Education Policy Commons^™

Altering The Traditional American History Landscape: Incorporating Culturally Relevant Biographies In Social Studies, Aubrey Southall, Chara H. Bohan

Educational Policy Studies Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to provide guidance to teachers on how to incorporate Latinx culturally relevant biographies into their social studies classrooms with English learners (ELs). In the social studies curriculum, United States history often is regarded as one of the hardest courses for newly arrived immigrants to learn due to the unfamiliarity of American history content (Dunne & Martell, 2013). Using a culturally relevant approach to teaching social studies has the potential to connect EL students to content in powerful and meaningful ways. As the number of Spanish speaking EL students grows in the American public school …

Common Core State Standards On Twitter: Public Sentiment And Opinion Leaders, Yinying Wang, David J. Fikis

Educational Policy Studies Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to examine the public opinion on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on Twitter. Using Twitter API, we collected the tweets containing the hashtags #CommonCore and #CCSS for 12 months from 2014 to 2015. A Common Core corpus was created by compiling all the collected 660,051 tweets. The results of sentiment analysis suggest Twitter users expressed overwhelmingly negative sentiment towards the CCSS in all 50 states. Five topic clusters were detected by cluster analysis of the hashtag co-occurrence network. We also found that most of the opinion leaders were those who expressed negative sentiment …

Automated Text Data Mining Analysis Of Five Decades Of Educational Leadership Research Literature: Probabilistic Topic Modeling Of Eaq Articles From 1965 To 2014, Yinying Wang, Alex J. Bowers, David J. Fikis

Educational Policy Studies Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the underlying topics and the topic evolution in the 50-year history of educational leadership research literature.

Methods: We used automated text data mining with probabilistic latent topic models to examine the full text of the entire publication history of all 1,539 articles published in Educational Administration Quarterly from 1965 to 2014. Given the computationally intensive data analysis required by probabilistic topic models, relying on high performance computing, we used a 10-fold cross validation to estimate the model in which we categorized each article in each year into one of 19 …

"Playing The Game Or "Buying In": Charter School Teachers And Professionalism In An Era Of Choice And Accountability, Beth Louise Wright

Dissertations

Charter schools were initially created with the intention of empowering teachers to implement school and classroom strategies in accordance with their educational expertise. Such autonomy and respect for teacher expertise indicates a commitment to teacher professionalism. Yet charter schools have also have higher rates of teacher turnover and hire fewer credentialed, experienced teachers. In the context of shifting and contested notions of teacher professionalism, charter schools provide insight into how teachers fare under contemporary educational policy arrangements. This comparative qualitative case study investigates how charter schools have lived up to their theoretical promise for teacher professionalism. The study finds that …

Thrown To The Wolves: The Obstacles And Barriers Of International Student Athletes Prior To And During Enrollment In American Universities, Mary Elizabeth Boucher

Master's Theses

International student athletes (ISA’s) play an integral role among our nations university system. They diversify our colleges, provide our American students a chance to become familiar with other cultures, and they add intense value to our collegiate athletic programs. In order to maintain this diversity in our nation’s universities, we need to further understand the experiences of these student-athletes. It is inherent to provide international student-athletes with positive experiences as to fuel the globalization of sport.

This project is a small pilot study which focuses on male and female swimmers from Division I universities. It provides a closer look at …

“Creating A New Mythos”: Reassessing Race Standards And Latina/O Students, Margarita Vizcarra

Master's Theses

This research will focus on the race and ethnicity categories used to classify people in the United States in relation to school age students. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) first standardized federal race and ethnicity categories in 1977 in order to enforce compliance with civil rights laws. In 1997 revisions were made to these standards due to increasing criticism by the public, advocacy groups, and government agencies (Williams, 2006). The 1977 decision by the OMB designated the category of Hispanic, or Latino, as an ethnicity rather than a race which was once again upheld in the 1997 update. …

Privatizing Laws: Examining The Relationship Between Privatization Elements In State Education Laws And Fourth Grade Academic Performance, Stephanie Romeo

Master's Theses

In the midst of a global context tied to expanding market connections, the United States adopted privatized education reform that has only been increasing over the years. Specific states have adopted privatization in varying degrees and forms, including vouchers, charter schools, public-private partnerships, contracting out services, and virtual education. States have implemented privatization forms for different reasons, such as to improve student achievement, save money, or provide for increased student choice. This research study evaluates the impact of privatization reforms on student achievement by examining the relationship between various privatization elements in state laws and student achievement. To do so, …

Getting Students Employed: 21st Century Learning Competences And Career Competences, Kelly Cebold Sundberg

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the nexus between education and the economy in the 21st century knowledge-based economy to understand the relationship between the learning competences – as described in 21st century frameworks – and career competences – as recommended in the job descriptions of available employment opportunities. Theoretically, this study is grounded in human capital theory and it explores the indiscriminate nature of the data regarding a student’s required education level to achieve the prescribed learning competences. With the aid of a quantitative content analysis of selected employment opportunities, the research sought to explore: How are learning competences, as outlined by …

Chicago Public Schools And The Creation Of Global Citizens, Rebecca L. Kijek

Master's Theses

This article examines the role different high schools in Chicago Public Schools play in providing students with the type of knowledge needed to better prepare them for success in a globalized society. As Chicago strives to solidify itself as a global city, its need to educate youth for a new economy are clear. The global economy demands that students are educated in science, technology, engineering, and math, world languages, expanded cultural perspectives, and attend a four-year college. Through a comparative analysis of the academic programming features at Chicago's selective enrollment and neighborhood high schools, this study will answer the question: …

Diversity Plan: Academic Year 2016/2017 Status Report, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Resources

As a result of the diversity plan implementation, the following took place:

• Held a Diversifying STEM Think Tank in which 75 STEM Professionals/Educators, Community Organizers, Diversity Officers and students discussed strategies to address the racial and gender inequities that exist in the STEM education to career pipeline.
• Implemented Diversity Speaker Series that consisted of four trainings on the following topics: LGBTQIA+ Allyship, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Gifted Students, Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Environment, and Gender Bias Under the Microscope.
• Conducted a Student Diversity Climate Assessment in the Residence Halls examining the issues of race, sexual orientation, sex and gender/gender …

The Effects Of Overcrowding On Student Academic Performance In Kentucky High Schools, Maura Shirley

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Overcrowding in schools has been a popular topic reported by local newspapers across the state of Kentucky. Concerned parents often write letters to the editor, pleading their case for new school construction to alleviate the overcrowding that their students are facing. Approximately 27 percent of Kentucky high schools have experienced overcrowding for three consecutive years between 2002 and 2015. The National Center for Education Statistics reported in 2005 that only 18 percent of schools reported that they were overcrowded, a decrease from the 1999 study when 22 percent reported overcrowding. Overall, the problem of overcrowding is trending downward, but for …

Guest Perspective: U.S. Secretary Of Education John B. King Jr., John King Jr.

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Survey: A Focus On Providers And Teachers, Amy M. Roberts, Iheoma U. Iruka, Susan L. Sarver

Buffet Early Childhood Institute Reports and Publications

The Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Survey was undertaken by the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska to better understand the current status, working conditions, and attitudes of caregivers and teachers working with children from birth through Grade 3. Representing the largest and most comprehensive survey ever completed of the state’s early childhood workforce, it provides important insight into the everyday challenges of the professionals who care for and educate our youngest citizens. Research has long made clear the important role adults play in young children’s lives. Children who form strong relationships with adults feel safe to explore …

Black Male Genocide: Sanctioned Segregation In American Policy, Alton Maxel James

Wayne State University Dissertations

College degree attainment for Black Americans has significantly fallen their majority counterparts. While educational attainment for this minority demographic has been less than average, a secondary trend emerges. Despite the rises in graduation rates, Black males consistently earn a smaller percentage of the degrees garnered by Black students. Furthermore, policies throughout sectors of American society produce segregation that manifests as genocidal realities in the lives of Black men—including college graduation. Thus, the purpose of this research was to determine the effect of neighborhood segregation on Black men and women’s 4 and 6-year graduation probability and determine if Black men reduce …

Dual Enrollment Participation In The United States: Findings From The High School Longitudinal Study Of 2009, Luis Eduardo Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Today, dual enrollment programs are ubiquitous in the United States' secondary educational system. As a form of accelerated coursework, policy makers and school districts push dual enrollment as a means to improve college readiness and attainment. This paper studies the composition and characteristics of dual enrollment participants in the United States. Employing the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 restricted dataset, three discrete logistic models are created to estimate the probability of a high school student participating in any dual enrollment coursework across the United States. The results from these models suggest that gender, prior academic achievement, and family socioeconomic …

Comparative Analysis Of Privilege In Relation To The School District Of Philadelphia And The Tredyffrin-Easttown School District, Kathryn Battafarano

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Although public education is an option for all local residents, the variation in American public education is littered with inequalities. In particular, the School District of Philadelphia and the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District are representative of this variation. The School District of Philadelphia is located within the biggest Pennsylvanian city. The Tredyffrin-Easttown School District is a smaller school district operating in a suburban area in close proximity to Philadelphia. There are three focus areas, socio-economic levels, geographic region, and funding, which specifically constitute the differences in these school districts. The differences show how privileged educational circumstances arise. This analysis suggests that …

Book Review: Rewired: Research-Writing Partnerships Within The Frameworks, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

On many campuses, writing skills and research skills are supported in separate instructional silos. When it comes to college composition assignments, however, writing and research are interdependent, and this close relationship is evident in the many common elements shared by the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA) Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. How the core concepts in these frameworks interconnect and how librarians and writing instructors can work together to implement them in the classroom is the focus of Rewired.

The Every Student Succeeds Act: A Summary Of Federal Policy & Implications For Maine, Janet C. Fairman Ph.D., Amy F. Johnson Phd, Francis Eberle Phd

State of Education

Part I summarizes key topics of federal education policy articulating accountability requirements for state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs, or school districts). In that section we describe major goals of the legislation and which components are the same or changed in the federal law. The findings are grouped into nine topic areas, so that readers may more easily find information on areas of particular interest. We also provide short excerpts from key sections of the law for reference at the end of each topic section. Part II describes specific goals and changes in both the structure of …

Law-Based Arguments And Messages To Advocate For Later School Start Time Policies In The United States, Clark J. Lee, Dennis M. Nolan, Steven W. Lockley, Brent Pattison

Homeland Security Publications

The increasing scientific evidence that early school start times are harmful to the health and safety of teenagers has generated much recent debate about changing school start times policies for adolescent students. Although efforts to promote and implement such changes have proliferated in the United States in recent years, they have rarely been supported by law-based arguments and messages that leverage the existing legal infrastructure regulating public education and child welfare in the United States. Furthermore, the legal bases to support or resist such changes have not been explored in detail to date. This article provides an overview of how …

Assessing Student Performance In Written Communication: An Evaluation Of The University Of Kentucky's Quality Enhancement Plan, Abigail Stockwell

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

University of Kentucky assessment findings reveal that UK undergraduate students are not meeting expectations in the area of written communication. More specifically, compared to other four-year institutions, UK students are not achieving expected levels of value-added from their junior to senior year in analytic writing tasks. In response to these findings, UK launched the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Presentation U – a multimodal communication training initiative. One of the initiative’s core components is the Faculty Fellows Program. Faculty members who choose to participate in the program receive training in oral, written, and visual communication instruction. UK has invested a great …