Education Commons^™

An Investigation Of The Interest For A Nurse Re-Entry Program In Southeastern Ohio, Marsha K. Rodgers

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In the United States and throughout the world there is a serious concern in the growing nursing shortage. Many recruitment and retention techniques are currently being used to ease the nursing shortage. One such avenue is a nurse re-entry program. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the interest for a RN re-entry program in southeastern Ohio.

The data collected during the investigation used both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Information was received through two survey questionnaires and two focus groups. The instruments were designed with the purpose of determining how many registered nurses were not working in …

The Effects Of Looping On The Academic Achievement Of Elementary School Students., Vada S. Bogart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the academic achievement of students in looping programs from school systems in East Tennessee to their peers in traditional one-year instructional programs. Looping is defined as any program design that perpetuates a cohesive student group with the same teacher for more than one year. The study included all students who had completed fourth grade in 2001 at every school in East Tennessee that implemented a third/fourth grade looping design. Student scores reported for 1999, 2000, and 2001 on the TerraNova Standardized Achievement Test were obtained from individual student records. Comparisons were made …

A Qualitative Study Of Effective School Discipline Practices: Perceptions Of Administrators, Tenured Teachers, And Parents In Twenty Schools., Faye Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many educators and parents are gravely concerned about disorder and danger in school environments. In addition to school discipline issues, American classrooms are frequently plagued by minor infractions of misbehavior that disrupt the flow of classroom activities and interfere with learning.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate common threads of effective school discipline practices as perceived by administrators, tenured teachers, and parents in 20 schools in East Tennessee. I also attempted to determine if the views of administrators, tenured teachers, and parents are consistent with published research on school discipline practices. Data were collected from administrators, tenured …

Relationship Between Text Display Method And College Student Short Term Knowledge Retention During Self-Study., Jeff W. Church

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this study was to determine if a significant difference existed in the short-term knowledge retention of college freshmen reading informational stimulus materials presented through one of three different text display modes; 1) traditional printed text, 2) computer-displayed linear text, and 3) computer-displayed hypertext. The sample consisted of 267 college freshmen at a southern regional university. The 267 students were randomly selected from the entire population of entering freshmen during Fall 2002. These students were then randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups. After reading the stimulus materials for a specified amount of time, students completed …

The Relationship Of Home Environment And Kindergarten Readiness., Nancye C. Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between home environment and school readiness of children entering kindergarten in a rural East Tennessee county. Family and home environment variables included family income, family structure, parents' education, participation in literacy activities, availability of home learning tools, and amount of children's television viewing. A self-reported parent survey was used to gather information about the family environment; the Brigance K Screen was used to determine entering kindergartner's readiness for school. Three hundred and thirty eight children and parents participated.

An initial analysis of data incorporated simple descriptive statistics in the form …

Desired Characteristics Of Ethical Leaders In Business, Educational, Political And Religious Organizations From East Tennessee: A Delphi Investigation., Jeff Moorhouse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Leadership is the moving of people towards specified goals. Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. The leadership dynamic of human interaction is one of the most studied and least understood phenomena. More attention is currently being given to the ethics of leadership in light of recent situations involving misconduct in the White House, illeagal accounting practices amoung top corporations, and misuse of power in religous organizations.

In this study, I sought to identify and prioritize characteristics of ehtical leadership with the assistance of leaders in four distinct groups; the business, religious, political, and educational communities within a six county …

Organizational Structural And Cultural Variables As Predictors Of Quality In Federally Approved Nursing Homes., Lorraine V. Desormeaux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which nursing home organizational structure and cultural variables were related to the outcomes reported by the Health Care Finance Administration public use data set (HCFA-NHCD). A second purpose was to examine the effects of a new style of nursing home management called the Eden Alternative™ concept. A related purpose was to test the usefulness of the HCFA-NHCD in predicting the quality of care for residents in federally approved nursing homes. Secondary data analysis was conducted on the HCFA-NHCD, as published in December 2001. Descriptive statistics and measures of association …

An Analysis Of Functional Behavioral Assessments Used In Public Schools In Tennessee And Georgia., Dana Winningham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to survey special education supervisors in public school systems throughout Tennessee and Georgia to determine the types of Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) procedures used and training provided to assessment personnel in their school systems. The primary focus of the study was on who conducts assessments, differences between the amount of training and support provided by school districts, and the use of best practices in conducting these assessments.

Surveys were mailed to 317 supervisors, 108 in Tennessee, and 123 in Georgia. These supervisors were asked to respond to questions concerning assessments in their respective school …

Perceived Barriers To The National Board For Professional Teaching Standards Certification., Jan Woodard Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since its conception in 1987, much money and effort have been expended establishing the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Although 16,038 educators in 45 states and the District of Columbia have obtained National Board Certification, there are over 1,200 teachers in the East Tennessee counties of Cocke and Sevier who are eligible for National Board Certification, but have not obtained this certification. This study sought to identify the barriers that discouraged this population from attempting to gain National Board Certification.

The research design was inferential and utilized data from a survey instrument constructed by the researcher. A pilot test …

Students' Perceptions Of Multimedia Classrooms At East Tennessee State University., Shouhong Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate students' perceptions of multimedia classrooms at East Tennessee State University regarding technologies in multimedia classrooms, students' learning achievements, instructors' instructional methods, and students' learning styles. Two surveys in multimedia classrooms and traditional classrooms were designed to measure and compare students' perceptions of multimedia classrooms. The VARK (Fleming, 2002b) learning style survey was used to calculate the students' learning styles.

The research was conducted during spring semester, 2002. Participants in this study included 187 students in multimedia classrooms and 110 students in traditional classrooms at East Tennessee State University. The majority of students …

Barriers And Supports Affecting The Inclusion Of Special Education Issues Into The Preservice Training Of School Principals: Faculty Perceptions., Gerard O'Leary Farley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The literature contains repeated claims that most aspiring principals have limited academic knowledge and exposure to special education related issues. However in this same literature there is substantial discussion that, for prospective administrators to be prepared to deal with the ever-increasing demands of special education, principal preparation programs need to increase the amount of instructional time and structured experiences related to special education issues.

This qualitative study gives voice to faculty directly involved in the preservice training of principals in this ongoing call to reform principal preparation programs and increase the attention paid to issues concerning special education. In addition, …

The Effects Of Character Education On Student Behavior., William G. Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Character education has been a part of public schooling in the United States since its beginning. It has undergone dramatic changes over the years, from didactic instruction to service learning; it continues to evolve as more and more schools become involved in teaching students right from wrong. The current emphasis on character education in schools began in the early 1990s as an attempt to alleviate the increasingly violent behavior of students as reported in the media.

The purpose of this study was to determine how character education affected the behavior of students. The study involved: observing student behavior; interviewing teachers, …

Determining Standards For Sources Of Free Information On The Internet For Inclusion In Academic Library Holdings By 2010., Doug D. Cross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop a consensus from a panel of experts composed of library deans/directors, reference librarians, and instructors with online teaching experience. The panel developed the methodology necessary for evaluating free sources of information on the Internet for inclusion in academic library holdings by the year 2010. The following areas were explored as they related to the forecast: 1) The changes in higher education institutions that will be necessary to prepare students to deal with free sources of information on the Internet; 2) The procedures that librarians need to develop and implement to ensure that …

A Feminist Inquiry Into The Nature Of Creativity: A Case Study Of Alice Bartlett Woolf, Susan Lucinda Woolf Schulte

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

I did a case study of my mother because she was the most creative person I had ever known. However as I began my doctoral studies in creativity, I felt a lack, a gap, a large deficiency in the theories about, and descriptions of creative people. Wallace and Gruber, Howard Gardner, Feldman and Csikszentmihalyi studied creative people. Even though some of these people were very famous, I still thought I was not seeing a match for my mother's type of creativity. It was only when I began to read Feminist writers such as Judy Chicago, Carolyn Heilbrun and Catherine Bateson …

The Effects Of Extended School Year On Students With Mild Disabilities And Its Relationship To Regression Rate, Whitney C. Sears

Theses & Honors Papers

This study is an historical study comparing the spring and fall test scores of students who attended summer academic program of one particular private school for students with learning differences, including autism, Asperger's Syndrome, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and nonverbal learning disabilities. This study concluded that there was a statistical significance between the regression rates in both reading vocabulary and reading comprehension among those who attended the summer program and those who did not attend the summer program. Those students who did not attend the summer program regressed in skills significantly. Those students who attended the summer program maintained or …

Buckeye Gumbo, Michael Kenneth Parsons

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Michael Kenneth Parsons on December 3, 2002.

Relationship Between Self-Perception Of Individuals With Learning Disabilities And Coping Strategies, Nicholas Frantz Pontius

Theses & Honors Papers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between one's understanding of his/her own learning disability (LO) and coping strategies he/she employs to mitigate the effect of the disability. The subjects (N = 120) of this study were students with learning disabilities who attended and graduated from a private school in Richmond, Virginia between 1976 and 1997. A self­-developed questionnaire with two parts was used to collect data for this study. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Of the 120 surveys mailed, 55 (45.8%) subjects responded. Hypothesis regarding relationship between knowledge and coping strategies …

Perceptions Of Nebraska School Leaders On The Use Of Handheld Computers: Do Handheld Computers Make A Difference?, Veronica A. Huerta

Student Work

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of Nebraska school leaders on technology and particularly about the use of handheld computer technology. The data gathered and analyzed in this study will provide Nebraska school leaders with the current, data driven research to utilize in their decision making process.

The Experiences Of First-Year School Counselors From Novice To Expert, Anne E. Luther

Student Work

This study described the common lived experience of 10 first year school counselors. This study explored the experiences within four areas: relationships with staff and students, graduate program training, skills implementation, and relationships with building and district administration. The phenomenology relied on an initial structured interview after eight weeks on the job as the main data source. Other data sources included participant journal entries, non-participant observations, veteran counselor contact logs, and a follow-up interview at the end of the school year. The data triangulation and constant comparative analysis resulted in common themes that described the essence of the common lived …

The Effects Of Interdisciplinary Team Size On Student Achievement, Behavior, Attendance, And Student Perceptions About Community, James Vernon Sutfin

Student Work

This study explored the impact of interdisciplinary team size on student achievement, behavior, attendance, and perceptions about community in an affluent Midwestern suburban middle school. Interdisciplinary teams were divided up in to three-, four- and five-teacher configurations. Data were gathered through the use of the district's School Information and Management System (SIMS) as well as the School Ethical Climate Index (SECI) (Schulte et al., 2002). The dependent variables were (a) academic achievement, (b) student behavior, (c) student attendance, and (d) student perceptions about community. Independent variables were the interdisciplinary team and grade level. All four research questions were answered using …

The Process Of Parental Choice In Choosing A General Elementary Program Or A District Magnet Program, Nila Jeannette Nielsen

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to explore the process of parental choice when two educational programs were offered at one building site. This qualitative case study sought to determine if patterns exist in the parental choice process. Three main areas of (1) investigation, (2) decision-making and (3) verification were the focus of the study.

The Effects Of Dietitian Weight And Self-Disclosure About Weight On Women's Evaluations Of Registered Dietitians, Wendy Elizabeth Bounds

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of dietitian weight status, dietitian self-disclosure about personal weight issues, and participant weight status on participants' initial perceptions and evaluations of registered dietitians. The research design was a randomized 2x2x2 factorial design consisting of 2 dietitian weight status conditions (normal weight and obese), 2 dietitian self-disclosure conditions (absence or presence of self-disclosure about personal weight issues), and 2 participant weight status conditions (normal weight and obese). A simulated nutrition counseling situation was developed in which participants were shown a photograph of a dietitian and then listened to an audio recording of an overview of nutrition …

Butterflies, Boundaries, And Breadfruit: The Shared Story Of A Service Learning Experience In Jamaica, Adam Renner

Doctoral Dissertations

This study documents the problematization of service learning, the activation of a practice for cultural studies, and the use of a particular framework and theory called critical service learning. The framework centers around praxis and is comprised of four-stages—pre-action reflection, theory, action, and reflection—which articulates Freirean, critical, and engaged pedagogies with cultural studies theory in the reflective and theory stages and targets social difference and resultant injustices in the action stage. The theory articulates the feminist ethic of care and social justice theory within a frame of the generalized and concrete other, and promotes caring solidarity as the ultimate ameliorative …

Theory To Practice: A Study Of Science Teachers' Pedagogical Practices As Measured By The Science Teacher Analysis Matrix (Stam) And Teacher Pedagogical Philosophy Interview (Tppi), Sherri Lynne Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

This study continued research previously conducted by a nine-university collaborative, the Salish I Research Project, by exploring science teachers’ beliefs and actions with regard to inquiry instruction. Science education reform efforts require that students learn science via inquiry. The purpose of this study was to determine and classify espoused teaching beliefs and observable teaching style. Reported are linkages between the teachers’ beliefs and styles, influential coursework from College of Education and College of Liberal Arts, and outcomes of increased classroom teaching experience. Eight participants were chosen from three separate preservice science education cohorts.

An implied assumption is that teachers are …

Effect Of Directed Online Pre-Instruction Module On Teacher Preparedness For Face-To-Face Instruction, Donna Lynne Henson-Boyers

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the effects of a supplemental online discussion module prior to face-to-face training. Specifically, it investigated the impact on teacher preparedness, discussion and collaboration in the face-to-face training, and the amount of knowledge gained from the subsequent training.

Two groups of special education teachers received twenty hours of face-to-face training in the use of assistive technology. For four weeks prior to then training, both groups had access to online simulations, resources and materials.

The Treatment Group participated in a four-week supplemental online module. Weekly topics focused on a specific disability, and included online simulations, resources and assistive technology …

Student Use Of Rankings In National Magazines In The College Decision-Making Process, Michele Mcmanus Howard

Doctoral Dissertations

College rankings are widely depicted as vital tools for making informed decisions about the college selection process. Based on sales volume and the diversity of ratings currently in existence, there is little doubt that rankings are big business and are undeniably here to stay. On the other hand, very little factual information is available about students’ actual use of rankings in the college decision-making process.

It is clear that rankings such as those published by US News & World Report are now part of the landscape in our system of higher education. However, the problem is to establish the extent …

Teacher Motivation And The Use Of Computer-Based Interactive Multimedia, Katrina T. Toth

Doctoral Dissertations

The purposes of this study were (a) to describe the use of multimedia within a participating population of teachers, and (b) to identify factors that motivate teachers to use multimedia for instructional purposes. Teachers from the Oneida Special School District located in Oneida, Tennessee, were invited to participate in this study.

This study was conducted in two phases. Phase I used a questionnaire to collect data on the use and development of multimedia. Forty-six teachers participated in this portion of the study. Phase II used an interview process to identify the factors that motivated teachers to use multimedia in the …

Analysis Of Cultural Factors In Leadership And Succession Practices In Taiwan Businesses, Wen-Chiang Chen

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine Taiwanese leadership styles and succession practices, by reviewing current theory and practice and by conducting interviews with ten leaders of Taiwanese enterprises. The discussion with these leaders focused on their personal characteristics and behaviors related to their leadership styles, their leadership approaches, their relationship with their subordinates, the effects of their leadership styles and their succession practices. The interview data were also analyzed within the context of the literature review’s discussion on the characteristics of Chinese leadership and the traditional Chinese family enterprise. The analysis of the data indicated that the leadership …

Special Education Teachers' And Speech Therapists' Knowledge Of Autism Spectrum Disorder., Carol Hendrix Whaley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to survey special education teachers and speech therapists in eleven school districts in Northeast Tennessee regarding their knowledge level (etiology and educational programming) of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The primary focus of the study was to identify effective programs and methods used by special educators in this region, comparing them to the latest techniques and teaching methods prescribed by recent research. In addition, identified weaknesses were used to recommend future training and staff development to enable educators to provide the best possible programs for children with autism.

Five hundred fifty-two surveys were disseminated to …

After Turning Points: Evidence Of The Adoption Of Middle School Reforms In The United States 1987-2000., Nancy Barnes Mansberger

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the adoption by U.S. middle schools of key practices recommended by the 1989 Turning Points report. Three questions were examined: (1) To what extent have the organizational practices identified by research to impact the development of "small learning communities" been adopted by U.S. middle schools? (2) To what extent do the instructional practices of U.S. middle school teachers reflect developmentally responsive or traditional/bureaucratic methods?, and (3) Do the instructional practices of U.S. middle school teachers differ between those who teach in schools with developmentally responsive organizational practices and those who teach in …