published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The process of restructuring a junior high school into a middle school is the central focus of the study. The study investigated the relationship between junior high school and middle school. It emphasizes that the change process can occur successfully when approached methodically. It was hypothesized that a middle school with a grade configuration of grades 6-8 would be more effective than a junior high school with grades 7-8. The review of the literature incorporated a history of middle level education studies, a review of major reports on middle education and a review of middle level change processes. Affective and cognitive domains of education at the middle level were examined. Selected variables were analyzed to determine their effect. Subjects included students and staff members randomly selected from Safford Junior High School and Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona. A survey was also sent to every registered voter of Graham County. Seventy-five percent of the teaching staff in the school was selected to complete the additional survey instruments describing the educational environment at the school before and after the change. Because the population was limited to the citizens and students of Graham County in Arizona, results are generalizable only to the extent that another population is similar. Further research into the relationship of these constructs, including observational studies and studies providing for external verification of both the junior high school and the middle school would be beneficial.

This dissertation analyzed the "no pass/no play" (np/np) policy and examined its impact on minorities and at-risk students. Philosophies, goals, objectives, and activities associated with the planning and implementation of the np/np rule were also reviewed. Using the parallel pairs model to evaluate data germane to the np/np rule allowed this researcher to study, sort, compare, and evaluate the data associated with the planning and implementation of the no pass/no play policy. Examination of this policy revealed differences between the anticipated results and the actual impact that the policy had on minority and at-risk students. The results of the study indicated that the np/np rule was implemented long before there was a clear understanding of its potential problems. While there continues to be a lack of consensus among educators and administrators as to the effectiveness of the np/np rule, most educators are aware of the negative impact on minorities and at-risk students.

This thesis is a study of teacher professional learning and development. Concepts from research into professionalism and professional learning, and organizational, socio-­‐cultural and complexity theory are used to create a theoretical framework. This is then applied to the analysis of how teachers learn and develop professionally and how professional learning and development activities might best be planned and organized. The findings of empirical research involving 12 teachers and 9 Head Teachers and 40 semi-­‐structured interviews are presented and discussed. The research involved the participant teachers endeavouring to undertake a small scale, action research project into a self-­‐selected aspect of their practice. Significant support was expressed in the research for a form of action research being an aspect of teacher continuous professional development. Factors that enable and which prevent teachers engaging in Action Research are identified. Theories, concepts and empirical evidence are used to argue that teacher professional learning involves social and mediated interaction in complex, multiple environments and that this has significant implications for how we define, organise and undertake teacher professional learning. An approach is presented which is enquiry/evidence based, work-­‐based and expansive, and which takes account of teachers’ social situations, teacher, learner and school learning aims and needs, and socially mediated learning processes.

M.Ed. / Realization of the aims of the school requires, inter alia, meaningful and purposeful co-operation between the members of the top management of the school. Purposeful cooperation between these members implies the establishment of relationships that will realize and facilitate mutual consultation, sharing of responsibilities and effective management ...

M.Ed. / This research project on the promotion of educators as an aspect of educator management is part of a group research project on whole school development. This particular study focuses on managing educators in schools. Its objective is to make prospective and practising school managers aware of the wide range of activities covered by the term promotion of educators and to present the best current practises available on promotion of educators. Educator management is meant to bring about improved student learning. Decisions relating to the selection, placement, evaluation, development and promotion of educators should be made with that outcome in mind. Present and future educators as well as school principals and prospective principals, will find the material of this mini-dissertation to be relevant. When a principal interviews an applicant for a promotion post, plans a staff development programme for the school, or evaluates an educator's performance, he or she is engaging in personnel management. The importance of the principal's role in personnel management is increasing as schools move towards wider implementqtion of site-base management and the decentralisation of responsibility to the school level. However, no aspect of educator management is the exclusive terrain of a single, administrator. It is a shared enterprise that involves administrators at all levels of the regional hierarchy and with all types ofjob responsibilities. All administrators are members of some or other team and to the extent that they all understand the importance of good personnel practices, the region will be able to achieve its instructional objectives and so contribute towards whole school development. Many personnel decisions have a direct impact on the quality of instruction occurring in schools. When a decision is made to employ one applicant rather than another, or when an educator evaluation plan is implemented, there are likely to be implications for the quality of learning in the schools affected. The impact of these and other personnel decisions should be taken into account at the time the decisions are made. In this research a structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the perceptions of the respondents to the items posed in the questionnaire. In this research project 79 items were designed to probe the perceptions of educators on various post levels as to the extent that they agree or disagree with certain statements relative to the management of educators within the context of whole school development. The structured questionnaires were distributed to a convenient stratified sample in seven ofthe nine Provinces in South Africa. Based on the information gathered using the questionnaire each item relevant to this particular research project was analysed and discussed. After the factor analytic procedure the factor mean scores ofthe various groups were analysed and explained. In the view of the findings resulting from this project, further research is recommended. This should occur in areas like the methodology and research of the results of the numerous unique applications that this project recommended. Motivation at group level and the relationship between the experience of stress and those factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of a stress-related illness also need to be thoroughly investigated.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

"The writer has attempted to emphasize the point that the principal should be the key leader in developing a curriculum for the school that will meet the needs of all the children and the entire community which it serves. The writer selected this subject for research and study because it is his desire to become a school principal, and he would like to know the duties of the principal in developing a desirable instructional program. It is also a contribution toward consolidating information and facts which apply to the role of the principal in developing such a program. The material for this paper was obtained from a study of professional and related literature and from talks with leaders in education"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "February, 1950." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science under Plan II." / Advisor: Mode L. Stone, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-37).

"The purpose of this study is to survey articles on administration and supervision of business education that have appeared in professional literature between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1952"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1953." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science." / Advisor: Glen E. Murphy, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-51).

This dissertation examines the complexity involved in teachers’ perceptions and experience of time on school-related activities. The Intensification Theory explains that test-based accountability has caused a time crunch for teachers, increasing their stress level and burnout rate. Research literature has shown that teachers experiencing high levels of stress and burnout correlated with lower student achievement. Teachers, like all professionals, have a finite amount of time, and as the workload increases, less time is left for replenishment and personal family time. Time is a critical resource in schools, and how teachers navigate its use can determine the ultimate success or failure of students. In a variety of ways, researchers have shown an understanding of the relationship between time in school and student achievement. I studied three important aspects of time in a charter school in Florida: (1) How do 3rd grade teachers use their school-related time? (2) How do 3rd grade teachers and their principals perceive school time? and (3) How is high stakes accountability perceived to be shaping teacher time? Using observations and interviews, my goal was to give a voice to teachers and administrators regarding how they perceived school time. This was a phenomenological qualitative research study involving five third-grade teachers and two administrators in one K-12 charter school in Florida. It was a high achieving school with exemplary teachers, who fully experienced the time crunch brought on by test-based accountability. Third-grade was chosen because it was the first grade level at which students experienced repercussions due to achievement scores. With each teacher participant, I conducted semi-structured pre- and post-interviews, completed five full days of observations as a nonparticipant observer, and requested seven full days of time-use diaries for after work hours school-related activities. Two administrators were interviewed to obtain their perspectives on teacher time in order to compare teacher and administrator perceptions. After all data was collected, interviews were transcribed, and subsequently coded using NVivo software. During a preliminary exploratory analysis of the data, I developed themes and patterns relating to teacher time. Details of what occurred in the classrooms during a school week were used to cross-analyze the thematic data and to triangulate time perceptions. After the final analysis of the data, member checking was used to substantiate the accuracy of the findings. Findings related to time as a resource indicated that this third-grade team of teachers spent an average of 54 hours per week working on school-related activities, compared to their contracted workweek of 40 hours. Most often during school hours, teachers were engaged in several activities at once, or rapidly moving from one activity to the next, called context switching. Teachers did most of their instructional planning and professional learning outside paid schoolwork hours. Findings on teacher perceptions of time showed that teachers did not believe that theirs were finite, 9-5 type of jobs, as they spent many hours after contracted work hours completing tasks. Teachers felt they had enough time for instruction if they planned carefully, and left out creative activities. They described the three months before testing as “crunch time”, meaning they had to review, re-teach, and squeeze in any standards that were missed, and they shared how stressful this time period was. Administrators perceived that third-grade teachers used time effectively and produced outstanding results, but felt that teachers should have had enough time during paid work hours to complete all their work except grading papers. Responses from administrators on comparing their time with teachers’ time were mixed. One administrator thought that teachers had much more control over their own time than did administrators, and one thought exactly the opposite. In the third set of findings, teachers shared their perspectives on the precise pacing required by testing, and how instructional time was lost to time spent using pre-packaged test preparation materials during crunch time. Administrators noticed that teachers were allowed less leeway for creative activities in their instruction due to the time crunch. I found support in my data for six of the eight assertions of the Intensification Theory, suggesting that teachers’ time has become “intensified” due to test-based accountability. My findings regarding the pace of the school day for teachers and interrupted, fragmented time in the classroom confirmed what researchers have learned in the extant literature. Unlike the findings in the research though, Irvin School teachers in my study, were paid for a longer, contracted day than teachers in most schools in the surrounding areas of Florida, and they reported using that extra time to benefit students through greater teacher collaboration, increasing interest in lessons, and reflecting on student mastery of skills. Implications of this research include the need for further studies on teachers’ context switching during the school day and the contrast between teacher and administrator perceptions of teacher time. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / August 14, 2017. / intensification theory, subjective time, teacher stress, teacher time, test-based accountability, time / Includes bibliographical references. / Stacey A. Rutledge, Professor Directing Dissertation; Alysia D. Roehrig, University Representative; Courtney Preston, Committee Member; Robert A. Schwartz, Committee Member.