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A Holistic Educational Program For Parents Of Kindergarden Children, Judith Ann Yost Evans

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Reflects Actions: Theory And Practice In Teaching Writing, Amber Dahlin Ahlstrom

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between theory and practice in teaching writing.

Chapter I outlines the methodology and issues of the book: definitions of theory and practice, reflective practice, skewed perceptions of what teaching is and what constitutes knowledge. I set the groundwork for a view of theory as an activity owned by both researchers and practitioners.

Understanding private theory is essential to understanding teaching. In Chapter II, I show that theory is both personal and public, both a construct and an action. This view validates practitioner knowledge and unites theory and practice.

Chapter …

Large-Scale Portfolio Evaluation Of Writing, Jay Simmons

Doctoral Dissertations

Schools, districts, states, and testing organizations routinely assess writing ability with timed, prompted writing samples. Based on these results, those in control swing the gate open or slam it shut for thousands of students, teachers, administrators and schools, in decisions about promotion, admission, retention or funding.

This study demonstrates that timed writing samples poorly predict actual classroom writing performance, underestimating the weakest and poorest while overrating the strongest. Self-selected portfolios from 263 randomly selected students in grades five, eight, and eleven across eleven school unions also provide a clearer picture of the development of writing abilities from elementary through high …

One Writing Process: A Self-Reflective Analysis Of The Creation Of A Young Adult Novel, Thomas S. Romano

Doctoral Dissertations

To describe his process of creation, the author analyzes the journal he kept in conjunction with writing a young adult novel. Each day he wrote fiction, he used a journal to document his writing and thinking processes, invention strategies, and creation dilemmas. The author examined his planning techniques, his use of visualization and detail, the role that reading played in his writing, and the influence of people and autobiographical experience. He found that some of his most productive planning and thinking were done while away from his writing room, not consciously thinking about the novel-in-progress until ideas suddenly occurred to …

Writing Relationships: Reading Students, Reading Ourselves, Lad Tobin

Doctoral Dissertations

If we want to understand how students learn to write in a college composition course, we need to pay more attention to the context in which that writing and the teacher's reading occurs. What we need is a definition of context broad enough to account for the interactive and dialectical nature of the composing and reading processes, but still narrow enough to tell us what not to take into account. My argument in this dissertation is that we can best accomplish this by viewing context in composition as primarily determined by the interpersonal, classroom relationships--between the student and teacher, between …

Summer Revisions: An Ethnographic Study Of High School Teachers In The Culture Of A Summer Writing Program, Bonnie S. Sunstein

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation uses the term "culture" as a metaphor to describe teachers as they participate in the three-week summer writing program at the University of New Hampshire. Using ethnographic methodology, it blends composition theory, anthropology, folkloristics, and psychology. In the voice of the participant observer, the study describes and interprets both the people and the event as a "readable social institution." Teachers live inside a close collegial environment, a temporary, "liminal" state, away from their home and school responsibilities. They form a dialectical relationship with the "culture" as they write and talk inside a social environment in which other teachers …

Vivencias: Writing As A Way Into A New Language And Culture, Meg Joanna Peterson-Gonzalez

Doctoral Dissertations

Because of its relation to thinking processes, writing has been used "across the curriculum" to promote learning in different subject areas. Writing allows for revision and reflection, forces authors to be more specific because of its different context, and imposes organization through conventional forms. Writing has not been used extensively however, in second language teaching. It is viewed, rather, as a skill to be practiced and its potential to catalize language learning has remained largely untapped. Writing has been used in cross-cultural training, but generally this use takes the form of journals kept in the native language, which, while valuable …

Plant Production Cost-Accounting/ Management System, Kevin C. Power, Jay Fitzgerald, George Meyer, Dennis D. Schulte

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

A microcomputer program has been developed to keep records on energy, labor costs, product pricing, and revenue predictions for greenhouse and nursery production. The program manages plant production data, potentially enabling the grower to improve production and profits. The grower can use the program to determine how much it costs to produce individual plants, to ascertain labor costs and where to reallocate employees. Advertising and other indirect costs can be included to determine cost of production on a per-plant or per-square-foot basis.

Enhancing Soil Conservation Practice Adoption With Targeted Educational Programs, Elbert C. Dickey, David P. Shelton, Paul J. Jasa

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Two independent, but closely related, grant funded educational programs were developed and implemented to reduce soil erosion in selected areas of eastern Nebraska. Traditional extension programming methods as well as other more non-traditional approaches were used extensively to enhance soil conservation practice adoption. In one program, encompassing 220 000 ha (540,000 acre) of cropland, annual soil erosion was reduced by 2.3 million t (2.5 million ton) and annual fuel savings of 1.5 million L (390,000 gal) were achieved through a reduction in the number of tillage operations. In the second project, more than 93 000 m (305,000 ft) of terraces …

The Ed.D. Program In Child And Youth Studies 1991, Nova University

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice College Archive

No abstract provided.

Part-Time: 1991-92, City Of Dublin Vocational Education Committee

Prospectus: Bolton Street

Courses for the College of Technology, Bolton Street, Dublin 1.

Preservice Teachers' Evolving Perspectives Of Elementary Social Studies., Elizabeth K. Wilson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Recent studies which have focused on preservice teachers' perspectives of elementary social studies have attempted to discover the product of the relationships between their conceptions of social studies and their classroom practices. This research, conducted only during the clinical experience, indicated that the beliefs and ideas which teachers express about social studies have little effect on classroom practice. In order to better understand this phenomenon, this study investigated the evolution of preservice teachers' perspectives of social studies through methods instruction as well as the clinical experience. The participants for this study were four preservice teachers who were enrolled in the …

Directed And Spontaneous Transfer Of College Developmental Reading Students' Textmarking Strategies., Deidra Williams Frazier

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine directed and spontaneous transfer of college developmental reading students' textmarking strategy use. Two males and two females enrolled in a developmental reading course at Louisiana State University participated. Participants were asked to use textmarking strategies in their introductory biology course. During scheduled meetings with the researcher, participants turned in their annotated material, discussed textmarking progress, and received feedback on the quality of their annotations. Students were also asked to reflect on strategy use in assigned journal entries. Participants were not asked to use textmarking strategies in any other content course in which …

Factors Influencing Training And Human Resource Development Certificate Programs In The United States., Cynthia Huff Gaudet

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The objectives of this study were to: describe training and human resource development (T&D/HRD) certificate programs in the United States, compare the demographic characteristics of certificate programs among academic groupings, and to determine the perceived degree of influence of various factors on the development of T&D/HRD certificate programs. A researcher designed questionnaire was administered to the population of U.S. institutions offering T&D/HRD certificate programs identified by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) 1990 Academic Directory. An 84.2% rate of return was received from the respondents in this study. Findings indicated that T&D/HRD certificate programs are more likely to …

Corss-Age Tutoring Program, Velma Jean Thompson

All Graduate Projects

This master's project provided a teachers~ handbook to assist in establishing a cross-age tutoring program. In addition to a philosophy statement and a review of the literature, this project also .provided forms for implementing the program and materials for training the tutors. This manual was prepared for use in an elementary school setting and contains a step-by-step approach to establish a cross-age tutoring program.

An Inservice Program For The Training Of Instructional Paraprofessionals And Classroom Teachers, Debra Renee Helm

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop an inservice program to increase the job related skills of paraprofessional classroom assistants and the human management and supervision skills of the classroom teachers with whom they work. To accomplish this purpose, the inservice training needs of class-size paraprofessionals and the classroom teachers were studied. An inservice training program was developed and implemented with twelve class-size paraprofessionals and twelve supervising teachers from selected elementary schools in the Auburn School District. The results of the program showed that the increased use of paraprofessionals in instructional roles creates significant need for inservice training for …

Emerging Practices In K-6 Multimedia Methods Of Instruction In The Bethel School District, Glenn E. Malone

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to assess and describB the conditions and practices in the Bethel School District's elementary schools with regard to the use of a multimedia approach to instruction. A sample of the 260 classroom teachers, 13 principals, and 13 learning resource center specialists in the Bethel School District's 13 elementary schools (K-6) were surveyed using questionnaires covering the implementation of multimedia methods of instruction. The results showed current multimedia methods of instruction are rare in the elementary classrooms of the Bethel School District because of a lack of technological inservice and current multimedia hardware.

The Selection And Implementation Of A Drug And Alcohol Intervention Program/Model For Grand Coulee Dam Junior High School, Grand Coulee, Washington, Scott L. Ramsey

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to plan and implement an intervention program to combat adolescent substance abuse at Grand Coulee Dam Junior High School, Grand Coulee, Washington. This study presented a review of the research and literature related to drug and alcohol intervention models and has documented the steps and procedures taken by the Grand Coulee Dam Junior High School Core Team to implement the intervention model selected.

Teaching Comprehension By Incorporating Story Grammar Into A Drta Lesson Format, Sharon Kay Neal

All Graduate Projects

This project presents a teaching procedure which should improve primarylevel reading comprehension. This procedure combines a framework of story grammar as a guide for implementing the Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) lesson format. Literature is reviewed which illustrates the effectiveness of story grammar when used to teach comprehension, and describes the effectiveness of DRTA to promote active comprehension. By combining both story grammar and DRTA, a procedure is developed and ten example lessons are produced.

The Relationship Between Academic Preparation Programs And Actual Job Requirements As Perceived By Indiana School Superintendents, Mark D. Myers

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the link between administrative preparation programs and actual superintendent responsibilities in public school corporations of Indiana. A survey was developed to solicit superintendents' perceptions of the actual time allocated to twenty-two academic skill areas commonly found as course offerings in departments of educational administration. All public school superintendents in Indiana serving in metropolitan, urban, suburban, town, and rural classifications were requested to react to perceptions regarding the most important administrative management skill areas, instructional leadership skill areas, and educational research training experiences. Superintendents also were classified according to years of experience. All …

The Small Business Development Center Program: From A Small Business Growth Stage And Adult Learning Perspective, Roy Otis Kruger

Dissertations and Theses

The study of the Clackamas Small Business Development Center's Small Business Management Programs (SBM) had three research objectives: to ascertain what information should be transferred to small business owners and how best to transfer that information; to ascertain what information is presently being transferred to clients and what methods are used in transferring the information; and to survey clients in order to develop a current demographic profile, measure their level of satisfaction with the assistance received, and ascertain what they perceived were the benefits of the program to their companies. Prior to the study, there had been little systematic research …

School Ka Sabaq: Literacy In A Girls Primary School In Rural Pakistan, Iffat Farah

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper (which is part of a larger ethnographic study) describes literacy learning practices in the context of a girls' school in rural Pakistan. In this context, school ka sabaq is recognized as involving reading and writing activities, and behavior particular to the institution of the school. A description of the reading and writing activities as well as the division of time and space in the school shows that literacy activities are reflected in and determined by the context of the particular institution within which they are learned and practiced. The author also describes school-community relations and the community's goals …

An Ethnographic Investigation Of The Integration Of Disabled And Nondisabled Two-Year-Old Children., Mary Beth Armstrong

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study is an ethnographic investigation of the initial integration of a group of disabled and nondisabled two-year-old children. The group was comprised of a class of seven disabled children from a school parish and a class of nine nondisabled children from a university child development center in this same parish. This study incorporated ethnographic data collection and analysis procedures. Data collection procedures included participant observation, ethnographic interviews, artifactual analysis, and videorecording. The results of this study suggest that a process of stigmatization occurred in this integration program. The process of stigmatization and factors perhaps accounting for the process are …

School Administration As Brinkmanship., Eddy A. Haynes

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Students, teachers, and principals sometimes test the boundaries set by the system in which they work, often with the goal of adapting to their circumstances while avoiding punishment. This type of behavior, called brinkmanship, was defined by Licata and Willower (1975) in terms of subordinate challenges to an educational organization's authority system that avoid negative sanctions. Principal brinkmanship can also be defined in terms of discretionary decision making (Morris, et al. 1984) which is the implementation of policies and programs at the school level in a way that fits the principal's values, philosophy, and goals. This research focused on school …

The College Participation Of The 1982 Undergraduate Cohort In Louisiana Public Higher Education: A Longitudinal Analysis., Margaret Blanchard Hargroder

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the six-year college participation of students entering Louisiana public undergraduate higher education in Fall 1982. Motivation for the study stemmed from several educational conditions in Louisiana: a lower graduation rate than that of the nation, disparities in the graduation rates of Black students and White students, and administrative considerations for the restructuring of public higher education. The purposes of the study were: (1) to describe the population by selected characteristics and (2) to identify participation differences in enrollment, persistence, and achievement among sub-groups classified by: (a) race and gender, (b) developmental program participation, and (c) institutional types …

Effective School Status: A Methodological Study Of Classification Consistency., Michael Hansen Lang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated both the effect of alternating criterion-referenced tests (CRT) with norm-referenced tests (NRT) in evaluating schools and whether mean scores were masking poor delivery of educational services to low achievers in such evaluations. The sample included 242 Louisiana public elementary schools (18,000 third graders tested in 1989). The study employed ten separate multiple regression models, each producing studentized residuals used as school effectiveness indicators (SEIs). The independent variables for all models were student's free lunch status, mother's educational level, and father's employment level. The dependent variables were school mean and lower quartile scores for CRT language arts and …

The Making Of Meaning: Three Children's Responses To Three Researcher-Composed Narratives., Mary S. Everett

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Three children's responses to three research-composed narratives were investigated. Participants were eight-year-old girls from the lower S.E.S., African-American culture. Study focuses on the composing processes used to write three children's stories and the responses of children to the stories. The author's intended meaning was compared with the children's construction of meaning. After each story was read aloud, response was elicited by each participant retelling the story and answering open-ended interview questions. One week later the participant was asked to retell the story a second time to determine changes in concept of story. Data were analyzed according to grounded theory methodology. …

Family Support For Persisters And Non-Persisters In Louisiana's Adult Basic Education Programs., Geraldine Hargrove Holmes

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The role that family involvement and the effects of home efforts have on improved student achievement for children is well documented in the literature. The purpose of this study was to determine whether family support should be considered when planning adult basic education (ABE) programs. The objectives addressed were: demographic characteristics, level of family support, and relationship of family support among selected variables. A statewide random sample of 197 adult basic education students was surveyed (82.7% response rate). Persisters (students who either completed the ABE program or were continuing their instruction when the study was conducted) and non-persisters (students who …

An Analysis Of Syntactic Skills Used In Translating Natural Language Sentences Into Algebraic Equations., Elizabeth Devalcourt Gray

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine how a competent person translates a natural language sentence into an algebraic equation. A current theory of how translation occurs is espoused by a group of cognitive scientists who propose that the competent translator uses only conceptual strategies in the translation process. I propose and investigate an alternate theory that the translation skills of a competent student are based on a syntactic analysis and syntactic manipulation of the sentence. In most cases such direct, syntactic translation processes will suffice, but for a small minority of sentence types a decision must be made …

Perceptions Of Performance Appraisal By Cooperative Extension Service Agents In Selected Southern States., William L. Davis

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Appraising the performance of employees is a necessary and vital process in the management of organizations. In the Cooperative Extension System, performance appraisal concerns all employees and influences work, motivation, and ultimately educational program impacts. Perceptions of the present and ideal performance appraisal process were obtained from 558 county agents in six selected southern states. The study focused on agent perceptions of the process, as currently followed and as a desired ideal, to see if there were perceptual differences, and to see if perceptions were influenced by personal characteristics, work characteristics and features of the process itself. The performance appraisal …