Digital Commons Network^™

Nova Southeastern University 2003-2004 Annual Report, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Ua56/1 Fact Book, Wku Institutional Research

WKU Administration Documents

Statistical and demographic profile of WKU.

Comparing Self-Efficacy And Metacognition As Indicators Of Performance, Deborah K. Smith, Jerry Cha-Jan Chang, Trevor T. Moores

Management, Entrepreneurship and Technology Faculty Research

We report the results of a pilot study that compared the computer self-efficacy construct with metacognition. While self-efficacy is primarily affective and refers to one’s beliefs about one’s ability to perform a task, metacognition is primarily cognitive and refers to one’s thoughts about one’s ability to perform a task. Given their similarity, both have been used as surrogate measures of knowledge or skill. We developed an instrument to measure both constructs and applied the instrument to a set of MIS students taking an Analysis and Design course. Factor analysis produced a five-factor model, with metacognition factoring out as a unidimensional …

Sikh Immigrant Students: Navigating Dual Cultures In Metropolitan New York, Bindu Chawla

Graduate School of Education Books

The author presents a study done with Sikh immigrant students in New York City whose cultural origins were in the northwestern state of Punjab in India. Her aim was to find out how these students managed within American public schools while seeking to maintain their traditional cultural identity.

Identifying The Barriers To Access To Higher Education For African -American Students: Opinions Of Successful African -American Educators, William Lewis Taylor

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine past and present social, educational, and financial barriers to African American access to and success within United States higher educational institutions, and identify and recommend ways of ameliorating those barriers for African American students in the future. Based on a comprehensive literature review and analysis of responses to an author-designed survey questionnaire mailed to a cross-section of current United States African American higher education administrators, the study identified and analyzed past and present impacts, on African Americans, of social, educational, and economic factors possibly impeding their higher education entry and success. These …

Postsecondary Readiness Skills: Perceptions Of Students With And Without Disabilities, Carol Mae White

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the perceptions of postsecondary readiness skills between students with emotional disorders, students with learning disabilities, and students with no disabilities. Participants consisted of 91 students, 12 students with emotional disorders, 47 students with learning disabilities, and 32 students without disabilities in grades 11 and 12 who were planning on transitioning to postsecondary education. Data were collected to determine if there were significant differences in perceptions of postsecondary readiness skills among the three groups of students, specifically on eight domains: general preparation, academic preparation, self-determination and advocacy, academic accommodations and …

Examining The Effect Of Teaching Method And Learning Style On Student Course Achievement For Hospitality Students, Mehmet Erdem

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study attempts to bridge the gap between effective teaching and empirical research on hospitality education by bringing a learning-based theoretical framework and a validated assessment tool together within a research setting. A specific objective of the study was to determine the effect of students' learning styles on student course achievement. The author examined the effect of learning styles and instructional strategies on student course achievement in consideration with students' GPA, and the influence of demographic variables including gender, age, class standing, student classification as being either international or domestic, and students' industry experience. Additionally, the relationship between students' overall …

Student And Parent Satisfaction With Online Education At The Elementary And Secondary Levels, Craig Warner Butz

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with student and parent satisfaction with online education at the elementary and secondary level. The study involved the development and validation of two questionnaires (student and parent) to determine factors related to satisfaction. The questionnaires were developed through a review of current literature concerning distance and online education and with feedback from administrators and teachers currently working in online education at the elementary and secondary levels; The student satisfaction questionnaire contained 27 items that were assigned to five hypothesized dimensions or factors: (a) school-level technology support, (b) school-level instructional support, …

Disadvantaged Gifted And Talented Students Who Make It To College And Those Who Don't: Implications For School Leaders, Patricia Ann Green

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Gifted and talented education students demonstrate outstanding ability in the areas of general intelligence, creative thinking, productive thinking, leadership, the visual arts, the performing arts, or an academic aptitude in a specified area. This study is a comparative, qualitative analysis of two groups of disadvantaged students who were categorized as gifted and talented in elementary school, and their postsecondary goals. Twelve students of cross-cultural backgrounds are included in the study. The academic journey of the students from elementary through secondary school, and the factors that determined whether they made it to college or not are the focus of the study. …

The Impact Of Full-Day And Half-Day Kindergarten On The Language Arts Achievement Scores Of First-Grade Students, Stefanie M Kujaczynski

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Full-day kindergarten programming is an increasing trend in early childhood education settings. Many school districts are beginning to offer such programs based on the needs and opinions of teachers and parents. These districts are making substantial financial commitments to this programming prompted by the belief that full-day kindergarten will produce greater academic gains for children, more specifically at-risk children; This study investigated the impact of full-day and half-day kindergarten program enrollment on the language arts achievement scores of 237 first grade children considered to be at risk for academic failure. Gender differences and program enrollment differences were the primary categories …

The Effects Of A Personal Accountability And Personal Responsibility Model On Urban Elementary Student Positive Social And Off-Task Behaviors, Daniel Wesley Balderson

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

In the past few decades, the challenge of violent and disruptive behaviors among our children and youth has been on the rise. This study provides one intervention model focused on personal accountability and personal responsibility designed to reduce off-task and disruptive behavior in school settings, and designed to increase positive social behaviors among children and youth. A multiple treatment ABAD, ACAD, ADA, control behavior analysis design was implemented across four distinct elementary physical education classes matched for participant and setting similarity. Measures included number of occurrence and percentage of class time across Teacher Management, Student Leadership, Passive and Disruptive Student …

Is Notice Required In A Title Ix Athletics Action Not Involving Sexual Harassment? , Diane Heckman

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Experiences Of International Students At An Australian University: An Exploratory Qualitative Study, Andrea Halse

Theses : Honours

The number of international students studying in Australia has steadily increased over the last ten years providing many benefits both to the country and Australian universities. However, little is known about the transition experiences of these students and there has been little acknowledgment of the issues facing students adjusting to a new environment and learning context. Typical issues that international students encounter include; language difficulties, homesickness, culture shock, lack of background knowledge and skills, housing difficulties, developing new social relationships and adapting to their new environment. Much of the research has been in the form of questionnaires and surveys focusing …

Making Teamwork Equitable With Online Technology: A Case Study, Joseph Luca, Catherine E Mcloughlin

Research outputs pre 2011

In many higher education institutions, teamwork is considered an essential part of the syllabus in helping to promote deep and meaningful learning as well as professional skills such as communication, collaboration and leadership skills. However, in many cases students are unhappy with teamwork activities, as they consider the distribution of marks to be unfair. In many cases, team members are all allocated the same mark regardless of the amount of effort or quality of work contributed by each individual. This case study attempts to resolve these issues by presenting a self and peer assessment strategy (supported with online technology) to …

Evaluating An Advisory Program In A Community School District, Lydia C. Alvarado

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes the results of a formative evaluation of the implementation of instructional techniques in an advisory program and the staff’s commitment to the program. The question that this study addressed was, Are the faculty members implementing instructional techniques (group dynamics techniques, group discussion techniques and critical thinking questioning techniques) during the advisor-advisee period?

To address the above concern, the advisers received staff development on instructional techniques that would assist them in conducting their advisory lessons. The instructional techniques consisted of (a) group dynamics techniques, (b) questioning techniques in discussion groups, and (c) critical thinking questioning techniques. Informal …

Linking Transition Best Practices To Student Outcomes For Students With Mental Retardation, Deborah Joy Kennedy

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to focus on best practice components in transition programs for students with mental retardation. This was accomplished by determining: (a) post school outcomes; (b) the extent to which the transition plan reflected current best practices; (c) which predictor variables were the most important in predicting positive outcomes; and (d) the extent of student, parent, and agency involvement in the transition process; The participants in this study (n = 16) were parents of students with mental retardation who graduated, dropped out, or aged out in the 1999--2000 and 2000--2001 school years in a southwestern state. …

Island Of Tranquility: Rhetoric And Identification At Brigham Young University During The Vietnam Era, Brian D. Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

The author argues that beyond religious beliefs and conservative politics, rhetorical identification played an important role in the relative calmness of the BYU campus during the turbulent Sixties. Using Bitzer's rhetorical situation theory and Burke's identification theory, the author shows that BYU's calm campus can be explained as a result of communal identification with a conservative ethos. He also shows that apparent epistemological shortcomings of Bitzer's model can be resolved by considering the power of identification to create salience and knowledge in rhetorical situations. During the Sixties, BYU administration developed policies on physical appearance that invited students to take on …

Family Connectedness And Sexual Risk-Taking Among Urban Youth Attending Alternative High Schools, Christine M Markham, Susan R Tortolero, S Liliana Escobar-Chaves, Guy S Parcel, Ronald Harrist, Robert C Addy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

CONTEXT: Youth in alternative high schools engage in risky sexual behavior at higher rates than do their peers in regular schools, placing themselves at an increased risk of sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy. Family connectedness is associated with reduced adolescent sexual risk-taking, although this association has not been tested among alternative school youth.

METHODS: A sample of 976 urban, predominantly minority alternative high school students in Houston, Texas, were surveyed in 2000-2002. Survey data were analyzed using logistic regression to determine whether family connectedness is related to sexual risk-taking.

RESULTS: Overall, 68% of students reported ever having had sex. …

An Evaluation Of An Alternative High School As A Learning Organization, David K. Moore

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem that was addressed by this evaluation study was the failure of a majority of the students who entered the Alternative Program at Miami-Douglas MacArthur Senior High School South (MDMS) to return to their schools of residence. Of those who did return, over 60% were unsuccessful. The systemic changes that were needed to resolve this problem required the faculty to function as an effective learning organization as described in the research of P. Senge. Evaluation research was conducted to determine to what extent MDMS staff was functioning within each of the 5 disciplines of a learning organization.

The data …

The Ecosystem Of Partnerships: A Case Study Of A Long-Term University-Community Partnership, Gary Daynes, Scott L. Howell, Nathan K. Lindsay

Faculty Publications

This article presents a case study describing a robust fortyeight- year partnership between the Boy Scouts of America, Brigham Young University, Utah Valley State College, and others in an annual merit badge Powwow1 for Boy Scouts. Service-learning occurs as five hundred university students and faculty prepare for and teach merit badge classes to five thousand Boy Scouts as part of this Powwow. The article presents the history and operation of the Powwow, describes benefits to participants, and identifies some of the factors that contribute to the enduring nature of the partnership. The case study suggests that partnerships are similar to …

Transition Of Ninth-Grade Students To Tenth Grade Using A Mentorship Program, Maryann Joanna Giacchino

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Falcon Family was a peer mentoring project implemented at Dunedin High School in the 2001-2002 school year as one method of improving academic performance by ninth-grade students. The project was based, in part, on research showing that ninth-grade students are frequently unprepared for high school and that teachers generally prefer not to teach ninth-grade classes. The literature showed that peer mentorship can act as a deterrent that might result in reducing the retention rate.

As part of the Falcon Family project, an upper-class student was assigned to a ninth grader to assist in developing strategies for completing the ninth grade …

A Comprehensive Reading Program To Increase Reading Skills Of Low-Performing Students, Annie C. Savage

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This dissertation describes a schoolwide program that was designed to improve reading skills of students at a middle school with a population of 700 students. Located in the northwest section of Huntsville, Alabama, the public school houses students in grades 6, 7, and 8. An analysis of data from the Stanford Achievement Test, the Qualitative Reading Inventory, and the Student Test and Assessment of Reading indicated that more than 50% of the students in the school were reading below their grade-level equivalency.

Several previously implemented instructional strategies, such as Accelerated Reader and the Alabama Reading Initiative Program had not impacted …

Effects Of A Violence Prevention Program On The Safe School Component Of School Climate, Vickie G. Tribble

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a violence prevention program at Robert Wood Johnson Memorial Comprehensive High School (hereafter referred to as Johnson High School) on the safe school component of the school climate through discipline data and perceptions of school personnel and clients about safety. Johnson High School, which is located near a large metropolitan area in the south, is a multicultural school with approximately 1,032 students. The school opened in 1972 with approximately 1,200 predominately Caucasian students. With the growth in the community over the last 30 years, there was a noted shift …

Strategies For Increasing Enrollment In A High School Gifted And Talented Internship Program, Bruce D. Riegel

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This Applied Dissertation Investigation was designed to determine the effectiveness of Targeted Outreach as a recruiting strategy in increasing overall enrollment and enrollment by minority students in a high school Gifted and Talented Intern-Mentor Program (IMP). An analysis of enrollment trends in the program indicated a 90% decline in enrollment of minority students in the program during the period fall 1997 through winter 2001.

Targeted Outreach, a recruitment strategy tested on a population of 10 students during a preliminary investigation and 39 students during the Applied Dissertation Investigation. Data was collected using enrollment figures and a data-collection form administered to …

Project Second Chance: A Dropout Prevention Program, May W. Bolden

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

During the 1998-1999 academic year, 8.78% of the students in grades 11 and 12 dropped out of the two high schools located in Florence, Alabama. This percentage increased each year and was projected to reach an unacceptable rate of 18.51% during the 2001-2002 academic year.

The researcher initiated a dropout prevention program, called Project Second Chance, in order to reduce the dropout rate. Project Second Chance allowed students to retake failed or lost-credit courses in evening classes. The project had the additional objectives to improve students’ self-image, prevent them from missing regular courses due to the necessity to repeat core …

Educators’ Perceptions Of The Purposes, Procedures, And Goals Of The Gifted Education Programs In Suffolk Public Schools, Phyllis L. Sharpe

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Suffolk Public Schools implemented gifted education programs to meet the needs of students with exceptional abilities and to comply with state mandates. Baseline data were needed to complete an evaluation of these programs. This study sought to examine the perceptions of the gifted education programs among Suffolk Public Schools’ educators. Specifically, this study consisted of 23 interviews with central office and building-level administrators, gifted education teachers, and general education teachers on the elementary and middle school levels and review of archival data. Analysis of these data addressed the perceptions of the programs’ purposes, goals, identification practices, instructional practices, and expected …

Resiliency Training Of Sixth-Grade Students In An Educational Setting, Matthew K. Boggan

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study was designed to investigate the effects that resiliency training had upon a selected group of students in a rural school with a student population of approximately 600. Planned solution strategies included staff development training and implementing activities to establish the school climate and student readiness.

Resiliency Skills and Abilities Scale was used as a pretest, a 45-item survey to determine resiliency scores, before implementing resiliency skills. Training from The Resiliency Training Program, a Training of Trainers by Nan Henderson, M.S.W. was used as an intervention strategy. The intervention strategies involved a section of sixth-grade students, teachers, counselor, administrators, …

Improving Reading Scores In A Low-Socioeconomic Environment, Bessie Karvelas

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide a better understanding of the reasons why Von Humboldt School has had a history of low reading scores. The school has a high mobility rate, which has made it difficult for any academic continuity. The students at the school are at a 94% poverty level with 64% Hispanic, 34% African American, and 2% Caucasian. The low-socioeconomic status of the students partially contributes to the low reading scores. There are other factors as well. The training that teachers had received in teaching reading also attributed to the low scores. Not enough time spent on …

Student Job Retention: An Urban Alternative High School Work-Study Improvement Plan, David W. Clegg

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation designed an intervention plan that sought to improve an urban alternative high school work-study program. This study applied quantitative and qualitative analysis to determine why only 40% of this program’s students successfully retained a work-study job. It was hypothesized that the percentage of successful work-study students would increase from 40% to 80% by implementing the following interventions: having each student take a career development and readiness inventory before they entered the world of work, providing each student with 5 monthly hours of structured work-study supervision from the same guidance counselor, and developing and teaching a school-to-work curriculum …

An Investigation Into The Effects Of Collaborative Co-Teaching On The Achievement Of Eighth Grade Students With Learning Disabilities, Karen Culmo Fontana

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of co-teaching on the academic achievement of eighth graders with learning disabilities. Although much has been written on the logistics of starting and maintaining co-teaching relationships between teachers of students with and without disabilities and teachers of students with exceptionalities, there is less written on the effectiveness of co-teaching on the achievement of students with learning disabilities. Using a one group pretest-posttest design, the study was designed to determine if attendance in co-taught English and math classes would contribute to an increase in written language, math and self-concept scores. The …