BACKGROUND: The gender wage gap has existed since women started entering the workforce. Once large, the wage gap narrowed significantly in the 1980’s, and plateaued in the 2000s. Proposed rationales for the wage gap include: gender differences in negotiation, unconscious bias or discrimination, and productivity differences between men and women. Productivity is commonly measured in terms of relative value unit (RVU) generation. RVU assignment to non-clinician providers (NPCs) such as PAs and NPs is inaccurate, contributing to a lack of data regarding their productivity. Little is known about PA productivity in general, particularly gender differences. The purpose of this study is to formulate a standardized definition of clinical productivity and to compare mean productivity of male and female PAs in three specialties. LITERATURE REVIEW FINDINGS: Women are assumed to be poorer negotiators. However, when negotiation, a stereotypically “male” act, is framed in a communal way, gender differences vanish and women are as equally successful. Unconscious bias and discrimination against women have detrimental effects on their salary, job satisfaction, and psychological health. The assumption that women are less productive than their male counterparts arises from the belief that women will drop work obligations to care for the family. After controlling for practice, personal, and productivity differences, women continue to earn significantly less than their male counterparts. The persistent, unexplained wage gap suggests that uncontrolled variables, such as bias or discrimination, are the true cause of the wage gap. PROPOSED PROJECT: The proposed project is retrospective cohort study and secondary database analysis obtained from the NCCPA PA Professional Profile. The data will be utilized to determine average, individual productivity for male and female PAs practicing in three specialties. The mean productivity of male and females will be compared using ANOVA. Confounding variables will be analyzed using a multiple linear regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Social constructs regarding gender contribute to stereotypes influencing the definition a “successful negotiator” and provide the foundation for bias and discrimination. Clinical productivity cannot be altered by these stereotypes. If no gender differences in productivity exist, this proposed cause can no longer be used to justify the wage gap. SIGNIFICANCE: Accurately measuring PA productivity has several implications including proper compensation, determination of PA impact on practice efficiency, and comparison of productivity between PAs by gender and specialty type, aiding in the search for the true cause of the gender wage gap in the PA profession.

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The question that this study addressed was how Catholic educators from diverse experiential backgrounds negotiate personally persuasive and authoritative discourses in fashioning their identities as assistant principals. The inquiry is framed by poststructuralist perspectives on identity and uses as a methodology an ethnographic interview approach in an effort to understand the transition from teacher to assistant principal. Interviews with three first-year assistant principals in two Catholic school districts in a Western Canadian province formed part of the data. To obtain the school district’s perspectives, I also interviewed district-level personnel who were responsible for leadership formation. Documents from the Ministry of Education that included the newly developed provincial standards for principals as well as documents from the two school districts were also analyzed. The research findings reveal that beginning assistant principals negotiate their identities as educational leaders when they assume a role and that the expectations of the role existed before their arrival. These expectations are the authoritative discourses that shape the educational leader within the school district and that are negotiated with the personally persuasive discourses of the leader. The tensions that new assistant principals in the study negotiated were conflicting discourses of leadership and the dissonance between the challenges and affirmations regarding participants’ deeply held values and the traditional institutional demands on administrators and between the role expectations and the autonomous decision making of leaders. The implications of emphasizing questions of identity in leadership development shift the thinking on the assistant principal beyond the organizational structure of the role. School districts must better attend to the development of the identity of their educational leaders by restructuring leadership training programs and ensuring the effectiveness of mentoring programs. New assistant principals must themselves address the differences between role and identity and direct attention to the importance of developing and strengthening their identities as educational leaders.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2005. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 19, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-97).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Unitec New Zealand, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-136).

abstract: Currently, an aspiring assistant conductor is faced with a lack of information regarding the expectations and successful strategies in preparing to take on an assistant conductorship in the United States. A conductor's training in the United States focuses heavily on stick and rehearsal technique, score study, performance practice, and developing a deeper understanding of the administrative and logistical structure of the modern symphony orchestra - as it should be. Speaking as a an aspiring young conductor, I believe that, although these aspects of conducting are crucial for one's success in the field, two important aspects of a conductor's education are often not given an adequate amount of attention in the basic curriculum. These are: 1) Developing a clearer understanding of the official and unofficial functions of an assistant orchestra conductor in the United States; and, 2) Providing a model of the elements of a professional and highly effective press packet including: conducting footage, CV/resume, photographs, website, references and cover letter. The purpose of this project was to collect and present information that may inform an aspiring assistant orchestra conductor regarding the expectations of such a position and strategies to improve one's marketability for such a job in the United States. A handbook for the aspiring conductor was also created. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2014

Few studies have been conducted to take an in-depth look at the role and experience of a new middle school assistant principal. Advantageous timing provided the opportunity for the author to conduct this research study examining his experience as a first-year assistant principal. The guiding question for this autoethnography was "What can be learned from the experiences of a first-year assistant principal that can be used to improve the administrative certification program and training of future assistant principals"? Autoethnography is employed as a methodology to portray the experience and understanding of the participant/observer in comparison to his training and preparation to become the assistant principal of a middle-level school. Data were gathered from personal journal entries both verbally recorded and written by the author during this year and a half period. Other data sources included school discipline records, behavior files, and incident reports recorded during the experience as well as those leading up to this experience. This study describes the preparation experienced by the author from his time as a middle school and high school classroom teacher, through the certification process, and into his acceptance of his first administrative position at a semi rural, medium size, sixth- and seventh-grade intermediate school. This study takes a critical look at the author's perceived understanding of students, discipline, and his preparation to become an educational leader. The author's own experience forced him to question his views and readiness while bringing to light needed reforms and understandings to the world of an assistant principal.

Physician assistant programs are relatively new academic programs that aim to train and prepare PAs as advanced medical providers. Since their inception less than 60 years ago, multiple changes have been made to the curriculum. Additionally, the introduction of technology in the classroom has allowed further variations in how students learn in PA programs. As a new and growing program, limited research has been done on these PA programs regarding motivation and attendance. This paper aims to evaluate aspects of motivation and attendance that have been previously analyzed in other healthcare programs, then propose a study which explores those variables in Boston University’s physician assistant program. Ultimately, this paper will add to data regarding PA programs that examine motivation and attendance in students. This data is important to maximize student satisfaction, learning, and efficiency in a rapidly growing profession.

This study compared perceptions of principals and assistant principals to examine the skills and traits necessary for one to be successful as an assistant principal. Research on the role of the assistant principal is limited. Over the last several years there have been major reforms in education such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 that constitute a re-examination of all roles in K-12 schools. An online survey was used to gather data from assistant principal and principals in the State of Mississippi.Overall, 9 out of the 10 variables are significant except problem solving in the second MANOVA which reports the results of the comparison of the first year assistant principals and principals. This variable showed no significant difference between assistant principals and principals in regards to problem solving with a significance of .239. In each of these variables assistant principals rated the skills as more important than principals. The results of this study suggest that school districts and state departments of education should consider providing more training for assistant principals and principals about instructional leadership.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the experiences, educational and job related, that middle school assistant principals have received to prepare, and to become principals. In order to explore and describe those experiences provided by the middle school principals a phenomenological research design was used for this study. Those participants who were interviewed work in middle schools within Region V of the Virginia School University Partnership. This research project included two steps in data collection. The first step required the assistant principals to examine the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards (ISLLC), and indicate whether they had experienced those functions under each standard in one or more of three areas: principal preparation, job responsibility, and district professional development. The second parts of the study involved follow up interview questions for each in the participants. The findings of the study discuss that the standards are addressed and also how the assistant principals feel about their preparation and school district professional development. / Ed. D.