The purposes of this study are to identify student retention strategies in generic baccalaureate schools of nursing and their supporting institutions to determine if these strategies vary according to identified characteristics of the school of nursing and its supporting institution and to determine the perceived effectiveness of the strategies. Data were collected from 313 administrative heads of schools of nursing that offer generic baccalaureate programs accredited by the National League for Nursing; 217 returned usable questionnaires constituted a national response rate of 69.3 per cent. Frequency distribution and the chi-square test of independence, significant at the .05 level, were used for statistical treatment of the data.

This study traces the development of the Baylor University School of Nursing from its beginning in 1909 through the establishment of the baccalaureate nursing program in 1950. Primary data including official records of the School of Nursing, minutes of the Baylor University Board of Trustees, reports of the School of Nursing to accrediting agencies, and interviews of former students and deans were examined using the historical research techniques of external and internal criticism. A review of the literature that is relevant to the development of nursing education is presented in Chapter II. Chapter III presents the events in the development of the Baylor University School of Nursing. Chapter IV discusses the accreditation criteria which influenced the development of the School of Nursing. Chapter V discusses the curriculum, teaching methods, and faculty qualifications. Chapter VI discusses the people who were the most influential in the development of the School of Nursing. Implications of the study include the recognition that nursing education and nursing service have differing priorities. Conflicts between the needs of patients for care and the needs of students for education arose when the Superintendent of Nurses was responsible for both areas. Usually the needs of patients for care took priority over the needs of students resulting in long hours and less than optimum learning conditions for students. External factors played a major role in the development of nursing education by determining the needs of society for nurses and thus for nursing education. Accreditation criteria established by state and national agencies determined the standards by which the School of Nursing was judged. National accreditation had more impact on the School since higher standards were required. The leadership of the School played a significant role in the development of the professional nursing program. Leaders who had educational preparation and vision for the future of nursing education with an educational institution rather than a service institution worked to establish an improved educational system in nursing.

International Baccalaureate (IB) schools are focused on a school-wide approach to developing inquiring students who are motivated to succeed. The problem explored in this case study was based on a local IB elementary school's response to a reform model to integrate music into other content areas. The curriculum lacked an interdisciplinary approach to music education even though teachers had participated in some professional development (PD) to help them integrate music into content areas. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of elementary teachers regarding the influence of professional development on music integration at the IB elementary school. Maslow's theory of human motivation was the conceptual framework. The research questions focused on participants' perceptions of music integration, curriculum, and PD. A case study design was used to capture the perceptions of 10 Kindergarten and 1st grade teacher participants through a questionnaire, individual interviews, and a focus group. Emergent themes were identified from the data, and findings were validated through triangulation and member checking. The key results were that teachers' desire to implement music integration increased after PD and they recognized the benefits of fostering the whole child and encouraging creative thinkers associated with using music integration as an instructional practice. A PD project that included customized curriculum content was developed to assist teachers with the integration of music to enhance school curriculum. Positive social change might be realized as teachers become more prepared, confident, and consistent in music integration and are able to enhance students' creative thinking and foster development of the whole child in the classroom.

Forty years after Kramer's (1974) seminal work, Reality Shock, new graduate nurses continue to have difficulty transitioning to the registered nurse (RN) role. The purpose of this phenomenological study explores the lived experience of new graduate nurses who completed a Veterans Affairs externship program in their senior year of nursing coursework and its perceived impact on their successful transition into the practice role 3-24 months following graduation. Benner's (1984) Novice-to-Expert Model, Karmer's (1974) Reality Shock Theory, and Selder's (1989) Life Transition Theory support a framework for this study. Twelve telephone interviews were conducted using van Manen's (1990) method for researching the lived experience. One overarching theme "feeling confident" and three main categories, "transitioning to the RN role," "making decisions," and "interacting with professionals," were identified from the data. Externship programs assist the student to comfortably and smoothly transition as a new graduate nurse by offering additional clinical and practice experiences. Given the complexity of today's health care environment, there is a growing need to better prepare the graduate nurse for their transition into nursing practice. Externship programs can serve this purpose.

No description available.

According to Kerlin (1995a), first-generation students are not expected to survive to doctorate degree attainment because of vulnerability to negative affects associated with their status; yet persist they do at East Tennessee State University. The desire to study the first-generation East Tennessee State University's Doctors of Education and the limited number of first-generation graduate studies available, especially in the academic field of education, promoted developing this study. It was the intent of this study to offer additional empirical research toward understanding variables associated with first-generation persistence as encountered by East Tennessee State University's Doctors of education. Quantitative analysis derived through survey research served as an explanatory framework to investigate major variables of first-generation persistence. The survey targeted East Tennessee State University's Doctors of Education who received degrees prior to June 2004. Investigation of empirical evidence revealed that unlike previous first-generation studies (Hayes, 1997; Hurley, 2002; Inman and Mayes, 1999; Khanh, 2002; NCES, 1998; Terenzini, Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella, and Nora, 1996) the bulk (73.7%) of East Tennessee State University Doctors of Education were first-generation. Moreover, although previous studies suggested the presence of unique barriers attributed to first-generation status, no significant differences resulted in either identification or ranking of barriers or facilitators to degree attainment between first-generation East Tennessee State University's Doctors of Education and their non-first-generation counterparts. The Survey of ETSU Doctors of Education requested respondents prioritize identified barriers and facilitators. After plotting significant bivariate coordinate pairs among ranked barriers and facilitators, flat line (zero sloped) clusters depicted the presence of six weak monotone associations among variables. Facilitator rankings were associated with a respondent's age, parental college attendance, and education specialist degree, while barrier rankings were associated with a respondent's marital status at the time of degree attainment, secondary support source, and post doctorate employment.

No description available.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand why women from Scott County, Tennessee, left home to attain the baccalaureate degree and returned home to live and/or work. More specifically, understanding (1) the educational aspirations, motivations, and discouragements prior to attending college; (2) the educational persistence, motivations, and discouragements while attending college; (3) and the reasons for returning to Scott County after attaining the baccalaureate degree. The population of this study included all females over the age of 25 who had a bachelor's degree, attended grades 1–12 in Scott County, Tennessee, and returned there to live. The primary form of data collection for the study was in-depth interviews. The interviews were arranged serially. This study also provided a forum for the participants to explain their experiences in their own voices. Data analysis occurred at the same time as the data collection. The open coding system developed into theoretical sampling, whereby the data was examined the emerging relationships and categories. From the data emerged 11 concepts that fit within the boundaries of the research questions and emerged from the collective responses. Participants were motivated to attend college by: (1) Hearing parents and grandparents speak regretfully about their own lack of education and (2) Having parents who viewed education as means of taking care of their daughters. The major deterrent was a lack of community support for higher education. Participants were motivated to persist at college by: (1) Parental influence (fear of displeasure); (2) Need for a job; (3) Developing or continuing a love of learning; (4) Developing self-awareness; (5) Raising self-esteem. Participants reasons for returning home were: (1) Family ties; (2) The need to payback educational assistance; and (3) Belief in life-long learning.

Teaching critical thinking is a national education goal. The ability to think critically is considered an essential skill of nursing graduates and is a necessary component of competent nursing practice. Therefore, nursing programs must address critical thinking for accreditation. The literature reports that teachers in all areas of education are having difficulties infusing critical thinking teaching strategies into their current teaching practices and critical thinking is lacking in new nursing graduates. This research study sought to identify barriers to the implementation of critical thinking teaching strategies as perceived by nursing faculty in generic, BSN programs in Tennessee. Data were collected by a designed survey mailed to all nursing faculty in Tennessee who were currently teaching generic, BSN students. A final response rate of 72% was obtained. Based upon a comprehensive review of the literature, an instrument was constructed to elicit responses on attitudes and beliefs regarding the teaching of critical thinking and demographics of nurse educators. A pilot test was conducted for the purpose of refining the survey. Reliability of each of the eight sub-scales was tested using Cronbach's alpha with coefficients ranging from .51 to .83. The study found that students' attitudes and expectations, as perceived by these nurse educators, represented the single greatest barrier to the implementation of critical thinking teaching strategies followed by time constraints and the perceived need to teach for content coverage. Likewise, these nurse educators reported that the importance and relevance of teaching for critical thinking was the least barrier to teaching for thinking. Contrary to the literature, the results showed that these nurse educators felt confident in their abilities to teach for critical thinking but perceive a need for more education in this area. Significant differences were found among nurse educators with different levels of education (MSN, PhD, EdD) on the perceptions of barriers to teaching for critical thinking. The MSN respondents reported the highest barriers, followed by the PhD respondents and then the EdD respondents who reported the least barriers to teaching for thinking. Similarly, significant differences were found among the nurse educators based upon the educational activities engaged in for the purpose of developing skills in teaching for critical thinking. There was a consistent inverse relationship between the number of educational activities engaged in and the perceived barriers to the teaching for critical thinking; the respondents who reported the fewest activities reported the highest barriers and the respondents who reported the most educational activities had the fewest perceived barriers. The results of this study add to the body of knowledge regarding the barriers nursing faculty encounter when teaching for the promotion of students' critical thinking. The findings are useful for nursing programs when deciding how best to facilitate faculty development in this area. This study suggests that targeting students' attitudes and beliefs about new ways of teaching and learning as well as granting more time and educational opportunities for faculty to develop in this area may be the most productive ways educational administrators can support and encourage faculty to teach for critical thinking.

Thesis advisor: Hans de Wit / Thesis advisor: Gerardo L. Blanco / Today’s global knowledge economy has become complex, dynamic, and competitive. In this environment, the talented workforce is increasingly diverse, educated, and mobile. International talents tend to migrate to anglophone countries and contribute to technological innovation, scientific discoveries, and economic growth. The largest international student population in the top destination countries comes from Asia. At the same time, research has shown that Asian international students reported lower satisfaction and higher adjustment challenges due to linguistic and cultural barriers, negatively impacting their learning and living experiences. This dissertation aims to understand and explain the transnational transition process through a subset of the Asian international student population. Thirty-five current university student interviewees are purposefully selected. They are graduates of the “International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme,” a rigorous education pathway program popular in Asia for families to prepare their children for Western higher education. Asian International Baccalaureate (IB) alums, who received education in linguistically and culturally diverse settings, offered more nuanced and complex answers to what traditional literature has indicated about international student transitions and experiences. A Successful International University Transition Model is generated from the grounded theory analysis. This model illustrates the causal and intervening conditions that impact international transitions, with the central tasks of being a university student and becoming an adult. Further, the results are discussed with Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus/practice to explain the heterogeneity in the process amongst the diverse international student population. Lastly, recommendations to stakeholders suggest ways to support globally mobile young adults in their transition and development journey. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.