The purpose of the study was to determine the types of organizational structures, activities, and adviser compensation plans utilized within student councils in Indiana. public senior high schools. The population of the study was defined as all advisers of student councils in the 241 Indiana public senior high schools during the 1978-1979 academic year. The review of related literature and research revealed empirical data regarding the types of organizational structures, activities, and adviser compensation plans were either incomplete or outdated. Most of the literature was found to be subjective. The survey instrument was a 94 item questionnaire developed after reviewing related literature and consulting with a committee of experts. Two hundred-one student council advisers returned completed questionnaires. The following findings were based on analysis of data obtained from 201 questionnaires: 1. Fifty-five percent of the respondents had more than 12 years of teaching experience. 2. Forty-eight percent of the respondents had fewer than 4 years of teaching experience in the senior high schools in which the respondents were employed prior to appointment as student council advisers. 3. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents were considered members of teaching staffs. 4. Student members of 94 percent of the student councils were elected by popular vote of the students. 5. Seventy-nine percent of the student councils met during the regular school day. 6. Seventy-four percent of the student councils met at least once every two weeks. 7. Forty-four percent of the student councils were involved in the development of codes of dress and student conduct. 8. Forty-two percent of the student councils were involved in the formulation of school policy. 9. Twenty-one percent of the student councils were involved in in curriculum development and evaluation. 10. Advisers of 61 percent of the student councils reported receiving compensation for serving as student council advisers. 11. Advisers of 32 percent of the student councils reported receiving between $101 and $300 for serving as student council advisers. Advisers of 15 percent of the student councils reported receiving $100 or less for serving as student council advisers. 12. Advisers of 72 percent of the student councils reported devoting an average of less than 4 hours per week beyond normal school hours to student council responsibilities. The following conclusions, based upon the review of related literature and research and upon data from the study, were developed: 1. The organizational structures of a majority of student councils conformed to criteria established by experts for effective student councils regarding student representation, membership selection, frequency and time of council meetings, and the existence of written documents detailing responsibilities, authority, purposes, and aims of student councils. 2. Student council members were more likely involved in student social activities and student awareness activities than curriculum development or formulation of school policy. 3. Student council members in senior high schools with student populations greater than 2,000 were more likely to be involved in the formulation of school policy and codes of dress and student conduct than were student council members in senior high schools with student populations of 2,000 or less. 4. While a majority of student council advisers have 12 or more years of teaching experience, the assignment to serve as student council adviser has been given to teachers with few years of teaching experience in the senior high schools in which the advisers have been employed. 5. A majority of student council advisers received an amount of money specified in negotiated agreements as compensation for serving as student council advisers.6. Student council advisers believed the most appropriate compensation for serving as student council advisers was money.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between drug abuse and high school size. This thesis includes a survey which was conducted at Ball State University. The dependent variable was drug use; school size was the main independent variable and was positively related to drug use. Intervening variables were considered-parent/teacher relations, student/teacher interaction, participation in extracurricular activities, and peer acquaintanceship. Several control variables were also taken into consideration which were as follows: 1) size of city; 2) racial composition of high school; 3) per-capita income; 4) drug education programs; 5) religiosity of community; 6)educational aspirations; and finally 7) respondent's perceived class composition.Peer acquaintanceship had the opposite effect of what was originally hypothesized. Control variables which remained significant in the analyses were city size, income, and race. After including the significant control variables high school size was still significant at .05. According to these findings, future research on drug use and adolescents should take into consideration high school size. / Department of Sociology

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

This study was designed to determine: (a) the nature and extent of programmatic changes that occurred in the nine Indiana "High Schools That Work" pilot sites, (b) how the implementation of these changes has impacted administrative roles and responsibilities, and (c) whether the principal's role is different in program implementation when another educator is directly responsible for a specific school-improvement initiative. Questionnaires were mailed to principals and site coordinators at each pilot site, and personal interviews were subsequently conducted with each of them.Findings and conclusions were:1. All pilot sites used some form of integrated, non-linear planning. Integrated, non-linear planning helped pilot-site principals and site coordinators gain support for their programs and implement a greater number of changes than the researcher expected to find.2. Communication and finding time to plan were the two most significant planning problems. When there was a breakdown in communication among constituent groups, the level of support for various initiatives diminished. Releasing teachers from classroom activities to plan this initiative provided help in the planning process.3. Administrators at each school incorporated programmatic changes to reflect changes in philosophy, curriculum, and instruction. These changes included: (a) raising academic expectations, (b) eliminating the general track, (c) revising curriculum and instructional techniques, (d) integrating subject areas across academic disciplines and between academic and vocational subjects, (e) restructuring guidance programs, (f) collaborating with business communities, (g) modifying student assessment methods, and (h) changing the structure of the school day. Changes made through the "High Schools That Work" initiative have impacted all constituent groups affiliated with the pilot-site schools.4. Educators in dual roles of principal and site coordinator maintained direct control of their projects, and their time commitments were significantly greater than those of principals at schools with separate site coordinators. In situations where a site coordinator was present, the principal primarily assumed the role of supporter. This support role was especially critical with regard to communication and problem-solving.5. When there was no separate site coordinator, the principal assumed a broader range of responsibilities and acted as initiator, supporter, facilitator, and problem-solver for the initiative. When a site coordinator was present, the principal delegated power and leadership responsibilities to him or her. / Department of Educational Leadership

Nontraditional revenue is the term used to describe sources of funding other than those provided by federal and state support, including grants, and those provided by local property tax levies. Examples included licensing agreements, advertising in school facilities and on school property, school business partnerships, booster clubs, education foundations, and user fees. The purpose of this study was (1) to identify the sources of nontraditional revenue used by Indiana school corporations and Indiana high schools, (2) to assess local school officials' attitudes and expectations regarding the use of nontraditional revenue, and (3) to provide some insight as to how Indiana school corporations and schools utilize those funds.A QUAN-Qual Model was used for this study. The QUAN-Qual Model enabled the researcher to conduct the study in two phases. The first phase was comprised of a survey instrument used to identify the kinds of nontraditional revenue being used and to collect data regarding the amounts of nontraditional revenue being generated. The instrument was also used to measure attitudes towards nontraditional revenue and the perceived importance of those funds. The second phase was comprised of qualitative data collection through telephone interviews with school corporation and high school administrators conducted in February and March 2006. Analysis and interpretation of that data provided additional information about attitudes towards nontraditional revenue and how those funds are used.All Indiana school corporations and high schools that were included in the study utilized nontraditional revenue sources to varying degrees. They supplemented traditional funding with licensing agreements, school-business partnerships, booster clubs, education foundations, individual donations, and user fees. Nontraditional sources of revenue were identified as being essential for supporting some activities and programs. However, the researcher's sampling of corporation level administrators' and high school principals' attitudes regarding that revenue suggested that neither group relied on it to provide for essential personnel or programs. Statistically significant data suggest that school corporations and schools located in rural settings might be at a disadvantage with respect to their capacity to generate nontraditional revenue. / Department of Educational Leadership

In 1995, the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation that required a graduation exam be given to all Indiana high school students. This researcher examined the perceptions Indiana superintendents and high school principals hold toward the Indiana Graduation Qualifying Exam (GQE).The population of the study consisted of all public school superintendents and public school high school principals listed in the 2001 Indiana Division of School Finance and Education Information database. The entire population was sent the Indiana's Graduation Qualifying Exam Survey, which was developed by the researcher. The survey instrument consisted of demographic questions asking for personal and professional characteristics, 20 statements designed to generate respondent perceptions, and four open-ended questions.Findings indicated superintendents and high school principals perceived that the GQE was a valid indicator of minimum competency in English/language arts and mathematics and that the GQE encouraged students to reach minimum competency levels. The overall effect of the GQE was not perceived to be negative but superintendents and high school principals were unsure as to the GQE promoting the improvement of instruction or having a positive influence on student achievement. Superintendents and high school principals did not perceive the GQE was a valid measure of school effectiveness, school district effectiveness, or that it was a valid predictor of a student's future success. The study showed that changes were made by schools districts to align remediation programs, staff development and curriculum to state standards since the implementation of the GQE.Significant differences in perception were obtained between superintendents and principals, as well as among superintendents, and among principals when grouped by personal and professional characteristics. / Department of Educational Leadership

This study examined the relationship between Indiana's Graduate Qualifying Examination (GQE), a criterion referenced assessment which is a part of the general educational assessment and Indiana's alternate assessment, the Indiana Standards Tool for Alternate Reporting (ISTAR), a teacher rating assessment. The study utilized ISTAR ratings and GQE scores for three years (2003-2005). These data were derived from a secondary data source, the student test number (STN) database at the Indiana Department of Education. Use of the STN protects the confidentiality of personally identifiable information are, protects the confidentiality of students. All students in the study participated in both the GQE and ISTAR assessments. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between GQE scores and ISTAR ratings. The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient were mixed. Overall when all students were included in the sample, the relationships were stronger than when only students with disabilities were included in the sample. When only 10th grade students with disabilities were included in the sample for two years, 2003 and 2004, no significant correlation was found in the domain of English/language arts. With a larger sample size in 2005, a significant correlation between GQE scores and ISTAR ratings for 10th grade students with disabilities was determined (r = .31). In the domain of mathematics, all correlations were shown to be significant for both all students and students with disabilities. Even though some evidence of validity was demonstrated, the present study does not provide enough data to make definitive determinations regarding the validity of ISTAR ratings. Additional years of data are needed before any judgments regarding the ratings yielded from the ISTAR instrument can be made. The current study provides a base for future ongoing validation studies. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purpose of the study was to measure student attitudes toward Clay Middle School and selected components of the school in South Bend, Indiana, and to compare the results of student achievement, attendance, and dropout rate from the two years prior to the implementation of the intermediate school program with the results of student achievement, attendance, and dropout rate three years following the implementation of the intermediate school program. The study was limited to include all students in grades 7-9 in the Clay attendance district from 1970-75 and to a sample of all Clay Middle School certified staff members with school-wide responsibility.Two questionnaires, together with computer scored standardized tests, computer-generated attendance data, and a tally form for recording dropouts were used to collect the data. The first questionnaire was administered to the sample of Clay Middle School staff and was used to establish the credibility of the Clay Middle School program as a middle school. The second questionnaire was administered to Clay Middle School students in grades 7-9 from 1972-75 to collect data on attitudes toward school. The standardized tests were the Cooperative School and College Ability Tests and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress from Educational Testing Service and were administered to seventh and ninth grade students in the Clay attendance district to evaluate any change in student achievement. The attendance data and ninth grade dropout data were collected for all students in grades 7-9 from the Clay attendance district from 1970-75 and were used to determine any change in student attendance and ninth grade student dropout rate.The data collected throughout the study indicated:The following basic middle school principles were implemented to a high degree in the Clay middle School program: student services, exploratory and enrichment programs, continuous progress, auxiliary staffing, team teaching, use of multimedia, and physical experiences. The following basic middle school principles were implemented to a low degree in the Clay Middle School program: student security factors, flexible schedule, intramural activity, and planned gradualism.Most students held positive attitudes toward the open concept intermediate school program as implemented at Clay Middle School.Almost all of the Clay Middle School students were able to become well-adjusted and effectively oriented toward Clay Middle School.Most Clay Middle School students considered the course offerings at Clay Middle School adequate.A sizeable minority of Clay Middle School students was dissatisfied in regard to certain aspects of the courses offered in the open classroom areas and suggested more teacher involvement in student learning problems.Nearly one-half of the Clay Middle School students considered the faculty and staff at Clay Middle School unresponsive and unavailable.A majority of the Clay Middle School students had an overall positive feeling toward the school. The physical layout of the Clay Middle School building was serviceable to the basic needs of students.The changes in student achievement as measured by the standardized tests at Clay Middle School from two years prior to the implementation of the intermediate school program to three years following the implementation of the intermediate school program were minor and could not be attributed to the Clay Middle School Program.The changes in student attendance in the Clay attendance district from two years prior to the implementation of the intermediate school program to three years following the implementation of the intermediate school program were minor and could not be attributed to the Clay Middle School program.12. The percentage of ninth grade dropouts in the Clay attendance district decreased as a result of the ninth grade being a part of the intermediate school unit.

This thesis explored standardized assessment practices and analyzed accommodations commonly provided to address the unique needs of students with a sensory impairment. Current assessment practices in Indiana result in well below average scores on the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress - Plus (ISTEP+) and the Graduation Qualifying Examination (GQE) for students who have a sensory impairment. Using a mixed-method of qualitative and quantitative processes, the researcher postulated that if assessment processes were equitable for this population of students, their scores should approximate the normal distribution seen in the overall state totals for the total school population; albeit with a slightly lower trajectory. Reasoning being that the overall population of students with a sensory impairment spans from students with high ability to students with multiple disabilities. Through a literature review and meta-analysis on the topic of assessment, surveys and discussions with varied local experts, and interviews with state and national experts in the sensory areas represented, this study sought to establish a framework for accommodating this population of students on standardized assessments. Using descriptive analysis procedures, the various data sets brought forth 25 qualities or practices that the diverse experts agreed should be in place when assessing this population of students. The data reflected a high level of consensus among parents, teachers, state, and national experts regardless of region of state represented. The data also reflected consensus across sensory subgroups (blind, deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing/cochlear implant, and low vision). The research concluded with a modified confirmatory factor analysis of the 25 qualities with the state-dictated permissible accommodations published in the test guidance manual. This analysis revealed less than half of the perceived best practices were in place for the current state-mandated assessment system. Suggestions for improving accommodation options on future assessment procedures and the prospective for further research were offered. / Department of Special Education