The present investigation considered the utility of traditional psychoeducational measures in the prediction of neuropsychological impairment in learning disabled children. The subjects were 368 learning disabled children ranging in age from 9 to 14, with a mean age of 10.68 years, and a standard deviation of 1.62. In addition to traditional psychoeducational measures, each subject was administered the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery for Older Children (HRNB-C). Subjects were considered impaired or nonimpaired on the basis of their score on the HRNB-C. A Discriminant Analysis was utilized to investigate what variables from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised (WRAT-R) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) would be used to predict the subjects' neuropsychological status. It was found that 12 variables added significantly (R < .05) to the prediction of impairment, with Arithmetic and Block Design subtests the most prominent predictors. A Regression Analysis was used to consider the subjects' score on the HRNB-C in a continous fashion. The regression equation that emerged showed the Performance Scale of the WISC-R to be the best predictor of the impairment index.MANOVA and ANOVA statistics were used to investigate the differences between the groups. Results indicated that there was a significant main effect for gender. Males tended to score higher than females on visual spatial tasks. General cognitive skills were lower in females than males. Overall, females tended to be more neuropsychologically impaired than males. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of this study was to investigate administrators' perceptions of their evaluations by school boards in larger Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) schools. Critical questions about the evaluation practices of ACSI schools were addressed. Through the use of survey methodology, 282 administrators in ACSI schools of over 400 students were asked to respond to 19 questions. The first question asked whether or not the administrator had been evaluated. The next two questions pertained to written policies and practices that define the administrator's evaluation. The remaining questions explored the nature and extent of evaluations that had been conducted. Answers to these questions provide information crucial to developing more effective practices for ACSI school board members to follow in the evaluation of chief administrators.This study produced seven major findings:1) Most larger ACSI schools (91.4%) had written job descriptions for the chief administrator.2) Most larger ACSI schools (60.2%) did not have a formal policy for evaluating the chief administrator.3) Most existing policies (67%) did not specify a procedure to be followed for evaluating a chief administrator.4) Most chief administrators in larger ACSI schools (61.3%) had been evaluated by their school boards.5) Most administrators (56.9%) reported that their evaluations were informal.6) Geographic location did not appear to have an effect on practices used for evaluating chief administrators.7) The chief administrator's length of time in the current position did not appear to have an effect on practices used for evaluating chief administrators.In general, results suggested a dissatisfaction with the present state of evaluation. ACSI schools were less likely than public schools to have formal policies in place to govern board evaluation of a chief administrator. Finally, ACSI school boards were less likely than public school boards to evaluate their chief administrators.Three recommendations evolved from this study:1) Further research needs to be conducted concerning administrator and board evaluation in larger ACSI schools.2) ACSI could play a key role in helping member schools improve in the area of board evaluation of the chief school administrator.3) Larger ACSI schools need to improve policy and practice in the area of administrator evaluation. / Department of Educational Leadership

It has been widely publicized that approximately 98% of the teachers in the United States are rated as satisfactory (Weisberg, Sexton, Mulhern, & Keeling, 2009). This has led many Americans to think that there are very few ineffective teachers in the United States. But is this true? This study indicated that a majority of the principals in the state of Indiana (56.6%) have ineffective teachers in their schools. When ineffective teachers are allowed to stay in the classroom for multiple years, a lot of students are adversely affected by these decisions (Peske & Haycock, 2006). This research focused on defining teacher effectiveness from the perspective of school principals. Are Indiana principals competent to identify effective and ineffective teachers? This research indicated that over 94% of the principals agreed, “Without hesitation, they were able to identify effective and ineffective teachers”. When principals were asked about six common aspects of the teaching practice that lead to effectiveness, the ability to engage students was the overwhelming factor that 68% of the principals indicated as most important. The other factors included achievement score growth, ability to establish quality relationships with students, content knowledge, planning skills, and classroom management skills. What has historically happened to ineffective teachers in Indiana, specific to their contract status? Currently a very small percentage of teachers are being counseled out of the profession by their principals, and even fewer teachers are having their contracts canceled. More specifically, 92.2% of principals indicated that they counseled out less than 3% of their teachers, and 95.5% of Indiana principals indicated that they recommended contract cancelations for less than 3% of their teachers last year. Lastly, principals were asked if they would make recommendations for more teacher contract cancelations as a result of the changes in Indiana laws that define teacher effectiveness. Only 23.8% of principals indicated that the changes in law would cause them to more frequently recommend contract cancelations. Three hundred twenty K-12 public school principals were randomly selected and mailed a 36-question survey. One hundred ninety-one principals (59.7%) completed the survey. The comprehensive survey results are included in this study. / Department of Educational Leadership

The dissertation deals with credit risk and default prediction for software companies in the light of Basel II, the new capital accord for financial institutions. A credit risk model was developed which can be used by lenders to predict the default of software companies. Such model was developed by using three independent approaches: In a first approach, a model was created which was based solely on quantitative data (i.e. accounting data). In a second approach, a model was developed which was based entirely on qualitative information, including management skills, know how, quality of services and others. In a third approach, the quantitative and the qualitative models were combined. The results indicate that a credit risk model which is based on both quantitative and qualitative information yields the strongest predictive power. (author´s abstract)

The implementation of Development Appraisal System in Educational Institutions of North-West Province in the Mafikeng District. The main purpose of this study is to determine the implementation of Developmental Appraisal System in Educational Institutions of North-West Province in the Mafikeng District and the essential strategies needed for effective implementation. Furthermore the study carefully examines past and current guidelines for policy implementation. It also aims at facilitating improvement of school performance throughout approaches characterized by partnership, collaboration, mentoring and guidance. It enables a school and external supervisors to show to what extent it meets national goals and the needs of the public and communities. The subjects of this study are educators and school principals of the mentioned 30 schools in six(6) circuits. The study reveals that policy implementers in developing countries like South Africa are more concerned about lack of support and recognition to their position. Other concerns revealed are the inhibiting role of the educator unions in the policy implementation, policy implementers who need self confidence, flexible strategies, critical competencies and the necessary skills for effective policy implementation. On the basis of the challenges and skills identified from both the literature and empirical study, implementation guidelines consist of four phases as follows: pre-implementation, actualization, cascading and monitoring. Each and every phase has a set of objectives to be realized. Furthermore, the guidelines also take into account the role of the various key stakeholders teacher unions and parental bodies. These guidelines therefore carne about the implementation of Integrated Quality Management Systems (IQMS) and this new policy included new programs, resources, objectives and aims that were not there in the implementation of developmental institutions of North-West Province in the Mafikeng District. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Relations) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004

The Minister for Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, made a request to government departments to move towards improved productivity, an improved scale of service delivery and the kind of quality service where citizens can say that public servants across the board, are performing to the best of their ability. The Government has put in place policies such as Performance Management and Developmental System (PMDS) as a gesture of its commitment and seriousness about effecting a better life for all through a business like approach to public service, Unfortunately some governments departments fail to enforce the policy accordingly. This paper is intended to examine the implementation of PMDS within the Department of Education in the North West. A qualitative research was conducted in the Corporate Center (Head Office) of the department. The data was collected from three managers and four staff members, two of whom are union representatives. The correspondence on PMDS and the researcher's observations were also used in this study. The investigation conducted revealed that performance management is not a priority in the department as it is done on an ad ho basis. There are also no specific people appointed to enforce the policy and those supervisors who do not feel like implementing the tool do so. This has a negative impact on the service delivery. There is a need for the department to make performance management a priority so as to improve productivity and service delivery. / M.Admin. (Industrial Relations) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005

The rapid growth of online games enables firms to charge players for virtual goods they sell for use within their online game environments. Determining prices for such virtual goods is inherently challenging due to the absence of explicit supply curve as the marginal cost of producing additional virtual goods is negligible. Utilizing sales data, we study daily revenue of a firm operating a virtual world and selling cards. Explicitly, we analyze the impact of new product releases on revenue using ARIMA with intervention model. We show that during initial days after a new product release, the firm's daily revenue significantly increases. Using a quality measure, based on the Elo rating method, we can determine the relative good prices based on good usage. Applying this method we show that the rating of a product can be a good proxy for units sold. We conclude that our quality-based measure can be adopted for pricing other virtual goods.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for assessing the factors which comprised the academic self-perceptions of a student. The instrument was developed and tested under several conditions. The three steps involved 1) the development of the instrument; 2) a pilot study in which the scores were factor analyzed, to extract items with sufficient loadings for validating; and 3) a validation study of the revised instrument. The instrument was designed as a one hundred item paper and pencil, self-report measurement in which a respondent indicated his response to a question by marking a point on a four-point scale.The reliability determined for the Academic Self-Perception Instrument (ASPI) was computed at the developmental stage. The instrument showed a reliability coefficient of .79 with significance at the .05 level. It was found in this early stage of testing that the ASPI was as valid and as reliable a measure of self-concept of ability as any other instrument. The work to improve the instrument and its reliability could not completely overcome the problems of validity which stemmed from the lack of a universal definition of self-concept as a learner. Although the Academic Self-Perception Instrument suffered from the drawbacks common to all self-concept instruments, the ASPI seemed to be useful when used within its own working definition.To ascertain content validity, the content of the situations was drawn from the literature and some of the subject areas common to both the Metropolitan and Iowa Achievement Tests. The concurrent validity testing yielded a correlation of .78 when correlated with the Brookover Self-Concept of Ability Test and -.17 when correlated with the Maryland Concept as a Learner Scale. It was concluded that the Academic Self-Perception Instrument was as reliable and as valid as the two instruments tested, when used within its own working definition.The four-point scale was designed to record the responses of the student, relative to how he perceived his academic ability and behaviors. The following points were designated on the scale: (0) Never, meaning at no time; (1) Sometimes, meaning now and then; (2) Often, meaning much of the time; and (3) Always, meaning all the time.Two groups of students were selected for the testing. The Pilot group consisted of 262 fifth and sixth graders. The Pilot instrument consisted of twenty-five times per situation and yielded eight subscores and a total score. There were four subtests (the four situations). They were as follows: 1) the child's perceptions of himself and his ability to learn; 2) the child's perceptions of what he believes his parents think of his ability to learn; 3) the child's perceptions of what he believes his peers think of his ability to learn; and 4) the child's perceptions of what he believes his teachers think of his ability to learn.The data were factor analyzed. The items were rotated by the Oblique Bi-quartimin Criterion and fifteen items were extracted. The analyses revealed that there was one basic construct with two intercorrelated factors with an intercorrelation of .447. The basic construct was named Academic Self-Perception and the two factors were designated as 1) those general feelings and behaviors the student had of himself as a learner; and 2) the specific areas of perceptions the student had of himself as a learner.The analyses showed that the two factors remained stable under the four situations and the intercorrelations among the obtained factors were substantial. The items which comprised Factor I were composed of items which described one’s perceptions of his ability to learn in general, while the items which comprised Factor II seemed to hinge on one’s verbal ability.The Validation Testing was composed of 245 different fifth and sixth graders. The sixty item scale (15 items per situation) was administered and factor analyzed. Both the factors again remained stable across all four situations. The data revealed that the two situations which produced the most reliable factors in the child’s perceptions of his academic ability were the child’s perceptions of his teachers and peers.

The purpose of this study was to establish and describe the validity and reliability of an instrument based on a model of teaching behaviors conceived as magnetic lines of force.Content validity was established by reviewing the literature and identifying possible teaching behaviors which researchers felt contributed to increased pupil learning. These behaviors were presented to a panel of judges from faculty in the Teachers College, Ball State University, to ascertain behaviors which they felt increase the likelihood pupils would increase comprehension in reading. After the panel had made their suggestions, the list of behaviors was revised and used with two middle school classes at the Burris Laboratory School. Pupils were asked to identify the behaviors which they felt were associated with their increased learning. A final list of twenty items became the revised instrument for use in the study.A group of practicing teachers critiqued the list of twenty behaviors. This group was directed to identify how strongly they agreed with the placement of each of the behaviors under one of the four scales postulated.Construct validity was established by discussing the research supporting each of the scales, subscales and behaviors listed in the instrument.Each of the twenty items was judged as valid by a minimum of 70 percent of the selected panel members and the twenty items included was recognized as a valid example of the constructs identified with the exception of those items assumed to reflect firmness.It was possible to relate each of the twenty items in the instrument to research studies accepted by editors and authors in the field despite inherent weaknesses in definitions, experimental designs, and theoretical orientation. In this sense, the instrument has acceptable construct validity.The instrument was then used to gather data on a group of teacher trainees assigned to a laboratory school at Ball State University. After each teacher trainee had taught a short unit, the pupils taught filled out the instrument which had been devised.Reliability measures consisted of computing coefficient alpha for various major scales and subscales of the instrument. Computations were run by the Ball State University Center using the reliability program from the SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences DEC system –10.The coefficient alpha reliability indexes of .90 for the total scale, .86 for the cognitive scale, and .78 for the affective scale were judged acceptable for use in additional research studies in the field. The coefficient alpha reliability index of .82 for the clarity subscale, .81 for the flexibility subscale, and .78 for the warmth subscale were also judged acceptable for use in additional reliability index of .68 for the firmness subscale suggest questionable reliability for all but the most general research purposes.Recommendations were formulated to encourage further development of the model and refinement of the instrument (particularly the "firmness" subscale).

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of goal setting upon teachers at the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township, Marion County.A descriptive research design was used to obtain data pertaining to the effects of goal setting upon teachers to determine the efficacy of goal setting in relation to improvement of instruction. Five hundred sixty-three teachers responded to a thirty-five item questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed for the combined responses and for discrepancies between respondent sub-groups i.e., elementary non-tenure, elementary tenure, secondary non-tenure, secondary tenure teachers.The relationship between goal setting and improvement of instruction was not clear. Teachers were not committed to goal setting as a means to improve instruction. The benefits derived by goal setting were not understood by teachers. Teachers responsibly worked toward goal attainment as a requirement of the teacher evaluation process rather than viewing goal setting 'is a vehicle to increase teacher effectiveness.Teacher acceptance of goal setting led to satisfaction and resistance or hostility led to dissatisfaction. The efficacy of goal setting as a motivational means to improve instruction was to relation to the attitude of individual teachers.Teachers spent approximately four hours, less than one full teacher workday, for conducting a self-diagnosis, identifying and writing goals, and conferencing in relation to goals. Four hours were not enough time to effect instructional improvement.Teachers and evaluators did not perceive a relationship between goal setting and application of in-classroom teaching learning knowledge or changes in instructional practices. No relationship existed between goal setting and application of in-classroom teaching-learning knowledge or changes in instructional practices.Teachers indicated receiving infrequent help from evaluators relative to in-classroom teacher practices. No relationship existed between goal setting and teachers receiving help from evaluators relative to in-classroom teacher practices.The amount of supervisory influence was increased in relation to the amount of evaluator competence perceived by teachers. Effective supervisory skills enhanced the benefits derived from goal setting for individual teachers.The influence of the evaluator over a teacher appeared to be the result of power and the capacity to reward or punish. Tenured teachers, especially secondary, were less influenced by the power base of the evaluator.Teachers appeared to be in conflict between needs of teachers to be helped at becoming more adept with needs to be perceived as competent, for which teachers must be evaluated. Teacher resistance and hostility, especially tenured secondary teachers, toward evaluators was related to goal setting.Evaluators assumed passive roles in relation to goal setting resulting in negative evaluations by teachers of the interpersonal relationships between teachers and evaluators. The relationship between teachers and evaluators was not improved via goal setting.A dichotomous relationship existed between goal setting and the total teacher evaluation plan. Evaluators experienced a role conflict between desiring to help and having to evaluate teachers.Goal setting communication between teachers and evaluators flowed multi-directionally with teachers controlling the primary input and influence for goals. Teacher ownership for goals was considered critical in regard to motivation toward goal attainment. However, the passive, almost casual, behavior of the evaluators reported by teachers appeared detrimental to goal setting.