Digital Commons Network^™

Year-Round School Calendars Versus Traditional School Calendars: Parents' And Teachers' Opinions., Jennifer Y. Rule

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference of opinions of teachers and parents of students who attend year-round calendar schools from those of teachers and parents of students who attend traditional calendar schools. A random sampling was taken from teachers and parents from schools in both Blount and Sevier Counties. The surveys were given to teachers who worked in a traditional school setting, teachers who worked in the year-round school setting, parents who had children attending a traditional school, and parents who had children attending a year-round school. A 3-point scale was used on …

Perceptions Of Mentors And New Teachers: A Case Study Of A Mentoring Program In Northeast Tennessee., Gregory Scott Wallace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study included 9 new teachers all of whom were assigned master teachers as mentors. The study also included 11 mentor teachers who participated in this study. There were 20 participants in this case study. The study was conducted in the Johnson City School System.

This qualitative case study was conducted by interviewing 20 participants in the mentoring program. Eleven mentor teachers and 9 new teachers were chosen through purposeful sampling. A list of possible participants was obtained from the Johnson City Schools Central Office and an email was sent to possible participants explaining the nature of the study. Participants …

Strategies And Processes That Promote Sustainability Of Campus Laboratory Schools In The Twenty-First Century., April Blakely

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze patterns of institutional strategies and processes that promote the sustainability of laboratory schools housed and managed by institutions of higher education. First, a comprehensive analysis of the development, growth, decline, and current status of the laboratory school movement was conducted by means of a review of relevant literature. Next, an interview with the Director of the International Association of Laboratory and University Affiliated Schools (NALS) was conducted to gather information regarding the changing role of laboratory schools in the modern educational landscape of America. Subsequently, a survey of laboratory school …

Perceptions Of Interprofessional Communication: Causes And Effects On Patient Care, Occupational Stress, And Job Satisfaction., Stacey Quillen Deshkulkarni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Poor interprofessional communication has been linked to decreased quality of patient care and increased numbers of medical errors. Increased occupational stress due to lack of effective interprofessional communication can lead to poor job satisfaction and burnout. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to interprofessional communication as perceived by radiologic technologists. In particular, how did demographic data influence these perceptions? The research was conducted during June of 2009. The population for this survey consisted of registered radiologic technologists employed at hospitals in Northeast Tennessee. A survey questionnaire covering the subject of interprofessional communication was distributed to a cluster …

Teachers' And Students' Perceptions About The Roles Of School Resource Officers In Maintaining School Safety., Sarah Rippetoe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to the National Association of School Resource Officers (2009), every state in the nation employs school resource officers. The trend, which began in 1991, was initially funded by federal monies. Since that time, school resource officers have remained in schools, gaining popularity as a proactive strategy in fighting against school violence. The purpose of the study was to examine students' and teachers' perceptions regarding school resource officers' performance related to the 3 dimensions of their responsibilities: maintaining a safe environment, enforcing the law, and teaching. Data were gathered from 104 teachers and 272 students from a middle school and …

A Qualitative Case Study Of Natural Storytelling Strategies Used At The Nantahala School., Nancy J. Reeder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study identifies what 8 teachers naturally do with storytelling at a K-12 school in western North Carolina. Through observations, interviews, field notes, document reviews, and artifact reviews, I used the constant comparison analysis method to discover themes from their formal and informal storytelling strategies. From these themes, I created a framework of 7 suggestions to enhance storytelling awareness. They are: sharing personal stories, developing voice control and body expression, connecting story to school culture, modeling well-developed stories with beginnings, middles, and ends, introducing stories with a pause, expressing the word "imagine" often during instruction, and finally, making …

The Implementation Of Intelligence-Led Policing In Mississippi, Christy L. Babb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The attacks of 9/11 had a huge impact on the intelligence community, the federal government, state and local police departments, and every American citizen. For many law enforcement agencies, their daily operations have been greatly affected. The terrorist attacks made them realize that their estrangement from one another had to be eliminated in an effort to prevent future attacks. If agencies were to be successful they needed to better communicate, share information, assist each other, and become familiar with new policies and procedures. Those new procedures included the implementation of intelligence-led policing (ILP) - a proactive approach to crime prevention. …

Comparative Study Of Freshmen College Student Beliefs And Values Between Representative Private And Public Institutions Of Higher Education In Kentucky., Brian S. Combs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students entering college for the first time are embarking on a life-changing journey like none they have experienced. The potential impact the college experience will have on their lives is extreme. Students will be engaged in class and co-curricular settings in ways that will challenge them to produce developmental growth that will carry them through emerging adulthood into adulthood. (Barry & Nelson, 2005) The importance of this time points to the necessity of colleges and universities ensuring that they are providing the best and most holistic educational experience possible. This study was a comparison of the level of student interest …

The Leadership Styles Of Social Work Educators., Patricia Louise Desrosiers 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to describe the leadership styles of social workers in educational administration and (2) to explain possible differences in leadership style by determining if context or gender or a combination of both factors influences style. This study will explore and describe the leadership styles of social work education administrators in the United States. The research design was a cross-sectional survey design and utilized multiple methods, both qualitative and quantitative, to achieve its purposes. Leadership styles were explored primarily through the collection of quantitative data in the form of a scale: the MLQ 5x-Short …

Analysis Of Patient Throughput Time At Kosair Children's Hospital Emergency Room., Elizabeth Gentry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kosair Children’s Hospital Emergency Department in Louisville, KY has been reporting low patient satisfaction, which could result in a decrease in revenue and patients for the hospital. Patient throughput times in Kosair’s emergency room have a significant effect on patient satisfaction. This thesis will evaluate the emergency room at Kosair Children’s Hospital through a time study. The time study analyzes value added time and non-value added time in the emergency room. The majority of the patient throughput time is non-value added time and needs to be minimized. Solutions to minimize the nonvalue added time and future studies to continuously improve …

Determinants Of Alumni Membership In A Dues-Based Alumni Association., Melissa Dawn Newman 1979-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public higher education institutions are presently faced with a perfect storm of financial crises. State appropriations are on the decline, endowments have been substantially reduced as a result of the declining stock market, generally poor economic conditions across the board, and recent, historically high tuition increases make additional tuition hikes an unattractive option for a non-tax based revenue source. As a result of the economic climate within public higher education finance, institutions must increasingly rely on alternative revenue sources, which are largely made up of alumni support. According to Taylor and Massey (1996), "Alumni are a unique, select, and continuing …

Religiosity, Beliefs About Mental Illness, And Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Among Protestant Christians., Juan Michael Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have long been interested in the relationship among the separate fields of psychology and religion. This dissertation seeks to explore the differences in the way protestant Christians with various religious orientations view mental illness and how these views relate to their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. A total of 540 individuals from church congregations representing ten different denominations completed measures of religiosity, beliefs about mental illness, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Scores on these measures were analyzed to observe group differences between religious orientations and correlations among the orientations and dependent variables of belief about mental …

Optimal Trajectory Generation With Dmoc Versus Ntg : Application To An Underwater Glider And A Jpl Aerobot., Weizhong Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Optimal trajectory generation is an essential part for robotic explorers to execute the total exploration of deep oceans or outer space planets while curiosity of human and technology advancements of society both require robots to search for unknown territories efficiently and safely. As one of state-of-the-art optimal trajectory generation methodologies, Nonlinear Trajectory Generation (NTG) combines with B-spline, nonlinear programming, differential flatness technique to generate optimal trajectories for modelled mechanical systems. While Discrete Mechanics and Optimal Control (DMOC) is a newly proposed optimal control method for mechanical systems, it is based on direct discretization of Lagrange-d'Alembert principle. In this dissertation, NTG …

An Analysis Of Leadership Responsibilities As Perceived By General Education And Special Education Teachers Participating In Co-Teaching Inclusion Programs, Dennis L. Carpenter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which principals were utilizing Marzano's 21 Leadership Responsibilities that were correlated to increased student achievement to implement, maintain, and support the inclusion programs in their schools according to the perceptions of 81 general education and 66 special education teachers participating in co-teaching inclusion programs located in Georgia's First District Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) service area. The methodology for this quantitative research study utilized descriptive statistics and independent-samples t tests. The sample was obtained from general education and special education teachers' perceptions in 18 school districts in Georgia's First …

A Study Of Georgia Elementary Teachers' Beliefs And Practices Concerning Grade Level Retention, Anna Jean Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify Georgia elementary teachers' beliefs and practices of student grade-level retention. Overall, elementary teachers consider grade level retention to be an acceptable school practice to improve a student's academic success and that grade level retention also provides for long-term academic success. Georgia elementary teachers with master's degrees and above, teachers in suburban communities, teachers with more experience, and fourth grade teachers believe more strongly than elementary teachers with bachelor's degrees, teachers in rural and urban areas, and third and fifth grade elementary teachers, that students who do not meet academic standards should be …

An Analysis Of Participation In Servant Leadership As Self Reported By Elementary School Principals In Southwest Georgia, Barbara Perryman Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership that holds promise in the school setting because of the nature of the principalship. The current educational climate created by the No Child Left Behind Act, funding cuts, and principal shortages increases the importance of leadership within the schools. Utilization of the approach has been reported in business, but it was less clear if school leaders by practice model servant leadership in elementary schools. The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to determine the extent that elementary school principals in Southwest Georgia participated in the servant leadership model. The researcher administered …

Effective Principal Leadership Behaviors And Ayp Attainment: An Examination Of Distinguished And Needs Improvement Middle Schools In Georgia, Christopher M. Matthews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine effective principal leadership behaviors in relation to the AYP attainment of middle schools in Georgia. The relationship was examined through analyses of teachers' ratings of principals' leadership behaviors via an e-mailed instrument. The instrument contained 32 specific leadership behaviors linked to the 11 Marzano et al.'s leadership responsibilities with the highest correlation to student achievement. Three major research questions guided the inquiry of the study. First, the study investigated the presence of the leadership behaviors in distinguished and needs improvement middle schools in Georgia. Secondly, the study investigated whether there were differences …

The Impact Of After School Learning Centers On Low Achieving African American Elementary Students, Jorja Lockhart Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of after school learning centers in a rural school district in South Carolina on Measures of Academic Progress achievement scores for low achieving African American elementary students. The researcher collected and analyzed Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test data administered in the Spring of 2008 from the state database and identified 419 African American low achieving fourth and fifth grade students for the study. The Educational Accountability Act of South Carolina requires that schools develop individual academic plans and provide remediation for students in grades three through eight who score Below Basic …

Intersecting Spaces: A Narrative Exploration Of Intersectionality And African American Female School Psychologists, Natasha Vannoy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The roles of school psychologists practicing within the public school systems are often defined quantitatively. The focus is often how many students are assessed, what assessment measures provide the most useful snapshots of the students and how the psychometric information will be used for educational planning. Moving away from the numerical aspects of the role, this study examines the narrative voices of the few among many. Reflecting upon the shifting demographics within the field of school psychology, as well as the low number of minority school psychologists within the field, I am examining how African American women within the field …

Administrator's Perceptions Of Mentoring Programs For New Assistant Principals, Takila M. Curry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Assistant principals are now required to serve as instructional and curriculum leaders. Assistant principal mentoring has been deemed as one way to make new assistant principals ready for the challenges that they will face as they begin their careers. The purpose of the qualitative study was to understand administrators' perceptions of mentoring programs for new assistant principals. The study was carried out in elementary, middle and high schools, and a district office in a Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) that supplied funding to implement a mentoring program that would help mold assistant principals into quality school leaders. The methodology …

A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences With Administrative Support Of Veteran Teachers At The Secondary Level, Rachel Hendrix Nobles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies have revealed that working conditions play an integral role in teachers' decisions to remain in the profession or in their current school. Additionally, studies have found that administrative support is a factor frequently cited by teachers as a component of their working conditions. Administrators are in a position allowing them to directly influence the working conditions of teachers and indirectly influence the retention of teachers. Therefore, a need existed for a deeper more complete understanding of exactly how administrator - teacher relations at the secondary level influence veteran regular education teachers' perceptions of support. In this study, the researcher …

Barriers To High School Student Academic Success, Judy S. Sapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the passage of the federal legislation known as No Child Left Behind, school districts are under increasing pressure to decrease high school dropout rates and to increase high school graduation rates. There is a critical need for schools to develop and implement programs designed to maximize academic success for all high school students. The purpose of this present research was to investigate the perceptions of high school teachers and high school students about barriers to high school student academic success. For purposes of this study, high school academic success is defined as the completion of all high school diploma …

Teacher Job Satisfaction In The Georgia Department Of Juvenile Justice School System, Rufus Douglas Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Job satisfaction can be viewed as somewhat of a reflection of how an employee feels they are treated within the work setting and can also affect physical and emotional well-being. Concerns about supervisory relationships, expectations, working conditions, peer relationships, and communication channels are key factors in determining job satisfaction for teachers. Consequently, the level of job satisfaction a teacher feels toward his or her job can affect organizational functioning and may become a reflection of organizational functioning. The researcher administered a Likert-scale survey, The Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, developed by Spector to 241 teachers who work in correctional facilities in the …

A Study To Identify The Components Of Professional Learning Communities That Correlate With Teacher Efficacy, Satisfaction, And Morale, Shirley Robinette Weathers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to provide information concerning the attributes of professional learning communities, i.e. supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning and application, supportive conditions-relational, supportive conditions-structural, and shared personal practice and their correlation with teacher efficacy, satisfaction, and morale. These six characteristics of learning communities were studied to ascertain the association of those characteristics or attributes with teacher measures. The underlying premise for the study was that teachers who feel supported in their classroom practice are more committed and effective than those who do not. When teachers have a strong sense of efficacy, they tend to adopt …

Counselor Implementation Of The Asca National Model At Title I Elementary Schools, Aronica Gloster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bridging the achievement gap between students in poverty and their more advantaged peers has been a key focus of contemporary reform efforts. Principals have been encouraged to utilize distributed leadership principles to facilitate school improvement. Research has indicated that counselors have been absent from school reform initiatives. Moreover, a dearth of literature exists regarding the activities of counselors with students who live in poverty. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) asserted that counselors can play in important role as facilitators of school reform by utilizing the ASCA National Model as a foundation for school counseling programs. A study was conducted …

Exploring The First Year Of Teaching Through Focus Group Discussions, Ethno-Mimesis, A/R/Tography, And Performance Ethnography, Marilyn F. Cullen-Reavill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States is focusing on the important and worthy goal of no child being left behind and in order to accomplish this goal, we must ensure that no teacher, including the first-year teacher, is left behind. This study explores the experiences of three first-year teachers on a monthly basis and uncovers the successes, challenges, supports, and needs that they encounter.

Five research questions guided this study: 1. What are the experiences of a group of first-year teachers and in what ways were these experiences challenging, supportive, or detrimental? 2. What are the benefits for the first-year teachers in meeting …

Environmental Determinism: Broken Paradigm Or Viable Perspective?., Gerald L. Hardin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research was to examine the issue of environmental determinism. It was an ideology that was prevalent throughout the early decades of the 20^th century that held that the natural environment was responsible for virtually all human development. It helped bring the study of geography into the venue of postsecondary education, where it was viewed as a tool for study of human activities. It was a new science inspired by Darwinism that viewed human adaptation to the natural environment as critical to socialization.

Relying on historical sources, the purpose of the study was to reveal how environmental determinism became …

Perceptions Of Educators' Use Of English As A Second Language Strategies And Research-Based Practices With English Language Learners In Northeast Tennessee., Marisol Hernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate the level of use of English as a second or subsequent language strategies and research-based practices in the instruction of ELL students in Northeast Tennessee. The researcher sought to ascertain the perceptions of educators in Northeast Tennessee about teaching practices and beliefs in regard to the instruction of ELL students and to determine to what level these educators include ESL strategies and ESL research-based practices when teaching ELL students.

Participants in the study consisted of regular classroom teachers, English as a second language teachers, and principals from districts identified as ELL low …

Burnout Potential Among Certified Athletic Trainers In Southwest Virginia And Northeast Tennessee As Measured By A Modified Version Of The Maslach Burnout Inventory., Dennis Cobler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine the burnout potential of certified athletic trainers (ATCs) working in the regions of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. To determine burnout potential, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey was used. Permission to modify the inventory was obtained from CPP, Inc. Participants for the research study were identified by searching the NATA membership directory, state athletic training websites and state licensure websites. Sixty-seven ATCs were emailed invitations to participate. Fifty surveys were completed. Of these 50, five were eliminated from statistical analysis. Therefore, 45 surveys were satisfactorily completed producing a usable return rate …

A Case Study Of Community College Students' Perceptions Regarding Faculty's Practice Of Online Course Delivery: Virginia Community College., Loretta Roberts Beavers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This case study focused on students who had matriculated in online courses in the Business Management Program. The setting for the study was a Virginia community college. The purpose of this study was to examine the social, faculty and administrative, and technology influences on students' perceptions of online learning. Students' conveyed experiences and perceptions of the tools and practices faculty used to implement online learning were coded and categorized to generate grounded theory that may be used to govern distance learning implementation.

Data were collected through document reviews, semi-structured interviews, and field studies. The interview participants were selected from the …