It was the purpose of this study to determine by means of standardized tests and questionnaires which of the following thirteen factors, if any, may have affected the speech attitudes, as evaluated by Knower's Speech Attitude Scale, Form F,3 of students enrolled in Lodi Academy at the time of the testing: Physical--age, articulation, sex; Educational--grade level, oral reading, scholarship, silent reading; Psychological--emotional adjustment, intelligence, residence with parents, size of family, social adjustment, and unity of religious beliefs.

No description available.

Florida's Beginning Teacher Program was evaluated to determine if there were significant differences in administrative attitude and perception of success between Orange County and Seminole County. Further evaluation was conducted to determine if the four possible gender-pairings of beginning teachers and peer teachers/mentors resulted in differing success rates. Finally, the program was examined to determine if administrative or peer teacher/mentor attitude was related to the success of the program. Beginning teachers, their peer teachers/mentors and administrators in Orange County and Seminole County were surveyed to accomplish these evaluations, using the Administrative Attitude Scale and the Beginning Teacher Success Scale developed for the study. Statistical differences were found between Orange County and Seminole County on both of the survey instruments, indicating that differences in implementation of state guidelines can result in differing attitudes and success rates. These results suggest the need for comparative studies in order to evaluate the differing plans of implementation. The gender-pairing combination of male beginning teachers with male peer teachers/mentors consistently showed the most negative results on the Beginning Teacher Success Scale. Study of this phenomenon is needed in order to determine the causes and cures for this group's poorer success rate. Administrative attitude was not statistically related to the success of the program. This finding was in contrast to the previous research, which indicated that the attitude of a 'helping adult' was the most critical factor in the success of a beginner. Study is needed to determine if this is a result unique to the educational community. Administrative comments indicated, however, that their attitude toward the participants in the program was much more favorable than their attitude toward the program itself, and this may provide a key to understanding these results. In Orange County, peer teacher/mentor attitude was not related to the success rate. However, in Seminole County there was a statistical relationship between peer teacher/mentor attitude and beginning teacher perception of success. There may have been a greater commitment on the part of the peer teachers/mentors in Seminole county because they were financially reimbursed. Although there were variations in results between counties and groups in the studies, the survey instruments indicated that the Beginning Teacher Program was achieving success, and that administrative and peer teacher attitude was moderately positive.

The Virginia Division of Litter Control's education package entitled Operation Waste Watch (OWW) was evaluated at the first, fourth, and sixth grade level in 19 elementary schools in two southwestern counties in Virginia. Evaluation was provided for the standard curriculum program and for a specially modified behavioral version of the original material. Program evaluation for both curriculum packages was provided immediately before, after, and three months after the implementation of the program and consisted of student achievement testing in terms of knowledge about solid waste management and the assessment of actual student behavior. Specifically, the data was analyzed according to the factorial design: 3 Grade (First, Fourth, Sixth) x 3 Curriculum Condition (Standard, Modified, Control) x 3 Phase (Pre, Post, Follow-up). Significant improvements following the implementation of the educational curriculum occurred only for the student achievement tests. Both programs were found to significantly raise student test performance immediately following presentation of the curriculum materials. The level of student knowledge three months later was also found to statistically surpass baseline performance. However, there was little or no evidence, during Posttesting or Followup, of superior performance by students receiving the modified curriculum program. Supplemental information from the teachers concerning the overall effectiveness of the different curriculum components indicated that while the materials of OWW were needed and generally well constructed, there were severe problems concerning the amount of time needed to adequately teach the different student activities. / Ph. D.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1962.

The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether significant differences in attitudes held by office education students are associated with (l) the type of office education program in which students were enrolled, (2) the size of the community in which the students lived, and (3) the attitude held by the classroom teacher.

It was estimated that 35 million people age 65 or older lived in the United States in 2000. Of that number 2.8 million were Black/African American. The U.S. Census Bureau's (2000) population projections show that there will be 70 million older adults age 65 or older by 2030 and African Americans are expected to comprise over 12% of that population. In 1993 older adults had made less elective use of computers than younger adults, accounting for 24.2% of those age 55 to 64 and 4.9% of adults over age 65. By 2003 adults over age 65 recorded a 20.1% increase in computer usage becoming the fastest growing segment of computer users who are engaging in learning computer skills as a way of coping with the technological changes. Studies have found that greater experience with computers is associated with more positive attitudes; however, it has never been determined whether this is true of the older African American population since there is a paucity of research documenting their computer attitudes. This study utilized a mixed methods research design that included an experimental design and an inductive approach with interviews. The following findings emerged: (a) attitudes differed for older African Americans who received computer training and those who did not; (b) there was no distinction in computer attitudes between older adult male and older adult females in the African American population; (c) there was no interaction effect on computer attitudes as moderated by training and gender; (d) older African Americans exhibited a positive disposition towards computers which elicited positive attitudes towards the technology; (e) older African Americans had a nascent need for computer self-efficacy; and (f) older African Americans constructed new meaning regarding computers as a result of their reflection on their computer interaction experience. / The findings have established that older African Americans' attitudes can be influenced by direct computer experience and the study extends prior research by identifying the process by which attitude change takes place. / by Nigel Leon Lovell-Martin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to: (a) develop a comprehensive plan consisting of a series of logical steps based upon recommendations derived from psychometric, measurement, and research literature and utilize the plan to develop a Likert-type scale to provide valid and reliable measures of the attitude of preservice and inservice elementary school teachers toward computers; (b) administer the developed scale to selected preservice elementary school teachers; and (c) investigate relationships between attitude toward computers and selected teacher variables. The comprehensive plan consisted of the following steps: (a) develop theory of construction, (b) establish conceptual framework, (c) create item pool, (d) develop trial scale, (e) administer trial scale, (1) conduct item analysis, (g) select items, (h) construct final scale, (i) test for homogeneity, (j) determine reliability, (k) test for unidimensionality, (l) administer final scale, and (m) infer validity. The plan was utilized to develop the Evans Scale for Computer Attitude (ESCA). Validity was inferred utilizing construct-related evidence, which included the manner in which the scale was developed, studies of scale internal structure, prediction and conformation of a general factor, replication of factor structure, relationship of scale scores to nontest variables, relationship of scale scores to similar and dissimilar constructs, comparison of scores with experimental intervention, comparison of known-group responses. An alpha reliability coefficient was found to be 0.96 on two occasions. It was concluded that: (a) the ESCA provided valid and reliable measures of the computer attitude of preservice and inservice teachers at the elementary school level, (b) the comprehensive plan was effective for the development of a Likert-type scale for measuring the attitude toward computers of preservice and inservice teachers at the elementary school level, (c) preservice teachers in the Masters of Arts in Teaching Program (MAT) in Elementary Education at Oregon State University as a group had positive attitude toward computers, and (c) computer attitude of elementary MAT preservice teachers was significantly related in a positive direction with computer experience and in a negative direction with age. / Graduation date: 1995