The importance attached to preparing graduates for a role on an international stage has become increasingly recognised by U.K. higher education institutions and by successive U.K. governments in recent years. At the same time, the contribution that enterprising individuals make to an economy has also gained in importance, but the answer to the question of what makes an 'enterprising individual' is still uncertain. This thesis investigates whether internationally mobile students develop or enhance certain entrepreneurial attitudes through a study or work placement period abroad and, if so, why certain attitudes may have developed or been positively enhanced by a prolonged exposure abroad. I have also considered the impact that such a sojourn has on the entrepreneurial intent and behaviour of graduates. I have followed a concurrent mixed method approach using a group of mobile students and, as a control group, students who do not undertake mobility during their degree. The results indicate that there is little difference in certain entrepreneurial attitudes between the two groups before mobility, but that the mobile students show a higher degree of (positive) change in some entrepreneurial attitudes than the non-mobile students after mobility. There are a range of factors from the international sojourn that could account for this change. The results imply that, along with other benefits of international education, an international sojourn contributes to developing potential entrepreneurial behaviour, as evidenced by the careers and activities of internationally mobile graduates. This thesis contributes to the existing body of knowledge in the fields of international education and entrepreneurship in a number of ways. Firstly it provides more insight into the entrepreneurial behaviour of graduates who have studied abroad. Secondly, my results add to the debate about what differentiates a mobile student from a non-mobile student. Thirdly, my research findings support the assertion that student mobility brings benefits (both to an individual and to the economy) by turning anecdotal indicators and suppositions about the benefits into more concrete and substantial evidence. Fourthly, and finally, through using a mixed method approach I have extended the to-date narrow focus of much of the research into the area of student mobility to provide an atypical approach to investigating international education benefits.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-93).

Despite decades of policy innovation aimed at improving school performance, the number of public schools defined as low performing in the U.S. continues to grow. Yet, most explanations of low performance do not consider the fact that many of the country’s lowest performing schools share high rates of turnover among both staff and students, or organizational instability. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop the theoretical underpinnings of both the concept of organizational stability and its relationship with school contextual factors and performance, and to assess the relationship quantitatively. I hypothesized that teacher turnover, principal turnover, and student mobility partially mediate the impact of a school’s socioeconomic context on its academic performance. In order to test the proposed partial mediation model, I conducted a quantitative analysis using path analysis and data from North Carolina public schools. I constructed several samples, including one that included all schools, and five others that focused in on high instability, high poverty, and urban schools. The results of the analyses depended in large part on the type of school under investigation. Specifically, I found that the relationships between the context variables varied according to the sample being examined. Similarly, the presence of direct and mediating effects between the organizational stability variables was contingent on the kind of school. The results of these analyses support previous findings and contribute a new understanding of the role of instability in helping to explain low school performance. This dissertation engages the ongoing debate about the effects of teacher and principal turnover on school performance, suggesting that both do indeed have a deleterious effect on performance. Finally, I make several methodological contributions to the literature on both turnover and school performance by utilizing path analysis, which allows for the prioritization of effects and the testing of indirect effects. / text

Student mobility is a common phenomenon in longitudinal data in educational research. The characteristics of education longitudinal data create a problem for the conventional multilevel model. Grady and Beretvas (2010) introduced a cross-classified multiple membership growth curve (CCMM-GCM) model to handle Student mobility over time by capturing complex higher level clustering structure in the data. There are some limitations in the CCMM-GCM model. By creating dummy coded indicators for each measurement occasion, the new model can improve the accuracy and provides an easier and more flexible structure at the higher level. This study provides some support that the new model better fits a dataset than the CCMM-GCM model / text

The exit/entry patterns of students in higher education have been a matter of concern to college administrators and counselors for over half a century. The purpose of this study was to identify certain characteristics commonly associated with persistence in order to determine if these same characteristics are likewise predictive of success in teacher training programs. The data base was the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. This study was an investigation designed to observe the educational and vocational activities, plans, aspirations, and attitudes of high school seniors of that year and subsequent years through three follow-up studies. The sample design was a two-strage probability sample with schools as the first stage and students as the second stage. The sample was highly stratified with variables such as type of control, geographical region, minority group enrollment, and level of urbanization making up the strata. The base year questionnaire was administered in the spring of 1972 and consisted of 104 questions. Subsequent follow-ups in 1973, 1974, and 1976 asked questions similar to those asked int he base year and others necessary to ensure continuity of data. The sample used for the present study consisted of 472 prospective teachers. Identifying education as a major and aspiring to teach was the method used to determine sample members. Additional criteria were used to select migratory and non-migratory prospective teacher sub-groups. The sub-groups identified were persisters, drop-ins, drop-outs, late entries, program transfers, and college transfers. Since most students move into migratory patterns due to one or more intellectual or non-intellectual reasons, the present study was designed to compare certain selected factors hypothesized to have a relationship with this movement. Ability, satisfaction with the college environment, values, and self-concept were factors chosen for this comparison. Ability was determined in the base year from standardized tests such as the Scholastic Achievement Test. The students' feelings toward their instruction, social life, campus resources, and curriculum were used as a measure of satisfaction. Having lots of money, being a leader in the community, living close to parents, and correcting social ills were used to determine values. Self-attitude, self-worth, external satisfaction, and internal satisfaction were factors selected to measure self-concept. Levels of satisfaction, values, and self-concept were collected in all three follow-up studies. Ability was determined only in the base year. The design of the investigation was to compare the only nonmigratory group, persisters, with other prospective teacher sub-groups considered migratory. Comparisons were made using the persistence characteristics identified earlier, namely, ability, satisfaction, values, and self-concept. Additional comparisons were made between prospective teacher sub-groups on the basis of race, sex, and type of institutionalized control. Longitudinal trends were incorporated into these comparisons. Prospective teacher sub-groups were also examined in relation to financial assistance. The results suggest that ability and satisfaction measures can provide a persistence index that permits differentiation between certain prospective teacher groups. There is a further indication that ability tests provide a clear distinction between minority and non-minority prospective teachers. Ability and certain self-concept and satisfaction measures provide a distinction between males and females in teacher training programs. Differences among private and public college prospective teachers can be seen with selected achievement tests. Public college late entries and drop-outs are more dissatisfied with the college environment than any other prospective teacher group. Finally, a relationship exists between the amount of financial assistance and the various prospective teacher sub-groups. This relationship is most pronounced for late entry students.

The current study evaluated a multiple-membership growth curve model that can be used to model growth in student achievement, in the presence of student mobility. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of ignoring multiple school membership when modeling student achievement across time. Part one of the study consisted of an analysis of real longitudinal student achievement data. This real data analysis compared parameter estimates, standard error estimates, and model-fit statistics obtained from a growth curve model that ignores multiple membership, to those obtained from a growth model that accounts for multiple school membership via the MMREM approach. Part two of the study consisted of a simulation study designed to determine the impact of ignoring multiple membership and the accuracy of parameter estimates obtained under the two modeling approaches, under a series of data conditions. The goal of the study was to assess the importance of incorporating a more flexible MMREM approach when modeling students’ academic achievement across time. Overall, the results of the current study indicated that the Cross-classified multiple membership growth curve model (CCMM-GCM) may provide more accurate parameter estimates than competing approaches for a number of data conditions. Both modeling approaches, however, yielded substantially biased estimates of parameters for some experimental conditions. Overall, results demonstrate that incorporating student mobility into achievement growth modeling can result in more accurate estimates of schools effects. / text

Thesis (Ed. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-164).

Thesis (D. Ed.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-93). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Baylor University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-187).

The problem of this study is to determine the extent of the mobility of pupil population in the East Van Zandt School, Fort Worth, Texas, and the relationship of this mobility to pupil achievement and progress.