Education Commons^™

Predicting Adolescents' Academic Achievement: The Contribution Of Attention And Working Memory, Diane Elizabeth Napier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the direction and strength of the relation between three different areas academic achievement and working memory with adolescent students. The data analyzed included ratings for inattention, a diagnosis of ADHD (or not), and demographic information for race/ethnicity. Fifty children aged 11 to16 years of age participated in the study. Participants were recruited from several middle schools, homeschooling networks, and churches from a southeastern state of the United States. Each participant completed a standardized achievement test, a behavioral rating scale, and visual and verbal working memory tests. The research questions investigated: 1) the relation between visual and …

Twenty-Five Years Of Giving: Using A National Data Set To Examine Private Support For Higher Education, Karen Ann Frank

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Resource dependencies have increased substantially at colleges and universities over the years due to economic declines, recessionary periods, and decreased funding from state allocations. The purpose of this study was to advance an understanding of private support for higher education as a source of supplementary funding. As the environment continues to become more competitive for outside resources, institutions of higher education can benefit from more substantive and objective research on private voluntary support to better meet their growing needs for additional resources.

Effective financial management requires a greater understanding of the expected size of financial contributions to assist with strategic …

Perceptions Of Practitioners In A Voluntary Prekindergarten On Probation, Susan Evelyn Weber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the perspectives and beliefs that practitioners have about prekindergarten in a Voluntary Prekindergarten program unable to meet minimal accountability requirements. The exploratory questions included: What are the beliefs and perceptions about effective and appropriate early childhood education among practitioners in a Voluntary Prekindergarten program on probation? And in what ways does probation influence practitioners' perceptions and beliefs about early childhood education? I used participants from a school where I conducted a pilot study. My data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews, resumes, my research reflective journal, and the centers program improvement …

Teaching With The End In Mind: A Teacher's Life History As A Legacy Of Educational Leaders, Daryl Adam Ward

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the life history of a female teacher by examining her beliefs about leaving a teaching legacy and by analyzing the narratives of four educational leaders as they reflect on the generative behaviors of this teacher. The research questions guiding this study were: (a) What elements of this teacher's life history contributed to creating a legacy of educational leaders? (b) What are the perspectives of the educational leaders impacted by this teacher as they relate to crafting an educational legacy? (c) How do the life stories of the teacher and educational leaders intersect …

The Effects Of Emotive Reasoning On Secondary School Students' Decision-Making In The Context Of Socioscientific Issues, Wardell Anthony Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The discrepancy between what students are being taught within K-12 science classrooms and what they experience in the real world has been well documented. This study sought to explore the ways a high school biology curriculum, which integrates socioscientific issues, impacts students' emotive reasoning and their ability to evaluate evidence, make informed decisions on contemporary scientific dilemmas, and integrate scientific content knowledge in their reasoning on SSI. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine differences within and between an SSI treatment group and a comparison group as well as individual differences among students' responses over a semester of …

Design And Validation Of An Evaluation Checklist For Organizational Readiness For Evaluation Capacity Development, Connie F. Walker-Egea

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Evaluation capacity development (ECD) has been acknowledged as a system of processes to help organizations achieve sustainable evaluation practice. Examining the existing evaluation capacity of an organization before starting an ECD process is necessary and will increase the possibilities of success, determined by the establishment or strengthening of an evaluation system into the organization. In response to this need, this study involved the designing of the Organizational Readiness for Evaluation Capacity Development (ORECD) checklist and its initial validation, using a mixed method research design. The study was conducted in four phases, including: (a) the design of the ORECD checklist based …

Can A One-Size-Fits-All Parental Involvement Framework Be Applied To An Entire School District? A Comparative Case Study Of A District Magnet Program, Bradley Wayne Finkbiner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated a district magnet program that required high levels of actual parental involvement. The district that houses this program uses Epstein's framework of parent involvement to reach out to all families. The research sought to match parent responses with the magnet program expectations and the Epstein framework. Interviews were conducted and completed with twenty-four participants including diverse backgrounds. Particularly sought after were parents from different ethnic groups and gender within two separate middle schools. The research also endeavored to learn how the district school choice program forced parents to navigate their child's enrollment, whether at the elementary school …

Integrating Reading And Writing For Florida's Esol Program, George Douglas Mcarthur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis examines an incongruity that exists within Florida's ESOL program. While the curriculum standards direct teachers to "develop and integrate" skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing, student promotions to higher fluency levels are based solely on reading assessments. Listening assessments are also required to "determine instructional needs," but writing assessments are not required and, in most cases, not given. As a result, reading is prioritized, writing is subordinated, the connection between the two skills is broken, and the mutual benefits of integration are lost.

Studies conducted during the last 50 years have consistently shown that the integration …