The Fairfax County Public Schools and neighboring business/industry have perhaps one of the oldest and most satisfactory school/business partnerships in Virginia. A case study was made of the Fairfax County Public Schools School/Business Partnership to identify factors that make a partnership work and to provide information to assist a school system or business/industry interested in the establishment of a partnership. The population for this case study research was made up of school system and business/industry persons who had first-hand knowledge of the partnership. To begin the study a document search of the files and program was made. This document search resulted in a set of interview schedules which were then administered to the stakeholders. Data resulting from these schedules were coded and reported in narrative form. Results indicated that commitment from top level management from both the school system and business/industry to the partnership, a project of major proportion, and a program designed in a way to permit mutual pursuit of the goals of the partners are important if the partnership is to work. / Ed. D.

Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problem of early school entry as it affects the criteria of achievement, self-concept, and social maturity. The research design was a comparative associational design. The statistical procedure used was the two-way analysis of variance. The level of statistical significance was noted at .05. The subjects in this study were sixty-two kindergarten children in six schools in the.school system. The six schools were chosen as representative of the racial make-up of the school population. There was stratified random sampling to include children with early and not early birthdates. Race, sex and birthdates were the independent variables. Several instruments were used to measure achievement, social maturity, and self-concept. The Wide Range Achievement Test R-1, Level 1, The Standards of Learning Objectives, and the Metropolitan Reading Test, Level II, were used to measure achievement. The Burks' Behavior Rating Scales, Preschool and Kindergarten edition, were used to measure social maturity, and the Self-Concept and Motivation Inventory Pre-School/Kindergarten Form (SCAMIN) assessed self-concept. The following conclusions were formulated based upon critical analysis of the data. There was a statistically significant difference (p<.05) in achievement and age, race and sex in a few of the variables studied such as the following: 1. the WRAT math across age and race. The not early groups scored higher than the early groups and the white groups scored higher than the black group. 2. the Metropolitan Readiness test and race. The white children scored higher than the black children and the not early children scored higher than the early children. 3. the SOL reading objectives, age and sex. The not early group scored higher than the early group. The white children scored higher than the black children. The girls in the early group scored higher than the boys, and the boys in the not early group scored higher than the girls. 4. the SOL math objectives across age and race. The early groups scored lower than the not early group and the white children scored higher than the black children. There was also a statistically significant difference (p<.05) in poor ego strength and race. The white children had higher ego strength than the black children. / Ed. D.

This dissertation is on the history of the development of schooling in Alleghany County, and the cities of Clifton Forge and Covington, Virginia. Studying the past can provide a clearer perspective of the present and suggest courses for the future. Rather than focus on a topic as broad as education, this paper concentrates on the principal method used by government to educate its citizens; schools. In relating the events affecting school development in this area, actions by local, state, and federal governments, as well as the influences of individuals and events, are studied and discussed. The efforts of education associations, societies, and philanthropic institutions are included where they had a direct bearing on local educational policies and practices. Secondary sources provide most of the historical information about trends in education and schooling on a state and national level. Primary documents and sources provide the specifics relating to this locality. Reports of school commissioners and government officials and records of school boards provide much of the information as well as newspapers of the period. Personal letters and interviews also provide a perspective on the topic. The purpose of the dissertation is to document one aspect of local heritage, the development of schooling, and preserve various facts of history in a readable form. There is also a desire to focus attention on education and the local public schools in the hopes that both awareness and support will increase, thus leading to a system of schools that are not only adequate but exemplary in all respects. The contribution of this study to the field of education in general and school administration in particular is a more in-depth understanding of schools and their development. / Ed. D.

This study examined how student achievement data are used to guide the development of curriculum documents in public school districts and within a commercial curriculum supplier. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How do public school districts in Central Texas use formative and summative assessment data to inform the written curriculum, and (b) how do commercially produced curricular programs use formative and summative assessment data to inform the written curriculum? A qualitative multiple-case study included curriculum developers from public school districts and a commercial entity. Data included semistructured interviews with curriculum developers from each organization as well as an extensive document review from each entity. The data were coded according to first-level coding and pattern coding. These themes were then analyzed through pattern matching and cross-case analysis. The research revealed that formative and summative assessment data were used to guide the development of the written curriculum in terms of guiding vertical alignment, determining the scope and sequence of the curricular content, adding specificity to the curriculum documents, identifying and correcting curriculum gaps, guiding development of formative assessment, and adapting to state and national change. In addition, the organizations utilized available resources in curriculum development and created a culture of data-rich dialogue. Findings also revealed that the ability of curriculum developers to use assessment data to inform the written curriculum is impacted greatly by organizational size and capacity. Sustainability of organizations to maintain a comprehensive, aligned curriculum is influenced by the rate of change coming from the state and national level. In conclusion, districts need to develop or obtain a guaranteed and viable curriculum that is strategically planned, comprehensive and aligned, as well as shaped by assessment data. The research reinforced that how data are created, presented, and used is important. Data sources need to be valid and reliable and shared in a risk-free culture that allows educators to move beyond elementary data uses to use data to inform the written curriculum as an integral part of school improvement. / text

The purpose of this exploratory study in school finance was to examine the relationship between transferred capital funds and budgeting practices for select public school districts in Arizona. Three major research questions were derived to examine public school fiscal management relative to budgeting efficiency, lapsing and depletion funds. The three research questions are as follows: (1) What variables can identify and are likely to maximally contribute to school districts' budget expenditures falling within a plus/minus 2% range of the adopted budget? (2) What factors would be maximally associated with school districts having either a credit or deficit ending fund balance in the general operations budget? (3) What variables are likely to maximally contribute to school districts budgeting practices leading to increased or decreased capital levy fund balance? A systematic stratified sample of 31 school districts constituted the study group. Discriminant Function Analysis was used in the statistical treatment of 11 discriminant variables for six budget classifications. Each hypothesis was rejected at the .01 level of significance. Capital Transfer Funds indicated maximum contribution in differentiating school budget groups which were within the plus/minus 2% range of the adopted budget. For the second research question and hypothesis, Revenue, in linear-combination with Beginning Fund Balance and expenditure, evidenced maximum ability to differentiate the credit fund balance. Capital Transfer Funds added minimal ability to discriminate budget groups. For the third hypothesis, Revenues, Expenditures, and Capital Transfer Monies indicated high ability to discriminate budget groups. Capital Transfer Monies, however, was statistically spurious.

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence discipline has on teaching at public schools. In chapter 2 of the literature study, the researcher focused on aspects that influence discipline at school. In chapter 3, she also looked at education law aspects that have a direct influence on education. Two structured questionnaires were used in the quantitative research. These questionnaires were distributed separately between educators and learners at nine schools of the Free State Department of Education's Fezile Dabi District. From the findings of this study, it is clear that discipline indeed has an enormous influence on teaching at public schools. The Constitution (1996) and Schools Act (84/1996) make the application of effective discipline at schools possible. / Thesis (M.Ed. (Education Law))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

No description available.

This is a study to develop standards to be use by industrial arts teachers, school administrators, and architects when planning new industrial arts laboratories or renovating existing industrial arts laboratories for grades seven through twelve in the State of Texas.

The problem was to identify the differences in attitudes of public school students at various educational levels toward selected drugs, and to determine the relationship between those attitudes and students' knowledge of drugs.