This dissertation systematically explores the origins and evolution of the charter school movement in the United States from 1985 to 2015. I begin by analyzing the role of governors in K-12 education policymaking and find that while governors have generally placed greater emphasis on K-12 education policy over time, Republican governors have…

The percentage of full-time college students decreased by 7% in the United States between 2010 and 2018. Modern university leaders confront difficult decisions regarding their institutions' future because of financial challenges related to reduced tuition revenue. Grounded in the theory of diffusion of innovations and the balanced scorecard, the…

Community colleges are the linchpin of the nation's current efforts to increase the proportion of adults with postsecondary education. Yet, despite the significant historical role community colleges have played in expanding access to higher education, there are reasons to question whether community colleges are equipped to supply these additional…

Researchers have shown renewed interest during the past decade in the relationships among politics, policy, finance, and governance of higher education at the state level. Little attention, however, has been paid to state higher education executive officers (SHEEOs), the individuals responsible for leading the agencies that oversee higher…

After providing an all-time high of $24 billion in the late 1970s (in constant 2017 dollars), Congress has significantly reduced our nation's investment in workforce training and employment services at the U.S. Department of Labor to about $5 billion a year today. These services can play a vital role in helping unemployed and low-income people…

To continue the nation's progress in creating safe schools, states and school districts need support to implement evidence-based approaches that address student needs. Since 1999, federal discretionary funding to improve student safety has sought to address the underlying factors--students' social and emotional development and mental and…

This is the companion piece for the report, "Building the Field of Arts Engagement: Prospects and Challenges." The literature featured in this semi-annotated bibliography was published between 2000 and 2014 and concerns audience development and audience engagement. Some 38 methodologically robust studies were found. All were published in…

This review presents an examination of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research in the Arab world. A total of 142 publications were identified, spanning a period from 1992 to January 2014. The average number of country-specific publications per year is 5.7 articles. Most publications were produced by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Oman over the last few…

Two major developments in the financial management of higher education have occurred more or less contemporaneously: incentive or performance funding on the part of government and incentive-based budgeting on the part of institutions. Both are based on fiscal incentives. Despite their several inherent and interconnected similarities, incentive…

Recent years have witnessed not only the growth of charter schools, but also a surge of philanthropies acting as institutional entrepreneurs who offer both funding and legitimacy. And yet, over a short period of time, foundations' once diffuse giving has become increasingly concentrated. In order to explain these changing dynamics of philanthropic…

Critical gaps currently exist in the availability of high-quality preschool, particularly in low-income areas of Sonoma County, California. Building on the county's interest in universal preschool, and the body of work already conducted in the county supporting it, this report provides a plan to expand access to preschool and to raise the quality…

In this paper, we examine the enactment of culturally relevant education in an urban early childhood setting in the US. This descriptive case study used a sociocultural framework that emphasizes the relationship between structure and agency. The research question that guided the study was: How does an urban, non-profit early childhood educational…

Environmental education (EE) is vital in addressing global environmental problems. Educational institutions are integrating EE into their curricula, but studies indicated the need for its intensification. This mixed method study assessed the integration of EE in Teacher Education Programs (TEPs) in Region III, Philippines. Respondents were 10…

This study explores the education governance system to deal with major public crisis in China. Specifically, the literature review on the emergency system of national education, the school's response to public crisis and public crisis education have been examined to analyze the comprehensive development of China's education governance system…

Current epistemic governance analyses in higher education ignore systemic power relations between Northern and Southern researchers. This paper does focus on previous approaches to understanding epistemic governance, but rather moves beyond these towards a Southern evaluative and prospective comprehension. The paper is primarily theoretical. We…