"The adult evening home furnishings classes have placed the emphasis on consumer and homemaking aspects rather than on wage-earning aspects in the past in Pinellas County. This study will determine the number of students enrolled who are taking the class for occupational opportunities or advancement. The Adult Home Economics Department is continually evaluating and revising the curriculum to determine if it is meeting the needs of the students. This study is needed to determine the number of students enrolled in evening home furnishings classes in Pinellas County who plan to use the knowledge acquired in a wage-earning experience. After this determination is made the curriculum can be evaluated reflecting information gained from the data"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1975." / "Submitted to the Department of Home Economics Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Judy H. Dowell, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 24).

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

<p>Research has shown that there is a strong link between reading comprehension and vocabulary, yet many children lack the required vocabulary needed to perform adequately on reading comprehension assessments. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the teaching of Larry Bell&rsquo;s 12 Powerful Words vocabulary program in order to raise third, fourth and fifth grade test scores on the North Carolina Reading Comprehension End-of-Grade Assessments. This study surveyed third, fourth and fifth grade teachers concerning their beliefs of the efficacy of this vocabulary program, surveyed third, fourth and fifth grade students to determine their knowledge of these 12 words, and tallied the occurrence of these 12 words on formative and summative assessments administered within the district. A regression analysis was performed to determine if there was a relationship between teachers&rsquo; perceptions and student performance on the North Carolina Reading Comprehension End-of-Grade Assessments. Results of the regression analysis showed no significant relationship between teachers&rsquo; beliefs of the value of teaching these 12 words and students&rsquo; mean scores across 12 years of third, fourth and fifth grade North Carolina Reading Comprehension End-of-Grade Assessments in the district of study. Results of the word searches indicate that only five of these 12 words occurred frequently enough to impact reading assessments. An implication of this study is that teaching and learning a short list of vocabulary words may not result in higher scores on reading comprehension assessments. </p>

<p> The English Language Learners (ELL) student population continues to increase in American schools. Schools have the obligation and privilege to serve this population, but challenges exist to help ELLs become proficient in all subjects. The need for educators to use research-based best practices is critical to help best serve ELLs and to increase academic achievement. The researchers conducted a mixed-methods study in order to identify the research-based practices proven to increase the academic achievement of ELLs. The researchers found that Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) was a research-based framework proven to help ELLs academically. ELL Directors of middle Tennessee districts having statistically significant gains with ELLs believed that the top best practices to use with ELLs were activating prior knowledge and building background, comprehensible input, academic vocabulary, explicit instruction and differentiated instruction. Teachers within Southeastern School District (SSD) believed the top five practices to use with ELLs were activating prior knowledge and building background, differentiated instruction, scaffolding instruction, teaching academic vocabulary, and continual review of vocabulary and content. The study also found the instructional models that work best with the varying levels of ELLs. The instructional model best used with newcomers was pullout, and for active ELLs, either pullout or push-in. Push-in or Structured English Immersion was most effective with Transitional 1 and Structured English Immersion for Transitional 2 ELL students. Educational stakeholders can use the findings of this study in order to promote the academic achievement of ELLs.</p>

<p> Faculty-designers (educational professionals untrained in instructional design) have emerged as critical components in development of online courses and a need has arisen to ensure that faculty-designers possess appropriate skills and competencies to maintain quality of online courses.</p>

Continuing education programs are successful only to the extent that the recommended practice or behavior is implemented. Previous research has demonstrated that some programs result in behavior change and others fail to do so. A conceptual framework developed by Cervero links behavior change to continuing professional education. This descriptive correlational study examined factors related to implementation of knowledge gained from a continuing professional educational offering into practice among registered nurses. One questionnaire on the motivation of the individual professional was given prior to the continuing professional educational offering and three other questionnaires eliciting the participants perception of the social system, nature of the change and the continuing educational offering was given upon completion of the class. Two months following the offering a self-report evaluation, a Likert scale instrument and an open-ended questionnaire, was completed by the participants to measure the change in behavior after the learning experience. Demographic data of the participants was also correlated with nursing behavior. The rights of the participants were protected at all times. Participants were asked to participate on a strictly voluntary basis. Findings of the study indicated that the variables of the individual professional, the continuing educational offering, the nature of the change and social system did not statistically correlate with the outcome variable of behavior change. However, the responses to the open ended questionnaire contradicted the statistical findings. Participants articulated numerous ways in which their nursing practice had changed as a result of their continuing education experience. Conclusions of the study were that there is no statistically significant relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable of behavior change, but that qualitative data indicated that change in nursing practice did occur following the continuing professional education offering. Implications from the study indicate that the process of continuing professional education is complex with multiple variables. There is a need for further research to delineate the influence of these variables on behavior change in nursing practice. Then, those planning educational offerings could work effectively with their clientele to more dramatically improve health care and client outcomes. / School of Nursing

<p> Este estudio fue uno de tipo descriptivo. Su objetivo principal fue examinar los factores determinantes de los cambios demogr&aacute;ficos que est&eacute;n relacionados con los servicios complementarios en las escuelas p&uacute;blicas de Puerto Rico entre 1970 y 1990. En el mismo se describi&oacute;, la matr&iacute;cula y nivel escolar que utiliz&oacute; los servicios. Entre las variables se encuentran: orientaci&oacute;n, trabajo social, transferencias, m&eacute;dicos y comedor escolar. Igualmente, se analiz&oacute;, transportaci&oacute;n, escuelas y matr&iacute;cula por zonas geogr&aacute;ficas demarcadas por el Departamento de Educaci&oacute;n. Los indicadores principales fueron: el cambio porcentual del servicio y la matr&iacute;cula, el por ciento que utiliz&oacute; el servicio y la distribuci&oacute;n porcentual del servicio atendido. </p><p> Los resultados revelaron que un porcentaje considerable de los estudiantes matriculados en los tres niveles educativos utilizaba los servicios complementarios en las escuelas p&uacute;blicas de Puerto Rico durante el periodo de estudio. Estos fluctuaron desde -35.3 % de la matr&iacute;cula total en el servicio de comedores escolares hasta un 350.2 % en los servicios de trabajadores sociales. Observ&aacute;ndose, un incremento en los servicios ofrecidos por los trabajadores sociales y los orientadores. Una situaci&oacute;n adversa se reflej&oacute; para los servicios m&eacute;dicos y los comedores escolares. Adem&aacute;s, se reflej&oacute; que el nivel elemental fue el que m&aacute;s utiliz&oacute; los servicios durante el periodo de estudio. </p><p> Se estudi&oacute; la densidad de la matr&iacute;cula por milla cuadrada, as&iacute; como el promedio de estudiantes por zona geogr&aacute;fica. Se registr&oacute; una alta densidad de matr&iacute;cula en la zona urbana tanto en el 1970 como 1990. As&iacute; como, una zona rural superabundante con un incremento en el promedio de estudiantes, durante el periodo. En conclusi&oacute;n, existen factores determinantes de los cambios demogr&aacute;ficos que impactan los servicios complementarios de los estudiantes en las escuelas p&uacute;blicas de Puerto Rico. Entre &eacute;stos se identificaron los siguientes: densidad de matr&iacute;cula y de escuelas por millas cuadradas, tama&ntilde;o y volumen de la poblaci&oacute;n, tasa anual de crecimiento y balance migratorio. Entre las implicaciones relacionadas con los determinantes demogr&aacute;ficos se encuentra la reducci&oacute;n de la poblaci&oacute;n estudiantil matriculada en escuelas p&uacute;blicas, la cual impacta la cantidad de maestros, salones y escuelas.</p>

<p> A severe and worsening nursing shortage exists in the United States. Increasing numbers of new graduate nurses are necessary to meet this demand. To address the concerns of increased nursing demand, leaders of nursing schools must ensure larger numbers of nursing students graduate. Prior to practicing as registered nurses in the United States, graduates of nursing schools must pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). Various companies, such as the Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) and Kaplan have created NCLEX-RN predictor tests that report candidates&rsquo; chances of passing the NCLEX-RN. ATI created a test called the RN Comprehensive Predictor and Kaplan created an NCLEX-RN predictor examination called the Kaplan Readiness Test. Students with less than optimal scores on the predictor can remediate to improve their knowledge of nursing, critical thinking, and test-taking skills. The intent for the ATI RN Comprehensive Predictor and the Kaplan Readiness Test is to predict the probability of success on the NCLEX-RN. The focus of the quantitative study was the ability of the aforementioned examinations to predict both success and failure on the NCLEX-RN. The overall TEAS score did not have a significant relationship with NCLEX-RN results. However, the ATI TEAS Math score was significantly higher (<i>p</i> = .005) for students who passed the NCLEX-RN. Data analysis showed no significant relationship between the Kaplan NCLEX-RN Readiness Test and NCLEX-RN results (<i>p</i> > .05). A significant relationship between the ATI RN Comprehensive Predictor and the NCLEX-RN scores existed in both the total sample (<i>p</i> = .001) and the BSN subsample (<i> p</i> = .001). In the MSN student subsample, all 37 students passed the NCLEX on the first attempt.</p>