Policy tends to be formulated at the upper level of an organization and handed down to policy actors on the frontline for enactment. Since policy can be vague, ambiguous, or send conflicting messages, it can create uncertainty about its meaning. Moreover, policy is rarely accompanied by explicit instructions for implementation. Therefore, when frontline workers, or streetlevel bureaucrats, are pressed to make sense of policy's meaning in realistic terms, they engage in what Weick describes as sensemaking (1995). Sensemaking is a cognitive process entered into during times of uncertainty or change. Streetlevel bureaucrats engage in sensemaking by drawing on cues in their environment, their prior experience, professional identity, and social interactions to understand and interpret policy. They rely upon their understanding to exercise professional discretion while incorporating the new policy into their daily work. It is their use of discretion that accounts for variations in policy implementation and outcomes (Lipsky, 1980, Mills, 1998, Spillane, 2004). This study explored how streetlevel bureaucrats in higher education institutions engaged in sensemaking during policy implementation. For this study, academic tracking initiatives were regarded as policy that academic advisors (streetlevel bureaucrats) were tasked with enacting. Historically, academic advisors have been identified as advocates for holistic student development while academic tracking has been defined as a prescriptive approach to advising aimed at accountability and efficiency. This qualitative study presents the findings from interviews with 16 academic advisors from three public institutions involved in the implementation of tracking. The study's findings suggest recommendations that may be helpful to leaders seeking to close the gap between policy and practice. Implications for practice include developing a strategic approach to implementation in which upper level administrators guide change by acting as sensegivers. As such, administrators would serve as filters for the messages received by streetlevel bureaucrats. Additionally, findings suggest the inclusion of frontline workers in decision making and the provision of planned learning opportunities for collective sensemaking during the implementation process. This study seeks to inform leaders involved in policy change about the critical role of sensemaking in initiating, guiding, and sustaining organizational change.

The purpose of this study was to determine if high school counselors' predictive opinions of freshman college academic success were reliable indicators of actual college academic success achieved by freshman students. Eleven null hypotheses were tested which involved high school counselors' opinions of college freshman grade point average and actual college grade point average achieved by freshmen in regard to the following variables: (1) sex of the counselor, (2) high school location, (3) sex of the student, (4) high school size, and (5) high school accreditation. All except one of the null hypotheses were rejected at the .05 level of confidence. The one null hypothesis retained involved male counselors' grade point average predictions for female students. Yule's Q was the main statistical method used in determining the relationship between the variables as stated in the hypotheses. Chi-square was used in testing null hypotheses when cross-analysis of data was needed. The findings indicated that counselors generally over-predict grade point averages for their students. However, female counselors predicted more accurately than male counselors for grade point average. Counselors in small schools predicted more accurately for grade point average than counselors in large schools. Counselors in high schools with a Kentucky accreditation of Standard and Basic predicted more accurately for grade point average than did counselors in high schools accredited as Comprehensive and Accredited. In regard to location, counselors In the Western Kentucky area predicted more accurately for college freshman grade point average at Western Kentucky University than did counselors in the Central and Eastern Kentucky areas. The significant differences found in this study may be the result of several factors. For example, female counselors may be more methodical and careful in making use of predictive data than male counselors. The "halo effect" may have entered into the relationship between male counselors and female students in regard to grade point average prediction. Counselors In small schools, which are generally accredited as Standard and Basic, may be better acquainted with their students' home and school situations and therefore are better able to forecast college grade point average. Counselors in the Western Kentucky area may be graduates of and/or are familiar with the academic offerings as well as the grading system at Western Kentucky University.

Three-hundred ten non-returning and two-hundred nineteen returning Western Kentucky University freshmen were surveyed regarding contact with academic advisors, availability of advisors, and quality of advisement, as well as awareness, use of, and value of selected student personnel services. One-hundred eighteen (53%) returning and one-hundred fifteen (37%) non-returning students responded. Returning and non -returning students differed significantly regarding number of contacts with advisor and perceptions of advisor availability. Returners reported more contacts with their advisor than did non-returners ,and returners were more likely to find their adivisor readily available than non-returners. More non-returners used counseling services and developmental studies while returners used the recreational facilities more. Returning students evidenced higher levels of social support. They reported being associated with a close-knit group of friends, being in clubs or organizations, living on campus and perceiving their instructors as being personally interested in them as individuals.

Fifty students from English 055 and 50 students from English 101 were given the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, the Mooney Problem Check Lists, the Allport/ Vernon/Lindzey Study of Values, and the Willoughby Schedule to determine if any significant differences existed between the two groups in the areas of personality characteristics, values, or problems. A statistical analysis of the results was determined by means of a t value from a separate variance estimate. Results indicated that significant differences existed between the 055 students and the 101 students in the following areas: self-esteem, economic values, need for achievement, and number of problems. There were no other significant differences. Since colleges and universities are accepting more and more students who are academically too weak to pursue the traditional course of study, it is recommended that special consideration be given to the needs of these remedial students and that an attempt be made to educate each as a whole individual.

Samples from two populations, entering freshmen at Western Kentucky University who were either peer counseled/advised or professionally counseled/advised, were compared on three vairables: (i) retention rate as sophomores, (2) freshman grade point averages earned. and (3) client satisfaction with counseling/advisement services. The variance between the means of the two freshmen groups was analyzed using a two tailed t test. There was no significant difference between groups in retention or grade point average. There was, however, significant difference in client satisfaction between the peer counseled/advised freshmen and the professionally counseled/advised freshmen. Freshmen receiving peer counseling/advisement rated their helpers at a higher level of effectiveness than did the professionally counseled/advised group of freshmen.

The main aim of the course recommendation system is to build a course recommendation path for students to help them plan courses to successfully graduate on time. The Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture is used to isolate the user interface (UI) design from the business logic. The front-end of the application develops the UI using AngularJS. The front-end design is done by gathering the functionality system requirements -- input controls, navigational components, informational components and containers and usability testing. The back-end of the application involves setting up the database and server-side routing. Server-side routing is done using Express JS.

Although many academically underprepared students are able to attend community colleges via open access policies, these students struggle with completing their degrees. At a rural community college in the southeastern United States, students who tested into developmental education courses have struggled more with persistence and completion than have their college-ready counterparts. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to evaluate the influence that student coaching had on student success in developmental math at this community college. Tinto's dropout theory and Astin's engagement theory provided the theoretical framework for a study of 62 developmental math students who were offered student coaching services during the course. Multiple one-way ANOVAs were performed to determine if student coaching had any influence on the dependent COMPASS test scores based on students' level of participation with the service. Students who participated in 0-2 coaching sessions (n = 32) had statistically significantly lower COMPASS test scores than students who participated in 3 or more coaching sessions (n = 30). None of the demographic characteristics had an effect on coaching participation. An evidence-based project designed to enhance coaching participation is offered to increase student persistence and completion. Implications for positive social change include increased success rates in developmental courses which should lead to increased persistence. Positive social change occurs when students are able to achieve incremental successes in their developmental courses, which could better leverage them to achieve subsequent higher education goals of degree completion and to pursue careers with better salaries associated with higher education completers.

The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the relationship between worldview, student academic confidence, and satisfaction with advising. More specifically, this study examines the relationship among level of advising satisfaction, worldviews of students, and the student's perceived style of advising received. The findings of this study indicate that a positive relationship exists between developmental advising and advising satisfaction. The results suggest that overall student characteristics such as gender and self-confidence are not as relevant to advising satisfaction as the style of advising used by the faculty or advisor. Furthermore, this study supports findings by Coll and Zalaquett (in press) and Coll and Draves (in press) who suggest that overall student worldviews are not a function of gender or age but may be more closely related to individual experiences.

<p>During the last decades major changes has occurred at the financial markets, meaning an increasing supply and a greater variation of financial instruments. The saving habits of the Swedish people have gone from traditional bank deposits to investments in equities, funds and bonds. All this together with the great rise in the stock market at the late 90’s has brought words like risk and return up-to-date, and is the background to the development of a new law concerning financial advising which come into force the 1th of July 2004. </p><p>The contents of the thesis can be described as three bricks, representing the survey questions. The thesis starts with descriptions of which risk- and return concepts that exists and which are used by the contemporary financial institutions. Further on, the thesis deals with the individuals’ perception of risk, in particular financial risk. To end with, details regarding how a message should be conveyed are given. The three bricks together fulfil the purpose of the thesis; To investigate how the meaning of financial risk in a simple and pedagogical way can be explained to a person not familiar with financial literature, and to develop questions that facilitate when an individuals risk profile is ascertained. </p><p>We have found that standard deviation is the risk concept that dominates in financial theory, and together with Value at Risk is the most common used in practise. Good knowledge about risk is required when explaining risk. It is important to describe the information in an attractive way and use examples and illustrations. For financial advisers it also is important to have knowledge about the human behaviour, because ascertain the clients risk profile is an important part of the risk explanation. A clients risk profile is best ascertain with so called open questions where both what the clients answer and how he or she answer can form the basis for the judgement.</p>

<p><p><strong>Titel:</strong> Privatrådgivarens arbete - en kvalitativ studie av två banker</p><p><strong>Nivå:</strong> C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi</p><p><strong>Författare:</strong> Hanna Stridh och Maria Sundsten</p><p><strong>Handledare:</strong> Stig Sörling</p><p><strong>Datum:</strong> 2010-Juni</p><p><strong>Syfte:</strong> Syftet med denna uppsats är ge en djupare inblick i hur finansiella rådgivare arbetar. Vi vill undersöka hur de rådgivarna hanterar sin roll som rådgivare till kunden kontra säljare för företaget, och hur kundens intressen bevaras.</p><p><strong>Metod:</strong> Studien är kvalitativ och bygger på intervjuer med fyra rådgivare. Vi har studerat olika teorier i ämnet som vi sedan analyserat tillsammans med det empiriska materialet.</p><p><strong>Resultat & slutsats:</strong> Vår studie visar att de finansiella rådgivarna inte ser någon konflikt i sina roller som försäljare kontra rådgivare. Enligt våra respondenter arbetar de alltid för kundens bästa. Vi kan även konstatera att kundens intressen bevaras främst med hjälp av de lagkrav som finns, då dessa regler är väl inarbetade i bankernas system.</p><p><strong>Förslag till fortsatt forskning:</strong> Vi finner att det skulle vara intressant att även undersöka hur kunderna ser på rådgivningssituationen? Känner de till sina rättigheter? En annan intressant studie vore att undersöka hur bankerna arbetar med finansiell rådgivning jämfört med företag som kallar sig för "oberoende rådgivare". Finns det oberoende rådgivning?</p><p><strong>Uppsatsens bidrag:</strong> Uppsatsen bidrar till en ökad förståelse för finansiell rådgivning. Den förklarar vad det innebär att arbeta som finansiell rådgivare, vilket kan vara värdefullt för en ekonomistudent som är intresserad av en framtid inom banken. Uppsatsen kan även vara till nytta för privatkunder på den svenska bankmarknaden, då vi beskriver vilket skydd som finns och vilka rättigheter som kunden har.</p></p> / <p><p><strong>Title: </strong>The work of financial advisors – a qualitative study of two banks</p><p><strong>Level: </strong>Bachelor thesis, 15 credits in Business Administration</p><p><strong>Author: </strong>Hanna Stridh and Maria Sundsten</p><p><strong>Supervisor: </strong>Stig Sörling</p><p><strong>Date: </strong>2010 – June</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>The purpose of this study is to create a better understanding and to give the reader a deeper insight into the work of financial advisors. We have examined how financial advisors manage their role as advisers and as salesmen, and how the client's interests are safeguarded.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>The study is qualitative and based on interviews with four advisers. We have studied various theories on the subject which we then analyzed with the empirical material.</p><p><strong>Result & Conclusions: </strong>Our study shows that the financial advisers do not see any conflict in their roles as sellers vs. advisers. According to our respondents they always do what is best for the customers. We can also note that the client's interests are upheld primarily through the legal requirements, since the rules are well established in the banking system.</p><p><strong>Suggestions for future research: </strong>We find that it would be interesting to also investigate what the customers think about the counseling situation. Do they know their rights? Another interesting study would be to examine how the banks are working with financial advisory services compared to companies that call themselves "independent advisers". Does independent financial advice exist?</p><p><strong>Contribution of the thesis: </strong>The study contributes to a better understanding of financial advice. It explains what it means to work as a financial advisor, which may be valuable for a student who is interested in a career in the bank. The essay can also be useful for customers of the Swedish banking market, since we also describe what protection and what rights the customer has.</p></p>