In an era of accountability and increased state control of curriculum, curriculum guides have become important legal documents, and many local districts seek to produce documents as a framework for both district and state objectives . Such curriculum development is a complex process. This study examined the curriculum procedures, roles of the participants , decision-making processes, and perceptions of the resulting documents in five school districts. Qualitative data collection included taped interviews using a focused in-depth interview schedule, field notes, observation, and document collection. The study included central administrators, building administrators, and teachers. Data Analysis was an interative, on-going process using a constant-comparative analysis of coded categories emerging from the transcribed data. This comparison examined curriculum models, curriculum trends, and teacher and administrator perceptions. The study of the curriculum processes in each district resulted in the development of a five-step curriculum model: pre-planning, planning, writing, implementation, and revision. Naturalistic models developed in each district as the curriculum was impacted by various pressures and influences. Within the five areas of each curriculum model, several patterns emerged. Each district had some impetus for a new curriculum direction. All districts reported some kind of data gathering within the planning stage and intensive training of teachers during the writing stage. The curriculum writers spoke of developing goals, objectives, strategies and of deciding upon content and document format. Many mentioned a negotiation system for decision-making. During curriculum planning and development, central office administrators formulated and approved policy, teachers documented district policy, and building administrators monitored its implementation. The emerging themes suggest the effects of a school district's environment on the curriculum process and the importance of an influential person to monitor all stages of the procedure. The themes indicate the strong move toward centralization of curriculum as a result or increasing state mandates, and demonstrate that teachers derive a sense of satisfaction and "ownership" of curriculum documents as they take part in curriculum planning and writing.

This study investigated the following with regard to technical-occupational students in a multi-campus urban community college: The enrollment patterns in required general education courses at specific intervals of course work; the relation between successful completion of certain required general education courses (English and mathematics) and academic success as measured by grade point average; and the profiles or basic characteristics (age, GPA, sex, and high school graduation status) of (a) the student who had completed a specified amount of general education course work and (b) the graduate who had attained a higher grade point average in technical course work than in general education course work. The data was obtained from the academic records of 328 current student, selected by established criteria, and 284 graduates of six technical-occupational programs. The six programs were chosen by pairs to represent white-collar, technical-skilled, and blue-collar oriented occupations. Data on enrollment patterns were analyzed according to percentage in frequency distributions. Differences in mean grade point averages for completers and non-completers of English and mathematics were analyzed using the t-test. Significant variance among the groups representing types of occupations was analyzed using the chi-square test for independence. The Pearson Product Moment test was used to investigate correlations between grade point average and amount of general education work completed. Among the major findings were the following: over 57 per cent of the current students had completed general education requirements at a level proportional to their total program enrollments; current students tended to avoid enrollment in English more than in mathematics; current students who had completed mathematics had a higher mean GPA than those who had not completed mathematics; graduates who completed mathematics during the first half of the program had a higher mean GPA than those who completed mathematics later; a negative correlation was detected between GPA and the amount of general education course work completed; and more than 81 per cent of the graduates had a higher GPA in technical course work than in general education course work.

The problem with which this study was concerned is the political influence of community/junior college chief executive officers (CEOs) and campus presidents on the state legislature, both directly and indirectly, in the funding of community colleges in Texas. Perceptions of effectiveness were recorded by survey from campus presidents and CEOs as well as from legislators and key legislators. In addition, interviews were conducted with several key legislators and the chief administrators of the two statewide community college organizations. The purpose of the study was to analyze the policy-making process in Texas of which community/junior colleges are a part. The influential relationships and interactions of the sixty-five CEOs and campus presidents of the public community college districts and campuses in Texas were analyzed after a survey instrument was administered. Perceptions of rank—and—file legislators were gathered through use of another survey instrument and perceptions of key legislators were gathered in the same manner but with the addition of a personal interview. Certain questions were asked of them concerning interactions and communication with leaders of community colleges. With the legislators and the presidents certain demographic data was collected and analyzed as a part of the study. Among the findings, campus presidents and CEOs do not have sufficient levels of acquaintance, interaction and communication to heavily influence local people whom they consider powerful in state funding of community colleges. Furthermore, legislators do not receive enough communication from powerful local group members to positively influence their decisions regarding community college funding. Presidents and CEOs from the metropolitan districts communicate most often with their legislators followed by those from rural districts. Board members from the metropolitan districts are most active in communicating with their legislators. Finally, legislators view the community college nearest them as equal to or better than community colleges statewide.

Each year there is an increase in the number of art students who transfer art credits from Texas junior colleges to North Texas State University. The lack of standardization in the junior college art courses indicated an area of investigation in which some procedures might be suggested in order to secure greater continuity and unity between the art curricula of the Texas junior colleges and that of North Texas State University.

The purpose of this project was to design a values package to create awareness and understanding for seventh grade students in the value system so as to achieve a more complementary classroom atmosphere. The value system is a new concept based on Clare Graves' seven levels of psychological existence: Reactive, Tribalistic, Egocentric, Conformist, Manipulative, Sociocentric, Existential. In addition, the package was designed to integrate the affective and cognitive levels of learning into an experimental learning situation. The package included written material, games, and activities which are all designed to create self-awareness and maintain relevancy for the students.

The potential college students of the Odessa area need to know which type of school best suits their personal needs. The area around Odessa offers the highest paid secretarial Jobs in the state, with some 500 oil and oil supply firms employing from one to fifty full-time secretaries, with salaries ranging from $200 to 4325 per month. The opportunities for accountants, bookkeepers and auditors in the Odessa area is unlimited, and they earn from 4350 to $450 per month. The Odessa area also employs approximately 30 business teachers. 1 The. high school graduate is often at a loss as to whether to take advantage of a business course in a private business college in Odessa or whether to study business administration for one or two years at the local junior college, either in preparation for a job or for additional education at another college or university. A great deal of time and money may be wasted if a potential student attends the school that does not fulfill his needs. In view of the above, the purpose of this study is to make comparisons between the two types of schools in an effort to determine the type of school most suited for each student, and to pave the way for improvements in business education in that area. These facts will be helpful in planning the future curriculum and expansion of Odessa College and the possible establishment of a business school in connection with Odessa College.

The purpose of this study was to identify certain aspects related to sight singing which tend to cause difficulty in teaching junior high school students and to suggest exercises that might be used to aid in overcoming these difficulties, Data included a questionnaire to junior high school teachers in three states. Subjects researched and discussed were the physical, intellectual, and emotional development of the adolescent; the changing voice and the range and vocal limitations of junior high singers; and rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, and other aspects of sight singing. Included were vocal procedures to be used with young voices, suggestions for choosing and/or arranging appropriate music, and original compositions designed to meet the needs and interests of junior high school students.

It is the purpose of this thesis to list and evaluate the published materials for junior high school band that the director may have a comprehensive knowledge of materials adapted to that level.

Many teachers of young adolescents face compelling pressures to dramatically change their practice. The rapid adoption of 1:1 computing, whereby each student has nearly constant access to an Internet-connected laptop, netbook or tablet, poses unique challenges to established practices in curriculum, instruction and classroom management. A growing number of teachers also confront a movement to provide students more personalized and flexible pathways to high school graduation, including experiential, blended and online learning, and allow students to apply knowledge and skills to tasks of personal interest. How teachers cope in this dynamic period may hinge on their ongoing professional development. In recent decades, a general consensus has emerged that promotes teaching as a learning profession in which teachers work together in learning communities and seek expertise not just from outside experts, but also from colleagues attuned to local circumstances. At the same time, the student voice movement encouraged schools to empower students as key collaborators in school improvement. In spite of common themes in the narratives on teacher learning and student voice—collaboration, empowerment and effective change—they seldom intersect in traditional professional development settings or in teachers' collegial learning. This dissertation proposes student consultation as a link between students and teachers in collaborative school improvement and suggests next steps toward more sustainable efforts to involve students in the preparation and ongoing learning of teachers. Three studies are presented. The first study described a weeklong summer professional development institute in which students have played a central role for more than two decades. It outlined the conditions conducive to the collaborative culture among teachers and consulting students and summarizes participants' perspectives on student consultation. The second study applied a qualitative case study design involving observations, interviews, focus groups and surveys with 72 teachers and 20 students to delve more deeply into consultations at the summer institute. Most teachers and students perceived the consultations as enjoyable and beneficial, willingly embraced shifts in authority during consultations, and noted the benefits of strategies employed to support the culture and practices of student consultations. The third study explored how teachers engaged with students as consultants in classroom action research projects initiated at the summer institute and in professional development contexts. The multi-site, collective case study examined six projects involving twelve teachers and 241 students. Interviews and focus groups with nine teachers and 22 students were coded by stages of the action research cycle and characteristics of student involvement in order to examine at which stages in the action research and in what capacities teachers involved their students. The study confirmed teachers' and students' general appreciation of consultation and suggests that parsing the subtleties of when and how students are consulted can contribute to deeper understand of student involvement and better facilitation of action research in teacher professional development. Together, this collection of studies has implications for the design and evaluation of student consultation in teacher professional development.

This case study describes one professional development approach to support technology integration at all public schools in one large county in central Virginia. Using data obtained from daily time logs, the frequency of Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT) use by classroom teachers was analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to describe overall percentage of ITRT use, the various types of professional development requested by teachers, the consistency of those activities over time, and if the frequencies of activities varied as a function of school level, Title I status at the elementary level, or subject area taught by teachers at the secondary level. Qualitative data was collected via focus group interviews of the involved ITRTs, and an exploratory attempt to understand the reasons behind their use was made. Data indicated that ITRTs were used 52% of the time offered with 5% variation over 3 years. Across school levels, ITRT time was used more at the secondary level and use varied no more than 9% over time. Google Apps for Education and web-based programs represented 73% of the training requests. Over time, fluctuations in the number of requests for assistance with different applications were explained by contextual factors. Elementary schools classified as Title I accounted for 23% of the total time elementary ITRTs were used. At the secondary level, teachers of science and language arts requested ITRT assistance more often. ITRTs made sense of these results by identifying first order barriers as more influential than second order barriers. Of these, access barriers were the most frequently cited barrier by the ITRTs followed by subject culture, institution, assessment, attitude and beliefs, and knowledge and skills. Elementary ITRTs cited more instances of barriers than secondary. Recommendations for practice and future research were made.