New guiding principles in educational policy: the case of Germany

Pluralism, decentralization, deregulation, school autonomy, greater diversity and parent empowerment in education are among the new guiding principles in educational policy in numerous industrial countries. Whereas this paradigm shift reflects the advance of the market ideology into the education sector in other (particularly English‐speaking) countries, the driving force behind this movement in Germany is rather the political system's loss of legitimation and the conflict‐ridden state of educational policy. The first part of the article takes a retrospective view which links up to the analyses of Weiler. It shows that the former strategies for securing legitimation and regulating conflicts ‐ involving science in the educational reform process, legalization and judicialization ‐ have only been effective temporarily. Using the new Education Act of Hesse as example, the hypothesis is developed that the strategy of increasing parent empowerment and partially transferring regulatory powers and decision‐making competence to individual schools will also not bring about the expected effects since this will not solve the structural problems of the German school system. In the second part of the article this thesis is elaborated within the framework of a differentiated analysis of the consequences of the structural problems as manifested in individual school types on local educational markets.     

Parent decision-making when selecting schools: The case of Nepal

This paper analyzes the parent decision-making processes underlying school selection in Nepal. The analysis is based on primary survey and focus group data collected from parent meetings in diverse local education markets in two districts of Nepal in 2011. It highlights three main arguments that are less frequently discussed in the context of school choice, including in developing countries. First, children who go to public schools play a significant role in their own decision-making on schooling; this complicates the currently predominant conceptualization that schooling decisions are primarily made by parents and school officials. Second, the gradual growth in private schools has led to significant sorting of students and created a stigma around public education. Finally, in contexts such as Nepal, that suffer from political conflict, and poor conditions for law and order, a school’s proximity to their home becomes a greater priority for students and families.     

Effective learning of civic skills: democratic schools succeed in nurturing the critical capacities of students

In this paper, I discuss some research findings regarding the characteristics that democratic schools appear to have in common. These commonalities seem to have contributed to their status as being seen as reputable democratic schools. For the purposes of the reported study, schools that were diverse in their philosophical approaches to education and socio‐economic composition were selected as case‐study schools. A specific selection criterion was that these schools had a reputation for nurturing the critical capabilities of students with an explicit ‘citizenship framework’. Students were not seen as ‘objects to be acted upon’, but rather were trusted to be subjects of rights and responsibilities within the school community in some form or other. The research included analysis of interview, observation and document data. Three major corresponding features were identified: (a) the principals perceived their schools to be ‘out of the ordinary’, (b) all four case‐study sites had carefully developed school rules as statements of principles rather than an extensive list of dos and don’ts and (c) three of the four schools seemed to employ differential treatment practices rather than a ‘one‐size‐fits‐all’ approach to the discipline of students. The findings suggest that it is possible for schools to educate effectively in and for democracy by way of day‐to‐day educational practices that inspire some aspects of political and moral student empowerment.     

Challenging School Segregation in the Twenty-first Century: How Districts can Leverage Dual Language Education to Increase School and Classroom Diversity

Nationally, schools are increasingly segregated by race and poverty as a result of demographic shifts and a changing legal and political landscape. Based on evidence that students benefit academically and socially from attending integrating settings, many school districts are exploring options for providing diverse learning experiences. We examine dual language education as a means for promoting ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse learning experiences. First, we describe the various advantages of dual language both in general and specifically to the creation of diverse schools and classrooms. Next, we provide recommendations for how districts can effectively implement dual language education in a manner that also advances diversity goals.     

Equal Access? Analyzing Charter Location Relative to Demographics in Ohio

We analyze the geographical distribution of, and access to, charter schools in the state of Ohio. Using poverty and race data from the U.S. Census, as well as publicly available student achievement scores, we analyze the locational preferences of charter schools. We use Geographic Information System (GIS) to visual display charter school locations relative to these community variables. Results suggest that policies limiting charters to locate in low performing school districts (labeled “challenged districts”) lead charters to cluster in urban cities; thus students living in poverty in large portions of the state lack easy access to school choice options. Further, we find that charters tend to avoid areas of the highest concentrations of poverty and Hispanic (though not Black) students.     

Educational inequality in Colombia: family background,school quality and student achievement in Cartagena

This study examines the effects of family socio‐economic disadvantage and differences in school resources on student achievement in the city of Cartagena, Colombia. Using data from the ICFES and C‐600 national databases, we conduct a multilevel analysis to determine the unique contribution of school‐level factors above and beyond family background. The results from the hierarchical linear models show that while family socio‐economic background significantly affects student achievement, school composition and school resources explain as much as half of the effects of family background. More specifically, the achievement gap in public schools is explained in large part by differential resource allocation and concentration of poor students in public schools, which in turn lowers student achievement.     

Toward improved knowledge and policy on urban education

The essays in this volume mark a watershed in the study of urban public education in the United States. By virtue of their intellectual breadth and substantive concern for the welfare of city schools and students, these papers forecast an integration of political and organizational analysis of education in the big cities ‐connecting the structures and processes of policy‐making with the structures and processes that comprise the everyday lives of school administrators, teachers and students. These essays derive their theoretical and practical import from their ultimate focus on how city schools work and on the experiences that their students have in schools and classrooms. This focus on consequences for schooling as it is experienced in the city school marks a significant departure for students of urban school politics and policy in the US.     

In the Web: Internal and External Influences Affecting School Improvement

ABSTRACT

A more theoretical approach to effective schools research is needed, and a political systems model is an appropriate starting‐point since it directs attention to power issues, which are critical to school improvement. The model suggests that both internal and external influences on schools are important. There are four main classes of external influence: administrative; professional; societal; and familial. Each has the potential for strengthening or weakening school effectiveness. Studies of family influence on student learning and attitudes emphasize the potential of collaborative arrangements in which families and schools work together.

We argue that classroom and school improvement cannot be attained without changing the relationships between the three central figures ‐ teacher, student, and parent; this triad model is an ‘inside out’ version of school improvement, in which classroom and school improvement occurs as fundamental relationships between the triad members become more collaborative.

Our web metaphor suggests that those interested in research on effective schools should be sensitive to the impact of external influences; and that effective schools link participants together into a collaborative and responsive mutual influence system, the integrated school environment, the school level version of a political systems model, in which all gain.     

信息化助力深度贫困地区“教育精准扶贫”路径与对策研究

教育精准扶贫是新时期脱贫攻坚中“发展教育脱贫一批”的重要举措。文章围绕扶教师之贫、扶学生之贫、扶家长(贫困群众)之贫三个层面,从信息化助力的视角讨论了面向乡村学校教师提能、学生保学、家长(贫困群众)再教育的问题。研究提出了利用信息化手段助力乡村教师提能,利用大数据精准施策不让一个学生因家庭经济困难而失学,利用信息化手段助力家长(贫困群众)接受再教育的路径、方法与策略。在后扶贫时期乡村振兴衔接中仍有值得借鉴的价值和意义。     

Opposite Sides of the Same Coin? Exploring the Connections between School Absenteeism and Student Mobility

ABSTRACT

Mobile students and absent students are important subsets of at-risk students in schools and districts nationwide. As such, student mobility and school absenteeism are two challenges in K-12 education with significant policy and equity implications. Although both issues are at the nexus of schooling and society and there is an apparent overlap in the attributes of these student subgroups, school absenteeism and student mobility are often discussed in separate conversations. This article connects the two disparate literatures in hopes of forging stronger ties that may benefit policymakers, researchers, educators, and students. The limited empirical evidence is mixed but suggests that school absenteeism and student mobility are correlated and absenteeism plays a small mediating role in the relationship between student mobility and student outcomes. The reasons underlying student mobility and student absenteeism are interrelated but not all reasons are common. The overlapping causes of student mobility and chronic absenteeism indicate that economic and social circumstances are important underlying factors. In particular, poverty is a key shared reason for missing or switching schools. Although both phenomena contribute to disparities in educational opportunities, experiences, and outcomes, this study posits that changing schools and missing school provide instructive examples of how inequality in society may be reproduced in districts and schools. Recommendations to address both phenomena and directions for future research are discussed.     

6 Urban schools as organizations: political perspectives

Reformed at the turn of the century toward top‐down, centralized administration, city school systems are frequently being reorganized today toward a bottom‐up, decentralized construction. The most radical of these is Chicago. But Chicago, in a condition shared widely throughout the USA, is a city school system experiencing serious budgetary and infrastructure decline ‐ a condition tending anew toward organizational centralization. Such political forces may not mesh well ‐ as a new politics of adaptive realignment at the grassroots encounters renewed strength in an ‘old politics’ of bureaucratic centralization. Largely unstudied and unknown at this time are the effects on the internal politics of the organization in city schooling ‐ a politics that may adapt in some unforeseen way to new battles between top‐down and bottom‐up.     

12 Equity,adequacy and educational need: the courts and urban school finance

Nearly two decades following the landmark Rodriguez decision in 1973, plaintiffs arguing on behalf of poor urban school districts have found an opening for financial redress. The supreme courts in several states, including New Jersey, Texas and Kentucky, have ruled in the last couple of years that all students are entitled to a ‘minimally adequate’ education. In Abbott v. Burke, in particular, the New Jersey court made reference to the special needs of inner‐city students. In this chapter the authors trace the history of court cases related to urban school finance and analyse both the legal and conceptual basis for recent decisions that may benefit large‐city districts.     

Managing conduct: a comparative policy analysis of safe schools policies in Toronto,Canada and Buffalo,USA

Public school districts in Buffalo, USA and Toronto, Canada reviewed their safe schools policies in 2008. Revised Codes of Conduct are compared to earlier versions and each other, and a conceptual policy web is used to understand how local, state/provincial, national, and international influences affect local safe school policies. The comparison demonstrates that while influenced by international beliefs about unsafe schools and youth violence, affected by local social, economic, and historical contexts, and constrained by state/provincial and federal policies, local school districts are nevertheless able to exercise some agency. The study also highlights the importance of Ontario's Human Rights Commission as a policy actor, and suggests zero tolerance for non‐serious incidents may be practised in Buffalo schools. This finding and the continued practice of excluding students from schools in both districts as a discipline approach casts doubt on the sincerity of governments' commitments to evidence‐based policy in education at all levels. Contributions of the conceptual policy web for policy analysis are discussed.     

学生相对贫困与新时代教育扶贫策略——基于中西部6个省18个扶贫重点开发县的调查

中共十九届四中全会提出“坚决打赢脱贫攻坚战,建立解决相对贫困的长效机制”,为新时代脱贫攻坚指明了方向。而教育扶贫是脱贫攻坚的重要组成部分之一,通过对中西部6省18个扶贫开发重点贫困县(区)180余所农村中小学调查发现,新时代贫困地区学生还面临六大相对贫困问题:经济贫困、知识贫困、能力贫困、情感贫困、文化贫困、信息贫困。这些相对贫困问题如果不及时解决,势必会影响脱贫攻坚的整体效果。为此,提出加强创新学生资助方式、提高贫困地区农村学校质量、加强就业创业教育、高度关注贫困生群体的心理问题、坚持内源发展理念、强化信息技术与教育的深度融合六条对策建议。     

精准扶贫视角下高职家庭经济困难学生思想政治教育的路径研究

虽然国家和学校制定了多元化的资助体系,基本解决了困难学生的经济问题,但是思想政治教育问题还远远没有得到应有的重视。高职院校家庭经济困难学生由于其生活简朴、学习压力大、社交能力相对较差以及心理问题相对突出等特点,导致此类学生思想政治教育活动中诸多问题更加突出。从精准扶贫视角出发,制定更加精准的思想政治教学方案,创新思想政治教学模式,不断提高思政教师综合素质,制定科学合理的思想政治课程效果考评机制,能够有效提高高职家庭经济困难学生思想政治教育效果。     

Reacting to poverty: A comparative analysis of schools in Brazilian deprived areas

Schools in the most deprived areas in Brazil are marked by extreme poverty, a situation that has obvious consequences for the everyday life in schools and for efforts to develop a supportive culture of schooling. Nevertheless, schools’ responses to poverty are far from uniform. Although the context of poverty generally determines what is possible for schools to achieve, this context is by no means consistent. Not all schools located in poor areas offer poor education. And, in themselves, unfavourable contexts do not necessarily generate educational failure. This article captures the diversity of effects generated by poverty at the school level, and the variety of responses by schools situated in very similar socioeconomic and cultural contexts. It draws on a study conducted in the state of Minas Gerais, which explored five schools and their corresponding cultures to reveal the diverse effects of poverty at the school level.     

Teaching Children in Poverty: three Australian primary school responses

Studies of pedagogical relationships offer insights into policies and practices which have the capacity to promote progressive change in educational practice for children in poverty. This paper focuses on relationships established in three differently‐located Australian primary schools: Greytown, a medium sized inner‐city school in New South Wales; Mungar, a large suburban school in Queensland; and Meiki, a small rural school in New South Wales. Each school is a designated disadvantaged school and funded accordingly through a federal Disadvantaged Schools Program, is located in a working class area, and is ethnically diverse. The schools’ pedagogical responses to children in poverty are contrasted and analysed in terms of their capacity to contribute to socially just outcomes from schooling.     

The impact of English language learner status on screening for emotional and behavioral disorders: A differential item functioning (DIF) study

There have been significant changes in the racial/ethnic and linguistic background of students attending public schools in the United States. The number of public‐school students who are English language learners (ELLs) participating in programs of language assistance has more than doubled over the past two decades. In 1993–1994, 5.1% of public‐school students in the United States were ELLs, or an estimated 2.1 million students. As of 2014–2015, 9.4% of students were ELLs, or an estimated 4.6 million students. It is estimated that by 2030, upward of 40% of school children will speak English as a second language. Meeting the needs of students who are not proficient in English is challenging for school professionals and even more so if they are identified for special services. Researchers have found that ELL students live in situations with numerous high‐risk factors, including poverty, inadequate schools, poor and violent neighborhoods, and limited access to adequate health care, mental health services, and schools. As a group, these students are more likely to underperform academically, have a lower grade point average, and drop out of school compared to non‐ELL Latino students.     

Book reviews

This paper explores the relationship between parents and schools. Over the last 30 years the importance attached to parents’ views on education has increased significantly throughout the Western world. Policy‐makers encourage parental participation and involvement through the creation of councils in which parents have a say. In Flanders in Belgium in 2004 a new participation law was passed. We study the impact of this law on the micropolitical relations between parents, school heads and teachers. We conducted in‐depth interviews with teachers, parents, school heads and members of the organizing body in four primary schools and observed parents’ gatherings. Starting from the partnership–conflict opposition, we focus on the functioning of the parents’ associations and the way parents’ associations, school heads and teachers are dealing with this new law. We found that the parent–school relationship differs greatly from school to school. While the socio‐economic middle class predominates in the four parents’ associations, the results show that parental empowerment is enhanced only in those schools with mainly socio‐economically weak families.     

The relation of National Certificate Courses to city and guilds courses in building subjects

Abstract

This article sets out to evaluate the quality of educational provision offered in vocational secondary schools in Malta. The economic and political context which saw the setting up of trade schools in the early 1970s is described, and an account of the educational goals for these new schools, intended to rekindle the motivation for learning in low and non‐achieving students, is offered. The article then explores the extent to which these goals were achieved, particularly through the examination of three related areas, namely the form (the status of trade schools as separate educational institutions), the content (the curriculum) and the process (classroom processes and instructional methods) evinced in these schools. The article concludes by arguing that the failure of trade schools to provide a worthwhile educational experience has to be located in the relationship between mental and manual work in the wider social order, and that the problems identified in this article could be endemic to vocational schooling at the secondary school level and are therefore not necessarily context‐bound.