The purpose of this study was to determine if the National Middle School Association (NMSA) has been consistent with its written purposes, organizational structure, administrative leadership, publications, conferences, finances, and membership. An investigation was made of NMSA's records from its inception in 1970 through 1980. Personal and telephone interviews were conducted with leaders of NMSA. A compilation of happenings, past works, problems and accomplishments of the Association was made available to those interested in the history of NMSA. The specific objectives of this study were the following: (1) to provide a written historical record of NMSA during its first decade; (2) to critically analyze the Association according to its written purposes, organizational structures, administrative leadership, publications, conferences, financial status and membership; and (3) to examine NMSA's past experiences in order to provide information concerning its future. The research procedure and methodology established a base for a review of available records including minutes of Board of Directors meetings, committee reports, official publications of NMSA, personal interviews, telephone interviews and letters from NMSA leaders. The files of the Executive Director and NMSA central office files were also investigated. The findings of the study indicated that during the first decade, NMSA grew from a group of twenty-two Midwestern middle school educators to a national group of almost two thousand members. The working staff of NMSA grew from a small, all-volunteer group to a professional staff of a full-time Executive Director, Executive Assistant, and secretaries working in the headquarters in Fairborn, Ohio. Services provided for the membership changed from a copy machine newsletter to the professional Middle School Journal, quarterly newsletter, bonus publications and regional and national conferences. The major accomplishments of the Association were: (1) promotion of the middle school concept; (2) providing of quality publications; (3) sharing ideas and research; and (4) providing a forum for all people interested in middle grades students. The conclusions of this study indicated that the initial ideas set forth by the founders were well intended. However, they were altered due to the myriad forces that fragmented middle school education. This fragmentation made imperative that new policies and organizational structure be established and changed constantly. These changes, though considered by the leadership to be necessary, served to disjoint the Association, hindering its anticipated growth.

The purpose of this study was to write a comprehensive historical analysis of compulsory education in the United States from its inception in the colonies through 1984. The study attempts to analyze the elements of the origin, developments, and trends. The majority of the primary sources of this historical study were literary and were taken from numerous sources including United States Supreme Court decisions, congressional legislation, opinions of the Attorney Generals of the United States and various states. Some of the major conclusions derived from this study were as follows: (1) There had been numerous laws passed to put the issue of compulsory education on a national scale. (2) The courts became more involved and influential in the interpretation of compulsory education laws. (3) Wars and depressions had not had significant effect on compulsory education. (4) Compulsory education laws were used as a means of providing social, economic, and political freedom. (5) The promise of compulsory education to narrow the gap between the poor and wealthy was rarely achieved. Public education did not always afford equal opportunity. For example, per capita expenditures on public education vary from state to state and county to county. Some of the major recommendations as a result of this study included: (1) The role of the Federal government in public education should be limited. (2) Courts should act in an advisory capacity to constantly review and revise laws relative to education. The role of the courts should be watched carefully so they will not interfere with state laws. Some of the major findings as a result of this study include: (1) The desire for political freedom had been one of the leading, if not the original motivation, for compulsory education. (2) The 1954 case (Brown v. Board of Education) revealed that compulsory education must be carried out in an atmosphere of equality for all races. (3) Court decisions such as the Pierce Case which upheld dual school systems and the Brown Case which promoted the principle that separate does not mean equal upheld some aspects of the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

This case study focuses on changes in the administrative structure for public extension education in Florida between 1947 and 1965. Structure is defined as centralized or decentralized according to the locus of organizational authority, power, and accountability. The analysis explores the relationship between centralization and decentralization and the internal determinants of organizational size, task complexity, and client size and the external determinants of socio-economic and political environments. / Post-war changes in the administration of public higher education in Florida followed a national trend, meeting increased public demand through decentralization as reflected in the expansion of existing institutions and creation of new ones. The concurrent demand for funding of this expansion produced a counter movement for centralized accountability through stronger statewide governance. / Following this trend, Florida's institutions agitated for shifting responsibility for extension education to the individual institutions and away from the historically centralized structure under the General Extension Division at the University of Florida. In 1961, however, strong demands from business and Florida's unique space technology industry led the Executive branch to further centralize extension in the Florida Institute for Continuing University Studies (FICUS) to attain a more immediate and accountable response to public need. Institutional and legislative branch acceptance of FICUS was low, and with a change in the Executive branch, extension was decentralized to the institutions in 1965. / This study emphasizes public higher education's dual existence in the academic and political worlds. It presents an excellent example of the impact of the political world on higher education when it is perceived that the academic community is unresponsive. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0689. / Major Professors: Allan Tucker; John S. Waggaman. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

Previous research on Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) has focused on his role as an apologist of the Old South. Dabney, professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, was certainly an unreconstructed Southerner. But his influence on American culture extends beyond the confines of Southern life and thought. This dissertation attempts to focus on Dabney's contribution to a larger theme in the American theological tradition. The thesis of this dissertation is that Dabney was a source of fundamentalist thought in the American theological tradition. The following questions are discussed in this dissertation: (1) What were Dabney's views on Scripture, the atonement, modern science, secular education, and millennialism? All of these topics were a concern for fundamentalists. (2) What were the relationship and parallels between Dabney and the Princeton theologians on the above mentioned topics? This question is important because the Princetonians are recognized as a source of fundamentalist thought in America. (3) What were the direct influences and parallels between Dabney and fundamentalism in the southern Presbyterian church? I will pay particular attention to Thomas Cary Johnson (1859-1936), an acknowledged fundamentalist and a professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia from 1913 until 1930. This study focuses on the development of conservative Christian thought in American religion and is, therefore, a study in the "history of ideas". / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-11, Section: A, page: 3966. / Major Professor: Leo Sandon. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

This paper traces the effects of romantic idealism promulgated in John Ruskin's (1814-1900), aesthetic, socio-economic and educational theories to the crafts revival in the Highland region of Southern Appalachia at the turn of the century. It follows the influence of Ruskin's thought through the Arts and Crafts Movement and the androgogical practices of American urban settlement houses and connects it with the Appalachian settlement schools' curriculum and goals. / The personal and social factors impelling Ruskin's revolt against Victorian social Darwinism and scientific materialism of the burgeoning industrial revolution are outlined. Ruskin's claim that only a just culture produces great art, and that aesthetic values reveal moral values is examined for its immediate implications and applications in reforming arts education and practice. His attempts to reform labor conditions and foster handicraft is scrutinized. Some early English and American school and workshop experiments based on this model are reviewed. / Ruskin's thought, first published in Modern Painters in 1843, inspired the English Arts and Crafts Movement. Led by William Morris, its founders combined democratic and socialist ideals with romantic idealism, and shaped handicraft education and manufacture along egalitarian and cooperative lines. The emphasis on arts and crafts education in early settlement houses is traced to these influences. / An examination of primary documents of certain Appalachian settlement schools and of their leaders link their values to Ruskin's romantic idealism, revealing close ties with the Arts and Crafts Movement and the urban settlement houses. The conclusion suggests that the revival of handicrafts in the Southern Appalachians was strongly affected by romantic idealism's veneration of handicrafts as a mode of instilling social values and building a sense of community, and offers suggestions for the relevance of romantic idealism to modern androgogical practices. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-06, Section: A, page: 1993. / Major Professor: Charles M. Dorn. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2005. Action Research Paper (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-44).

This dissertation is a historical examination of citizenship education in the United States, beginning in the late nineteenth century with the Progressive era, and extending into the 1970s with multiculturalism. It focuses on the thought of education scholars, historians, and. political theorists throughout the twentieth century. It examines their efforts to define citizenship in the United States, and how that idea should be presented to students in the classroom. In doing so, this dissertation examines the manner in which the events of the twentieth century dramatically influenced the collective understanding of what being a "good citizen" means in the United States; and it considers the consequences of these changes in relationship to how children have been taught to engage in social and political life. It begins with a discussion of civic learning under the educational philosophies of social pedagogy and social efficiency in the Progressive era. It continues with an examination of the consequences of World War I and the Great Depression on the thought of educational scholars concerning citizenship education. This is followed by an analysis of the transition from Progressive education to Essentialist education in the middle of the century, and the consequences this had on civic education in the Cold War and Civil Rights Movement. This dissertation concludes by considering how the events of the twentieth century have influenced citizenship education in the era of standardization and globalization. Ultimately, this study finds that our understanding of citizenship, as it is expressed in the school curriculum, is profoundly influenced by our collective understanding of civic ideals and the American identity. These ideals and this identity are an evolving construct that is, in turn, influenced by the ideas and events of the period. Therefore, what is often perceived as a decline in citizenship education in schools, is actually a shift in the values of citizenship.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of History, 2007. / Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 25, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0713. Adviser: John H. Hanson.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-139).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Christopher M. Span. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-247) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.