This qualitative research study examined how junior-level undergraduate students clarify their values in the environment of a leadership course. Previous research indicated the concept of values clarification is a dynamic process in which people come to understand what they individually view as important in their lives by placing a name or label to what one values (i.e., honesty, love, success, etc.). This process commonly occurs during the traditional college years and is a critical component of the undergraduate experience. A college student clarifying their values is an important first step in the overall values development process. To encourage development, educators must first understand this process. However, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding how students clarify their values in college, specifically in the context of leadership coursework. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the essence of the students' experience in their values clarification. Utilizing a phenomenological method involving interviews, thematic coding, phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, and data saturation; primary themes were formed explaining the experience of how students identify their values in college. Data for the study were collected over a semester-long period in the spring of 2012 from junior-level students who were currently enrolled in or had successfully completed a course in an undergraduate Leadership Certificate at a large, Research I institution in the southeastern United States. Findings from this research helped to explain the experience of how junior-level students clarify their values in their collegiate experience and inform the practice of character education and leadership curriculum development in colleges and universities. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / April 1, 2015. / higher education, Leadership education, values clarification / Includes bibliographical references. / Kathy Guthrie, Professor Directing Dissertation; John Reynolds, University Representative; Robert A. Schwartz, Committee Member; Tamara Bertrand Jones, Committee Member.

The purpose of this longitudinal study is to explore the relationship between the national unemployment rate and college enrollment and success outcomes (retention, and completion), controlling for student characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity, and socio-economic status), as well as state and national economic and institutional factors. The study finds that college enrollment and success outcomes at public 4-year institutions of higher education (IHEs) are impacted in a statistically significant manner by variations in the national unemployment rate. A positive relationship was found between the national unemployment rate and undergraduate enrollment, full-time retention, and college completions. However, the impact differed for students with different characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status). Enrollment in public 4-year IHEs of both males and females was found to increase by 1.2 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively, when the national unemployment rate increased by one percent. Blacks and Whites were found to increase enrollment in public 4-year IHEs by 1 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, or decrease (American Indian, Asian, and Hispanics) enrollments when the national unemployment rates increased. Finally, enrollments of students from the lowest SES quintiles (Q1, Q2) were found to decrease by more than five percent while the ones from the mid to highest quintiles (Q3-Q5) were found to increase by more than 1 percent when the unemployment rates increased. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / December 3, 2014. / completions, enrollment, retention, unemployment / Includes bibliographical references. / David A. Tandberg, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jinfeng Zhang, University Representative; Brad Cox, Committee Member; Toby Park, Committee Member.

A three-year action research study was conducted in one public school district to design a professional development approach that helped inservice teachers integrate computer technology into their instruction. The central question guiding this research was, “What are the elements associated with a professional development approach intended to help teachers integrate computer technology into their teaching?” A framework was developed for conducting the investigation which included two components: (a) Examination of changes in teacher skill development guided by the question, “What changes occur in teachers' technical and computer skills when they participate in the designed professional development approach?”; (b) Examination of changes in teaching practices with technology guided by the question, “What changes occur in the ways teachers use computers for instruction when they participate in the designed professional development approach?” Fifty-five teachers completed self-evaluations of technical skills in 1997, prior to involvement in professional development, then again in 1999 after two years of technology professional development. Interviews were conducted with twenty-one teachers in 1999 to define changes in teaching practices with technology. Research results produced a revised professional development approach that included six elements that school districts should provide to help teachers construct and continually refine their understanding of how technology is best used in teaching and learning. These elements included skills training, experiences teaching with technology in the context of school classrooms and computer labs, mentoring support, support for planning curriculum, supervision of instruction, and collaboration with others using technology at similar grade levels or in similar subject areas. Over 90% of teachers interviewed reported that technical workshops and good access to just-in-time mentoring support had improved their skills. Over 95% found hands-on experience with technology contributed to a sense of empowerment with the computer. Over 90% felt that collaboration with colleagues improved their skills. Assistance with planning curriculum supported technology integration for 80% of interviewees by assisting with formulation of new technology-based learning experiences tailored to the needs of specific student populations. Supervision of instruction was found to reduce disparities among teachers for using technology and helped assure that teachers worked toward achieving district goals for technology integration.

This study investigated the impact of School Improvement Councils on the attitudes of principals and teachers in ten selected Leadership and ten selected Non-Leadership site elementary schools. The sample (N = 233) was drawn from selected schools in southeastern Massachusetts, and included all 20 principals of the schools surveyed, and a random selection of teachers from each school totalling 213. A 68 item questionnaire was distributed, which asked the respondents to indicate how they felt School Improvement Councils met their objectives. The findings in this study reveal that principals and teachers strongly support the work of School Improvement Councils in their schools. There was overall agreement that Councils had increased enrichment opportunities, provided appropriate learning experiences for children, and had made for a better school.

The purpose of this study is to document change at an urban high school in order to analyze the impact the different variables of the school culture have on the process of change. It is, essentially, a process of effecting change at the school's unique personality level (its atmosphere, climate, culture, ethos) which provides the conditions for addressing problems at a deeper level. The study is based on the theoretical assumptions of effecting change through a process of responding to teacher and student needs to improve morale and responding to school needs to improve public perception. The process of change is reconstructed through in-depth interviews with representatives from within and from outside the school, i.e., partners in education, who were participants and observers: they represented teachers, administrators, support staff, parents, and the university partner. The data was analyzed using as a framework Fullan's three phases of the change process: (1) initiation, (2) implementation, and (3) continuation in order to determine the influences the different variables have on the process. In accordance with the literature in educational leadership, the educational leader can play a central role by creating an environment of change and empowering teachers and other members of the school community. This study corroborated those findings in the sense that the headmaster was a central person in the change process and he enabled people to promote change through power-sharing and empowerment.

This case study describes how the culture of a faculty at a junior-senior public high school was influenced by a grass roots initiative of restructuring. The efforts at educational change centered on a move toward detracking their once rigidly grouped classrooms. While a growing body of research literature looks at students in reorganized schools, particularly those that have undergone a process of detracking, this study adds to the relatively little work done regarding how these processes involve the culture teachers share. Utilizing interviewing, participant observation, school based documents and peer review this qualitative research offers perspectives of what change in the structure of a school can mean to those who work in the school. It draws a theoretical framework of understanding from the fields of Education and the Sociology of Education. Changes in the culture of a group of teachers is the focus of this work with the process of detracking providing an ever present back drop. The dissertation addresses how cultural change redefined personal perspectives and meanings shared by educators in a small school. These new meanings created an going dialogue about the role of those educators in issues such as school-wide leadership, in-school professionalism, serving as professional development specialists for hundreds of other educators and teacher empowerment. Finally this work presents how the work-day world of teacher's became a "crucible of change", forcing many educators to continually redefine what it meant to be a teacher.

<p> The inclusion of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools is becoming a pertinent topic in the field of education. Teachers and administrators are recognizing a need to support students&rsquo; social and emotional growth alongside their academics. Young adolescents in grades 6 &ndash; 8 are in a developmental stage during which the acquisition of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills could be particularly beneficial and supportive to their ability to lead healthy lives. In this project-based thesis, the author based her research on the question; how are North Carolina (NC) public schools supporting the social and emotional development of their middle school students? This question was formulated in order to support the project of this thesis, the creation of a development plan for a public charter middle school in NC that focuses on social and emotional learning. The research method utilized in this study was grounded theory as developed by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967). Data was collected through a survey sent to public middle schools across NC and through interviews conducted with school administrators. Constant comparative analysis was the process through which all of the data was analyzed. Results of this research found that 80% of the surveyed schools implement SEL programming and the majority of those schools believe SEL to positively affect many facets of their school including academic success of the students, physical and emotional safety, and the relationship between the students and teachers. Strategies the participating schools used to implement SEL programming were also discovered in this study. These consist of having distinct lessons on SEL topics and skills, integrating parts of SEL throughout the entire school, use of mentoring, inclusion of aspects of SEL in student discipline, having programming meet the unique needs of the school, and evaluating the students&rsquo; progression in SEL. Results of this study also indicated several design elements of SEL programming, which include having SEL be a united effort of all faculty and administration, providing teachers with support, sharing responsibility for the programming with the students, and allocating sufficient time to SEL programming. The findings of this study have been used by the author to inform the creation of the school development plan included in this thesis. By adding to the discussion of how to provide SEL to middle school students in NC, this study can be a resource to any educator in the process of developing SEL programming for their students.</p>

This study analyzes the dominant governance and decision making characteristics in community colleges by tracing the implementation of state mandated program review through two Florida community colleges. An alternative hypothesis is presented which challenges the predominate assumption in the community college literature which portrays these institutions as bureaucratic organizations. Through the application of a hybrid framework which combines three dominant organizational models--bureaucratic, political, and organized anarchy--with three parallel views of policy implementation--programmed, evolutionary, and adaptive--the study suggests that in governance and decision making as well as policy implementation, these colleges exhibit behavior more varied and complex than can be captured by any one model. A case study method was utilized to address the assumptions of the study. Field work included extensive interviews at both institutions and at the Division of Community Colleges. Content analysis was completed on the data gathered on site and analyzed across the several dimensions of the framework. In addition to suggesting alternative governance and decision making models, the study also challenges the closed systems perception of community colleges. Issues of coordination and control are explored, particularly in relation to the environmental vulnerability of two-year colleges. The study concludes that community college governance and decision making is too complex to be explained by a single model. Political and anarchic behavior are generally more prevalent than bureaucratic behavior. The president at each institution exercised authority in a manner which encouraged political and anarchic behavior. This led ultimately to increased presidential discretion and greater executive or managerial authority. These institutions responded to the state policy initiative by projecting the appropriate image of conformity to the state while simultaneously buffering the institution from any substantive policy influence. Implications for further research include the need to more thoroughly analyze the open systems nature of two-year colleges, with particular emphasis on the complex environment in which they operate. Policy implementation in community colleges should be reconsidered in light of the adaptive and evolutionary implementation behavior of these local institutions.

The subject study identifies some theoretical, methodological and program considerations that set the conditions in which the basic parameters, criteria of adequacy, and methodological rule and instruments are established. The study then sequences and analyzes the content of previous materials related to staff development in the literature as (1) activities, (2) processes, (3) purposes and goals, and (4) concepts and models, beginning with materials most distant from the definitive paradigm being sought and progressing to efforts most closely approaching the ends being pursued in this study. Finally, the study identifies the structural components (the categories) that must be contained in an effective staff development program. Further, it presents a taxonomy for ordering the terms identified to modify the word "development" in common usage; attempts an exhaustive listing of all the functions that must be performed to carry out any organizational mission for an educational institution; develops a format that adequately articulates the subject matter of staff development into the necessary and sufficient content categories; designs a paradigmatic model capable of ordering the variables that must be considered for incorporation into a staff development program while providing a conceptual reference system for relating and integrating the goals of the organizational development and staff development programs, and while identifying the documentation instruments that insure the necessary "paper trail" which make measurement, assessment, evaluation and valuation possible; discusses the various types of evaluation applicable to the paradigmatic model; reviews some extra-program considerations that influence the conditions in which staff development takes place and affects the success or failure of the programming; presents a process model for the design/evaluation of a staff development program; and develops an instrument (of questions to be answered) to be used for deciding whether the program now designed is a "good" program which, when implemented should accomplish the ends toward which the plans were directed.

<p> Young Americans must be equipped, both individually and collectively, with the 21^st century skills, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, in order to thrive in the global landscape which lies before them. Little political or economic capital is devoted to maximizing academic opportunities for gifted secondary learners. Limiting opportunities for children and youth with the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment, deprives them of their right to an appropriate education and wastes a national resource. Recognizing that limited capital often circumscribes schools in their ability to provide special programs, the researcher proffers debate, a course within the standard curriculum, as an avenue to providing gifted secondary learners with depth, breadth and complexity while accelerating the development of critical thinking, communication and collaboration.</p><p> The threefold purpose of the study was to a) establish debate as a viable platform for providing the depth, breadth, and complexity needed by gifted secondary learners while developing critical thinking; b) examine the self-reported attitudes, principles and practices of AP-trained teachers, those most likely to have gifted students, related to 21^st century skills, particularly critical thinking, the needs of gifted learners, and debate&rsquo;s ability to meet those needs, and; c) examine the effects of 6 independent variables, area of AP training, school size, community size and the presence or absence of three salient factors, teacher training in gifted education, debate in the school and special programs in the school for gifted learners upon teacher attitudes.</p><p> Results. A long history of empirical study confirms debate&rsquo;s efficacy at developing the 21^st century skills, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. Survey results for a sample of 202 AP teachers indicated greatest importance is allocated to challenge and critical thinking and least importance to standardized testing. Area of AP training had no significant effect on AP teachers&rsquo; strong agreement that disruptions and too much test emphasis act as impediments to the development of critical thinking. There are significant differences between AP training groups in critical thinking development and assessment methods, communication, collaboration, and belief in the efficacy of debate. School and community size did not act as factors. Teacher self-reporting on the presence or absence of debate in their schools, the presence or absence of special programs for gifted learners in their schools, and their own special training in gifted education was substantially different from data available from the State Department of Education and from the chairman of the state chapter of the National Speech and Debate Association, therefore, no conclusions regarding the effects of those three independent variables could be drawn.</p>