State Educational Policy Research Articles

Using Integrative Implementation Theory to Understand New Jersey's 2015 Opt-Out Movement

Background/ContextIn the spring of 2015, about 135,000 New Jersey students—almost 20% of the test-eligible children—did not take the state's test. Opposition of this magnitude directly contradicted a central stipulation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), which required states to test 95% of their eligible students to receive federal education funding. This article examines what happened in New Jersey in 2015 to produce such a large change in the implementation of state testing policy.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyIn this article, I use Richard Matland's integrative policy implementation theory to explain the circumstances that produced such a large change in the enactment of New Jersey testing policy in 2015. More specifically, I focus on two research questions: (1) What were the major national, state, and local factors that contributed to parent and student opt-out decisions in New Jersey in 2015? (2) How does integrative implementation theory help us to understand the different circumstances contributing to the opt-out movement in New Jersey in 2015?Population/Participants/SubjectsThe article is based upon extensive document review and 33 interviews with New Jersey state policymakers, professional education association representatives, advocacy group leaders, school administrators, teachers, parents, and students. Intervention/Program/Practice: Since the 1990s, testing has become an increasingly important function of state education policy. High-stakes state testing policies were further expanded under the NCLB, which required states to test 95% of their eligible students to receive streams of federal education funding. The opt-out movement across the nation in 2015 was a major departure from this well-established policy.Research DesignThis study employs qualitative interpretive research to examine how multiple actors at different levels of the New Jersey education system understood and interpreted the 2015 opt-out movement. Using Matland's ambiguity-conflict model of policy implementation I interpret the interactions between the policy design and local implementers’ beliefs and goals.Findings/ResultsThe findings illuminate the shifting national, state, and local factors that contributed to district opt-out rates as well as variation across school levels and districts with different socioeconomic conditions. The combination of increased federal press on states, New Jersey's fast timelines for new standards and assessment adoption even as it ratcheted up accountability, and inconsistent state policy signals all contributed to backlash from teachers, community members, and anti-testing advocates. These factors illuminate many of the changing circumstances in New Jersey that fueled the dramatic opt-out movement in 2015.Conclusions/RecommendationsWhile Matland's integrative implementation model helps to explain the dynamics of the 2015 New Jersey opt-out movement, it does not account for additional contributing factors including changes over time, dynamics at different system levels, and consideration of a broader range of actors beyond policymakers and policy targets. Incorporating these factors can help make integrative implementation theories even more robust.

Science education reform conundrum: An analysis of teacher developed common assessments

AbstractScience education reform efforts have highlighted the need for scientifically literate citizens, who are capable of using scientific knowledge and skills for reasoning, argumentation, and decision‐making. Concurrently, recent state education policies dictate that teachers’ effectiveness is measured in part by their students’ performance on high stakes assessments. To study these potentially competing reform efforts, we used multiple methods to examine (a) the level of secondary science teachers scientific literacy (SL) and their perceptions of SL skills, (b) how they rank the importance of SL skills and their self reported teaching/assessment of SL skills, and (c) how well their teacher developed common science assessments aligned with SL skills. Survey responses from secondary science teachers (n = 48) from one district revealed that their perceptions of scientific literacy were not in alignment with those of science education reform documents. Secondary science teachers (n = 28) demonstrated that they were scientifically literate, yet the assessments (n = 13) they developed did not align with several scientific literacy sub‐constructs. The findings from this study imply that science teachers would benefit from professional development to increase their assessment literacy and that school districts should reconsider whether teacher‐designed assessments should be tied to teachers' professional security and advancement.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF A HISTORY TEACHER IN THE CONTEXT OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONCEPT OF THE NEW UKRAINIAN SCHOOL

Socio-political, economic and cultural changes in recent decades, multiplied by the deep social crisis that has engulfed the modern world, have affected not only production and political processes but also education. These new external and internal factors cause the need to adjust the existing conceptual foundations of training teachers to work in the New Ukrainian school, which determines the topicality of our study. The article analyzes the theoretical and methodological aspects of the professional development of a history teacher and their reflection in the semantic, operational and contextual components of the qualification component of the pedagogical skills of the New Ukrainian School teacher. The concept of “New Ukrainian School” is described as a key reform of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the state educational policy of Ukraine on quality assurance of education is analyzed.
 It was found that according to the State Standard basic platform for the formation of the integral image of the pedagogical skills NUS teacher is formed by fourteen core competence. It creates a perfect image of the teacher. It is established that in the theory the teacher professionalism is defined as a specific psychological and personal production, characterized by professional competence and the ability to perform creatively professional tasks. The specification of cognitive-technological qualities are necessary for mastering the historical sciences is given, which in its content and form is based on the dual mechanism of mastering historical material in the direction from the knowledge of the historical fact to awareness of it as a part of one's own life. It is substantiated that the leading role in the teacher’s professional development is in his ability to innovate, components of which are a clear motivation and meaningful innovative position, the ability not only to join innovation processes but also to be the initiator. According to the results of the study, the updated functional component of the professional activity of the New Ukrainian School teacher directs his professional evolution towards the modernization of the established general education model and causes reinterpretation of its place and role in the native education environment.

Features of the "education standardization" concept as a component of the research vocabulary for studying the foundations of the medical and pharmaceutical education development

The research analyses the legislative framework and scientific sources on the interpretation of the concepts of "educational standards" and "standardization of education" as components of the research vocabulary for studying the foundations of medical and pharmaceutical education development. The study of Ukrainian and foreign regulatory documents and scientific and pedagogical developments of medical scientists and educators has been conducted on the basis of a systematic generalizing approach. The sequence of the terms "educational standards" and "standardization of education" introduction in the Ukrainian education system is considered. Differences in the interpretation of the concept of "educational standards" from the point of view of the meaning that a particular organization (or person) puts into the definition of this concept are presented. It is indicated, that higher medical and pharmaceutical educational institutions still have educational standards, developed on the basis of an activity-based approach, which cannot fully satisfy the pedagogical and medical educational community. The paper studies the imperfection of the legislative framework in the State regarding the development of educational standards, the lack of educational standards for medical and pharmaceutical specialists of the junior specialist (junior Bachelor) educational level. Since the European and in Ukrainian education systems focus on the educational process, aimed at the development of employees' ability to solve practical problems in various fields of activity on the basis of acquired theoretical knowledge, the priority direction of the state educational policy for the development of educational standards for medical and pharmaceutical educational institutions is the need for a competence-oriented approach. The research states that updating the educational legislation, improving and modernizing the educational system and introducing a new generation of state education standards, will help increase the competitiveness of medical and pharmaceutical specialists in the labor market

Development of Digital Competence in the Training of Future Teachers in Ukraine and China

The relevance of the issue of developing the digital competence of future teachers in higher education is obvious, as technological progress is developing at an extremely rapid pace, and digitalisation has already penetrated into all spheres of life, including the education system. The purpose of the study is to compare the approaches of state educational policy to the development of digital competence of future teachers in China and Ukraine. To obtain new results, the following theoretical methods were used in the study: analysis of pedagogical literature, regulations, online platforms, educational sites, systematisation, and generalisation of research, organisation of training courses for future teachers – to compare different approaches to digital competence of future teachers. It is noted that digital competence is key in lifelong learning, as well as one of the components of a teacher's professional competence, according to the Standard Standard for Primary School Teachers, General Secondary Education Teachersб and Primary Education Teachers. The concept of digital competence is defined and it is substantiated that its significance changes in accordance with the development of digital modern society. The national educational policy of Ukraine and the People's Republic of China is analysed, in particular the regulatory base, which regulates the development of digital competence in the countries. It has been found that the problem of digital competence is relevant in both countries, in particular in China, where its solution is more progressive, due to powerful resource opportunities. An example of the content of academic disciplines, namely “Digital Training Tools”, “Cybersecurity”, “Media Education” (Ukraine), “Fundamentals of Computer Use”, “Use of Multimedia Technology” (PRC), their place in the educational process, hours on study, form of control of educational and cognitive activities, etc. These disciplines are aimed at developing the digital competence of future teachers in higher education institutions of Ukraine and China. It is noted that further research will relate to the study and analysis of national educational policy of the European Union on the development of digital competence, in particular in the training of future teachers

Exploring the Rhetoric: How State Gender Diversity Laws Address Rights for Gender-Diverse Students

In 2017, the Trump Administration withdrew Obama-era civil rights protections for transgender students in public school in the United States (US). Thus, policies regarding the rights and treatment of sex-/gender-diverse persons—primarily gender non-conforming students—were left in the hands of states and school districts. This article begins with a summary of recent changes in US state educational legislation and policies that purport to help protect gender-diverse students. It then analyzes over twenty hours of public comment at community school district meetings, highlighting opposing rhetoric associated with gender diversity via state educational policy reform for one state in the US—Nevada. Understandings of “rights” and of “safety” are at the core of public statements on gender diversity policies. We analyzed these statements to support the argument that social justice-oriented approaches to educational learning environments are key to empowering administrators, educators, students, and communities—both conceptually and practically. Discussions and findings are intended for use in gender diversity policy education, future advocacy, research, and training. We ask: after passing such legislation, how does the state enforce holistic inclusion based on gender identity? We argue that examining strategies initiated by communities, educators, students, parents, and schools to counteract the marginalization of disadvantaged youth might help in this endeavor.

Analysis of the transport component in the educational services market

This article provides the results of comprehensive study of the financial and economic activity of federal and state universities located in various districts of the Russian Federation, including northern regions. The importance of the management policy of higher education determines the role of state institutions in management of resource flows. Testing of approaches towards the effective use the mechanisms for financing educational systems is interrelated with the peculiarities and trends of the Russian state educational policy in the sphere of higher education. The author establishes differentiation of the transport component in price forming policy of the educational services market, which is reflected in a significant gap in this segment among universities located in remote regions and regions with severe living conditions, functionality of the economy and infrastructure. The mechanism is offered for implementation corrective coefficients to the standards of financing of universities located far from the federal center. Such mechanism is intended to balance the regional differentiation of financing of institutions in accordance with the relevant factors of cost increase, creating equal competitive advantages in the educational services market for the universities located in northern regions with the universities located in central part of the country. The research is aimed at improvement of the methodology of normative budgeting of universities, formulation of recommendations for optimizing the methodology of financing the universities located in remote and northern regions of the Russian Federation, considering the regional differentiation and rise in the cost of services.

Academic Writing: A Discipline or Disciplines?

In the last five years, the discipline “Academic Writing” in one form or another has become part of the programs of many Russian universities. The goal of the discipline is the achievement of academic literacy. Within the framework of state policy in education and the need to increase publication activity, the discipline should teach students, graduate students and researchers to write a scientific article in accordance with the requirements of highly rated journals. In Russian education, the model of teaching academic writing was adopted from Western educational discourse. Since the 2010s, university teachers introduce courses, focusing on the experience of Western colleagues and sharing the results achieved. Researchers of academic writing point out a number of problems in teaching students. It is noted that students experience difficulties in mastering the competencies of the course, and teachers are not satisfied with the results. A number of articles appear in the media discourse, the authors of which express doubts about the appropriateness of practice of academic writing borrowed from the Western educational space. Indeed, in Western educational institutions, the development of academic writing skills begins at school, and then an extensive standard program is implemented at universities, covering various subject and cross-subject areas, within which the discipline is taught. In Russia, university students are confronted with a new field of knowledge and find themselves in a whirlpool of new rules, abilities, skills, competencies that they have to master in a short period of study a far as at the undergraduate level. The Western academic writing program is hardly applicable to the realities of Russian education. This article attempts to find the reason for the difficulties in teaching the discipline of academic writing to Russian students. The results of the study on three different groups of students studying the discipline of academic writing are presented. As a way out of a problem situation, the author proposes to divide the discipline into three levels, each of which covers a number of educational competencies necessary to create a specific product within the framework of the academic text genre.

Social and emotional learning in early childhood education and care: a public health perspective

Social and emotional learning in early childhood education and care: a public health perspective

MODERN EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE OF PRACTICAL TEACHER TRAINING

The article considers the issue of studying modern European experience of practical teacher training. It was found out that efficiency of preparing future teachers to their practical activity directly depends on all the levels – from top to bottom – state educational policies and support, regulations in the field of teacher training, modern initial teacher training programmes, inner motivation to become a teacher. It is pointed out the need to apply an integrated approach in mastering the readiness to follow the profession. As we are talking about the European experience, a special attention is paid to study and analysis of regulatory European framework. It helps to define new strategies of developing practical teacher training system, offers recommendations on efficiency of implementing innovative methods and technologies in teacher training process. According to some reports of European Commission, the effectiveness of teacher training is determined by comprehending the teaching profession and the professional development of teachers as a coherent continuum with several, interconnected perspectives, which include teachers’ learning needs, support structures, job and career structures, competence levels and local school culture. Within practical teacher training there is a special role of partner schools where a special position belongs to a school-based teacher/ educator, who does his/ her duties on the basis of a partner school. That educator teaches pupils at school and has responsibilities to support partnership with a teacher training university or college in providing the practical training of students – future teachers. It means to be a mentor/ facilitator/ cooperating teacher. It is found out that basis of training is the practical formation of qualities which are essential for the future teacher`s practical training. Students are educated to develop such pedagogical characteristics as flexibility, reflexivity, awareness of the internal ambiguity of positions and points of view, ability to take alternative decisions and to form the following basic personality traits as sociability, creativity, mobility, independence, responsibility for the personal choice, decision and the results of the teachers` activities.

Legal aspects of the impact of educational migration on the national security of Ukraine

The article is intended to analyze the legal aspects of the impact of educational migration on the national security of Ukraine. The legal basis of educational migration is considered, in particular, the consolidation of Ukraine's participation as a full participant in the European educational space in the regulatory framework and its impact on Ukraine's national security. The positive and negative consequences of educational migration and their impact on the national security of the country are analyzed. Comprehensive measures, including legal ones, in the field of education and migration policy of Ukraine have been identified. Academic mobility and cross-border education are identified as the main institutional forms of educational migration. Today, the national security of Ukraine requires the protection of the public interests of all segments of the population, including young students, which ensures the sustainable development of the country and society. The vast majority of migrants are young people - the most active part of the population, prone to self-development and adaptation in a multicultural environment. Ensuring constitutional human rights and freedoms, including their right to education, are objects of national security. It is proved that international integration and integration of the national higher education system into the European educational space is one of the main principles of state policy in education. Accordingly, there are academic mobility programs in the field of international cooperation. Migration policy is one of the priority areas of the country's development. Migration is a complex process that includes, in addition to legal, economic, socio-psychological, political and cultural interrelationships. The issue of modern migration processes and national security is always promising in terms of further research, especially given that the analysis of the migration situation in Ukraine shows that they are developing much more dynamically than the process of legal regulation in this area. In fact, it is about the complexity of effective legal regulation of migration processes in the country.

Personality Traits of Students in Resilient and Struggling Schools: Different Children or Different Schools

One of the most important facets of educational inequality is the globally observed wide socioeconomic gap in academic outcomes across schools and individual students. However, there are resilient schools that manage to be effective in adverse circumstances. In order to find out what may stand behind resilience of disadvantaged schools, personality traits of their students are compared to those of students attending schools that perform low in equally challenging contexts. Empirical data for this study was collected in Leningrad Oblast in 2019 and includes information about schools’ academic outcomes and socioeconomic status (SES) as well as students’ personality traits that have been traditionally associated with psychological resilience. Personality traits are assessed using the Academic Resilience Scale (ARS‑30), the academic motivation subscale, and the grit and self-regulation scales. Factor structure of the questionnaires is verified using confirmatory factor analysis. No differences are revealed in personality traits of students between resilient and non-resilient low-SES schools, which confirms the previous findings that academic resilience is built through managerial strategies of school principals, school and state educational policies, and practices to improve school effectiveness.

Civil Identity Formation within Contemporary Informational Space (Historical Policy and Educational Practices)

The main focus of the article was on the impact of current historical policy affecting the foreign and domestic political interests of the Russian Federation (mainly in the fields of interethnic relations and international law) on the educational strategies of the authorities, designed to facilitate or impede the process of forming a Russian civil identity. Specific historical and contemporary examples show that the latter has long been considered as a humanitarian technology for solving state problems in this field, within the contemporary informational space with a cumulative effect in terms of the space of politically engaged versions of different pages of history, especially closely related to the formation of the contemporary world order. Accordingly, the focus of the study is the contradictions between the historical and educational policies of the Russian Federation, which are analyzed through the lens of the evolution of the aims of the authorities in matters of the historical education and historical memory, their norm-legal regulation and institutional support, as well as real educational practices after 1991. The experience of the several years (since 2014) on the introduction of the historical and cultural standard for teaching the school course of the history is considered as a collective attempt by the authorities and society to lead historical and educational policies to a common denominator in terms of the content and value. The special accent in the article concerns the problems of the teacher professional training for the implementation of the state historical and educational policy of the Russian Federation within given framework, considering the specifics of the contemporary informational space. Both methodological and organizational restrictions were identified in secondary and higher schools (primarily at specialized faculties of pedagogical universities), which have a significant impact on the formation of civil identity through historical education, both at the stage of training pedagogical personnel and in the process of studying the school course of the history.

Integrating Electricity Priorities into Healthcare and Education in India: A Review of National and Subnational Policies

This paper is part of WRI’s Energy for Development Initiative, which integrates clean energy into strategies for improving development outcomes across the Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan. The paper provides an overview of national and state healthcare, education, and multisectoral policies to show how they address integration across sectors and reports stakeholder suggestions on integrating the planning requirements of development sectors with electricity.

Model of the professional profile of a class teacher: formats of activity

Program documents that form the state educational policy in the country, studies of modern educational models and practices prove the priority of solving the problem of educating the younger generation. In this regard, the status and role of the class teacher in the educational space of the school increases, which determines the need to develop high-quality tools for his professional and personal development. The problem of the study: the definition and systematics of modern formats of the class teacher's activity in an educational organization. The purpose of the study: designing a model of the professional profile of the class teacher in accordance with the formats of his professional activity and self-development. Research methods: critical analysis of pedagogical, psychological and regulatory sources, comparative analysis of the phenomena of educational practices based on a paradigmatic approach, design, modeling, vectors of the class teacher's professional work as an organizer and implementer of educational events; the need for a multidimensional professional profile of the class teacher is justified; its integrative model is developed, reflecting all formats of professional activity and personal development. Key conclusions: the developed model of the professional profile of the class teacher is the basis for determining his fundamental characteristics as a professional educator and a self-developing personality. The presented profile allows you to analyze the practical work of the class teacher according to various parameters and is a tool for building a mechanism for evaluating his professional work.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY FEATURES OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STATE POLICY OF DEVELOPMENT OF EXTRACURRICULAR EDUCATION AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

In the article the author analyzes the state educational policy on the out-of-school system at the regional level and focuses on the importance of out-of-school education as an important component of the educational system of each region and Ukraine as a whole. It is noted that in the context of reforming the national educational system, extracurricular activities should become an integral component of the educational structure of each region of the state. The analysis indicates that extracurricular education operates in different educational areas, and interest classes protect the child from the negative social impact of the street, sometimes from the negative impact of the family, excessive fascination with social networks and the Internet in general. The author emphasizes the importance of supporting local governments and public authorities in the activities and development of out-of-school education in the transformation of the educational sector of Ukraine, the use of new methods and approaches to the functioning of out-of-school. Highlights extracurricular activities as an educational field that plays an important role in the education of student youth, which is designed to create conditions for social development and creative self-realization of children, promotes their social security and professional orientation, prevention of negative manifestations in youth. It is noted that it is at the regional level that it is necessary to create appropriate conditions for the development of the industry as an effective intellectually rich environment in the educational regional space. The article emphasizes the importance of actions of local governments as founders of out-of-school education institutions and bodies that provide affordable and high-quality out-of-school education in the region. A positive result of extracurricular education can be achieved if the efforts of public authorities and local governments, as well as educational institutions and the public sector.

Влияние физической культуры и спорта на социализацию студентов

Socialization is the process of social formation of a person, the formation of his social status.The interest of the state educational policy in the possibilities of physical culture and sports in the implementation of the tasks of training future specialists is growing. Physical culture and sports with the help of their specific means really positively affect the process of socialization of the students ' personality. In the process and as a result of physical culture or sports, there is a harmonious combination of physical and spiritual, ideological and labor, moral and aesthetic education, which affects the increase in the level of social maturity of those involved

Henciclopedia, Humanidades y una campaña contra la analfabetización del Uruguay

The author examines the campaign in two online, free-access Uruguayan publications, Henciclopedia and Interruptor, for the reassertion and renovation of the Humanities in the age of Tweets and Messaging under an aggressive neoliberal capitalism that threatens to commercialize and quantify all forms of knowledge acquisition and transmission. The group responsible for these digital publications were responding to the war waged against the Humanities in Universities and High-schools by reductionist State education policies that emphasized only utilitarian criteria to establish priorities in secondary and tertiary education. The article also examines the debate among different members of the group between traditional and poststructuralist accounts of the continuing value of writing and reading literature and their relationship to changing approaches to the notion of “Truth”.

Chinese music culture in the state educational policy of the people's Republic of China

Chinese music culture in the state educational policy of the people's Republic of China

Digital education as a new pedagogical paradigm

The society is characterized by the expansion of digital services into all spheres of human life, including education. The digital technology sector plays a leading role in the development of a digital society. The introduction of digital services into education at all its levels is supported by government initiatives as a promising guideline for the transformation of the entire society, taking into account global practices. The research problem is: what are the mechanisms of digital education as a new pedagogical paradigm? The purpose of the research is to substantiate the features of digital education as a new pedagogical paradigm and a component of state educational policy. The research methods are data analysis of Internet sources, scientific works, generalization, systematization. The research results: new educational opportunities through the use of digital resources have been substantiated; the main features of digital education have been identified; the prospects for digital education as an innovative model have been outlined. Key findings: the introduction of digital education into a university environment has been considered in two contexts: as a necessary content of education and as a means of teaching; the main features of digital education focus on consumer preferences, organization of rational user interaction, algorithmized interaction of its users, remote work with information resources, network interaction, etc.; infection for various consumer groups; the ability to operate on different means and compatibility with other applications; the prospects for digital education are the construction of an ergonomic communicative environment of an educational institution, the possession of digital competencies by all subjects of education; motivation of scientific and pedagogical personnel to work in a new educational environment, updating academic disciplines, etc.