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This study explores the relationship of student participation in Dual Enrollment/Dual Credit and the need of advanced training beyond secondary levels. It examines the demand and need for high school students to participate in collegiate level work while still attending high school. In addition, the study explores instructional site location and articulation of degree progression, as well as other available concurrent enrollment programs. It focuses on administrative support along with the interest of involved stakeholders. This study uses descriptive and inferential statistics for each hypothesis and research question to analysis the Dual Enrollment/Dual Credit program at Jefferson State Community College. Means, standard deviations, ANOVA’s, contingency tables, and chi-squared goodness of fit test are used to measure the effects of taking courses while still attending high school. Research question and null hypothesis one examination of data is to query if a difference exists in race, gender, and estimated family income based on choice of program participation. The results show that there are significant differences in the dependant variables, participation in the two programs, based on two of the independent variables race and estimated family income. Research questions and null hypotheses two and three were designed to investigate if instructor assignment bias and instructional location had a relation to grade distribution. The main purpose of this study was to statistically analyze the different group’s means. Statistically, the dependant variables, grade point averages were found to be comparable between instructional locations but not comparable as a result to instructor assignment. Research questions four and five analyze student and faculty perceptions of experiences in the Dual Enrollment/Dual Credit program over a four year period. Student’s overall perceptions of their experiences in Dual Enrollment/Dual Credit for this specific study were very positive. This study shows that most inquiries have more than an eighty percent strongly agree/agree satisfaction rating from students and faculty who participated over the four-year studied co-hort Educational Institutions can benefit from this study by examining the end result of a collaborative partnership and have additional tools to make the appropriate decision to create, continue or suspend these types of programs.

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The purpose of this study was to examine if certified special education teachers who instruct emotionally disabled students experience the same barriers to retention when compared to other special educators. Also, this study answered the hypothesis whether significant relationships exists between the variables of staff development, stress and burnout, compensation, student discipline, role conflict, workload, and administrative support and teacher retention. One hundred forty two certified special education teachers from school districts in regions six and seven of southwestern Virginia completed a seventy-nine Likert style questionnaire for this study. Demographic profiles were outlined based on responses from special education teachers. Gender of participants was twenty-two males and seventy-eight females. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to validate predictor variables and aided in the development of the special education teacher survey. Principal component analysis interpreted the loadings of survey items on identified constructs. Results of the analysis revealed a strong correlation between the factors of Administrative Support, Compensation, Staff Development and the retention of special education teachers who work with emotionally disabled students. Fourteen percent of respondents chose to leave their positions compared to eighty-six percent who planned to stay. Findings indicated that administrative support, compensation, and staff development were the three most significant factors that influenced certified special educators' decisions to stay or leave their assigned positions. In addition, results of this study revealed that additional factors of student discipline, role conflict, stress and burnout, and workload were less significant, but were considered to have relevancy with minor roles towards a teacher's retention. It can be perceived that the three major constructs serve as a foundation that supports the four remaining individual constructs (stress and burnout, student discipline, role conflict and workload). These constructs were considered to be secondary underlying issues of teacher retention that surface and negatively impact teacher performance and job satisfaction, if not supported by the three major constructs over an extended period of time. Further, results confirmed that Administrative Support exhibited the strongest correlation among survey items and was found to have the most influence on the retention of special education teachers. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine whether administrative support, classroom management, and parental involvement factors are significantly related to novice teacher’s retention. A quantitative survey and qualitative focus group measured the correlation between administrative support, classroom management, and parental involvement on novice teachers’ intent to remain in the classroom. The findings of this study will prepare educational leaders, human resource departments, and school board members with strategies to effectively reduce teacher attrition and improve student achievement in school systems. Both qualitative and quantitative data were compiled and synthesized while considering descriptive and inferential statistics to recognize emergent themes for implications of novice teacher retention. The findings of the study concluded that there was a significant correlation between administrative support and classroom management on novice teachers’ intent to remain.

abstract: The three essays in this dissertation each examine how aspects of contemporary administrative structure within American research universities affect faculty outcomes. Specific aspects of administrative structure tested in this dissertation include the introduction of new administrative roles, administrative intensity (i.e. relative size of university administration), and competing roles between faculty, administrators, and staff. Using quantitative statistical methods these aspects of administrative structure are tested for their effects on academic grant productivity, faculty job stress, and faculty job satisfaction. Administrative datasets and large scale national surveys make up the data for these studies and quantitative statistical methods confirm most of the hypothesized relationships. In the first essay, findings from statistical modeling using instrumental variables suggest that academic researchers who receive administrative support for grant writing and management obtain fewer grants and have a lower success rate. However, the findings also suggest that the grants these researchers do receive are much larger in terms of dollars. The results indicate that administrative support is particularly beneficial in academic grant situations of high-risk, high-reward. In the second essay, ordered logit models reveal a statistically significant and stronger relationship between staff intensity (i.e., the ratio of faculty to staff workers) and faculty stress than the relationship between executive intensity (i.e., the ratio faculty to executive and managerial workers) and faculty job stress. These findings confirm theory that the work of faculty is more loosely coupled with the work of executives than it is with staff workers. A possible explanation is the increase in administrative work faculty must take on as there are fewer staff workers to take on administrative tasks. And finally, in the third essay results from multi-level modeling confirm that both role clarity and institutional support positively affect both a global measure of faculty job satisfaction and faculty satisfaction with how their work time is allocated. Understanding the effects that administrative structure has on faculty outcomes will aid universities as faculty administrative burdens ebb and flow in reaction to macro trends in higher education, such as unbundling of faculty roles, unbundling of services, neoliberalism, liberal arts decline, and administrative bloat. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Public Administration and Policy 2017

Bakgrund: Modig Machine Tool AB står inför en tillväxtresa där implementeringen av “Lean” blev relevant för att skapa den organisation som krävs för att bemöta en förväntad ökad efterfrågan på deras produkter. Över tid har “Lean” utvecklats från att enbart vara ett sätt för att organisera produktionen till att numera inkludera hela organisationen, däribland de administrativa stödprocesserna. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att skapa ökad kunskap kring hur ekonomiavdelningen behöver anpassa sig vid införandet av “Lean” i Modig Machine Tool AB. Metod: Studien är en enfallsstudie där konsult, redovisningschef och medarbetare på ekonomiavdelningen har intervjuats. Intervjuerna har tagit formen av att vara semistrukturerade med anledning av den kvalitativa forskningsansatsen. Vidare framgår en motivering till den teoretiska materialinsamlingen med anledning av att skapa en djup förståelse till fenomenet att implementera “Lean”. Slutsats: Studien identifierar att ekonomiavdelningen behöver anpassa sig till implementeringen av “Lean” genom ökad kommunikation, att vara en del av att skapa en samlad personalstyrka och flexibel och snabb i sitt arbetssätt för att bemöta framtida ökad efterfrågan. Således konkluderar arbetet att ekonomiavdelningen är i behov av att utveckla åtgärder kopplade till avdelningsöverskridande kommunikation, en informationsplan, ena sig bakom en stark möteskultur, samt att anamma en lärande kultur. / Background and problem: Modig Machine Tool AB is embarking on a growth journey where the implementation of “Lean” has become relevant to create the organization required to meet the expected increased demand for their products. Over time, “Lean” has evolved from being solely a way to organize production to now encompassing the entire organization, including administrative support processes. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge about how the finance department needs to adapt to the implementation of “Lean” in Modig Machine Tool AB. Method: The study is a single-case study where a consultant, accounting manager, and employees in the finance department were interviewed. The interviews were semi-structured due to the qualitative research approach. Furthermore, a justification for the theoretical data collection is provided in order to gain a deep understanding of the phenomenon of implementing “Lean”. Conclusion: The study identifies that the finance department needs to adapt to the implementation of “Lean” through increased communication, being part of creating a cohesive workforce, and being flexible and agile in their work approach to meet future increased demand. Thus, this paper concludes that the finance department needs to develop measures linked to cross-functional communication, an information plan, unite behind a strong meeting culture, and to embrace a learning culture.

Due to a high rate of teacher attrition currently being experienced in public schools, a teacher shortage may be looming in the near future. Research shows that attrition rates are highest among novice teachers. In part, teacher attrition has also made it increasingly difficult for schools to meet the "highly qualified" requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Past efforts to reverse this trend have concentrated on increasing the supply of qualified teachers; however, more recent studies have shown that the solution lies partially in raising retention rates. Research has identified several reasons teachers have left the profession, such as, low salary, student misbehavior and working conditions, including administrative support. Another common thread among teachers who leave the profession has been dissatisfaction with working conditions in their school. This study examined the relationship between teachers' intent to stay in teaching, teachers' job satisfaction, perceived administrative support, teaching experience, perceived student behavior, and teachers' satisfaction with their salaries. After the conduct of a preliminary descriptive analysis, a hypothesized path model was employed through the use of four different samples derived from the 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey, Public School Teacher Questionnaire (Form SASS-4A). The first sample was the combined environmental setting. The second, third, and fourth sub-samples were urban, urban fringe, and rural samples, respectively, as identified by the respondent. Based on the path analysis, perceived administrative support, teaching experience, perceived student behavior, and teachers' satisfaction with their salary were identified as significant predictors of teachers' job satisfaction and intent to stay in teaching. Administrative support was the most significant predictor of teachers' job satisfaction, while teachers' job satisfaction was the most significant predictor of teachers' intent to stay in teaching. The path analysis also confirmed that perceived administrative support mediates the effect of teaching experience, perceived student behavior, and teachers' satisfaction with their salary relative to both teachers' job satisfaction and intent to stay in teaching. No significant differences were found among the sample and their sub-samples based on the environmental setting of the school. / Ph. D.

In 1988 Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs (IP1) was published. Ten years later an updated version, Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (IP2) was released. The purpose of this study was to determine if school library media specialists' perceptions had changed since 1996 and if respondents' familiarity with IP2 was a factor in the development of those perceptions. Further, 37 items that were clustered based on the three primary threads of collaboration, leadership and technology developed in IP2 were used to assess changes in perceptions. An electronic survey was developed and disseminated to the population of school library media specialists in Florida. A total of 454 completed surveys were received; representing a 17% return rate. The results of the current survey were then compared to a 1996 job task analysis study. Analysis of the results showed that 60% of the respondents had never attended an in-service on IP2. Statistically significant changes in perceptions about the importance of those 37 job tasks resurveyed were also identified. Changes were identified in 10 of the 14 collaboration items, 12 of the 13 leadership items and 9 of the 10 technology items. Changes in perception were also found for tasks that the respondents considered not a part of job. For the 37 job tasks, there were 11 statistically significant positive changes and two statistically significant negative changes. The environmental variable that correlated with the largest number of the 37 job tasks related to the principal making encouraging comments to classroom teachers about using the resources of the school library media center in the planning of their curriculum units. This variable correlated significantly with 24 of the 37 job tasks. The study revealed a need for additional research in the leadership roles and traits of the school library media specialist. Further, additional research related to the effect of administrative support could inform the profession in its efforts to solidify the school library media program as an integral part of the instructional program.

Changes in schools can cause teachers to experience an intensification of work as they strive to meet expectations of students, parents, and administrations. This study includes an examination of factors that may lead to work intensification (WI) for teachers. The study also includes an examination of how years of experience and teacher perceptions of administrative support may moderate the relationship between teachers' impressions of WI and their job satisfaction. Based on equity theory, data were collected using a Likert-type scale survey distributed to 9 public high schools in southern California. A test for correlation was performed followed by a hierarchal ordinal logistic regression analysis to test for significant relationships and strength of those relationships. Findings revealed at a .95 confidence level a significant relationship between factors of WI and teacher impressions of WI in the areas of the addition of more students to the classroom, fear of losing job, changes in curriculum, decreased pay, the addition of students with special needs in to the classroom, and changes in technology use in the classroom. Findings also revealed that the addition of furlough days, fear of losing job, decreased pay, and an increase of students with special needs in the classroom were significantly related to decreased job satisfaction. Findings revealed that perceptions of administrative support moderate the relationship between teacher impressions of WI and job satisfaction. This study allows for better understanding of how years of experience and administrative support may moderate the relationship between factors of WI and teacher job satisfaction so policy-makers may make better-informed choices that support student education.