The development of a platform for community involvement in the decisionmaking processes for municipal management in the Tshwane area. This will ultimately lead to ownership. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

This paper is a case study of the redevelopment of the Naval Support Activity East Bank site located at 4400 Dauphine Street in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the City of New Orleans and the federal government have been trying to find the highest and best use for this federally owned site, which has since been subject to BRAC legislation, or Base Re-­Alignment and Closure. The City created the New Orleans Advisory Task Force (NOATF) in November 2011 to oversee the process and come up with a plan for the acquisition, redevelopment, and operation of the new facility. Their plan is to create an international disaster management, recovery, and resilience center that could serve as a hub for not only disaster preparedness for the region, country, or potentially the world, but also a place for innovation and evolution of the disaster management industry. With these goals in mind, the NOATF has taken on a massive engagement of public and private partners that should help with the complex financing mechanisms, the ownership and management of the property, and the sustainability goals expected to be reached upon completion. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

MEd / Department of Educational Management / See the attached abstract below

Although prior research has shown that parental involvement positively affects a child's literacy development, attention should also be directed to the factors that keep parents from being involved in their children's education. The study reported in this dissertation examined five factors: socioeconomic status, level of education, employment, culture, and language that may be influential in parental assistance of their children's literacy development in the home. The data sources for this investigation included interview responses and a demographic survey. Data from 17 parents, each from a different household, and each with a child in kindergarten were obtained and used for the study. For analyses of these data, content analysis was used to identify similar themes among the interview responses and the demographic survey. Results indicated the following: (1) the time parents spent assisting their child with literacy activities was affected by long work hours, (2) parents with a yearly income of $25,000 or less were unable to provide additional literacy materials for their children, (3) lack of multicultural literature caused culturally diverse parents to feel devalued, and (4) parents who did not speak English fluently lacked the strategies to assist their children in completing English literacy homework. The findings suggest there are significant factors in the home environment that impact the quality and amount of literacy activities that parents provide for their children. In order for teachers to support parents in providing for their children's literacy development, they need to be aware of these factors. In addition, teachers should be culturally sensitive by including multicultural literature in the curriculum.

The literature identifies multiple factors pertinent to learner characteristics and learning experiences that may promote doctoral education outcomes, and yet little quantitative research has examined relationships between those factors deemed important in the effectiveness of doctoral education. This study sought to examine predictive relationships among doctoral students’ learner characteristics, their involvement in mentorship and intellectual community, and doctoral education outcomes. Using Astin’s theory of involvement and the literature on signature pedagogies in doctoral education as conceptual guides, a survey instrument was constructed for the purpose of measuring variables identified as relevant to the effective formation of scholars. Central to the conceptualization of this study was academic involvement as represented by mentorship and intellectual community. The instrument was validated in a two-stage pilot testing process and administered to doctoral candidates at three public Texas higher education institutions. Of the 217 participants, the majority were female, White (Non-Hispanic), US citizens, and were pursuing education doctorates. Data were analyzed using multivariate statistical analyses. Reliability and validity estimates indicated psychometric integrity of the 20 observed variables measured to represent the constructs of mentorship and intellectual community. Results indicated that doctoral students’ learner characteristics were not notably predictive of doctoral students’ degree of involvement in mentorship and intellectual community (p < .05, R2 = .23). Doctoral students’ degree of academic involvement was strongly predictive of outcomes (p < .001, R2 = .58), particularly student satisfaction with the doctoral education experience and self-efficacy in conducting various forms of scholarly work. Of this effect, more tangible outcomes such as scholarly productivity and degree progress were not meaningfully related to academic involvement. Regardless of the frequency of academic involvement, students perceived faculty mentorship and intellectual community as very important. The predictive value and perceived importance of faculty mentorship and intellectual community highlight the critical role faculty and peer support plays in the doctoral learning experience, and imply that such teaching and learning practices should be promoted in doctoral education. Considering that satisfaction and self-efficacy tend to be related to other educational outcomes, those concerned with the overall quality of doctoral education should focus increased attention on building collegial, effective, productive relationships among and within program communities.

There has been limited research regarding teachers' opinions about their involvement in school decision making. A critical step missing in the research is the development of instruments to assess teachers' perceptions of their actual and desired levels of involvement. With the wide spread use of site-based management, shared decision making, participatory management and teacher empowerment, it is important to study teachers' involvement. The purpose of this study was to design an instrument to measure teachers' satisfaction with their involvement in school decision making. A review of the literature was used to identify issues to be considered for instrument development. Four domains were formulated for the Satisfaction with Participation in Decision Making Questionnaire (SPDMQ): (1) Involvement in the Operation of the School; (2) Involvement in Establishing Curriculum and Instructional Techniques; (3) Teacher Development, Evaluation, and Work Allocation, and (4) Involvement in Establishing Student Teacher Relationships. There are five questions included in each domain, for a total of 20 questions. Each question measures a desired level of involvement and a perceived actual level of involvement in school decision making. To measure content and construct validity, a total of three draft instruments were administered to doctoral students, school administrators, teachers, and other educators. The population selected to validate the instrument consisted of all teachers in five elementary schools from two different school districts in the Hampton Roads area. Two schools were selected from a district that currently implements site-based management programs, and three schools were selected from a district that implements little or no site- based management. A total of 168 teachers completed the SPDMQ. The treatment of data included several statistical routines including chi-square, Cronbach's alpha, t-tests, and correlations. The results of administration of the SPDMQ indicated that teachers in site-based schools reported more involvement in decision making but were not significantly more satisfied with their involvement. This instrument may be used by principals as a needs assessment to determine how much and in what areas teachers want to be involved in school decision making. / Ed. D.

Destination competitiveness has become a critical issue in today's increasingly challenging tourism market. Many studies have indicated that tourists and their needs stand as the ultimate driving force which influences competition and competitiveness in the tourism destination. Today, destinations eventually compete on the quality of tourism experience offered to visitors. However, limited research has been undertaken to examine destination competitiveness from the tourists' perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of quality of tourism experience on tourists' perception of destination competitiveness. A destination competitiveness model based on the perceptions of tourists and a measurement instrument to assess the constructs of the model were developed for this study. The model proposes that tourists' perceived destination competitiveness is affected by the quality of tourism experience, which includes the experience in pre-trip planning, en-route, on-site, and after-trip (reflection) phases. Furthermore, tourist involvement, as an important salient dimension of consumer behavior, is introduced into the model as a moderating factor in the relationship between quality of tourism experience and perceived destination competitiveness. The sample population of this study consists of residents of Virginia who are 18 years old or above and took at least one leisure trip away from home in the past 18 months. Three hundred and fifty-three usable questionnaires were utilized in the data analysis of the study. Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis were performed to test the study hypotheses. The results indicated that the quality of tourism experience and tourists' perception of destination competitiveness do relate to each other as substantiated by the existence of shared common variances between these two major constructs. The study also revealed that tourists' perception of destination competitiveness is positively influenced by the quality of tourism experience in terms of different phases (pre-trip planning, en-route experience, on-site instrumental experience, on-site expressive experience, and after-trip reflection). Furthermore, tourist involvement appears to have a moderating effect on the relationship between pre-trip planning experience, en-route experience, on-site expressive experience, and perceived destination competitiveness. The study also provided managerial implications to destination managers and marketers based on the research findings. / Ph. D.

This study investigated the effectiveness of the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program on school readiness. The HIPPY program uses home-based instruction to aid parents in teaching their children school readiness skills. The curriculum in this program includes literacy, math, and social skills. Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills assesses the academic achievement of students in different grade levels and in various subject areas. The chi square test revealed that the children in the HIPPY program were more likely to have higher passing rates on the first administration of TAKS Reading, Math and Science sections compared to non-participants. The implementation of early intervention and parental involvement programs such as HIPPY helps to facilitate students‟ success.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters Of Psychology (Counselling Psychology) in the Department of Psychology at the University Of Zululand, 2017 / The current study aimed to explore the emotional involvement of teenage fathers in their children’s primary care at the University of Zululand, Dlangezwa Campus. Twenty teenage fathers were recruited and interviewed individually using open-ended questions. Data was analysed using Creswell’s analytical approach. The seven themes that developed when data was analysed were 1) involvement of the father, 2) the pregnancy of the partner, 3) family relations, customs and traditions, 4) relationship with partner, 5) teenage fatherhood and academics, 6) impact of fatherhood on teenage father’s life, and, lastly 7) prevention of teenage pregnancy. Results indicate that teenage fathers are involved in their children’s lives despite the many challenges that impede them. Conclusion: teenage fathers are involved in their children’s primary care

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Foundations of Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2002. / The issue of involving parents in education has been explored by several studies in the past with all pointing towards greater success than failures amongst learners whose parents work in partnership with educators. Parental involvement not only ensures maximum development of learner-motivation, but it also has an impact on the smooth running of the school. However, a gap still exists between parents and educators in black secondary schools in South Africa. This results in poor performance among matriculants in particular, and lack of commitment and responsibility among learners in general. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which parents and educators in black secondary schools work as partners in developing the culture of learning in learners. The results showed that most parents felt that they have a role to play in the education of their children. Yet they realized that they were not fully involved either due to inadequate financial and knowledge resources or trie schools did not fully involve them in their activities- This study is an ongoing attempt at making parents and educators realize the importance of partnership in the education of the child.