Current demographics indicate that populations of color are on the rise across the United States. Although enrollments of students of color are increasing, first year retention rates are lower compared to their peers. Consequently, systemic changes are needed to produce changes in services and programs required by these students. Despite the modest gains in enrollment, students of color remain underrepresented at every degree level in higher education. Despite volumes of research, institutions still disregard the seriousness of the problem and continue to address retention with isolated programmatic approaches to change administrative, instructional, and advising practices with little evaluation. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument assessing the organizational readiness of state and land-grant universities to retain students of color in colleges of agriculture as well as determine what definitions of retention were used to support existing retention programs and services. Since state and land-grant institutions previously engaged in retention strategies, an ex post facto study was conducted. A census of the population was conducted, where close to half of the population responded and expressed interest in seeing study results. State and land-grant colleges were selected as participants due to their unique inability to reach higher than average retention rates of students of color, specifically in agricultural fields. Statistical tests such as t-tests and analysis of variance were used to analyze data and further refine the instrument. Reliability for each of the instrument scales was high. However, further refining must be done before the instrument will more precisely indicate where gaps are in each readiness area in colleges of agriculture. This study determined that more information is needed on which definitions of retention are used to support programs and services within the college. Further investigation should be done to ascertain why more organizational diagnostic assessments are not done in this area considering the fiscal impacts on priorities such as retention. Although respondents indicated satisfaction with the college of agriculture to meet the academic needs of students, departmental administrators and faculty were still unclear of their role with retention. These findings indicate more research in this area should be conducted.

Imagine one Brit, one Dutch, two North Americans, one Spaniard and three Swedes setting up a joint international research project. Their areas of expertise vary: sociology, labour law and organisational theory. The scene is taking place in a hotel conference room in Uppsala. The North Americans are tired from the long trip and the jet-lag. The Spaniard arrived later than everybody, including himself, expected, due to another strike of air traffic controllers. The Dutch had to come alone. His colleague had too much work at home to be able to free himself for the four days the meeting lasts. The same goes for the Brit. As for the Swedes, all three were able to make some place in their agendas. Abundance characterises international projects in particular and human collaboration in general; that is, the immense variety of practices, behaviours and incidents that inundate life and are difficult to foresee when defining a goal, designing a plan or organising a cooperation. This leads to vagueness, because to include such a variety, the words used to describe the international project and the models/plans used to structure it must remain open and flexible. Based on an ethnography of the above described group, this dissertation  illuminates how, with the help of linguistic resources, the group deals with vagueness, copes with abundance and organises an international collaboration. Within this framework, cultural differences and cultural stereotypes cease being a source of misunderstanding and conflict. Instead, they become linguistic resources to cope with vagueness and abundance. Constructive interaction and successful cooperation lie in a delicate equilibrium: Levelling Vagueness. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2002

Wireless networks increasingly utilize diverse spectral bands, which exhibit vast differences in transmission range, bandwidth and available airtime. While tremendous efforts have been devoted to enable efficient mobile access of single-band networks and increase their throughput, e.g., via network coding, such single-band solutions are unfortunately oblivious to the diversity and abundance of the available spectral bands. In this thesis, I present and evaluate novel schemes for mobile access and for throughput increase using network coding, schemes that are designed for diverse-band wireless networks, i.e., networks operating in multiple diverse bands. Specifically, I introduce the first scheme designed for mobile clients to evaluate and select both APs and spectral bands in diverse-band networks. The fundamental problem is that the potentially vast number of spectrum and AP options may render scanning prohibitive. Thus, my key technique is for clients to infer the critical metrics of channel quality and available airtime for their current location and bands using limited measurements collected in other bands and at other locations. I evaluate my scheme via experiments and emulations, which are enabled by a four-band testbed that I deploy. A key finding is that under a diverse set of operating conditions, mobile clients can accurately predict their performance without a direct measurement at their current location and spectral bands. Moreover, I introduce the first band selection schemes designed for diverse-band networks exploiting overheard packets to enable network coding. The main problem is that band selections in such networks are challenged by conflicting factors affecting throughput: while the number of overhearing nodes generally increases with decreasing frequency, channel width and spatial reuse unfortunately decrease. Thus, the key technique of the proposed schemes is to jointly incorporate coding gains, channel width and spatial reuse in band selections. I evaluate these schemes via simulations employing a physical-layer model driven by measurements collected using the deployed four-band testbed. An important finding is that the proposed schemes can outperform coding-oblivious spectrum access in terms of throughput, as their band selection enables more coding opportunities. My work has two key implications. First, it can significantly improve throughput performance in networks enabled by today’s unlicensed spectrum and by the billion-dollar industry of white-space networking. Second, I anticipate that this thesis will highly impact future research, as I open new research areas in a domain that has attracted such tremendous commercial and research interest.

The focus of this research is in the area of African American male superintendents and their leadership in diverse settings. The research approach adopted in this dissertation used semi-structured interviews with five African American male superintendents that consisted of three main issues: (1) personal; (2) leadership quality/effectiveness and (3) impact on student academic performance. The findings from this research provide evidence that: superintendents believed they gained their focus on education by having strong parental influences; each superintendent believed that their involvement in sports helped them to sharpen their leadership skills at an early age; they believed in having systems in place to monitor and track the performance of their district; being visible in the community has helped to garner support from all stakeholders; and being educated during the civil rights era taught the superintendents a lot about equity issues. The main conclusions drawn from this research were that superintendent efficacy, professional development and a goal toward academic success for all students were the components demonstrated by these district leaders. This research recommends that superintendents have professional development to strengthen strong people skills, create mentorships and shadow-mentoring programs for both African American male superintendent candidates and practicing African American male superintendents new to the job or new to their district, emphasize diversity in leadership, investigate superintendency preparation programs at the university level to address racial issues, and research studies should be more specific on the office of the superintendency.

Purpose: Our purpose is to study how language proficiency and cross-cultural adaptation affect ethnically diverse teams in their cross-cultural communication competence. Methodology: The data was collected through six interviews of team members working in a product development project in a multinational company. The interviews were conducted in March of 2012. The data analysis followed an interpretative thematic analysis inspired by Boyatzis (1998). To analyze the data we have utilized some steps of the thematic analysis. With the analysis it was identified that ethnically diverse teams build language proficiency and cross-cultural adaptation. Findings: The findings from this research indicate that cross-cultural adaptation and language proficiency should be considered as important dimensions of cross-cultural communication competence within ethnically diverse teams. Language proficiency remains a challenge for many ethnically diverse teams and should be included in studies related to communication. Employees’ ability to adapt to the current environment and culture has an essential impact on team communication. Research limitations/implications: The research was done in a Multinational company based in Sweden within one team at Electrolux AB, therefore implications from our study may not be applicable to all ethnically diverse teams in Multinational companies globally.

Standardized tests are generally based on the norms of the majority population who share the same culture, language and above all, similar prior learning experiences. Because of this, it is problematic for clinicians to use standardized tests when assessing children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. Dynamic assessment (DA) is an alternative assessment method that can circumvent the dilemma of biased testing of children from CLD populations. By looking at the child‟s modifiability instead of static performance DA aims to target the child‟s true language ability. In this study the researchers investigated the difference between narratives produced before and after a dynamic assessment procedure called a test-teach-retest method. 16 South African preschool children were assessed in one session with a wordless picture sequence and then the test-teach-retest format was implemented. Each child was asked to tell the story in the pictures, followed by a dynamic assessment phase (focused questions), and finally a second elicitation of the narrative. No time elapsed between the tests and the teaching phase. Significant differences were found between the narratives elicited before and after the focused questions, but not for all measures. The use of mental state terms (what characters feel and think) increased from the first to the second narrative as well as some of the microstructural elements (linguistic structures) and macrostructural elements (global organization of the story). These results indicate that the use of narrative language in the field of DA has the potential of reducing bias when assessing children‟s narrative ability in culturally and linguistically diverse populations. / Standardiserade test är främst baserade på normer som hämtats från studier av majoritetsbe-folkningen i ett land. En befolkning delar ofta samma kultur och de är ofta enspråkiga, men framförallt delar de liknande upplevelser. På grund av detta är det mycket svårt för kliniker att använda standardiserade test på barn med flerspråkig bakgrund. Dynamic assessment (DA) är en alternativ och dynamisk bedömningsmetod som kan förhindra att språklig testning av mångkulturella barn blir partisk. DA är ett tillvägagångssätt som fokuserar på barns sätt att ta sig an språk medan traditionella mått främst används för att statiskt kvantifiera prestation. Den här uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka om det finns en skillnad i barns sätt att berätta en saga före och efter intervention med dynamisk bedömningsmetod. 16 sydafrikanska förskole-barn testades, varje barn fick vid ett tillfälle berätta två historier till samma bildsekvens. Mel-lan de två berättelserna ställde forskarna riktade frågor om innehållet, dessa riktade frågor motsvarar det dynamiska inslaget i bedömningen. Signifikanta resultat hittades, men inte för alla mätvärden. Signifikant var den ökade användningen av mental state terms (vad karaktä-rerna i en berättelse känner och tänker), samt ökningen av vissa mått på mikro- (lingvistisk struktur) och makrostruktur (övergripande organisering av berättelsen). Detta resultat tyder på att användningen av en dynamisk bedömningsmetod kan ge kliniker ett instrument som är opartiskt vid bedömning av mångkulturella barns berättarförmåga.

Current demographics indicate that populations of color are on the rise across the United States. Although enrollments of students of color are increasing, first year retention rates are lower compared to their peers. Consequently, systemic changes are needed to produce changes in services and programs required by these students. Despite the modest gains in enrollment, students of color remain underrepresented at every degree level in higher education. Despite volumes of research, institutions still disregard the seriousness of the problem and continue to address retention with isolated programmatic approaches to change administrative, instructional, and advising practices with little evaluation. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument assessing the organizational readiness of state and land-grant universities to retain students of color in colleges of agriculture as well as determine what definitions of retention were used to support existing retention programs and services. Since state and land-grant institutions previously engaged in retention strategies, an ex post facto study was conducted. A census of the population was conducted, where close to half of the population responded and expressed interest in seeing study results. State and land-grant colleges were selected as participants due to their unique inability to reach higher than average retention rates of students of color, specifically in agricultural fields. Statistical tests such as t-tests and analysis of variance were used to analyze data and further refine the instrument. Reliability for each of the instrument scales was high. However, further refining must be done before the instrument will more precisely indicate where gaps are in each readiness area in colleges of agriculture. This study determined that more information is needed on which definitions of retention are used to support programs and services within the college. Further investigation should be done to ascertain why more organizational diagnostic assessments are not done in this area considering the fiscal impacts on priorities such as retention. Although respondents indicated satisfaction with the college of agriculture to meet the academic needs of students, departmental administrators and faculty were still unclear of their role with retention. These findings indicate more research in this area should be conducted.

ABSTRACT In this narrative inquiry, I examined parents’ stories to gain insight into their journey toward selecting a French Immersion Catholic stream of education for their Kindergarten-aged children. As a teacher, I first noticed a pronounced shift in the parents who were choosing Catholic French Immersion for their school-aged children and, then, as I formed close relationships with a diverse range of parents, I became cognizant that many families were deeply rooted in a faith other than that of Catholicism. With my curiosity piqued, I engaged in research to explore what these diverse parents believe Catholic French Immersion schools have to offer them. Utilizing both Joseph Schwab’s (1973) notion of curricular commonplaces and Allen’s (2007) web of caring as a framework for my research, I demonstrated how important it is that educators invite parent knowledge (Pushor, 2011, 2013) onto the school landscape as they attend to parents’ intentions in making particular school choices for their children. Using a metaphor of painting, and to paint both individual stories and a triptych of stories to capture parents’ influences, thoughts, hopes and dreams for their children that led them to Catholic French Immersion, I chose narrative inquiry methodology. I utilized field texts gathered from three sets of parents, including stories, journals, field notes, letters, conversations, and family stories, to paint an intimate understanding of the research puzzle. In terms of Catholic education, these families value a faith-based school environment but for different reasons. The Nelson family, rooted in Baptist faith, felt it was important that their child be schooled alongside other faithful children and also believed that Catholic schools inherently value the sanctity of each child. The Padrique family, newcomers to Canada, assumed that Catholic education would teach their child important values and that parents in the Catholic system would share parenting philosophies similar to their own. The Larocque family saw that through learning Catholic doctrine in school their children would be provided an opportunity to be exposed to, and to accept or reject, a system of beliefs not taught to their children at home. In terms of French Immersion, the families understood that their children’s ability to speak French would enhance their employment opportunities in the future. Both the Nelsons and the Padriques further viewed French Immersion as a program choice for the more academically inclined. Similarly, the Larocques, whose children have Treaty Status, understood French Immersion as a more challenging program where children become accustomed to working hard. This research will help deepen educators’ understanding of parent motivations for choosing this stream of education and more fully attend in their practice to parent intentions and parent knowledge.

Students with ED often exhibit disruptive behavior in the classroom that adversely affects the learning environment (Cook, Gresham, Kern, Barreras, Thornton, & Crews, 2008). Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students tend to be over-represented in this category of disability. Despite the fact that the majority of students identified with ED are male, females do represent 23.6% of this population (U.S. Department of Education, 1998; Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). Additionally, a large number of individuals with ED are high school age (Wagner, Friend, Bursuck, Kutash, Duchnowski, Sumi, & Epstein, 2006). Interventions used with this population have often been punitive in nature, designed to control behavior rather than to help an individual improve (Newcomer, 2003). Efforts of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and the Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA) require the use of scientifically-based practices when addressing academic and behavioral goals. A variety of interventions for students with ED have been investigated. While many of these interventions produce degrees of positive change, they often demand a great deal of time and effort from the teacher (Wagner et al., 2006). Video self-modeling (VSM) is an intervention involving an individual watching him/herself on video demonstrating desired and appropriate behavior. It has been proven successful with other challenging populations (e.g., individuals with autism) (Buggey, 2005). Few studies of VSM have been conducted with secondary students with ED. The present study was designed to analyze the effects that VSM had on four secondary CLD students with ED across a variety of behaviors, including laughing obnoxiously out loud, using profanity, and requesting help. Multiple baseline designs across students were used to evaluate performance. The results indicated all four participants exhibited immediate and significant gains upon implementation of the VSM intervention, and that those gains were maintained after cessation of intervention. The findings suggest that VSM may represent a positive behavior change intervention worthy of consideration for CLD secondary students with ED. / text

The increased growth of online instruction has been well documented by various studies. As the result of the proliferation of online instruction, students from outside of the United States are now able to obtain an American education without having to leave their home country. While online course designs have been well researched and documented to identify best methods and practices to enable optimum learning achievement, providing online instruction to non-US educated students generates the question of how a culturally diverse student body adapts and/or adjusts to an American-style instruction. The purpose of this study is to conduct an exploratory qualitative research to investigate how students from an Asian learning culture adapt to an American online learning environment and to determine whether the various instructional design theories and practices that are widely accepted as best practices in the United States and incorporated into the instruction designs for this Marketing Management hybrid course are also as well-received by students from a different learning culture. From the five categories emerged from the research data: (1) students’ background, (2) perceived benefits, (3) essential skills, (4) supports expected and/or received, and (5) sense of community, the researcher proposed a framework that encompasses the students’ process of adapting to online learning. Within the process of adapting to online learning, conditions such as students’ backgrounds and expectations influenced the various learning strategies that students adopted in order to realize the benefits from the online learning experience. Information gathered from this study may provide those involved in online education - decision makers in academic, business, and professional organizations considering an overseas online instruction strategy - an added awareness of how different learning cultures may influence the quality of an online learning experience. Additionally, for a specific target audience, this research study may further validate the learner-centered approach for instruction designs. For students who may be contemplating online learning as an option, this study may provide a deeper understanding of what is entailed in an online learning environment - the contributing actors and factors that affect the quality of an online learning experience. / text