This study was developed for the teacher who may have limited resources in music education. The purpose of this study was to design a curriculum in music education for the intermediate grades so that a non-music major teacher could easily instruct music lessons. The characteristics of musical growth have been outlined and research has been shown to support the musical characteristics. A set of objectives has been formed as the foundation for teaching music to children of the intermediate grades. The curriculum devised has three components for the teacher to follow: songs appropriate for each season, holiday or month, listening to American composers, and creating musical instruments. The activities listed have been selected for student appeal and enrichment suggestions are given to allow the teacher the opportunity to expand the, music lesson. It is with great hope that this study will give the teacher confidence to undertake a program of music that may have been otherwise nonexistent in the classroom.

The subject of religion in public schools has always been controversial. America is a religiously diverse society, and one of the fundamental documents of this country, the Constitution of the United States, prohibits the establishment of a single religion which may seek to influence or control the ―free exercise‖ of all religions. Indeed the discussion of religion in school is very extensive. The subject includes, but is not limited to the discussion of students‘ religious expression, prayer in school, students‘ religious accommodations, the right of the student to distribute religious literature, as well as the rights of students to form religious clubs. The objective of this research study was to refine the very broad discussion of religion and religious liberties in public schools to the narrow subject of how teaching about religion is viewed in the public schools. Furthermore, given the current world‘s conflict with members of the Islamic faith and the increasing Muslim population in the United States, the study about Islam is a fundamental subject of inquiry for today‘s students who require a more global outlook. Primary to the study of whether teaching about religion is constitutional, which it is, an examination of how teachers, administrators, and school board members approach the subject, implement the policy, and prepare teachers for the task, was the focus of this research. Using a mixed methods methodology, I collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data from a sample total of 1,054 Florida social studies teachers. Overall, the results of the findings were that the surveyed teachers were open to teaching about all religions. However, their training and level of understanding of the content material required to accomplish the tasks were deficient. Recommendations included the designing of appropriate pre-service and in-service training programs for teachers who have responsibilities for teaching about various religions.

Attrition from schools of nursing continues to affect almost one third of students enrolled. Attrition is costly financially and personally to the student, to the educational institution, the health care consumer and the profession. The purpose of this study was to identify variables measurable at time of admission which might alone or together be predictive of successful persistence until graduation from a nursing program. The variables included cognitive and noncognitive characteristics measured by the Nurse Entrance Test (NET) as well as demographic and other academic achievement measurements. A convenience sample of associate degree nursing students admitted into two successive classes of a large, urban community college was used. Two hundred sixty seven students participated, with successful students defined as those who succeeded in each course of the program and continued in enrollment in an uninterrupted fashion until graduation. Cognitive factors included preadmission grade point average (GPA), California Achievement Test score, and measurements on the Nurse Entrance Test (NET) for Math Skills, Reading Comprehension and Rate, Testtaking Skill and Preferred Learning Style. Noncognitive factors were NET self-perceived scores on five areas of Life Stress and a Social Interaction Profile of passive and aggressive styles. Demographics were age, gender and race. Using univariate analysis of variance and discriminant analysis, the same six characteristics were found to be significantly different between the groups of successful and nonsuccessful students and predictive of success or nonsuccess: Reading Comprehension, preadmission GPA, age and stress in three areas -academic, family and social. When a discriminant analysis using a stepwise inclusion procedure was performed, these six were included among the ten variables found together to be useful in a prediction equation. Added to these six were Testtaking Skill, Money Stress, Social Interaction Profile and gender. By measurements in all types of analyses used, Academic Stress and Reading Comprehension were consistently the strongest of the predictors of group membership. Group membership was successfully predicted in 74.33% of the cases when the reduced set of ten variables was used. Findings from this research could be used as a basis for developing a risk profile for students either for use in making admission decisions or for identifying students at risk for nonsuccess. Nursing educators should become alert to the finding that the students in this study were at risk for failure because of noncognitive as well as because of cognitive characteristics. Future research could focus on the multifactorial influences in a student's life which affect success. Research could focus also on the examination, implementation and evaluation of intervention strategies designed to increase retention and improve academic performance.

Members of the school community should work collaboratively in the educating of students. Teachers and principals must understand that their traditional roles have changed and improved organizational teamwork will be fostered by all members of the learning community assuming decision making roles. Toward this end, the purpose of this correlational study was to explore the relationship between teachers' perceptions of the leadership behaviors of Duval County secondary school principals and their perceptions of the level of shared decision making practiced in their schools. This study provides insight into principal behaviors which nurture participation. Leadership behavior was operationalized by the responses to each of the five practices on the Leadership Practices Inventory [LPI] (Kouzes & Posner, (1997). These behaviors were (a) challenging the process, (b) inspiring a shared vision, (c) enabling others to act, (d) modeling the way, and (e) encouraging the heart. The level of shared decision making was measured by responses to the Shared Educational Decisions Survey-Revised (Ferrara, 1994) in the areas of (a) planning, (b) policy development, (c) curriculum and instruction, (d) student achievement, (e) pupil personnel services, (f) staff development, and (g) budget management. The population for the study was a sample selected from all secondary schools in the Duval County Public School System. Schools with principals who had served in their schools two or more years were selected for the study. The sample consisted of 646 participants from 26 schools. Pearson product-moment correlations were generated for each of seven questions. A total of 34 significant relationships between the leadership behaviors of the principal and the level of shared decision making were identified. The significant correlations ranged between .096 and .191. These weak correlations demonstrate that the principals' leadership practices only explained between one percent and four percent of the variance in the level of shared decision making. Therefore, there was very little relationship between the leadership behaviors of the principal and the level of shared decision making in schools. A possible explanation of the weak relationships discovered for each of the seven research questions may relate to the construct of the principals' leadership behaviors used in the study. From a more speculative perspective, individual leadership behaviors of school principals may have less influence on the decision making culture than the organizational structure and culture of the schools and school district. The findings of this study provide implications for the leadership of school principals as they implement shared decision making in their schools. Principal training programs must provide prospective principals with experiences which will nurture the skills necessary to promote dynamic learning communities. Furthermore, in order to encourage their involvement, teachers must also be trained in this area. Tomorrow's principals must develop collaborative, professional cultures characterized by shared governance. Educational leaders should continue to construct deeper understandings of these professional learning communities.

This research was designed to explore the perceptions of secondary reading teachers regarding their experiences while they implemented Florida’s secondary intensive reading policy. The purpose of this research was to obtain feedback on the policy implementation process for continuous improvement in future policy implementation. This research was qualitatively designed and conducted with three focus groups consisting of secondary intensive reading teachers from three Florida counties respectively, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns. The bounding theoretical and conceptual frames of this study were founded in political systems theory and shared leadership. The data from this study were compiled from three focus groups consisting of secondary reading teachers who implemented Florida’s secondary intensive reading policy. Data analysis was conducted using Boyatzis (1998) thematic approach as a means of analyzing the interview data. The data were coded using Sabatier’s (1986) construct of empowerments and constraints. Themes were identified using Hatch’s (2002) approach to inductive analysis. Eisner’s (1998) concept of educational criticism and professional literature within the educational criticism process provided a guide to the selection of important and relevant ideas based on my connoisseurship of the secondary reading initiative and my experience as a reading coach and teacher during the initiative. Three overarching themes were identified from the analysis of the teachers’ experiences: (a) A sudden change of content is a challenge to implementing policy change; (b) Challenges from inside and outside of the classroom hindered policy implementation; (c) Policy implementation brings insights: changing trends in assessment formats and instructional implications may call for new instructional strategies. This study found teachers were not adequately prepared in all areas to undertake the implementation of a new content area. In recounting their perceptions regarding their experiences of this policy implementation, teachers were exceptionally open about the areas in which they were not prepared to do the tasks they were given to do. This study also found teachers were valuable resources of information about the policy implementation process. Participant responses reinforced the need for communication and dialogue between secondary reading teachers and district level administration with particular emphasis on incorporating teacher feedback on student scheduling issues, instructional technology issues, and curriculum resources and development. Participants strongly reinforced the need for intra-district and inter-district collaborative professional development. Participants in this study speculated on the implications of online literacy as opposed to its more traditional form. They noted that reading online is a different experience from reading a book or a test in paper format, and they perceived a gap in their instructional methods and knowledge regarding how to instruct students in online literacy. Based on the discussion of this research, recommendations for further research and educational leadership were developed.

This study examined common difficulties in English composition among Asian college students, addressing causal factors from psychological, cultural, and linguistic perspectives. The following factors were investigated: affective filter, puberty period, interlanguage, language transfer, accessibility to a target language, morphological differences, syntactical differences, and cultural thought patterns. The results of analyses of errors in the students' compositions reflected two ESL instructors' observations that Asian college students, whose native languages differ from Indo-European languages, experience difficulty in writing in English. A consistent error frequency which appeared in English article usage prompted the researcher to formulate the rules for articles and to construct exercise problems in order to help Asian students to overcome their problems.

The curriculum that has been developed for this project is designed to promote the implementation of process writing in kindergarten through third grade classrooms. Writing activities are planned within the content areas and present writing as a natural way to communicate throughout daily activities. The review of research reflects over fifteen years of work that has predominantly been carried out in classroom settings with elementary school students and teachers. Patterns of writing development have been identified that indicate a positive correlation between the students skills attainment and purposeful reading and writing experiences. The plan incorporates individualized instructional strategies that have evolved as a result of the findings of the researchers and teachers who have studied the process writing approach. Procedures for conferencing and teacher modeling techniques are illustrated in this project. The curriculum establishes the atmosphere of the classroom and outlines the stages of the writing process. Journal writing is planned as a daily activity with additional ongoing activities which encourage purposeful writing. The plan for the content areas is consistent with the whole language perspective. A culminating activity is included to provide an opportunity for students to apply the skills they have learned throughout the year. The evaluation of this project was accomplished through interviews with teachers and the presentation of an inservice program. Samples of writing that the students were currently producing were used to identify developmental stages and to model teaching techniques that were suggested in the plan. This curriculum presents writing as an integral part of daily classroom activities. The goal is for children to learn to write by writing and to develop a sense of authorship.

A comparison of the spoken language of adolescent Black males living in three southern suburban communities was conducted. The results indicated certain trends by locale in the areas of morphology, phonology, syntax and semantics. The findings affirm the assumption that it is possible to determine likenesses and differences in the Black English spoken by Black males living in three isolated communities with a rating instrument.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of new professionals in college student affairs as protégés in mentoring relationships. This study was designed as an exploratory study into the types of mentoring relationships that exist among college student affairs professionals, using Q methodology. The profession of college student affairs can use mentoring relationships to help recruit, train, develop, and retain high-quality individuals. Although mentoring relationships are frequently used to develop college student affairs professions, little is known about these relationships. Fifty-five new professionals in college student affairs from 29 different states sorted 39 statements describing mentoring relationships on a continuum from “least like my mentoring relationship” (-4) to “most like my mentoring relationship” (+4). These 55 sorts were factor analyzed and rotated. Following these procedures, four factors emerged that represented different perspectives on mentoring relationships in college student affairs. Interpretation of these factors yielded distinct themes within them. These factors were named: (a) Mentor as Ideal, (b) Mentor as Cheerleader, (c) Mentor as Friend, and (d) Mentor as Teacher. The results of the study, which intended to elicit the subjectivity of new college student affairs professionals regarding their mentoring relationships, suggest that college student affairs professionals value, in different ways, the interaction with their mentor. The results from this study suggest the personal interaction between a protégé and a mentor is a valuable part of a protégé's career. Additionally, the results from this study seem to indicate that mentoring relationships in college student affairs are, on balance, positive. The results also suggest that mentoring relationships in college student affairs are highly developmental. The perspectives described and the interpretation provided in this study can greatly assist student affairs professionals in the development of new professionals.

Education researchers suggest that, since belief systems influence practicing teachers' behavior, it is important for teachers to examine their educational beliefs to determine whether those beliefs are consistent with current knowledge about teaching and learning. If the same relationship between beliefs and practices of inservice teachers holds true for preservice teachers, since beliefs are extremely resistant to change, reflection upon educational beliefs should be cultivated during the preservice stage of teacher development. To discover whether such a parallel exists, 12 preservice teachers, during their internships, were selected for study. First, they responded to a series of vignettes to ascertain beliefs about five instructional strategies. Second, a content analysis of the the interns' lesson plans was conducted to determine their instructional practices. Finally, 7 of the 12 interns were interviewed to explore consistencies and discrepancies. The study's results indicate that the findings of research studies documenting a connection between educational beliefs and instructional practices of inservice teachers also hold true with regard to preservice teachers. The study suggests that teacher education programs embrace and operationalize the proposition that encouraging reflective thought in teacher candidates is critical to enhancing their professional preparation.