Digital Commons Network^™

Diversity Leadership In Higher Education, Lisa Portugal

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

This paper will focus on issues relating to diversity leadership in higher education, the assessment of diversity leadership issues, and suggestions for successful diversity leadership initiatives. Higher education is in the process of creating more opportunities for a diverse faculty body and issues such as mentoring, building recruiting networks, and creating sponsorship programs are at the forefront of current discussions. Moreover, developing institutional strategic plans and initiatives are essential in the development of diversity leadership agendas. Additionally, issues relating to the distribution of power and participatory management are of particular interest to many institutions of higher education.

Finding Our Way: Leadership For An Uncertain Time, Brian Trautman

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Leaders at different levels within organizations, school systems, and communities are becoming increasingly aware of the concepts and principles of the “new science” of leadership. Many of these same leaders are now beginning to integrate the new science ideology into everyday decision-making processes and practices. New science is also offering leaders the knowledge and understanding needed to effectively transform long-established, hierarchical, mechanistic organizational human resource management models into open, participative, and adaptive learning systems.

The Role Of Higher Education In America: A Spa Or A Smörgåsbord?, Amany Saleh, Marcia Lamkin, David Cox

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

American higher education has a long and rich tradition of seeking higher moral and civic purposes in its endeavors. . . [C]ampuses have been the sites of debate on the critical issues of the day and faculty have sought to provide students with tools for rigorous analysis, critical reflection . . . . Now more than ever, higher education is challenged to educate the leaders of tomorrow and to connect those future leaders with the world of today. (Hollander 1999, v).

The Chinese Principal Leadership Capacities As Perceived By Master Teachers, Lotfollah Naijar

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The study addressed the following questions: (1) What are Chinese master teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ leadership capacities related to the American ELCC (2002) educational leadership program standards? (2) Do teachers’ demographic factors of gender, age, and years of teaching experience predict the perceptions of their principals’ leadership capacities? (3) Do principals’ demographic factors of gender, age, years of leadership experience, and education attainment predict the teachers’ perceptions of the principals’ leadership capacities?

Inside Unlv, Cate Weeks, Shane Bevell, Diane Russell, Leora Baron

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Service-Learning In Higher Education, Dan W. Butin

Education Faculty Publications

This article takes a critical look at the attempted institutionalization of service-learning in higher education. It asks whether service-learning can become deeply embedded within the academy; and if so, what exactly is becoming embedded. Specifically, this article suggests that there are substantial pedagogical, political, and institutional limits to service-learning across the academy. These limits, moreover, are shown to be inherent to the service-learning movement as contemporarily theorized and enacted. The article concludes by reframing some of the grounding assumptions of service-learning to position it as a disciplinary field more suited for becoming genuinely embedded within higher education.

A Study Of Literacy Efficacy And Student Achievement Among Beginning Middle School Teachers In An Urban Context, Michael J. Mustain

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

Many U.S. school districts are addressing concerns in the areas of literacy education, teacher shortages, and overall student achievement. Teacher preparation in the area of literacy education and the ability of core subject teachers to include literacy components in their daily lessons appears vital to student achievement. Teacher shortages, particularly in high need, "hard to staff'' urban schools, are a serious problem that alternative preparation programs help to address. Alternative preparation programs can provide highly qualified teachers in urban schools. The Transition to Teaching (TTT) trained teachers provided literacy education that in turn helped improve benchmark tests, end-of-year tests, cumulative …

Wright State University College Of Education And Human Services Annual Report, July 1, 2005-June 30, 2006, College Of Education And Human Services, Wright State University

College of Education and Human Services Annual Reports

This Wright State University College of Education and Human Services annual report is from July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006.

The Effectiveness Of Non-Traditional Vocabulary Instruction In A Second-Grade Inclusion Classroom, Stephanie Marie Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this experimental study was to determine if non-traditional vocabulary instruction would significantly raise the scores of second-grade students in an inclusion classroom compared to second-grade students whom were taught vocabulary words in a traditional manner. Students were tested in matching vocabulary words to definitions as well as using vocabulary words in a meaningful context. Analysis of the data obtained from the pretest and posttest scores showed that while students in both settings improved in their performances, students who were taught vocabulary words in a non-traditional way, scored slightly higher. Further analysis was conducted to portray that this …

The Impact Of Positive Reinforcement And Self-Recording On The On-Task Behavior Of Third Grade Students, Shannon L. Bishop

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of positive reinforcement and self-recording on the on-task behavior of third grade students. It was hypothesized that third grade students, within a learning community, who employ self-recording strategies and experience positive reinforcement rewards will be on-task a significantly longer length of time than third grade students who do not utilize those strategies. The study consisted of an experimental and a control group. Both groups were observed to determine baseline data. The experimental group was then asked to record their own on-task behavior and received rewards for being on-task a high …

A Correlational Study On How Reading Scores Are Affected By Complementing Learning And Teaching Styles In Multiple Kindergarten Settings, Leslie-Ann D. Monforto

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this correlational study were to (a) observe the learning styles of groups of kindergarten students and the teaching styles of their corresponding teachers; and (b) determine the effects that the matching of similar learning and teaching styles had on students' reading performances. It was hypothesized that students whose learning styles matched that of their teachers' teaching styles would do significantly better on their reading scores than those students whose learning styles did not match that of their teachers' teaching styles. Teacher and students were assessed using an adaptation of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Test to determine their …

The Effect Of Positive Reinforcement On The Achievement Of 3rd Grade Students' Spelling, Leandra Pintel

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of positive reinforcement in the form of rewards on the achievement of 3^rd grade students' end of the week post spelling test. The study was conducted on fourteen 3^rd grade students in a kindergarten through sixth grade school in southern New Jersey. The researcher collected the students' grades for four weeks during which positive reinforcements in the form of rewards were not used and the grades for four weeks during which the students received positive reinforcements in the form of rewards every time the student earned a grade …

How Critical Is Fluency For The Struggling Reader?, Lisa Dilts

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study is to look at the importance of fluency to the struggling reader. The research sets out to look for answers to the following questions: How critical is fluency for the struggling reader? What effect does fluency have on the reading experience? What strategies work to improve fluency? The research was conducted on three struggling fifth grade readers, all with different ability levels. One student is placed in a self-contained special education class, one student goes to the resource room for literacy, and one student receives help from the basic skills teacher. Students were …

What Happens When A Fifth Grade Class Takes An Inquiry Stance Into Their Own Wellness Through A Critical Literacy Lens?, Casey Shalhoub

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to teach wellness to students in a fifth grade class using inquiry and critical literacy books. I taught lessons that incorporate the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Health to find out how this knowledge affected the students' lives. I worked with twenty-four students in a fifth grade class for a sixteen week period during my student teaching. I used a student questionnaire to gather information and also analyzed the student participation during lessons and responses to what was taught. I found that through the teaching of wellness through inquiry and critical literacy …

Sungkyoo Huh Cd Summer 2005, Sungkyoo Huh

Innovative Course Redesign Grant Reports

Supports faculty to redesign or develop a course in ways that implement high-impact, evidence-based, and/or innovative teaching strategies to improve student learning.

Why Learn Spanish? [7th Grade], Leigh Sheppard

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

No abstract provided.

Holocaust [8th Grade], Allison Grant

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit students will read Night by Elie Wiesel as a means for discovering the atrocities of the Holocaust. Our study will provide them with the opportunity to uncover the following understandings: prejudice generates powerful feelings which can lead to violent consequences and human suffering, suffering produces significant change in humans, and effective communication of the change in an individual can promote the growth of human society. As students read the nonfiction book and conduct research on the historical events surrounding the Holocaust they will answer the questions why does different matter? and can hope and despair coexist? Through …

Reading, Writing And Voice [9th Grade], Faith Fugit

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The Houston Academy of International Studies is a public charter school that opened in HISD in fall 2006. As the freshman English teacher for HAIS, I wrote this unit during summer 2006, before many rules, routines and procedures for the school were hammered down. This unit is planned for the fall semester and aims to help students explore the concepts of literary and social voice while using their own voices authentically to shape our new school. As an opportunity to exercise voice, students participate in a semester-long school-improvement project for HAIS. Throughout our study of literary and social voice, students …

Revolutionary Perspectives: Using Primary Sources And Art To Teach The Causes Of The American Revolution [4th Grade], Michael Shay, Carrie Susong

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will learn about the events leading up to the American Revolution through primary and secondary print sources and artwork. Students will recognize that British and American points of view differed greatly through the pre-Revolutionary time period. These differing points of view are present in primary and secondary print sources and artwork. Students will distinguish between these points of view and explain how different perspectives and ideas played an important role in the causes and events leading to the American Revolution. They will then apply critical thinking skills to create a written account and piece of artwork …

Partnering In Practice: A Look At Collaborative Student Teaching, Cynthia J. Horrocks

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined the experience of two student teachers as they partnered during their student teaching assignment. The relationship which developed between the pair was critical to the success of their experience and allowed them to enjoy several benefits of paired student teaching as well as overcome potential stumbling blocks. The successful experience described in this study demonstrates that paired student teaching can be an effective alternative to traditional student teaching.

What Is A Good Reader? [1st Grade], Elizabeth Cambray

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

No abstract provided.

Catch Them (Preservice Teachers) While You Can!, Audrey Church

Education & Human Services Faculty Publications

The article addresses a university school library instructor's approach, which features a meeting with preservice teachers early in the sequence of coursework. The majority of preservice teachers are not learning in their teacher preparation programs about the benefits of collaborative partnerships with teacher-librarians.

Effective Letter Identification Activities For K-1 Children: A Handbook For Teachers, Luann Nicole Jensen

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project is to provide K-1 teachers with a handbook of effective letter identification activities. Letter identification is a pre-requisite reading skill that students must have in order to be successful readers and to prevent reading difficulties later on. This handbook can be implemented by teachers of kindergarten or first grade children who need a letter identification intervention. The lessons in this project were developed to be paired with explicit, intensive teaching during the intervention to help remediate a child's weakness in identifying letters.

Preparing Teachers To Use Problem-Centered, Inquiry-Based Science: Lessons From A Four-Year Professional Development Project, James D. Lehman, Melissa George, Peggy Buchanan, Michael Rush

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Calls for reform in science education stress the need for inquiry-based, integrative methods that provide students with opportunities to solve authentic problems. Project INSITE, a four-year professional development effort in Indiana, was designed to help teachers integrate problem-centered science methods in their classrooms. This approach was characterized by use of a meaningful driving question anchored in a real-world context; student-conducted investigations that resulted in the creation of products; collaboration among students, teachers, and the community; and use of technology as a tool for gathering and sharing information. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the project suggest that it was generally successful …

University Diversity Committee: Where Diversity And Dedication Meet, Mary Texeira

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

No abstract provided.

Aesthetic Knowing: Essential To The Development Of Heart And Mind., Laura Howzell-Young, Susan Daniels

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Children are biologically wired to experience their world through rich sensory, affective, aesthetic, and imaginal experiences. Children thirst for art, music and movement, and these modes are utilized widely to learn the varied languages of literacy: the alphabet, numbers, vocabulary, body-sense and more. Yet, in response to meeting higher and more prescribed standards at the elementary and secondary levels, there is a tendency to narrow the curriculum, to consider art and music expendable, to view social-emotional development as external to the schoolhouse. This narrowing is happening just as our global culture is moving again toward multiple kinds of communication: toward …

Where Visual Literacy And Identity Meet: Adolescents Define Themselves Through Participation In A University Video And Art Enrichment Program, Susan Daniels, Patricia Little, Linda M. Reynolds, Alayne Sullivan

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This article summarizes a project that oriented one hundred and twenty-five gifted and talented middle-school students to university culture through a series of summer workshops that emphasized visual media. Various workshops introduced students to methods of video and art production. The middle-school students created short videos and artistic collages to represent their identity in response to two activities: (a) in-depth explorations of the California State University campus at San Bernardino; and (b) literary reading. Art and video production are revealed as a powerful means of middle-school students’ identity formation and expression; the work summarized herein gains credence through its alignment …

How Teacher Attitudes And Administrator Behaviors Affect Levels Of Technology Integration In The Classroom, Sheri Leigh Bradshaw

Dissertations

Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate how well teachers’ attitudes predict levels of technology integration into the classroom. This study also investigated whether perceived support from the administrator as the instructional leader was related to teachers’ levels of technology integration into the classroom. The population for this study included identified school districts in rural North Georgia. Utilizing the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2002-2003 school year, the researcher identified 5 peer districts: Franklin County, Gilmer County, Stephens County, Union County, and White County. All middle and high school teachers within a district were invited to …

Superintendents ’ Perceptions Of Clinical Supervision Practices In A District-Wide Implementation Program, Myrna Rae Ladner Bourgeois

Dissertations

In 1990 a new idea swept through the educational industry. Forty-nine school districts in Pennsylvania instituted a new form of organizational management called clinical supervision. In effect, this was a change in the relationship between administration and teachers concerning instructional behaviors. Formerly, when teachers were supervised and evaluated by administrators, they felt intimidated. They also felt their privacy was being invaded. Clinical supervision is an attempt to organize the methodology of teacher supervision while improving instruction. The purpose of this study was to provide data to the participating school districts for use in developing supervision, evaluation, and involvement training modification …

School Web Sites And Teacher Employment Interest, David Theodore Freeman

Dissertations

The Internet has changed the way many organizations, including public and private schools, recruit and select employees. It has also changed the way many people research and pursue employment opportunities, including those seeking positions in education. The school Web site is often the medium of first contact between a school or school district and a potential employee. That first contact can influence the potential employee’s decision to actively pursue employment with a school or a school district.

This research measured the reactions o f preservice teachers who visited three grade-level appropriate school Web sites of “poor,” “average,” and “best” distinction. …