Education Commons^™

Preferred Mentoring Characteristics And Doctoral Students’ Research Self-Efficacy, Ashley Johnston

Dissertations

Mentoring relationships, even though essential to all aspects of one’s life, are an important part of the educational experience. Levinson (1978) found that it was the most important relationship one could have and vital to those in the early adulthood stage of development. Furthermore, graduate students seek to become better researchers; therefore, research skill development is essential to the graduate school experience. The ability to develop these skills can aid in the ability to identify oneself as a researcher. Using Levinson’s adult development theory and Markus and Nurius’ possible selves theory as the theoretical framework, the goal of this study …

Development Of Workforce Skills: Student Perceptions Of Mentoring In First Robotics, Katie Joan Veal Wallace

Dissertations

In today’s global economy, new workforce competencies are needed for success at both individual and societal levels. The new workforce skills extend beyond basic reading, writing, and arithmetic to include higher order processes such as critical thinking and problem solving. Technical job opportunities have grown by approximately 17%, yet the United States continues to decline in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Further, U.S. students earn average or below average test scores when compared to other developed countries. Researchers cite the need to incorporate the learning of workplace skills into secondary education curriculum, and advocates call for new teaching …

Conceptualizing Doctoral Student Mentoring, Flint L. Brent

Dissertations

In this study, there was a convenience sample of 145 doctoral students from 35 states and the District of Columbia. The demographic breakdown of the participants was 101 females and 44 males, with an age range of 22 through 68 years of age, and there were 98 Caucasian and 23 African American participants. The modal doctoral student was 36 years old, heterosexual, Caucasian, and female in the dissertation phase of pursuing a PhD. In this study, the modal doctoral student defined an ideal mentor as someone who functions as a role model, and demonstrated integrity, provided guidance, and developed a …

The Relationship Between Implementation Of School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention And Supports And Performance On State Accountability Measures, Adriana M. Marin, Hollie Gabler Filce

Faculty Publications

This study examined data from 96 schools in a Southeastern U.S. state participating in training and/or coaching on School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) provided by the State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) in their state. Schools studied either received training only (“non-intensive” sites) or training and on-site coaching (“intensive” sites). Fidelity of implementation was self-evaluated by both types of schools using the Benchmarks of Quality (BOQ). Some schools were also externally evaluated using the School-Wide Evaluation Tool (SET), with those scoring 80% or higher determined “model sites.” Using an independent sample t-test, analyses revealed statistically significant differences between …

Advisement Satisfaction Among Community College Students In Mississippi, Latoya Tamiko Jones-Reed

Dissertations

Mississippi lacks a formal unified method for evaluating academic advising programs, and it is unclear whether advisement practices are satisfactory and aiding in student success. This study attempted to assess advisement satisfaction among students attending community colleges in Mississippi. The purpose of this study was to explore the level of satisfaction among Mississippi community college students with advisement. An additional aim of this study was to determine if advisement satisfaction is influenced by race, gender, non-traditional student status, first-generation student status, or on/off campus housing across Mississippi community college student populations. Students from each of the 15 community colleges in …

The Reported Needs Of A Teacher Mentoring Program, Kimberly Myers Tillman

Dissertations

The following study was conducted in four public school districts in south Mississippi and involved a combination of 167 administrators, mentors, and novice teachers. The purpose of this study was to measure the reported needs of a teacher mentoring program as perceived by novice teachers, mentor teachers, and administrators. An additional purpose of the study was to examine administrators’ perceptions of how alternate route and traditional route teachers differ in their needs of a teacher mentoring program.

Two multivariate of analysis (MANOVA) tests were conducted to measure the differences among novice teachers, mentors, and administrators in their perception of what …

Set Up For Success: An Examination Of The Ronald E. Mcnair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program's Mentoring Component, Dwuena Cene' Wyre

Dissertations

Often, individuals are set up to fail. However, effective mentoring can set individuals up to succeed. This nonexperimental cross-sectional, predictive study examines the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program's mentoring component. Specific focus is placed on faculty mentor competency and its impact on McNair student intent to attain a doctoral degree and awareness of graduate school.

Cohen's (1993, 1995) Principles of Adult Mentoring Scale-Postsecondary Education Scale is utilized to assess McNair student perceived faculty mentor competency. Carrera's (2002) measures of effectiveness for the McNair Program's mentoring component are also used in this study.

Sequential multiple regression is the employed method …

The Principal's Role In Teacher Retention, Sametra Danyal Chisolm

Dissertations

As efforts are made to identify factors contributing to teachers leaving or staying in the teaching profession, teacher retention continues to pose a challenge for school administrators. Factors such as principal behaviors, principal leadership, school climate/teacher morale, professional development opportunities, and teacher mentoring programs seem to positively impact teachers' decisions to remain in the profession.

The purpose of this study was to gather data to determine whether principal behaviors, principal leadership, school climate/teacher morale, professional development opportunities, and teacher mentoring programs affect teacher retention. A questionnaire, adapted from the Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education (formally Charlotte Advocates for Education) research …