Abstract/Notes: Public school integration has been a wrenching process in a number of American cities during the last half of the twentieth century. In few cities, however, has the process been so heavily litigated, so rife with controversy, so costly, so lengthy, or, ultimately, yielded results so mixed as in Kansas City, Missouri. This dissertation analyzes the troubled course of integration in the Kansas City public schools and the numerous forces that influenced that course. In short, this dissertation is a case study of one district's struggle to formulate an integrated school system and the manner in which changing legal standards, shifting demographic patterns, pressure from various community groups, financial limitations, and other political considerations have shaped public policy choices regarding integration in the Kansas City schools. During the fifty year period between 1949 and 1999, racial issues have figured prominently, and at times dominated, the policy making process in the Kansas City schools. In 1955 the city's public schools were integrated, but the extent of integration produced by the initial desegregation plan failed to satisfy the black community and the district faced several lawsuits seeking additional steps to promote integration. The paucity of integration in the Kansas City schools also drew criticism from the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In the mid-1970s, under pressure from HEW, school officials in Kansas City initiated a busing plan that produced more extensive integration. However, by the mid-1980s, the school district was again a defendant in a desegregation suit. The school district was found liable for the vestiges of segregation that remained in the public schools and a sweeping remedy was ordered by the court. in a series of rulings announced in the mid-1980s, the district court approved a remedy providing for educational enhancements, massive improvements to the district's schools, and the establishment of the nation's most expansive and expensive magnet schools system for purposes of integration. The magnet plan, however, failed to meet the ambitious goals established by the district court, and the remedy was continually attacked in the courts by the state of Missouri and disgruntled taxpayers. In 1995, the United States Supreme Court overturned much of the remedy and four years later the case was dismissed.

Language: English

Published: Manhattan, Kansas, 2000

Abstract/Notes: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 mandated that states implement standards and test-based accountability systems. In theory, local educators are free to select the means for teaching the standards so long as students achieve a predetermined proficiency level on the exams. What is unclear, however, is how this theory plays out in schools committed to educational approaches that are seemingly incompatible with state-determined standards and testing. This dissertation examines how such schools strategically respond to the opposing demands of their program design and these government mandates. This qualitative study focuses on five schools affiliated with the Big Picture Learning (BPL) network. BPL offers an example of an educational program whose emphasis on individualized interest-driven learning and authentic real-world assessment is not easily aligned with standards-driven content and tests. This study considers empirical research on school-level response to externally imposed accountability mandates (Carnoy, Elmore & Siskin, 2003). In addition, it draws on sociology's organization-environment relations literature including institutional isomorphism (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), agency (DiMaggio, 1988; Oliver, 1991) and the theoretical models of bridging, buffering and decoupling (Scott & Davis, 2007) to create a conceptual framework of how these BPL schools negotiate competing expectations. Findings show that these schools filter state demands for accountability through the lenses of both individual teachers and Big Picture design. While taking action both to meet the demands and protect the core program, schools internalize the value of a standards-based curriculum and increase internal accountability to incorporate content-standards while simultaneously rejecting the validity of testing and gaming the system. Currently, failure to meet state mandates comes with such severe consequences that these schools may be forced to choose between radically morphing to survive or maintaining integrity and possibly closing. However, if the regulatory climate becomes less standardized and more qualitative, these schools could be forerunners in meeting revised mandates. The study suggests policy implications surrounding the intersection of belief systems, consequences and strategic responses. It offers a cautionary tale about the power of the state, the precarious nature of falling outside state norms and what prioritizing bureaucratic efficiency may mean for innovation in education.

Language: English

Published: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2012

Abstract/Notes: Montessori education emphasizes the development of prosocial skills, which are correlated with positive educational and behavioral outcomes in both middle-class and low-income school environments. Two recent studies document the effectiveness of the Montessori approach in this area. Historically, the Montessori method, developed in Italy in 1906, became widespread in American independent schools in the 1950s. With the advent of charter school legislation, the number of public Montessori schools serving lower income children has been increasing over the last decade. The purpose of this study was: (a) to observe and describe how Montessori teachers foster prosocial skills, and (b) to explore whether and how this differs in public and private Montessori schools serving students of different backgrounds/SES. Five mixed-age (first-third grade) Montessori classrooms (two private, three public) were observed and videotaped on two occasions between December 2006 and February 2007. An observation tool developed for non-Montessori classrooms was used to record teacher behaviors linked to prosocial skills development. Similar teacher strategies to promote prosocial skills were recorded in both the public and private schools. These similarities were apparent despite vastly different student and school characteristics. A number of teacher strategies typically associated with the promotion of prosocial skills which were emphasized in the observation tool were not observed in either school. The findings of this study raise questions about the use of observation tools outside of the context in which they were developed. This finding may also be attributed to the timing of the observations (in winter), as the teacher behaviors are more likely to be exhibited during the first few months of school. Interviews with teachers and principals also revealed different leadership needs of a start-up school as opposed to an established school.

Language: English

Published: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2007

Abstract/Notes: Scope and method of study. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the connection between the beliefs, attitudes, and expectations teachers exhibit towards students who have attention challenges in three independent schools in England and the pathognomonic-interventionist continuum as identified by Jordan-Wilson and Silverman (1991), which identifies, along a scale, where teachers' beliefs lie. Teachers' sense of efficacy as they meet individual student needs was also explored as was what educators in these schools, who have limited, if any, recourse to special education assistance, do to support students who display the characteristics of attention deficit. The pathognomonic-interventionist continuum and Bandura's (1977) construct of self-efficacy were the lenses used to focus the research. The study records participants' responses and reflections about the phenomenon under study, describing what it is they do, how they perceive their responsibility towards their students, and how they support each other. Findings and conclusions. Data compiled from a sample of 10 teachers and 3 head-teachers, were disaggregated to provide a picture of how participant teachers work with attentionally challenged children in selected English independent schools. The results provide evidence that teachers whose profile identifies them with the interventionist perspective present stronger senses of self-efficacy. They are prepared to undertake prereferral-type activities to determine where the student is experiencing difficulty and are then willing to manipulate the learning environment to meet individual student needs. Teachers in these schools perceive it as their professional obligation to design teaching scenarios to benefit all students. Teacher efficacy, their sense of their ability to positively influence their students' educational performance and achievement, is unrelated to years of experience or educational background, but is related to the beliefs which they hold.

Language: English

Published: Stillwater, Oklahoma, 2006

Abstract/Notes: In this study, 173 preschool teachers (80 non-Montessori teachers and 93 Montessori teachers) were given a survey at two early childhood professional conferences that examined their beliefs about Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP). The purpose of this study was to (a) investigate preschool teachers' beliefs about Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and Developmentally Inappropriate Practice (DIP); (b) discover the similarities and differences in the factor structures of the Teacher's Beliefs Scale (TBS) between the study conducted by Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, Thomasson, Mosley, and Fleege in 1993 and the current study about DAP; (c) discover the similarities and differences of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and Developmentally Inappropriate Practice (DIP) beliefs between Montessori teachers and preschool teachers; and (d) investigate the factors that are related to teachers' beliefs about DAP and DIP. The Teacher Beliefs Scale (TBS) was used to assess preschool teachers' beliefs about DAP and DIP. Factor analysis was used to support the validity of TBS in the current study. Multiple t-tests were used to identify the differences in developmental appropriate/inappropriate beliefs between Montessori and non-Montessori teachers. Multiple regression analyses were used to explain the relationship between variables of 173 Montessori and non-Montessori preschool teachers. Results of the study showed that a majority of preschool teachers agreed with 22 Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) and 12 Developmentally Inappropriate Practices (DIP). Responses to seven items were different from the original study (Charlesworth et al., 1993). There was a significant difference on Inappropriate Activities and on Appropriate Child Choice between non-Montessori and Montessori teachers. There was a relationship between teachers' beliefs about DAP and teachers' educational backgrounds, teaching experiences, ethics, and DAP understanding level in the current study.

Language: English

Published: Greeley, Colorado, 2003

Abstract/Notes: This research is a case study of African American parent involvement at a urban Montessori school in Minnesota. African American parents at this school have had limited involvement in conferences, PTSO meetings, school activities, and on the Site-Based Leadership Team. An examination of the literature was made to investigate the influences on African American parents when they make decisions about their parental involvement. This research covered the historical background, theoretical background, implications, racial barriers, and strategies that increased African American parent involvement. An ethnography was designed to gather data from 9 mothers of African American students. These parents provided information about their backgrounds and their experiences with the school. Staff at the school (6) were interviewed as to their experiences with African American parent involvement. The results of the study offer findings on attitudes, perceptions, needs and ideas for improving African American parent involvement at any school.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2000

Abstract/Notes: In sociological investigation, Weber (1968) believes that concrete historical events can be interpreted in terms of social action. These patterns of action differ from historical accounts, which explore the importance of causal explanation of individual events. Entwistle and Alexander (1993) contend that sociologists of education have paid little attention to patterns of class interaction and inequality in preschools. Adding to Hartley's (1993) work on nursery schools in Scotland, and using an organizational model with a sociohistorical standpoint, this ethnographic case study helps to bridge that gap by concentrating on the historical and ecological contexts of (1) a Laboratory school; (2) a Montessori school; and, (3) a Head Start center. The central problem of the study seeks an answer to the question "If inequalities in preschools exist, what do they look like?" This study assumes that historically educational systems have exerted a form of social control over children in order to transmit cultural values. Part I of the study examines ancient and modern societies, their cultures and their philosophical grounding to reveal the values and trends that contribute to social change in the early education of children. Part II adds a triangulation strategy to explore the ecology (environment and culture) of the three schools in the study. These strategies include archival content analysis of the preschool organizations, nonparticipant observation of the classrooms (Bell, 1993), intensive interviewing of the staff and administration members and a brief survey of the preschool parents. This study draws from the sociology of Weber's "ideal bureaucracy," Berger's "bureaucratic cognitive style," Elias' "civilizing process," Bernstein's "visible and invisible" pedagogy, Bourdieu's "cultural capital" and Anyon's "biased ideological messages." In this exploratory study, the data analysis uses a descriptive methodology, not to draw conclusions, but similar to Glaser and Strauss' "grounded theory" to introduce questions to be explored further by researchers. A final section on policy recommendations is included.

Language: English

Published: Boston, Massachusetts, 2000

Abstract/Notes: Did the work of Maria Montessori have an influence on the educational methods used in the infant and elementary school classrooms in England and Wales between 1910, when her work was first publicized in England, and 1933, when the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education published its report on Infant and Nursery Schools? To answer this principal question the following factors are considered: the effect on educational practices of the slow development of government provided education, the characteristics of the British Infant School, the social and political circumstances which were effecting education in 1910, the nature of Montessori's fame, and the official reaction to Maria Montessori and her work. For information concerning the methods actually being used in the classrooms from 1928 to 1933, the primary sources are memoranda submitted during that period to the Consultative Committee on the Primary School and to the Consultative Committee on Infant and Nursery Schools. The documents were analyzed for references to Montessori, for evidence of teachers having attended Montessori training courses, and for descriptions and advocacy of classroom methods which, according to a definition given by the Consultative Committee in its published report, reflect a Montessori influence. Eleven of thirteen Junior School Inspectors, six of thirteen Infant School Inspectors, and eleven of sixteen Heads of Infant Schools, according to the criteria used, advocate Montessori methods for more than half of the curriculum areas which they discuss. This evidence from the memoranda submitted to the Consultative Committees, combined with conclusions drawn from historical evidence, indicate that Maria Montessori did have considerable influence on the schools of England and Wales.

Language: English

Published: Mansfield, Connecticut, 1981

Abstract/Notes: During the very early twentieth century, Dr. Maria Montessori produced a pedagogical approach that permitted the developmental delayed, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and the youngest of children to advance their cognition and adaptive skills to conventional standards. Her renowned "Montessori Method" was unleashed in 1906 in her home country of Italy and found its way to the shore of the United States soon after. This research will compare the implementation of the Montessori Method in two states, Rhode Island and New York. Both states invested time and money into the instructional ideals of Dr. Montessori in response to the advice of educators and, as is frequently overlooked in the scholarly literature, at the request of parents and community organizations. This study will focus on policy implementation: the how and the who, and on the overall growth and decline of Montessori programs, concentrating on the role parents played.

Language: English

Published: Chicago, Illinois, 2011

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to see what effect reviewing a school’s mission and vision would have on teacher stress in an urban, public charter Montessori school located in the Midwest. Four teachers participated in this research over the course of three weeks. Teachers were given laminated notecards containing the school’s mission and vision statements and were asked to read the notecards throughout their days and to log when they read these notecards. Teachers completed pre and post-intervention attitude scales to gauge perceived stress levels. Teachers were invited to take notes throughout the intervention, and I wrote a narrative describing a typical morning. At the end of the three weeks, I conducted interviews with each participating teacher. Reviewing the school’s mission and vision did not have a significant impact on teacher stress. Teachers expressed a high level of stress and had difficulty finding effective coping strategies for dealing with this stress. Highly stressed myself, I made the decision to leave my teaching position at the end of the academic year.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2016