As a result of a perceived need to improve the music theory curricula for the preparation of church music leaders, this study compared two diverse approaches to the teaching of music theory for church music university students on achievement, attitudes, and self-preparedness. This current study was a quantitative, quasi-experimental research…

This dissertation reports on a multi-dimensional longitudinal investigation of the factors that influence Enterprise Architecture (EA) diffusion and assimilation within the U.S. federal government. The study uses publicly available datasets of 123 U.S. federal departments and agencies, as well as interview data among CIOs and EA managers within…

The purpose of this dissertation was to identify factors that contribute to the attrition of new professionals in the field of student affairs. Student affairs professionals report low levels of commitment to the field and depart from the field at rates ranging from 32% to 61% (Holmes, Verrier, & Chrisholm, 1983; Rosen et al., 1980; Rosser…

The purpose of this study was to investigate if the delivery of personalized extraneous multimedia (PEM) messages prior to the delivery of the primary instructional materials could prime intrinsic interest and have a positive impact upon achievement in comparison to the use of non-personalized extraneous multimedia (NPEM). Extraneous materials are…

This dissertation was a qualitative examination of the band participation of three adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This investigation of individual experiences and perceptions could help readers understand what adolescents with ADHD value about their band participation and what academic, interpersonal, and…

Students with disabilities participate in high-stakes assessments to meet NCLB's newer proficiency standards. This study explored performance in reading and math on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), Pennsylvania's grade-level assessment, to provide a foundational baseline on performance and accommodations used by…

Over the last two decades, firms have operated in "increasingly" accelerated "high-velocity" dynamic markets, which require them to become "agile." During the same time frame, firms have increasingly deployed complex enterprise systems--large-scale packaged software "innovations" that integrate and automate…

Learning new vocabulary words in a second language is a challenge for the adult learner, especially when the second language writing system differs from the first language writing system. According to the lexical quality hypothesis (Perfetti & Hart, 2001), there are three constituents to word-level knowledge: orthographic, phonological, and…

This study addressed the gap between teacher beliefs studies that claim beliefs of teachers influence practice and the recommendations for democratic practice presented in much of the literature on democracy in education. A collective case study methodology was selected to explore the processes and ways in which three beginning teachers'…

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have empowered non-state social actors, notably, social movements. They were quick to seize ICTs in the past (printing presses, television, fax machines), which was a major factor in their successes. Mass email campaigns, blogs, their audio- and video- variants (the podcasts and the videocasts),…

Previous research has reported positive correlations between math achievement and the cognitive constructs of spatial visualization, working memory, and general intelligence; however, no single study has assessed variance in math achievement attributable to all three constructs, examined in combination. The current study fills this gap in the…

The Internet has revolutionized the way we live, the way we learn, and the way we discern public issues. Put simply, a new public square has developed online. Social studies teachers, as social educators, should be well suited to fuse technology and classroom discussions about civic issues. Many argue the social studies classroom remains the most…

Transitivity has been extensively researched from a semantic point of view (e.g., Hopper & Thompson, 1980). Although little has been said about a prototypical intransitive construction, it has been suggested that verbs that denote actions with an agent and a patient/theme cannot be intransitive (e.g., Guerssel, 1985). However, it has been…

The use of logarithms, an important tool for calculus and beyond, has been reduced to symbol manipulation without understanding in most entry-level college algebra courses. The primary aim of this research, therefore, was to investigate college students' understanding of logarithmic concepts through the use of a series of instructional tasks…

Orphan stories in children's literature are rich and complex, and they have historically permeated the pages of children's books. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of orphans as protagonists in children's award-winning literature through content analysis. This study utilizes all the Newbery Award winning books…