In the 27 years since the establishment of federal law mandating special education, no state has been fully in compliance. In addition, the voices of school personnel (special education teachers, speech and language pathologists, and school psychologists) charged with implementing these laws and regulations have been largely silent in the national research. A review of 1306 references concerning the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) did not find studies that included these front line school district personnel who serve as "intermediaries" and have responsibility to implement special education policy. This is the first study that provided a forum for Oregon professionals to share their concerns and suggestions regarding implementation of the IDEA. The study went beyond the enumeration of noncompliance areas, asked questions about why compliance is problematic, and compared what study participants view as problematic to litigated areas at the Oregon complaint investigation and due process hearing levels. Multiple methods in the data collection process included surveys (n=169), semi-structured interviews (n=11), and document analysis (n=147). To provide baseline information, quantitative analysis provided ordinal ranking of responses and statistical comparisons among participants from the different specialty areas, different years of experience, and different district sizes. It also compared participant responses to Oregon litigation. Part of the study used an exploratory and descriptive approach to obtain accurate and thick description of participant experiences. Participants' rankings differed significantly from identified areas in the literature and alleged violations brought in due process hearings and complaint investigations. Participants ranked least restrictive environment and evaluation concerns highest while the literature and reviewed litigation identified the individualized education program as most problematic. Differences existed among participants based on district size and their disciplines. No differences were found based on experience. A thorough review of policy and funding are indicated. Implications for practice include increased focus on the emphasis of training programs and technical support. Increasing placement options, consistency of information, streamlining of the individualized education program, and assistance in the evaluation and eligibility process are also needed. Because the study included participants from Oregon, generalizability is limited to the state. / Graduation date: 2003

When Democrats and Republicans crafted the 2002 No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the bipartisan reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), they did so with the best of intentions: Close our nation’s staggering achievement gap with federal leadership, accountability, flexibility, and choice. But a over a decade later, many argue the law’s flaws have outweighed its successes to detriment of our public education system, schools, teachers, and most importantly, our students. In accordance with ESEA’s traditional reauthorization cycle, NCLB was signed into law in 2002 and expired in 2007. It is now 2013, and our nation’s education policy still has yet to be reauthorized. In examining how this can be accomplished, this paper first demonstrates how our tradition of local school control developed into one of dual jurisdiction. It then examines the executive and legislative battle that produced NCLB in the 107th Congress. Next, this paper analyzes the intended and unintended consequences of NCLB, which include conflicting conservative and liberal mechanisms, perverse incentives, narrowing and homogenizing education, inadequate resources, ignoring community issues, and seeking annual educational profit over qualitative learning. The paper concludes with an outlook on reauthorization–how NCLB should be substantively improved, as well as, the political context in which this reauthorization will occur.

This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies, which purpose is to find out what ideas there are about school libraries and to get an idea of how informants interpret the new Education Act, which requires all students to have access to school libraries. Another intention of this paper is to highlight the potential rural-related attitudes of the responents. The study includes the sparsely populated municipality of Krokom and is based on interviews with librarians, the school director, principals and politicians who work there. The theoretical basis for this paper is Loertscher’s model för school libraries and a centerperiphery perspective. Study results show that there are different conceptions of what a school library is and that there are some tendences related to the informant’s professions. All in all the school library is the hub of the school, a knowledge base or a room with a wide range of books, many different kinds of texts and access to online resources. The school librarian is important for the school library, as well as collaboration and integration with other school activities. Access to the school library is about longer opening hours, opportunity to visit a physical room with literature and access to use qualified librarians. The new Education Act is interpreted as indistinct and needs to be clarified. It is considered to be directed to schools in larger cities. There is an awareness of the specific rural conditions prevailing and the informants take their arguments into account and some of them give suggestions on rural alternatives such as a mobile library, a digital library or school libraries in each school district instead of at each school.

The wars and national defense nowadays are not simple military actions but comprehensive ones involving national power, military strength, financial resources and spirit of people. And both outer military and inner natural and man-made threats are likely to threaten our national security. Therefore, establishing concepts of comprehensive security has become a basic notion and common sense that all citizens should be equipped with as our nation steps into the 21st century. According to history, the rise and decline of a nation is closely related to the strength of the national defense and the reinforcement of the concepts of all-out defense which depend on whether the defense education is thoroughly implemented. To construct all-out defense, first it is necessary to establish the knowledge of all-out defense and national consciousness. The national consensus should be established by means of "education" to achieve its effectiveness. The ROC's "All-Out Defense Mobilization Act," which was legislated in 2001, shows that the government attempts to solidify the national consensus of all citizens through spirit mobilization. To promote the knowledge of all-out defense, intensify the concepts of defense mobilization and strengthen the development of defense for national security, the All-Out Defense Education Act was legislated to enforce all-out defense education and has been brought into effect since February 2, 2006, which means that all-out defense education can be enforced by law. Thus, all-out defense education is the foundation of the construction of all-out defense, while all-out defense mobilization is the means to achieve all-out defense. The study probes into the transformation and the status quo of defense education according to All-Out Defense Education Act and aims to understand the meanings of all-out defense and all-out mobilization and their relations and extent of mutual effects. The two sides across the Taiwan Strait spare no efforts to implement all-out defense education. Whether a democratic country or a communist one, it puts great emphasis on the importance of all-out defense education. Yet, what is their difference? Focusing on the organizations and their implementation of all-out defense education, the study hopes to offer proper suggestions for future reference.

Abstract   The purpose of the study was to ascertain the school leaders knowledge and priorities of the national goals for their school system respectively and how they declare that they and other operators within the local school system, give priority to the goals. In order to answer this question at issue, a web-based questionnaire was performed among school leaders in a fairly large municipality in Sweden.   My result shows that the school leaders have good knowledge of the national goals for the school system where they operate, but they experience that other actors have less knowledge of these goals. Furthermore, the school leaders declare that they give priority to the national goals to a high degree, but not more than other goals, while they experience that other operators do not prioritize the national goals to the same extent. The other actors in this context are school staff, school heads, responsible local politicians and municipal principal organisers. Those who prioritize the national goals the least are the local politicians, according to the school leaders. The result indicates that local goals sometimes are more prioritized than the national goals, instead of using the national goals as a criterion and subordinate the local goals. / Sammanfattning Syftet med min undersökning var att ta reda på skolledares kännedom om och prioriteringar av de statliga målen för sina respektive verksamheter och hur de uppger att de och andra aktörer prioriterar dessa mål. För att undersöka detta genomfördes en webbaserad enkätundersökning bland skolledare i en medelstor kommun i västra Sverige.   Mitt resultat visar att skolledarna uppger sig själva ha god kännedom om de statliga målen för sina respektive verksamheter men att de uppger sig uppleva att andra aktörer har sämre kännedom om dessa. På samma sätt uppger sig skolledarna i hög grad, om än inte lika hög grad, prioritera de statliga målen framför andra mål samtidigt som de upplever att andra aktörer inte prioriterar de statliga målen i lika hög grad. Dessa andra aktörer är skolans personal, förvaltning, ansvariga lokala politiker och huvudman. Lägst värden vad gäller prioriteringar av de statliga målen uppger skolledarna att de upplever att lokala politiker har. Resultatet indikerar att lokala mål ibland kan prioriteras framför statliga, istället för att utgå från och underordnas dessa.

The purpose of this study was to compare per pupil receipts for operation in most school districts in Texas based on the changes in State funding provided for by three major finance bills and to analyze the effects of federal monies provided by Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to determine the degree of equity in the State's school finance structure. The population consisted of 973 public school districts reporting all data for 1974-75, 1976-77, and 1977-78. The districts were grouped into ten wealth deciles based on School Tax Assessment Practices Board assessed property value per student in average daily attendance. A weighted mean value for each decile for each category and year of funding was computed. Correlation coefficients were computed to provide an index of relationship between the categories of dollars available per pupil for operations. Coefficients of variation were determined to express the magnitude of variation relative to the average value for each additive category for each decile.

abstract: Efforts to privilege STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, initiatives, and industries in American discourse are arguably the foremost expressions of scientific authority in contemporary educational policy. Citing a diverse body of STEM literature, I discuss the histories and rationales that sustain the promotion of STEM. In doing so, I appropriate two concepts -Michel Foucault's Regime of Truth and Hayden White's Emplotment- for the purpose of analyzing the complex interests embodied by STEM discourse. I argue that the Sputnik Narrative is the prevailing story in STEM advocacy discourse. I claim that STEM advocates typically emplot this history as a Romance. Furthermore, I classify two major bases of appeal (rationales) that appear within this literature to justify STEM projects and proposals, "competition" and "equity." Throughout my writing, I cite discursive strategies for challenging and reimagining STEM history. My goal in indicating these sites of narrative possibilities is broaden the discursive field to new, perhaps liberating possibilities. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education 2014

The main goal of this thesis is to describe the current situation of capacity of primary schools in the selected area of Prague and suggest optimization options. In the first part of my thesis the theoretical apparatus needed to understand the issue of education is presented. The main focus here is on the legislation related to the issue of education. The practical part of my thesis is based on the results of questionnaire survey focused on primary schools and additional e-mail survey focused on the founders of these schools. The public elementary schools established by the Prague 1 to Prague 10 municipalities were selected for the survey. On the basis of the information found, the practical part is closed by suggestions for solving the unsatisfactory situation both from the viewpoint of individual primary schools and from the point of view of their founders.

This study examined the comments submitted by the public to the United States Department of Education (USDE), the Office of Special Education Programs, in response to the 2004 amended IDEA, prior to the development and publication of proposed regulations under 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) parts 300 and 303 to implement programs under IDEA. Specifically, this study analyzed the types of individuals (e.g., parents, advocates, administrators, lawyers, support staff personnel) and interest groups along with the number of submissions, types of comments made, and specific provisions in the legislation that received the most comments during the period open to the public prior to the publication of the proposed regulations. In addition, an exploration of the existence of differences in comments submitted by states and regions was analyzed in terms of types of individuals, interest groups, types of comments, and specific provision of the 2004 amended IDEA. Content analysis approach utilizing qualitative data collection and analysis procedures was used for this study. The sample consisted of 2,199 comments submitted to the USDE via the U.S. Postal system, e-mail, and verbal testimony transcripts obtained during one of the public meetings held throughout the United States during the 60 day period open for commenting. The findings of this study revealed a large number of a particular type of respondent types, the majority of the comments were neutral in nature, and the largest percentage of comments received were directed at one particular section of the Act.

The purpose of this study was to determine school principals’ knowledge of discipline provisions of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 and to determine what additional training opportunities may be needed to ensure that school systems in the upper East Tennessee region are in compliance under IDEA. As instructional leaders, it is imperative that principals understand their responsibilities and the importance of adhering to the legal obligations under IDEA. Principals who do not comply with the act not only deny students the education to which they are entitled but also expose the school system to costly litigation. The Survey of Knowledge about the Discipline Provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments as developed by Lyons (2003) was used to obtain the middle and high school principals’ knowledge of IDEA ’97 discipline provisions. The survey instrument contained 12 demographic questions and 35 knowledge-level questions. The knowledge-level section of the survey contained seven questions from each of the five identified areas of knowledge found in the discipline provisions: (a) manifestation determinations, (b) functional behavior assessments, (c) behavior intervention plans, (d) interim alternative educational settings, and (e) general procedural safeguards. The findings of this research project were analyzed using the software program SAS System for Elementary Statistical Analysis version 8.0. Descriptive statistics in the form of total score mean and standard deviation were used to determine school principals’ knowledge of IDEA ’97's discipline amendments. The data analyzed for this study reflected that principals in the upper East Tennessee region need additional training regarding the discipline provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The provisions least understood by school administrators included: (a) manifestation determinations, (b) functional behavior assessments, (c) behavior intervention plans, (d) interim alternative educational settings, and (e) general procedural safeguards.