Since the advent of charter schools in 1992, the population of students and number of schools has dramatically increased. Because a second generation of students have charter schools as a choice, it is important to understand what motivates children and their parents to choose these schools. Recent research has revealed that family motivations are complicated and differ by specific contexts. In this study, I interviewed 59 incoming parents and children at a small public charter school in southern Oregon with a unique population in its locale. Interviews were designed to elicit quantitative and qualitative data regarding motivations for choosing this specific school. Study results indicate that parents and their children leave traditional schools for primarily environmental and academic reasons, although the results were mixed. Families chose the school in this study for primarily environmental factors, particularly class and school size. I discuss implications for the charter school and its sponsoring district and suggest areas of further local research.

No description available.

No description available.

Univ., Diss.--Göteborg, 2005.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-152). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-51). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

In this paper a model for choice making behavior is developed. It includes two independent variables; the relevance of a stimulus and the openness of channels, and one dependent variable; the liklihood of an act occurring along a channel. The model is presented in a set-theoretical format with appropriate representational conditions for measurement. Two examples are given for the model. One is the application of the model to the choice making behavior of high school students and the latter is its application to verbal interaction in a small group. The latter example is used for a test of the model, and it consequently includes the necessary operationalizations and measures for this test. The results indicate some support for the structure proposed and when the predictions are compared with an alternative model there seems to be little difference in accuracy. Suggestions are then made for future research which may be made on the model. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

archives@tulane.edu / Changing fiscal year-end (FYE) unequivocally impacts time-series consistency, yet firms appear to be willing to change it. Enhanced comparability with industry peers appears to be a significant driver of this change. Aligning FYE with industry peers is associated with an improved information environment as proxied by a significant increase in analyst coverage, the number of forecasts per analyst, and institutional ownership. Additionally, loss-making firms also appear more likely to switch FYEs, ostensibly to dump losses in the less-than-12-month stub period created by the transition. Examining changes to and from December separately, I find that small firms are more likely to move to a non- December FYE, suggesting that accounting costs such as audit fees are a consideration in changing FYE. On average, the market reacts significantly to the FYE change disclosure. / 1 / Zhiwei Zhu