This study has three primary, interrelated themes. First, this thesis will show that creating native Christian leadership was a fundamental goal of the Presbyterians who ran the Tucson Indian Training School (1888-1960). Second it will be shown that this pursuit by the Presbyterians, when combined with the motivations and goals of the students and their families, often times expressed itself in Escuela students who were adept at cooperation and cultural brokering. Finally this thesis will address the fundamental difference between federal Indian schools and mission schools to show that a goal of creating Christian leaders was more easily achieved in the mission school environment after the turn of the 20th century. Primary and secondary sources, as well as interviews with Tucson Indian School alumni are used to place this particular Indian boarding school in historical, cultural and personal perspective.

<p>The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore spiritual development differences between online and on-campus students. For this study, spiritual maturation was measured by the locus of authority and view of self and others, primarily as measured by the God Image Scales. The assumption was that development is marked by a shift in locus of authority from an external to internal orientation and, along with this process, an individual's focus also moves from self to others. The first phase of the study was quantitative and consisted of the administration of the God Image Scales and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. The latter scales was administered to control for potential influence of participants providing responses they deemed to be expected or socially appropriate. Results revealed differences in the perspectives and experiences shared by the younger on-campus students and those shared by older online and graduate students. A second, qualitative phase of the study consisted of small group interviews conducted in chat rooms and email interviews conducted with individual students. Findings from this phase consisted of students' perceptions about God, spirituality, spiritual development, and spiritual maturity. Lastly, mixed methods analyses compared and contrasted the quantitative and qualitative results. Significant findings are summarized and discussed, and recommendations are offered to assist administration to support and challenge college students' spiritual development. </p>

<p> Educational leaders have many choices of organizational, curricular, and instructional interventions for academically underprepared high school freshmen. In the past decade, doubled instructional time in core subjects has become an increasingly popular intervention in large public school districts. Results so far have been mixed and there are no studies investigating the effects of this strategy in the private school sector. The purpose of this retrospective, pretest-posttest quasi-experiment with nonequivalent groups was to examine whether significant differences existed in the academic achievement gains of academically underprepared Catholic high school freshmen who received double-dosed mathematics and/or English instruction during ninth grade compared to equally underprepared peers who did not. The study used a dataset of 493 cases from an urban Catholic diocese in the San Francisco Bay Area. Academic achievement data consisted of archived mathematics and reading scores from two standardized, norm-referenced batteries with a published predictive validity metric of <i>r</i> = .83 (pretest: HSPT, posttest: PLAN). Independent <i>t-</i>test, ANCOVA, and ANOVA analyses were conducted to identify differences between group means and variances. Analyses revealed no statistically significant differences in posttest scores in mathematics or reading between the groups, challenging existing assumptions from previous effectiveness findings in the public school sector. The results indicate that, as a stand-alone intervention, doubled instructional time in the core subjects does not accelerate achievement gains for academically underprepared freshmen at urban Catholic high schools.</p>

<p> The Jewish community has increasingly relied upon Experiential Education as a pedagogical approach to instilling Jewish identity and communal affiliation over the past twenty years. The Experiential Education format of travel programs has specifically been emphasized and promoted for Jewish Emerging Adults for this purpose, and outcome studies of these trip programs have demonstrated success in instilling identification and affiliation with both the Jewish community and the state of Israel among their participants. However, little is actually empirically known about the processes that impact the participant during the trip experience &ndash; the so-called "black box" &ndash; or how significant a participant's predisposition towards Israel and Judaism are in how they process their trip experiences. Even less is empirically known about the identity development of Jewish Emerging Adults in large part due to a pre-disposition to study Jews developmentally only as affiliates of a religion rather than members of a distinctly multi-layered group. </p><p> This grounded theory study examines participants in two different trip experiences, Taglit Birthright Israel and an Alternative Spring Break, through post-trip interviews. The emergent theory suggests three conclusions: The predisposition of a participant towards their own Jewish identity can influence how they process their experiences on the trip; the actual trip experience can be best understood as repeatedly processing multiple and ongoing experiences within the trip itself; the processing of those experiences can be descriptively modeled as a theory that allows an glimpse in to the "black box." Such a theoretical model can be used to better train trip staff on how the trip experience impacts the Jewish identity of those participants and also to plan trip itineraries to optimize the trip's experiential impact on participant Jewish and Zionist identity and communal affiliation.</p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the perceived experience of Chinese students during their first year attending a Catholic co-educational boarding and day school in the United States. Data collection included semi-structured interviews of five current students, a faculty and staff questionnaire, and an analysis of the schedule of events for the new boarding student orientation. The data was analyzed using the inductive method for data analysis. The data showed that Chinese students face challenges in four key areas: 1) academic adjustment; 2) social adjustment; 3) emotional support; and 4) developing autonomy. Differences between Chinese culture and American culture provide challenges across the four key areas, leading culture to be best suited as a lens for analyzing the challenges faced by Chinese students transitioning to life at an American boarding school. There should be continuing research to identify the challenges faced by other ethnic and cultural groups in adjusting to life at boarding schools.</p>

The otherworldly depiction of Jesus in coordination with the origin and function of descent-ascent language in the Gospel of John is the subject of this study. In Chapter One it is found that the gospel explicitly and repeatedly refers to Jesus' heavenly origin, his divine titles, his descent from heaven, and his ascent back to his celestial home in order to emphasize his preeminent revelatory authority. Furthermore, it would appear that the gospel attempts to suppress a competing revelatory point of view in which heavenly visions and heavenly ascensions by mortals are normative. A review in Chapter Two of the way in which modern scholars have attempted to come to terms with these matters indicates that the Fourth Gospel depicts its protagonist according to one trans-cultural conceptual paradigm containing a descent-ascent pattern for revelatory figures in order to oppose an alternative paradigm in which both divine descent-ascent and human ascent-descent patterns are present. Focusing upon ancient Jewish and Christian angel stories, Chapter Three demonstrates that an essential difference between the two paradigms has to do with whether the locus of divine-human discourse is earth or heaven. In the EARTHBOUND paradigm revelation is transmitted solely upon the earth and the heavenly messenger possesses unrivaled revelatory authority. But in the alternative HEAVENWARD paradigm the role and status of the heavenly messenger are patently subordinated to the mortal who is permitted to see if not actually journey up into the celestial world. Chapter Four's selective but narratologically-informed reading of the Gospel of John shows how the gospel's depiction of its protagonist according to the EARTHBOUND paradigm methodically suppresses and deconstructs revelatory and salvific beliefs rooted in the HEAVENWARD viewpoint. Of particular interest is the way in which an historically necessary departure from the EARTHBOUND schema, by ironically representing the ascent of Jesus as a lifting up upon the cross, effectively puts to death (from the gospel's point of view) ideas about the possibility of mortals ascending to heaven with or without Jesus prior to the end of their own lives.

<p> The purpose of this exploratory research study was to investigate leadership experiences of teacher leaders in American PK-12 Christian schools. An overarching research question guided the study: How do principal-identified teacher leaders in PK-12 faith-based Christian schools experience leadership in a distributed leadership environment, as told from the teacher leaders' perspectives? As researcher, I chose a distributed leadership practice conceptual framework as the lens for the research study. The literature review focused on three areas: (a) Christian school structure and culture, (b) teacher leaders, and (c) distributed leadership. The research design consisted of purposeful sampling using semistructured interviews and a constructivist epistemology (Merriam, 2009). The research study involved 24 participants from PK-12 American Christian schools; 16 were principal-identified teacher leaders and 8 were heads of school or principals. Through the data analysis, six intangible themes emerged from the teacher leaders that proved to be central tenets of the research. The emergent themes constituted (a) an unconditional love for the school community, (b) a global school perspective, (c) an influencer, (d) a leader by example, (e) a mentor to other teachers, and (f) a desire to improve their schools. Then, using a comparative analysis, four themes emerged from the heads of school and principals. The themes converged with those of the teacher leaders, with two exceptions. First, a dichotomy occurred in the definition of <i>teacher leader</i> among the teacher leader participants; respectively, this dichotomy occurred between the teacher leader participants and the heads of school and principal participants. Second, with regard to human capital, a talent management and leadership succession theme for identifying and developing teacher leaders emerged from the heads of school and principals. Interestingly, the data analysis revealed that the study's findings have implications for PK-12 public and private schools in theory, practice, and policy.</p>

<p> The purpose of writing <i>Implementing A Contextual Discipleship Curriculum to Impact Biblical Knowledge and Application for Women in a Large Church in Ghana</i> was to add to the body of knowledge concerning discipleship curricula for women in developing countries. Christianity is growing most rapidly in developing countries, and women play a pivotal role largely due to their influence on the children, the future generations. Yet there is a dearth of information on how to disciple the women in these areas. This project tested a 16-week contextual discipleship curriculum at Rhema Outreach Church in Ashaiman, Ghana, West Africa. The students were members of the Women's Ministry, and most of them were market women. The average class size was 50 women. The program was geared towards oral learners because some of the women were illiterate. The project centered around lessons in biblical knowledge, biblical leadership, and biblical financial awareness/stewardship. This project used mixed research methods, relying heavily on qualitative analyses with an embedded quantitative analysis. The data strongly suggested that a contextual curriculum can be effective in enhancing the discipleship knowledge and practices of women in developing countries. The results also demonstrated that discipleship among women in developing countries is a critical area that the global church needs to address. </p><p> Chapter 1 states the thesis and hypothesis as well as the rationale for the project, and the community and church context. The biblical, systematic, and ecclesiological/historical foundations of the project are also discussed. </p><p> Chapter 2 discusses literature related to the topic in the broad categories of discipleship, <i>lessons learned</i> from practitioners in the field, contextual theologians, and the voices of selected African female theologians. </p><p> Chapter 3 presents the research methodology used, the rationale for the methodology, and how it was applied at the Rhema Outreach Church in Ghana. </p><p> Chapter 4 presents the findings from the research instruments, including the voice of the women at Rhema Outreach Church. Some of their opinions differed from that of the researcher and peer reviewers. </p><p> Chapter 5 offers reasons for the disparities between the Rhema women's opinions and the findings of the qualitative and quantitative analyses. It also offers suggestions for future research in this area and implications of the project's findings for the larger Christian community.</p>

<p> Literature of educational leadership, particularly faith-based school leadership, often fails to represent the perspectives of women. Women responsible for leading American Islamic schools face an unparalleled experience due to the intersectionalities of gender, religion, race and culture that have not been captured in academic literature. This qualitative study seeks to contribute the voices of women leading American Islamic schools to the research base of educational leadership. </p><p> The study is built upon a theoretical framework connecting Islamic leadership, faith-based school leadership, and Islamic education. Together, these three concepts frame the experiences of American Islamic school leadership because they merge both Islamic principles and education priorities. This study used Eagly's (1987) social role theory as a lens through which to view the data as a gendered experience of school leadership. This includes an analysis of how social roles are communicated, stored, and transmitted within the American Islamic school communities. </p><p> Focusing on the roles and responsibilities of American Islamic school leaders, I gain insight into their daily tasks, their professional expectations, and their community relationships that impact the nature of their leadership practices. The leaders appeared to prefer transformational and collaborative leadership styles, modeled after prophetic examples, consistent with previous findings (Al-Attas, 1979; Eagly &amp; Chin, 2010; Eagly et al., 2003). </p><p> Eagly's (1987) social role theory can be applied to the data to explain the gendered realities of women leading American Islamic schools. The study's results provided evidence that these school leaders are subject to gendered norms and expectations that are associated with both the cultural landscape of America and the religious context of an Islamic organization. Analyzing the gendered leadership experiences, I found that: (1) there was a gendered division of leadership tasks; (2) the women assumed expectations associated with nurturing and motherly roles; and (3) women faced professional and personal consequences for transgressing social roles. Consistent with Eagly's (1987) theory, these social roles are stored within community structures embedded within American Islamic schools and are transmitted through social contexts. </p>

<p> Faith-based school-family-community partnerships have been a federal mandate over the past decade, yet little has been written about the outcomes of these faith-based partnerships. A need exists to understand if the potential in these faith-based partnerships is indeed realized in positive outcomes for students and schools. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a faith-based school-family-community partnership, Just Love. Just Love is a faith-based school-family-community partnership between a large suburban church and a Title 1, urban elementary school, Charisma Elementary School (Charisma ES), implemented in what is considered a "failing school". Just Love's purpose was to have the volunteers from the church provide love, care, supportive adult relationships and service to the teachers, students, and parents of Charisma ES through a comprehensive, systemic program: <b>Just Mentor</b> (i.e., a school-based mentoring program), <b>Just Connect</b> (i.e., a classroom adoption program), and <b>Just Rewards</b> (i.e., a school wide student incentives/rewards and parent involvement program). The Bryan and Henry (2012) School-Family-Community Partnership Process Model was used in developing Just Love.</p><p> The Model for Collaborative Evaluations (MCE) was used in this evaluation to actively engage stakeholders during the evaluation process and to answer the evaluation questions. A mixed methods research design was used. Differences in student outcomes (i.e. academic, behavior and attendance) were examined between Charisma ES and another matching school without a faith-based school-family-community partnership were analyzed with descriptive statistics, paired T-tests, and mixed ANOVAs. Student outcomes were also investigated relevant to different aspects of the Just Love programs including adopted classrooms compared to non-adopted classrooms and mentored students compared to non-mentored students. </p><p> In addition, this study gave 20 children (i.e., mentees) who had experienced all aspects of the Just Love programs an opportunity to share their perceived satisfactions, experiences, challenges and recommendations regarding Just Love through the method of photo elicitation including picture selection and interviews. The transcribed data from the interviews and the pictures used in the photo-elicitation process were analyzed using thematic analysis with a focus on capturing the voices of the students.</p><p> Student outcome data were collected for three years from 2010-2013, with 2009 as a baseline year. The findings from the quantitative aspect of this study revealed that students in Charisma ES made significantly greater gains in reading than students in Joseph ES following the implementation of the partnership. Further, number of disciplinary referrals decreased dramatically at Charisma ES in contrast to Joseph ES whose disciplinary referrals increased. Attendance rates differed significantly between the two schools with students in Joseph Elementary School having higher attendance rates than students in Charisma Elementary School.</p><p> On average, both adopted and non-adopted classes made gains in reading in each of the three years although adopted classes appeared to have higher reading scores in 2011-2012 than non-adopted classes. The average number of disciplinary referrals per class was lower for adopted classes than for non-adopted classes in 2011-2012, one academic year after the Just Love partnership program was implemented. Concerning attendance, there were no significant differences in attendance rates between students in adopted and non-adopted classes at Charisma ES.</p><p> Mentored students at Charisma made significant improvements in reading. They also had a dramatically lower average number of disciplinary referrals than non-mentored students in 2012-2013, just two years after the Just Love partnership was implemented. When compared to non-mentored students, mentored students had significantly higher attendance than non-mentored students in 2011-2012, just one year after the Just Love partnership began. Further, attendance appeared to have a positive relation to the number of years students were mentored.</p><p> Findings from the qualitative aspect of this study were captured using thematic analysis of the children's perceived satisfactions, experiences, challenges and recommendations concerning Just Love. The six categories that emerged from the data were (a) perceptions of Just Love, (b) positive feelings, (c) positive relationships and connectedness, (d) classroom and school climate, (e) experiences, and (f) support and resources. Each of these categories comprised a number of themes that aligned with identified protective factors and developmental assets necessary for the resiliency of and successful outcomes for children. </p><p> Taken together, the findings reveal that Just Love, a faith-based school-family-community partnership contributed to improved student outcomes in reading achievement, behavior and attendance and provided important protective factors and developmental assets for the children in Charisma ES. The Just Love partnership program presents a viable model for schools, school districts, and faith-based and community organizations that have a desire to foster resilience in children at-risk, generate positive academic, behavior, and attendance outcomes for children and decrease the chances of children growing up and developing risky behaviors. Implications for practice, training, evaluation, policy, and future research are discussed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)</p>