Agricultural educators encounter unique teaching challenges as they teach applications of plant production in the greenhouse classroom. The teacher self-efficacy construct has been used broadly to link student learning outcomes to teachers' beliefs in their ability to attain certain instructional goals in the classroom. Few studies have used this construct to examine teacher-efficacy in the greenhouse classroom. This study uses the teacher self-efficacy construct within the agricultural educator domain. It seeks to measure change in agricultural educator self-efficacy beliefs using established self-efficacy scales to determine if a professional development experience in greenhouse operation and management effects educator beliefs in their ability to teach in the greenhouse classroom.

Appalachian people have faced stereotyping of their culture and region in popular culture, news media, and art for generations. For more than 150 years, images of the region have been extracted by outside media makers and disseminated widely, solidifying the “hillbilly” stereotype in the national lexicon. This study focuses on such images in reality television shows about Appalachia, and seeks to determine whether or not those images, and the proliferation of them, has an impact on the ways in which Appalachian people understand and accept their own culture.

In recent years, there has been a shift in among Kentucky rural electric cooperatives in regard to their stance on economic development. With this has been the employment of electric cooperative staff to help attract new industries and forge relationships with other local economic development-geared groups to facilitate growth. Cooperative businesses have historically proved their resilience and deep-rooted connections within the communities they serve. In exploring two similar-sized electric cooperatives in Kentucky located in two very different regions of the state, considering socio-economic status, and interviewing key informants with local affiliated economic development groups, it becomes evident that electric cooperatives possess a great potential to serve as a catalyst for economic development within their respective service territories.

In understanding leadership to be the single most important factor in shaping a school’s performance, and second highest factor influencing student achievement, it is a necessity for investigations to focus on what successful leaders do to have excelling schools. Research has alluded to the understanding that the principal can no longer serve as the sole instructional leader of a school. This need for collaboration within the organization places a weight on principals to incorporate others within the school decision-making process. This study examined how collective instructional leadership is currently influencing teacher efficacy in high performing central Kentucky elementary schools. Data were collected through individual principal interviews and focus-group interviews to gain perspectives about how collective instructional leadership is currently influencing teacher efficacy, individuals involved in collective instructional leadership, and actions leaders engage in to promote individual and collective teacher efficacy. The findings of this study identified themes to support a hypothesis around how collective instructional leadership is influencing teacher efficacy. Through the finding of this study a working model of collective instructional leadership was developed. Findings indicate the four working dimensions within the collective instructional leadership model will help raise both individual and collective teacher efficacy within schools.

Secondary agricultural education programs provide students an opportunity to gain a wide variety of knowledge about agriculture, as well as, the career opportunities within agriculture. The National FFA Organization is available for all youth enrolled in a secondary agricultural education program with a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success. In order to continue to have youth interested in agricultural colleges and the potential for pursuing agricultural careers, students must be educated about those program areas. Student perceptions of these program areas can greatly influence their motivation enroll in secondary agricultural education programs, join the National FFA Organization, and pursue agricultural career. This study used a survey method to determine the perceptions of students not enrolled in a high school agricultural program of secondary agricultural education programs, the National FFA Organization, and agricultural careers, as well as, determine the demographic characteristics of those students.

The purpose of this case study is to understand how management and leadership ideas that were present in Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky influenced management and leadership practices adopted by Scott County Public Schools during 2002-2011. Data for the study were collected during the summer of 2011, using individual and focus group interviews including teachers, administrators, community and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky employees; on-site participant observations, and documents. This study examined Scott County Public Schools implementation of the Quest for Useful Employment Skills for Tomorrow, the formation of The Center for Quality People and Organizations, changes in Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) curriculum, a shift to a global perspective, continuous improvement, and increased cooperation with business and community partners. Themes that emerged from the data includes: (a) the need to establish a continuous improvement model; (b) the creation and implementation of a continuous improvement model; (c) global perspectives; and (d) the pivotal role of school district leadership in developing corporate relationships and changing management and leadership practices. Findings suggest that a confluence of social, economic and political events contributed to situating a major, multinational corporation in a small Kentucky community that espoused a singular organizational and leadership philosophy to Scott County, positive public support for school improvement, and internal commitment of staff and administrators laid a foundation for the establishment of a continuous improvement model. This model created change that enhanced the professional practice of SCPS. This continuous improvement model or any model being successfully implemented in public schools comes down to the leadership of the Board of Education, district office staff, principals, and teachers-- but most importantly, the superintendent. “Success or failure of public schools has been directly linked to the influence of the district superintendent” (Bjork, 1993, p. 249).

This study examines the interconnectedness of social networks of the early adopter Family and Consumer Science Extension Agents (FCS Agents) of the Mental Healthiness and Aging Initiative (MHAI) pilot conducted in eleven (11) eastern Kentucky counties between October 2007 and April 2009 and compares the social network connections of the FCS Agents in the other six Extension Districts in Kentucky. This research used whole-network survey analysis applying the social network approach, a conceptual model for explaining the communication of new ideas and information within an organizational network. Organizational networks are important structural elements of organizational systems and key to understanding diffusion of new programs within institutional organizations, such as the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. Previous diffusion studies by Extension scholars have concentrated on the classic diffusion model of agricultural technology innovations with individual farmer adopters. Adoption of new programs and ideas is the process by which individuals in a social system decide to use the communicated new idea, program, and/or technology. This conceptual model describes the stages of diffusion through the attributes of the clientele adopters. The social network conceptual model describes diffusion through communication channels. Identified opinion leaders are matched with those who nominate them or closely identify with them in a diffusion network perspective to accelerate the diffusion process through an optimal pairing of network member with influencers. Data were collected from the FCS Extension Agent network in an online survey “FCS Health Information Communication Network Survey” from July 1, 2011 – July 30, 2011. Participants were asked to rate each of their co-workers in their own district, and in each of the other six districts, on how often they go to each person directly for health education information. Hypothesis testing supports the use of opinion leaders, bridges and communication structures within the social network structure of FCS agents for diffusing health programming within the Cooperative Extension Service.

The continued expansion of principals' responsibilities is having a detrimental effect on their job satisfaction; therefore, it is increasingly challenging to retain these important leaders. Effective principals can impact student learning and other vital outcomes; thus, it is important to be able to retain effective school leaders. Examining the perceived sources of principals’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their work has strong implications for policies and practices that can be implemented to increase principal retention. The purpose of this study was to measure the job satisfaction of head principals in Kentucky. The research conducted was an exploratory study using survey research methods. The study sought to obtain a census sample of all head principals throughout Kentucky’s 174 public school districts (N=1,158). A total of 478 responses were collected providing a response rate of 41%. A profile of the demographic and personal characteristics of Kentucky principals was constructed, and principals’ satisfaction with specified job facets was measured using the Rasch Rating Scale Model (RRSM). Findings determined that economic job attributes were not significant sources of dissatisfaction for principals in this sample. Principals were also found to be satisfied with psychological job attributes with the exception of the effect of their job on their personal life. Data in this study indicated that head principals in Kentucky were: (a) highly dissatisfied with the amount of hours they work; (b) highly dissatisfied with the amount of time spent on tasks that have nothing to do with their primary responsibility of improving student outcomes; and (c) highly dissatisfied with the lack of time they are able to spend on tasks that are directly related to improving student outcomes. A primary implication of this research was that Kentucky policy makers and superintendents could simultaneously increase principal retention and student outcomes by eliminating managerial job tasks not directly tied to instruction from the principalship so that principals can focus solely on instructional leadership.

Within the past decade little research has been conducted in the United States to examine the preparedness of beginning speech-language pathologists; the seminal article used for this research study comes from the United Kingdom (Horton, Byng, Bunning, & Pring, 2004). Literature from the past few decades indicates that there may be deficiencies in the way that beginning speech-language pathologists are being trained clinically. The review of the literature suggests that the field may lack a clear and broadly supported learning theory or framework for the clinical supervision and training of speech-language pathology graduate students. The literature further supports the importance of work-embedded learning and problem-based learning, as well as suggests a theoretical framework that may be utilized for supervision and clinical training in the future. The purpose of this exploratory phenomenological study is to understand and describe how speech-language pathology graduate students perceive their clinical training and supervision obtained during graduate school prepared them for their first externship placements. The literature suggests that a framework for the transfer of theoretical knowledge into the clinical setting is often not present in graduate academic programs (Horton & Byng, 2000b). Models of highly effective practices that are grounded in adult learning theory and empirical research regarding clinical training and supervision should be taken into account. In this way, department-level leaders may be able to design more effective models for clinical training and supervision. The data from participant interviews conducted for this study were organized into two over-arching themes: supervision and clinical experiences. The data in each theme were further organized into more specific categories. The theme of supervision includes five categories: a) most helpful supervisor characteristics, b) least helpful supervisor characteristics, c) differences in supervision, d) feedback from supervisors, and e) working with different supervisors. In addition, the theme of clinical experiences includes four categories: a) differences between in-house experiences and externship experiences, b) significant aspects of clinical training, c) limitations of clinical training, and d) limitations of clinical coursework.

The purpose of this study was to measure the construct of transformational leadership among athletic training academicians and clinicians. Additionally, this study sought to determine whether perspectives regarding transformational leadership were the same or different based on full-time vocational roles. Finally, this study introduced a methodology for survey data analysis relatively unknown in athletic training research circles. Participants included athletic training education program directors as well as individuals in leadership roles at the state, district, and national level.