In Virginia students with learning disabilities, as well as students in general education, are required to pass the Virginia Standards of Learning test in order to receive a diploma from high school. Currently there are 20 states that use exit exams with five more states anticipated to start by 2009 (Center on Education Policy, 2005). The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of Virginia Special Education Directors, Principals and Lead Teachers regarding the impact of the state graduation requirements on the educational experiences of and outcomes for students with learning disabilities. This study was adapted from a similar investigation conducted from Indiana and applied to survey Virginia administrators. Additionally, the study was used to identify the changes Virginia administrators perceive are needed in order to best support students in meeting those requirements. The target population of participants of this study consisted of three groups of educators: (a) Directors of Special Education; (b) Principals; and (c) Lead Teachers of Special Education in Virginia public high schools. A survey research design was employed for this study. The instrument included 70 Likert type items, with one demographic item. A total of 510 surveys were sent through email to administrators in the state of Virginia; 148 were returned with incorrect addresses. A response total of 104 emails were received: Directors of Special Education, 26.9%; Principals, 56.7%; and Lead Teachers, 16.3%. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. A descriptive summary of responses for respondents was developed using mean and frequency percentages. Inferential statistics was used to answer the research questions presented in this study. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine if there was a significant difference between the three groups regarding high stakes testing of students with learning disabilities. Significance (p less than or equal to .05) was not noted in any areas when comparing administrators perspectives of graduation requirements that impact educational experiences and outcomes of students, however the area of changes that administrators perceive are needed in order to best support students in meeting these requirements, significance (p less than or equal to .05) was noted. Findings indicate that administrators felt that as a result of the graduation requirement, it is important for special education students to be included in general education classes and exposed to the general education curriculum. They also agreed that special education and general education teachers need to be exposed to professional development to help students be successful in high stakes testing. Another finding from this study was administrators felt that including greater use of practice materials and instruction in test taking would also be needed to help students be successful. / Ph. D.

Temos aktualumas. Pastaruoju metu vykdant Lietuvoje švietimo reformą, sprendžiant gana sudėtingas mokytojų profesinės kompetencijos tobulinimo problemas ir siekiant optimaliai padidinti šalies gyventojų švietimo kokybę bei ugdymo efektyvumą, itin svarbus vaidmuo tenka deramam profesiniam mokytojų pasiruošimui ir sistemingam jų profesinių žinių gilinimui. Pedagogų rengimo koncepcija akcentuoja esmines pedagogų rengimo tobulinimo gaires, atsižvelgiant į Bolonijos deklaraciją, Lisabonos strategijos nuostatas. Visa tai rodo ir pasirinktos temos aktualumą ir naujumą. Tyrimo problemą sudaro tai, kad būsimieji pedagogai dar nepakankamai susipažinę su numatomais kvalifikacinio egzamino organizavimo ir paties egzamino turinio atnaujinimo. Tyrimo tikslas – ištirti ir įvertinti būsimųjų pedagogų požiūrį į numatomą kvalifikacinio egzamino organizavimą ir jo turinį. Tyrimo bazė – keturios aukštosios mokyklos: dvi universitetinės – Vilniaus pedagoginis universitetas ir Klaipėdos universitetas ir trys neuniversitetinės aukštosios mokyklos: Vilniaus, Panevėžio ir Utenos kolegijos. Tyrimu nustatyta, kad kvalifikacinio egzamino organizavimo ir turinio problemos yra neatsiejamos viena nuo kitos. Būsimieji mokytojai, susidurdami su kvalifikacinio egzamino turinio problemomis, kartu susiduria ir su organizavimo klausimais. Dauguma būsimųjų pedagogų kvalifikacinio egzamino organizavimą (65,1 proc.) ir turinio tobulinimą (69 proc.) vertina kaip lygiavertes ir svarbias šiuolaikinės Lietuvos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Topicality of the subject. Recently performing educational reform in Lithuania, solving complicated problems of perfection of teachers‘ professional competencies and seeking to increase optimally the education quality and effectiveness of education of country‘s residents especially important role fell on a befitting professional preparation of teachers and systematical deepening of their professional knowledge. Conception of pedagogues‘preparation emphasizes essential guidelines of perfection of teachers‘preparation considering Bolonija declaration and provisions of Lisbon strategies. New documents regulating education of Lithuania highlight the necessity to resume the development of possibilities for the preparation of pedagogues and perfection of their qualification. The problem of the research. – The problem of the research is that future pedagogues are insufficiently introduced with a predictable organization of qualifying examination and the resumption of examination content. The aim of the research – to explore and evaluate the attitude of future pedagogues to the organization of qualifying examination and it‘s content. The basis of the research – five higher schools: two academic – Vilnius pedagogical and Klaipeda university and three non-academic higher schools of Vilnius, Panevezys and the college of Utena. It was found by the research that the problems of organization of qualifying examination and content are concurrent one from another. When meeting the problems... [to full text]

Anyone desiring to qualify as an accountant or auditor is required to pass an examination as approved by the Public Accountants' and Auditors' Board to establish whether candidates have attained the required standard of academic knowledge in terms of the syllabi laid down by the Board, as well as whether they are able to apply that knowledge in practice (P AAB, 1995). However each year many students fail this very important examination. The reasons for this are not clear and the purpose of this research is to determine whether: personality; vocational interests; intelligence; matriculation Mathematics and home language (English/ Afrikaans) results, predict success in the QE, by comparing a group of successful and unsuccessful QE candidates. The logistic regression, discriminant analysis and t-test statistical procedures, indicated that: warmth (A), liveliness (F), rule-consciousness (G), social boldness (H), apprehension (0), self-reliance (Q2), perfectionism (Q3), tension (Q4), computational interest, social services interest, mechanical interest, Mental Alertness and matriculation home language, are significant factors to consider when identifying candidates likely to be successful in the QE. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / MCOM (Industrial Psychology)

Anyone desiring to qualify as an accountant or auditor is required to pass an examination as approved by the Public Accountants' and Auditors' Board to establish whether candidates have attained the required standard of academic knowledge in terms of the syllabi laid down by the Board, as well as whether they are able to apply that knowledge in practice (P AAB, 1995). However each year many students fail this very important examination. The reasons for this are not clear and the purpose of this research is to determine whether: personality; vocational interests; intelligence; matriculation Mathematics and home language (English/ Afrikaans) results, predict success in the QE, by comparing a group of successful and unsuccessful QE candidates. The logistic regression, discriminant analysis and t-test statistical procedures, indicated that: warmth (A), liveliness (F), rule-consciousness (G), social boldness (H), apprehension (0), self-reliance (Q2), perfectionism (Q3), tension (Q4), computational interest, social services interest, mechanical interest, Mental Alertness and matriculation home language, are significant factors to consider when identifying candidates likely to be successful in the QE. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / MCOM (Industrial Psychology)