The problem of this study is the development of criteria for the evaluation of some of the guidance practices that are found in the student council and the home room organizations of a junior high school. The major consideration has been given to the development of the evaluative criteria, and not to the evaluation of the practices. The problem may be considered as three-fold in its scope. A solution has been attempted through the following steps: First, it will establish a method of evaluating the practices of the organizations mentioned. Second, it will analyze some of the common practices of these organizations through an application of the evaluative device to the practices. Third, it will record the findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

This study employed narrative methods to explore how two Somali-Canadian women formed and understood their identities as first-generation university students. In conceptualizing identity, the study draws on sociological literature that frames identities as a collection of social roles that are performed. Within this framework, university student is a cultural object related to specific kinds of capital. The data are presented in narrative form, based in life history and life story approaches. Within their narratives, participants recounted the ways in which their attempts at developing a university student identity were complicated by their identities as Black, Muslim, economically marginalized individuals from refugee backgrounds. The tension at the heart of each participants’ narrative was not how to perform the university student role, but the cost of that performance on other parts of their identity. These findings reveal the narrow definition university student within the Canadian imagination and its consequence for the lives of marginalized communities.

No description available.

Introduction: This study assessed student perceptions, preparation, and result use strategies of the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA). Secondarily, it studied the effect of schools/colleges of pharmacy (S/COP) PCOA management on student perceptions. Methods: A 52-item electronic questionnaire assessed PCOA preparation of final year students, review/use of results, remediation participation, self-reported motivation, and perceptions of the exam's ability to measure PCOA blueprint areas and North American Pharmacy Licensure Examination (NAPLEX)/advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) readiness. Programs were given a questionnaire to determine their PCOA practices. Results: The student survey was completed by 341 students (40% response rate). Students prepared very little for the PCOA and few reported participation in PCOA-based remediation (6%). Students perceived the PCOA to measure the four domains moderately well, although administrative sciences were significantly lower. Students reported less confidence in the exam's ability to measure APPE/NAPLEX-readiness. Although few used the PCOA to guide their NAPLEX preparation (18%), they were more likely to do so than for APPEs (4%). Students reported a higher perceived increase in motivation if PCOA results were connected to APPE placement, remediation, and progression as opposed to prizes, rewards, or other recognitions. Conclusion: This is the first multi-institutional study to review student perceptions about the PCOA. These data can be used along with other PCOA data to help schools develop incentive, remediation, and examination administration procedures depending on the programs desired use for the PCOA exam.

This text reflects on the perceptions of “native” and transfer agricultural students during their time at a Mississippi land grant university through a quantitative survey to all undergraduate students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Mississippi State University. This research used an ex post facto survey to look at perceptions of native and transfer students enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Mississippi State University and determine if there were significant differences between the two groups in constructs of student experience. This study identified transfer and native students’ perceived collegiate experience in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Mississippi State University using an online survey. The findings from this study show no statistical significance between native and transfer students for any of the four constructs, but find a median value for all constructs to be higher than neutral on a Likert scale.

No description available.

The relationships between building condition and student achievement, student behavior, and student attitude were investigated by reviewing research. A synthesis of research studies from 1998 through 2008 was completed. A matrix was replicated from Lemasters’ 1997 study that identified the researchers used in each study. The matrix presented each author and the areas each author researched. The first task was to determine if a substantial amount of research was available from the time period between 1998 through 2008. Current research through journals, research reports, briefs, and theses and dissertations supported this. The main research question examined if current relationships existed between building conditions and student achievement, student behavior, and student attitude by synthesizing several studies from 1998 through 2008. The results of the studies within this time period presented many new phenomena and also either substantiated or refuted findings in the previous syntheses conducted by Weinstein (1979), McGuffey (1982), and Lemasters (1997). Over one hundred pieces of literature were reviewed that supported a preponderance of evidence, which broadened the field of focus to include certain variables that affect student achievement, student behavior, and student attitude. There were 54 studies to be synthesized and included some independent variables presented in Lemasters’ study, as well as the variables of lighting, acoustics, school age, density, climate conditions, design features, teachers, attendance, attitudes, miscellaneous studies, and building conditions. There were 35 dissertations reviewed that involved the dependent and independent variables mentioned above. Student academics, student perceptions and attitudes, and behavioral statistics were analyzed within each study. Each analysis of studies included the author of the study, the title of the document, the purpose of the study, the sample population used in the study, the statistical methodology used, the independent and dependent variables identified, and the findings and conclusions. The studies were formatted in a matrix and identified the number of studies in which the dependent variables of student achievement, student attitude, and student behavior. The majority of all 54 studies involving building conditions and independent variables, from 1998 through 2008, had a direct influence on student achievement, student behavior, and student attitude. Newer, well maintained, schools had a positive influence on the dependent variables, while older, less cared for, and non-modernized schools had an adverse relationship to student achievement, student behavior, and student attitude. The results of the previous three syntheses in 1979, 1982, and 1997, along with the results of the findings in this study supported and indicated that building condition was directly related to student achievement, student behavior, and student attitude. / Ph. D.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 was established to improve student achievement among all public school students. To accomplish this goal, this federal mandate requires each state to establish the seven set priorities under NCLB. In addition, each state is required to establish and report their accomplishments and failures annually. One priority listed under NCLB required that all public schools establish a safe learning environment for students, school staff, and parents (U.S. Government, 2001). Some researchers have identified a high frequency of student discipline incidents, resulting in high suspension and expulsion rates, as a negative constuct that hinders teachers from establishing a nurturing learning environment. As a result, students are unable to develop the skills they need to successfully pass their state-wide assessment test (Howard et. al., 1987; Hernandez & Seem, 2004). Therefore, this study was designed to determined if there is a relationship between incidents of student discipline and student achievement across public school districts in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. For the purpose of this study, a hierarchical clustering analysis was used to create five clusters of school divisions (N=1,108) within the four states according to similiarities. To accomplish this task, a data matrix was created, which contains data of the total number of incidents for disorderly conduct, weapon violations, substance abuse, and violence; the number of students receiving free and reduced lunch; and the number of students by race/ethnicity for each school district within the four states. The findings indicate that there is a relationship between incidents of student discipline and student achievement among the four states. / Ph. D.

No description available.

The problem of this study was to develop an analytical and descriptive technique for rating the performances of student teachers. In order to arrive at a solution to this problem, the following sub-problems were to be solved; namely, 1. To develop and validate a set of criteria for describing and rating the performances of student teachers; 2. To develop and validate a descriptive rating scale utilizing those criteria; 3. To develop a technique for using this descriptive rating scale; 4. To establish reliability of the instrument and to demonstrate the ability of the instrument to perform its intended functions.