Recent research showed that the 1st year of teaching is challenging, and that teachers deserve a smoother transition into the classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore how 1st-year teachers served as a support network for each other and what benefits derived from their interactions. This led to a theory regarding the first-year teacher…

Successful completion of Algebra I is very important for all students in the United States, because it is a high-stakes, gatekeeper course that determines access to additional mathematics (and many science) courses. However, a substantial proportion of students with historically marginalized identities do not gain access to Algebra I until much…

This study conducted in Meigs County, Ohio between January 2009 and June 2009 employed grounded theory to investigate the use of health education media by rural Appalachian individuals with type 2 diabetes in middle and late adulthood. Persons in middle adulthood were 34- to 60-years-old, and persons in late adulthood were 61- to 75-years-old.…

Companies acquire personal information from phone, World Wide Web, or email in order to sell or send an advertisement about their product. However, when this information is acquired, moved, copied or edited, the data may loose its quality. Often, the use of data administrators or a tool that has limited capabilities to correct the mistyped…

The present study explored the ways in which the production of digital media, specifically podcasts (i.e., downloadable digital audio files), rooted in the key tenets of critical literacy, can support education for democracy, in addition to the overall benefits and barriers of podcasting in an elementary classroom. The project can be considered a…

The surface-level experience of hypertextuality as formless and unbounded, blurring boundaries among texts and between readers and writers, is created by a deep structure which is not normally presented to readers and which, like the ultrastructure of living cells, defines and controls texts' nature and functions. Most readers, restricted to…

The purpose of this study was to analyze opinions of selected school district stakeholders regarding potentially critical factors in school bond referendum success and failure in Kansas during the years 2004-2007. Of the 72 eligible school districts, one district was randomly selected from each of six groups formed through a stratified random…

The purpose of the study was to provide an assessment of the involvement of Mississippi's community and junior colleges in intercollegiate athletics during the academic year 2007-2008. These data could assist community and junior college presidents, vice presidents residing over athletics, athletic directors, and other policy makers in their…

This research explores the feasibility for a university in Bangladesh under Catholic sponsorship. The study is designed to help the leaders of the Catholic community make an informed decision for its future educational ministry. The findings indicate that the Catholic community is enthusiastic about it, feels the need for it, but may not have the…

The overarching question for this study is: to what extent are teachers using summative assessment data in a formative way? A survey research design study was implemented to address this question. A web-based survey was administered to elementary, middle, and high school teachers in a large, suburban school division in central Virginia. The survey…

Conversational grounding theory proposes that language use is a form of rational joint action, by which dialog participants systematically and collaboratively add to their common ground of shared knowledge and beliefs. Following recent work applying "game theory" to pragmatics, this thesis develops a game-theoretic model of grounding that…

This study sought to examine leadership styles used by Indiana superintendents and how leadership style impacted the implementation of the legislative mandates within Public Law (PL) 108-265. As a result of the legislation, public school districts which offer free-and-reduced lunch rates to students are required to have a district wellness policy…

The purpose of this postcolonial historical study was to investigate the following: prevalence and nature of disabilities, programs, and services of special education in Rwanda before and after the 1994 genocide; and the utility, effectiveness, and importation of western-based special education models, programs, and services in Rwanda; and lastly…

Hampton Institute (University) was founded in 1868 to educate freed slaves following the Civil War. American Indians, former prisoners of the United States Federal Government during the Civil War, also arrived at Hampton Institute in 1878 to be educated and "civilized." Hampton Institute's first mission was as a normal school and a trade school.…

Recent research literature suggests that students benefit from positive relationships with their teachers. Small high schools attempt to formalize expectations for such relationships through a variety of organizational structures, including the advisor role. As advisors, teachers work with a group of students in order to guide and support them.…