Digital Commons Network^™

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Superintendents’ And Principals’ Experiences In A Shared Professional Development Process, John R. Severson

Dissertations

For this qualitative study, I explored and described how superintendents and principals interpreted and experienced a sustained professional development process focusing on instruction and student learning, a form of Elmore’s Superintendents in the Classroom (SITC) Network. Specifically, I examined how the addition of principals in the SITC learning model experience changed the superintendents’ and principals’ knowledge and beliefs as well as their behavior in three areas: their individual experiences, the working relationship between superintendent and principal, and the way they now think about and encourage student learning.

For this phenomenological study, superintendents and principals were selected and individually interviewed from …

An Analysis Of Teacher Perspectives On The Mississippi Alternative Assessment Of Extended Curriculum Framework, Greerlynn Myrtice Bezue-Tull

Dissertations

For more than a decade, federal legislation has been characterized by increasing standards of accountability for learning for all students. With the passage of No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and the reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004, schools are now accountable for special education students, even students with severe cognitive disabilities, in every aspect of education, including increased student achievement through access to the general education curriculum. Moreover, IDEIA (2004) mandated that students with severe cognitive disabilities participate in high-stakes accountability testing through individual state-developed alternate assessment measures.

This study investigated whether …

Estimation And Inference For Spatial And Spatio-Temporal Mixed Effects Models, Casey M. Jelsema

Dissertations

One of the most common goals of geostatistical analysis is that of spatial prediction, in other words: filling in the blank areas of the map. There are two popular methods for accomplishing spatial prediction. Either kriging, or Bayesian hierarchical models. Both methods require the inverse of the spatial covariance matrix of the data. As the sample size, n, becomes large, both of these methods become impractical. Reduced rank spatial models (RRSM) allow prediction on massive datasets without compromising the complexity of the spatial process. This dissertation focuses on RRSMs, particularly situations where the data follow non-Gaussian distributions.

The manner in …

Early Interventions And Student Achievement, Alana S. Hillman

Dissertations

Educating children is a costly endeavor; however, when children with special needs enter kindergarten unprepared emotionally, socially, or academically, the increased costs and support systems have to be absorbed by the schools and communities. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference between the academic achievement of students participating in Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) compared to students without ECSE services with DIAL-3 scores ranked in the 20th percentile or below. Achievement scores for second and third graders in one urban school district were utilized to compare the scores of ECSE and non-ECSE students. …

Cultural Adaptations Of American Teachers In International Schools, David J. Alban

Dissertations

Global competition of academic aptitude between countries has sparked policymakers’ concerns with the performance of the United States educational system leading to many educational reforms that direct educators to diversify their instruction to meet the needs of all students. Advances in technology and travel allow people to interact with other cultures creating more globalized societies. These two converging issues place a greater significance on educators to understand the interplay between culture and their teaching practices.

Literature reveals that the influence of home and community cultures affects the learning behaviors of students (Davis-Kean, 2005: Wang, Beras, & Eberhard, 2005; Sigel, Stinson, …

Fuzzy Search Strategy Generation For Adversarial Systems Using Fuzzy Process Particle Swarm Optimization, Fuzzy Patterns, And A Hunch Factor, Stephany Coffman-Wolph

Dissertations

Adversarial game-playing situations have been studied in both game theory and artificial intelligence since the 1950s. However, developing strategies for game playing is challenging due to the large search tree size as the environment size increases. The research presented develops a centralized fuzzy search strategy to find winning strategies for adversarial situations using fuzzy logic. The aforementioned fuzzy algorithm, Fuzzy Strategy Finder (FSF), can be used to find valid strategies for any problem that can be written as a Reti-like or zero-sum game. Using several chess endgames, the FSF will be shown to have a faster runtime without a significant …

Development Of Polarization Analysis Of Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering, Xuan Gao

Dissertations

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) is a powerful technique in condensed matter physics for studying the electronic excitations in novel materials of interest. In currently operating hard x-ray RIXS instruments the energy and momentum transfers are measured while the outgoing polarization is not measured due to significant technical challenges. But the outgoing polarization of the scattered photons provides valuable information (excitation symmetry) about the states involved in the scattering which is difficult to determine without polarization analysis. Polarization analysis has proved extremely valuable in soft x-ray RIXS, and so a polarization analysis system is being developed to fill the technical …

Quantifying Value In Public Health: Using Economic Methods To Analyze System Change, Theresa M. Green

Dissertations

In this time of economic downturn, it is becoming increasingly important for organizations, including those in public health, to “prove their worth,” to show the value in improvement strategies. Health agencies have learned to discuss impact in terms of health outcome and mortality/morbidity measures. However, it is critical that these impacts are also expressed in a way that shows cost-efficiency and economic benefit especially for promising, evidence-based public health interventions. Although several methods of economic evaluation including cost-effective analysis, cost-utility analysis, or cost-benefit analysis and return on investment (ROI) have been used in social sciences and health research, fewer examples …

Client-Based Qos Monitoring And Evaluation Architecture For Network Infrastructure And Services, Ammar Mohammed Kamel

Dissertations

Providing an efficient Quality-of-Service (QoS) measurement model is a challenging problem in today’s mobile computing and telecommunications networks. Currently, most of QoS techniques utilize service measurements that are collected by the network elements (i.e., network-side monitoring) to evaluate the network performance. However, this process does not take into account the service performance from the clients' perspective and might contradict with the Service Level Agreement (SLA). In order to overcome the limitations of service-side QoS monitoring, a number of research studies have been conducted to present alternative architectures and algorithms for client-side QoS service assessment in computer networks. The client-side QoS …

Student Conceptions Of Learning And The Approaches To Learning Adopted In An Introductory Science Course: A Q Methodology Study, Kelly Marie Sparks

Dissertations

The conceptions of learning, guiding students’ primary beliefs about their experiences of learning as well as their interpretations of learning itself, have been found to be related to their approaches to learning and learning outcomes. This study examined the subjective beliefs of students about learning science in an undergraduate college setting. Q methodology was used examine student perceptions about learning and the approaches to learning they employed. Thirty six students completed Q-sorts of their perspectives on learning and the approaches they took to achieve that learning in an introductory physical geography course. Centroid factor analysis and varimax rotation of these …

Collaboration Between Grant-Making Organizations, Evaluators, And Program Staff Related To Standardized Evaluation Requirements, Kristin M. Everett

Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations have received funding from grant-making organizations and foundations for many years. These funds have been used to support programs developed by the nonprofit organization. Over the years, two critical developments have occurred between grant-making organizations and nonprofit organizations related to evaluation and collaboration. First, grant-making organizations and nonprofit organizations are combining funds and resources to collaborate on projects. Second, program evaluation has become an essential piece of many grant-funded projects.

Historically, nonprofit organizations receiving funding from multiple sources were required to implement multiple monitoring and evaluation plans and write a report for each funder. These reports use staff …

An Insight Into Asymmetric Synthesis And Bioorganic Applications Of Novel Cα- Methyl-Lysine, - Proline, - Nipocotic Acid Analogues, Souvik Banerjee

Dissertations

Prochiral malonic diesters consisting of a quaternary carbon center have been successfully converted into a different set of tBoc-Fmoc-α2,2-methyllysine-OH analogues through chiral malonic half-ester intermediates achieved via enzymatic (Pig Liver Esterase, PLE) hydrolysis. The selection of chiral half-ester intermediates, which vary from 1 to 6 methylene units in the side chain, are achieved in high optical purity (92% - 97% ee) and in good yields (65% - 72%). The PLE hydrolysis of malonic diesters with a variety of side chain lengths observed to obey the Jones’s PLE model as evidenced from the stereochemical configurations of the resulting chiral half-esters. The …

Multi-Group Invariance Of The Conceptions Of Assessment Scale Among University Faculty And Students, Melanie Anne Diloreto

Dissertations

Conceptions are contextual. In the realm of education, conceptions of various constituent groups are often shaped over a period of a number of years during which time these groups have participated in educational endeavors. Specifically, conceptions of assessment are influenced by beliefs, actions, attitudes, understandings, and past experiences. These conceptions can impact both teaching and learning, and ultimately student achievement. Based on the past work of Gavin T. L. Brown (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, & 2011) and Fletcher, Meyer, Anderson, Johnston, and Rees (2011) concerning conceptions of assessment held by educators and students in environments with a low-stakes assessment culture, …

Attitudinal Factors Of Teachers Regarding Arts Integration, Sara Elston Williams

Dissertations

The integration of the arts provides an enriched learning and teaching environment where teachers become facilitators of meaningful and engaging activities and lessons that increase student achievement. This study examined the attitudinal factors possessed by educators in schools who participate in the Whole Schools Initiative and those who do not. This study also reported the perceptions of arts integration by classroom teachers who participate in the Whole Schools Initiative and those who do not participate in the Whole Schools Initiative. The Teaching With the Arts Survey (TWAS) was used to determine if statistically significant differences exist on teacher attitudes, self-efficacy, …

Design And Synthesis Of Flexible And Functional Polybenzoxazine Thin Films, Austin David Baranek

Dissertations

Polybenzoxazines offer the unique ability to incorporate a variety of properties and functionality into a single polymer network through simple synthetic techniques. However, within benzoxazine materials exist certain drawbacks of which brittleness is the primary issue when exploring thin film applications. This brittleness leads to poor mechanical stability and would reduce the lifetime of any device sought after. It is, however, through the simplistic nature of the benzoxazine monomer synthesis that the mechanical stability could be addressed chemically, avoiding the complications of using rubber toughening agents or plasticizers. The monomer synthesis offers tailorability of both the phenol and amine to …

Adult Learning In A K-12 Setting; Job-Embedded Professional Development: Teacher Identity And Self-Efficacy, Deidra Maclellan Gammill

Dissertations

This two-phase sequential mixed methods study examined the relationship between professional development, whether in the form of traditional professional development, a professional learning community and/or lesson study, and teacher self-efficacy and self-directed learning in order to gain a greater understanding of the role professional development plays in teacher identity and efficacy as they relate to adult learning theory.

The qualitative case study method was used to interview 22 teachers, half of whom participated in a professional learning community known as lesson study. The interview data indicated that collaboration was simply one of the variables that influenced teacher efficacy and identity. …

A Comparison Of Behavioral And Academically-Focused Goals Within The Mystery Motivator: Effects On Disruptive Behavior And Academic Performance, Christina Michelle Hardy

Dissertations

Class-wide group contingencies are effective for decreasing inappropriate behavior and increasing academic performance. An interdependent group contingency, a subtype of group contingencies, sets a specific goal for performance across the class, and a reward is delivered only if the group meets the specified criterion. One interdependent group contingency, the Mystery Motivator, has been designed to target behavioral or academically-based goals; however these goals have guided the type of data collected. There are no published studies, to date, that compare behavioral and academic goals and the effects of each type of goal on both decreasing disruptive behavior as well as improving …

Creativity And The Development Of Technology Integration Skills Of Preservice Teachers: A Mixed Methods Study Of Online Course Activities, Watsatree Diteeyont

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Rhapsody/Concerto Of Robert C. Ehle, Chia-Hua Huang

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Nature Of Arabic Mothers' Involvement In Their Children's Mathematics Education, Wafa Yacoub

Dissertations

In this qualitative study, the researcher explored the nature of Arabic mothers', who live in the United States involvement in their children's mathematics education. There is no data about this minority population as related to mathematics educational involvement since Arabic and Muslim women are scarcely represented in the educational research. Eighteen mothers participated in four focus groups, all agreed on the importance of mathematics and their involvement in their children's math education despite the fact that many of them had negative experiences learning mathematics, and were not familiar with the new teaching methods. These mothers became involved at home by …

Teachers' Perceptions About The Types, Quality, And Impact Of Their Job-Embedded Professional Development Experiences, Delilah Mitchell

Dissertations

This study was designed to determine eighth grade teachers’ perceptions of the impact, quality, and types of job-embedded professional development activities they have participated in and the relationship to student achievement in language arts, math, or science. The researcher identified school districts with 50% or more of their eighth grade students scoring proficient or advanced on all three areas of Mississippi’s Curriculum Test, Second Edition (MCT2). Sixty-four eighth grade language arts, math, or science teachers who had been at their current school at least two years completed a questionnaire created by the researcher. Multiple Linear Regression and Pearson’s Correlation were …

Classifying Spaces Of Symmetric Groups And Wreath Products, David Louis Arnold

Dissertations

Full abstract is available for download.

Synergy Of The Developed 6d Bim Framework And Conception Of The Nd Bim Framework And Nd Bim Process Ontology, Shawn Edward O'Keeffe

Dissertations

The author developed a unified nD framework and process ontology for Building Information Modeling (BIM). The research includes a framework developed for 6D BIM, nD BIM, and nD ontology that defines the domain and sub-domain constructs for future nD BIM dimensions. The nD ontology defines the relationships of kinds within any new proposed dimensional domain for BIM. The developed nD BIM framework and ontology takes into account the current 2D-5D BIM dimensions. There is a synergy between the 6D and nD framework that allows the nD framework and ontology to be utilized as a unified template for future dimensional development. …

Gene Regulatory Network Analysis And Web-Based Application Development, Yi Yang

Dissertations

Microarray data is a valuable source for gene regulatory network analysis. Using earthworm microarray data analysis as an example, this dissertation demonstrates that a bioinformatics-guided reverse engineering approach can be applied to analyze time-series data to uncover the underlying molecular mechanism. My network reconstruction results reinforce previous findings that certain neurotransmitter pathways are the target of two chemicals - carbaryl and RDX. This study also concludes that perturbations to these pathways by sublethal concentrations of these two chemicals were temporary, and earthworms were capable of fully recovering. Moreover, differential networks (DNs) analysis indicates that many pathways other than those related …

The Influence Of Classroom Management, Administrative Support, Parental Involvement, And Economic Factors On The Retention Of Novice Teachers, Katrina Moody Dwyer

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of selected factors upon the intent of novice teachers to remain in the classroom. Teachers are leaving the profession in numbers that have prompted significant concern among policymakers and administrators. Many qualified college students are not considering the field of education as a potential career (Petty, 2007). Given that attrition rates among teachers are higher in their earliest years within the profession, it is essential to identify factors that contribute to the satisfaction and retention of novice teachers (Stockard & Lehman, 2004).

The primary data for this study were obtained …

Predictive Admission Criteria In Graduate Programs In Speech-Language Pathology, Mary Lloyd Moore

Dissertations

Speech-language pathology is a profession for which there is increasing demand as well as being one of the most desirable career paths in the United States. Graduation of qualified persons who can pass the Praxis exam is an essential outcome of all graduate programs in speech-language pathology. If predictors of competence could be identified before admission, graduate programs would be better able to select students who would maximize the expenditure of materials, energy, and expertise, thereby decreasing the potential failure for both students and universities. Therefore, this research addresses the extent to which selected variables may serve to predict success …

Understanding Undergraduate Students' Perceptions Of International Teaching Assistants, Asma Anis Khan

Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed method study was to better understand undergraduate students' perceptions of international teaching assistants (ITAs) at a major research institution. For the purpose of this inquiry data were collected from surveying a sample of 436 of undergraduate students from different colleges and at different class levels. Survey data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Through the qualitative analysis of the open-ended survey data, undergraduate students' perceptions were derived from their responses, which resulted in themes both established in previous research (e.g., language), and original ideas (e.g., learning to understand ITAs language). Qualitative analysis of the survey …

Student Success And Perceptions Of Course Satisfaction In Face-To-Face, Hybrid, And Online Sections Of Introductory Biology Classes At Three, Open Enrollment, Two-Year Colleges In Southern Missouri, Joyce Diane Hill

Dissertations

Introductory biology courses at two-year, open enrollment colleges in America are presented in a variety of different course delivery formats. Traditionally, most students have enrolled in seated or face-to-face (F2F) lectures and laboratories. There is increased demand for courses presented online or in a hybrid format, although some studies report higher attrition rates, and lower grades for these course delivery formats. The purpose of this study was to examine if there were academic differences among F2F, hybrid, or online introductory biology courses by analyzing pre-course and post-course assessment scores, final grades, attrition rates, and students’ perceptions of course satisfaction. This …

A Case Study: Achievement Studies Of Persistent, Transitional, And Transient Populations Within The Blitz Program Model At A Large Midwestern Elementary School, Jackie D. Ramey

Dissertations

The United States’ Public Education system shared concerns regarding declining achievement results across the nation. Numerous research studies suggested significant correlations to various variables, such as, SES (Socio-Economic Status), LEP (Limited English Proficiency), IEP (Individualized Educational Programs), ethnicity, and student mobility. The literature suggested these areas of concern need continued research to address specific issues, such as, how to close the educational gaps between students in these categories and students without these characteristics. The Primary Investigator completed a case study to assist decision makers with transient students at a Midwest near-urban elementary school by specifically focusing on fifth grade students …

Perceptions Of Educational Leaders Of Incentive Pay Programs, Kena Lashel Worley

Dissertations

In this study, the perceptions of educational leaders of incentive pay programs, including Missouri’s Career Ladder Program were examined. A mixed-methods design provided a process by which student achievement, professional development, and the retention of high quality and effective teachers were viewed through the lens of Marzano’s (2003) Teacher Level Factors that influence student achievement. The population for the study consisted of educational leaders and educators in Missouri. The sample group was comprised of four public school superintendents, four professional development chairs, four leaders in professional education organizations, four Missouri public school board presidents, and approximately 83 Missouri public school …