4,649 research outputs found

    The Jurisdictional Difficulties of Defining Charter-School Teachers Unions Under Current Labor Law

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    As charter schools have flourished in form, they have also evolved in variety: parents can send their children to a trilingual immersion school or a school whose classes meet entirely online. The same flexibility that charters offer as an alternative to traditional public schools also makes them difficult to classify for purposes of labor law. When charter-school teachers form a union, it is not clear why the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and not a state labor analogue, should have jurisdiction over a charter-school labor dispute. And yet, the NLRB has asserted jurisdiction in most charter-school cases. This Note examines the NLRB’s test for determining whether the broad protections of the National Labor Relations Act apply to a group of workers in the context of charter-school employees. It proposes a more robust test for differentiating between charter schools for purposes of the Act, and it applies the test to two charter schools

    The Jurisdictional Difficulties of Defining Charter-School Teachers Unions Under Current Labor Law

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    As charter schools have flourished in form, they have also evolved in variety: parents can send their children to a trilingual immersion school or a school whose classes meet entirely online. The same flexibility that charters offer as an alternative to traditional public schools also makes them difficult to classify for purposes of labor law. When charter-school teachers form a union, it is not clear why the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and not a state labor analogue, should have jurisdiction over a charter-school labor dispute. And yet, the NLRB has asserted jurisdiction in most charter-school cases. This Note examines the NLRB’s test for determining whether the broad protections of the National Labor Relations Act apply to a group of workers in the context of charter-school employees. It proposes a more robust test for differentiating between charter schools for purposes of the Act, and it applies the test to two charter schools

    Privatization and Cyber Charter Schools

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    Until recently the resources available to students have been limited to the boundaries of their school district. Due to technological advances in web-based curriculum, more and more students are opting to enroll in virtual schools. Virtual school models vary, but the most controversial type is the cyber charter school managed by for-profit companies. Supporters of cyber charter schools maintain that the schools are an efficient method for education children who do not wish to be a part of the mainstream public school system. Critics see cyber charter schools as the newest trend in privatizing education. Educational management organizations use federal, state, and local monies to provide online education services. This fact is evidence that education policy and the market are increasingly becoming intertwined. This thesis seeks to analyze this trend in education. Particular attention is given to education policies that opened the door to private firms entry into virtual education. The paper uses K12 Inc., one of the largest for-profit firms in the virtual charter school market, to illuminate some of the tensions surrounding education privatization. Research, conducted through documentary analysis, reveals the powerful connections K12 Inc. has with politicians and the many benefits those connections have awarded them. The risks involved with the sustained and continued growth of cyber charter schools, run by for-profit companies, deserves a critical and thoughtful analysis

    Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action

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    Outlines a community education movement to implement Knight's 2009 recommendation to enhance digital and media literacy. Suggests local, regional, state, and national initiatives such as teacher education and parent outreach and discusses challenges

    Parent-Teacher Relationships in Cyber Charter Schools: Investigating the quality of the Parent-Teacher Relationship and Its Impact on Student Achievement

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    K-12 online and blended learning initiatives have experienced unprecedented growth in the past decade and are fast becoming a mainstream option for today’s generation of learners. In 2016, over five million students were enrolled in K-12 full-time state virtual schools and all 50 states and the District of Columbia offered some form of online learning for K-12 students with even greater growth projections by 2020. While K-12 online learning has grown in popularity and demand, research-based investigations into successful teaching, learning and student support developments are limited. There is reason to believe that the quality of the parent-teacher relationship in cyber charter schools could be as important, if not more important than its role in traditional schooling. Currently, contemporary studies on the parent-teacher relationship only address face-to-face student populations. Therefore, the study of the quality of the parent-teacher relationship and its impact in on student achievement in cyber charter schools could assist the development of new strategies in cyber charter schools, teacher preparation programs, accrediting institutions, and policy makers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the quality of the parent-teacher relationship and it impact on student\u27s achievement in K-12 cyber charter schools. To address this question, this study employed an online survey adapted from Timothy Majerus’ (2011) instrument, which was constructed on research by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, sampling parents from a cyber charter school in the Northeastern U.S. Quantitative statistical procedures were utilized to analyze the resulting data. Outcomes indicate that the quality of the parent-teacher relationship do have predictive effect related to student achievement. Parental perception of the parent-teacher relationship, opportunity for parent involvement, parent efficacy, and time for parental involvement were assessed. Implications related to these findings can be used to increase the quality and effectiveness of the parent-teacher relationship in cyber charter schools by developing comprehensive plans for policy makers and accrediting institutions, developing and delivering curricula materials and trainings for pre-service and in-service teachers, and developing and delivering instructional materials for parents that promote an efficacious relationship with teachers that will significantly impact their child’s academic achievement and success in cyber charter schools

    Comparing the Academic Growth Among Black Students in Philadelphia’s Black-Operated Charter Schools, Non-Black Operated Charter Schools, and Traditional Public Schools.

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    This ex post facto, causal-comparative quantitative study assessed the math and English language arts (ELA) 7th to 8th-grade academic growth among Black students enrolled in Philadelphia’s black-operated public charter schools, non-black operated charter schools, and traditional public schools while controlling for 6th-grade exam scores. Over 65 years after Brown versus Board of Education disallowed public school segregation, the academic achievement gap between Black and white students persists. Various parental and educational stakeholders have considered charter public schools as suitable educational alternatives for narrowing this academic gap. This condition along with an assertion by some community activists that Black leaders are best suited for educating Black children served as the impetus for this study. The sample included student scores (n = 463 for math and n= 506 for ELA) from the 2016 to 2019 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) exams. The researcher statistically assessed the data with a one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and used the dynamic model of educational effectiveness to theoretically analyze the findings. There were no statistically significant differences in the academic growth among Black students in the three types of schools. Further analysis of the data revealed that students in non-black operated charter schools had higher mean scores on the math and ELA exams than their counterparts. The continued failure of public schools to provide an equitable, quality education for many Black students should encourage further investigations into the possible effects of charter schools and Black leaders on academic performance

    Supervision of cyber teachers: Examining U.S. based cyber school policy and practice

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    This study extends the body of knowledge in the field of K-12 teacher supervision through an investigation of contemporary literature on supervision in traditional and cyber schools; an inventory of current cyber school supervisory practices, procedures, policies, needs, and issues; and a review of related supervisory documents. The results of the outreach effort yielded an effective response rate of 9% resulting in an unintended, but important finding, in that a better mechanism is needed for identifying, categorizing and reaching cyber schools. The study supports contemporary beliefs related to the necessity and importance of a quality supervisory program and that multiple considerations and approaches are available. Participating schools report substantially lower teacher to supervisor ratios than the national average and that supervision practices have a positive impact on quality of instruction. Respondents indicate that the principal is primarily responsible for supervision however; many call upon other individuals such as peer mentors, instructional supervisors, and team leaders to assess and support the teacher. Most participating schools incorporate the use of classroom observations using archived data and report that email is most widely used and most useful supervisory tool. Student work/test scores, input from students, teacher self-reflection, and input from parents are reported to be the most widely used sources of data. Professional development needs and a lack of time for supervision are reported to be the biggest supervisory challenges facing cyber school administrators

    The Shining School Upon the Hill: Teacher Subjectivity in a Successful Charter School

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    This dissertation adds to the growing body of literature on charter school reform. Through the use of double insight, this paper details the tensions between school structures and teacher experience at a “successful” urban charter school. How do teachers construct their subjectivities in relation to a charter school’s mission and guiding philosophy? What are the inter-actions between these teacher biographies and the school’s prominent structures? This paper problematizes common discourse on charters, often reduced to identifying schools as either “good” or “bad,” to contribute to a more nuanced discussion between charter advocates and opponents. This research utilizes a theoretical framework (poststructuralism) and method (ethnography) often neglected in research on charter schools. My poststructural lens is particularly informed through Foucault’s notion of power and Deleuze’s notion of norming. By focusing on two teachers, Maria and Barbara, I constructed my research on a foundation of teacher voice. Furthermore, I coded and themed teacher interviews, observational fieldnotes, internal school reports, and state and federal policy documents. Four structures support the charter’s mission as a technology-infused school preparing students for the modern workforce: democratization, continuous professional development, community building, and inter-disciplinary learning and teaching. These four structures inter-acted with Barbara and Maria’s subjectivities throughout my time at Pennsylvania High Charter School, resulting in three tensions: professional expectations, and individualization, and surveillance. These seven themes and two subjectivities created a network of relationships, useful for understanding how teachers navigate the expectations of a “successful” charter school in relation to their own understanding of “effective” curriculum and pedagogy. Teacher subjectivity is central to this research project for two reasons. First, teacher voice has largely been omitted from previous research on charter schools. Second, teacher narratives can emphasize the disconnect between theory, such as formal school structures, and practice, or the lives and experiences of teachers in their classrooms. By focusing on this tension of praxis, a more nuanced discussion of charter schools is made possible

    Anonymity and Motivation in Asychronous Discussions and L2 Vocabulary Learning

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