Thesis (D. Ed.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-152). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Graduate School of Education, Oral Roberts University, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-108).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-151).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-163).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-214).

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Pocahontas High School, the smallest of four Tazewell County high schools, is presently located in the historic town of Pocahontas, Virginia. From the school's establishment in 1908 until 1955, the high school was located at the top of Water Street within the town limits. In 1955, students were moved to a new building at its present site just inside the town's corporate limits. The school today serves the communities of Abbs Valley, Boissevain, and the Town of Pocahontas, Virginia. This study included an examination of the role of the school in the mining community, and the relationship between the coal company and the school. Thus, the researcher reviewed literature-surrounding life in mining industrial towns to determine whether Pocahontas conformed to the conventional interpretations of such mining-industrial communities. The researcher also considered the life of the school and community following the cessation of mining operations in Pocahontas. An examination of the reasons for the school having remained open despite declining enrollment and the importance of the school to its communities was examined through the eyes of local community leaders, residents, and graduates of Pocahontas High School. This study employed conventional historical research methods in order to document the history of Pocahontas High School. The data collected from documents and interviews were handled qualitatively, with some data appearing in the form of numbers and graphs. Data gathered for this study were derived from both primary and secondary sources. This study used written, pictorial, and oral sources. Oral materials included oral history interviews with local historians, public officials and individuals involved with Pocahontas High School during the period of study. Triangulation verification techniques were used to accurately describe the impact of coal mining and the closing of the mine on the development, growth, and decline of the school and community. / Ed. D.

Special education teacher attrition is a widespread problem in the United States (Billingsley 2005; Boe, 2006; Duffy & Forgan, 2005). Although researchers have explored factors that increase special education teacher retention, such as increased involvement from administrators, more time for collaboration with general education teachers, and limits on caseloads to maintain appropriate work loads, the perspective of experienced special education teachers in small primary schools (schools with fewer than 500 students serving pre-kindergarten through third grade) has received little attention. Small schools have many advantages, but special educators in small schools face some particular issues, including the fact that they typically have few special education colleagues, must often work with students and teachers in multiple grade levels, and must accommodate caseloads increasing in size throughout the year as many students become eligible for services in the early grades. To gain the perspective of special education teachers regarding the factors contributing to their decisions to stay in small schools, I have designed a multiple-case study in the context of a small school district. This inquiry is intended to fill the gap in the retention literature by surveying and interviewing special educators working in small schools. The primary research question is: From the perspective of experienced special education teachers serving pre-kindergarten (PK) and kindergarten through third grade (K-3) students in small schools, what kinds of organizational and individual characteristics influence their decision to continue teaching special education in a small school? INDEX WORDS: Special education, Small schools, Attrition, Retention

This study examines whether small high school reform in New York City has fulfilled its goal of providing disadvantaged students access to rigorous mathematics curricula, thereby increasing their college readiness. Between 2002 and 2010 in New York City, 27 large, comprehensive high schools were closed or downsized and replaced by over 200 new small schools (Jennings & Pallas, 2010). Although extant research indicates that these schools have produced higher attendance and graduation rates (Bloom et al., 2010; 2012), the literature on small high school reform and college readiness remains inconclusive. To address this gap in the literature, my dissertation employs a longitudinal database of New York City student and school-level data from 2000-2010 to examine the impact of small high school reform on student math course-taking for two cohorts of students (the class of 2009 and 2010). I address the threat of selection bias by utilizing several propensity score matching techniques within a multilevel modeling framework. I find a small, positive impact of attending a new, small high school on students' progress through the math curriculum (one-sixth of a year) for the class of 2009, but not for the class of 2010. Yet while students in the new, small high schools, who are among the most disadvantaged in the city, might be faring slightly better than they would have had they attended an alternate high school option, they are still failing to complete even one semester of Algebra II/Trigonometry--the lowest level of course deemed "college preparatory" by the district. Furthermore, small high schools are not equally beneficial for all types of students. Black and Hispanic students appear to do better in the small schools than in alternate high school options, while the reverse is true for whites. Meanwhile, students with initially low math achievement benefit from attending small high schools, while students with middle-to-high levels of initial math achievement are better served elsewhere. Moreover, the new, small high schools are much less likely to offer advanced math courses such as calculus or any Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate math--effectively cutting their students off from the opportunity to take these courses. Finally, my results suggest that the rigor of math courses in the new, small schools may be weaker than in the alternate high school options in New York City. Taken together with the existing research, my results suggest that the consequences of small high school reform in New York City are both more complicated and less positive than the reformers promised or district officials will admit (Gates, 2005; Walcott, 2012). While these schools are unquestionably improvements over the large, failing schools they replaced, they remain at the bottom of an intensely academically stratified school system, and they have failed to raise students' college readiness in math. Moreover, these schools are particularly under serving high achieving students by cutting them off from rigorous, advanced math courses.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-192).