The purpose of this study was to determine the current status of middle schools in Virginia. A questionnaire, validated by a panel of middle school authorities, was mailed to 110 principals of all public school organizations labeled as "middle" or "intermediate" which had at least three grade levels, including grades 6 and 7, but not grades 4 and 9. The response rate for this study was 78 schools (71 percent). Data gathered from the surveys and subsequent telephone interviews were considered representative of middle schools in Virginia. Data were described and reported through the use of frequencies and percentages. The middle school in Virginia is a recent phenomenon which has gained rapidly in popularity and numbers. According to the responses, over 75 percent of the schools have been organized since 1974. The predominant grade organizational pattern at the time of the study was 6-7-8 (80 percent). Reasons reported most frequently by principals for establishing middle schools were to provide a program specifically designed for children in this age group, to bridge better the elementary and high schools, and to try out various innovations or employ new curricula. Eliminating crowded conditions, aiding desegregation, and utilizing a staff who desire to be in a middle school were perceived less frequently as reasons for change. The disciplinary non-team approach or departmentalization was the most popular instructional organization. Only 37 schools had interdisciplinary team planning; and 40 schools had a common team planning period. Flexible and modular scheduling were used infrequently. Middle schools offered a variety of programs including guidance, career education, reading, volunteer, and orientation; however, teacher-advisor and special interest or mini-course programs were found in only 27 and 36 schools, respectively. The majority of teachers had no special training or certification in middle school education; only 27 percent had middle school certification. Larger percentages of teachers had either elementary certification (37 percent) or secondary school and/or subject area endorsements (37 percent). In-service programs were used frequently to prepare teachers. According to the opinions of middle school principals, parent contacts, faculty morale, pupil attendance, and school spirit increased after reorganization to middle schools. Discipline referrals and teacher turnover decreased after reorganization to middle schools. / Ed. D.

This dissertation is on the history of the development of schooling in Alleghany County, and the cities of Clifton Forge and Covington, Virginia. Studying the past can provide a clearer perspective of the present and suggest courses for the future. Rather than focus on a topic as broad as education, this paper concentrates on the principal method used by government to educate its citizens; schools. In relating the events affecting school development in this area, actions by local, state, and federal governments, as well as the influences of individuals and events, are studied and discussed. The efforts of education associations, societies, and philanthropic institutions are included where they had a direct bearing on local educational policies and practices. Secondary sources provide most of the historical information about trends in education and schooling on a state and national level. Primary documents and sources provide the specifics relating to this locality. Reports of school commissioners and government officials and records of school boards provide much of the information as well as newspapers of the period. Personal letters and interviews also provide a perspective on the topic. The purpose of the dissertation is to document one aspect of local heritage, the development of schooling, and preserve various facts of history in a readable form. There is also a desire to focus attention on education and the local public schools in the hopes that both awareness and support will increase, thus leading to a system of schools that are not only adequate but exemplary in all respects. The contribution of this study to the field of education in general and school administration in particular is a more in-depth understanding of schools and their development. / Ed. D.

M.S.

M.S.

The prevailing purpose of this dissertation is the preparation of an historical account of public schools in Roanoke County from 1870 to 1920. The primary focus rests with the cultural, economic, political, and geographic factors that affected the evolvement of public schools in Virginia relative to Roanoke County Public Schools, a system in southwest Virginia. Within this framework the system is described as part of a valley-wide setting, where citizens, educators, events, funding, curriculum, and other components played an integral part in the shaping of the current system. The methodology employed in this study is qualitative in approach and utilizes recognized historical and ethnographic techniques. The Guba model, which allows for periods of discovery followed by refinement and verification, is suited to the nature of this study. The researcher initially conducts inquiry designed to discover data and generate ideas. After the initial inquiry period, the researcher refines and corroborates data. The cycle of broad inquiry followed by more critical analyses of specific occurrences can repeat itself several times. Verification is accomplished through the validation of sources based on triangulation, a method of cross-checking in which three or more sources are used to corroborate findings. Data is collected in an eclectic fashion, using the nature of the research questions to determine appropriate techniques. Primary sources are used when available, supplemented by secondary sources. Outcomes have not been predetermined but evolved as the research progressed. General interview guidelines have been used, but remained felxible enough to allow for probing and expansion of relevant topics. It is anticipated that the history of Roanoke County Public School from 1870- 1920 will -provide an accounting of historical developments within this time frame; -enrich the legacy it leaves to future generations; -develop an appreciation for the obstacles and trials that people overcame; -create as accurate an interpretation as possible from available data; -develop a sense of the past as a precursor to the present; -provide an avenue for practical use of this knowledge in developing a better future plan; -provide an historical account of public school education in Roanoke County that has heretofore been meager; -contribute to a broader body of historical information on Roanoke County / Ed. D.

After studying various aspects of the Lambsburg School – its physical and social environment, plant, curriculum, faculty, students, homes represented, holding power, position in the community, parents’ organization, dietary provisions, athletics, and outcomes – there emerged a general picture of the school somewhat as follows: The school was situated in a mountainous section, favored by a temperate climate, and inhabited by indigenous folk living on farms in dwellings of a modest construction. Its community was seen as one which was not self-sustaining, in that many of its inhabitants were impelled to take employment elsewhere, some as skilled workers in one or another of the factories located outside the community and others as unskilled day laborers. Its history was continuous with a former institution, an academy which had been housed in a building destroyed by fire in 1916. Its growth was traceable by means of the evolution of its physical plant: from a two-room beginning to a building of approximately two and one-half times as large; including four classrooms, a lunchroom, a stage, and a combination office-library. Its typical teacher was a woman who had attended school in Carroll County, who had studied at a nearby teachers’ college maintained by the State, whose stay at Lambsburg School tended to be no longer than three years, whose work was influenced but little by any supervision of instruction, and who tended to solve her own problems without administrative or supervisory aid. The typical Lambsburg School pupil had already advanced farther in school, or could be reasonably expected to do so, than had his parents. He was a healthy person who took part in a variety of school experiences. His was of normal native ability, but his achievement in subject matter was before national norms. He accepted responsibilities readily at school and was considered trustworthy by his teachers. He tended, after entering the upper elementary grades, to make tentative plans for the future. / M.S.

M.S.

This is an actual project. The high school under current construction in Pound, Virginia, was designed by D. R. Beeson, Architect, Johnson City, Tennessee. With Mr. Beeson’s permission, I am using the educational program for Pound High School as a basis for this work. The most challenging aspect of this problem is not simply designing a functional secondary school, but designing one which will fit the rising irregularities of the steep slopes of the site. The approach to this problem will be an attempt to accomplish a fusion of architecture and landscape into an organically integrated whole which will express man’s inherent oneness with nature. Such a building must shape itself as a symbol of the inspiration of the site. / Master of Science

The educational buildings in Giles County have been progressively approaching a state of inadequacy for the growing County School population. Superintendent R.K. Johnson and the School Board of Giles County foresaw in 1950 the coming fate of the school situation and made a formal request to the State Superintendent of Public Institutions to make a study of the school buildings of the County and to prepare a report findings and recommendations. From the report, by the Committee of Investigation, information was obtained which introduced a program of one consolidated high school for the entire County high school population. The School Board however, proposed to develop three high school buildings instead of one recommended consolidated high school. Of the three high schools, the Pearisburg High School is the subject of this thesis. It is an actual problem that exists and which has validity. Mr. P.E. Ahalt, Superintendent of the Giles County School Board, has in his office a solution to each proposed building prepared by Smithey and Boynton, Architects, Roanoke, Virginia. It is the purpose of the author of this to render his own solution to the problem for comparison with the existing conception. The subject matter is presented in an effort to prepare the mind of the reader for the final development of the architectural solution to an educational building. The end result of the thesis is to investigate the conditions and recommendations for school building in Giles County and from the available information, design a school that will fulfill the prepared requirements. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to examine principal evaluation as conducted in the public school divisions of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Specifically, the study (1) described principal evaluation policies and procedures currently in place in the school divisions, (2) compared those policies and procedures with "state of the art" ” recommendations in literature, and (3) made recommendations that should prove helpful in the development of principal· evaluation policies and procedures for school divisions. Data for the study were collected from the school divisions of Virginia in two ways. A questionnaire was sent to the chief personnel officer in each division and written policy and procedures were collected from each division. The findings indicated there is a need for updating principal evaluation policy and procedures in many of the public school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Recent revisions in principal evaluation policy and procedures reported by some of the public school divisions do not evaluate effective leadership. However, it is not necessary for the Virginia Department of Education to develop a principal evaluation prototype since there are a number of excellent principal evaluation programs presently in existence in the school divisions. / Ph. D.