The focus of this study was the advising style preference of graduate-level students and advisors in online and hybrid programs at a university in rural Arkansas. Students and advisors will benefit from the results because the advisors will have a greater understanding of expectations during an advising session. The problem stems from the fact that graduate level advising is not considered important by administrators at the study institution. The purpose of this study was to determine how graduate level advisors can better serve students and to use the results as a tool for advisor training. The study was guided by Crookston's developmental advising style, in which the advisor and student work together to ensure student success. The key research questions for the study were the preferred advising style of graduate-level students in online and hybrid programs and the advising style preferred by graduate-level advisors. A mixed method with an explanatory sequential design was used, and the Academic Advising Inventory was administered to the population of graduate students and their advisors using a web-based survey. After completing each section of the inventory, respondents had an opportunity for open responses to clarify their selections. Student responses to the inventory indicated their preferred advising style, the advising style they had received, and their satisfaction with the advising they had received. Advisor responses detailed the form of advising they practice. Data were collected from students (n = 224) and advisors (n = 9). Responses were analyzed by following the Academic Advising Inventory Manual and using SPSS for calculations. The responses were recoded to separate the prescriptive and developmental responses. Next, the items were calculated to determine if each respondent was advised prescriptively or developmentally. Finally, the advising satisfaction level for students was calculated to determine student satisfaction with each form of advising received. The results indicate that graduate-level students in both online and hybrid programs prefer developmental advising over prescriptive advising. Students enrolled in hybrid programs indicated greater satisfaction with the advising they received than students enrolled in online programs. Overall students who received developmental advising reported higher satisfaction rates than those who received prescriptive advising. Results of this study will serve as the basis for graduate advisor training and the creation of a training manual.

The purpose of this study is to arrive at a more exact knowledge of the value of the matriculation examination now given by Western Kentucky State Teachers College. This study is not complete but is merely an addition to the existing knowledge in this field, being of particular interest to the administrative organization of Western Kentucky State Teachers College.

The purpose of the writer in this paper is to present the types of governing boards other states have and to draw whatever conclusions possible.

Many school administrators begin their careers in educational administration as assistant principals. The literature on assistant principals contributes very little to an understanding of the perspectives that assistant principals develop during their organizational socialization experiences and of the conditions and processes that influence the development of these socialization outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical understanding of the perspectives that emerge from assistant principals' organizational socialization experiences. Symbolic interactionism established the theoretical and methodological foundation for this study. The sensitizing concepts of perspective (Becker, Geer, Hughes, & Strauss, 1961), situational adjustment (Becker, 1964), and organizational boundary passages (Schein, 1971; Van Maanen & Schein, 1979) provided the analytic framework. The Glaser and Strauss (1967) constant comparison model guided the process of collecting and analyzing data. Six assistant principals with experience from three months to three years were interviewed. The study resulted in a grounded theory that describes the perspectives that the assistant principals developed and explains the processes and conditions that influenced the development of these organizational socialization outcomes. The results of this study suggest that assistant principals develop a common set of perspectives in response to a common set of problematic situations. These perspectives include: "it takes time to learn," working for the principal, working with other assistant principals, doing tasks, working effectively with teachers, and an integrated perspective. Assistant principals appear to develop these perspectives using a situational adjustment process that includes assessing the requirements of problematic situations, experimenting with ideas and actions to determine how to behave, and choosing strategies that enable them to respond successfully to the situational requirements. The requirement to pass through the functional, hierarchical, and inclusionary boundary passages appears to be the most important organizational factor influencing the development of administrative perspectives. The quality of assistant principals' preparation experiences, their styles and longevity as teachers, and their motivation appear to be the most important individual factors influencing the development of administrative perspectives. Teachers appear to be the most powerful socializing agents. The assistant principal's role may provide essential preparation for a principal's role and may have the potential for developing leadership.

Research shows that 50% to 70% of higher education employees in the United States are disengaged in the workplace. Some higher education institutions are negatively affected by imposing strict guidelines restricting employees' freedom of self-expression in the workplace. Using Herzberg's 2-factor theory of motivation as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by higher education institution leaders to manage workplace self-expression without negatively affecting motivation and work productivity. The population was 9 leaders from 3 higher education institutions in central and northern New Jersey. Data collection was conducted through semistructured interviews and review of institutional data and information. Data were analyzed using inductive coding, and member checking was used to ensure credibility. Three themes emerged: workplace environment, management relationships, and barriers in the workplace. The study findings revealed that the policies implemented in higher education institutions to restrict self-expression in the workplace did not have a negative effect on employee motivation and work productivity. Leaders in higher education institutions might apply these findings to develop an enriched workplace environment, which could improve employee retention rates. The implications for positive social change include the potential to increase economic contributions of the students who receive the education delivered by engaged higher education employees, and the subsequent increased tax base resulting from increased earnings.

This descriptive case study explored the perceptions of former community college first year learning community participants on aspects of their learning community experience that affected their persistence in college using Astin's student involvement theory and Tinto's student persistence model as a conceptual framework. Learning communities have been shown to increase student persistence, but little is known about how they do so. A better understanding of how learning communities contribute to increased student persistence would improve learning community practice and gain administrative support for learning communities. This study used a mixed methods research design utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data were collected from interviews with former participants and analyzed by identifying emergent themes within the responses. Quantitative data were collected by querying the studied institution's data warehouse and analyzed to determine if they matched the predicted pattern of increased persistence and confirmed the interview data themes. Three themes emerged from the qualitative data: connecting with others, acquiring and applying knowledge and skills, and making the transition to college. The quantitative data revealed higher rates of persistence for learning community students than for a comparison group. These findings confirmed the predicted pattern of student involvement leading to persistence. Further research is needed to explore other factors that may explain how learning communities impact persistence, especially in community colleges. The study contributes to positive social change by providing support for learning communities to help students persist in achieving a college education, attain their goals, and become more productive members of society.

Although critical thinking skills are important for all citizens participating in a democratic society, many community college students appear to lack these skills. This study addressed the apparent lack of research relating critical thinking instruction to campus climate. Critical thinking theory and Moos's organizational climate theory served as the theoretical foundation. The relationship between faculty's perceptions of three campus climate factors and their use of five critical thinking instructional techniques in the classroom was analyzed in this quantitative study. An online instrument based on the School-Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ) to measure campus climate and a researcher-designed measure of critical thinking instructional techniques was used in a nonexperimental correlational design. Responses from a purposive sample of 276 community college faculty in the western United States were evaluated using multiple regression analysis. Results indicated participatory decision-making was directly related, staff freedom was inversely related, and work pressure was not related to faculty's use of critical thinking instruction in their classrooms. This study contributes to positive social change by providing information that community college leaders can use to improve their students' critical thinking skills. As a result, students and graduates will be better prepared to contribute to the community and society at large by making better social and moral decisions.

Higher education institutions in Ghana are challenged in providing access to affordable education to accommodate all qualified students for postsecondary education. Most Ghanaian students seek skills and knowledge to prepare them for a global workforce. The study's purpose was to investigate the adaptation of the U.S. community college's 2-year model for training students in Ghana's higher education system to participate in high skilled employment in business and industry, using a conceptual framework drawn from Becker's theory of human capital. The research questions focused on what support students need to participate successfully in Ghana's higher education system, and what concerns stakeholders have regarding higher education in Ghana that might be addressed by the U.S. community college model. This qualitative study included individual and focus group interviews with 11 participants, including college students, faculty, staff, the registrar, and community business partners. Data were analyzed to find emerging codes and themes. Results showed that participants perceived a variety of challenges that limited their access to and participation in higher education including: financial issues, lack of preparation in critical thinking, inadequate academic facilities, and inequitable distribution of education subsidies. Participants expressed the need for campus-based career development programs, partnerships with community business organizations, and employable skills and work experience. Findings may contribute to positive social change by encouraging entrepreneurship education that might help create wealth to break the cycle of poverty. Higher education administrators may be encouraged to provide practical education to address the problem of youth unemployment.

In a southeast school district, students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are taught by elementary general education teachers despite their lack of training to meet the needs of such students. To provide effective education that supports the learning needs of students with ASD, exploration of the problem was needed. The intended outcome of this qualitative case study was to provide information to district administrators that could be used to develop interventions to help general education teachers meet the learning needs of students with ASD. The Iovannone, Dunlap, Huber, and Kincaid model of effective educational practices for students with ASD grounded the study. Research questions explored how general education teachers met students' individual support and service needs, academic needs, structured learning environment needs, communication and language needs, and disciplinary needs, as well as what supports and resources teachers perceived they needed to meet student needs. Ten elementary general education teachers participated in the study. Data were collected through interviews and analyzed using provisional coding and pattern coding. Six themes emerged from the analysis: (a) individual support and service, (b) academic needs, (c) structured environment needs, (d) communication and language needs, (e) disciplinary needs, and (f) teachers' perceptions of needed supports and resources. The results were used to create a professional development 3-day program from which teachers could strengthen their knowledge and skills in providing quality instruction to students with ASD. Such training may result in social change by improving the quality of education provided to students with ASD that will enhance their opportunities to live valued lives.

Attrition of special education teachers is a national problem resulting in lost monetary resources, school climate discontinuity, and lower student achievement. Within a small, rural district in southern Indiana, special education teacher attrition has risen since 2008 and continues to rise. District administrators want to retain teachers to ensure a continuity of instructional services for students with special needs. To explore this problem, an intrinsic qualitative case study was employed, guided by a research question that investigated the factors that special education teachers and administrators perceived as influencing special educators' career decisions. Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and Billingsley's schematic representation of special education attrition and retention comprised the conceptual framework. Data collection included one-on-one semistructured interviews with 7 teachers and 5 administrators and teacher retention documents. Data analysis involved in vivo coding and an inductive process to collapse data into the 3 following themes: (a) daily challenges, (b) retention factors, (c) transfer or leaving factors. A project arose from the study. Using salient interview data, a professional development plan was designed to address teachers' needs of relevant professional development (PD) and collaboration. The PD plan will establish a professional learning community and utilizes free evidence-based online training modules to support reading comprehension of students with special needs. Positive social change may result from improvements in PD support provided by the district to retain its special education teachers, resulting in greater continuity of instruction for students with special needs who depend on high quality, experienced educators.