Predictive validity was explored between vocabulary matching (VM) probe scores and the integrated Louisiana Education Assessment Program (iLEAP) social studies standardized subtest score for 224 sixth-grade students across demographic categories from one rural southeastern Louisiana school district. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) conducted in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, 2007) produced Pearson correlations between .51 and .70 for five benchmark probes for the entire sample. Predictive cutscores created using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses and a diagnostic accuracy application software program illustrated that VM cutscores did not correctly predict which students would pass or fail with enough specificity (.48 and .69) or enough sensitivity (.61 and .73). Limitations and future implications are discussed.

In this study, I explore the intertextuality in spoken word poetry using Tracie Morriss spoken word poem Project Princess (1998) as a case study. My hypothesis is that the intertextuality in spoken word poetry is derived from its genealogical contributions. Using narrative inquiry, I investigate Project Princess as page poetry and oral performance text anchored in the genealogy of spoken word poetry. The following research questions guided this study: How does intertextuality function in Tracie Morriss spoken word poem Project Princess? What role does the genealogy of spoken word poetry play in understanding the intertextuality in Tracie Morriss spoken word poem Project Princess? In what ways does the intertextuality in spoken word poetry play at the intersections of race, gender, and class in Tracie Morriss spoken word poem Project Princess? What are the pedagogical implications for studying the intertextuality in spoken word poetry derived from its genealogical contributions in twenty-first century classrooms using Tracie Morriss spoken word poem Project Princess as an example? The conceptual framework consisted of intertextuality theory, public pedagogy, and performance studies, to explore the ways in which sites of resistance emerge from the poets narrative of lived experiences and social realities. Data was collected from page poetry, spoken word poetry, video, an audio interview of Tracie Morris, essays written by or about Tracie Morris, and Tracie Morriss website. I used narrative analysis to interpret the data using four interpretative models: structural analysis, thematic analysis, dialogic/performance analysis, and visual analysis. The findings revealed that intertextuality in Tracie Morriss spoken word poem Project Princess emerged as non-chronological storytelling, language and accepted meanings, signification (signifying), and created counter-narratives that opened discursive spaces as sites of resistance. The implications for education based on this study suggest that intertextuality in spoken word poetry in twenty-first century classrooms may be used to uncover hidden transcripts contained in Project Princess or other spoken word poems; identify themes across Morriss narrative or other spoken word poems and their connection to the genealogy of spoken word poetry; create safe-spaces for dialogical exchanges and social interactions; and facilitate meaningful dialogues and social interactions among participants.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative course delivery methods, which can ultimately help higher education stakeholders make informed decisions for present and future educational endeavors. Emerging systems of educational technology, such as networked learning and the increasing development of online courses have created many questions concerning the effectiveness of online learning relative to face-to-face learning. More research supporting online as an effective alternative to traditional education is needed as an evaluative tool to potentially mitigate the budgetary constraints, which pose a threat to the institutions ability to fulfill their mission of providing a quality education to their students. Specifically, community colleges have the highest enrollment growth rate and account for half of higher education enrollment over the last five years (Allen and Searman, 2007), but unfortunately, smaller, public and community colleges have not historically invested in distance education (Janes, 2003). Community college students and faculty were participants in this quasi-experimental research study, in which the findings support that online courses are popular overall with students, as indicated by the total number of students who enrolled in these courses, but, unfortunately, students who enroll in online courses are not as successful as the students enrolled in on-ground courses. A contributing factor to the popularity of online courses in community colleges, as in setting of this research, is the fact that there is no on-campus housing; all students live off campus. Furthermore, the higher rate of online non-completers could be due to the fact that community college students are usually at a disadvantage, subject to more characteristics that negatively impact their success in college, including scoring lower in high school, delaying college after high school, attending part-time, and coming from families who are in the lower socio-economic status (Bailey, Jenkins & Leinbach (2005). The results of this study indicate that minorities perform worse online than onground. Females are more likely to be unsuccessful at an on-ground course but more successful online. Traditionally aged students (18-24 years) generally are less successful than non-traditional students (25 and older) in online courses.

What is the role of philosophy in education? This timeless question may best be answered by examining Plato's earliest dialogues in which he makes a case for philosophy as the centerpiece of education. I call this effort Plato's project for education and interpret the Apology, Crito, Charmides, Laches, Ion, Hippias Minor, Euthyphro, and Lysis as an integrated attempt to promote philosophy as education in ancient Athens. Plato accepted arete (excellence, virtue) as the proper goal of education, but his interpretation of arete as a distinctly moral quality required a new approach to education. Plato recognized that the quality in a doctor that makes her aim at what is good for her patient is distinct from the skill that enables her to choose the most effective treatment. Against traditional education, which emphasized social standing, professional skill, and the accumulation of information, Plato focused on the moral dimension of human beings and prescribed philosophy as a means for developing it. Memorization of information and tuition in practical skills may help us in our particular crafts, but it does little to improve us morally. This task must be undertaken separately through examination and reflection. Success will be judged not by one's peers, or even by one's government, but by the gods themselves who adhere to a universal idea of goodness. Plato's conception of arete as the health of the soul precipitates a new approach to education that focuses on philosophy and presents Socrates as its hero and martyr. Health of the soul, like health of the body, is something that requires constant labor and attention, and yet may never be perfected. In Plato's project, the ignorant Socrates and the dialogues themselves become indirect teachers by exhorting students to care for their souls and to appreciate the task. The promise that arete can be achieved through the pursuit of moral wisdom is given in the words and actions of Socrates. Like his ancient friends, the reader struggles to understand Socrates and from this struggle emerges philosophy: the love and pursuit of wisdom; the proper education for arete.

This dissertation asserts the importance of acknowledging and incorporating lack in the theory and practice of pedagogy. The alternative view, that identity can be fixed, can be understood in Lacanian terms as a fantasy construction. Such fantasies have powerful effects, sedimenting individual and social desires, and blocking potential alternative subjectivities and social practices from emerging. The dissertation therefore aims to challenge fantastic representations of the fixed subject and the fixed social structure prevalent in educational discourse, and to argue further that a differently oriented pedagogy, focused on acknowledging and maintaining the lack or negativity at the heart of identity, may provide the opportunity for these possible subjects and practices to proliferate. This dissertation critiques the fantasies of humanism and of structuralism that are widespread in educational theory and practice, arguing in particular that widespread understandings of the relationship between subjects and economic reality lead to a political impasse. Using Derridean deconstruction, post-structuralist marxian economic theory, and Lacanian psychoanalytical theory, the dissertation then explores discourses of subjectivity and economic reality in the context of the Rethinking Economy project, an interdisciplinary qualitative research project in the Pioneer Valley region of western Massachusetts. A symptomatic reading of the project's texts argues for the powerful presence of fantasy in the economic narratives of individuals, in the mainstream economic development conversation, in progressive educational discourse, and in alternative, marginal, or daily economic discourse. The pedagogical moments of the project are used to illustrate an educational practice that attempts to destabilize fantastical attachments. Based on this reading, I propose a more general model for educational philosophy and pedagogical practice, one which is based neither on an essentialist view of the subject nor on an essentialist view of the social field and yet which is still foregrounded in particular political and ethical commitments.

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The purpose of this thesis is to show that the philosophy of pragmatism is responsible for the techniques in modern educational theory.

The purpose of this study was to determine some of the bases of character education in United States public schools from 1607 to 1983. Research was conducted concerning persons, organizations, and movements to determine bases for character education. Teaching materials representing a variety of philosophies were also studied. The various bases of character education were grouped under four categories--religious, societal, specific traits, and individually determined. The history of each area was traced in a separate chapter. An attempt was made to include educators and materials representing various philosophies. The summary included some of the trends related to each base, major proponents, and materials. It was concluded that society-based character education has been the most prominent, even among educators who claim to have other bases for their character education. Bible-based character education has also been prevalent, but less so in recent years. Independent thinking as a base for character education has increased in popularity in recent years but is often, in reality, based on society. The trait approach is an approach used mainly in relation to other bases. It was also determined that character education in the United States has changed from mainly a biblical emphasis to more diversified bases. As society has become more pluralistic, a greater diversity of bases has become more acceptable. In addition, few educators adhere strictly to a single base. Most seem to combine bases in varying degrees to arrive at some sort of personalized base for their own philosophy of moral education. Some recommendations for further research and study were given.