Digital Commons Network^™

Increasing Reading Scores Through Teacher Collaboration, M. Reed Bain

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to evaluate students’ reading test scores in the teacher mentor program. Over the past few years, students at the selected school have scored poorly on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Teachers have used a number of teaching methods to increase their students’ performance on the reading section of this assessment to no avail.

The researcher developed a strategy designed to increase teacher mentoring/collaboration at the middle school level. This strategy included a comprehensive program for the development of a teacher mentor cluster. The cluster, and the inherent increased collaboration, provided …

Developing The Behavioral And Instructional Qualities Of An Effective Interactive Television Educator, M. Elizabeth Klein

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study examines the implementation of distance education over a compressed video system in a public school district. It explores the progression of distance education initiatives developed by the school district, beginning with instructional television, to the present system that is capable of delivering two-way interactive video-conferencing to eight high schools over a wide area network. Properly implemented, this videoconferencing system should result in an expanded curriculum at the smaller high schools, and a greater variety of learning opportunities for students at all the high schools in the district.

Research identified the instructional practices that distinguish an effective interactive television …

Improving Test Scores Through A Language Arts, Mathematics, And Test-Taking Program, George M. Marzotto Jr

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The topics researched in this applied dissertation were the language arts, mathematics, and test-taking remediation program effects on the Indiana State Test for Educational Progress (ISTEP) and Graduation Qualifying Exam (GQE).

An analysis of the past 4 years of ISTEP and GQE scores indicated a need for a remediation program that focused on study skills with the emphasis on test-taking skills and in the areas of language arts and mathematics to aid the 10thgrade students in passing the GQE exam. The study skill plan consisted of a comprehensive study of 4 basic study skills and 8 organizational skills to enhance …

Development Of A Counseling Services Resource Web Site With Plans For Implementation And Evaluation, Diana L. Mccullough

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

At Irvine Valley College (IVC), student services counselors lacked proficiency in technology and a common online resource. Thus, counselors could not provide students with timely, accurate information. This project developed (a) a Counselors’ Resource Extensive Web Site (CREWS), (b) a Web site implementation plan, and (c) a Web site evaluation plan.

Five research questions addressed (a) appropriate content for the CREWS, (b) CREWS Web site design criteria, (c) training needed by counselors, (d) a CREWS implementation plan, (e) a CREWS evaluation plan. Development, research, and evaluation methodologies were used in 22 procedures. These comprised literature reviews, analysis of sister colleges’ …

Development Of An Improved Collaborative Counseling Program Between Ramsay Counseling Center, Discovery, And Roy Allen Elementary Schools, Marlene A. Sassaman

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The collaborative counseling program between Ramsay Counseling Center, Discovery, and Roy Allen Elementary Schools was not operating effectively. The purpose of this project was to develop an improved program. The program included a policy and procedures manual, a training program, and plans for implementation and evaluation.

The research was based on 5 questions that asked about the relevance of the literature to the study as well as questions leading to an improved collaborative counseling program.

The procedures included a literature review, establishment of formative and summative committees, assessment of counselors’ and educators’ needs, development of the design and content for …

The Effect Of Pediculosis On Student Attendance And Performance, Gwendolyn Jarvis

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this study was to improve attendance and achievement by combating the pediculosis problem at an urban public school in Ohio. The study involved 37 students who were absent an abnormal amount of time due to the impact of pediculosis on their health. Of these 37 students, all were excluded from school at least once, and 14 of the students mis sed 2 or more days. One student missed 47 days and another missed 70 days of instruction due to pediculosis. During the 2001-2002 school year, approximately 5 to 10 students were excluded every day due to pediculosis …

Development Of An Online Instructional Model For West Chester University Faculty With A Plan For Implementation And Evaluation, Tracy A. Clark

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this applied research dissertation was to develop an online instructional model for West Chester University faculty. In addition, structural, delivery, and evaluation criteria were identified for the purpose of implementing and evaluating the online instructional model. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized to developed a number of products which include an executive brief, online instructional resource handbook, and implementation and evaluation plans. Each product intention will catalyze instructional strategies that will increase learner performance.

All five-research questions were answered during this applied research dissertation. The researcher engaged in the following procedures to answer the …

Development Of An Orientation Seminar For Displaced Workers Returning To The North Carolina Community Colleges With A Plan For Implementation And Evaluation, Kathryn Geisen

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Central Carolina Community College at Lillington, North Carolina is a 2-year public community college. The problem is that Central Carolina Community College has had dislocated workers attending classes. Academic failure has resulted in 59% of these students withdrawing. High attrition has led to a loss of full-time equivalent students because the college is unable to meet their special needs.

In response, an orientation seminar was developed with a plan for implementation and evaluation. The primary methodology was development and secondary was evaluation.

In this project, 4 research questions prompted procedures that were needed. These research questions for this project required …

Development Of A Preceptor Training Program With A Plan For Implementation And Evaluation For Victor Valley College Associate Degree Of Nursing Program, Patricia E. Green

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this applied dissertation was to design a Preceptor Training Program (PTP) for registered nurses precepting the Victor Valley College student nurses. This study also addressed the impact associated with the absence of a PTP.

A development problem-solving methodology was utilized. A review of the literature was conducted. Data were collected from deans and directors of nursing of California Associate Degree Nursing Programs about PTP.

A formative committee and summative committee were formed to assist in reviewing, evaluating, and validating two survey instruments and the final product. Survey instruments were sent to a sample of registered nurses, nursing …

Retention In Private Christian Schools: A Program To Assist Private Christian Schools To Retain Students, Michael E. Maschenik

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study explored the reasons why parents choose private Christian schools, why they are willing to pay for these schools, and the possible reasons why they often remove their children as they get older. The subject of the study was Southwest Florida Christian Academy located in Fort Myers, Florida. The school has over 440 students and is affiliated with the McGregor Baptist Church. The researcher presented data to support observations that many parents withdraw their children as they get older and that very few currently enrolled in the higher grades actually started their education in a Christian school.

The researcher …

An Evaluation Of The Perceptions Of Staff In The Roanoke County School District Regarding Professional Development Programs And Web-Based Professional Development, Michael Sebolt

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to evaluate the perceptions of the staff in the Roanoke County School District toward current professional teacher development (PTD) programs and the use of web-based professional development as an alternative method of delivery. The writer utilized evaluation methodology. The writer evaluated the perceptions of the current professional development programs and the use of web-based professional development with the administration of a survey to school district teachers and administrators.

The results showed that most teachers agree that PTD is an important part of their professional careers. However, a majority of the teachers are not utilizing the …

Improving Novice Teachers’ Attitudes About Teaching And Retaining Them In The Teaching Profession, Douglas Hendrix

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide psychological and educational support to novice teachers at Morrow High School (MHS). In 2 years, MHS lost a total of 64 teachers. Thirty-four (56%) of those teachers who left MHS were novice teachers. At the end of the 2001-2002 school year, 109 MHS teachers participated in a school improvement survey. Veteran and novice teacher responses were compared. Novice teachers reported more negative responses about their teaching experience at MHS than did their veteran colleagues. Many of those novice teachers left MHS and the teaching profession. Lack of administrative support, an inundation of paperwork, …

Development Of A Certification Program In Secondary English Education At Valley Forge Christian College With A Plan For Implementation, Glenn A. Mcclure

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Valley Forge Christian College is a 4-year private religious institution sponsored by the Assemblies of God denomination. In order to improve the curricular programs and meet the needs of potential students, it is necessary to add secondary education courses leading to state teaching certification to the program. The problem is that there are no secondary education major courses of study at Valley Forge Christian College qualifying graduates to teach in the state’s public secondary schools. The purpose of this study was to develop a Secondary English Education program and an accompanying Student Handbook.

The Secondary English Education program and Student …

Bartolomeo Di Tommaso Da Foligno, Michael Patrick Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Once famous and influential, the fifteenth century Umbrian painter, Bartolomeo di Tommaso (1408/11–1454) has only begun to receive serious scholarly attention within the past few decades. His long obscurity was in part attributable to the fact that he was not born in Tuscany, and did not work in the great art centers of Florence and Siena, facts that by themselves would relegate him to the status of a lesser artist. Further, his paintings have never been easily reconciled with those that art history has classified as Early Renaissance in style and, indeed even when Bartolomeo was influenced by Tuscan painters, …

Enhancement Of English Language Learner Literacy In An Urban High School, Cassandra L. Barker-Carr

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was a study that used a curriculum unit that was developed by Thombs (1998). It was a study to investigate the use of e-mail and preservice teachers as tools to enhance the literacy skills of high school students enrolled in the English as a second language (ESL) classes. A curriculum unit was used to encourage mentor feedback facilitated by e-mail communication. The ESL students wrote on topics that were assigned by their teacher, submitted the writings to their mentor via e-mail, and then received feedback from the mentor in the same manner. Originally, this curriculum unit was …

An Understanding Of The Application Of Research Methods In Engineering Management, Andres Sousa-Poza, Rafael Landaeta, Leonardo Bedoya, Ipek Bozkurt, Yaneth Correa

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In this article, the use of research methods in the field of Engineering Management is analyzed. For this study, a database was formed by using articles from three journals in the Engineering Management field: the Engineering Management Journal (EMJ), the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management (JETM). Articles written between 1999 and 2003 were analyzed and an Engineering Management research position map was developed to describe holistically the research methods being used in Engineering Management. No judgment on the Engineering Management field per se was undertaken as a result of this study. Instead, …

The Role Of Dopamine In Motivational And Receptive Aspects Of Female Mouse Sexual Behavior, Amber Bradshaw Hodges

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A pacing paradigm investigated the modulatory role of monoamines in the mesolimbic dopamine system on copulatory behavior in female mice. Specifically whether there is a distinction between the neural regulatory mechanisms of pacing behavior and receptive behavior was determined. Pacing measures motivational and rewarding components of copulation by the female's contacts and withdrawals from the male, while receptivity is the willingness to engage in copulations and is measured by the number of sexual stimulations received. A pacing paradigm was established and female mice were observed to pace in a similar manner, but at a lesser rate, than female rats.

Dopamine …

Including Organizational Cultural Parameters In Work Processes, Holly A. H. Handley, Nancy J. Heacox

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent work in modeling decision-making work processes has focused on including the national culture of individual decision-makers in order to emphasize the differences in decision criteria between decision-makers of different nationalities. In addition to nationality, a decision-maker is also a member of an organization and brings this organizational culture to his role in the work process, where it may also affect his task performance. In order to represent the organizational impact on the work process, five organizational cultural parameters were identified and included in an algorithm for modeling and simulation of cultural difference in human decision-making. While the five modifiers …

Anarchism And The Politics Of Homosexuality, Terence S. Kissack

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

From the mid-1890s through the 1920s activists in the American, English-language anarchist movement carried on a spirited debate on the ethical, social, and cultural status of same-sex desire. Among Americans they were alone in doing so; no other political movement or notable public figure of the period dealt with this issue. By making same-sex desire a topic of political discourse the anarchist sex radicals helped shift the sexual, cultural, and political landscape within which all Americans operated. While the contemporary homosexual rights movement is not the lineal descendant of the turn-of-the-century anarchist movement, the activists examined in this dissertation addressed …

Development Of A Plan For The Implementation And Evaluation Of Programs To Meet The Educational Needs Of Adults On Andros Island, Bahamas, Christina A. Rahming Nwosa

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

There exists a paucity of opportunities for adults on the Family Islands of The Bahamas to obtain higher education, as there is minimal infrastructure on these islands to support the traditional face-to-face mode of educational delivery at the tertiary level. This project was designed to develop a plan for the implementation and evaluation of programs to meet the educational needs of adults on Andros Island, Bahamas. The plan that was developed utilized 14 procedures to answer 4 research questions. The 4 research questions addressed were (a) What are the educational needs of adults on Andros Island?, (b) Currently, what is …

Using A Gender-Specific Program Model To Prevent Adolescent Females From Committing Status Crimes And Criminal Offenses, Brenda A. Nelson

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The literature consistently references the limited research conducted on adolescent female offenders. Much of the research around juvenile delinquent or criminal behaviors has focused on male offenders, and, as a result, the majority of program models for prevention and treating criminal behaviors of adolescents have been based on a male model. The problem addressed in this applied dissertation was adolescent females committal of status and criminal offenses, with the goal of eliminating status and criminal behavior through the implementation of a gender-specific community-based program for adolescent female offenders. The expected outcomes were that for the sample or target group of …

Kentucky's Perpetual Prisoner Machine: It's About Money, Stephen C. Richards, James Austin, Richard S. Jones

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Kentucky is currently facing a severe budget crisis and is seeking ways to lower its prison and community corrections costs. This article focuses on our study of the prison and parole experience of men and women in Kentucky. What we found is a virtual “perpetual incarceration machine” where prisoners are recycled from prison to parole and back to prison. The following discussion includes: Kentucky's prison population continues to grow, parole failure, methods, description of interview samples, interview data, the structure producing parole failure, and Kentucky's perpetual incarceration mechine. Based on our findings, several promising reforms are recommended that if implemented …

Development Of An Educational Leadership Program For Nurse Managers At The Hospital For Joint Diseases With A Plan For Implementation And Evaluation, Althea L. Mighten

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Nurse managers at the Hospital for Joint Diseases (HJD) have not had any additional leadership development beyond their generic nursing education, or since they were head nurses, to effectively manage the nursing units. Prior to this study, HJD had no policies and procedures in place to support their development.

To address the problem, the writer developed an educational leadership program for nurse managers at HJD with a plan for implementation and evaluation. It was expected that such a program would expand the knowledge base and elevate the competency levels of the nurse managers.

Nineteen procedures that incorporated the developmental and …

When The Student Cannot Come To The Classroom, Should The Classroom Come To The Student?, Christine M. Curtin

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this applied dissertation was to demonstrate the effectiveness of interactive communication technology in meeting the unique needs of homebound middle school students by replacing the current 3-hour-a-week tutorial program with a two-way video system. The subjects were 7 middle school aged homebound students in suburban Atlanta, Georgia.

The preliminary project examined archival data concerning 7 middle school students who were participants in the 3- hour-a-week tutorial homebound program. These students, their parents, and their teachers were interviewed about their experience in the 3-hour-a-week tutorial homebound program.

This applied dissertation determined the components and procedures needed to establish …