With effective teaching a top policy priority, certain school districts, the federal government, and nonprofit groups are renewing efforts to pilot and study strategies for pairing effective teachers with students in low-performing, high-poverty schools. The results could offer clues about how to rectify an imbalance in the distribution of the…

This study describes how multiple-measure teacher evaluations were put into practice in a set of ten volunteering local education agencies (LEAs) in Arizona. After a key shift in state policy, five "pilot" LEAs implemented the new Arizona Department of Education teacher evaluation model in the 2012/13 school year, while five other…

Federal policy on alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS) inspired this research. Specifically, an experimental study was conducted to determine whether tests composed of modified items would have the same level of reliability as tests composed of original items, and whether these modified items helped reduce…

This dissertation addresses the rhetoric of deficiency that frames Latina/o students as lacking with regard to education. This dissertation begins by examining the cultural deficit model entrenched in colonial narratives of history that justify unequal access to resources in the US. I argue that the reimagining of the pejorative trope of…

This dissertation presents the findings of a descriptive, survey-based study of special education paraeducators and their self-reported perceptions about the adequacy of their ongoing professional development training in Arizona school districts. The results show that school districts in Arizona are not spending adequate time in preparing special…

With passage of The No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, the nation's schools have been under pressure to bring all students to a proficient level as defined by their state. The State of California currently uses a status model accountability system to measure whether a student, school, or district is proficient. Other states such as Arizona,…

Many industries in the United States already have seen positive results and increased productivity from the effective use of technology. With the challenges currently facing the nation's education system--including a persistent dropout rate of nearly 30 percent, slashed state and district budgets, and the economically and socially important goals…

This paper profiles Arizona's test score trends through 2008-09. In 2005, the mean scale score on the state 4th grade reading test was 478 for non-Title I students and 445 for Title I students. In 2008, the mean scale score in 4th grade reading was 477 for non-title I students and 450 for title I students. Between 2005 and 2008, the mean scale…

Using the frameworks of critical discourse analysis, representation theory, and legitimization theory, this study examines the political discourse of the campaign for Proposition 227 in California--particularly, the key social representations of languages, their speakers, and the main political actors in the campaign. The analysis examines the…

Ten states now offer in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrant students. Others are struggling to enact similar policies. But while many advocates want to open the doors to higher education for undocumented students, critics say the laws granting in-state tuition discriminate against other low-income students and legal residents of the…

In this article, the author reviews "Promising Start: An Empirical Analysis of How EdChoice Vouchers Affect Ohio Public Schools," a report made by Forster (2008) for the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Forster's (2008) empirical analysis began by restating a principle contention of voucher advocates: "Where parents are…

This article presents a variety of issues related to the effects of restrictive language and educational policies that ultimately limits important resources for English language learners (i.e., services, funding, time, and information). The authors spotlight the state of Arizona as an unfortunate case of language control through policies, which…

Adequate funding for the nation's schools to meet the call for higher student achievement has been a litigious issue. Spending on schools is a political choice. The choices made by state legislatures, in some cases, have failed to fund schools adequately and have incited school finance lawsuits in almost all states. These proceedings are generally…

Immigration status and educational opportunities are at the forefront of the current national conversation regarding "DREAMers": children of immigrants brought to the United States at a young age who lack legal status but are raised and educated in the American system. In 2006, Arizona voters passed Proposition 300, in part prohibiting…

The author reports on a review of state policies by researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, which raises questions about the validity of the use of home-language surveys as a step to identify students eligible for special help in learning English. While it's ubiquitous in schools across the country, the practice of educators'…