Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 69). Also available via the Internet.

Project (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Questionnaires ([6] leaves) in pocket. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-72). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-79).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-79).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-341).

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-58). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-50). Also available via the Internet.

M. S.

An acute shortage of African American teachers is well recognized. This shortage poses a problem as school systems attempt to employ a representative number of African American teachers commensurate to their diverse student population. The purpose of this study was to examine why 10 African American teachers in Roanoke City selected teaching and remain in the profession and how those reasons were influenced by two motivational variables (academic self-concept of ability and self-efficacy). Factors further affecting this relationship, such as environmental influences (i.e., home, school, and community)and institutional influences (i.e., experiences in the workplace,job satisfaction, and school climate), also were examined. The research design was a single explanatory case study. Yin (1994) contends that "how" and "why" questions (as used in this study) are explanatory in nature and suitable for a case-study design. Two sources of data were used: an initial survey instrument on environmental factors and a second survey on institutional factors. Two separate interviews were conducted with both instruments. Both sources were intended to capture participants' perceptions relevant to their experiences. A purposive sample of 10 local African American teachers was selected. Pattern matching and explanation building were the dominant modes of analysis. A conversational style with narratives written was used to reflect the richness of language used by the participants to describe their experiences. Findings revealed that home environmental experiences and preparation for teaching were positive overall because of practices used by parents and family members to socialize the the participants for success in school. Both direct assistance with school work and verbal encouragement enhanced academic self-concept of ability and self-efficacy for success in school and in teaching. School experiences before and during college were found rewarding and challenging. However, both types of experiences enhanced self-concept of ability and self-efficacy in attaining a teaching career as well as succeeding and remaining in the profession. Overall, rewarding experiences outweighed challenging ones. High expectations, assistance with school work, and teacher role models were typical examples of such experiences. Two major community influences played a significant role in interest and retention in teacher-education programs: (a) involvement in church activities and (b) sponsorship for teacher-education programs through partnerships with business and industry. The former reinforced self-concept in ability, and the latter afforded some participants an opportunity to attend college and enter a teacher-education program. Results on institutional factors and teacher retention were associated with experiences as classroom teachers, interactions with colleagues,relationships with building principals, and perceptions of the school system as a whole. / Ed. D.

The goal of this research was to formulate new tools for instream-flow analyses, with emphasis on protecting fish assemblages in speciose, warmer-water streams. This included habitat and fish data sets for the upper Roanoke River (URR) in southwestern Virginia, collected during the warmer, low- f low seasons of 1989-1991. Physical data were collected in small, rectangular quadrats or crosssectional transacts, whereas fish were collected by seining and electroshocking in the quadrats. Statistical analyses included uni-, bi-, and multivariate analyses. The habitat analyses showed that mesohabitat types could be effectively defined with hydraulic, channel-roughness, and geomorphologic variables, and different habitat types showed characteristically different hydraulic dynamics across flows. The analyses also showed that physical habitat could be effectively described by 4 axes (sets of similar variables) at microhabitat scales, although greater covariation occurred at intermediate spatial scales (meso- and macrohabitat level). Habitat assessment for instream-flow analyses can thus be effectively simplified by undertaking visual assessment of several mesohabitat types and/or by measuring only a few physical variables for microhabitat analyses. The differences in hydraulic dynamics among mesohabitat types can simplify determination of changes in the availability of fish habitat across flows. The fish analyses showed that habitat-use guilds of fish species could be effectively defined with aggregated data, i.e., across mesohabitat types or by calculation of fishes' habitat-use means for physical variables. In contrast, unaggregated data (each quadrat considered separately) gave cruder habitat-use segregation of fish species, particularly because fish species were independent of each other at smaller spatial resolutions and larger spatial extents. The 7 guilds included 4 rheophilic (riffle-oriented) and 3 limnophilic groups (pooloriented). Habitat-suitability models developed for these guilds showed that fish selected habitat variables independently, such that simple models can be developed to predict fish abundance in response to differences in habitat availability. In sum, the analyses provided habitat-flow and fish-habitat data that can be interfaced (in future analyses) to predict changes in fish abundance and biodiversity to be expected from permanent changes in flow levels and thus habitat availability. / Ph. D.