Matching Items (26)
Description
There is a documented gap between research-based recommendations produced by university-based scholars in the field of education in the United States and the evidence that U.S. politicians' use when deciding which educational policies to implement or amend. This is a problem because university-based education scholars produce vast quantities of research each year, some of which could, and more importantly should, be useful to politicians in their decision-making processes and yet, politicians continue to make policy decisions about education without the benefit of much of the knowledge that has been gained through scholarly research. I refer to the small fraction of university-based education scholars who are demonstrably successful at getting scholarly research into the hands of politicians to be used for decision-making purposes as "university-based bipartisan scholarship brokers". They are distinct from other university-based education scholars in that they engage with politicians from both political parties around research and, as such, are able to use scholarly research to influence the education policymaking process. The problem that this dissertation addresses is the lack of use, by U.S. politicians, of scholarly research produced by United States university-based education scholars as input in education policy decisions. The way in which this problem is explored is through studying university-based bipartisan scholarship brokers. I focused on three areas for exploration: the methods university-based bipartisan scholarship brokers use to successfully get U.S. politicians to consider scholarly research as an input in their decision-making processes around education policy, how these scholars are different than the majority of university-based education policy scholars, and how they conceive of the education policy-setting agenda. What I uncovered in this dissertation is that university-based bipartisan scholarship brokers are a complete sub-group of university-based education scholars. They work above the rigorous promotion and tenure requirements of their home universities in order to use scholarly research to help serve the research needs of politicians. Their engagement is distinct among university-based education scholars and through this dissertation their perspective is presented in participants' own authentic language.
ContributorsAckman, Emily Rydel (Author) / Garcia, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Fischman, Gustavo E (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
ABSTRACT A review of studies selected from the Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC) covering the years 1985 through 2011 revealed three key evaluation components to analyze within a comprehensive teacher evaluation program: (a) designing, planning, and implementing instruction; (b) learning environments; and (c) parent and peer surveys. In this dissertation, these three components are investigated in the context of two research questions: 1. What is the relationship, if any, between comprehensive teacher evaluation scores and student standardized test scores? 2. How do teachers and administrators experience the comprehensive evaluation process and how do they use their experiences to inform instruction? The methodology for the study included a mixed-method case study at a charter school located in a middle-class neighborhood within a large metropolitan area of the southwestern United States, which included a comparison of teachers' average evaluation scores in the areas of instruction and environment, peer survey scores, parent survey scores, and students' standardized test (SST) benchmark scores over a two-year period as the quantitative data for the study. I also completed in-depth interviews with classroom teachers, mentor teachers, the master teacher, and the school principal; I used these interviews for the qualitative portion of my study. All three teachers had similar evaluation scores; however, when comparing student scores among the teachers, differences were evident. While no direct correlations between student achievement data and teacher evaluation scores are possible, the qualitative data suggest that there were variations among the teachers and administrators in how they experienced or "bought into" the comprehensive teacher evaluation, but they all used evaluation information to inform their instruction. This dissertation contributes to current research by suggesting that comprehensive teacher evaluation has the potential to change teachers' and principals' perceptions of teacher evaluation as inefficient and unproductive to a system that can enhance instruction and ultimately improve student achievement.
ContributorsBullock, Donna (Author) / Mccarty, Teresa (Thesis advisor) / Powers, Jeanne (Thesis advisor) / Stafford, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Legislative changes and discussions about the United States falling further and further behind other nations in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) achievement are growing. As they grow, STEM instruction in elementary school has earned its place as a national area of interest in education. In the case of Ivory School District, teachers are being asked to radically change their daily practices by consistently implementing inquiry-based STEM experiences in their classrooms. As such, teachers are being asked to scale a divide between the district expectations and their knowledge and experience. Many fourth grade educators are teachers who have been trained as generalists and typically do not have specific background or experience in the philosophy, instructional strategies, or content associated with STEM. Using a prototype approach, this study aims to understand how such teachers conceptualize STEM instruction and the relationship between their experience and conceptions.
ContributorsKenney, Meghan (Author) / Fischman, Gustavo (Thesis advisor) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Rasch, Katherine D (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This study explores the implications of a cultural and language match/mismatch between teachers and their Hispanic students. The study is particularly relevant given the disproportionate percentage of Hispanic students enrolled in Arizona schools who speak Spanish compared to a majority of teachers who are white and speak English. The purpose of the study was to learn how the experiences of matched/mismatched teachers differed in their efforts to connect with Hispanic students and families. The framework for this study relies on culturally responsive practice which suggests that maintaining both cultural and academic excellence for our Hispanic students and families promotes positive learning outcomes in schools. The research is based on case studies of eight teachers at an elementary school with a predominately Hispanic student and parent population. The data included surveys, interviews and lesson observations to assess culturally responsive practices. The results of this study indicated that teachers who share common cultural and language characteristics exhibit significantly more behaviors associated with culturally responsive practice than their mismatched counterparts. Mismatched teachers, however, were able to draw on specific school wide and pedagogical resources associated with culturally responsive practice to help support their students' learning.
ContributorsPriniski, David P (Author) / Garcia, David (Thesis advisor) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Thomas, Jeff (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This is a hermeneutic study on experiences being gifted, teaching gifted students and/or raising gifted children. This study focuses on how our horizon, which is a result of our past experiences, has an impact on how we make sense of our world and influences our attitudes and actions. As became clear during the conduct of the research, gender was the dominant characteristic of the horizon and unconscious hermeneutic processes these women used to make sense of their experiences. Gender, it became clear also impacted their self-understanding of who they were, what were their possibilities in life, and the decisions they now make as parents and teachers. For this study the researcher interviewed twelve teachers and parents from two different districts who are involved in gifted programs. Some of them had children involved in gifted classes, some were in gifted programs as a child, some worked in gifted programs as an adult and some were a combination of the three. Data consisted of twelve original interviews. Four of the original twelve were selected and each was interviewed a second time. Data from both interviews was analyzed hermeneutically. Included in the study are each participant's horizon and a topical analysis of the interviews. In addition, a thematic analysis is included which ties each interview to themes and cultural norms.
ContributorsHarrison, Erin Kirkpatrick (Author) / Blumenfeld-Jones, Donald (Thesis advisor) / Rutowski, Kathleen (Committee member) / Carlson, David Lee (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Descriptionno
ContributorsTrujillo, Gabriel (Author) / Powers, Jeanne (Thesis advisor) / Fischman, Gustavo E. (Committee member) / Baracy, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Inner city high schools today are struggling to create and maintain connections between students' values and schools requirements. Schools attempt to develop ways to help students become a vital part of the school community and provide them with resources to be successful both socially and academically. This study examined how an urban high school in the southwest implemented an academic advisory program to build and maintain the student/school relationship along with hoping to provide the resources to help increase student achievement in core academic programs. Research has identified the importance relationships have on academic achievement and the strong bonds that need to be developed with students and those there to support them. Previous attempts to provide students with the academic support through traditional tutoring in after-school programs have not proven to be successful in providing support students need. These after school tutoring programs have multiple challenges including being voluntary and students having other commitments they are involved with. Incorporating academic advisory programs during the school day is an attempt to overcome these challenges that are experienced with other programs. Using math and English course letter grade distribution comparisons were made to determine if changes in academic achievement occurred after implementation of academic advisory, whether participation in the program for more than one year made a difference on student academic achievement, and finally if academic advisory had any different effect on students that are high, middle, or low achieving. This study could not identify and specific correlation between the academic advisory program and academic achievement. When looking at letter grade distribution data from before implementation and after implementation similar growths and declines are seen with no identifiable trends during the program implementation. Consideration needs to be taken for the limitations identified and the school may want to conduct further review by addressing the limitations.
ContributorsGard, Michael (Author) / McCoy, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Scribner, Kent (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
As newcomers to schools in the last thirty years, second career teachers, were studied to better understand this group of teachers within schools. Second career teachers bring professional knowledge that did not originate in the field of teaching to their teaching career such as relationship building and collaboration. The professional perspectives of second career teachers were assessed and analyzed in relation with current professional expectations in schools utilizing an analytical framework built from Pierre Bourdieu's reflexive sociology. Second career teachers and their supervisors were interviewed and their responses were reviewed in relation to the districts' defined professional habitus and the professional cultural capital developed by second career teachers. The results from this study indicate that Second career teachers did have professional perspectives that aligned with the current professional expectations valued within the schools they worked. In addition, their presence in schools revealed alternative viewpoints that were highly valued and sought by others. This study goes beyond Bourdieu's theoretical definitions of capitals to explore specific relationships between embodied and institutionalized capitals that were valued in school settings. The knowledge gained from this study provided insight into the professional habitus defined by teachers within a school district and the relationship of second career teachers to this habitus.
ContributorsNielsen, Ann Walker (Author) / Fischman, Gustavo E (Thesis advisor) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Danzig, Arnold (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The experiences of lesbian and gay (LG) administrators in school and district-level positions are different than their heterosexual counterparts, not just because their social lenses are different, but because the policies and climates of the communities where they work has a significant impact on their relationships with stakeholder groups in the schools/offices. In this qualitative study I document and analyze the stories of LG educators, how they navigate their professional relationships, how they evolve as leaders, and their understanding of how their choices to be out or not have influenced their careers and professional relationships. The study also explores how performativity and sexuality relate to the professional relationships of the participants. Finally, the leaders' stories provide insight into the experiences of marginalized groups of professionals whose stories are often absent from the professional and research literatures on school administration. These eight school and district administrators live in the Southwestern and Northwest, many of them are out at work and a few are not. They range in age from mid-20s to late 50s, and their experiences as educational leaders spans from just one year to over 25 years. The participants sat for two to three interviews each over the course of approximately four months. The names of the participants, institutions, and specific communities have been changed to maintain confidentiality. I found that all the participants' relationships with stakeholders groups and individuals were impacted to varying degrees by fear - specifically the fear that results from the heteronormative rules, biases, and expectations of the public school system. The heteronormativity of the public education system is often a reflection of its community's belief system, as well as a reflection of the larger, more unconscious heteronormative belief system that shapes schools and educational leadership, a leader's professional capacity, and the relationships that are critical to being an effective leader. Essentially, the heteronormative fear reflected in the policies and practices of a community, an educational institution, and its members has a dramatic effect on the decisions and relationships that educational leaders have with key stakeholder groups on both an unconscious and conscious level.
ContributorsAnderson, Shannon (Author) / Powers, Jeanne (Thesis advisor) / Fischman, Gustavo (Thesis advisor) / Carlson, David Lee (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This project offers an exploration of the constitution of English language learners (ELLs) in the state of Arizona as subjects of government through the discursive rationalities of rule that unfolded alongside the Flores v. Arizona case. The artifacts under consideration span the 22 years (1992-2014) of Flores' existence so far. These artifacts include published academic scholarship; Arizona's legislative documents and floor debate audio and video; court summaries, hearings, and decisions; and public opinion texts found in newspapers and online, all of which were produced in response to Flores. These artifacts lay bare but some of the discursive rationalities that have coagulated to form governable elements of the ELL student population--ways of knowing them, measuring them, regarding them, constituting them, and intervening upon them. Somehow, some way, students who do not speak English as their first language have become a social problem to be solved. ELLs are therein governed by rationalities of English language normalization, of enterprise, of entrepreneurship, of competition, of empowerment, and of success. In narrating rationalities of rule that appear alongside the Flores case, I locate some governmental strategies in how subjects conduct themselves and govern the conduct of others with the hope that seeing subject constitution as a work of thought and not a necessary reality will create a space for potentially unknown alternatives. Through this work, I'd like to make possible the hope of thinking data differently, rejecting superimposition of meaning onto artifact, being uncomfortable, uncertain, undefinitive, and surprised. With that, this work encourages potential paths to trod in the field of curriculum studies.
ContributorsThomas, Melinda Arlene Hollis (Author) / Carlson, David Lee (Thesis advisor) / Malewski, Erik (Committee member) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Brass, Jory (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014