This thesis arose out of the experience of a field work placement in the Welfare Services Section of First United Church during the 1952-53 school term. Accurate Information about the neighborhood in which it was located was required in order to provide guidance for future recreation and welfare developments in the district. The lack of community organization in this neighbourhood prompted a closer look at the existing conditions and plans for a detailed survey were laid. Factual information was assembled, many meetings were held, and opinions and attitudes from many sources were canvassed. The significance of this study to social work is manifold. It shows how this neighborhood became a "problem area," but also attempts to assess its assets as well as its liabilities. It indicates the many sources necessary to gain a thorough understanding of the people of a neighborhood. It underlines the generic nature of social work and the variety of roles required from the social worker. Particularly, it approaches the area as a case example of community organization where many different ethnic groups are present, and there has been little previous experience in s elf-help. If there is to be any positive change in the area it must be done with the closest cooperation of the local residents and Headers, The resources within the local community that have been uncovered must be developed and supported while every means must be taken to reform or offset the unwholesome physical conditions. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This design/research study is located at the disciplinary interstices of Indigenous education and information science. It is motivated by the weaknesses of the dominant library knowledge organization systems (KOS) in representing and organizing documents with Indigenous content. The study first examines the nature of the problem and then explores ways in which Indigenous conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches can generate new directions for KOS design. It thereby addresses the central research question, “How can Indigenous approaches to knowledge inform principles of design of library knowledge organization systems to serve Indigenous purposes?” An Indigenous theoretical lens, @ Cultural Interface, is assembled for the study composed of Martin Nakata’s (2007b) Cultural Interface, and Dwayne Donald’s (2009b) Indigenous Métissage. It is integrated with domain analysis in information science (Hjørland & Albrechtsen, 1995) to produce a methodology, domain analysis @ Cultural Interface, used to study the domain of Indigenous knowledge within post-secondary education. Information was gathered through expert interviews with nine Indigenous designers of Indigenous KOS from four countries; a user study with nine First Nations, Aboriginal, and Métis graduate students; and theoretical analyses. The study produced a theoretical framework for Indigenous knowledge organization based on four main findings: (1) knowledge organization is integral to educational infrastructure and is consequential for Indigenous learners and all learners; (2) a definition of the domain of Indigenous knowledge in post-secondary education, its boundaries and the boundary marker of Indigeneity; (3) an articulation of Indigenous knowledge organization as a field of study including a (partial) history, typology of design practice, objectives, and evaluation framework; and (4) a design workspace for conceptual enquiry. These findings are synthesized in a theoretical framework, Indigenous knowledge organization @ Cultural Interface, which can be applied in the design, study, and critique of knowledge organization for Indigenous purposes. It is noted that this study and its theoretical framework have been constructed incrementally based on selected theorists, particular participants, experiences, and literatures and offer only one of many possible interpretations. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

M.Ed. (Education Management) / The purpose of the study is to investigate the origin and function of informal personnel groups in the school and the identification of the opinion leaders. During the investigation special attention has been given to the role of the opinion leader in the informal group as well as how the opinion leader may be guided by the school principal towards meaningful involvement. Information has been obtained mainly through the study of literature and such information has been interpreted, evaluated and explained. This study led to conclusions and recommendations. Much of a principal's time is taken up by his involvement with a group of people the school personnel. The school personnel as a group consists of two other groups - formal groups and informal groups. Formal groups are formed consciously or intentionally to realise the objectives of the school, while informal groups are created spontaneously. Informal groups institution, as positive, that manner. have an important influence on the school or such groups may act towards Goal-realisation in a is supportive, or negative, that is non-supportive It is apparent that the principal determines to a great extent whether the informal groups of the school personnel are to be positive factors with regard to formal objectives. Informal groups may be a great advantage provided the principal understands how such groups originate and function.

The chapters in this thesis are each concerned with problems of coordination. The coordination issues examined here each arise in distinct situations and imply the need for a different modeling approach in each case. The first case, Chapter 2, considers gender discrimination in contemporary, competitive labour markets. It is sh9wn there that such discrimination can arise as an outcome of maximizing activities on the part of firms facing the problem of worker motivation in the light of imperfect monitorability. This is shown to lead to firms’ hiring practices (in particular discrimination) depending on the practices of other firms and consequently to labour market equilibria of discrimination and of non discrimination. It is shown that a policy of affirmative action can be useful in moving the labour market away from the discrimination equilibrium. The next chapter, Chapter 3, considers an avenue by which the structure of industries in an economy can affect the development of new technologies through its general equilibrium impact on profits relative to wages. It shows that a monopolistic structure in one industry, by increasing the share of profits in aggregate income, tends to increase the relative profitability of innovative activities elsewhere thereby leading to the creation of further monopoly rents which, in turn, feeds back into incentives for innovation thus causing a self-perpetuating cycle. This leads to the possibility of an economy exhibiting multiple steady states including a “Poverty trap” or situation of zero growth. The conditions under which multiple steady states exist are analyzed and the economy’s behaviour out of the steady state is also characterized. The role of government intervention, in the form of subsidies, direct provision of research and patent protection is also examined. Finally it is shown that the model can also explain the existence of clustering of innovations and consequent sporadic growth. The final substantive chapter, Chapter 4, centres on problems of investment coordination in the context of LDCs. These arise when the fall in the price of one good raises the demand for complementary goods, thereby implying that investment decisions leading to such price falls may not be privately undertaken whereas, when coordinated across sectors, such investments could be profitable. This chapter shows that the existence of multiple equilibria hinges upon the more restrictive Definition of complementarity between goods, namely, the Hicks definition. As a result, gross complementarity between goods (on its own), even though causing horizontal externalities, can not lead to the existence of multiple equilibria. A later section looks at gross complements in the presence of knowledge spillovers and shows, in contrast, that this can lead to multiple equilibria and coordination problems. The chapter also examines the social optimality of coordination in the Hicks complements case, showing that it is not always implied by the multiplicity of equilbria. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

The span of control is the most discussed single concept in classical and modern management theory. In specifying conditions for organizational effectiveness, the span of control has generally been regarded as a critical factor. Existing research work has focused mainly on qualitative methods to analyze this concept, for example heuristic rules based on experiences and/or intuition. This research takes a quantitative approach to this problem and formulates it as a binary integer model, which is used as a tool to study the organizational design issue. This model considers a range of requirements affecting management and supervision of a given set of jobs in a company. These decision variables include allocation of jobs to workers, considering complexity and compatibility of each job with respect to workers, and the requirement of management for planning, execution, training, and control activities in a hierarchical organization. The objective of the model is minimal operations cost, which is the sum of supervision costs at each level of the hierarchy, and the costs of workers assigned to jobs. The model is intended for application in the make-to-order industries as a design tool. It could also be applied to make-to-stock companies as an evaluation tool, to assess the optimality of their current organizational structure. Extensive experiments were conducted to validate the model, to study its behavior, and to evaluate the impact of changing parameters with practical problems. This research proposes a meta-heuristic approach to solving large-size problems, based on the concept of greedy algorithms and the Meta-RaPS algorithm. The proposed heuristic was evaluated with two measures of performance: solution quality and computational speed. The quality is assessed by comparing the obtained objective function value to the one achieved by the optimal solution. The computational efficiency is assessed by comparing the computer time used by the proposed heuristic to the time taken by a commercial software system. Test results show the proposed heuristic procedure generates good solutions in a time-efficient manner.

This quasi-experimental, concurrent mixed methods study investigated whether less-proficient readers in seventh-grade language arts classes using the Reading VITALS supplemental curricular intervention exhibited improved reading comprehension. VITALS is an acronym for Visualizing, Interacting, and Thinking while Applying Literacy Strategies. VITALS used a balanced approach of explicit reading instruction and collaborative classroom discussions in which the teacher shifted to the role of facilitator and students became the constructors of knowledge. Participants included students of varying achievement levels, including a large percentage of minority students as well as those labeled economically disadvantaged. Tested in two seventh-grade language arts classes taught by the same teacher, the full intervention consisted of nine, forty-five minute lessons that introduced students to five levels of comprehension and stressed three key reading strategies: visualizing, questioning, and summarizing. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) protocol acted as a tool to engage students in discussions of scaffolded texts. Because VITALS had two major components, reading strategy instruction and class discussions of scaffolded texts, two additional intervention strands, focusing on only one of the components, were tested, as well as a Comparison group. Ten of eleven quantitative outcome measures focused on differences in change scores for different reading measures across the intervention and comparison groups. The first four quantitative outcome measurements were classroom measures assessing students' reading of an image and students' reading of a poem for the entire sample of students and specifically, the less-proficient readers. This allowed for analyses of the overall effects of the interventions as well as disaggregated results focusing on the lower readers. The next six quantitative outcome measurements were Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) - Reading Sunshine State Standard (SSS) measures. Using the same strategy of overall effect of entire sample and then disaggregated effects for less-proficient readers, students' reading comprehension was assessed on three different FCAT Content Cluster measures: main idea and author's purpose, comparisons and cause/effect, and reference and research. The last quantitative outcome measurement focused on differences in learning gains for less-proficient readers' on the FCAT SSS across intervention and comparison groups. An additional question, using the qualitative phenomenological approach, complemented the test of the VITALS intervention by exploring students' perspectives of participating in the intervention. Using a maximum variation sampling, six key informants were identified and their perspectives analyzed across data sources, especially student reflections and transcripts from the focus group interview. Descriptive analyses, Repeated Measures MANCOVA, One-way ANOVA, post hoc analyses, and Chi Square tests revealed three important findings. First, the students participating in the full Reading VITALS curriculum evidenced significant growth (p < 0.05) on both classroom measures: reading an image and reading a poem when compared to students in the comparison group. Second, this significant difference on both classroom measures was true for less-proficient readers as well as proficient readers when compared to students of similar proficiency in the comparison group. Results suggested that Reading VITALS might be an effective curricular intervention in classrooms where less-proficient students are homogeneously grouped as well as in classrooms where students are heterogeneously grouped, as the proficient readers' performance was not negatively impacted by the intervention. Third, regardless of their proficiency level, students in the Reading VITALS curriculum did not perform significantly better on any of the FCAT Reading SSS measures. In terms of students' perceptions of the value of participating in the Reading VITALS curriculum, three findings emerged. The first was less-proficient students viewed learning as a process whereas proficient readers viewed learning as a product. A second finding that emerged was less-proficient readers situated learning in the social context whereas proficient readers situated learning in within the personal realm. A third finding was less-proficient readers were willing to take risks in responding throughout the lesson whereas proficient readers demonstrated a resistance acknowledging the fear of being incorrect. Implications included the impact educational policy structures have on students' literacy identities, ability tracking, and remedial curricula; the need for curricular reform, which calls for paradigmatic shifts in focus from individuals to contexts and from deficit to enrichment; and the support necessary to make such philosophical and pedagogical shifts. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2010. / February 23, 2010. / Visual Literacy, Middle Grades, Reading Comprehension, Literacy Instruction, Reading Instruction / Includes bibliographical references. / Susan Nelson-Wood, Professor Directing Dissertation; Judith L. Irvin, University Representative; Pamela Sissi Carroll, Committee Member; Diana C. Rice, Committee Member; Stacey Rutledge, Committee Member; Kathleen Blake Yancey, Committee Member.

Supervision is interpreted in various ways by teacher principals as a result of the differences in their background training, and experience. Some realize that good supervisory activities involve the stimulation of professional growth; others give a sigh of relief at the end of their teaching day and have little time for supervisory activities; and still, other teacher-principals look upon the goal of supervision as a perpetuation of their personal teaching blueprints. This diversity of interpretation is in itself evidence of need for a better understanding of the true supervisory obligations of the teacher-principal. It is the function of good supervision to be concerned with the efforts of all persons who help children to grow in educational stature. It is further the obligation of the teacher-principal to provide good supervision in addition to his classroom teaching. Accordingly, it is desirable to isolate, examine and evaluate common supervisory activities of the teacher-principal.

The aspect of supervision that is particularly challenging to me is the problem of the present day. Our curricula have been so constructed, interpreted and planned that a high degree of integration and correlation should result, both vertically and horizontally. To realize these aims, teachers must have a great many conferences, both in groups and individually with the supervisor, who is usually the principle of the school The conferences are needed not only to discuss the possibilities of integration and correlation, but to teach many of the teachers methods, objectives, devices, and projects for teaching the modern courses of studies most effectively. No conscientious, wide awake principles, who is forced back into the classroom routine, is willing to fold his hands and try to shun the responsibilities of helping his teachers with their ever increasing teaching load and problems. It is, therefore, very evident that there is an increasing need for a supervisor to help his teachers, and, since the time of many principles is taken up in part or entirely with classroom teaching, there is only one way to solve the problem. Certainly the answer is a new technique of supervision, which can be administered without class visitations by the principal; and which will require the minimum of the teachers' and principal's time. Certainly the answer is a new technique of supervision, which can be administered without class visitations by the principal; and which will require the minimum of the teachers' and principal's time. This problem is of such paramount importance to public education I have prepared the following thesis concerning it and I have endeavored to show how supervision can be carried on by the conference method, as is the practice in the school of which I am principal and three-fourths' time teacher. This thesis is a relatively personal report, it is based on actual experiences in most cases. Naturally, marks of identification have been substituted to make the thesis as impersonal as possible. The purpose of the author is to give the reader definite principles, ideas and constructive examples of how supervision can be conducted to a creditable degree of success, by the conference method. Real or likely discussions have been used to make the thesis ring true and be practical. The ideas should be of greater use to the reader, because of their purely theoretical nature.

Understanding science teachers' beliefs is important for science teacher educators, because such understanding is a prerequisite for promoting change within the framework of educational reform. The worldview model developed by Graves (1981) and Beck and Cowan (1996) provides a holistic approach to understanding teachers' beliefs and values and it also provides a framework for understanding how people's worldviews change. In this study, worldviews of four science teachers were investigated within the framework of Beck and Cowan's model. Two of these teachers were high school science teachers, while the other two were middle school science teachers. One of the teachers held National Board of Professional Teaching Certification and she had18 years of teaching experience. Another teacher was a relatively new teacher with three years of teaching experience. The third teacher had nine years of teaching experience, but when this study was conducted, it was her first year of teaching science. The other teacher had 26 years of experience with certification in all science areas. During this study, interpretative qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were used which included interviews, observations, and the use of a survey developed by Beck and Cowan (2000) called the Values Test. The results show that differing values and experiences among science teachers leads to different strategies for making sense of science teaching. The assertion that the worldview perspective provided by Beck and Cowan is a useful tool in understanding teachers' beliefs and values is made in the conclusions. Teacher educators can utilize this tool in research about teacher beliefs, in promoting change for reform, or in developing curriculum for teacher education programs. Teachers can utilize it in self-reflective practices to better understand their own beliefs, their context, and their students and ultimately improve the teaching and learning process they engage in. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2004. / April 27, 2004. / Teacher Education, Teacher Beliefs, Worldview, Science Education, Interperative Qualitative, Educational Reform / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy T. Davis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kenneth A. Goldsby, Outside Committee Member; Penny J. Gilmer, Committee Member; Karen Monkman, Committee Member.

Contrary to the norm in developed countries where teachers pursue undergraduate degrees and professional certification before they are employed, many teachers in Belize are employed as high school or junior college graduates and they often teach for several years before entering formal teacher preparation programs. Although there are no formal structures that provide professional support to these teachers in those early years, they undoubtedly develop a repertoire of knowledge, skills and beliefs about teaching and learning from on-the-job-experience and from resources available in their schools. While some of the knowledge they hold may be grounded in educational theories and practices, these teachers are not always aware of that fact. On the other hand, lack of professional training and support may lead to the development and use of inappropriate teaching and classroom management strategies and preconceptions and misconceptions about teaching and learning. This study examines the role that these teachers' early teaching experiences play in the development of a knowledge-base for teaching and their identities as teachers. The study also investigates whether instructors value and use students' prior knowledge in the development and delivery of their courses. I use constructivism as a learning theory (Fosnot, 2005), Beach's (1999) notion of consequential transitions, and Wenger's (1998) theory of identity development as a framework for conducting the investigation. Data were gathered over three months between November 2006 and March 2007 from two one-hour interviews with 14 pre- and in-service student-teachers and four instructors, and from three to four classroom observations in nine courses. Findings are presented following four major themes: early teaching experience and its influences on modality of learning; context as a frame of reference for learning; early learning and its influence on confidence, competence and identity; and instructors' use of students' early experience in the program. / A Dissertation Submitted to the the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2008. / May 21, 2008. / Identity Formation, Prior Beliefs, Prior Learning, Teacher Preparation, Early Experience / Includes bibliographical references. / Patrice Iatarola, Professor Directing Dissertation; Betsy J. Becker, Outside Committee Member; King Beach, Committee Member; Gary Crow, Committee Member; Douglas Harris, Committee Member.