This study examines the Recreation curriculum at Southern Illinois University, utilizing data collected from both alumni and students. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the sample audience was satisfied with the course offerings in the department of recreation and whether the curriculum was meeting the needs of professionals. Data was collected using an electronic subscription service known as Survey Monkey. The results revealed that a majority of the respondents were satisfied with course offerings and felt as if though the curriculum met their needs as professionals. Recommendations include conducting more frequent studies, updating the current curriculum, and conducting a more thorough analysis of current curriculum.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

L’évaluation des situations familiales en protection de l’enfance, est une question complexe et conflictuelle. En France comme en Allemagne, les organisations en prise avec des risques et des incertitudes dans la conduite des évaluations, chercheraient à formaliser les évaluations pour légitimer leurs actions. Mais cette formalisation ne serait pas sans empreinte de tensions, entre l’apparent et l’inapparent, la rationalisation et l’intuition, la participation et l’exclusion. Aussi ce présent travail conduit dans une perspective comparative France / Allemagne s’attache à mettre en lumière les ambiguïtés qui parcourent les formalisations de l’évaluation tant au niveau des normes juridiques que de leurs réfractions plurielles dans les pratiques professionnelles. En alternant les regards des professionnels et des usagers, ce travail s’intéresse également à la place de l’usager mineur dans l’évaluation et à la perception par les enfants et jeunes français et allemands de leur participation au processus évaluatif. / Diagnostic evaluation of children mistreatment in France and in Germany. / Diagnostische Auswertungen im Kinderschutz sind komplex und konfliktbehaftet. In Frankreich ebenso wie in Deutschland versuchen Kinderschutzorganisationen die Risiken ihre diagnostische Methoden bereits im Ansatz so gering wie möglich zu halten und damit ihre Prozesse zu rationalisieren. Dabei laufen sie jedoch Gefahr die Partizipation den Klienten zu vergessen. Die vorliegende Arbeit erstellt eine vergleichende Perspektive zwischen Frankreich und Deutschland, in der Formalisierungsverfahren von diagnostichen Methoden im Kinderschutz sowohl auf der rechtlichen Ebene, als auch in der Praxis der Beschäftigten kritisch beleuchtet werden. Desweitern setzt sich diese Arbeit mit den Sichtweise französicher und deutscher Kinder und Jugendlichen über ihre Partizipationsmöglichkeiten an Bewertungsprozessen ihrer Situation und an konkreten Hilfsmaßnahmen auseinander.

<p> The purpose of this study was to complete a mixed-methods comparative analysis of first-generation and non-first-generation students in the Midwest to determine potential differences between students&rsquo; college satisfaction, retention factors, college selection, college experience, and deciding factors on attending college at private, public, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The Primary Researcher believed that a students&rsquo; classifications (first-generation or non-first-generation) and the type of university that they chose to attend would yield different results in their overall college experiences. The Researcher conducted the study in different settings and did not compare by the type of university or the type of students who attended the universities. The previous research was conducted in different regions. The Primary Researcher was not able to find extensive then-current research on first-generation and non-first-generation students in the Midwest. The results found did not show that being a first-generation or a non-first-generation student at a Historically Black College and University, public, or private university made a difference. The Primary Researcher found that overall, first-generation students had a more positive perception of their college experience than their non-first-generation peers.</p><p>

<p> This mixed-method research study examined the perceptions of kindergarten through third-grade teachers regarding the use of homework in their classrooms. Electronic surveys were sent to 190 kindergarten through third-grade teachers in seven school districts from five counties in Central Missouri. A total of 47 educators chose to respond to the open- and closed-ended questions. The results of this study showed most of the respondents believed in the benefits of homework for academic achievement. The quality and quantity of assigned homework were important characteristics for educators from both large and small school districts. The lack of parental support was considered one of the top three main barriers teachers expressed they faced when assigning homework tasks. Finally, the actual definition of homework was often confused among the educator respondents, which indicated further research defining homework and teacher expectations would be valuable to administrators, teachers, parents, and students.</p><p>

<p> Student retention in higher education is currently one area most colleges are looking to improve and build upon (Baer &amp; Norris, 2016). Higher education institutions in the United States have been under increased scrutiny from lawmakers and accrediting agencies to provide an affordable education for a diverse population for jobs in a highly technical economy (Boateng, Plopper, &amp; Keith, 2015; Slanger, Berg, Fisk, &amp; Hanson, 2015). Some colleges and universities are exploring programs to engage the modern student through the creation of learning communities, first-year programming, and interventions to bridge the gap of those students who are highly unlikely to persist to graduation (Alarcon &amp; Edwards, 2012; Selingo, 2015). This study focused on an all-male retention program in one private liberal arts college over an eight-year period where invasive interventions were introduced in year five in an effort to enhance the overall program. This quantitative study was designed to determine if there was (1) a difference in the grade point average between male, first-time freshmen who did not receive specific invasive interventions as compared to male, first-time freshmen who received specific invasive interventions; (2) a difference in the number of male, first-time freshmen who were removed from academic probation and did not receive specific invasive interventions as compared to male, first-time freshmen who received specific invasive interventions; and (3) a difference in retention rates of male, first-time freshmen who did not receive specific invasive interventions as compared to male, first-time freshmen who received interventions. Data obtained from the analyses were determined not statistically significant. Future studies should be designed to obtain additional information on what aids students retention, potentially using a mixed method approach. </p><p>

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Civil Engineering / Sunanda Dissanayake / Setting an appropriate speed limit is necessary to provide safe and efficient traffic operation for all road users. It must also be acceptable to the public and enforceable by police. Lower-than-required speed limits may make the majority of drivers non-compliant, whereas higher speed limits may increase the number of crashes together with related injuries and fatalities. In 2011, the speed limit on a number of freeway segments in the state of Kansas increased from 70 to 75 miles per hour. The objective of this study is to evaluate the safety effects of freeway sections affected by speed limit change in Kansas. Sections where the speed limit changed from 70 mph to 75 mph and other comparable sections where the speed limit remained at 70 mph without any change, were identified. Details of the crashes by severity level for three years before (2008-2010) and three years after (2012-2014) the speed limit change were collected using the state crash database. In order to get a general understanding, characteristics of crashes such as night time versus daytime, number of trucks involved, weather conditions, driver’s gender, and such were considered. Furthermore, several crash contributory causes were also investigated before and after the speed limit changes. In order to evaluate the safety situation, three methods were utilized: 1) Empirical Bayes (EB) observational before-and-after studies, 2) before-and-after method with comparison group, and 3) cross-sectional method using the Negative Binomial (NB) regression model. The evaluation was conducted to see if the speed limit change has caused an increase in total crashes or fatal and injury crashes. In regard to speed analysis, the t-test was applied to see whether significant increases in the 85th percentile speed were observed between before-and-after conditions. Since the sample size was large, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test was also conducted to see if there was any difference between two sets of speed data distributions in the before period compared to the after period. By performing the EB before-and-after study, it was seen that total crashes increased by 16 percent, while using the before-and-after method with the comparison group showed around 27 percent increase in total crashes. Total crash increases were statistically significant according to the EB method, and the before-and-after method with the comparison group. On the other hand, fatal and injury crashes increased by 35 percent based on the before-and-after with the comparison group after the speed limit change. This increase was statistically significant, but the EB method results indicated no increase for fatal and injury crashes when the speed limit was raised to 75 mph. Further, cross-sectional study results showed the speed limit increase had a greatly significant effect on total crashes, an increase of 25 percent; and it was also significant for fatal and injury crashes with those increasing by 62 percent, which is the highest amount of increase compared to the EB method and the before-and-after method with the comparison group. The t-test results showed a five mph increase in the speed limit caused statistically significant increase in 85th percentile speed for the sections affected by speed limit change. However, there was also an increase for the sections without a speed limit change, but this was due to large sample sizes of speed data in the before-and-after period. The K-S test results also depicted the speed distribution of treated sites during the after period was different than the before period. Considering night time crashes versus daytime crashes also showed that there was 1 percent statistically significant increase in the night time crashes compared to daytime crashes after the speed limit increase. There were also more trucks involved in crashes after the speed limit increase. Further, the percentage of adverse weather crashes also decreased by 6 percent for treated sites and 18 percent for non-treated sites. Overall, understanding these results will help with future speed limit adjustments on freeways.

<p> Research has shown that both educators and prospective employers agreed that students needed more than just &lsquo;hard skills.&rsquo; Instead of focusing only on students meeting the academic requirements needed to graduate with a diploma, students also needed to work toward mastering social and emotional skills such as &lsquo;soft skills.&rsquo; This study consists of five parts; (i) seeking information from employers associated with the target school; (ii) seeking information from parents of students in the target school; (iii) the researcher crafted intervention for students based on the literature on soft skills, (iv) the researcher completed intervention in two area churches, and (v) assessment of the outcome of the intervention in terms of greater student awareness of the importance of soft-skills and ability with soft-skills in their interactions. </p><p> This qualitative study inquired: (1) What soft skills are sought by the employers associated with the target school in their new hires? (2) What soft skills are being consciously supported in the home of the students? (3) What evidence is there that the intervention devised was successful at developing useful soft skills in the student engaged in the intervention? </p><p>

<p> Gifted programming provides many children with an opportunity to reach their potential (Olszewski-Kubilius &amp; Thomson, 2015). For years, gifted studies have been underfunded (Azano, Callahan, Missett, &amp; Brunner, 2014). A lack of research into gifted programming has left glaring holes in the current understanding of best practices (Plucker &amp; Callahan, 2014). This study included an examination of gifted programming from the standpoint of cognitive theory. The researcher examined archival data from School District A to determine students&rsquo; overall academic success when compared to the number of years spent in gifted programming. The data yielded a negative correlation between years spent in gifted programming and ACT score, class rank, and GPA. The data also showed a positive correlation between high school attendance and years spent in gifted programming at School District A. The findings demonstrate the methods used in this study may serve as a useful evaluative tool for evaluating gifted programs. These findings may inform administrative decisions pertaining to resource allocation and curriculum.</p><p>