No description available.

<p> This research looks at HMI through the context of marriage and family life of Pentecostal faith communities and how a religious educative and ministerial lens can strengthen such programs in local churches. Through historical and secondary analyses, the researcher examines the history, evolution and examples of recent HMI evaluations. The study is informed by, recent sociological studies, feminist theology and religious education experts. The work proposes how Healthy Marriage Initiatives within congregational settings can be strengthened through religious educative, spiritual, and pastoral responses to marriage and family life within faith communities.</p>

Educational policy analysts argue that the ability to make informed decisions is severely compromised by the lack of data collection and assessment activities surrounding the effects of reform initiatives. This ongoing issue has implications for decisions not only at the local school level, but also reaches beyond into decisions affecting district, state, and national concerns. Florida, like many states, has invested a considerable amount of time, effort, and resources in the development of legislation that is founded on the fundamental belief that the redirection of decision-making authority and control will have a positive impact on school performance and/or student achievement. The underlying assumption, however, has never been proven. / This study investigated the large assumptions that are the foundation for major state initiatives, including accountability and school improvement. Intended as an exploratory study, this inquiry presents a realistic picture of a restructuring initiative in practice, specifically, site-based decision making in one Florida school district. Although alluding to, but not directly addressing the causal linkage, if any, between the decentralization of governance and the performance of schools, this research serves as a necessary first step in better understanding how governance and school improvement are related. / The research strategy was based on the critical integration of grounded theory concepts (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), with strategies associated with naturalistic/qualitative inquiry (Lincoln & Guba, 1985), and methods of case study research (Yin, 1984). Data gathered from interviews, document analysis, and observation provided the evidence for a grounded theory discussion around three areas: (1) school improvement in the district was defined and operationalized as a change in governance; (2) school improvement through shared decision making progressed along a continuum of change; and (3) school improvement through shared decision making was reiterative in nature along the continuum of change. Suggestions for future research are also discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2664. / Major Professor: Joseph C. Beckham. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This study attempts to estimate the effect of education and other variables on individuals' earnings in rural Liberia. Using data from the Liberian Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs' 1976 Household Expenditure Survey, nonlinear regression analyses support the basic tenet of neoclassical human capital theory: Education had a positive effect on earnings in rural Liberia. / When the model was stratified into male vs. female, public vs. private sector and primary vs. secondary vs. informal labor markets to determine if "comparable" workers received different earnings, the results suggested that education paid more for men than women; that women were discriminated against in the private sector; and that education had different payoffs in different sectors and segments of the labor market. / The results of the labor segmentation model offers some evidence that labor market segmentation matters. It was demonstrated that individuals with the same level of education will have substantially different starting salaries in each market, with the primary labor market paying considerably more than the secondary and informal markets. / Policy measures recommended here based on the results of this study include the provision of more primary education in rural Liberia to alleviate poverty and serve as an income equalizing factor and the intervention of government by mandating equal employment opportunity in the private and public sector for both males and females. / This study suggests the need for more in-depth research in rural Liberia. Such a study could provide more and better information about how education could be used to promote development in rural Liberia. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-08, Section: A, page: 2173. / Major Professor: Steven J. Klees. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This interpretive case study was designed to describe the classroom goals and roles of two high school students enrolled in a physics course. The interpretation also consisted of the participating students' views of their teacher's classroom roles. Goals and roles were examined in light of the participating students' perceived and preferred classroom learning environments. / Qualitative data were constructed from 95 hours of classroom observations and 18 hours of audio recorded interviews with the two participating students. The interviews focused on classroom goals and roles, the teacher's role in the classroom, and other salient issues which emerged in the physics classroom. / Student stories were constructed from the interview and observation data. Data were organized with the aid of a qualitative computer software program. Emerging thematic patterns were woven into storylines focusing on: (1) understanding mechanics, (2) ethics, and (3) gender. These three themes were interpreted in the context of the participating students' perceived and preferred physics classroom learning environments. / It was problematic for one of the participating students, named Sally (a pseudonym), to understand the mechanics associated with the assigned textbook word problems. Sally was a novice physics learner who did not make the connection between the mathematical solutions to the word problems and mechanics. However, Sally excelled in the mousetrap car and egg drop container physics projects. The other participating student, named Frank (a pseudonym), wanted the teacher to illustrate how to solve the word problems and lecture over the mechanics. / At the beginning of the trimester, Sally's classroom goals were to learn physics and earn a good grade. Learning physics became a secondary goal for Sally as the term progressed. Frank's primary goal was to learn physics. His secondary classroom goals were to earn a good grade and be entertained. / Ethical issues which emerged in this study centered upon Sally's honesty and Frank's courage in the classroom. A significant gender issue was that Sally sought a caring relationship with the male teacher to facilitate her understanding of mechanics. Frank considered caring relationships less important to facilitate his learning. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-11, Section: A, page: 4339. / Major Professor: Kenneth G. Tobin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This study examined rural education scholars' claims that educational policy makers should pay more attention to location variables: rural, suburban and urban. The policy issue chosen was teacher job satisfaction in Florida. Based on rural education theories, the researcher expected to find distinct differences between rural and urban teachers on factors of job satisfaction. Differences found in this study would support these rural scholars' claims. / The research questions of this study were: (1) Does a difference exist between rural teachers' and urban teachers' perceptions of factors influencing their job satisfaction? (2) What is the nature of the difference, if any? (3) Can the difference found, or lack of such, be explained by existing rural education theories? / A secondary analysis of data from the Florida Educational Standards Commission (FESC) was conducted. The survey contained three parts: (1) structured questions on job satisfiers; (2) open-ended questions on teachers' three major dissatisfiers; and (3) demographic information. A random sample of 201 Florida teachers was selected. The survey achieved a 100 percent response rate. / The analyses included: (1) a comparison of response frequencies by urban, suburban, and rural groups; and (2) a discriminant analysis by factor on the structured questions. Six job satisfaction factors were developed by grouping survey items according to operationalized factors in the literature. / A statistically significant difference between groups was found. The difference found, however, was between rural and suburban teachers, whereas differences were anticipated between rural and urban teachers. This makes sense theoretically since the dominant educational model has been Conant's consolidated, suburban school. A major recommendation was that rural educators need to make careful distinctions between "urban" and "suburban." Statistically significant findings were: (1) community differentiates rural and suburban teachers; (2) professional development differentiates the primary and secondary teachers; and (3) internal school management differentiates the primary and secondary teachers by rural and suburban locations. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-08, Section: A, page: 2051. / Major Professor: Sydney R. Grant. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

The purpose of this study was to conceptually and empirically validate the five generic components and the systems nature of Snyder's Comprehensive Vision System (CVS). Another purpose of this study was to determine the utility of the CVS as a tool for guiding the process of developing a comprehensive organization vision and using that vision to prompt action by the internal organization members for organization improvement initiatives. The validation process was conducted using an exploratory, single case study research design. The unit of analysis in this case study was a single, urban high school in Central Florida. / The major conclusions about schools and vision development are that (a) organizational vision development is in its infancy, and (b) some fundamental features of schools as an organization and as a social system are being overlooked by organizational leaders and members as important considerations that influence the effective functioning and health of the organization. The major conclusions regarding the systems nature of the CVS are that it (a) expands the concept of the school as a social system and may be incorporated into an enhanced representation of this social system nature, and (b) represents some foundational components of an organization as a social system that require constant and purposeful attention in order to understand and enhance the organizational health and competence of that organization. The major conclusion regarding the CVS as a tool is that it (a) guides the development of a site-specific, comprehensive organizational vision. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0763. / Major Professor: William R. Snyder. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Indiana University, 2007. / Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 24, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-01, Section: A, page: 0191.

Adolescents at this age seriously contemplate who they are, who their friends are, and with whom they belong. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the characteristics of classroom membership as perceived by middle school students themselves and for their classmates with severe disabilities. Two inclusive middle schools were selected which consisted of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade levels. A total of fifty-one middle school students participated in the main study, of whom four students had severe disabilities. Seven focus group discussions and 16 individual interviews were conducted to obtain a fuller understanding of students' descriptions of perceptions on classroom membership for students with and without severe disabilities. Videotaped recordings were made in the inclusive classrooms such as science, math, art, and drama. Interview data analysis was conducted following the coding procedures such as the constant comparative method used in qualitative research. Videotaped observation notes were analyzed to confirm findings obtained from the interviews. In general, findings showed that middle school students perceived that having friends in class, peer interactions, actively participating in the class activities, and obtaining good grades indicated a student was a member of the class. Students perceived that teachers made them feel like members when the teachers respected them, treated them equally, had no favorites, appreciated students' work, and called on everybody to participate in the class. Students associated class activities with classroom membership. They felt part of the class when class work was fun, active, interesting, and meaningful. Students perceived similar indicators of membership for their classmates with severe disabilities. In conclusion, findings provided implications for teachers to facilitate membership and a sense of belonging for middle school students with and without disabilities in their inclusive classrooms.

This dissertation explores the connections between the institutions of work, family, and school as revealed through a team ethnography study of two southern Louisiana communities. The study focused on the gathering of first-hand accounts of the cultural, social, and economic continuum of changes that local households and individuals are experiencing in relation to the vicissitudes of employment in the oil and gas industry and the various ways in which household members negotiated, accommodated, and resisted the impacts. This dissertation also reports on a collaborative research methodology that employed a "funds of knowledge" approach that situated public school teacher-researchers as crucial local members of the project team. Their position as insiders within the local schools and households grounded the research process and provided the team with multiple member checks that helped to validate and authenticate the research. As a background to the analyses undertaken here, this study reviews the relevant literature on structure and agency as well as critical educational studies of social reproduction and cultural production. Finally, suggestions are made as to possible directions public schools might take to critically connect schools to work and communities.