High school dropout continues to be an issue of national concern, and the inability of educators and researchers to find means of effectively reducing the dropout rate may be grounded in their approach to understanding this issue. Because there is limited prior research in addressing wellness, perceived stress, and mattering in relationship to…

This study examined the relationship between principals' leadership styles and teachers' job satisfaction. A demographic survey, the School-Level Environment Questionnaire (Fisher and Fraser, 1990), and the Job Descriptive Index (Smith, et, al. 1969) were administered to 232 teachers representing the San Antonio Independent School District. The…

The primary purpose of this study was to conduct an investigation to determine the relationship among leadership effectiveness, types of organizational culture and school focus (academically or behaviorally) as perceived by staff in Tennessee alternative schools. In this quantitative study, the Tennessee Alternative School Questionnaire was used…

The validity of assessments, including grading, is paramount to education considering the high stakes decisions and inferences that are made based on grades. This investigation examined the validity of grading practices for middle school teachers in a large, suburban school district in the southeast. In this study, 118 reading and mathematics…

Internet security attacks have drawn significant attention due to their enormously adverse impact. These attacks includes Malware (Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horse), Denial of Service, Packet Sniffer, and Password Attacks. There is an increasing need to provide adequate defense mechanisms against these attacks. My thesis proposal deals with analytical…

Under the George W. Bush U.S. presidential administration, the federal government pushed for greater accountability among institutions of higher education for educational outcomes. Graduation rate is a key performance indicator of institutional accountability. Previous researchers of student attrition focused primarily on the effects of student…

Although there have been a number of studies on large scale implementation of proprietary enterprise information systems (EIS), open-source software (OSS) for EIS has received limited attention in spite of its potential as a disruptive innovation. Cost saving is the main driver for adopting OSS among the other possible benefits including security…

In its report "To Err is Human", The Institute of Medicine recommended the implementation of internal and external voluntary and mandatory automatic reporting systems to increase detection of adverse events. Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) allows the detection of patterns and trends that would be hidden or less detectable if analyzed by…

Media reports and scholarly literature identify conflicts between superintendents and school board members as a crisis in local school governance. Reformers advocate for more training of superintendents and board members, but little research has been conducted on how the diversity in board makeup may contribute to this crisis. The purpose of this…

Approximately 2.6 million students are diagnosed with a learning disability (LD) in the United States. There are many negative psychological and psychosocial consequences that can be attributed to having a LD, including a decrease in self- esteem. Low self-esteem has been shown to be liked to depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety. Early…

An examination of American efforts to influence global peace and security through development assistance to foreign police and other security forces reveals that they have a record of mixed results. The pitfalls arising from cultural dissonance in international training programs is a significant factor in why some police reform initiatives fail.…

This study used direct assessments of language arts, mathematics and independent functioning, as well as parent interviews and teacher and youth surveys to identify factors associated with the achievement and employment of students with and without disabilities. For students with disabilities, the significant achievement predictors were…

Mark 13 predicts that certain events will occur literally within the generation of Jesus' contemporaries, and today's reader recognizes that some of these events have not taken place. The reader therefore appropriates the text as a false configuration of the world because it describes the world differently from how it is. However, the hermeneutics…

This study examined the presence, allocation, and quality of multicultural content found within 17 textbooks assigned to preservice teachers for early childhood education specialization courses at a large regional university in Oklahoma. A mixed-methods content analysis was conducted to assess the depth, breadth and instructional relevance of 58…

This thesis investigates the argument structure of Tsou, a Formosan language within the Austronesian family. The investigation studies both simplex and complex predicates as well as describes the valency groupings and alignment patterns emerging from various clausal configurations. Assuming the stance that language description should respect…