How do teachers respond to being told by the state what to teach? Whilst some suggest prescription can be instrumental in rapid system improvements, others believe that it has a deleterious effect on the profession. In this study, I firstly look at whether South Africa can be classified as a system increasing its levels of prescription and secondly consider how such an approach may affect teachers. Detailed investigation of policy documents finds that South African primary mathematics is an example of ‘unprescribed prescription’, typified by documents with hugely detailed teaching and learning practices but which are never made sufficiently mandatory. Studies of teachers’ responses to prescriptive educational reform are hindered by stereotypes, often based around teachers’ unwillingness to change. In-depth interviews allow the study to explore the positive and negative effects which teachers’ professional identities have upon decisions regarding policy reform. Equally, far from being passive in their reception of change, teachers displayed highly-ordered and well-reasoned viewpoints on how educational change should be successful. This allowed me to place teachers into four discrete categories according to their response to prescription and the implications of these categories for policy makers are put forward.

The purpose of this study was to focus on a teacher-led school reform initiative. Inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach for Early Childhood Education and committed to constructivist teaching and learning, a group of Middle School teachers embarked on a journey to plan a new way of thinking and being in a Middle School. This ethnographic study utilized observations, interviews, participant action research, and a variety of field texts to capture the story of these remarkable teachers. This case study chronicles the life and work of thirteen teachers, three administrators and two university faculty members as they struggled to make sense of the planning process that was necessary to launch a reform effort. Particular attention was focused on the power, politics, and personalities that both harmonized and conflicted with the work of these reformers. Analysis revealed a passionate desire on the part of the reformers to change the face of schooling and education for children and for themselves. Conflicting forces in opposition to their best efforts included the lack of adequate time to devote to such a cause, institutional and cultural rituals in the school, and a changing political climate in the town in which the reform was initiated. Despite the barriers, this group has been able to achieve a solid sense of community and has been able to stand together as an articulate, knowledgeable, savvy group of educators on behalf of improved education for children. Strengthening their power base through collaboration with the administrators at their school has escalated their effort to the implementation stage. Sharing vision and responsibility, their dream is coming true. Based on lessons learned in the journey with the teachers a model for exploration of process of innovation in context is proposed. / Ph. D.

The primary objective of this study was to describe and analyze visions of 21st century education articulated by prominent individuals involved with current school reform and restructuring efforts. A second objective was to describe and analyze those images of the most likely educational scenario in the 21st century and the perceived barriers that would prevent realization of those idealized visions.

Cuando las Escuelas Europeas se crearon, su misión era doble. Por un lado, se quería ofrecer una solución para los hijos de los funcionarios europeos proporcionando movilidad y enseñanza en la lengua materna, asegurando así que el niño pudiera crear laboratorios de experimentación pedagógica para el multilingüismo, la educación multicultural, y un programa europeo de armonización. Desde este contexto el objetivo de este estudio fue analizar el proceso de reforma del sistema de las Escuelas Europeas y a su vez involucrar en este proceso los grupos de interés. Han participado entre ellas Oficina del Secretariado General, la Comisión Europea, los Estados Miembros -en particular los representantes de los Ministerios de Educación e inspectores-, directores, directores adjuntos, profesores, alumnos, personal administrativo, padres, las instituciones, las comunidades locales y el Parlamento. El análisis de los resultados ha sido a través de una metodología mixta (cuantitativa y cualitativa). Esta investigación concluye que los grupos de interés valoran, por encima de todo, el aspecto multilingüe y multicultural del sistema de Escuelas Europeas. En cuanto a las áreas de mejora, las partes interesadas del sistema de Escuelas Europeas señalan que el sistema necesita una mayor participación por parte de los actores, incluyendo a la comunidad local. En ese sentido, están de acuerdo con los autores de estudios anteriores en que la superpoblación y la falta de una alternativa al bachillerato europeo son importantes debilidades del sistema. Además consideran que hay demasiada burocracia y que se necesita una mayor autonomía para las escuelas. En algunos elementos la reforma ha sido exitosa y en otros consideran que se necesita mejorar algunos aspectos (por ejemplo mejoras pedagógicas). Como conclusión y recomendaciones finales de este estudio destacamos las siguientes: (1) En cuanto a los grupos de interés: involucrar más a los alumnos e ex-alumnos, que son los mejores defensores del sistema. Dar voz los funcionarios de contratación local, ya que su número está en aumento, y se quedan más de 9 años. Aumentar la participación de los Estados Miembros mediante la colaboración con las escuelas del tipo 2, que pueden ser considerados una plataforma para crear espíritu europeo de escolarización en toda Europa, donde las buenas ideas pueden ser intercambiadas. Involucrar a los docentes y directores adjuntos en el liderazgo para el compromiso y la mejora. (2) En cuanto a la gobernanza: avanzar hacia un Sistema de Gestión de la Calidad (como ISO 9001). Establecer una red de investigación académica para desarrollar un fondo de conocimientos y en continua expansión y renovación.

The phrase “middle schooling” refers to the school setting for adolescent students generally between the ages of 11 and 15 years of age (Lawton, 1999). This period of time has been recognized on a national level as being particularly significant in education. A call for reform in upper primary and lower secondary to address the understanding of adolescents in a complex and changing society has been recognized publicly at a federal and state level (Lawton, 1999). This research evaluates the redesign of one middle school’s structure through the implementation of a vertical curriculum in a catholic secondary college in a country town. The program has been in place for three years in the college and the need to evaluate it takes on significance for the college itself, and the wider educational community who have been discussing and researching middle school curriculum design for a number of years. Research methodology takes the form of attitudinal questionnaires administered to parents, students and staff in the college. Quantitative analysis using descriptive statistics is used for closed questions to look for significant differences between the parent, student and teacher attitude towards the philosophy and delivery of the vertical structure. One-way ANOVA and MANOVA analysis revealed that parents, students and staff were all supportive of the new structure and its driving philosophies, although parents scored significantly higher on the scales examined than staff or students. Correlations and Chi Square analysis were applied to selected scales, revealing overall that the outcomes of the vertical curriculum are being met. A number of areas were also identified as needing improvement, with areas of emphasis differing for the parent, staff and student groups in the community.

Due to the urgency of not losing more urban high school students to academic failure and dropping out, the most promising reform efforts must be investigated. One of the most promising ways of creating successful high school reform that has been advocated is through restructuring schools into community-like organizations, often called professional learning communities. Yet, limited empirical research has been conducted concerning professional learning communities, especially in urban high schools. Thus, this research sought to understand how two urban high schools, one comprehensive high school in a large urban center and one small career academy high school in a medium-sized urban center, implemented professional learning communities as a leadership-initiated reform strategy for math and science teaching. Year-long interactions with each high school including in-depth observations and eighteen interviews, nine personnel from each site, revealed that certain organizational structures (e.g. social and human resources, structural conditions) must be in place for professional learning communities to have the potential to be a successful reform effort. Specifically, the way in which leadership supports professional learning communities through structure, pressure, and support was important. Both studies show that school context and leadership significantly affect the quality of professional learning communities and their ability to reform their instructional practices in order to increase student achievement.

Given the conflicting research results on the effectiveness of whole-school reform models (Nunnery, 1998; Stringfield & Herman, 1997; American Institutes for Research, 1999; U.S. Department of Education, 2004), there is a need to focus on the evaluation procedures of whole-school reform organizations. Because the ultimate goal is to improve school performance, it should also be a goal of each whole-school reform organization to design a comprehensive data collection system to evaluate each school’s performance. A comprehensive reporting system was developed for a school reform organization, the Accelerated Schools Project (ASP). Using the steps of the research and development process recommended by Borg and Gall (1989), this study: (a) developed a theoretical framework for the reporting system, (b) identified data that should be collected in the reporting system, (c) performed a field test with an expert panel of educational professionals, (d) developed a preliminary form of the reporting system, (e) performed a main field test with principals and coaches in the ASP network, (f) reported field test results, (g) revised the preliminary reporting system, (h) developed a website for the reporting system, and (i) provided recommendations for the completion, dissemination and implementation of the system in accelerated schools across the nation. This study has important implications for both the ASP community and for the entire whole-school reform community. For the ASP community, the reporting system could be used: (a) to collect data in all accelerated schools across the nation (b) as a longitudinal database of information to monitor data on each ASP school, and (c) to generate school summary reports on ASP schools. These data will assist researchers in measuring the effectiveness of the ASP model on student achievement and other important variables. For the whole-school reform community, the method used in this study could be replicated in other school reform organizations to develop a comprehensive reporting system. By providing consistent data for school reform organizations to evaluate the impact of their models on students and schools, educational researchers will be better equipped to understand each model’s impact, and thus will better understand the diverse research results on school reform effectiveness.

There has been a trend toward increased in educational accountability for the past fifty years as seen through legislation, policy, and guidance implemented by state education agencies. While states had accountability systems, the federal NCLB Act of 2001 formalized the current system that worked to remediate schools challenged to meet the accountability expectations? Exacerbating these circumstances was a shifting accountability model, AZ LEARNS, that measured school performance from 2007-2009. The Arizona Department of Education formalized processes and structures to address the needs of low-capacity schools through the State System of Support. This research examined the role of the ASSIST Coach in underperforming schools as a measure of state intervention in Arizona. Data revealed that insufficient time, resources, and support were afforded to low-capacity schools by the ASSIST Coach to affect change that resulted in school improvement within the AZ LEARNS model. Additionally, the skills, experience, and background did not align to the needs of low-capacity schools that participated in this study. In the absence of effective state intervention, schools turned to internal capacities to plan for and implement school improvement initiatives that were minimally effective in turning around their respective underperformance. Based on these findings, recommendations for future research were offered to strengthen the support for schools under the State System of Support in Arizona.

This study investigates the impact of the New Basics Project on teachers at a special school for students with intellectual impairments. The study is aimed at exploring the complex nature of the work of special educators as they enact the New Basics curriculum with a particular focus on the teachers’ opinions about challenges that arose for their curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices. Attention is also paid to how the principal’s leadership supported the enactment of the New Basics in respect to what he did and why he used particular strategies. The nine teachers and their principal were involved in a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews from one of only three special schools in phase one of the New Basics trial in Queensland, Australia. These interviews produced data from the special educators as they were confronted with a new curriculum that challenged their previous teaching practices. The enactment of the New Basics curriculum occurred within the context of a state-sanctioned mandate to provide alternative programs to those offered in mainstream schools, for students with special needs. This thesis explores these teachers' experiences using critical theory as a basis for analyzing their opinions on issues such as the role of the special educator, tensions between old and new curricula, pedagogical and assessment practices, and connections between the at-school learning experiences for intellectually impaired students and the realities of post-school life. The investigation also examines the leadership conduct of the principal in changing times at the school. The findings suggest that the New Basics has played a significant role in providing structures for developing communities of practice amongst teachers; in supporting special educators to focus more on the educational needs of the students (e.g., literacy, numeracy, financial planning) and less on their medical needs (e.g., toileting, feeding, personal hygiene); and supporting school leadership that empowers and listens critically to teachers as essential components of the successful enactment of curriculum reforms like the New Basics.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2006. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education" ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 220-234) and appendices.