Education Economics Commons^™

A Localized Strategy To Boost Public Opinion And Increase Community Support For Rural Public Education By Understanding Parental Motivations For School Choice, Stephanie Marie Lambrecht

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Families and educators understand school choice as a broad concept, however its implications for rural public education in Virginia are less frequently considered. In rural areas, school choice has a disproportionate impact due to funding formulas and the effects of average daily membership (ADM) on school budgets. While there is a great deal of research on school choice, the rationale behind families’ decisions varies depending on the cultural and material resources of their community. It is vital to consider the regional and cultural context when developing strategies to support rural public schools. By analyzing motivations and factors which influence school …

Predicting Shutdown: Exploring Commonalities In Higher Education Institutional Failure At Faith-Based Institutions, Edward James Barton

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The findings of this study suggest that while the FRR score provides a reasonable indication of financial fragility over a subsequent five-year period, the FRR score is little better than a coin flip in predicting whether a religiously affiliated higher education institution will be financially troubled enough to close within the subsequent five years. The study found that using a multi-factor model to predict closure results in higher predictive accuracy during the observed period.

Maintaining Momentum Toward Graduation: Oer And The Course Throughput Rate, John Hilton Iii, Lane Fischer, David Wiley, Linda Williams

Entrepreneurship Faculty Research

Open Educational Resources (OER) have the potential to replace traditional textbooks in higher education. Previous studies indicate that use of OER results in high student and faculty satisfaction, lower costs, and similar or better educational outcomes. In this case study, we compared students using traditional textbooks with those using OER at Tidewater Community College to compare their performance on what we call course throughput rates, which is an aggregate of three variables – drop rates, withdrawal rates, and C or better rates. Two self-selecting cohorts were compared over four semesters, with statistically significant results. The study found that, subject to …

“Opening” A New Kind Of School: The Story Of The Open High School Of Utah, Delaina Tonks, Sarah Weston, David Wiley, Michael K. Barbour

Entrepreneurship Faculty Research

The use of online learning at the primary and secondary school level is growing exponentially in the United States. Much of this growth is with full-time online schools, most of which are operated by for-profit companies that use proprietary online course content. In this article we trace the development of, and philosophy behind, a full-time online school that uses open access software and open educational resources for course content. As more nations begin to put in place plans for primary and secondary education in the event of natural disasters (e.g., the Christchurch earthquakes) or pandemics (e.g., avian flu or H1N1), …

Free E-Books And Print Sales, John Hilton Iii, David Wiley

Entrepreneurship Faculty Research

Digital technologies now enable books and other digital resources to be openly available to those with access to the Internet. This study examined the financial viability of a religious publisher that put free digital versions of eight of its print books on the Internet. The cost to put these eight books online was $940. Over a 10-week period, these books were downloaded 102,256 times and sales of these books increased 26%. Online sales increased at a much higher rate. Comparisons with historical book sales and sales of comparable titles indicate that that this increase may have been connected to the …

Open-Access Textbooks And Financial Sustainability: A Case Study On Flat World Knowledge, John Hilton Iii, David Wiley

Entrepreneurship Faculty Research

Many college students and their families are concerned about the high costs of textbooks. A company called Flat World Knowledge both gives away and sells open-source textbooks in a way it believes to be financially sustainable. This article reports on the financial sustainability of the Flat World Knowledge open-source textbook model after one year of operation.

Grant Writing Handbook For Our Lady Of Fatima Parish School, Tracy Severson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This manual is an applied thesis written for Our Lady of Fatima Parish School, a small Catholic school located in Huntington, West Virginia. Its purpose is to introduce novice grant writers to the terms and processes associated with grant writing for this particular parochial school. The manual guides the fledgling writer through church and school history, ideas and strategies to develop the grant, grant writing and the post-submission process. Only examples from submitted church grants are referenced and all address Our Lady of Fatima needs and mission statement. The handbook is intended as a springboard for grant writing in the …

0634: Cary Howard Rayburn Papers, 1804-1985, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Point Pleasant, West Virginia, teacher. Papers consist primarily of letters written to Mrs. Rayburn from West Virginia state legislators regarding her lobbying efforts to raise teacher retirement benefits. Includes material related to the Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of 1812, and local history of Point Pleasant and Mason Co., West Virginia.

0110: Colleen Holliday And Cheryl Fuller Typescript, 1972, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Home Remedies, a research paper written for a course at Marshall University, Appalachian Culture.

0003: Taylor County, West Virginia, District School Commissioners Reports, 1857-1859, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Report of amount to be paid by the board of school commissioners for the tuition of indigent children.

0024: Kanawha County, [West] Virginia. Board Of School Commissioners Records, 1823-1846, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Contains minutes of meetings (1828-1846); abstracts of school masters' accounts for the tuition of poor children, 1839 and 1840; treasurers' reports for 1839-1840; records for Mercer Academy (1823).

Some Pupil Transportation Problems In The Public Schools Of West Virginia, Henry Leonard Clay Jr.

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Pupil transportation is coming to be considered an indispensable service in the West Virginia school systems. In the year 1941-42 more than 132,885 pupils were transported to and from West Virginia schools daily. This was an increase of 77,886 over the number transported in 1932-33 or an increase of about 8,660 annually.

The average daily attendance in the public elementary and secondary schools of West Virginia for the year 1941-42 and 395, 065 which shows that 33.63 per cent of all the pupils attending the public school were transported at public expense. The sum of $2,142,943.40 was spent for transportation, …