The purpose of this study was to examine the records of those financial aid students who comprised the Class of 1986 in order to predict the effect three possible options of the Standards of Satisfactory Progress and Academic Good Standing for Financial Aid Recipients may have on The Florida State University's undergraduate enrollment in future years. / The population for the study were all financial aid recipients in the Class of 1986, both native and transfer. There were 4,327 subjects in the population. / The results of the study indicated that race, sex, native or transfer status, and major course of study had a statistically reliable relationship with the passing of the possible three Options of Satisfactory Progress and Academic Good Standing of the finnacial aid recipents of the Class of 1986 at The Florida State University. The financial aid recipient most likely to proceed in passing any of the three options of Satisfactory Progress and Academic Good Standing would be a white female transfer from another four-year college or university who was majoring in Theater or Music. The financial aid recipient most likely not to succeed would be a black male native majoring in Social Sciences or Industrial Engineering. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-06, Section: A, page: 1338. / Major Professor: Marion Neil. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This study presented the possibilities of the use of funding cycles in educational appropriations for strategic planning in education. The literature review delineated the scope of various cycles in research, and presented a discussion on the possible usefulness of cyclical fluctuations to educational planning. / Cycle analysis was used in the study to examine the data. Annual appropriated capital outlay funding to the public school system in the State of Florida comprised the data. The computer program, the Statistical Analysis System (SAS), was used for spectral analysis to investigate the presence of cycles in the data. The significance of the results was tested using the SAS Spectra Whitetest option which provided a printed output of the Fisher's Kappa Statistic and the Bartlett Komolgorov-Smirnov (K-S) test statistic. A second computer program, FOURCAST, was used to verify cycles identified by SAS and to examine relationships between cycles. FOURCAST employed the moving window spectral method in which a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) was applied to each window to estimate the spectral density function. / The analysis yielded results that indicated that although the relative strength of the periodic effects for the various cycles could not determine the exact turning points in the time series, cycles with established periods may contribute vital planning information. / It was concluded that a planner familiar with cycle analysis could incorporate information derived from this technique with other planning tools, thus, adding new dimensions to the development of strategies for managing educational change. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-08, Section: A, page: 2770. / Major Professor: Frank William Banghart. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

A study was conducted to determine how to design computer-based tools to support the design and improvement of educational systems, and whether the application of such tools could be beneficial to educators. The literature review included an analysis of: the history of educational systems, various approaches to Educational Systems Design (ESD), and the history of computer-integrated manufacturing. A model for a computer-integrated education (CIE) system was derived. Design requirements for the key component of CIE, a computer-based ESD Tool, were derived. A prototype of the ESD Tool was developed in Microsoft's Visual BASIC$\sp{\rm TM}$ during a four-round, iterative, design-experiment that included: data collection from educator informants, decisions about the design of the prototype, and development or refinement of the prototype. / The informants identified several important issues for implementation and acceptance of the ESD Tool, made numerous design suggestions, identified political issues for the ESD Tool, and identified tasks for which the ESD Tool could be helpful to educational planners, administrators, and researchers. The results support the conclusion that computer-based tools could be useful in the design and improvement of educational systems, as evidenced by the successful prototype of the ESD Tool, and responses of the informants during the study. To better substantiate this conclusion, issues are identified for further research and development of the ESD Tool and the CIE model. Reflections on the meaning of the results and the utility of the design-experiment methodology are included. Eighteen screens from three versions of the ESD Tool are depicted. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-07, Section: A, page: 2649. / Major Professor: David Salisbury. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The purpose of the study was to determine the level, patterns, and extent of academic staff participation in the decision-making process in Nigerian Federal Universities. / A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select participants. The primary sampling units were nine Federal Universities randomly selected from 21 universities. Three universities were selected from each of three regions in Nigeria. The secondary sampling units were 701 academic staff also randomly selected from the nine universities. Unstructured personal interviews were conducted for data clarification. A total of 575 usable questionnaires were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi square test, t-test and one-way analysis of variance. / Results of the data analysis revealed: (1) academic staff are actively involved in making decisions that are academic in nature through the senate, (2) academic staff are told about nonacademic decisions after such decisions are made, (3) those with less than five years experience were more enthusiastic about the impact of their participation on decision outcomes, (4) a complex relationship was observed between the administrators and the academic staff. For example, a separate jurisdiction pattern of participation (where academic staff make academic decisions and administrators make personnel decisions), and also administrative primacy kind of governance dimension (where administrators consult academic staff and consider their views carefully before decisions are made) was indicated. (5) Academic staff who were former administrators perceived their participation in governance as effective while academic staff who had never served in administrative positions perceived their own participation as ineffective. (6) Although there were regional and age differences in "attitude toward participation" and "when academic staff are usually consulted," responses were in the same direction. (7) Academic staff were not satisfied with the consultation process at their universities. (8) Attempts were being made in some universities to decentralize authority. / The recommendations made include: (1) improvement of the consultation process, (2) improvement of the relationship between academic staff and administrators, and (3) more involvement of academic staff in other governance issues especially selection/appointment of administrators. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-11, Section: A, page: 3428. / Major Professor: John S. Waggaman. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Sustainable school reform efforts are needed to move schools closer toward the ideals of equity, justice and success for every student. The success or failure of a school and its students often hinges on the effectiveness of leadership. Research reveals that transformational school leaders become effective change agents by developing a shared vision for the school, building consensus around key priorities, holding high expectations, providing support, modeling appropriate values and building collaborative cultures and shared leadership. The purpose of this study is to examine the predictive relationship between the emotional and social competence and transformational leadership behaviors of school principals. / Principals participating in the study completed the five transformational subscales of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ5x) and the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI), while their superintendents completed the rater versions of the MLQ and ESCI. The relationship between the transformational scales on the MLQ and scores from the ESCI were calculated using Spearman's rho coefficients. A Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was calculated to determine the significance of difference between the self-assessment and other-rater assessment of transformational leader behaviors and social and emotional competency. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess the predictive relationship between the dispositional skills and transformational leadership behaviors of the school principal.

This research project explored the relationship between principals' perceived leadership styles (transformational and/or transactional), teacher efficacy, and student achievement. The relationship was measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale, and school-level value-added scores. Twenty-four principals and three hundred twenty-seven teachers responded to the surveys. Findings indicated factors of transformational and transactional leadership styles to have significant correlations with teacher efficacy and student achievement.

The object of this study was to investigate transformational leadership in Christian schools. The study investigated the perception of empowerment of K-12 Christian school teachers and its influence on organizational and professional commitment and job satisfaction. It explored correlations between teacher empowerment and selected demographic variables. The study also investigated how K-12 Christian school leaders and teachers perceive teacher empowerment. A combination of causal comparative and a correlational research method using a series of t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression statistics was used for parametric statistical analyses. The research findings were mixed. While the study pointed to the prevalence of teacher empowerment in K-12 Christian schools, teachers did not feel empowered in certain dimensions or subscales of teacher empowerment.

Since traditional principal preparation programs were scrutinized for inadequately training 21st century principals, alternative principal programs were designed to prepare principals to improve the US educational system and student achievement. One particular innovative program, the Daly Leadership Program, was collaboratively developed between the Pintler School District and the Intrepid University. The Daly Leadership Program was not only designed to balance leadership theory and practice, but also to produce transformative leaders capable of to navigating a moral dimension and promoting second order change. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the leadership style of graduates from the Daly Leadership Program that were employed by the Pintler School District. First, it was determined if the program graduates identified themselves as transformative leaders or leaders who have the capacity to make second-order changes. Then it was determined if program graduates serving as school principals were perceived as transformative by the teachers on their staff. The leadership style of graduates was measured using the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire created by Bass & Avolio to define leadership behaviors on a Full Range Leadership continuum from Laissez-Faire to Transactional to Transformational. / The results revealed that Daly graduates perceived themselves to be transformative leaders at a higher rate than the national norms. Teachers who worked with program principals perceived their principals as transformative as well. However, principals perceived themselves more transformative than their teachers perceived them to be in the areas of intellectual stimulation (encourages innovative thinking), individual consideration (coaches people), and contingent reward (rewards achievement). In fact, teachers perceived their principals lower than national norms in these three factors, but higher than national norms for inspirational motivation (inspires others) and idealized influence (builds trust and acts with integrity). / This study indicated that there was alignment between the goals of the program and the perceived leadership style of graduates. It also indicated that the context of formal leadership roles might impact the perceptions of principals and teachers regarding leadership style.

This study investigated the relationship between two elementary building administrators and their teaching faculty with regard to leadership styles of the principal. Leadership analysis determined that one principal had a transformational leadership and one principal who had a transactional leadership style. / A survey assessed the perceptions of elementary teachers regarding each school's climate, and their own empowerment resulting in teacher efficacy. Results were not congruent with the review of literature. / The school led by the transactional principal underwent an intervention for a twelve-week period during which changes were made based on the data from the pre-tests administered. These interventions reflected a more transformational leadership approach. The results of a second administration of surveys after interventions by the principal showed limited results in improving teacher efficacy and school climate. The researcher also gained insights as to future studies and implications for practice such as replication of the study using a longer intervention period and a larger sample within one school or more schools in the study.

Following scholarly calls (e.g., Crosnoe, 2001; Perna & Titus, 2005) for studies related to studentsâ academic trajectories, the purpose of this study was to examine whether the relationship between studentsâ college aspirations and parental involvement differs between the eighth grade and tenth grade years, two critical time periods during which students typically initiate and subsequently reassess future college plans. Utilizing base-year and first follow-up data from the restricted-use version of the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS: 88/90), results from fixed-effects logistic regression analyses indicated that parental involvement has a significant positive effect on the likelihood of students having high college aspirations (desire to finish college) during both the eighth and tenth grade years. Additionally, a cross-model hypothesis test indicated that the magnitude of the relationship between students' college aspirations and parental involvement is significantly weaker during the tenth grade year. In conclusion, findings from this study provide statistical support for previous claims that the relationship between college aspirations and parental involvement weakens as students ascend through the educational pipeline. Results from this study imply that scholars should view the relationship between studentsâ college aspirations and parental involvement as dynamic, rather than static, as students ascend through the secondary school grades and, coincidentally, the student college choice process. Additionally, this studyâs findings imply that future revisions to federal, state, and school-level parental involvement policies such as Section 1118 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 should emphasize proactive forms of parental involvement (e.g., participation in school activities, school-related discussions with students), in addition to motivational forms of parental involvement (e.g., expressed levels of encouragement and expectations for educational attainment), throughout the secondary school years.