Education Commons^™

Cancellation Of Indigenous Australians From The Apprenticeship Training Contract, John Mangan, Bernard Trendle

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

The vocational education and training (VET) sector is a major pathway to postschool education for indigenous students, yet questions are being raised about the capacity of the VET system to provide successful outcomes for the indigenous apprentices and trainees it attracts. Within a system plagued by high cancellation rates in general, indigenous apprentices appear to do particularly badly. This paper combines data from an administrative database on apprenticeship with income data from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing to provide an analysis of attrition rates for apprenticeship training contracts in Queensland, asking: Are cancellation rates for indigenous students significantly …

Using Supervision To Prepare Social Justice Counseling Advocates, Harriet L. Glosoff, Judith C. Durham

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

Over the past several years, there has been an increased focus on integrating not only multiculturalism in the counseling profession, but also advocacy and social justice. Although the professional literature addresses the importance of cultural competence in supervision, there is a paucity of information about social justice advocacy in relation to the process of counseling supervision. In this article, the authors share a rationale for Integrating a social justice advocacy orientation in supervision, discuss the connection between diversity and social justice advocacy counseling competence, address challenges faced by supervisors, and suggest specific strategies for use in supervision to prepare counselors …

Gender-Separate Education: The Effects On Student Achievement & Self-Esteem On Economically Disadvantaged Public Middle School Students In Philadelphia, Heather M. O'Neill, Allison Guerin

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

In 2003, three Philadelphia middle schools with similar demographics and failing student achievement levels were taken over by an educational management organization. Two were transformed into distinct single-sex academies within the original school buildings and a third remained coeducational. Students did not have the option where to attend, eliminating selection bias. Through funding from a Spencer Foundation grant, data was collected on 1,000 students for 2002-03 through 2004-05 to examine impacts of gender-segregation. We find students in single sex schools witness greater improvements in standardized test scores, with boys gaining the most, and no differences on Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale.

Public-Private Partnerships, Civic Engagement, And School Reform, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The number of partnerships between public schools and private organizations increased dramatically after the National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983) issued its report "A Nation at Risk." ... In this essay, I propose an uncommon perspective of public-private partnerships in the United States—one that calls for direct citizen involvement to ensure that collaboration is linked to and compatible with reform efforts carried out at the local (school district) level. The need for a new conceptualization is framed by three convictions: public-private partnerships have been largely ineffective in terms of improving instruction and student learning; democratic deficits in these ventures …

A Sustainable Future For Open Textbooks? The Flat World Knowledge Story, John Hilton Iii, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

Many college students and their families are concerned about the high costs of textbooks. E–books have been proposed as one potential solution; open source textbooks have also been explored. A company called Flat World Knowledge produces and gives away open source textbooks in a way they believe to be financially sustainable. This article reports an initial study of the financial sustainability of the Flat World Knowledge open source textbook model.

Teacher Perceptions Of The Factors That Influence Support For An Adequacy Model Of School Funding, Nancy L. Alex

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to determine teacher perceptions about the factors that influence support for an adequacy model of school funding and what relationships exist between specific demographic variables and those perceptions.

Using the instrument created for the study, one hundred thirty-nine teachers from the Montrose RE-1J School District where surveyed. Data was tabulated using standard descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages). As a general data analysis approach, bivariate comparisons were performed using Pearson correlations and t-tests for independent means. Multiple regression prediction equations were used to examine the relationships between specific demographics and teacher perceptions of the factors …

Effect Of High School Completion Of The Agricultural Education Program On The Rate Of Return On Investment For The Commonwealth Of Virginia, Phillip Scott Bevins

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

This research study sought to determine the effect high school completion of the agricultural career and technical education program has on the rate of return on investment by public schools in Virginia. The research questions guiding this study included: (1) Were students able to find employment related to the agricultural career and technical education program they completed, (2) What federal and state funding was allocated for students participating in the agricultural career and technical education programs in the state of Virginia, (3) Was there a significant level of tax revenues generated by incomes from those who participated in the agricultural …

Budget Fy 2010-2011, Swosu Administration

SWOSU Fiscal Year Budgets

The Southwestern Oklahoma State University Budget FY 2011. Submitted June 11, 2010.

College-Prep-For-All Curriculum: Is It An Option For The North Bay?, Edward Kujawa, Madalienne F. Peters Ed.D., Elizabeth Truesdell, Suzanne Roybal, Sarah Zykandov, Rajinder Sky Gill, Kevin O'Brien, Eileen Vollert-O'Kane

Madalienne F. Peters

The report concludes with suggestions for future research. Much of the current research details the successes of high school graduates in attending and completing post-secondary education, but there exists a need for longitudinal studies tracking students from an early age, through their elementary, middle and high school experience, and on to their college attendance and careers. In comparing schools that have implemented strides toward College-Prep-For-All policies versus those that remain status quo, what possible differences develop for students and the local economy? Furthermore, how can the North Bay glean aspects of successful college- and career-ready programs for their schools? The …

Teaching Talent : The Best Teachers For Australia's Classrooms, Stephen Dinham, Lawrence C. Ingvarson, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz (retired)

Australian business leaders want to see reforms to school education that improve learning outcomes and opportunities for all students. If we are to continue to compete effectively in the global market, the quality of our education system needs be among the best in the world. Research has shown that improving the quality of teaching is the most effective way to achieve better educational outcomes for individual students. Excellent teaching is the key to increased student engagement and higher levels of achievement, regardless of student background.

Horton’S Odyssey: The Politics Of School Finance Reform In Connecticut, Lesley Denardis

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

School finance reform has been one of the most controversial and contentious issues in public policy over the last thirty years. Public schools have served as battlegrounds over fundamental questions of equality, liberty, and access to social and economic opportunities. Since the historic decision rendered by the California Supreme Court in Serrano v. Priest (1971) equated public education with a fundamental right, a wave of legal and legislative reforms swept the nation including the state of Connecticut. Following the lead of California, plaintiffs in the Horton v.Meskill (1977) case argued that the Connecticut’s heavy reliance on the property tax to …

Exploring Entrepreneurialism In Community Colleges In The Appalachian Region, Sharon Lynn Hatfield

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

The combination of a weak economy with a corresponding decline in tax revenue has created deficits in state and local budgets which adversely affect the financial stability of community colleges. This leaves community colleges struggling to continue to provide education in support of their missions. To provide a source of alternative revenue, community colleges are embracing the spirit of entrepreneurialism and transforming themselves into profit-seeking businesses.

This quantitative study, using a web-based survey and descriptive and inferential statistics, focuses on factors perceived by college presidents and workforce development officers to affect the practice of entrepreneurialism in 71 community colleges in …

Methods For Encouraging Economic Diversity In Academically Rigorous Courses, Karen Patricia Kraabel

All Graduate Projects

In International Baccalaureate (IB) classes at Thomas Jefferson High School, the economic status of students in honors classes does not reflect that of the school as a whole. The author sought ways to bring more students from impoverished backgrounds into rigorous courses. In this school, there is a strong coincidence between etlmic minority status and socioeconomic status. The author believed that in addressing the economic issue the ethnicity issue would also be addressed. This is a practical issue as well as a pedagogical one, because the school's scores on state-wide standardized tests are lower for economically disadvantaged students than for …

Searching For Effective Teachers With Imperfect Information, Douglas O. Staiger, Jonah E. Rockoff

Dartmouth Scholarship

Over the past four decades, empirical researchers -- many of them economists -- have accumulated an impressive amount of evidence on teachers. In this paper, we ask what the existing evidence implies for how school leaders might recruit, evaluate, and retain teachers. We begin by summarizing the evidence on five key points, referring to existing work and to evidence we have accumulated from our research with the nation's two largest school districts: Los Angeles and New York City. First, teachers display considerable heterogeneity in their effects on student achievement gains. Second, estimates of teacher effectiveness based on student achievement data …