Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Educational Studies

In recent years, community college leaders, policymakers, and legislators have explored—and, in some states and Canadian provinces, implemented—the notion of community colleges offering and conferring bachelor's degrees, particularly in high-need areas such as teacher education and nursing. However, much of the literature on the community college baccalaureate (CCB) does not engage with the importance of geography in shaping educational opportunity. This study provided scholarship on how community college baccalaureate degrees are geographically distributed in Michigan and Ohio. Using county data for Michigan and Ohio from various federal sources, including the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) records and U.S. Census Bureau, this exploratory study sought to gain an understanding of the aggregate demographic characteristics of individuals living in counties that have community colleges, counties that have access to a community college baccalaureate, and counties that are education deserts. This study utilized a conceptual framework grounded in theories of symbolic capital and social construction of space coupled with education deserts to conduct a backward stepwise logistic regression analysis. This study showed that county-level population and county-level poverty rate are significant factors that predict the odds of a county having at least one community college; county-level population is a significant factor that predicts the odds of a county having at least one community college offering one or more CCB programs; and county-level population and county-level median household income are significant factors that predict the odds of a county having zero universities or community colleges, public or private, and thus being an education desert. The results suggested that counties with a higher population or higher poverty rate are more likely to have at least one c (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, EDU Policy and Leadership

In the school policy reform discourse and literature, “teacher teams” at the local school and building level have become a promising venue for implementing policy innovations and bringing them closer to the settings and practices they hope to reform. This study examined the implementation of two policies, one federal policy, Race to the Top (RttT), and one state policy, Midwestern State Improvement Process (pseudonym; MWIP), within a single teacher team. Both policies emphasized teacher collaboration and improved instruction, and converged on teachers at Cardinal High School at the same time. Utilizing naturalistic inquiry and ethnographic field work, the study documented the work of a teacher-based team working to make sense of and enact the requirements and expectations of mandated policies from within the practical and professional contingencies of their daily work. This intersection is the focus of the study and its findings. These implementations of policy encounter in this teacher team a world whose contingencies may be no less compelling than those of the proposed reforms. The study revealed social, organizational, and professional values in play at the teacher team level that policymakers may not have anticipated, as in how teachers rely on existing systems and professional relationships to make sense of their new implementation tasks at the teacher-team level.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2016, Higher Education (Education)

Policy making in higher education is highly consequential. As such, we need to consider how opposing policy advocates strategically craft narratives to advantage their side of a policy issue. In this study, prior learning assessment (PLA), which is the educational practice of awarding college credit for learning that occurred outside the college classroom, provides the sample policy issue through which to consider policy narratives. This is the first research utilizing the Narrative Policy Framework in the study of a higher education policy issue. The PLA policy narratives created by Ohio policy makers, higher education newspapers, and prominent PLA advocacy groups are analyzed. Results suggest the structure of the dominant pro-PLA narrative advantages the pro-PLA policy stance. The results also suggest that PLA policy narratives do not typically include the voices of diverse democratic participants. The findings of asymmetry and bias in PLA policy narratives are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2021, Educational Leadership

Cosmopolitanism is a normative philosophy that suggests a global community of responsibility. This study further develops cosmopolitanism in conflict-related education settings through a historical examination of the United States' imperial expansion into the Philippines, the subsequent Philippine-American War, and the accompanying American education restructuring efforts in the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century. This conflict serves as a delimited historical site for research in which a cosmopolitanism-based framework is used to evaluate conflict-related education as an instrument of foreign policy. Employing the methodologies of historical research and critical policy analysis (CPA), this study draws widely from the literature on cosmopolitanism as well as primary and secondary sources related to the history of the Philippine-American conflict. President William McKinley's so-called benevolent assimilation proclamation of 1898 serves as the foundational historical policy document for this study. A top-level federal policy document, McKinley's proclamation provides a springboard for critically examining its associated history, politics, philosophy, rhetoric, and educational implications. This study argues that cosmopolitanism ethics consists of three essential elements: respect, responsibility, and rootedness. Respect recognizes that social justice and moral flourishing can be promoted by traditions and cultures other than one's own. Responsibility recognizes that one is obliged to take actions to promote social justice and human flourishing beyond their own tribal boundaries. Rootedness, meanwhile, promotes social justice and human flourishing within one's own culture. It is only when all three components are present that cosmopolitanism ethics are realized. By prioritizing economic profit, by favoring the American White-settler lived experience, and by actively repressing the history, political will, and agency of the Filipino people, (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Art Education

Issues surrounding the human body are increasingly becoming matters of public, cultural, and educational policy. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has resulted in additional high stakes testing in reading and math, causing many school systems to replace time and funding previously dedicated to physical and health education and with activities focused on increasing academic performance on these standardized exams. While Western culture continues to value thin, beautiful, fit, and young bodies, the education school children receive about daily care of themselves is on the decline. As a kinesthetic, artistic, and holistic practice, dance teaches individuals of all ages about their bodies, engages them in self-reflection and self-growth, and serves as a place for learning. The goal of this study is to investigate the ways in which American elementary students can have more opportunities to learn about and through their bodies during the school day. In this dissertation, I employ a case study methodology to examine the effectiveness of a professional development initiative for general classroom teachers, “The DANCE Project,” on increasing the time, space, and energy for dance in educational settings. I utilize a variety of qualitative methods including autoethnography, participant observation, qualitative interviews, document analysis, narrative analysis, and poetic transcription to present my data. Findings indicate that factors such as administrative support, previous experience with dance, confidence with the material, and relevance to individual needs contribute to teachers' willingness and ability to implement dance in their classrooms. Further, the analysis of pre- and post- measures indicate that workshops centered on The DANCE Project's six-lesson curriculum positively impacted participants in several areas: Teaching skills, classroom management, knowledge/understanding of dance and the ways movement can intersect with other content areas, and implications fo (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2010, Educational Leadership

This dissertation examines female students schooling experiences within the Accra – Tema district of Ghana. The case study centers and privileges the stories and experiences of girls and present them in their own voices to uncover their knowledge of ongoing educational reforms, challenges they encounter, opportunities made available to them, and the kind of interactions/relations they have with teachers and peers. The ongoing comprehensive educational reforms including the FCUBE program have resulted in improvements in girls enrollment at all levels of education. Yet, female students still experience many forms of discriminations and inequalities in educational access and participation. The continuing marginalization of female students by educational policy discourses and practices is untenable and need redress. Multiple obstacles that hamper gender equity education include the lack of financial resources, ingrained gender biased cultural practices, limited institutional support with effective policies and the lack of gender focused research to capture female students' experiences. This study draws on postmodern feminist frameworks to collect, analyze and discuss data collated from fifteen girls on their schooling experiences. The findings of the study are presented to reflect accurately the stories and experiences of participants and raise awareness of their schooling predicaments. The voices of girls are privileged to provide vital information and data that policy makers, educators and stakeholder may find useful in transforming education. The study also provides meaningful theoretical and practical insights of alternative approach in policy research and analysis to examine educational outcomes in Ghana. The findings of the study indicate that girls are limited in their knowledge of the FCUBE and other educational reform programs. They experience many forms of discrimination, sexual abuse and gender stereotypes on a regular basis in school. The lack of school ame (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Educational Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine how charter school authorizers conceptualize and navigate policy implementation as intermediary organizations. Through a phenomenological multi-site case study design, fifteen Ohio charter school authorizing staff across three organizations shared the ways in which they operate, navigate policy, access resources, and respond to the use of incentives and penalties in policy. With Honig's (2004) theory of intermediary organizations as a conceptual framework, I explore the role of charter school authorizers as mediating actors of state-level policy. Three major findings are shared: 1) while charter school authorizers largely conceptualize their roles to be innovators and gatekeepers, the demands of policy requires them to be more; 2) authorizers rely heavily on the state-issued performance rubric in determining their organizational priorities; and 3) authorizers access a variety of organizational processes and resources in navigating policy implementation. Additionally, findings indicate that authorizers are generally unresponsive to the promises of incentives but do modify behavior to prevent the receipt of penalties. The dissertation concludes with a discussion on the isomorphic pressures of policy on organizational structure, implications for stakeholders, and recommendations for future research.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Educational Studies

Rural students represent nearly one-quarter of the students educated by our nation's public education system, yet they are often underrepresented in educational policy research. Rural students are also underrepresented in the existing literature on postsecondary decision-making. This study aims to address these gaps in the literature by assessing how well Ohio's College Credit Plus (CCP) policy addresses the barriers to and supports for college enrollment of high school students in high-poverty rural areas. Findings from this research demonstrate the ways in which CCP's goals of increasing equity and efficiency compete with one another, the importance of considering context for policy implementation, and how the policy's unintended consequences create barriers for students in this study. Additionally, findings from this study provide insight to how these students' families, schools, and communities serve as supports for and barriers to their decision to attend college and for their execution of that decision. Findings from the research are used to recommend changes to Ohio's College Credit Plus policy that would better address rural students' supports and barriers to college enrollment and to encourage areas of future research to examine questions that remain unanswered.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2018, Educational Leadership

Educational policy at state level is complex and can easily lack coherence as multiple regulations and guidance documents affect the same area of practice. This research addresses the layering of policies that influence state action regarding least restrictive environment in Ohio's electronic charter schools. In this study, I conduct a close textual analysis of least restrictive environment, taking an historiographic approach to describe the policy contexts of this term from its origin in federal legislation through its development in case law and policy guidance. I further analyze the current enforcement mechanisms for least restrictive environment at state level, contending that a) the layered policies that govern least restrictive environment and Ohio e-schools do not align, b) these policies may be irreconcilable, and c) the current practice of policy implementation on the issue represents an abdication of state responsibility for educational governance, including policy enforcement and reporting to the public. Without such oversight, parents cannot make informed decisions about their children's special education placements. The study begins to develop a critical inquiry based on the policy analysis, and asserts that solving this problematic policy situation would require an approach both comprehensive, to reflect the purpose of least restrictive environment, and targeted, to address the use of fully online curricula for students with disabilities.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Educational Studies

Advocacy for Montessori education is increasingly vital to guarantee accessible opportunities to Montessori for all students and families. This calls for a deeper understanding of how teachers engage in advocacy and respond to policy mandates. Existing research explores how Montessori educators integrate their pedagogy with policy requirements, yet gaps persist in understanding their responses to policies that shape Montessori education and their involvement in advocacy efforts. This dissertation research explores the political efficacy of Montessori teachers and how, if at all, Montessori teachers engage in policy advocacy. Further, this study underscores the critical importance of teacher voice and experiences, with participants contributing to recommendations for action through a Group Level Assessment (GLA) participatory method. The research questions were explored through an explanatory sequential mixed methods study. In the first phase of the study, data was collected through the use of a quantitative survey. The aim of this phase was to examine the political efficacy of Montessori teachers, defined as any action intended to influence the policy process and an individual's perception of whether their engagement in policy matters is meaningful. In the second phase of the study, data was collected and analyzed through a GLA. GLA is a participatory method that facilitates the collaborative generation and analysis of participant data, leading to the co-development of action plans based on those findings. The aim of the second phase was to explore teacher experiences with policies and to co-develop potential recommendations for educational leaders, policymakers, and Montessori teacher education programs. The two phases were connected through sampling, phase two built on phase one by using results to build the GLA prompts, and then the GLA results in phase two were used to help explain the quantitative results from phase one. Key findings reveal that (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Public Policy and Management

In the past fifty years, governments across the world have experimented with a variety of market-based reforms to improve public service delivery. Market-based policies have been particularly influential in efforts to reform K-12 education governance in the United States. Prominent examples of these reforms include laws establishing public charter schools, private school choice policies, and performance accountability systems based on standardized tests. This dissertation explores the systemic consequences of these reforms on K-12 schools and students in Ohio. The first essay analyzes the cumulative effect of state and federal reforms on private school enrollments in Ohio from 1998 to 2018. The second essay estimates the impact of Ohio's original Educational Choice Scholarship Program, which provides publicly funded vouchers for eligible students to attend private schools, on private school enrollment patterns. Lastly, Essay 3 examines the impact of No Child Left Behind, a major performance management reform passed in 2002, on the distribution of students and resources by economic status across schools within districts in Ohio. Together, these essays explore ways in which education policies in the last two decades have reshaped the educational landscape in Ohio and redefined the roles of different types of schools in educating students.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Educational Studies

In the context of United States (U.S.) education policy, Black erasure refers to a policy tool the racial majority has historically leveraged to preserve the social benefit of education for white people. In this three-article dissertation, I probe the lineage of Black erasure in education policy from the 1600s to the present day to build an understanding of its modern-day implications for the aims of higher education and underrepresented minority (URM) students' perceptions of their success. In the opening chapter, I lay the blueprint for my dissertation, describing the foundation of my research agenda and, as such, my three articles. In the first article, I theorize how Executive Order 13950 and educational gag orders, the modern era of Black erasure in education policy, interferes with the aims of higher education. I argue these aims include providing learning opportunities, preparing individuals to contribute to the workforce, and assisting people in contributing to our democracy. I conclude by discussing how the modern era of Black erasure most weakens the democratic purpose of higher education, endangering academic freedom for faculty, staff, and students. Notably, this article is now published in the Journal of Academic Freedom. In the second article, I theorize and conceptualize how whiteness has historically functioned as a property in U.S. state education policy and weaponized Black erasure as a policy tool. Using critical race theory (CRT) and critical policy analysis, I trace slave codes, anti-literacy laws, Jim Crow Laws, bans on multicultural education, and educational gag orders. Upon examining the origins and rhetoric of the policies, I bring forth a framework for understanding Black erasure in U.S. state education policy and consider implications for policy and advocacy. In the final co-authored article, written by myself, Courtney Gilday, Amy Farley, Ph.D., and Chris Swoboda, Ph.D., we analyze how Black erasure policies in leg (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This research identified a problem in practice at the University of Akron (UA) of declining international student enrollment, sense of satisfaction, and feelings of institutional support. To address the problem of practice we created an equity-based framework (L.O.V.E Change model) to bring international students as relevant stakeholders into organizational change processes. Fifty students were surveyed about their academic, cultural, and legal needs. Six students were interviewed to gain insight into the needs addressed by the survey. Survey results indicated a high need among international students for academic tutoring, cultural events, career planning, and assistance with immigration. The interviews illuminated themes of uncertainty and anxiety, lack of knowledge, career guidance, and educational guidance among international students.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

This dissertation project used an interpretivist qualitative research design to study how the right-to-read claim made by seven teenagers attending Detroit public schools in 2016 reflects, addresses, or describes contemporary discussions about educational access. Using situational analysis (SA) as a theory/method, the entirety of the claim comprises the situation of the social phenomenon being studied, not the people. This research combines critical race theory (CRT) with Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems and uses situation analysis to map historical discourses to conduct a study that examines the history of a present situation of inquiry as presented by this question: How does the 2016 right-to-read claim made by high school students in Detroit, Michigan reflect, address, or describe contemporary discussions about educational access? The study collected data to allow me to construct a prosopography that articulates an answer to the question that claims access to literacy is a public school policy right. Because situational analysis (SA) is designed to open research data to aspects of a circumstance that may have been overlooked, marginalized, or silenced, I was not certain the research results would answer this exact question. Additionally, critical theory and SA were used to conduct this qualitative research, examining historical data that addresses the right-to-read claim as a Foucaultian programmatic social problem. As such, it seeks to understand the complexities of recurring and historically situated education practices that limit actualizing U.S. education policies that embrace access to basic literacy skills as a human right. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Educational Studies

This dissertation presents a study of the gap between the “market story” that has been leveraged to justify market-based reforms, specifically charter schooling, in American public education and the process through which actually existing market-style arrangements are accomplished in their local contexts. In three separate articles, one theoretical and two based on an empirical case study, I problematize narratives that naturalize the formation of markets by addressing the unrealistic assumptions of the undergirding neoclassical economic theory and attending to the complicated, effortful political and technological work that goes into reformatting a city's educational infrastructure into something that approximates a market for schools. The case that provides the empirical grounding for my latter two articles is a study of Indianapolis educational reform over the past two decades, with a specific focus on the role of a local nonprofit called the Mind Trust. In the first article, I trace the origins of the market concept in the field of neoclassical economics and identify a set of attendant theoretical assumptions that are invoked when framing social arrangements as markets. Given that these assumptions can be readily observed to diverge from empirical reality, I argue that educators and educational researchers can understand the market as a normative rather than descriptive concept. In the second article, I analyze the early stages of school choice market-making in Indianapolis with a focus on the construction of an alternative governing coalition of actors that match the capabilities and functions of the traditional schooling infrastructure. I find that network-building is as important to the implementation of market-based policies as it is in the process of getting these policies passed. In the third article, I reframe markets as sociotechnical constructions and analyze several key market-making technologies that support the accomplishment of a market-like stru (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Educational Studies

Sexuality is an inextricable part of every person's life, and all people get some form of education about sex in their lives, regardless of what they were taught in school. As such, it can be argued that sex education is, in fact, the most important kind of education we can provide for young people and should be a necessary requirement for all public school education. Sexuality is also inherently tied to all social identities and can impact the intersections of those identities in extremely public and political ways. The perpetuation of systemic injustice toward minoritized groups of people in the United States is mirrored in the historical and present condition of school-based sex education. For these reasons, the author argues that school-based sex education (SBSE) and all of its components (including policy, curriculum, and teacher preparation) needs a rebranding and a perspective shift in order to provide students with useful, effective, and necessary skills for creating and maintaining healthy relationships of all kinds. This dissertation study examines the history and present status of school-based sex education in U.S. public schools and calls for changes to policy, curriculum, and teacher training programs to improve the quality of SBSE across the country.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, EDU Policy and Leadership

The National Fund for Public Investment and Development (FONACIDE) is a government investment program aimed at improving the quality of education in Paraguay. This study analyzes FONACIDE's monetary investment in the city of Encarnacion over a 10-year period and highlights the program's shortcomings and repercussions. The research was framed in a case study adopting the documentary bibliographic modality for the policy analysis. The city of Encarnacion, located in the department of Itapua, in southern Paraguay, was taken as a case study. The study reveals that, despite FONACIDE's investment in Encarnacion, there are still problems in the educational infrastructure, such as the lack of repairs and construction of key spaces in schools. In addition, it is noted that the investment has not been distributed equitably in urban and rural areas, as some schools have received more funds than others, which has generated inequalities in the quality of school infrastructure. Furthermore, it is noted that the FONACIDE program has also had some negative management in Encarnacion. For example, there has been a lack of transparency in the distribution of funds, problems in the decentralized administration of resources, lack of citizen participation for better accountability on the part of the authorities, which has generated a sense of impunity among the population. Despite FONACIDE's monetary investment in Encarnacion, the educational infrastructure continues to show shortcomings. It is necessary to implement measures to improve transparency in the management of funds and ensure equitable distribution of resources to improve the quality of education in the city.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2023, Educational Leadership

This study examines the professional experiences of three teachers in a national network of urban, low-income serving, Catholic high schools. These teacher-participants were chosen to participate in this study because they engaged in experiential, community-based pedagogy within this national network and exemplified a commitment to social justice through their teaching practice. As detailed in Chapter One, such teaching practice resembles critical pedagogy and aligns with best practice in quality civic education. Therefore, by examining the experiences of critical educators, this study aimed to illuminate ways we can enhance civic learning for K-12 students by enhancing support for and removing the barriers to critical educators' distinct pedagogical practice. This is particularly important for Students of Color, who have faced historical exclusion from formal and informal modes of civic learning (Campbell, 2012; Lo, 2019). Critical theory (Freire, 1970/1993; Giroux, 2003; Horkheimer, 1972[1992]) and social reproduction theory (Bourdieu, 2016; Bowles & Gintis, 2016) were used to frame this study, which employed qualitative portraiture methodology (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) to answer two key research questions. The first question— Why do teachers in this Network engage in experiential, community-based pedagogy? —drew attention to the internal and external factors impacting my participants' practice. This set up inquiry into the second key research question: How do these educators exhibit civic and/or critical consciousness about and through their work? Findings from this study revealed that both internal and external factors contributed to the choice teacher-participants made to engage in experiential, community-based pedagogy. Professional ecology, consisting of local school and corporate cultures, were particularly influential on these teachers. That ecology functioned in distinct ways at each study site to both aid and obstruct the critical teaching (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2022, College of Education and Human Services

The choice of college and careers are not simple. The choices students make when selecting a college can affect them for their entire life. Tressie Cottom (2017), in her book, Lower Ed, describes our educational journey like a stream (Cottom, 2017). We are all traveling down the stream of life, and there are rocks and forks. The question is: what diverts us on our path and where do we end up? This narrative study examines the experience of women attending For-Profit Institutions and the reasoning behind choosing to go to an FPI rather than a traditional higher education institution. The participants' stories show that they were determined to find a better career, wanted to provide for their families, and had significant life events that changed their paths.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, History

Education remains one of the most polarized areas in American society. However, this is not a new phenomenon. From the 1950s to 1980, Congress, the executive branch, and judicial branch significantly increased their funding and oversight in public education. 1965 marked the year Congress passed legislation with the hopes of creating a more equitable system for all socioeconomic classes. However, conservatives also began to coalesce in the 1970s over segregation, helping spur the 1980 Reagan Revolution. 1981 marked the first year in over two decades where Congress cut the education budget for integrative services and changed how the federal government funded programs for low-income students. These changes were integral to the Reagan administration and conservative Congress's goals to reduce social services in an effort to reduce the budget and expand the economy while simultaneously preserving tax loopholes and cuts for the wealthy. Federal funding for social services like education saw cuts that hurt many of the gains that low-income school districts had seen over the previous two decades. One often overlooked piece of legislation–the 1981 Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA)–caused many of these changes. This act removed the protective language and funding that had helped lower income, bilingual, and segregated communities receive federal aid for the previous fifteen years. While creator John Ashbrook's initial intent for the ECIA was to give more power to local and state governments over education– something that conservatives thought was an important goal–the ECIA also ended integration programs and removed barriers to ensure funding went to high needs schools. These changes have affected education to this day.