My involvement with the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame educational goals of the museum began in 2002 as a volunteer. For several months I assisted the Director of Education by helping revise educational materials and editing a new outreach program. In 2004, shortly after the Education director resigned, I was approached by the Executive Director. She was unsure of where to take the museums education program in the future. Her desire was to take a step back and evaluate what the museums education programs had accomplished in the past two years since the museums reopening in Ft. Worth (2002) and set goals moving forward. My dissertation and the purpose of this project was to develop a strategic plan for the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame education program. The strategic plan representing decisions made by the Education Committee included objectives and action plans for the following goals: 1.The Museum will utilize ongoing strategic thinking to prioritize and execute educational goals. 2.The Museum will develop and implement an educational funding strategy (operations and endowment). 3.The museum will establish a professional education department with long-term leadership, vision, experiences, and skills. 4.The museum will create and implement an audience development strategy for educational programming. 5.The museum will enhance the educational experience of visitors to the museum. 6.The museum will develop and implement an educational outreach plan to educate beyond the museums four walls.

This study focuses on the promotion of scientific literacy within the natural science departments and how faculty within these departments define, incorporate, and evaluate scientific literacy in their courses. The researcher examined data from participant interviews, observations, and archival material from courses taught by the participants. The results of the research study suggest that participants express their idea of scientific literacy through storytelling, real world connections, technology, and collaboration. Results suggest that diversity in the perception of scientific literacy within these themes did occur, either actually or conceptually. The research used the definition and components set forth by the National Research Council as a benchmark when looking at the participants' own definition, incorporation and evaluation of scientific literacy.

Examining whether in-house counsel for a mid-sized urban school district in the State of Texas constitutes a valuable resource or an unnecessary expense was the purpose of this study. Specifically, the study analyzed the true value of in-house counsel for mid-sized urban school districts in Texas via the case study method. The case studies were structured to examine four separate issues faced by a mid-sized urban school district. The issues studied involved students rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, construction and resulting disputes, personnel problems, and instructional controversies involving First Amendment rights. The issues ranged from those where the mid-sized urban school district had no legal advice to situations in which in-house counsel was involved at each and every step. When the mid-sized urban school district acted without legal advice in two of the four case studies, the result was observed to be violations of law and resulting contract disputes. The former could, and unless corrected, would likely lead to litigation whereby the mid-sized urban school district would face significant financial exposure, not only for defense costs, but also resulting damage awards because the school district would have minimal defenses available. The latter did, in fact, result in outside legal fees, litigation, and construction delays the inconvenience of which cannot be reasonably measured. In contrast, when the mid-sized urban school district acted either with the advice of in-house counsel or directly through in-house counsel, politically charged and potentially litigious situations were resolved with no outside legal fees or litigation of any kind. In fact, when in-house counsel was involved early and often, the challenges faced by the mid-sized urban school district quietly and quickly dissipated. Although measuring actual cost savings is difficult, it is apparent that the mid-sized urban school district likely benefitted financially from the absence of litigation, and perhaps even more so from the absence of lingering classroom distractions. Hence, this study reasonably supports the conclusion that in-house counsel is a valuable asset to mid-sized urban school districts.

Treatment recommendations within dysphagia management are highly variable. Increasing evidence to support restorative treatment approaches is leading to increased use of these approaches by dysphagia clinicians. While all decision-makers are subject to biases in their thinking, it is important that dysphagia clinicians make treatment decisions based on evidence in order to support the best outcomes for their patients. An online survey was distributed to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) participating in American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) listservs or Montana Speech and Hearing Association (MSHA) membership. Ninety-three SLPs currently treating swallowing disorders participated. Outcome measures included 1) descriptive measures of participant demographics, 2) descriptive measures of strategy recommendations made following review of MBS reports in low and high pathophysiology conditions, 3) correlation analysis measuring relationship between clinician demographic variables and treatment strategy type, and 4) chi-square analysis comparing compensatory and restorative treatment strategy selection within each condition. Results did not indicate a relationship between clinician related variables and treatment recommendation type. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

This research investigates the professional life histories of upper elementary science teachers who were identified as effective both within the classroom and in the outdoor learning environment (OLE). The narratives of five teachers collected through semi-structured and open-ended interviews provided the data for the study. Professional life histories were constructed for each teacher participant and an analysis of the teacher narratives identified the themes of teacher development across the voices of the participants. These primary themes were based on a framework for teacher development by Hammerness et al. (2005) that posits that teachers develop with in a community where they construct a vision for their practice; understandings of teaching, learning, and children; dispositions about how to use their knowledge; practices that bring together their intentions and beliefs; and tools to support their work. Implications of the research can be realized for stakeholders in the preparation of pre-service teachers as well as the development of in-service teachers. Future research regarding the early induction years of new teachers, impacts of inclusion of the OLE in pre-service teacher instruction, and teacher experiences regarding professional development relating to efforts to include the OLE in formal education should be investigated.

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The purpose of this action research study is to examine a classroom of at-risk students in transition from a traditional to a reform-based model of instruction. The teacher's role is gradually adjusted to encourage independent learning and the results are analyzed. The following research questions are addressed: 1) How can at-risk students best be assisted in the transition to a reform-based mathematics classroom? 2) How will the students' attitude, perception of their abilities, and performance change throughout the transition?

Paraeducators provide important supports and services to students, particularly those who struggle academically and/or behaviorally. This study sought to determine the professional development needs of paraeducators in the participating school, how job-embedded and personalized supports could aid in the development of instructional skills, and the ways in which collaborative processes could enhance paraeducator agency and voice. Results indicated that professional development alone may not be sufficient when considering other issues observed during pullout forms of support. These factors included the absence of a remedial curriculum, minimal degrees of guidance and collaboration, and erratic scheduling. The study did allow for a comparison of paraeducator supports between in-class and pullout forms of assistance. Also revealed was the pivotal role of instructional leadership and supervision, particularly involving appropriate job assignments for paraeducators, a commitment to adhere to scheduling, and issues related to consistency when providing pullout support services to students.

Job satisfaction, being a nebulous and multidimensional concept, is considered to be the most important and frequently studied social construct in organisational behaviour literature. This study investigated the level of job satisfaction among urban schools principals in the Free State. In order to attain the desired goals of the study, the congruence between principalsâ needs or values and the work environment reinforcers was examined. Two methods of investigation that complement each other, namely, the quantitative and qualitative methods, were used to collect the data. Furthermore, a literature review on job satisfaction and what job satisfaction of principals entails was explored. The literature review revealed the relationship between employee motivation and job satisfaction. It also revealed how motivational theories can be used to improve employeesâ job satisfaction. A further examination of the literature on job satisfaction revealed that there is a relationship between job satisfaction and the following organisational behaviours: organisational citizenship behaviours, withdrawal from work, absenteeism, turnover, union activity, counter-productive behaviours, physical and psychological health, burnout, productivity, occupational level, life satisfaction and achievement. It is clear from the literature review that increasing principalsâ job satisfaction may either increase or reduce some of the above-mentioned organisational behaviours. The results from both the quantitative and qualitative data evidently indicated that there was no correspondence between principalsâ needs and the reinforcers of the work environment. The results revealed further that the opportunities provided by the work environment were very few and inadequate to satisfy principalsâ important needs. Additionally, the results showed that the following needs or work aspects of principals need urgent attention: compensation, recognition, advancement, security, working conditions, departmental policies and practices, and relationships with other stakeholders. The following recommendations were among those that emanated from the literature review and the empirical data: principals should realise that their job satisfaction may be significantly improved if they first ensure that they effectively motivate and increase the level of job satisfaction of their subordinates in their institutions; they should also empower themselves by familiarising themselves and implementing the policies of the Department of Basic Education correctly. It is also recommended that the Department of Basic Education should revisit some of the policies that frustrate principals and impact negatively on their overall performance in the school. These policies include the learner pregnancy policy, the policy regarding the allocation of funds to Section 21 schools, and the Post Provisioning Model used for educator recruitment and redeployment. The limitations of this study and recommendations for further research are also mentioned.

The study is about the formulation of innovative strategies to assist teachers towards the effective implementation of the Learner Attainment Improvement Plan (LAIP). In terms of (DoE, 2009:42-43), teachers have to be competent, dedicated and caring in order to sustain learner attainment, and they have to understand the kind of learner that is envisaged by the requirements of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). A challenge currently facing teachers together with the school management teams (SMTs) is how the goals and the values of social justice, equity and democracy can be interwoven across the curriculum. Policy on norms and standards for educators further, describes the roles and their associated competencies for the development of a teacher in South Africa; however, teachers still face challenges in fulfilling them. The results of the findings for the study revealed that the inadequate implementation of the LAIP results from public schools still being owned by the state. Hence, such schools are still having less power to enact their decisions. They are still voiceless and ostracised. The study therefore argues for a greater use of social capital, whereby the voices of all stakeholders, from the grassroots level to the top, would be heard and recognised, thus creating opportunities to strengthen communication and collaboration among them. The study is therefore informed by critical theory, employing the principles of participatory action research. Through this methodology and theoretical framework, participants engage as equal partners in identifying innovative strategies to assist teachers towards sustaining learner attainment. In contrast with the positivistsâ approach where the researcher distances himself or herself from the human subjects being studied. The human subjects are being treated as molecules in the laboratory or as respondents who provide the researcher with data. As researchers we have to be mindful of the saying that it takes the whole village to educate a child. Opportunities for communities who better know the challenges that the schools are faced up with in terms of the implementation of effective implementation of policies such as LAIP need to be taken into cognisance. Hence, solutions to these challenges will come from them to effect change in the education system as a way of improving academic learner performance. Based on the literature review and the discussions with the participants, strategies towards the implementation of LAIP in order to improve the academic learner performance were formulated. Also, the words of Abraham Lincoln who wrote in his 1862 message to the congress: âThe dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, so must we think anewâ, drove the participant, (Lincoln, 1953: 537).