This study investigated why professional development courses that are taken by educators at the Research and Curriculum Unit (RCU) of Mississippi State University (MSU) were or were not completed. By considering the results from this investigation, the course developers for future online courses can improve the courses offered to help increase participant retention. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> There were 4 research questions investigated for this study to help understand how to improve future course offerings: style='mso-spacerun:yes'> style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>1. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Why did the participants of online professional development enroll initially? style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>2. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Why did the completers finish the online professional development? style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>3. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Why did the non-completers not finish the online professional development? style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>4. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> What does the facilitator perceive as the reasons completers complete and non-completers do not complete the course? Data for this study were from 10 online professional development courses taken by educators through the RCU. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> The participants agreeing to participate were asked to complete a beginning and ending survey and an end-of-course evaluation. They were also asked to participate in an interview when the online professional course was finished. Facilitators of the online professional development courses completed a beginning survey and participated in interviews. Recommendations were made for future researchers and online course developers. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>1. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>Participants pay for the online professional development course before the course begins. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>2. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> All courses have posted technical requirements for participants to have a successful course completion. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>3. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Courses should have multiple modes of delivery of information to participants – email, discussion boards, wikis, blogs, and virtual classrooms to name only a few options. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>4. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Ways to increase completion rates should be investigated. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>5. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>The RCU should institute a research policy for every course where enrollees are tracked. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>6. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>As part of RCU quality assurance, the format of the surveys should be investigated. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>7. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Future studies include courses from other entities over a longer time frame. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>8. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Future studies should investigate payment options of other entities offering online professional development. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>9. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Facilitator differences should be analyzed in future studies. style='msoareastontamily:"Times New Roman"'>10. style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> Future studies should investigate other entities’ facilr practices.

The purpose of this study was to determine if specific characteristics of male students in a low socio-economic urban setting predispose them to successful high school completion. Rather than focusing on dropouts, this research focused on male students who are successful high school completers. They were compared to one another in order to find correlations among variables which made them successful in completing high school. While research exists detailing the reasons students choose to drop out of school, the factors that lead to successful graduation from high school have yet to be determined. This research addresses that gap. This study addresses two research questions: (a) are there common factors among male students from a low socio-economic urban setting which predispose them to successful high school completion and (b) what are the common factors among male students from a low socio-economic urban setting which predispose them to successful high school completion? The information found in the review of related literature and research indicated that the variables (preschool education participation, sports/extracurricular activity participation, family configuration, participation in faith-based organizations, parents’ educational attainment, sibling educational attainment, attendance, parental employment, participation in vocational studies, and participation in tutoring programs for high stakes exit exams) were appropriate for this study. An instrument was piloted to obtain information on the variables. Forty male students were randomly selected from 240 male students who graduated from Meridian High School during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years. After collecting and analyzing the data using binomial distribution and chi-square analysis, the researcher drew several conclusions. Preschool participation, sibling educational attainment, attendance, family configuration, participation in a faith-based organization, parent educational attainment, parent employment, vocational program participation, and extracurricular activity/sport participation were reported by participants at statistically significant frequencies which could not be attributed to chance. The chi-square values indicate nine of the fiftyour possible variable pairs have statistically significant correlations. Conclusions and recommendations based on the findings of this study indicate that certain characteristics of students do contribute to high school completion. This study should be replicated with a larger sample in other locations to validate the findings.

No description available.

No description available.