Think Tank Metrics and Schooling: Implications of Current Education Reform Policy for Democratic Education
Year of Dissertation:
2009
In this dissertation, I examine the role of school in society today. Who is determining that role, and what impact are current reforms having on schooling for democracy? Are the needs of the people and the workings of democracy being prioritized or are other goals prioritized even to the detriment of democracy? To engage this question, I examine some of the leading figures in what I term the standards reform movement, and their arguments in support of current standards reform efforts.
Transforming Liberal Education Through The Imagination: Critical-Creative Thinking In Higher Education Curriculum And Pedagogy
Year of Dissertation:
2010
THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
Critical Connections: Technology Use That Empowers
Year of Dissertation:
2010
This research employs the use of narrative and auto-ethnography in an examination of the complex relationships that arise when students and teachers use technology as an instructional tool. The story unfolds in an exploration of the significant impact and implications the use of computers and related technologies have on educational and societal spheres.
USING COGENERATIVE DIALOGUE TO AFFORD THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF BIOLOGY IN AN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL
Year of Dissertation:
2010
Abstract
School Closings and Governance Changes in New York City: The Battle over Equity, Accountability, and Community Engagement Across Shifting Terrain
Year of Dissertation:
2013
This dissertation describes and captures the contentious politics concerning school closing proposals introduced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Department of Education (NYCDoE) in years 2010-2011. It analyzes a variety of actors' framings of school closures, as well as respective actions they take to influence policy. Drawing upon interviews, observations, surveys, and documents, this study explores two fundamentally distinct and non-communicative theories of school improvement. The NYCDoE's rationale for school closings is part of a larger school improvement framework built on the pillars of choice, accountability, and a new management and governance structure, what can be understood as neo-decentralization. The Coalition of Educational Justice (CEJ), a parent-led education coalition, challenges the rationale and implementation of school closure policy, and proposes an alternative vision and set of actions for schools to improve. Utilizing interpretative policy analysis (Yanow, 2000) across data and settings helped focus on how the meanings of policies are communicated to and "read" by various constituencies. Analysis revealed a sharp contrast between philosophies and practices promulgated on how schools improve. Other findings point to strategies for those school communities engaged in the phenomenon of school closings, contesting specific school closing proposals or proposing viable alternatives.
Two Tales of One City: A Political Economy of the New York City Public High School Admissions Process
Year of Dissertation:
2011
Increased choice about which public school to attend is advocated by policy makers as a strategy for urban education reform and for improving school quality (Fuller & Elmore, 1996). This strategy cannot be effective if only families who already have multiple educational options are able to utilize these opportunities. This dissertation addressed the process of NYC Public High School Admissions and how this is experienced differently by families and school staff across race and class lines.
Youth Engagement: A Study of the Impact of Students' Beliefs and Attitudes towards Civic Participation
Author:
Ramón Robles-Fernández
Year of Dissertation:
2011
Advisor:
Nicholas Michelli
This dissertation studies the impact of after school clubs and service learning activities on students' beliefs and attitudes towards citizenship (civic participation in a democracy), civic engagement, and political and social participation. This study focuses on two different organizations: Spectrum, a Gay-Straight alliance; and AMIGOS, a service learning program. Both environments presented students with opportunities to engage in civic activities, while informing their understanding of citizenship (civic participation).
Playing on Two Courts: Factors that Facilitate and Constrain Teacher Learning in a Lesson Study Group
Author:
Rebecca Rufo-Tepper
Year of Dissertation:
2009
Advisor:
Nicholas Michelli
This purpose of this study was to explore the question "What are the factors that facilitate and constrain teacher learning in a lesson study group?" through an ethnographic case study of five teachers involved in a lesson study group at a Manhattan middle school. This study had two specific goals: (1) To contribute to existing theories on how and why lesson study leads to a sense of instructional improvement and (2) To examine the larger institutional and personal factors that may contribute to or present obstacles to instructional change.
Death of a Dropout: (Re)Theorizing School Dropout and Schooling as a Social Determinant of Health
Year of Dissertation:
2009
Advisor:
Nicholas Michelli
In this dissertation I posit that schooling is a social determinant of health. Employing a mixed method, participatory action research design, this study examines and offers original theorizing on the ways in which schooling affects educational and health outcomes. This research explores how and why education is the most significant predictor of lifetime health. Grounded in critical race theory, this dissertation spans conceptual frameworks from critical theory, participatory action research, political economy, social and environmental psychology, social epidemiology and public health as a way to understand the relationship that education level has to health. It offers a detailed analysis of the relationship between education and health, the current graduation rate crisis and its historical origins, school dropout and the costs of diploma denial.
Fostering solidarity and transforming identities: A collaborative approach to elementary science teacher education
Year of Dissertation:
2009
This study explores the use of coteaching and cogenerative dialogue in pre-service elementary teacher education, and the ways in which sharing responsibility for learning and teaching can afford the development of solidarity and new teachers' identity transformations. Specifically, the research detailed in this dissertation focuses on learning to teach science in a field-based methods course taught partially on a college campus and partially in an urban elementary school.