The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine if business leadership practices by Texas public school principals have an impact on principals' campus student achievement in mathematics and reading, as measured by TAKS scores. The survey instrument was the Leadership Assessment Instrument (LAI), developed by Warren Bennis in 1989. The survey instrument was electronically distributed to a sample of 300 public school principals in Texas. Of the 300, 140 principals completed and returned the survey, for a response rate of 47%. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 16.0, was used for the analysis of data, which included descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and regression. In addition, reliability for the LAI was also calculated. The LAI consists of the following five categories of effective business practices: focused drive, emotional intelligence, building trust, conceptual thinking, and systems thinking. No significant relationships were found between principals' use of LAI elements and student achievement in mathematics and reading. However, the lack of significant relationships between the business model as used in public schools and student achievement reveals that current models of principal preparation programs do not result in school leaders who are adequately prepared to increase student achievement. Further research is recommended as public school leaders continue to seek alternative strategies and innovative practices to improve student achievement.

Traditional histories of the Texas frontier overlook a crucial component: efforts to defend Texas against Indians would have been far less successful without the contributions of Indian allies. The government of Texas tended to use smaller, nomadic bands such as the Lipan Apaches and Tonkawas as military allies. Immigrant Indian tribes such as the Shawnee and Delaware were employed primarily as scouts and interpreters. Texas, as a result of the terms of her annexation, retained a more control over Indian policy than other states. Texas also had a larger unsettled frontier region than other states. This necessitated the use of Indian allies in fighting and negotiating with hostile Indians, as well as scouting for Ranger and Army expeditions.

This dissertation examined the effects of academic interventions on the development of reading academic competence in fourth grade students who performed at or below grade level as determined by TAKS reading scale scores. Fifty students in fifth grade were chosen to participate in the study from five elementary schools in the Fort Worth Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas. Only 46 students completed the study. The study was conducted with a control (n = 23) and treatment group (n = 23). The fourth grade students were administered pretests and posttests using the ACES and the fourth grade TAKS reading test. This quantitative study used a quasi-experimental design to answer the research questions. The final data results did not indicate that the implementation of interventions significantly increased TAKS reading scores at the p > .05 level. In addition, there were no significant increases at the p > .05 level between the ACES pretests and posttests. Although there were no significant gains on the TAKS or ACES, there are implications the interventions had a positive effect on teacher perceptions of their students' academic competence and some growth was evident for the treatment groups on both TAKS and ACE.

The general purpose of the study was to compile current descriptive information for recent graduates from career school sector institutions that reveals the significant factors which contributed to their program completion. The research project focused upon career school program completers. The scope of the study was directed to recent program completers at two career schools in Texas which offer a cross-section of programs designed to provide students specific skills for immediate employment. Based upon an extensive review of literature and the input of a focus group of experienced career school administrators and faculty members, seven variables were determined to be worthy of a focused study of their possible contributions to career school program completion. The variables were ability to accept responsibility for completion, academic preparedness, family or friends support system, self-esteem, life skills preparedness, sense of being goal-oriented, and sense of connectedness to the school. It was determined that each of the seven variables existed prominently in the majority of these recent graduates. The researcher concludes that there is a tremendous need for continued study that is focused on career school sector students. The paper offers the suggestion of a specific retention program that can be employed by career school administrators to emphasize the 7 variables and implement specific interventions designed to increase student retention and program completion.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent secondary assistant principals in large Texas high schools demonstrate behaviors consistent with what the literature describes as instructional leadership. Three hundred seventy principals and assistant principals of large Texas high schools participated in this study. The Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (Hallinger, 1987) was used to quantify instructional leadership in 10 different job functions. The study found that (a) assistant principals perceive themselves as exhibiting instructional leadership behaviors at a high frequency, (b) principals perceive their assistant principals exhibiting instructional leadership behaviors at a high frequency, (c) the perceptions of the principals and assistant principals were similar, and (d) principals and assistant principals reported more engagement in instructional leadership responsibilities and felt more pressured over the last five years under the new accountability and rating requirements of No Child Left Behind and the state assessments. These findings suggested that the administrative roles and responsibilities in high schools should be restructured to allow assistant principals to focus on instructional leadership.

A traditional two dimensional (planar) statistical analysis was used to identify the clustering types of North Central Texas traffic fatalities occurring in 2001-2006. Over 3,700 crash locations clustered in ways that were unlike other researched regions. A two dimensional (x and y coordinates) space was manipulated to mimic a one dimensional network to identify the tightest clustering of fatalities in the nearly 400,000 crashes reported from state agencies from 2003-2006. The roadway design was found to significantly affect crash location. A one dimensional (linear) network analysis was then used to measure the statistically significant clustering of flow variables of after dark crashes and daylight crashes. Flow variables were determined to significantly affect crash location after dark. The linear and planar results were compared and the one dimensional, linear analysis was found to be more accurate because it did not over detect the clustering of events on a network.

The problem of this investigation is a case study of parental involvement in the initial Plan A public school districts in Texas. The components of parental involvement isolated for the study are parent education, parent participation, and parent counseling. The major sources of data are questionnaires distributed to parents, teachers, and administrators in the initial Plan A public school districts. Secondary sources of data include interviews with the three categories of respondents to the questionnaires, communication and correspondence with the Regional Education Service Centers, and correspondence and reports from the Texas Education Agency concerning parental involvement. The purposes of the case study of parental involvement are (1) to analyze the various approaches to provide parent education services in the selected Plan A programs, (2) to analyze the various types of parent participation in the initial Plan A programs, (3) to analyze the existing and projected needs for parent counseling in Plan A, (4) to summarize findings into recommendations for effective parental involvement strategies in future implementations of Plan A in Texas, and (5) to suggest modifications or to raise questions for further investigation.

The problem of this study is an investigation of the recreational program provided for inmates of the Texas Prison System. The purposes of the study were to determine the type and extent of recreational activities which are made available to the men and women who live Behind the Walls and to make recommendations based on the findings of the investigation.

The forces that shaped banking practices in the late 1970s and which fostered attempts by the banks to rapidly expand their markets are examined. Why, and to what extent, the Texas energy banks committed themselves to the oil industry in those years, as well as the effects of the oil industry's four-and-one-half year decline on the banks' financial strength is detailed. How banks structured loans to various energy borrowers and why these borrowers lost their ability to service their debts is analyzed. The changes that the Texas banks' painfully learned lessons will bring about in energy and other specialized lending is considered.

Online education is the fastest growing form of course delivery of higher education in the United States. It has revolutionized how students and instructors interact in the educational process. Yet students in online courses continue to experience higher attrition rates than their counterparts in traditional face-to-face classes despite the advantages offered by the technology. This study examined the impact that institutional policies and practices at community colleges in the state of Texas have had on student persistence in online courses. It also examined how institutions collect and use data in addressing students' attrition. The findings were used to identify the most effective institutional practices to share with community college systems in Texas in an effort to improve student persistence in online courses across the state. The population for the study consisted of the 50 public two-year community college and the technical college systems in the state of Texas. The study used a mixed method. A theoretical model of institutional impact on online persistence was drawn from the literature review. This model's five categories were then used to construct a survey to collect data on institutional practices and measure the effectiveness in addressing student persistence. Four college systems were identified using the survey data that best met the five categories. Interviews were then conducted at these four college systems to produce case studies of these institutions' practices and experiences with online persistence. The results highlighted the roles that institutions play in promoting student persistence in online programs. They revealed differences in the ways institutions define and track student success in online programs and the difficulty these differences pose in comparatively evaluating various institutions' programs. Results lent support to the theoretical model of institutional impact on online persistence that was developed for this study, and results yielded a proposed list of promising practices to enhance student persistence in online programs in public two-year community and technical colleges.