The purpose of the study was to investigate relationships which existed between levels of perceived leadership effectiveness and selected dimensions of thinking style among chief student affairs administrators in four-year colleges and universities. The initial research sample consisted of 96 randomly selected chief student affairs administrators and selected professional student affairs staff members who reported directly to chief student affairs administrators.Chief student affairs administrators completed the Level 1: Life Styles Inventory, comprised of 240 short phrases and words producing a twelve-dimension thinking style profile. Professional student affairs staff members (subordinates) completed the thirty-item Leadership Effectiveness Questionnaire (L.E.Q.). The L.E.Q. allowed subordinate student affairs staff to evaluate levels of leadership effectiveness of superordinate administrators on 30 specific task and relationship behaviors identified by practicing student affairs professionals as being important behaviors for effective leadership in student affairs.Sixty-three chief student affairs administrators and 293 subordinate student affairs staff members were included in data analysis. Responses of subordinates from each institution to the L.E.Q. were averaged to obtain a single leadership effectiveness score for respective chief student affairs administrators. The distribution of scores was divided into four equal sub-groups based on quartile splits of the total distribution of scores.Multivariate analysis of variance procedures (MANOVA), subsequent analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Nevnan-Keuls procedures there appropriate, were utilized to test 12 null hypotheses pertaining to perceived leadership effectiveness and thinking style among chief student affairs administrators at the .05 level.Findings of the study included the following:1. No significant differences were found among sub-groups of chief student affairs administrators when responses to all 12 scales of the Level 1: Life Styles Inventory were grouped together.2. Ten of 12 dimensions with no significant differences were: (a) humanistic-helpful, (b) affiliative, (c) conventional, (d) avoidance, (e) oppositional, (f) power, (g) competition, (h) competence, (i) achievement, and (j) self-actualization.3. Significant differences on the approval and dependent thinking style dimensions existed between chief student affairs administrators who were perceived by subordinates to be low-average in leadership effectiveness and administrators who were perceived to be high-average or high in leadership effectiveness.

The Impact of Prolonged Participation in a Pro-Social Cognitive Behavioral Skills Program on Elementary Age Students, with Behavior Related Disorders, Behavior Accelerative, Behavior Reductive, and Return to Regular Classroom Outcomes

<p> This study explores private higher education and implementation of quality assurance procedures in Ghana, a country in West Africa. While focusing on the three main isomorphic classifications (coercive, mimetic and normative) of DiMaggio and Powell&rsquo;s (1983) institutional theory, this study examines how regulatory measures are not only designed to enhance the quality of private higher education institutions, but also how they impact the efforts employed by private providers towards meeting quality assurance standards in the environment in which they are located. Using a qualitative methodology, participants from five private university colleges and two private chartered institutions are selected as constituting the sample for this study. In addition, quality assurance documents from the website of the Ghana&rsquo;s National Accreditation Board (NAB) as well as documents from the websites of seven private higher education institutions are coded using NVivo 10 to determine the kind of efforts made by institutions to convey the message of legitimacy across to students and other clientele. Other participants are officials from the NAB, higher education specialists and retired faculty of public higher education institutions in Ghana. In general, the outcome of open-ended interviews with selected participants as well as documents analyzed found evidence of efforts private institutions are making towards meeting their quality assurance requirements through mimetic, coercive and normative isomorphism. These are indicated through institutional affiliations, conformity to mentoring (supervising) institution&rsquo;s programs, quality assurance requirements and measures established in conformity to the NAB requirements. Higher education specialists advocate that a specific policy aimed at addressing shortage of faculty members in Sub-Saharan Africa should be formulated to take on a more regional dimension. The Ghanaian private higher education landscape has a number of issues including shortage of academic and non-academic staff, dependence on adjunct faculty, and non-compliance to time frame given for program and institutional accreditation. These issues will require a holistic approach involving the NAB and the PHEIs in order to find long lasting solutions. As a result of the continual growth of private higher education providers in Ghana, it is imperative that the NAB make the quality assurance process very welcoming to genuine actors.</p>

Current educational policy theory recognizes two legitimate levels of educational decision-making, provincial ministries/departments of education and local school boards. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate whether a new, third level (i.e., a judicial level) of educational policy-making is evolving in Canada More specifically, the thesis examines the contemporary educational policy-making context in order to ascertain if the nature of educational policy-making structures, changes in the nature and activity of educational interest groups, and changes in the roles and philosophy of the Canadian judiciary may, in conjunction, be creating an unrecognized level of educational policy-making in this country. In addition, the thesis seeks to examine the possible implications of such an addition to the educational policy equation. Conceptually, the thesis is divided into three parts: (a) a review of the literature concerning interest groups, the Canadian courts, and educational policy-making, and the relationships which exist among these phenomena; (b) a questionnaire survey polling the perceptions of knowledgeable professionals concerning these phenomena and their relationships; and, (c) intensive interviews of 24 individuals representing interest groups and decision-making bodies which have been involved in educational policy litigation. Data gathered in the study supported perceptions found in the literature which suggested: (a) that the educational policy process is becoming increasingly centralized and less accessible to input from groups representing special interests; (b) that interest groups are becoming more numerous, more aggressive and more likely to use litigation as a method of influencing educational policy; and, (c) that the courts are adopting a more quasi-legislative role and a more liberal philosophy, primarily, but not exclusively, as a result of the implementation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In conjunction, these factors appear to set the stage for significant judicial decisions which could fundamentally alter traditional conceptions of legitimate, accountable, educational policy-making. Of particular interest is the possible leveling, or nationalizing, effect of judicial decisions in the constitutionally sensitive area of educational policy.

The purpose of this study was to investigate effective principal leadership behaviors as perceived by teachers in schools demonstrating continuous student academic improvement. The principal leadership behaviors, which were based on transformational leadership theory, were (1) provides vision, (2) models appropriate behavior, (3) fosters commitment to goals, (4) provides individualized support, (5) provides intellectual stimulation, and (6) holds high expectations. Continuous student academic improvement was defined as improved scores on the Stanford 9 Achievement Test for a cohort of students over a three-year period. The Principal Leadership Questionnaire (PLQ) (Valentine & Lucas, 2000) was administered to teachers in six schools which had demonstrated continuous student academic improvement. Focus groups were conducted with teachers in three of the six schools to define further the leadership behaviors they observed in their principals. The following conclusions were based on the findings of this study. (1) Teachers in schools demonstrating high continuous student academic improvement rated their principals significantly higher on all six transformational leadership behaviors than teachers in the medium and low continuous student academic improvement schools. (2) Principals who were strong in one of the principal leadership behaviors were strong in the other principal leadership behaviors. (3) All of the principal leadership behaviors were correlated with the school's academic gains. The correlations indicated that schools with high mean gains all had high mean teacher ratings. (4) Teachers in the high CSAI school identified more examples of how their principal modeled the six transformational leadership behaviors than did teachers in the medium CSAI and the low CSAI schools. These six transformational leadership behaviors, first identified by Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, and Fetter (1990) in their review of research, were expanded by Leithwood, Tomlinson, and Genge (1996) to provide indicators of each specific behavior. Principals who have a goal of increasing and maintaining high levels of student academic achievement should focus their day-to-day actions on modeling and emphasizing these transformational leadership behaviors. The findings of this study could be utilized to assist principals in ensuring that they demonstrate the transformational leadership behaviors identified by teachers in the schools demonstrating high continuous student academic improvement.

This study examined the effects of a beginning teacher induction program on the attainment of the Arizona Teaching Standards. Quantitative and qualitative perspectives were utilized. Quantitatively, a survey asked teachers to rate their perceptions of their level of attainment of the Arizona Teaching Standards as a result of being enrolled or having been enrolled in a beginning teacher induction program. Further, school-level administrators were surveyed on their perceptions of how well these groups of teachers had attained the Arizona Teaching Standards as a result of having been enrolled in a beginning teacher induction program. Qualitatively, the researcher interviewed school-level administrators to gather their perspectives on the quality of the beginning teacher induction program being utilized. The analysis of the data indicated that the new teachers at the elementary, middle, and high school levels felt strongly that the beginning teacher induction program assisted them in attaining the Arizona Teaching Standards. Additionally, first-year, second-year, third-year, and fourth-year teachers agreed that the beginning teacher induction program assisted them in attaining the Arizona Teaching Standards. It appeared that, as a whole group, beginning teachers agreed that the beginning teacher induction program had aided in their attainment of the Arizona Teaching Standards. Further, elementary school administrators, middle school administrators, and high school administrators were in agreement in their perceptions that the beginning teacher induction program assisted beginning teachers in the attainment of seven of the Arizona Teaching Standards. Also, the analysis demonstrated that at the elementary-level, teachers and administrators differed in their perceptions on two standards. There were no significant findings when comparing the teachers and administrators at the middle school level. However, when comparing teachers and administrators at the high school level, the analysis provided significant findings on eight of the Arizona Teaching Standards. Finally, it appeared that school-level administrators agreed that elements of effective beginning teacher induction were present in the program being utilized in the district of study.

This study examines shared governance in public, unionized community colleges and creates an inventory of faculty participation in governance as prescribed by collective bargaining agreements. Two hundred thirty-eight contracts representing faculty across 22 states were reviewed in order to identify in what areas faculty participate in institutional governance as well as for regional differences in patterns of governance across the United States. The results are intended to increase the understanding of shared governance in the community college. Grounded in organizational theory, the research adopts a theoretical framework which conceptualizes the internal governance of community colleges as primarily a political processes working within the framework of a professional bureaucracy. The findings suggest that faculty (both full-time and adjunct) are contractually obligated to participate in governance in a number of areas, and that there are regional differences between faculty participation as outlined by the language of the bargaining agreements. The study suggests the need for further research into the process and outcomes of collective bargaining in community colleges.

The purpose of this study was to identify the current level of implementation of site-based decision making (SBDM) in middle schools in a large Southwestern urban school district. These middle schools were in the process of establishing elements of the middle school concept as defined by the district. Implementation of site-based decision making had brought the responsibilities of daily decision making and problem solving as well as the challenge of making decisions about middle school philosophy much closer to the classroom. Implementation of SBDM in these middle schools had also brought an increase in the amount of teacher involvement in the deliberations that affected their lives in school. The primary purpose of SBDM may not be to improve student achievement but to improve the quality of life for the various staff who are responsible for improving student achievement. The instrument employed in this study measured the degrees to which teachers and staff perceived their actual and desired levels of participation in SBDM. It is necessary to measure growth and progress of SBDM for administrators to create a focus for future planning. The survey information indicated key areas of importance to school staff and served as a determinant of the climate in the district's exemplary middle schools. Administrators must delegate leadership roles and trust pedagogical expertise to teachers. The change in paradigms to transformational leadership allows for this empowerment of teachers and the possibility for SBDM to emerge. SBDM gives the decision-making community a sense of ownership of the innovation. Leadership practices potentially contribute to the outcomes to which schools aspire for students. Teachers' actual and desired levels of participation in SBDM differed substantially on almost every item in each subscale of the survey instrument. Desire for more participation was indicated in the areas of curriculum, instruction, goal setting, standards, staff development, and staffing. Less interest in participation was exhibited in budget management, evaluation, and making decisions about staff development. Respondents did not consider their sites to be strong examples of the district's middle school concept.

The latest educational reform movement to sweep across the American educational landscape was called the excellence reform movement (Berube, 1994). This reform movement received extensive media and political coverage and has impacted the education system for past 16 years. This movement has been characterized by waves of reforms, each with a specific focus. The end result was a series of reform initiatives that touched all segments of the educational system. There was a question as to the impact of the reform movement in the classroom. This study sought to gather the perspectives of teachers, from an Arizona school district, on the impact of reform initiatives emanating from the excellence reform movement. The study, framed by the theoretical context of educational change and Etzioni's compliance theory, utilized questionnaire and interview methodologies to collect teacher perspectives. Specifically, the study focused on the impact of reform initiatives on teaching practices in the classroom and factors that influenced teacher decision-making regarding implementation of reform initiatives. Using a multi-method study, an analysis of the data revealed a limited impact of the reform initiatives from the excellence reform movement in the classrooms in this particular district. Teachers indicated it did not matter whether the impetus for a reform initiative came from the state, locally or external to the system the impact was minimal on their practices. The role of teacher compliance with mandated educational reform was discussed utilizing Etzioni's compliance theory (1975). The study revealed that teachers' as lower-level participants in the educational organization complied with mandates from various levels within the educational organization. The analysis suggested this study supported previous studies regarding factors that influence teacher acceptance of reform initiatives (Huberman, 1989/1993; Murphy, Evertson, and Radnofsky, 1991). Specifically, teacher ownership in the reform, rewards and sanctions, and the role of the principal were three factors that impacted teacher decision-making regarding the implementation of reforms.

The study examined the 23 most frequently cited areas of concern to new teachers from the existing literature, how frequently these topics were discussed during the induction mentoring process, and if their discussion improved participant satisfaction with the outcomes of the process. Additionally, it examined several characteristics of mentors and inductees to learn whether they effected the discourse between mentors and inductees during the induction process. A questionnaire based on the research literature in the area, was distributed to all members of inductee mentor pairs in the school district studied. A total of 272 questionnaires were returned in scorable condition, yielding a return rate of 96.4 percent. Data from the survey was used to answer a total of six research questions. Major conclusions were that there is: (1) a limited interaction between the length of time that a mentor has been teaching and the frequency of discourse. (2) A substantial interaction between the length of time that an inductee has been teaching and the frequency of discourse. (3) A minor interaction between the educational background of the mentor and the frequency of discourse. (4) A minor interaction between the educational background of the inductee and the frequency of discourse. (5) Frequent discussion of all 23 of the topics by the majority of induction mentoring pairs. (6) Significant interaction between the frequency with which the various topics of the study were discussed and the participants' satisfaction with the outcomes of each area of the induction mentoring process.