This qualitative study identified school environment practices in designated school districts in a selected region in the state of Texas based on an accreditation visit from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in the school year 1988-1989 and identified specific elements of positive school environment that were valued by the TEA.

This thesis is a series of meditations, stories and poetry focusing on living in classrooms with children, and on the meaning and place of education and schools in our lives. This writing is the emergent result of a commitment to the seeking of a generous language to understand and describe the work of teachers in schools, to the hope for human(e) and compassionate spaces for children to spend their days, to living with openness and creativity, to the having of challenging and wonderful conversations about life with children, and to the freedom to raise questions about the ways children and teachers (might) live together in schools. This writing is a story emerging at the point of intersection between what we might learn from children if we listen to them and remember them, and reflections on readings in ethics, education and literature. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

The paper reports progress in the Millville Elementary School, Panama City, Florida, in the three year period from July 1, 1949 to July 1, 1952. During this time the faculty attempted to secure information relative to the situation, discover their most significant problems, develop a common point of view, and set about, with the help of all concerned to build a better program. In this effort, the Evaluative Criteria for Elementary Schools served as a general guide. Consultative help from Florida State University was available to the faculty during the entire period. In taking stock of the situation, the types of problems discovered might well be discussed under four categories: (1) the situation from the viewpoint of the pupils; (2) the situation from the viewpoint of the faculty; (3) the situation from the viewpoint of the community; and, (4) the situation as reflected by the general conditions of the building. / Typescript. / "August, 1952." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: W. Edwards, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-63).

"Several years ago the faculty of Allie Yniestra Elementary School of Pensacola, Florida, under the leadership of a progressive, professional principal, agreed to place the children into the various rooms of each grade according to their reading ability, the basis of judgment being the scores of the Stanford Achievement Tests given to the children during May of the previous year. Two years later, after much discussion and study, the school returned to its former method of grouping, which was simply dividing the names of the boys and girls among the various teachers of each grade. Test scores of the sixth grade children during two years of each method of grouping were carefully retained and compared. It is as a member of Yniestra faculty, and in the light of those scores, that this study of grouping was undertaken. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate the origin and need of grouping, to examine critically the different methods, and to analyze their possible effect on the objectives and functions of the elementary school of today"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1950." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: Mildred Swearingen, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 30-31).

No description available.

This exploratory study considered the possible impact that organizational climate, content area, adult development group, career stage, and conceptual level did have on the implementation of an innovation by junior high school teachers in an urban school system. Formal instrumentation consisted of the Organizational Climate Index (OCI) (Stern, Steinkoff & Richman, 1975) and the Paragraph Completion Method (PCM) for assessing conceptual levels (Hunt, Greenwood, Noy & Watson, 1973). Parameters developed by Sheehy (1976) and Levinson (1979) were used to determine adult development groups; career stages were determine by indicators set by Yarger and Mertens (1979). An approved questionnaire based on the system's model was used to determine the extent of implementation. Reliability coefficients of .79 and better were established for interrater agreement and implementation scores (student and teacher report). A stepwise regression analysis was conducted using the implementation scores and percentage scores for specific tasks as the dependent variables. The broad categories of climate and conceptual level did not impact significantly. However, subscales such as organizational effectiveness, coping with uncertainty, accepting orders, as well as adult development group and career stage were significant at the .01 level. / Ed. D.

M.S.

M.S.

The objective of this study was to determine the association between the student’s general adjustment and his attitudes towards his parents and teachers and his school progress and the degree to which he was accepted by associates in social situations. Seventy high school senior girls and boys living in a small town and the surrounding area furnished the date for this study. The data on these students were secured from five sources. Information on attributes towards parents and teachers, social acceptability, and socio-economic factors was obtained by the questionnaire method. The questionnaires were completed by the students during their homeroom periods. Information on personality adjustments was obtained by the use of the bell adjustment inventory which was completed by the students during their home-room periods and was augmented by the combined ratings of three teachers. Rating of I. Q. was obtained by the Otis Quick-Scoring Gamma test. Information on school progress was obtained from the permanent school records. / Master of Science

Recently a variety of national reports have been completed which call for school reform. Additionally, there has been an abundance of research which attempts to identify the characteristics of effective schools. Throughout the literature on school reform and effectiveness, school climate is consistently identified as an important factor in effective schools. However, questions concerning how schools improve their climate and what the effects and obstacles of such efforts are remain unanswered. School climate improvement efforts tend to fall into two major categories which can be referred to as either formal systematic approaches or informal non-systematic approaches. Formal approaches exist where the developer of the approach states specific steps and procedures which are followed by a school to improve its climate. Informal approaches are also being used by schools where the principal and staff identify and implement various actions which are undertaken to improve the school's climate for learning. This study identified and described both a formal and an informal approach to school climate and determined the effects and obstacles encountered with each approach. Two secondary schools using each type of approach were studied and compared. The procedures and activities used by each of the four schools under study were described. The outcomes and obstacles encountered in each school's climate improvement process were identified. The findings of the study were that all four schools in the study had positive outcomes regardless of the approach used. Common obstacles occurred in all four schools. They included lack of staff time to address school concerns, some staff did not support the school's efforts and students and parents were slow to respond positively to the staff's efforts. / Doctor of Education