Extensive research has compared the overrepresentation of exclusionary (suspension type) consequences of certain groups. However, research has not been conducted to compare institutions that work primarily with at-risk, minority racial groups and those with disabilities, to traditional public institutions. Educational leaders have created numerous…

When children leave school for the very last time without receiving a high school diploma, they do so quietly. For them there is no fanfare, no bells, no pomp and circumstances--it is a "shameful walk" of despair and of dreams lost. For them it is, "the end of the line on a train to nowhere." The purpose of this sequential…

Leaders have limited understanding regarding mobile technology (Ramo & Edenius, 2008). However, with over 1 billion users (Meeker, Devitt & Wu, 2011), managers are tasked with making leadership decisions regarding technology adoption, management and use. Leaders may find this difficult to undertake given the limited body of knowledge in…

Much of the literature in the field of rhetoric and composition narrates the stories of writers and their writing as told by teachers, administrators, and researchers. In an effort to bring writers' voices to the forefront of these stories, this empirical study examines the types of questions and concerns writers have about writing as…

The primary purpose of this study was to validate a method for assessing Morphological Awareness (MA) using multimorphemic words commonly used in the academic and clinical practice settings of physical therapy. The Medical Morphology Test (MMT) was developed for this study and was compared to scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (NDRT©). The…

This dissertation contains three studies that investigate whether attested patterns of constituent order distribution and change in the world's languages can be attributed, in part, to cognitive preferences for some constituent orders over others. To assess these preferences, seven experiments employed an "elicited pantomime" task.…

Marginalized parents experience multiple and complex challenges in terms of social isolation, exclusion, and powerlessness. This empirical study investigated the effects of parent empowerment on academic outcomes using a large national representative sample and should provide insights about the importance of parent empowerment in education and…

In an effort to increase writing scores and improve knowledge about historical events, a school district in the western region of the United States trained several teachers through the Document Based Question (DBQ) program. The rationale for this study was to explore the perceptions of elementary teachers who participated in this training in order…

This study focuses on the issue of learning equity in colleges and universities where teaching and learning have come to depend heavily on computer technologies. The study uses the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) latent variable model to quantitatively investigate whether there is a gender /ethnicity difference in using computer based…

Education has continued to follow a traditional teaching model which may not prepare students with needed workforce skills. Social networking has been viewed as a technology tool useful for enhancing communication at both the business and educational level. The theory of connectivism underscores the need for social group interaction to provide…

Companies constantly adapt to new business environments in order to be successful and stay relevant. Innovation is a vital source for a company to be competitive in the business environment. Innovations enable companies to develop and utilize new strategies, tools, and tactics as well as new products and services. Enterprise resource planning…

For nurses or physicians practicing in any healthcare setting today, nothing seems to be as unsettling then change associated with the introduction of new information technology. The need for information technology has created a new host of challenges that do not easily align to clinical practice. In this study, perceptions of usefulness, ease of…

Understanding citizens' adoption of electronic-government (e-government) is an important topic, as the use of e-government has become an integral part of governance. Success of such initiatives depends largely on the efficient use of e-government services. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model has provided a…

This dissertation examines the social identity of adjunct faculty and the implications for writing program administrators (WPAs). With the ever increasing reliance on Master's degree teachers to teach first-year composition and other writing classes, WPAs are faced with the task of attempting to bring some level of disciplinary coherence to…

Relationship marketing is attracting, maintaining, and, in multi-service organizations, enhancing customer relationships. Educational programs and services, like those of businesses, depend highly on the repeated purchases of their loyal customers. The purpose of this descriptive research is to investigate the relationships between factors that…