Digital Commons Network^™

Teacher Success, Assessment, And Evaluation Practices In Service-Learning Composition Courses, Faith-Ann Abiola Mcgarrell

Dissertations

Problem. Over the last 15 years, service-learning in first-year composition has emerged as a critical area of study. Service-learning in composition places students in writing environments within the community, encourages reading and writing about social issues, and provides the opportunity for students to participate in community projects. A significant problem with this approach is the alignment between outcomes of the discipline and those of service. Practitioners feel that a clear understanding of compatibility between the two areas of study would result in better practice and further buy-in by those who do not teach from a service-learning perspective.

Method. In service-learning …

Stakeholders' Perceptions Of The Jbte Teaching-Practice Benchmarks : A Descriptive Exploration Of Two Teachers' Colleges In Jamaica, Hyacinth Paulina Rose

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to explore the implementation of and perceptions of the Joint Board of Teacher Education benchmarks for teaching practice, or student teaching. Data were gathered concerning how the benchmarks were implemented and the perceptions of multiple stakeholders regarding the adequacy of their implementation. Additionally, stakeholders were asked about the possible need for including some benchmarks from the USA in order to create an ideal teaching-practice program in Jamaica.

Method. This study used a multiple descriptive case study design. Two teacher training institutions in Jamaica were purposively selected. From each of these institutions a focus …

A Comparison Of The Adult Bible Study Guide Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Church And A Prototype Guide Designed To Promote Spiritual Growth, Lyndelle Brower Chiomenti

Dissertations

Problem. Despite the Adult Bible Study Guide's potential for promoting Christian spirituality among Seventh-day Adventist Church members, no studies have investigated its impact on the spirituality of its users. Beginning as a way to disseminate the unique biblical doctrines of thefledgling Church, the Guide remains largely expository and apologetic in nature, often neglecting the use of methods and spiritual disciplines which promote spirituality.

Method. Based on the same topic as the regular Guide for second quarter, 2005, an Adult Bible Study Guide using Kolb's learning cycle and learning styles was developed to promote Christian spiritual growth. The effect both Guides …

The Effectiveness Of Rating Scales And Semi-Structured Interview In Diagnosing Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Carolyn Mae Cofrancesco

Dissertations

Problem and purpose. There are few standardized tools for diagnosing ADHD in adults. The purpose of this study was to compare a standardized rating scale (CAARS) used by different observers, with a comprehensive diagnostic interview (CAADID) with respect to their ability to diagnose subtypes of ADHD.

Method. Subjects for this study came from baseline data of 98 patients (18 to 60 years ofage) participating in a drug trial for adult ADHD. The CAADID interview results in a yes-no decision as to whether the patient meets DSM-IV criteria for the subtypes ADHD. A t -test was used to compare the CAADID-diagnosed …

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Reading Comprehension In High School Students With Learning Disabilities, Helen C. Bryant

Dissertations

Problem. Research indicates that students who receive an exclusively academic education that does not include emotional intelligence skills may not be prepared for future challenges of the 21st century because traditional intelligence contributes to only 20% of the factors that determine life success. Students with learning disabilities have average or above average cognitive intelligence. However, many do not demonstrate academic and social behaviors that normally would be compatible with average intelligence. Even though their cognitive intelligence has been tested, their emotional intelligence has not been tested. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and …

The Function Of Loipos In Contexts Of Judgment And Salvation In The Book Of Revelation, Leslie N. Pollard

Dissertations

Problem addressed. The function of loipos in the Apocalypse is the focus of this research.

Method. A close reading approach to the Apocalypse was employed in this study. Every occurrence of loipos as it applies to human entities in contexts of judgment and salvation in the Apocalypse is examined. First, comes textual and translation matters. Then the examination of the literary context and structure follows. Next comes the historical background to each passage. Finally, the interpretation of that passage is presented.

Results. Chapter 1 presents a review of the scholarly literature from the Old and New Testaments on the remnant …

The So-Called Mixed Text: An Examination Of The Non-Alexandrian And Non-Byzantine Text-Type In The Catholic Epistles, Clinton S. Baldwin

Dissertations

Problem. Since the eighteenth century, textual scholars have been grouping New Testament Greek manuscripts into groups called text-types in order to evaluate the thousands of variant readings found in these manuscripts. These text-types form the basis for determining the earliest form of the text--the primary goal of New Testament Textual Criticism. Almost all textual critics recognize three main text types: Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine. However, in recent times, W. Larry Richards and his followers identified a "mixed text-type" in six books of the Catholic Epistles that is distinguishable from the already established text-types. This text-type if supported by empirical investigation …

Of "Illustrators," "Narrators," "Editors," And "Readers": Describing Relations Between Significantly Disabled Students And Their Peers, Srikala Naraian

Dissertations

This paper interweaves several theoretical strands—disability studies, narrative theories, and sociocultural perspectives on learning—both as a means to understand current practice in the education of students with significant disabilities as well as to envisage other forms of participation for them. The aims of the study are derived from the argument made by Ferguson (2003) that the narratives of others in the lives of severely disabled individuals are critical to the formation of their identities. Appropriating this idea to the classroom, this study explores the notion that the narratives of classroom peers are vital to the participation of the severely disabled …

Transition Activities And Their Effects On Middle School Students, Vicki Sue Vanlaere

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness that transitional activities have on student achievement and attendance when students moved from elementary school to middle school. The data were gathered from two school districts that are demographically similar. Data included average daily attendance rates, Terra Nova Achievement Scores from social studies in grades five, six, and seven, as well as math in grades five, six, and seven. There were 187 students in the Treatment Group and 147 in the Control Group for a total of 334 students. Comparison of means for demographic equivalency of the groups (t-test) and …

An Examination Of Perception Toward Merit Pay In A Southern School District, Carol Lynn White Payne

Dissertations

The use of merit pay systems has been a part of educational history for one hundred years. States across the country have utilized different forms o f merit pay systems to increase student achievement. Career ladder merit pay systems may base teacher salary on the attainment of additional degrees, additional responsibilities and an increase in student achievement. School-based performance awards may reward all staff members of a school based on achievement of goals set by the school board. Individual teacher financial awards may be based on administrative evaluations, student achievement, attainment of additional degrees, and participation in professional development sessions. …

Crossing The Bridge From Eighth To Tenth Grade: Can Ninth Grade Schools Make It Better?, Eddie James Peasant Ii

Dissertations

Ninth grade is a complicated time period in the school years of young adolescents, They face many social, emotional, physical, and academic issues during the transition from eighth grade to the freshman year. In some cases, these problems in ninth grade lead to increased dropout rate. This matter is addressed in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). School districts across the country are establishing programs to deal with this dilemma of students transitioning from the middle grades to high school. One such program is the ninth grade school or academy. The general purpose of this study was to investigate …

A Laptop-Learning Initiative: Relationships With Student Achievement, Technology Proficiency, And Attitude Towards Technology, Kevin Scott Nicholas

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between a laptop learning initiative, student achievement, technology proficiency, and attitude towards technology. The initiative, Project One-on-One, was designed to provide teachers with the ability to teach technology integrated lessons in classrooms with a student-to computer ratio of 1:1. This was accomplished by utilizing two mobile laptop labs that were financed through a national grant competition. The variables that were examined in the study were three years of eighth-grade student achievement scores from the criterion-referenced Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) test and the Louisiana Center for Educational Technology’s Technology Proficiency …

Decision Support Systems In Product Development: A Batesian Network Approach For Injection-Molded Products, Jason S. Trahan

Dissertations

Attribute defects cause a majority of the scrap for many manufacturers injection-molding aesthetic parts, yet these defects receive little attention duringproduct development. Methods for preventing attribute defects have been hampered by the inability to quantify complex cause-effect relationships. However, the qualities of a burgeoning branch of knowledge-based systems, called Bayesian networks, have benefited various fields faced with similar circumstances.Bayesian networks have the capability of presenting causal relationships between variables in a graphical structure and quantitatively explaining their effects throughout that structure. These effects can be characterized by probabilities derived from sources, such as equations, historical data, rules-of-thumb or expert knowledge. …

Funding Michigan K-12 Educational Adequacy Without Rewarding Inefficiency, James J. Walters

Dissertations

Resource equalization represents the historical and theoretical basis for American school finance and its ideals continue to dominate discussion and practice. During the last decade and a half, the national aspiration for equitable distribution of school finance resources has started a transformation into a derivative notion of adequacy. This equity policy derivative embraces the idea of sufficiency, which in turn implies a standard. The concept of educational adequacy has grown to mean the achievement of high absolute standards. Equity (equalization) theorists measure resource level on a relative basis; each student relative to all others. Adequacy adherents measure student achievement against …

Family Functioning And Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy: A Study Of First Year Malaysian Undergraduate Students, Melati Sumari

Dissertations

The findings of the study show that the relationships between family functioning subscales and career decision-making self-efficacy subscales were between small and moderate. The study also found that each family functioning subscale contributed less than 15% of the variance in career decision-making self-efficacy. The total variance accounted for by the six family functioning subscales was small (32%). Important findings of the analyses of variances include: (a) male students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than female students; (b) Chinese students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than Malay and Indian students; (c) students in science majors perceived their families as …

A Case Study Of The Efficacy Of A University Cohort Group In A Small Urban School District, Ann Rea Kopy

Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to explore the processes followed in an educational partnership and to describe the changes in the participants' beliefs, practices, and sense of efficacy as a result of their participation. This study described and analyzed an educational partnership between a large university and the staff of a small, urban school district. The goals of the partnership were to provide the participants the knowledge to enhance student achievement as well as to develop educational leaders throughout the district. The participants consisted of educators of the district that enrolled in the educational partnership that existed for …

Teaching Music Theory In The Traditional Wind Band Rehearsal: A Rationale, Survey Of Materials, And Recommendations, Eric Lynn Harris

Dissertations

Band programs in today’s schools are facing pressures unheard of in the early days of the public school band movement. While budget limitations have always been a part of the public school dilemma, never before have directors been forced to fight so hard for the very existence of their programs. School administrators facing district, state, and federal testing pressures are spending more and more of the annual budget in an attempt to raise test scores. This means programs in the arts and even athletics are being greatly reduced (and in some cases eliminated) in school systems across the country. To …

Job Tasks Performed By Career Preparation System Administrators: Implications For Leadership Development, Julia K. Vandermolen

Dissertations

This study represents the results of a quantitative survey measuring the importance and frequency of job tasks performed by Michigan's Career Preparation System (CPS) administrators. The census consisted of 120 (n = 120) CPS administrators. Eighty-six (n = 86) or 72% of CPS administrators participated in the study. A mailed survey was used to collect data to determine the importance and frequency of 51 job tasks performed by career and technical education (CTE)administrators identified by a previous DACUM study for a leadership development program. Quantitative methods were used to seek an improved understanding of the job tasks performed …

Beholding The Beauty Of Self: The Psychological Integration Of The Afrocentric-Self Among African-American Females Socialized In A Eurocentric Aesthetic, Donna Lynn Cook Phd

Dissertations

Self-esteem and body image disturbances prominently figure into many physical and psychological health disorders such as depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and chemical dependency. In Euro-American culture, media images of femininity and physical attractiveness reinforce generally held perceptions of the idealized female beauty as tall, white, slender, and often blond and blue eyed. The physical morphology of African-American women does not genetically "fit" this westernized standard of beauty with implications for their mental health. The socialization of African-American women in a culture that embraces a different ethnic standard of beauty influences their perceptions of how physically attractive they see themselves. …

The Relationship Between Coping, Anxiety, And Quality Of Life For Taiwanese Post-Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery Patients, Heng-Hsin Tung Phd

Dissertations

Coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG) is a stressful event and requires coping strategies to achieve adaptation. In Taiwan, despite the fact that the incidence of CABG is increasing in both men and women, research on post-CABG adaptation is very limited and no research focuses on outcomes for women. This can lead to problems for health care providers who lack effective interventions to help these patients. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between coping, anxiety, and quality of life in Taiwanese post-CABG patients. A cross-sectional correlational design was used; the sample consisted of 50 female and …

A Comparison Of Achievement Levels In Mathematics And Science, And Current Attitudes, Of Secondary Students In A Six-Period Daily Schedule, With Those Of Students In A Rotate-Eight Block Schedule, Brad J. Heger

Dissertations

In part one of this study, secondary students¿ mathematics and science achievement levels in a Six-Period Daily (SPD) schedule were compared with those in a Rotate-Eight Block (REB) schedule (eight macroperiods in a two day rotation). In part two, alumni were surveyed to compare current opinions of the schedules¿ effectiveness overall and on two subscales. Archival test data and demographic information were obtained on two graduated classes in a selected suburban Midwestern high school, enrollment grades 9 to 12 of approximately 1000 students. Stratified random samples of 50 students from each class were selected based upon treatment, academic ability, ethnicity, …

Finding Voice: An Exploration Of A Community¿Based Adult Learning Process, Stephen C. Jeanetta

Dissertations

The Circles of Hope is a dialogue and support group process that uses personal support, education for action, and organizing for change as a method for their own personal development and change and to become agents of change in their own communities. Case studies summaries based on individual interviews and participation in a focus group were developed for seven women who have been regular participants in the Circles of Hope. Using cross-case analysis as the key analytic framework (Miles & Huberman, 1984), change was examined across three themes, the process experience, personal growth and change, and engagement in community. This …

Learning Leadership: An Investigation Of Principals' Attitudes Toward Teachers In Creating The Conditions Conducive For Learning In School-Based Staff Development, Arnold N. Stricker, Jr.

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the attitudes of principals toward teachers as learners by answering the following question: Do principals understand adult learning and do they have the competencies to create the conditions for learning in school-based staff development? Three research questions and a hypothesis undergirded this overall question and supported the investigation of this question. Participants in the study included principals and teachers in grades PK-12. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, Instructional Perspectives Inventory (IPI), and Respect for Partner Scale (RPS) both revised for principals and teachers. Results were analyzed to determine the extent of relationships …

Rain Town, Melanie Crow

Dissertations

My project, a collection of poetry, examines both loss and transformation. Personal loss informs the poems, but the work also addresses how the speaker is accorded insight into the world because of loss and is transformed. The work takes into account mythology, science, and the act of writing in order to understand what it means to live in mutability. Many of the poems demonstrate an acute awareness of the body. Robert Lowell and Jorie Graham are both writers who have informed my poems in this way; both explore a dual consciousness of loss and renewal and both represent moments of …

Connecting Art And Science: An Interdisciplinary Strategy And Its Impact On The Affective Domain Of Community College Human Anatomy Students, Kevin Petti Phd

Dissertations

Educational objectives are often described within the framework of a three-domain taxonomy: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. While most of the research on educational objectives has focused on the cognitive domain, the research that has been conducted on the affective domain, which speaks to emotions, attitudes, and values, has identified a number of positive outcomes. One approach to enhancing the affective domain is that of interdisciplinary education. Science education research in the realm of interdisciplinary education and affective outcomes is limited; especially research conducted on community college students of human anatomy. This project investigated the relationship between an interdisciplinary teaching strategy …

Investigating Professional Development In Technology For Literacy Teachers, Michanne Hoctor Edd

Dissertations

Citrus Heights (a pseudonym) School District is an award-winning exemplar of technology integration. This small urban district has focused its resources on the re-design of its K-8 classrooms and curriculum to support educational reform through the use of technology, including hardware, software, and teacher professional development. Current best practices suggest that while staff development may begin with conventional in-service training, it should move quickly beyond to efforts that support teachers’ development as professionals involved in decision-making, inquiry, and leadership in their classroom teaching. In order to develop as professionals, teachers specifically need help and support in integrating new knowledge and …

Unintended Consequences In Public Policy: Formulation And Implementation Of Michigan’S Safe Delivery Of Newborns Law, Anne Julie Hacker

Dissertations

It is generally believed that social policy is the result of careful research and planning on the part of officials. Yet there often exists a gap between theformulation and implementation of many social policies. This gap brings with it conflict, which in turn may result in unintended consequences. Theseconsequences may be so antithetical to the formulators' original intent as to make the policy implementation paradoxical.

This qualitative research study examines the ambiguities, challenges, or boundaries that policy formulators placed on practitioners responsible for implementing Michigan's Safe Delivery of Newborns Act and that ultimately created unintended consequences indicative of a public …

The Power Of "Estudentprotest:" A Study Of Electronically-Enhanced Student Activism, James Patrick Biddix

Dissertations

Both student activism and Internet use by students are among the fastest growing variables in national reports of student engagement (Astin, 2004; Levine & Cureton, 1998b). This study introduces the term estudentprotest to describe how contemporary student activists use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for protest. A sequential mixed methods design (Creswell, 2003) was utilized. This approach involved obtaining statistical information from a sample for descriptive and outcome analyses, using the results to suggest nodes for an investigation of social networks, and finally interviewing individuals to explore those results in more depth. This study found that today¿s student protests begin …

Nurse Practitioner Adoption Of Clinical Innovations, Rhoberta Jones Haley Phd

Dissertations

Adoption of clinical innovations by Nurse Practitioners (NP) is a complex phenomenon, rooted in personal values and influenced by challenges within health care environments. When clinical innovations are adopted or rejected by NPs, this decision has meaning for patients, NPs, health care agencies, and society. The decision controls the opportunity for patients to access a clinical innovation that could reduce morbidity and mortality, save money, and provide satisfaction related to the health care encounter. The purpose of the study was to increase knowledge about NP adoption of clinical innovations, particularly emotionally-laden clinical innovations. The lines of inquiry focused on what …

A Retrospective Evaluation Of The Planetree Patient Centered Model Of Care Program's Impact On Inpatient Quality Outcomes, Susan Stone Phd

Dissertations

This retrospective quasi experimental study evaluated the effectiveness of Planetree's patient-centered model of care. Donabedian's model linking structure and process to outcome was used to frame this study. The structure variable is the inpatient acute care hospital unit and the process variable consists of the Planetree patient-centered model of care. Outcomes are (1) patient satisfaction, (2) length of stay, (3) readmission, (4) cost per case, and (5) productive nursing hours per patient day. All data for patient satisfaction, length of stay, readmission, cost per case and productive nurse hours per patient day were retrospective, no participant recruitment was needed. Data …