School social work practice that targets students and schools for change is the most effective approach in removing barriers to learning for all students. However, research on the profession has found that school social workers tend to focus on traditional clinical work with individual students and families, often to the exclusion of broader system level interventions. Working to create a positive school climate is an avenue for social workers to facilitate school-wide change. This research explores how school social workers employ a practice approach that embraces a broad clinical framework specifically including skills associated with building a positive school climate. The study also analyzes how specific school social worker characteristics are associated with the performance of practice tasks related to enhancing school climate. The project examines data collected from social workers practicing in Texas public schools as part of an exploratory, mixed method survey. The analysis utilized descriptive statistics and a hierarchical cluster analysis to group the school social workers with similar response patterns for the practice task variables. Descriptive statistics revealed that 93% of the school social workers participated in at least one of eight general practice tasks related to school climate dimensions and 77% participated in at least four of the eight. The cluster analysis yielded a solution that grouped the participants into four clusters. Once the clusters were profiled, three school social worker characteristics were found to significantly relate to the completion of tasks associated with school climate: perception of autonomy, job structure and years of experience. The results show widespread use of practice skills that target multiple dimensions of school climate. The findings lend support to the feasibility of participating in the school climate related tasks across school settings and school social worker characteristics. The research findings place school social worker expertise in a school reform framework and captures how they can contribute to school-wide change within their routine practice duties. / text

Students’ first year of high school can set them on a trajectory for future success or struggles. The transition experience is a significant part of the first year of high school. Environmental, academic and social issues can pose challenges for which students are not prepared. These hurdles can establish significant deficits early in high school from which it can be difficult to recover. The interventions proposed by current research provide concrete suggestions for current education practitioners that could ease the transition experience of students starting high school. / text

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The purpose of this study was to examine the planning processes followed in the evolution of six elementary schools in Indiana. Data were gathered to determine: (1) the roles and perceptions of team members involved in the planning process, (2) the content of the educational specifications, (3) suggestions for improving the educational specifications, and (4) reactions of school staff members to the planning process and completed facility.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of the study was to determine attitudes and opinions of Indiana Public School superintendent:; toward selected components of Community Education in public schools.Review of literature traced development of t)-h philosophy of Community Education from a "one-room schoolhouse" to a multiplicity of components involving all aspects of community life.Studies related to attitudes and perceptions of educational leaders toward Community Education, especially those of superintendents were reported.A questionnaire was mailed to all 286 superintendents of Indiana school corporations. Two hundred forty-four (85.3 percent) superintendents responded and constituted the population of the study.The questionnaire was designed to determine the attitudes of superintendents toward: (1) programs and activities, (2) formal cooperative agreements with organizations and agencies, (3) selected Community Education concepts, (4) availability of school resources to the community, and (5) perceived inhibitors to the development/expansion of Community Education.A majority of superintendents strongly agreed or agreed that eighteen of twenty-one selected-programs or activities should be offered in their school systems.Superintendents strongly agreed or agreed to entering into formal cooperative agreements with twelve of thirteen selected organizations and agencies.Superintendents expressed a positive attitude toward six of seven Community Education concepts.A majority of respondents indicated a positive attitude toward making all school resources included inthe thirteen questionnaire items available to the community on a totally, partially, or no cost basis.Nearly 75 percent of the superintendents indicated lack of finance was an inhibitor to the development of Community Education in their school corporations.Approximately 30 percent of respondents cited lack of expressed community interest as an inhibitor to development of Community Education.Other leading inhibitors to development of Community Education were: lack of trained Community Education staff; lack of time by the superintendent or staff to conduct Community Education; lack of knowledge/understanding by the community; and lack of facilities.The following conclusions were made:1. Indiana superintendents favored the concept of Community Education, but have left leadership for Community Education to other organizations and agencies.2. Adequate financial resources were not available to Indiana school corporations for Community Education.3. Neither educational leaders nor the general public were sufficiently knowledgeable about Community Education.4. More trained Community Education personnel were needed to staff developing Indiana Community Education programs.5. In general, Indiana superintendents favored the use of school resources on a basis where cost sharing was directly related to maintenance costs of the resources.6. Indiana superintendents favored formal cooperative agreements with other public institutions or agencies more than they favored such agreements with private, fraternal, or religious groups.7. Indiana superintendents favored usual or traditional programs and activities more than atypical or experimental programs.8. Lack of financial resources was the most frequently cited inhibitor to Community Education development. Other noted inhibitors of Community Education varied widely from community to community.9. In general, expressed interest and support of the community for the Community Education concept was needed for implementation to occur.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.