Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Quality of educational'

This study was directed by a modified Delphi-methodology design to gain perspective of the perceptions of alumni regarding the value and applicability of the general education program. The expert-panel participants were 14 alumni of Frostburg State University from various majors, representative of all three colleges, who graduated between 2006 and 2011. This study sought to identify alumni perceptions of general education programming through three rounds of a survey administration and to use alumni responses to review the future development of the general education program. Overall, respondents agreed that their experiences at Frostburg moderately prepared them for real-world demands. Specifically, the average importance rankings of the various attributes related to their bachelor’s degrees identified by the panel were as follows: overall life preparation, preparation to be well-rounded and educated, career and professional preparation, preparation for the major, and aided in skill development.

Alumni ranked the importance of skills/attributes that prepared them for their profession as follows: communication, internship, leadership, relating to others, understanding different perspectives, legal and ethical skills, becoming well-rounded, and open-mindedness. Attributes identified as important to alumni when explaining their general education course selections were perceived usefulness of the course in the future, the subject of the course, the convenience of when the course was offered (time and day), satisfying the General Education Program requirement, advisor guidance, the professor teaching the course, and course rigor.

English composition and social and behavioral sciences ranked highest in importance, followed by mathematics, in all three rounds of the survey. Arts, humanities, and biological and physical sciences exhibited lower importance, measured by the mean rank. Regarding course subjects, English had the highest ranking followed by psychology, sociology, probability, and statistics.

For decades, accountability for student results has been at the forefront of school reform. While many school-based factors have influence, teacher quality has consistently been identified as the most important school-based factor related to student achievement (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2000; Stronge, 2007). Research also suggests that a quality teacher can substantially minimize the challenges faced by at risk students (Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 1998). However, defining a quality teacher and determining the factors related to teacher effectiveness are not easy tasks. This research study answers the overarching question What are the primary criteria utilized by school leaders to ensure the hiring of high quality teachers? by examining school leaders’ and novice teachers’ perceptions of the important factors related to teacher quality (teacher inputs, system inputs, and comprehensive hiring practices).

This study explores private higher education and implementation of quality assurance procedures in Ghana, a country in West Africa. While focusing on the three main isomorphic classifications (coercive, mimetic and normative) of DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) institutional theory, this study examines how regulatory measures are not only designed to enhance the quality of private higher education institutions, but also how they impact the efforts employed by private providers towards meeting quality assurance standards in the environment in which they are located. Using a qualitative methodology, participants from five private university colleges and two private chartered institutions are selected as constituting the sample for this study. In addition, quality assurance documents from the website of the Ghana’s National Accreditation Board (NAB) as well as documents from the websites of seven private higher education institutions are coded using NVivo 10 to determine the kind of efforts made by institutions to convey the message of legitimacy across to students and other clientele. Other participants are officials from the NAB, higher education specialists and retired faculty of public higher education institutions in Ghana. In general, the outcome of open-ended interviews with selected participants as well as documents analyzed found evidence of efforts private institutions are making towards meeting their quality assurance requirements through mimetic, coercive and normative isomorphism. These are indicated through institutional affiliations, conformity to mentoring (supervising) institution’s programs, quality assurance requirements and measures established in conformity to the NAB requirements. Higher education specialists advocate that a specific policy aimed at addressing shortage of faculty members in Sub-Saharan Africa should be formulated to take on a more regional dimension. The Ghanaian private higher education landscape has a number of issues including shortage of academic and non-academic staff, dependence on adjunct faculty, and non-compliance to time frame given for program and institutional accreditation. These issues will require a holistic approach involving the NAB and the PHEIs in order to find long lasting solutions. As a result of the continual growth of private higher education providers in Ghana, it is imperative that the NAB make the quality assurance process very welcoming to genuine actors.

This research study involved examination of the quality of globalized character-based education in Missouri and the reasons secondary public schools have been slow to adopt globalized educational programs such as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). This established programme has been the standard-bearer across the globe during the last 40 years and continues to promote the evolution of new globalized educational programs (IBO, 2017c). The International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme is now in 3,662 schools worldwide with 1,465 schools located in the United States (International Baccalaureate Organization [IBO], 2015b), but only 11 of the 573 Missouri public secondary schools have instituted a working IBDP (IBO, 2017c). A quantitative research study was conducted using a survey based on global characteristics as established by the IB Learner Profile. Data were collected from four specific groups within Missouri: 103 students currently enrolled in an IB Diploma School, 10 IB coordinators, 16 admissions directors of post-secondary institutions that offer IB credit, and 86 human resources directors at Missouri-based globalized businesses. These groups were chosen because of their relationship with the IB Learner Profile characteristics as demonstrated by IB Diploma candidates and the hiring process of employees in the 21st-century workplace. The further a student progresses educationally, the less often evaluators see the criteria of globalized learners being followed. The weaknesses revealed through this study can help drive the evolution and possible expansion of more globalized character-based programs in secondary schools in Missouri.

In education, mentoring is pivotal in the early development and long-term success and self-directed efficacy of new teachers. With increasing acknowledgment of the importance of mentoring as the preferred means of induction support for new teachers, mentors can serve to positively impact the overall quality of teaching and learning. Yet, like the induction protocols in other professional occupations, the nature of induction programs in education has taken a variety of forms in more recent years. For mentors, these experiences create added obligations and time away from their own professional responsibilities. Although previous research points to the importance of mentoring and its effectiveness in supporting novices, giving voice to the induction mentor as related to the most effective practices for high quality induction mentoring merits further investigation and an obligation to those who lead them.

The purpose of this study was therefore to contribute to the body of knowledge and literature pertaining to high quality mentoring experiences, specifically as related to the lived experiences and perceptions of effective practices for preparing, developing, and retaining K-12 teacher induction mentors. The participants in this study consisted of K-12 teacher induction mentors at a teacher induction program in Southern California. This study was made possible through the utilization of a phenomenological method, namely through a qualitative phone interview approach.

The findings led to the following five conclusions: (1) prior life and professional experience are pivotal to the manner in which situational learning is acquired and internalized, strongly influencing the way mentors engage in future action; (2) induction mentor preparation and support are crucial to the success of the mentor in their service to new teachers and in their own professional development as educators; (3) time is pivotal to the formulation of and reaping of quality induction experiences; (4) the value of required induction projects is key to the significance of the induction work; and (5) meaningful reflective practices are fundamental to the internal motivation and transformation of the mentor as a professional learner. Implications for policy and recommendations for additional research are discussed at the end of the study.

Title IX Coordinators are educational administrators who play a critical role in providing campus environments free of sex discrimination, harassment, and violence. Their work is demanding, highly regulated, and set in an increasingly volatile political context. There is little research on the experiences of these administrators. Utilizing the Professional Quality of Life framework, this qualitative study explored the experiences of 20 Title IX Coordinators to understand their professional quality of life and organizational factors that influence their experiences. Findings revealed participants’ satisfaction was drawn from passion for “the work” and making a positive impact in their communities, and fatigue and burnout were tied to an intense and overwhelming workload. While fatigue can lead to a breaking point, moderating influences, e.g., coping strategies and balancing compassion with neutrality, mitigated negative factors. Institutional resistance and lack of understanding across stakeholders contributed to compassion fatigue, while institutional commitment and supportive interpersonal relationships affirmed the Title IX Coordinator’s experience. Implications include expanding the Title IX Coordinator’s passion for gender equity across the institution, and building institutional capacity to adequately respond to complaints, to benefit both the experience of the Title IX Coordinator and campus communities at large. Recommendations for policy and practice include creating Title IX teams, institutionalizing campus climate surveys, and supervision committed to building supportive working environments. Future research is recommended on how intersecting identities influence the Title IX Coordinator experience, and understanding campus attitudes toward Title IX and other civil-rights based responsibilities among constituent groups.

Educational reform movements set ambitious goals for student learning. Numerous factors contribute to students achieving these goals. It has been widely understood that “the increasing emphasis on quality of teaching and learning has placed new demands on staff development, and the search for models and methodologies which are promising for professional development of academic staff has become an important agenda in itself” (Ho, A.,2001 P.35). Effective changes in practice require a great deal of learning on the part of teachers and an even greater amount of support and guidance from administrators (Borko, 2004, Putnam & Borko, 2000).

Problematic practices in hiring and staffing make it difficult, albeit impossible, to provide an equal distribution of qualified teachers in high poverty districts and schools serving minorities. Contributing to the problem of teacher inequality and underqualified teachers is the phenomenon of out-of-field teaching- a term in reference to certified or qualified teachers who were teaching a subject in which they had no formal qualification or training (Hobbs, 2013). These teachers often receive little training and support and therefore find it difficult to experience success.

Through qualitative interviewing this study seeks to explore the perceptions of out-of-field teachers and mentors and understand how they make meaning of their experiences. Five themes emerged from the study: ineffective training and professional development, desire for success, buy in, time, and support.

Teachers and mentors want professional development that is meaningful to the work they do in the classroom. Educators, especially those teaching out-of-field, need training that is intense, focused and content oriented. Buy in is vital to any professional training. Out-of-field teachers want to be included in the decision-making as to what professional development they receive.

From this study, it was learned that it is a teacher’s priority to make sure they are teaching content standards from day-to-day. The participants identified a lack of support as an inhibitor to that implementation. This concern for the lack of professional support among the participants bares out much of the research (Borko, 2014. Hobbs, 2015, Darling-Hammond, 2002, Ingersoll, 1999). Out-of-field teachers are highly committed to the students and communities they serve. With focused and intense training, close monitoring, time to observe skilled content area teachers, and strong support from building and district administrators, out-of-field teachers can become effective educators when teaching outside their area of expertise.

The early childhood administrator is tasked with overseeing all operations within the early childhood program. Operational functions include functions traditionally associated with education including the design and implementation of curriculum, creating and maintaining the learning environment, and ensuring the health and safety of children enrolled in the program. The administrator of the early childhood program is also tasked with other functions including human resource functions, budgeting, as well as income and cost management. Additionally, the administrator should be an advocate within public policy concerning early childhood education. Research has acknowledged the functions associated with the early childhood administrator role. In 1992, Paula Jorde-Bloom named the early childhood administrator as the “Gatekeeper of Quality”. Since then, research has supported that establishing and maintaining quality is yet another responsibility of the early childhood administrator. The current study examined the role of the administrator, particularly the preparation that the administrator receives, in an effort to determine the impact that the administrator has on the quality of the program. A sample (n = 224) was pulled from early childhood administrators in Mississippi. The preparation received by these administrators, including formal education and additional training, was measured and regression analysis with Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Revised (ECERS-R) scores measuring quality of the early childhood program regressed with an aggregated early childhood administration preparation variable to determine if administration preparation could predict overall quality within the early childhood program. As the literature indicated that fiscal management practices also fall under the scope of responsibilities of the administrator, fiscal management preparation was isolated and regression analysis with ECERS-R scores was conducted to determine if fiscal management preparation could predict overall quality within the early childhood program as well. The study found that administration preparation was a significant predictor of quality. However, preparation specific to fiscal management knowledge was not found to be a predictor of overall quality. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are addressed.

Online learning has become a significant component of the long-term strategy for leading universities into the future. The rapid growth of online learning forces the need for academic accountability. The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to examine factors affecting student perceptions of online course quality using benchmarks in the design principles of Teaching/Learning, Course Structure, and Student Support in online courses. Furthermore, the study aimed to discover whether the interaction of a social presence was perceived as important to the quality of the student’s online learning experience. The elements of benchmark categories, social presence, and student perceptions provide a great perspective of the educational experiences in fully online courses. Two hundred forty-five students were surveyed and eleven students participated in follow-up interviews. Results indicated that interaction between students and the instructor was a key element in their perceptions of a quality learning experience. Teaching presence was identified as very important to the quality of online courses. Benchmark standards measured in this study are important components to the design of online courses. These measurements act as an indicator to administrators, faculty, and instructional designers about the importance of designing courses that include the benchmark standards, especially instructor interactions as well as student-to-student interactions and social presence.

The purpose of this quantitative descriptive correlation research study was to determine if relationship existed between faculty conflict management, emotional intelligence, leadership, and quality in higher education. The conception of service quality in higher education is complex, multifaceted, and disputable. As a result there is no best way to measure service quality in higher education. The research study identified a combination of quality indicators used in analyzing quality in higher education and attempted to explain how these factors affected student satisfaction. Faculty conflict management style, emotional intelligence competencies, and leadership styles were measured against five service quality dimensions, and eight student evaluation of educational quality dimensions. The research instruments included the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory, the Emotional Competence Inventory, and the Leadership Style Survey for the faculty. The Service Quality (SERQUAL), and the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) surveys for the students. The findings included a high correlation between academic and nonacademic service quality dimensions with faculty conflict management styles, emotional intelligence competencies, and leadership styles. The findings supported conclusions that appropriate faculty conflict managing styles, adequate emotional intelligence competencies, and appropriate leadership styles contributed to quality and service quality in higher education. Consensus defining service quality would clearly include student satisfaction constructs. Recommendations for future research included attempting to evaluate the level of service quality and understand how different factors impact overall service quality is crucial so that higher education institutions can plan and design their service in the upmost possible manner.