The Significance of Charter Schools and the Privatization of Standards: Holding the Wolf by the Ears

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-29
Author(s):  
Brian Ford
Keyword(s):  
Charter Schools ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Educational Innovation ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
School Reforms ◽  
Component Part ◽  
Teachers Unions ◽  
Standards Based Reform ◽  
The Usa

The dynamics of educational policy discourse in the USA are illustrated by the highly contested positions on charter schools in three arenas: media debates, national policy and local school reform. In media debates, civil society actors – including teachers’ unions, think tanks and print media – engage in polarized exchanges notable for their name-calling and vitriol. In national policy, after two decades of much consensus where charters were viewed as a way of raising standards, policy formation is presently shaped by deep splits on funding and privatization initiatives; charters are increasingly short on the former and seen as potential vehicles for the latter. This manifests itself on the level of local reform, where charters are a component part of numerous school reforms, including a systematic overhaul of the nation's largest school district. There, a corporate model that emphasizes the chief executive officer's role in selecting among productive and unproductive employees has been deployed. The title image (wolf, ears) responds to some of the discourse and is taken from Thomas Jefferson's explanation of the dilemma slavery posed for the USA. As the privatization of standards seems to advance incrementally, the article suggests that a similar dilemma now confronts advocates for public education, especially teachers’ unions, who have previously supported standards-based reform and the use of charters for the purpose of educational innovation.

scholarly journals Innovation and Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bulent Tarman
Keyword(s):  
Charter Schools ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Educational Innovation ◽  
Educational Innovations ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Technology And Economy

We are living in a world that is changing rapidly and becoming more globalized. Especially the changes in the areas of science, technology and economy are becoming effective in the areas like education and health that are closely related to human life. We are experiencing a quick process named "globalization" that changes economic, social and political structures of the world and that no one can predict the outcome. These changes create new opportunities while opening new challenging areas. In order for countries to compete with each other, they need to be creative in all areas and they also need to be reformist to cope with domestic, national and global problems. In this study, the innovations in the area of education throughout the world will be examined and the place of Turkey compared to other countries in educational innovations will be analyzed. Also the concept of "˜Charter Schools" as acceleration in educational innovation in the United State of America, who is the leader in terms of innovation in the World, will be analyzed. This study will also analyze the Charter Schools in the USA and discuss whether the concept can be implemented in Turkey and bring dynamism to education or increase the quality of education. While looking for the answers of these questions, the researcher conducted a literature review and also used the data he gathered while staying in the USA for nine years for pursuing his MA and PhD degrees.

The political background to arts in health

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisy Fancourt
Keyword(s):  
National Policy ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Arts Funding ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Policy And Strategy ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Political Background ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Arts In Health

In recent decades, there has been an increasing number of national policy and strategy papers discussing arts in health in countries around the world. Some of this activity has been driven by national arts bodies, championing the value of the arts in health and wellbeing and advocating for their inclusion within core arts funding and practice. Other activity has been led by health bodies, including health departments within governments and health services themselves. This chapter explores some of the most influential documents and considers their implication for research and practice. It draws on case studies of activity within Ireland, the UK, the USA, Australia, and Nordic countries.

Reflecting or ruminating: listening to the regrets of life science leaders

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Mary Meldrum
Keyword(s):  
Chief Executive Officers ◽  
Life Science ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Executive Officers

PurposeThe overwhelming frequency of failure in trying to bring a safe and effective biotech, pharmaceutical or medical device product to market is truly astounding. This research synthesizes industry leaders' insights on lessons learned from reflecting on professional disappointments.Design/methodology/approachThis research used a qualitative approach to learning from the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Scientific Officers (CSOs) and Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of the most successful life science firms in the USA. A total of 45 industry leaders were interviewed regarding their lingering regrets about their career misadventures.FindingsRegrets were unavoidable because there were opportunity costs for every choice each leader made. Commentary about wisdom gained comprised themes regarding valuable time lost, strategies that could have been enacted, products that failed and essential personnel who were not managed optimally. Contrary to expectations, there was little mention of money that was squandered.Originality/valueNot felt as a solely negative emotion, regrets were recognized by these leaders as a potentially positive influence on their future decisions. Not felt as a solely negative emotion, regret was recognized by these leaders as a potentially positive influence on their future decisions. This exploratory study suggests that learning from retrospective and anticipated regrets benefits life science leaders in gaining clarity of thought regarding their current business challenges. Because prior research on the value of psychological regrets has mostly relied on limited samples, this inquiry contributes a new vantage point by examining a unique population of senior business leaders, thus providing broader applicability to the organizational literature.

scholarly journals Impact Lessons: Engaging Marginalised Communities in National Policy Formation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicky Johnson ◽  
◽  
Kelly Shephard ◽  
Andy West ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Policy ◽  
Policy Formation

scholarly journals Origins and Formation of Corporate Education in the USA

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Iryna Lytovchenko
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Management ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Corporate Education ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Usa

Abstract The article analyzes the process of formation and development of corporate education in the USA in the first half of the twentieth century. It has been determined that the main prerequisites for the development of corporate education in the USA in the first half of the twentieth century were historical, socio-economic, political factors and advances in scientific research including: the rapid growth of the US economy in the twentieth century; dissemination of scientific and technological progress and constant introduction of new technologies in the workplace; a national policy of “welfarism”; scientific works of R. Kelly “Training industrial workers” and D. Morris “Employee training: A study of education and training departments in various corporations”, which contained the first complex researches on training in industry, substantiated the necessity and prospects of this study, analyzed corporate programs of that time, the ideas on scientific management of F. Taylor, F. Gilbreth and S. Thompson, which had a major impact on all business areas. It has been found out that corporate education was the result of evolution of apprenticeship, the oldest and most traditional form of vocational training in the United States. By 1920s a new concept of modern education had been formed in the workplace which had its philosophical foundations, educational programs, technologies, system of providing services and organizational structure. In the period between the First and Second World Wars a new vision of learning at the workplace arose, new teaching methods were developed different from those used in traditional educational institutions; understanding came that the dissemination of knowledge within the whole community would contribute to building a democratic society.

Current School Reforms in Transnational Policy Landscapes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninni Wahlstrom
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
National Policy ◽  
International Standards ◽  
School Reforms ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Discursive Power ◽  
Policy Proposals

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) play an important role in forming transnational education policy. Based on the results of the PISA measurements and other evaluations, the OECD can claim that its policy proposals are evidence based and in accordance with international standards. There is growing interest from the national governments to adapt their national policy strategies to these international standards. However, the translation from the transnational to national policy is a complex process, whereby the national receivers of the policy are selective regarding the policy elements they borrow from those who create and influence transnational policy. Thus, discursive power regarding transnational policy can be understood as power through ideas, making national reforms similar but not identical, and promoting incremental or imperceptible reforms.

scholarly journals Contesting moralities: the politics of wildlife trade in Laos

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarinda Singh
Keyword(s):  
Lao Pdr ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Local Resistance ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
Trade Regulation ◽  
Global Discourse ◽  
Wildlife Populations ◽  
Conservation Organizations

This article examines the intricacy within stylized debates that surround conservation and the regulation of wildlife trade in Southeast Asia. Illegal and unregulated trade in wildlife has been characterized by conservation groups as a great risk for wildlife worldwide and the prime threat for remaining wildlife populations in Laos. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is the centrepoint of the global discourse on wildlife trade. Popular representations of wildlife trade promoted by conservation organizations construct an image of regulation through CITES as a global necessity. The assumed morality of such interventions can provoke counter accusations about the immorality of impositions by Western conservationists. Yet both of these competing representations of wildlife trade regulation encourage externally-focused moralized debates that obscure the internal dynamics within global conservation, national policy formation and local practice.  Recognition of the simplifications that characterize these three domains cautions against any idealized contrast between global hegemony and local resistance in critical studies of conservation. Instead, the focus becomes the contestation that is often hidden within such dichotomies. Keywords: Conservation, wildlife, Lao PDR, CITES 

Corporate governance and financial characteristic effects on the extent of corporate social responsibility disclosure

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 569-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grigoris Giannarakis
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Financial Leverage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Financial Characteristics ◽  
Csr Disclosure ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and financial characteristics and the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in the USA. These corporate governance and financial characteristics are the board meetings, average age of board members, presence of women on the board, the board’s size, chief executive officer duality, financial leverage, profitability, company’s size, board composition and board’s commitment to CSR. Design/methodology/approach – The sample consists of 100 companies from the Fortune 500 list for 2011. The environmental, social and governance disclosure score calculated by Bloomberg is used as a proxy for the extent of CSR disclosure. A multiple linear regression was incorporated to investigate the association of corporate characteristics with CSR disclosure. Findings – Results indicate that the company’s size, the board commitment to CSR and profitability were found to be positively associated with the extent of CSR disclosure, while financial leverage is related negatively with the extent of CSR disclosure. Research limitations/implications – The research is based only on the presence or absence of CSR items in CSR disclosure, and it ignores the quality dimension which can lead to misinterpretation. The results should not be generalized as the sample was based on US companies for 2011. Originality/value – The study assists stakeholders to identify US companies through the extent of CSR disclosures which contributes to the understanding of determinants of CSR disclosure to improve the implementation of disclosure guidelines.

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