The purpose of the study was to examine and evaluate the extent to which the supportive conditions (collaboration, teacher efficacy, shared leadership, and trust) were present in the district's current professional learning communities (PLCs) model, and whether teachers perceived the supportive conditions to be related to improving their instructional practices. This mixed-methods study used Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression, and focus group interviews to concurrently triangulate data to answer the research questions. The sample from this study was identified from 600 middle school teachers. Survey participants included 139 teachers and each of the four focus group interviews contained 6 teachers for a total of 24 teachers. Of the four supporting conditions analyzed, trust generated the highest mean (M = 3.41). Results from this study indicate that the supportive conditions for PLCs have a strong correlation (0.10) with the studied district's current PLC model and each specific supporting condition elicits a targeted aspect of professional learning that has a significant impact on teacher instructional practices. Recommendations for future studies include the expansion of this study to include elementary and high school participants and to extend this study to a larger scope of interested districts seeking to improve their PLC structures for improved teacher instructional practices. Expanding this research could build upon the current body of literature as it relates to PLCs, professional learning, and student achievement.

No description available.

No description available.

This study looks at characteristics of rental gated communities in the United States from a national perspective and based on a case study of four Southwestern Counties, Riverside County and San Bernardino County in California, Maricopa County in Arizona, and Clark County, Nevada. Tenure differences between owned and rental gated communities are compared. The study also debates who actually benefits from rental gated communities and what that effect that has upon the community. This analysis is done by assessing whether minorities experience higher housing opportunities in rental gated communities newer, fast growing areas as the study area. Descriptive statistics of rental gated community characteristics are presented and neighborhood diversity indices are analyzed. The study finds that rental gated communities are much like their owned gated community counterparts and that new housing markets do not present better housing opportunities (at the neighborhood level)for minorities, particularly those neighborhoods with more rental gated properties present. Policy implications are discussed. / Ph. D.

Many K-12 schools across the US have embraced the philosophy of professional learning communities (PLC) as a school improvement measure; however significant quantitative research is lacking on the effectiveness of this phenomenon. Survey data were collected from a purposeful sample of elementary school principals or designees from four large school divisions in three metropolitan areas in Virginia. The survey incorporated questions regarding demographic information, including pass rates on the Virginia English and Math SOL tests for 2015-2016, the percentage of students classified as economically disadvantaged, the school's experience as a PLC, as well as Hord's (1996) School Professional Staff as Learning Community Questionnaire (SPSLCQ) instrument, to determine functionality as a PLC. Of the 158 surveys distributed, 74 were returned for a 47% return rate. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression support a predictive relationship between English SOL pass rates and the independent variables of economically disadvantaged students and the degree of functionality of PLCs. The model significantly predicted English SOL pass rates (F(2,71) = 70.86, p < 0.001, adjusted R2 = 0.66). Second, the results of the hierarchical multiple regression support a predictive relationship between Math SOL pass rates and the independent variables of economically disadvantaged students and the degree of functionality of PLCs. The model significantly predicted Math SOL pass rates (F(2,71) = 33.21, p < 0.001, adjusted R2 = 0.47). Lastly, there was no statistically significant relationship between the number of years a school had operated as a PLC and the functionality of the PLC (r = 0.16, p = 0.17). The findings may assist school leaders in determining the benefits of PLCs on student achievement as measured by pass rates on Virginia's English and Math SOL tests. / Ed. D.

This study was conducted with the recognition that adolescence is a developmental stage in the human life cycle and that during this stage adolescents have unique outdoor needs and preferences. In general, the social and emotional needs of adolescents require that their environments provide opportunity for companionship. Within this context, the purpose of this study was to provide designers with information that can be used to assess environmental preferences. With this information at hand, a landscape architect can begin to understand the intricacies of designing a place for adolescents that supports their developmental needs and will be a place that they enjoy. This study was a partial replication of a study Venues and Values conducted by Patsy Eubanks Owens (1987) in which the valued spaces of suburban teens in California were explored. Rather than studying suburban adolescents, this study focuses on rural adolescents in a southwest Virginia town. Adolescents at a local high school are used as the subjects for this study. They were asked to take photographs of their two most valued outdoor spaces. A questionnaire was then given to each student to gain information about characteristics of each valued space. This study was a partial replication of a study Venues and Values conducted by Patsy Eubanks Owens (1987) in which the valued spaces of suburban teens in California were explored. Rather than studying suburban adolescents, this study focuses on rural adolescents in a southwest Virginia town. Adolescents at a local high school are used as the subjects for this study. They were asked to take photographs of their two most valued outdoor spaces. A questionnaire was then given to each student to gain information about characteristics of each valued space. / Master of Landscape Architecture

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2013. / Species richness and estimates of species richness were calculated based on assemblages of bats, within the biomes of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland following the vegetation classification of Mucina and Rutherford (2006). Similarity indices were used to explore the various relationships between the assemblages between the various biomes. Taxonomic diversity and distinctness examined the various assemblages within each of the biomes to investigate which biomes contained assemblages that were taxonomically diverse and/or taxonomically distinct compared to all species known to occur within South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. The Desert biome had the lowest recorded species richness (5 species), and there was insufficient data to calculate estimates of species richness for this biome. While the Albany had 11 species recorded with species estimates (Est.) ranging between 11-12, then in increasing order - Nama-Karoo (12 species, Est. 13-25 species), Succulent-Karoo (13 species, Est. 15-30 species), Fynbos (17 species, Est. 18-25 species), Indian Ocean Coastal Belt (31 species, Est. 32-36 species), Forest (32 species, Est. 37-46 species), Grassland (39 species, Est. 42-54 species), Azonal (45 species, Est. 49-63 species) and Savanna (57 species, Est. 59-67 species). The mean recorded estimates (based on the averages of all models) and rounding up to a full species indicates that the Albany biome contains the lowest expected species richness of 12 species, then Fynbos and Nama-Karoo (21 species), Succulent-Karoo (22 species), Indian Ocean Coastal Belt (34 species), Forest (43 species), Grassland (49 species), Azonal (54 species) and Savanna (64 species). Sample completeness was calculated for each of the biomes which indicates in ascending order that the Albany biome is 93.2% complete followed by the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt biome (91.1%), Savanna biome (89.9%), Azonal biome (84.1%), Fynbos biome (81.5%), Grassland biome (80.7%), Forest biome (75.8%), Succulent-Karoo biome (61.3%), and Nama-Karoo biome (59.9%). This showed that the Albany biome was found to be the only biome that has been sufficiently sampled. The Jaccard and Sørensen pair wise indices resulted in the clustering of the biomes with similar species richness, due to the large range in species richness (5-57 species) between the biomes. The Lennon et al. (2001) index which is not affected by large species richness between the samples indicated that the Desert and Nama-Karoo assemblages were most dissimilar to one another, while the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt assemblage was the most similar to the remaining biome assemblages. The Albany biome assemblage and Azonal biome assemblage were shown to the most dissimilar to one another. The Grassland, Nama-Karoo and Savanna biomes contribute to higher taxonomic diversity, while the Albany, Azonal, Fynbos, Nama-Karoo and Succulent-Karoo biomes contain lower species richness generally but represent a higher taxonomic distinctness from the chiroptera assemblages in the Grassland and Savanna biomes. The Desert, Forest and Indian Ocean Coastal Belt biomes do not iv contain bat assemblages that are neither taxonomically distinct nor diverse when compared to the taxa of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. The bat assemblage within the Nama-Karoo are both taxonomically diverse and distinct from chiroptera assemblages found within the other nine biomes, requiring a greater focus on conservation actions for the bat species assemblage located within this biome.

The primary purpose of the study is to explore the connections between residents' perception of safety and their crime experience, and the existence of gates and fences in multi-family housing communities in urban areas. For cultivating discussions regarding the connections between gated community territory, safety, and crime experience, this study classifies apartment communities according to the conditions of their gating and fencing: gated communities, perceived gated communities, and non-gated communities. It investigates residents' perceptions of safety and their opinions and managers' opinions on gated territory and safety. The major findings from the surveys are: Residents felt safer in gated communities than in non-gated communities. Residents' perceptions of safety in perceived gated communities were similar to those in gated communities. These results reflected the territoriality issue for improving residents' perceived safety in apartment communities. Residents' perceptions of safety in architectural spaces showed that residents' fear of crime in public and semi-public spaces must first be addressed in order to ease residents' fear of crime in an apartment territory. The reality of crime in apartment communities differed from residents' perceptions of safety. Gated community residents reported a higher crime rate than nongated community residents. In addition to gates and fences that define apartment territory, such elements as patrol services, bright lighting, direct emergency buttons, and visual access to the local police were indicated as the important factors for improving residents' perceived safety. Some architectural factors and demographic factors exhibited statistical correlations with residents' perceptions of safety. Those were types of communities, dwelling floor level, educational attainment, family size, and annual income. For predicting residents' perceptions of safety in their apartment territory, multiple regression models were obtained and residents' neighborhood attachment was also considered in the multiple regression models. The apartment community managers emphasized direct maintenance issues and residents' social contact with neighbors for improving residents' perceived safety. In conclusion, design and managerial suggestions for safer communities were proposed. For creating safer multi-family housing communities, territoriality and related architectural conditions and managerial considerations and residents' participations are emphasized. The concept of community programming for safer multi-family housing communities is suggested.

The purpose of this study was to examine traditionally aged developmental mathematics college students’ experiences of mathematical practices, in a 4-week summer learning community, using a qualitative explanatory single case study approach (Yin, 2009). This study used the methodological framework of Local Communities of Mathematical Practices (Winbourne & Watson, 1998), the conceptual theory of situated cognition (Brown & Duguid, 1988), and the theories of communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991), and learning communities (Tinto, 1997). The objectives were to highlight contextual factors that allowed participants to be academically successful as evidenced by their mathematical practices (Ball, 2003). The research question was: How does participating in a 4-week summer learning community shape developmental mathematics college students’ experiences of mathematical practices? The participants of this case study were one group of four women. Data were collected in the form of video and audio tape of classroom interactions, observations and reflections, diagnostic pretest, and participant interviews. Findings revealed that participants’ mathematical practices were shaped in part by: a) the way students identified with mathematics reflected their ‘success’ or ‘failure’ in the mathematics course; b) the students level of participation within the community; c) the students collaboration with purpose, discussion, and reflection; d) the students shared repertoire confirmed the consensus of knowledge; e) the students mutual engagement played a large part in their motivation, and f) the students joint enterprise within the learning community led to a self supporting system verifying that learning is the intersection of activity, concept, and the classroom.

Thesis (L.L.M.)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Title from PDF cover (viewed September 30, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-207)