Education Commons^™

Essential Reading On Education Reform Dynamics. A Book Review Of Philanthropy, Hidden Strategy, And Collective Resistance, William Wolff, D. Brent Edwards Jr.

Democracy and Education

This review looks at what sets Philanthrophy, Hidden Strategy, and Collective Resistance (2019) apart from the rest of the available literature surrounding the politics involved in behind the scenes policy-making decisions. The book is broken down into easily digestible chapters that focus on a variety of topics from a quick primer on neoliberalism to the hidden hand of philanthropy and the way it shapes education. Of special note is the focus on praxis, with concrete examples on how the reader can fight to bring democracy to education whether they are a student, professor, teacher, or parent.

What Is Education For? A Response To "What Kind Of Citizens Do Educators Hope Their Students Become? A Response To 'Storypath: A Powerful Tool For Engaging Children In Civic Learning.'", Margit E. Mcguire, Laurie Stevahn, Shari Wennik Bronsther

Democracy and Education

Darwich (2020) asked “What Kind of Citizens Do Educators Hope Their Students Become?” in her response to “Storypath: A Powerful Tool for Engaging Children in Civic Education” (McGuire et al., 2019). She argued that civics should be rooted in social justice grounded by critical civic empathy, which requires focusing on power and privilege given persistent disparities in caring for all people within our democracy. We agree and here further emphasize the importance of dismantling systems of oppression that block efforts to advance this goal. We also recognize pragmatic complexities in elementary school classrooms that require teacher professional judgment to create …

The Morning Meeting: Fostering A Participatory Democracy Begins With Youth In Public Education, Rebecca C. Tilhou

Democracy and Education

There is a faltering sense of democracy in America’s current political climate due to polarized opinions about leadership’s decisions and antagonistic political parties. John Dewey (1916) proposed that education is the place to foster democracy, as schools can provide a platform to actively engage students in authentic democratic experiences that will empower them to act democratically beyond the walls of the school. The democratic schools that emerged during the Free School Movement of the 1960s and 1970s embody Dewey’s philosophy, specifically with the shared governance occurring in their School Meetings. Unfortunately, American public education’s present preoccupation with standardization, proficiency scores, …

Navigating K-12 Education Leadership Not Designed For Us: Perspectives From A Hmong Woman, Seng-Dao Yang Keo

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This impact essay examines the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender as a first-generation Hmong-American woman in a senior-level K-12 educational leadership role. Dr. Yang Keo shares her story of resistance and resilience as she navigates different educational and workforce systems as the daughter of Hmong refugees.

An Evolution Of Values: An Examination Of The Rise Of Accountability And Equity Oriented Reform In Career And Technical Education, Jerome A. Graham Iii

The William & Mary Educational Review

Competing societal and political values have historically facilitated shifts in the policies surrounding, the goals of, and the practices within Career and Technical Education (CTE). These values, however, are malleable and are developed in response to demands wrought by economic need. This review sheds light on how a confluence of societal and political factors facilitated changes in the values, goals, and practices of vocational education. In so doing, the present manuscript seeks to underscore how modern attitudes about schooling and society may shape the current landscape of the field. This article highlights how shifts in the political and social climate …

Economics Of Higher Education Productivity, Uchenna K. Oparah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How does spending affect academic outcomes in higher education institutions? Postsecondary schools incur costs to provide services to its student body. In this study, I introduce multiple outcome variables, a two-stage production function, and current-year expenditures on core services to evaluate how school spending affects academic outcomes.

The empirical analysis includes 28 group sample parameter estimates from four outcome variables, the pooled sample, and group samples for each of six sectors. The fixed effects/instrumental variable (FE-IV) instructional expenditure parameter estimates were positive for 20 of the 28 group samples. The sign and size of the estimated academic output effects varied …

Education As Commons, Children As Commoners: The Case Study Of The Little Tree Community, Yannis Pechtelidis, Alexandros Kioupkiolis

Democracy and Education

This paper presents the emergent paradigm of the "commons" as an alternative value and action system in the field of education, and it critically draws out the implications of the commons for refiguring education and its potential contribution to democratic transformation. The paper delves into an independent pedagogical community, Little Tree, which is active in early childhood education and care, aiming to explore the ways in which children conduct themselves in accordance with the ethics and the logics of the commons and to show how they thereby unsettle the conventional meaning of citizenship. Proceeding from an enlarged notion of the …

Negating Amy Gutmann: Deliberative Democracy, Business Influence, And Segmentation Strategies In Education, Brian Ford

Democracy and Education

The task of creating a public will is daunting in any political system, but a democracy dedicated to the principles of participation and public deliberation faces specific challenges, including overcoming organized opposition that may not accept democratic tenets. In the sphere of education (and social reproduction more generally), business-influenced movements to reform public education question many of the established goals and norms of democratic education and thus may be the vanguard of such opposition. In order to interpret and explore these movements, this article enlists Amy Gutmann's work as a heuristic device. In so doing, it looks at the task …

Controversy And The Common Core. A Book Review Of Common Core: National Education Standards And The Threat To Democracy, Courtney L. Gilday

Democracy and Education

For a decade, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been no stranger to controversy. Tangled in the discourse have been numerous scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and community members. Many of those in favor of the Common Core argue that national standards provide a foundation on which to build equitable opportunities for student success, while those opposed say that they disempower autonomy of local schools, community members, parents, and students themselves. In Common Core: National Education Standards and the Threat to Democracy, Tampio (2018) highlights how national standards create barriers for students to operate as citizens in a democratic society. He …

Critical Democratic Education And Lgbtq+-Inclusive Curriculum. A Book Review Of Critical Democratic Education And Lgbtq-Inclusive Curriculum: Opportunities And Constraints, Matthew A. Thomas-Reid

Democracy and Education

With the aim of promoting the democratic education values of inclusion equity and social justice using a queer theoretical framework to identify and deconstruct normalizing forces, author Camicia sets the reader up for a deep analysis of educational practice, policy, and curriculum using Utah and California as concrete illustrations of democratic inclusive curriculum. Camicia's book ends with an epilogue “discussing a rationale for using auto-ethnography within curriculum in order to increase inclusion," which opens up excellent possibilities for future research.

The Postsecondary Enrollment Of Black American Men: The Perceived Influence Of Environmental Factors, David V. Tolliver, Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, there has been a consistent under-enrollment of Black American men who have enrolled and graduated from four-year colleges and universities. The result of this lack of educational attainment is problematic, as it can be seen in lower employment rates, higher under-employment rates, higher rates of incarceration, poorer health, and even a lower quality life. Institutional leaders and policymakers have struggled to find solutions for increasing the participation of Black American men with largely mixed results. Most of these programmatic attempts, however, have been limited in their approach and have not taken into account family and informal …

Connecticut Pre-K Policy, Parental Choice, And The Trinity College Community Child Center, Manny Rodriguez

Senior Theses and Projects

Traditional public schools in Connecticut have been pushed out by newer options since the landmark Sheff vs. O’Neill decision, which called for the development of magnet schools. The influx of magnet schools to Connecticut has caused traditional preschools like the Trinity College Community Child Center (TC4) to experience more competition and lose potential enrollees and revenue. For this project, I sought to discover how the growth of magnet pre-k programs has influenced how families choose schools for their 3-to-5-year-old children. I analyzed data from the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, the Connecticut State Department of Education and conducted 10 semi-structured …

What Is "Safe Sex"? Understanding The Need For Sex Education Reform, Julianne Baker

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

Currently, the United States has no standardized requirement for sex education. This has precipitated a large gap in knowledge about safe sex and a lack of consensus in current social and educational policy. Debates about abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education have reached a standstill. In an effort to advance the discussion, this paper reveals that the neuroscience behind adolescent sexual risk taking provides underutilized evidence for comprehensive sex education programs. Research shows that adolescents have biological differences in their brain structure that result in a decision-making process different from that of adults, one that can preference rash decisions and potentially …

The Relationship Between Professional Development, Instruction, And Student Achievement In Elementary Mathematics, Linsey Sims

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many school districts acknowledge professional development (PD) as an approach that can change teaching practices and improve student achievement. Because elementary teachers often struggle to provide instruction for mathematical proficiency, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the strength of the relationships among teacher participation in math PD courses, Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) implementation scores, and student achievement. The theoretical framework for the study is based on Guskey’s model of teacher change. The research questions pertained to the strength of the relationship between the following pairs of variables: (a) teacher participation in math PD and …

A Comparative Analysis Of Military And Non-Military Parent Engagement In Public Elementary Schools, Robin G. Fisher

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was a comparison of military and non-military parent engagement levels in public elementary schools. A parent survey was used to collect data on the parent engagement levels of military and non-military parents to determine if there was a significant difference between the two populations, while controlling for income and education. In addition, the parent engagement levels of the military parents were analyzed based on the percentage of military students in each school. The objective was to determine if a higher percentage of military students in a school would increase the military parent engagement. Open-ended questions …