Adult education directors' perceptions of performance indicators for adult education programs in the state of Florida

Current demands for accountability in education emphasize outcome-based program evaluation and tie program funding to individual student performance. As has been the case for elementary and secondary programs, demands for accountability have increased pressure on adult educators to show evidence of the benefits of their programs in order to justify their financial support. In Florida, recent legislation fundamentally changes the delivery of adult education in the state by establishing a performance-based funding system that is based on outcomes related to the retention, completion, and employment of program participants.^ A performance-based funding system requires an evaluation process that stresses outcome indicators over indicators that focus on program context or process. Although the state has adopted indicators of program quality to evaluate its adult education programs, these indicators focus mostly on program processes rather than student outcomes. In addition, the indicators are not specifically tied to workforce development outcomes, a priority to federal and local funding agents.^ Improving the accountability of adult education programs and defining the role of these programs in Florida's Workforce Development System has become a priority to policy makers across the state. Another priority has been to involve adult education practitioners in every step of this process.^ This study was conducted in order to determine what performance indicators, as judged by the directors and supervisors of adult education programs in the state of Florida, are important and feasible in measuring the quality and effectiveness of these programs. The results of the study indicated that, both statewide and by region, the respondents consistently gave the highest ratings on both importance and feasibility to the indicators of Program Context, which reflect the needs, composition, and structure of the programs, and to the indicators of Educational Gain, which reflect learner progress in the attainment of basic skills and competencies. In turn, the respondents gave the lowest ratings on both importance and feasibility to the indicators in the areas of Return on State's Investment, Efficiency, Retention, and Workforce Training. In general, the indicators that received high ratings for importance also received high ratings for feasibility. ^

Private higher education policy in Ohio, 1980--2006: A case study demonstrating the usefulness of Zumeta's public policy posture model

This study describes the case of private higher education in Ohio between 1980 and 2006 using Zumeta's (1996) model of state policy and private higher education. More specifically, this study used case study methodology and multiple sources to demonstrate the usefulness of Zumeta's model and illustrate its limitations. Ohio served as the subject state and data for 67 private, 4-year, degree-granting, Higher Learning Commission-accredited institutions were collected. Data sources for this study included the National Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Data System as well as database information and documents from various state agencies in Ohio, including the Ohio Board of Regents. ^ The findings of this study indicated that the general state context for higher education in Ohio during the study time period was shaped by deteriorating economic factors, stagnating population growth coupled with a rapidly aging society, fluctuating state income and increasing expenditures in areas such as corrections, transportation and social services. However, private higher education experienced consistent enrollment growth, an increase in the number of institutions, widening involvement in state-wide planning for higher education, and greater fiscal support from the state in a variety of forms such as the Ohio Choice Grant. This study also demonstrated that private higher education in Ohio benefited because of its inclusion in state-wide planning and the state's decision to grant state aid directly to students. ^ Taken together, this study supported Zumeta's (1996) classification of Ohio as having a hybrid market-competitive/central-planning policy posture toward private higher education. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that Zumeta's model is a useful tool for both policy makers and researchers for understanding a state's relationship to its private higher education sector. However, this study also demonstrated that Zumeta's model is less useful when applied over an extended time period. Additionally, this study identifies a further limitation of Zumeta's model resulting from his failure to define "state mandate" and the "level of state mandates" that allows for inconsistent analysis of this component. ^

A study of the implementation of junior college *evaluation system in Taiwan

Since the establishment of the evaluation system in 1975, the junior colleges in the Republic of China (Taiwan), have gone through six formal evaluations. We know that evaluation in schooling, like quality control in businesses, should be a systematic, formal, and a continual process. It can doubtless serve as a strategy to refine the quality of education. The purpose of this research is to explore the current practice of junior college evaluation in Taiwan. This provides insight into the development of and quality of the current evaluation system. Moreover, this study also identified the source of problems with the current evaluation system and provided suggestion for improvements.^ In order to attain the above purposes, this research was undertaken in both theoretical and practical ways. First, theoretically, on the basis of a literature review, the theories of educational evaluation and, according to the course and principles of development, a view of the current practice in Taiwan. Secondly, in practice, by means of questionnaires, an analysis of the views of evaluation committeemen, junior college presidents, and administrators were obtained on evaluation models, methods, contents, organization, functions, criteria, grades reports, and others with suggestions for improvement. The summary of findings concludes that most evaluators and evaluatees think the purpose of evaluation can help the colleges explore their difficulties and problems. In addition, it was found that there is significant difference between the two groups regarding the evaluation methods, contents, organization, functions, criteria, grades reports and others, while analyzing these objective data forms the basis for an improved method of evaluation for Junior Colleges in Taiwan. ^

Assessment in primary education in Ireland

This doctoral study examines assessment in primary education in the Republic of Ireland. The nature and purpose of assessment offer an insight into the values which are prioritised by an education system. In 2011, in the Republic of Ireland, the Department of Education and Skills (DES) published a strategy aiming to improve standards of literacy and numeracy. The document, entitled, Literacy and numeracy for learning and life: the national strategy to improve literacy and numeracy for children and young people 2011-2020, contains improvement targets as measured by standardised tests. It also mandates the increased use of standardised tests in primary education, and directs that aggregated scores should be reported to both Boards of Management and the DES. The study is framed by the theoretical perspectives of Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. Both of these commentators examine social policy and practice in an effort to provide insight into the history and operation of social institutions. This study is especially influenced by Foucault’s archaeology and genealogy of knowledge, and his notion of governmentality. It is also particularly cognisant of Bourdieu’s thoughts on habitus, doxa and capital. The study contains reviews of literature in the areas of assessment, assessment policy, and assessment policy in Ireland. These reviews highlight current debate in each of these areas while also grounding this debate in an historical context. The dissertation contains four empirical sections. 1) It analyses policy documents prepared in the development of the published strategy as well as investigating the strategy itself. In so doing it is aware of the burgeoning influence of pan-national bodies on policy development. 2) A number of high profile policy makers were interviewed as part of the study and their views are interpreted in light of the findings of the literature reviews. 3) The perspective of teachers was sought through a questionnaire survey. This gathered data on these teachers’ views on the purpose of assessment as well as their actual practice. 4) Finally, children were also included as participants in this study. They were interviewed in focus groups and encouraged to contribute drawings as well on their views of assessment in primary school. Literacy and numeracy for learning and life is seen as a seminal document in Irish education. This study is significant in its analysis of original data from high profile policy makers, including two Ministers for Education and Skills. It is also significant in its inclusion of the perspectives of primary school pupils. Finally, the study considers the nature and role of assessment in a holistic manner by including the views of policy makers, teachers and pupils. The study notes that policy development in Ireland underwent a change in the preparation of Literacy and numeracy for learning and life and that international influences, while present, are also mediated to suit the local context. It also highlights a lack of clarity in the definition of assessment in primary education and argues that there is a lack of balance in the approaches that are prioritised. The study demonstrates that teachers are impacted by the strategy but that they also change it by focusing on their own concerns while using assessment tools. The children provide compelling evidence of the impact of assessment on the learner. The study shows how assessment tools (and school subjects) are valued with differing levels of importance by a variety of stakeholders.

Caught in the conundrum: neoliberalism and education in post-conflict Northern Ireland: Exploring Shared Education

Northern Ireland (NI) is emerging from a violent period in its troubled history and remains a
society characterized by segregation between its two main communities. Nowhere is this more
apparent than in education, where for the most part Catholic and Protestant pupils are
educated separately. During the last 30 years there has been a twofold pressure placed on the
education system in NI - at one level to respond to intergroup tensions by promoting
reconciliation, and at another, to deal with national policy demands derived from a global neoliberalist
economic agenda. With reference to current efforts to promote shared education
between separate schools, we explore the uneasy dynamic between a school-based
reconciliation programme in a transitioning society and system-wide values that are driven by
neo-liberalism and its organizational manifestation - new managerialism. We argue that whilst
the former seeks to promote social democratic ideals in education that can have a potentially
transformative effect at societal level, neoliberal priorities have the potential to both subvert
shared education and also to embed it.

Challenges and barriers in primary school education: The experiences of Traveller children and young people in Northern Ireland

Exclusion, discrimination and widespread disadvantage are issues common to the Traveller community. Children from the Traveller community are often seen as the most at risk within the education system in respect of attendance, attainment and bullying. In this article, we consider the views of Traveller children and parents with respect to primary level education in Northern Ireland and assess the level of support that exists to help Traveller children within the education system. The findings from the research are discussed with reference to institutional discrimination and the varying experiences of children and their families, including an identification of positive attitudes to education contrary to typical stereotypes.

Minority-related activities in the United Nations System in 2013

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of a chapter accepted for publication in the European Centre for Minority Issues and The European Academy Bozen/Bolzano (eds), European Yearbook of Minority Issues, Volume 12, 2013 (Brill, 2015). The version of record is available at: http://www.brill.com/publications/european-yearbook-minority-issues In reviewing the activities of relevant UN human rights institutions, bodies and mechanisms this chapter identifies and examines some of the main issues that have emerged regarding minority rights during the year 2013. It notably analyses how the UN has focused particular attention on the situation and the rights of religious minorities, as well as on the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda. The chapter also reviews activities in other issue areas important for minorities such as language, education, combatting racism, hatred and intolerance, and the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. It highlights developments with regard to specific groups such as Roma, people living with Albinism and Dalits. It also examines some of the urgent situations that have arisen from conflicts which have targeted minorities across the globe.

Gobernar la educación a través de los padrespolítica educativa y construcción de subjetividades neoliberales en Inglaterra. (Governing education through parents: education policy and the construction of neoliberal subjectivities in England)

In this paper we explore the relationship between market norms and practices and the development of the figure of the parent within British education policy. Since the 1970s parents in England have been called upon to perform certain duties and obligations in their relation to the state. These duties include internalizing responsibility for risks, liabilities, inequities and the spectre of crises formerly managed by the state. Rather than characterize this situation in terms of the ‘hollowing of the state’, we argue that the role of the state includes enabling the functioning of the parent as a neoliberal subject, so that they may successfully harness the power of the market to their own advantage and (hopefully) minimize the kinds of risk generated through a deregulated education system. In this paper we examine how parents are compelled to embody certain market norms and practices as they navigate the field of education. In particular we focus on how parents are 1) summoned as consumers or choosers of education services, and thus encouraged to embody through their behaviour a competitive orientation; 2) summoned as governors and custodians of schools, with a focus on assessing financial and educational performance; and 3) summoned as producers and founders of schools, with a focus on entrepreneurial and innovative activity.

Governing through parents: a genealogical enquiry of education policy and the construction of neoliberal subjectivities in England

In this paper we explore the various spaces and sites through which the figure of the parent is summoned and activated to inhabit and perform market norms and practices in the field of education in England. Since the late 1970s successive governments have called on parents to enact certain duties and obligations in relation to the state. These duties include adopting and internalizing responsibility for all kinds of risks, liabilities and inequities formerly managed by the Keynesian welfare state. Rather than characterize this situation in terms of the ‘hollowing of the state’, we argue that the role of the state includes enabling the functioning of the parent as a neoliberal subject so that they may successfully harness the power of the market to their own advantage and (hopefully) minimize the kinds of risk and inequity generated through a market-based, deregulated education system. In this paper we examine how parents in England are differently, yet similarly, compelled to embody certain market norms and practices as they navigate the field of education. Adopting genealogical enquiry and policy discourse analysis as our methodology, we explore how parents across three policy sites or spaces are constructed as objects and purveyors of utility and ancillaries to marketisation. This includes a focus on how parents are summoned as 1) consumers or choosers of education services; 2) governors and overseers of schools; and 3) producers and founders of schools.

Didactic transposition: an example in the educative system in Costa Rica

This paper includes some fundamental ideas about the theory of didactic transposition of Yve Chevallard (1980), from which it is made an analysis of the knowledge transformation suffers from the mathematical level to the scholastic level. To demonstrate this transformation, it is analyzed the theme of integers, which is included in the seventh- grade curriculum of the educational system of Costa Rica.

PISA Tests and their Impact on Georgian Education System

The article discusses the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tests and their impact on the Georgian Education System. It analyzes the deplorable results of Georgian 15-yearolds in PISA 2009 and investigates the reasons based on different reports. The article also discusses the reasons for the temporary suspension of the project on the Georgian side. Since certain participatory countries are dissatisfied with the attitudes of this program, the article also refers to the criticism of PISA. The conclusion is that PISA and other international tests contain considerably important information. If these data with a diagnostic feature are used for working out the education policy in an appropriate way, they can become the key instrument for obtaining favourable results in reforming the Education System. Therefore, PISA appears to be essential for Georgia too, as such assessment gives an opportunity to concentrate on the national core curriculum and content analysis. In order to estimate all the strengths and weaknesses of the Education System, it is quite reasonable to conduct such surveys in every country. The article concludes with recommendations for PISA 2015 as to how to use the reports for further progress.