Digital Commons Network^™

The Manifestation Of Leadership In Three High -Flying New Hampshire Elementary Schools, Steven Thomas Kelley

Doctoral Dissertations

Perhaps the most dominant feature marking today's educational landscape is the presence and growth of "reform efforts" occurring in schools everywhere. Educational institutions across the U.S. struggle to reform and improve the teaching and learning that occurs within their walls. The public demands higher standards, has greater expectations, and demands academic excellence. State testing has pointed out strengths and weaknesses present in our schools and in some cases, prompted state governments to intervene in an attempt to "rescue" schools that are not demonstrating adequate progress.

Over the past fifty years, school administrators and educational researchers have been captivated by the …

Sense Of Place Among New England Organic Farmers And Commercial Fishermen: How Social Context Shapes Identity And Environmentally Responsible Behavior, Anneliese Marie Mueller

Doctoral Dissertations

Given the prominence of sense of place in new environmental education curricula, this study aims to strengthen the conceptual and empirical foundations of sense of place, and to determine how sense of place may be linked to environmentally responsible behavior. For this study, five commercial fishermen and five organic farmers from the New England Seacoast region participated in a series of in-depth phenomenological interviews and observations. The data was systematically coded in order to allow themes and categories to emerge. The results indicate that aspects of the existing conceptual framework of sense of place, such as place attachment, ecological knowledge, …

Where Joy Resides: Four Teacher Educators Evaluate Themselves Via Multiple Literacy Artifacts And Reflections, L Kathryn Staley

Doctoral Dissertations

Through qualitative case studies, I explored what or who influenced four teacher educators to use multiple literacy artifacts and reflections to evaluate themselves, and help their students do the same. I define a wide range of print and non-print mediums as multiple literacies in that some learners rely on them to explore and express what they value as evaluators. Given that some students understand a poem or a social studies concept better when evaluate their interpretations through drama or drawing, as well as talk or writing, it is important for these students to be in classrooms where multiple avenues for …

Efforts To Equalize Funding Between Wealthy And Poor School Districts In Maine, New Hampshire, And Vermont, Michael Robert Harris

Doctoral Dissertations

Funding inequities between rich and poor school districts have been the subject of analysis, litigation, and policy decisions across the United States for almost four decades. Pressures for the reform of state educational funding systems have been driven by the national political trend toward equal educational opportunity and by litigation in state courts. The policy responses by states have varied significantly, however, and that variation has characterized the responses in the three New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Much research nationally has focused on the litigation about school funding, but little study has been given to the …

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Making Change In Early Head Start, Patrice W. Hallock

Doctoral Dissertations

This is a field study of families and home visitors in Early Head Start. Its purpose is to understand the social context of infants born into poverty and to understand the home visiting relationship when families receive intervention services from home visitors who are socially and economically different. Two questions were posed: First, how do socially and economically diverse families perceive infant well-being? Second, what is the experience of families who participate in Early Head Start? The study used interviews, participant observation, and cultural interpretation to understand the perspective of participant families.

The study provided evidence that economically and socially …

Elementary Accreditation: Pro Forma Or Substance? A View From Inside The Schoolhouse Gates, Maryann Johnson Minard

Doctoral Dissertations

Since the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1986, educators, government officials and community members have grappled with the unwieldy task of defining effective measures of school improvement. Calls for accountability and improvement resound in the halls of legislatures, the media, and in communities nationwide. The accreditation of schools has served as a conduit for accountability, but has it served as a vehicle for improvement?

This study sought to determine how closely the process of elementary accreditation through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) aligns with research-based models of effective school change and acts as a …

Third-Grade Evaluators Thrive As Readers, Amy Frances Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

This study addresses the question, "When third grade students become evaluators of themselves as readers, what new roles do they negotiate for themselves?" I studied third grade students who became evaluators of themselves as readers, examining evaluation process. This included their own determination of their strengths, goals, assignments, and what to use as documentation of their learning processes in portfolios, as well as the influence of the classroom community on goal setting. Using observation, co-teaching, and group and individual interviews, I documented the new roles students adopted as they became better evaluators of their learning needs and took a more …

Self -Determination And Success Outcomes Of Two -Year College Students With Disabilities: An Integration Of Quantitative And Qualitative Approaches, Deborah Russo Jameson

Doctoral Dissertations

Two recent movements have occurred in the name of equality of opportunity in a democratic America: the Disabilities Movement in higher education where increasing numbers of students with disabilities are enrolling in college; and the Self-Determination Movement (Wehmeyer, 2000; Ward & Meyer, Fall, 99) as it relates to transition initiatives and positive adult outcomes for individuals with disabilities. To date, the Self-Determination Movement has made few in-roads into higher education, and a relationship between the success of college students with disabilities and self-determination remains largely untested.

The purpose of this study was to investigate a possible relationship between post-secondary success …