Education Commons^™

The Experience Of Rural, Southern Appalachian, First-Generation College Students At A University: A Narrative Study, Ruth A. Darling

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this narrative study was to obtain and analyze stories of rural, first-generation students from Southern Appalachia in order to understand their collegiate experiences in light of the home culture they brought with them. Based on my university experience working with similar students and a review of relevant literature, I determined there was a need for research studies that: a) seek to understand the meaning, for these students, of the accounts they give of their lives and experiences as college students, b) seek to understand how these students make sense of their lives in the context of their …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And Teacher Attitudes, Scott Palczewski

Dissertations

One hundred Michigan public high schools were randomly selected to participate in a study of the relationship between transformational leadership and teacher attitudes. Forty-eight high schools with enrollments ranging from 237 students to 1,730 students responded, a response rate of 48%. The study required that each building principal complete the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Designed by Bass and Avolio (1990), the instrument uses 45 questions to identify the relative level of transformational leadership exhibited by the building principal.

Five dependent variables including teacher motivation, teacher satisfaction with administration, follower identification with work, teacher willingness to disagree with administration and teacher attitudes …

A Risky Business: A Study Of Retention, Sue H. Kinsey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to describe and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program of remediation and academic mentoring on the academic success of students failing grade seven who were placed in grade eight. The study was conducted in the Clearview Regional Middle School during the summer preceding and including the 1998-99 academic year.

Data was gathered from test scores, mid-marking period progress reports, marking period grade reports, summer session teacher reports and interviews, and weekly and monthly classroom teacher reports. Information was also provided through parent, teacher, and student questionnaires. The data was analyzed using percentiles to …

Character Education, Patricia S. Friend

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this project was to develop and implement a character education program at the Upper Township Elementary School. This intern has endeavored to develop and implement a character education program at the Upper Township Elementary School in an attempt to improve interpersonal relations. This intern created a resource manual for teachers, assisted in the training necessary to implement this program, collected and analyzed data evaluating the effectiveness of the program.

During the duration of this research study, the intern developed and refined several leadership competencies in the area of school administration. This intern effectively applied human relations skills …

A Study And Intervention Of Excessive Absenteeism At Bridgeton High School, Sandra H. Myers

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate reasons that students were absent and to study policies or programs that could help decrease absenteeism for students. The intern used an action research design by surveying students and interviewing teachers. The sample cluster in this study consisted of the students attending the Summer Credit Completion Program at Bridgeton High School. The population in which inferences were made was the student body at Bridgeton High School. The information, however, can be generalized to any special needs high school or one that is comparable in socioeconomic status.

The intern looked at three areas …

Developing And Implementing A Daily Schedule Which Promotes Professional Collaboration And Meets The Needs Of The Students At The Lakeside Middle School In Millvile, New Jersey, Scott M. Sheppard

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this report was to develop and plan a daily schedule which promotes professional collaboration and meets the needs of the students at the new Lakeside Middle School. A properly structured schedule contains the organizational elements for delivering the curriculum to meet the needs of the students.

This research program involved the students in grades 6, 7 and 8. The students and staff are housed in four different schools throughout the district. A commercial building has been converted into the first true middle school (grades 6-8) in the history of the district. The school opens in September of …

An Internship In Elementary School Administration At The Mary S. Shoemaker School, Woodstown, New Jersey, 1998-1999, Christine H. Carpenter

Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to determine strengths and weaknesses in communication between teachers and the CST and to identify ways to improve that communication using action research.

Data was gathered by having 19 regular education teachers complete surveys regarding their feelings in respect to communication with the CST, guidance counselors, special education teachers, and other regular education teachers. Members of the CST, the guidance counselors and the special education teachers were interviewed regarding the communication process, and follow up interviews were also conducted with in-class support (ICS) teachers regarding the survey results. The survey and interview data was analyzed according …

Clinical Profile Of A Juvenile Delinquent, Arjan Graybill

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempted to explore the relationship that a juvenile delinquent has with three major influences: school, peers, and family. It was hypothesized that juvenile delinquents possess a poor relationship with these influences. Subjects were administered a survey which assesses the relationship with school, peers and family. 19 inmates in a juvenile detention center were administered the survey. There were 15 subjects in the control group who were administered the survey as well. Results from independent t-scores reveal a significant difference in the relationship with school, peers, and family for the two groups. Juvenile delinquents were found to have a …

The Impact Of Staff Development Practices On Implementation Of Middle School Components, Denise Charbonnet

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Middle schools serve young adolescents who require a separate schooling experience from both elementary and high school students. The Middle School Movement has been around since the 1960s, yet middle schools have not been fully implemented in this country. Middle schools are still in the early stage of reform.

Staff development activities are necessary to prepare school personnel to implement best middle school practices. Because few states require certification at the middle school level, most school personnel are poorly prepared to implement best middle school practices. Thus, Carnegie (1989) recommendations are not fully incorporated in most middle schools.

In this …

A Study Of Teacher Burnout At Archway Programs, Scott D. Bates

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to research the rate of burnout amongst special education teachers. Using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach 1981), the intern will give the survey to special education teachers over a period of time. This study will result in the intern having a better understanding of the factors that cause burnout and who is most susceptible to burnout.

The teaching staff of 64, representing a variety of classifications, will serve as the subjects of the research study. The researcher will determine the relationship between such educators and their degree of burnout, and the correlation between burnout …

Peer Observation: A Supplement To Formal Evaluation, William K. Hanley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the benefits of peer observation as it affected the teaching staff of Woodbury Junior/Senior High School (New Jersey).

A survey was administered to a group of 13 teachers in the Woodbury Public Schools after they had experienced peer observation. The original sample included 28 teachers who had been selected by the intern in an attempt to guarantee diversity in age, experience, gender, and teaching discipline. Participation was voluntary and those who volunteered were permitted to select their partner and choose their role in the process. Twenty-four teachers wished to participate but almost …

The Infusion Of Service-Learning Into The Curriculum Of Cinnaminson High School, Robert A. Krastek

Theses and Dissertations

This study was done to determine the effect of service-learning on the students of Cinnaminson High School. This was the first phase of a long-range project that would lead to every Cinnaminson High School student being introduced to service-learning, during his or her high school career.

The study was conducted with a limited student population that included students in the Advanced Placement United States History II classes. These were homogeneous classes of about fifty-one students who were given the option of creating a service-learning project. They were required to produce a portfolio on their experience.

Data was collected through the …

Junior High In-Class Support: A Program Evaluation, Louise Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of a junior high school in-class support program in meeting the educational needs of students enrolled in that program by using a school-based case study method of inquiry. Additional purposes of this study include demonstration of this intern's leadership skills by using decision-making techniques, communication skills, evaluation techniques, and organizational management techniques. Methodology used in program evaluation was a stratified proportional 5% random sampling of students enrolled in Social Studies class for the years under study. Student grades and standardized group administered achievement test results were also analyzed, as were …

The Effects Of Positive Intervention Strategies On At-Risk Twelfth Grade Students, Barbara M. Castleberry

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of positive intervention strategies on the attendance rate and academic progress of fifteen identified at-risk twelfth grade students using an action research design. Additional purposes of this study included demonstration of the intern's leadership skills in problem analysis, organizational ability, decision-making techniques and motivational ability. Mathematical analysis was used to determine if the attendance rate and grade point averages of the identified at-risk twelfth grade students increased or decreased over their attendance rate and grade point averages in the eleventh grade as a result of positive intervention strategies. Also analyzed …

What Effect Will Increased Parental Involvement In Science/Biology At Woodrow Wilson High School Have On The Improvement Of Students Academically?, Lasandra Watkins

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to discover whether or not student achievement could be improved through the increased participation of parents/guardians for students enrolled in science classes.

High academic achievement in science courses has been rapidly declining for the past twenty or more years. With this decline in science has come a decline in the overall academic achievement of students.

To turn the tide of students failing to students excelling academically in the sciences, I believe that increasing the level and quality of parental involvement is "the solution" to this problem.

Students in my biology classes will participate in …

A Title Ix Assessment For The Athletic Department At Salem High School, David W. Suiter

Theses and Dissertations

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 provides legislative relief for females who were being denied participation opportunities in intercollegiate and interscholastic athletics.

In recent years there has been a substantial increase in the number of Title IX lawsuits brought against secondary institutions.

The purpose of this study was to perform a Title IX "self-audit" of the Salem High School Athletic Department and its programs. It was designed to identify any problems and recommend solutions.

It also provides a method for continued self-examination for the Salem City School District and any other secondary institutions interested in determining their Title …

The Relationship Between Principals' Leadership Characteristics And Characteristics Of Public Middle Schools, Linda S. Schneider-Rediske

Dissertations

Principals’ perceptions of the relationship between middle school leadership characteristics and the relevance and use of middle school characteristics were examined in this study. A systematic random sampling procedure was used to select principals from public middle schools in the State of Michigan. A survey instrument was developed to measure the variables. These variables were determined based on a review of the literature. The reliability of the instrument was obtained using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Spearman rank-ordered correlations were used to determine the strength and direction of the relationships of each hypothesis.

The findings from this study suggest that there …

The Field Study Of A Training Transfer Enhancement Process And Its Effect On Transfer Of Training, Andrew W. Bowne

Dissertations

Transfer of training is defined as the degree to which trainees apply, in their jobs, the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they gained in training. Research regarding transfer of training has called training effectiveness into question. For example, Baldwin and Ford (1988) reported average transfer rates typically in the 10% range.

The study tested the effectiveness of particular procedures and tools intended to enhance transfer of training. These transfer enhancing tools were employed by an experimental group of trainees’ supervisors (who received training from the researcher in the application of the tools) before a half-day problem-solving training workshop for their employees …

Relationships Between Leader Characteristics, Planned Change And Organizational Culture In A Dynamic Manufacturing Environment, Matthew Chodkowski

Dissertations

The new economic era has been marked by profound global change. In response, researchers and practitioners have called for a rethinking of the conventional concepts of leadership, change, and organizational culture to improve our competitiveness in this turbulent world market. This study investigated the relationships between leader style, leader behavior, leadership paradigm, leader knowledge of change, organizational culture potency, and planned change efficacy in a manufacturing company implementing a high performance work system change initiative. This study intended to contribute to the reconceptualization of the leadership construct and the explication of the leadership-culture-change linkage.

Six hundred and eighty-nine subjects representing …

Devolution Of Power Through Shared Decision Making, Jean Deboer Schmeichel

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the devolution of power as it is expressed by the extent of teacher involvement in shared decision making. Extent of both actual and desired involvement and the differences between them were investigated. Teachers were considered adequately empowered when there was no difference between the actual and desired results. The survey Teacher DecisionMaking Instrument {TDI), developed and validated by Dr. Donna L. Ferrara, was administered to K-12 teachers in a public school district in southeast Michigan.

The larger context of this study is the reform initiative called site-based management (SBM). Seen as an …

The Development And Design Of A Peer Coaching Model Program For High School Teachers And Administrators, Kenneth John Devries

All Graduate Projects

Clinical supervision is a coherent process for teacher evaluation. A significant investment of time and training for teachers and administrators is necessary to successfully implement the clinical supervision model. A peer coaching program presents the opportunity of improving upon the clinical supervision model and establishing a lasting staff development program. The Critical Friends Group model, developed by the Coalition of Essential Schools, provides the structure which fosters collegiality, professional development, and improved student learning. The success of a Critical Friends Group peer coaching program relies on the leadership of the principal through active participation, financing, and modeling professional collaboration.

Student Leaders: Are There Differences With Institutional Satisfaction?, Ginny L. Van Rie

Legacy ETDs

This quantitative study investigates differences in student leaders" satisfaction with their institution. An adapted form of the ACT Student Opinion Survey (four-year-form) is administered to 103 student leaders representing two types of leadership positions, those selected or hired by the institution and those elected by their peers. Descriptive statistics and independent t-tests indicate only 2 significant differences in the satisfaction areas assessed. Both groups of student leaders tend to have moderate to high levels of satisfaction with their institution. However, selected/hired student leaders have more homogeneous satisfaction scores than the student leaders elected by their peers. Hired student leaders indicate …

Perceptions Of Iowa High School Principals On The Relationship Of Leadership, School Size, And Socioeconomic Level To School Culture, Kevin Wayne Fiene

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

American society is changing. Consequently, public schools are being called to change as well. Previous reform efforts have failed to bring about substantive change and improvement. Current reform efforts are calling for the changing of school culture. What factors influence school culture? What role does leadership, school size, and socioeconomic levels play in developing school culture?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of leadership, school size, and socioeconomic level to school culture utilizing the Competing Values Framework. The Competing Values Framework provided four ideal culture types and eight leadership roles. Culture types included group, developmental, rational …

An Application Of The Delphi Method Of Forecasting To The Future Of Public Education In West Virginia, Carl H. Friebel Jr.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This study investigated the nature and types of events that will affect the future of public education in West Virginia. A three round modified Delphi design was used to identify the events, estimate when each might occur, and determine their level of impact and desirability.

In Round 1, surveys were mailed to forty-seven educational leaders representing various educational agencies and constituencies in West Virginia. In response to the first survey, panelists generated a total of one hundred thirty-four events which had at least a 50 percent probability of occurrence between the present and the year 2020. In Round 2, panelists …

A Study Of Job Satisfaction Among Urban Superintendents In New Jersey, Richard J. Malanowski

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Professional Beliefs And The Conditions That Support Integrated Curriculum In A New England Middle School, Cheryl Lynn Davis

Educational Studies Dissertations

Research on the best practices at the middle school level suggests that early adolescent students need an educational environment that is unlike elementary or high school. Young people between the ages of 10 and 14 are experiencing rapid changes in their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. In order to meet these needs, middle school curriculum must provide opportunities for students to broaden their knowledge base, explore areas of interest, and acquire a sense of self as they seek to understand their place within the larger society. An effective way to reach such goals, at the middle level, is through …