Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This dissertation explored the following central question: How can an arts-based learning process positively impact the literacy of adolescent students of color from high-risk and high-poverty communities? In this study, I examined the relationship between a pedagogical approach that incorporates arts-based pedagogies into hands-on, student-directed, and student-centered instructional methods and increasing the literacy achievement of students of color from high-risk and high-poverty communities. I explored if using arts-based pedagogies as an integral aspect of emergent and student-directed instructional methods is vital to improving adolescent literacy acquisition. In addition, this dissertation investigated what an arts-based and student-directed learning process looks like for the implementing teachers, how this approach can take the form of a culturally sustaining pedagogy, and how the art-making process mirrors the meaning-making process when engaging with texts. I utilized the methodological approach of Participatory Action Research (PAR) and the theoretical framework of Critical Multicultural Education Theory to develop a process for teaching and learning that incorporated both the arts and emergent student-directed instructional methods into the teaching of state-mandated, middle school English Language Arts standards in the general education classroom. I conducted this study at a public K-8 elementary school located within the city of Chicago. One 7th grade reading teacher and 19 of her reading students acted as study participants throughout the 2017-2018 school year. Additionally, I employed four main data collection techniques: 1) research journal; 2) correspondence log; 3) interviews; and 4) artifacts. The findings from the research illustrate that arts-based methods in the reading classroom have the potential to facilitate an emergent and student-directed approach to literacy instruction that enables students to take ownership as agents of (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Joni Acuff PhD (Advisor); Christine Ballengee-Morris PhD (Committee Member); Karen Hutzel PhD (Committee Member); Mindi Rhoades PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Curricula; Curriculum Development; Education; Education Policy; Educational Theory; Language Arts; Literacy; Middle School Education; Multicultural Education; Pedagogy; Teaching

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2017, Education

K-12 education faced significant change throughout the past several decades. Numerous federal and state governmental forays into education reform initiated by A Nation at Risk (1983) both problematized K-12 education and sought to create a solution in various forms of a more equitable and rigorous education for all students. After more than three decades, when the reform movements yielded, at best mixed results, stakeholders must ponder why education had not yet achieved the mission that A Nation at Risk and other reform efforts established for K-12 education. To be sure, state and local level institutions did not lack for myriad attempts to successfully implement various mandates aimed at achieving the aforementioned equitable and increasingly rigorous education. Despite increased spending in education and continual tweaks to the legislation, stakeholders remain stymied in their efforts to achieve a seemingly utopian educational mission. This study seeks to provide a lens to help stakeholders determine what they hold to be the most vital aspects of K-12 educational mission and if there exists a middle ground or dichotomy which inhibits achievement of the current governmentally-guided mission focus on behalf of the stakeholders. Utilizing a grounded theory approach this study seeks to offer a comparative analysis of the K-12 education mission as defined by K-12 educators, parents, and legislators.

Committee: Kathleen Crates PhD (Committee Chair); Jon Brasfield PhD (Committee Member); Julie McIntosh EdD (Committee Member); John Gillham EdD (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Education Policy

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2017, College of Education

This qualitative case study explored the experiences of two principals at two urban school districts in Ohio during the No Child Left Behind era. Each principal was affected by NCLB sanctions yet successfully turned around a low-performing school. Critical Race Theory and Social Learning Theory were used as the conceptual frameworks. The case study involved six semi-structured interviews, as well as the use of survey questionnaires along with the collection of archival data. The intent of this study was to (1) investigate the impact of school sanctions on communities from the perspective of practitioners in urban settings who successfully transformed schools in the era of school accountability and (2) investigate the financial implications of NCLB sanctions on public schools

Committee: Judy Alston Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Rosaire Ifedi Ed.D. (Committee Member); Tanzeah Sharpe Ed.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education Finance; Educational Leadership; School Administration

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2016, Educational Studies

Education in the United States has undergone major changes over the last 15 years. Between No Child Left Behind and Common Core State Standards, teachers are under more pressure than before to achieve excellence with their students. This study looked to see if there was a relationship between a self-graphing plus feedback intervention and the quantity and quality of written responses to math word problems. There seemed to be a functional relationship between the two resulting in increases across the board in total words written and math vocabulary. Limitations, future directions, and implications for practice are all discussed.

Committee: Moira Konrad (Advisor); Sheila Morgan (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Tests and Measurements; Elementary Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2015, College of Education and Human Services

School closure has become an accepted method of school reform policy as outlined in federal legislation found in The No Child Left Behind Act. The academic literature regarding school closure is limited and tends to be quantitative in design, focusing on the relationship between student achievement and school closure and/or student transitions. Qualitative studies around this topic have only recently emerged, focusing on the immediate impact of school closure and transition. There is a need for a retrospective study, reflecting on the long-term effects of school closure on individuals and their communities, as told by the students who experienced it. This study seeks to understand the experience of DeVilbiss students who attended the high school in the year its closure was announced, and who transitioned to a neighboring high school for the 1991-1992 school year. Using semi-structured interviews to explore issues related to transitions, the study will examine identity, social capital, relational trust, community connectedness and engagement, school and community pride, tradition, and the sense of belonging. The study will offer insight into the long-term effects of school closure, particularly through the eyes of those who experienced the closing of DeVilbiss High School. The study has implications for current and future policy decisions.

Committee: Anne Galletta Ph.D (Committee Chair); Joanne Goodell Ph.D (Committee Member); Marius Boboc Ph.D (Committee Member); Brian Harper Ph.D (Committee Member); Leigh Chiarelott Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Academic Guidance Counseling; Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Counseling Education; Counseling Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Economic Theory; Education; Education Finance; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; Psychology; Public Policy; School Administration; School Counseling; School Finance; Social Psychology; Social Research; Sociology; Sustainability; Teacher Education; Urban Planning

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2009, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

The No Child Left Behind Act had a positive agenda-setting function on this urban middle school, forcing it to re-examine the strategies it was employing to improve student achievement. Changes or adjustments, in some part attributable to NCLB, were found in the manner in which teachers were assigned, professional development implemented, data utilized, and parent involvement focused. Staff perceived several of these changes as potentially important in theory to improving student achievement, although they saw substantial barriers, no discernable improvement in achievement was realized across the years studied.At the same time, the study found that NCLB had some negative consequences for the school. These included consequences such as: narrowing the curriculum due to the law's math and reading emphasis; reducing the availability of Title funds as a result of mandatory set asides and student choice; failing to recognized that HQT, while important, is not the only teacher quality that matters in advancing student performance; and hindering some on-going relationships between the school and families and among staff. Finally, the study questions as they applied to the fairness of NCLB to urban schools since their diversity multiplies the number of AYP targets that must be met, and heightens the difficulty of avoiding school improvement status and the sanctions that accompany it. The study employed a case study methodology. The triangulated and analyzed data included federal and state laws, state and local archival records and transcribed key-informant interviews of more than a dozen central office personnel and teachers of the urban middle school engaged in implementing the NCLB in this case study.

Committee: Dr. Charles Vergon (Advisor); Dr. Paul Carr (Committee Member); Dr. Philip Ginnetti (Committee Member); Dr. Marcia Matanin (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Evaluation

EdD, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Education : Urban Educational Leadership

This study examines NCLB's effects on teachers' sense of efficacy. Seven teachers in a middle school that failed to meet NCLB mandates participated. The school was picked because the diverse student body created multiple AYP subgroups. The school had failed to meet state passing percentages in at least one subgroup for two consecutive years. During the study, the school was attempting to meet AYP to avoid reorganization from the state. Math and reading teachers with experience prior to NCLB were targeted, because these teachers had received two years of standardized test data on their students. The author begins by analyzing how NCLB works to silence teachers' pedagogical judgment through mandates and policies. The reliance on standardized test data as the sole means of assessing student achievement reduces student learning to one score reflecting work on one day. Teachers who fail to meet the state mandated percentage of students passing begin to question their ability to teach their students. Teacher's sense of efficacy is impacted when teachers consider their ability to meet the state mandated percentage of students passing. Teacher efficacy research has examined teachers' sense of efficacy in relation to personal and professional experiences; however, there has been very limited research on how state and federal mandates impact individual teachers' sense of efficacy. Findings in this study suggest that standardized test scores importance in determining teacher's sense of efficacy varies widely among teachers. Several teachers used standardized test scores as the sole means of establishing their effectiveness. Others used standardized test scores as one piece of information in determining their effectiveness. The use of data was identified as a particularly important change since the implementation of NCLB. The teachers had begun using short cycle assessments to determine student learning. All of the teachers identified different uses for this data. They all foun (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Kent Seidel (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Education, University of Toledo, 2008, Educational Administration and Supervision

This qualitative study was designed to gain an in-depth understanding of the views and perceptions of third grade teachers regarding the participation of students with disabilities in statewide testing. This phenomenological study was prompted by the testing and accountability mandates under No Child Left Behind. Three questions guided this study. First, what are the views and perceptions of third grade teachers regarding the participation of students with learning and language disabilities in statewide testing? Second, what are teachers' perceptions of the intended outcome of increased student achievement? Third, what are the unintended outcomes of statewide testing?Research for this study was conducted with ten third grade general education teachers. Interviews were completed according to a semi-structured format. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Several themes emerged from the analysis of data including testing experience, level of achievement, impact on curriculum, impact on instruction, number of identified students, and instructional setting. The teachers in this study reported that the testing experience for students with disabilities was not always positive. Teachers shared that students with disabilities are often overwhelmed by the testing experience. For the most part, teachers felt that a single standardized test score was not an appropriate measure of a student's level of achievement. Teachers did not feel as if the achievement gap between students with disabilities and students without disabilities was closing. All teachers viewed their curriculum as better aligned to Ohio's Content Standards as a result of mandated testing. They shared mixed results regarding whether the curriculum had expanded or narrowed. Teachers reported that their instructional strategies had changed and that teaching was not as fun for them or for their students as it had once been. More students with disabilities are receiving their instruction in the ge (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Caroline Roettger Ed.D (Committee Chair); Barbara Bleyaert Ed.D (Committee Member); Eric Myers Ed.D (Committee Member); Lloyd Roettger Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Evaluation; Elementary Education; Special Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, EDU Policy and Leadership

Principal preparation programs need to be designed to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Current federal legislation, such as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (2001), states that schools are accountable for the academic progress of all students. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) (2004) is federal legislation particularly relating to students with disabilities. It fully supports the accountability measures of NCLB. The study was designed and conducted as descriptive survey research. The purpose was to gain insight into and accurately depict the perceptions of principals of schools in Ohio which includes at least one primary grade level (kindergarten, first, second and/or third grade) regarding special education. A questionnaire was designed based upon the work of Bateman and Bateman (2006), who identified specific elements of special education which are critical for principals to be effective in their work. Principals self-reported their perceived knowledge of and importance of preparation for these elements through a multi-anchored scale. Validity, utility, and reliability of the instrument were verified through an expert panel, a pilot study, and statistical analyses. The data sample included 194 respondents. Overwhelmingly, the principals believe that they were not adequately prepared in their principal preparation program for many of their responsibilities as it relates to special education, learning mostly on the job. They identify which elements of special education are critical to their effectiveness. The highest priority involved three components: staffing and evaluation of personnel; discipline of students with disabilities; and inclusive practices. When analyzing the professional development needs of practicing principals clear areas of focus were identified. The highest priority involves those elements relating to inclusive practices.

Committee: Bryan Warnick PhD (Advisor); Ann A O'Connell (Committee Member); Christopher J. Zirkle (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Educational Tests and Measurements; Special Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, ED Policy and Leadership

A valid concern facing school districts within the state of Ohio, as well as across the country, is situated around methods to increase student performance on standardized high stakes tests and achieve the requirements of the mandated No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Law. Simultaneously, school districts are confronting a multitude of challenges to decrease the impact of student suspension and expulsion within school cultures and comply with local policies such as Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies. The contextualization of both the local Zero Tolerance Discipline Policy and the national NCLB mandate in relationship to standardized high stakes testing and the impact of the two upon one another define the purpose of this qualitative study. This study investigated the systematic methods in which K-12 faculty in an urban school district responded to the sometimes conflicting testing mandates of complying with NCLB and the Zero Tolerance Discipline Policy. The rationale was to use critical theory to examine an education faculty's opinions, perceptions, and strategies involving the implementation of: (1) Locally mandated Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies; (2) nationally mandated standardized high stakes testing laws; and (3) how both policy and law can be counterproductive to one another. The information discussed and the findings of this study have implications for legislatures, superintendents, administrators, teachers, students, parents, intervention specialists, state agencies and researchers.

Committee: Philip Daniel PhD (Advisor); Scott Sweetland PhD (Committee Member); Antoinette Miranda PhD (Committee Member); James Moore III PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, Geography

Since 2001 public schools in the United States have been subjected to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This federal level reform policy was implemented in order to improve the state of public education and bring all students to grade level by 2013-2014. This is to be achieved by holding all schools accountable to the public. Accountability mechanisms are deployed in order to align underperforming schools with the neoliberal rationality underpinning contemporary school governance. In this dissertation I critique NCLB. I do so by filtering the policy through Foucauldian and critical geographic lenses. Foucault's concepts of governmentality, biopower, techniques of governance, and power/knowledge lend themselves to unpacking and understanding NCLB for what it is: a policy that is imbued with power, circulates power, and produces power/knowledge. Despite the top-down nature of NCLB, I argue that in the Foucauldian sense there is room for critique/resistance at multiple scales and by multiple actors. I argue that NCLB's aspatial, de-contextual and colorblind nature has real socio-spatial consequences. I problematize the taken-for-granted NCLB accountability mechanisms. In addition to a text-based critique, I weave original illustrations as part of a critical visual narrative. Through qualitative methods, this research aims at going beyond accountability data to shed light on the impacts of NCLB on perceptions, attitudes, practices, identities, and representations of people and place. Teacher narratives provide a glimpse into schools struggling to meet NCLB requirements. I focus specifically on inner city Title I schools, those that find themselves particularly squeezed by the neoliberal straitjacket, restrained by retrenchment, testing, and the labeling of school performance/quality. This one-size-fits-all garment is applied with disregard to the challenges and obstacles faced by inner city schools. Inner city schools find themselves tackling mounting pressure to improve s (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mei-Po Kwan (Committee Co-Chair); Nancy Ettlinger (Committee Co-Chair); Kevin Cox (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, ED Policy and Leadership

This qualitative study explores engagement experiences of low income and minority parents in the work of schools since the implementation of No Child Left Behind in order to understand relationships between parental involvement, school improvement, and parental support for student academic achievement. This inquiry observes an urban, Midwestern school district that has implemented parent liaison programs designed to empower parents toward active participation in the academic lives of their children. Through this qualitative study, I explore district-wide parental engagement efforts to assess how low income and minority parents are included in parent involvement initiatives. Specific methodology for this study includes observations, interviews, focus groups and document analysis. Case study data from two schools is examined in depth. Findings from the case studies are then used to compare to overall district patterns. Data from this research is analyzed using literature on parental engagement and school improvement, and theoretical frameworks of social capital, implementation theory, and democratic theory.

Committee: Philip Daniel PhD (Advisor); Ann Allen PhD (Committee Member); Michael Glassman PhD (Committee Member); James Moore PhD (Committee Member); Jill Rafael-Fortney PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Music

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the impact of No Child Left Behind on music education in the State of Ohio. To accomplish this goal, the researcher sought to determine the attitude toward music education among Ohio's public school principals and the relative status of the music programs in their schools since the passing of this federal legislation. Survey research methods were employed to obtain the necessary data. A 25-item questionnaire was created by the researcher, validated by experts, and pilot tested with a small group of Ohio principals. Ten Likert-type items were utilized to measure principals' attitudes while the remaining items helped the researcher determine the relative status of music programs with regard to staffing, student access, instructional iii time, and course offerings. The questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 246 public school principals in Ohio. Usable returns were received from 179 principals, resulting in a response rate of 73%. The overall attitude toward music education among Ohio principals was favorable. On a scale ranging from 6 to 36, the mean attitudinal score among principals was 25.1 with a standard deviation of 3.1. Significant differences between the attitudes of principals serving in “excellent” or “effective” schools and the principals of “academic watch” or “academic emergency” schools were revealed. When considering the expectation of principals that music teachers devote some of their instructional time to other subjects, 43% of Ohio's music programs record a weaker status since the passage of No Child Left Behind. Finally, testimonials provided by several principals confirm that No Child Left Behind remains a contributing factor in principals' policy decisions that affect music education.

Committee: Timothy Gerber (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Music

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Teaching and Learning

The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act is the most recent federal push to reform America's public schools through standardized testing and accountability measures. The problem is that this policy impacts practice without including teachers in the dialogue. This means that the legislation of NCLB creates a discrepancy between teacher practice and policy objectives, thus leaving teachers the classroom as the one place for autonomy. Located in sociocultural and critical ways of knowing and incorporating the feminist principles of research, this dissertation utilized collaborative methods to explore the lived experiences of five urban Midwest teachers implementing the testing policy within NCLB. Teacher participants represented varying grade levels, teaching experience and racial and ethnic backgrounds in an effort to depict the diverse make-up of the teaching population in an urban city. Through intense reflection, questioning, and dialogue, teacher participants demonstrated the particular ways that practice is getting pushed by the testig policy and the ways that teachers are exercising their agency and pushing back. Moreover, teachers also explained the dilemmas of teaching bilingual and special education students that are emerging through the testing policy. The experiences of the teacher participants demonstrated how collaborative research methods grounded in teacher meanings can create a safe political space for teacher empowerment and development, thus, impacting teacher practice and creating better informed policy and research. Not only do the findings portray how qualitative research can be more purposeful to teachers but the narratives also serve policy and scholarship alike. The data describes what supports are needed for teachers within the policy as well as the ways that collaborative methods can create a "realism bridge" between practice, theory, and policy. This approach is significant because it answers teacher calls for realistic research and realistic polic (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Patricia Enciso (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2006, Rhetorical Criticism (Communication)

Public policy is full of rhetorical messages, and the ways in which politicians use rhetoric shapes the mindset of a society. This is especially true when it comes to federally mandated policy written in regard to America's public education system. The No Child Left Behind Act is by far the most controversial education reform artifact ever published due to its insistence punishing non-compliant schools. This system of surveillance, coupled with other issues that will be discussed herein, have caused most educators to loudly criticize the bill, while the Bush administration under which it was enacted refuses to back off on its insistence that the act will work. In the field of communication studies, in order to gain a rhetorical perspective on discourse, it is vital to look at the relationship between historical events and the rhetoric surrounding them. Thus, in this dissertation I provide a rhetorical analysis of NCLB and how it measures in a rhetorical and historical context with other modern educational reform artifacts. I make the argument that an act cannot be successful on its name alone, but that is exactly the logic supporters of the No Child Left Behind Act are using.

Committee: Scott Titsworth (Advisor) Subjects: Speech Communication

BA, Oberlin College, 2012, Hispanic Studies

En las escuelas estadounidenses los ninos que hablan ingles se motivan para aprender una nueva lengua para ampliar los horizontes, pero los ninos que entran en la escuela con otras lenguas - especialmente el espanol - se motivan para hablar solamente el ingles. Esta tesina intenta explorar el doble moral inherente en este sistema, y enfoca especialmente en el papel de la educacion bilingue dentro del acto Que Ningun nino se quede atras (NCLB) de 2001. Establece las razones linguisticas para la educacion bilingue y da un poco de su historia en los Estados Unidos, y termina con un analisis de NCLB y sus problemas que pertenecen especificamente a los ninos de la lengua minoritaria.

Committee: Kim Faber (Advisor); Patrick O'Connor PhD (Committee Chair); Claire Solomon PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Bilingual Education; Education; Education History; Education Policy; Educational Tests and Measurements; Elementary Education; English As A Second Language; Foreign Language; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; Language; Latin Ameri; Latin American History

BA, Oberlin College, 2011, Politics

Are teacher characteristics a significant factor in student learning? If so, which characteristics are effective? An original analysis of reading test scores of 5,000 fourth graders across the United States confirmed the difficulties researchers face when measuring teacher quality; it appears to account for only small variations in scores. Given the complexity, first, of the politics of "teacher quality" and, second, the improvement of primary education in the U.S., I offer some modest recommendations.

Committee: Michael Parkin (Advisor); Paul Dawson (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Political Science; Public Policy

PHD, Kent State University, 2011, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

This research explored the experiences of four third grade teachers since the 2003 inception of the Third Grade Ohio Achievement Test (OAT) and the 2009 establishment of the Third Grade Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA) due to the mandates of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in public school settings in Northeastern Ohio. Also, this study sought to understand the third grade teachers' perceptions of their students' experiences with the OAT (OAA), and the influence of the OAT (OAA) on their curriculum and pedagogy. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, data were collected through three hour-long interviews with each of the four participants for a total of 12 hours of interview data and through 24 hours of observations of the teachers instructing and interacting with their students in their classrooms. Artifacts and fieldnotes added to understanding the phenomena. The essential themes discovered were that the home environments of students influence classroom learning and produce a perceived achievement gap between environmentally disadvantaged students and their affluent counterparts. In addition, the four teachers professed that their effective teaching practices and curricula have been altered by test preparation; thus, according to the participants, the test preparation reduced enriching learning experiences for students and created a stifling teaching environment. Additionally, the four teachers and their students experienced adverse emotions prior to and during the OAA testing. The four participants maintain that the OAA is poorly designed and developmentally inappropriate for third grade students. Furthermore, the teachers concluded that their high-stakes testing experiences negatively impacted their professional morale.

Committee: Steven Turner PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Martha Lash PhD (Committee Co-Chair); David Dees PhD (Committee Member); Martha Merrill PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Tests and Measurements; Elementary Education; Literacy; Philosophy; Public Policy; Social Research; Teacher Education; Teaching

PHD, Kent State University, 2009, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science

This is a study of the role of epistemic communities involved in the policymaking of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB Act). It uses Antoniades's (2003) framework as a theoretical lens. According to Antoniades, epistemic communities are conceptualized as “socially recognized knowledge-based networks, the members of which share a common understanding of a particular problem/issue or a common worldview and seek to translate their beliefs into dominant social discourse and social practice” (26). The epistemic communities involved in the policymaking of the NCLB Act are identified and analyzed through the content analysis of relevant Congressional testimony and interviews with individuals involved in the development of the Act. NUDIST-QSR (Nonnumerical Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and Theorising) software is used to code data from the qualitative analyses. Five epistemic communities involved in the policymaking of the NCLB Act are identified in this study. They are the liberal, conservative, business-oriented, Hispanic, and education epistemic communities. This study finds some support for Antoniades's framework. Every epistemic community except the business epistemic community exhibited a constant and holistic character. It emerged and ceased to exist as a result of the NCLB Act. All five epistemic communities engaged in cognitive action, served as advisors or sources of information to Congress and enjoyed access to an institutional structure. The only epistemic community that did not have access to the media is the Hispanic epistemic community. These findings support Antoniades's claims. However, none of the epistemic communities held press conferences or attended seminars or lectures. The Hispanic epistemic community was the only epistemic community to hold a conference. The most significant finding of this research is none of the epistemic communities enjoyed consensus of policy goals. Antoniades's model should be revised to take into account that members (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Tom Hensley PhD (Committee Chair); James Hendersen PhD (Committee Member); Jennifer Maxwell PhD (Committee Member); Frank Ryan PhD (Other) Subjects: Political Science

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Curriculum and Teaching

Play, including recess, is viewed by child development experts as beneficial to students' various aspects of development—social, cognitive, emotional, and physical. Recess is also deemed an opportunity for all to recharge and re-energize after hours of sitting and concentrating on instruction and assigned tasks. With the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, many schools across the United States replaced recess with instructional time in order to prepare better the students undertaking their state's standardized tests. Furthermore, instructional practices in elementary schools shifted from child-centered, play-based strategies to teacher-centered, didactic strategies. The purpose of this research was to examine fourth-grade teachers' beliefs about the value of play in child development and classroom instruction, the types of instructional strategies they actually use in their classrooms and their students' behaviors on the playground and in the classroom in a school with morning and midday recesses and a school with only midday recess. A qualitative phenomenological research method was used for this study in order to describe the lived experiences of teachers in the classroom and their students in the classroom and on the playground. Interviews and observations reveal that the teachers at both schools believe that play and recess are important to the development of their students, but neither has greatly modified instructional strategies to help students reap the benefits which arise through play during recess as the amount of time allotted to recess in both schools has decreased. Teachers' reliance on teacher-centered instructional practices may be due to misconceptions about play and play-based instruction. Professional development for teachers and school/district administrators is needed to help to nurture a positive philosophical understanding of play and play-based, student-centered instructional practices that can foster students' social, emo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Eric Worch Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jodi Haney Ph.D. (Committee Member); Tracy Huziak-Clark Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Curricula; Early Childhood Education; Education; Teacher Education; Teaching