The Systems Engineering Program at Stevens Institute of Technology has developed the Open Academic Model (OAM) to guide its strategic planning and operations since its founding in 2001. Guided by OAM, the Stevens Systems Engineering Program (SSEP) has grown from inception in 2001 into one of the largest in the US. The main objectives of the…

Far less is known about the effects of functional communication-based toileting interventions for students with developmental disabilities in a school setting. Furthermore, the currently available toileting interventions for students with disabilities include some undesirable procedures such as the use of punishment, unnatural clinic/university…

School feeding programs enhance the efficiency of the education system by improving enrollment, reducing dropouts and increasing perseverance. They also have the potential to reach the poor, directly making them an effective social safety net. In many low-resource countries, school feeding programs are designed to protect children from the effects…

Understanding the professional identity of senior-level undergraduate business students may shed light on the rampant unethical acts of business managers in industry. Business education is the largest segment of undergraduate majors, constituting more than 20% of students in four-year institutions, year after year. To explain the professional…

Electronic government has been embraced by many organizations seeking to dramatically improve service delivery, but results to date have often fallen short of expectations. This dissertation is focused on state revenue agencies and their electronic tax filing mechanisms for state individual income taxes. It asks: What factors best explain whether…

This qualitative study examines the perceptions of principals in the implementation of Skillful Observation and Coaching Laboratory (SOCL), an instructional program designed to help principals improve teaching and learning in the classroom. Specifically, this study sought to describe the extent to which components of SOCL were implemented with…

This dissertation studies the organization of adjunct instruction within Departments of English and Mathematics at three colleges--a public research university, a private masters granting teaching college, and a public community college. Four questions lie at the core of this project. First, what higher principles and standards of evaluation (i.e.…

The purpose of the study was to gain insights on key factors that make a difference in the reading achievement of students attending full-day and half-day kindergarten programs. More specifically, the focus was on investigating the impact that literacy instruction in full-day and half-day kindergarten had on the literacy achievement of struggling…

The purpose of this study was to explore primary grade teachers' stages of concern and their implementation of an educational reform initiative called Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) in Indonesia. The Indonesian minister of education mandated primary grade teachers to implement ITI in 2006. Using a convenience sampling method, 150…

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes of principals regarding the provision of special education services using the traditional special education model compared to using the response to intervention model. The major research and related research questions were identified by the investigator to explore the attitudes of Illinois…

The purpose of this case study explores the impact of an immersion experience to a least developed country on the vocation of lay teacher leaders in American Jesuit High Schools. Nine lay teacher leaders engaged in a four stage process of immersion from November 2009 to August 2010. The study employed the conceptual framework of Edward…

Alcohol is the most widely abused substance among America's youth (Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). A significant portion of alcohol abuse occurs in college. College is often symbolized by a tradition of drinking that is entrenched in every level of a student's environment. The purpose of this study was to examine alcohol…

This study examines elementary school teachers' reasons for staying in their current schools, specifically, comparing two schools, one from a low-income district and one from a high-income district. The researcher assesses similarities and differences among teacher's perceptions of these factors in these two schools. The researcher…

Professional learning and professional development are the essential tools employed in schools, districts, and universities in order to increase teachers' knowledge and skills. To gain the most from professional development in middle schools, the experiences and activities must be based on standards. Few researchers explore how teachers think…

This dissertation examines the strategies that students use for navigating their way through college and the steps they take in preparation for college graduation. I wrote this dissertation because I wanted to understand how students go from being freshmen not long out of high school to young adults prepared (or not prepared) to enter the…