Does leadership education matter? The purpose of this study was to examine principals’ perceived understandings of the relationships between their participation in leadership education to improvements in student outcomes as the result of their changes in knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and leadership practices. Ten principals were asked to discuss their leadership education experiences in either a master’s degree of education (MEd) with specialization in educational administration or a nondegree professional development (PD) certification program. Manitoba, a Canadian province, has a school leaders’ certification program that requires candidates to possess teaching certificates, have teaching and leadership experience, and meet certain academic requirements. The latter criterion can be achieved through an MEd, a PhD in educational leadership, a series of PD programs, or a combination approved by the ministry of education. Leithwood and Levin’s (2008) model was used as the conceptual framework and in constructing the interview protocol. The protocol also considered insights from Hoyle and Torres’s (2008) habits of scholarship; Robinson and Timperley’s (2007) and Downey, Steffy, English, Frase, and Poston’s (2004) leadership practices; and Manitoba Education, Citizenship, and Youth’s (2006) student outcomes. Participants were interviewed by telephone for 60 to 90 minutes. Member checking confirmed the accuracy of their transcriptions. The principals, who represented schools that spanned Kindergarten to Grade 12, included five men and five women from different regions, and these principals generally had 10 to 20 years of teaching experience and had served as administrators for 5 to 10 years. The 7 MEd graduates reported 5 to 11 changes to practice, and the 3 nondegree PD graduates reported 8 to 9 changes to practice, with a common practice being the provision of educational direction. Principals also reported a shift from top-down leadership to shared leadership and their need to find a new role within learning communities through leadership education. Generally, principals perceived that their changes in leadership practices had a positive effect on student engagement, participation, and achievement. Leithwood and Levin’s (2008) conceptual framework served as a good model for conducting a study on leadership education. This study confirmed that leadership education matters.

This paper uses a search model with the product differentiation in a two-sided market. The two-sided market matches sellers with buyers. On the buyers' side it supplies some match information between the goods and the buyers. On the firms' side, it sells some empty slots to the firms. Any firm either takes a place in any platform or stays outside. Buyers search for a good either inside or outside the platform. Each search of the an outside firm is costly and gives the match information between the searcher (buyer) and the seller. We study two cases. In the first case, all buyers obtain the match information in the platform for free. The equilibrium price and profit of an inside firm drops in the number of inside firms. The monopoly platform, by adjusting the entrance fee, admit fewer firms under a higher search cost. If the market has two platforms, they generally admit more firms than the case with one platform. In the second case, the platform is able to impose a fee for all consumers who enter the platform. Our last result has indicated that the platform will register all buyers and firms.

The number of special education students continues to rise, creating the need for additional special education teachers. Alternative certification programs have dealt with the special education teacher shortage, but not the question of teacher quality. Most teachers entering classrooms from alternative certification programs have little or no formal education in methodology or behavior management, but have commensurate responsibilities as their more experienced colleagues. The intent of this quantitative study was to examine 222 special education teachers’ sense of self-efficacy and job satisfaction in 21 central Kentucky school districts. The focus was the relation among special education teacher’s degree of efficacy in the early years of their careers (zero to five), degree of job satisfaction, and their certification type in special education (alternative vs. traditional). The secondary purpose was to examine the interrelation among teacher efficacy, number of years in the profession, degree of job satisfaction, gender, type of classroom, and area of certification in special education. The degree of teacher self-efficacy is linked to increased student outcomes and achievement, extent of planning, implementation of new ideas, enthusiasm, commitment, and increased patience with struggling students. The Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale was utilized to measure teacher efficacy. The Brayfield Rothe Job Satisfaction Index (1951) as modified by Warner (1973) was employed to measure the affective factors of job satisfaction. A demographic questionnaire developed by the researcher gathered information from the respondents. The study hypothesis assumed that teacher efficacy, specifically teacher self-efficacy, was lower in early career special education teachers who were pursuing or had recently completed certification through alternative programs. Analysis of the data indicates there is no significant difference between special education teachers who have completed alternative certification programs and their traditionally certified counterparts in terms of their degree of self-efficacy. Responses from the Job Satisfaction Survey indicated both groups of special education teachers are satisfied with their jobs.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether Indiana's private applicator training program affects private pesticide applicators' attitudes toward personal safety. The theoretical framework for this study was Ajzen and Fishbein's Theory of Reasoned Action. The sample was created by recruiting the enrollees participating in four private applicator training sessions selected at random. Sixty private pesticide applicators participated in a year long longitudinal study. Results revealed no significant improvement in positive attitudes toward pesticide safety was noted as a result of training. However, differences in attitudes toward pesticide safety were observed among selected demographic groups. Attitudes were most positive ten months after training indicating factors other than training were affective in developing positive attitudes toward pesticide safety. Selected factors other than training are discussed in relationship to attitude development. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

Many reforms in athletic training education requirements have been taking place in order to strengthen the profession. This research project may help make educational institutions aware of the current changes and requirements in clinical education. The purpose of this study was to determine the current practices in athletic training clinical education at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions and accredited versus non-accredited athletic training institutions.The participants (N = 93) consisted of a purposeful sample of head athletic trainers representing accredited and non-accredited athletic training education programs in the three divisions of the NCAA. The on-line survey instrument developed for this study, Current Practices in Athletic Training Clinical Education, obtained information about the demographics, clinical education of athletic training students, and the certified athletic trainer coverage of sports at NCAA institutions. The instrument was posted on an Internet website through the inQsit computer program. The respondents consisted of 28 (30.4%) head athletic trainers from Division I, 34 (37.0%) from Division II, and 30 from Division III (32.6%). Thirty-four (38.2%) respondents represented accredited athletic training education programs, 20 (22.5%) from athletic training programs in candidacy, and 35 (39.3%) from non-accredited or internship programs. Data was analyzed through percentages and frequency counts, and trend analysis and nonparametric Pearson chi square analyses. Pearson chi-square analyses revealed that Division I permits athletic training students to cover individual skill sessions and informal summer workouts unsupervised more often than the other NCAA divisions. Chi-square analyses also found that athletic training students at accredited athletic training education programs were more likely to possess CPR and first-aid certification and education on the prevention of disease transmission. A trend analysis was performed to determine the amount of time freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors spent in direct clinical supervision, supervised field experience, and unsupervised field experience. A linear relationship was found with respect to direct clinical supervision, and quadratic relationships were found with respect to supervised and unsupervised field experience. The results also revealed that athletic training programs that are accredited or candidacy were more likely to respond to 81 to 100% of the moderate risk sports within four minutes or less than those programs that are internship. The common perception of many athletic trainers regarding clinical education and the misuse of athletic training students is inconsistent with the current practices. Overall, athletic training students were seldom unsupervised for team practices and home events. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that collegiate athletic trainers have adjusted well to the recent changes in clinical education requirements and to the medical health care coverage recommended guidelines. Future research should address athletic training student and athletic training program director responses relative to their head athletic trainers' responses. / School of Physical Education

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Department of Computer Science

Nos travaux se situent au croisement de trois domaines : la sûreté de fonctionnement, l'analyse fonctionnelle et l'ingénierie des modèles. Dans l'objectif d'assister les analyses préliminaires des risques, nous avons proposé d'exploiter les modèles issus de l'analyse fonctionnelle de l'avion. Ces modèles décrivent les dépendances entre les fonctions qui doivent être réalisées durant une phase de vol. Pour exploiter ces modèles, nous avons introduit la notion d'efficacité qui mesure le degré de contribution d'une fonction à la réalisation nominale d'une phase de vol. Cette notion est utile pour les analyses de risques car elle permet de formaliser divers cas de dysfonctionnements des fonctions et pour évaluer le niveau de dégradation d'une phase de vol en cas de dysfonctionnement d'une ou plusieurs fonctions. Nous avons proposé d'annoter les modèles issus de l'analyse fonctionnelle avec des informations relatives à l'efficacité des fonctions et à leurs dysfonctionnements possibles. En suivant les principes de la transformation de modèles, nous avons étudié les moyens de produire le plus automatiquement possible des modèles utiles aux analyses de risques à partir des modèles annotés. Les modèles produits sont décrits avec le langage AltaRica, ils peuvent être analysés avec les outils associés à ce langage afin d'évaluer l'effet du dysfonctionnement de fonctions de l'avion ou de rechercher les combinaisons de dysfonctionnements les plus critiques. L'approche proposée a été appliquée pour analyser les risques associés aux fonctions utiles lors du décollage d'un avion.

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine from public school principals and vice principals in Manitoba their perceptions of the quality of the professional development in which they have participated during their careers, with a focus on the purposes for which they engage in professional development, their perceptions of its effectiveness, and how it has contributed to their development as educational leaders. These experiences were compared by the independent variables of gender, context (rural, urban or northern), position (principal or vice principal) and type of school (early, middle or senior years). This research included both a voluntary online questionnaire completed by 78 school-based administrators (8.2% of the population surveyed) and fifteen interviews, representative samples of the population. Conceptually, this thesis draws upon the work of Thomas Guskey’s (2002, 2003a) four criteria for effective professional development of teachers and applies them to administrators: a) having as its ultimate goal improving student outcomes; b) importance of context in the design and implementation of the intended learning; c) the utilization of research- based content and decision making; and d) the need for constant evaluation of professional development opportunities. The findings of the study show that school-based administrators generally believe that the professional development opportunities available to them have been effective in developing their leadership capacity. However, the study found that professional development activities are rarely evaluated, and that the purpose of student learning comes second to that of administrative management, which may be a reflection of the current accountability climate and the recent turnovers of administrators across the province. Ultimately, the study did not find that all four criteria must be in place at all times for administrators to conclude that professional development activities are effective as defined by the individuals. The findings also suggest that administrators tend to value most highly those professional development opportunities that are individualized and/or localized and supported by the school or school division. Finally, administrators remain divided on their view about mandatory certification of administrators; however, they are in agreement that the criteria for certification should be revised to include standards of professional practice.