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This study is an evaluation of school experiences in the fourth grade of Lancaster School.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This study attempts to determine to what extent the patrons of Iowa Park School are progressive or traditional in their educational thinking by obtaining at first hand their reactions to some of our present-day educational practices, which authorities in the field agree are progressive or traditional. It also attempts to determine whether such factors as sex and economic status influence educational attitudes of parents, and whether the parent's viewpoint affects the scholastic achievement of the child.

The purpose of this study was to determine the present status of the Carrollton Elementary School, Carrollton, Texas. Further study was directed toward notations of major needs and next steps for improvement.

The problem in this study is to present as accurately as possible the status of the Saint Jo Elementary School in Saint Jo, Texas, and to suggest recommendations for the improvement of this school.

Poor indoor air quality in schools is associated with diminished learning, health risks to students and staff, and economic costs. This dissertation reports findings from the Texas Elementary School Indoor Air Study (TESIAS). The objective of this investigation is to establish a baseline for indoor environmental parameters. The investigation selected 30 elementary schools from 2 school districts. One school district was located along the Texas/Mexico border in a hot-humid climate region. The other school district was located in central Texas in a mixed-humid climate region. Phase I of the study was a questionnaire completed by 1336 teachers and other school staff. Phase II of the study collected both qualitative and quantitative data in 120 classrooms including continuous monitoring of comfort parameters (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, temperature, and relative humidity). Phase III collected more in-depth quantitative data, including fungi and bacteria concentrations, in 12 classrooms. This dissertation investigates potential differences in the study data between school districts and between portable and traditional classrooms. The two major findings of this study concern water leakage from roofs and inadequate ventilation. Roof leaks were the highest reported source of water incursion and correlated with health symptoms. Free-standing small footprint classrooms had fewer roof and wall leaks than traditional classrooms. The simple low pitch roof design and sufficient overhangs typically found on the small footprint buildings studied likely result in less reported roof leaks. The measured carbon dioxide concentrations (both average and peak values) were well in excess of the recommended maximums and fewer than 15% of the classrooms met the recommended maximum concentrations. Relatively higher CO2 concentrations and relative humidity in the border school district were attributed to a greater frequency of blocked outdoor air intakes. Further investigation of novel HVAC systems, such as low velocity displacement ventilation, is needed. Ultimately, this study enables the development of best practices for school design for improved indoor air quality. / text

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The Student Success Initiative (SSI) established, in 1999, various promotional gates for students to pass the state-mandated high-stakes assessment test known as the Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills (TAKS), administered in the areas of reading for third graders and of reading and math for fifth graders. Largely perceived as antisocial promotion legislation, outcomes of the SSI implementation did not seem to coincide with their original intentions. To ascertain the veracity of this claim, interviews were scheduled with a variety of local level stakeholders serving as decision-making participants in a structure known as the grade placement committee. Grade placement committee members address student promotion and retention decisions when students do not meet the passing standards for the TAKS tests. Because the SSI is still recent in its implementation, to date there is not a wide body of research examining the stakeholder perceptions of the SSI and of their role in the decision-making process for student retention and promotion. To this end, several interviews were conducted with teachers, with parents, and with campus or district-level administrators. The interviews served to gauge the stakeholder perceptions regarding their role in the grade placement committee itself as decision-makers and also their perceptions or their experiences regarding how often or likely students are to be promoted or to be retained in the context of the grade placement committee meetings. The participants also spoke about their views regarding the effectiveness of the SSI and the outcomes of its implementation. The research participants spoke to their personal experiences with student retention and promotion. The stakeholders' views range from the perception that the SSI puts students at risk of failure, actually causing students to be promoted more often to the opinion that the SSI does hold both the teacher and the parents more accountable for student success. Several broad themes emerged from the data. The themes of perceived power, underlying or unwritten agendas and a call for change due to dissatisfaction with the current system were evident upon the examination of the data.

The purpose of this study was to determine if character education programs impact the suspension rates of students from regular instructional public elementary schools in Texas. The data was also examined to determine if the number of years since a school's implementation of a character education program has an impact on the effectiveness of the programs as measured by the suspension rates of students from school. Finally, the study sought to determine if the socio-economic status of the schools has an impact on the effectiveness of character education programs as measured by the student suspension rates. A random sample of 135 regular instructional public elementary schools in Texas was collected. The principal of each school completed a questionnaire that was used to sort schools into three groups: schools with "direct" character education programs, schools with "indirect" character education programs, and schools that have implemented no type of character education program. A two-year history of suspensions was obtained for each school. The data was analyzed using one-way and two-way ANOVAs. The results of the analyses indicated that the implementation of character education programs, no matter what type, did not produce statistically significant differences in student suspension rates from school. Furthermore, the data revealed that neither the number of years since the implementation of the character education programs nor the socio-economic status of the schools had an impact on the effectiveness of the character education programs as measured by the student suspension rates from school.