Thesis (Ph.D.)--Texas Christian University, 2009. / Title from dissertation title page. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the extent to which the present industrial arts program of the Van Independent School District of Van, Texas, serves the needs and interests of the students and school community.

In 1983, the report A Nation at Risk catapulted school reform to the forefront of national attention. The State of Texas responded with legislation dictating curriculum and instructional time. Failure to accomplish the desired improvement in student achievement caused these mandates to be eased. In lieu of the mandates, the Texas legislature and the Texas Education Agency have set expectation standards called academic indicators. Local districts and campuses must utilize site based decision making (SBDM) to determine how each campus will meet the set standards. Dealing primarily with curriculum roles and responsibilities, this study details perceptions of principals and teachers as SBDM was being implemented in a suburban school district serving 25,000 students. Data were gathered utilizing a structured interview and a follow-up telephone interview. Addressed in the study are perceptions of: (a) role changes, (b) responsibility changes, (c) needed improvements in the implementation process, (d) teacher empowerment, (e) positive and negative elements, and (f) student achievement.

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact on student use of electronic information systems when teachers have been given instruction on their use. By providing teachers with a solid introduction to the technology, a handy reference book, and an easy-to-use evaluation tool, it is expected that they will incorporate information found on the internet into their lessons at least twice a month. In addition, teachers will allow students to access information on their own, provided computers and Internet access are available, at least once a month.

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate what linguistic meanings the concept of quality is imbued with in different educational arenas and to discuss the consequences of such meanings for education. From this aim the main research question is: What does the concept of quality do to education and what does education do to the concept of quality? The question indicates an interest in understanding how the concept of quality and education mutually influence each other. The empirical material consists of national texts written by the government and the national school authorities, mainly between the years of 1997 to 2008, as well as interviews with different people from three local school authorities and schools. Theoretically the approach is inspired by Quentin Skinner and speech-act theory as well as Reinhart  Koselleck and conceptual history. While Skinner is mainly interested in the rhetorical use of concepts, Koselleck’s interest lies in investigating how concepts carry historical time. For this study, some analytical concepts are lifted from these two theories and are applied to the empirical material. From the analysis, four concluding criteria of application are formulated: education quality, result quality, market quality and system quality. The result shows that certain meanings, which for a long time have been connected to education and, in this study, are incorporated under the umbrella criterion education quality, have been challenged and partly  marginalized. Instead, the dominance of result quality, market quality and system quality lead to an acceptance of new social perceptions in education. The different national and local structures that are developed to measure quality have a high impact on local practice. As a consequence of a shift from goal to result, overriding goals are clarified and made juridically controllable. The changes also lead to consequences for the different actors in the education system, as well as for teachers, national politicians and for national and local school administrations.

This research examines agency data for participants in a truancy intervention program. Previous literature provides mostly descriptive information and fails to examine the effects of truancy intervention efforts. The analysis provides a profile of truant participants referred to the program and factors that correlate to successful completion of the program requirements. The results will be applicable to the study program as evaluation research and will be generalized for application to other truancy programs. Directions for future truancy research will be suggested based on the need to continue to evaluate truancy reduction efforts.

The purposes of this study were to determine whether intramural sports programs are available to senior high school students in the four largest metropolitan school districts in Texas and to determine reasons why schools may not offer intramural programs. Questionnaires were mailed to eighty-four high schools in the Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio Independent School Districts. Data obtained from this survey revealed that a majority of the responding schools do not sponsor intramural sports programs for their students. The factors cited most often as the reasons for not sponsoring intramural programs were lack of facilities, inadequate number of personnel, lack of transportation, and conflict with interscholastic sports.

"The purpose of the study is twofold. First, to determine the effectiveness of the apprenticeship training program in selected building crafts in the Dallas metropolitan area during the period September 1959 to June 1967. In order to arrive at a point of determination concerning the effectiveness of the apprenticeship, it will be necessary to delve into the organization, administration, and implementation of the apprenticeship training program as operated by the Dallas Independent School District in cooperation with the craft trades and their respective labor unions. This will include a study of apprenticeship committees, curriculum, methods of selection of apprentices, and qualifications of instructors for apprenticeship training programs. Second, to determine any weaknesses in the training programs which may exist and to make recommendations for improvement of the program." -- p. 3

<p>Abstract</p><p>This paper will examine the co-operation culture in teacher work teams in a primary school currently undergoing reorganization in the Stockholm region. This inquiry is based on qualita-tive interviews with teachers and work team leaders, and is aiming to answer how teachers co-operate during the reorganization process, to find the factors that affect co-operation. Our results show that the two teams practice communication, leadership and participation very differently. Currently there are clear differences in the work team’s tendency to develop and to work with the reorganization process, pedagogic methods, social and emotional awareness and ideological beliefs. Can these two work teams meet despite their differences? Can a changed perspective promote co-operation and development, to become an integrated organization by learning from each other?</p><p>Keywords: Work team, co-operation, interaction, learning organization, reorganization, independent school</p> / <p>Sammanfattning/ Abstrakt</p><p>Det här examensarbetet undersöker samarbetskulturen i två arbetslag på en grundskola i Stockholms län under en pågående omorganisation. Undersökningen grundar sig i kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare samt arbetslagsledare och syftar till att besvara hur lärarna samverkar inom arbetslag under omorganisationen på skolan, samt vilka faktorer som påverkar samarbe-tet. Resultaten visar på att kommunikationen, ledningen och delaktigheten gestaltar sig olika i de båda arbetslagen. Stora skillnader existerar för närvarande i arbetslagens benägenhet att utvecklas. Även arbetet med omorganisationen, pedagogiskt förhållningssätt, socioemotionell medvetenhet och ideologisk uppfattning kommer till olika uttryckssätt. Kan de två arbetslagen mötas trots sina olikheter? Kan ett förändrat perspektiv bidra till samarbete, skolutveckling och en enhetlig organisation genom att lära av varandra?</p><p>Nyckelord: Arbetslag, samarbete, samverkan, skolutveckling, lärande organisation, omorganisation, friskola</p>

Abstract This paper will examine the co-operation culture in teacher work teams in a primary school currently undergoing reorganization in the Stockholm region. This inquiry is based on qualita-tive interviews with teachers and work team leaders, and is aiming to answer how teachers co-operate during the reorganization process, to find the factors that affect co-operation. Our results show that the two teams practice communication, leadership and participation very differently. Currently there are clear differences in the work team’s tendency to develop and to work with the reorganization process, pedagogic methods, social and emotional awareness and ideological beliefs. Can these two work teams meet despite their differences? Can a changed perspective promote co-operation and development, to become an integrated organization by learning from each other? Keywords: Work team, co-operation, interaction, learning organization, reorganization, independent school / Sammanfattning/ Abstrakt Det här examensarbetet undersöker samarbetskulturen i två arbetslag på en grundskola i Stockholms län under en pågående omorganisation. Undersökningen grundar sig i kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare samt arbetslagsledare och syftar till att besvara hur lärarna samverkar inom arbetslag under omorganisationen på skolan, samt vilka faktorer som påverkar samarbe-tet. Resultaten visar på att kommunikationen, ledningen och delaktigheten gestaltar sig olika i de båda arbetslagen. Stora skillnader existerar för närvarande i arbetslagens benägenhet att utvecklas. Även arbetet med omorganisationen, pedagogiskt förhållningssätt, socioemotionell medvetenhet och ideologisk uppfattning kommer till olika uttryckssätt. Kan de två arbetslagen mötas trots sina olikheter? Kan ett förändrat perspektiv bidra till samarbete, skolutveckling och en enhetlig organisation genom att lära av varandra? Nyckelord: Arbetslag, samarbete, samverkan, skolutveckling, lärande organisation, omorganisation, friskola