The passage of PL 94-142 in 1975 required educational agencies to develop a continuum of placement options allowing children with disabilities to be educated with children who are not handicapped. The acceptance handicapped children receive from normally developing peers appears to be a factor in determining the success of mainstreamed settings. School systems have an ongoing responsibility to educate students about differences since knowledge deficits contribute to negative peer perceptions and greater social distance. / This study has examined changes that occurred when third grade children received one of three instructional programs about children with disabilities and their associated etiologies. A pretest-post test multigroup design was used to measure program effects. Experience, knowledge, and social distance scales were administered. / Puppets presented informational content about blindness, deafness, retardation, cerebral palsy and learning disabilities. A second group was shown a video featuring the same five handicapping conditions. Group three received both the puppets and video. A control group received no planned intervention. / The first hypothesis concerned the effects prior experience with a handicapped person would have on knowledge and social acceptance. With more than 520 Colquitt County, Georgia third grade students participating in the study, experience was not found to have a significant effect on either students' pretreatment knowledge or social distance. Repeated Measures Analyses of Covariance did, however, indicate that third grade girls were more positive than boys about the possibility of having peers with disabilities as potential classmates or friends. / A second and third series of hypotheses postulated expectations about the students' knowledge and social distance following three treatment interventions. Repeated measures ANOVA analyses were used in the comparisons. Gains in both knowledge and social distance were clinically significant for all three treatment methods. Mean knowledge gains were greatest in the group receiving the combined video/puppet treatment, followed by the puppets, then the video. Mean social distance differences were highest for the puppet group, followed by the combination treatment, with the video ranking third. / With all treatment conditions showing significant gains in both knowledge and social acceptance, the implications are that both puppetry and film have potential for reducing children's disability related concerns while instilling more positive perceptions of people with disabilities. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section: A, page: 3793. / Major Professor: Virginia P. Green. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

Although there exists a large volume of literature on dropouts from high school, most draw upon the quantitative approach to research and attempt to find those characteristics of dropouts which differentiate them from graduates. Few studies focused upon the process of dropping out of school even though there is evidence to suggest that the school setting itself has an effect upon dropouts. / This study examined and analyzed the process in a school whereby students through a joint action of teachers, school officials, parents, and students themselves are identified and labeled as potential dropouts. The information concerning this iterative process is based on the understanding and meanings held by the key actors in the process. This study is an exploratory effort to discover to what extent, if any, the dropping out process is a "co-authored" process between school and potential dropout. Results of the study suggest areas where the school officials should collect data which will assist them in monitoring the effectiveness of their identification of potential dropouts and the effectiveness of the their school's dropout prevention strategy. This study also suggests areas where additional quantitative and qualitative data should be obtained to enhance both the identification of potential dropouts and dropout prevention strategy. / Results of this study may also shift peoples attention from deficiencies in students as the sole cause of dropping out onto realizing that dropping out is at least in part a social production or product of the interplay of current school structure, organization, policy and the deeply ingrained patterns of interaction of teacher, specialist and administrators. From this awareness, changes in patterns of structure, classroom interaction, organization and policy may be made which will reduce the number and kind of potential and actual dropouts. / This study supports the notion that the dropping out process is a dynamic social process involving the student, the school and classroom social system, and the family background. An intervention strategy that focuses solely on the student and not on the other factors may not adequately prevent dropouts because the way the problem of dropping out is framed, as essentially an individual problem, ignores other dimensions of the problem. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-09, Section: A, page: 3166. / Major Professor: Steven J. Klees. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

Local community participation in overseas development projects as a critical ingredient for long-term program sustainability has become a central policy issue for both government and non-government organizations. It has been recognized that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are viable channels for funding participatory programs. Yet, while NGO strengths for implementing and managing participatory development projects have been extolled, there is little research to demonstrate their effectiveness at the field level. It has also been recognized that NGOs' overseas programs are influenced by the process and circumstances of identifying and obtaining program resources. What is lacking in the analysis of NGOs as channels for participatory development programs is the specific relationship between fundraising and the facilitation of community participation at the project level. / This research has sought to determine the relationship between the facilitation of local community participation and fundraising in overseas development projects. This has been accomplished through an in-depth case analysis of both the fundraising and project field experience of an NGO based in the United States. The study examines how the NGO's development policy compared with its actual field program implementation practice. A comparison was also made between the NGO's traditional small-scale community development work with a more recent large-scale project experience. / Overall, this research has demonstrated that, in the case of the NGO studied, there is a relationship between fundraising and the facilitation of community participation in the agency's overseas projects. Five primary areas of fundraising adversely influencing the facilitation of community participation were identified. / Evidence collected in the field case of the Louga large scale project in Senegal demonstrated that significant local community participation was occurring. / In comparing findings from the large-scale project experience in Louga with findings from the small-scale project research, seven similarities and six differences were identified. Identified are five areas where the small-scale sponsorship approach to fundraising adversely influences the field staffs' ability to facilitate community participation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4042. / Major Professor: Sydney R. Grant. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

In this study, three multilevel model approaches were derived to expand the applicability of multilevel models to longitudinal research on student achievement. These three procedures were the growth curve approach, the stability approach, and the school-effect approach. Briefly, the growth-curve approach handles true longitudinal data; its main concern is the growth of student achievement. Both the stability approach and the school-effect approach handle pseudo-longitudinal data. The stability approach addresses the stability of school effects over time. The school-effect approach is concerned with the variability of the cross-sectional school effect over time. / An illustrative example was given with computational detail for each approach using data from Leon County Public Schools, Florida. VARCL3 software was used in the estimation procedures. / The application issues included assessment of the following: goodness of fit of the model, measurement of change, correlates of change, estimation of mean growth curves of student achievement, estimation of school effects, comparison of school effects across schools, stability of school effects, and examination of variability of school effects across schools and time. Most attention was given to studying school effects longitudinally. / It was shown that the three approaches can be applied for two major purposes of school effectiveness studies: better understanding of the determinants of student outcome, and comparison of school effects across schools. The first purpose could be addressed by the fixed effects and the second by the random effects. / The three approaches provide their own unique representations of school-effect estimation. If the school effect on the individual student achievement growth is the main concern, the growth-curve approach can be used. If the change over time of the school effect is the main concern, use of the stability approach over the school-effect approach is recommended. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-02, Section: A, page: 0656. / Major Professor: Richard L. Tate. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Thanks in large part to the influence of major donor agencies, economic analysis has become the dominant metaphor for evaluating the performance of education systems in developing countries. This dissertation examines the role of economic analysis in educational policy making in developing nations through case study of an education and human resources sector assessment conducted in the Republic of Haiti under financing from the United States Agency for International Development (AID). / In the first major portion of the study, a wide range of theoretical literature is reviewed in order to generate a series of interpretive frameworks for analyzing the contributions of economics to education. The nature of the contextual situation in Haiti and of that country's position in international relations is likewise examined. In the second major portion of the study, three aspects of the Haiti sector assessment are presented: the genesis of sector assessment methodology; the actual conduct of the assessment in Haiti; and the longer-term consequences of that work. / From comparison of the various interpretive frameworks developed with the data derived from the Haiti sector assessment experience, the study concludes that the basic tools and approaches of economic analysis can be very helpful in revealing the nature of linkages between education and the economy and contributing to better management and planning of the education system. However, heavy concentration on techniques and concepts drawn from neoclassical economics to the exclusion of other approaches detracts from the contribution of economics to assessment practice and from the contribution of sector assessment to the concerns of educational planning in developing countries. This distortion may be explained in part by the role that neoclassical economics and its particular operationalization of efficiency concepts currently play in legitimating foreign technical expertise, limiting debate about policy options and justifying retrenchment in donor assistance. Recommendations are made concerning improvements in sector assessment methodology and modified roles for economics in educational policy making. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-03, Section: A, page: 0660. / Major Professor: George John Papagiannis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

The purpose of this study was (1) to assess how successful a physical therapy program was in socializing students into the profession, and to determine whether students internalize the values promoted by the program and continue to follow them in later practice, and (2) to learn whether differences among physical therapists in their professional ethics and values can be predicted based on their gender, age of entry into the program, and race. / It was hypothesized that the school has an effect on both socialization and internalization of professional values. It was also predicted that gender, race and age would have an effect on participants' professional ethics and values. / The study was conducted at Florida A&M University, a traditionally black school; the population was the current junior and senior classes in the physical therapy program, and the graduates of the program in the preceding three years. There were ultimately 142 participants: 45 juniors, 40 seniors, and 57 graduates. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1311. / Major Professor: John G. Bock. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This study examined whether students' actual opinions of traditional and modern roles for males and females in the school system was consistent with the policy of sex equity of the Ministry of Education in Iraq. / More specifically, the study sought to determine the extent to which sex, age, family income, father's education, and mother's education affected students' attitudes toward male and female roles in the family, education, and occupations. / The sample size was 720 subjects. A questionnaire was used to measure students' sex-role flexibility in relation to sex-role stereotype about occupations, home jobs, school jobs, work and family, education, and friends. / The data were analyzed by analysis of variance in addition to descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and frequency distribution. / The study results indicated the following: (1) Sex and age had significant effect on all the variables. (2) Socioeconomic status of the family had no significant effect on students' attitudes toward occupation, home jobs, school jobs, and work and family, but it had a significant effect on students' attitudes toward education and friends. (3) Fathers' educational levels had no significant effect on students' attitudes toward occupation, home jobs, and school jobs, but it had a significant effect on work and family, education, and friends. (4) Mothers' educational levels had no significant effect on students' attitude toward occupations and home jobs, but they had a significant effect on work and family role, education and friends. / The findings of this study support part of the previous research on sex-role stereotype in three domains--education, family role, and occupations--in both Arab and non-Arab countries. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4082. / Major Professor: Byron G. Massialas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

A review of literature on the socialization of graduate students in higher education was conducted and eleven elements of socialization were identified. Most of the research/writing on these eleven elements was found to have been evaluated and discussed with respect to how the findings could be generalized across disciplines. However, Biglan's findings suggest that differences inherent to certain disciplines will occasion differences in socialization processes and structures. Biglan identified three dimensions into which different disciplines fall. He labelled these dimensions "hard/soft," "pure/applied," and "life/non-life." / Biglan's work indicates that inherent characteristics of academic discipline affect differences in the socialization of faculty and of departmental chairpersons. No studies were found which investigated if this dynamic is also applicable to graduate students. The current study was an attempt to determine if the socialization processes and structures differ from discipline to discipline in a manner consistent with Biglan's predictions. / Socialization can be affected by pre-existing characteristics of individuals who enter a socializing environment, the processes and structures established to affect socialization, and the product resulting from the interaction effect of the first two. This study was limited to the study of the second characteristic. / The processes and structures related to four of the eleven elements of socialization were statistically compared across the disciplines. The elements utilized for study were sequestration, paradigm, apprenticeship, and sanctioning and the disciplines used were chemistry and educational administration. / The resultant profiles of student responses from each discipline were compared via t-tests. These tests indicated that significant differences in the intensity of socialization processes and structures by element do exist between the two disciplines. The survey items representing each element were also tested individually to determine which items produced statistically significant results. Statistical tests were also conducted to determine the effects of selected control variables. It was determined that the differences between the disciplines is predominantly an effect of discipline. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0817. / Major Professor: David W. Leslie. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

This study examined the development of public policies on AIDS in the public education delivery system of Florida through December, 1986. The study provided insights into how AIDS education policies have been formed in Florida, in which arenas the policy formation process has taken place, and how the interplay between technical knowledge and the political process has mediated the education policy formation process. / Three conceptual models of policy formation and decision-making were used as analytical frameworks from which to study state and local education policy initiatives on AIDS: the rationalist model (Easton, 1953); the organizational model (Simon, 1957; Simon and March, 1958; Simon and Cyert, 1963); and the bureaucratic-politics model (Allison and Halperin, 1972). From the research it can be concluded that of the three models, the bureaucratic-politics model best explained the policy formation process on AIDS and public school in Florida. The strengths of the model included the recognition of organizational patterns as well as individual interests on the policy formation process. / In the three models discussed, little place exists for a systematic inclusion of a cultural or contexual explanation. Based on the analysis conducted, the study suggests that the bureaucratic-politics model could be modified to include an explicit cultural component. An expanded version of the model would provide a conceptual framework from which the interplay between cultural considerations, organizational behaviors, and individual interests could be better understood. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: A, page: 0358. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Lebanese elementary school textbooks (reading and civics) were content analyzed to determine if attributes of a modern person, specifically modern sex attributes, were represented. The study aimed at challenging Lerner's (1966) findings which attributed the modernity of the Lebanese society to the country's educational system. If education contributes to modernity, the textbooks, which are the major tool of instruction in Lebanon, should portray men and women equally holding modern attributes. The analysis was narrative and pictorial. The character was used as the unit of analysis. Intercoder reliability ranged from.9 to 1.0. / Results of the study showed that for the narrative analysis, males were portrayed as modern regarding age, identity, setting, roles, activities, and traits. Females were portrayed as modern on one factor only--identity. Males and females were portrayed in traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine occupations, respectively. Sexism appeared when the number of males was greater than the number of females portrayed, and when males were the majority in secondary and primary roles held by all characters. / For the pictorial content analysis, only males were portrayed as modern on one factor: activities. Sexism appeared when more males than females were portrayed in illustrations, and when the number of pictures with more males was greater than the number of pictures with more females. Also, when sex was not identified in the text, the majority of characters portrayed were males. / Lerner's findings were challenged as the Lebanese textbooks did not portray males and females equally in all modern attributes, especially in sex roles. / Results of this study confirmed several previous research studies and contradicted others. The portrayal of males and females as modern in some aspects and traditional in others is a reflection of the "schizophrenic neopatriarchal" nature of the Arab society where it is hard to find a truly modern or a truly traditional person or institution. / Recommendations for further research and policy issues were developed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-12, Section: A, page: 3088. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.