The pursuit of this study was to examine perspectives of select community college presidents and vice presidents for academic affairs regarding leadership attributes that were currently observed as being practiced by mid-level managers. The study also summarized these leaders' perceptions of the leadership attributes mid-level managers will need to possess to assume senior administrative positions, particularly the presidency, that will guide the institutions into the future. Based on an extensive review of literature, a list of 41 leadership attributes was established. The Community College Leadership Attribute Survey (CCLAS) was designed by the researcher and a pilot study was conducted. Sixty-five national community college presidents, 60 national community college vice presidents for academic affairs, 14 Tennessee community college presidents and 14 community college vice presidents for academic affairs were contacted to participate in the study. One hundred and seven usable surveys were received, for a response rate of 70%. The study found that there was a statistically significant difference in the leadership attributes presidents and vice presidents for academic affairs currently observed as being practiced and those attributes that would be needed in the future. The gap was measured between currently observed and future importance attributes, and levels of importance were listed. The study took into consideration independent variables such as gender, geographic location, years of experience in current position and years of experience in higher education. The study also examined the perceptions of those presidents and vice presidents who had work experience in the private sector before moving to higher education. Recommendations for future study included the implementation of a leadership program to help ensure that organizational leaders will have the skills needed to lead and facilitate the many changes and challenges community colleges are facing in the future. Other recommendations included institutions lending greater attention to professional development activities, and studies that would allow administrative leaders to identify and define additional leadership attributes.

This study investigated the effects of integration on two black high schools and their communities in East Tennessee. The purpose of the study was to show how integration impacted these two communities both negatively and positively. The research method was qualitative and used the case study approach. Interviews of former students, teachers, and administrators of these two schools was a primary source of data collection. Further analysis of the data used the qualitative software package QSR NUD*IST 4.0. Data gained from the interviews, coupled with historical and current literature, as well as other published documents in relation to these two schools added further support to the results. Conclusions of the study suggest that integration played a role in the demise of these two black communities. However, it was not the sole contributing factor. Integration was simply the catalyst for inevitable change.

This study examined manufacturing firms' characteristics and environmental factors and their relationships to the perceived importance of basic workplace skills and the preferences of employers toward customized training partnerships with community colleges. Key individuals in the human resource departments responsible for planning and decision making of employing companies were surveyed. The Workplace Education Survey was used to collect data on the employers' perceptions about the importance of basic skills groups, about workplace-based customized training as the preferred means of delivering training in each of seven basic skills groups to their employees, and to determine their preferences for providers of the training. The survey also included customized training partnerships with community colleges. The study analyzed the relationships that exist in comparing the size of the firm and other characteristics identified in the literature with the respondents perceptions regarding the importance of the seven basic skills groups, workplace-based customized training, and partnerships with community colleges. Adaptability Skills, Communication Skills, and Group Effectiveness skills emerge as the most important workplace skills groups, and community colleges as the preferred providers according to the respondents to this study. Findings also revealed that changes in the nature of work and workplace skills are being dictated by the application of computers.

The purpose of this study was to determine the expressed beliefs and practices about developmental education from early childhood teachers in Tennessee's First Educational District. A questionnaire measuring expressed beliefs and practices was administered to teachers (kindergarten through third grade) in public schools with both multi-age and single-age classrooms. The area of teaching specialization along with the number of years taught within the organization structure are paramount in the study. Teachers' expressed beliefs concerning the amount of outside influences with planning and implementing instruction are also noted. Educators were asked to respond to 36 likert-type items regarding their beliefs about developmentally appropriate practices. Respondents were also asked to respond to 27 likert-type items related to their instructional practices based on developmental appropriateness. Data were analyzed using an oblique factor analysis. Findings include a difference between multi-age and single-age classroom teachers regarding developmental education.

Leadership and learning are human activities occurring within an interpersonal, social context. This study was concerned with rendering the lived experiences of leaders and learners as intelligible, allowing for understanding of factors affecting knowledge construction and learning in higher education settings. The individual, personal experiences of teachers and learners were explored in order to identify factors that can be influenced by teacher leadership. Phenomenology was the philosophical and methodological structure of this study. Fifty-two nursing students enrolled in a senior level course at a regional state university participated in the study, as well as the two course co-teachers. All participants engaged in a narratologic journaling process that reflected their personal experiences with learning. Journals were kept for a 12 week-period, and narrative data reflecting individual learners and leaders' personal engagement with learning were collected at six discrete intervals during the study. The textual data were systematically analyzed, consistent with qualitative research processes, using constant comparative methods, and assisted by QSR NUD.IST computer software. Sixteen major themes and 36 sub-themes representing meaningful expressions of the lived lives of participants were identified. The lived lives of participants are about power, tension, mistakes, expectations, and most significantly about caring. Examination of the interrelationship of themes led to identification of factors impacting leadership and learning within the study classroom. Three interrelationship theme clusters were found and represent the study's major findings. The interrelationship clusters are reported as three conceptual models reflecting what it is to be a learner or leader in the classroom of study. These models are (a) the positive power of leadership, (b) tension and learning, and (c) leadership for learning, and lead to identification of pedagogy seen as positively impacting knowledge construction in a higher education classroom setting.

This study examines the relationship between personality traits as identified by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and transformational leadership as measured by The Nature of School Leadership. The subjects were 74 North Carolina public school elementary principals. The principals completed the MBTI. Principals also provided pertinent demographic information. Selected teachers in each school were asked to give their perception of the principal as a transformational leader by completing The Nature of School Leadership. Data were analyzed to look for significant relationships between personality and demographics as they related to transformational leadership. The analysis of demographic information yielded gender as a significant factor in transformational leadership. Females were found to have a significantly higher mean score on The Nature of School Leadership. The bipolar MBTI traits of introvert/extrovert, intuitive/sensate, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving were analyzed, and the thinking/feeling trait was found to be a significant factor in transformational leadership. A predisposition toward the thinking trait tended to produce higher scores on the transformational leadership scale.

The purpose of this study was to collect and report on the perceptions of elementary school teachers as to the quality of staff development programs being offered in schools and school systems throughout Northeast Tennessee. A second purpose was to study the relationship between certain school district characteristics and teacher perception scores related to the staff development programs. The National Staff Development Council's Self-Assessment and Planning Tool was used to collect data related to teacher perceptions. Mean scores were calculated and t-test analysis completed for each variable named in the study. Conclusions of the study are consistent with most findings in the literature. Evidence suggests that significantly higher perception scores on the quality of staff development programs are obtained when school systems budget more than 1% of the total operating budget to staff development compared to school systems that budget less than 1%. Higher perception scores are also obtained in school systems where there is at least a half-time coordinator for staff development activities compared to school systems where there is either no formal coordination, or less than a half time coordinator for staff development activities. There is no indication that the amount of teacher input into the planning and delivery of staff development programs has any significant impact on teacher perceptions of the quality of staff development programs in school systems in Northeast Tennessee. The results of this study may be used by school systems to plan for future staff development events. Similar studies should be conducted with middle school and high school teachers to assist staff developers at these levels.

This study examines teacher practices and student learning as perceived by teachers within public high schools that have implemented block scheduling. Comparisons are made between the possibilities advanced by block scheduling advocates and the actual results as interpreted from the data gathered. Comparisons are made between teaching and learning with the traditional schedule and the manner in which it takes place with block scheduling. Open-ended questionnaires were developed for use with voluntary participants who had worked with traditional scheduling and now taught with some form of block scheduling. Participants recorded observations based solely upon personal perceptions of experiences with students while teaching in both scheduling designs. Special demographic data were provided by each participant, numerically recorded, and analyzed for statistical differences. This study reports on the generalized trends of the data reported to this researcher. Data revealed that teachers have not adopted new teaching strategies, perceive that they are teaching less, and only the higher achievers benefit from the scheduling innovation. Students do not learn more with a longer class period. Block scheduling produced some unanticipated consequences such as teachers competing for students, reduced club participation, and principals gaining the ability to assign teachers a greater percentage of their preparations away from their major area of study. The importance of this study lies with the revealed effects of block scheduling not found in any other literature. The research effort gives voice to those persons who actually implemented the scheduling innovation. By using these first person accounts, this study discusses questions surrounding the block scheduling controversy that are not presented in current literature and sheds new light on those that are.

The purpose of this study was to identify the processes that have been used for implementing the alternative scheduling plan of block scheduling in high schools. The study attempted to discover what professional development activities were used for the change, if teachers altered instruction, and what additional staff development was needed. The qualitative method of case study research was selected for the study. The investigator chose five public high schools, representing city and county systems and different professional development budgets and types of instructional support. Central office administrators who were responsible for the implementation of block scheduling, principals, and a purposeful sample of teachers were interviewed. Utilizing interview transcripts, field notes, and records, case studies were formulated for each school. A cross-site analysis was also developed. This aspect of the study focused on several themes that emerged from the case studies. These themes included reasons for the scheduling change; implementation procedures; professional development strategies; effects on instruction, students, and schools; and procedural and staff development needs. The conclusions of the study were as follows: a concern for students prompted the change; considerable effort was devoted to implementation; the 4 x 4 semester plan was the most common configuration; a considerable difference existed in the amounts schools spent for professional development; and staff development was integral to implementation. Additional conclusions were that block scheduling had both positive and negative effects on instruction; some teachers altered instruction with the schedule; the majority of students preferred a block schedule instead of a traditional one; the plan had a positive impact on the discipline, course offerings, and learning atmosphere of a school; and changes in implementation and professional growth would enhance the innovation. These conclusions will assist educators in developing and implementing procedural strategies and professional development plans for block scheduling, as well as other reform efforts.

This study assessed discrepancies between residential employees' work values and program directors' perceptions of the residential employees' work values. Additionally, work values of residential employees were analyzed to identify variations when considering gender, age, educational level, length of service, job classification, and current position. The study was undertaken to assist in developing a clearer understanding of the work values of residential employees for the purpose of enhancing administrator-associate relationships and to determine factors in the work setting that might contribute to longevity and more productive, satisfied, motivated employees. Data for the study were gathered from 172 program directors and residential employees in the First Tennessee District by the use of Donald Super's (1970) Work Values Inventory and Demographic Information Questionnaire. Analysis of the data included t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Tukey's Post-hoc Analysis. There were eight major findings. Residential employees scored higher on the work values creativity, esthetics, and surroundings than program directors perceived they would score. Over 55 age group valued economic returns, independence, intellectual stimulation, and security less than other age groups. No significant differences were found to exist when considering gender or length of service of residential employees. Residential employees with less education placed less value on intellectual stimulation than employees with more education. Residential employees with high school diplomas placed more significance on surroundings than bachelor degree employees. Full-time residential employees placed greater merit on independence and intellectual stimulation than part-time employees. Shift workers placed more merit on economic returns, intellectual stimulation, and security than houseparents. Recommendations were made for program directors for the following work values: way of life, esthetics, surroundings, creativity, economic returns, achievement, altruism, supervisory relations, and intellectual stimulation. Recommendations were also made for future studies on older residential employees, adolescents' perceptions of quality of services received, and the work environment of residential facilities.