The focus of this study was to identify certain characteristics and behaviors unique to students who exhibit exceptional skills in computer technology. Five public schools in Western Pennsylvania were chosen to participate in this study. Within each school, the building principals were asked to identify a focus group of teachers who were likely to be able to discuss with the researcher certain characteristics exhibited by computer talented students. In addition, the technology coordinator from each school was interviewed by the researcher. The data revealed common characteristics that can be attributed to this unique group of students. Implications for policy and practice include the following: These students tend to be good problem solvers and possess divergent thinking skills. They enjoy helping their teachers and fellow students who are having difficulties with computer technology. Their talent is first observed sometime between the second semester of their eighth grade year and their ninth grade year similar to mathematical or athletic talent which also gets noticed during this time period. They tend to prefer to work independently on formal classroom assignments with little or no direction from the teacher. They especially enjoy playing higher order thinking games when using computers in an educational setting. Finally, where some schools create an environment which fosters talent in athletics or music, implications for policy and practice suggest that schools could create an environment which fosters computer talent.

This thesis examines different ways the process of participation is manifested in Venezuelan Bolivarian primary schools. I argue that the notion of participation in development is contested and has been oversimplified by both advocates and detractors. Using the Venezuelan study as an example, I show that in the same project of participatory development both problematic and positive elements of participation will exist. Problematic elements of participation address inadequate understandings of 'community', question the process of consensus building, and highlight the role of proximity to power centers. Promising developments in the Venezuelan case include incorporation of social programs into the schools, new educational quality indicators, and the establishment of a relationship between school curriculum and local development efforts. As these problematic and promising elements simultaneously occur, I suggest that a different approach to evaluating participation in a development context is necessary. This approach, theorized by social geographers, suggests that analysis of how the space of participation emerges would be more beneficial for assessing the merits of participation. From this perspective, continued study of participatory processes might move beyond the current oversimplification.

A STUDY OF WHAT DIFFERENT SUBGROUPS OF EDUCATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS EACH BELIEVES IS EFFECTIVE IN NEW TEACHER INDUCTION WITH AN OVERVIEW OF THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES AMONG AND BETWEEN THESE GROUPS Daniel C. Lujetic, Ed.D University of Pittsburgh, 2007 In any profession, there is always a period where new employees must learn to integrate themselves into their jobs and to become successful at what they do. However, newly hired teachers often are given the most difficult teaching assignments and left to sink or swim without the type of help provided by most other professions (e.g. American Federation of Teachers, 2000; Darling-Hamilton, 1996; U.S. Department of Education, 1998; Bartell, 2005; Grossman & Thompson, 2004; ERIC Clearinghouse on Teacher Education, 1999). The beginning teacher faces performing several duties while at the same time trying to learn those duties (Wong & Wong, 2001). This is all detrimental to the process of teaching and learning, ultimately affecting student achievement. Improving student learning, therefore, relies on improving teaching (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999), and the goal of having a systematically planned program teacher induction should be to help new teachers not just survive, but to succeed and thrive (Bartell, 2005). Improving teaching for those new to the profession is thus necessary to maximize students learning, knowing that the integration period for new teachers is crucial. Research shows that beginning teachers often struggle in their first few years due to a lack of usefulness of new teacher induction programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2000), even though the early years of a teachers career are the most formative, in which they establish patterns and practices that form the bases for the rest of their careers (Bartell, 2005). Sound induction programs are necessary, wherein new teachers are assessed and supported as they grow toward becoming expert classroom teachers (Berry, Hopkins-Thompson, & Hoke, 2002). Typically, veteran school personnel design and implement these induction programs. Therefore, there appears to possibly be a disjunction between what veteran administrators and teachers design for new teacher inductions versus what new teachers really need.

This study examined the professional background of physical therapy department chairpersons, as well as training received for the position, and its importance. Survey methodology was utilized and the return rate was 62%. The average physical therapy department chairperson is a 52 years old female, tenured, associate professor with a doctorate degree. Chairpersons were on average, a clinician for 8 years prior to entering academia, had no intention of entering academia and thus took longer to achieve graduate degrees than other department chairpersons in the academy. Only twenty-six percent had a doctorate degree when entering academia. The majority had prior administrative experience, whether in the clinic or higher education. Most were internal candidates, and the largest percent of respondents were interested in a long-term career as a department chairperson. Few received formal training from their institutions. Forty-three percent sought outside training opportunities. The majority received informal training from the previous department chairperson. No training or minimal training was received in all of the fifty areas listed on the survey. However, 27 of the 50 areas were rated moderately to highly important. When respondents were asked to identify the most important areas for training, twelve areas were ranked above the rest. Leadership, institutional policies and procedures, promotion and tenure, team building and budgeting were the top five training areas. It is recommended that physical therapy department chairpersons seek ongoing, internal and external training, with mentorship from other chairpersons. The areas most important to chairpersons should be addressed. Training could be provided at the institutional level, especially policies and procedures. However, local, regional or state consortiums could provide additional training. National training for issues related to the profession of physical therapy is available and efforts to make the training more effective should be considered.

Responding to the diverse students needs of an increasingly internationalizing American college population has become an important concern for student affairs professionals. For this purpose, increasing the effectiveness of co-curricular activities requires exploring the students diverse needs and the relation between social and cultural participation and academic success. This dissertation presents a case study focused on international graduate students of selected nationalities at the University of Pittsburgh. By applying social capital, cultural capital, and involvement theories, this study explored the areas and the degrees of social and cultural needs and participation of the selected population and how needs and participation relate to their diverse background, adjustment, and academic performances. The data were collected from about 250 survey participants and 40 face-to-face interview participants. The dissertation findings focuses on the following issues: (i) the variation of civic engagement with respect to marital status and nationality; (ii) the impact of language barriers and differences in socialization culture on students socialization patterns; (iii) the high or moderate correlations among the levels of social capital, cultural capital, civic engagement, participation, and previous cross-cultural experience; and (iv) the low correlation between academic success and the previously mentioned elements. The conclusion lists the implications of this dissertation study in terms of theories in this case study context, related literature, research methodology, programs and services, and university policy. The highlights in this section are: various ways in which student affairs professionals can help increase the social and cultural participation of international graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh; and the importance of promoting cross-cultural experience among the entire student population.

Although recent data indicate more African American females are earning academic degrees, the figures do not show gains in their career advancement within the academy, particularly with regard to obtaining senior administrative positions. Although different factors impede their progress, the question remains, if African American women possess the credentials, why are they not holding senior level administrative positions? This qualitative study examined the developmental relationship of mentoring, frequently viewed as instrumental to an individuals career advancement, and its effect as a conduit for African American female higher education administrators whose dual identities of gender and race places them in a marginalized position in society. Eleven senior-level administrators in Pennsylvania were interviewed. All were members of the Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education (PBCOHE), a nonprofit professional education organization whose purpose is to ensure that Blacks and other underrepresented groups in Pennsylvania have access to higher education. The study examined mentoring relationships associated with African American female administrators career advancement and construct of success, including the significance of the mentors race and gender. The construct of marginality was investigated; construed as creative, it elevates the African American females self-identity; viewed as negative, it situates them as invisible within society. The construct of power was examined in an effort to understand the restrictions and limitations it had on respondents. The findings indicate that these African American female administrators felt mentoring relationships had been critical to their career advancement; that the race and gender of the mentor was not as determining a factor as the mentors influence and reputation; that creative marginality was a way of life for them in an effort to maintain a positive attitude; and that success was measured by the legacy they left to others. Substantive recommendations were also gathered from the study, including the need for African American females to stay professionally prepared while pursuing senior-level roles and that institutions must share in the burden of increasing the pipeline for African American senior-level administrators by enforcing stringent search committee strategies to provide diverse candidate pools, establishing retention efforts, and maintaining databases that highlight disparities.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the issues and implementation of high school reform efforts in the 81 career and technology schools in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The specific areas that were examined were those identified in the research as contributing to high school reform efforts of secondary schools. The researcher developed four research questions that guided the study. Pennsylvania Association of Career and Technical Administrators (PACTA) aided the researcher in reaching directors of the 81 career and technology schools in the commonwealth via e-mail. The e-mail asked directors to complete an electronic survey concerning high school reform issues with their sending school districts. Seventy-one of a possible eighty-one directors completed the survey. The results of the completed survey were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative analysis. The statistical outline includes discussions of correlation, central themes found and percentages. The results of this study indicated that there is an overwhelming lack of communications between career and technology schools and their sending school districts. The researcher also found that comprehensive career and technology schools are more actively engaged in high school reform efforts than shared-time career and technology schools. By surveying a statistically significant number of career and technology school directors about the reform efforts of their schools, this study provides a clear road map for improvement in the overall high school reform efforts. This road map suggests Pennsylvania policymakers and school administrators need to make collaboration and communication a top priority to ensure that all students are provided the same high quality education regardless, of whether they chose career and technology or traditional academic education.

A number of studies have focused on the identification of factors impacting minority students persistence at four-year colleges and universities. Most of these studies focus on what the students or institutions have done wrong, with fewer studies focusing on the specific factors that successful students, those who have persisted to graduation, have done right to overcome barriers to graduation. The main objectives of the study are to: a) identify resources utilized by minority students leading to academic success as identified by general and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) discipline retention experts; b) identify the knowledge acquired to access available resources and actions employed to utilize resources by minority students studying in STEM disciplines; c) analyze the associations between resources utilized by graduates of the Hewlett Packard (HP) Scholars Program and the academic majors selected; and d) analyze the associations between resources utilized by HP Scholars and the institutions attended. This study utilized the Padilla Expertise Model of Student Success (1991), with slight modifications, as the theoretical framework. It is hoped that further research using this framework as a foundation will result in an instrument that is reflective of the needs of minority students studying STEM field disciplines to persist to graduation and will also equip institutions of higher education with the tools to facilitate this success.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how an all-girls urban public school has built capacity and sustained itself. Through this study, the researcher interviewed faculty and staff in their natural setting to identify the capacity building strategies the school has developed and used to sustain itself as a reform model. By presenting the data in narrative form, the researcher exposes the reader to a culture and climate that she experienced during her visit to the school. By analyzing the data collected, the researcher found that a nurturing environment built on collaboration, building relationships and high expectations by a dedicated faculty are necessary components to building capacity at an all-girls public school. These characteristics have sustained this school for more than a decade, and it has become a standard that other schools and districts attempt to replicate.

The purpose of this study was to focus on how the high school principals role has changed as a result of the integration of technology. This was a qualitative study, which utilized semi-structured interviews to obtain the data necessary from practicing high school principals in western Pennsylvania. The goal was to identify the strengths, weaknesses, and barriers of technology that have affected education and the role of the high school principal. Another goal was to identify what the principals found to be effective professional development from their perceptive and where the principals perceived technology moving toward in the future. The results of this study showed that a majority of the high school principals claim to be tech savvy. The study also found that based upon the perspectives of the high school principals, technology was beneficial when completing daily duties, housing student information, and analyzing test data. Furthermore, communicating with staff and parents has become more efficient according to the high school principals. Based upon the perspectives of the high school principals, technology can improve instruction, but in and of itself, does not make instruction effective. While technology can enhance instruction, sound pedagogy is firmly rooted in effective methods of instruction. The results from this study as outlined through the principals perspective stated that funding, staff resistance, and poor infrastructure all can become significant barriers when integrating technology into the high school. This study provided the high school principal with suggestions about successfully accepting technology into the high school and utilizing it effectively. It outlined many of the barriers present and the appropriate professional development to help with the integration process.