International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership (IJEPL)
Not a member yet
209 research outputs found
Sort by
Outdoor Play and Learning: Policy and Practice
Get PDFThis study describes national school district policy and practice regarding elementary school children's outdoor learning and play. District representatives from 173 randomly selected school districts completed questionnaires describing policy and practice related to recess, outdoor play, outdoor curricular studies, playground materials, ADA accessibility, and administrative support. Quantitative analyses indicate that although the largest proportion of school districts overall reported maintaining the same amount of outdoor activity time, more school districts reported decreasing time spent outdoors than school districts that reported increasing children's time outside. There were no significant differences in variables across the three different-sized school districts. These data are congruent with other findings indicating that decreasing children's outdoor time is a national trend. Data suggest administrators’ greater support for outdoor play and learning than previously identified. These findings are discussed as an opening dialogue between administration and teachers to plan for children’s quality outdoor experiences
Information and Communication Technologies in International Education: A Canadian Policy Analysis
Get PDFThe rhetoric surrounding the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in international education speaks of providing education access for all. However, an examination of actual policies reveals an emphasis not on creating an educated population, but on improving economic opportunities using discourses such as globalization, knowledge economy, and knowledge society. This emphasis creates an imbalance in opportunities for using ICTs in education and presents challenges for international educators.
This paper discusses the Canadian International Development Agency’s report, CIDA’s Strategy on Knowledge for Development through Information and Communication Technologies, as an example of how rhetoric does not always meet reality. The paper concludes with four simple recommendations for good ICT practice in developing contexts
School Audits and School Improvement: Exploring the Variance Point Concept in Kentucky
Get PDFAs a diagnostic intervention (Bowles, Churchill, Effrat, & McDermott, 2002) for schools failing to meet school improvement goals, Ken-tucky used a scholastic audit process based on nine standards and 88 associated indicators called the Standards and Indicators for School Improvement (SISI). Schools are rated on a scale of 1–4 on each indicator, with a score of 3 considered as fully functional (Kentucky De-partment of Education [KDE], 2002). As part of enacting the legislation, KDE was required to also audit a random sample of schools that did meet school improvement goals; thereby identifying practices present in improving schools that are not present in those failing to improve. These practices were referred to as variance points, and were reported to school leaders annually. Variance points have differed from year to year, and the methodology used by KDE was unclear. Moreover, variance points were reported for all schools without differentiating based upon the level of school (elementary, middle, or high). In this study, we established a transparent methodology for variance point determination that differentiates between elementary, middle, and high schools
System Transfer, Education, and Development in Mozambique
Get PDFIn this study the author used conceptual historical method to assess the phenomenon of system transfer and the association between education and development in Mozambique. The assessment was administered through critical analysis of documents pertaining to the Salazar (1924-1966), Machel (1975-1986), and Chissano (1986-2005) administrations. The findings were that (a) the colonial government created economic and educational systems for colonizing Mozambique, whereas the Machel and Chissano administrations adapted foreign systems of government and education (i.e., Socialism, Soviet, Democracy, Portuguese, etc.), to their particular context without altering the inherent theoretical basis of the systems transferred; (b) the Machel and Chissano administrations, implicitly or explicitly, perceived the relationship between education and development as circular causality rather than a unidirectional linear causality, while the Salazar administration perceived it as unidirectional linear causality; and (c) while the Machel and Chissano administrations focused on primary education, literacy campaigns, and education of women and girls, they differed in the reasons for such focus
Gubernatorial Rhetoric and the Purpose of Education in the United States
Get PDFFor decades, scholars have debated the purpose of U.S. education, but too often ignored how non-education-related power brokers define education or the requisite consequences.[Qu: Is there a different way of phrasing this? I'm not sure, in reading it, what you intend "the requisite consequences" to mean. Does this mean the results of education, or the consequences of inaccurate definitions of it? Also, may we rephrase "non-education-related power brokers" to something like "power brokers without education experience"?]This study examines how one of the most prominent categories of U.S. leaders, state governors, defines education and discusses the policy implications. We examine gubernatorial rhetoric—that is, public speeches—about education, collected from State of the State speeches from 2001 to 2008. In all, one purpose gains overwhelmingly more attention—economic efficiency. As long as governors and the general public, seen enthymematically through gubernatorial rhetoric, define education in economic terms, other purposes will likely remain marginalized, leading to education policies designed disproportionately to advance economic ends
Policy in the Way of Practice: How Assessment Legislation Is Affecting Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction in Ohio
Get PDFIn a national context of standards and high-stakes testing, concerns are emerging about challenges to the already tenuous position of the citizenship mission in the social studies curriculum. In this qualitative study, the authors administered a survey to social studies teachers in Ohio and conducted follow-up interviews focusing on the present purposes of social studies and the ways in which standards and testing are affecting instructional practice. The findings reveal a perception of standards as being of high quality, yet ultimately undermined through changes in scope and se-quence, narrowing of the curriculum, and a paucity of time to enact them. In addition, respondents indicated that high-stakes testing has become the primary curricular focus, which impacts instructional strategy decision making and frustrates citizenship education
Countering School Bullying: An Examination of Policy Implementation in Ontario and Saskatchewan
No full textThe incidence of extreme school violence as a direct consequence of bullying among peers, exacerbated by vast media attention, has caused educational institutions worldwide to review issues of bullying intervention and prevention. Many Canadian provinces have implemented guiding principles to counter bullying in schools. This study focuses on a review and comparison of two provincewide antibullying incentives in Ontario and in Saskatchewan through a content analysis of their respective school board or school division policies. An itemized list of beneficial practices for bullying intervention and prevention originated from the scoring scheme of Smith, Smith, Osborn, and Samara (2008) and was adapted by linking research-based program elements that have been found to be effective in reducing school bullying to a content analysis of both provincial frameworks. The final scoring scheme comprised a total of 39 criterions, divided into five categories: Defining Bullying Behaviors, Establishing a Positive School Climate, Disseminating, Monitoring and Reviewing Policy, Reporting and Responding to Bullying, and Involving the Broader Community. Results showed that policies contained a total average of 60 percent of the criterions in Ontario, and 59 percent in Saskatchewan. The conclusion of this study observes from policy lenses key essentials of bullying intervention and prevention initiatives in elementary and secondary educational settings. Recommendations are proposed to bridge the gap between areas that have received extensive attention and areas that have received less treatment in bullying intervention and prevention endeavors, using the content of Ontario and Saskatchewan policies as a basis for discussion
Pass the Crayons: Leadership, Art Production, and Communities of Practice
Get PDFThe results of an arts-based leadership (Kelehear, 2006, 2008) practice at a rural middle school in South Carolina are examined. The school principal and art teacher led a day-long staff development and followed up individually to assist teachers to create art as metaphor for individual growth plans as well as school improvement plans. Specifically, the arts-based initiative sought to invite professional conversations that focused on: 1) personal reflections, 2) multiple perspectives, and 3) art making. Findings suggest that when the art teacher and principal work in collaboration, there is real value in an arts-based leadership practice. Also, when led by the art teacher, teacher reflections suggested that as the principal worked alongside the teachers, they felt valued and supported and viewed the principal as authentic and trusting. Additionally, out of the engendered trust, the teachers were emboldened to consider innovative, arts-based approaches to their teaching. Finally, there was evidence that the art teacher was highly effective in introducing innovative leadership practices as teachers. This study is one of several implementation studies emerging from earlier research on arts-based leadership
Parental Participation and School Based Management in Nicaragua: An SES Analysis of Differentiated Parent Participation in School Councils by Income, Education, and Community Crime Rates
Get PDFIn Latin America, School-Based Management and decentralization more broadly have emerged as an important tool of educational policy. The presumed benefits of School-Based Management designs depend, in large part, on broad parental participation in the programs that governments create to devolve decision-making related to schooling. However, few studies examine the circumstances under which parents actually participate in newly established decentralized education programs. This article sheds partial light on these conditions by employing a Socio-Economic Status (SES) perspective to examine school-based management reform in Nicaragua. Using data derived from five newly autonomous schools, the study compares parents’ self-reported levels of income, education, and community crime rates with their propensity to participate in newly formed school councils. Results give partial support to an SES hypothesis by revealing that parents who live in communities where violence is endemic participate less in the school councils. Findings support the argument that for decentralized education programs to be successful on equity issues, policy planners must attend to these socio-structural circumstances by providing commensurate support mechanisms that encourage marginal households and communities to participate in the new program
Schools of Excellence AND Equity? Using Equity Audits as a Tool to Expose a Flawed System of Recognition
Get PDFThe purpose of this article is to demonstrate how equity audits can be used as a tool to expose disparate achievement in schools that, on the surface and to the public, appear quite similar. To that end, the researcher probed beyond surface-level performance composite scores into deeper, more hidden data associated with state-recognized "Honor Schools of Excellence." How is "excellence" defined and operationalized in these schools? Are these schools "excellent" for all students? Can a school really be classified by the state as "excellent" and yet still have significant "gaps" and disparities? If so, is the state's formula used to identify exemplary schools too simple, dogmatic, and institutionally flawed? Through the use of equity audits, quantitative data was collected to scan for systemic patterns of equity and inequity across multiple domains of student learning and activities within 24 elementary schools. The intent was to document and distinguish between schools that are promoting and supporting both academic excellence (small gap schools; SGS) and systemic equity and schools that are not (large gap schools; LGS). Results reveal that although demographic, teacher quality, and programmatic audits all indicated a fair amount of equity between SGS and LGS, the achievement audit between both types of schools indicated great disparities. By controlling for or eliminating some of the external variables and internal factors often cited for the achievement gaps between white middle-class children and children of color or children from low-income families, the findings from this study raise more questions than answers. Results do indicate that equity audits are a practical, easy-to-apply tool that educators can use to identify inequalities objectively