Tackling environmental problems is one of the main policy challenges facing governments. The process of forming attitudes starts at a young age, and is mostly shaped by education. Participation in pro-environmental initiatives at schools is mainly voluntary. Local governments can play an important role as the institution that links communities…

Collaboration and networking have been widely recognized and adopted as strategies for school turnaround. However, most studies focus on external forces' (particularly governments') role in promoting collaborative turnaround, paying less attention to turnaround schools' reactions to external actors. With specific reference to Shanghai, China, this…

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) research has demonstrated that LGBTQ students who attend schools with instruction that is inclusive of LGBTQ people, history, and events experience a better school climate and improved academic outcomes. We also know from the experiences of students, educators and advocates (as well as what…

Despite huge investments in the educational sector, many countries in Africa have not fared well in the education indices. This study examined the effect of teaching equipment and teachers' effort on learning outcomes in 744 Nigerian primary schools using Stochastic Frontier and Ordinary Least Square regression. The mean technical efficiency was…

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted ethnic minority and other underserved communities, prompting the federal government to fund community-led health literacy initiatives. This evaluation shares challenges and lessons learned, and identifies best practices from community-based organizations (CBOs) partnering with…

This dissertation includes three studies that investigate the factors that shaped emergency educational policymaking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon scholarship on federalism, bureaucratic behavior, and partisanship, these studies expand our knowledge on the impact that local and state politics can have upon street-level bureaucrats'…

Since 2017, hostile anti-LGBTQ+ educational bills rapidly expanded. Using traditional and critical policy analysis across three Midwestern states, we examine (1) whether state and local policymakers (n = 60) adopted trans-inclusive protections aligned with the 2017 federal "Whitaker" ruling, (2) the spread and scope of state and local…

In March 2016 when North Carolina's House Bill 2 (HB2)--the "bathroom bill"--was introduced and passed, I was teaching at a state university in North Carolina (N.C. Gen. Assem., 2016). In the Spring semester of that year, on March 23, HB2 was passed in a 12-hour special session meeting by the North Carolina legislature. The following…

This paper investigates language policy formation through participatory and deliberative methods and, more concretely, the regulation of gender-neutral language in Barcelona City Council (Spain). Through an argumentative approach to policy, the paper examines a specific language policy idea, process and solution, and the accompanying discursive…

While network governance in education has been widely discussed in the literature, research focusing on the behaviours of and interactions between pluralist actors is rare, and the power exercised by China's local governments in network governance is under-researched. This study uses school turnaround, a networking process that involves multiple…

Experiential learning has been shown to help cultivate habits of effective democratic citizens, but it is often seen as infeasible for large classes. This need not be the case. In this paper, we describe a group project designed to introduce students in a 70-person Introduction to Politics course to the basic political processes of local…

Immigration is a cornerstone of American growth and success. More than 1 million immigrants arrive in the United States each year, looking for opportunities to build a better life and become a part of their new communities. Facilitating immigrant integration is central to maintaining a cohesive social fabric and strong communities. Adult schools…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of public policy decisions in each state that contribute to public higher education funding levels and funding distributions across states and…

The existence of mono-loyalty in the simultaneous system of centralization and decentralization in Indonesia is used by the authorities to control the bureaucratic structure. Several problems occur in personnel management, however. The existence of mono-loyalty also has implications for regional employment patterns. The changes in staffing…

The present-day rate of development of the society and technologies in any sphere requires from the employee constant raising of qualification and gaining new knowledge and skills--continuous professional development. Life-long learning, continuing education is equally important compared with initial degree education. This leads to the necessity…