This research is a descriptive analysis answering the question, what measures are currently taken by the leadership―boards of trustees and superintendents of schools―of Texas school districts to prevent embezzlement? The research perspective utilized was quantitative with a descriptive, cross-sectional design. Data collection was accomplished through a survey with questions constructed from the most commonly recommended strategies discovered through the review of literature. The survey was distributed to the 1031 superintendents of school districts in Texas via email. The response rate was 33% or 339 returned surveys. The data set created concentrates on the four most common preventive measures: policy and procedure, management, auditing, and ethics. These measures are considered as they function to interrupt the principles of the fraud triangle. Comparisons were completed regarding region, district size, superintendent tenure and superintendent experience. Policy adoption was found to be extremely widespread. Procedures written to fully implement policy were less prevalent. Review of management practices found problems concerning credit cards, personnel evaluations, and password access to multiple computer finance recordkeeping systems concentrated in one employee. External auditing programs were universal due to statutory mandate but internal auditors and internal audit committees were few. Ethics training for business office personnel existed but with little consistent application across districts. The adoption of a code of ethics for business office personnel was rare. Recommendations made were that school leaders should be educated concerning appropriate actions in the common prevention areas. They need an to understand the importance of internal auditing, know the language in local policy, and they need to write procedures.

Premont ISD, in Premont, Texas, faced years of academic and financial troubles. In 2011, when the school district was finally on a path to improvement, the state ordered Premont to be closed and absorbed into a nearby district. Yet a new superintendent was determined to save Premont and try to ensure every student under his supervision would receive a quality education close to home. This report maps the decisions made, the state’s response and the community’s reaction to the near demise of its school district. / text

This is a study of the facilities and processes used in finishing wood and metal projects used in industry as compared with facilities available and the processes used in industrial arts programs in one hundred Texas schools.

The purposes of this study were to determine the perceptions selected school personnel had of public school teachers' fulfillment of the code of ethics for Texas educators, if these perceptions differed significantly, and if the code had any significant impact on teachers' behavior. The subjects consisted of board members, superintendents, principals and teachers within seven urban, fourteen suburban, and fifty rural Texas school districts. Subjects’ responses to an instrument derived from the Code of Ethics for Texas Educators provided the data for testing. The findings of this study included the following: 1. Board members perceived teachers as fulfilling the code to be slightly higher than did teachers and principals and significantly higher than did superintendents. 2. Superintendents perceived teachers as fulfilling the code to a lower degree than did the other subjects surveyed. 3. Subjects selected within urban and suburban school districts are in perceptual agreement concerning teachers' fulfillment of the code. 4. Rural board members perceived teachers as fulfilling the code to a slightly higher degree than did rural superintendents. 5. Urban teachers perceived teachers as fulfilling the code to a significantly higher degree than did suburban teachers. 6. The code of ethics was perceived as having low to moderate impact on the behavior of Texas teachers.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine early warning indicators of college readiness among early college high school students at selected Texas institutions of higher education. Participants in this study included 134 of the class of 2010 from two early college high schools. The graduates were 86% Hispanic, 8% African American, 3% White, 2% Asian, 1% American Indian and 72% economically disadvantaged. A causal-comparative research design using multiple regression analysis of the data collected revealed that each one unit increase in world history was associated with a .470 (p < .05) increase in college GPA, while each one unit increase in Algebra I was associated with a .202 (p < .05) increase. Therefore, student grades in high school Algebra I and world history were the strongest statistically significant indicators that a student will maintain a 2.5 college GPA during the first year of college. According to the early warning indicators, students who maintain a grade of A or B in Algebra I are 10 times more likely to be college ready while having a 78% chance of maintaining a 2.5 or better in college courses. Further, the findings from this study found no significant relationship between TAKS assessment, socioeconomic status, gender or ethnicity and a student's ability to maintain a 2.5 or higher college GPA. Based on the findings from this study, the author recommends an examination of the high school curriculum with the goal of ensuring that students gain competency in courses that indicate college readiness.

The problem of this study was to determine the effect of academic self-concept, student aspiration, intellectual achievement responsibility, and certain other personal factors on the attendance patterns of selected ninth grade students, and to develop from data on all factors a typical profile of conditions likely to result in high absenteeism and make recommendations for initial steps in remediation. As a result of the statistical analysis and subsequent retention or rejection of the null hypotheses, the significant findings of this study may be summarized as follows. (1) Ninth grade attenders are significantly younger than non-attenders. (2) Attenders had more siblings than non-attenders. (3) Attenders are significantly more involved in school organizations than non-attenders. (4) There is a higher frequency in suspensions among non-attenders. Based on analysis of the findings of this study and within the limitations of the population described in the procedure section, the following conclusions were formulated. (1) Students who have been retained, started school later, or for some reason are older than their classmates, are more likely to attend school irregularly.(2) Educators cannot expect to find the major causes of student absenteeism to be academic self-concept, intellectual achievement responsibility, or student aspiration. (3) Family size may be an important consideration for educators to investigate when working with school non-attenders. (4) School attenders can be expected to be actively involved in the co-curricular elements of the school program. (5) Higher rates of student suspensions are more likely to increase attendance problems rather than reduce them. (6) How students use their time outside the school day is not likely to be the crucial factor in school attendance. (7) While students often complain about schedules, teacher selection, and proximity of friends, it is not likely that changes in these factors would influence student attendance.