<p> Knowing the perceptions of college students regarding their safety on campus from an active school shooter can be valuable when campus police and security, college safety boards, and other members of the college community are designing policies and emergency plans to protect the college. However, few studies have been conducted to examine perceptions of students regarding fear of a school shooter on a university campus. To address this gap in the literature, this particular study was conducted to specifically inspect the perceptions of students regarding fear of a school shooter on a university campus in Missouri. This study resulted in a record of how the fear of a school shooter is perceived by college students from a variety of viewpoints. A qualitative, grounded theory design was selected for this study and was framed through the perspective of values theory and human and campus ecology theories. Interviews with 25 university students in Missouri were conducted. Data analysis resulted in the emergence of four major themes: (a) contentment, (b) partnership, (c) communication, and (d) maintenance. Overall, students in this study felt a great degree of contentment and desired to reduce their fear of an active shooter by creating a partnership with campus police, communicating better, and rejecting stricter gun laws.</p>

<p> Institutions of higher education, states, and government agencies are seeking avenues for increasing access, improving learning outcomes, and increasing student retention. The majority of chief academic officers polled indicate that online learning is key to the growth of their institutions, while simultaneously indicating concern that online learners are less likely to succeed and persist. A common construct for how institutions can facilitate student success and persistence is the notion of engagement. Since 2000, campuses have relied upon the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to guide institutional policies and practices supporting student success. The research on the applicability of the NSSE to online learning is scarce. This ex post facto quantitative study explored the relationship between scores on the ten NSSE Engagement Indicators and two widely used measures of student success: grade point average (GPA) and persistence. </p><p> The study sample comprised students from five public state institutions that had administered the NSSE during the 2013 and 2014 cycles. Statistical tests were employed to examine potential differences between online and non-online learners. A small significant difference in GPA was discovered, with online learners having a higher average GPA than non-online counterparts. There was no significant difference in rates of persistence between the groups. Regression analyses revealed no statistically significant relationship between Engagement Indicator scores and either GPA or persistence. </p><p> The study findings did not support assertions in the field that online learners are less likely to succeed than non-online learners. The findings were contrary to previous research on the role of engagement in the equation of student success and persistence. Differences in NSSE scores between online learners and non-online learners offered evidence of how those groups may be distinct. The study suggests the need for delineating NSSE results based upon different groups of students, and brings into question the applicability of the engagement construct for online learners. The need to clearly and consistently define &ldquo;online&rdquo; becomes a critical aspect of the discussion. Recommendations for policy and practice are offered, including the importance of addressing attrition bias, and a caution on making inferential interpretations with descriptive statistics from a survey.</p>

<p> As the gap between the haves and have-nots widens, the call for reform in higher education in the United States intensifies. Policy actors, philanthropists, and academics from across the political spectrum work on various policy solutions, creating a policy environment that is complex and often contentious. Incrementalists claim that major policy reform is unlikely since unknown variables and inexplicable events can stall or dismantle policy initiatives. In such environments, policy entrepreneurs&mdash;those individuals who advocate for policy innovation, work for change, and help shape policy solutions from within and without government&mdash;try to break through the barriers of incremental politics. As important as this role is to the influencing and structuring of higher educational policy, it has not yet been explored. This study fills this gap in the extant literature by cataloging the characteristics and skills that enable higher education policy entrepreneurs at the state and national levels to persevere and accomplish sustainable and innovative higher education reforms over time.</p><p> The study employed a descriptive, revelatory, single-case study research design (Yin, 1994) interpreted from the postpositivist paradigm (Creswell, 2007). The major source of data, drawn from 23 interviews with policy entrepreneurs from across the United States, was triangulated with document reviews and a multi-level coding strategy. Then the data were framed by the research questions and juxtaposed against nine propositions extracted from the extant literature to derive the study findings.</p><p> The policy entrepreneurs in this study are creative political leaders with a passion for improving educational opportunity. They are adaptable, pragmatic on details of policy shaping, and use the means available to them to influence. Policy entrepreneurs don&rsquo;t work in isolation; rather, they are network dependent. They value collaboration and seek to develop relationships and create opportunities to advocate for policy innovations that benefit students before institutions or organizations, taking calculated risks with interminable patience, and making sacrifices for their cause. They have learned to listen, compromise, reach across the aisle, strategize, and recognize windows of opportunity. They work hard to build credibility and trust. Workplace mentorships and peer relationships are a major source of their learning and development.</p>

<p> The low employment rates of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) are a major concern. In 2011 only 34% of adults with ID were employed compared to 76% of adults without disabilities (Siperstein, Parker, &amp; Drascher, 2013). Higher educational attainment is associated with higher employment rates for students with ID (Smith, Grigal, &amp; Sulewski, 2013). postsecondary education has been shown to increase employment (Carnevale, Rose, &amp; Cheah, 2013). Increasingly postsecondary education is becoming an option for individuals with ID. </p><p> This study examines the effect of postsecondary education on employment and earnings for individuals with ID and the effect of state variation on those outcomes. Research hypotheses were developed from Human Capital and Social Capital Theories. </p><p> This dissertation employed secondary data analysis of the Rehabilitation Services Administration&rsquo;s RSA 911 from 2008 through 2013 to examine the effect of postsecondary education on employment for individuals served by state Vocational Rehabilitation Service Agencies. The RSA 911 includes variables on attendance of postsecondary education, employment outcomes, earnings, as well as individual and demographic information. Additional economic and state level demographic and policy variables were added to the dataset. Multi-level modeling techniques were used to understand state variation, such as various economic and programmatic features that influence outcomes. Those outcomes for those individuals with ID who had postsecondary education were compared to those who did not. </p><p> This study found postsecondary education improves odds of employment, increases weekly earnings, and decreases reliance on SSI benefits for individuals with ID. In addition, postsecondary education increases their odds of obtaining employment in positions not typically held by individuals with ID. Gender, race, cost of services, and the receipt of Medicaid moderate these results, but when all these factors are included the results are that postsecondary education increases the odds of employment more than twice that of an individual with ID without postsecondary education. </p><p> This research provides greater understanding of the effects of postsecondary education for individuals with ID and its effect on employment and earnings. This research informs policy makers by examining ways to increase employment and earnings for individuals with ID through postsecondary education.</p>

<p> Bill Clinton proffered a plan for student loans as he was running for president: a direct loan system with repayments tied to income and collected by the Internal Revenue Service. Since that time, student loan policy continued to struggle with the dichotomy of the bank based lending system and the direct loan system, until President Obama ended new federal student loan originations in the bank based system entirely in 2010. The actions of President George W Bush&rsquo;s administration in between these two Democratic administrations also played a role in this evolution of student lending. How and why did these Presidents take these policy actions and what does that tell us about student loan policymaking within the executive branch? This dissertation employs a case study methodology to explore whether frameworks of policymaking theory may offer insights into student loan policymaking across these three administrations. </p>

<p> Freshmen at baccalaureate-granting institutions cite being able to secure a more attractive job and earn a higher income among the most important factors that influenced their decision to pursue a college or university education. Indeed, higher education has been cast as a reliable on-ramp to the American Dream, a mechanism for reducing income inequality, and a key to enhancing economic competitiveness and growth of states and the nation. These benefits have been emphasized by a chorus of individuals calling for dramatically increasing college degree attainment levels in the United States (U.S.). Yet to what extent and how consistently has higher education delivered these trumpeted outcomes for individuals, states, and the nation? </p><p> U.S. Census American Community Survey microdata and typical education requirements of occupations published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics were utilized to quantitatively analyze employment outcomes of college graduates. A special focus was placed on the incidence of malemployment (the phenomenon of college graduates working in occupations that do not require a college degree), relationships between undergraduate degree fields and labor market outcomes, and variations across states in the employment outcomes of college graduates. </p><p> The benefits of higher education for individuals and states were found to be highly uneven. Analyses revealed that approximately 31% of adults in the labor force with a bachelor&rsquo;s degree or higher are malemployed, a rate that varies by undergraduate degree field, educational attainment, race/ethnicity, and age. College earnings premiums generally are far lower for malemployed individuals than for graduates who have secured college-level occupations, and they vary dramatically by undergraduate degree field and state. </p><p> Myths about higher education and the labor market were dispelled, such as the notion that malemployment affects only recent graduates and that there generally is an insufficient supply of STEM graduates. The principal propositions of the national attainment agenda were evaluated in light of the study&rsquo;s findings, and a new framework for that agenda was offered, including a greater focus on the traded sector of the economy, a shift from state leadership to a state/federal partnership, and a suggestion for attainment agenda proponents to embrace a learning quality agenda.</p>

<p> This study investigates parental health literacy and parental health seeking behavior for pediatric primary care utilization as a response to childhood obesity among 220 parents from 12 Head Start and Non Head Start preschools in New Castle County, Delaware. Four paper surveys collected data with the Newest Vital Sign, STOFHL-A, a Parent Survey, and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS). Green and Kreuter's 2005 Precede-Proceed model is applied to an original logical model for determining a need for a preschool health literacy intervention to inform better child health outcomes. Results indicate that low-income, minority families, have fewer health books at home, which is associated with lower parental health literacy, higher child BMI, and more health care referrals for managing childhood obesity. Nutritional health literacy scores are lower among Hispanic parents who are Head Start participants. Black parents who are Head Start participants had significantly lower parent functional health literacy. Head Start programs offer more parent health education and twice the rate of referrals for the same level of health seeking behavior as Non Head Start parents. Health seeking behavior was lower overall for Black parents from the Head Start program. Further study should explore cultural notions and family characteristics associated with lower pediatric health care utilization in relation to both health literacy scores and health care referrals. </p><p>

<p> President Barak Obama set a national agenda to increase the number of higher education degrees completed in the United States. Moore, Shulock, and Jensen reported that the U.S. is projected to produce 48 million new undergraduates between the years 2005 to 2025. Additionally. Moore, Shulock, and Jensen reported that due to their population, California Community Colleges have a significant role in producing baccalaureate degrees than any other state. However, California projections have shown a shortfall of 1 million college graduates by the year 2025. One strategy for addressing this shortfall is improving the transfer pathways for community college students. The Student Transfer Achievement Reform (STAR) Act provided community college students in California with a clearer path towards transfer with the caveat of completing a newly established associate degree for transfer. Implementation of the STAR Act coerced California Community Colleges into adopting a standard curriculum model for transfer degrees. </p><p> This quantitative study used within-subject ANCOVAs to analyze a multi-year period of degree completion and transfer data to determine if STAR Act significantly impacted community college outcomes. Program awards and CSU transfer were dependent variables used to statistically analyze the impact of the STAR Act on community colleges. Median county income, college size, regional college location, and the number of transfer degrees offered were grouping variables used to help determine if the STAR Act impacted all colleges or only colleges with certain institutional demographics. </p><p> Institutional Theory was used to contextualize the impact of the STAR Act on community college degree completion and transfer rates. DiMaggio and Powell identified three categories of conformity within institutional theory: normative conformity, mimic conformity, and coercive conformity. Each category aligns the action of conforming to either norms, values, or ideologies. </p><p> Implications for this study address the role state legislation and individuality of community colleges in education reform. Recommendations for research and practice propose that normative and coercive attributes of conformity support significant institutional changes. Community colleges are encouraged to incorporate normative and coercive standards to support new initiatives and programs effectively. At the same time, community colleges must embrace individuality and limit mimic conformity.</p><p>

<p> This study explores the relationship between state and federal funding policies and the ability of minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to support low-income and minority students. The way US public higher education is financed has changed dramatically since the Great Recession. State appropriations to institutions have declined (SHEEO, 2017), tuition increases have dramatically outpaced growth in household income (College Board, 2016a) and state financial aid has drifted from need-based to merit-based (College Board, 2016b). Many wonder how this policy environment is impacting low-income and minority students and the institutions that serve them. MSIs have risen to the forefront of institutions committed to serving these students, and more should be known about how these institutions are affected by the current fiscal policy environment. </p><p> The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between finance policies and the ability of MSIs to serve their students. Case study methodology was used to provide an in-depth analysis of how three campuses in New Mexico respond to state and federal finance policies and shifting revenue streams, and how these responses impact students. The three campuses include one Native American-serving Nontribal Institution that is a community college, and two Hispanic-Serving Institutions&mdash;a community college and a regional comprehensive university. These campuses share similar geographic and student characteristics, but are funded through different finance polices. The findings suggest that: local appropriations play a critical role in the fiscal stability of community colleges in New Mexico; state funding favors well-resourced institutions and students; and institutional leaders perceive federal funding as providing the most support for low-income student success. This study also reveals that finance policies in the state are not aligned to their full potential for increasing degree attainment.</p><p>

<p> Today&rsquo;s emerging patient centered health movement is focused not on a specific condition or demographic, but rather on shifting the balance of power and enabling access to information to drive decision-making in healthcare. This takes place through electronic health records as well as more generalized sources. The uptake of social media is contributing to an innovation in patient centered healthcare: information and support on a global scale is coming not only from the formal healthcare system, but also within online social networks. Today, through computer-mediated interactions, patients are not only seeking information, they are curating and sharing information. Subsequently, patients are also creating information, establishing a novel ecosystem of engagement that has the potential to disrupt the current healthcare system. </p><p> This dissertation explores an online health community, BCSM (which stands for &ldquo;breast cancer social media&rdquo;), established using Twitter, a largely public and searchable social media platform. Drawing primarily from social network theory, disruptive innovation, and ecological systems theory, this research identifies essential characteristics within the community that may inform future development and support for patient centered healthcare. To conduct this research, a blended approach of netnography &ndash; referring to the approach of ethnography applied to the study of online cultures and communities &ndash; and in-depth interviews with BCSM participants were employed. </p><p> Data collected via interviews and tweets using the hashtag #bcsm provide evidence of clinical support, emotional support, information sharing, and knowledge translation. Underpinning this activity is the opportunity to associate not only with peers, but also with individuals of varying roles (including patients, providers, advocates, researchers, and caregivers). As evidenced by the data collected, educational opportunities flow in both directions. </p><p> This work contributes to the larger corpus of health-related literature in the identification and naming of a significant community element that has seen little focused attention: cross-peer engagement, a term used to highlight the interaction amongst individuals of differing status, ability, or rank. This research also documents the formation of microspurs, defined as relationships that form as a result of community participation. These come in many forms and range from expanding a personal support network to participation in federal policy work. Findings suggest that the future of healthcare will not revolve around hospitals and bounded systems. Instead, patients will demand an expanded set of entry points for health information sharing, knowledge transfer, condition management, and general support.</p>