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New Jersey has utilized alternative certification to combat the shortage caused by technology education (TE) teacher attrition. Research has examined the effectiveness of alternative certification preparation programs for the core academic programs; however, very little research has been performed in the area of TE. The purpose of this study was to (a) evaluate the Praxis scores of teacher candidates in New Jersey seeking licensure in technology education, and (b) determine if there were differences between the TE among teachers completing different preparation programs. The theoretical framework that guided this quantitative study was rooted in Knowles' theory of andragogy, which supported learning methods for the teacher as a learner. The guiding question of this study was whether there existed a significant difference in Praxis II test scores among group A (traditionally certified teachers) versus group B (alternatively certified teachers). This causal-comparative design took place among 164 TE teacher candidates from the 2 groups. Instrumentation was a praxis assessment for TE teacher candidates. Data collection included a random sampling of archival scores on the TE test that were analyzed with a t test. Findings revealed that teachers who completed the alternative route preparatory programs (group B) scored within a similar narrow range as compared to the TE teachers completing the traditional preparatory programs (group A). Implications for positive social change include providing the Teacher Advisory Mentor Program (TAMP) for TE teachers, which may reduce attrition of TE teachers and facilitate more effective teaching in the classroom.

Leaders of youth intervention programs provide a significant social service by redirecting at-risk youth onto a productive path. The standards for youth-serving organizations are inconsistent from 1 organization to another across a wide range of youth-worker training certification programs in the United States. A single-case study was conducted to explore the strategies that 3 leaders of a nonprofit organization located in Minnesota, use to select, collect, and analyze data to assess the effectiveness of training certification programs for youth workers. The 2017-2018 Baldrige Excellence Framework provided the structure for a systems-based evaluation of the client organization; Freeman's stakeholder theory was the conceptual lens for the study. Data were collected from conducting semistructured interviews, reviewing the participating organization's internal documents and performance outcomes, and analyzing open-source resources. Through thematic analysis, 4 key themes emerged: (a) the social return on investment analysis and the overall cost savings by investing in and supporting youth programs, (b) the opportunity to focus research on certification for youth workers, (c) the value of providing training for youth workers, and (d) the opportunity to provide a platform for the youth to share success stories with their community. Specific recommendations stemming from the research findings were to create a state or national recognition standard for youth-worker certifications and to make youth work a paid profession. Implementation of these recommendations may result in positive social change by improving the lives and trajectories of youth.

This quantitative, retrospective, multivariate, non-experimental study examined the first-time performance of 2,673 academic nurse educators who took the CNE examination between September 28, 2005 and September 30, 2011. Post-positivism and Abbott's system of the professions theory served as the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of this original research which attempted to determine if a relationship existed between educational preparation or years of full-time faculty employment (independent variables) and first-time pass/fail performance on the CNE examination and in each of content areas (dependent variables). The Chi-square test of independence revealed the lack of a statistically significant relationship between educational preparation and first-time pass/fail performance on the CNE examination. Independent t-tests revealed a statistically significant relationship between Option B study participants and content area three (use assessment and evaluation strategies), (t[2,671] = -2.20, p = .03); four (participate in curriculum design and evaluation of program outcomes), (t[2,671] = -2.06, p = .04); and six (engage in scholarship, service, and leadership), (t[2,671] = -2.34, p = .02). Binary logistic regression revealed that a one year increase in full-time employment resulted in a 1.05 times greater likelihood of passing the CNE examination (OR = 1.05; 95% CI 1.03, 1.06; p = .00). Last, simple linear regression revealed that years of full-time faculty employment contributed to 3.2% of the variability within content area four, 2.8% within content area six, and 2.1% within content area three. The results of this study provide insight about faculty development and mentoring needs, present evidence to policy makers and nursing education leaders, and offer guidance to curricula developers.

with the widespread issuance of emergency credentials to elementary teachers in the state of California, much discussion has arisen concerning employment practices in the school districts. It has been asserted that some administrators and governing boards of schools have employed lesser qualified teachers for their districts in order to keep expenses low. It is conceivable that such practice might weaken professional standards and give rise to the employmant of teachers solely on their cost to the district rather than to their qualifications

Issuing environmentally aligned green bonds has become an increasingly popular way to raise capital for green investments during the last decade. This thesis explores potential pricing differences between green and conventional bonds, known as the green premium, on the Swedish secondary bond market. Prior green bond research is inconclusive regarding the direction, size and even existence of such a premium. By creating a sample of 50 matched pairs of green and conventional bonds, we show an average positive green premium of 10 bps on the Swedish market, indicating that Swedish green bonds trade at higher yields than their conventional counterparts. We also study whether the size of the green premium is affected by credit ratings and third-party green certification but find no evidence of such effects. Overall, the results from this thesis add to current green bond research by showing a positive green premium, but the lack of shown effects from credit ratings and green certification indicate that further study is needed to fully understand the pricing mechanisms of green bonds.

Forest certification plays an important role in the forest products industry in Mississippi. Approximately 17% of the state’s 19 million acres of forest land is certified under one of three major systems in the United States. More than two million acres are certified under Sustainable Forestry Initiative, more than one million acres are certified under American Tree Farm System and over 150,000 acres are certified under Forest Stewardship Council. The goal of forest certification is sustainable use of all forest resources, from timber to clean water to recreation. This goal can only be achieved if nonindustrial private forest landowners, loggers, and forestry professionals all agree on the concepts each system espouses. This project surveyed nonindustrial private landowners in Mississippi, members of the Mississippi Loggers Association, and members of the Mississippi Sustainable Forestry Initiative Implementation Committee, to test their levels of agreement on 12 different Likert Scales or sets of statements representing specific underlying concepts of forest certification. The three groups generally agreed on most aspects of forest certification. There were some significant differences between the groups based on the distribution of responses, however the scale averages never differed by more than 0.7 indicating that while the differences were significant, overall they were still fairly close in their understanding of certification concepts. There were a large number of non-industrial private landowners who were not aware of forest certification. This result has not changed since the last landowner study that was conducted in Mississippi regarding forest certification, almost 10 years ago.

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During the recent decades the notion of sustainability has been introduced to almost all businesses and business areas. Sustainability in real estate and particularity in construction has been discussed by many researchers and journalists. Nowadays, not only many countries have adopted the sustainable construction techniques and started using green building materials but also it has started to be important to have sustainable property management, sustainable real estate valuation techniques as well as on the investment side, there has been a major trend to sustainable real estate investments. Many real estate companies are interested in investments into "green" properties both in France and in Sweden. The main objective of this thesis was to investigate the main force that drives these investments, whether they are driven by personal consciousness of investors, by the overall market trend or by the premium that they may receive from the sustainable investment. The purpose was to better understand the reasons behind the green real estate investments as well as to investigate the difference in value of certified sustainable real estate and its impact on the investment decisions. For the following thesis the qualitative research was used the most since its purpose is to get a better understanding of the motivation of companies to invest into sustainable real estate. However, quantitative data was as well applied in from of investigation about amount of investment transactions in different real estate sectors, repartition of types of investors, number of sustainable buildings with different certifications, etc. The research showed that real estate investors both in Sweden and France are most interested in the purchase of green buildings due to their ability to produce higher income and durability of buildings itself. The main premium that they are expecting from such investments is in better marketability of the building and thus shorter vacancy periods. Both qualitative and quantitative data have confirmed this conclusion.

In future development dealingwith ongoing global urbanisation and sustainability challenges,urban development is often seen asa key component. To support urban development, various certification systems that define 'sustainable'buildingsor urban areashave been developed world-wide.For a Swedishcontext, Sweden Green Building Council (SGBC) has developed Citylab as asupporttool forsustainable urban development. This tool contains several certification systems and a guiding document forthe planning and construction phasesof urban development. The intention from start has been to include also a certification systemfocusing on follow-up requirementspost-construction inurban development projects, butthe role and function of thiscertification system havenotbeenspecifiedby SGBC. Inthis licentiate thesis,Researchthrough Design (RtD) and a transdisciplinary approachwere appliedto contribute to thedevelopment ofa credibleandready-to-use certification system for sustainable urban areas in a post-construction phase, called Citylab Post-Construction.Through that process the thesis also identifieskey considerations when designing such a certification system.There is little information on how existingcertification systemsfor sustainable urban development were developed,andthere is no well-known and widely used framework for their development. To guide the development of Citylab Post-Construction,a framework of key considerations was formulated,based on a literature review. The framework defines(1) benefits a certification system should provide, (2) principles it needs to fulfil in order to provide those benefits and (3) how to handle the principlesin the developmentprocess. Using theframework in the research presentedinthis thesis madeit clearer what was at stake in each decision and thus the development process more transparent.To identify needs and ideas forCitylabPost-Construction, potential future users of the certification systemwere interviewed. No consensus was reached regarding the role and function the certification system should have,but fouralternatives wereformulated. By comparing thesealternatives with the principles in the framework, differences and shortcomingswere identified. Situationsin whichdifferent principles within the framework may conflict with each otherwere also identified, e.g.the most scientifically credible solution may not always be practically feasible. Thus,the principles cannot all be fulfilled simultaneouslyand mustbe prioritisedand balancedagainst each other. Overall, thisrevealed aneed for deliberativeand transparent decisions regardingthe role and functionofthecertification system,and which principles are prioritisedin decision-making. For the specific case of developing CitylabPost-Construction, it was decided that the system should assess how urban areasperform in terms of sustainability, i.e.assess whether implemented measures have sufficient impact in terms of sustainability. Measures implemented to achieve that performance were not to be included in the assessment.Citylab Post-Construction includes two types of indicatorsfor evaluatingthe sustainability performance of an urban area: First, general indicators that assess sustainability aspects of relevance to all urban areas,and for which the level of performance required forcertification is the same for all urban areas;second,site-specificindicatorsthatareformulatedfor each individual urban areato be certifiedandassesssustainability aspectsimportantin the local context thatare not covered by the general indicators. When choosinggeneral indicators to include in Citylab Post-Construction, indicators already used in different contextswere long-listed, including e.g. Agenda 2030, planetary boundariesand Sweden's Environmental Objectives. Thelist was then processedby working groups comprisingdifferentstakeholders and competencies. Theirsuggestionswerefurther processed by the project teamand discussedwith a reference group,resultingin15 indicators to be refinedtogetherwith experts in each subject area. The entire certification system wassent out for public consultationand underwent workshop testing,where the indicators were testedon two different urbanareas.Based on feedback fromthe public consultation and workshop testing, the certification system was finalised. The Citylab Post-Construction manual developed will be used by SGBC in future certification processes.Based on this work, some conclusions can be drawn regarding the development of certification systems. First, the workhighlighted the importance of using a design-driven and transdisciplinary way of working,starting with the needs of future users,to clarify needsthat the certification systemshould meet. This can help distinguish thetype of certification system that willbe developed from other potentialsystems.Second, the framework of important considerations helpsidentifydifferent principlesthat must be balanced, based on the type of certification system intended. The framework can also be used when analysingexisting systems,to reveal how different principles have been balanced and prioritised. This can lead toa deeper understanding of differences between certification systems,andto a discussion on what kind of assessment a certification system should implyand how they should be used in different contexts. Third,the work in this thesis indicated that development of certification systems in accordance with the framework should use a transdisciplinary approach. This helps tobalancetheprinciples in the framework and to definesustainability, as thatrequires a discussion between different actors and different competencies. To confirm whether the certification system balancesthe principlescorrectly, different types of tests can be used iteratively during the developmentprocess. In this thesis, the development ofCitylab Post-Constructionis discussed and justified in a more transparent way than for many other certification systems. Whileachievingsustainable development in society as a wholewill requiremore than certification of urban areas, Citylab Post-Construction can support urban development as a component in a sustainable society. / Med en pågående global urbanisering och växande hållbarhetsutmaningar lyfts ofta stadsutveckling fram som en nyckelfråga för att nå en hållbar utveckling. För att stötta ett sådant arbete har det under de senaste decennierna utvecklats olika certifieringssystem runt om i världen, som genom indikatorer och kriterier anger vad som kan anses vara en mer hållbar byggnad eller stadsdel. I Sverige har Sweden Green Building Council (SGBC) utvecklat Citylabsom stöd för hållbar stadsutveckling. Citylab innehåller flera certifieringssystem som fokuserar på planerings-och byggnationsfasen av stadsbyggnadsprocessen. Idén har också varit att Citylab ska innefatta en certifiering av uppföljningen efter genomfört stadsutvecklingsprojekt. Vad en sådan certifiering skulle innebära mer konkret har dock inte specificerats. Det är här denna licentiatavhandling tar sin utgångspunkt. Genom ett designdrivet ochtransdisciplinärt förhållningssätt syftar denna avhandling till att bidra i utvecklingen av Citylab –certifiering av en stadsdels hållbarhet(som den nya certifieringen inom Citylab heter), samt även öka förståelsen för hur utvecklingen av certifieringssystem kan gå till mer generellt. Även om det gjorts forskning på existerande certifieringssystem, saknas det idag ett etablerat ramverk för hur certifieringssystem bör tas fram. Det finns också få exempel på redovisningar av hur olika system tagits fram. För att bidra till utvecklingen inom detta område presenteras i denna avhandling ett ramverk över nyckelfaktorer att beakta i utvecklingen av ett certifieringssystem. Ramverket inkluderar (1) vilka värden ett certifieringssystem ska skapa, (2) vilka principer som måste följas för att nå värdena samt (3) hur utvecklingen bör ske för att hantera principerna på rätt sätt. Ramverket baseras på litteraturstudier av tidigare forskning inom certifieringssystem och indikatorer för hållbar stadsutveckling. Detta ramverk används sedan genom avhandlingen och dess artiklar för att tydliggöra hur Citylab –certifiering av en stadsdel hållbarhetutvecklats, inklusive motiven bakom de val som gjorts.För att skapa en större förståelse för vilka behov och idéer som fanns för Citylab –certifiering av en stadsdel hållbarhetgenomfördes intervjuer med framtida potentiella användare av certifieringssystemet, till exempel kommunala tjänstemän, fastighetsägare och byggföretag. Intervjuerna resulterade inte i någon samstämmighet för vilken typ av certifieringssystem som skulle utvecklas, utan det framkom flera alternativ som skiljde sig från varandra. Genom att jämföra alternativen med principerna i ramverket tydliggjordes skillnaderna mellan alternativen. Det tydliggjorde också hur olika principer inom ramverket kan hamna i konflikt med varandra, det är exempelvis svårt att skapa ett certifieringssystem som följer högt ställda vetenskapliga krav samtidigt som det är praktiskt enkelt att genomföra utan att vara kostnadsdrivande. Denna avhandling visar således på behovet av en prioritering och balansering mellan principerna i ramverket, så att det blir både tillräckligt vetenskapligt och praktiskt. Detta klargjorde i sin tur behovet av genomtänkta och transparenta beslut över vilken typ av certifieringssystem som skulle skapas, baserat på vilka principer som prioriterades för varje beslut. För utvecklingen av Citylab –certifiering av en stadsdels hållbarhetbeslutades det inom utvecklingsprojektet att systemets övergripande syfte skulle vara att bedöma hur stadsdelen presterade hållbarhetsmässigt, med andra ord, bedöma om genomförda åtgärder nått tillräcklig effekt vad gäller hållbarhet. Hur stadsdelen nått prestandan, inklusive vilka åtgärder som satts in, ingår inte i certifieringssystemets bedömning.För att utvärdera hållbarhetsprestandan hos en stadsdelinnehåller certifieringssystemet två typer av indikatorer. Den första typen är generella indikatorer som anger hållbarhetsaspekter som är relevanta för alla stadsdelar, och som harkravnivåer som alla stadsdelar ska uppnå. Den andra typen är platsspecifika indikatorer som tas fram för varje enskild stadsdel som ska certifieras, för att lyfta hållbarhetsfrågor som är viktiga i den lokala kontexten men som inte täcks in av de generella indikatorerna. För att välja vilka de generella indikatorerna ska vara i certifieringssystemet gjordes först en genomgång av indikatorer som redan används i olika sammanhang, till exempel Agenda 2030, planetära gränser och Sveriges miljömål. Denna lista bearbetades sedan av arbetsgrupper bestående av personer från olika aktörer inom samhällsbyggnadsbranschen och med olika kompetenser inom hållbarhet. Arbetsgruppernas arbete bearbetades ytterligare av projektgruppen för utvecklingen av certifieringssystemet och stämdes av med en referensgrupp kopplad till projektet. Detta ledde till en lista på 15 indikatorer som i nästa steg utvecklades tillsammans med experter inom respektive sakområde. Hela certifieringssystemet gick sedan ut på remiss, samt genomgick betatest där två olika stadsdelar testbedömdes övergripande i enlighet med certifieringssystemets krav. Utifrån synpunkterna som framkom i remiss och betatest slutfördes arbetet till en manual för certifiering, som SGBC kommer använda i framtida arbete med att certifiera stadsdelar.Utifrån detta arbete går det att dra flera slutsatser för utvecklingen av certifieringssystem mer allmänt. För det första visar denna avhandling på vikten av att använda ett designdrivet och transdisciplinärt arbetssätt genom att utgå från behoven hos kommande användare för att i nästa steg kunna tydliggöra vilket behov certifieringssystemet ska fylla för sina användare. Detta kan göras både för att tydliggöra vilken typ av certifieringssystem som ämnas utvecklas och vilket typ av system som det inteämnas vara. Vidare kan ramverket med dess principer vara ett bra stöd i att förstå vilka avvägningar som behöver göras mellan olika principer, baserat på vilken typ av certifieringssystem som ska skapas. Ramverket kan också användas vidanalys av redan existerande certifieringssystem utifrån hur olika principer har balanserats och prioriterats. Det kan ge intressanta analyser för en fortsatt diskussion om hur certifieringssystem skiljer sig från varandra och varför, samt hur certifieringssystem bör se ut och användas i olika sammanhang. En annan slutsats är att utvecklingen av certifieringssystem, i enlighet med ramverket, bör använda ett transdisciplinärt angreppssätt i linje med arbetet med denna avhandling. Detta då både balanseringen mellan principer i ramverket och definitionen av hållbarhet kräver en diskussion mellan olika aktörer och mellan olika kompetenser. Avhandlingen visar också på vikten av att testa idéer för utvecklingen iterativt under arbetet som en del i att möjliggöra transdisciplinärt samarbete. Utvecklingen av certifieringssystemet Citylab –certifiering av en stadsdels hållbarhet, får genom denna avhandling en tydligare redovisning än många andra certifieringssystem för vilka avvägningar och beslut som gjorts. Genom sina indikatorer definierar certifieringen stadsutvecklingens roll i ett hållbart samhälle, både generellt i hela Sverige och i den platsspecifika kontexten. / <p>QC 20191220</p>