on their own, and from correspondence with union leaders. The data obtained have been subjected to a combination of document and content analyses. Results were triangulated by using a variety of sources including mass media, correspondence, union reports, minutes of various meetings, and articles written before the formation of the union. The union was analyzed using the theoretical model of Ofori-Dankwa (1993) that characterizes trade unions using two dimensions political and economic which define four paradigms for unions. From the data collected, the researcher concluded that the TTU belongs to the Low Political, Low Economic paradigm. Analysis of the goals of the union however, suggests that it would be more effective in achieving its goals if it moved toward the High Political, High Economic paradigm. The data revealed that the union has trouble addressing a variety of problems including salary/pension delays that make it difficult for members to pay their medical bills and devoting sufficient attention to the problem of HIV/AIDS among teachers. The data also indicated that there are no mechanisms to develop programs for institutionalizing in-service training for members. In addition, the union movement becomes the recipient of donor funding and unknowingly spends its own resources to support the donor driven projects. The union also lacks a mechanism for negotiating with the employer. There is resistance from the private employers and the government to provide such a legal system. Finally, an area for further research is to investigate linkages of unions with the educational systems and other agencies interested in basic education. These linkages are what make unions sustainable while bringing to focus the coordination of organizational activities. The union faces a choice: either to organize itself appropriately or die.

The purpose of this study was to review successful models for school reform with a focus on the efficacy of the High Schools That Work model in vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts. This study compared and analyzed the results of learner outcomes in Massachusetts vocational-technical high schools by using the results in the Failing category from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, which is a high-stakes test based on increased standards (The Massachusetts Frameworks). The study compared an equal number of Massachusetts vocational-technical high schools that are members of the High Schools That Work network with an equal number of those that are nonmembers. The study compared the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Failing category results in English Language Arts and Mathematics from 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 between High Schools That Work vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts and non-High Schools That Work vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts. Students not in the Failing category for English Language Arts and Mathematics would be eligible to receive a high school diploma, while those students in the Failing categories would not be eligible to receive diplomas. The study also compared dropout rates between 1999, 2000, and 2001 to learn if increased standards and highstakes testing have led to a significant increase in the dropout rate in High Schools That Work vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts when compared to dropout rates in non-High Schools That Work vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts. Based on the comparative results of the dropout rates, this study has concluded that implementing the High Schools That Work model in vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts has done no harm in terms of significant increases in the dropout rates. Based on these results, this study has concluded that implementing the High Schools That Work model in Massachusetts vocational-technical high schools has done some significant good in effectively increasing learner outcomes on high-standards, high-stakes testing. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This dissertation focuses on three country case studies: Singapore, United Kingdom, and United States, with occasional compelling examples from elsewhere. The cases are analyzed and synthesized into a rich and comprehensive conceptual framework with contextual factors and a set of metrics that can be used as a lens to assess a country's readiness and needs in terms of Information and Computer Technology education. The lens is applied directly to the case study of Mauritius as a test-bed, and yields the basis of a consensual strategic technology plan for education. Finally, the lens is tweaked to examine possible technology transfer to developing countries, in particular, to Africa. Further, this study develops the human capacity component of the United Nations Development Program—Markle Foundation's conceptual framework of the components of the development dynamic model, into a model for ICT education, thus providing an integrated conceptual model for ICT education, and ICT industry and/or development. By scanning the environment against the backdrop of the Information Revolution, the author reaped a body of practices and refined them into a set of best practices in teaching, learning, educational administration, school restructure, teacher training, infrastructure, contents, research and evaluation, school linkages with parents, community, business, and other stakeholders, strategic compact, leadership, funding, and sustainability. The results of the study impact e-learning and virtual institutions, the digital child, information literacy, computer fluency and new skills for productivity and creativity in the emerging knowledge-based society, and the digital divide. The implications of the dissertation are the provision of a clear guide to effective planning for ICT education for a broad range of countries and ICT transfer to developing countries. The study also explores some pathways in the search for a new social order where the digital capital of the ICT-developed countries could extend the digital dividends to minimize the digital divide within and between countries. It fills a gap in an increasingly important area of knowledge in a confused and turbulent environment. It will be useful to most governments, which have recently expressed some ambitious strategies for stimulating and supporting the use of ICT in education.

Reforming science education is a multidimensional and complex undertaking. Of extreme importance is transforming how teachers teach. Answering the equity call of reform initiatives requires focusing on the underlying values and beliefs guiding teacher action and the promotion of inclusive practices (Brickhouse, 2001; Harding, 1994; Eisenhart, Finkel, & Marion, 1995; Mayberry & Rees, 1999; Rodriguez, 1997). Reform efforts within the last decade are being directed at college level science courses. Course and pedagogical transformations are particularly aimed at increasing the numbers of females and persons of color in science and improving the education of preservice teachers. Facilitating transformations toward these goals at the individual and program level is challenging work. This study explores and describes the conditions of the teacher change process toward an inclusive pedagogy. Two science professors affiliated with a reform collaborative were the main participants of the research. The professors, in collaboration with the primary researcher, engaged in assisted action research that lead to the identification and descriptions of their context and practical teaching theories. Among the questions explored were: “How does placing the professor in a position to conduct an assisted action research project help to foster teacher change conditions?” “How do the practical theories guiding the professors' teaching foster or impede inclusionary practice?” “What necessary conditions of the teacher change process toward an inclusive pedagogy emerged from the study?”. Using case study and ethnographic qualitative research strategies for data collection and analysis, this study affords a unique perspective through which to consider why and how science professors change their practice. Data indicated that the assisted action research strategy fostered the conditions of teacher change. In addition, findings revealed that the professors shared a teacher and curriculum centered teaching philosophy and an ethic of care and respect for their students that, in varying ways, both supported and impeded inclusive practice. Teacher change was heavily mediated by departmental contexts. Assertions are made about the necessary conditions of teacher change toward an inclusive pedagogy and implications for further research are explored.

School climate has been described as “the set of internal characteristics that distinguish one school from another and influence the behaviors of each school’s members” (Hoy, Smith & Sweetland, 2005). In the landmark study by Brookover, Schneider, Beady, Flood and Wisebaker (1978), school climate was found to be a more significant factor in student achievement than the variables of race and socioeconomic status. Principals need training in the phenomena of school climate and to develop the skills needed to alter it as needed for the benefit of students. This phenomenological study explored the conceptual understanding of school climate by experienced elementary school principals. Further, the study sought to identify strategies used by experienced leaders to manipulate the school climate under the conditions imposed by standards-based curricula and high-stakes testing. Specific efforts were made to distinguish between the terms school climate and school culture that are often used interchangeably in the research and by practitioners. The findings indicate that many of the principals had an understanding of school climate consistent with the research. In most cases, these principals were still involved in coursework, extensive professional development or were avid readers of professional literature. It was also determined that principals who possess an understanding of the phenomena of school climate also acted with intention in efforts to alter it. For the roughly twenty five percent of the principals who did not have a conceptual understanding of school climate, their leadership had an accidental influence on it. For the benefit of all learners in all schools, all principals need pre-service training and support in school climate and its cultivation.

Over the past six years, efforts at integrating students with disabilities in general education classrooms, otherwise known as “inclusion,” have occurred in varying degrees in response to legislative requirements; national, state, and local school district initiatives; and advocacy groups vocalizing their inclusionary philosophies and beliefs. Subsequently, the number of students with mild to severe disabilities who are placed and educated in general education classrooms has increased, yet the inclusion movement has been tremendously challenging for educators. Massachusetts Education Reform, the Title I Reauthorization, and a district-wide Inclusion Plan are compatible in several ways and have influenced inclusive efforts in the district studied. They all promote collaborative efforts in delivering services to students, as well as require that high expectations in content and performance standards be set for all students. Given special education's least restrictive environment mandate, Title I regulations encouraging inclusion as a primary service delivery model, and a mandated inclusion plan, the stage was set for this district to implement inclusion. This study examines inclusion service delivery models in second and fourth grade with particular emphasis on general education students' academic and social outcomes in inclusion versus non-inclusion classrooms. Several questions guided the study: (1) What are the effects of inclusion classrooms on the academic progress of general education students compared to the academic progress of general education students in non-inclusion classrooms? (2) What are the social benefits of inclusion to general education students? (3) Regarding general education students' success in inclusion classrooms, what are the perceptions and experiences of the teachers, the principal, the parents, and the students? A two-part literature review, an analysis of in-depth interviews, a Student Assessment Inventory, curriculum-based and norm-referenced test scores in reading and mathematics, report card grades, and attendance records are presented. Implications for this school, district, and other districts are addressed. This study documents five general findings regarding the implementation of inclusion, variables for successful inclusion, a continuum of placements for all students, the use of multiple teaching strategies, curriculum modifcations, and alternative assessment measures to address all students' needs, and the outcomes of inclusion academically and socially for general education students.

The study examined the issues of access in public and private higher education institutions in Islamabad, Pakistan. The policies and institutions currently in place to deal with access related issues are not effective, therefore, not providing students with the support systems to help them succeed at the institutions of higher learning. The study analyzed student perspectives on access, examined access related systems in place at public and private institutions, and kind of students that have access to higher education. The study also analyzed the growth of higher education institutions and their impact on access related issues particularly in last eight years. Continuous planning, support and development needed to provide higher education is discussed. In addition, the research discussed opportunities and challenges experienced by students before entering college, processes involved entrance at college and after arriving at college. Moreover, similarities and dissimilarities between public and private institutions are also discussed. The study makes suggestions to improve access related systems to help students be successful and the need and ways how can they be further developed and strengthened is also discussed. The hope is that this research will contribute to well in-formed policy making that takes into account the complexities of the forces that shape higher education and the development of Pakistan.

Since the late 1980's, both the federal government and the Massachusetts state government have encouraged the practice of integrating students with disabilities into regular classroom environments. Proponents of this practice assert that all students will benefit from this arrangement and that it represents a less costly approach to educating special needs children. In fact, there is very little research to substantiate conclusions about whether or not integration is less costly than more traditional special educational programs. To learn more about this question, special education costs in two school districts were analyzed. The cost description model used in this study was developed by Lewis, Bruininks and Thurlow in their 1988 study of school-based special education programs. Data about special education costs were collected for a school year before implementation, and then for a school year after implementation. In both districts, there was an increase in costs and enrollments in the less restrictive prototypes and in pre-school programs. Enrollments and costs decreased in most of the more costly and restrictive prototypes. Per pupil costs varied by enrollment trends. Although few students were enrolled in private programs, these placements had a significant impact on the overall cost picture. The less restrictive programs served more students in the post year than during the earlier year and this helped to restrict cost increases. The rural district saw their total costs increase significantly, after discounting for inflation. Salary increases, incentives for professional development and the hiring of new staff, were factors behind the increase in total costs. The suburban district realized cost savings over the six years of the study after discounting for inflation. This district changed staff assignments but did not add new teachers. A very costly collaborative program was reorganized and much of the savings were due to this reduction. Private placements were also reduced. The cost description model developed by Lewis is flexible and allows for differences in enrollments and programs. As special education costs will vary in each district according to their particular circumstances, integration should be promoted or debated, not on the basis of costs, but according to whether or not it is in the best interests of children with disabilities.

This case study provides the data which delineates a plan for a staff development program at the school-site level, allowing for the development of guidelines necessary for the implementation of this plan. Urban high schools face many challenges: continued diminishing budgets impacting on staffing cuts, increased student problems, and reform mandates with inadequate funding. The Department Head, as the curriculum and instructional leader, is at the forefront to provide teaching professionals with access to intensive staff development opportunities. This study describes a staff development planning process as created by one Department Head, that may be utilized by any urban high school without a program in place. The plan involves the collaboration of staff and it is implemented at the school-site. It affords teachers a shared vision with access to pedagogical initiatives accompanied by efforts to ensure a stable and informed staff that can focus on the educational needs of our ever-changing student population. The study is of a descriptive nature. Statistical data gathered in the format of naturalistic inquiry from virtually an entire school staff will indicate what happens when teachers have common goals and utilize a collaborative approach in developing a plan to support fellow practitioners in sharing ideas, cooperating in activities, and assisting one another's intellectual growth. Consensus was established that teachers have a shared vision of the professional activities they want in the planning and design of a staff development program. Most teachers feel they need assistance in upgrading content knowledge and teaching strategies that will support them in working in a collegial fashion to improve teaching and learning focused toward helping all students to achieve high standards of learning and development. Professional development at the school site was strongly preferred as compared to past, singular activities outside of the school building. Teachers want substantial time and resources on a continuum in activities that are job-embedded and reflect the School's philosophy and vision. The results of this case study offer strategies that can be used by high school administrators at the school-site level planning and implementation of a staff development program.