Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, there remain large gaps in academic achievement between children of color and White students (Darling-Hammond, 2007). It is estimated that by 2050, the population of the United States will increase by 50%; 90% of which will be accounted for by minorities (Vanneman, Hamilton, Anderson, & Rahman, 2009). In less than 50 years, our citizenry will be comprised of "groups that are over represented among low achievers, and under represented among high achievers" (Ferguson, 2005, p. 4). Nationwide, districts are addressing the issue of the achievement gap through implementing formal equity professional development opportunities at their school sites. While formal equity training leaves participants transformed, they leave with little to no support in how to change their practice in order to teach more equitably. Therefore, based on Bridges' and Hallinger's (1995) problem based learning approach, the handbook, Keeping Equity in Mind, was developed, field tested and revised using Borg and Gall's (2003) research and development cycle. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the usefulness of the handbook, Keeping Equity in Mind, in supporting teacher leaders in continued equity work in their classrooms once formal equity training had ended at their school sites. Participants implemented the strategies presented in the handbook in order to determine its usefulness in supporting teacher leaders in continued equity work in their classrooms. The findings of this study determined Keeping Equity in Mind is a useful tool for teachers attempting to close the achievement gap in their classrooms and the administrators who support them.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The role of the nurse has changed dramatically in the past twenty years with increasing complexity of patient care and a rapidly changing health care environment. In addition to the challenges noted regarding patient care, problems with increasing medical errors were noted in the literature specific to graduates in their first year as a nurse. Research in particular to nursing education provides a way for nurse educators to become more astute at addressing problems pervading the role of the new nursing graduate. Narrative Pedagogy was identified as a research-based nursing pedagogy and has been researched and enacted for more than a decade. Out of the Narrative Pedagogy research, the Concernful Practices emerged identifying what was considered meaningful to nursing education by teachers, students, and clinicians. Listening was one of the Concernful Practices and became the focus of this study. The research question addressed the “How do nurse educators who enable Narrative Pedagogy experience Listening: knowing and connecting?” This was a hermeneutic phenomenological study in which ten nurse educators shared their experiences. The two themes that emerged from the study included: Listening as Dialogue and Listening as Attunement. The findings of this study provided a different way of thinking about teaching and learning that encompasses so much more than merely a strategy or outcome-based approach. The implications of this study offer nurse educators insight about opening a dialogue that draws attention to the realities of the role of the nurse responding to multiple patients with complex health conditions.

<p>  </p> <p>The dissertation study presented here explores what higher education instructors believe about problem-solving. Beliefs about problem-solving pedagogy and the influences that change pedagogical approaches in the post-secondary realm of physics education require more robust exploration. The level of change that occurs through the day-to-day teaching cycle and the support that garners improvement are essential aspects of teaching in higher education that need robust understanding.</p> <p>Insight into higher education could illuminate the transitional experience of students between high school and college-level physics. This study explores the beliefs of Indiana college and high school educators, all of whom teach college-level physics content, and probed how those beliefs shaped higher education instructional strategies and teaching philosophies. The study was conducted using a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach.</p> <p>The findings show that physics educators in college and high school learning environments lacked support explicitly geared toward them and physics. All the educators included in the study taught college-level physics. Four of the six participants were the only ones teaching physics in their schools. Despite the isolation, all participants noted the importance of peer-to-peer learning for themselves and their students, noting interactions with exterior training opportunities (e.g., educational conferences or online educator communities). However, the most crucial source of change in their teaching beliefs and approaches that the participants noted was the feedback they received from students.</p>

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is a nationwide assessment administered every other year to eighth grade students in the United States in reading and mathematics. The purpose of this study was to compare the results of 2009 eighth grade state reading assessment proficiency percentages to NAEP proficiency percentages. Primarily, this study examined whether a predictive relationship existed between state and NAEP proficiency percentages. Subsequent research questions analyzed the extent to which a relationship existed for subgroups (race/ethnicity, English Language Learners, low socioeconomic status, and students with disabilities) and while controlling for census regions. It was found that a predictive relationship does exist between state and NAEP proficiency percentages for eighth grade students who took these reading assessments in 2009. The correlations between the variables were consistently high; however, the relationships were not significant for all subgroups nor for all census regions. It was determined that NAEP and state assessment proficiency percentages are not well suited to direct comparisons. Recommendations for practice included the development of nationwide common assessments, standards, and proficiency scales

This study investigated how education policy influences student success, and if there are linkages between K-12 education policy and higher education. Historically, education has primarily been a function of state and local governments. The role of the federal government drastically changed with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. This thesis focused on the influence of No Child Behind on several indicators of student success in K-12 and postsecondary education. All fifty states were examined in this study. This approach is rather unusual since it is typical to focus on one state or a small group of states. In addition to the state level analyses, macro analyses were also conducted to generate sounder policy prescriptions. This study tested three primary research questions. The first research question tested possible changes in several measures of student success since the implementation of No Child Left Behind. The second research question analyzed the relationship between K-12 education policy and higher education. The third research question addressed the possibility that state education reforms have had an impact on test scores, graduation rates, and college enrollment. Findings showed that K-12 test scores have improved on the national level since the implementation of No Child Left Behind, but there are several states that have witnessed a decline in test scores since legislation was enacted. There was no relationship between the state reforms and the variables that measured student success. Based on the findings, policy prescriptions were generated for both leaders within education and policymakers.

Gendered organizational conditions create the context for persisting differences between men and women in the workplace. Within, higher education, this manifests as a salary gap between male and female faculty members. The academic capitalistic policy environment creates the conditions for increasing competition for external funding, especially in the areas of research and science and engineering. The change in the academic climate may sustain or intensify the gendering of universities as organizations. Universities with the highest level of research activity were chosen for this study and formed the 130 public institution sample. This study used fixed effects panel regression analysis to explore the relationship between the faculty gender salary gap and institutional emphasis on research as well as science and engineering. In addition, the relationship between institutional emphasis and the faculty gender salary gap was explored over time with the inclusion of a time trend and temporal interaction terms. Results showed that the higher the percentage of female faculty members, the greater the faculty gender salary gap for assistant professors. In addition, science and engineering emphasis over time had a significant impact on the professor salary gap with a decreasing effect both at the mean and one standard deviation above the mean, but with an increasing effect on the salary gap for institutions one standard deviation below the mean. When taking action to increase gender equity, it is important for universities to recognize that the faculty gender salary gap occurs in an organizational context impacted by institutional-level conditions.

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While many follow-up studies have been conducted which examine the post-school status of special education students from a single point in time perspective, few can be found which provide an in-depth look into their lives in the years following school completion. The purpose of this study was to develop a detailed picture of the adult lives of selected learning disabled subjects to determine the impact of their disability on this post school years. / Ed. D.

From the establishment of Harvard in 1636, to the establishment of the first public Junior College in 1901, to the curricular reforms of the 1960's and 1970's, the purpose of higher education and the role of general education have been the subjects for many lively debates. The national debate on issues relating to general education has intensified within the last decade, and community colleges continue to be active participants in these debates. The purpose of this study was to describe the course contents and classroom environments of selected community college general education general biology courses in sufficient detail as to shed light on the contribution each makes to general education. This study offers descriptions, interpretations, and evaluations of community college general education biology classrooms and laboratories. The intent was to present vivid descriptions of the classroom experience and to offer interpretations of what was being taught and what was being learned. / Ed. D.

This study was designed to provide an overall estimate of proprietary schools' contribution to the equality of educational opportunity in the postsecondary educational system. Two compatible databases, the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) and High School and Beyond (HSB), were used to draw two parallel proprietary samples. Each proprietary sample was compared with its counterparts in the community college and the four-year institution sectors. Gender, race, socioeconomic status, aptitude, and Students' and their mothers' educational aspiration were the factors tested in the study to determine the extent to which they contribute to students' choice of proprietary schools and their educational attainment in a given period of time. Discriminant analysis was utilized to differentiate the characteristics of proprietary school enrollees from the characteristics of those who entered community colleges and four-year institutions. Multiple regression was conducted on each group of students to identify the major factors associated with students' educational attainment by the type of institution of first enrollment. The major findings of this study include: (1) Proprietary schools enrolled a considerable number of "disadvantaged" students: women, minorities, people from low socioeconomic background, and those with low aptitude scores. (2) Students’ and their mothers’ educational aspirations were the most influential factors affecting students’ choice among the three types of postsecondary institutions, and proprietary students’ aspirations were lower than that of community college and four-year institution students. (3) Most proprietary Students did not reach the level of a two-year degree or beyond, and those who eventually attained a two-year degree or beyond were very likely to be students with high aptitude. (4) Study of the delayed entrants into proprietary schools confirmed the major findings derived from the initial entrants, except the aspiration variable played a less significant role in determining the educational attainment of delayed entrants than that for the initial entrants. / Ed. D.