In the United States, graduate programs in the biomedical sciences are designed to provide individuals with the training necessary to pursue an independent career in research. The curriculum typically involves a combination of coursework, in which students obtain depth and breadth in the subject matter of their discipline, as well as extensive practical experience planning, conducting, and analyzing original research. However, in order for individuals to develop into successful professionals, there is an additional set of abilities they need to cultivate: they must develop a set of general professional skills, including the ability to publish their work, give research seminars and other types of oral presentations, obtain employment and secure funding, balance multiple responsibilities, and behave responsibly. Traditionally this information has been transmitted primarily through interactions between a student and their advisor or mentor. However, this seems inefficient, at best, and it places a disproportionate burden on women, minorities, and first-generation professionals, who often have less access to mentoring than their male counterparts. Since 1995, the Survival Skills and Ethics Program at the University of Pittsburgh has offered an annual conference designed to prepare faculty to implement courses on these essential skills. A follow-up survey of participants (1995-2003) was conducted in 2004; the aims were to determine what instruction had been implemented, ascertain the barriers to implementation, and examine how much participants felt the conference contributed to their abilities to provide the training. The instruction implemented varied widely in terms of the duration and the number of students taught; on average, participants provided 37 hr of instruction to 87 students annually. Finding time to devote to teaching was, by far, the greatest barrier to participants implementing courses in professional skills and ethics. Most participants felt that the conference significantly enhanced their ability to provide such instruction. In sum, these data indicate that this trainer-of-trainers program was an effective mechanism for disseminating a curriculum designed to promote the socialization of students to the practice of science. These results have implications for optimizing trainer-of-trainer programs and reducing barriers to the implementation of instruction in professional development and the responsible conduct of research.

This research inquiry served as a case study of how the process of implementation begins when the planning begins. The objective was to provide an analysis of the early stages of a school districts Health and Wellness initiative and examine factors that are critical in the development of this initiative including the process by which such activities influence program implementation and district reform. Analysis of the documenters observations, documentation, and participant input of the initiatives progression were examined. Results indicate that the strategy of implementing while planning creates much stress for implementers and possible confusion of the goals of the initiative. Indicators towards capacity building and progress towards initiatives goal appeared significant. This studys conclusions indicate that using the strategy of implementation beginning when planning begins could be a useful model when implementing an initiative of urgency. In addition, when sacrificing too much time to planning could be detrimental to students, like with a health and wellness initiative.

EDUCATION REFORM AT THE EDGE OF CHAOS: CONSTRUCTING ETCH (AN EDUCATION THEORY COMPLEXITY HYBRID) FOR AN OPTIMAL LEARNING EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT Abstract Currently, the theoretical foundation that inspires educational theory, which in turn shapes the systemic structure of institutions of learning, is based on three key interconnected, interacting underpinnings -mechanism, reductionism, and linearity. My dissertation explores this current theoretical underpinning including its fallacies and inconsistencies, and then frames an alternative educational theoretical base - a hybrid complex adaptive systems theory model for education - that more effectively meets the demands to prepare students for the 21st century. My Education Theory Complexity Hybrid (ETCH) differs by focusing on the systemic, autopoietic nature of schools, the open, fluid processes of school systems as a dissipative structure, and nonlinearity or impossibility of completely predicting the results of any specific intervention within a school system.. In addition, I show how ETCH principles, when applied by educational system leaders, permit them to facilitate an optimal learning environment for a student-centered complex adaptive system. ETCH is derived from Complexity Theory and is a coherent, valid, and verifiable systems framework that accurately aligns the education system with its goal as a student-centered complex adaptive system. In contrast to most dissertations in the School Leadership Program, which are empirical studies, mine explores this new theoretical orientation and illustrates the power of that orientation through a series of examples taken from my experiences in founding and operating the Lancaster Institute for Learning, a private state-licensed alternative high school in eastern Pennsylvania.

This study examined the academic advising experiences of students in undergraduate interdisciplinary majors at a private research university and observed whether these students engage in advising in ways that are different from those of students whose primary academic majors are not interdisciplinary. The data consisted of responses to a student survey of advising at the university (n = 2,461, or 48% of the undergraduate population). Overall, interdisciplinary students were more engaged in advising than the others. Compared to noninterdisciplinary students, they visited their advisors more often, they contacted their advisor for a wider range of reasons, and their sense of the overall quality of advising received was higher. They also placed greater importance on certain advisor competencies (such as guidance in noncurricular opportunities) and personal characteristics than did noninterdisciplinary students. In addition, the noninterdisciplinary students were divided into their eight areas of study (business administration, computer science, engineering, fine arts, humanities, natural & physical sciences, social sciences, and undecided). Each area was compared to the interdisciplinary students for the same variables. Interdisciplinary ranked in the top half for all of the nineteen variables. This study also found that engagement with advising may be significantly influenced by the type of advising model used by individual academic departments and programs. Since data were used from just one institution, the characteristics of this institutions advising models likely have more of an effect on students responses than their fields of study. Observations from this study may be used to enhance advising effectiveness in interdisciplinary programs. With students in these programs having higher expectations for advising than students in other programs, advisors need to be well-prepared. Training should ensure that advisors are well-informed of the learning outcomes of interdisciplinary study and can communicate them to students. Further research on student experiences with advising models may contribute to understanding factors affecting advising quality. As for interdisciplinary programs, further study from other institutions with such programs can contribute to understanding how to serve their students with advising. Researching what kinds of students seek enrollment into interdisciplinary programs may also effective.

THE STORY OF RESTRUCTURING THE INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT TEAM Tammy S. Cavanaugh, Ed.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2006 Dr. Charles J. Gorman, Advisor ___ This study provides the story of one school districts experiences with a mandated program, the Instructional Support Team (IST), which was initiated with external funds. The program was implemented and validated to meet regulatory requirements and designed to provide support services to students in need. Eventually, the funding was removed and the mandate lifted; however, the concept remained. Local Education Agencies were provided the option to sustain the support services as validated or restructure the program. The district in this study restructured the program and sustained many of the support services. The purpose of the study was to provide an in-depth analysis of the accomplishments, obstacles, and future implications of the current screening team that were lifted from the IST concept when funds were removed and what were the implications of the change for student support services. A major accomplishment was sustaining many of the support services for children even with the elimination of funding and the position of the IST instructor. Other accomplishments included ongoing collaboration with parents, teachers, and outside agencies. This was done in an attempt to meet student needs in the least restrictive environment (LRE). As long as the needs of the student were met, the student was maintained in the general education setting. The continued use of technology and curriculum integration in every elementary classroom provided classroom provided opportunity for students to work at their own instructional level. A Study Buddy Program was developed in one elementary building to assist in providing individualized student assistance. The obstacles included expediently fulfilling many of the activities of the IST instructor, time management, and not as much individual student or instructor assistance. This study illustrates that change is ongoing and redefines many concepts in a system. Successful implementation does not predict the continuation of a program initiated with external funds. However, this district was able to sustain many of the student support services by restructuring the IST.

Much has been written about how school systems manage and sustain change. Central to the cultural change is the building level principal. This study was designed to examine the role of the building level principal and the relationship that exists between the teachers and the administrators with regard to implementing change. The following research questions were utilized to frame this study: 1. What are the values and beliefs expressed by the building level principal and his/her teachers in successful inclusionary environments with regard to the inclusion of special needs children in the regular education classroom? 2. What types of relationships exist between the principal and staff in schools that are successful in the practice of inclusion? 3. How does the building level principal facilitate the knowledge creation and sharing needed to support the state and federal mandated change to inclusion through professional development? 4. What is the relationship between a principal's values and beliefs and a teacher's values and beliefs in regard to the change from a self-contained environment for special needs children to an inclusionary program? 5. How does a principal convey his/her values and beliefs regarding inclusion to his teaching staff to establish a shared commitment to facilitate and sustain the change? 6. How does the principal provide for sustainability of the mandated changes in the educational program? 7. What is the culture of the school system with regard to knowledge, collaboration and change? In this case study, the researcher attempted to create a picture of the role of the building level principal when managing change. Teachers and administrators at three middle schools participated in the case study. Through the use surveys, interviews and document analysis, the researcher found that successful inclusionary environments are created by school systems where the principal practices distributed leadership, participates in professional development and continually shares his vision with regard to the inclusion of special education students in the regular education environment.

School-community partnerships have an extensive history and a promising future. Strong partnerships empower both the school and the community, but even more important, they engage and enlighten the students. The result, for the students, is a powerful combination of mentors and resources which, without such partnership, would otherwise have been difficult, if not impossible, to attain. While there are many different types of partnerships and varying degrees of commitment, the best partnerships stand apart from the rest due to their ability to "create capacity" or to improve many facets of the school, such as awareness, effectiveness, resource pools, visibility, and sustainability. With so many different types of school-community partnerships to emulate, it is becoming increasingly difficult for educators, businesses, community leaders, and parents to determine which partnership to focus on, let alone how to achieve similar results. Although many school-community partnerships have proven to be successful, one partnership, in particular, adheres strongly to the core values which school-community partnership experts have identified as imperative for success. Through the examination of one particular school-community partnership, the Georgia Project, one can perceive a template for other school-community partnerships to follow. The Georgia Project addresses the needs of an ever-growing population of students who speak Spanish as their primary language by sponsoring bilingual teachers who can help students to assimilate while respecting cultural differences. The community is united in a common purpose, and the partnership even offers professional opportunities to local and future teachers to meet their needs as well. By surveying a statistically significant number of participants in the Georgia Project about the project's history, current process, and future plans, an accessible roadmap for other school-community partnerships becomes apparent. This critical, qualitative case study provides an in-depth examination of how the Georgia Project was established and the various manners in which the partnership has sustained itself over time. It also describes the specific features of the Georgia Project that have been noted by other researchers as qualities of successful school-community partnerships. Finally, it addresses how this particular partnership has institutionalized itself in terms of creating strategies to build capacity in the project.

The case-study was designed to identify the processes of engagement in learning of students when they first transferred from their academic schools to a vocational school. The students were periodically assessed over the course of a school year to determine whether their processes of engagement were affected by their placements in the vocational program and the students' selected 'career choices'. Researchers indicated the necessity for student engagement in to ensure a positive learning environment. There were strong correlations in the literature between the students' academic successes and their higher levels of student-initiated, active engagement. Two objectives were obtained in the study. The first objective was to understand what processes of engagement students have from their perspectives as learners, and specifically, what the term 'student engagement' meant to them. The second objective was to determine if there was a correlation between the students' processes of engagement and their placements in the vocational schools. There had been increased placements of students in vocational schools who have educationally disadvantages, learning disabilities, or students who were classified as /'at-risk' for graduation from high school. The interviews of the new vocational students provided information about the reasons for the students' placements in vocational programs, the students' interests and career goals, and how hands on learning and work-based experiences affected the students' academic achievements and career preparations. Interviews of the vocational teachers from the study school contained the teachers' perceptions about the students' processes of engagement and other relevant issues about the backgrounds of students who entered the vocational education school. Synergistic and antagonistic perspectives were identified between the students' and the vocational teachers' about students' processes of engagement and other considerations related to current vocational education policies. These perspectives were considered relevant to the planning and implementation of vocational education initiatives in the future.

This study determined whether the use of the human patient simulator (HPS) as an educational intervention with nursing students was more effective than the use of interactive case studies (ICS) with respect to knowledge gain and critical thinking abilities and assessed the learner's perspective related to the experiences. Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory provided the framework. A multi-site, quantitative quasi-experimental two group pre-test and post-test design was utilized with a sample of 49 nursing students from two different nursing programs at a simulation center. After permission was obtained, the diploma and baccalaureate nursing students were pre-tested using a custom-designed Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) exam based upon ICS and HPS content, randomly assigned to either the ICS or HPS group, received the educational intervention, then were post-tested using another HESI exam based upon the same test blueprint. The HESI Scores were used to measure knowledge gain and critical thinking ability. Students also completed a researcher developed ICS / HPS evaluation form to assess their perspective of the teaching strategies. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed a significant difference with respect to knowledge gain using the HESI Conversion Score (p=.018) and HESI Scores (p=.037), and a significant difference with respect to critical thinking ability using the Critical Thinking subscore (p=.051), with the HPS group scoring significantly higher on the posttest. Descriptive statistics revealed that the student's perspective of the HPS experience was significantly more positive when compared to the case study group with respect to the stimulation of critical thinking abilities (p=.070), perceived value (p=.001), the ability to transfer learning to the clinical setting (p=.059), need for inclusion in undergraduate education (p=.010), understanding of concepts (p=.010), invoking nervousness (p=.001), decreasing anxiety in the clinical setting (p=.074), and substitution for clinical experiences (p=.027). The results supported the use of simulation technology in undergraduate nursing education, demonstrated the effectiveness of the use of simulation as an innovative teaching strategy, validated the nursing students'positive experience with respect to simulation, and confirmed the cost-benefit ratio with respect to the resources needed to integrate simulation into an undergraduate nursing curriculum.

In this work, I explore the many ways in which public school educators interpret their charge to prepare future citizens. My purpose is to acknowledge and name a potent form of resistance to the requirements and limitations of state accountability policies. At the same time, I am constructing a theoretical frame that makes use of these discourses in a way that includes self constitution as an enactment of civic pedagogy, where pedagogy represents philosophies of education and teacher identities more than curricular content and instructional methods. To accomplish these tasks I make use of a series of models of resistance to name and discus various subject positions (self-constitutions) that operate as forms of resistance. This includes Michael Foucault's work which articulates the effects of power in education: knowledge/power and surveillance, along with Foucauldian scholarship relevant to education. Primarily, I make use of Foucauldian self-constitution, or creating and presenting a self that is different from, if not in direct opposition to, the normalized version of the self, created by dominant political discourses. This study utilizes an open-ended interview protocol to engage with a purposeful sample of teacher-participants in South Western Pennsylvania. I portray a major portion of my analysis and discussion as a culling of themes, concepts or composites written as speculative essays. On one level, this study is about twelve local educators' thoughts on education for U.S. citizenship (civic pedagogies), their individualized notions of citizenship and their own self-constitutions as citizens. Then again, the study is about the way that these specific educators constitute themselves and about how these self-constitutions are a form of resistance to normalized notions of teaching and education. Still, the study is about my own journey of ad hoc theorizing toward a critical social theory of citizenship education. I have come to understand that it is not that educators cannot or do not offer resistance in this era of intensified educational accountability but that, for the most part, educational researcher and teacher educators do a poor job of recognizing and naming their resistance.