Education Commons^™

Elementary School Principals' Perceptions Of Their Needs For Professional Development In Instructional Leadership, Michael N. Smith Jr.

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to assess Nebraska elementary principals' perceptions of their need for further instructional leadership professional development. Relationships were examined between the Nebraska elementary principals' perceptions and various demographic variables. The independent variables were defined as (1) the principal's personal characteristics—age, gender, years of teaching experience, highest degree earned, age at first administrative appointment, years of experience as a principal, years in current position, and (2) the individual elementary school's characteristics—school size, district size, grades embraced by the school, and the school's socio-economic status.

Exploring Teachers' Perceptions Of Their Preparedness For Culturally Responsive Teaching, Mary T. Brauch Petersen

Student Work

This study sought to examine how teachers perceived they were prepared for culturally responsive teaching (CRT). CRT refers to the ability of a teacher to use prior knowledge or experience to either teach children of diversity certain content topics or to teach all children in the classroom cultural topics. Culturally responsive teaching is demonstrated by teachers' possessing" (a) knowledge and sensitivity about cultural influences, (b) ability to provide a supportive learning context, (c) appropriate instruction and assessment, and (d) facilitation of parental involvement" (Daunic, Correa, & Reyes-Blanes, 2004, p. 106).

Physiological Profile Of Olympic Style Tae Kwon Do Match, Georgios C. Korellis

Student Work

Olympic style Tae Kwon Do training may achieve accepted training intensity threshold for effective aerobic capacity training, energy expenditure thresholds and elevation in excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Little work regarding the acute metabolic demands during Olympic style Tae Kwon Do competition has been done before. The purpose of this study was to examine the physiological demands of a match in Olympic style Tae Kwon Do. Physiological assessment included measurement of oxygen uptake (V 02), heart rate (HR), blood lactate concentration (BL), rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and body temperature (BT).

A total of 7 subjects between the ages of 19 …

An Empirical Study Of High School Principals' Data -Driven Decision-Making Practices And Their Relationships To Contextual Variables, Mingchu (Neal) Luo

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which Nebraska high school principals practiced data-driven decision-making and to determine the relationships between principals' data-driven decision-making and the contextual factors. The following leadership dimensions were surveyed: school vision, school instruction, school organization, collaborative partnerships, moral perspective, and larger-context politics. Three categories of contextual variables were included for study: principal characteristics as people factors, leadership dimensions as problem factors, and school setting as organization factors.

Private Odyssey: Responsibilities, Challenges, And Needs Of The Beginning Catholic School Principal, Dorothy A. Ostrowski

Student Work

This dissertation describes a multi-case, qualitative study involving six participants from a Midwestern, Catholic diocese and explores the responsibilities, challenges, and needs of the beginning Catholic school principal. The dissertation contains an extensive review of the literature and describes the design and procedures of the study with a summary of the methods and analysis strategies. Job descriptions, interviews, and written responses to provided reflection questions are the primary data sources.

Acute Physiological Responses And Psychological Perceptions Of Various Resistance Training Regimens, William J. Vincent

Student Work

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of four different resistance training protocols associated with periodization of resistance training on the biological signals that are associated with exercise regimens to increase muscle hypertrophy. A secondary purpose was to compare the ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) in the four weight training regimens.

A total of eight male resistance trainers within the ages of 23-35 served as subjects for this study. On the first visit all had a baseline blood assay drawn to measure human growth hormone (hGH) and testosterone (T) and their 5 repetition maximum (RM) strength …

Nebraska Public School Superintendents' Perceptions Of Nebraska's Assessment/Accountability System's Effect On High Schools, Wanda M. Clark

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to determine superintendents' perceptions of the Nebraska assessment/accountability reporting system (STARS) as they effect high schools. Data measuring the superintendents' perceptions of the STARS program included how they perceived the STARS program's effect on teachers, instructional practices, students, building principals, and resources. Demographic information was collected to determine if differences existed between subgroups based on the superintendents' district size, superintendents' years of experience, the district's free/reduced lunch percentage, the district's 11th grade portfolio rating on communication, the amount of STARS funding, and the financial support required from the district.

The Real And Perceived Social And Economic Impact Of School Consolidation On Host And Vacated Communities In Nebraska, Ken Heinz

Student Work

Opponents of school consolidation often argue that when a community loses a high school the community dies a slow death. This paper compares the actual effects of losing or retaining a high school through consolidation to the perceived effects. The actual effects were measured by gathering data on seven indicators. These indicators were: (a) population, (b) per capita income, (c) retail sales, (d) number of retail businesses, (e) pull factor, (f) property taxes, and (g) property valuations. Perceived effects were measured by gathering information from 180 phone surveys conducted with people in nine Nebraska communities that had recently consolidated These …

Between Theory And Practice: Student Teachers' Espoused And Observed Dispositions, Kay A. Keiser

Student Work

The purpose of this research was to determine to what extent, if any, student teachers' self-perceptions of teaching dispositions were congruent with their cooperating teachers' perceptions of the dispositions the student teachers actually exhibited while teaching. To compare perceptions of dispositions, 79 teaching pairs of student teachers and cooperating teachers of an urban Midwestern university completed the Teacher Disposition Index (Schulte, Edick, Edwards, & Mackiel, 2004).

The Relationship Between Observable Teaching Effectiveness Behaviors And Personality Types In A Sample Of Urban Middle School Teachers, Jeaneen Kaye Talbott

Student Work

Fifty-one middle school teacher volunteers in an urban, Midwestern school district were surveyed to determine their personality and temperament type using the 93 forced choice question Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Self-Scorable Form M. Each question contained two options and each question was weighted “1”. Two administrators rated those same teachers' teaching effectiveness using the 34 question Teacher Effectiveness Survey (TES). There were three subscales on the TES; instructional performance, professional development, and leadership skills. The Overall score included all three subscales' mean scores. A 5-point Likert scale with 1 as “Poor” and 5 as “Excellent” was used on the TES. …

A Comparison Of Teachers' And Parents' Perceptions Of The Behaviors Of Effective Catholic Elementary School Principals, Diane M. Cronin

Student Work

This was a quantitative study investigating three main questions. The first two questions ascertained teachers' and parents' perceptions of the most important behaviors of effective Catholic elementary school principals in the areas of leadership styles, religious leader, instructional leader, administrator, and communicator, and the third question compared the perceptions of the two groups.