<p> The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the impact of teacher attitudes and to discover other factors that have an impact on the implementation of a standards-based grading program. This descriptive phenomenology features interviews of 25 educators from Georgia as well as other states and two foreign countries in order to collect their perspectives of the lived experience of the implementation process. </p><p> The findings of this study suggest that the attitudes teachers have regarding the implantation process of a standards-based grading program do have a significant impact on the process. Those participants who described themselves as having a positive attitude towards the transition tended to also describe experiencing a more successful implementation of the program. The converse was true as participants describing their experience as being controlled by a negative attitude towards the transition experienced less successful transitions to the standards-based grading program. The findings of this study suggest that school leaders play a vital role in creating a successful implementation process and that other factors such as the quality of professional development and the element of time impact the process.</p><p>

<p> Current efforts in higher education institutions to increase persistence and success among Hispanic students continue to be ineffective and thus new conceptual frameworks need to be explored. Data from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities asserts that increasing the number of Hispanics that graduate is vital for our country&rsquo;s future. In turn, Hispanic-Serving Institutions need to nourish and nurture their students to ensure that they graduate and institutional frameworks would benefit from cultural and epistemological congruence with Hispanic students, their families, and their communities. </p><p> Educational leaders have urged educators to take on the responsibility and commitment to students&rsquo; success and to have a positive impact on the communities they serve. This quasi-experimental study intends to measure the impact of a Hispanic-Serving Institution&rsquo;s social responsibility on underrepresented students&rsquo; institution affiliation, especially Hispanic students in South Texas. </p><p> The following research questions guided this study: 1) What types of perceptual and behavioral characteristics (e.g. social integration, academic integration, perceived campus climate, CESL enrollment status, service learning enrollment status, language proficiency, gender, and immigration status) are associated with sense of belonging for college students, especially Hispanic students at a HSI in South Texas? and 2) How do community-engaged scholarship and learning experiences encompassed in CESL courses (the treatment) impact college students&rsquo; sense of belonging and academic and social integration, especially Hispanic students at a HSI in South Texas? </p><p> In order to answer the two research questions, a quasi-experimental research design was used in this investigation. It involved two forms of analyses: Regression Analysis addressing question one and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) addressing question two. The Multiple Regression Analysis (N = 208) yielded significant findings (p &lt; .05). The full model revealed that 48% of the variance in Sense of Belonging, the dependent variable, was explained by four predictor variables: Peer Group Interaction; Faculty Concern for Student Development and Teaching; Academic and Intellectual Development; and English Proficiency. Although there were no differences (p > .05) detected among the comparison groups, recommendations to improve research design, methodology and treatment fidelity for future studies were provided.</p><p>

<p> Student retention has been studied more than any higher education subject (Vlanden &amp; Barlow, 2014). Attempts to better understand the retention process through predictive modeling have become more common (Bingham &amp; Solverson, 2016). However, modeling efforts have failed to properly account for elements of social integration and sense of belonging, both of which serve as key tenants in Astin&rsquo;s (1975, 1999) theory of student involvement and Tinto&rsquo;s (1982, 1993) model of college dropout and theory of student departure (Bingham &amp; Solverson, 2016). In this study, social integration was evaluated in isolation using <i>z</i>-tests. Several forms of social integration were found to have a statistically significant difference in the proportion of retained participants versus non-participants including campus fitness programs, fraternity or sorority programs, recreation facilities, and student activities. Participants in intramural sports and on-campus living were not found to have statistically significant results. Additionally, binary logistic regression was used to analyze how social integration variables interplayed with demographic, student attribute, and academic performance inputs. The model produced through the analysis successfully met previous goodness-of-fit standards established in prior research (Bingham &amp; Solverson, 2016; Jia &amp; Maloney, 2014). Findings of this research are especially relevant to higher education administrators. A key method to the promotion of persistence and student retention is the ability to predict attrition (Harvey &amp; Luckman, 2014). By including social integration data, higher education leaders could seize upon the opportunity to more accurately identify those students who are less likely to persist than their peers (Bingham &amp; Solverson, 2016). </p><p>

The purpose of this study was to examine the test performance of five randomly selected groups of 1978 students on five different versions of the Stanford Achievement Test. Three types of comparisons were made. First, the test scores of the five groups of 1978 students in grade 8.1 were compared with each other on the 1929, 1940, 1952, 1964, and 1973 Stanford Achievement Tests. Second, the test scores of each 1978 test group were compared with the test scores of the 8.1 normlng group for each test. Last, the test scores of 1978 students were compared with the test scores of students of the same age in the normlng groups for the five different tests. A total of 236 subjects from one middle school in Upper East Tennessee was used. The 236 subjects were randomly assigned to five groups. The five groups were randomly paired with the five different Stanford Achievement Tests and were tested under the same testing conditions. A computer comparison of the past achievement of the five 1978 test groups proved the groups equal in ability at the time of testing. In making the comparisons, it was found that students in the 1978 test groups were not achieving less than students in the past in all subjects. Reading and language achievement scores were as high or higher than in the past. Mathematics scores were lower than in the past except for 1973. Recommendations for future research were given.

The purpose of this study was to examine the test performance of five randomly selected groups of 1978 students on five different versions of the Stanford Achievement Test. Three types of comparisons were made. First, the test scores of the five groups of 1978 students in grade 8.1 were compared with each other on the 1929, 1940, 1952, 1964, and 1973 Stanford Achievement Tests. Second, the test scores of each 1978 test group were compared with the test scores of the 8.1 normlng group for each test. Last, the test scores of 1978 students were compared with the test scores of students of the same age in the normlng groups for the five different tests. A total of 236 subjects from one middle school in Upper East Tennessee was used. The 236 subjects were randomly assigned to five groups. The five groups were randomly paired with the five different Stanford Achievement Tests and were tested under the same testing conditions. A computer comparison of the past achievement of the five 1978 test groups proved the groups equal in ability at the time of testing. In making the comparisons, it was found that students in the 1978 test groups were not achieving less than students in the past in all subjects. Reading and language achievement scores were as high or higher than in the past. Mathematics scores were lower than in the past except for 1973. Recommendations for future research were given.

The problem was to determine whether significant relationships exist in the attitudes of eighth-grade teachers, their principals, and their superintendents toward minimum competency testing in Tennessee. Literature was reviewed in order to determine the problems associated with the implementation of a minimum competency testing program. Questionnaires were developed to obtain the attitudes of teachers, principals, and superintendents about the questions most often encountered in the literature. School systems to be surveyed were selected by stratified random sampling from defined pupil enrollment categories after the questionnaires were field tested. Superintendents from 36 public school systems were identified to receive questionnaires and they each selected three eighth-grade teachers and three principals to complete questionnaires as well. Respondents were to have direct knowledge of the administration of the 1979 eighth-grade diagnostic basic skills test (a minimum competency test). Questionnaires were designed to obtain demographic data about the systems or schools represented by the respondents, personal data about the respondents, and attitudinal data on 17 items with responses to be ranked in order of priority by the respondents. A total of 100 questionnaires were received by the cut-off date, and these represented a 40% return. Personal data and demographic data were reported in tables. Nonparametrlc statistics were utilized to analyze the degree of relationship among the ordinal level data obtained from Items A-Q on the questionnaires. Agreement was tested intra-groups by Kendall's coefficient of concordance, and agreement between groups was tested by the Spearman rank-order correlation. The .05 level of significance was applied in all cases using the two-tailed test. Results of the data analyses indicated that agreement was more often significant within groups than between groups. Within groups (eighth-grade teachers, principals, and superintendents), a significant relationship was obtained for all 17 attitudinal items on the questionnaires for teachers and for principals, and for all items except H for superintendents. In the between-group analyses for first, second, and third priority responses, teachers and principals displayed greater agreement of rankings on each item than did teachers and superintendents, or than principals and superintendents displayed. Teachers and principals agreed significantly on 88%. of the items for first priority responses, 71% of the items for second priority responses, and 47% of the items for third priority responses. Teachers and superintendents agreed significantly on 65%, 47%, and 29% of the items for first, second, and third priorities. Principals and superintendents indicated significant agreement on 59%, 41%, and 35% of the items for first, second, and third priorities. Very few differences were noted between groups in the responses most often reported for first, second, and third priorities. Frequently, the same three responses were chosen as first, second, or third priority for each item by the three groups, but in a slightly different order by the different groups. Analysis of rankings beyond third priority was not conducted due to the great number of tied rankings after the third priority. Analysis of the demographic data revealed that most respondents represented students other than urban, upper-class youngsters and schools without a large percentage of minority students. Answers to general questions about the administration procedures for the 1979 basic skills test indicated that most systems administered the test in a comparable manner. Most respondents were between the ages of 20 and 49, and 71% of them had attained a Master's degree or above. Teaching certification was held by 81% of the respondents, and administrative certification by 57%. Teaching experience of 1-15 years was reported by 76% of the respondents and administrative experience of 1-15 years by 47%. Supervisory certification and experience were negligible.

This study was conducted to determine if there were possible areas of student individuality and uniqueness that might contribute to successful completion of distance education courses as compared to successful completion of traditional classroom courses. Five areas of possible differences were identified and studied: 1) differences between the number of successful completers, 2) differences in individual student learning styles, 3) differences in individual student self-directed learning readiness, 4) differences in individual student motivation, and 5) differences in individual student personal profiles. The data collected in this research project came from 132 students enrolled in Psychology 111, a distance education course and traditional classroom course at University of Alaska Anchorage. Three survey instruments were used to collect the data as follows: Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI), Guglielmino's Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS), and a General Questionnaire. In addition, students' final class standings (Pass/Fail) were used to determine completion status. Findings of the study indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the number of successful completers of distance education courses as compared to successful completers for traditional classroom courses. Findings also indicated that areas of learning style and learning readiness had no effect on the successful completion rates of students enrolled in distance education courses as compared to students enrolled in traditional classroom courses. Motivational differences appeared between the two groups studied in two areas, "Retraining" and "Fits my work schedule." The study findings also suggested that there were statistically significant differences in distance education students' personal profiles as compared to traditional classroom students' personal profiles in such areas as gender, full-time student status, marital status, and number of dependents. / Graduation date: 1994

As charter schools continue to proliferate across United States, their impact on the public education system is becoming an increasingly important public policy question. Charter school proponents argue that combined pressures of consumer choice and market competition will induce traditional public schools to respond by providing higher quality education and promoting innovation and equity. Skeptics worry that charter schools pose risks of segregating students by race and economic level, and reducing per-pupil resources available to traditional public schools. This dissertation provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of charter schools on regular public schools by addressing the following questions: 1) How do the charter schools affect the racial, ethnic and cosio-economic distribution, student-teacher ratios and achievement of traditional public schools? 2) How do the size and scope of competitive effects vary according to different measures of competition? Using two-period panel data from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core Data (CCD) for traditional public schools in Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Ohio, I compare changes in racial and ethnic distribution, student-teacher ratios and achievement in public schools that do and do not face competition. I use a variation of the difference-in-differences (DD) estimation strategy to study the effect of charter schools on the outcome measures. The findings from the study suggest that introduction of charter schools in the educational landscape has affected student distributions, and at least in some cases, student-teacher ratios and the performance of traditional public schools. Charter schools seem to contribute to declines in the share of non-Hispanic white students in traditional public schools in all four states. The results show variation in other outcome areas across states and competition measures. The findings highlight the importance of monitoring what will happen to non-choosers in traditional schools as well as the role of considering state context and empirical measures while generalizing from charter school studies.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves [122-126].

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : 63-68).