The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the presence of peers upon the oral reading performance of high achieving and low achieving students in a regular classroom setting.Related literature and research in the area of social facilitation has indicated that the presence of an audience serves to increase drive level. The interaction of drive level and habit strength results in the emission of dominant responses. During early stages of learning, incorrect responses are dominant since a response hierarchy has not been established. As learning occurs and mastery level is approached, correct responses become dominant.In order to relate these research findings to the classroom, subjects whose reading skills were below grade level were selected to represent those in the learning stage. Students whose reading skills placed them above grade level were selected to represent those in the mastery stage.The research hypotheses were as follows:1. The presence of peers will adversely affect a student's performance on an oral reading task when the instructional reading level of that student is below grade level.2. The presence of peers will enhance a student's performance on an oral reading task when the instructional reading level of that student is above grade level.Subjects were drawn from five fourth grade classes in two elementary schools in east central Indiana. A total of 76 subjects (34 low achievers and 42 high achievers) participated in the study. Participation in the study required that each student read orally at his instructional level a one hundred word passage in the presence of peers and again in isolation. Instructional levels were determined for each student through the administration of an initial placement test. This is a group test which is provided for each reading level to ensure that the student is placed at his/her instructional level. The passages read were drawn from supplementary materials provided with the basal. reading series and designed for use at appropriate instructional levels. The passages were unfamiliar to the subjects. Data were collected in the classroom during the regularly schedule reading period in an effort to maintain normal classroom atmosphere. The subject's performance was tape recorded under each treatment condition. These tape recordings were later scored by a panel of judges. Responses which were scored as errors were miscues, repetitions, insertions, and omissions. The dependent variable was the subject's oral reading performance under each of the two treatment conditions. Oral reading performance was selected as the dependent variable because it represents not only an observable, measureable variable, bat also an established classroom activity.A repeated measures design was utilized to investigate differences- in performance of high achievers and of low achievers under audience present and audience absent conditions. Since the research hypotheses were directional in nature, a one tailed t test for correlated groups was selected to determine the statistical significance of the differences between means using the .05 level of confidence.Results of statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the oral reading performance of either the low achieving or high achieving groups under audience present and audience absent conditions. Thus support was not found for the research hypotheses that the presence of an audience would adversely affect the oral reading performance of low achieving subjects and enhance the performance of high achieving subjects.

The study was designed to construct an instrument which could measure enthusiasm and caution in decision makers. A second purpose was to determine if instrument results could identify a decision maker's style as either enthusiastic or cautious.There were 688 instruments mailed to Superintendents of Indiana Public Schools. Superintendents selected school employees as participants. The 226 selectees who returned usable survey instruments constituted the study population.The first primary purpose of the study was to construct an instrument which could measure enthusiasm and caution in decision makers. Validity of the instrument as used to measure enthusiasm and caution in decision makers was; tested with confirmatory factor analysis. Findings revealed the instrument did validly measure both enthusiasm and caution in decision makers.The second primary purpose of the study was to determine if instrument results could identify a decision maker's style. Concurrent validity of the instrument as an identifier of a decision maker's style as either enthusiastic or cautious was tested with discriminatory analysis. Findings disclosed the instrument could identify at the .01 level which style decision makers had used.A secondary purpose of the study was to discover what has been reported regarding effects of enthusiasm or caution in decision makers. Scholarly sources were examined to locate reports regarding effects of enthusiasm or caution in decision makers. Each report found was assigned to a category representing various behaviors expected from either enthusiastic or cautious decision makers. Frequency counts were made for all sources in which reports were found, for all reports found, and for all categories to which reports had been assigned.

Schlüsselseiten aus dem Exemplar der BSB München: 4 Diss. 770.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1989. / Bibliography: leaves 103-108.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Marshall University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains p. iv, 111 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-106).

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of the study was to compare and contrast current management development delivery systems in the public sector with the private sector. Data was gathered through on-site interviews with five private and five public sector organizations. The organizations were selected for the study with the help of expert panels. Panel members also assisted in refining the structured interview guide used to collect data.Data obtained by the interviews were analyzed using a binomial test for differences in proportion to determine significant differences between responses of the public sector and the private sector interviewees. Open ended questions were compared and reported in narrative form.Data collected support the following conclusions:1. The importance of involving individual participants in planning for management development programs has been shown.2. A number of practices endorsed by respondents and identified in the data may serve as components of a model for program implementation.3. The literature supports the need to correlate management development activitites to events-based, on-the-job activities.4. A weakness appears to exist in current management development programs in regard to the lack of use of personal recognition as an incentive.5. The literature cites the need to increase funds for future programming needs.6. Changes in salary/wage policies may need to occur.7. Ambiguous goals are a reason for the failure of many management development programs.8. Evaluation techniques are utilized to assess individual program offerings rather than to measure improvement in on-the-job performance.9. Raise in income is preferred as an incentive in the public sector.10. Promotion is preferred as an incentive in the private sector.11. Development programs are hindered by a perceived lack of available time. / Department of Educational Administration and Supervision

The purposes of this study were to: (1) describe the status of administrators of joint service programs in special education with respect to race, age, experience, sex, tenure, position on the administrative chart, length of contract, salary, and formal training; (2) describe the role of administrators of joint service programs in special education with respect to supervision, planning, evaluation, in-service education, school systems served, budget, and duties unrelated to special education; (3) develop guidelines that may be used in preparing job descriptions; and (4) develop guidelines for selection of administrators of joint service programs in special education.The population for the study consisted of 27 Indiana administrators of joint service programs in special education. Each of them had at least one year experience administering such a program.The school systems administering joint service programs in special education, during the 1972-73 school year, were plotted on a map of Indiana. Highway 36 was used to divide the state into north and south. Seventeen school systems were located in the northern part of the state and 210 in the southern part of the state. Large joint service programs in special education were determined by identifying all joint service programs serving a total of 15,000+ students, and joint service programs with less than 15,000 students were labeled small joint service programs. If twothirds of the school corporations being served by a joint service program were located in rural communities of less than 5,000 people, the joint service program was labeled rural. Questionnaires were sent to all 27 administrators, and twenty-four of the administrators returned questionnaires. For the purpose of interviewing, the administrators were divided into the following categories:1. Those administering programs in the northern part of the state.2. Those administering programs in the southern part of the state.3. Those administering a large joint service program in special education.4. Those administering a small joint service program in special education.5. Those administering joint service programs in special education, that are for the most part rural.6. Those administering joint service programs in special education, that are for the most part urban.A total of 18 administrators were interviewed, three from each of the six categories. The data were treated normatively using percentages and tables.The major findings of this study are as follows:1. The most common undergraduate major for administrators of joint service programs was special education (58 per cent). Fifty per cent earned graduate majors in special education, 29 per cent in special education and administration, and 13 per in administration and guidance.Fifty per cent of the administrators recommended special education for an undergraduate major.3. The most common recommended graduate major for administrators was a combination of administration and special education (42 per cent).4. Education of exceptional children (54 per cent), school administration (42 per cent), and school law (33 per cent) were courses which were extremely helpful to the administrators. Educational testing and measurement, speech development, educational psychology, and philosophy were said to be helpful by two-thirds or more of the administrators. School finance (63 per cent), school-community relations (46 per cent), school law (37.5 per cent), and diagnosis of children with learning disabilities (37.5 per cent) were courses that were not completed by the administrators, but would have been helpful to them.5. Ninety-six per cent of the administrators were required to hold a Director of Special Education License. The 24 administrators held a total of 55 licenses.6. Fifty-nine per cent of the administrators reported directly to the chairman of the advisory board. Seventy-three per cent felt they should report directly to the chairman of the advisory board.7. Duties of administrators did not vary greatly. Supervision of programs and staff was of concern to all participants.8. Seventeen per cent of the administrators believed someone was prepared to replace them in the event of their death, promotion, retirement or resignation.The findings and conclusions of the study support the following recommendations: 1. It is recommended that job descriptions be prepared for all administrators of joint service programs in special education. Further, it is recommended that administrators be permitted to assist in the preparation of the job description. These instruments should be up-dated each year and may be used as a tool during evaluation.2. It is recommended that Negroes and more women explore administrative opportunities in the field of special education.3. I t is recommended that general administrators join together with administrators of joint special service programs to present their financial and other concerns to the legislature.4. It is recommended that a specific program of objectives be set and a thorough and regular system of program evaluation be established.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2000