Дисертації з теми "Public policy in languages education"

As recent immigrants seek a productive and dignified life in “new immigrant destinations” that have little historical experience with immigration, public education systems serve a key function in immigrant integration efforts. In a federal system increasingly focused on accountability, a crucial sub-set of education policy and local responsiveness to immigration is English language instruction and services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students and parents.

In such contexts, the role that local bureaucrats play, and whether they actively represent the interests of the newfound diversity of community members, are crucial questions if strongly held American ideals of social equity and equal opportunity are to be upheld. This research asks broad questions at the intersection of bureaucratic power, representative bureaucracy and educational policy toward English language learners at the local level. Variations in how school systems in the political bellwether of Virginia responded to a recent policy shock - federal guidance released in January 2015 that reiterated local school system responsibility for providing equal educational access to LEP students and parents – form a unique window into local policy-making. Using a concurrent triangulation mixed methodology that consists of a state-wide survey and interviews with a sub-set of the Title III coordinators who supervise programs for English Language Learners, this research shows Title III coordinators to be unrepresentative in passive terms of the foreign born population but nevertheless to have a strong sense of advocating for English Language Learners. Findings suggest that public service motivation is the key explanatory factor in driving a sense of role advocacy and this in turn drives a greater range of action taking by the coordinator to benefit ELLs. Despite this link between role advocacy and coordinator action, role advocacy is not found to be significant in driving the likelihood or range of system level responsiveness to the letter. Instead, political and demographic factors increase the likelihood of system action but, counter to existing literature, more conservative localities are found to be more likely to have responded to the Dear Colleague Letter. This suggests that a previous reluctance to act in these places may have been dislodged by the letter and points to the importance of change over time in conceptualizing local responsiveness to immigrants.

The use of corporal punishment as a form of student discipline has long been a controversial form of student discipline used in schools throughout the world. Research gathered showed that the use of corporal punishment has supporters and opponents. The supporters usually reference the Bible or corporal punishment as a traditional form of punishment. Opponents fear that physical punishment is a thing of the past and a form of physical abuse. Qualitative data were gathered from 12 superintendents in Missouri, one communications director from a Missouri professional teacher organization, and two attorneys who specialize in school law and policy to gain their perceptions of corporal punishment. The perceptions of superintendents regarding corporal punishment ranged from strongly disagreeing with the use to strongly believing it is an effective form of discipline. A few superintendents were hesitant to explain its practical use. The comments from the attorneys who were interviewed centered on legal and policy issues, while the communications director from the teacher organization expressed support of the teacher based on the school district's policy of allowing or not allowing corporal punishment. Results and conclusions from this study may assist local school boards in deciding if corporal punishment should be used within their school districts.

The effects of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and the Free Secondary Education Policy (FSEP) on access to secondary school education in Kenya’s Yatta sub-county have not been adequately explored in available public policy literature. Hence, this qualitative multiple-case study was designed to understand the effects of the 2 policies on both enrollment and dropout among secondary school age children in Yatta. The study was conducted in 1 mixed-boarding secondary school and 1 secondary day school in Yatta. The study was built on an adapted Huisman and Smits’ theoretical model on dropout among students in developing countries. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 14 purposefully selected participants: 2 principals, 2 deputy principals, and 10 parents whose children had benefited from the CDF bursary scheme. Interview data were inductively coded and then subjected to Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis procedure, which aided in identification, analysis, and reporting of patterns (themes) in the data. Results showed that the CDF had contributed significantly to the improvement of enrollment with the establishment of new day schools that are more affordable, hence making secondary school education less costly and thus more available to low income families. The study’s findings also showed that student dropout had declined with both the CDF and FSEP. The positive social change implications of this study are that it provides evidence for advocacy among policy makers for increased allocation of resources to the education sector through the CDF and FSEP. Increased allocations will contribute to Kenya’s progress toward universal access to secondary education.

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to identify the recommendations a Delphi panel of expert practitioners judges to be the most important for improvement of the funding formula for public education in California. This study was also designed to determine the level of importance and degree of feasibility of the recommendations.

Methodology. This study utilized the Delphi technique to collect data in three iterative rounds. Twenty expert practitioners provided responses to a series of three questionnaires. Additionally, a priority matrix was used to analyze the importance and feasibility of the recommendations.

Findings. The expert panelists identified 20 recommendations for improvement of the funding formula. The panel reached consensus on the level of importance for 14 recommendations and on the feasibility of 17 recommendations. Two of the priority recommendations for improving the funding formula were related to the base grant funding amount: Experts recommended increasing the base dollar amount allocated to districts and establishing a method to ensure the base grant grows at a rate greater than cost increases incurred by districts. Additionally, two of the priority recommendations were to include students with special needs in the calculations of the funding formula. The experts also identified the need to protect against the addition of new categorical programs.

Conclusions. The recommendations identified by the expert panel reflect the need to revise the funding formula to adequately cover the basic needs of school districts by providing sufficient funds at the base grant level. Additionally, the recommendations demonstrate a need to revise the eligibility for supplemental and concentration grant funds so districts are able to provide supports for students with disabilities in their accountability plans.

Recommendations. Specific recommendations were made to improve the funding formula for public education in California: Increase base grant amounts by providing additional funds or adjusting the supplemental and/or concentration grants proportionally. Students with disabilities should be considered at risk and included in the calculations for supplemental and concentration grants. Protect the integrity of the LCFF and LCAP by reducing restrictions on the use of supplemental and concentration grants and restricting new categorical programs.

Voters’ hatred of the property tax has led to the enactment of tax and expenditure limitations (TEL) in most states (Brunori, Bell, Cordes, and Yuan, 2008; Sokolow, 1998). Past research suggests that TELs have consequences for school districts, such as reductions in revenue and expenditures, and that these effects may be felt disproportionately by districts that are less able to adapt, such as poorer districts (Figlio, 1998; Joyce and Mullins, 1996; Downes and Figlio, 1999; Mullins, 2004; Wallin and Zabel, 2011; Della Sala and Knoeppel, 2014; Arsen, DeLuca, Ni, and Bates, 2016; Steinberg and Quinn, 2015). Such disproportionate impacts may increase revenue inequity across districts, further widening the gap between the “haves” and “have nots.”

This dissertation explores the impacts of TELs on school district revenue and equity through analyses of Pennsylvania’s Act 1, a useful case for studying these effects because it was enacted more recently—2006—and is in place in a diverse state with a heavy reliance on property tax revenue that faces ongoing concerns over its allegedly inequitable public education funding system.

In the first study, I use multivariate regression analyses with fixed effects to consider the effects of Act 1 on various revenue sources available to school districts and whether districts that may be less able to adjust to changes in revenue streams felt these effects disproportionately. I find that local revenue and property tax revenue were reduced for school districts subject to Act 1’s tax limits compared to those not subject to them, and that state revenue did not offset these reductions, resulting in reductions in total revenue. My findings do not suggest that these effects were disproportionately felt by districts with greater needs.

In the second study, I consider the characteristics of districts that are able to avoid Act 1’s tax limits. Using logistic regression with year fixed effects, I find that districts with better fiscal conditions were more likely to receive an exception from the state that allowed them to avoid the tax limit. These results raise concerns of potential inequity, albeit with no intent on the part of the districts or Pennsylvania officials.

In the third study, I use both descriptive and multivariate regression analyses to consider the impacts of Act 1’s limits on revenue equity among districts. I find that Act 1’s tax limits appear to have reduced revenue equity among districts, and to have had a differential effect on higher need districts, when using poverty as an indicator of need.

Taken together, the findings suggest that Act 1 may have both reduced funding and revenue equity among districts, and had a differential negative effect on revenue for higher poverty districts. These results therefore suggest that the tax limits may have somewhat widened the divide between the “haves” and “have nots,” and raise concerns that revenue equity among districts has been reduced and that districts better able to adjust to tax limits—those in better fiscal health—may also be those most likely to avoid them.

Abstract Using concepts from cognitive science, this dissertation explored changes in perception among Montessori education leaders and traditional education leaders. Although Montessori education programs have grown as an option in the public school sector, their unique features in mainstream environments have brought to the fore serious challenges in understanding and communication between decision makers at the institutional level of public education and among Montessori academies. Nationally, Montessori education entities have fostered a strong momentum for improvement at the state policy level. However in some states, including California, differing perceptions still hinder inclusive decision making, resulting in lack of teacher credential recognition, denial of eligibility and funding. My study implemented a communication intervention through which an iterative conversation between both sides aimed to address perceptions and language and provide shared understandings. Using the challenge between Montessori and traditional public education and framed under the cognitive theories of mental models, framing, schemas, metaphors and embodiment, this intervention addressed whether perceptions can begin to shift when one is more fully informed at a deeper cognitive level. Incorporating a workshop intervention involving several modalities, my findings suggested a shift in perception which seemed to persist over time. The effects in shifting actors? perceptions of Montessori education were statistically significant and modest in terms of magnitude. I also found a weaker perceptual shift among traditional educators in California compared with peers in other states. I obtained specific suggestions for future iterations of kinesthetic learning, along with how to best share perspectives between Montessori and traditional leaders, along with possible collaborations between these pedagogies.