Education Policy Commons^™

Diffusion Of Policy Innovations: State Adoption Of Value-Added Models In K-12 Education, Kirsten England

Doctoral Dissertations

Schools chase test scores as a means of validating educational practices. Having imposed high-stakes testing, public schools were still not generating the student test scores under policies such as No Child Left Behind, the Department of Education thought would ensue. To hold accountability on the part of the classroom teacher, Race to the Top, and with it, merit pay was imposed by most states within the United States.

Using policy innovation and diffusion frameworks, this research looks at how over time states have come to adopt value-added policies for teacher evaluations. The research takes into consideration the sociopolitical systems that …

Improving Gifted And Talented Education In Arkansas: Identification, Academic Benefits, And Local Norms, Bich Thi Ngoc Tran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, education policies differ from state to state. Local research, therefore, is important to inform educators, policymakers, and researchers on the ground. This dissertation leverages ten years of administrative data to study three questions about gifted and talented (G/T) identification and education in Arkansas: does the current system identify the right students? Are gifted and talented programs beneficial for students? And, how can we improve diversity in gifted and talented education? Leveraging logistic regression, mixed-effects models, and descriptive statistics, I sought to provide answers to these three questions. First, are academically ready students from low-income families being …

Education And The Pandemic: Engaging In Epistemic Humility To Question Assumptions, Institutions, And Knowledges, Prachi Srivastava, Prachi Srivastava

Education Publications

Education systems are the formal institutionalisations of the knowledges and values our societies privilege, who they privilege, how, and on what terms. They are imbued with assumptions. These assumptions inform how systems are structured. The pandemic has exposed existing global and local inequalities, non-binary dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, and dysfunctions of education systems. This paper argues that the global scale and severity of the education disruption challenges taken-for-granted distinctions that privilege systems of the ‘West’ as referential for ‘the Rest’. It argues that the existing overarching technicist knowledge regime is inadequate for recovery, and proposes an alternative approach.

“Implacement”: The Importance Of Place And Community In Schooling, Emily Coady

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three chapters exploring my overarching research question: How does sense of place shape a teacher’s orientation to their profession? My first chapter empirically answers the question: Is there a relationship between place attachment and measured aspects of teacher quality? In an attempt to qualify the strength of bond between a teacher and his or her community, I adapted a place attachment instrument developed by Raymond, Brown, and Weber (2010). Each teacher is given a place attachment score informed by their responses on the 21-item survey. Next, I correlated these scores to other aspects of teacher quality …

The Hard Work Is Worth It: Overcoming Unfavorable Determinants To Pass Pro-Immigrant Education Policy In A Conservative State Legislature, Megan Cardwell Godfrey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immigrants, English learners (ELs), and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)students often lag behind their White, monolingual peers in academic achievement and English language proficiency. While there are policy solutions to improve academic and linguistic opportunities and outcomes for immigrant/EL/CLD students, such as implementing bilingual instructional models and increasing teacher diversity, these pro-immigrant policies can be hard to come by in some legislative contexts due to unfavorable economic, social, or political determinants. This qualitative case study analyzed the multifaceted political work that contributed to the passage of two pro-immigrant education policies in the Arkansas 93rd General Assembly: a bill for bilingual …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Covid Policies And Student Growth In The Nine Largest Arkansas Public School Districts During The 2020-2021 Academic Year, Jack Switzer

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

My honors thesis is a comprehensive overview of the relationship between the COVID19 response of Arkansas’ nine largest school districts on high school students’ Value-Added Growth Scores (VAS). I wrote my thesis on the intersection between districts’ COVID-19 response and the academic success of their students because the COVID-19 pandemic caused a historically significant change in education. The effects of switching from in-person, mask-free learning to virtual, semi-virtual and socially distanced learning certainly affected students’ ability to learn from the educational environment pre-COVID. I chose to utilize the VAS as the metric for student success because it measures how students …

"Quality-Less” Higher Education: Relationship And Neocolonialism In International Development In Afghanistan, Wolayat Tabasum

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

This study aimed to explore the internal quality assurance and accreditation (QAA) policy at University X in Afghanistan. A single case study and document review methods were chosen to examine the policy implementation process and its perceived effectiveness at a single university. This case study also explored faculty members' perceptions toward QAA, the policy's impact on teaching and learning, and the opportunities and challenges it might offer. The findings of the study produced unexpected and expected results. The expected findings were tailored around social relationships, labor division, the hierarchy of labor, incompatibility of the policy, and their impact on the …

Effects Of Recess On Educational Outcomes In Elementary School Children, Katelyn Whitham

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction: Because physical activity is beneficial for physical and mental health, the declining opportunities to implement adequate recesses in schools are devastating for children. If educational outcomes are positively affected by increased recess time or quality, schools are more likely to receive funding for programs and resources that support this renovation to recesses, providing research in lacking topics. Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to find related, academic articles for cross examination of data collected on the effects that recess has on educational outcomes so that schools may use this as a resource to receive funding to increase …

Nurses Leading In Bridging The Culture Gap: Communicating With The Deaf Community, Veronica C. Leftridge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nurses provide patient care in clinics, hospitals, homes, churches, schools, communities, and military, as well as on emergency medical helicopters. When a nurse is assigned to care for a patient, the patient expects the nurse to be culturally competent, communicate effectively, and provide safe quality care. However, cultural incompetence is observed when nurses provide care for Deaf patients, but they are unfamiliar with Deaf culture. In addition, communication is a fundamental skill nurses learn in nursing school, but course content in nursing programs rarely touches on how to communicate effectively with Deaf patients. Of the approximately 325 million people in …

Graduation, College, And Employment Outcomes For Cte Students With An Identified Disability, Celeste Carruthers, Shaun Dougherty, Sophie Mcguinness, Sydney Payne

Georgia Policy Labs Reports

In this report, Celeste K. Carruthers, Shaun Dougherty, Sophie McGuinness, Sydney Payne, and Roddy Theobald examine the relationship between CTE participation and transition outcomes for students with an identified disability (SWD) across different education policy settings and for students receiving special education services for different identified disabilities. Specifically, we use data from three states—Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Washington—to summarize CTE participation, graduation, and postsecondary outcomes for students with different identified disabilities in these states. Officials from these three states provided data on course-taking patterns of students in public high schools, as well as indicators describing CTE participation, disability identification, and data …

The Experiences Of Pell Grant Students Who Lose Aid: A Mixed Methods Study, Jaime Carbajal, Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Understanding the link between financial aid and college attainment is particularly important for the Federal Pell Grant program, the nation’s largest financial aid program. Many studies have shown that the Pell Grant program increases retention, persistence, and graduation rates for undergraduate students (Castleman & Long, 2016; Evans & Nguyen, 2019). Nonetheless, 80% of Pell recipients do not go on to complete a college degree within four years (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2016). One possible reason for this outcome is the way the Pell Grant program is constructed and implemented. While the Pell grant starts out as a need-based aid, it becomes …

Applying A New Policy Monitoring Tool For Education In Emergencies, Pina Tarricone, Kemran Mestan, Ian Teo

International Education Research

Two years on, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to impact national education systems due to partial or complete closures of schools, or the uncertainty of school closures. To support education policymakers and stakeholders to build resilient education systems, the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Centre developed two practical policy resources – a Policy Monitoring Framework (PMF) and a Policy Monitoring Tool (PMT). This brief describes how the Policy Monitoring Tool can be used to review existing policies and strategies, identify areas for improvement, monitor changes, and prioritise activities to build education system resilience.

For a complete description of the Policy Monitoring …

High School Career Guidance: From The View Of A Street-Level Bureaucrat, George Clair Thomas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High school counselors struggle to complete the tasks assigned to them. Often serving more than 500 students, counselors must address requirements specified by the American School Counselor Associationâ??s national model. They must also perform duties required by state and local policy, as well as campus-designated priorities. Empirical studies of school counselors have focused on identifying the duties that counselors perform, the effectiveness of training that counselors have received, and issues that occur from the standpoint of local control of counselor duties. I found no study that identified how counselors prioritize what they do or the level of discretion that counselors …

The Role Of Homeownership In Taiwan's Low Fertility Story, William Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

With one of the lowest fertility rates on record, Taiwan is at the forefront of the global lowest-low fertility phenomenon. Policymakers in Taiwan and researchers around the world have a considerable interest in the reasons driving Taiwan’s depressed fertility and possible ways to alleviate the associated economic concerns. Properties of the housing market represent one suggested factor that may be contributing to this trend. Using individual panel data from Taiwan’s Panel Study of Family Dynamics, I test the correlation between homeownership and fertility outcomes. I find that other variables, such as marriage, age, generation, and socioeconomic status, can explain much …

The Sanctuary Campus: Establishing Safe Spaces Of Higher Education For Undocumented And Daca-Status Students, Lizbet Martinez-Port

CSBSJU Distinguished Thesis

The election of President Donald Trump in 2016 brought fear to undocumented and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) status students on campuses across the United States. In his campaign, Trump detailed his desire to get rid of the Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Various institutions of higher education created resources, put in place sanctuary policies, and even declared themselves as sanctuary campuses to fight against the challenges that hindered undocumented and DACA students from achieving a higher education. This paper focuses on the policies at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, two private Catholic …

The Value Of Education: School Policy Decisions During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Elika W. Somani

Individually Designed Interdepartmental Major

During the COVID-19 pandemic, lacking national U.S. policies, wide variation and conflict over chosen public school policy decisions emerged. What factors and guidelines informed the decision-making process in K-12 public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and who were the key stakeholders? This study examines three school district types – a large city, medium city, and small-town – across Minnesota as case studies to unpack how policy decisions were made during the pandemic. Stakeholder interviews uncovered that the school decision-making process was a) connected to a district's political opinions, b) made by the superintendent and school board, c) primarily influenced by …

Securing The Future Of Democracy Through The Continued Education Of "Divisive" Concepts, Rachel Larsen

Honors Projects

Research shows that social studies education should be about more than just teaching standards to a test. The curriculum should be integrated with student life, to prepare them for a future of participating in our democracy. House Bills 322 and 327 would directly prevent these efforts and further alienate students of color and LGBTQ+ students. Students should be included and feel welcome in the school building, considering they will spend the majority of their childhood learning there. A preferred policy alternative to the two House Bills would be to draft legislation that protects divisive concepts, provides training for teachers and …

Platform Injustice: Material Imbalances And Epistemic Injustice On Digital Discursive Platforms, Sahaj Singh

Penn Journal of Philosophy, Politics & Economics

In this paper, I argue that the existence of material power imbalances in systems of discourse represents a novel concern in the literature on epistemic injustice. This epistemic injustice, which I call Platform Injustice, arises from the undue assertion of agency over the background features of a system of discourse, in order to manipulate, diminish, or magnify the vocalization and reception of speech-acts. First, I demonstrate the unprecedented nature of platform control as an epistemic wrong. Next, I identify case studies of platform injustice in modern social media. Then, I situate platform injustice within Dotson’s typology of epistemic injustices; …

Political Partisanship, Extreme Polarization And Youth Voter Turnout In 2020, Vinay Khosla

Penn Journal of Philosophy, Politics & Economics

The 2010s saw a rapid increase in political partisanship and subsequent extreme polarization in the United States and its political institutions and systems. Additionally, political apathy among young adult and teenage voters has long been beleaguered as a source of low voter turnout in the United States, at least comparatively when considering other developed democracies. Considering these points, this research paper seeks to identify whether rising political partisanship and extreme polarization affect the disillusionment of teenage voters in the political process of voting; do these phenomena discourage eligible teenagers from exercising their right to vote? Previous research on the effect …

Investigating Host Countries’ Refugee-Related Policies And Its Effect On Lived Experiences Of Rohingya Refugees, Nichanun Puapattanakajorn

Penn Journal of Philosophy, Politics & Economics

Rohingya refugees are one of the most discriminated against and vulnerable populations in the world. As a consequence of being persecuted in their homeland by the Myanmar government, many Rohingya have fled their homes to seek refuge in neighboring countries. However, the acceptance of Rohingya refugees has varied in different locations, resulting in the subpar treatment of the refugees. This paper explores how the host state government’s policy and stance on migrants and migrant protection within a country influences the level of violence faced by Rohingya refugees residing in their country. The host states chosen for the study include Bangladesh, …