The willingness to work and a high school diploma were once all that was needed to start one's career. The problem is that on the twentieth anniversary of the reports by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS), high school graduates may still lack what business and education leaders require for success in entry-level employment or post-secondary studies. The research question included understanding how prepared graduates from at-risk high schools are for post-secondary work or study. The study used a Likert-scaled survey to assess participant work readiness in 36 skill or competency areas. The sample consisted of recent graduates from three at-risk high schools in one school district. Graduate responses to the survey indicated that 64% were not work ready. Statistically, results were consistent with the SCANS report that indicated that 51% of all American high school graduates were underprepared. Pearson correlations were detected between the graduates' level of academic study (i.e., special education, tech-prep, college-prep, or honors) and work-readiness, and between pre-graduation work-experience and work-readiness. Implications for positive social change include improved graduate work readiness.

Research on organizational change theory confirms the importance of leaders' ability to establish a sense of urgency, create institutional support for change, develop a vision, communicate the vision, empower others toward action, generate results, and ultimately create change in the organizational culture. Organizational change in nested systems, in which CEOs of individual units report upward through a state, regional, or corporate hierarchy, has not been extensively studied. To address this gap in the literature, this phenomenological study explored perceptions of college leaders who in 2002-2003 participated in the transformation of seven 2-year technical colleges into a community college system. The study probed leaders' perceptions of organizational change at the campus level in a nested organizational structure. Two research questions addressed (a) how 2-year college leaders in a nested leadership structure reporting to a system president perceive and describe their experiences of transformational change; and (b) lessons, if any, that these leaders offer other state-governed, 2-year college systems attempting similar levels of transformative change. The study was based on Kotter's change model, which was used to examine the nature and degree of organizational change that occurred in the institutions studied. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed through a transcendental phenomenological process. Results highlighted the importance of communication, leadership, exploiting a sense of urgency, and addressing internal and external concerns chance to participate in the economy. This study will help leaders of multi-campus or nested state systems facilitate transformational change to better achieve those social goals.

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have shown promise as a means to meet the challenge of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. A problem that has surfaced is the inabilty of schools to sustain PLCs. This project study examined leadership characteristics of elementary school principals in selected school districts to determine how these characteristics shape organizational culture and provide support for sustaining professional learning communities. At the center of this initiative have been the school principals and their leadership skills. The theoretical underpinnings of this study were based on the work of DuFour and DuFour, which places leadership of the principal at the forefront of successful school improvement. A mixed-methods approach with a sequential-transformative strategy was used. Quantitative data were collected by administering the Leadership Capacity School Survey to 30 elementary principals. Descriptive statistics were used to determine which of Lambert's six critical constructs were most and least commonly practiced among the schools in the study. Qualitative data gathered through a focus-group discussion were analyzed through the typological process. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicated that broad-based, skillful participation in the work of leadership (Construct 1) was the most important leadership construct to the success of sustaining PLCs. The outcome of this project study was a professional-development model that will provide knowledge and understanding of the key leadership elements needed to develop an environment for sustaining PLCs. The potential social impact of this study includes improved student achievement as a result of improved leadership by principals.

Proficiency in language arts and communication skills is essential to success in the global workforce. Most states assess students in language arts literacy (LAL) through standardized tests that assess a student's ability to read, interpret literature, and write expressively. Although educational reformers strive to improve the foundations that prepare students in literacy, reforms have not fully incorporated the theory of emotional intelligence (EI), which explains a student's ability to use, understand, perceive, and manage their emotions in order to think critically, make decisions, and solve problems. Although it is not known whether EI directly correlates to literacy, emotional skills are an integral part of literacy, linguistics, and overall cognition. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether a correlation existed between EIQ (measured by the Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test), and LAL (measured by the High School Proficiency Assessment) in literacy, for secondary students. The multiple regression model included 2 control variables: gender and grade point average. The findings of the primary analysis demonstrated positive correlations between EIQ and LAL scores. Upon further analysis, the relationship between EIQ and LAL remained positively significant in the regression model. Emotional intelligence, and associated improved literacy skills, may positively influence social change by helping secondary students to develop a broader repertoire of skills necessary for communication and problem solving later in life.

In spite of increased use of technology in the history classroom, the impact of technology remains low on student retention and comprehension of historical information. This project study examined the manner in which PowerPoint slides in history classes are formatted and the elements they contain for effective use. The literature related to best methods was reviewed to reveal practices that lead to the highest levels of comprehension and retention and how those practices could be implemented in PowerPoint presentations. This grounded theory study in the field of cognition and instruction centered on a high school that successfully implements technology in the history classroom. Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with 4 history teachers who used presentation technology on a regular basis and surveys that asked for both qualitative data and some limited quantitative data for demographic and background purposes of students and other teachers. Data from the study were viewed through the lens of schema theory. Findings indicated that bullets promoted memorization, and, as a result, information was placed in a narrative format. Findings also suggested the effectiveness of visual images and interactive activities and they were incorporated extensively. The project study's impact and the resulting implications for social change include increased retention and comprehension of history for students.

Teacher learning, whether in-service, continued education, or experience based, is a key component of school reform. Specific research on the use of teacher learning to improve student achievement and instructional practices in and across schools is limited. The research questions addressed in this study were: (a) the degree to which teacher learning is disseminated throughout a school organization to improve student learning and instructional practices, and (b) differences and similarities in the dissemination of teacher learning between schools. Watkins and Marsick's learning organization theory, Senge's system theory, and Dewey's constructivist learning theory were used as the theoretical framework. A variation of Watkins and Marsick's Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire was administered to a random sample of public school teachers. Descriptive statistics and general linear model analyses were used to assess the dissemination of teacher learning across individual, team and organizational levels, and between school levels and locations. Findings indicated the dissemination of teacher learning is inconsistent at the individual, team, and organizational levels of learning, with no significant differences across school levels and locations. The findings inform social change through the increased use of effective strategies to improve the dissemination of teacher learning, instruction practices, and student achievement across and between schools in the state in which this study was conducted.

The demands of national educational reforms require high school biology teachers to provide high quality instruction to students with and without special needs. The reforms, however, do not provide teachers with adequate teaching strategies to meet the needs of all students in the same context. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand high school biology teachers' perspectives, practices, and challenges in relation to teaching students with special needs. This approach was used to develop a substantive model for high school biology teachers who are challenged with teaching students with and without special needs. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 15 high school teachers in a Midwestern school district. The data were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and selective coding procedures in accordance with the grounded theory approach. Essential model components included skills and training for teachers, classroom management strategies, teaching strategies, and student skills. The emergent substantive theory indicated that that teacher preparation and acquired skills greatly influence the effectiveness of inclusion implementation. Key findings also indicated the importance of using of a variety of instructional strategies and classroom management strategies that address students' special needs and their learning styles. This study contributes to social change by providing a model for teaching students and effectively implementing inclusion in regular science classrooms. Following further study, this model may be used to support teacher professional development and improve teaching practices that in turn may improve science literacy supported by the national educational reforms.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act created new accountability for educational institutions where schools must demonstrate adequate yearly progress (AYP) by regularly increasing student achievement. Many school districts across the nation failed AYP, searched for effective teaching strategies, and used new instructional models to help, yet they continued to fail. Thousands of educational institutions turned to the learning-focused schools (LFS) model of instruction, but increases in student achievement were sporadic. The rationale for this project stemmed from inconsistent student achievement results at a local middle school while using LFS from the inception of NCLB. This project study reviewed the teaching strategy of activating students' prior knowledge at a low-socioeconomic status (SES) middle school. Theoretical foundations guiding this study included learning theory, constructivist learning, the effects of low-SES environments, instructional strategies, and the role of prior knowledge in learning. Using archival data, this ex post facto study found a statistically significant difference using an ANCOVA, F(1, 863) = 35.398, p < .000, for the research question investigating the effect on student achievement when teachers specifically activate students' prior knowledge before using the LFS model of instruction. The project is an instructional lesson plan design that activates students' prior knowledge; recommendations include implementing the project countywide. Positive social change implications include providing policy makers data on the effectiveness of activating students' prior knowledge, the long-term effectiveness of LFS, and recommendations for increasing student achievement consistently.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of science educators as they select and develop assessment methods for inquiry learning. Balancing preparations for standardized tests and authentic inquiry assessment experiences can be challenging for science educators. The review of literature revealed that current research focused on instructional methods and assessment, students' assessment experiences, and teachers' instructional methods experiences. There remains a gap in current literature regarding the experiences of science educators as they select and develop assessment methods for inquiry learning. This study filled the gap by providing a description of the experiences of science educators as they select and develop assessments for inquiry learning. The participants in this study were 16 fifth through eighth grade science teachers who participate in the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) in northwest Alabama. A phenomenological research method was chosen in order to describe the experiences of AMSTI science teachers as they select and develop assessments for inquiry learning. Data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions. The data analysis used a modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen framework. The results showed AMSTI science teachers use a variety of assessment resources and methods, feel pressures to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), and implement varying degrees of change in their assessment process due to No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Contributing a positive social change, this study's findings supplied science teachers with descriptions of successful inquiry classrooms and creative assessments that correspond to inquiry-based learning methods.

Despite Minnesota's investment in professional development in content area literacy, secondary students are not showing expected literacy gains. A lack of literacy proficiency limits future options for students. The purpose of this study was to examine content-area literacy strategy inclusion and its relationship to professional development in the context of complexity theory, efficacy theory, transformational learning theory, structured teaching, and constructivism. A cross-section correlation survey research study was conducted to investigate the relationship of time spent in systematic professional development, type of professional development, rate of strategy inclusion, and confidence in literacy strategy inclusion in lesson design. Convenience sampling was employed to secure secondary teachers (N = 65) in public schools in Minnesota. The Spearman Rho Coefficient calculation was used to analyze these 4 variables; relationships were determined at ( p < .05) and (p < .01) confidence levels. According to the results of the study, self-selected professional development is related to the frequency of literacy strategy use and confidence in literacy strategy use. Time in professional development is a critical issue in confidence of literacy strategy use. Recommendations for local districts include providing a menu of self-selected literacy professional development options. This study may impact social change through providing educators improved literacy instruction, resulting in more competent adult readers and informed decision-makers.