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As an avenue of educational reform and organizational restructuring within public education, school choice has gained in popularity over the last twenty years. The charter school movement, in particular, has enjoyed a high growth rate since its introduction in 1992. Advocates of charter schools claim the schools' regulatory freedom and unique structure foster improved academic performance and educational success. However, the literature shows charter school students' performance is typically below and, at best, on par with that of neighboring public school peers. Given this mismatch of purported academic advantage and observed performance, this study aims to add to the literature by explaining why parents choose charter schools and remain in charter schools. Using the Texas Education Agency's 2006 Survey of Charter School and Traditional School Parents this study will examine why parents consider different aspects of schooling more important than others. Survey responses will be analyzed to explain possible relationships between factors affecting charter school enrollment, race, and socioeconomic status. / Master of Science

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The Botswana basic education program is intended to provide for equity and equality of opportunity and access to education. Every Motswana child is expected to attend school continuously up to the national mandatory tenth grade (Revised National Policy on Education, (RNPE) 1994.). Since not all children can be absorbed into senior secondary schools, examinations are used to select those who will proceed to higher education. However, some children selected to senior secondary education drop out before they complete their education cycle. Children who drop out forfeit their chances of going through a senior secondary education program, and thereby lose the opportunity to better themselves, obtain better paying jobs, or make informed contributions to the national development process. This study sought to discover reasons why some children do not complete their intended cycle of schooling. The research adopted a qualitative design in which in-depth interviews of focus groups were conducted. The main population groups interviewed were teachers, parents, senior secondary students, and school dropouts. The views obtained from the interviews were checked against documents and records of the Botswana Ministry of Education. The findings indicate that the reasons given by research subjects as causes for school dropout are consistent with those appearing on official records: pregnancy, desertion, illness, and death. However, the respondents also added four major themes of self-withdrawal or withdrawal for personal reasons, parental withdrawal, lack of transportation fees to and from classes, and lack of accommodation. The sub-themes for students who withdraw from school for personal reasons include their not seeing any value in education, thinking that the subject matter is too difficult, or being misguided by peer influence. The conclusions drawn are that the research subjects believe school dropout is an important issue that should be addressed. The suggested solution strategies include the call for effective teachers, community parenting, community-school partnership, sex education and contraception, and formulating and enforcing laws where parents and guardians will ensure that students stay in school for up to a certain age or else be liable for prosecution (enforced school age). / 2999-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore and understand the kind of partnership that exists at secondary school level between government, Catholic Church, school administration and parents. And the way these parties perceive and assume their respective duties and responsibilities, and the relationships with one another in the new school decentralised dispensation. By 2000, Rwanda restructured the education system by initiating school decentralisation reforms and devolving more powers and responsibilities to districts, schools and community. The literature on education decentralization, state and non-government provider partnerships in education theories is reviewed to identify the main issues to investigate. This study relies on taped in-depth interviews with school committees‘ members, education officers as well as documents analysis. All this enabled the researcher to answer four research sub-questions: (1) how do school committees perceive and exercise their powers and responsibilities in contributing to school development?; (2) how do school committees and the school administration work together in contributing to school development?; (3) how do Catholic Church authorities contribute to the managerial and/or professional issues and school needs? and; (4) how do the government and the Catholic Church collaborate for school development? The study discovered that, despite the reluctance of school committees to be involved in school financial management, they were eager to be involved in schools governance and school development. They undertook activities aimed at raising school funds, volunteering in school activities requesting their expertise, contributing to some school decision making and attending successfully school meetings. Moreover, results have shown that the school committees and the school community (school principals, teachers and staff) manage to work together to face the challenges of lack of capacity. Even though the Catholic Church financial support to schools has been reduced, the Catholic Church contributes via its teaching to the mobilization of the community for school development, for charitable actions, and collecting funds from aid agencies. The study recommends that the government and Catholic Church continue to collaborate to build the governance capacity of the school committees, that school principals and teachers manage to create a welcoming school environment, that the department establish a system vi support that provides information about schools‘ academic and financial performance relative to other schools, closing the gap in the existing regulations and guidelines on the respective power and responsibilities pertaining to each of stakeholders in partnership for school development. The study recommends further studies on the implementation of school decentralization in remote rural schools; the impact of the socio-economic status of school committee members on their commitment to their children‘s school development; the factors underlying teacher‘s attitude towards their involvement in financial and administrative decision making; and a comparative research of similar non catholic and Catholic schools and how they implement differently school decentralization.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 318-334).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 90-94).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 90-94). Also available in print.