Ed. D.

The resurgence of public concern about the effectiveness of schools has brought with it a renewed appreciation of the importance of the principal in the educational process. Most preparation programs for school administrators now require some type of internship or field experience. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding about mentor-protege relationships and the personal and contextual factors affecting those relationships in a regional program for the preparation of principals. Mentor-protege relationships were examined through the collection and analysis of demographic data, scores on a semantic differential, scores used to measure compatibility of personality traits (FIRO-B), and in-depth interviews. The personal and professional questionnaire and semantic differential were both developed by Martha Cobble. Data for four of the six dyads in this study were collected but not analyzed by Cobble in her exploratory study describing mentor-protege relationships in a regional program for the preparation of principals. The findings of this study indicated that mentors were important to the career development of proteges in educational settings. Close personal and professional relationships developed between mentors and proteges, and both populations stressed professional aspects of their relationships over social aspects. The mentors' ability to plan meaningful activities and experiences based on their administrative experience was more important to the development of the relationships than were demographic factors such as age and gender. This study should extend the generalizability of Cobble's work and be of interest to mentors, proteges, and others wanting to learn more about mentoring in educational administration. / Ph. D.

The famous decision of the United States Supreme Court in <u>Brown v. Board of Education</u>, 347 US. 483 (1954), ruled that racial segregation in public education was constitutional. This decision was met with resistance from many of Virginia's white citizens, because the ruling attempted to alter the state's dual system of education. The education of white and colored students (as they were called in the 1950's) was based on the philosophy of "separate but equal ..." This study offers a historical analysis of industrial arts education programs offered to blacks from 1951-69, as the state moved to comply with the Brown decision. Special attention is directed to the leadership role played by Dr. William T. Reed, an itinerant teacher-trainer based at Virginia State College, the Commonwealth's land-grant institution for blacks. Industrial arts activities for blacks centered around the land-grant institution in Virginia as in other states. As a result of integration called for in Brown many of the black schools have closed, their names have changed, and in many cases high schools have converted to junior high and combination schools. The organizations for teachers and students have merged with their white counterparts or have been discontinued. Four specific questions served as the framework for the investigation and were used to draw conclusions to the findings. Conclusions 1. What were the characteristics of the publicly supported secondary education programs of industrial arts education which were offered to blacks in Virginia prior to the Supreme court’s ruling in the school segregation case known as the Brown decision? Industrial arts education programs prior to the Brown decision were: (1) Considered a component of trade and industrial education; (2) Were oriented more toward industrial education or skill preparation; (3) Teachers were prepared in industrial education; (4) Programs were more common in the city school divisions and more common in high schools with grades eight through twelve; (5) Facilities or shop designs were usually of the comprehensive type; and (6) Fewer funds were allotted to black industrial arts education programs for equipment, supplies, and teacher’ salaries in comparison to the white programs in the state. 2. What effect did the Brown decision have on industrial arts education programs for blacks? The Brown decision did not have an altering effect until the mid-1960s on the characteristics of industrial arts education programs offered to blacks. 3. How did the transition from segregated to desegregated schools affect industrial arts education programs? Black and white industrial arts education programs remained unchanged until the mid-sixties as school systems began to establish policies to integrate faculty and student populations. Blacks schools and programs closed, teachers were displaced, programs discontinued and names of schools and organizations changed. 4. How were these programs supervised at the state level? Industrial arts education programs between the years of 1951 through 1969 were supervised under’ the service area of the division of trade and industrial education and industrial arts education. Each year the director of trade and industrial education and industrial arts education of the Department. of Education appointed an assistant state supervisor to assume the overall responsibilities of industrial arts supervision and instruction. This person worked with Dr. William T. Reed, an itinerant teacher-educator with part-time teacher education responsibilities at Virginia State College and part-time supervision duties with the Department of Education. / Ed. D.

The traditional high school program is not appropriate for all students. Some students cannot cope with the pressures from social! family background, personal problems (independent of social/family) and school factors, and thus look to relieve these pressures outside of the educational system. The combination of these pressures, or risk factors, can cause a student to become a high school dropout, resulting in negative educational, social, and financial consequences to self and the nation. No single alternative will solve the dropout problem; however, studies have found that alternative programs can play a major role in the reduction of the dropout rate by enabling students to complete their secondary education. In order to better address the dropout issue, there is a need to document the history of an alternative education program, to gain understanding of a special population, and to obtain current information that can contribute to the improvement of services to dropouts. This study focused on the establishment and development of an alternative-adult high school program, located in suburban Virginia, from 1955 to 1993. The research questions were: 1. What were the social, political, and educational conditions which contributed to the establishment of this alternative-adult high school program? 2. What program characteristics were operable during the existence of this program? 3. In what ways did the program evolve over time, and how did evaluation feedback contribute to this evolution? Data were compiled and analyzed from student survey results, in-depth interviews with faculty, and archival documents. Findings indicated that the adult education movement, integration, and financial commitment from local school board contributed to the establishment of the program. Furthermore, the major program characteristics that were operable included dedicated and caring staff, a supportive learning environment, and flexible scheduling. Evaluation was based on enrollment, graduation, and dropout figures as well as informal assessment. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between teachers' safety attitudes and their instructional practices and to determine the relationship between teachers’ safety attitudes and instructional practices and the number of years of teaching and work experience they had gained. A survey instrument composed of an Attitude Inventory, an Instructional Practices Inventory, and a section on number of years of teaching and work experience was constructed and tested for this study. A panel of experts assisted in validating the content of the survey instrument and the grouping of items into the six categories: Safety Responsibility, Liability, Directing Learning, Laboratory Organization, Teaching Aids, and Pupil Personnel Services, Reliability was established through computation of the Cronbach Alpha coefficients. The survey instrument was mailed to a random selection of 285 of the 1068 industrial arts teachers listed in the Virginia Industrial Arts Teachers! Directory, 1978-79. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed for responses on the Attitude Inventory with those on the Instructional Practices Inventory for the Liability Category, the Teaching Aids Category and for the overall scores on each inventory. Additionally, correlations were computed for years of teaching experience and years of industrial work experience with responses on the Safety Attitude Inventory and the Instructional Practices Inventory overall and for two categories. The categories used in those comparisons were those which were found to have a meaningful reliability coefficient, Liability and Teaching Aids. Each of the total inventories had meaningful reliability coefficients. The analysis of data revealed little if any correlation (0.20) between overall responses to the Safety Attitude Inventory and overall responses to the Instructional Practices Inventory and little if any correlation between attitudes and instructional practices in the categories--Liability (0.17) and Teaching Aids (0.12). No significant relationship was found between number of years of teaching experience and overall responses to the Safety Attitude Inventory or to the Instructional Practices Inventory. No significant relationship was found between number of years of industrial work experience and overall responses to the Safety Attitude Inventory or to the Instructional Practices Inventory. Little if any correlation (0.19) was found between the Liability category of the Safety Attitude Inventory and work experience, and little if any correlation was found between the Liability category (0.17) and the Teaching Aids category (0.15) of the Instructional Practices Inventory and work experience. From the analysis of data it was concluded that: 1. Safety attitudes expressed by industrial arts education teachers may not be considered as predictors of their instructional practices relating to safety. 2. Industrial work experience is not an important variable in determining the safety attitudes or instructional practices of industrial arts education teachers. 3. The number of years of teaching experience gained by industrial arts education teachers has no effect on safety attitudes or instructional practices of industrial arts education teachers. / Ph. D.

The courts have determined that for some handicapped children to derive "educational benefit" from their schooling an extension of the school year, beyond the traditional 180 day school year, may be required. The current study describes Extended School Year (ESY) program implementation in the field, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and identifies potential gaps and inadequacies that exist between implementation and case law. A survey instrument was mailed to a purposive stratified random sample of the directors of special education across large and small school districts (with a student population) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. All forty-two of the school divisions surveyed responded to the questionnaire. Data from the survey included descriptive information regarding: the education and training of respondents; services offered to handicapped students beyond 180 days; and criteria for making an ESY determination. A two-year follow-up survey of the same school divisions examined changes in the implementation of ESY services. Survey data were analyzed to reveal points in case law that current practice does not address and practice that is congruent with case law. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to learn about mentoring relationships in a principal preparation program, the contexts in which they developed, and the influence of personality traits on relationships. Relationships between four pairs of mentors and proteges were described using data collected with a questionnaire, a semantic differential, the FIRO-B (Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation), and in-depth interviews. Analyses of data identified variables associated with mentor-protege relationships and their influence on relationships. The variables that played a role in the formation of relationships were age, gender, experience, proximity, school division support, program design, time, and family support. The semantic differential proved to be an indicator of relationships while FIRO-B was inconclusive. This study should be beneficial to mentors, proteges, and others interested in learning more about mentoring relationships in educational administration. / Ed. D.

This is a study designed to determine whether the 1988-89 method of distributing state pupil transportation funds in Virginia met generally accepted standards of quality for such distribution methods, and whether the method of distributing pupil transportation funds served to enhance fiscal equalization in Virginia by properly taking into account cost factors that vary among the Commonwealth1s local school districts? Relevant literature was examined to identify generally accepted standards of quality for pupil transportation funding formulae and to identify cost factors that are generally accepted as exerting an influence on the costs of operating a local pupil transportation program. Second, information and data were gathered to provide measurements of generally accepted evaluative criteria and generally accepted cost factors that had previously been identified. It was concluded that the Virginia pupil transportation funding formula, as proposed by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission and adopted by the General Assembly, meets generally accepted standards for efficiency, objectivity, and reliability, but fails to meet standards for simplicity and equity. It was also concluded that the Virginia pupil transportation funding formula does not enhance fiscal equalization through proper consideration of cost factors that vary among local school districts in Virginia. Five recommendations were offered. First, the current Matrix System method of recognizing costs for purposes of state pupil transportation fund distribution should be replaced by one of three formulae developed through the study, all three of which are substantially more accurate than the Matrix System in approximating existing costs. Second, an effort should be made to provide a comprehensive but understandable description of the method of state pupil transportation fund distribution in Virginia. Third, the methods used in the body of the study should be duplicated by a state agency with ready access to accurate and current data pertaining to pupil transportation costs and cost factors in Virginia. Fourth, the Pupil Transportation Division of the Virginia Department of Education should be more directly involved in the administration of state pupil transportation funds. And fifth, the practice of basing current pupil transportation fund distribution on data more than one year old should be discontinued. / Ed. D.

This investigation included the study of the 102 business graduates of Covington High School for the years 1946-1950. This study was made to determine what use the business graduates had made of the business subjects they satisfactory completed. / Master of Science

This study described the state policy-making process as it was affected by the impact of the 1976 Federal Vocational Amendments. The roles of the state level actors were investigated in order to explain the process by which policy was developed. The impact on the local division was analyzed in terms of importance, action taken, and impact as these related to the issues of Sex Stereotyping, Local Advisory Council, Vocational Guidance, and the Assurances on Administrative and Fiscal Matters. The data were first viewed in aggregation and then as perceived by type of respondent, as well as by size, type, and geographical region of the school division. The major findings of the study were: 1. That the policy-making process at the state level was a complex array of assignments, committees, state officers, and staff. 2. The State Plan and Accountability Report Committee was the most influential actor in the policy process with the State Advisory Council placing second in importance. 3. In terms of prior action before the 1976 Vocational Amendments, little had taken place at the local level. 4. In terms of impact, the 1976 Vocational Amendments had only a moderately low to moderate effect on school organizations as reported by Superintendents and Vocational Directors. 5. As reported by respondents, school division size, type, and geographic region, only the issue of Sex Stereotyping produced an adjudged difference in impact. 6. Partial correlations across the relationships of importance to impact, importance to action taken, and action taken to impact revealed moderate to low relationships. 7. The conclusions of this investigation were, at the state level, that the development of the Five-Year Plan for Vocational Education was carried out with very few changes from the draft that was formulated by the State Plan and Accountability Report Committee and that the State Plan and Accountability Report Committee played a unique and important role in the policy process. At the lowest level, the 1976 Vocational Amendments required the local divisions to focus attention and resources on the selected issues. Although the Amendments required the school divisions to take action, only a moderate effect had been reported by the localities on their school division organization. At the local level, the 1976 Vocational Amendments required the local divisions to focus attention and resources on the selected issues. Although the Amendments required the school divisions to take action, only a moderate effect had been reported by the localities on their school division organization. / Ed. D.