<p> Due to the logistics of guided-inquiry lesson, students learn to problem solve and develop critical thinking skills. This mixed-methods study analyzed the students&rsquo; attitudes towards science during inquiry lessons. My quantitative results from a repeated measures survey showed no significant difference between student attitudes when taught with either structured-inquiry or guided-inquiry lessons. The qualitative results analyzed through a constant-comparative method did show that students generate positive interest, critical thinking and low level stress during guided-inquiry lessons. The qualitative research also gave insight into a teacher&rsquo;s transition to guided-inquiry. This study showed that with my students, their attitudes did not change during this transition according to the qualitative data however, the qualitative data did how high levels of excitement. The results imply that students like guided-inquiry laboratories, even though they require more work, just as much as they like traditional laboratories with less work and less opportunity for creativity.</p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate parents' involvement in secondary student education. In addition, the relationship between school leaders use of selective educational leadership theories to enhance parental involvement were explored. The participants consisted of 200 parents of freshmen students at two different high schools in Southern Arizona. The participants completed a survey instrument.Pearson Product Correlations were used to investigate the effects of gender of the student, grades of the student, and educational level of the parent on the parent perception of the school, parental involvement at home, and parental involvement at school. The results were disaggregated by ethnicity.There was significance found with the parents of Hispanic students. These parents were significantly more involved with their sons at the school and the higher educated the parents were, the more significantly they were involved at the school. Data from the open-ended question section of the survey instrument revealed the need for communication between parents and school.The overall findings from this study suggest the importance of building partnerships between parents and school and the manner in which education leaders can employ various educational theories to support the implementation of successful home/school partnerships.

This existential phenomenological research paper is undertaken to explore communication where responsibility to the other is paramount. To do so, the researcher immersed herself in two settings: a jazz duo, and a not-for-profit community day program, which provides care for the developmentally challenged in their senior years. The research is driven by the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, which is echoed in existential theological and philosophical examinations of human ethical responsibility. Converse to western ethics that privilege the “I” and assume the other is a limitation on self-preservation, Levinas believes “I” is the hostage of the other (Levinas, 2001, p. 133). This kind of ethical communication is responsive, improvisational and more than a little like jazz. Levinas, existential philosophers and theologians all discuss the role of creative capacity and dynamic potential in ethical engagement, in “being” and “being-with” (Levinas, 2001; Nancy, 2000) others. In these explorations, individual capacity, combined with an awareness of moral obligation to others—to be good persons (Christians, 2002)—provides a jazz like opportunity for creative engagement; a dynamic and potent possibility that demands awareness of and attentiveness to the other, but which is open-ended.

<p>The study set out to determine the effects of Career Technical Education Career Academy participation on student outcome measures in a high minority urban school district. Three research questions explored student participation in career academies and student outcomes in the area of grade point average, credit completion and/or attendance rates. The three research questions investigated in this study were: 1) What are the effects of CTE on student achievement, grade point average, credit completion, and attendance rates? 2) Does the amount of time in the CTE program affect the dependent variables of grade point average, credit completion, and attendance rate? 3) Does the CTE academy affect the dependent variables of grade point average, credit completion, and attendance rates? The quasi-experimental design, which matched Career Technical Education participants and non-participants according to various demographic variables, allowed the researcher to control for variables that usually impact grade point average, credit completion and attendance rates. The matching and labeling of CTE participants and non-participants occurred prior to students' participation in an academy. The results of this study adds to a relatively small body of research which examines the impact of Career Technical Education programs implemented in thousands of high schools across the country. Multiple regression was run and results concluded that participation in Career Technical Education significantly impacts grade point average and credit completion rates. However the amount of time in an academy only affected grade point average and the academy students participated in did not have an impact any of the student outcomes measured in this study. Further studies of similar design which measure student outcomes should be performed to confirm or deny the results of this study. </p>

<p> This mixed-method research examines student achievement, student interaction and social elements to determine which elements support online course completion for students in a state virtual school. The quantitative goals seek to find a possible degree of convergence with the course completion average grade. Qualitative data from 10 high school students, their teachers, and quantitative data from their courses were gathered. Quantitative data from the learning management system (LMS) was reproduced, scrubbed of unwanted data, such as dropped students. Mixed method constant comparison was performed to determine a descriptive analysis of three variables: student achievement, student interaction, and social elements. Using the data gathered from the qualitative interviews, a yes or no was assigned to the students for behavioral, cognitive, and social skills. Using descriptive statistics, the skills were compared to the students' course grades. The results revealed a strong pattern match of data for Research Question 1. This data was indicative of the need for behavioral, cognitive, and social skills to complete an online course. Quantitative and teacher data were grouped by themes: asynchronous, administrative, and assessments; synchronous added for teacher data. A constant comparison of data correspondence was performed between the student course average grade, the access data, LMS theme data, and the course average final grade. The investigation of Research Question 2 indicated that the LMS's reporting module can determine interactions to support online course completion by providing average grade analysis along with access analysis and tool usage analysis.</p>

<p> In a school district, teachers and administrators found that students lacked the academic technology immersion necessary to ensure their technological preparation for the 21st century. Professional development was offered to prepare teachers to integrate 21st century technology into their instruction; however, teachers were not fully implementing technology. Administrators and stakeholders have indicated concern. The purpose of this study was to explore whether professional development was effective in increasing teachers' capacity to integrate student-directed technology into instruction. The study, guided by Prensky's transformation and Siemen's connectiveness theories, indicated that technology immersion was necessary within schools. The overarching research questions explored the extent to which technology-based professional development experiences have most directly affected the integration of technology into the classroom. The research design was a qualitative explorative study comparing archival teacher learning logs of 15 teachers from 5 high schools with 2 questionnaires. The narrative findings from the learning logs were cross-checked through triangulation with the percentage data from a Likert-type scale and questionnaire to determine accuracy and reliability. Data indicated that professional development increased technology integration in a moderate way, whereas comprehensive integration will better prepare students for the future. The purpose of the white paper report was to encourage stakeholders to collaboratively discuss the needs of teachers and review strategies to meet the 21st century technology skills of students. Implications for social change are that high school stakeholders who read this white paper may be prompted to discuss options to equip students to use 21st century skills to address personal, local, and world issues.</p>

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The problem set forth in this study was to investigate the attitudes of the students, their parents, faculty and administration towards various functions of the guidance department at Rossville High School in Rossville, Indiana.A survey of 25 questions was constructed and distributed to the students, their parents, faculty and administration in grades 7 through 12 at the school Eighty-four percent of these surveys were returned.On 16 of the 25 questions the groups agreed the counselor should be doing that particular task mentioned. On the other 9 questions the group had an overall "no opinion" response. Eight of the items were indicated as "needing extra attention" at Rossville.The survey was administered to a small rural school population and the results should be reviewed with this in mind.

Equality of educational opportunity has been a long elusive goal of public education in the United States. This narrative, phenomenological study conducted inquiry into how five teachers in Tampa, Florida construct meaning about social class and academic achievement based on their life experiences as members of a class-based society. Data produced descriptive, narrative stories that contextualize how meaning is constructed about social class based on participants' life experiences. This line of inquiry provides relevant insight into teachers' understandings of social class which may influence the provision of equal educational opportunities to all students. The following study includes a comprehensive analysis of the current qualitative and quantitative research supporting this line of inquiry and presents findings of how teacher's experiences with social class inform their understanding of academic achievement. Findings indicate emotional support is an important factor that influences academic confidence and success. Teachers' habitus is expressed through the practice of caring for students and providing students with support through the process of public schooling.

<p> The number of college students choosing to major in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in the United States affects the size and quality of the American workforce (Winters, 2009). The number of graduates in these academic fields has been on the decline in the United States since the 1960s, which, according to Lips and McNeil (2009), has resulted in a diminished ability of the United States to compete in science and engineering on the world stage. The purpose of this research was to learn why students chose a STEM major and determine what decision criteria influenced this decision. According to Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB), the key components of decision-making can be quantified and used as predictors of behavior. In this study the STEM majors' decision criteria were compared between different institution types (two-year, public four-year, and private four-year), and between demographic groups (age and sex). Career, grade, intrinsic, self-efficacy, and self-determination were reported as motivational factors by a majority of science majors participating in this study. Few students reported being influenced by friends and family when deciding to major in science. Science students overwhelmingly attributed the desire to solve meaningful problems as central to their decision to major in science. A majority of students surveyed credited a teacher for influencing their desire to pursue science as a college major. This new information about the motivational construct of the studied group of science majors can be applied to the previously stated problem of not enough STEM majors in the American higher education system to provide workers required to fill the demand of a globally STEM-competitive United States (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, &amp; Institute of Medicine, 2010)</p>