The major purpose of this study was to develop and implement a transition program designed to facilitate smooth physical movement and social adjustment through the organization break between elementary and middle schools in Escambia County, Florida. This study has identified specific transitional elements and synthesized unique characteristics of early adolescents that should be included in a transition program designed to facilitate the move from elementary to middle school. The systematic model developed in this study incorporates the following procedures: (1) Assess the transitional concerns and needs of the target students and parents. (2) Solicit recommendations from professional educators directly or indirectly involved with the transition process. (3) Synthesize established transitional concerns and input from the needs assessment. (4) Design and implement a comprehensive program structured to satisfy established and assessed concerns of both students and parents. (5) Evaluate the program. / Design and Procedures. This research study was developmental in nature. Elements that should be included in a transition program and unique characteristics of early adolescents that should be considered in the design of a transition program were identified from the review of the literature. Additional information was obtained through the administration of questionnaires to students experiencing the move from elementary to middle school, the parents of those students, and the professional educators involved in the transition process. The design of the transition program was based on data collected from the questionnaires and on recommendations found in the review of the literature. Students were divided into two comparison groups. Students and parents in one comparison group (C1) were exposed to the developed program during a six week period of time. Students and parents in the second comparison group (C2) were not exposed to the program. The program was evaluated at the end of the first six weeks of school. The evaluation employed both subjective and objective measures. The subjective evaluation was composed of the administration of questionnaires to students and parents of both C1 and C2. A chi-square test of significance was used to compare the responses of the two groups. The objective evaluation of the transition program consisted of the comparison between students in C1 and C2 using the data collected in the following six areas: (1) grade point average; (2) attendance; (3) number of disciplinary referrals; (4) number of visits to clinic; (5) number of visits to guidance for social adjustment problems; and (6) number of students involved in extracurricular activities. / Conclusions and Implications. The findings based on both the subjective and objective evaluation of the transition program suggest the following conclusions and implications: (1) Twenty-three items on the student input questionnaire are appropriate considerations in the planning, development, and implementation of a transition program between elementary school and middle school. (2) The subjective evaluation of the student portion of the transition program indicated improved physical and social adjustment on the part of C1 students. However, the resulting chi-square of 3.51 indicates this improvement is not significant at the .05 level. (3) All nineteen of the items on the parent input questionnaire are high interest areas to parents of students experiencing the transition process. (4) In the subjective evaluation, C1 parents reported significantly greater satisfaction than did C2 parents. This indicates that more and better communication between school and parent is desirable. (5) In five of the six objective evaluation areas, C1 students displayed more positive adjustment than did C2 students. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: A, page: 0049. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This study was designed to determine the qualifications and role status of English department chairpersons in the secondary schools of the state of Florida; it was further designed to distinguish between the role status as it actually exists and an ideal role that the three reference groups deemed desirable for the most efficient department. The investigation involved English teachers, English department chairpersons, and principals randomly selected from school districts in the state of Florida. The Florida Education Directory, 1978-79 was used to obtain a stratified random sample of "clusters" or districts in order to assure representation of large, medium and small schools. A table of random numbers was used to select the sampling unit in schools from which the three reference groups were drawn. Respondents from the three groups returned 280 usable questionnaires which had been designed by this researcher. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the questionnaire consisted of four parts: a cover sheet asking for demographic, qualifications, and role status information; a "REAL" component asking for responses which indicated duties presently being performed by English chairpersons; an "IDEAL" component asking reference groups to respond to the same questions but in a manner they deemed most desirable for their school; and a fourth component which solicited information about the English chairperson's roles as affected by contemporary issues in education. The results of the study presented the present role status of English chairpersons and their functions in the areas of qualifications, staffing, curriculum, evaluation and materials. The study showed that the present role status or functions in any of these areas are not the same in actual practice as respondents feel they should be to best serve the school. The study indicated two major reasons for / the difference: lack of release time to perform the functions and lack of power or authority to carry out the functions. Respondents indicated that appointment is generally the method used to select the chairperson and that a well-qualified person is usually selected. The reference groups also indicated that contemporary issues will and should affect the role of the chairperson. Through the use of percentages and frequencies, histograms, means and standard deviations, medians, Pearson correlation coefficients, and an analysis of variance the investigator obtained the above results to achieve the purpose of this investigation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2861. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This study was designed to identify the factors perceived by teachers and supervisors as those which are problem areas and which may have contributed to a limited acceptance of clinical supervision. Eight specific research questions were explored, dealing with the problems identified by teachers and supervisors, and whether they were the same; how the length of involvement with clinical supervision as well as length of experience and grade level taught affected problem identification; whether teachers saw clinical supervision as more helpful than other types; and for which grade level of teacher experience supervisors thought clinical supervision was most helpful. / The population for the study was teachers and supervisors from throughout the United States who had experienced clinical supervision. A teacher population of 576 resulted in a sample of 248; a supervisor population of 63 resulted in a sample of 53. A researcher developed questionnaire was used for gathering data. / The results, based on frequency tabulations and chi-square tests, indicated that clinical supervision appears to be a process which is most beneficial for teachers early in their careers. It can be concluded from this study that there are some problems with clinical supervision, but that they appear to fall into three major areas--the length of time it takes to learn how to carry out clinical supervision, the length of time it takes to actually carry out the process, and the fact that teachers do not like supervisors observing them. These three problems were the ones most frequently mentioned by both teachers and supervisors. / It may be concluded that the biggest problem with clinical supervision is the time it takes to carry it out. This was the problem mentioned most frequently by both teachers and supervisors and was a problem at all grade levels taught, and no matter how long the person had been a teacher/supervisor, or had been involved with clinical supervision. / It may also be concluded that the length of time a person has been involved with the clinical supervision model is an important determinant of the types of problems identified, but that the grade level at which the teacher works and the number of years they have been a teacher are not as important. / Another finding of the study was that, while K-3 teachers identify basically the same types of problems as other teachers, they account for one-third of all problems identified, thus indicating that this group may warrant special attention. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2420. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The problem addressed by this research was the lack of procedures for use in establishing decision rules for application of program standards. The purpose of the research was to develop and evaluate procedures for establishing decison rules. Inherent in this purpose was the goal of determining the worth or merit of procedures for establishing decision rules (i.e., evaluation). / Two research questions were addressed in the study. The first question was what factors should be considered when establishing decision rules for application of standards to education programs. The second question was what procedures have greatest utility for establishing decision rules. / Through interviews with local education authorities and use of a paired comparison procedure, factors which should be considered when establishing decision rules were identified, defined, and evaluated as to their importance. Five strategies which could be used in establishing decision rules were identified or devised, and evaluated. Screening of the strategies resulted in selection of two strategies for development and field trial, the Conventional Interacting Group Process and the Nominal Group Technique. / The results of the study indicated that five factors should be considered when establishing decision rules. The five factors were: current status of the educational programs under review; legal basis for the criteria and standards being utilized for the review; perceived directness of impact of the criteria and standards upon students; economic impact of the criteria and standards upon educational programs; and who has the responsibility for making program review decisions. / The utility of the Conventional Interacting Group Process and the Nominal Group Technique was compared. The results of the study indicated that both the Conventional Interacting Group Process and the Nominal Group Technique are appropriate for use in establishing decision rules. The Conventional Interacting Group Process had greater utility in the research setting. Differences in outcomes appeared to be dependent upon characteristics of the group leader and the participants. Advantages and disadvantages of using the techniques were identified. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4222. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5256. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5257. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5259. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5261. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5256. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the per-pupil expenditure of 36.5 million dollars of Compensatory Education funds provided Florida public schools through state legislation and the rate of failures of 1977-78 eleventh graders on the State Assessment, Part II, Test. Specifically, the correlation between per-pupil expenditure in each district for one or two years of remedial education prior to retaking the examination for 1979 graduation and the rate of failures was examined through the use of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. In the data collected from sixty-seven Florida school districts as reported to the Department of Education (DOE), no significant relationship was found at the .05 level of probability between per-pupil expenditure of State Compensatory Education funds and the rate of failure on the SSAT II, Test. However, the statewide mean failure rate was reduced from 38.54 percent to 4.6 percent during the two year remediation period, 1977-78 to 1978-79, in which these funds were expended. A two-tailed T-test showed no significant difference at the .05 level after remediation in the performance on the Test of males and females. / This study focused only on the financial aspect of strong school leadership, and use of a variety of instructional approaches and materials reported to the Department of Education as indicators of successful programs. Recommendations for further research include longitudinal studies beginning with third grade students who would continue to take state assessment tests at the fifth, eighth, and eleventh grade levels. Other studies recommended would investigate variables other than cost-effectiveness in compensatory education, particularly at the secondary level. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-10, Section: A, page: 4229. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.