Showing papers in "Educational Policy in 2006"

The Costs of Being a Child Care Teacher: Revisiting the Problem of Low Wages.

Abstract: The demand for child care in the United States continues to grow, but child care workers’ wages remain minimal. Using examples within New Jersey, the author demonstrates how low wages impact child care quality and are directly related to the effects of the competitive marketplace. Various historical, regulatory, and cultural contexts also contribute to low wages, however. Because most child care workers are female, the author uses a feminist critical policy analysis lens to examine the gendered aspects of these contextual factors. The author argues that the gender-related issues within these contexts exacerbate the problem of low wages and also contribute to the intractability of the issue, particularly in terms of accessing policymakers’ agendas. The author concludes with a brief summary of issues that policymakers and advocates will need to keep in mind as they search for solutions to the problem of low wages.

The Politics of Distributing Leadership Reconsidering Leadership Distribution in Two Texas Elementary Schools

Abstract: Recent work on distributed leadership extends an ongoing critique of conventional “heroic” leader portrayals. This article examines work in this area seeking implications for democratic school governance. With material from case studies of two Texas schools, it considers frameworks presented by Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond and by Firestone and Heller. Invoking critical perspectives, it problematizes a conventional managerial slant in the frameworks. The frameworks direct attention to a wider distribution of leadership than is often portrayed. Unfortunately, the frameworks attend primarily to administrative concerns, namely the steering of local actors and channeling of local activity and are largely silent about the politics of distributed leadership. Reconsidering the nature and dynamics of leadership in the two cases, we find broader notions of performance and attention to more deliberative community-building activity reveal the importance of distributed leadership in engendering responsiveness to a...

Hiding the Politically Obvious: A Critical Race Theory Preview of Diversity as Racial Neutrality in Higher Education

Abstract: What have colleges and universities done to increase student of color enrollment since the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger? This article provides a critical race theory (CRT) snapshot of selective data and institutions since these landmark decisions. We find that even though Grutter gives the go-ahead to use affirmative action, higher education has failed politically to take on this challenge. When taken together, the Gratz and Grutter decisions allow higher education institutions to engage in symbolic affirmative action measures that appear as diversity measures but are operationalized as race neutral when one examines the data of continuing overall declines of students of color at many institutions. The authors conclude with a CRT call for a more expansive affirmative action with higher education administrators doing more to justify affirmative action through Grutter.

Neither Honor nor Compensation: Faculty and Public Service.

Abstract: Land-grant institutions that are also research extensive may face the unique position of asking faculty to fulfill a historical mission with low consideration of public service in the reward structure. This paradox between mission and reward results in the socialization of many faculty away from participation in public service. This article discusses a study of faculty perception of values regarding public service at a large, land-grant, and research extensive institution. Results from the study support the notion that both tenure and pay rewards may be inaccessible to faculty who perform public service at land-grant institutions with research emphases.

School diversification in second-best education markets : International evidence and conflicting theories of change

Abstract: According to theorists, choice and competition are intended to force schools to innovate and diversify their programs. However, evidence from several countries suggests that schools are not responding to competitive incentives as expected: (a) instead of innovating in the classroom, schools often embrace traditional practices; (b) innovations in administration tend to enable schools to more effectively shape their enrollment, rather than pursue more effective or diverse educational practices; and (c) public-sector policies, not competitive pressures, produced the most innovative and diversified options for families. The analysis considers the predominant theoretical perspective on organizational change, and points to difficulties in applying this reasoning to education. Instead, the article suggests a more complex understanding of market processes in education. The peculiar nature of public education as a “second-best” market corrupts the incentives intended by reforms that impose market-style competition...

Teen Pregnancy and Education: Politics of Knowledge, Research, and Practice

Abstract: This article explores the politics surrounding the education of pregnant/mothering students. Utilizing Title IX, which guarantees the rights of pregnant/mothering students to an education equal to ...

Thinking about Sodomy: Public Schools, Legal Panopticons, and Queers.

Abstract: This article explores the status of U.S. public school educators both queer and non-queer who have historically resided at the intersection of sodomy laws and professional norms including licensure, morality clauses, and professional socialization. Employing Foucault’s notion of panopticism, the author examines how sodomy laws and professional norms—which are social norms—have historically shaped the work environment of public school educators. Furthermore, this article explores how both queer and non-queer public school administrators have functioned as sexuality and gender police. It also briefly examines the current state of civil rights law at both the state and federal levels regarding queer people. It concludes with a discussion of the recent U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas and the larger issues of the politics of state-sponsored stigma and the politics of social justice for U.S. public schools.

Charter schools, teacher labor market deregulation, and teacher quality : Evidence from the schools and staffing survey

Abstract: This study uses teacher-level data from the Schools and Staffing Survey of 1999 to test whether teachers in charter schools have stronger academic backgrounds than their peers working in conventional public schools and whether state regulatory policies are associated with differences between public and public charter school teachers. Specifically, the authors estimate whether school type (public, public charter, independent private, private Catholic) is associated with the likelihood that a teacher attended a highly or most competitive undergraduate college. They find compelling evidence both that charter schools generally hire more teachers from more competitive undergraduate institutions than do conventional public schools and, furthermore, that relaxation of state teacher certification policies for charter schools increases the likelihood that charter schools hire teachers from more competitive undergraduate institutions. Findings are highly dependent on supply of teachers from competitive undergraduat...

Race, Politics, and Arab American Youth Shifting Frameworks for Conceptualizing Educational Equity

Abstract: Educators concerned with creating equitable school environments for Arab American students must focus on how contemporary global and national politics shape the lives of these youth and their families. Arab immigrants and Arab American citizens alike experience specific forms of racial oppression that hold implications for school curricula, practices, and policies. Practitioners committed to social justice must assess how schools teach about culture, educate students for knowledgeable deliberation of global politics, and support students and teachers to explore the passions of patriotism. The questions raised by the education of Arab American youth have profound implications for teaching for social justice in a world characterized by global interdependence and increasing transnational migration. No longer can national boundaries mark the limit of concern for social justice. Educating for social justice requires that we teach youth to confront racial, economic, social, and political injustices within and b...

Consider the Source Response Differences Among Teachers, Principals, and Districts on Survey Questions About Their Education Policy Environment

Abstract: This study extends previous work on survey validity and reliability by examining how different groups of respondents vary in their answers to survey questions about the policy system. The study uses state-representative data from a five-state study of standard-based reform in mathematics to test how predictive teacher, principal, and district administrator survey responses are of each other when respondents are asked the exact same questions about their policy environment. The analyses and discussion call attention to the importance of considering the source of information—who is responding to the survey—when relying on survey data to describe the implementation and effects of education policy. Results show that responses of teachers, principals, and district administrators tend to be similar on questions about power and barriers to implementation but are unrelated or inversely related on questions about specificity, authority, and the consequences of policy. Implications for survey design and analysis ar...

The Paradox of Poverty Narratives: Educators Struggling with Children Left Behind.

Abstract: This article utilizes narrative policy analysis to examine social justice narratives embedded within No Child Left Behind with respect to economic inequities. It juxtaposes national educational policy dialogues against the stories of educators working within an elementary school that serves a high-poverty community. The qualitative research findings suggest that it is vitally important for policymakers to acknowledge and value the challenges faced by teachers and staff who serve children whose families lack proper healthcare, affordable and quality early childhood education, nutrition, literacy, safety, and livable wages.

“Skimming the Cream”: Admissions to Charter Schools in the United States and to Autonomous Schools in England

Abstract: This article focuses on student admissions to charter schools in the United States and to autonomous (foundation and voluntary-aided) secondary schools in England. Analyses of the admissions criteria used by autonomous and nonautonomous secondary schools in England revealed that more autonomous than nonautonomous schools reported using potentially selective criteria. Examination results were higher in autonomous than nonautonomous schools and even higher in those that used potentially selective admissions criteria. Fewer students with special educational needs attended autonomous schools. The similarities between the admissions practices used by certain charter schools and the published admissions criteria used by certain autonomous schools in England are discussed. The evidence is suggestive of both “cream skimming” and “cropping off” educational provision to particular groups of students. It is concluded that the introduction of market oriented reforms into public school systems requires monitoring and ...

Is Robin Hood the “Prince of Thieves”1 or a Pathway to Equity? Applying Critical Race Theory to School Finance Political Discourse

Abstract: In this article, Aleman examines how Mexican American district leaders conceptualize and argue for a more equitable system of school finance. The superintendents studied are politically active educational leaders who participate in the school finance debate while advocating for their Mexican American constituency. The author addresses the nature of the superintendents’ policy and political discourse and their conceptualizations of race and racism in their political strategy. In these analyses, the author uses a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework and argues for a more critical debate of the inherent institutional racism at the foundation of Texas school finance policy.

Legislating the Good: A Survey and Evaluation of Character Education Laws in the United States.

Abstract: In this article, the authors trace the historical context of character education legislation in the United States, analyze and evaluate current legislative trends, and discuss the inherent dangers in legislating the good. The survey concludes that at no other time in history have Americans attempted to legislate such a specific vision of character education. The authors evaluate this legislation using the criteria of local choice, programmatic integration, comprehensiveness, community involvement, K-12 implementation, and allocation of staff development resources. Their evaluation reveals that few state laws meet these criteria and that some laws even contradict the spirit of comprehensive character education. They conclude that these inadequacies are fatal flaws in current attempts to legislate character.

Control, Persuasion, and Educational Accountability: Implementing the No Child Left Behind Act

Abstract: This article examines early implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act's (NCLB) accountability provisions. Theoretically, the author explains how executing education policy in the United States requires federal officials to employ tactics designed to assert control over state implementers while persuading them to adopt federal priorities as their own. Empirically, the main objective is to reveal how control and persuasion have been integral to early federal efforts to keep NCLB on track. The data come from several sources describing state implementation of NCLB and federal efforts to influence state actions during 2002 to 2004. Overall, the author argues that understanding NCLB implementation as a series of control and persuasion challenges confronting federal officials will enable observers to better assess the law's performance.

Constructing Accountability Performance for English Language Learner Students An Unfinished Journey Toward Language Minority Rights

Abstract: In this article, I examine the assimilationist assumptions embedded in the development and implementation of the Texas Reading Proficiency Test in English (RPTE). The RPTE was designed as a develop...

Student Reactions to Being Wrongly Informed of Failing a High-Stakes Test The Case of the Minnesota Basic Standards Test

Abstract: How do students react to being told that they have failed a test required for high school graduation? In 2000, 7,989 students were wrongly informed that they had failed the Minnesota Basic Standards Test in mathematics. The authors conducted a survey of 911 of these students to assess the psychosocial impact of this event. More than 80% of students reported that they increased studying, and nearly half reduced their extracurricular activities. Students reported a range of adverse emotional reactions, with more than 80% reporting that they felt depressed, worried, or embarrassed. About half said that they felt stupid and less proud of themselves. About 4% reported that they dropped out of school as a result of being told that they failed the examination. These findings point to the largely unaddressed need to study student reactions to failing high-stakes tests.

The Practice of Service Learning in Local School-Community Contexts

Abstract: In this article, the authors set out to examine the ways in which service learning is practiced, perceived, and sustained in school settings. Drawing on extensive qualitative case studies, the authors highlight three cases of schools at varying levels of integration of service into their curriculum. Their history of offering service learning is summarized. Participant perceptions regarding the role of service learning in student learning and concerns regarding the relationship between service learning and student academic achievement are explored. The authors conclude that service learning is practiced amidst a series of complex, and often times conflicting, assumptions regarding the aims of education and the proper formats through which student achievement should be assessed.

Cost-Effective School Inputs Is Class Size Reduction the Best Educational Expenditure for Florida?

Abstract: The current debate about class size is not centered on whether smaller class sizes are desirable. Rather, the debate is whether the costs involved are the best ways to spend taxpayers’ monies. This analysis addresses this question for the state of Florida. Using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test as a measure of educational achievement, a state data set containing information on all elementary schools was used to examine which government-funded inputs were most cost effective. Using a three-step methodology leading to a cost effectiveness analysis, this article finds that reducing class sizes is the most expensive of state inputs that affect achievement scores. Varying the mix of school personnel (administrators, teachers, and teacher aides) and investments in teacher quality (training and experience) are shown to produce the same results (raising test scores) at a lower cost than the reduction of class sizes.

Assessing the Connection Between Higher Education Policy and Performance

Abstract: In 1997, the state of South Dakota instituted an incentive program to reward institutions for performance related to state policy priorities. The program had a specified starting and ending point, running its course in 2002. This program provides a unique opportunity to study the connection between higher education policy and performance, an issue of central concern in most states as they try to maximize their use of existing state resources. The analysis uses literature and concepts from existing higher education studies as a guide to conduct the case study. The article outlines those areas where policy was most strongly connected to performance and speculates on why other areas may not have yielded such a link.

Examining the Impact of Proposition 48 on Graduation Rates in Division 1A Football and Program Recruiting Behavior Testing a Policy Change Model

Abstract: The intersection of athletics and academics is legitimized through eligibility rules, which provide standards that bind commercial athletics to the educational purposes of higher education. To compete in intercollegiate athletics, freshman student athletes must meet the initial academic eligibility criteria set by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) membership. Proposition 48 crystallized many of the calls for reform regarding inadequate academic standards in the public and postsecondary institutions that occurred during the early 1980s. In this article, the authors propose and test a time series structural equation model to investigate Proposition 48's impact on raising Division IA freshman student athletes' graduation rates in football and its impact in changing football programs' recruiting practices regarding freshman and junior college student athletes.

Evaluating Equity A Framework for Understanding Action and Inaction on Social Justice Issues

Abstract: This article relies on a case study of a policy evaluation to illustrate how issues of social justice arise for action or inaction in a political environment. The article uses the case study to show that social justice issue formation is shaped by the personal beliefs of the actors, the prevailing political culture, the evolutionary path of the issue, and the larger context of the social environment. These multiple, overlapping, and sometimes contradictory systems interact in ways that make action on injustice and inequity by political actors more or less likely.

Being on track for no child left behind : Examining the organizational capacity of massachusetts public eighth-grade programs

Abstract: The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it examines the requirement in No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that states have all students “proficient” in math and reading by 2013-2014. Second, the article assesses the organizational capacity of eighth-grade programs in Massachusetts to meet that directive. Issues of organizational capacity, system adequacy, and performance accountability frame this discussion. The findings reveal that significant differences persist in the organizational capacity of eighth-grade programs across the state. Moreover, no Massachusetts school has met the NCLB goal of 100% proficiency in either math or reading, calling into question the adequacy of the system or the appropriateness of the policy.

Reforming Federal Testing Policy to Support Teaching and Learning

Abstract: The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) assumes that state-mandated tests provide useful information to school administrators and teachers. However, interviews with administrators and teachers suggest that Minnesota's tests, which are representative of the current generation of state-mandated tests, fail to provide useful information to administrators and teachers about areas that need attention. The use of a single level of difficulty causes harmful stress and provides measurements of poor quality for many students. Computer-adaptive tests are a practical alternative, provide more useful information, reduce stress among students, and address four major concerns that teachers have about testing. This alternative could strengthen the link between testing and improved educational outcomes and improve the chances that NCLB will have a positive impact. However, current federal policy prohibits the use of computer-adaptive tests for accountability purposes. This article provides specific recommendations that poten...

Eroding inequity : Straddling the margin of tolerance

Abstract: This article explores how districts negotiate the conflict that emerges as they attempt to de-legitimize inequity by prompting institutional and organizational-level changes that create equitable access and outcomes for all children. To this end, this article highlights the contentious nature of this pursuit as well as the intended and unintended consequences of such changes. Specifically, the author addresses how district leaders erode inequity by initiating and addressing instigators for change, altering interpretive schemas, and developing normative understandings. These efforts occur as districts straddle the “margin of tolerance” within a political, social, and economical environment that has not radically shifted its ideas about equity. Consequently, as this discussion illuminates, district efforts must concurrently de-legitimize inequity while legitimizing equitable beliefs, practices, structures, and policies.

Student Voice and School Choice in the Boston Pilot High Schools

Abstract: School choice has become a widespread policy for improving education. Because the goal of choice is to provide high-quality education to all students, we examined student perceptions in applying to and attending four high schools that are successful in educating low-income students and students of color. Students chose schools based on perceived fits of specific academics, support, and school culture characteristics. Students found these schools provided college and career preparation, teachers who pay attention to academic and personal needs, and positive student relationships. Although students at two schools applied with one feature in mind, they found their schools provided features that met unanticipated needs. We conclude by describing school structures that create the conditions that students value.

Why the Affirmative Action Debate Persists: The Role of Moral Disagreement

Abstract: This article concerns an issue that often remains implicit within the public debate about affirmative action and related race-conscious education policies: What role do contested moral ideals play in the disagreement about affirmative action? As background, the article first outlines what a moral disagreement is and then goes on to examine the roots of the disagreement about affirmative action A case is made for the importance of illuminating and understanding the moral disagreement about affirmative action to inform the public deliberation about related race-conscious education policies, especially given that affirmative action policies are being challenged once again in the public political arena

What Can We Learn From Texas About No Child Left Behind

Abstract: Occasionally, books are published that, although limited to an analysis of one particular state or nation, are of great importance to a considerably larger region or audience. To take a rather academic example, Ting-Hong Wong’s historical examination of the role of cultural struggles and battles about the curriculum and textbooks in destabilizing colonial regimes in Hong Kong and Singapore (Wong, 2002) deals with a limited geographical area in a rather specialized way. Yet by showing that cultural struggles can have profound effects on state policies and on unequal relations of power, he opens up a whole range of thinking about possibilities. He helps us think much more rigorously about practical issues such as the power of political and social movements and whether current cultural mobilizations by disenfranchised groups can have similar serious and lasting effects. The book I am discussing in this essay is another and even more powerful example of how an examination of one locality—in this case Texas— can call into question both many of our presuppositions about and the wisdom of current educational reforms. The fact that it is Texas that is focused on is crucial because that was one of the most significant testing grounds for much of what was instituted in No Child Left Behind (NCLB). It would be nearly impossible not to raise serious questions about the rationales and effects of NCLB after reading the work of Valenzuela and her colleagues in this book. Indeed, although I am not one who is usually given to saying that books are absolutely essential reading, this one is. Educational Policy Volume 20 Number 3 July 2006 551-560 © 2006 Corwin Press 10.1177/0895904805284113 http://epx.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com