This qualitative dissertation examines how teacher preparation programs take up policy messages from two state agencies. These questions guided the study: 1) What are the messages about RTI and MTSS from the California Department of Education and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; and, 2) How are RTI and MTSS taken up by preparation programs and understood by teacher educators? The research sites were two large public universities in urban areas in California with general and special education teacher preparation programs. Data was obtained from the websites of the CDE and CCTC, interviews with teacher educators, and preparation program materials.

Findings support that the CDE is the major proponent of RtI and MTSS but lacks the regulatory power to impact teacher preparation. While the CCTC did have regulatory authority over teacher preparation its guidelines were written in broad language and did not require that programs include specific practices necessary to implement RtI and MTSS. Without this regulatory press incorporation of RtI and MTSS was at the discretion of faculty. Special education was the source of knowledge about RtI and MTSS despite the fact that the CDE clearly situates these practices in general education. General education teacher educators were ambivalent about RtI and MTSS and were unwilling to sacrifice precious time during initial preparation to these topics.

These findings have implications for policy makers, teacher educators, and research on policy implementation.

This dissertation is a qualitative case study of how a large urban school district in California designed and implemented professional development (PD) for principals. Three main questions guided my investigation: What perspectives on the principalship were reflected in the planning processes and resultant activities? What approaches to professional development were reflected in the planning processes and resultant activities? And to what extent did the planning processes and resultant activities indicate a differentiated view of principals' developmental needs? I pay particular attention to how individuals interacted with each other and with ideas as part of design teams, and how the organizational context and institutional environment of the district influenced these teams. I explore in detail three elements of this district's approach: an administrator institute that occurred prior to the start of the school year, the induction and training of new principals, and the ongoing development of high school principals.

The findings can be summarized as follows. The planning of PD activities primarily reflected considerations of the district and only secondarily the developmental needs of principals. The PD planning teams consisted mostly of central office middle managers, who often invoked operational exigencies and fear of compliance failure to influence the content of PD agendas. The PD sessions focused on developing the managerial capabilities of principals, communicating key district messages, and, in some instances, enabling the sharing of information among principals. Central office personnel used the PD sessions as opportunities to enhance their legitimacy within the district, highlighting their commitment to serving principals and mitigating compliance challenges. Consequently, the PD activities mainly consisted of presentations and whole-group discussions focused on technical and compliance issues. The processes used in PD sessions did vary, however, depending on the specific topic, the grade level of the principals, and the department charged with facilitating the session.

This study extends the literature by providing insights into how district central offices conceptualize the principalship, how central offices are influenced as they plan and implement PD for principals, and, more generally, how policy decisions are shaped within a central office. This study challenges districts to carefully attend to the tension between management and instructional leadership and to recognize the diverse array of forces that impact their decisions as they design PD for school leaders.

Community college has always been an attractive choice for many from the perspective that it offers access to higher education without the constraints typical of more elite four-year institutions. But while its egalitarian mission offers potentially unlimited second chances, the reality of persistent low attainment rates--despite investments in new initiatives and interventions--brings us back to the question of how community colleges both promote and constrain opportunities for students.

To shed light on the viability of community college as an avenue to higher education, this study investigated the educational experiences of a group of students who transitioned directly from high school to community college in the fall of 2007. The design of the study employed multiple in-depth interviews with students over a twenty-month period. Forty youths from four high schools in two urban school districts in northern California were recruited and interviewed in the spring of 2007. Subsequent interviews were conducted over three semesters in community college. Information from informal communication with student participants and interviews with key administrators and staff at one community college district were used to contextualize formal student interviews. Together, these data revealed the opportunities and challenges a set of students experienced as they moved to and through community college.

The experiences of participants in this study show that the college pipeline leaks very quickly, with the largest portion of attrition occurring between the first and the second semester of enrollment. Three factors emerged as key explanations for the observed patterns of community college enrollment. The first factor encompasses the institutional features specific to high schools and community college, such as counseling and academic preparation/supports, that may or may not be adequate to the task of moving students forward. The second and third factors--a student's level of academic preparedness and a student's familial and life circumstances--are individual factors that can affect the student's performance and the availability of support as she progresses through college. The results of the study indicate that the notion of college preparedness ought to be expanded, given that students' capacity to respond to challenges in college were influenced not only by college guidance experienced in high school but also by their social frames of reference.

This dissertation responds to the growing emphasis on evidence-based instruction and instructional decision-making by examining teachers' perspective on evidence in high school departments. There is a reasonably large body of work on high schools, including a number of studies that discuss the role of the subject department, and a smaller body of work specifically on academic departments. Yet few studies focus on how secondary subject matter departments process and use student assessment data or mediate assessment-related educational policy. This study employs a case study of two subject area departments, English and Social Sciences that have been involved in various reforms over 20 years in one high school. Through multiple interviews, informal conversations, and observations of teachers' work in departments and teams, the study focuses on how the departments in the present reform period use student evidence to inform practice.

Findings indicate that the ability to respond effectively to current assessment expectations depended on the departments' specific reform history, commitment, and capacity. The English Department had a more extensive history of student assessment focused on writing, and was more prone to resist a focus on external standardized measures. Both departments were more inclined to attend to assessments if they were more closely tied to their own curriculum or had consequences for students (such as the high school exit exam). They were more skeptical about the utility of evidence resulting from other external assessments. Pressures around external assessment had little impact on teachers' work in departments or in the classroom, but did erode the time and resources needed to continue with internally relevant assessments.

Site leadership over 20 years varied in its reported effect on department perspectives and practices, but did reflect a growing presence of district pressures. The district's pressures in turn placed new demands on site leaders in their work with subject departments. The study has far-reaching implications for the training of teachers, department heads, and administrators.