Education Policy Commons^™

Evaluating The Policies That Lead To Stem Educational Attainment At The University Of Arkansas For Transfer Students, Bryan Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The US has a critical need to produce more STEM graduates and that need is exponentially more critical in Arkansas. Arkansas currently ranks last in the percent of STEM degrees conferred compared to overall degrees awarded. Students intending to pursue a STEM four-year college degree who start at a two-year college are significantly less likely to succeed in earning that degree. Arkansas passed Acts 672 and 182 aimed at strengthening the success of students who transfer from two-year colleges into four-year institutions. This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the Acts by determining if the University of Arkansas (UA) …

The Relationship Between Federal Citizenship And Immigration Policies And The Internationalization Of Higher Education In Canada, Rashed Al-Haque

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a way to do Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), this instrumental case study explores the relationships between citizenship and immigration (CI) policies and the internationalization of Canadian higher education. By utilizing a critical-sociomaterial approach, the research exposes actors and actor-networks that are otherwise overlooked in these policy areas. Moreover, this lens underscores the impacts and consequences of policy and how the enrollment and/or exclusion of actors in actor-networks enables certain actors to exert control, power, and primacy over others.

While most research on internationalization identifies the academy as the site for internationalization policy enactment, this research …

Advocate Or Traditional Bureaucrat: Understanding The Role Of Esl Supervisors In Shaping Local Education Policy Toward Immigrant Communities, Grant E. Rissler

Theses and Dissertations

As recent immigrants seek a productive and dignified life in “new immigrant destinations” that have little historical experience with immigration, public education systems serve a key function in immigrant integration efforts. In a federal system increasingly focused on accountability, a crucial sub-set of education policy and local responsiveness to immigration is English language instruction and services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students and parents.

In such contexts, the role that local bureaucrats play, and whether they actively represent the interests of the newfound diversity of community members, are crucial questions if strongly held American ideals of social equity and equal …

Agent-Based Overlapping Generations Modeling For Educational Policy Analysis, Connie Hou-Ning Wang

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educational systems are complex adaptive systems (CAS). The macroeffects of an educational policy emerge from and depend on individual students' reactions to the policy. However, educational policymakers traditionally rely on equation-based models, which are deficient in reflecting the work of microbehaviors. Using inappropriate tools to make policies may be a reason why there were many unintended educational consequences in history. A proper methodology to design and analyze policies for complex educational systems is agent-based modeling (ABM). Grounded in the theories of CAS and computational irreducibility, ABM is capable of connecting microbehaviors with macropatterns. The purpose of this study was to …

Community Members' Perspectives On The Thurgood Marshall Academic High School Riot: A Case Study Of The Effects Of Embedded Law Enforcement In High School, Kim-Shree Maufas

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite studies by legal and social-justice organizations pointing to connections between school-based police referrals and arrests that lead youth (particularly of color) into the juvenile-justice courts and criminal courts and are funneling students of color into the school-to-prison pipeline, schools increasing use school resource officers (SROs) in programs on K-12 campuses. Much of the academic literature about SROs in schools highlight the rationale for placing programs in urban schools from the perspectives of policymakers, legislators, members of the juvenile- and criminal-justice systems, and school district officials. Limited scholarly work documents the voices of impacted members of school communities (educators, students, …

Lived Legal Expertise: Mobilizing The Political Agency Of Incarcerated Youth, Ian S. Schiffer

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes how caring relationships and an emancipatory approach to law related education (LRE) within juvenile justice facilities can cultivate political agency. I focused specifically on Camp Afflerbaugh-Paige, an LA County juvenile probation facility, in La Verne, CA, as a case study. During three months of teaching a law related education class and embedding myself at the facility with an asset-based framework, I encountered a wealth of knowledge that incarcerated juveniles possess, not from formal education or research, but based in their own lived experiences. Los Angeles County Probation spends $233,000 per student per year; assuming best intentions of …

Deconstructing “Deviance” And “Disorder” As Systems Of Domination: Chicago Public Schools As A Case Study Of The Effects Of Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies On Educational Outcomes In Us Schools, Maya Kaul

Pomona Senior Theses

The rise of “zero tolerance” discipline practices in US primary and secondary schools has become increasingly well documented by the media and empirical studies. Despite the extensive scholarship that has emerged from these conversations, many of these analyses are limited in their scope and do not connect the phenomena of zero tolerance in schools to the diverse, shifting forces at play within American politics and policy today. As such, the goal of this work is to synthesize ideas about zero tolerance across disciplines by integrating historical thought, philosophical frameworks of punishment, shifting policy goals within the US education system, the …

Social Cohesion As A Gateway: Examining France's Efforts In Building Equitable Education Access For Marginalized Immigrants, Cherish Molezion

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the effects of France’s educational social cohesion policies, Zones d’Education Prioritaire (ZEP schools) and L’Agence nationale pour la cohesion sociale et l’égalité des chances (Acsé). I argue that these policies affect access to education for working-class descendants of immigrants; however, France’s republican ideology inhibits the extent to which equitability can be established between working-class descendants of immigrants and the majority population. Though a quantitative and qualitative data analysis, I scrutinize trends in education access and the labor market over the 2000s. Lastly, I make policy recommendations centering around positive discrimination approaches that France should adopt, in …

The Intersection Of Race, Gender And The School To Prison Pipeline: A Case Study On The Impact Of Exclusionary Discipline On African American Girls, Karen Nicole Wallace

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Exclusionary discipline in school contributes to gender and racial disproportionality in the juvenile justice system and marginalizes African American girls. Using the social justice and rational choice theories as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to explore the relationship between the criminalization of behavior in schools, racial bias, and gender stereotypes contribute to the overrepresentation of the school to prison pipeline in Virginia. The central research question focused on the relationship between the criminalization of behavior in schools, racial bias, and gender stereotypes on the overrepresentation of African American girls in the school to prison pipeline. Employing …

Silent Policy Feedback Through School Choice, Catherine Cecchini Little-Hunt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Increasing numbers of Florida parents are withdrawing their children from traditional public schools in highly-rated school districts to enroll them in tuition-free, startup, charter schools. Since not all parents have equal access or are as equally motivated to elect school choice alternatives, the fiscal sustainability of the traditional public school system is at risk. Using Schattschneider's policy feedback process as a model, the purpose of this research was to gain an in depth understanding of the role policy perception plays on the decision-making process by parents. Data for this qualitative single-case study were collected through interviews with 8 charter school …