The primary purpose of this study was to understand why some charter schools have survived while others have not, and to determine what changes charter schools should consider making in order to survive. Several theories were applied to predict the kinds of changes that organizations should anticipate, to explain the sources of change, and to…

This dissertation examined cheating attitudes and behaviors of undergraduates, especially those enrolled in online courses. While cheating is an established problem within the academy, it is also an issue on the job and has been in the spotlight in recent years, with ethics scandals in corporate America and plagiarism in the media. With this in…

President Obama has recently raised awareness on the need for our nation to grow a larger pool of students with knowledge in science mathematics, engineering, and technology (STEM). Currently, while the number of women pursuing college degrees continues to rise, there remains an under-representation of women in STEM majors across the country.…

Codeswitching, or the bilingual practice of switching between two languages, is a frequently misunderstood phenomenon in many fields, including education. Given the growing number of bilingual students and English Language Learners in U.S. schools, it is imperative that the field of education be informed by current research in bilingualism and…

This study was developed to examine the motivations of individuals who chose alternative routes to teacher certification and what they believe were the strengths and weaknesses of their alternative certification preparation (ACP). Data accrued from this study were based on a 55-item online survey and participant information from an online focus…

The purpose of this study was to examine directors' views on the current state and needs of 2009-2010 North Carolina 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) afterschool educational technology professional development (ETPD). The population for this study involved the 2009-2010 North Carolina 21st CCLC directors. In a mixed methods study…

This study examines the relationship between two ways of measuring critical thinking in online discussion forums. The study proposes that the results from content analysis, a well-developed technique that is used to measure level of thinking and knowledge construction in online environment, would relate to the results from social network analysis,…

This study was conducted to analyze the performance differences between alternative education campuses in Texas that used teacher-directed strategies and those that used self-directed strategies. The study was also conducted to inform educators of the results these two strategies had achieved with at-risk students during the three years of…

With the increased availability of technology to teachers, it becomes important for researchers and educators alike to understand why teachers choose to use technology for educational purposes. In this study, I use a weak version of the Computers as Social Actors (CASA) hypothesis (Reeves and Nass, 1996; Nass and Moon, 2000) to extend the concept…

With budget cuts and the heavy emphasis placed in recent years on student achievement in language arts and mathematics, arts instruction has been greatly reduced in California elementary schools. Yet the research literature has shown arts instruction to be associated with improved literacy skills (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999). Podlozny (2002),…

Research of language learning strategy (LLS) has provided insight for language learners from many international cultures since this branch of research began in the 1970s. Despite the urgent need for competence in the use of business English in Western Europe, LLS studies have not been conducted on Spanish adults who use English for business. The…

This ethnographic study of linguistic landscape (LL) (Landry & Bourhis, 1997), describes the urban multilingual practices of Tunisia as evidenced by its policy statements, street signage, and local perceptions. Data for this investigation were collected primarily from publicly visible signage in both the capital city (Tunis), and in the suburb (La…

Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in 1819 to become a training ground for the leaders of a new republic. The institution has changed a great deal since its founding, but principles connected to "Mr. Jefferson's" legacy abound. One such ideal is student self-governance. Described in institutional literature as a core value of the…

In recent years researchers have found that people often collaborate during information seeking activities. Collaborative information seeking (CIS) is composed of multiple different activities like seeking, sharing, understanding, and using information together. However, most studies of CIS have focused on how people find and retrieve information…

This study examines how specific experiences of disability (i.e. hearing loss) come into being and how they are articulated within foreign language educational practices. It particularly explores issues of social justice and equity regarding the discursive embracement of power relations and situated contextualization of hard-of-hearing students'…