Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 128 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-112).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1968. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 299-317). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2003. / Prepared for: Dept. of Management. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-152). Also available to VCU users online via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: Fisher's exact test; cross tabulations; CMH test; regression model. Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-97).

Previous research suggests that young children expect individuals who are members of the same social group (e.g., race, gender) to have warmer and closer relationships than individuals who are members of different social groups. Such an expectation may act as a barrier to academic achievement for children assigned to cross-race teachers, particularly during kindergarten. To investigate the effect of student-teacher relationships on academic achievement, kindergarten students (N = 70; 27 European American, 14 African American, 25 Latino, 4 Asian American) were assigned to a teacher who was depicted as having either warm cross-race (experimental condition) or warm same-race (control condition) relationships. The consequential effects on students’ perceptions of the their student-teacher relationship quality and school performance was examined. Results indicated that students who viewed a presentation emphasizing their teacher’s positive same-race relations, and who were paired with a same-race (but not cross-race) teacher, perceived closer, more supportive relationships with their teachers than their peers. Similarly, African American and Latino students who viewed a presentation emphasizing positive same-race relations perceived closer relations with their teachers than their European American and Asian American peers. Overall, students who viewed a presentation emphasizing positive cross-race relations showed better work habits in the classroom. Unexpectedly, the experimental manipulation was ineffective at countering children’s explicit beliefs about others’ racial biases. Potential implicit mechanisms of change in perceptions of the student-teacher relationship are discussed. / text

Neighborhood design has a significant impact on environmental and human health and is largely regulated by the codes developed by various professional organizations. While the sustainability movement as a whole has embraced the mutually beneficial goals of improving environmental and human health, the work of professionals in the environmental and public health fields has remained largely segregated over the past century. The purpose of my thesis is to compare the approach of each field in fostering sustainable neighborhoods through the development and implementation of codes and to quantify both the existing degree of collaboration and the latent potential for further collaboration within these codes. For comparison, I selected LEED for Neighborhood Development and the Healthy Development Measurement Tool to be representative of neighborhood codes generated by the environmental and public health movements, respectively, because they are the most fully developed and widely implemented evaluation systems presently available in each field. In order to investigate how the codes generated in each field compare in their approach, structure, and organization, I first performed a comparative analysis between them. I then performed a content analysis on both codes to quantify the overlap in goals between them. My hypothesis was that each field would exhibit a bias towards goals which explicitly support their own field, but that a significant portion of their goals would simultaneously support the other field. This hypothesis proved to be correct, but most interesting was the significant percentage of shared goals that were left unexpressed. Ultimately, 94% of recommended actions in LEED-ND were related to human health, though it was only explicitly referenced in 25% of the code. Similarly, 74% of recommended actions in the HDMT were related to environmental health, though it was only explicitly mentioned in 33% of the code. My thesis demonstrates that, while both fields already recognize that a small portion of their goals are shared, it is actually likely that nearly all of their goals are shared. By actively acknowledging these shared goals, both fields can potentially benefit from the greater amount of support, resources, and expertise that would become available to them through collaboration. / text

The “green jobs for all” movement aims to make “green collar” jobs – those that support families and the environment – accessible to every working man and woman. This report investigates the potential role of the green building sector in this movement in Austin, TX through a literature review and interviews with sixteen green building professionals. The findings suggest that Austin’s green building sector does appear to offer quality green collar jobs with few barriers to entry in the market. As such, it stands to play an important role in the green for all movement locally and nationally. Unlike some other sectors of the green economy, the green building sector, at least in Texas, does not appear to be limited to “eco-elites,” a.k.a., the white, wealthier Americans who tend to dominate mainstream environmental movements. Although it is not clear that the green building sector is growing the environmental movement by involving people whose demographic background is different than most mainstream environmentalists, it does appear that contractors and subcontractors who build “green” take particular pride in their work. New jobs are expanding tin the green building sector and green practices among existing trades often gives firms a competitive edge. There are many potential roles for the city to take in its support of the green building sector. Voluntary programs are the most popular on all fronts, but the case can also be made in some cases for mandates. Rating systems are essential to resolve imperfect information in the market, but rating systems using nationally standardized codes might facilitate the efficiency of real estate markets by giving appraisers and lenders a rating system they can trust. / text

In this investigation I discuss power relations between agricultural frontier colonists and the Nicaraguan State, within a framework of neoliberal environmental policies. In so doing, I analyze the origins of this relationship, construction and nature of the State, mestizos-peasants-colonists identity, migration to the agricultural frontier, and the space under contention. Under the pressure of the World Bank, the State has passed several environmental and indigenous rights protection laws. This legal framework involves evicting the colonists from indigenous territories and natural reserves. It has been a decade since the framework was passed, but the government has not fulfilled this duty. This fact raises question about the capabilities of the colonists to remain within those places and the willingness of the government to enforce the law. Between 2009 and 2014, I did ethnographic work and collected geographic information in Mayangna Sauni Bas and Mayangna Sauni Bu indigenous territories, located in the northwest region of Nicaragua. My findings reveal that the colonists are engaged in micropolitics relations with local mestizo power groups. These relations grant protagonism to the colonists to negotiate with the government those measures that they regard as unfair. I reached two main conclusions: the State has marginalized and racialized the colonists, and contradictory interests among the power groups that form the State contribute to these micropolitics relations. This dissertation argues the need to focus agricultural frontier studies in more inclusive and integral ways. Colonists have played the double role of being victimizers of indigenous people and their environmental resources, and victims of ambitions and discrimination from the State. The experiences that colonists, and peasants in general, have acquired through generations under abuses and violence are shaping their own knowledge and political standpoint. / text

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This study focuses on students’ perceptions of the characteristics of quality teachers. A total of 448 students enrolled in high performing schools in 10 mostly urban school districts participated in focus group interviews during which groups of students in elementary, middle school, and high school were presented with the question, “What are the characteristics of quality teachers?” Student responses were recorded and analyzed using the three steps of Grounded Theory. Six characteristics of quality teachers emerged from the data. Student responses for each subgroup (elementary, middle school, and high school) were analyzed to determine the prevalence of each emergent characteristic among and between subgroups; each characteristic was then compared between subgroups to isolate intersecting and salient characteristics. Emergent characteristics were cross referenced to existing research on quality teacher traits to identify congruent as well as emergent descriptions of quality teachers. The goal of this study was to illuminate students’ voices by bringing their perspectives into the discourse of what constitutes quality teaching. / text