Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2005.

<p> Purpose. This study sought to identify, understand, and describe the decision-making processes used by school districts to determine the middle school science course sequence as part of the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards. Additionally, this study explored and described the expressed comments, feelings, and beliefs of participants involved in the decision process about their experience in the decision-making process and the outcome. </p><p> Methodology. This multiple case study focused on four cases&mdash;three school districts that chose the integrated approach and one district that chose the discipline approach. Ten participants represented the four school districts. Data were collected from each participant utilizing personal face-to-face interviews. </p><p> Findings. Significant findings included: Administrators tended to defer to teachers, because of their expertise, to promote consensus and teacher buy-in; prolonged discussions led to expressions of demoralization among teachers; each of the four school districts used a different approach to the decision&mdash;one depended on expertise of a dedicated science education leader to make a command decision, while three districts included a broad set of participants to promote consensus; conceptual structuring devices facilitated decision making; science teachers with discipline-specific backgrounds tended to prefer the discipline model and were more reluctant to adopt the integrated approach; the professional identity of the science teacher influenced their preference and their feelings about the outcome; and each participant expressed unique perceptions of who was involved in the decision&mdash;teachers tended to downplay the importance of their own influence and to describe the ultimate decision as being in the hands of administrators. </p><p> Conclusions. There is no best approach to selecting a middle school science course sequence. Multiple decision-making approaches resulted in acceptable outcomes, but any approach can be improved by taking steps to promote levels of trust among constituents. </p><p> Recommendations. Educational leaders must understand how the <i> professional identity</i> and <i>science content expertise</i> of science teachers influence their preferences of curricular sequencing. Leaders interested in developing consensus should take careful steps to promote transparency and trust. Participants in the decision should be provided professional development to limit ambiguity, provide guidelines, and promote structuring devices to facilitate the decision.</p><p>

<p> One of the most overlooked and complex problems that universities and colleges face nation-wide is how to reduce and eliminate research misconduct. Because of the confidential nature of allegations of research misconduct and the high rate of underreporting, administrators at scholarly institutions struggle with understanding the cause of such behavior. Without a clear picture of the prevalence of misconduct or the barriers to reporting, leaders at institutions of higher learning find themselves at a disadvantage when dealing with these problems. This uncertainty coupled with a growing regulatory emphasis from federal funding agencies, results in a reactionary approach while questionable practices go unchecked. </p><p> In the early 2000s, federal funding agencies began requiring colleges and universities to provide training in the responsible conduct of research prior to receiving funding. The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training covers research misconduct (falsification of data, fabricating data, and plagiarism) as well as other topics related to research misbehaviors (mentoring, peer review, data management, authorship, etc). This emphasis on training, while well intended, has not had a significant impact on faculty and student knowledge about misconduct. </p><p> Authentic Leadership Theory is based on Aristotle&rsquo;s concept of authenticity and has gained attention over the last decade. It is comprised of four main components: Balanced processing, internalized moral perspective, relational transparency, and self-awareness. These types of leaders focus on moral standards and values and that is what guides his or her leadership. </p><p> This study evaluates the impact authentic leaders have on shaping the ethical attitudes of faculty when they are placed in direct departmental supervisory positions. A survey of faculty from 15 Mississippi colleges and universities was conducted. Results indicate that the self-awareness and relational transparency constructs of authentic leadership influence faculty attitudes towards objective research integrity issues, but the direction of influence conflicts with each of the constructs. Additional variables failed to reach a level of significance suggesting that other variables, not historically associated with organizational leadership and research integrity, are influencing faculty&rsquo;s ethical perceptions. Additional attention is focused on barriers to effective leadership caused by the compliance focused culture of institutions of higher learning.</p><p>

Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-113).

Tyrimo tikslas – ištirti pradinių klasių mokinių socialinių įgūdžių raišką ir ugdymo organizavimą. Tyrimui buvo siekta atskleisti pedagogų ir tėvų požiūrius į pradinių klasių mokinių socialinių įgūdžių raišką; išanalizuoti socialinių įgūdžių ugdymo organizavimą; nustatyti pedagogų organizacinių ir komunikacinių gebėjimų raišką ir jų įtaką mokinių socialiniams įgūdžiams; atskleisti, kaip šeima ir mokykla bendradarbiauja socialinių įgūdžių ugdymo procese. Empiriniam tyrimui pasirinkta anketinė apklausa, joje dalyvavo 271 mokinių tėvas, 121 Vilniaus miesto ir rajono pradinių mokytojas bei išsiaiškinta, kaip ugdomi mokinių socialiniai įgūdžiai. Remtasi kokybiniais metodais atlikta literatūros analizė, kurios pagrindu apibrėžta socialinių įgūdžių samprata ir socialinių įgūdžių ugdymo organizavimo aspektai. Taikant statistinių duomenų apdorojimo programą nustatyti statistiškai reikšmingi ryšiai tarp mokinių socialinių įgūdžių ir: šeimos kurioje auga vaikas; veiklos kurioje ugdomi socialiniai įgūdžiai; pedagogų komunikacinių ir organizacinių gebėjimų; pedagogų ir tėvų skirto dėmesio socialiniams įgūdžiams ugdyti; metodų, kuriais remiantys ugdomi mokinių socialiniai įgūdžiai; struktūrinio mokymo komponentų. Atlikus empirinį tyrimą paaiškėjo, kad pedagogų nuomonė mokinių socialiniai įgūdžiai nėra pakankamai išugdyti, jų raiška dažniausiai vidutiniška. Pedagogai daug daugiau dėmesio skiria mokinių socialinių įgūdžių ugdymui nei mokinių tėvai. Paaiškėjo, kad pedagogai retai taiko... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of the research is to investigate the expression of pupils' social skills and organization of education. Also it was aimed for identifying the attitude of teachers and parents to the expression of social skills of primary school pupils; to analyze organization of education of social skills; to identify the expression of organizational and communicative abilities of teachers and their influence to pupils’ social skill; to find out the ways of communication between parents and school in the process of the education of social skills. A questionnaire survey was chosen for the empirical research 271 parents and 121primary schoolteachers of Vilnius city and Vilnius region participated in the research in order to find out the ways of education of pupils’ social skills. On the basis of literature analysis, which was done by using qualitative methods, conception of social skills and aspects of organization of the development of social skills were defined. By applying SPSS10 for Windows program for statistic processing of information, statistically important relations were found: pupils’ social skills and family; activities; communicative and organizational skills of teachers, attitude of teachers and parents towards education of social skills; methods; structural components of teaching. After completing an empirical research it emerged that according to the opinion of teachers, social skills of pupils are not educated enough, their expression is usually average. Teachers... [to full text]

Magistro darbe išanalizuota įvairių autorių komandinio darbo teoriniai aspektai, atsižvelgiant į specialiojo ugdymo organizacijų darbo specifiką. Remiantis teorijos analize, atliktas tyrimas specialiojo ugdymo organizacijose, siekiant identifikuoti komandinio darbo raišką. Tyrimo metu analizuota specialiojo ugdymo organizacijų darbuotojų nuomonė apie komandinį darbą jų darbe, aiškintasi kokios darbuotojų žinios ir įgūdžiai, patirtis dirbant komandose, aiškintasi darbuotojų nuomonė apie komandinio darbo ateities perspektyvas specialiojo ugdymo įstaigose, kaip šiuolaikinėse organizacijose. Patvirtinta autoriaus suformuluota tyrimo hipotezė, kad specialiojo ugdymo organizacijų darbuotojų komandinis bendradarbiavimas nėra išvystytas, darbuotojų komandinio darbo įgūdžiai tik formuojami. / Theoretical aspects of teamwork of various authors have been analysed in this Master‘s work, considering the working features of the organizations of special education. Based on the theoretical analysis, the research in the organizations of special education has been carried out to identify the expression of teamwork. During the research, the staff‘s opinion of organizations of special education about teamwork at their working place has been analysed, explaining the staff‘s knowledge and skills, their experience of working in teams and the staff‘s opinion about the future prospects of teamwork in institutions of special education as in contemporary organizations. It approves the formulated hypothesis of the research‘s author, that the staff‘s teamwork of the organization of the special education is not developed and that the teamwork‘s skills are still in development stage.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Joseph Farrell. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 393-420).

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2004. / In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters in Education (Education Leadership and Management).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Wayne K. Hoy, Dept. of Educational Policy and Leadership. Includes bibliographical references (p. 154-169).

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2005.