Education Commons^™

A Democracy, If We Can Keep It: Democratic Engagement Policy In Higher Education, Maegan Gorham

Theses and Dissertations

Students will be called upon as American citizens to be knowledgeable, engaged, contributing citizens, and higher education plays a part in the development of this role. Engagement must surpass simple volunteerism in order to more fully realize the potential benefit of democracy and democratic engagement activities. In turn, institutions must respond effectively and responsibly, making informed decisions about educating all students in the safest manner possible. This exploratory policy analysis, with embedded legal research, explores the policy issue, "Is higher education the appropriate venue for instruction on democratic engagement and, if so, do the benefits and rewards of instruction on …

Parents And The Common Core State Standards For Mathematics, Rebecca Anne Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

As the majority of the nation has adopted Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), studying parents' resistance to these standards becomes vital in improving parental involvement and support of school mathematics reforms. Using Schoenfeld's (2011) model for decision making as a framework, an online survey and six interviews were conducted. The results of the survey showed that parents' resources related to student experiences and the mathematical methods students are performing are affecting their resistance toward CCSSM. The survey results also showed that parents' orientations related to the difficulty of the standards and politics affects their resistance toward CCSSM. The …

Illinois Teacher Evaluation Student Growth Component: A Predecision-Making Policy Analysis, Joshua Robert Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

ILLINOIS TEACHER EVALUATION STUDENT GROWTH COMPONENT:

A PREDECISION-MAKING POLICY ANALYSIS

Joshua R. Olsen

122 Pages May 2015

Public school districts in Illinois are going to face massive changes to their evaluation systems in the coming years. Thanks to the adoption of the Performance Evaluation Reform Act of 2010 and Senate Bill 7 of 2011, teacher evaluation must contain student growth as a significant factor, beginning with the 2016-2017 school year. Not only must student performance on tests become part of the evaluation of teachers, but, moreover, teacher evaluation will play a greater role in the hiring, retention, and release of …