<p> In this dissertation, I describe a study examining institutional policy documents for statements related to the implementation of openness. The purposes of this study were to explore the current state of policies related to the implementation of openness in higher education, and to provide guiding recommendations to higher education institutions looking to address the issue of implementation of openness in their own policies. Policy plays a critical role in the implementation of innovations such as openness. The policy environment is complex and potentially confusing. Technology enables the proliferation of openness, and higher education institutions are now facing a number of challenges associated with the implementation of openness. Not much is known about the stance of higher education or the state of its response to openness. As a result, there was not much guidance available for institutions looking to address the implementation of openness in their institutions. </p><p> This dissertation involved a descriptive study that follows summative content analysis methodology. The research design was a qualitative dominant sequential mixed methods model, meaning that I focused primarily on the qualitative elements of the study and provided limited descriptive quantitative analysis derived from the qualitative data. </p><p> Five major areas of openness affecting higher education institutions were drawn from the literature. These are Open Access Research, Open Content, Open Teaching and Learning, Open Source Software, and Other, less pronounced, areas of openness. I searched the Faculty Handbooks, Strategic Plans, and Technology Plans of a stratified random sample of research-intensive higher education institutions for keywords related to the major areas of openness. I then evaluated the resulting statements based on the directness with which they address openness and on their policy role as enabler, barrier, or neutral toward the implementation of openness. </p><p> I provided 45 idealized policy statements as well as the best-found policy statements from the study. These statements were intended to be used as recommendations for guiding institutions in crafting their own policy statements to address openness through policy. The idealized statements were intended to fit in the three policy documents (Faculty Handbook, Strategic Plan, Technology Plan), serve each policy role (enabler, barrier, and neutral), and address area of openness (Open Access, Open Content, Open Source Software, Open Teaching and Learning, and Other Areas of Openness). Five major findings emerged from the study. These include the realization that openness is really a human-centered approach, and the discovery that openness is not commonly addressed in higher education policies. Additionally, I found that there was wide variance in how institutions actually address openness, that Open Access is addressed more than other areas in policy, and that content analysis is an effective method for obtaining information related to higher education policies. I provided my reflections and conclusions on the study in Chapter Five.</p>

<p> This body of work presents the summary of findings; explanation of implications; discussion of conclusions; and recommendations about practice, policy and future research regarding principal leadership in school districts recognized as national Baldrige Award winners. This study widened the scope and definition of quality management in education by dissecting the roles of principal leadership as defined by the 21 Leadership Responsibilities (Marzano et al., 2005) of school leadership. These Leadership Responsibilities served as a vehicle for educators to report their observances of how principals express their roles in the context of their work. The study began with a dominant phase of quantitative data collection followed by a qualitative phase. The quantitative segment purposively sampled groups of employees, principals and their building staff, concurrently through electronic survey. The second, qualitative portion, consisted of interviews of principals who participated in the survey. To summarize, the quantitative data defined the "what" of building administration's work in a Baldrige system and the qualitative portion illuminated the "how" or the application of the 21 Leadership Responsibilities. Statistical analysis determined that principals reported expressing all 21 Leadership Responsibilities in their work. Staff observances correlated and supported the data reported by the participating principals. As a result of the principal interviews further observations were made regarding the work of Baldrige building level leaders. Considerations included innovation through shared leadership and process management to improve learning and services for students and staff. Principals appeared to express particular clusters of Leadership Responsibilities more than others to increase the student growth and school improvement. Participants included principals and teachers from Iredell-Statesville Schools, NC; Jenks Public Schools, OK; and Montgomery Public Schools.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative research was to investigate student perceptions of safety at urban, suburban, and rural community colleges using three community colleges in the mid-Atlantic region. The study also examined the demographic variables (gender, race, age group, academic classification, and the geographic location). This quantitative study employed causal comparative methods to analyze data from the survey instrument on campus safety. Participants in this study were from urban, suburban, and rural community colleges in the Mid-Atlantic Region. SPSS was used to conduct the analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the demographic variables. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were employed to test the null hypotheses at an alpha level of .05. The Kruskal Wallis was also conducted to reaffirm any significance the ANOVA test found or find significance where the ANOVA did not. The result of this study indicated that male and female students, freshmen and sophomore, and students of different races and age groups have the same perceptions of fear of crime on campus. Students from urban, suburban, and rural community colleges also perceived fear of crime the similarly. Female students were more likely than their male counterparts to perceive the likelihood of being victimized despite the geographical location. Students&rsquo; age group, racial makeup, or academic standing (freshmen and sophomore) did not differ in their perception of likelihood of being victimized. Students who were from different geographic locations had different perceptions when it came to the likelihood of being victimized on campus. Tukey <i>Post hoc</i> comparison suggests that suburban and rural community college students&rsquo; perceptions differed from those of urban community college students in terms of likelihood of being victimized but were not significantly different otherwise. The results of this study have contributed to the body of research on community college students&rsquo; perceptions of safety.</p>

<p> This qualitative study explored how parents make school-choice decisions. I conducted a basic interpretive qualitative study to collect and analyze data. I used criterion purposeful sampling to determine participants who met the criteria for this study: (a) parents who currently had students at schools of choice, and (b) parents who were entering the educational marketplace for the first time. The study used participant interviews as the primary source of data collection to develop a deeper understanding of parents&rsquo; experiences and decision making regarding school choice. </p><p> The following research questions guided the research: How do parents from a diverse Mid-Atlantic urban&ndash;suburban county make school-choice decisions for their children? What factors do parents consider when choosing a school for their children? How do parents gather information about the schools available to their children? How do parents choose the school that best fits their preferences? The experiences of the parents unfolded through a semistructured interview protocol that used open-ended questions. Several themes emerged during the interview process: expectations, access, experiences, responsibility, and decision making. I coded and analyzed the experiences shared by the parents. The data collected indicate that parents factor in many reasons and characteristics when making school-choice decisions for their children, reasons spread along continuums of academics, personal convenience, and personality and characteristics of the child. I pieced together the common themes of each individual experience like pieces of a puzzle to paint a picture that had never been shared.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to assess the effect that different North Carolina state legislation had upon overall student engagement and success in dual enrollment Huskins, Learn and Earn Online, and Concurrent enrollment in comparison to the later Career and College Promise (CCP) dual enrollment program within North Carolina community colleges. </p><p> The questions researched in this study were the following: a. Was there a difference in completion between students who were dually enrolled in North Carolina community college programs in 2008 compared to 2012, as measured by the awarding of a certificate, diploma, or degree, three years from initial enrollment? b. Was there a difference in cumulative grade point average (GPA), total college credits earned, and total courses completed between dually enrolled students in North Carolina community colleges in 2008 compared to 2012, three years from initial enrollment? c. Was there a difference in success indicators specific to gender and minority status between dually enrolled students in North Carolina community colleges in 2008 and in 2012, three years from initial enrollment? </p><p> Dual enrollment student data including student GPA, course completion rates and cumulative course completion, level of credential awarded (certificate, diploma, or degree), gender, and minority status, were retrieved from state-wide student records contained in the Data Warehouse at the North Carolina Community College System Office. Data were analyzed using a combination of chi-squared and t-test statistical tests for significance testing (Mead, 2009). The results suggest that there were higher completion rates and higher GPAs for students who participated in Career and College Promise dual enrollment over earlier programs. It appears that minority students were not negatively impacted by CCP policies, in fact, Hispanic students showed marked improvement in several areas.</p>

<p> This study investigates the legitimacy of policies to import cross-border higher education (CBHE) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study compares two of the UAE&rsquo;s higher education subsystems &ndash; Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah &ndash; to understand how higher education stakeholders in the UAE interpret foreign involvement in higher education and investigate how those interpretations contribute to stakeholders&rsquo; assessments of the legitimacy of the country&rsquo;s CBHE policies. The legitimacy of cross-border higher education policies is a potentially contentious issue because the higher education resources that are imported into host countries under CBHE policies are usually intended to supplement existing higher education systems whose stakeholders may not welcome foreign involvement in higher education. Given the multiple actors and national contexts that are active in the UAE&rsquo;s higher education systems, there are potential legitimacy challenges facing local CBHE policies. The purpose of this study is to explore this area of possible disconnect in the legitimacy of CBHE to more clearly understand how host country higher education stakeholders evaluate the legitimacy of CBHE policies within their own systems and to arrive at a theory of policy legitimacy for cross-border higher education. </p><p> This study approaches policy legitimacy in higher education by investigating how higher education stakeholders evaluate CBHE policies and derives a theory of CBHE policy legitimacy from the study&rsquo;s findings. The following research questions guide the study: </p><p> 1. What are the goals of CBHE policies? How do these goals serve to increase the legitimacy of the higher education subsystem? </p><p> 2. How do resident higher education stakeholders evaluate the legitimacy of CBHE policies? </p><p> 3. How do the findings of this study on legitimacy in a non-democratic environment resonate with existing policy legitimacy theories? </p><p> This qualitative study is a two-case comparison of CBHE policy in the emirates of Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), each of which has implemented CBHE policies in their private higher education sectors. Forty-five higher education stakeholders were interviewed across the two emirates between January and April 2012. Site visits and document analyses were conducted in both cases and an additional 40 higher education actors were interviewed in other UAE higher education systems, providing background context for the two cases analyzed in this study. </p><p> Support was found for the model of CBHE policy legitimacy proposed in the study. Salient components of CBHE policy legitimacy include the procedural elements of legality, decision norms, and representation, as well as normative legitimacy of the policies.</p>

<p> Despite the growing population of Muslim students in U.S. public schools, few empirically grounded studies appear in the literature that have reported the opinions and viewpoints about U.S. public schools from the perspective of Muslim parents. This study deeply investigates the perceptions Muslim parents hold about U.S. public schools and focuses on how Muslim identity and other factors shape those views. <i>Q</i> Methodology, a mixed methods technique for the systematic study of subjectivity, is applied to reveal and analyze a varied set of distinct models of shared viewpoints held by Muslim parents about public schools in the U.S. Data were analyzed from 54 Muslim parents in the metropolitan New York City region. This study identified and examined 8 models of shared viewpoints held by Muslim parents. Further analysis demonstrated the relative prevalence of each of the revealed shared viewpoints about U.S. public schools and ways in which the identified models reflect disagreements, consensus, and absence of salience in views about U.S. public schools. Muslim parents&rsquo; Muslim identity, their experience attending schools in the U.S., their children&rsquo;s experience attending schools in the U.S., their experience as school teachers or administrators, their gender, and their highest level of education were examined to predict the likelihood a parent would share views with a particular <i>Q</i> model. Understanding the shared viewpoints of Muslim parents can be useful for educational policymakers, leaders, and teachers, who must ensure an effective and comfortable learning environment for all of their students.</p>

<p> Sexuality education in public schools in the United States excludes a large population of students. These exclusions are due to a long history of legal and economic battles, as well as the politicized nature of adolescent sexuality. This critical interpretive inquiry explored the long history of sexuality education through the lens of economics, law, and psychological paradigms and examined the way in which each of these lenses furthered the exclusion of nonheterosexual males in curricula. Using a framework comprised of critical feminist theory, critical pedagogy, and queer theory, this manuscript provides an understanding of the social structures of sexuality education and how they continue to marginalize students labeled as &ldquo;other.&rdquo; Using critical discourse analysis, this study reviewed legal and political documents, state and private curricula, and works in the sociology and psychology fields. </p><p> The outcomes of interpretive research do not lend themselves to specific answers, but to a greater understanding of the experience of marginalized individuals and the structures in place that keep this experience intact. Through a critical review of current programming initiatives, recommendations are made to continue moving toward a more gender- and identity-inclusive sexuality education curriculum. These recommendations, which are grounded in current legal and economic requirements, include teacher certification requirements, implementation of the Advocates for Youth 3Rs curriculum, utilization of a rights-based approach to program design, and adoption of national sexuality education by the Department of Health and Human Services, rather than by the Department of Education.</p>

This qualitative research study determined the effectiveness of Measuring Up, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education's national state based higher education report card, as a tool for state leaders in developing postsecondary educational policy. The researcher interviewed state postsecondary leaders in Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, including state government leaders and administrative officials. Interviews were conducted with nine participants.The participants in this study collectively identified the most pressing issues impacting higher education access. Affordability was identified as the predominant factor impacting access to postsecondary education; the preparation of secondary students was also identified as an issue of concern for policymakers and leaders. In addition, the participants cited policies and initiatives undertaken to address these as well as other areas of concern.Measuring Up was identified as helpful as a data resource in developing policy; however, participants expressed concerns over the methodology used in report development. The methodology used in developing affordability measures was of particular concern and interviewees felt the metrics did not accurately reflect state attempts to address the issue.Recommendations include implications for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (NCPPHE) and state governing/coordinating bodies. The NCPPHE should conduct conversations with state higher education leaders or representatives prior to the issuance of subsequent reports to enhance effectiveness and utilization by policymakers. State coordinating bodies need to be assertive in addressing the interests of its student constituents and aggressive in developing state data through assessments and research.

<p> Public universities face significant funding challenges as states continue to look for efficiencies or outright cuts. In addition, the call for accountability in higher education continues to grow as state lawmakers, policy analysts, and researchers voice concern that degree attainment has stagnated, is too low to support economic growth, and takes too long. Business and political leaders are also increasingly interested in developing higher education accountability in response to concerns by students and families over the rising cost of a degree. Together, these themes of accountability and cost control have resulted in dramatically different policy innovations in the form of performance-based funding in a growing number of states. However, these policies have thus far produced scant evidence of success. Furthermore, the potential unintended consequences of these policies seem large, including the risk of increased selectivity resulting in increased class-based inequality and the risk of decreased educational quality. Thus, the shift from basing state support on inputs to outputs could be much more than a simple accounting change. By stressing different priorities, the shift may ultimately alter the historic access mission of public higher education. Ohio created a new policy in 2012 that funds 100 percent of undergraduate higher education state appropriations to public universities on the basis of outcomes, the most aggressive policy of its kind in the nation. This study investigated the perceptions of 24 Ohio higher education leaders regarding this policy innovation and combined those responses with related performance metrics in order to synthesize a more comprehensive understanding of early impacts and implications, particularly as it pertains to outcomes, access, and education quality. The results of the investigation suggest that that retention has improved, access has decreased, and quality has been unaffected. University leaders were largely in favor of the policy and supported increased selectivity even in the face of declining enrollments. Although concerns remain regarding at-risk student support, the study suggests that a 100 percent performance-based policy may have positive benefits and achieve the intended objectives. It may also alter our conception of the broad access mission of higher education as access is traded for student success. </p>