Cooperative education has been in existence for approximately eighty three years as a tool to supplement classroom instruction with practical work experience. Some reports suggest that the combination of classroom learning and on-the-job training provides substantial benefits to cooperative education students. Despite these findings, cooperative education has not achieved the recognition that it probably deserves. This may be due to a number of reasons including: (1) lack of adequate promotion, (2) lack of adequate funding, and (3) lack of understanding of the program itself. A major contributing factor to these three limitations, is the failure of cooperative educators to sufficiently document the benefit of cooperative education programs. In fact, the reports attended to above have recognized the need for greater documentation of program benefits. The present study was undertaken to provide some empirical data regarding the perceived benefits of a community college cooperative education program. In conducting the study the researcher hoped to contribute to the existing data base on the benefit of cooperative education by examining the professional development and personal growth effects of a cooperative education program. The study was an ex post facto retrospective survey conducted among 460 former cooperative education students from Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts. A survey instrument called the Cooperative Education Assessment Survey (CEAS) was developed specifically for the study. The results indicated that a majority of the participants assessed the professional development and personal growth benefits of the program positively. No gender differences were observed. However, significant race, age, employment status and enrollment status differences were found.

This is a study of modality preferences in learning styles of successful and unsuccessful nontraditional community college students while they were enrolled in developmental mathematics. The purpose of examining the learning style preferences was to look for visual, auditory, and/or kinesthetic patterns in learning that differentially prepared students used while studying Algebra I. To better understand students' learning styles, modality strengths and learning strategies had to be identified for each participant in the research project. Questionnaires were administered to obtain self-reported data from students. Personal interviews with this researcher provided additional information. The Swassing-Barbe Modality Index, SBMI, was administered to identify modality strength. From these research tools, student profiles on learning style preferences were assembled. Students in the research project were enrolled in Algebra I class which was taught in traditional lecture style at an urban community college. The students who voluntarily participated were nontraditional and differentially prepared individuals. The study showed that successful visual, auditory, mixed modality students had high correlation between their identified modality strengths and matching study strategies in class and in private study. These modality groups utilized additional modality based strategies other than their strength to enhance their learning. However, successful kinesthetic students were not correlated and did not use study strategies that matched their identified modality strength in class or in private study. These students depended upon their developed visual and auditory preferences in learning algebra. The data revealed that students were unaware of applications of kinesthetic strategies in studying mathematics. There were two unsuccessful students, one identified by SBMI as auditory and the other as kinesthetic. The data on these students revealed that there was no correlation between their identified modality strengths and use of matched study strategies. An important aspect of this study that may influence community college faculty is awareness of success of students who used learning strategies that matched their modality strength. By incorporating a variety of modality based teaching methods, instructors of mathematics will provide a learning environment in which students can construct their own learning of mathematics.

The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth descriptive analysis of a first-time negotiating process in the divisions of continuing education in the community colleges in Massachusetts. It records the process from its point of origin, the filing of a representation petition in 1983, to its conclusion in 1990, providing a detailed accounting from the author's perspective as Chair of the Personnel Committee of the Presidents' Council charged with overseeing the collective bargaining negotiations. It provides an historical perspective of the community colleges in Massachusetts as well as a description of their divisions of continuing education, particularly as it relates to their mandate to operate "at no expense to the Commonwealth," and the difficulty in attempting to find common ground for negotiating a satisfactory contract for fifteen very differently run entities. It also looks at the make-up of the unit which was certified by a 631 to 516 vote, a majority of whom were adjunct faculty. For the purposes of this document, adjunct faculty are teachers whose primary employment is other than the college. A review of relevant literature looks at negotiations relative to part-time faculty, public sector bargaining, the collective bargaining process as well as alternative forms of collective bargaining. The search supports the notion that there is little written that would shed light on the peculiarities of this particular process. In fact, when one considers all of the factors, these negotiations appear to be a hybrid form having characteristics of both public and private sector bargaining. Because of the antagonistic nature of the bargaining which saw challenges from the very beginning and included declarations of impasse, mediation, factfinding, and a strike, the author speculates on causative factors as well as alternative forms of bargaining which might be considered for the future. Despite the length of the process and the adversarial postures throughout, the outcome appears to be a reasonable contract with gains for unit members as well as the preservation of important Management's rights. Only the test of time will validate its effectiveness.

The growing population of the United States is linked to the increasing migration of individuals from other countries. With migration comes the development of cross-cultural and interracial romantic relationships, many leading to marriages. This qualitative grounded theory study sought to understand how a migrant partner's adjustment process, acculturation, contributes to cross-cultural marriages. The main research question and purpose of this study was to investigate the role of acculturation in marital satisfaction among mixed Caucasian and Asian American heterosexual couples. This study utilized multiple data sources and a purposive sampling of 11 mixed Asian and Caucasian heterosexual married couples, with one partner who identified themselves as being Caucasian and U.S. born, and the other as Asian American and an immigrant to the United States. Data were coded and analyzed to identify themes and patterns that emerged from the participants' experiences. The study revealed the following emergent themes representing the couples' common acculturative stressors: (a) challenges related to English language proficiency, (b) communication styles differences, (c) cultural learning, and (d) difficulties due to the lack of social support. The findings of this study provide marriage and family counselors with important data related to how married couples experience acculturation as well as the unique stressors associated with a migrating partner's process. Implications for positive social change include information related to the development of interventions to address common acculturative stressors identified during this study, as well as data to support clinicians and clients when identifying appropriate coping strategies.

Programs that include skills to help girls successfully navigate the difficulties of preadolescence have been shown to be beneficial. One such youth development program in the southeastern part of the United States began in 2014 but has had no formal evaluation completed. The purpose of this qualitative study was to conduct a utilization-focused process evaluation, asking questions that addressed the perceptions of a school leader (n = 1) and volunteers of the program (n = 8). Their input was solicited concerning successful implementation strategies used, and recommendations for adaptations, recruitment, and volunteer training. Semistructured interviews were conducted using predetermined open-ended, questions. Open coding was used to discover the most common themes. After analyzing the data using VERBI's Software, MAXQDA, the identified themes were (a) successful elements of the program, (b) elements of the program that were not working, (c) suggestions for adaptations to improve the outcomes for participants, and (d) essential points to consider when recruiting new volunteers. Study participants reported that many of the girls participating in the program made positive changes in their behavior, exhibited improved self-esteem, and expanded their support system. Key findings will be discussed with the program administrators to assist them in recruiting and training new volunteers and to suggest administrative adjustments. Positive social change will be facilitated by offering ideas to the administrators that may result in expansion of the program, allowing more girls in the community to participate and experience positive results.

As enrollment in U.S. community colleges increased, both the percentage of students successfully completing courses and the percentage of students persisting to their second year decreased. This study focused on the problem of low student course success and persistence rates at a community college. The purpose of the study was to determine whether students who demonstrated engagement behavior by visiting a Center for Academic Success (CAS) either passed more courses, persisted more often, or both, than students who did not visit a CAS. Tinto's engagement theory was the theoretical framework as it postulated that students who interacted with school support services were more successful in college than students who did not. The study was a quantitative comparative design using archival data to evaluate if there were differences between students who visited a CAS and students who did not visit a CAS in terms of course success rates (percentage of courses passed) as well as persistence (continued enrollment) from Spring 2014 to Spring 2015. Group comparisons by independent samples t tests resulted in significantly higher course success (p = .027) among students who visited a CAS (n = 2,059) compared to students who did not visit a CAS (n = 33,414). There were no significant differences in the annual persistence rates between groups of students. The results guided the development of a training program for college employees to entice students to visit the CAS while the college leadership discusses other opportunities to increase persistence. The project may support social change by helping more students pass their courses, therefore benefitting the students, the college, and the community.

New graduate nurses (NGNs) at bedside are faced with numerous challenges, which prompt them to leave jobs in their first year. The transition from being a student to competent nurse requires a NGN to have the necessary skills and experience. Subsequently, hospitals continue to face shortages of staff because of high turnover and low retention levels. Nonetheless, evidence from reviewed literature has indicated that the use of residency programs can increase NGNs' stay at bedside, improve retention, reduce costs of operations, and return employees' turnover. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to identify the likelihood of NGNs remaining at bedside after participating in a 52 week NGN residency program in the critical care units at Palmetto Health hospital. When a hospital recruits and retains NGNs at the bedside, the quality of life among patients is improved. Benner's theory of novice to expert was utilized to understand professional growth of nurses. Data were collected from the human resource department of the 18 nurses who initially participated in the residency program to compare retention rates before and after its implementation. The project initiative was based on a quantitative non-experimental comparison design. Based on the evidence from the human resource department, there was a 14% improvement in nurse retention 3 months after the implementation of the NGN residency program. A statewide adoption of NGN residency programs was recommended to help improve retention and enhance NGNs' professional improvement and quality of care. The implementation of NGN residency program also demonstrated implications for social change through increasing retention, building nurse competency, and enhancing quality of care delivered.

Counselors and counselor educators must serve clients regardless of culture, race, disability, sexual orientation, and age. Counselor educators have attempted to stay abreast of new methods to enhance counselor competencies to adequately counsel lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clients. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the extent of the relationship between self-perceived clinical preparedness of working with LGBT clients and self-perceived attitudinal awareness towards LGBT clients as moderated by levels of religious commitment of licensed professional counselor (LPC) using a feminist and multicultural theory framework. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) quantitative analysis software program was used to generate descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means, modes, correlations, and regression models for each research variable. According to study results, there was a statistically significant relationship between the criterion variable self-perceived clinical preparedness of working with LGBT clients, the predictor variable self-perceived attitudinal awareness towards LGBT clients, and the moderator religious commitment (F (2, 123) = 4.76, p < .05). The study findings promote insight for counselors to understand how their religious commitment moderates the relationship between clinical preparedness and attitudinal awareness when working with LGBT clients.

The purpose of this study was to identify some of the variables which may be factors in the decision of Kentucky public school superintendents to develop adult education programs in their school district. A mail questionnaire was developed and submitted to ail of Kentucky's 189 public school superintendents. Two groups of superintendents were compared; the experimental group was comprised of ninety-three superintendents who elected to implement adult education programs; while the control group consisted of ninety-six superintendents who did not implement adult education programs. Returns were received from eighty-five of the superintendents in the experimental group and seventy-three of the superintendents in the control group. An 84 percent questionnaire return was achieved for this study. Eleven null hypotheses were tested to determine differences between the experimental and control groups in regard to the following variables: (I) educational attainment level, experiences as an educator and age, (2) type of community served by the superintendent, and (3) superintendents' perceptions about adult education programs. Four of the eleven hypotheses were rejected at the .05 level of confidence. The statistical techniques employed in the data analysis included the t-test and chi-square. The t-test was utilized to test for differences between the means for variables; while chi-square was used to test for differences between the distribution for variables. For those variables related to the superintendents' professional preparation and experience, the findings indicated that: (I) superintendents who participate in adult education programs possess a significantly higher educational attainment level (Master's Degree plus 30 credits and beyond) than non-participating superintendents; (2) superintendents who decide to have adult education programs have significantly fewer years of experience as a principal than superintendents without programs; (3) there were significantly more program participating superintendents with assistant secondary principal and other types of prior leadership experiences than non-participating superintendents; and (4) the superintendents' type of prior teaching experience and age appeared not to be significant factors in their decision to have programs. The findings indicated that the type of community served by the superintendent does not seem to be a factor in his decision to implement adult education programs. For those variables related to the superintendents' perceptions, the results of this study indicated that: (I) the superintendents' perceptions regarding adult education programs in general, the Revised Adult Education Act of 1966, and the Adult Education Unit's operation of adult education programs were not significant factors in their decision to develop adult education programs; and (2) the superintendents' perceptions of the need for adult education programs seemed to be significant factors in their decision to implement programs. Although the superintendents' solicited comments and recommendations about to be significant factors adult education programs, adult education did not appear in their decision to develop most of the superintendents in both groups that responded: (1) felt that adult education programs (ABE/GED) have been successful and are important to adults, and (2) expressed a need for adult education programs to be implemented, expanded and made more comprehensive.

A rural K-12 district in the Midwest evidenced a rise in the Latino population from 2002 to 2013, yet parental participation amongst Latino parents at the junior high was low. Low parental involvement has been linked to lowered self-efficacy, which impacts student learning. Although there is a plethora of research on the positive aspects of parental involvement, there is little research on Latino parent involvement in small rural communities. Within this instrumental case study, Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler's model of parent involvement was used to explore Latino parents' perceptions of their roles and responsibilities of communication strategies within the junior high and of available resources related to parental role construction and self-efficacy. Ten Latino parents with children in Grades 7 and 8 were individually interviewed. Document analysis of school documents and researcher notes were used to bolster the trustworthiness of interpretations. Typological analysis was incorporated to look at transcribed and coded notes where 4 main findings emerged: lack of communication, helping the adolescent child, understanding school structure/governance, and learning the English language. A curriculum design plan was developed in 3 areas supporting parent self-efficacy and role construction: understanding adolescents, understanding school structure/governance, and English as a second language (ESL) approach. This study may promote social change within a rural community because the implemented curriculum design plan established Latino parental engagement by incorporating a series of workshops in Spanish and an ESL format to meet the 4 categories which help to meet state and federal education guidelines within the area of parent and family engagement.