Advocates of middle grades reform in the United States argue that curriculum and instruction, as well as leadership, organization, and community relationships, should be informed by knowledge of the developmental characteristics of 10 to 15 year-olds within physical, social, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and moral domains. Noticeably absent from their conception of human development are spiritual developmental characteristics of young adolescents. This interdisciplinary research was a critical constructivist (Kincheloe, 2008) inquiry of the following question: What is the educational relevance of spiritual development in middle grades education? To study this question, critical historiographical research methods (Villaverde, Kincheloe, & Helyar, 2006) were used to interrogate the academic discourses of three fields related to the research question: (a) the middle grades concept; (b) spirituality as a developmental domain; and (c) holistic education. Foundational texts from these fields served as sources of data. I present the result of the data analyses as narratives on the paradigms that influenced the (hi)stories of these three academic fields. These narratives were analyzed for common epistemological and ontological perspectives. Amongst the paradigms of the three fields, three meta-paradigms are shared: Ecological Epistemology, Holistic Ontology, and Positivist Ontology. In addition, a discursive interrelationship within each field, a dynamic of paradox, was found between the three meta-paradigms. These results offer encouragement for the relevance of spiritual development as part of the middle grades concept, as they suggest that integration of knowledge of adolescent spiritual development is theoretically supported by commitments to caring relationships in schools and constructivist learning theory. The results also suggest a paradigm revolution (Kuhn, 1996) that might allow for a new discourse of possibility (Giroux, 1981) for spirituality in education. This dissertation research could serve as a basis for further research that focuses on how to integrate knowledge of adolescent spiritual development in public schools in the United States.

The study focused on the student service related problems of culturally distinct groups of students attending a community college. The groups selected for the study were sixty international students and sixty English as a Second Language students. The researcher administered the Michigan International Student Problem Inventory, an instrument which has been widely used to indicate foreign students' problems. Combining the use of naturalistic research methodology, the researcher utilized an indepth interview to document the problems they were facing. Patterns and trends among the problems were analyzed and reported. The results indicated that many international students experienced concerns in the area of financial aid, had difficulties with some of the immigration regulations and work restrictions, and experienced forms of racial and social discrimination. The English as a Second Language students tended to experience most difficulties in the area of English language functioning but also experienced problems related to academic functioning and making friends. The student service areas most closely related to the international students' concerns were Financial Aids, Admissions, Placement, Counseling, and English Language Services. English as a Second Language students' problems were most closely related to the areas of English Language Services, Admissions, Counseling, and Academic Advisement. Recommendations generated by the study include the development of a new instrument to include topics generated by the students in the open-ended section of the questionnaire, a translation of the instrument into the major languages of the English as a Second Language population, and the need for future research on subgroups of the populations who indicated a greater number of problems than the others. Institutional recommendations are included which focus on how the college could address the problems which the students identified.

This investigation is concerned with determining the impact of the United States Supreme Court's Rodriguez decision upon the state and federal courts. The first chapter discusses the background behind the 1973 decision and outlines the basic issues. The second chapter examines the decision's impact upon opinions in the federal courts and concludes that Rodriguez has become a significant precedent. While school finance reform is dormant in the federal tribunals as a result of the decision, the third chapter concludes that reform is still possible in the state courts. However, there has been a deceleration in the rate of cases overturning school funding statutes since 1973. The final chapter examines some of the state legislatures and concludes that statutory reform is not necessarily linked to action in the courts.

Research has shown that African American males are performing poorly in American public schools and are disciplined at a higher rate than other ethnic and gender groups. Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) has a long history of success with individual students and more recently in school-wide settings. School-wide PBIS offers schools the ability to tailor their rules, rewards, and consequences to the specific needs and culture of a school. This descriptive and quantitative study sought to determine if implementation with fidelity of SWPBIS positively correlated to reduced disciplinary measures. The object of this study was to determine in what ways disciplinary rates for African American males differ in American public schools that identify as using SWPBIS with fidelity as compared to American public schools that do not implement SWPBIS with fidelity. Disciplinary rates examined included ISS, OSS single incident, and OSS multiple incidents. Descriptive findings indicated that schools that implement SWPBIS show a lower rate of ISS and OSS incidents for African American males. The quantitative findings did not yield a statistically significance between schools with fidelity of implementation of SWPBIS and schools without fidelity of implementation of SWPBIS.

Inclusion is a federal education policy in the United States that challenges educational leaders. Despite U.S. federal laws requiring an inclusive education for students with disabilities (SWD), educators continue to struggle to implement inclusion. Some scholars argue that leadership is the key to inclusion, with most studies focused on principal leadership. Successful inclusive districts are rare, as are studies of these districts. The purpose of this in-depth case study was to describe and understand the leadership practices of SSSD (pseudonym), an inclusive (based on LRE ≥75% for three consecutive years) and effective district (based on district grades of As and Bs, state measures of student achievement) in Southeast Florida. Within SSSD, a purposeful sample of 31 participants was selected that included eight district leaders, three principals, 15 teachers, and five parents located at four sites and observed across three events over the span of one semester with multiple supporting documents analyzed. Four findings describing district leadership practices emerged from the data analysis; 1) a shared inclusive mission, 2) collaborative efforts, 3) formal and informal professional development (PD), and 4) acknowledging and addressing challenges. The practices of district leaders found in this study resonate with other findings in the literature and contribute two of the new findings in this study: 1) the superintendent’s attitudes, beliefs, and experiences as a special educator were described as key to her district’s inclusive focus and success and extends previous research connecting principal leadership to school site inclusion; and 2) informal versus formal PD was more beneficial to teachers in building collective capacity for inclusive service delivery—marking a new distinction within related PD literature. Recommendations to district leaders, policy makers, and scholars are included. The study concludes by encouraging educational leaders to cultivate a shared inclusive mission implemented through collaborative efforts. There is hope for inclusion, not only in theory, but in practice, mirroring the call of other district leadership studies of successful, systemic inclusion. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This study examined the relationship between selected student and institutional characteristics and the retention rates of first-time, degree seeking, full-time and parttime, freshman student cohorts in public community colleges in Florida. Based on data obtained from the Integrated Post-Secondary Data System on selected student and institutional variables for three years beginning fall 2005, 2006 and 2007, retention rates were analyzed for the years beginning fall 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. This quantitative non-experimental descriptive study relied on multiple regression to analyze aggregated data on eight predictor variables to determine their impact student retention rates. A moderating variable (institutional size) was used to determine its influence on the relationship between the predictor variables and the criterion variable. The results suggest that gender and age were positively related to student retention rate at the parttime level, academic support expenses were negatively related to student retention rates at the part-time and full-time levels, and institutional size moderated the relationship between certain predictor variables and retention rates at small institutions. / by Ancil DeLuz. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the Haitian Hybrid Student Success Skills (HHSSS) program on the academic achievement of 4th and 5th grade Haitian students. This intervention included both the Student Success Skills (SSS) classroom program in English (Brigman & Webb, 2004), followed by the Haitian SSS small group translation Teknik Pou Ede Eláev Reyisi (Brigman, Campbell, & Webb 2004, 2009). School counselors in the treatment schools implemented the HHSSS program in grades 4 and 5 after receiving training from the study researcher. A series of ANOVA and ANCOVA analyses then were conducted to determine whether there were significant differences between the treatment group, the comparison group 1, and the comparison group 2 in reading and math using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) as a benchmark. Statistically significant differences were found between: (a) the treatment group and comparison group 1 in reading, (b) the treatment group and vii comparison group 2 in reading, and (c) between both comparison group 1 and comparison group 2 in reading. This study provides empirical support showing that students who are taught key cognitive and self management skills in their native language can begin to close the academic gap regardless of their language background. Furthermore, it supports the positive impact school counselors can have on student success by implementing an evidence-based program. / by Velouse Jean-Pierre Jean-Jacques. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to identify and understand Hispanic students' perceptions of the influences on their success at a community college. Using a qualitative design, six students were interviewed in depth in order to gain insight and perspective of their educational experience at the community college. The investigation explored each student's decision to enroll at the community college and sought to describe factors that the participants identified as having impacted their experiences at the community college, including their perceptions of themselves and their families. The study also explored the programs and practices that are in place in the community college that may influence these students' academic success. Finally, the relationship between the Hispanic students' perceptions about their academic successes and the community college's employees' perceptions were examined. Tinto's (1975) model of student integration theory provided the theoretical framework for data collection and analysis. The major analytical categories that were developed during data analysis were as follows : other academic experiences ; motivation to succeed, both internal and external ; issues of ethnicity ; issues of age ; and issues of family. The students' perceptions of their community college experiences were both positive and critical. / by Karin Lynn St. Pierre. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether statistically significant differences existed between high school Honors Physics websites and those of Advanced Placement (AP) Physics in terms of web-design, National Science Education Standards (NSES) Physics content, and NSES Science Process standards. The procedure began with the selection of 152 sites comprising two groups with equal sample sizes of 76 for Honors Physics and for Advanced Placement Physics. The websites used in the study were accumulated using the Google[TM] search engine. To find Honors Physics websites, the search words "honors physics high school" were entered as the query into the search engine. To find sites for Advanced Placement Physics, the query, "advanced placement physics high school," was entered into the search engine. The evaluation of each website was performed using an instrument developed by the researcher based on three attributes: Web-design, NSES Physics content, and NSES Science Process standards. A "1" was scored if the website was found to have each attribute, otherwise a "0" was given. This process continued until all 76 websites were evaluated for each of the two types of physics websites, Honors and Advanced Placement. Subsequently the data were processed using Excel functions and the SPSS statistical software program. The mean and standard deviation were computed individually for the three attributes under consideration. Three, 2-tailed, independent samples t tests were performed to compare the two groups of physics websites separately on the basis of Web Design, Physics Content, and Science Process. The results of the study indicated that there was only one statistically significant difference between high school Honors Physics websites and those of AP Physics. / The only difference detected was in terms of National Science Education Standards Physics content. It was found that Advanced Placement Physics websites contained more NSES physics content than Honors Physics websites. There was no significant difference found between the two types of high school physics websites in regards to web-design, and NSES science process standards. It is hoped that the results of this study may serve as a guide for researchers to explore the role of Web-Assisted Instruction (WAI) as an enhancement to traditional instruction in physics. With the first generation to grow up in the digital age now in high school, WAI may prove to be useful as method to improve critical thinking skills and provide opportunities for inquiry beyond the classroom. / by Ronald C. Persin. / Vita. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Disney commands a strong market presence worldwide in print and multimedia products used for early childhood entertainment. Yet, the gender and cultural bias found in Disney animated fairy tale media has been well documented. Although preprimary early childhood teachers are urged to maintain a multicultural environment that is free of bias and stereotypes, very little training or support is presented to guide preprimary early childhood teachers in the selection of materials for use in their preprimary early childhood classrooms. The study sought to investigate the influence of a professional development module focused on the gender and cultural bias found in Disney animated fairy tale media on preprimary early childhood teachers. How would they respond to this professional development module? Would it change their intentions to use Disney animated fairy tale media with preprimary early childhood children? Would the participation in this preprimary early childhood professional development module actually change their practice? Using both quantitative and qualitative inquiries, participating preprimary early education teachers reported mixed findings. While some preprimary early childhood teachers were clearly influenced by their discovery of the existence of bias in this media, others revealed a cognitive dissonance from a strong personal and emotional attachment to Disney animated fairy tale media products juxtaposed against the evidence of cultural and gender bias found in the media. Implications and suggestions for future research included the expansion of professional development modules and higher education/teacher education to include the study and consideration of the content of children's media. / Policymakers and advocates need to address concerns of bias found in children's media with respect to gender and cultural bias development during the preoperative developmental stage of preprimary children. Further, interdisciplinary discussion needs to the concern of the influence of media on the holistic development of young children. / by Ruth A. Doran. / Thesis (Ed.D)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.