Converging demographic, societal, and political conditions are raising concerns among educational policy makers regarding Virginia's capacity to meet the demand for high quality instructional personnel. The variables affecting demand include shifts in student enrollments, efforts to meet Virginia Standards of Accreditation, retirement rate, efforts to increase diversity in instructional positions, efforts to reduce staffing ratios, increased technology in the classroom, legislative mandates, competition for instructional personnel, salary and other quality of life issues, rising licensure standards, and non-public school pupil enrollment. This research is a quantitative study that combines descriptive and correlational research methods. One purpose of this study is to aggregate and summarize data from Virginia school districts that will provide important information for educational policy makers. The second purpose is to create a paradigm that will quantify and rank order the variables that affect the demand for educators in Virginia. The third purpose of this study is to place school districts into groupings according to variables that influence demand for instructional personnel. The k-means cluster analysis procedure was utilized for this purpose. The Virginia Public School Systems' Instructional Personnel Profile: 1999-2000, a survey commissioned by the Virginia Department of Education, was sent to the 132 Virginia public school districts. A total of 126 school districts responded. This survey provided the data used in this study. This survey was developed because there is no uniform, statewide system to collect demographic data for PreK-12 instructional personnel in Virginia. The results find that Virginia is experiencing shortages of instructional personnel. Special education, mathematics, science, and technology endorsement areas are expected to experience the most critical shortages. Competition from other Virginia school districts, retirement, efforts to reduce teacher to pupil ratios, and salaries are reported as the variables that most influence demand for personnel. Virginia public school districts are clustered into two groups using the k-means cluster analysis procedure. / Ph. D.

The grounded theory presented in this study describes how the supervision of special education instruction occurs in public elementary schools in rural settings. Grounded theory methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) was employed in this study. Nine elementary schools in three rural districts in the state of Virginia participated in the study. Interview data were collected from 34 participants, including special and general education teachers, principals, and directors of special education. Observations were made in the schools and documents pertaining to the supervision process were collected. Data analysis allowed identification of categories and subcategories, processes, influencing conditions, strategies, and outcomes related to supervision, which contributed to the articulation of the theory. The grounded theory suggests that the supervisor's role is assigned to the principal. The principal negotiates among competing priorities and contextual factors while providing supervision. Competing priorities exist in three areas: (1) management and administration versus supervision; (2) monitoring for legal compliance versus supervision of instruction for students with disabilities; and (3) evaluation of teachers versus supervision of instruction. Contextual factors include systemic conditions such as enrollment size of school, time, and number of administrators. Contextual factors also include personal conditions such as knowledge of special education, definitions of special education instruction, and perceived competence of teachers. The outcome of negotiating competing priorities and contextual factors is a dispersal of responsibility for supervision to three groups of educators. Principals, as the primary supervisors, utilize three strategies to address supervision: (1) the observation/evaluation process; (2) supervision by wandering; and (3) open communication. Directors of special education have a supportive role in supervision through communication and collaboration with teachers and principals. Teachers provide some supervision when they mentor new teachers and serve as special education coordinators. / Ph. D.

In this study, the topic of K-12 public school online learning is addressed in the context of the pandemic-related circumstances of 2020 and 2021. The study used a qualitative analysis of data sources in the form of one-on-one interviews. The study examined teachers' input regarding factors they believe impacted academic outcomes for students in the online learning environment in 2020-2021. A total of 15 K-12 public school teachers who volunteered to provide instruction in the online learning environment during the 2020-2021 school year participated in a one-on-one semi-structured interview. The questions asked during the interview were organized in sections according to themes that were reviewed in the review of literature and existing research components of this study: professional development, pedagogy, learner engagement, and equity in the K-12 online learning environment. Findings and conclusions from this study offer multiple considerations for future planning and implementation of K-12 public school instruction in the fully online learning environment. Instructors need adequate and advanced preparation and professional development that is intentionally focused on the fully online learning environment. Parents and students need to have an understanding of the expectations of active engagement in the fully online learning environment. Consistent and clear communication about expectations of learners is a predominant factor in ensuring increased student achievement in the K-12 public school fully online learning environment. / Doctor of Education / In this study, the topic of K-12 public school online learning is addressed in the context of the pandemic-related circumstances of 2020 and 2021. The study examined teachers' input regarding factors they believe impacted academic outcomes for students in the online learning environment in 2020-2021. A total of 15 K-12 public school teachers who volunteered to provide instruction in the online learning environment during the 2020-2021 school year participated in a one-on-one interviews. The topics of professional development, pedagogy, learner engagement, and equity in the K-12 online learning environment were addressed by the interview questions. The results of this study offer multiple considerations for future planning and implementation of K-12 public school instruction in the fully online learning environment. Instructors need adequate and advanced preparation and professional development that is intentionally focused on the fully online learning environment. Parents and students need to have an understanding of the expectations of active engagement in the fully online learning environment. Consistent and clear communication about expectations of learners is a predominant factor in ensuring increased student achievement in the K-12 public school fully online learning environment.

M.S.

One of the most important administrative problems in education today is how equitably to finance the school system of a state, since frequently the question of insufficient revenue and disparity between school divisions and states reflects a larger societal problem of commitment to public education. The proposal to restructure, if not refound the present educational system as a quasi~ public marketing entity using educational vouchers now challenges the time- honored common school ideal. This study provides a philosophical rationale for the American common school to aid legislators, jurists, and policymakers in interpreting key terms in the educational provisions of state constitutions. It assumes that the school financing policies of a nation reflect the value choices of a people as well as their priorities in the allocation of resources. The terms selected for analysis: "common," "system," "uniform," and "efficient," are pregnant with meaning in the context of education. Defined etymologically and philosophically, they are "terms of art" because they suggest ethical standards for a common school system. In the process of defining each term, the study examines the intellectual roots of the American common school, an institution its founders believed could unite the nation and ensure the common good. The present movement to privatize public systems, however, reflects a paradigm of laissez-faire individualism that encourages private self interest and a divisive pluralism in contrast with an older, more egalitarian tradition of classical republicanism which has shaped the common school ideal. The phrase "common good," associated with the public interest, is a rubric used to define "common" and other related root terms such as "commonality," "commonwealth," and "virtue." It defines "system" as an aspect of polity and suggests that the terms "efficient" and "uniform" have moral implications for school systems that have a public purpose of effecting a virtuous and enlightened citizenry for the preservation of a republic. This multidisciplinary investigation emphasizes the duty of the state to educate in the republican, civic humanist tradition. It thus serves as a guide to policymakers required to make complex school finance decisions that will ensure equity and equality of educational opportunity for all citizens in every state throughout the commonwealth. / Ph. D.

The adoption and integration of technology is limited in K-12 contexts worldwide, including in the Middle East. Based on the work of Everett Rogers (1995) and his disciplines, studies in the United States indicate that teachers' perceptions towards the attributes of technology (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability) reflect the extent by which technology is used. Furthermore, teachers' characteristics and the support environment provided can potentially encourage or inhibit the adoption of technologies. This multiple case study was designed to show the applicability of Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory in Kuwait public school systems. The study was conducted with eight female Kuwaiti teachers in two primary public schools. A qualitative methodology was employed using interviews, participant observations, and physical artifacts for collecting data. The study reveals that Rogers' three attributes relative advantage, compatibility and observability (result demonstrability) contributed to use, while complexity and observability (visibility) limited use. Prior experience and practice, motivational support provided by the school administration and department head, and teachers' voluntary decisions on the type of technologies to use encouraged use. Anxiety from lack of functionality of devices and extra time and effort in preparing materials, centralized decision-making on technology purchases, budget constraint, and limited access to technology and classrooms in which devices are located were factors that limited teachers' use. The study showed that Kuwaiti teachers' acceptance of technology varied along the continuum, where some teachers were early adopters and some were laggards. Support initiatives are needed from the Ministry of Education and school administration, in order to facilitate technology adoption and use in Kuwaiti schools. / Ph. D.

In the mid-nineteenth century, with the influx of European immigrants into the cities, public schools became the answer to the poverty and ignorance of the urban masses. Then, in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, urban public schools were again called on to educate the many African-Americans who migrated to the cities from poor Southern states. Again, the idea of mass education of the public, funded by the public, became the panacea for all the problems of city living. The civil rights movement brought a flood of litigation, and courts attempted to provide equal educational opportunities to all students, even those in poor urban localities. Currently, urban public schools face the flight of middle-income families from the cities to the suburbs, within-district flight of more affluent families to private and parochial schools, and diminishing funds with which they must serve their populations. This study explored the factors that would influence middle-income families to return or remain in urban public schools to restore the original concept of a public education for all by all (Hunter & Donahoo, 2003) / Ed. D.

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

M.S.

Over the past six years, analyses of the National Center for Education Statistics' High School and Beyond data have primarily focused on the differences in achievement between public and Catholic high school students. Valuable data on non-Catholic private school students have been virtually ignored. Based on a strategy proposed by Althauser and Rubin (1970), in this study non-Catholic private schools are matched with public schools similar in school average base year student achievement levels, school average base year student socioeconomic levels, geographic region and racial composition. T-test results show that, among students in the most similar matches, non-Catholic private school students score significantly higher on vocabulary, reading, and a test composite of vocabulary, reading and general math scores. Public/non-Catholic private differences in basic and advanced math, science and civics are not significant although all but the civics tests show a small non-Catholic private advantage. The multiple regression analyses suggest that, for the most closely matched pairs, non-Catholic private school students have a small statistically significant advantage over public students on the 1982 reading test and test composite. However, the non-Catholic private advantage on general math, science, vocabulary and writing tests, and the public advantage on the advanced math and civics tests, are not significant. Thus, the null hypothesis stating that there are no differences between the 1982 achievement test scores of students in public schools and the tests scores of students in non-Catholic private schools is generally refuted. Yet, the differences, primarily favoring non-Catholic private school students, are small and in many cases not significant. / Master of Science