The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between selected variables (age, sex, years of preparation and experience, size of school district, existence of an Affirmative Action plan, type of position) and the expressed opinions of superintendents and boards of education presidents in Indiana concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations on public school districts.An Opinionnaire developed by the author at Ball State University was used to measure the opinions of superintendents and boards of education presidents concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations on public school districts. A background data questionnaire was used to elicit data pertaining to the identification of selected variables such as age, sex, years of preparation and experience, existence of an Affirmative Action plan, and type of position.The One-way Analysis of Variance and associated F-test was utilized to statistically analyze twelve null hypotheses formulated to test the relationship between expressed opinions concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations on public school districts and the variables identified with the background data questionnaire.Three of the twelve F-tests were significant at the .05 level. Nine of the twelve F-tests were not significant at the .05 level.Findings of the study indicated that superintendents expressed significantly different opinions concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations when grouped according to size of school district as measured by average daily membership and having or not having an Affirmative Action plan. Superintendents expressed significantly different opinions when compared to school board presidents.The following conclusions were drawn from the data collected:1. Superintendents in large school districts ranging in size from 38,840 to 11,640, as measured by average daily membership, expressed more positive opinions concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations that did superintendents in smaller school districts.2. The Eta Square value of .72 suggested that 72 percent of the variation in the dependent variable, expressed opinions concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations on public school districts, could be explained by knowing what category--large, medium, or small--the superintendent's school district was in. 3. The Scheefe Posteriori test suggested that although statistically significant difference was found when the three groups of superintendents representing school districts in categories--large, medium, and small--were compared, none of the possible two-way comparisons were statistically significant. Moreover, each group mean score exceeded the average mean score of 54.0000, which suggested each group of superintendents expressed positive opinions. 4. Superintendents in school districts having a boardapproved Affirmative Action plan expressed more positive opinions concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations than did superintendents in school districts not having a boardapproved Affirmative Action plan. 5. The Eta Square value of .03 suggested that only 3 percent of the variation in the dependent variable, expressed opinions concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations on public school districts, could be explained by knowing whether or not a superintendent worked in a school district that had a board-approved Affirmative Action plan. The Eta Square value further suggested that although superintendents in school districts having a board-approved Affirmative Action plan expressed more positive opinions, the existence of the plan itself was not the reason.6. Superintendents expressed more positive opinions concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations than did school board presidents. 7. The Eta Square value of .04 suggested that only 3 percent of the variation in the dependent variable, expressed opinions concerning the effect of Affirmative Action laws and regulations on public school districts, could be explained by knowing if the respondent was a superintendent or a school board president. The Eta Square value further suggested that although superintendents expressed more positive opinions than did school board presidents, the type of position itself was not the reason.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between special education directors' self-perceived leadership practices, self-perceived stress types, and self-reported demographics. The study included three parts: a demographic profile consisting of six variables; the self-report form of the Leadership Practices Inventory; and the self-report of the Administrative Stress Index. The forms were sent to all 115 special education directors in the state of Indiana and a response rate of 60% was utilized. The first null hypothesis that mean scale scores would not differ across the five leadership practices was not supported. Enable Others to Act and Model the Way scores were significant. The second null hypothesis that participants' scores would not differ across task-oriented and relationship oriented stress types was supported. There were no statistically significant relationships reported between leadership practice and self-reported task or relationship-oriented stress to support the third null hypothesis. The fourth null hypothesis that stress types will not differ when comparing the demographic variables was not supported. Directors with 16 or more years of experience in education and employed by a single planning district indicated more task-oriented stress compared to directors from both joint services and interlocal districts and those with less than 16 years experience in education. The fifth hypothesis that leadership practices would not differ when compared to demographic variables was not supported. Years of experience in education indicated significant results in three leadership practices, Model the Way, Challenge the Process, and Enable Others to Act. This may indicate a shift in leadership practices as experience increases. / Department of Special Education

Nontraditional revenue is the term used to describe sources of funding other than those provided by federal and state support, including grants, and those provided by local property tax levies. Examples included licensing agreements, advertising in school facilities and on school property, school business partnerships, booster clubs, education foundations, and user fees. The purpose of this study was (1) to identify the sources of nontraditional revenue used by Indiana school corporations and Indiana high schools, (2) to assess local school officials' attitudes and expectations regarding the use of nontraditional revenue, and (3) to provide some insight as to how Indiana school corporations and schools utilize those funds.A QUAN-Qual Model was used for this study. The QUAN-Qual Model enabled the researcher to conduct the study in two phases. The first phase was comprised of a survey instrument used to identify the kinds of nontraditional revenue being used and to collect data regarding the amounts of nontraditional revenue being generated. The instrument was also used to measure attitudes towards nontraditional revenue and the perceived importance of those funds. The second phase was comprised of qualitative data collection through telephone interviews with school corporation and high school administrators conducted in February and March 2006. Analysis and interpretation of that data provided additional information about attitudes towards nontraditional revenue and how those funds are used.All Indiana school corporations and high schools that were included in the study utilized nontraditional revenue sources to varying degrees. They supplemented traditional funding with licensing agreements, school-business partnerships, booster clubs, education foundations, individual donations, and user fees. Nontraditional sources of revenue were identified as being essential for supporting some activities and programs. However, the researcher's sampling of corporation level administrators' and high school principals' attitudes regarding that revenue suggested that neither group relied on it to provide for essential personnel or programs. Statistically significant data suggest that school corporations and schools located in rural settings might be at a disadvantage with respect to their capacity to generate nontraditional revenue. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to determine the overall effectiveness of and the level of engagement in performance assessment processes by Indiana school boards in relation to the Indiana School Board's Associations (ISBA) Code of Ethics as perceived by school administrators. Additionally, there were four objectives: (a) to determine what extent Indiana school boards engage in a process of formal evaluation of their own performance and effectiveness; (b) to determine if there is a difference in perceived compliance to the ISBA Code of Ethics for school boards who engage in school board performance evaluation compared to those school boards who do not; (c) to determine if there is a relationship between the educational background of school board members and school boards performing their duties according to the ISBA Code of Ethics; and (d) to determine the overall perceptions of Indiana school superintendents and randomly selected elementary and secondary principals as to whether school board performance is currently in accordance with the ISBA Code of Ethics. Research questions and hypotheses were developed to determine school superintendents' and randomly selected elementary and secondary school principals' perceptions and possible differences and/or relationships.A descriptive survey research procedure was used in this study, which sought information regarding the professional activities of each participant's school board in comparison to the ISBA Code of Ethics. The questionnaire was constructed in order to answer four research questions and three null hypotheses.The findings indicated: (1) 32.5% of Indiana school boards evaluate their own performance and effectiveness; (2) 67.5% of Indiana school boards do not evaluate their own performance and effectiveness; (3) school boards that engage in performance evaluation processes tend to adhere more strongly to the ISBA Code of Ethics in comparison with those school boards that do not engage in performance evaluation; (4) there was no relationship between the educational background of school board members and school board performance in accordance with the ISBA Code of Ethics; and (5) there did appear to be a significant difference between how superintendents and principals perceive school board performance when compared to the ISBA Code of Ethics. / Department of Educational Leadership

This study examined the social work environment and the innovation or change potential of administrators in a large midwestern school district. It examined three dimensions of the social work environment: (a) relationships, (b) personal growth, and (c) system maintenance and change. It also examined 10 dimensions of innovation and change potential: (a) challenge, (b) freedom, (c) dynamism, (d) trust/openness, (e) idea time, (f) playfulness/humor, (g) conflict, (h) idea support, (e) debates, and (j) risk-taking. The primary purposes were as follows: (a) to determine if relationships existed between dimensions of the social work environment and the administrative group's propensity for change, and (b) to determine if selected demographic variables (age, gender, race, length of service in the district, employee classification) are associated with the group's propensity for change.The study population included 214 administrators and professional and technical staff members responsible for leadership functions within the district. Two standard instruments were used to gather data. The Work Environment Scale (WES) developed by Moos at Stanford University in 1986, was used to assess the social environment. The second instrument, used to assess the 10 dimensions, was the Climate for Innovation Questionnaire (CIQ), developed by Ekvall and Arnonen in 1983; it provided a measure of the propensity of the work climate to support change as perceived by organizational members.Findings indicated that this school district is innovative, that there was a positive potential for change, that the administrative employees were committed to and concerned about their jobs, and that friendly, supportive relationships existed and were supported by organizational leaders.The personal growth dimension suggested that change within the district was moving in a positive direction and that administrators felt encouraged to be self-sufficient. Idea support (i.e., the manner in which an organization treats new ideas) was strongly related to the work environment, again suggesting conduciveness to change.Results of this study were used by the school district to move toward substantial school renewal. The process used in this research provides a framework that can be replicated in other school districts to determine possible factors in the work environment that support or inhibit personal dispositions toward change and innovation. / Department of Educational Leadership

This study sought to determine the beliefs of curriculum directors within the public school districts of Indiana with regard to the purpose of education and to the impact of high-stakes testing. The six cultures of curriculum described by Joseph et al. (2000) were utilized to provide the lens through which curriculum directors could view the overall curriculum of their individual districts. For the purpose of this study, the curriculum director was defined as the person at the district level most responsible for the organization and implementation of the curriculum. The researcher first sought to determine the culture supported personally by curriculum directors and the culture believed to be most prevalent within their districts. In relation, the researcher further wished to learn if directors believed high-stakes testing served a valid purpose within the context of their personally supported culture or the one perceived to be most prevalent. Finally, the researcher sought to determine if directors believed the pressure to perform well on high-stakes tests had an influence upon their decision-making in relation to curricular changes. Data from 136 (46.6%) of Indiana’s 292 public school districts showed Constructing Understanding, defined as “Developing in students the ability to think independently and to build knowledge from the information they gather through observation and collaboration” (Appendix E), was selected by 64.4% of the respondents as the curriculum culture most in agreement with their personal beliefs. When asked to identify the curriculum culture perceived to be most prevalent within their school districts, Training for Work and Survival, defined as “Providing students the necessary skills to allow them to be both effective and adaptive in the workplace and in society” (Appendix E), was selected by 66.9% of respondents. With respect to perceived pressure related to high-stakes testing, 73.5% indicated the pressure significantly impacts or has the greatest impact on my decision-making; 73.7% felt significant to extreme pressure for their students to perform well on ISTEP+ and the ECAs; and, 63.6% reported feeling moderate to extreme pressure to encourage teachers to teach to the test. / Department of Educational Leadership

The primary purpose of the study was to determine the perceived accuracy of the Indiana Assessment Center (IAC) process in rating potential administrators' skills in 12 specified areas as judged by IAC participants and their employing officials. Referent groups in the study included:1. IAC participants2. Employing officials of IAC participants 3. IAC assessorsA 22-item questionnaire containing the 12 specified skill areas was used to gather perceptions from the three educational referent groups.Findings1. Seventy-eight percent of the participants and 86% of the employing officials who read the IAC final report agreed that they would recommend friends and colleagues aspiring to be principals to participate in the IAC.2. Seventy-five percent of the participants and 71% of the employing officials who wrote a narrative response to the evaluative statement ("I would recommend to my friends and colleagues who aspire to be principals to participate in the IAC. Why or why not?") agreed that participation in the IAC was a positive professional experience.3. Participants with administrative experience attained higher scores than participants with instructional experience.4. The mean ratings of assessors were higher for females than males in the skill areas of judgment, leadership, range of interest, personal motivation, educational values, oral communication, and written communication.ConclusionsThe IAC was perceived by a majority of the participants and their employing officials as an accurate method of rating potential building administrators' skills in 12 specified areas. The participants' gender, experience, and position influenced participants' ratings in the 12 skill areas. / Department of Educational Administration and Supervision

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that may have influenced the decision to implement tablet technologies within classroom environments. These factors were grouped and limited to three distinct areas: social and political influences, perceived benefits of implementation, and influence of varying types of hardware, software and operating systems. Results indicate that if technology leaders felt external pressures to keep pace with technological advancements of other corporations, they were more likely to report pressures from the other social political factors being studied. Multiple perceived educational benefits were identified including improvement to classroom instruction, increased differentiation of instruction, enhanced collaboration, better communication and positive public responses. Hardware preferences were found to describe the characteristics found in the Apple line of products. Despite the identification of these perceived educational benefits, a majority of those responding felt that tablet devices did not impact student testing achievement. / Department of Educational Leadership

This study researched the preparedness of English as a Second Language directors in school corporations in Indiana to determine their background experiences, awareness of second language acquisition research, levels of qualification, attitudes towards English learners (ELs), efficacy for leading ESL programs, and to gain an understanding of how to provide guidance and support to this group of individuals. Furthermore, the study investigated relationships between these factors to gain insight into how they impact each other and program implementation. The study endeavored to provide useful information towards policy making and support of ESL leaders. The research was quantitative and utilized a tailored design Internet survey to collect data. Descriptive data was analyzed using analysis of frequency (distribution, central tendency and dispersion of individual variables), while relationships between elements were analyzed using a combination of ANOVA, and Pearson’s Product Moment correlational analysis, followed by post hoc analysis and regression analysis. Findings indicated that having experience with English learners and teaching certification for working with English learners were significant factors in the areas of knowledge, attitude, and efficacy. An exploratory model of ESL program leadership, developed by the researcher, concluded that when EL directors are certified and bring experience of working with ELs to their positions, it is more likely that their programs will be successfully implemented. Finally, the interplay of variables showed that these directors’ levels of knowledge of second language acquisition principles and efficacy for leading the ESL program had highly significant effects on attitude, program implementation and each other. The implications of this study include directions for policy, training programs, and further research. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to determine if the student-to-administrator ratio in a school was related to student achievement as well as to examine the duties a principal delegated to others to determine if a pattern existed between principals of high and low performing high schools in regard to duties kept versus duties delegated. While the results of this study did not find one overall recommendation for a student-to-administrator ratio, it did determine that there are certain duties principals of high achieving schools did not delegate as compared to principals of schools with lower achievement. This study also produced a comprehensive description of the 51 duties of a high school principal and provides a recommendation for which duties may be most valuable for the principal to keep and which duties could be delegated to other personnel. / Department of Educational Leadership