Education Commons^™

Youth Participatory Action Research And The Future Of Education Reform, Oiyan Poon, Jacob Cohen

OiYan Poon

This article presents a youth participatory action research (YPAR) study, which was conducted through a theoretical lens incorporating the social justice youth policy framework and Critical Race Theory. Led by youth from the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association (VAYLA), the study explored the impacts of post-Katrina school reforms on student experiences at six New Orleans high schools. The findings from the study exposed troubling educational disparities by race, class, limited English status, and geography. The YPAR project’s results counter neoliberal reform advocates’ narrative of a post-Katrina New Orleans school “miracle.” This article illuminates YPAR as both research method and pathway …

Do Private Schools Improve Public School Outcomes Or Increase Stratification?, Priyadarshani Joshi

Priyadarshani Joshi

Utilizing a 4-year longitudinal dataset (2007-08 to 2010-11) of 212 public secondary schools from two districts in Nepal, I conduct panel regression analyses to determine the association between public school high stakes examination outcomes and measures of private sector competition. I find that there does not seem to be a significant positive or negative association between public school outcomes and the extent of private competition in recent years. However, there is evidence to suggest that the gap between public and private school outcomes is higher in localities with higher private sector growth, providing suggestive evidence of stratification.

Using Large-Scale Assessments Of Students' Learning To Inform Education Policy: Insights From The Asia-Pacific Region, Mollie Tobin, Petra Lietz, Dita Nugroho, Ramya Vivekanandan, Tserennadmid Nyamkhuu

Dr Petra Lietz

Not much is known about the ways in which assessment data have actually been used in education policy to date. Understanding the role of assessments in informing system-level decision-making is a first step towards helping stakeholders improve the design and usefulness of assessments. Moreover, this understanding can help to further discussions about how assessment data can best be used to inform policy and practice and to evaluate the effectiveness of policy reforms. This paper presents results from a systematic review of 68 studies that examined the link between participation in large-scale assessment programs of students’ learning and education policy in …

Designing The New American University: A Review, Philip Shapira

Philip Shapira

This paper reviews Designing the New American University, by Michael M. Crow and Willam B. Dabars (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2015). The paper probes the New American University model detailed in the book and implemented at Arizona State University.

The Vote On Bilingual Education And Latino Identity In Massachusetts, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

In November 2002, the Massachusetts electorate voted overwhelmingly to pass Referendum Ballot Question 2 (Q. 2), sponsored by California millionaire Ron Unz. The passage of this initiative by close to 70% of the voters effectively ended bilingual education in the state as it had been known for thirty years. Exit polling done at selected cities in Massachusetts by the Mauricio Gaston Institute and UMass Poll revealed, however, that out of a total 1,491 Latinos polled, a vast majority of them, around 93%, had voted in favor of rejecting Q. 2 and keeping bilingual education in place. Indeed, Q. 2 became …

Interview With Andreas Schleicher, Padraig O'Malley, Andreas Schleicher

Padraig O'Malley

This interview took place on March 17, 2014, in Washington, DC, with Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Schleicher is responsible for the Directorate of Education and Skills’ research, analysis, and publication of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), and the development and analysis of benchmarks on the performance of education systems. The OECD reports on PISA, PIAAC, and TALIS were released between December 3, …

The Limits Of Federal Disability Law: State Educational Voucher Programs, Wendy Hensel

Wendy F. Hensel

The U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating the state of Wisconsin with respect to its administration of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), which provides low-income students with public money to attend private schools. Faced with complaints of disability discrimination by private schools accepting voucher students, DOJ has ordered Wisconsin to oversee and police these schools to ensure compliance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which applies to states and their agencies, and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which applies to recipients of federal funding. Although conditioning its directive on the state's coverage under these …

The National Commission On Education Excellence And Equity: Hypotheses About Movement Building, Christopher Edley Jr.

Christopher Edley

In 2013, the congressionally chartered national Commission on Education Equity and Excellence issued unanimous recommendations for P–12 policy changes at the federal, state, and local levels. This remarkably broad consensus, with unusual pragmatism and concreteness, is comprehensive in its scope and predominantly research based. As a clarion call and reform strategy, the commission report, For Each and Every Child, is a successor to A Nation at Risk (1983); the commission’s grand if not grandiose intention was to provide a framework for the next decade or more of nationwide policy struggle. This article, after briefly summarizing the recommendations, focuses on how …

Student Loans And The Dynamics Of Debt, Brad Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Brad J. Hershbein

Student Loans And The Dynamics Of Debt, Brad Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Kevin Hollenbeck

The papers included in this volume represent the most current research and knowledge available about student loans and repayment. It serves as a valuable reference for researchers and policymakers who seek a deeper understanding of how, why, and which students borrow for their postsecondary education; how this borrowing may affect later decisions; and what measures can help borrowers repay their loans successfully.

Civil Society Education: International Perspectives, Roseanne Mirabella , Johan Hvenmark, Ola Segnestam Larsson

Roseanne Mirabella

Experiencing Private Sector Competition: The Case Of Nepal's Public Schools, Priyadarshani Joshi

Priyadarshani Joshi

This paper describes how public schools experience competition from private schools in the context of a low-income country: Nepal. I argue that experiencing competitive pressures is a necessary starting point for public schools to feel the need to initiate competitive reforms. I use qualitative analysis to illuminate how the experience of competition is linked to school and community characteristics, and principal perceptions. I find that there are key temporal and demographic dimensions that determine the public school’s experience of competition and their ability to respond with reforms. I find that public schools were shielded from private competition for well over …

Wake Up Or Perish: Neo-Liberalism, The Social Sciences, And Salvaging The Public University, Dariusz Jemielniak

Dariusz Jemielniak

Higher education around the world is currently undergoing a neo-liberal administrative takeover. The drive to reduce costs and increased bureaucratization do not serve any other purpose than increasing the power of the universities’ administration. The reasons for allowing this situation to happen are related to scholars’ inertia and subscribing to a belief that academia can and should be impractical. As a result, the emerging corporate university, McDonaldized model relies increasingly on contingent and deskilled faculty, effectively eliminating the traditional academic freedoms. We conclude with suggestions for possible courses of action to make a constructive counter-movement to the radical changes taking …