The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is funding and supporting a longitudinal study of Early Child Care. Beginning in 1991, data was collected from ten sites across the United States and included 1,364 families with a newborn child. This study used the NICHD Early Child Care data set to investigate characteristics of teachers that provide childcare in a daycare-like setting or childcare centers. Specifically, the relationship between early childhood teacher endorsement of developmentally appropriate belief systems and teacher education in early childhood were examined to determine their potential influence on the teachers' developmentally appropriate classroom practices, global rating of classroom quality, and child cognitive abilities. These relationships were examined at two time periods- at child age 36 months and child age 54 months. The results indicated that many of these relationships were significant. Interestingly, many of the significant findings were present only at child age 54 months.

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In response to the changes brought about by globalization, colleges and universities around the \Vorld are increasingly developing and expanding the 4 internationalization programs on their campuses. One important aspect of these programs that is often highlighted by institutions in their mission statements is the development of global citizenship among graduates. However, despite the rhetorical claims and apparent intemationalization activity aimed at producing global citizens, many recent reports suggest that most institutions in North America and elsewhere have not been successful in this goal. Two common issues in this failure are a Jack of clarity in the definition and purpose of global citizenship education, and Jack of appropriate assessment tools and practices. In light of these problems, this exploratory thesis examines two existing frameworks, cosmopolitanism and intercultural relations, in an effort to establish a strong theoretical foundation for the support and development of a moral, ethical, and social justice perspective of education for global citizenship programs in colleges and universities that reflects the traditions of a liberal education. Analysis of the existing scholarship in these two areas shows a commonality between the frameworks that is mostly unrecognized in the literature. Together, the similarities in these two theoretical frameworks combine to make a compelling argument for the continued development of global citizenship programs that focus on peace and social justice. In addition, these frameworks provide effective solutions for the critical problems faced by education for global citizenship programs.

While the relationship between academic variables and admission into medical school has been well documented, the relationship between socioeconomic background and admission has not been extensively examined. In 2001, the Texas Legislature passed HB 1641, which allowed for the use of socioeconomic variables in the admission of graduate and professional school students. Additionally, the Grutter v. Bollinger decision in 2003 removed a prohibition on the use of race or ethnicity in the admission of students in the state of Texas. The study examined the role medical school admissions selectivity as it relates to the socioeconomic background during a race neutral admissions cycle in 2005 and a race sensitive admissions cycle in 2006. The results of data analysis found that in a race neutral admissions cycle socioeconomic background was a significant factor in the admission of applicants to medical school. However, it was not a significant factor for applicants from underrepresented minority groups. The analysis also found that socioeconomic background was a significant factor in the admission of applicants to medical school in a race sensitive admissions cycle as well. Finally, the study found that variances in selectivity led to differences in the socioeconomic makeup of entering students across different medical schools. From the data analyzed in this study, it can be argued admission to medical school is in agreement with the sociological literature in that parental socioeconomic status is positively related to academic opportunities for their offspring.