In recent years, a growing number of American colleges and universities have implemented financial aid policies targeted at lower-income students. These initiatives referred to in this study as Loan Replacement Grant (LRG) programs seek to reduce or eliminate loans as part of student financial aid awards and replace them with grants. Since the first LRG was instituted in 1998, the programs have proliferated; in the past five years over 40 institutions have adopted LRGs. This qualitative study investigates how and why LRGs are adopted at colleges and universities. Using a comparative case study design, the policy adoption process at three institutions is considered in relation to the diffusion of policy innovation theory a widely accepted mechanism for investigating the spread of new policies across adopting units. The theoretical framework, which has been derived from policy innovation and diffusion literature, consists of eight dimensions and guides analysis of archival data and interviews with institutional policymakers. The core study finding offers support for a unified theory (Berry, 1994) of policy adoption, which simultaneously considers the influence of internal determinants and diffusion-related factors. Results suggest that in LRG adoption, an evaluation of internal determinants is most effective in describing an institutions ability or capacity to implement programs, while diffusion-related factors provide insight regarding the likelihood that institutions will adopt. Additional findings point to a centrality of institutional finances in the policymaking process, the prominent role of policy entrepreneurs, and the influence of institutional problems stemming from underrepresentation of lower-income students. Among diffusion explanations, competition between institutions and the borrowing of policy ideas out of convenience represent the most relevant factors in LRG adoption.

With alarming frequencies students are viewing the acts of academic dishonesty as commonplace. Cheating is now considered an alternative form of academic behavior which is situationally dependent upon the risks involved. Any apparent institutional, faculty, and student indifference to academic dishonesty communicates to students that the values of integrity are not sufficiently important to justify a serious effort to instill them. One means of combating academic dishonesty is to involve faculty that sit at the heart of the higher educational system. Faculty can conduct their courses to uphold the institutions academic integrity policies. This study investigated faculty training regarding academic dishonesty, the dissemination of academic integrity expectations to students, faculty perceptions of academic integrity in the classroom, faculty responses to incidents of academic dishonesty, and faculty familiarity with the University of Pittsburghs School of Arts and Sciences Academic Integrity Code.

This study extends the body of knowledge in the field of K-12 teacher supervision through an investigation of contemporary literature on supervision in traditional and cyber schools; an inventory of current cyber school supervisory practices, procedures, policies, needs, and issues; and a review of related supervisory documents. The results of the outreach effort yielded an effective response rate of 9% resulting in an unintended, but important finding, in that a better mechanism is needed for identifying, categorizing and reaching cyber schools. The study supports contemporary beliefs related to the necessity and importance of a quality supervisory program and that multiple considerations and approaches are available. Participating schools report substantially lower teacher to supervisor ratios than the national average and that supervision practices have a positive impact on quality of instruction. Respondents indicate that the principal is primarily responsible for supervision however; many call upon other individuals such as peer mentors, instructional supervisors, and team leaders to assess and support the teacher. Most participating schools incorporate the use of classroom observations using archived data and report that email is most widely used and most useful supervisory tool. Student work/test scores, input from students, teacher self-reflection, and input from parents are reported to be the most widely used sources of data. Professional development needs and a lack of time for supervision are reported to be the biggest supervisory challenges facing cyber school administrators.

This dissertation addresses theory and practice of evaluation and assessment in university student affairs, by applying logic modeling / program theory to a case study. I intend to add knowledge to ongoing dialogue among evaluation scholars and practitioners on student affairs program planning and improvement as integral considerations that serve mission and vision at the contemporary university. Insights on the following research questions can help determine theoretical justifications and forge an inventory of effective evaluation and assessment techniques in student affairs. 1. How can logic modeling be used to analyze evaluations of student affairs programs and an overall assessment campaign? 2. How might evaluators and planners have enlisted a logic model such as the one developed in this study to enhance the effectiveness of the assessment campaign at the profiled university student affairs unit? These questions involve general principles and particular applications of my arguments in favor of using a logic model to analyze a comprehensive assessment campaign, as conducted by a designated student affairs assessment team. Although sets of workable techniques at one university may not generalize to another campus culture, findings will reveal how one institution of higher education (IHE) has behaved and responded to new challenges and inputs in this case, greater emphasis on evaluation and assessment to address issues of accountability and credibility for student affairs. Using logic modeling as the primary heuristic, this study analyzes what the university system depicted in case study has accomplished and might have accomplished. I also invite readers to join my speculation how using and perhaps customizing this logic model could guide the units next steps in ongoing assessment. If a logic model works retrospectively, then perhaps it might function proactively. My hope is that readers find descriptions and lessons to compare and contrast to their own evaluative practices, adding to the knowledge base and possible consensus about current practices for university student affairs assessment campaigns.

This dissertation explores the use of formal and informal networks through cyber- and traditional communication methods in the college search and selection process by native and immigrant students to examine various postulates and propositions of social capital theory. In addition, the analysis of cybernetworks used by disadvantaged, college bound immigrant students in the United States furthers our understanding of the equalization of opportunity and/or replication of the social divide found with more traditional social networks. The research methods consisted of archival data analysis with chat room transcripts; six on-line focus groups of 21 first year students from The City University of New York (CUNY); and one on-line survey distributed to 9,240 CUNY first year students. SPSS and NVivo qualitative analytical software were used to conduct frequency, statistical significance, correlation and linear relationships analyses. These results confirm the use of a greater variety of formal and informal networks by students. No preference for either the use of formal or informal networks was found among all respondents. However, immigrant students found that formal networks such as guidance counselors, admissions counselors, high school teacher and current college students provided the most useful information compared to their informal networks. Friends as an informal network were the only exception. These findings support the strength-of-weak-ties and strength-of strong-ties postulates. Immigrants show a greater variety of network usage especially through cyber- communication methods. Perhaps as a result, lower SES immigrant students were found to enroll more in four-year CUNY colleges compared to lower SES native students. Lower/middle SES immigrants that used emailmainly with friends and static college search Web sites had a greater perception than natives of the same SES that their degree would result in their improved SES a finding that challenges the social capital structure postulate. The evidence of the Internets ability to provide equalization of opportunity supports the argument for its more open access in order to address the lack of information among U.S. immigrants.

Adherence to the highest standards and fundamentals of professionalism is essential to the profession of law enforcement. Police professionalism has many meanings but no definitive model of professionalism in policing has been established. Historically, the idea of policing as a profession has emerged slowly. The professional model, as proposed in this research, seeks to define a working model of professionalism in policing. It is proposed that police work is a true profession, similar to the professions of medicine, law, and education. Advocates of any professional model of policing argue that police officers are experts through training, certification, education, and experience, and thus should be viewed as professionals in every sense of the term. In selecting the criteria for this developmental model of professionalism, a content analysis of the literature was conducted in order to define key elements of professionalism and professionalism in policing. The development of this descriptive profile resulted in the conceptualization of a professional model utilizing nine criteria, or attributes: high standards of recruitment and selection (civil service), formal education (college) requirements, formal training (police academy) and state certification, state-mandated (annual) specialized training and re-certification, sworn police officers empowered to arrest, armed police officers (firearms), formal policies (departmental) for operations and function, community policing (commitment and service), and accreditation. Select specialists (N=25) in the field of criminal justice - law enforcement practitioners and higher education faculty - were sampled to assess the proposed model. The focus of this study was that professionalism in policing could be defined and achieved by meeting the established criteria as proposed by the Professional Model of Policing. The results indicate the majority of the specialists in this study felt the proposed model was acceptable, and could serve as a basic blueprint of professionalism in law enforcement, or ideal type, pending further relevant research on police professionalism.

Nontraditional students often have many responsibilities beyond those of traditional students. These responsibilities include: full time employment, marriage, children, and large financial commitments. This research will focus on the undergraduate adult learner and will present how institutions of higher learning have begun to respond to the adult learner, the current state of the adult learner, the needs of the adult learner, and the processes and procedures that institutions of higher education implement to educate and support the adult learner. It begins with the history of Andragogy and a discussion of what current literature is saying about andragogy. Then, the research questions are identified and the research methodology used to gather the information and data. The research results are then presented, and the study concludes with the research findings and a discussion on potential future research considerations of andragogy and how post-secondary institutions can better educate and service adult learners. The overall purpose is to demonstrate the importance of improving these services to improve quality of student service and enhancement of the student experience. Eighty-five institutions responded to the survey on current andragogy styles and the results will demonstrate the importance of increased attention to andragogy and its impact on the student experience.

This study investigates strategic planning by intercollegiate athletic departments competing in Division I-A, the Football Bowl Subdivision. Specifically, this study attempts to identify the formal strategic planning processes used by Division I-A athletic departments. Formal planning processes were identified by searching for evidence of traditional strategic planning process components commonly cited in strategic planning literature goal setting, environmental scanning, employee participation, and plan implementation tactics. In addition, this study identifies the benefits of strategic planning and the challenges that make strategic planning a difficult task for intercollegiate athletic departments. The study culminates with the creation of a strategic planning process model specifically for intercollegiate athletic departments. It is hoped that this model, combined with greater knowledge of strategic planning processes and the benefits and challenges of strategic planning, will allow Division I-A athletic departments to maximize the benefits of using strategic planning as a management tool.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not Western Pennsylvania public school districts have changed their teacher evaluation forms since the inception of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Thirty-eight superintendents from the Tri-State Area School Study Council and the Forum for Western Pennsylvania School Superintendents completed a survey that provided information regarding the teacher evaluation methods used in their school district along with other descriptive data. It was found that 76% of the school districts self-reported that they had changed their teacher evaluation forms since 2001. 71% of the school districts are currently using PDE 426 to evaluate teachers with an Instructional I teaching certificate and 47% of the districts are using PDE 428 to evaluate teachers with an Instructional II teaching certificate. PDE 426 and PDE 428 are teacher evaluation forms that were developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in 2003 and are designed around the four domains of Charlotte Danielsons Framework for Teaching. Superintendents stated that the main reasons for implementing these new forms is that they are consistent with quality teaching, they provide a better process of evaluating teachers (compared to the previous model) and they increase student achievement. Union issues and the collective bargaining agreement were identified as the main reason for not adopting these new teacher evaluation forms.

A TRANSFORMATIONAL MODEL OF VISIONARY LEADERSHIP Michael R. Loughead B.A., M.S Ed. University of Pittsburgh 2009 The study examines the previously unforeseen demand for visionary leadership in education created by the simultaneous requirement for academically proficient students to be able to navigate the reality of globalization nested in a newfound conceptual age. Globalization driven by new technologies has ushered in a new conceptual age that requires students to compete on the global stage. Students in this country are competing with the best and brightest from around the world not just with their peers. Furthermore, the new conceptual age that is upon us favors students who are creative, empathetic, artistic, innovative and holistic thinkers. . This is a rich, descriptive, narrative, qualitative study that examines the journey of regional school superintendents. Participants were selected due to their qualifications and experience following a careful protocol. Methods of data collection included semi structured interviews and a personal journal. Data was transcribed and organized into major and minor themes. A personal journal was kept for the purpose of adding reflective thoughts to the study. This research has uncovered a curious pattern indicating visionary superintendents in Western Pennsylvania already possess the types of skills and abilities that we now are expecting our students to acquire to navigate the conceptual age. Another intriguing finding of the study was the evidence that the Western Pennsylvania region serves to create irrepressible visionary leaders. This finding is somewhat surprising as the region is typically thought of as somewhat parochial and not as innovative as other regions of the state and country. The study results which compare the present findings with previous research revealed tangible support for two specific models of visionary leadership found in the literature.