This research combines systems and critical theory to analyze the relationship of the athletic department and the institutional development office. The purpose of the study was to propose a model of coordinated athletic fund raising based upon a theoretical framework that explains athletic fund raising as an organizational function within the context of the interdependencies of a system. In the first phase of the research, a theory-based model of coordinated athletic fund raising is set forth. Several key characteristics of a coordinated approach are identified. In the second phase, results of telephone interviews with athletic fund raisers at Division I institutions are reported. Basic descriptive statistics and qualitative data analysis techniques are used to present a full and rich picture of how athletic fund raisers assess the relationship between the two offices. In the third phase of the research, a comparison is made between empirical findings and the model. Relationships between development offices and athletic departments vary greatly in nature and in scope. The majority of athletic fund raisers report that the relationship between the athletic department and development office is strained. Poor relationships may be deleterious to the athletic fund raising effort. A comparison of reported existing relationships to the model suggests that few existing relationships approach the level of coordination presented in the model. The theory-based model is determined to be useful in providing insights into the complex forces that affect athletic fund raising. Recommendations for moving relationships closer to the model focus on strategies that athletic fund raisers can employ to improve the relationship. Recommendations to athletic fund raisers include finding ways to produce and market critical fund raising resources to the development office; emphasizing negotiation as a strategy to improve exchanges; and working to establish better feedback mechanisms and more open lines of communication with the institutional development office.

This study uses in-depth interviewing along with participant observation and document analysis to develop an understanding of academic advising at one land grant university (Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Merriam, 1988a; Seidman, 1991; Spradley, 1980). Through in-depth phenomenological interviews, this study asks how academic advisors understand the work of advising, the changes proposed and occurring in this setting, and how they manage the deep-seated dilemmas and perplexing choices inherent in the advising role. In addition, it inquires how these choices and decisions connect to issues raised by national reform initiatives of professionalization and standardization for the field. A group of twenty-eight faculty, professional and classified staff academic advisors from twenty different academic departments, counseling centers, and programs within the advising support system were interviewed. This included nineteen women and nine men who provided academic advising as a significant part of their work role. A sequence of three separate, ninety-minute audio-taped interviews were done with each participant (Seidman, 1991). When transcribed, verbatim material was analyzed for patterns and commonalities that were shared among advisors as well as uniqueness of practice (Patton, 1980). In interviews, as academic advisors reconstructed their experience and understanding of their work and work life, they repeatedly cited a common set of organizational issues. This interview material was developed into seven thematic chapters that describe and examine the context and historical development of academic advising; the changing student profile; the missing spirit of connectedness and inadequate preparation; divided roles and fragmented delivery system; self-constructed advising definitions and orientations; individually developed advising techniques and use of advising tools; and the issue of status.

This paper asks: Are there characteristics of child care directors that are shared among those operating high quality programs? The researcher examines quality child care and the role of directors in the delivery of quality care. Child care directors occupy a pivotal position to influence the quality of child care through their training, their experience and their roles within the center. The literature suggests a link between child care directors and program quality and this study attempts to explore that link. The researcher has conducted a comparative study of the characteristics of 282 child care administrators in accredited and nonaccredited programs within Massachusetts. A profile of directors of quality programs was developed by surveying licensed and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accredited child care centers in Massachusetts (n = 159). The data was then screened through seven quality criteria derived from the literature in order to arrive at a 'filtered' profile of quality administrators. These profiles were matched against the directors of the nonaccredited child care programs (n = 123). A random sample of 31 directors and their centers from both groups (22 accredited, 9 nonaccredited) was examined to establish what level of quality was actually occurring. The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (Harms & Clifford, 1980) and the Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale (Harms, Cryer, & Clifford, 1990) was used to score overall center quality, and additionally data were collected while on-site. The study was able to establish that directors of the high quality early care and education programs had statistically distinct characteristics, but failed to predict quality by themselves. Additional comparisons created a revised grouping which was of similar quality to both of the NAEYC accredited groups. Additionally, NAEYC accredited child care centers were operating at a significantly higher quality than the nonaccredited programs in Massachusetts, with 92% of the classrooms (n = 75) operating at a developmentally appropriate level. The study found that 72% of the nonaccredited classrooms (n = 32) were developmentally appropriate. Overall quality was demonstrated at higher than expected levels. While the study was able to make definitive statements about the quality of child care in Massachusetts, it failed to make a conclusion about the directors and quality.

This dissertation includes (a) Chapter 1, background and purpose—the importance and significance of the study; (b) Chapter 2, a review of the literature; (c) Chapter 3, methodology (research design, data collection and modes of analysis); (d) Chapter 4, presentation of the data; and (e) Chapter 5, conclusions and recommendations. Appendices include participant information, forms, tables and a bibliography. Teacher educators in public colleges and universities perform important work in an environment largely legislated by forces external to education. In the current environment of educational reform, the work of the education professoriate is influenced by the expectations and attributes of legislative mandates for standardization in curricular content and delivery, higher admission standards for prospective teachers, competency testing for certification candidates, and ongoing professional development for all certified teachers. Concurrently, changes in Massachusetts regulations for the certification of educational personnel affect teacher education programs from design to outcome-based assessment. What aspects of the Education Reform Act most strongly influence the public secondary teacher educator? What are the responses of the secondary teacher education community to this attempt at systemic reform? How does implementation of the Education Reform Act affect the work of secondary teacher educators? How has the legislation affected secondary teacher education programs in the Commonwealth? Structured interviews with secondary teacher educators focused on participants' views of and responses to the Education Reform Act of 1993 provide data from the cohort of professionals most immediately engaged in the implementation of the tenets of the Massachusetts legislation. Current Massachusetts legislation updates and interim implementation reports provide a context for participant responses. Analysis and discussion of participant responses in light of the current literature on reform and change in teacher education form the basis for the analytical sections of the qualitative study. This study elicited participants' views of the Commonwealth's legislative initiatives affecting teacher preparation, certification, and the work of the secondary teacher educator in the context of educational reform. Themes of communication, collaboration, accountability and status and relationships which emerged from interview data are discussed within the context of implementing the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993.

This dissertation focuses on three country case studies: Singapore, United Kingdom, and United States, with occasional compelling examples from elsewhere. The cases are analyzed and synthesized into a rich and comprehensive conceptual framework with contextual factors and a set of metrics that can be used as a lens to assess a country's readiness and needs in terms of Information and Computer Technology education. The lens is applied directly to the case study of Mauritius as a test-bed, and yields the basis of a consensual strategic technology plan for education. Finally, the lens is tweaked to examine possible technology transfer to developing countries, in particular, to Africa. Further, this study develops the human capacity component of the United Nations Development Program—Markle Foundation's conceptual framework of the components of the development dynamic model, into a model for ICT education, thus providing an integrated conceptual model for ICT education, and ICT industry and/or development. By scanning the environment against the backdrop of the Information Revolution, the author reaped a body of practices and refined them into a set of best practices in teaching, learning, educational administration, school restructure, teacher training, infrastructure, contents, research and evaluation, school linkages with parents, community, business, and other stakeholders, strategic compact, leadership, funding, and sustainability. The results of the study impact e-learning and virtual institutions, the digital child, information literacy, computer fluency and new skills for productivity and creativity in the emerging knowledge-based society, and the digital divide. The implications of the dissertation are the provision of a clear guide to effective planning for ICT education for a broad range of countries and ICT transfer to developing countries. The study also explores some pathways in the search for a new social order where the digital capital of the ICT-developed countries could extend the digital dividends to minimize the digital divide within and between countries. It fills a gap in an increasingly important area of knowledge in a confused and turbulent environment. It will be useful to most governments, which have recently expressed some ambitious strategies for stimulating and supporting the use of ICT in education.

Reforming science education is a multidimensional and complex undertaking. Of extreme importance is transforming how teachers teach. Answering the equity call of reform initiatives requires focusing on the underlying values and beliefs guiding teacher action and the promotion of inclusive practices (Brickhouse, 2001; Harding, 1994; Eisenhart, Finkel, & Marion, 1995; Mayberry & Rees, 1999; Rodriguez, 1997). Reform efforts within the last decade are being directed at college level science courses. Course and pedagogical transformations are particularly aimed at increasing the numbers of females and persons of color in science and improving the education of preservice teachers. Facilitating transformations toward these goals at the individual and program level is challenging work. This study explores and describes the conditions of the teacher change process toward an inclusive pedagogy. Two science professors affiliated with a reform collaborative were the main participants of the research. The professors, in collaboration with the primary researcher, engaged in assisted action research that lead to the identification and descriptions of their context and practical teaching theories. Among the questions explored were: “How does placing the professor in a position to conduct an assisted action research project help to foster teacher change conditions?” “How do the practical theories guiding the professors' teaching foster or impede inclusionary practice?” “What necessary conditions of the teacher change process toward an inclusive pedagogy emerged from the study?”. Using case study and ethnographic qualitative research strategies for data collection and analysis, this study affords a unique perspective through which to consider why and how science professors change their practice. Data indicated that the assisted action research strategy fostered the conditions of teacher change. In addition, findings revealed that the professors shared a teacher and curriculum centered teaching philosophy and an ethic of care and respect for their students that, in varying ways, both supported and impeded inclusive practice. Teacher change was heavily mediated by departmental contexts. Assertions are made about the necessary conditions of teacher change toward an inclusive pedagogy and implications for further research are explored.

Since the late 1980's, both the federal government and the Massachusetts state government have encouraged the practice of integrating students with disabilities into regular classroom environments. Proponents of this practice assert that all students will benefit from this arrangement and that it represents a less costly approach to educating special needs children. In fact, there is very little research to substantiate conclusions about whether or not integration is less costly than more traditional special educational programs. To learn more about this question, special education costs in two school districts were analyzed. The cost description model used in this study was developed by Lewis, Bruininks and Thurlow in their 1988 study of school-based special education programs. Data about special education costs were collected for a school year before implementation, and then for a school year after implementation. In both districts, there was an increase in costs and enrollments in the less restrictive prototypes and in pre-school programs. Enrollments and costs decreased in most of the more costly and restrictive prototypes. Per pupil costs varied by enrollment trends. Although few students were enrolled in private programs, these placements had a significant impact on the overall cost picture. The less restrictive programs served more students in the post year than during the earlier year and this helped to restrict cost increases. The rural district saw their total costs increase significantly, after discounting for inflation. Salary increases, incentives for professional development and the hiring of new staff, were factors behind the increase in total costs. The suburban district realized cost savings over the six years of the study after discounting for inflation. This district changed staff assignments but did not add new teachers. A very costly collaborative program was reorganized and much of the savings were due to this reduction. Private placements were also reduced. The cost description model developed by Lewis is flexible and allows for differences in enrollments and programs. As special education costs will vary in each district according to their particular circumstances, integration should be promoted or debated, not on the basis of costs, but according to whether or not it is in the best interests of children with disabilities.

As the financial health of institutions of higher education become uncertain, a need exists to assess an institution's short and long-term viability. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a model developed by Leslie and Fretwell (1996) could have predicted the fiscal health for a public institution of higher education. The model includes factors that should be used in determining fiscal health. They include the following: (1) the effects of economic, demographic, and political trends; (2) trends in the institution's financial condition; (3) stability, openness, and courage in management; (4) vitality of education programs; and (5) the interaction of all of these factors. This case study focused on two 5-year periods at the flagship campus of a northeast public university system. The audited financial statements of the campus were used to determine the accuracy of the model. This college was selected because it had experienced both a financial decline and revival within a 10-year period. Through a review of related documents, a questionnaire, and interviews, the model was constructed and analyzed. A total of 18 independent variables were constructed to represent the four factors. The analytical framework was based upon causal path analysis. Even though this study was admittedly exploratory, the findings revealed that the Leslie and Fretwell (1996) model is a useful management tool and could provide meaningful information for administrators and trustees in planning and decision-making. Conclusions drawn from the research suggest that 7 of the 18 variables could assist in predicting the fiscal health of the campus in this study regardless of whether the fiscal condition declined or improved. The variables were divided into three types: (1) leading, (2) coincident, and (3) lagging. The leading indicators that could be useful in predicting fiscal health are (1) share of state appropriation, (2) SAT scores, (3) enrollment, (4) applicant yield and (5) senior staff turnover rate. The single coincident indicator was the state appropriation. Finally, the only lagging indicator that could have predicted fiscal health for the campus in this study was deferred maintenance. The limitations and implications of this study as well as recommendations for further research have also been provided.

In higher education today, international students from various sociocultural backgrounds have contributed to the internationalization of many colleges and universities. The factors that help them succeed academically in a different cultural environment have become an important topic of research designed to improve the quality of higher education in a globalized environment. This qualitative study adopts a sociocultural perspective to explore their conceptions of academic success and their strategies for achieving it, by analyzing cultural factors that impinge on the experience of Chinese international graduate students in the US. There were three phases in this in-depth qualitative research. In the first phase, using semi-structured interviews, the researcher investigated Chinese students' conceptions of academic success, the factors that they perceived as most influential on their attempts to achieve it, and the strategies that they adopted to optimize their chances. In the second phase, based on results from the first round, a follow-up interview was conducted to probe for further details and to understand the strategies adopted by these students according to their study-abroad experience. In the third phase, new data were collected through a focus group discussion to generate a deeper understanding of the students' perspectives on academic success and its relation to acculturation. The final results from this study indicated that the conceptions of academic success of these international students and their strategies for attaining it were not only characterized by cultural and socio-institutional values and norms , but were also shaped and reshaped by the international students' individual characteristics and personal acculturative attitudes and experiences. Chinese international graduate students have developed acculturative strategies, characterized as ─ Americanization, Globalization and Individualization ─ to achieve their visions of academic success. The findings offer possible answers to help explain how Chinese international STEM students manage to achieve academic success despite the challenges such as language barrier and acculturation process (dealing with cross-cultural barriers on cultural, institutional and personal levels). They also provide new perspectives on acculturation theories and suggest practical implications for university international student affairs work. / 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. / Summer Semester 2015. / July 14, 2015. / Academic success, Acculturation, American graduate education, Chinese international students, International higher education, Sociocultural perspectives / Includes bibliographical references. / Helen Boyle, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Peter Easton, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Tom Ratliffe, University Representative; Jeffrey Milligan, Committee Member.

Retention research has been empirically studied for over 70 years (Attewell, Heil, & Reisel, 2011; Bowen, 2009; Braxton, 2000; Goldrick-Rab & Roksa, 2008; Nora, Barlow & Crisp, 2005; Turner, 2004), yet there is minimal research describing high-risk students' perceptions and learning that occurred after being placed on academic probation after their first semester of college and mandated to complete an academic strategies course during their second semester. The purpose of this study was to explore first-year students' perceptions of being placed on academic probation as they adjust to college and completing a mandated academic strategies course at a large public postsecondary institution in the Southeast. This study employed grounded theory methods to understand how students interpret their academic failure after being placed on academic probation and mandated to take an academic strategy course. The research framework was guided by Tinto's (1975) theory of student departure that suggests students who connect both academically and socially in a college environment will persist to degree attainment. College students may have negative experiences after entering college and experiencing academic failure, e.g., earning below a 2.0 GPA, during their first semester. Because these students are still transitioning into the academic environment, they may be at greater risk for attrition than students who have not experienced initial academic failure. This research explored 14 students' perceptions of experiencing academic failure and their perceived learning that occurred in their second semester. Students who earn below a 2.0 GPA at this particular university are placed on academic probation and mandated to take a 1-unit (12 week) course that focuses on teaching students academic skills, such as learning strategies, time management, and self-regulation strategies, and therefore provides a unique situation to explore students' adjustment to college. Data collection consisted of individual in-depth interviews conducted with a majority Caucasian sample of 14 students in their second semester of college. The result was the emergence of a theory of college transition grounded in the perspectives and experiences of the students. Results identified ways students evaluated their experiences with academic failure and identified how students may or may not be using strategies (e.g., learning or volitional) while experiencing transition in college. The results also indicated the positive influence family relationships and academic strategies course instructors had on high-risk first-year students' motivation to persist towards a college degree. The findings are relevant for prospective first-year and current students, as well as for parents, college administrators, and faculty. This research also has implications for retention services and student affairs practice. Finally, the findings inform both theory development and future research, particularly transition theory. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2015. / April 24, 2015. / college students, first-year, high-risk, learning strategies, persistence, retention / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeannine Turner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robert A. Schwartz, University Representative; Susan Losh, Committee Member; Janet Lenz, Committee Member.