This research was designed to explore the perceptions of secondary reading teachers regarding their experiences while they implemented Florida’s secondary intensive reading policy. The purpose of this research was to obtain feedback on the policy implementation process for continuous improvement in future policy implementation. This research was qualitatively designed and conducted with three focus groups consisting of secondary intensive reading teachers from three Florida counties respectively, Duval, Nassau, and St. Johns. The bounding theoretical and conceptual frames of this study were founded in political systems theory and shared leadership. The data from this study were compiled from three focus groups consisting of secondary reading teachers who implemented Florida’s secondary intensive reading policy. Data analysis was conducted using Boyatzis (1998) thematic approach as a means of analyzing the interview data. The data were coded using Sabatier’s (1986) construct of empowerments and constraints. Themes were identified using Hatch’s (2002) approach to inductive analysis. Eisner’s (1998) concept of educational criticism and professional literature within the educational criticism process provided a guide to the selection of important and relevant ideas based on my connoisseurship of the secondary reading initiative and my experience as a reading coach and teacher during the initiative. Three overarching themes were identified from the analysis of the teachers’ experiences: (a) A sudden change of content is a challenge to implementing policy change; (b) Challenges from inside and outside of the classroom hindered policy implementation; (c) Policy implementation brings insights: changing trends in assessment formats and instructional implications may call for new instructional strategies. This study found teachers were not adequately prepared in all areas to undertake the implementation of a new content area. In recounting their perceptions regarding their experiences of this policy implementation, teachers were exceptionally open about the areas in which they were not prepared to do the tasks they were given to do. This study also found teachers were valuable resources of information about the policy implementation process. Participant responses reinforced the need for communication and dialogue between secondary reading teachers and district level administration with particular emphasis on incorporating teacher feedback on student scheduling issues, instructional technology issues, and curriculum resources and development. Participants strongly reinforced the need for intra-district and inter-district collaborative professional development. Participants in this study speculated on the implications of online literacy as opposed to its more traditional form. They noted that reading online is a different experience from reading a book or a test in paper format, and they perceived a gap in their instructional methods and knowledge regarding how to instruct students in online literacy. Based on the discussion of this research, recommendations for further research and educational leadership were developed.

This study examined common difficulties in English composition among Asian college students, addressing causal factors from psychological, cultural, and linguistic perspectives. The following factors were investigated: affective filter, puberty period, interlanguage, language transfer, accessibility to a target language, morphological differences, syntactical differences, and cultural thought patterns. The results of analyses of errors in the students' compositions reflected two ESL instructors' observations that Asian college students, whose native languages differ from Indo-European languages, experience difficulty in writing in English. A consistent error frequency which appeared in English article usage prompted the researcher to formulate the rules for articles and to construct exercise problems in order to help Asian students to overcome their problems.

A comparison of the spoken language of adolescent Black males living in three southern suburban communities was conducted. The results indicated certain trends by locale in the areas of morphology, phonology, syntax and semantics. The findings affirm the assumption that it is possible to determine likenesses and differences in the Black English spoken by Black males living in three isolated communities with a rating instrument.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of new professionals in college student affairs as protégés in mentoring relationships. This study was designed as an exploratory study into the types of mentoring relationships that exist among college student affairs professionals, using Q methodology. The profession of college student affairs can use mentoring relationships to help recruit, train, develop, and retain high-quality individuals. Although mentoring relationships are frequently used to develop college student affairs professions, little is known about these relationships. Fifty-five new professionals in college student affairs from 29 different states sorted 39 statements describing mentoring relationships on a continuum from “least like my mentoring relationship” (-4) to “most like my mentoring relationship” (+4). These 55 sorts were factor analyzed and rotated. Following these procedures, four factors emerged that represented different perspectives on mentoring relationships in college student affairs. Interpretation of these factors yielded distinct themes within them. These factors were named: (a) Mentor as Ideal, (b) Mentor as Cheerleader, (c) Mentor as Friend, and (d) Mentor as Teacher. The results of the study, which intended to elicit the subjectivity of new college student affairs professionals regarding their mentoring relationships, suggest that college student affairs professionals value, in different ways, the interaction with their mentor. The results from this study suggest the personal interaction between a protégé and a mentor is a valuable part of a protégé's career. Additionally, the results from this study seem to indicate that mentoring relationships in college student affairs are, on balance, positive. The results also suggest that mentoring relationships in college student affairs are highly developmental. The perspectives described and the interpretation provided in this study can greatly assist student affairs professionals in the development of new professionals.

Education researchers suggest that, since belief systems influence practicing teachers' behavior, it is important for teachers to examine their educational beliefs to determine whether those beliefs are consistent with current knowledge about teaching and learning. If the same relationship between beliefs and practices of inservice teachers holds true for preservice teachers, since beliefs are extremely resistant to change, reflection upon educational beliefs should be cultivated during the preservice stage of teacher development. To discover whether such a parallel exists, 12 preservice teachers, during their internships, were selected for study. First, they responded to a series of vignettes to ascertain beliefs about five instructional strategies. Second, a content analysis of the the interns' lesson plans was conducted to determine their instructional practices. Finally, 7 of the 12 interns were interviewed to explore consistencies and discrepancies. The study's results indicate that the findings of research studies documenting a connection between educational beliefs and instructional practices of inservice teachers also hold true with regard to preservice teachers. The study suggests that teacher education programs embrace and operationalize the proposition that encouraging reflective thought in teacher candidates is critical to enhancing their professional preparation.

Student affairs administrators support student learning through interaction outside the classroom. Student affairs administrators have started to guide their work under student learning goals. In order for the student affairs professionals to work under student learning goals, it is imperative to have an understanding of which learning goals student affairs administrators perceive to be the highest priority to teach students. This study is a descriptive study that examined student affairs professionals perceptions of specific learning goals for undergraduate education and specifically examined academic and student development learning goals. Data were gathered using the Student Learning Goals Inventory (SLGI), an instrument that was developed by Papish (1999) and later modified by Goldstein (2003) to assess how faculty, student affairs professionals, parents, and students rate specific student learning goals. This study used the SLGI to examine the perceptions of student affairs administrators at Florida public universities. A total of 170 student affairs administrators participated in the study. The results of this study showed that student affairs administrators rated academic learning goals higher than student development goals. Results also illustrated a relationship between student affairs philosophy and institution type, educational background, and years of experience. The results may assist university personnel in creating more concrete learning experiences through collaboration within the university community. Student learning goals are the basic building blocks necessary to guide the educational path of students in college and the result of this research can assist to create a successful educational environment based on learning goals.

The present study measured student gains in learning using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test pre and post-test mean scale scores in reading comprehension and math problem solving. The project involved classes of students in fourth and fifth grade in six north Florida counties. Thirty class sets of students were taught by a National Board Certified teacher, and a comparable set of thirty class sets of students of the same grade level and at the same school were taught by a teacher who was not National Board Certified. The analysis indicated if National Board Certified teachers produced a higher mean gain score for their students than teachers not certified by National Board. Did National Board Certification make the needed difference in student learning? The results of the main effect of the study did not indicate a statistically significant difference in the average reading comprehension and math problem solving achievement of students whose teachers were National Board Certified as compared to those whose teachers were not National Board Certified. There was a statistically significant main effect for grade level. In follow up testing there was a statistically significant difference between reading at the fourth and fifth grade levels. A small statistically non-significant difference was found in the math gain score means (favored fifth grade) and a larger difference in reading gain scores (favored fourth grade). There was a statistically non-significant effect for the grade level by teaching status two-way interaction.

This study was grounded in the theory and practice of transformational leadership, where leaders function as moral agents of change as they facilitate values talk (moral discourse) among their constituents. The study took its cue from Rost's call for a new paradigm for leadership ethics that calls for methods of group moral decision making to assess organizational and social ends. The inquiry sought to better understand how leaders engage others in moral conversation and how such processes influence organizational culture and democratic civil society. The methodology was qualitative and phenomenological as it was centered on leaders' perceptions of their experiences in diverse organizational settings across public, private, and social sectors. Data was collected through focus groups and individual interviews and analyzed through the constant comparative method. Data was also interpreted within the socio-political context of a communitarian worldview that postures moral discourse as a means to identify shared values that build social capital and sustain the common good. Other theoretical contexts draw from discourse ethics, adult critical pedagogy, and moral development. The findings of the study put forth a typology of moral discourse framed in categories that include: conversational venues, individual and social impediments to the conversation, communicative dynamics that stimulate the conversation, speech actions, speech styles, functions of moral discourse, and specific leader practices that advance the conversation. Implications for practice in the workplace are framed in areas of organizational development and business ethics. Other implications are considered for the practice of democratic deliberation.

The study examined the relations of social-environmental characteristics of families and demographic variables on career decision/indecision of 425 secondary Tech Prep students in North Florida. Career decision/indecision was the dependent variable, measured by the Career Decision Scale (Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1987). Predictor independent variables included social-environmental characteristics of families as measured by the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981). Other predictor independent variables included academic achievement (reading comprehension and mathematics)' gender, economic disadvantage and race. No significant mean differences were found by gender and by grade of Tech Prep students on the Certainty Scale or the Indecision Scale of the Career Decision Scale. There was no significant interaction between gender and grade level of Tech Prep students. The means indicated a middle range of certainty and a middle range of indecision. The expectation that the sample group of Tech Prep students would be more career decided by virtue of their selection of Tech Prep programs was not supported. It can not be known if without their Tech Prep participation, these students would have been in a lower range of career certainty. The lack of significant differences by grade of Tech Prep students on the Certainty Scale and Indecision Scale gives rise to the concern that 12th-grade students are no more prepared than 11th-grade students to follow specific plans for their future careers. The means of the students on the subscales of the Family Environment Scale indicated the highest mean on the subscale of Moral- Religious Emphasis and lowest mean on the subscale Intellectual-Cultural Orientation. The students' scores on the Family Environment Scale were in the middle range. The profile of demographic variables was as follows. The Reading Comprehension normal curve equivalent scores (NCE) was 51.21 for the 11th-grade and 12th-grade Tech Prep students. The Mathematics mean NCE score was 50.95 for the students. The mean scores of students in this study were in the average range. These scores are not unexpected in that students in Tech Prep are recruited most heavily from the general education track. However, the Tech Prep benefit of higher level academic courses is not clearly indicated in these average GTAT scores. The total sample was 66.8% female and 33.2% male. The total sample was 76.2% White, 20.0% African American and 3.7% other. More than 70% of the sample either did not qualify or did not apply for free or reduced lunch, and could not, therefore, be classified as economic disadvantaged. Tabulation of gender, racial and economic distribution for Tech Prep students in Florida is needed. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to explore the predictive ability of demographic variables on career decision/indecision and to explore the predictive ability of the ten subscales of the Family Environment Scale on career decision/indecision. There were similarities in the predictor demographic variables in the prediction formula for career certainty and career indecision. Regarding the predictive ability of the demographic variables on Career Certainty Scores, a multiple R of .26 was computed and accounted for 6.5% of the variance. Race entered on the first step, correlated .20 with Career Certainty and accounted for 4.4% of the variance. White students had a slight tendency to be more certain regarding career decision-making. The relations of culture-specific variables of racial minorities on career decision/indecision was not examined in this study. All tests are, at least to some extent, culture-bound. Therefore, test scores by minorities can be negatively affected by White, middle class cultural contexts. Reading Comprehension was loaded on the second step and contributed 2.1 % additional variance. Reading Comprehension correlated -.16 with Certainty. Students with higher reading scores tended to be slightly less certain of their career decisions. This study did not examine realism of career decisions. This study also did not examine the appropriateness of career choice with aptitude or achievement levels. Regarding the predictive ability of the demographic variables on Career Indecision Scores, a multiple R of .21 was computed and accounted for 4.6% of the variance. The Mathematics Scores correlated .12 with Indecision Scores and accounted for 1.2% of the variance. Race contributed an additional 1.7% of the variance. Class (grade) contributed 1.6% additional variance. African American students and 11th-grade students had a very slight tendency to be less sure of their career decisions. There were similarities in the predictor variables in the prediction formula for career certainty and career indecision. Race contributed a significant amount of the variance in predicting career certainty and career indecision. There was a tendency for African American Tech Prep students to have more indecision and less certainty than White Tech Prep students. Cognitive variables contributed a significant amount of the variance. GTAT Reading Comprehension scores predicted career certainty while Mathematics scores were the variables predicting career indecision. Regarding the predictive ability of the ten subscales of the Family Environment Scale on Career Certainty Scores, a multiple R of .273 was computed and accounted for 7.46% of the variance. Intellectual-Cultural Orientation contributed 5.37% of the variance and correlated .23 with Certainty. Achievement Orientation contributed 2.1 % unique variance. Achievement Orientation correlated .17 with Certainty. Both the Achievement Orientation and Intellectual-Cultural Orientation scales were subscales measuring Personal Growth Dimensions. Regarding the predictive ability of the ten subscales of the Family Environment Scale on Career Indecision Scores, Intellectual-Cultural Orientation correlated -.212 with Career Indecision and accounted for 4.5% of the variance. Therefore, only one of the ten subscales of the Family Environment Scale accounted for variance regarding career indecision. The mirror image indicated higher scores on the Intellectual-Cultural Orientation subscale predicted career certainty and lower scores on Intellectual-Cultural Orientation predicted indecision. The results of this study provided limited support for the predictive ability of demographic variables and family subscales on career certainty and career indecision. Clearly, a deeper and boarder understanding of the processes involved in adolescent career decision-making is needed.

This study examined the policy implementation of the Teach for Florida Project, which was conducted as a grant program in 2003. The project was designed to help alleviate a critical shortage of teachers brought about in part by the passage in the fall of 2002 of Florida Constitutional Amendment 9, a referendum setting specific limits on the number of students who could be taught by one teacher. The project was created and run on a tight timeline, allowing only 6 months from initiation of the request for proposals to placement of new alternatively prepared teachers in their classrooms. Despite the short notice, 23 institutions submitted proposals, of which 19 were considered worthy of funding and 7 were selected. Of the institutions selected, three represented the State University System, three the State Community College System, and one was a consortium of independent private colleges and universities in Florida. Although each institution created its own plan, the programs demonstrated two divergent paradigms. The schools all proposed some form of classroom education methodology, while the consortium created an online training system. The potential to examine in detail the outcomes of the two approaches was lost because, as the literature review points out, there was no requirement in the request for proposals to maintain the data necessary to conduct such an investigation. The Teach for Florida Project was effective in creating alternative programs for teacher certification but could have provided greater insight into the alternative preparation process had evaluation planning been part of the implementation.