The purpose of this study was to compare the activities and achievements in college of a population of three groups of academically able students who participated in a high school honors program. The population consisted of (1) those who completed an honors program, (2) those who dropped out of an honors program, and (3) those who entered an honors program at a time later than the entry of the first two groups. This study was concerned with discovering distinguishing activities and achievements of the male and female members of the three groups through an analysis and comparison of data relative to the groups after their completion of two or more years of college.

Geologic structure often controls the location of recharge points, flow paths, velocities, and discharge locations in karst regions such as Morell Cave and its springshed, Bluff City, Tennessee. This study explores groundwater recharge points, velocities, and discharge locations within the Morrell springshed and its associated cave. Two dye tracing experiments were conducted in the spring and fall of 2012 to identify recharge sources, delineate the springshed, and to interpret structural controls for groundwater flow. The experiments confirmed that allogenic recharge from the northern slopes of Holston Mountain enters the karst system through swallets and flows to the northwest following dominant joint trends that transect local folds. When the groundwater reaches Morell Cave, the flow is redirected northeast and parallels a shallow thrust fault, along which Morell Cave has developed, before resurging at Morell Spring. Using a joint-path flow model, groundwater velocities ranged from 0.04-0.007 m/s, which is consistent with typical groundwater velocities in karst systems.

Previous research has demonstrated that students in university honors programs may be distinct from their non-honors counterparts. To further examine these differences and the overall experiences of honors students, this thesis utilized a Study 1/Study 2 mixed methodology design to examine the experiences of honors students within East Tennessee State University’s University Honors Scholars program. Study One quantitatively examined the differences between honors and non-honors students’ levels of perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and academic and social competitiveness. Findings from Study One inspired Study Two, which qualitatively examined honors students’ experiences with perfectionism, uncovering the sources and effects of their perfectionistic behaviors. Combined, these findings indicate that not only do honors students experience higher levels of perfectionism than non-honors students, likely stemming from the expectations and standards held by the honors program, but also that their perfectionistic behaviors are overall maladaptive and are used to avoid failure rather than in the pursuit of success.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in measures of creativity and psychosocial development in college Honors and Non-Honors students and also to determine interaction effects of demographic and academic background data. Additionally, another purpose was to establish any relationship between measures of creativity and psychosocial development. Of the 284 college students participating, 120 were honors students and 164 were non-honors students. Participants were administered the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) Verbal Form B, Activities 4 and 5 and the Student Development Task and Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA). The TTCT included scales of fluency, flexibility, originality, and average standard creativity score. The SDTLA includes the measurement of three developmental tasks, ten subtasks, and two scales. The participants were volunteers and were tested in four regularly scheduled classes during the 2006 spring and summer semesters. Two-tailed independent t-tests performed on the dependent variables of the TTCT indicated that the Non-Honors student’s scores were statistically significantly higher on fluency, originality, and the average standard creativity measures. On the average standard score, which is considered the best overall gauge of creative power, neither Non-Honors nor Honors student groups TTCT scores were considered higher than weak (0-16%) (Torrance, 1990). The results of the two-tailed independent t-tests performed on the dependent variables of the SDTLA resulted in the statistically significant higher development outcome scores in the Honors students. The mean SDTLA scores of both the Honors and Non-Honors scores were not outside of norm group average scores. The MANOVA data produced moderately statistically significant interaction effects between classification level and fluency. However, the post hoc tests did not confirm the difference in classification and fluency. Additional MANOVA data indicated a significant interaction effect between ethnicity and Lifestyle Planning (LP), and post hoc analysis confirmed the interaction with significant differences in Caucasian and “Other” students. Classification level significantly interacted with eight of the fourteen development outcomes, nevertheless the post hoc tests showed inconsistent differences between classification groups within the developmental outcomes. Correlations between the TTCT and SDTLA did not yield statistically significant relationships between the creativity and psychosocial development variables.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of honors education to student success by comparing honors-eligible community college students who met requirements to academically matched peers who opted out of honors participation. Honors program participation was defined as completing 12 or more credit hours of honors-level course work. The population for this study included 452 honors-eligible participants with 95 honors participants (HPs) and 357 non-participants (NPs) from a community college in Tennessee. The sampling frame was generated using a five-year participation window from 2008 through 2013. Propensity score matching alleviated the threat to validity for self-selection bias by controlling for confounding variables such as high school GPA, dual-enrollment participation, ACT score, declared major, community college GPA upon first term of eligibility, parental income, parental education, gender, and age. Major findings of the study were: honors program participants (a) earned a significantly higher numerical final course grade in Composition II, a first-year writing course; (b) earned significantly higher cumulative GPAs the second semester after honors eligibility; (c) earned significantly higher cumulative GPAs upon completion; (d) were significantly more likely to graduate. Conclusions generated from the data analyses indicate that honors education benefits community college students and provide empirical support for increased investment in community college honors education, especially for high-achieving students experiencing poverty. Low-income students were defined as those students receiving the maximum federal Pell Grant award provided to undergraduate students with financial need. Within the study sample, it was determined that 50% of NPs met the low-income threshold whereas 47% of HPs were identified as low-income. These participation rates suggest that more low-income high-achieving students who could substantially benefit from participating in honors are participating less. Further empirical research studies and policy levers should identify ways to increase honors participation for low-income, high-achieving students.

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Tracking, having separate advanced, standard, and/or remedial classes intended to homogeneously group students by perceived or actual ability, is a frequent practice used in U.S. schools, particularly at the secondary level. To promote educational equity, close achievement gaps, and counteract the de facto racial separation between advanced and standard-level courses, some districts and individual schools in Virginia are moving to detrack their offerings and stop offering separate advanced and standard-level courses. This qualitative case study explored how a middle school's newly adopted detracking policy with an honors-for-all approach impacted teachers' beliefs and pedagogy. Data were collected from documents and interviews with six school and district personnel and analyzed using inductive coding techniques until a mutually exclusive scheme of categories had been generated. The study concluded with the discussion, implications, recommendations, and conclusion of the results. The findings identified four categories that answered the research questions: opinions on honors-for-all, defining what "honors" means, instructional shifts in an honors-for-all classrooms, and challenges in practices. Overall, the study found that: (a) teachers' beliefs on tracking and honors-level classes did not change after implementation of detracking and there was a general divide in opinions between the teachers and non-teaching faculty, (b) there were varying definitions of what "honors" means among the district, school, and staff, (c) teachers' instruction shifted to adopt new pedagogical tools and strategies to meet the diverse learning needs in a mixed-ability honors classroom, and (d) teaching in an honors-for-all classroom was challenging, especially in differentiating for students' needs, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the accelerated standards in honors mathematics courses. Implications of the study included: (a) the necessity of having teacher buy-in when implementing a new programming initiative, (b) the benefits of vertical articulation with feeder elementary schools to prepare students for the rigor of middle school honors courses, (c) the need for common language and clear definitions across the district and school, and (d) the importance of providing professional development and support personnel to assist teachers in adopting new pedagogical practices in an honors-for-all setting. / Doctor of Education / Tracking, having separate advanced, standard, and/or remedial classes intended to homogeneously group students by perceived or actual ability, is a frequent practice used in U.S. schools, particularly at the middle and high school levels. To promote educational equity, some districts and schools in Virginia are considering detracking by no longer offering separate advanced and standard-level courses. This was a qualitative case study that used document analysis and interviews to explore how a middle school's newly adopted detracking policy with an honors-for-all approach impacted teachers' beliefs and instruction. Overall, the study found that teachers' beliefs about tracking and honors-level classes did not change after detracking, but teachers did adopt new instructional practices to meet the wide range of learning needs in the honors-for-all classrooms. The study also found that there was a lack of common language and definitions of what "honors" means and despite teachers' best efforts, teaching in an honors-for-all classroom was difficult, especially in the mathematics courses and given the timing of the new policy beginning immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings and implications from this study provide education leaders and policymakers with an understanding of teachers' perspectives on honors-for-all as other schools and districts consider detracking.

abstract: This dissertation is an action research study that had as its primary goal to increase retention of honors college students at Arizona State University by implementing an additional advising session during the fifth semester of their academic career. Introducing additional, strategically-timed support for the honors thesis and demystifying the thesis project was intended to help honors college students make more successful transitions to the final stage of their undergraduate honors careers. This advising session is not only used to demystify the thesis/creative project, but to introduce the student to the logistical elements of the thesis process. Most importantly, this session was designed to encourage students to find a focal interest for the project and to engage them in the process of identifying an appropriate director for this project. To assess the success of the early upper division thesis group advising session, students were asked to identify steps taken to begin the process early. Pre and post-intervention surveys and follow-up interviews were used to determine if the participants had taken steps necessary to complete the thesis. Questions regarding the identification of potential thesis foci, committee member selection, and research question formation were used to measure forward momentum. The early group advising session was successful in assisting 7 of the 9 participants to move one step closer to the completion of their honors thesis completion. However, the degree of movement was less than I expected or predicted. The early group advising session gave voice to our students by soliciting suggestions that might improve the session. Suggested changes included: - Maintain an optimal size group of six to eight students selected by discipline and projected date of graduation - Breakouts for students to discuss thesis topic and committee member selection strategies facilitated by faculty and honors advisors - Upper division students currently completing or who have successfully completed their thesis/creative projects made available to answer questions and provide success strategies - Specialty research librarians invited to demonstrate web based resources - Faculty approved discipline specific thesis/creative projects (models of best practice) available for review during the group intervention / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Higher and Postsecondary Education 2012

The Poetic Process is a creative thesis analyzing the use of different poetic forms but focuses more on the application of them through a series of creative work.

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