ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Quality Policies on Education in Turkish Education System
Author: Atasoy, Ramazan
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Program Evaluation,Educational Quality,Educational Policy,Evaluation Criteria,Qualitative Research,Phenomenology,Administrator Attitudes,Content Analysis,Systems Approach,Coding,Equal Education,Semi Structured Interviews

It's aimed to evaluate the quality policies for education in Turkish National Educational System according to the opinions of the directors of departments for policies who are in charge at Ministry of National Educational and the projection of these policies on quality of education in this study. The study is designed as a qualitative research model and interview technique which is one of a technique of phenomenology model. Study group of this research which has used purposive sampling is consisted from all of the directors of educational polity departments who are in charge of General Directories within the Ministry of National Education. Data were analysed by content analysis in NVivo10 packet programme. It's found that the themes and codes that were revealed in the research show parallelism with system approach. It's come through that there are progresses both capacities of physical and quantitative aspects as decreasing the kind of schools, lowering the classrooms sizes and meeting the schools with FATIH project according to the research. Despite of these founding it's also determined that quality problems in education are still keeping on. It's determined that there are many things to do especially performing theoretical quality policies; progressing of capacities of administration, teachers and programmes, applying administrative processes; proceeding on learning capacity of the students; providing of democratisation and participation and providing equality in opportunities. In addition, it has been determined that the lack of integrity in communication and coordination during the polity setting and implementation process negatively influences the system. It has been reached that the directors of polity departments deal with organizational change in the context of shaping and doing with legislation and regulations. It's suggested that hierarchical centralized structuring and distance that caused by high power have caused obstacle for transparency and participation; continuous changing and intervention abraded the system and reduced the quality of education.
Design of Rare Disease Based Knowledge Model Net (RDKMN) in Schools Attended by Affected Students, as an Inclusive and Didactic Tool
Author: Pérez de Villarreal, Maider
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Diseases,Knowledge Level,Bullying,Computer Software,Attendance,Disabilities,Cognitive Ability,Peer Relationship,Teacher Student Relationship,Intervention,Inclusion,Foreign Countries,Organizations (Groups),Metacognition,Elementary School Students,Concept Mapping,Teaching Methods,Epistemology

Rare diseases (RD) are those affecting at least 1 of 2.000 inhabitants. Many RD, induce disabling conditions and those school age affected children usually miss classes due to the complicated diagnostic procedures and the several medical treatments they need, thereafter. It is still unknown the exact number of students in this situation in Navarra (Spain), although according to data from the INE [16], there should be at least 1300 children with disabilities from which at least 372 children in school age could be RD affected. These students should be able to be identified in schools, as the vast majorities need help at some point, derived in some cases from cognitive deficiencies but in others, from their absence of classes due to health complications. Some Rare Disease Affected Students (RDAS) also suffer from bullying due to the ignorance of their peers or even teachers, towards their situation. In this paper, the use of Cmap Tools software, together with a planned intervention in each school from Navarre, attended by at least, one RDAS, is proposed for creating knowledge models based on the specific RD affecting children in Navarre. This way, a RD based Knowledge Model Net (RDKMN) could be built, together with affected and non affected students, and this meaningful knowledge could be useful for any school attended by children suffering the same disease in Spain or other European countries. This could become a powerful international inclusive and didactic tool, which could help normalizing RD and including RDAS in the educational field, creating inclusive schools, and therefore spreading the knowledge to the social field.
Are We Ready for Integrated ECEC Systems? Greek In-Service Early Childhood Educators&apos; Level of Preparation for Implementing Educare Systems
Author: Rentzou, Konstanntina
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Early Childhood Education,Preschool Teachers,Inservice Teacher Education,Questionnaires,Child Care,Educational Policy,Teacher Surveys,Teacher Attitudes,Educational Change,Change Strategies,Statistical Analysis

Greece is one of the many countries, which still utilize a split Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system. In fact, this dichotomy characterizes not only preschool programs, but also higher education institutions which train pre-service ECEC educators. Recently, Greek government's Organization for ECEC organized an open debate for the adoption of a &quot;Unified National Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care&quot;. Although this initiative was greeted enthusiastically by the association of childcare workers, the coordinating body of kindergarten teachers and university departments reacted negatively and openly debated childcare workers' pedagogical competence to assume the educational aspects of integrated ECEC systems. In addition, relevant announcements indicate kindergarten teachers' effort to refuse any connection with care. In the context of the present study a questionnaire was administered to 233 ECEC professionals representing all professional groups working in the Greek ECEC sector to explore their attitudes about the content and the effectiveness of their training in terms of implementing systems that combine education and care. Results showed that professional groups believe that they are well prepared in most aspects of ECEC theory and practice and revealed significant differences among groups. Further, weaknesses in initial education courses were revealed regarding preparation for implementing integrated ECEC practices. Research results when interpreted in conjunction with reaction to the public debate suggest that Greece is not ready to implement an integrated ECEC system due to various impediments (political, corporate, discursive etc.) and to the unawareness of what integrated ECEC is.
Persistence and Fadeout of Preschool Participation Effects on Early Reading Skills in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Author: Gove, Amber
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preschool Education,Early Childhood Education,Child Care,School Readiness,Socioeconomic Influences,Economic Factors,Student Participation,Reading Achievement,Foreign Countries,Language Usage,Language of Instruction,Educational Policy,Sustainable Development,Primary Education,Reading Skills,Regression (Statistics),Statistical Analysis

The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015 marked a new milestone for early childhood education, care, and development. For the first time in the framework of global goals, preschool education was described as integral to children's school readiness. Yet with few exceptions, much of the research on the impact of preschool has stemmed from high-income countries. Even fewer studies have examined preschool participation and later learning across multiple countries. This article helps fill this gap by connecting preschool participation to early primary reading outcomes, as measured by the Early Grade Reading Assessment. Drawing on a unique data set using student-level learning assessments from 16 countries, we use preprimary participation to explain primary school reading skills, including letter knowledge and oral reading fluency. We also model the influence of key demographic variables on these outcomes, including home language and classroom language of instruction (LOI). For a subset of six countries with exceptionally rich data, we examine national-level policy and practice to better understand what might explain the persistence or fadeout of the effect of preschool. Policy makers and practitioners alike will find these results useful in making cases for improving preschool experiences for children in low- and middle-income countries in the next decade of SDG-related efforts.
&quot;Respect Is an Investment&quot;: Community Perceptions of Social and Emotional Competencies in Early Childhood from Mtwara, Tanzania
Author: Jukes, Matthew C. H.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Development,Emotional Development,Social Responsibility,Foreign Countries,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,Rural Schools,Elementary School Teachers,Preschool Education,Preschool Children,School Readiness,Listening Skills,Child Behavior,Parent Attitudes,Independent Study,Self Concept,Curriculum Design,Values,Cultural Influences,Focus Groups,Individual Characteristics,Grounded Theory

Education programs in Africa increasingly aim to develop and measure social and emotional competencies. However, assessments are typically adapted from those developed in other continents and are not derived from local perspectives. In the current study, we conducted focus groups and individual interviews with teachers, parents and students in 4 randomly selected rural primary schools from Mtwara region in Tanzania, 3 of which had recently begun participation in a pre-primary education program. The aim was to understand the social and emotional competencies in early childhood that participants viewed as important for school and for life in general. Compared to existing frameworks of social and emotional competencies, participants placed more emphasis on aspects of social responsibility, for example respect, obedience and being an attentive listener. Individual competencies such as curiosity, self-direction and self-belief were valued more by teachers than parents and seen as most important for success at school. In general, most social and emotional competencies--even individual competencies--were discussed in terms of social relationships. Findings have implications for how cultural values are considered in assessment, curriculum design and parent and community engagement around pre-school education.
Early Literacy Education in Preschool Curriculum Reforms: The Case of Post-Communist Slovakia
Author: Petrová, Zuzana
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Literacy Education,Educational Change,Educational Legislation,Cognitive Development,Language Acquisition,Foreign Countries,Social Systems,Educational History,Social Change,Preschool Curriculum,Academic Achievement,Teacher Attitudes,Preschool Teachers,National Curriculum,Grammar,Written Language,Oral Language

This paper describes the development of preschool literacy education in Slovakia, beginning with the communist era, when the country was isolated from broader international academic discourse and early literacy research, then the period after the fall of the totalitarian regime up to the present day. It describes how the traditional approach to teaching literacy, relying on an obsolete model of reading and writing instruction taught at primary school, has resulted in preschools having limited capacity to develop children's literacy. It also explains attempts to reform the preschool literacy curriculum after the fall of the totalitarian regime. The first of these followed Slovakia's most comprehensive education reform act in 2008, but it underestimated the specific role of written language in children's language and cognitive development and in subsequent academic performance. Consequently, the reforms merely reproduced the traditional approach to literacy development within the new format of a decentralized curriculum. The consequences of the 2008 education reform act, and the pressure exerted by the results of international student assessments, resulted in a strong initiative from the academic field to reform the preschool curriculum on an evidentiary basis. The authors of this paper describe how they developed the thinking behind the new preschool literacy curriculum. The paper looks at how this became part of Slovakia's national preschool curriculum which was implemented in 2016, including the process in which the curriculum was reviewed by the institutions of the Ministry of Education and by professional organizations involved in early childhood education in Slovakia.
Measuring Opportunity: Redirecting Education Policy through Research
Author: Pfleger, Ryan H.
Date: 2018-06-18
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Policy,Educational Research,Research Problems,Scholarship,Research Utilization,Accountability,Achievement Gap,Educational Indicators,Educational Assessment,Educational Opportunities,Problem Solving,Interdisciplinary Approach,Public Policy

While scholars develop research with clear implications for policy and practice, this work has been largely ineffective in influencing thought beyond the academy. In this article, we explore challenges researchers face in designing public scholarship to influence policy. To illustrate, we profile one such effort, the &quot;Opportunity to Learn Index,&quot; a national project designed to compare opportunities to learn in all 50 states, and we detail challenges related to method, analysis and presentation. This type of effort, we conclude, asks researchers to embrace unique challenges and the inescapably political nature of the knowledge enterprise, especially when engaging with non-researcher audiences.
Complex Physical Activity, Outdoor Play, and School Readiness among Preschoolers
Author: Becker, Derek R.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outdoor Education,Play,Physical Activities,School Readiness,Preschool Children,Parent Surveys,Incidence,Time on Task,Behavior Rating Scales,Child Care Centers,Child Development,Correlation,Educational Environment,Preschool Education,Statistical Analysis

High quality educational settings play a crucial role in preparing a child to enter kindergarten, but little work has explored how outdoor play and complex physical activity outside school and childcare settings promote school readiness among preschoolers. To address this gap, the present study explored connections among school readiness with outdoor play and participation in complex physical activity. Parents (N = 107) reported the extent and frequency of time their child spent in outdoor play during a typical week, and what complex activities (e.g., soccer, biking, basketball) the child played over the last year. School readiness was assessed with parent reports on the Preschool Behavior and Emotional Rating Scale. Results showed participating in complex activities significantly moderated the relationship between time in outdoor play with school readiness, with time in outdoor play positively related to school readiness for children who participated in two or less complex activities. For children who participated in three complex activities, time in outdoor play was not related to school readiness. Findings offer support that encouraging both outdoor play and participation in complex physical activities could promote school readiness, particularly when opportunities for outdoor playtime are limited.
Understanding Site Selection of For-Profit Educational Management Organization Charter Schools
Author: Lee, Jin
Date: 2018-07-02
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Proprietary Schools,Educational Administration,Governance,Charter Schools,Site Selection,Geographic Location,Expenditure per Student,African American Students,Higher Education,Unemployment,Equal Education

The rise of for-profit Educational Management Organizations (EMOs) often becomes evidence of substantial shifts in the governance of education, through which schooling may become privatized and commercialized. This study is designed to understand the economic behavior of for-profit educational management organization charter schools, by focusing on their site selection decisions as a critical factor in making a profit. Using the locations of for-profit EMO charter schools in Michigan, the study examines determinants of the location decision on charter school markets, with the choice set of potential school districts. This research finds changes of the odds ratio in the percentage of for-profit EMO charter schools, logged expenditures per pupil, and in the proportions of African-American populations, populations who have experienced higher education, and unemployed populations. Provided that for-profit EMO charter schools make a site selection decision according to areas with certain characteristics, the spatial disparity of access to charter schools can raise issues concerning unequal educational opportunities.
Fair Play Behavior in Futsal: Study in High School Students
Author: Zorba, Ercan
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Team Sports,High School Students,Student Behavior,Interpersonal Relationship,Sportsmanship,Student Surveys,Correlation,Factor Analysis,Gender Differences,Justice,Ethics,Foreign Countries,Student Attitudes,Cheating,Statistical Analysis

This study aimed to examine fair play behaviors of futsal players in high school regarding some variables. Totally 187 high school students including 76 males and 111 females participated in the study in 2017-2018 education period. The Fair Play Scale in Physical Education and Sport, developed by Hassandra et al. [7] and adapted to Turkish by Mirzaoglu [12] was used to collect data. The scale has four subscales including 16 items. The scale consists of the factors of respect towards teammates, cheating, respect conventions, and gamesmanship. The descriptive analysis of demographic variables and exploratory factor analysis for validity were used; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated for reliability. The relationships were determined by using correlation analysis, and independent t-test was used for comparison between groups. Factor loadings ranged between 0,563 and 0,913. Moreover, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be as 0,838 indicating that the scale had high reliability. In correlation results, the gender variable was only found to be significant (p&lt;0,05) and negatively correlated (r = -0,144) in &quot;gamesmanship.&quot; This result showed that boys are more prone to &quot;gamesmanship&quot; behaviors than girls. The only difference was found in &quot;gamesmanship&quot; when fair play behaviors of futsal athletes were compared according to genders (p&lt;0,05). This result showed that boys are more prone to &quot;gamesmanship&quot; behaviors than girls. The underlying reason for this may be that the sense of justice of boys is lower than the girls. Consequently, within the scope of the studies to create consciousness and realize required structural changes related to ethical values of sport, especially school physical education lessons and extramural competitions should be used as an environment to bring athletes in proper fair play behaviors. It is understood that fair play understanding can be achieved by facing students with problematic conditions in longer and continuous learning process, not with campaign, messages, sanction or transmission of plain moral theories.
Scaling up Early Childhood Development and Education in a Devolved Setting: Policy Making, Resource Allocations, and Impact of the Tayari School Readiness Program in Kenya
Author: Piper, Benjamin
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Early Childhood Education,Resource Allocation,Educational Finance,Counties,School Readiness,Cost Effectiveness,Qualitative Research,Local Government,Budgets,Program Effectiveness,Statistical Analysis,Longitudinal Studies,Comparative Analysis,Instructional Materials,Teacher Education,Interviews,Focus Groups,Educational Quality,Expenditures

Early childhood development and education (ECDE) is devolved in Kenya, which means that each of Kenya's 47 counties budgets for and implements ECDE independently. Kenya provides two years of preprimary education to children ages four and five. Given scarce resources, constructing facilities and hiring teachers are often principal considerations for county governments. The present study investigated whether and how counties go beyond the basic provision of facilities and teachers to invest in learning materials, expand teacher professional development, and hire coaches to improve the quality of teaching. These results are presented in the context of the Tayari ECDE program, which was designed to improve school readiness in a cost-effective way. We present qualitative findings from several counties to describe how government bodies invest in additional elements of preprimary quality improvement. We also compare results across counties that do and do not implement the Tayari model to understand whether implementation of an effective program to increase ECDE quality encourages adjustments in government resource allocations. In addition, we present quantitative results from a large-scale longitudinal treatment and control study of the Tayari model, which tested the effectiveness of curriculum-aligned instructional materials and teacher training and support in improving learners' school readiness in public and low-cost private learning centers. Finally, we present policy implications for decentralized government structures responsible for providing ECDE, noting how these can be supported and incentivized to increase investments in ECDE quality.
Feminist Approaches to Educational Leadership in Disadvantaged Rural Communities
Author: Edwards, Graeme
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Feminism,Rural Areas,Instructional Leadership,Social Justice,Qualitative Research,Leadership Responsibility,Power Structure,Educational Administration,Democratic Values,Women Administrators,Females,Disadvantaged Schools,Interviews,Focus Groups,Observation

Playing host to many leaders of South Africa's transition to democracy, the historic schools continue to contribute to the education of learners in disadvantaged rural communities. Within the leadership narratives of these schools are the lived daily experiences of female educational leaders whose voice has been largely absent from main stream leadership discourse. Problematizing this silence, this paper draws on critical feminist leadership theory to explore social justice interpretations of female leaders in South Africa's historic schools. Data were collected through a qualitative research paradigm and from a critical feminist perspective. The aim of the study was to analyse and conceptualise educational leadership in relation to power and social justice in the post-Apartheid era. Contained within the findings are multiple narrations of leadership for social justice and an alternative interpretation to feminist servant leadership. In addition, the findings unlocked insights into the relationship between curriculum management, instructional leadership and critical pedagogy.