This study examines issues of access to higher education in Florida and South Africa. On November 9, 1999, the Governor of the State of Florida issued Executive Order 99-281 to establish the One Florida Initiative (OFI), which barred the use of race as a factor in university admissions. In South Africa, the government in February 2001 issued its National Plan for Higher Education (SANPHE). This plan outlined a framework to redress past inequities in the higher education system perpetuated by the former government's apartheid ideology. Senior university leaders in Florida and South Africa were required to implement their respective policy. The purpose of the study investigates two research questions: 1. What were the assumptions and political processes that contributed to the establishment of OFI and SANPHE policies? 2. How did the leadership at selected institutions implement OFI and SANPHE policies? Using a qualitative methodology and focused interviews with senior leaders at two universities in Florida and South Africa, this study discusses the challenges and conflicts the leaders faced in implementing their respective policy. The challenges and conflicts included those of university governance, decision-making, leadership style, diversity, affirmative action and policy making. It discusses the unique ways of implementing a policy with which one might not agree and it provides a comparative understanding of challenges faced by university leaders in Florida and South Africa. Five findings were noted from the data analysis. They are: Leaders must have steadfast philosophical beliefs about the need to broaden access for those who have been historically discriminated against; there must be an awareness of the value of affirmative action and diversity to an institution; participatory style of leadership is a characteristic common to all leaders; commitment to team dynamics was a persuasive attribute that the leaders practiced and the exercise of prudent discretion to implement a policy seemed to be an attribute that resonated with all the leaders. The study concluded with a proposition of a model to determine or to predict leadership effectiveness - referred to as the Belief/Action Leadership Style Model and recommendations of areas for further research in Florida and South Africa. This study's results are useful for policy makers and senior leaders at higher education institutions.

The present study investigated home literacy environments established through reading with children, engaging in literacy activities, and having literacy materials provided, along with families' participation in literacy-related school events. One hundred one kindergarten children and their families from five classrooms in two inner-city urban elementary schools were invited to participate in the "Learning the ABCs" project. A total of 68 families gave consent. Participation in the project included receiving 15 weeks of Home Literacy Bags. The 68 participating children were randomly assigned into two intervention groups using cluster sampling of the five classes. Group One received weekly bags with four activities while Group Two received weekly bags with four activities, a variety of materials, and one book. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the strength of four family involvement variables (reading with children, engaging in literacy activities, having literacy materials provided, and participating in literacy-related events at school) in predicting kindergarten students' gain scores on three literacy assessments (ALRI, TERA-3, and DIBELS). The primary research question was: To what extent can kindergarten students' ALRI, TERA-3, and DIBELS gain scores be explained by participation in family involvement activities? A secondary purpose of the study was to determine which of the family involvement activities was the strongest predictor of kindergarten students' literacy achievement as measured by the literacy assessments. The secondary research question was: Which family involvement activity is the strongest predictor of gains in kindergarten students' letter and sound knowledge and phonological awareness? Literacy assessments were implemented using a pre/post test design. The literacy gain scores served as the dependent variables and the family involvement activities served as the independent variables. Each variable set was included in a regression analysis, which was followed up with an analysis of regression structure coefficients (rs) to determine the individual variable contributions.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the costs incurred and the benefits realized by institutions participating in the NCATE accreditation process and to formulate a cost-benefit model to guide teacher training institutions who are assessing the value of peerreview by NCATE. The study utilized quantitative methodology with a descriptive research design. The study featured researcher-designed questionnaires: Accreditation Cost-Benefit Analysis Scale for faculty (ACBAS) and the Costs Inventory Analysis (CIA) for administrators and was administered to a purposive sample of faculty and administrators at 54 colleges of education that had participated in the NCATE accreditation process and sitevisit during the period of January 2003-December 2004. The data indicated that faculty and administrators hold distinct perceptions regarding the benefits, costs, and other issues related to NCATE accreditation. Administrators specified the mean cost of NCATE accreditation was approximately $100,000, on average, as indicated by an analysis of the data provided on the CIA. Furthermore, a discriminant analysis of the data confirmed that administrators and those faculty considerably (7-10 hours per week) involved in the accreditation process had a greater appreciation for the benefits and costs of NCATE accreditation than did those faculty and significantly (3-6 hours per week) or only moderately (0-2 hours per week) involved. Finally, the data indicated that there was no difference in the perceptions between faculty and administrators regarding costs, benefits, and other issues related to accreditation when measured on the ACBAS.

Little is known of the way that nurses' roles have evolved within a hospital setting in which efficient and affective interventions include caring for sicker patients. The emergence of the Patient Care Coordinator (PCC) is one role that nursing developed to participate in an interdisciplinary collaborative team approach to caring for sicker patients. This qualitative study examined the exemplary role of eleven PCCs who practice in a regional nonprofit medical center. Research methodologies included interview, non-participant observation, and analysis of historical data. Interview questions were developed from the literature review on collaboration, caring, expertise, communication, and knowing the patient. Cognitive mapping comprised the initial organization of data. Grounded theory (Strauss, 1987), connoisseurship, and educational criticism (Eisner, 1991) comprised the design for further analysis. The results comprised the attributes of caring from a team perspective. This study helps demonstrate how caring for patients with complex acute and chronic health needs involves many attributes that are included in five themes: agility, confidence, leadership, quality, and stewardship. Further development of these themes may affect the ways that educational leaders explore the learning needs of nurses within academic and professional development opportunities.

The purpose of this study was to determine the use of microcomputers by principals in their roles as instructional leaders and managers, and its impact upon the use of microcomputer technology in the school. The research was done by having the randomly stratified selected sample population respond to a survey. The subjects of this study were elementary, middle/junior and high school principals in the Florida Public School System. Of the responding principals 82.8% reported having access to a microcomputer in their office at school. One-third of the principals reported not having a microcomputer in their own homes. Word processing was reported as the most used application program and spread sheet applications the least used. Principals reported using the microcomputer in managerial tasks such as attendance, discipline, scheduling and grade reporting. The data indicated principals have not taken a proactive stance in their own personal learning about microcomputers and how they can be used. Responding principals, for the most part, did not perceive of the teachers within the building they work as using the microcomputer for the managerial functions of teaching. Presently principals are not taking full advantage of the microcomputer as a tool that can help them in their roles as instructional leaders and managers. Principals must also become more actively involved in the decision making process of the various technologies in which their school can participate.

The United States is becoming more diverse; numerous immigrants and refugees enter every year. Among the newer groups are those practicing the Muslim religion. This qualitative research focused on the identity formation process of six adolescent female Muslim refugees from Afghanistan. Based on Erikson's paradigm of psycho-social development and Marcia's modifications to that theory, I used semi-structured interviews to understand how the participants negotiated their identities in the context of their families, the public school, and the community. This cohort appeared to exist within a circumscribed Afghan community, retaining significant parts of their culture, traditions, and roles. The exception to that retention occurred in the Educational/Vocational Domain. Economic necessity impelled them to assume new roles and to plan for post-secondary education and vocations, for which they were inadequately prepared, and for which their parents could provide little guidance. These young women needed assistance in educational and career planning and counseling programs to facilitate their entry into post-secondary education and to develop their job skills. It seems fair to generalize that this deficit exists for most foreign-born and limited-English students. Addressing this deficit is a daunting, but important, task for the educational system and for resettlement programs.

This study focused on the causes of student underachievement in a selected high school in Ghana. The anonymous name chosen for the school was Northside New Era Secondary School. The participants in the study were administrators, teachers, and students. They were selected from the same school where the researcher conducted the study. The school was located in the Northern Region of Ghana. It had proven records of underachievement compared to other schools in the country according to the Ministry of Education's recent statistical report on education. The criterion for measurement was based on the results of the final examination conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for the years 1996 to 2000. The study employed a qualitative methodology to examine student learning. A list of guiding interview questions were developed and validated prior to the study. Seven categories were identified to be the main contributing factors to student underachievement in the school. The categories fell under two main themes: external and internal factors of underachievement. The external factors included the lack of government intervention in the provision of educational materials, the socio-economic background of people in the demographic settings, unworkable educational policies, and poor working conditions for teachers and administrators. The internal factors were comprised of the apathy and passivity with which teachers conducted themselves in the school, parents' beliefs and psychological underpinnings of what an ideal school should be, and the school's lack of educational resources. This study found that both external and internal factors contributed significantly to student underachievement in schools. Participants' knowledge of the implications of the themes, and their understanding of all the educational stakeholders' role in the provision of a sound-learning environment in the school became the bedrock of the study. The researcher challenges all educational authorities everywhere, especially those in the third world countries, to consider student academic achievement as a major priority, necessary for strong nation-building into the 21st century and beyond.

This non-equivalent group study explored the impact of teacher participation in the development and use of a web-based instructional resource on computer utilization by students. The effects of participation in the technology initiative on teacher attitudes toward computers, technology proficiency, and stages of adoption of technology were also investigated. Teacher volunteers participated in a treatment group that received a professional development intervention and a comparison or web access group (WAG) that received no professional development. The treatment, or Professional Development Group (PDG), received instruction that modeled a constructivist hands-on approach to creating technology-rich lessons based on classroom curricula and Internet technologies to encourage technology integration in the classroom. The lessons were posted online using identical web sites for both groups and accessed by students of the PDG and WAG teachers promoting the school-wide use of technology as a tool for active, directed learning. Use of the online resource was analyzed descriptively through computer lab usage logs, teacher-reported weekly logs, and number of hits on the websites. Utilization of the online resource by students of the professional development group of teachers was slightly higher than by students of the comparison group of teachers. The findings also indicated that exposure to the professional development intervention increased reported use of integrated applications and encouraged higher stages of adoption by the experimental group of teachers (PDG) than the comparison group of teachers (WAG).

This study investigated the learning style, teaching style, and attitude toward change of elementary school teachers and the relationship of these variables to the adoption of computer technology into teaching and learning strategies. The researcher used four instruments to gather data about the preferred learning style, teaching style, attitude toward change, and current utilization of computer technology both personally and with students. Survey forms were delivered to seven selected elementary schools in a Northeast Florida public school district. An educational technology survey was distributed to each of the 200 elementary school teachers in these schools. The return rate of completed surveys was approximately 36% (N=73). In addition, those teachers in each school who elected to participate in this study completed one of the following instruments: the Teaching Style Inventory, the Change Seeker Index, or the Learning Type Measure . Statistical analyses were conducted to determine if there were any significant relationships among the three factors (teaching style, learning style, and attitude toward change) and the adoption of computer technology by the teachers in this study. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the length of computer use and the location of computer use by the participants as well as other demographic variables. The major findings of the study were: (1) The highest instructional use of the computer by teachers was drill and practice. (2) Teachers were using the computer sparingly. The usage of the computer with their students ranged from once-a-year usage to daily usage. The most frequently reported usage was drill and practice on a daily basis. (3) No significant relationships between the preferred learning style and the adoption of computer technology were evident. ( 4) No significant relationships between the teaching style of the participants in this study and the adoption of computer technology were identified. (5) The relationship between the intrinsic factors and the adoption of computer technology was not significant. The relationship between the extrinsic factors and the adoption of computer technology was significant at the p Recommendations related to preservice teacher education, inservice training, and promoting the adoption of technology were made. Also, recommendations were made regarding future investigations that examine the relationship of learning style, teaching style, attitude toward change, and the adoption of computer technology by school teachers.

The purpose of the present study was to examine how perceptions of a chilly climate differ between students in traditionally female-dominated majors versus traditionally male-dominated majors, and how these perceptions relate to students' intentions to persist or pursue higher education in their chosen field. Participants were 403 students attending a community college in the southern United States, including students majoring in information technology (IT), engineering, education, and nursing. Participants completed the 28-item Perceived Chilly Climate Scale (PCCS) and other informational items. The primary research question asked: To what extent can scores on the five subscales of the PCCS be explained by the predictor variable set of gender, ethnicity, age, college major, and intent to leave the field? Canonical correlation analysis yielded an initial canonical root of .40 (Rc^2 = .16, p < .001), indicating that the predictor variables accounted for a moderate portion of the variance in PCCS subscale scores. Gender (rs = .89) accounted for the highest proportion of explained variance, followed by major (rs = .75). Findings indicated that women found the climate chillier than men, non-white students found the climate chillier than white students, younger students perceived the climate chillier than older students, and students in traditionally female-dominated majors perceived the climate chillier than students in traditionally male-dominated majors. Intent to leave the field was not a significant predictor of perceptions of chilly climate.