This study had two purposes: (1) to describe the frequency of occurrence of the cognitive style of field dependence among "high risk" students in developmental courses at the community college level; and (2) to describe the natural impact of match/mismatch of instructor and student cognitive / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2905. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Statement of the Problem. The problem with which the study dealt was to explore the perceptions of Junior College Leadership Program presidents regarding their preparation for leadership positions in the community-junior college field. An attempt was made to determine what education and experience were perceived necessary at the time of preparation in the Junior College Leadership Program, were perceived desirable at the present time, and were forecast for the changing presidential leadership role of the future. / The population for the study consisted of all living persons who were W.K. Kellogg Fellows in the Junior College Leadership Programs who subsequently or presently hold a presidential position in a community college. The total population of 102 were identified utilizing source bases including state director lists, the AACJC Directory, and a list identified in the 1980 dissertation study by Perkins. / The research methodology employed was descriptive survey, utilizing a questionnaire designed to solicit background information, perceptions of problem areas confronting the community college, perceptions of the relevancy of completed university coursework, and perceptions of relevancy of internships or other field experiences. Perceptions were solicited pertaining to the periods of the 1960s, the 1970s, and the 1980s. / Budgeting and the faculty were consistently perceived as two problem areas for all three decades. During the 1960s, presidents perceived facilities planning, accreditation, expanding enrollments, the open-door concept, academic leadership, curriculum, and student groups as direct relevant problem areas. The areas most frequently perceived directly relevant for the coming decade of the 1980s were: declining resources, state legislatures, career education, energy crisis, declining enrollments, change in student population, financial management/accounting, evaluation of staff and programs, and federal government policies and regulations. / The Junior College Leadership Program was considered a significant influence in the professional leadership development of all respondents. The experiences perceived as the most influential in the development of educational leadership abilities varied. On-the-job administrative experience and association with recognized experts in the field while students in the JCLP were frequently specified by the presidents as significant. The respondents' suggestions for university-based training programs were meaningful internships and contact with actual leaders or practitioners in the field. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-11, Section: A, page: 4588. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5297. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the Staff and Program Development Coordinators's position in Florida's public community colleges. The SPD program and the Coordinator's position were created in 1968 by the Florida Legislature in response to the need for colleges to provide staff training and program development for the dramatic growth they were experiencing. / The specific questions which the study attempted to answer were: (1) What are the characteristics of the SPD Coordinator's position and the individuals who occupy this position? (2) What are the SPD Coordinators' and their supervisors' perceptions of the actual tasks performed by the Coordinator and do they agree? (3) What are the SPD Coordinators' and their supervisors' expectations for the tasks that the Coordinator ideally should perform and do they agree? (4) Is there any relationship between actual tasks performed and the tasks that should ideally be performed as perceived by SPD Coordinators and by the Coordinator's supervisor? / To fulfill the purpose of this study, a questionnaire was developed, tested and mailed to the 28 SPD Coordinators and their supervisors. The questionnaire gathered data about (1) the characteristics of the SPD position and the current Coordinators, (2) the actual tasks performed by the Coordinator as perceived by the Coordinator and his supervisor and (3) the tasks the Coordinator ideally should perform as expected by the Coordinator and his supervisor. Questionnaires were returned by all 28 of the Coordinators and by 24 of the supervisors. / The data collected which related to the actual and ideal tasks of the Coordinator were statistically analyzed using the Student's t-Test and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Test. Questionnaire items were classified using a concordance of agreement into three categories: proactive (providing leadership tasks), reactive (responding to leadership tasks) and administrative (day-to-day routine tasks). The .05 level of significance was used. / The findings related to the characteristics of Coordinators showed that most Coordinators possess common personal and educational characteristics, that they have had little formal training for this position, that they are part-time and that they were promoted from within the college. / The findings related to the characteristics of the SPD position showed that except in small colleges, there is no relationship between the size of the college and the percent of time spent on SPD, that the Coordinator reports to a high ranking official in the college, that the Coordinator lacks institutional direction for his role and that Coordinators perform their tasks in conjunction with several college staff. / The findings related to the actual and ideal tasks showed that Coordinators perceived that they most often performed proactive tasks and least often performed reactive tasks, that supervisors expected proactive tasks were ideally the most important for the Coordinator to perform and that each group perceived a high relationship between what the Coordinator actually does and ideally should do. / The conclusions drawn from the findings included (1) SPD programs shared common characteristics and the Coordinators possessed reasonably uniform characteristics, (2) Coordinators and their supervisors did not agree on the relative emphasis of the actual tasks performed by the Coordinator, (3) Coordinators and their supervisors did not agree on the relative importance of the ideal tasks which the Coordinator should perform and (4) each group perceived that the actual tasks performed were closely related to the expected ideal tasks. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 0914. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The problem area with which this study is concerned is faculty participation in internal decision-making in Florida's public two-year colleges. The purpose of the study was to determine the level of participation as it existed and to examine factors affecting faculty satisfactions that are perceived as areas needing change to increase participation and raise satisfaction levels. The study also was concerned with faculty perception of collective bargaining as a viable alternative mode of internal governance. / A questionnaire was developed and distributed to a random sampling of faculty and administrators in all twenty-eight colleges. Nine hundred and thirteen questionnaires were distributed to the population sample and 440 were returned for a return rate of 49 percent. / Findings revealed a wide variation in the levels of faculty participation at the twenty-eight colleges, ranging from "no participation" through "joint action". Academic decisions were indicated as the area of activities in which faculty exercise the most influence. The greatest concern for increased input by faculty was in the area of personnel, or faculty welfare, where the respondents indicated faculty had the least amount of input. The colleges, including six colleges that have elected a faculty union, were undecided as to the effectiveness of collective bargaining as a viable alternative, or adjunct, to internal governance structures. / Most of the colleges indicated a preference for independent internal organizations; such as faculty senates, councils, committees, or associations; and tended to be generally undecided as to whether a union election would be successful in the immediate future on each college campus. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 0914. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This was a study to determine if any of the differences in the areas of faculty governance and administration, salaries, job security and attitudes, which had been predicted in the literature, were observable in Florida community/junior colleges with and without collective bargaining. Five colleges with collective bargaining were matched on the basis of enrollment with five colleges without collective bargaining. Data were obtained from faculty handbooks and other documents provided by the colleges, the reports of the Florida Department of Education, and a survey of attitudes of faculty members at the institution. / An elective faculty council was found at four out of five of the non-collective bargaining colleges but only one of the collective bargaining colleges had an elective faculty council. At the collective bargaining colleges the union assumed all responsibilities in the area of faculty compensation. No generalizations regarding number and specificity of rules and regulations affecting faculty could be made. / Institutions without collective bargaining made greater gains in average salary and maximum salary in the period 1974-75 to 1978-79 than institutions with collective bargaining. Institutions without collective bargaining paid higher average and maximum salaries than did collective bargaining institutions; differences in minimum salaries were not statistically significant. No difference in average percentage of the budget spent on faculty salaries at the two groups of institutions was found. / Institutions with collective bargaining had more elaborate retrenchment plans in which individual rights were more clearly delineated than institutions without collective bargaining. All collective bargaining institutions had incorporated third party binding arbitration into their grievance procedures while none of the institutions without collective bargaining had done so. There appeared to be no real difference in rights of non-tenured faculty nor in utilization of part-time faculty at the two groups of institutions. / Faculty at collective bargaining schools reported a statistically significant lower measure of trust in the administration, lower rating of job satisfaction, lower rating of administrative openness and lower rating of the level of cooperation experienced now as compared to the past than did faculty at non-collective bargaining schools. No statistically significant differences between the two groups were found in expressed willingness to cooperate with the administration, nor in professionalism as measured by participation in professional societies and publications. / Recommendations for further study included a balanced assessment of differences among institutions with and without collective bargaining including areas outside the more narrow faculty concerns of the study and development of a model which could account for the variations in predicted differences compared to those observed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2458. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Text and accompanying data tables in this study compare Anchorage Community College (ACC) with selected California community colleges as studied. Cohen and Brawer (1981) identified three major shifts which were identified by a California study by Hunter and Sheldon (1979-1980). A total of 351 student records were randomly elected from the three study years, 1960, 1970 and 1980. Variables included, sex, age, GPA, years in college, credit hours earned in communications, humanities, math/science, social science, applied science/elective, remedial. ACC was found to have a pattern similar to the California community colleges and the three major shifts were identified to exist at ACC: (1) an inversion of collegiate (transfer) and career (vocational) education; (2) enrollment patterns have become more laterial than linear; and (3) there has been an acceleration in trends towards less-than-college-level instruction. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-01, Section: A, page: 0056. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The procedures used to identify, assess, and place LEP students at Florida community/junior colleges were examined. A review of the current literature indicated that procedural guidelines had been established for international (F-1) students, but that no such guidelines existed for immigrants, refugees, entrants, or U.S. citizens whose dominant language is other than English. Data were obtained from the 28 public community colleges in Florida by the LEP Procedural Survey. The analysis indicated that there is no standard procedure among the state colleges to identify, assess, and place LEP students. Board of Trustees and Admissions Officers were primarily responsible for determining the identification procedures for LEP students. Different criteria and methods were used for the admission of international and IREC (immigrants, refugees, entrants, and U.S. citizens whose dominant language is other than English) students. English language proficiency scores are required more often for international students than IREC students. The majority of the colleges accepted a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 500. Transcripts of transferring students were reviewed to determine whether English language proficiency scores were required for admission. Guidance counselors and ESL personnel often determined the criteria for placement of LEP students. The same skill areas were assessed for international and IREC students; the most frequently mentioned skill areas assessed included reading, writing, and structure. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-04, Section: A, page: 0880. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-06, Section: A, page: 3075. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-07, Section: A, page: 4085. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.