Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons^™

A Follow-Up Study Of A Dropout Intervention Program Utilizing Experimental Counseling Strategies, Cynthia Sue Ferguson

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the long range effects of a seven week summer dropout intervention program. The program featured academic remediation, job skills training and random assignment to one of three counseling models: Multidimensional, group or individual. Twenty-four male and 24 female economically and academically disadvantaged students averaging 15.5 years of age were tested in a pre-test, post-test, follow-up format on measures of dropout potential, locus of control and academic achievement. The Demos Dropout Scale revealed no change in attitude over the nine month period. Results obtained from Rotter's Internal/External Scale revealed a general movement to …

Ua68/10/1 Dare In Nashville Schools 1988-89, John Faine

WKU Administration Documents

This report summarizes the results of a partial evaluation of the 1988-89 Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) effort implemented in all sixth grades in the Nashville, Tennessee, Metropolitan Public School system by trained instructors from the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department. As documented in the following pages, the evaluation effort had two major components.

1. An evaluation of the program by teachers and principals in all the participating schools.

2. Inner-City Study, an investigation designed to assess the impact of the program in elementary and middle schools that service those students thought to be most at risk to the threat of …

A Survey Of Fifth And Sixth Grade Parents At Jefferson Elementary School, Charleston, Illinois, James M. Louthan

Masters Theses

The purpose of this field study was to survey parents/guardians of fifth and sixth grade students concerning their opinions of programs, practices and procedures used at Jefferson Elementary School in Charleston, Illinois. An instrument was designed and given to students to take home to be completed by their parents/guardians and returned to school via the student. Results of the survey indicated that, in general, most parents were satisfied with the programs, practices and procedures except for the schoolwide discipline program, certain curricular offerings (handwriting, math and physical education) and the amount of homework assigned. Opinions of the parents surveyed will …

Assessing The Impact Of Illinois Revised Statutes 122, Article 24a On The Identification And Remediation Of Unsatisfactory Performers, Teresa Lane

Masters Theses

Article 24A of the Illinois School Code was enacted in order to improve instruction in the State of Illinois. One of the underlying beliefs of the legislators who designed and passed the School Improvement Act of 1985, which contained Article 24A was that one way to improve instruction is to eliminate the unsatisfactory performers in the classroom. Since the implementation of Article 24A no data based studies have been conducted on the effects of this legislation on those teachers evaluated as unsatisfactory. This study is intended to gather data on the number of unsatisfactory performers as well as the characteristics …

Planning And Managing School Facilities, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Theodore Kowalski addresses the administrative procedures associated with planning and managing school facilities. Practitioner interest in school facilities has been growing rapidly in recent years because decades of neglect, poor planning, and cost cutting have created a situation in which large numbers of America's school buildings are in need of major repair or replacement.

At the same time, the realization that costs related to repair and replacement have escalated significantly has fueled a new concern among school facility planning and management.

Writing for school administrators, superintendents, and board members as well as graduate students in education, Kowalski discusses planning from …

Parental Perceptions Of School: An Analysis Of Contacts & Non-Contacts With Parents Of Sixth Graders At L.C. Curry Elementary School, Johnny Douglas

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Experimental and control groups were randomly selected in Johnny Douglas' sixth grade homeroom class to determine if contacts made to an experimental group of parents produced different perceptions of school as opposed to a control group of parents who received little or no contacts from the school. The experimental group of students' parents received a minimum of seven contacts from the school during the twenty day period of the study, while the control group received a minimum of three contacts in the same period.

A questionnaire sent to the parents at the conclusion of the experiment yielded three statements of …

A Texas State Plan And Guidelines For The Education Of The Gifted And Talented: Is There Evidence Of Discrimination Toward Minority Children?, Danny C. Dillard

Graduate Theses

This paper addresses The Texas State Plan and Guidelines for the Education of the Gifted and Talented which was developed by the Texas Education Agency in 1980 to assist local school districts in planning and implementing programs for the gifted. The purpose of the paper is to address the plan and guidelines and determine whether or not they tend to lead to discrimination against the minority populations within schools. It examines five major areas of concern: the local definition of gifted and talented, the biases and attitudes of members of the community and educators in the school system, the criteria …

Perceptions Of Teachers And Students Of School Effectiveness Factors At Knoxville High School, Roger A. Stevens

Masters Theses

This field study was designed to investigate teacher and student perceptions of school effectiveness factors as related to Knoxville High School. Specifically, this study compared actual perceived school effectiveness factors between teachers and students. A comparison of past achievement tests was also initiated to determine what effect, if any, school leadership might play in the process.

Two instruments were designed for this study, Teacher Feedback Survey and the Student Opinion Survey. Dr. David Bartz, of Eastern Illinois University, developed the survey instruments based on research conducted by Edmonds, Brookover, Lezotte and Weber and a review of current literature addressing the …

An Analysis Of Factors Associated With The Change In Graduation Requirements At Champaign Centennial High School, David H. Pike

Masters Theses

The graduation requirements for the students at Champaign Centennial High School, Champaign, Illinois, changed effective with the class of 1988. This field experience investigated the possible effects of the new and more stringent graduation requirements. A comparative analysis using students in the classes of 1985, 1986, and 1987 for the baseline data with the students in the classes of 1988 and 1989 was completed. Specifically, the evaluator designed a procedure to statistically study the students' American College Test and SRA Survey of Basic Skills Test scores. A two tailed t-test for the difference of the means at the .05 level …

Evaluation Of The Language Arts Curriculum In Cerro Gordo Community Unit School District #100, Keith Ashcraft

Masters Theses

Cerro Gordo Community Unit School District #100 in Cerro Gordo, Illinois has a student population of approximately 700 pupils. The schools are located within Cerro Gordo, a village of 1600 residents, but gain students from surrounding areas in the ninety-nine square mile district. Most of the parents are employed in farming or in Decatur which is twelve miles to the east.

During the 1985-86 school year teachers were surveyed as to what academic area needed evaluation. The teachers selected language arts as the subject for study. A committee of volunteers was formed and began meeting.

The researcher served as committee …

A Curriculum Review And Coordination And Articulation Study Of The Niantic-Harristown Unit School District #6, David O. Bills

Masters Theses

Reform of the public schools is a major issue in Illinois today. Numerous reports claim that public education is mediocre at best. These reports have fostered public concern that has led to a call for school accountability that has caused those involved in education to take a close look at their schools. In this atmosphere of school accountability, a careful and thorough examination of the school curriculum by the local administration can be useful.

Strong instructional leadership from the Superintendent of Schools in a local school district is an important characteristic of an effective school. In the face of state …

Compliance Patterns And Teacher Personalities In Private And Public School Organizations In West Virginia, Raymond Augustine Dunleavy

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to explore administrator compliance orientation and teacher personality relationships and differences between Catholic private and public school organizations in West Virginia. The Personality Research Form, Form E (Jackson, 1974) was administered to 41 teachers of a Catholic private school organization and to 38 teachers of a public school organization. Statistical analysis of the Personality Research Form, Form E (PRF-E) data using an ANOVA method revealed significant differences between the school organizational groups for 5 of the 22 personality traits measured. The results indicated public school teachers were higher achievers, more that aggressive, more concerned …

Community Education: Processes And Programs, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

"Community education is on the threshold of a major breakthrough. It has captured the imagination of both educational and lay leaders throughout the U.S."

Although these words are an appropriate description of community education today, they were written by V. M. Kerensky 14 years ago. An idea that never took hold to the degree its advocates predicted, community education, nevertheless, refuses to die. Over the past two or three years, the interest of educationalleaders has been stimulated once again by this proposal for expanding the mission and decision-making processes of public schools. In 49 of the 50 states (Hawaii being …

An Analysis Of The Effects Of The New Discipline Policy Of Danville School District 118, Danville, Illinois, Robert M. Thomas

Masters Theses

Most educators will agree that a good sound discipline policy is a necessity for a school environment in which learning can take place most effectively. Education cannot proceed effectively without good, consistent discipline.

The Public Schools of Danville have had a discipline policy for many years. After many years of updating and revising, a new policy was approved by the Board of Education. This policy entitled "Ownership in Education'' was implemented in the fall of 1982.

The researcher investigated this new policy through an administrator/teacher survey, a review and assessment of the extent of student removal from class due to …

Teachers' Perceptions Of School Effectiveness Factors In The Stewardson-Strasburg School District, Edward Lee Allen

Masters Theses

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this field study was to determine how the Stewardson-Strasburg schools in Stewardson, Illinois, would do when assessed on school effectiveness factors. As high school principal for the district since 1982, the researcher saw the need for a systematic means of receiving teacher input regarding their perceptions of how well the district measured up on school effectiveness factors. The researcher viewed teacher perceptions of the district's school effectiveness factors as a useful starting point for commencing what will be an ongoing study for improving the quality of education in the Stewardson-Strasburg public schools.

Procedure

The …

An Investigation Of Parents' Perceptions Of The Junior-Academy Principal's Role In The Lake Union Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists, John Carey

Dissertations

Problem. If he/she is to satisfy or accommodate the expectations of the various groups that interact with him/her, the principal needs to be aware of how they perceive his/her role; but no studies were found on parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine parents' perceptions of the role of the principal in Seventh-day Adventist junior academies in the Great Lake states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Method. A descriptive survey design was utilized for this study. A closed-type questionnaire developed by the researcher was submitted to a panel of eleven …

The Quality Of Public Education In Boston: An Assessment And Some Recommendations, Karen Seashore Louis

Center for Survey Research Publications

Motivation, self-esteem, achievement and the development of tolerance and acceptance of others -- these are the goals that most, like Crain, et al., have come to accept as legitimate objectives of public schooling. Yet, there is substantial opinion that the public schools of Boston have been unable to achieve standards in these areas that are acceptable to the public, the students who occupy the schools, and the professionals who run them. For example, a recent survey of Boston residents' attitudes toward the schools indicates that approximately 3/4 of all respondents -- irrespective of race, or whether there were any school …

A Community Climate Survey Of The Mattoon Community Unit #2 School District, Doug Craig

Masters Theses

School district boards of education and administrators need to constantly gather information about the attitudes and opinions of the community they serve if the true educational needs of the community are to be served. Total community consensus or opinion is preferable, but often impractical. Casual information gathered from self-selected individuals from the community is readily available, but unrepresentative and often misleading. Surveys of a selected sample of the school community can be inexpensive, practical and accurate depending on the method of information collection, the nature of the questions and the manner in which the sample is selected.

A Community Climate …

A Comparison And Contrast Of The Idealized Role Of The Secondary School Principal As Perceived By Superintendents, Principals, And Teachers, Owen J. Kosik

All Master's Theses

The differences and similarities concerning the role of the secondary school principal as perceived by superintendents, principals, and teachers was studied. All superintendents and principals and twenty-five randomly selected teachers at the five traditional high schools in the Tri-Cities provided the input from which the data was drawn and conclusions were reached. A survey questionnaire containing forty statements frequently suggested for the secondary school principal was the tool utilized for this procedure. The results showed that there were similarities of role perceptions for the secondary school principal and there were also dissimilarities of role perceptions as seen by those same …

A Study Of Grade Retention & Social Promotion In The Mclean County, Kentucky School District, John Settle Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Samples from two populations, students socially promoted into McLean County High School in the years 1976- 1979, who had not been retained, and students who entered McLean County High School during the same years who had been retained at one or more grade levels, 1-8, were compared. Comparisons of differences which existed in the two student groups selected for the sample were in five areas: (1) reported attitude toward school, (2) attendance, (3) number of discipline offenses, grades 9-11, (4) scores on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, Form S, in the subtests of reading and math as measured at; …

Holding Power: Middle School Vs. Junior High School, Burton Erickson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This was a study of three variables and their effect on two groups of students who dropped out of school during the tenth grade. One group had attended three full years of junior high school in Owensboro while the other group had attended three full years of middle school in Owensboro. The study also reviewed the programs and emphases of the junior high school and the middle school.

The students were compared on mean cumulative grade point average, mean percentage of absenteeism, and incidence of dropout during the tenth grade.

Statistical analysis of the respective sets of data showed that …

Retention In Salem Elementary Schools, Charles M. Raglin

Masters Theses

Social or chronological promotion has long been a practice of the public schools of the United States. The alternative, nonpromotion or retention, has in the opinion of most psychologists and sociologists led to emotional and sociological trauma for the child. Another and probably the most cogent objection, is many parents oppose nonpromotion and are unwilling to accept the social stigma of "flunking." Children's achievement is a status symbol which profoundly affects families in many communities.

The writer contends that unless parents are directly involved in the decision early in the nonpromotion year, retention will not culminate in satisfactory achievement. Cooperation …

An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of A Junior High School Career Exploration Program In The Hopkins County School System, Cynthia Mason

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The problem investigated in this study was a comparison of the effectiveness of a career exploration program in a junior high school curriculum versus a traditional curriculum with regard to increased career competence and positive attitudes toward the world of work as measured by Form A-1 of the Career Maturity Inventory.

The population for this study consisted of the ninth-grade classes of two Hopkins County Schools. The subjects for the control group (South Hopkins) consisted of 25 ninth-grade students who had not been exposed to a career exploration program and the subjects for the experimental group (Madisonville Junior High School) …

A Comparative Study Of The Expenditures Of The Robertson County, Tennessee, Pupil Transportation System, James Talley Sr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study represents an attempt to discover high cost areas in the Robertson County Pupil Transportation System by comparing the pupil transportation expenditures of Robertson County with pupil transportation expenditures of four counties of comparable size.

The data used was that submitted to the Tennessee State Department of Education by Anderson County, Franklin County, McMinn County, Roane County and Robertson County and published in annual reports for 1974, 1975, and 1976. The pupil transportation expenditures for each county were averaged for the three-year period and the mean was used as a basis for comparison to determine relative high costs. Robertson …

Constructing And Implementing An Evaluation Program For Certified Personnel In The Stonington School District, David E. Kuetemeyer

Masters Theses

As the title indicates, this field study deals with the process of constructing and implementing a teacher evaluation program in the Stonington School District. The process is broken down chronologically and covers a three year period. The paper attempts to describe the Stonington School District and point out the need for formal evaluation of teachers everywhere, but more specifically in Stonington.

The construction of the instrument by the Stonington teachers is outlined in a step-by-step process. In a series of Inservice Workshops, the district teachers discuss the validity and purpose of evaluation, plus what they felt were evidences of good …

The Observation And Evaluation Of Elementary Teachers In Illinois, Paul C. Burton

Masters Theses

Basic research into the observation and evaluation of elementary teachers in Illinois was conducted during the 1976-77 school year. The research was divided into two major sections. Section I consisted of the development and administration of a 42-question survey instrument designed to probe observations, evaluations, and elementary teachers' opinions concerning such. The sample universe was restricted to full-time elementary classroom teachers taking graduate courses. Section II consisted of obtaining and analyzing evaluation instruments from various size and type school districts in Illinois. Significant findings of the research include:

1. The majority of elementary principals are male, have in-classroom elementary teaching …

An Analysis Of The Pupil Progress Reports For The Charleston Community Unit School District #1 (Grades 1 Through 8), Gary Patterson

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Restructuring A Staff Appraisal System, Larry Douglas Janes

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Establishment Of A District Media Center In Ottawa School District 141, William L. Connelly

Masters Theses

The study consisted primarily of an evaluation on the media program in the Ottawa Elementary School District 141 and recommendations for improving this program. A key element in improving the program is the establishment of a district media center.

The study begins with a review of the literature concerning the role of the media in schools, the value of coordinating media programs, and the role played by district media centers.

The paper explains the categories used in evaluating the schools and examines each in relationship to the established criteria set forth in Standards for Educational Media (Library and Audiovisual) Programs …

A Study Of Mark Twain Parent, Teacher And Pupil Reactions To A New Pupil Progress Reporting System, Julia Triplett

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.