This study will be conducted in the following steps.
First, use SASS (School and Staff Survey) to measure the state teacher autonomy level across the 50 states in the US in the school year 2011-2012. (the dataset is updated every three years, the school year 2011-2012 is the most recent data).
Two dimensions and 12 items as below will be selected and measured.
1. The level of teachers’ control in their classroom in the following areas:
a. Selecting textbooks and other instructional materials
b. Selecting content, topics, and skills to be taught
c. Selecting teaching techniques
d. Evaluating and grading students
e. Disciplining students
f. Determining the amount of homework to be assigned.
2. Teachers perceived influence over schoolpolicy …show more content…
Categorize the four states’ educational code in the school year 2011-2012 in seven domains: school finance, school personnel training; student testing and assessment, school program definition, school organization and governance; curriculum materials and school buildings and facilities. Conduct discourse analysis of the educational codes and identify the dominating value and the values configuration in each state. The reason to use discourse analysis of state educational codes to identify state political values is because Marshall and her colleagues (1989) found that written educational codes would reflect the basic state core values for they represent the allocation of resources to preferred ends. (Heck, 2004). The reason to pick the seven domain is because Marshall, Mitchell and Wirt (1989) claimed that “these seven alternative state policy mechanisms or domains comprehensively differentiate among the basic themes or arenas for action. In addition, decisions in one domain tend to be made with little concern for those involving the other mechanisms. Moreover, within each of these seven domains they found that policy debates and decisions tend to focus on a relatively small number of competing approaches to the formulation of specific policies or programs.” This study will code each polices in the seven domains to identify …show more content…
Svensson, L.G. (2006) New Professionalism, Trust and Competence: some conceptual remarks and empirical data, Current Sociology, 54(4), 579-593. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0011392106065089
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