This study investigated the impact of the ECIA Chapter 2 Block Grant program and the extent to which the legislative intent was realized in a sample of eight local education agencies (LEAs) in Virginia. Specifically, three research questions were investigated: Did the implementation of ECIA Chapter 2 affect formerly funded categorical programs in the LEAs?; Did the implementation of ECIA Chapter 2 result in the reduction of administrative costs and paperwork burden for the LEAs?; and, Did the implementation of ECIA Chapter 2 provide increased LEA responsibility for the design and implementation of local education programs? The study included data collection at eight Virginia LEAs, Amelia, Arlington, Charlottesville City, King George, Powhatan, Rappahannock, Richmond City and Suffolk City. Administrative, programmatic and fiscal effects associated with ECIA Chapter 2 implementation for the 1982-83 school year were examined with the aid of a semi-structured interview guide. Data were analyzed through the use of the constant comparative method developed by Glaser and Strauss. Data were analyzed across study sites and in case study format. Study findings indicated that the implementation of ECIA Chapter 2 had a detrimental effect on the local programs previously supported with federal categorical program funds. Seventy-six percent of the local programs in study sites were diminished in some way with the implementation of Chapter 2. New local programs supported with Chapter 2 funds in study sites differed from those supported with categorical funds in significant ways. Second, the study found that three study sites experienced reduced administrative costs and paperwork, one experienced no difference, and one-half of the study sites experienced increased administrative costs and paperwork under Chapter 2. Finally, across all study sites, it was found that the implementation of ECIA Chapter 2 did not result in an increase of LEA involvement in program planning and development activities. / Ed. D.

This dissertation addresses the cultural, economic, and geographic factors that politically affected the development of schooling in Floyd County, located in southwest Virginia, from its formation in 1831 to the beginning of the twentieth century. Floyd County was formed in 1831 during Virginia's quasi-system of education. This quasi-system was created due to the "peopling" of early Virginia. Colonial Virginia provided educational opportunities for the rich and poor. The General Assembly, which was dominated by the planter-aristocrats, opposed state education. These aristocrats saw no reason to tax themselves for educational opportunities they would not patronize. As settlers of Swiss, German, and Scotch-Irish descent migrated into the backcountry of Virginia, they brought with them a desire for universal education. The conflicts between the eastern and western portion of the state resulted in the Literary Fund Act of 1818 which provided funds to educate Virginia's poor. The wealthy continued to educate their own with the middle class left to their own devices. This quasi-system of education lasted until the Civil War. At the end of the war, conservatives, still in control of the General Assembly, were forced to accept state supported education due to the Underwood Constitutional mandate. Separate schools for blacks and whites were begun under the state plan in 1870. By July 1876, Floyd County had 52 schools in operation; but this expansion faced ruin when the General Assembly used funds to pay off the state's debt. The debt issue split Virginians into two political camps, Funders and Readjusters. It was not until the Readjuster victory in the early 1880's that Virginia's state system began to stabilize. Political decisions continued to affect education in the late nineteenth century. District boards hired teachers and located schools for political and social reasons which were often tied to community loyalties. Superintendents licensed and examined teachers based on their own standards. The General Assembly denied teachers the right to meet during school terms. No public money could be used to finance their meetings. What education teachers did receive was financed by local efforts and Peabody funds. By the 1890's, over 4000 teachers in Virginia had not attended State Summer Normals. Floyd County had a higher percentage of teachers attending Normals due to its third superintendent bringing a Normal to Jacksonville in 1889. By 1900, schooling in Floyd County had survived its first 30 years, but with only partial success. Political entanglements, dating back over two centuries, had affected public education at the state and local level with the results that by the beginning of the twentieth century, half of the school age population in Virginia had never attended school. / Ed. D.

Experts have suggested that a restructuring of the organization of schools is one way to improve the teaching profession. One way to bring about such a restructuring is to allow teachers the opportunity to build collegial relationships. Advocates of peer coaching believe that it can be used to bring about this opportunity to build collegial relationships and allow for the restructuring of schools in order to create a more professional working environment in which teachers work and learn together. This restructuring should decrease isolation of teachers by creating a working environment of trust and allowing for greater resources sharing among the teachers. In turn, teachers' levels of job satisfaction should increase which ultimately should result in better teaching. However, there is little, if any, empirical support for this claim. Administrators who are interested in restructuring schools need information about the implications of building such collegial relationships on the profession of teaching and the working environment of the school. In order to provide this information, 565 teachers in a large suburban Virginia public school system that had implemented peer coaching for a two-year period were surveyed. A questionnaire was used to document the ‘teachers' levels of job satisfaction and perceived usefulness of peer coaching, as well as their perceptions about the degree to which trust and sharing of resources (interactions) existed in their schools. The data collected from the questionnaire was entered into a computer using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS^x). Specifically, descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and Pearson product-moment correlations were used to describe selected variables and V explore interrelationships between the variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine to what extent differences existed between elementary, middle, and high school teachers on the selected variables in the study. Based on the results, the teachers agreed that peer coaching was useful and that they trusted each other. Their participation in resources sharing tended to be more infrequent than frequent. They were satisfied with their teaching jobs. Further, it was found that pairs of the variables were positively and moderately correlated except for a weak correlation between resources sharing and job satisfaction. This meant that, on the whole, the more useful teachers found peer coaching, the more satisfied they were with their jobs, along with perceiving greater degrees of trust and resources sharing. No differences were found to exist among the three levels of teachers on the A usefulness of peer coaching or job satisfaction. All levels differed on the degree of trust that existed in their school. Middle school teachers differed from elementary on the frequency of resources sharing. In conclusion, peer coaching appears to have reduced isolation among the teachers and provided teachers the opportunity to learn about their teaching on the job. Further training in feedback skills and group process skills along with more opportunities to observe one another are recommended as ways to further reduce isolation and create conditions in which teachers are more able to collaboratively solve problems. / Ed. D.

In keeping with these inquiries the following purposes for this study were conceived: (1) To make a statement of cardinal values to be found in typical English programs on the junior high school level. (2) To explore the procedures used by a representative group of junior high school teachers of English in an attempt to discover what portions of the English curriculum they considered of the greatest importance. (3) To use the cardinal values to which reference has just been made as criteria by which to judge the objectives toward which work was being directed in English classes in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades of Roanoke City and County. After the foregoing purposes had been established, a study was made of the economic and social background in which the study was set, resulting in the findings set forth in Chapter II of this writing. Following this, the literature of the field was surveyed with a view to discovering the ideas of authors respecting the teaching of English. A detailed study was made of various courses of study. Following that survey there was formulated the set of criteria which appears in Chapter III. The next undertaking was to make a schedule composed of items which were deemed appropriate to the various criteria, to be used in gathering data relative to the practices of teachers of English in the City and County of Roanoke, respectively. The successive steps in constructing and administering that instrument, together with data resulting from its use, are given in Chapter IV. The final chapter contains a summary of findings to which reference has just been made and certain recommendations emerging therefrom. / M.S.

The Fairfax County Public Schools and neighboring business/industry have perhaps one of the oldest and most satisfactory school/business partnerships in Virginia. A case study was made of the Fairfax County Public Schools School/Business Partnership to identify factors that make a partnership work and to provide information to assist a school system or business/industry interested in the establishment of a partnership. The population for this case study research was made up of school system and business/industry persons who had first-hand knowledge of the partnership. To begin the study a document search of the files and program was made. This document search resulted in a set of interview schedules which were then administered to the stakeholders. Data resulting from these schedules were coded and reported in narrative form. Results indicated that commitment from top level management from both the school system and business/industry to the partnership, a project of major proportion, and a program designed in a way to permit mutual pursuit of the goals of the partners are important if the partnership is to work. / Ed. D.

This study examined the relationship between the condition of school facilities and student achievement and student behavior. The entire population of small, rural high schools in Virginia was used in this study. Building condition was determined by the Commonwealth Assessment of Physical Environment which was completed by personnel in the divisions of the forty-seven schools in the population. Student achievement was determined by the scale scores of the Test of Academic Proficiency for grade eleven during the 1991-1992 school year. Student behavior was determined by the ratio of the number of expulsions, suspensions, and violence/substance abuse incidents to the number of students in each school. All achievement scores were adjusted for socioeconomic status by using the free and reduced lunch numbers for each school. These variables were investigated using analysis of covariance, correlations, and regression analysis. This study found the student achievement scores were higher in schools with better building conditions. Student discipline incidents were also higher in schools with better building condition. Science achievement scores were better in buildings with better science laboratory conditions. Cosmetic building condition appeared to impact student achievement and student behavior more than structural building condition. Finally, varying climate control, locker, and graffiti conditions were factors which were positively related to student achievement scale scores. / Ed. D.

The thrust for institutional reform and desire for accountability has caused important changes in school districts across the nation. In many schools, authority is shifting from the central office to the school, and both parents and teachers are assuming more responsibility for making decisions about school matters that are important to them. This process, often called school-based management, has potential for creating an environment that will allow reform and accountability to occur in districts seeking options to top down management. The purpose of this study was to acquire information about professional responsibility and involvement of building-level educators, parents, and community leaders in this reform movement and to provide a picture of school-based management in the public elementary schools of Virginia. The research describes a range of decision making that exists at different administrative levels in Virginia's schools systems and the parameters established for site-based decision making in Virginia's elementary schools. / Ed. D.

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

M.S.

There is little documentary material on the topic, vocational Education for Diversified Occupations, from state or national sources. Local records are lacking or were poorly kept and incomplete. Since there is no national or state pattern for this type of education, this study is justified as a report of one approach to the problem which may be indicative of a way to proceed in other communities. / Master of Science