Leadership power bases related to satisfaction, compliance, and program quality

The dissertation examined prekindergarten teachers' perceptions of their supervisory relationship with their educational specialist, and the effect of the prekindergarten teachers' perceptions on the quality of the High/Scope prekindergarten program. The High/Scope educational specialists use their leader power bases (reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, expert and informational) to influence teachers' perceptions of satisfaction and compliance, as well as teachers' actual compliance with the High/Scope prekindergarten program standards. The correlational relationships between the variables were examined using Analysis of Variance and Multivariate Analysis of Variance. Path Analysis was utilized to analyze variables to determine the validity of the correlational model. Expert, legitimate, referent, and informational power bases of the High/Scope educational specialist were found to be the most influential on attitudinal and behavioral compliance of teachers. ^

Regional Variation on Rates of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and Associated Risk Factors

Background. An abnormally high incidence (44%) of bronchopulmonary dysplasia with variations in rates among cities was observed in Colombia among premature infants. Objective. To identify risk factors that could explain the observed high incidence and regional variations of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Study Design. A case-control study was designed for testing the hypothesis that differences in the disease rates were not explained by differences in city-of-birth specific population characteristics or by differences in respiratory management practices in the first 7 days of life, among cities. Results. Multivariate analysis showed that premature rupture of membranes, exposure to mechanical ventilation after received nasal CPAP, no surfactant exposure, use of rescue surfactant (instead of early surfactant), PDA, sepsis and the median daily FIO2, were associated with a higher risk of dysplasia. Significant differences between cases and controls were found among cities. Models exploring for associations between city of birth and dysplasia showed that being born in the highest altitude city (Bogotá) was associated with a higher risk of dysplasia (OR 1.82 95% CI 1.31–2.53). Conclusions. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia was manly explained by traditional risk factors. Findings suggest that altitude may play an important role in the development of this disease. Prenatal steroids did not appear to be protective at high altitude.

Understanding the relationship between the Talented Twenty program and college aspirations for high ranking students at a high priority school

Percentage plans such as the Talented Twenty program purport to assist and motivate high ranking students to attend college and grant access to higher education. This type of plan is particularly important to students enrolled in high priority schools who might not view themselves as potential college students. This study examined the relationship between Florida’s Talented Twenty program that begins intervention with juniors and the college aspirations for high ranking students at a high priority school. Numerous studies have established that increased levels of education lead to higher salaries, career mobility, and an increased quality of life (e.g., Bowen, 1997; Leslie & Brinkman 1988; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, Swail, 2000). Given the importance of students’ decisions regarding whether or not they will attend college, understanding how and when they make decisions about attending college is important for them, their parents, advisors, and educational administrators. This research examined students’ perceptions and insights via interviews. The overarching research question was: How do high ranking high school students attending a high priority school in a south Florida district perceive their college opportunities? Sixteen high ranking students, grades nine – 12 from a high priority school in Miami-Dade County participated in the study. Participants were identified by a school counselor and individual semi structured interviews were conducted at the school. Utilizing a student development theoretical framework developed by Hossler and Gallagher (1987) that centered on students’ predisposition, search strategies and choices, data were organized and emergent themes analyzed. The analysis of the data revealed that in alignment with the framework (a) parents were the strongest influence in the development of these students’ college aspirations, (b) these students formalized their higher education plans between eighth and 10th grade, (c) these students actively engaged in academic searches and learning opportunities that increased their chances to be admitted into college, and (d) there was no relationship between knowledge regarding the Talented Twenty program and their educational decisions. This study’s findings suggest that interventions and programs intended to influence the educational aspirations of students are more likely to succeed if they take place by the eighth or ninth grade.

An examination of the effects of a summer book-reading program on the language and early literacy outcomes of toddlers from high risk environments

The current study examined the impact of an early summer literacy program and the mediating effects of the home literacy environment on the language and literacy outcomes of a group of children at-risk for long-term developmental and academic delays. Participating children (n=54) were exposed to an intensive book-reading intervention each summer (June through mid August) over a 3-year period. The current study implemented an ex post facto, quasi-experimental design. This nonequivalent group design involved a pretest and posttest over three time points for a non-randomized treatment group and a matched non-treatment comparison group. Results indicated that literacy scores did improve for the children over the 3-year period; however, language scores did not experience the same rate of change over time. Receptive language was significantly impacted by attendance, and race/ethnicity. Expressive language was impacted significantly by gestational age and attendance. Results also indicated that language outcomes for young children who are exposed to a literacy program were higher than those who did not participate; however, only receptive language yielded significance at the p<.05 level. These study results also found that activities in the home that support literacy and learning do indeed impact language and literacy outcomes for these children, specifically, the age at which a child is read to, the number of books in the home, a child’s enjoyment of reading, and whether a child looks at books on his or her own impact language scores. This study concluded that at-risk young children do benefit from center-based literacy intervention. This literacy experience, however, is also driven by the children's home environment, their attendance to the program, whether they were premature or not and the type of caregiver.

An evaluation of an intervention strategy for retention and determination of predictors of success for high -risk students in an associate degree nursing program

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to evaluate the effect of a specific instructional Intervention, a Nursing Theory Laboratory, on increasing the retention of high risk students in the associate degree nursing program at Miami-Dade Community College in Miami, Florida; and (2) to identify predictors of success of high risk nursing students in this associate degree nursing program.^ Data were collected from the 195 nursing students enrolled in Nursing Fundamentals during the 1985-1987 academic years, and identified as high risk students. Control and experimental groups were selected based on enrollment in the Nursing Theory Laboratory.^ Results were determined by analyzing several cross-tabulations of selected variables and yielding chi square values, t-tests, and two discriminant analyses. There was no significant relationship between age or ethnic background and enrollment in the Nursing Theory Laboratory. There was no significant relationship between enrollment in the Nursing Theory Laboratory and success in Nursing 1 (Nursing Fundamentals). There was a significant relationship between enrollment in the Nursing Theory Laboratory and success in Nursing 3 (Medical-Surgical Nursing). Writing assessment test scores in two entrance tests and high risk categories, based on the number of enrollments in required science courses, were identified as predictors of success in this program.^ The conclusion was that the Nursing Theory Laboratory does not significantly improve retention of high risk associate degree nursing students if they are enrolled in this intervention at the same time they are enrolled in Nursing Fundamentals. Since those students who were enrolled in the Nursing Theory Laboratory had a significantly higher success rate in Nursing 3, than those students who were not enrolled in the Nursing Theory Laboratory, a recommendation of this study was to offer the Nursing Theory Laboratory to high risk students prior to the beginning of nursing courses. Another recommendation was that students deficient in reading and writing skills should be required to enroll in developmental courses prior to enrollment in the nursing course. ^

A developmental education program model for high -risk minority baccalaureate nursing students

The purpose of this study was to define and describe a Developmental Education Program Model for high-risk minority baccalaureate nursing students based upon perceived needs determined by nursing students and nursing faculty. The research examined differences between Black and Non-Black nursing students in level of importance of concerns and issues related to academic, financial, psycho-social and personal areas of student life; faculty perceptions of the differences between Black and Non-Black nursing students in the level of importance of concerns and issues related to academic, financial, psycho-social and personal areas of student life; and the difference between Black and Non-Black nursing faculty perceptions of level of importance of issues and concerns of academic, financial, psycho-social, and personal areas for Black nursing students. In this study two data collection methods were used, questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire was completed by all students and faculty. Black baccalaureate nursing students and nursing faculty were interviewed. The most significant differences were seen in the category of Personal Issues. Student identified concerns and issues related to both academic and health problems. Faculty identified the greatest differences in Academic Issues. The framework for the model which evolved out of the data uses needs from: (1) a whole person perspective (outcome oriented needs); (2) a programmatic perspective (input oriented needs); and (3) learning domain perspective (process oriented needs). ^

The performance of high -ability Black upper elementary grade students in an International Baccalaureate program

The purpose of this study was to investigate the common factors and experiences that contribute to the success of high ability Black students enrolled in Frank C. Martin Elementary School, the first school in Florida authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP). The study further sought to determine ways in which educators and stakeholders assisted in maintaining and in increasing Black students' achievement that motivated and encouraged them to pursue similar programs at the middle and high school levels. ^ Three sources of data were used: (a) individual interviews with fourth and fifth grade high ability Black students using a semi-structured format elicited discussion of their perceptions of the PYP and factors contributing to their success; (b) individual interviews with their fourth and fifth grade teachers elicited discussion of teacher expectations and effective instructional strategies; and (c) a questionnaire asked parents of the participating students their reasons for choosing the PYP, their perceptions of the program, and their own level of involvement in their child's learning. Three separate focus groups gathered further data. ^ The results revealed that the factors contributing to the success of high ability Black elementary school students are consistent with those of students in other racial groups. These are a challenging program, high teacher and parental expectations, strong parental involvement and support, a celebration of culture and diversity in a caring and nurturing environment, and the development and internalization of positive attitudes. ^ Implications for future studies might include a longitudinal study conducted over seven years to trace the achievements of Black students throughout the entire IB Program. ^

Participation in a positive youth development program and multi -problem alternative high school students' transformative goals: An investigation of the theoretical and methodological utility and validity of the Transformative Goal Attainment (TGAS)

There is a growing body of literature that provides evidence for the efficacy of positive youth development programs in general and preliminary empirical support for the efficacy of the Changing Lives Program (CLP) in particular. This dissertation sought to extend previous efforts to develop and preliminarily examine the Transformative Goal Attainment Scale (TGAS) as a measure of participant empowerment in the promotion of positive development. Consistent with recent advances in the use of qualitative research methods, this dissertation sought to further investigate the utility of Relational Data Analysis (RDA) for providing categorizations of qualitative open-ended response data. In particular, a qualitative index of Transformative Goals, TG, was developed to complement the previously developed quantitative index of Transformative Goal Attainment (TGA), and RDA procedures for calculating reliability and content validity were refined. Second, as a Stage I pilot/feasibility study this study preliminarily examined the potentially mediating role of empowerment, as indexed by the TGAS, in the promotion of positive development. ^ Fifty-seven participants took part in this study, forty CLP intervention participants and seventeen control condition participants. All 57 participants were administered the study's measures just prior to and just following the fall 2003 semester. This study thus used a short-term longitudinal quasi-experimental research design with a comparison control group. ^ RDA procedures were refined and applied to the categorization of open-ended response data regarding participants' transformative goals (TG) and future possible selves (PSQ-QE). These analyses revealed relatively strong, indirect evidence for the construct validity of the categories as well as their theoretically meaningful structural organization, thereby providing sufficient support for the utility of RDA procedures in the categorization of qualitative open-ended response data. ^ In addition, transformative goals (TG) and future possible selves (PSQ-QE), and the quantitative index of perceived goal attainment (TGA) were evaluated as potential mediators of positive development by testing their relationships to other indices of positive intervention outcome within a four-step method involving both analysis of variance (ANOVA and RMANOVAs) and regression analysis. Though more limited in scope than the efforts at the development and refinement of the measures of these mediators, the results were also promising. ^

Reaganomics and its effects on pricing and participation in the regular paying sector of the National School Lunch Program in Dade County public high schools

Problem: This research proposes to examine the effects of Reaganomics on pricing and participation in the regular paying sector of the National School Lunch Program in Dade County Public High Schools. Subproblems: The first subproblem is to examine the effects of Reaganomics on pricing in the regular paying sector of the National School Lunch Program in Dade County Public High Schools. The second subproblem is to examine the effects of Reaganomics on participation in the regular paying sector of the National School Lunch Program in Dade County Public High Schools. Hypotheses: The first hypothesis is that Reaganomics has resulted in price increases to the regular paying sector of the National School Lunch Program in Dade County Public High Schools. The second hypothesis is that Reaganomics has decreased the percentage of the regular paying sector participating in the National School Lunch Program in Dade County Public High Schools.