The author replicated and extended a study by Flowerday, Schraw, & Stevens (2004) that examined the effects of choice, topic interest, and situational interest on reading engagement, attitude, and learning in college-age students. The study was replicated using fourth and fifth graders as subjects. The study was extended to examine the effects of gender and reading ability cohort on the outcome measures. Participants randomly assigned to the choice condition made a blind choice of Packet A or B containing a non-fiction essay to read; participants assigned to the no choice condition were given one of the packets without being offered a choice. Outcomes were measured using scores on a multiple-choice test, a content essay, a personal reaction essay, and an attitude checklist. Results confirmed the 2004 finding that situational interest has the strongest effect on students' attitude toward a reading task. Both topic interest and choice had a smaller but significant effect on attitude after situational interest was controlled for, indicating that topic interest and choice have a stronger influence on the attitude of elementary students than they do on college students. Participants in the choice group had higher situational interest levels and a more positive attitude toward the task. There was no difference in the performance outcomes of the choice and no choice groups. Neither gender nor reading ability cohort had an effect on interest level or attitude. / School of Education / Instructional Leadership Excellence (ILEAD) / EdD / Dissertation

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the use of discursive practice in the media public sphere as part of the educational policymaking process. The theory of definitional advantage suggests that powerful policy players have preferred access to media accounts of educational issues. Links between educational policy research and media research suggest that this definitional advantage translates into educational policy settlement. My research begins from the premise that this theory requires further clarification as recent evidence suggests definitional advantage and links to settlement are context specific and more complex than initially envisioned. This study focuses on policy player representations in newspaper accounts of educational choice issues in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta from 1990 to 2005, with attention to who was saying what, when, and with what authority. A fifteen year timeline was chosen in order to illuminate periods of policy crisis and settlement, and contrasting case study sites were chosen due to key differences in school board resistance and local policy implementation. While newspaper accounts shifted overtime in response to local conditions, main narrative issue themes focused on charter approval challenges, administrative issues, and monitoring and support needs. Policy players also weighed in on the school choice debate by articulating claims related to equity, quality, and the need for diversity of educational opportunities. Charter school, school board, and government players were best able to articulate their positions in the public sphere as evidenced by measures of access, recognition, responsiveness, and intertextuality. Teachers’ union representations were surprisingly limited in both newspapers. Differences across local sites reveal strategies for effective counter-hegemonic work in the public sphere. By reinforcing their position of accommodation, connecting to local conditions, and limiting their assertions, the Edmonton board stopped the spread of charter schools early in the policymaking process. In contrast, the Calgary school board took an aggressive position of resistance that reinforced public perceptions of self-interest and mediocrity. Educational policy players should be encouraged that power is not a prerequisite for definitional advantage. Rather, connecting to local conditions, avoiding blame, and targeting assertions are effective policymaking strategies to be used in the public sphere.

Metropolitan Adelaide in Australia is dominated by low-density suburbs with an extensive and large road supply, which brings with it car-dependent lifestyles that are ultimately unsustainable in the longer term. Spatial changes are needed to make a city such as Adelaide less car-dependent towards a city that relies on more sustainable transport modes for its day to day urban travel needs. On the other hand, to date, the impacts of local urban form on travel behaviour have not been adequately investigated through empirical research in Australia. The importance of research on this matter rises from the institutional and academic efforts to modify the growing car-dependent lifestyle in Australian cities through spatial planning and quality design. This thesis presents the results from a comparative study of travel patterns among residents of four suburban residential areas in metropolitan Adelaide. Using existing datasets together with inventory data of urban environment characteristics from original fieldwork, this research examines to what extent there are associations between various attributes of a particular urban location as they relate to travel behaviour and household socio-economics. The findings derived from quantitative and qualitative methods suggest that urban form/design must be taken into consideration in policy making for mobility reduction. Well-connected streets, and close proximity to jobs and key functions were shown to induce non-motorised travel. From an urban design and planning policy perspective, this suggests that greater daily activity and consequent health and environmental benefits might accrue from designing human-scale, walkable communities that appeal to the preference of different social groups versus investment in master-planned communities in the hope of swaying travel behaviour. That is, pedestrian-friendly places suited to the taste preferences of socio-demographic groups might induce more physical activity over the long run through the process of residential self-selection than overt efforts to create fully planned, attractive and quality landscapes all over suburbia. / Thesis (PhDPlanning)--University of South Australia, 2007.

Thesis (MBusiness-Research)--University of South Australia, 2003.

Thesis (MBus)--University of South Australia, 1999

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2007. / Adviser: Charles Rowley. Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2007.

Zugl.: Leipzig., Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2005

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 2005

Zugl.: Köln, University, Diss., 2006.