The intent of this study was to determine if leadership competency levels of the students enrolled in a graduate level leadership course were different when taught in Web-based versus traditional classroom settings. Specifically studied were leadership competency scores based on self-perceived leadership skills, leadership expertise, and Web-based and traditional classroom style. The population for this study consisted of students enrolled in a graduate level leadership course in the Spring semester of 2003. The participants completed a questionnaire to ascertain how much they remembered and used the competencies taught in the leadership course. They also responded to how their leadership perceptions and practices changed after completing the course. In addition, the participants completed a section that assessed their self-perceptions of leadership skills. This study found that the instructional format of a graduate level leadership course did not affect how much the students remembered or used the competencies presented. However, it was discovered that women in the Web-based section had a stronger perception of themselves than women enrolled in the traditional section. Furthermore, Web-based instruction combined with high perceptions of leadership expertise had a positive affect on the Decision Making Scale score.

A Practical Study on Commanding Behavior and Power Bases of Female Naval Officers¡XSamples taken from female officers serving on warships of the R.O.C. Navy Abstract In recent years, due to the popularity of education and the variation of traditional concepts, employment opportunities are wide open to women. In other words, it has become the main stream to welcome ¡§woman power¡¨ into all walks of life. There is no exception for the Ministry of National Defense (MND). In the past, professional officers were all males. Military academies admitted only male students. A few years ago, the MND, adjusting to the world trend, made major academies open to female students in order to cultivate female officers who would be serving in the military. In 1994, for the first time, the following academies admitted female students: the Military Academy, the Naval Academy, the National Management College and the Chung-cheng College of Science & Engineering. Now, female officers have been an important part of the military personnel. Since modern politics, society and technology have become more and more complicated, how to successfully lead is a branch of art and science. The commanding modes of female military officers have formed a newly-rising research field and need to be studied continuously. The essence of leadership is derived from influence, which means ¡§power¡¨ in the broad sense. This study is based on two theories. One is the theory of transformational leadership and transactional leadership advocated by Bass in 1985. The other is the power bases advocated by French & Raven in 1959. This study is focusing on the commanding behavior and power bases of female naval officers serving on warships. Through the study with logical analyses and practical experiments, it is hoped that female Naval officers can clearly understand how they practise their leadership and power. Furthermore, the study can help them establish their own successful and unique commanding styles. Questionnaires and interviews were done with female officers who had been serving in the Navy for one or two years. There are three important points found as follows: (1) Regarding the factors of the transformational leadership and transactional leadership, no significant difference is shown between male and female Naval officers. Officers of both sexes use both types of leadership although female officers have a slight preference for transformational leadership. (2) In practising power bases, officers of both sexes are almost the same although female officers have a little tendency to use reference power and expert power. (3) The relation between commanding behavior and power bases of female naval officers is significantly positive. Key words: transformational leaderhsip & transactional leadership, power bases, Female officers

Healthcare delivery within the military requires a multifaceted approach to achieve the desired outcomes of safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable health care. The prospect of maintaining a cycle of continuous process improvements within military clinical settings hinge on frontline leaders and middle-level managers who must be prepared to execute the mission and motivate, supervise, coach and mentor the staff. This project showcases a review of current literature translated into the development of an evidence-based Transformational Leadership Induction Program (TLIP) module that consisted of 4 subsections: the environment of care, clinical decision support systems, human resources management, and change management as well as resources for successful leadership within the organization. The training is designed to bridge the transition gap, facilitate role orientation and induction, and socialize frontline and middle-level managers during their role transition. The results of a need assessment survey, approved by the organization, were completed by 30 incumbents and resulted in 57% (17) providing feedback and role-specific contents that were integrated into the development of the TLIP module. The overall response to the survey was positive with 82% (14) of the respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing with the items that they reviewed. The TLIP module provides a medium that translates current evidence into a succinct training platform capable of enhancing leadership transition and handoff. The TLIP module enables a culture of trust, enhances staff satisfaction, and fosters change management and succession planning within the military healthcare system.

This qualitative study explored the reasons why suburban district leaders opted for full-day or half-day kindergarten programming in a sample of four local suburban districts operating such programs in Southeastern, Pennsylvania. The primary data source was interviews with key district leaders including school board members, superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of elementary education, and directors of curriculum. Review of district documents as well as informal observations in the field were used to supplement the interview data. Suburban district leaders' perceptions, values, and opinions were examined in this study to determine how decisions for kindergarten programming were made. District leaders, especially superintendents, are charged with the enormous responsibility to program appropriately for the needs of their district. This study sought to reveal how such a critical but complex decision pertaining to kindergarten programming was reached in suburban communities. "Full-day kindergarten reappeared first in the 1960's as an intervention designed to help disadvantaged children catch up to their peers through additional schooling" (DeCicca, 2007, p. 67). Presently, full-day kindergarten appears to be gaining increasing momentum as more and more mothers are working to provide additional income for their families. The era of middle class stay at home moms has been on a decline due to the unstable economy, rising cost of living, single parent households, a greater need to supplement family income, to further their own self-development, and an opportunity for women to contribute to the workforce. Educators, on the other hand, remain divided on the issue of full-day kindergarten versus half-day kindergarten primarily due to funding issues, equivocal evidence of academic gains, and resource allocations. "Given the additional expense of full-day kindergarten, information regarding the size and duration of gains should be of great interest to policymakers" (DeCicca, 2007, p. 67). The recent push for full-day kindergarten has occurred at the state level. Whether the participation in a full-day program is associated with improved outcomes has been the focus of intense inquiry (Le, Kirby, Barney, Setodji & Gershwin, 2006). Kindergarten programming in the United States has changed considerably in the last 50 years as a result of state and local standards enforced in districts across the country. All that children needed to do in a traditional kindergarten was to play and adjust themselves to a social setting (Nelson, 2000). Now, kindergarten has evolved into another grade of academics where rigorous curricula have been implemented along with higher expectations placed on schools to succeed. The controversy arises over the inconsistencies with kindergarten programming, especially for suburban children. Suburban districts are continually challenged to meet the needs of all kindergarten learners as a result of the growing changes in demographics across the county. Due to the increased populations of English Language Learners and Economically Disadvantaged Learners, the challenge to program effectively for kindergarten students can be concerning to district leadership due to old mores that are no longer appropriate to program sufficiently. The intent of this study was to inform the reader about how complex decisions such as kindergarten programming were reached. Another intent of this study was to delve deeper into the perceptions, values, and opinions of those decision makers to gain a better understanding of the reasons why and how decision makers selected half-day or full-day kindergarten for their district. The methodology utilized in this qualitative study was a case study design. The researcher collected data through interviews with district leaders including school boards members, superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of elementary education, and directors of curriculum. Observations in the field were conducted along with a review of key district documents such as strategic plans, school improvement plans, curriculum, and achievement data. The potential impact of this study was to inform the reader about the processes used by district leaders when making informed decisions about kindergarten programming. Suburban areas may benefit from this study because the results provided rich descriptive reports that can be utilized by parents, educators, policymakers, and the general public to gain a deeper understanding of suburban kindergarten in one state. / Educational Administration