The purpose of this study was to determine why and how a large multi-campus community college created a campus to specifically meet non-traditional needs of students. The structures at this campus were different because its students did not have same needs for traditional education as students attending traditional campuses. The study of the context of this non-traditional campus can assist other institutions considering the development of such an entity. Case study and qualitative research methods were used to reveal the assumptions, beliefs, and factors that led to the development of the campus, the processes used, and the perceptions that it served non-traditional needs effectively. Document analysis, observations, and interviews were used to describe the structures in place and the perceptions of its degree of success in accomplishing its goal. The findings of the study revealed that the need for non-traditional education existed. Different structures and a separate campus facilitated and enhanced the creativity and freedom necessary to develop alternative programs and methods to deliver education for students, businesses, and other partners.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 added new provisions for disciplining children with disabilities by suspension and/or expulsion. The purpose of this study was to determine the status of policies, procedures and accepted practice for suspensions, expulsions, and manifestation determinations of children with disabilities in two types of public school districts (traditional and charter) in the State of Arizona. Using document analysis of local school district policies, procedures, and child files for review from recent state education monitoring information and a structured telephone interview questionnaire with Directors of Special Education in both types of districts reporting documented suspensions and/or expulsions over ten days, the research findings indicated that the major changes in the federal special education law had not been a catalyst, to date, for the development of new local education agency policies and procedures regarding suspension and/or expulsion of children with disabilities. Results indicated no major difference in policies and procedures among or between traditional and charter public school districts. Respondents from both types of districts described the procedures used by their IEP teams that indicated the teams were conducting manifestation determinations in an appropriate manner. However, neither type of school district was in compliance with the new discipline requirements of IDEA regarding the mandate to have written policies and procedures. Expedited due process hearing to decide if a child is so dangerous that the requesting district will qualify for an exemption to stay-put rules appear to be unnecessary as a procedure to remove the child from school. Research directions are discussed.

This study investigated the principal's perceived effectiveness of preservice teaching education and training in the state of Arizona. An in-depth interview methodology was used to explore, describe, and analyze the perceptions of twelve principals serving in K-12 schools located in Southern Arizona. The following questions guided this study: What attitudes, skills and knowledge competencies do principals want new teachers to demonstrate and how do these perceptions compare with profiles developed in the literature? What type of course work do principals want in teacher preservice training programs and how do these perceptions compare with those currently offered in Arizona Colleges of Education? What strengths have principals observed in new teachers and which of these strengths do they attribute directly to preservice training programs in Arizona? What weaknesses have principals observed in new teachers and which of these weaknesses do they attribute directly to preservice training programs in Arizona? What recommendations do principals have for improving preservice training programs in Arizona Colleges of Education? This study was limited in terms of generalizability because only the perceptions of 12 principals serving schools in Southern Arizona were utilized. Qualitative data was collected utilizing individual in-depth interviews with the 12 principals selected for this study. Response data gathered in this study were analyzed inductively in an attempt to develop and identify significant themes, concepts, and dimensions describing the principal's perception of the effectiveness of preservice teacher training. The following findings emerged from this study relative to the principals' perceptions of preservice training: principals have a specific profile of the competent new teacher and this profile parallels the research; principals want teachers to take course work in classroom management, communication and methodology with a emphasis on theory to practice methods; principals characterized new teachers as enthusiastic and strong in content knowledge; principals characterized new teachers as weak in classroom management skills and their ability to deliver instruction; principals recommended that schools of education become more practitioner focused, provide earlier and longer field service, provide immersion type student teaching experiences, and become less isolated and more interdependent in their relationship with K-12 schools.

The purpose of this study was to measure the impact the Arizona Academic Standards have had on teachers' beliefs about their instructional practices. Data were collected using two surveys. The Arizona Academic Standards Program Survey was adapted from one used in Massachusetts (Hanley, 2000), and teachers were asked to provide information about their understanding of how to teach the curriculum standards. The second survey used, The Nature of School Leadership Survey (Leithwood and Jantzi, 1995), examined the relationship between the eight school leadership influences and the impact they had on teachers' instructional practices. As a result of this study, evidence was found that teachers' beliefs about the quality of the Arizona Academic Standards have impacted their instructional practices in teaching the Arizona Academic Standards in their classrooms. These data also indicated that teachers' beliefs about the quality of the Arizona Academic Standards in the two rural school districts have been influenced by professional development opportunities and school leadership.

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between leadership factors and third grade student test scores in math and reading. The leadership factors were General Leadership and Collaborative Leadership. Principal tenure at the site was another leadership variable examined in this study. The 41 schools included in the study had a principal who had served in that capacity at the site for a minimum of four years. The study included 41 elementary schools in a large urban district located in the southwestern United States. The study, was based on the responses of 741 teachers to a district wide survey on leadership, district statistics on principal tenure, and on the SAT-9 reading and math test scores of 2,164 third grade students. A Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple linear regression were used to test the four hypotheses. No significant relationship or predictive power was found between the General Leadership or Collaborative Leadership Factors and the math and reading test scores of the third grade students. No significant relationship or predictive power was found between principal tenure at a site and the math and reading test scores of third grade students. However, principal tenure did have a stronger correlational relationship with third grade math and reading test scores than General Leadership of Collaborative Leadership Factors. This study confirms the importance of the need to continue studying the relationship between leadership variables and student test scores and to further examine the instruments that districts use to assess and inform school leadership about their practice. The statistical results confirm that staff satisfaction is not necessarily a predictor of student test scores. However, the data supports a pattern of high achieving schools also having high staff satisfaction.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that the principals' leadership styles, attitudes, and beliefs, and school district leadership had on the successful implementation of a new innovation in elementary schools such as the Comprehensive Competency Based Guidance (CCBG) program. This study was conducted in a small, fast growing rural district in southwestern United States during the spring of 2003. Subjects interviewed in this study were five elementary principals, three elementary counselors, one governing board member, one assistant superintendent, and one student services director. When the elementary CCBG program was first implemented in the Mountain Vista School District (MVSD) in 1991, three counselors worked part-time at each of seven schools. District leadership, not site leadership, proved to be the most important factor in the diffusion of the CCBG program. District leadership provided strong direction to principals to implement a CCBG program where counselors would work in the classroom with all students. One high school counselor took the impetus to improve the high school counseling program in 1986 and created a personal vision which grew into a district vision. District leadership in the MVSD came to share a common vision to increase the number of counselors in the district to fully implement the CCBG program. A governing board member, an assistant superintendent, and the student services director were the influential district leaders. This study confirms that successful implementation of an innovation must have the advocacy of the governing board and district administrators to successfully implement an innovation. Principals provided the site support for the implementation of the CCBG program while district leaders keep the focus on using counselors to implement the CCBG program and working to fund additional elementary counselors. Results of the interviews also revealed that an innovation champion and change agent is needed to diffuse a program and take it from the agenda setting stage of the innovation process to the routinizing stage. The student services director was the innovation champion and her work for 17 years was essential in routinizing the CCBG program.

This qualitative study analyzed and described new teachers' experiences of their first year in their communities of practice. Using a theoretical framework of phenomenological and narrative research, social learning theory, and alternative representations of research, the research design consisted of in-depth and focus group interviews and the creation of collage. Communities of practice research (notably the work of Lave and Wenger) was used as a lens to explore the experiences of first year teachers. Data were analyzed and described using the constant-comparative method. In addition, participants' profiles were reconstructed in the participants' own words using Seidman's (2006) method. Research is needed to assist administrators and experienced educators to understand and support the efforts of their newest colleagues. Attracting, nurturing and keeping our best teachers are goals that are essential to providing quality educational services to our students. As such, this research will have implications for universities, school boards and in-school administrators, teachers' unions, and others who are interested in supporting new teachers in effective and efficient manners.

<p> The notion of building sustainable schoolhouses is catching hold amongst school professionals and designers. But gaps exist in the understanding of what that means. </p><p> This dissertation emerges from a problem of practice identified from an educator's practitioner perspective, involving lack of clarity around the notion of sustainability as central to a school design and construction initiative. The study revolves around the central design question, "What is a pattern language appropriate for the development of a sustainable schoolhouse?" It goes further, to analyze the gaps and overlaps in three professional groups of experts and their understanding of design patterns for inclusion in the pattern language. The conceptual framework uses a broad-based definition of sustainability. The review of literature relies on a framework utilizing a twin focus&mdash;on design and on sustainability&mdash;to finally examine sustainable design. The study uses a multi-pronged, three round Delphi Method process to elicit design patterns from experts in three professional groups associated with building sustainable K-12 school facilities: educators, designers, and ecologists. It employs a <i>W</i> coefficient of concordance to seek objective accord amongst members of the three professional groups in terms of their respective selection of design patterns for inclusion, and subsequent ordinal rankings of the design patterns. The products of the study are: a Master Pattern Language consisting of 44 design patterns, three professional-group sub-lists that illustrate key similarities and differences between and amongst the professional groups, and a statistical analysis of the relative concordance within each professional group. The dissertation then provides analysis of the findings in light of the potential utility of the results, especially as potential tools for future school design efforts. </p>

<p>This study examined how teachers perceive Free Primary Education had influenced access, retention and progression of marginalized students in primary schools in Kisii County, Kenya. A critical pedagogy framework was used to unpack and shed light on teacher and school practices that affected access to basic education of at risk students. Data was collected through 217 surveys given to teachers from 28 purposefully selected primary schools in Kisii County, 3 administrator interviews, and 4 focus group interviews comprised of a total of 30 classroom teachers from 14 schools in a sequential mixed methods design. Four research questions that guided this research were: a) How do teachers perceive Free Primary Education in Kenya has influenced access to primary education for marginalized students? b) What do teachers perceive to be at risk categories for marginalized students? c) How do teacher practices influence the retention of marginalized students in education in Kenya? Finally, d) to what extent do teacher beliefs influence their desire to differentiate instruction for marginalized students? Findings from this study indicated that Free Primary Education had led to increased access to basic education through reduction of fees paid by parents to schools, provision of instructional materials, open admission policy, and construction and/or renovation of existing educational facilities. The study also revealed roadblocks that hinder access to basic education for marginalized students such as extra fees levied by schools to parents, poverty, high teacher pupil ratio, lack of skills to equitably educate at risk students in classrooms, and poor health. The participants identified orphans, students with low incidence disabilities, children from extremely poor families, children from single parent households, children engaged in child labor, and children from negligent parents as categories of students who were at risk for marginalization. Moreover, the study revealed some of the teacher and schooling practices with regard to handing marginalized students which included teacher care, professional development, accommodations, remedial teaching, and guidance and counseling. There was a significant correlation between teacher philosophies and teacher willingness to differentiate instruction (<i>r_s</i>= 0.43, <i>p&lt;0.05</i>), and also a significant correlation between teachers&rsquo; philosophies and their willingness to give various accommodations to marginalized students in their classrooms (<i>r_s</i>=0.34, <i>p&lt;0.05</i>). Further analysis of data revealed that, a) access to basic education as a class issue, b) access to basic education as a gender issue, c) national tests and measurements as instruments for marginalization, and d) access to education as a teacher critical consciousness issue. </p>

<p> Schools continue to change in many ways. Technology, diversity, Response to Intervention (RtI), 21st Century Skills, and other initiatives warrant the need for continued professional development for all school staff. School psychologists play a key role in the school system and can bring significant contributions to the school team. School psychologists often have multiple schools to serve in rural and urban settings and, at times, have to serve schools in isolation away from other school psychologists. School psychologists need opportunities to engage in meaningful professional development and have the opportunity for collegiality and collaboration with other school psychologists. This study investigated the effectiveness of school psychology learning communities as a way to provide professional development, collegiality, and collaboration school psychologists need to contribute to the education environment. </p><p> A qualitative case study design was utilized in this study. Data sources from interviews, observations, and documents chronicled the perceived impact of utilizing professional learning communities for school psychologists as a method of professional development in a seven-district special education cooperative in the Midwest. </p><p> The findings of the study uncovered that the learning community produced an increase in knowledge and skills for school psychologists. It also provided a forum to study and find consistency in services school psychologists provide to schools. Data also showed that school psychologists felt that the goal setting process within the group served as a guide to identify continued professional develop needs. In addition, data revealed that school psychologists felt that collaboration within the learning community had an impact on student achievement and that the learning community increased job satisfaction of school psychologists. </p>