Athletic training educators are responsible for giving athletic training students a proper environment in which they have opportunities to apply didactic knowledge using critical thinking and decision making skills in a real world context (Radtke, 2008). Clinical education needs to play an integral role in developing athletic training students…

My dissertation investigates the effects of education policy on academic achievement. I focus on state and federal policies that seek to influence how teachers and school administrators educate their students, and I evaluate those policies' effects on academic achievement. Chapter 1 examines the effects of a compositional shift in a school's…

This dissertation addresses the consequences of political influence on state higher education funding at the committee level. The State of South Carolina has a long history of using a formula to determine the appropriate amount of funding that is to be allocated to its colleges and universities. I use the funding level implied by the South…

The purpose of this research was to determine if communication skills training had an impact on public schools administrators' knowledge and application of communication skills, and their attitude toward school public relations. School administrators from three Tennessee school systems participated in this pretest/posttest quasi-experimental…

In 1997, The National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, appointed a National Reading Panel (NRP). The NRP findings, released in 2000, summarized the effectiveness of a variety of instructional approaches in reading. In turn, the NRP report, despite disputed inconsistencies, became the basis of the 2001 legislation, "No Child Left…

Large numbers of students arrive at colleges and universities unprepared, specifically in the area of mathematics. In Texas, approximately 47% of entering freshman students enroll in developmental mathematics. Mathematics is cited in the literature as cornerstone for success in science, and advanced technology. In this study, the extent to which…

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to develop a model of informal online learning communities based on theory, research and practice. Case study methodology was used to examine the NASA Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience (INSPIRE) Project as an example of a successful…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the annual revenue received by United States public community college foundations from 2008-2009 in relation to selected variables associated in the literature with successful foundation performance. This study also attempted to collect longitudinal data by replicating and expanding upon a similar…

This document reports the findings of a doctoral project regarding peace education in Lebanon. The emergence of Lebanon from a long civil war necessitates the existence of a peace program that will educate the new generations for a culture of peace. In this study, we tried to explore the potential of the development of a unified peace program…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to analyze the perceptions (through survey data) of Disability Support Services (DSS) personnel regarding the transition process for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from secondary to postsecondary institutions. Participants from 408 postsecondary institutions completed the survey with 60.4%…

Human capital theory suggests the knowledge, skills, and abilities one obtains through experience, on-the-job training, or education enhances one's productivity. This research was based on human capital theory and promotability (i.e., upward mobility). The research offered in this dissertation shows what effect obtaining information security…

Since the election of the first American college president in 1640--Henry Dunster of Harvard College--the position of president has been one of extreme responsibility and high visibility. There are many questions regarding how best to prepare individuals to attain this role (Chandler, 2006). Individuals come to the presidency from a variety of…

This report describes a problem based learning project focusing on superintendents' knowledge of the characteristics of high quality teachers. Current research findings offer evidence teacher quality is an important school variable related to student achievement. School district leaders are faced with the problem of identifying the characteristics…

Students are now involved in a vastly different textual landscape than many English scholars, one that relies on the "reading" and interpretation of multiple channels of simultaneous information. As a response to these new kinds of literate practices, my dissertation adds to the growing body of research on multimodal literacies, narratology in new…

The purpose of this concurrent, mixed-methods study was to examine the professional empowerment qualities of mid-career (years 4-8), science teachers. I used the construct of professional empowerment as the theoretical frame to explore K-12 mid-career science teachers' career trajectories and consider how they can be supported professionally and…