Uncertain but always unthreatening: Multicultural education in two urban middle schools

Castagno, Angelina Elizabeth The University of Wisconsin - Madison 2006 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation examines how an urban school district policy on multicultural education is understood and implemented in two demographically different middle schools. Given the current educational imperatives around standards, standardization, and accountability, much of what I illustrate speaks to the ways in which teachers understand these imperatives in relation to diversity- and equity-related imperatives. I use the theoretical tools of Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies to analyze, unpack, and make sense of the patterns I observed. I argue that teachers in both school contexts understand and practice multicultural education in uncertain and ambiguous ways that vacillate between notions of powerblind sameness and colorblind difference. Importantly, both of these conceptualizations of multicultural education function to support, maintain, and legitimate the status quo and White supremacy. While the shared culture of whiteness in which both schools are located shapes these ideas, there are also important differences between the two schools because of the ways they are differently positioned in relation to No Child Left Behind, adequate yearly progress, and performance on standardized tests. Even given these differences, however, the overall pattern is a pervasive failure to provide a high-quality and equitable education that requires all students to achieve academically, maintain or develop cultural competence, and exhibit the skills and strategies needed to create social change. In addition to the ways in which educators understand and practice multicultural education, I also examine three prominent silences around multicultural education---in particular I illustrate the ways in which the silences around race, sexuality, and religion are further iterations of the uncertain but always unthreatening nature of multicultural education. I suggest that the site-based management context of the district is inadequate for ensuring the goals of equity and excellence that multicultural education requires. And finally, I argue that whiteness, racial ideologies, and power structures in the U.S. consistently get in the way of educators, schools, and districts being able to fulfill the promises of multicultural education.

Global education politics and policy: Discourses, coalitions, and coconstruction among globally committed national, state, and district actors

Tichnor-Wagner, Ariel The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

Our world today is more interconnected than ever before due to unprecedented levels of economic, political, social, and cultural globalization. There is growing recognition among policymakers, practitioners, and NGOs that schools must prepare students to live in a global society. Global education is one way of teaching that aims to prepare students with the attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed for citizenship in a globalized world. This three-article dissertation examines the politics and policies of global education in the United States on national, state, and local levels. The first article examines dominant discourses that national policy entrepreneurs have evoked when advocating for global education. A content analysis of documents disseminated by advocacy groups, foundations, government institutions, NGOs, and professional educator organizations promoting global education found that neoliberal and nationalist discourses were used most frequently overall. Yet neoliberal and nationalist discourses were also "stacked" alongside other discourses and not used by multiple NGOs. The second article uses the advocacy coalition framework to understand the evolution of state global education policy in one critical case: North Carolina. Analysis of interviews with 26 key informants and over 140 policy documents revealed that a broad coalition of governmental and non-governmental actors representing education, policymaking, and business sectors coalesced around four major policy objectives: systemic integration of global content and perspectives, language programs, international partnerships, and teacher training focused on global competency development. These beliefs translated into state policy incrementally passed between 2000 and 2015. Strategies that coalition members identified as catalyzing policy action included incremental will-building, setting a vision and following through, and creating hubs. The third article uses policy co-construction theory to explore how two globally committed school districts in North Carolina adapted state global education initiatives. Findings from this comparative case study demonstrate district-level actors' agency in adapting state global education initiatives based upon local context and multi-directional influences. Overall, these three studies illuminate the beliefs, strategies, structures, and contexts that have shaped the adoption and implementation of global education policies on a national, state, and local scale and hold implications for policymakers and practitioners seeking to instill global competencies in K-12 students.

Measuring Arts Integration Teacher Effectiveness in Non-Arts Classrooms through Student Growth

Foust, Bradley Scott ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Boston University 2017 해외박사(DDOD)

John Dewey is known as the father of American experiential education. His views on building understanding in children through experiences in a correlated curriculum continue to influence educational practice to this day. His writings and experiments with experiential education also influenced music and arts education, most recently through the formation and implementation of arts integration programs. Several well-known arts integration program leaders cite Dewey as a foundational figure in the existence of their initiatives. While influenced by Dewey, programs such as the Kennedy Center Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) and the Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (CAPE) also are directly connected to the modern testing movement, and often gauge program success through reporting on a comparative analysis of standardized test scores. Current teacher evaluation models also measure student growth, along with teacher effectiveness, through the use of student test scores. Several arts education figures make an argument against measuring success in the arts through the use of test scores, stating that the true impact of study in the arts cannot be measured in this way. This study piloted a model of measuring growth in arts integration classrooms through the use of the Tennessee Fine Arts Student Growth Measures (TFASGM) system, a portfolio-based teacher evaluation and student growth measurement model. Teachers worked in control and treatment groups to implement the TFASGM in general education classrooms. Along with using the model, a teacher treatment group received targeted arts integration training, and through the model's results, the impact of the training through teacher effect scores was also measured. Results showed teachers receiving arts integration training produced more significant student growth, and had a greater effect on student performance. Higher levels of arts integration that are more closely aligned with Dewey's experiential education philosophy, such as process-based learning and the exploration of concepts common to arts and non-arts subjects, were also observed. More study, including a wider-scale implementation of the TFASGM in arts integration classrooms, is needed to make more substantial conclusions. However, this study demonstrates the viability of a growth-based arts teacher evaluation model in arts integration classrooms, and a new way of reporting on the success of arts integration programs that is in line with Dewey's experiential, growth-based philosophy.

Smart Money? Foundation Investment in Education Reform

DiSabatino, Lydia ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Indiana University 2017 해외박사(DDOD)

Philanthropy has historically played an important role in supporting public education in the United States. Today's foundations, however, play a more active role in reshaping the very structure of public education itself. This dissertation asks two main research questions about this involvement. First, how do major foundations frame the problems in education and how do they describe their preferred policy solutions? Second, because most education policies are passed at the state level, I ask, why do some states receive more foundation money for education than others? Using the framework of discursive institutionalism, I argue that the combination of politically neutral rhetoric and immense financial resources allows major foundations to act as extremely effective policy entrepreneurs in education. I also argue that their effectiveness is helping to bring about actual institutional change in the historically inflexible field of education. To investigate these questions, I use two sources of data. First, through qualitative content analysis of speeches given by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation I analyze the rhetorical themes they use to describe education, focusing on the way the foundation both frames the problems of education and their policy solutions. Second, to investigate the state-level factors that encourage philanthropic investment by three major foundations (the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Walton Foundation), I compile an original data set of state-level characteristics and individual grants made by these three foundations. Regression models on the data produce key insights showing how these foundations invest in particular state policy environments in order to advance their philanthropic agenda. Overall, I show that the rhetoric of the Gates Foundation locates both the problems in education and attributes blame for them within the school system itself, setting up a policy agenda that is directly aimed at challenging the existing institutional structure of public schools. In addition, my quantitative analysis shows that these major foundations choose to invest in states with policy environments favorable to their goals---but that these policy environments are not tied to any particular political party.

Through Our Voices: ECE LatinX Educators Understanding and Discussions of Early Science

Briseno Sandoval, Luis Miguel University of Washington ProQuest Dissertations & 2021 해외박사(DDOD)

School readiness is often defined as being at an expected developmental level across domains such as social and emotional, language and literacy, math, and science (Office of Head Start, 2015; Washington State Department of Early Learning, 2012; Teaching Strategies, 2001). Suppose children start without the foundation and identity in early science (Heckman, Pinto, Savelyev, 2015). In that case, we miss out on the opportunity to establish essential and meaningful links between the young child’s prior knowledge through personal experience and emerging readiness skills (Carver, 2001; Bjorklund, 2005; Stromholt & Bell, 2017). The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) holds that children need high-quality learning experiences to learn essential content and science principles. Scientific reasoning in preschool-age children includes (1) scientific inquiry and (2) reasoning and problem-solving (Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework, 2015). Children's understanding of the world around them is one of the strongest predictors for later science learning and reading and a significant predictor of mathematics (Grissmer, Grimm, Aiyer, Murrah, & Steele, 2010). Children's opportunities with science exploration in their early years mark significant developmental gains and better understand scientific concepts later in life (Peterson & French, 2008; Eshach & Fried, 2005). For example, young children engage in science inquiry with clay work, fishing, farming, weaving, and computing (NRC, 2012, Stromholt & Bell, 2017). However, young children, primarily from nondominant communities, do not have the educator support to understand their exploration as science (Greenfield, Jirout, Dominguez, Greenberg, Maier, & Fuccillo, 2009). It is no longer sufficient to provide access; instead, all children need high-quality early care and education (Barnett, Carolan, Squires, Clarke Brown, Horowirz, 2015; Bassok & Friedman-Krauss, 2016). Monitoring, rating, and communication are essential components to ensure high-quality care and education is accessible for all children. One approach is implementing a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) to enhance the education quality and care children receive (Vandell & Wolfe 2000). In brief, the logic model that undergirds the QRIS is this: Quality assessments inform Quality Ratings, and Quality Ratings provide information and direction for Quality Improvement, and, finally, improved quality optimizes child outcomes and school readiness (Mitchell, 2005; Zellman & Perlman, 2008; Zellman & Karoly, 2012). In this study, ECERS-3 Item 22 Nature/science and Prek CLASS® instructional support evaluate how well an educator supports a child’s emerging scientific reasoning (i.e., Greenfield et al., 2009; Center of the Developing Child, 2014; Office of Head Start, 2015; Washington State Department of Early Learning, 2012). However, while quality assessment standards evaluate and monitor the quality of education children receive, research does not discuss how LatinX educator-led classrooms fare (i.e., Hestenes, Rucker, Wang, Mims, Hestenes & Cassidy, 2019; Garvis, Sheridan, Williams & Mellgren, 2017; Early, Sideris, Neitzel, LaForett, & Nehler, 2018; Burchinal, Garber, Foster, Bratsch-Hines, Franco & Peisner-Feinberg, 2021; Hindman & Wasik, 2013). I believe LatinX educators are cultural wealth experts because of their lived experiences (Bang 2016; Rogoff, 2003; Barajas-Lopez & Bang, 2018; Espinosa, 2010; Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Yosso, 2005). A reason can be that assessments do not measure a nuanced dimension of quality that reflects cultural differences (Burchinal & Cryer, 2003; Buell, Han & Vukelich, 2016); results are aggregated at the educator level. This study seeks to fill this literature gap by focusing on LatinX educator-led classrooms (Rosendahl, Zanella, Rist, & Weigelt, 2015). This study has three primary objectives: (1) through early science education, explore nuances in quality standards to determine the extent to which there is a global dimension of quality reflected in very different types of practices that reflect cultural differences, (2) review the literature on preschool educators’ experiences and perspectives of early science education, and (3) situate on LatinX early childhood education educators’ experiences and perspectives about early science education. Results indicate, for the most part, LatinX educator-led classrooms with at least an adequate quality score (3 or above) in ECERS-3 Item 22 Nature/science had higher instructional support (IS) mean score on the PreK CLASS. Interestingly, LatinX educator-led classrooms' primary language did not influence quality standard scores in this small sample. Moreover, LatinX educator-led classrooms (3 out of 5) following a High Scope curriculum did not meet an adequate score (score of 3). Fidelity to the curriculum influences quality care and education (Maier, Greenfield, Bulotsky-Shearer, 2013; Pendergast et al., 2017). It is important to note that fidelity of curriculum was not measured in this data set. Recent research indicates that educators' education levels showed significant differences in ECERS-3 scores (Hestenes et al., 2019). Hestenes and colleagues (2019) show ECERS-3 Item 22 Nature/science (n = 1063, M = 2.54, SD = 1.17), in comparison, LatinX educator-led classrooms fared (n = 9, M = 3.22, SD = 1.72). In this study’s population, LatinX educators scores varied with their level of education: Associates (n = 1, M = 2.00, min = 2.00), Bachelors (n = 7, M = 2.67, SD = 0.60, min = 1.00, max = 4.00), and Masters (n = 1, M = 7, min = 7.00). The sample size limits the study; however, findings show a pattern of high-quality growth as educators attain higher education achievement. In my study, LatinX educators did not link their values, celebrations, and daily lived experiences, like cooking tortillas, as part of scientific reasoning and doing. Furthermore, they describe a need for professional development to be specific to their needs and wants. In other words, higher education degrees may not be the only pathway to enhance knowledge and practice. These findings contribute to future research efforts and implications for QRIS policy and practice by studying the following broad questions: 1. To what extent do the instruments ECERS-3 and PreK CLASS capture cultural perspectives and quality aspects of LatinX educator-led classrooms? 2. What do ECERS-3 and PreK CLASS quality measures capture about science teaching in LatinX educator-led classrooms? 3. How do LatinX educators understand and discuss their early science teaching?.

College and university responsiveness to students-as-customers: The reorganization of service delivery in the enrollment service arena

Nealon, Jacquelyn Lisa University of Pennsylvania 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Higher education has become a marketplace, driven by factors such as changing demographics, the advent of technology, escalating costs of a college education for both institutions and students, shrinking governmental subsidies, and a massive influx of students seeking a college education in order to positively impact lifetime earning potential. Colleges and universities are engaged in a competition for their share of the education market; competing for students not only in terms of academic programs, prestige, and reputation, but also on the quality of student service delivery and value of student experiences outside of the classroom. Students have increasingly come to view themselves as both customers and active learners and look closely at an institution's approach to service delivery as a distinguishing factor among colleges. This has dramatically impacted the nature of service delivery in the enrollment services arena: namely, the offices of admissions, financial aid, bursar, and the registrar. There is growing tension between the fragmented, functionally-based departmental models of service delivery, with narrowly focused, highly specialized staff members, and the emergence of cross-functional, technology-driven service models, with cross-trained and relationship-oriented personnel. The selection of a service delivery model, combined with a chosen approach to student-centered service may impact recruitment, retention, staffing, budget, and organizational culture within institutions of higher education. A comprehensive review of literature within and outside of higher education, helped to frame the proposed study and ensure a need for, and value of, the intended research in higher educational literature. By engaging a qualitative, multiple case study approach, the researcher set out to identify how institutions of higher education have responded to their students as customers in the enrollment services arena. Three distinctly different colleges, in terms of enrollment, cost, and mission, were selected for the study; each sharing a commitment toward improving student service delivery in enrollment services, but each hovering at a different stage in the evolution of its service transformation. The researcher intended to demonstrate the various ways that colleges and universities choose to respond to their students as customers, each with its own positive, negative, and unintended consequences.

A case study of Middle College High School, 1972--2003: An effort to improve the persistence of at risk students in high school and to facilitate their access to college (New York)

Carter, Hazel M New York University 2004 해외박사(DDOD)

LaGuardia Community College was asked by the City University of New York Chancellor to provide a plan to increase high school retention, improve graduate rates at the secondary level, and attract adolescents to higher education. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of the response, Middle College High School, and the reasons for its success in retaining students who have been defined by New York City middle schools as potential dropouts while maintaining high graduation rates of around 90 percent and college-going rates of over 95 percent. The study incorporates the perspectives of students, faculty and administrators on the issues they confront as well as the process through which Middle College improves opportunities for completing high school and attending college. Additionally, this study proposes adaptations to a theoretical model of the Institutional Adaptation to Student Retention and provides lessons from the Middle College experience can benefit institutions wishing to address education gaps through linkages between the sectors. Administrators and researchers who are looking for ways of improving retention and achievement of at-risk students should find it useful. Technological advancements have made postsecondary education a virtual prerequisite to economic success. It is not only in the interest of employers that the population receives the type of education that will allow them to succeed economically. Higher education institutions also depend on all students to persist through the educational pipeline if they are to keep their doors open. The Middle College model demonstrates that a well-designed and collaboratively supported program can effectively help students and shows the commitment of a higher education institution to partnering with the school system. Large urban communities can benefit from lessons learned as this model can be used to serve an even larger number of students. Middle College, a school-college collaborative program, brings together the New York City's Department of Education with the City University of New York. Given the disparity between the governance structures of these two institutions, the success of the Middle College program highlights its uniqueness and is one of the most promising approaches to keeping students in school and helping them succeed.

The quest for understanding in education: An analysis and critique of contemporary "education for understanding" reform as explicated by Howard Gardner

Bucciarelli, Dierdre Stanford University 2000 해외박사(DDOD)

This study investigates, from a philosophical perspective, the concept of education for understanding since this viewpoint is championed so widely by educators today. This inquiry focuses on the teaching for understanding program of contemporary cognitive psychologist Howard Gardner, who has embraced this notion as a guide for educational practice. His work figures prominently in the cumulating cognitive science literature directed to educational efforts to teach students how to achieve disciplinary understanding or how to “think and perform like experts.” Although the terminology, i.e., “education for understanding” is new, many educators, psychologists and philosophers over the ages have adopted this, in some form, as an educational goal. A neopragmatic philosophical methodology is utilized to elucidate the assumptions that undergird the vision and practice of an education for understanding and to bring to light practical and normative consequences associated with adopting such a conception of education. From a practical standpoint, this study asks whether, based on similar pursuits of the recent past, it is reasonable to posit this as an educational end. From a normative perspective, it questions whether an education for understanding, as represented in Gardner's contemporary endeavor, should be the primary goal of education or whether there is another end that is more essential. Aided by the work of John Dewey, Nel Noddings, and others, this study shows that to the extent that Gardner's agenda focuses on specific cognitive ends without sufficiently addressing students' needs, interests, and purposes; and to the degree that it excludes domains of human experience associated with caring and nurturance, it perpetuates a narrow, fragmented vision of understanding and of education. Restricting understanding to cognitive comprehension of disciplinary structure will not work to further the overall development of students and to foster a more humane society—the later being a goal that Gardner, too, seeks. This investigation concludes that the notion of education for understanding can be a useful one if it is reconceptualized to include students' needs to know, to seek existential meaning, and to care, and if it guides us to attend to the quality of children's educational experience.

Goals and roles of basic education in human development case: Bangladesh

Kimura, Izuru University of California, Los Angeles 2003 해외박사(DDOD)

Recently, basic education has been considered as one of the most important fundamentals to adjust the inequality problem and further, to alleviate poverty in developing countries such as Bangladesh. On the background of this expectation for basic education, there have been some paradigm changes of the meaning of “development.” The focus of national development has been shifting from the macroeconomic level to the individual human beings level, and according to this shift, the goals and roles of basic education have changed. In order to pursue the goals and roles basic education more concretely, this study conducts a case study in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has one of the poorest educational indicators in the world, and in spite of the national government's efforts to allocate large amounts of public expenditures for basic education, they still have been suffering from inequality and poverty. Considering the paradigm change in the development study and its practical application, this study sets the following four research questions and the relevant surveys were conducted by using mainly the methods of literature review and interview. (1) What are the roles of basic education in Bangladesh? What are the current issues in the education sector in Bangladesh? (2) Is the human capital theory applicable to Bangladesh? (3) What are the common socio-cultural aspects of enrolled students to primary education and dropout children in Bangladesh? (4) How should policymakers provide basic educational services to activate it effectively as a tool for a national development and a human development in Bangladesh?. Through the surveys, this study shows some practical implications. First, the major role of basic education is to maximize the potentiality of individual human beings' social choice, and the major goal of basic education is to maximize the potentiality to develop society which consists of enriched human beings. These findings fit the capability approach, which currently affects the policies of the development aid donors, and second, the human capital theory, which is more macroeconomic-oriented, does not seem to be applied to Bangladesh. Finally, focusing on the individual human beings, it is suggested that policymakers be careful for some important socio-cultural aspects, such as the cultural reproduction and birth order, to guarantee the effectiveness of basic education.

The dance of sustaining technology innovations in teacher education: Case of an award-winning program

Johnson, Natalie Ann-Marie Iowa State University 2004 해외박사(DDOD)

This case study investigated the strategies, challenges, and leadership requirements for sustaining technology innovations in Iowa State University's (ISU's) teacher education program (TEP). In 1999, ISU's TEP was granted $1.4 million dollars to renew pedagogy and practice in teacher education with technology. A qualitative case study approach was used to describe and analyze the process of sustaining technology innovations in teacher education. Activity Theory Framework (ATF) and Rogers Diffusion of Innovation Theory (R'DIT) were complementary theoretical lenses used to analyze this case study. Thirteen participants from five constituencies supporting teacher education were interviewed. Interview data were triangulated with evidence from document analysis and on-site observations carried out by the researcher. Three major strategies for sustaining technology were identified from this study: (1) educating and supporting in-service teachers and teacher educators in using and integrating technology in their courses, through mentoring, course and curricular redesign, as well as co-curricular activities; (2) collaborative teamwork and partnerships among stakeholders across the five constituencies supporting teacher education; and (3) strong support from key personnel including administrators and master teachers. Five major challenges also were identified as impacting the process of sustaining technology innovations in teacher education. They were time and funding, people, lack of resources, lack of support, and policy changes. These challenges mirrored the challenges found in the literature. Finally, several characteristics of leaders capable of sustaining technology innovations in teacher education were identified. These characteristics were a "goodness of fit" with the literature reviewed on leadership and included being knowledgeable about technology and teacher education, visionary-building a shared vision, a systems thinker capable of seeing the big picture, a team player and team learner, strong communicator, good listener, ethos builder paying attention to organization climate and culture, "thick-skinned" as well as paying attention to community-building efforts, including formal and informal celebrations. The results of this in-depth case study provides valuable information not present in the literature on sustainability, with extensive detail of what makes an award-winning teacher education program succeed at sustaining technology innovations and it sets the stage for the development of an ecological model for sustainability.