This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of the following career guidance strategies: career information investigating, job information interviewing, shadowing, panel of positive female role models, parental involvement and group counseling on career maturity and locus of control of high-achieving twelfth-grade females. Participants in this study were thirty-two high-achieving twelfth-grade females currently enrolled in advanced placement English classes, who were currently taking advanced mathematics, advanced science, and advanced foreign language courses; or who had completed three years of advanced mathematics, advanced science, and advanced foreign language courses. The design of this experiment was a pretest-posttest, experimental/control group design. The participants in the treatment group participated in a ten-week career guidance program involving strategies to increase career maturity and improve internal locus of control utilizing the results of the Career Maturity Inventory, Counseling Form B-1 and the Different Situations Inventory. / Ed. D.

Over the last twenty years women have gradually entered number of occupations that have been considered "traditionally male". Despite recent gains, women continue to be underrepresented in science, mathematics and engineering career fields. Based on the application of Bandura's self-efficacy theory as applied to career development, the purpose of this study was to determine whether there was any difference in career choice self-efficacy, career decision-making self-efficacy or career maturity after participating in one of two performance-based research programs, specifically, a community-based mentorship program or a school-based research program. In addition the study investigated gender and personality differences between the groups, the student and mentor/supervisor perceptions of the quality and enjoyment of the experience, the quantitative application, the time involved and ways to improve the programs. The quasi-experimental study used a non-randomized control-group pretest-posttest design with two experimental groups and one control group. To determine the reliability and validity of the student perception instrument and the mentor/supervisor validation assessment, a pilot study was conducted. The groups were pre and post tested using the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale, the Career Development Inventory and the Self-Efficacy for Technical/Scientific Fields Scale. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with PSAT scores and grade point averages serving as covariates. The results of the study found no differences in gain scores between the experiential programs and ordinary maturation. However, students in the mentorship program felt more positive about their mentor, the scientific/technical nature of the experience, and the application and enjoyment of the program than did the school-based group. The groups differed generally on the judging/perceiving characteristic of the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator scale. Gender differences were found in time supervisors spent with students: whereas, mentors spent over twice as much time helping females, school-based teachers spent twice as much time with males. Recommendations include further validation of self-efficacy measures, further investigation of the effectiveness of self-efficacy based interventions, and replication with more diverse and special populations as well as with elementary and junior high school students. / Ed. D.

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, P.L. 94, 142, resulted in many benefits accruing to learners with handicaps and their families. However, there were disputes between and among people from various sectors of the educational community regarding the implementation of the Act. In the past the local teacher union bargaining process has been used as a means through which some disputes may be rectified. Authors have suggested that disputes regarding the delivery of services to learners with handicaps might be resolved through teacher unions’ collective bargaining. The primary purpose of this study was to identify existing special education related language in “Pre” and "Post" P.L. 94-142 teacher union contracts. The secondary purpose was to examine the perceived needs of educational professionals for the development of formal school board policies and procedures on selected special education service delivery issues. Three data collection procedures were developed. Data were analyzed, in part, by descriptive statistics. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data obtained from three sources revealed the following three major findings: The majority of "Pre" and "Post" P.L. 94-142 teacher union contracts contained virtually no specific special education related language. Second, all teachers’ perceptions surveyed indicated that the majority of educators perceived the need for selected special education policies as either “highly valuable" or “essential” regardless of teaching assignment (special or regular education) or employment site (urban or rural). Third, teachers consistently perceived a greater degree of need for local school boards to develop selected formal special education and service delivery policies and procedures then did special education program administrators. Recommendations for further research included a series of national surveys of unionized educational professionals to determine if these individuals can provide 1) an explanation for the inconsistency identified here between practitioners perceived need for selected special education policies and procedures and the virtual absence of any special education related contractual language in the contracts analyzed in this study; 2) what specific effect, if any, the implementation of the Regular Education Initiative (REI) has had in unionized school districts; and 3) if there is any linkage between membership on the pre-bargaining and bargaining committees and the final content of the negotiated teacher union contract. / Ed. D.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis discusses the results of a survey given to college women focusing on the various roles women must play, with a focus on their economic aspects.

As a result of the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997, schools must now consider positive behavioral interventions and strategies to address problem behavior of students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (E/BD). Given the poor behavioral, academic, and social outcomes for these students, there is a compelling need to identify effective, proactive interventions. Current literature has well established the ineffectiveness of traditional, punitive, and consequence-laden strategies to deal with behaviors. Research has shown the manipulation of antecedent stimuli, in the form of curricular adaptations, can provide a positive, proactive means of managing behavior. Specifically, curriculum modifications, based on student interest, are proposed as a positive, proactive strategy used to manipulate antecedent stimuli to improve the behavior of students with E/BD. The purpose of this study was to investigate the manipulation of antecedent stimuli through the implementation of individualized, curricular adaptations, based on student interest, to reduce the problem behavior of students exhibiting disruptive behaviors. A second purpose was to explore the effect of those adaptations on the behavior motivation of students with E/BD. In this study, curriculum modifications based on student interest were used to reduce disruptive behavior, increase desirable behavior, and effect change in the motivation for problem behavior among four elementary school boys with E/BD. Use of an ABAB reversal design, including interval data collection, and the use of a behavior rating scale and a motivation assessment scale were used to establish baseline data and determine effectiveness of the intervention. Results indicate that each student demonstrated a reduction in disruptive behavior, an increase in desirable behavior, and changes in motivation for behavior.

This work was undertaken with a view to developing a textbook for United States secondary schools on the subject of death and dying through a religious lens. The purpose of this work is to provide high school teens with the means of coping with loss and a foundation for crafting their own meaning of life and death. Taking a close look at death attitudes among young people in the United States, as well as high school faculty and staff for the purpose of determining whether or not death education can be provided for public high school students, the work starts from the premise that said death education, using a religious model, should be provided for teenagers because the religious model provides the necessary elements of idea, ritual, and community, so necessary for building a world-view. Research was conducted in the form of survey and historical review to determine the efficacy of the proposed course of study. Upon analysis of the available information on death education history and course offering, as well as analysis of the survey results, the conclusion was reached that the provision of death education in the nation‟s public high schools would go a long way to reducing death anxiety amongst United States teenagers, and also give the adolescents a model for creating their own sense of meaning for all of life that includes death. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Rapid industrialization, breakthroughs in science and technological development have ushered in an era regarded as a technocratic age. The advent of a technocratic age has necessitated the acquisition of technologically appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes, and consequently it has become necessary to establish education systems that fulfil the demands set by technocratic age principles. Present-day education is typified by technocratic age imperatives which include meritocracy, specialization, vocationalism, professionalism and scientism. Technocratic age education is further characterized by mass education, free and compulsory education and greater bureaucratic control of education. In technocratic age education systems, entrance examinations are used to select learners for advanced education and training. It would appear that this takes place with little regard for the learner's personal worth or meeting the learner's distinctive needs. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

Teachers of English language learners (ELLs) are often ill prepared to provide content area instruction tailored to their students' needs. This explanatory mixed method study examined the relationship between 15 ELL teachers' multicultural attitudes and use of sheltered instruction (SI). The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether teachers' multicultural attitudes influenced their use of SI. Data were gathered using a Demographic Questionnaire, Multicultural Efficacy Scale (MES), Classroom Instruction Questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. A correlational analysis found no statistically significant relationship (i.e., r = -.34; p = .22) between participants' scores on SI observations and the MES. A correlational estimate for the four highest SI scorers indicated a relationship between the two sets of scores (i.e., r = .75; p = .25). Qualitative data did not indicate any patterns that might distinguish the high and low SIOP scorers; however, Aptitude Measurement Interaction may explain the different correlational results.