The purpose of this study was to examine how school reform design, English speakers of other languages (ESOL) instruction, and socioeconomic status (SES) impact the academic achievement of ESOL students in Grade 2. Gains in lexile scores on the Scholastic Reading Inventory were used to measure one aspect of academic achievement, namely, general reading ability. The primary research question was: To what extent can gains in lexile scores on the Scholastic Reading Inventory be explained by the independent variable set of school reform design (America's Choice/Direct Instruction), ESOL instruction (ESOL instruction/no ESOL instruction), and SES (free and reduced lunch/no free lunch). Participants were 204 ESOL students enrolled in Grade 2 in Duval County Public Schools during the 2003-2004 academic year, including 53 in Direct Instruction and 151 in America's Choice school reform designs; 151 receiving free and reduced lunch and 53 paying full fee for lunch; 139 receiving ESOL instruction and 65 receiving no ESOL instruction. Findings indicated that students in the Direct Instruction school reform design had greater gains in lexile scores on the SRI than students in the America's Choice design. SES and ESOL instruction were not statistically significant predictors of academic achievement. Further, there were no statistically significant interactions among any of the predictor variables (between school reform design and ESOL instruction; between school reform design and SES; between SES and ESOL instruction; or among school reform design, SES, and ESOL instruction).

Patient safety (i.e., the degree to which patients are free from accidental injury) has received a great deal of media coverage during the past few years. Professional and regulatory agencies have indicated that patient safety education should be provided to healthcare workers to improve health outcomes. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to gain a better understanding of the current status of patient safety awareness among pre-licensure nursing students. To this end, six research questions guided the study: 1. Will interpretable item constructs be identified when responses to the Healthcare Professional Patient Safety Assessment Curriculum Survey (HPPSACS) are intercorrelated and factor analyzed using R-technique exploratory factor analysis? 2. Will responses to items on the HPPSACS yield scores that are intemally consistent as indicated by alpha reliability coefficients? 3. What are the perceptions of nursing students about their awareness, skills, and attitudes regarding patient safety? 4. (a) To what extent is there a relationship between the demographic variables of age and gender and nursing students' perceptions of their patient safety awareness, skills, and attitudes? (b) To what extent is there a relationship between the demographic variable of race/ethnicity and nursing students' perceptions of their patient safety awareness, skills, and attitudes? 5. To what extent is there a relationship between the type of collegiate nursing program and nursing students' perceptions of their patient safety awareness, skills, and attitudes? 6. To what extent are there discernable program curriculum and instructional methodologies that have been traditionally associated with more positive nursing student perceptions of awareness, skills, and attitudes regarding patient safety? Phase I was a pilot test for reliability and construct validity for the HPPSACS. Data were factor analyzed to determine factor constructs for the purpose of identifying the key themes accounting for the variation in response across 23 survey items. Three factors with themes that were found to relate to perceptions of patient safety among a scholarly professional group of nurses were identified as comfort, error reporting, and denial. Findings in Phase II of the study indicated that there were four identifiable constructs with the study data: the themes of comfort, error reporting, denial, and culture. Older male participants had higher comfort subscale scores and lower culture subscales scores than did younger female participants. The Asian American participants were clearly distinguished from the combined set of African American and Hispanic participants on the denial and culture scores. The "other" ethnic identity was clearly distinguished from the combined set of Caucasian and Hispanic participants on the comfort and error reporting scores. The associate nursing degree programs were clearly distinguished from the combined set of the accelerated and traditional nursing degree programs. Findings in Phase III of the study indicated that all seven of the participating nursing schools included at least three of the Institute of Medicine's six core competencies, with one school exhibiting all of the core competencies.

Case study research on enterprise systems in higher education organizations has shown that the challenges associated with implementing enterprise systems in higher education occur when unique organizational characteristics found in universities do not align with the standard characteristics built into the software programs. Based on such findings, the purpose of this study was to further explore the interaction between higher education organizations and enterprise systems during Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations in order to gain insight into the effects of ERP implementations in higher education. Through the theoretical lens of actor-network theory, the purposes of this comparative case study at three universities were to identify (a) how higher education organizations re-structured to the standards of the enterprise software, (b) how ERP software was customized in order to adapt to the characteristics of higher education organizations, and (c) how the enterprise software and higher education organizations interacted and translated into a unique identity as a result of ERP implementation. The data for the study were collected through semi-structured interviews and institutional artifacts at three universities which were commonly bound by similar institutional characteristics and the same enterprise software. Further, the study was limited to the examination of the interaction between individuals associated with the registrars' offices at the three institutions and the student module found in each instance of the software. The data revealed that, while the institutions did not organizationally restructure or make policy changes in order to adapt their institutions with the infrastructure of the software, the registrars' offices made many reactionary changes in their business processes, procedures, and nature of work as a result of the enterprise system implementation. The data also revealed that the software customizations, developed to account for unique statutory requirements, caused overwhelming implementation challenges during the enterprise software implementation and post-implementation phases.

The intent of this study was to examine the leadership behaviors and learning strategies of Successful Small Business Leaders (SSBLs) in Northeast Florida. Information gathered during this study may help current and future small business owners develop, maintain, and make their organizations more productive through the use of the learning strategies and leadership behaviors employed by SSBLs. Through a two-prong approach, the study examined both leadership and learning. The study addressed the following two questions: 1) What learning strategies are used most by successful small business leaders? and 2) What leadership behaviors are exhibited most by successful small business leaders? The Delphi method was selected as the research approach for this study because it provides the most flexible approach to seeking the perspective of SSBLs. The Delphi method uses a group of experts who anonymously discuss and respond to the research issue. A two-phase Delphi study design utilized both participant surveys and interviews. An analysis of the data collected during Phase 1, or the survey phase, identified seven leadership behaviors and six learning strategies. Examination of the seven leadership behaviors and six learning strategies by the participants demonstrated agreement among the behaviors and strategies identified. However, participants did not reach an agreement in the ranking of the leadership behaviors or learning strategies. The study contributes to the research of leadership behaviors and learning strategies of leaders as the focus was solely on those in a small business setting. The best practices and other data discovered during this Delphi study on small business may be used to better define and understand the characteristics of SSBLs.

Teachers for generations have struggled with the challenge of motivating students to learn in their classes. Literature suggests that a positive way to increase student motivation and academic achievement in science is with the laboratory experience. With the lack of adequate laboratory space in our schools, teachers are having to "make do" in science classes with limited space and budget. A need exists for 9th grade Earth Science laboratory activities that meet county course objectives and yet are simple enough to be used in a classroom setting, thereby eliminating the need for extra expenses for the science department. This project has developed a set of laboratory experiences appropriate for 9th grade Earth Science courses in Duval County.

Many public school reading programs utilize basal reader texts. Any materials developed for use by bilingual students would be best keyed to the basal reader being utilized in the classroom. The Ginn 720 series is one such basal reader series. Developing materials for use by bilingual students in conjunction with the Ginn 720 series would insure that the materials would be used by the classroom teacher. Focusing on a level in the series which is subsequent to the initial levels could demonstrate the utility of these materials in meeting the on-going needs of bilingual students. Level 7 is generally used by students in third grade, and the third grade is generally the grade selected for making the transition from the student's native language to that of English. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to develop supplementary reading materials keyed to the Ginn 720 Basal Reader, Level 7, for use by the regular classroom teacher in order to instruct the Spanish-speaking student in vocabulary skills. Focus on vocabulary skills, a principal activity in any reading curriculum and one which is a prerequisite to so many other reading skills, would greatly assist this bilingual student. These curriculum materials will be reviewed by local experts in education in the northeast Florida area in order to obtain input for their refinement.

The purpose of the project was to determine if two Junior High band student trainees could accurately evaluate the performance of individual band students from a pre-selected method book. Band students would record specific musical exercises which were evaluated by two student trainees and the band director. The purpose of the project was to check the reliability between the student trainees and the director.

The job of the local school superintendent is one of the most difficult chief executive undertakings in America today. Of the nation’s roughly 14,000 traditional public school superintendents, a mere 1,984 are women, according to the U. S. Department of Education. Yet, nationally over 75% of all K-12 educators are women. The purpose of this explorative quantitative study is to analyze the demographic profiles of public school districts in four of the nation’s largest states – California, Michigan, New York, and Texas - to see if there is a pattern of district types and sizes that women lead. Then the study will compare those districts that women lead to those that men lead. The districts were identified using the following variables: locale of districts, the size of the districts, diversity of student population, and poverty level. Looking through the lens of Bourdieu’s social reproduction theory, this study sought to show that resources and institutions are reproduced, or passed on, to those sharing similar social capital. Chi-square with cross-tabulations was conducted to determine if certain district characteristics would allow one to infer the gender of the superintendent leading that district. Additionally, a binominal logistic regression was used to see if there was a relationship between the district types and the gender of the superintendent. The results of the study identified that there was no relationship between the locales of the districts and the gender of the superintendents, but female superintendents were more prevalent in smaller districts with high diversity and high poverty.

ABSTRACT SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ROLE IN THE RETENTION OF NOVICE TEACHERS Theresa J. Coker Secondary schools in the U.S. face instructional challenges due in part to novice teacher turnover. Research indicates that new teachers remain in the profession due to: supportive principal leadership, an orderly school environment, classroom autonomy, and significant professional development (Grissom, 2008). The purpose of this study was to understand how secondary-school principals perceived their role in novice teachers’ professional development and retention. Qualitative research using in-depth, semi-structured interviews included 15 secondary-school administrators from an urban district in the southeast United States. Data analysis used Eisner’s (1998) four-part approach to educational criticism—description, interpretation, evaluation, and thematics—supported by Hatch’s (2002) typological analysis. Four typologies organized description and interpretation: principals’ early experiences as educators; principals’ perceptions of the recruitment process; principals’ view of the process of professional development; and life and duties of principals. The thematics dimension of educational criticism indicated that principals’ lack of time led to their delegating leadership tasks to other staff regarding novice teachers’ professional development. Their descriptions of their interactions with novice teachers reflected a transactional leadership style and an approach of “leading from the middle” (Bolman & Gallos, 2011) to respond to both demands from above and needs at the school level. Further, these principals perceived all teachers new to their schools as novice, whether experienced or inexperienced. Implications include considering transformational leadership when working with novice teachers and clarifying hiring and retention responsibilities regarding novice teachers. Such communication among all parties would support novice teachers’ development and commitment to the profession. Further research might focus on observing the interactions of both administrators and faculty with novice teachers to understand the complexity of the process of their professional development.

As stated before, both the Florida State Assessment Test and the EST measure the achievement of students on minimal objectives in the areas of communications and mathematics. One might therefore ask the question, “Why is there a need to administer both tests?” It would seem that both tests evaluate similar subject areas. This study is designed to explore this similarity of test items. Its purpose is to examine the relationship between the tests in terms of the test items. It is assumed that if there is a high degree of semblance between test items, there may not be a need for the administration of both tests. Specifically, the project is designed to analyze the contents of the State Assessment Test and the Essential Skills Test to determine if the test items measure different learnings or similar areas. This examination of items will be studied through a content analysis procedure to be developed by the author.