Digital Commons Network^™

Empowering Faculty Through Assessment, Katherine Simpson Phd

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

This article explains how faculty and administrators at Lord Fairfax Community College have made assessment a vital practice across campus.

The Influence Of Learning Communities On The Interaction Levels Of English Students, Elizabeth Wilmer Phd

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

This study investigates whether learning communities significantly increase the level of interaction of community-college students enrolled in developmental English.

Are New Faculty Prepared To Teach Diverse Learners?, Audrey Lail Phd

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

The author examines the preparation of community-college faculty, especially those recently hired, to teach the varied students our institutions enroll.

Job Satisfaction Determinants Of Certificated Staff In The Xyz School District, Grant Edward Schmidt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Job satisfaction is closely related to motivation theory. Many factors influence human motivation. For example, employee performance is greatly influenced by the expectancy of what the job will provide, the employees attitude toward personal achievement and advancement, and their wish for harmony in the workplace (Bittel, 1990). The amount of opportunity people see in their jobs also has a direct relationship to their job performance (Hill, 1979). Motivation can be provided by allowing employees to participate in the goal-setting activities (Catt, 1989). Motivators, such as sick leave, medical/ dental plans, and holiday pay are best enjoyed by the employees when …

Effectiveness Of Teacher Preparation Programs As Perceived By First Year Teachers, Loren Harriet Brevik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High rates of teacher attrition, particularly among those within their first years of teaching, have prompted studies aimed at identifying issues and recommendations for analyzing and improving teacher preparation programs. This study used a mixed methodology to investigate effectiveness of teacher preparation programs as perceived by first year teachers. Preliminary focus groups were formed to promote conversation and identify perceived strengths and weaknesses of preparation programs. Feedback from the focus groups combined with topics from extant literature resulted in a survey instrument that was administered to novice teachers as they completed their preparation/certification programs and began their first year of …

Assessment Of General Education Of Doctoral Students Matriculating In An Educational Leadership Program In A Southern New England University, Martin Sivula Ph.D., Thomas D. Sepe, Ph.D.

Higher Education

Higher education usually reserves talk of “general education” to the undergraduate experience. When entering graduate schools, graduate students have dissimilar and diverse undergraduate experiences in general education. Some graduate students have benefit of a solidly constructed undergraduate curriculum, while others have experienced broad distribution or no requirements whatsoever. Demography, language, and their disciplinary curriculum serve to divide them. Interdisciplinary programs have students usually study within the confines of two or more disciplines, and still they would be studying and researching within their disciplinary structures. Even bi-lingual and multi-lingual students still act within their linguistic structures. Stimpson (2002) created a term …

Occupational Stress And Coping Resources Of K-12 Probationary Teachers, Lori Ann Wagner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to measure what factors impact the stress levels of probationary teachers who may or may not be new to the field of education, to determine what demographic characteristics are related to higher levels of stress, to determine what coping resources were successful in reducing stress, and to compare the stress levels and coping resources of probationary teachers to other professionals.

The study used the OSI-R to determine the stress levels of k-12 probationary teachers as related to role overload, role insufficiency, role ambiguity, role boundary, responsibility, and physical environment as measured by the Occupational …

Benefits Of Co-Teaching For Esl Classrooms, Jameelah Abdallah

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Co-teaching has recently become more popular in schools throughout the nation. It has been recognized to have several positive implications for teachers, including increased collegiality, cooperation and information exchange. Co-teaching lowers the student-teacher ratio and exposes the students to differentiated teaching methods. This supports evidence that indicates that students who learn in smaller groups both retain and achieve more in the classroom (Davis, 1993). While co-teaching is widely accepted in special education classrooms, it can also be very beneficial when teaching English to speakers of other languages. At the same time, it exposes English language learners to authentic language; it …

Curriculum Evolution At The Department Of Baking Technology (National Bakery School), Dit, Kevin Street 1998-2008: What Factors Have Brought About A Change In The Curriculum, Mary Kavanagh

Theses

This thesis research set out to examine the factors which have contributed to curriculum evolution at the National Bakery School, Technologicl University Dublin (DIT) from 1998 to 2008. It focused on a number of dimensions which have contributed to a radical shift in curriculum. Those dimensions include biographical, cultural, micro-political, structural, socio-historical, technological and scientific. The research design was essentially a hermeneutical, interpretative case study using qualitative data gathering techniques. The primary research methods employed were interviews conducted with lecturing staff, and a survey conducted with students travelling to Germany for continuing professional development. An extensive literature review was conducted …

The Digest Edition 2009/1 : The Use Of Icts In Schools In The Digital Age: What Does The Research Say?, Marion Meiers, Pat Knight, Gerry White

Research Digest

This edition of The Digest is focused on research that has investigated aspects of digital learning. The body of research sometimes described as ‘e-learning research’ encompasses many aspects of ICT in education, at many levels and in many contexts. For the purposes of this digest, the key question is What does research tell us about digital learning in schools? The first section of the digest is focused on the diverse uses of ICT in schools, and evidence about the ICT literacy of Australian students. This is followed by an overview of evidence about the impact of ICT on student learning. …

Analysis Of Factors Influencing West Virginia Secondary Biology And Science Teacher Attrition Rates, Seth Perry

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The high rate of attrition for beginning teachers has been blamed on many factors. Nationally these include low pay, urban versus rural school settings, age, with younger teachers leaving sooner, and other variables making a complex problem with no clear component responsible for the loss of teachers. This study examined the self reported variables that contribute to high school teachers in West Virginia leaving their profession. An electronic survey instrument was distributed to current secondary teachers across the state. Teachers were asked to respond to questions related to professional satisfaction, perceived value from students and parents, administrative support, content versus …

Examining The Impact Of A Comprehensive Approach To Student Orientation, Thomas Hollins

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

The author presents research on the benefits of providing students with more than one form of orientation to college.

Using Rubrics To Teach Science Writing, Paul E. Bennett Jr.

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

An often-stated goal of education in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields is to teach students to communicate like professionals. In the STEM fields, the single most important thing we can do to teach our students better communication skills is to teach them how to write a lab report. The reason a lab report is so important is not just because it is the end product of a research project, but because each section of a lab report has a particular function that often correlates with different types of communication that a STEM professional needs to use. For …

Rules And Insights: Connecting The Mathematical And Linguistic Abilities Of C.S. Lewis, Kim Regnier Jongerius

ACMS Journal 2008-2009

While most biographical works on C.S. Lewis give passing reference to Lewis' problems with elementary mathematics, few have made an attempt at diagnosing the difficulty or exploring its impact on his writing. A careful study of family correspondence, however, makes it clear that his learning difficulties were not with mathematics alone and suggests connections between attitudes toward and abilities in both mathematics and language. This paper will make these connections clear and will illustrate their ties to Lewis' effective mathematical references.

Embodied Discourses Of Literacy In The Lives Of Two Preservice Teachers, Donna Kalmbach Phillips, Mindy Legard Larson

Faculty Publications

This study examines the emerging teacher literacy identities of Ian and A.J., two preservice teachers in a graduate teacher education program in the United States. Using a poststructural feminisms theoretical framework, the study illustrates the embodiment of literacy pedagogy discourses in relation to the literacy courses’ discourse of comprehensive literacy and the literacy biographical discourses of Ian and A.J. The results of this study indicate the need to deconstruct how the discourse of comprehensive literacy limits how we, as literacy teacher educators, position, hear and respond to our preservice teachers and suggests the need for differentiation in our teacher education …

Adaptive Leadership: Leadership Theory Or Theoretical Derivative?, Bill Cojocar

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Today’s public and private business leaders and leaders of our Armed Forces are faced with challenges that require leadership that is capable of tackling and solving complex problems and issues, with collective, collaborative, timely effective, and innovative solutions. This set of challenges requires leadership that spans the spectrum of leadership theories, traits, and stylistic approaches that is very adaptive, yet direct in nature. This type of leadership is defined as ‘adaptive leadership’ and is a style of leadership that is developing into a new theory of its own, evolving from situational, transformational, contingency, and complexity theories, as described by Nastanski, …

Background Checks And Fingerprinting In Public School Systems (Part Ii), Mindy Salmans

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

This is the second of a three part series of articles discussing background checks and fingerprinting in the K-12 public schools. The first article discussed background checks with the inclusion of fingerprinting—the benefits and limitations as well as the policies of 50 states and the District of Columbia. This article discusses effects of educator misconduct, complaints and accusations, consequences for abusers, state disciplinary action, cause for sanctions, and access to actions.

Challenges And Opportunities To Enhance The Clinical Reasoning Skills Of Medical Students: Lessons Learned From The Advanced Clinical Transactions Pilot Program, Latha Chandran, Frederick Schiavone, Maryam Navaie, John Chen

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Medical school faculty must foster high-quality patient care while simultaneously assessing the clinical skills and reasoning of students in order to promote their independent functioning in the clinical setting. A growing concern noted across medical faculty is that students may complete their undergraduate medical studies without sufficient understanding of how simple clinical tasks are done with real patients. These concerns have been validated by results from numerous studies that have reported many medical students express a lack of confidence and competence to critically evaluate patient needs based on data, a factor that has been linked to problems in performance and …

Data-Driven Decision Making: The Development And Validation Of An Instrument To Measure Principals’ Practices, Marcus Childress

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

From the perspective of preparing school administrators, principals need to learn to use and believe in factual data when they make their administrative decisions. In alignment with the NCLB, the revised Standards for Advanced Programs in Educational Leadership have more emphases placed on school administrators’ ability and knowledge in using data (Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC), 2002; National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), 2002). The ELCC/NCATE (2002) standards serve as school leadership preparation program standards and can be used as a cornerstone for the professional development of existing school administrators (Murphy & Shipman, 1998; Murphy, Yff, & …

Determining School District Organization In North Carolina, David Dunaway, Leigh Ausband, Do-Hong Kim

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The current study sought to answer the next question, “How are the organizational structures of North Carolina school districts determined?” We wanted to understand what factors influenced the organization of school district.

Effects Of Case-Based Learning On Preservice Secondary Teachers’ Multicultural Attitudes: A Mixed Methods Study, Kathryn Lee, Emily Summers, Rubén Garza

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

As our society changes, so must our teacher education practices. In the past decade, the Southwestern U.S. has been transforming into a majority minority region (U.S. Census Bureau 2005), which must in turn reframe the underpinnings of teacher education in this area of our country. As teacher educators, we have known that many preservice teachers lagged in their preparedness to teach students who are culturally, ethnically, and linguistically different from themselves. Teacher education increasingly is being criticized as having inabilities to instruct teacher candidates in ways that produce greater K-12 student learning; diversity awareness will be a cornerstone if we …

Empowering Faculty To Facilitate Distance Education, Jane Arenas, Henry Gray, Paulette Hamner

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Traditional education has undergone major changes over the past decade. Higher education has evolved from brick and mortar to virtual campuses. Technological advancements in communication have changed the way information is presented. The manner in which students learn has also evolved. Educational leaders must also evolve to meet the needs of both students and faculty because, faculty members struggle with changing curricula, non-traditional learning environments and new technology. They need their leaders to assist them with the transitions (Tjosvold 2006). This paper attempts to provide a research-based framework through which educational leaders might empower faculty to better meet the mission, …

Leading Assessment: From Faculty Reluctance To Faculty Engagement, Don Haviland

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Assessing college student learning consumes substantial energy, driven or encouraged by accrediting bodies, the Federal and state governments, and other stakeholders. One might think, for these reasons as well as the longevity assessment has displayed as a movement, that it would be celebrating its many successes in transforming higher education.

Surviving The First Years: A Principals Guide For Implementing A Quality Special Education Program, Lisa Bertrand, Ruth Roberts, Margaret Dalton

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

In today’s schools, building level administrators are faced with a variety of challenges as they strive to provide leadership that promotes successful learning experiences for all students. Promoting the success of all students is also the foundation of current federal legislation with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates as well as the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Answering the call of these directives and the goal for all students to experience success, building level principals must have fundamental knowledge of special education programs and services. However, research indicates that principal preparation course work may not target special education …

Developing And Leading The Quality Enhancement Planning Committee, L. Waller, Cristal Joslin, Calvin Green

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Quality enhancement in higher education is rapidly emerging as a major national and international issue. Rahman (2005) identifies an international movement to promote quality enhancement through “accreditation councils, degree program standardization, quality enhancement cells, quality faculty, and curriculum review.” According to Rahman, the movement is intended to develop “a vision for the higher education system with quality, equity, and efficiency.” Rahman also points out that the United States faces the need to evaluate the validity and quality of accreditation processes in light of the increase in dot-com universities and diploma mills. El-Khawas (1998) indicates that world-wide attention has shifted to …

A 360° View Of Non-Traditional University Presidents, Daryl Delabbio, Louann Palmer

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Institutions of higher learning continue to face many challenges, from declining revenues and increased costs (Fain, 2008) to lack of confidence in their ability to meet the needs of the students and the society they serve (Smith, 2004). At the center of the institution is its CEO: the president. It is in this office and at this person that the buck stops. It is here where decisions are made that will affect the institution and all of its constituencies. As the literal and symbolic leader, the vitality of a given institution is dependent upon the effectiveness of its president (Rhodes, …

Implementing An Assessment Program: A Faculty Member’S Perspective, Robert Becker

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

In 1999, after several exploratory meetings, the college administration established an ad-hoc interdisciplinary assessment committee to begin a conversation about what students were taught and how faculty knew what was learned and what was not. At the first meeting of this committee, composed of representatives of the college’s seventeen teaching departments, the library, student affairs, institutional planning, research, and assessment, and academic affairs, several impediments to a formalized college-wide assessment initiative immediately became apparent. While a culture of informal assessment already existed as instructors daily grappled with effectively teaching their students, the notion of a widespread institutionalized plan was alien. …

Leadership And Organisational Culture: Can The Ceo And Senior Executive Teams In Bureaucratic Organisations Influence Organisational Culture?, Glenys Drew

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The pressure on higher education to embrace a change agenda to cope with an increasingly complex operating environment has been growing over recent years (Hanna, 2003; Pick, 2003). Hanna (2003) writes that “higher education institutions must change – and, indeed, are changing – to meet future needs,” (p. 26) and that they will need to address a number of strategic challenges as they “transform themselves to meet the demands of an increasingly complex and dynamic environment.” (p. 26) These changes may require embracing different ways of operating, forging new and different partnerships to attract funds and undertake research, and streamlining …

Lowering Teacher Attrition Rates Through Collegiality, Jameelah Abdallah

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Since large numbers of teachers leave the teaching profession to go to work in other fields each year, it is vital to ask ourselves several pertinent questions as to why this is happening. Why are so many qualified teachers leaving the teaching profession? What are the affects of high teacher attrition rates on the public school system? What must be done to lower teacher attrition rates and retain new teachers? Schools must find ways to reduce teacher attrition in order to maintain high quality education for students.

University Preparation And The Research/Practice Divide, Gregory Freeman, Frederick Gies

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

A major disconnect between education research and practice is widely acknowledged by both school practitioners and university-based researchers. Evidence and commentary relative to the disconnect are articulated in four articles in the April 2007 issue of Phi Delta Kappan under the theme The Research/Practice Divide. The authors explained, decried, explored, and sought to close the divide; none expressed doubt concerning the existence of the divide in teacher education or education leadership. Davis asserted (2007, p. 569), “It appears that comparatively little of what is written and thought about by scholars and policy makers actually has any appreciable impact on classrooms …