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    A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF CHARTER SCHOOL STUDENTS AND PARENTS IN ONE RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICT: WHY THEY GO, THE NATURE OF THEIR EXPERIENCES, AND WHY SOME CHOOSE TO LEAVE

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    Genre
    Thesis/Dissertation
    Date
    2017
    Author
    Yoder, Sarah Elizabeth
    Advisor
    Smith, Michael W. (Michael William), 1954-
    Committee member
    Gross, Steven Jay
    Hall, John
    McGinley, Christopher W.
    Department
    Educational Administration
    Subject
    Education
    Education Policy
    Educational Administration
    Charter School
    Cyber Charter School
    Educational Quality
    Online
    Traditional Public School
    Virtual
    Permanent link to this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/3891
    
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    DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/3873
    Abstract
    Two coinciding trends in education have given rise to this study: the political cycle of school reform and the heterogeneous nature of the charter school landscape. Since Minnesota became the first state to pass a charter law in 1991, the dramatic increase in the number of charter schools has provided opportunities for researchers to try to categorize the success of charter schools. Although the number of charter schools have almost doubled from 3,689 to 6,004 from 2005-2006 to 2012-2013, an average of approximately 500 charters have opened and more than 160 charter schools have closed per year during these eight years of the available data. However, students who attend charter schools do not have a monolithic educational experience. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of students and parents in relation to enrolling in a specific brick and mortar and several cyber charter schools, and if applicable, leaving said schools. This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of students and parents who reside in a rural public school district and chose to attend a cyber charter or brick and mortar charter school. Survey responses and information gathered from interviews of students and their parents/guardians were analyzed to illuminate the research questions. While the results will not be generalizable, this study has led to an understanding of what led these students to enroll in charter schools and if applicable, why they chose to leave. More specifically, three themes emerged from the data: (1) Family members, primarily mothers, significantly impacted students’ decisions to employ choice to enroll in charters; (2) The lack of extra-curricular activities in charters had a substantially negative impact on students’ experiences and (3) Educational quality was the foremost characteristic named in the determination to transfer out of a charter school. While there has been research on charter schools separate from studies on perceptions of school age children with respect to education programming, this examination indicates the need to unite charter research and student voice aspects within the realm of educational research.
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      The effects of school uniforms on school climate in elementary school

      Ikpa, Vivian W.; Davis, James Earl, 1960-; DuCette, Joseph P.; Sanford-DeShields, Jayminn (Temple University. Libraries, 2009)
      This research sought to explore the link between mandatory school uniforms and a positive school climate. Beginning in the late 1980's public schools implemented mandatory school uniforms policies in urban school districts. The trend gained momentum when President Clinton included school uniforms in his 1996 State of the Union Address. Directly following the speech was a publication by the United States Department of Education on school uniforms that was distributed to all school districts in the country. Often the primary reason for implementing school uniforms was gang violence. Other reason included increased school safety and decreases in violence. Further, proponents believed uniforms would increase academic achievement and improve school climate. Research on the effects of school uniforms is limited and conflicting. Most studies available to date were conducted in urban settings. However, school uniforms have infiltrated rural and suburban schools districts as well. Two school districts in suburban Eastern Pennsylvania participated in this study. One school district had a mandatory school uniform policy. The other did not. Using a school climate survey and school uniform questionnaire, students in grades 4-6 and elementary school teachers rated the school climate in their respective schools. School climate was rated on seven subscales on the student school climate survey and 10 subscales on the faculty school climate survey. A t-test was performed on the data set to determine the difference between sample means and a factor analysis was conducted on the student school climate survey. Further, three themes emerged from the short answer questions on the student uniform questionnaire. The results of the research found that there was not a statistically significant relationship between a mandatory school uniform policy and elementary school students' perceptions of school climate. Of the seven subscales, students who wore school uniforms rated their peer relationships higher than students without school uniforms. Additionally, they rated the required rigor higher. Students that did not wear school uniforms rated the teacher-student relationship higher. When responding to the open ended questions, three themes emerged. They were expression, atmosphere and family. In essence, students were not in favor of wearing uniforms and believed uniforms suppressed their freedom of expression. Teachers responded similarly. The results showed no statistically significant relationship between a mandatory school uniform policy and teacher perceptions of school climate. Only two subscales showed any significant difference between the two groups of teachers. They were teacher-administrator relationship and student achievement. In both respects, teachers in the district without uniforms responded more positively. The results of this study should be used when reviewing current policy or considering new policy on school uniforms.
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      Student Voice in School Reform: A Case Study of Madison High School's Youth-Adult Governance Model

      Gross, Steven Jay; Jordan, Will J.; Shapiro, Joan Poliner; Woyshner, Christine A.; Partlow, Michelle Chaplin, 1941-; Mitra, Dana L. (Temple University. Libraries, 2014)
      This qualitative case study examined how Madison High School's governance model generated youth-adult collaborations around school problems. This seven-month intensive study collected data through numerous site observations, semi-structured one-on-one interviews with 27 adults and students, focus group interview with 11 students, and document collection. This data collection answered the following research questions: To what extent does Madison High School include students and faculty into the policy decision-making, implementation, and review process? If so, how? Why is it done this way? How do faculty, students, administration, and staff perceive its impact on improving the school policy creation and implementation process? Student voice scholars are still investigating the ways in which student leadership around school reform can be facilitated (Dempster & Lizzio, 2007; Fielding, 2004; Mitra, 2005; Mitra & Gross, 2009; O'Donoghue, Kirshner & McLaughlin, 2002; Zeldin, McDaniel, Topitzes, & Calvert, 2000; Zeldin, 2004a). And scholars are interested in investigating how participants enact leadership when it is distributed to them (Hallinger & Heck, 1996; Spillane, 2001, 2004). This study found that not only does the school's governance model include students in the policy making, implementation, and review processes, it distributed leadership across the school and aided in organizational learning by designing its structures and processes around constitutional principles.
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      School Choice and Segregation: How Race Influences Choices and the Consequences for Neighborhood Public Schools

      Goyette, Kimberly A.; Elesh, David; Saporito, Salvatore; Horvat, Erin McNamara, 1964- (Temple University. Libraries, 2008)
      This dissertation examines the relationship between school choice and race. I examine whether the racial composition of schools influences choices and whether choices of private and public choice schools lead to greater segregation and stratification in neighborhood schools. I improve on existing research by adopting the theoretical framework used in neighborhood preferences literature to distinguish between race and race-associated reasons as motivations for avoiding racially integrating schools. This study utilizes geocoded data from the Philadelphia Area Study (PAS) and elementary school catchment maps to examine families' preferences and behaviors in the context of the actual conditions of their assigned schools. Catchment maps are integrated with Census data to determine whether choice schools have a role in white flight and segregation and stratification in neighborhood schools. The findings suggest that families are most likely to avoid neighborhood schools with high proportions of racial minorities. However, attitudes regarding racial climates are more consistent predictors of preferences than the actual racial composition of local schools. Highly segregated neighborhood schools satisfy families who desire racially homogeneous school climates, as do private schools. Families who seek diverse environments are more likely to look to charter and magnet schools. The white flight analysis shows that whites are more likely to leave schools that have modest proportions of black students, and less likely to leave schools that are already integrated. These results suggest that whites react especially strongly to schools with low levels of integration, and those who remain in the few racially balanced schools do so out of a preference for diversity or because they do not have the resources to leave. Public choice schools spur white flight in urban areas, but actually reduce flight in suburban schools. Finally, I find that choice schools do not uniformly affect the degree to which racial groups are spatially segregated from whites, and they also do not uniformly affect the degree to which racial groups attend more or less disadvantaged schools than whites. This suggests that segregation and stratification are two distinct aspects of racial inequality and should be considered separately when evaluating the effectiveness of choice programs.
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