Educational Administration and Supervision Commons^™

A Descriptive Analysis Of Demographic Characteristics And Their Influence On Student Attendance At Programming Board Events, Kayla Person

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to analyze selected demographic characteristics of students who attended programming board events at a medium size, four-year, public institution located in the upper Midwest to determine if statistically significant differences were present between attendees and the full-time undergraduate population. The study tested for: (a) significant differences in the demographic characteristics of full-time undergraduate students who attended one or more programming board events versus fulltime undergraduate students who did not attend programming board events, (b) significant differences in the demographic characteristics of students who attended more than one programming board event versus those who attended …

One Step On A New Journey, Salima Shahzad Arwani

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of A High School Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (Siop) Implementation, Samuel L. Ray

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many school systems across the USA have implemented sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP) strategies to help their English language learners (ELLs) master core content while they learn English. Most studies have reported positive results from using SIOP strategies with ELLs. Elementary and middle school studies were available, but studies of SIOP implementation in a comprehensive high school were lacking. This action research project was initiated by teacher leaders (department chairs) and the school principal. It included a year of combined SIOP training and implementation. After the first academic year of utilizing SIOP school-wide, an anonymous electronic survey was used to …

Teacher Reflection Among Professional Seminary Faculty In The Seminaries And Institutes Department Of The Church Educational System, Ryan S. Gardner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This qualitative study aimed at exploring and explaining the practices and processes of teacher reflection among a group of professional secondary-level religious educators in the Church Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as seeking to understand the perceived impact of those reflective practices on the professional development of these teachers. The researcher described, analyzed, and interpreted the data to develop a mid-range grounded theory for explaining the process of teacher reflection in a way that could lead to the improvement of teacher reflection among these teachers as an integrated function of professional development. …

Comparing The Student Profile Characteristics Between Traditional Residential And Commuter Students At A Public, Research-Intensive, Urban Commuter University, Dan Gianoutsos

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The residential-versus-commuter student comparison has been contemporaneous in higher education research since Arthur Chickering's classic study in 1974. However, the majority of these empirical comparisons were conducted at residential institutions or used a variety of institutions that were weighted toward residential institutions. Therefore, there is a need for further empirical research comparing traditional residential and commuter students at commuter institutions. This study compared the student profile characteristics, which were categorized as demographic, prematriculation, and matriculation, between traditional residential and commuter students at a public, research-intensive, urban commuter university. Status attainment served as the theoretical framework for this comparative classification study. …

Licensing Policies Of Public School Principals, Jerri Mausbach

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A descriptive rationalist policy analysis was used to examine current licensure policies in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. The differences and similarities between states that received Race to the Top competitive grant funds and those that did not were examined, in addition to the proposed policy reforms included in recipients of Race to the Top competitive grant funds. The demands made of public school principals in the 21st century have increased significantly. In addition to the continuing role of school manager, today's principals are also expected to be instructional leaders, and in some cases exemplary leaders.

With …

Analyzing The Relative Efficiency Of Nevada Secondary Schools, Jesse Welsh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A definitive answer to how to allocate school-level expenditures to yield the greatest "bang for the buck" has continually eluded education finance researchers. With increased regulation, oversight, and sanctions resulting from the No Child Left Behind Act, paired with financial strains on states' education budgets, measuring schools' production and efficiency has become urgent.

The methodology for this study was comprised of two phases. Phase I analyzed the per-pupil expenditures of middle and high schools over a three-year period and developed descriptive statistics that revealed the expenditure patterns by category. Phase II used a micro-level economic approach, data envelopment analysis, to …

Alumni Participation: An Investigation Using Relationship Marketing Principles, Lisa Ann Kelleher

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated in what ways alumni relations officers use relationship marketing principles, concepts, and bonding levels to strengthen the ties between alumni and their alma maters. Alumni programs and services at select high intensive research institutions of higher education were explored and an explanation was offered for how using relationship marketing in alumni relations might be beneficial. A literature synthesis, drawn from an extensive examination, evaluation, and interpretation of alumni relations and relationship marketing literature, helped to inform this exploratory study. Using a qualitative method of study, data was gathered through interviews with senior alumni relations officers, by observing …

A Change Of Heart: A Phenomenographic Study Of Conversation, Marjorie Kay Meckes Conner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated the use of a school-level leadership model intended to explore the institutionalization of principal-teacher conversations as a tool in leading and learning. An elementary principal and two teachers at five elementary schools were selected for the study. Over an eight-week time, the principal and each teacher held a series of at least four conversations. The investigator interviewed each of the fifteen participants prior to any conversations, at the mid-point of the conversations and at the conclusion of all conversations. The purposes of this exploratory study were to document participant perceptions of the usefulness and importance of principal-teacher …

A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Principal Communication And School Climate, Reece Oswalt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Mixed methods triangulation research design was used in order to explore the relationship between principal communication and school climate. The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Elementary Schools (OCDQ-RE) and interview protocols on principal communication were administered to principals and teachers at three elementary schools each having between 700-1000 students in an urban school district consisting of approximately 300,000 students. Each school had between 80-100% Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL), was designated Adequate according to No Child Left Behind Act (2001) as published in the 2009-2010 School Accountability Reports, and had a principal that had been assigned to that school for …

The Road Traveled To Becoming A Safe High School, Monica J. Pufky Cortez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many urban school districts share a common profile of high dropout rates, low graduation rates, high discipline statistics and acts of school violence, and low student achievement on assessments. Researchers have argued high schools are teaching students in ways that are not only ineffective but also fail to provide the requisite tools for students to achieve success in the 21st century (Gates Foundation, 2010). Additional voices claim urban high schools are not adequately preparing students to become successful citizens for a knowledge-based society (Cuban, 2007).

Using qualitative methodology, this naturalistic study revealed five factors that contribute to creating a safe …

Creating Effective Leadership Development Programs: A Descriptive Quantitative Case Study, Spencer Holt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An organization's long term success is strongly correlated with its ability to build effective and dynamic leaders. Many senior executives acknowledge that there is a lack of formal processes for developing new and current leaders who possess the appropriate skills, aptitudes, and perspectives needed to assume positions of leadership (Cadrain, 2005; Collins & Holton, 2004; Taylor, 2004). Organizations must be able to provide an environment in which future and current leaders learn how to effectively lead and carry out the missions of their companies. This study uses a descriptive quantitative case study method to explore what skills, behaviors, and practices …

It's A Matter Of Principal: Examining Relationships Between Leaders' Change Facilitator Style And Students' Academic Progress, Diane Lewis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

At no other time in the history of American education have school principals been faced with as many challenges as today. The era of accountability has increased the daily pressures of leading a school, while responsibility for student achievement is at an all time high.

Some studies have examined a leaders’ impact on teacher behaviors. Fewer studies have examined the possible impacts that principals have on student learning. In this study, leadership research was reviewed; not only in education, but in business, sports, and other fields. The traits and styles of leaders were explored in an attempt to define the …

Resilient Leadership In High Poverty Schools, Edward P. San Nicolas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children in high poverty schools often receive inadequate services in dilapidated facilities while enduring inexperienced and unprepared educators (Darling-Hammond, 2004). Communities with a dense impoverished population in turn create school wide poverty, which is ultimately more detrimental than individual family poverty (Books, 2004). With most teachers leaving impoverished urban schools within the first five years, it is no surprise of the difficulty to retain qualified and professional school leaders. As suggested by Haberman (2005), attracting educators with specific qualities to fill these critical roles may be the best route to lasting success. Equally important is the possibility to transform existing …

Teacher Preparedness For Teaching And Assessing Depth Of Knowledge, Shelly Rankin Holmes

Dissertations

In the state of Mississippi, students in grades 3 through 8 are required to take an annual assessment, called MCT II, in Language Arts, Mathematics, and, more recently, Science. The results of this assessment may cause punitive consequences for each school and school district. State leaders have become increasingly concerned with student performance and accountability. Therefore, they have redesigned this assessment to accommodate a more challenging curriculum and to ensure alignment with national standards. The unanswered question is whether or not we have adequately prepared teachers for the increase in rigor and depth of knowledge for this assessment. A questionnaire …

Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Of 5th And 8th Grade Science Teachers, Susan Melony Hanson

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine which, if any, variables had a significant relationship to personal science teaching efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies. The independent variables tested were number of undergraduate science methods courses taken, level of teacher education, number of years as a classroom teacher, number of years as a science teacher, teacher beliefs regarding instructional strategies in science, and teacher beliefs regarding student engagement in the science classroom. Through surveys completed by 5th and 8th grade science teachers, the researcher analyzed data via multiple regressions to determine significance. Results of the data analysis showed the greatest …

Factors Influencing International Students' Academic And Sociocultural Transition In An Increasingly Globalized Society, Chung-Hsien Hsu

Dissertations

This study is a mixed-method study. It consists of a quantitative study and a qualitative study. The quantitative study focused on international adult learners’ experiences of adaptation to American academic and social cultures. The qualitative study then investigated their experiences of cultural transition.

Based on the definition of globalized influences (Finger, 2005) and existing studies discussing the effects on globalized educational environments (Merriam & Young), factors related to globalized influences were selected and used to examine the extent to which these factors have affected international students’ adaptation to learning and life in the American university. Additionally, the other two variables, …

The Relationship Between Situational Leadership And Student Achievement, Hope Owens Beaver

Dissertations

The study of leadership has been one of great interest for many years and many leadership theories have since surfaced. Bolman and Deal’s (1991) situational leadership theory places leadership styles into four unique frames and suggests that the most effective leaders are able to utilize the most appropriate leadership frame that a situation might require. This study investigates these situational leadership frames which are structural, political, human resource, and symbolic and the relationship they may have with student achievement based on school performance labels given by the Mississippi State Department of Education.

The study was conducted in two months and …

Relationship Among Teachers' Personality, Leadership Style, And Efficacy Of Classroom Management, Michael Clyde Burkett

Dissertations

In this study, research examined a possible relationship between a teacher’s leadership style, personality, experience, certification, and efficacy of classroom management. Six hundred high school teachers were given questionnaires to complete to report their leadership, personality, and classroom management preferences. These teachers were chosen by a random online search for schools in southern Mississippi. Of the questionnaires sent to the teachers, 151 (25%) were returned and analyzed.

Three main instruments were used to conduct this study. For leadership, a teacher’s leadership style was measured using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. While the instrument measures transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles, only …

The Merit Of Intensive Leadership Development Programs On Building-Level Administrators' Sustainability, Sonja Jean Robertson

Dissertations

With recent research identifying the propensity and ability of principals to lead as a key culprit of school and district failure, it would seem that one of the most reasonable steps should be to better determine how effective specially designed leadership development programs in the area of educational leadership are at not only equipping principals and school-based leaders, but at creating a foundation and a prevailing culture for longevity or sustainability in those positions. If the development of principals and other school-based leaders is vital to the improvement of schools, the effectiveness of the measures implemented to bring about that …