ADEQUATE FUNDING for PRIMARY EDUCATION in the ARTIBONITE DEPARTMENT of HAITI by CLAYTON CARL NYLUND a DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO
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ADEQUATE FUNDING FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION IN THE ARTIBONITE DEPARTMENT OF HAITI By CLAYTON CARL NYLUND A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2016 © 2016 Clayton Carl Nylund To God Almighty ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to first acknowledge my Lord, Jesus Christ. I thank Him for the example He set, the mandate He established, and for the love He has for each of us. I thank Him for laying the vision of this study on my heart in 2011 and for moving every mountain along the way. To my wife, Natalie, I owe so much. I am thankful that she was willing to marry me in the midst of this study, and spend our first years visiting the schools of Haiti instead of more attractive destinations. She inspired me. She reassured me. She pushed me. She fed me. She clothed me. She took care of me when I was ill. She rode with me in the exhausting streets of Port-Au-Prince and beyond. She spent hours with me in crumbling, neglected schools. She watched over me. She watched over our teams. She always wore a smile. She was, and will always be, the love of my life. I must thank my family. Everything I am is because of what they instilled in me from a young age. I thank my parents, Robert and Sandy, for raising me, loving me and supporting me every day of my life. I thank my father for showing me that I had the ability to solve, design, create and fix anything. I thank my mother for having high expectations, insisting that college was the only option, and for pushing me beyond mediocrity. I thank my sister, Annie, and her husband, Jared, for taking me in after my undergrad and introducing me to Haiti. They exposed the need that existed beyond my family, my community and myself. I thank them for opening my eyes and showing me the world. I need to thank Reid Fleshman for standing by my side these past five years. The first two trips would not have been possible without him and Ellie being there with us. They believed in the vision, they believed in me, and they always came to serve. I must also acknowledge the 4 other team members that came as well. The Konen Family, my mother Sandy, Peggy Huestis, Emily D’Ambrosio, Rachel Keyes and Caleb Cruz all gave tremendously to this project. I must thank Rick Alford for allowing my team to stay at his orphanage for all three trips. His staff shuttled us, fed us, translated for us, and kept us safe and secure. Although we returned each day with burdened hearts, the hope within the children of Destiny Village lifted our spirits every night as we saw what Haiti could be. Several of my colleagues from Howard W. Blake High School must be acknowledged. I must thank Jacqueline Haynes, Madam Musial, Isaiah Pierrelus and Moise Civil for their contributions to the assessment translation and the assessment copies. I must also thank the numerous donors who supported this study financially. The Mission Church, Annie and Jared Brown, Jeffrey and Leslie Nylund, Anthony Stranges, Emily D’Ambrosio, the Spaier Family, the Konen Family and the Fernandez Family. This study would not have been possible without their support. I must thank my committee, the faculty, and the staff at the University of Florida’s College of Education. Each of my professors equipped me with the tools necessary to pursue this study, and be successful in doing so. I thank my committee chair, Dr. R. Craig Wood, for his guidance, efficiency and expertise. A world-renown scholar of education finance, his wisdom helped to navigate me through this tumultuous journey. Lastly, I must thank the students, parents, and administrators from the four testing sites. The fact that they agreed to let our team administer the assessment in their schools reflected their kind hearts, their trust and their hope for a better tomorrow. They understood why we were there, they understood the vision, and they understood the implications that this study could have. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................8 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................9 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................11 Haitian Education (Pre-Earthquake) .......................................................................................11 Haitian Education (Post-Earthquake) .....................................................................................14 Statement of Problem .............................................................................................................18 Purpose of Study .....................................................................................................................19 Research Questions .................................................................................................................19 Significance of Study ..............................................................................................................20 Limitations of Study ...............................................................................................................20 Organization of Study .............................................................................................................21 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ........................................................................................24 Haiti’s Education Expenditure ................................................................................................24 Student Achievement in Haiti .................................................................................................26 Defining and Determining Adequate Funding .......................................................................30 Professional Judgment Approach ....................................................................................31 Evidence-Based Approach ..............................................................................................34 Summary .................................................................................................................................38 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...........................................................................................47 Measures of Haitian Mathematical Achievement ...................................................................47 The Sample of Haitian Students ......................................................................................47 Instrument of Measurement .............................................................................................48 FCAT 1.0 Development and Construction ......................................................................48 Translation of the Instrument ..........................................................................................51 Administration of the Instrument ....................................................................................51 Comparative Data Source ................................................................................................52 Descriptive Statistics ..............................................................................................................52 Sample Mean ...................................................................................................................52 6 Median .............................................................................................................................53 Range ...............................................................................................................................53 Standard Deviation ..........................................................................................................53 Pearson Correlation Coefficient ......................................................................................54 Measures of Adequacy ...........................................................................................................54 Summary .................................................................................................................................55 4 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS ..........................................................................................57 Haitian Mathematical Achievement Results ..........................................................................57 Achievement by Grade ....................................................................................................58 Achievement by Age .......................................................................................................58 Achievement by Category ...............................................................................................59 Third-Grade Achievement for Haitian and Floridian Students ..............................................59 Adequacy Measures ................................................................................................................60 Summary .................................................................................................................................61