scholarly journals Does Immigration Induce 'Native Flight' from Public Schools? Evidence from a Large Scale Voucher Program

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christer Gerdes
2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Segal ◽  
Mark Lehrer

Prior scholarship on stewardship as a principle of administration largely portrays stewardship as too idealistic and dependent upon situational factors to be institutionalized in large-scale organizations. Through a case study of the Edmonton Public Schools, this study explores the extent to which stewardship can be institutionalized as a central organizing principle, thereby ensuring performance and checking corruption in ways that are consistent with the primacy of intrinsic motivation. The study deepens our understanding of the challenges that managers face in reconciling stewardship with a bureaucratic context, documents practices that have been used to deal with these challenges, and more broadly discusses how it might be possible for islands of stewardship to emerge in a world governed by assumptions of human opportunism. To this end the paper develops a model of the choice that organization members face in deciding to elect a principal-agent or a stewardship posture within large-scale organizations. This model draws on assumptions of human ambivalence in choosing between self-serving and altruistic modes of conduct.


2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 211-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonah Rockoff

A vast majority of adults believe that class size reductions are a good way to improve the quality of public schools. Reviews of the research literature, on the other hand, have provided mixed messages on the degree to which class size matters for student achievement. Here I will discuss a substantial, but overlooked, body of experimental work on class size that developed prior to World War II. These field experiments did not have the benefit of modern econometrics, and only a few were done on a reasonably large scale. However, they often used careful empirical designs, and the collective magnitude of this body of work is considerable. Moreover, this research produced little evidence to suggest that students learn more in smaller classes, which stands in contrast to some, though not all, of the most recent work by economists. In this essay, I provide an overview of the scope and breadth of the field experiments in class size conducted prior to World War II, the motivations behind them, and how their experimental designs were crafted to deal with perceived sources of bias. I discuss how one might interpret the findings of these early experimental results alongside more recent research.


Author(s):  
Dilafruz Williams

Garden-based education is a philosophical orientation to teaching and learning that uses gardens as the milieu for student engagement through meaningful and relevant curricular and instructional integration in schools. In addition to their direct academic appeal in raising test scores and grades, particularly in science, language arts, and math, gardens on educational campuses, spanning pre-school through high school, are also utilized by educators for a variety of other outcomes. These include motivational engagement; social, moral, and emotional development; strengthening of institutional and community bonds; vocational skills development; food literacy; healthy eating habits; and holistic growth of children and youth. Moreover, garden-based education shows promise as a tangible and pragmatic solution to address problems of disaffection and disengagement among youth that has resulted in a school dropout crisis in many places. While specific to higher education, farm-based education and agriculture-based education that focus on growing food have parallel agendas. The vast array of outcomes linked with garden-based education may seem impressive. However, systematic research studies of garden-based education across sites to measure educational impact are missing, largely due to their marginalized status and the decentralized and localized nature of program implementation and professional training. While the idea of including gardens on educational campuses to grow food or to serve as a means of outdoor and nature education is not new, since the 1990s, there has been a surge of interest in using garden-based education across countries and continents. With its accessibility on school grounds, garden-based education intersects with parallel movements such as outdoor education, place-based education, experiential education, nature-based education, environmental education, and sustainability education. Manifested in a variety of grassroots practices that include slow food, community supported agriculture, edible schoolyards, global roots, indigenous cultural gardens, learning gardens, lifelab, living classrooms, multicultural school gardens, urban harvest, and more, gardens will likely continue to be of significance in education as there are growing uncertainties globally about food security and health matters related to climate change. Despite high stakes, standardized tests, and accountability measures that pose challenges to educators and proponents of school gardens in public schools, research shows their promise as laboratories for innovation and academic learning. Garden-based education would benefit if informed by longitudinal and large-scale research studies that demonstrate instructional and curricular rigor and integration and impact on learning outcomes. Drawing on critical and posthumanist theories that question the nature of schooling, and explicitly addressing issues of race, class, and perspectives of marginalized and indigenous scholars and practitioners would bring further credence. Practice-embedded research and co-production of knowledge that accepts complexity and conjunctive thinking, while also addressing culturally responsive pedagogy across socio-economic status, would enhance the viability of this growing movement.


2018 ◽  
Vol 99 (7) ◽  
pp. 74-75
Author(s):  
Maria Ferguson

Maria Ferguson looks at how public schools in Puerto Rico are faring since Hurricane Maria and considers what their future may look like as families have fled to the mainland. One option is to follow the lead of New Orleans after Katrina and launch charter schools and a voucher program, which would bring about a new era in public education for the island, but not necessarily a better one.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (66) ◽  
pp. 716
Author(s):  
Mara Regina Lemes De Sordi ◽  
Sara Badra de Oliveira ◽  
Margarida Montejano da Silva ◽  
Regiane Helena Bertagna ◽  
Adilson Dalben

<p>Um modelo de avaliação de larga escala multidimensional referenciado na qualidade social da escola pública é o recorte deste estudo desenvolvido junto ao Observatório de Educação. A voz de professores e gestores captada via grupo focal contrastada com o referencial teórico da formação humana gerou um instrumento contendo indicadores dispostos em uma escala tipo Likert respondida por 846 professores de uma rede municipal. Os dados tratados estatisticamente evidenciaram escolas que trabalham na perspectiva da qualidade social mantendo suas singularidades nas diferentes dimensões. A pesquisa pretende colaborar com os avanços no campo das medidas educacionais ao evitar o reducionismo dos índices uni/bidimensionais sem perder de vista a avaliação institucional participativa, necessária para que a escola interpele as práticas que produz e delibere sobre os novos desafios na luta pela qualidade social.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave:</strong> Indicadores Educacionais; Qualidade Social; Avaliação de Larga Escala Multidimensional; Avaliação Institucional Participativa.</p><p> </p><p><strong><em>Indicadores de calidad social de la escuela pública: avances en el ámbito de la evaluación</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>Resumen:</em></strong></p><p><em>Un modelo de evaluación de amplia escala multidimensional basado en la calidad social de la escuela pública es el recorte de este estudio desarrollado junto al Observatorio de Educación. La voz de profesores y gestores captada vía grupo focal contrastada con el referente teórico de la formación humana generó un instrumento que contiene indicadores dispuestos en una escala tipo Likert respondido por 846 docentes de una red municipal. Los datos tratados estadísticamente pusieron de manifiesto escuelas que trabajan desde la perspectiva de la calidad social sin perder sus singularidades en las diferentes dimensiones. Esta investigación pretende colaborar con los avances en el ámbito de las medidas educacionales al evitar el reduccionismo de los índices uni/ bidimensionales sin prescindir de la evaluación institucional participativa, entendida como instancia estratégica para que la escuela interpele las prácticas que produce y delibere sobre los nuevos desafíos en la lucha por la calidad social.</em></p><p><strong><em>Palabras clave:</em></strong><em> Indicadores Educacionales; Calidad Social; Evaluación de Amplia Escala Multidimensional; Evaluación Institucional Participativa.</em></p><p> </p><p><strong><em>Social quality indicators of public schools: advancing in the assessment field</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>Abstract:</em></strong></p><p><em>A large-scale multidimensional assessment model based on the social quality of public schools is the focus of this study developed alongside the Observatório de Educação. The voice of teachers and managers captured via a focus group was contrasted with the theoretical framework of human training, generating an instrument containing indicators arranged in a Likert-type scale, which was answered by 846 municipal teachers. The statistically processed data showed schools that work towards social quality without losing their identity in the different dimensions. This study is intended to be used as a way to collaborate with the advances in the field of educational measures in order to prevent the reductionism of the uni/bidimensional indexes. Such advances do not disregard institutional participatory evaluation, which is seen as a strategic instance that enables the school to address its practices and deliberate about the new challenges in the fight for social quality.</em></p><p><strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong><em>  Educational Indicators; Social Quality; Large- Scale Multidimensional Assessment; Participatory Institutional Assessment.</em></p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Felix Barbosa Carreiro

Cabe ao Estado garantir o direito a uma educação pública com qualidade socialmente referenciada. A julgar pelos indicadores educacionais publicados a partir dos resultados do Índice de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica (Ideb), esse direito, no que se refere ao acesso, à permanência e ao sucesso escolar dos alunos que frequentam as escolas públicas, não está sendo sufi cientemente garantido. Apontamos como causa desse fracasso escolar a inexistência de políticas públicas educacionais focadas na aprendizagem escolar. Vale lembrar que as escolas públicas que apresentam o Ideb para além da meta, não significam necessariamente qualidade da educação. Reconhecemos que as avaliações em larga escala têm a potencialidade de subsidiar as políticas em educação com vistas à melhoria dos indicadores de qualidade do ensino e da aprendizagem, sobretudo quando os resultados são problematizados e sistematizados pelos sistemas educacionais e pelas escolas. Compreendemos que a qualidade na educação pública implica a efetivação da aprendizagem, ou seja, que o aluno aprenda, seja aprovado tenha garantido um futuro promissor. No contexto de uma escola pública de orientação emancipadora, é preciso que algumas condições objetivas sejam satisfeitas, a saber: gestão escolar democrática, compromisso docente com a escola pública, razoabilidade da infraestrutura escolar, materiais pedagógicos adequados consolidação das mediações escolares de participação.Palavras-chave: Qualidade. Educação. Escola pública.Elements for a public education with social qualityABSTRACTIt is the State’s responsibility to ensure the right of a public education with quality socially acknowledged. Judging by the educational indicators published as from The Brazilian Education Development Index (Ideb), this right, in relation to the access, the stay, and the school success of the students that attend the public schools, are not being suffi ciently guaranteed. We point as the cause of this school failure the lack of educational public policies focused in school learning. It is worth remembering that the public schools that present the Ideb above the target do not necessarily mean educational quality. We recognize that the evaluations of large scale have the potential of subsidizing the policies in education in order to the improvement of learning and teaching quality indicators, mainly when the results are questioned and systematized by the educational systems and the schools. We understand the quality in public education implies the learning realization, in other words, that the student learn, can be approved, and ensure a promising future. In the context of a public school with na emancipating orientation, it is necessary that some objective conditions must be satisfied, such as a democratic school management, teaching commitment with the public school, the reasonableness of the school infrastructure, appropriate teaching materials, and the consolidation of the educational mediations of the participation.Keywords: Quality. Education. Public School.Elementos para una educación pública con calidad socialRESUMENPuede el Estado garantizar el derecho a una educación pública con calidad socialmente valorada. A juzgar por los indicadores educacionales publicados a partir de los resultados del Índice de Desarrollo de la Educación Básica (IDEB), ese derecho, en lo que se refi ere al acceso, a la permanencia y al éxito escolar de los alumnos que frecuentan las escuelas públicas, no está siendo suficientemente garantizado. Apuntamos como causa de ese fracaso escolar a la inexistencia de políticas públicas educacionales enfocadas en el aprendizaje escolar. Es preciso recordar que las escuelas públicas que presentan el IDEB como meta, no significa necesariamente calidad de educación. Reconocemos que las evaluaciones a gran escala tienen la potencialidade de subsidiar las políticas de educación con vistas a el mejoramiento de los indicadores de calidad de la enseñanza y del aprendizaje, sobretodo cuando los resultados son planteados y sistematizados por los sistemas educacionales y por las escuelas. Comprendemos que la calidad de la educación pública implica la efectividad del aprendizaje, osea, que el alumno aprenda, sea aprobado y tenga garantizado un futuro prometedor. En el contexto de una escuela pública de orientación emancipadora, es preciso que algunas condiciones objetivas sean satisfechas, a saber: gestión escolar, infraestructura escolar, materiales pedagógicos adecuados, consolidación de las mediaciones escolares de participación.Palabras Clave: Calidad, Educación, Escuela Pública.


Author(s):  
Rafael de Hoyos ◽  
Alejandro J Ganimian ◽  
Peter A Holland

Abstract This article examines the impact of two strategies for using large-scale assessment results to improve school management and classroom instruction in the province of La Rioja, Argentina. In the study, 104 public primary schools were randomly assigned to three groups: a diagnostic-feedback group, in which standardized tests were administered at baseline and two follow-ups and results were made available to schools; a capacity-building group, in which workshops and school visits were conducted; and a control group, in which tests were administered at the second follow-up. After two years, diagnostic-feedback schools outperformed control schools by 0.33 standard deviations (σ) in mathematics and 0.36σ in reading. In fact, feedback schools still performed 0.26σ better in math and 0.22σ better in reading in the national assessment a year after the end of the intervention. Additionally, principals at feedback schools were more likely to use assessment results in making management decisions, and students were more likely to report that their teachers used more instructional strategies and to rate their teachers more favorably. Combining feedback with capacity building does not seem to yield additional improvements, but this could be due to schools assigned to receive both components starting from lower learning levels and participating in fewer workshops and visits than expected.


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