published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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There is a need to understand the relationship between, the traditional 16-week versus an 8-week, and college-level mathematics success rates. This study applied chi-square (χ2) and analysis of variance to compare and contrast which course length of time, 8-weeks or 16-weeks, for college algebra resulted in a higher proportion of students successfully completing the course. In addition, success rates among ethnicities, gender, and age groups were also examined. The population sample for this study was 231 students enrolled in college algebra from fall 2004 through fall 2007. Data was analyzed on four sections of the traditional 16-week courses and four sections of 8-week courses. Success was defined as earning a grade of A, B, or C in the course. The study found that overall there was no significant difference in success rates for the 8-week and 16-week college algebra courses. However, significant differences were found in success rates among Asian, Pacific Islander students enrolled in the 8-week and 16-week courses. No significant differences in success rates were found for White, Non-Hispanic; African-American, and Hispanic, Mexican American students. There was a significant difference in the number of A's, B's, C's, D's and F's among White, Non-Hispanic students, but there was no difference in A's, B's, C's, D's or F's for African-American; Hispanic, Mexican American and Asian, Pacific Islander. When considering success rates among genders, no difference was found in success rates for males or females who were enrolled in the 8-week and 16-week college algebra courses. There were a significant greater number of students in the age group (23-30) who were successful in the 16-week college algebra course than in the 8-week college algebra course. However, no differences in success rates were found in the age groups (18-22) and (31-40).

Cooperative learning has been one of the most widely used instructional practices around the world since the early 1980's. Small learning groups have been in existence since the beginning of the human race. These groups have grown in their variance and complexity overtime. Classrooms are getting more diverse every year and instructors need a way to take advantage of this diversity to improve learning. The purpose of this study was to see if heterogeneous cooperative learning groups based on student achievement can be used as a differentiated instructional strategy to increase students' ability to demonstrate knowledge of science concepts and ability to do engineering design. This study includes two different groups made up of two different middle school science classrooms of 25-30 students. These students were given an engineering design problem to solve within cooperative learning groups. One class was put into heterogeneous cooperative learning groups based on student's pre-test scores. The other class was grouped based on random assignment. The study measured the difference between each class's pre-post gains, student's responses to a group interaction form and interview questions addressing their perceptions of the makeup of their groups. The findings of the study were that there was no significant difference between learning gains for the treatment and comparison groups. There was a significant difference between the treatment and comparison groups in student perceptions of their group's ability to stay on task and manage their time efficiently. Both the comparison and treatment groups had a positive perception of the composition of their cooperative learning groups.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

African American female principals typically lead low socioeconomic elementary schools. Administrators in predominately urban schools are familiar with the needs of minority students. Although Title I funds are provided from the national government via local educational agencies (LEAs), this money is normally not enough to keep up with technology integration and programs of more affluent schools. Therefore, African American female administrators rely on culture to develop meaningful relationships with students, teachers, and parents and makeup for any financial hardships, which may exist during the transformation of urban elementary schools. Limited research is available on academic success in urban schools. Over the years, much of the focus has been on failure of underperforming schools with minority students and leaders. Additionally, there is a lack of research on the leadership of African American female school leaders. Thus, it is important to study successful African American female role models in urban schools. The purpose of this study was to examine transformational leadership skills evident in African American female principals at high-achieving, urban elementary schools. What are the transformational leadership skills evident in two African American female principals who work in high-achieving urban elementary schools? It was assumed that African American female principals applied some or all of the skills of transformational leadership when leading in two different urban elementary school settings. Successful transformational leadership can be categorized under the following four components 1) charismatic leadership (or idealized influence, CL or II), 2) inspirational motivation (IM), 3) intellectual stimulation (IS), and 4) individualized consideration (IC) (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1997). Results showed that African American female elementary school leaders displayed all tenets of the transformational leadership theory while leading high achieving campuses. However, the transformational leadership theoy was missing a cultural component from its doctrine.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

成子娟. / 論文(博士)--香港中文大學, 1999. / 參考文獻 (p. 248-263) / 中英文摘要. / Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Cheng Zijuan. / Lun wen (bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 1999. / Can kao wen xian (p. 248-263) / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education