Educational Leadership Commons^™

Community College Student Learning In Phlebotomy Preceptor-Led Clinical Internship, Susan E. Phelan

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to describe how allied health preceptor-led clinical internship improves or expands community college student learning. There is a significant gap of information in the literature related to the importance of this clinical internship experience for the learning, socialization, and professional development of allied health students in general and community college students in particular. The absence of relevant data for these internships as a situated learning experience is evident in the literature review. The majority of the allied health work force is prepared by community colleges. Therefore, community college leaders need data to make data-driven …

The Effects Of Expressive Writing On Anxiety, Mathematics Anxiety, Stress, Cognitive Processes And Psychological Processes On The Virginia Standards Of Learning (Sol) On A Sample Of Urban High School Students Failing Mathematics, Claudia Lorene Hines

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

High school students who fail one or more mathematics' classes tend to be more likely to fail the Virginia Standard of Learning (SOL) tests and thus delaying their graduation. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of expressive writing on general anxiety, math anxiety, stress, cognitive processes and psychological processes on the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) on a sample of urban high school students failing mathematics. The participants (n=93) male and female students in grades 9-12, ranged in ages from 14 to 19 years of age, from various socio-economic backgrounds. The intact classes were used to …

An Ex Post Facto Study Of First-Year Student Orientation As An Indicator Of Student Success At A Community College, Amanda Ellis-O'Quinn

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this ex post facto study is to determine if a relationship exists between certain student success indicators and students completing an orientation course their first semester at a small, rural community college in comparison to those students who do not complete an orientation course their first semester. The study will compare three instructional methods used in teaching orientation; a two-day, ten-week, and distance learning format. This emphasis will identify the impact of the delivery format on success measures. The measures representing student success are retention from the fall to concurrent spring semester and grade point average (GPA). …

A Cultural Approach To Understanding Professional Experiences Of Foreign-Born Faculty In U.S. Educational Leadership Preparation Programs, Iryna M. Khrabrova

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate professional experiences of foreign-born faculty members serving in U.S. educational leadership preparation programs utilizing a cultural approach to discern their lived experiences related to professional life. Cultural values reflected in professional life experiences were explored. The information gathered through phenomenological approach was used to analyze the influence of national background on the professional experiences of foreign-born faculty in educational leadership preparation programs.

A Qualitative Investigation Of The Use Of An Art-Based Technique In Counselor Group Supervision, Cheryl Shiflett

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

While the counseling community embraces the use of creative approaches in counseling and supervision, few researchers have attempted to empirically describe the process of including an art-based technique into counselor group supervision. A grounded theory design guided the exploration of the factors and processes of including one art-based technique into six counselor supervision groups. Six doctoral-level supervisors who were trained in an art-based technique known as the visual case processing method introduced the method to their group supervisees who were completing a semester-long practicum or internship. Data collection methods included individual and focus group interviews, observations of visual case presentations, …

A Principal's Perceptions Of Character Education In A Rural Public School, Sandra H. Harrison

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

A majority of rural public schools face difficult and challenging problems: geographical isolation, escalating crime, impoverished families, economic inequities, faculty nonretention, declining enrollments, and lack of success in meeting accreditation benchmarks. In the past decade, support for character education as a valuable pedagogy to complement instruction and academic achievement emerged. The obligation to meet federal and state standards created expectations that school principals have the leadership ability to facilitate strong academic curricula as well as programs fostering students' moral development through character education. Mobilizing resources for character education initiatives becomes the responsibility of school principals or their designees. The purpose …

Student Achievement As An Investment In Human Capital: Using Longitudinal Patterns Of Per Pupil Instructional And Capital Expenditures, Socioeconomic Status, And Past Performance In Predicting Student Achievement, Charles Anthony Roberts

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Existing research illustrating a significant relationship between school spending and student achievement is expanding. However, research specifically investigating the relationships between capital expenditures (maintenance, renovations, and construction) and instructional expenditures (teacher quality, teacher salaries, textbooks, class size) with student achievement both individually, and as a function of overall school spending, is lacking. Recent studies have linked school spending to student achievement in an attempt to increase school funding as a response to No Child Left Behind Act (2001) mandates. This study attempts to augment this area of inquiry by providing feedback across the Commonwealth of Virginia on longitudinal patterns of …

Redefining Faculty Workloads In A Physical Therapy Department: A Case Study, Douglas C. Keskula, Shelley Mishoe, Elizabeth T. Wark

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The purpose of this case study is to describe the creation and implementation of a sustainable workload model in the physical therapy department, as well as the outcomes resulting from that structure. Between 2002 and 2009, both scholarly productivity and faculty practice activity increased as a result of the redistribution of faculty efforts created by the new workload structure. This case demonstrates how the department has been able to successfully expand research and faculty practice while maintaining a high quality educational experience. The workload guidelines have enabled the collective core faculty to be productive in teaching, research/scholarship and service.;

The School Leadership Program Communication Hub: Building Actionable Knowledge About Improving Leadership Preparation, Steve Myran, Karen Sanzo, Jennifer Clayton

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Recent critics of university-based educational leadership preparations programs have alleged that the programs are out of touch with the contemporary practices of PK-12 school leaders. These complaints about preparation programs have resulted in new and innovative ways to prepare leaders, including the federally funded United States Department of Education School Leadership Program. This manuscript documents the development of a "Communication Hub", which serves as a vehicle to disseminate lessons learned about the United States Department of Education School Leadership Program. While the Communication Hub is still in its early phases of development and finding the best paths to serve the …

The Impact Of The Nisl Executive Development Program On School Performance In Massachusetts: Cohort 2 Results, John A. Nunnery, Steven M. Ross, Shanan Chappell, Shana Pribesh, Elizabeth Hoag-Carhart

STEMPS Faculty Publications

School leaders are increasingly being asked, whether by rhetoric or policy, to measurably improve student achievement. The resultant need to assist school leaders in their ability to improve teaching and learning for all students in their schools led to the establishment of the National Institute of School Leadership's (NISL's) Executive Development Program. The NISL program emphasizes the role of principals as strategic thinkers, instructional leaders, and creators of a just, fair, and caring culture in which all students meet high standards. The current national focus on the importance of effective, instructional leadership has, in turn, led to calls for principal …

Students With Special Needs, Reading Education, And Principals: Bridging The Divide Through Instructional Leadership, Sanzo Karen, Jennifer Clayton, Whitney Sherman

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Principals are held accountable for achievement results of students on state-mandated assessments. Special needs students who struggle with literacy can impact the pass rates on these assessments. This study identifies how reading is taught to special needs students in both self-contained and inclusion settings at the secondary level in one school district determines how school leaders may or may not be facilitating this process and identifies ways school leaders can more effectively facilitate special education reading programs and processes.

Certification Of Financial Aid Administrators, Stacey A. Peterson

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The certification of financial aid administrators has been debated for over 37 years. A job satisfaction survey conducted by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA, 2008a) revealed that college and university administrators' perceptions of the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of the services provided by the financial aid office have a direct effect on the job satisfaction of financial aid practitioners. The study also hinted at a possible link between these perceptions and the resources allocated to the financial aid office. Open-ended comments collected as a part of the survey suggested that while members of the financial aid …

Education And Economy: The Impact Of Investment In Human Capital Through Education On Unemployment, Zafer Pirim

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The impact of investment in human capital on economy has always been discussed in the literature. Existing studies in the literature generally focus on short term impacts of investment in human capital. While some studies see significant impact, some other ones see little or no impact. This study manipulated data that was cover a long span of time, a 25-year period. In this study the researcher inquired whether there is a significant correlation between education and economy in terms of the impacts of investment in human capital on unemployment over a long span of time. In this empirical study panel …

Persistence Of Community College Transfer Students In A Private Liberal Arts University Nursing Program, Rita M. Amerio

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The United States is bracing for the largest shortage of registered nurses that the United States health care system has ever experienced. As the population of "baby boomers," those born between 1946 and 1960, turns 65 beginning in 2011, the nation will be faced with providing health care services to the largest group of elderly Americans in history. Unlike previous generations, this group has had the advantage of advanced medical care that will allow them to live well into their 80s and even 90s.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary investigation to identify predictor variables that …

Implementer Perceptions Of Washington State's Integrated Basic Education And Skills Training (I-Best) Program, Robert W. Fox

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Basic skills instruction has had poor success in equipping adults with the training needed in today's global economy. The educational leaders in Washington State realized the necessity of rapidly equipping adults with career skills and developed the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program to meet workforce needs. In 2004, Washington State piloted the I-BEST program in ten institutions, but it has since expanded to all 34 of the State's community colleges. I-BEST is an instructional method which provides basic skills support to ABE and ESL students while they receive career training. I-BEST uniquely pairs a basic skills instructor …

Exploring Entrepreneurialism In Community Colleges In The Appalachian Region, Sharon Lynn Hatfield

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The combination of a weak economy with a corresponding decline in tax revenue has created deficits in state and local budgets which adversely affect the financial stability of community colleges. This leaves community colleges struggling to continue to provide education in support of their missions. To provide a source of alternative revenue, community colleges are embracing the spirit of entrepreneurialism and transforming themselves into profit-seeking businesses.

This quantitative study, using a web-based survey and descriptive and inferential statistics, focuses on factors perceived by college presidents and workforce development officers to affect the practice of entrepreneurialism in 71 community colleges in …

Examining The Impact Of Leadership Style And School Climate On Student Achievement, Tina Robinson

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate whether or not leadership style and school climate are significant predictors of student achievement. The target population consisted of elementary and high school teachers from Virginia public schools who had taught under the leadership of their respective current principals for at least 4 years. Nine school divisions were randomly selected from each of the following regions—rural, suburban, and urban—within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Data were collected using two surveys. Bass's (1985) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X) was used to assess principals' leadership style—transactional, transformational, or laissez-faire—as perceived by teachers. The Organizational …

Elementary Principals' Literacy Practices And Their Relationship To Student Achievement In Reading, Sandra Carper Cox

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Principal behavior is under intense scrutiny, particularly in light of increased demands for higher and higher levels of student achievement. Reading achievement is the measure by which schools as well as principal leadership are judged. This study examined principals' literacy practices and their relationship to student achievement in reading. Measures used for analyses included a researcher-developed survey instrument, the Principal Quality Literacy Practices Survey, and results from the grade five Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) English: Reading test.

Survey data from 109 principals and 160 reading specialists from Southeastern Virginia were utilized. Principals and reading specialists reported that overall principals' …

Internationalization Efforts In United States Community Colleges: A Comparative Analysis Of Urban, Suburban, And Rural Institutions, Natalie Jean Harder

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Research demonstrates employers value international experiences when hiring employees. Community college students who do not have global or international experience risk being less valuable to employers than students who have such experience. With community colleges educating up to one-half of all U.S. undergraduates, more focus on internationalization is warranted in order to ensure student competitiveness in today's global labor pool. This ex post facto study of 2006 survey data from the American Council on Education (ACE) found a low level of internationalization occurring at most community colleges. Delineating community colleges according to their urban, suburban, or rural Carnegie classification found …

Alumni Engaging Students From Under-Served Groups In Southern Appalachia, Mitchell R. Williams, Laura Leatherwood, Laura Byrd, Monica S. Boyd, Kevin Pennington

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

The study explores how alumni can help community colleges in Southern Appalachia to create greater access for people in groups which are traditionally under-served by higher education. Semi-structured interviews conducted with alumni program directors and admissions officers at seven community colleges in the Southern Appalachian Region explore how they use alumni to recruit and retain students from non-dominant groups as well as students from generationally poor families. Examples of "best practices" illustrate ways alumni can help recruit, motivate, and retain students from historically under-served groups.

Protests In The Sixties, Kellie C. Sorey, Dennis Gregory

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

The imminent philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (1905). The protests that occurred on American campuses in the 1960s may lend support for that statement. This article will describe major events of the protest movement during this period, describe the societal and institutional contexts within which these protests occurred, and will hopefully encourage student affairs professionals to examine the emerging student activism of today to avoid the mistakes of the past. Many of today's senior administrators and faculty were college students during the protest era. These authors suggest that these …

Supplemental Educational Services (Ses) Provision Of No Child Left Behind: A Synthesis Of Provider Effects. Research Brief, Shanan Chappell, John Nunnery, Shana Pribesh, Jane Hager

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The 2001 renewal of the United States Title I program instituted the Supplemental Educational Services (SES) program, in which schools in their third year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) are required to offer out-of-school-time tutoring in core subjects to low-income students. This study synthesized provider effects reported in the extant body of SES provider evaluations to generate an estimate of the overall effectiveness of the SES policy in terms of improving student achievement and to identify provider characteristics that are associated with variation in student achievement effects

Implementing Tablet Pcs In A Distance Learning Environment, Glenda Scales, Sharon Caraballo, James Groves, Rosalyn Hobson, Linda Vahala, Catherine Amelink

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) The Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program (CGEP) is a collaborative distance education program developed by leading Universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is over 25 years old and its main goal is to deliver graduate engineering courses to qualified professionals located across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Traditionally, the courses delivered to students in this program are done through interactive video conferencing (IVC) technology and most students are required to drive to a physical location. However, an increasing number of working professionals are beginning to want more flexibility with the timing and locations of these classes. With these changes …

Exploration Of Barriers And Solutions For Women In The Pathway To The High School Principalship, Tracy Shook Skinner

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate barriers women face when entering school administration as well as perceptions of the high school principalship held by female high school principals and assistant principals aspiring to the principalship. Work conflicts and job demands for women were explored as well as the significance of mentoring and networking along the pathway to the principalship. The information gathered through a critical feminist approach was used to assess women's barriers to the principalship and describe methods employed to overcome those barriers.

Successful Community College Alumni Programs, Monica S. Boyd, Mitchell R. Williams, Kevin Pennington

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

As state funding for community colleges continues not to keep pace with programming needs, more community colleges are taking the initiative to seek funding from private sources. Four-year colleges and universities have long used alumni programs as major outside sources of funding. Since a high percentage of today's students embark on their higher education experience at the community college, it is natural for more two-year institutions to begin alumni programs. Based on in-depth interviews with directors of successful community college alumni programs, this article suggests "best practices" for community colleges that are considering the development of an alumni program. It …

Leadership Development Programs In Two-Year Colleges: Critical Components, Delivery Methods, And The Role Of Distance Learning Technology, Mary Clare Digiacomo

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Post-secondary education will face an impending shortage of leaders in the near future. Two-year colleges in particular are facing a dearth of leadership. Many administrators and faculty that were part of the great growth period in community colleges in the 1960's are near retirement. Therefore, developing or sustaining sufficient institutional leadership is a critical and urgent issue that must be addressed. Two-year colleges need to develop and implement leadership development programs in a timely manner to ensure a qualified pool of faculty and staff are ready to ascend to leadership positions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the …

Community College Online Course Retention And Final Grade: Predictability Of Social Presence, Simon Y. Liu, Joel Gomez, Cherng-Jyh Yen

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

This study employed a quantitative research design to examine the predictive relationships between social presence and course retention as well as final grade in community college online courses. Social presence is defined as the degree of one's feeling, perception and reaction to another intellectual entity in the online environment. Course final grades included A, B. C, D, F, I, or W. Course retention was defined as successfully completed a course with an A to C grade. The results of the binary and ordinal logistic regression analyses suggest that social presence is a significant predictor of course retention and final grade …

See Me, Hear Me, Coach Me, Marcia L. Rock, Madeleine Gregg, Pamela W. Howard, Donna M. Ploessl, Sharron Maughn, Robert A. Gable, Naomi P. Zigmond

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

The writers describe the implementation of virtual coaching for teachers in Alabama and Pennsylvania. They describe use of bug-in-ear devices, revolutionized by Internet and mobile technology advances, to provide on-the-spot feedback as teachers deliver instruction. They outline lessons learned from virtual coaching initiatives and present research results showing the positive impact of this approach on both teachers and students. They also provide advice for those using this approach on making contact and providing feedback.

An Evaluation Of The Long-Term Effectiveness Of A Women's Leadership Development Program, Kirsten S. Ericksen

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Women's Institute for Leadership Development (W.I.L.D.) program to determine the immediate and long-term impact as defined by the alumni program participants from three cohorts (2008, 2005, 2003). A secondary focus of the career transition decision-making of recent W.I.L.D. participants was also investigated. Qualitative (individual interviews and W.I.L.D. inventory open-ended written responses) and quantitative [Career Transitions Inventory, (CTI), and the W.I.L.D. inventory] results were examined. Within group and between group differences were analyzed using a paired samples t-test, while a grounded theory approach indicated emerging themes for the immediate and long-term …

The Relationship Of Teacher Route To Certification To Student Outcomes On Statewide Social Studies Assessment, Aaron L. Smith

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Public school divisions face daunting challenges today. One such challenge is the ability to recruit and retain highly qualified and effective teachers. Endemic teacher shortages coupled with escalating national education standards make it imperative that school divisions hire and retain teachers who can positively and immediately impact student achievement. Schools without effective teachers face possible sanctions, which could include re-staffing of the school, parental choice that would allow the student population to attend more successful schools and loss of funds.

At the same time, colleges and universities have begun alternative certification programs in an effort to compensate for teacher shortages …