This study assessed alumni of the College and University Teaching Program at the University of North Texas and how they perceived the training they received. Three hundred sixty alumni holding a college and university teaching degree were surveyed. One hundred forty-two usable questionnaires were returned. A response rate of 39.4 % was achieved. A survey instrument was used to gather alumni perceptions of learning experiences, academics, and professional benefits as a result of earning a doctorate in the major of college and university teaching at the University of North Texas. Alumni were asked their perceptions on the following: 1) the quality of graduate professional education in college and university teaching degree program, 2) whether they thought the goals and objectives of the program were met, and 3) their recommendations regarding the college and university teaching degree program. It is the overall opinion of the alumni that the quality of the graduate education in college and university teaching degree program was high. The majority of alumni indicated that the program should be reinstated and continued and if the program was still available they would recommend it to others.

Recent studies reveal that a considerable number of U.S. community college leaders will be retiring in the next several years. The concern is that with the large turnover, history, culture, and important lessons of leadership will be lost. The current research on the lives of presidents, their career paths, and experiences in community college leadership centers on approaches to the study of leadership at the macro level. Limited research exists in the published literature that reports and analyzes the development of individuals as community college leaders at the micro level. This results in a gap regarding understanding leadership development and strategies to prepare leaders. This study addresses this gap by providing a critical description of the leadership development of one individual who became a community college chancellor and who the literature on the community context indicates contributed to the local and national context for community colleges. Biography is gaining prominence as a legitimate and viable tool in the study of leadership. Few biographical studies currently exist which focus on leadership development in context at the micro level. This dissertation is a biographical, qualitative study of the leadership path and legacy of R. Jan LeCroy, a community college leader. The study …

The study compared outcomes for distance learning courses with those of traditional courses offered by the seven campuses of Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD). The course outcomes were defined as completion rate, dropout rate and success rate. Eleven courses offered during the fall 2003 semester were selected for the study. The methods of instruction employed for each course were traditional classroom lecture/discussion and distance learning formats of Internet, TeleCourse and TeleCourse Plus. Internet courses are delivered on-line, using Internet access and a browser, TeleCourse uses one-way videos or public broadcasting, and TeleCourse Plus is a hybrid between Internet and TeleCourse courses. Seven of the courses selected were part of the core curriculum approved by Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) while four other courses were completely transferable. Two types of specific data were extracted: course data and individual student data. Course data included method of instruction, length of course, instructor's load, enrollment, number of withdrawals, and grade distribution. In addition, course requirements including the use of email, videos and Internet, orientation and testing on campus were added as variables. The student data included demographic variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, family status, employment and academic variables including number of …

Are there differences in leadership styles among occupational therapy clinic administrators and program directors in professional and technical education programs? This study investigated transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and effectiveness as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Form 5x-Short behaviors and demographic characteristics of leaders and their organizations using a questionnaire designed by the researcher. MLQ Leader Forms were received from 50 clinic administrators randomly selected from the membership list of the Administration and Management Special Interest Section (AMSIS) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), 56 professional program directors, and 41 technical program directors from accredited occupational therapy education programs in the United States, for a total of 147 leader respondents. Rater forms were received from 2 to 5 occupational therapy staff or faculty per leader and average scores calculated. More than 86% of leader respondents were female and white. Major findings indicate that administrative positions indifferent institutional contexts relate to leadership behaviors and effectiveness. Technical education program directors and clinic administrators scored higher on transformational behaviors and effectiveness than professional education program directors. Consistent with other research on leadership, the self-ratings of leaders were higher than ratings of subordinates. The data indicated statistically significant positive correlations between …

This study examined if there were characteristic differences between play therapy students and non-play therapy students in training. Specifically, this study was designed to explore what, if any, characteristic differences between play therapy students and non-play therapy students in training exist in the following two areas: (a) personality variables, as measured by the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) and (b) attitude toward children, and measured by the Barnett's Liking of Children Scale (BLOCS). Additionally, this study examined whether certain personality traits and the general attitude toward children for the play therapy student group correlated with the play therapy students' effectiveness ratings assigned to them by their play therapy supervisors. This study found statistically significant differences at the .05 alpha level between the play therapy (N=105) and non-play therapy students (N=79) in training in both the Extraversion personality trait on the NEO PI-R assessment and attitude toward children on the BLOCS. Non-play therapy students were in the High range for Extraversion, whereas play therapy students in training were in the Average range. According to this finding, play therapy students are less extraverted than non-play therapy students. Specifically, a statistically significant difference occurred on the Gregariousness scale of the Extraversion domain between …

This study employed a pretest/posttest control group design to investigate the achievement of second grade Hispanic students from a predominantly low socio-economic school in a large metropolitan city. The thirty Hispanic students with the lowest scores on the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test were randomly assigned to the experimental group (n =15) or the control group (n=15). The treatment consisted of 16, 30-minute sessions of play intervention--2 times per week for 8 weeks. The providers of play therapy were school personnel trained in the principles of child-centered play therapy including tracking, reflecting feelings, and setting limits. Instruments were administered to all subjects prior to the 8 week treatment period and in the two-week period following treatment and included the GMRT, the Joseph Pre-School Primary Self-Concept Test (JPPSCST) and the Child Behavior Checklist Teacher Report Form (CBCTRF). Statistical analyses included a (t-test; 2 tail; p > .05), discriminant analysis, and cross validation. The results indicated that children who received play therapy did not achieve notably higher mean scores in reading. However, play therapy did improve the experimental group's self-concept scores and their internal behavior scores, though not significantly. All differences between the experimental and the control groups were within 1 point except …

The objective of this research project was to evaluate the effectiveness of the M.Div. program of Alliance Bible Seminary, Hong Kong. The research was designed for evaluation based solely upon the perceptions of the participant (graduate). The research identified and described the graduates enrolled, assessed perceived career development and attainment, and measured the degree of satisfaction experienced by the graduates who have matriculated from the degree program. A questionnaire was mailed to obtain the necessary data from the graduates of the M.Div. program of Alliance Bible Seminary. The questionnaire which was used was adapted from a previously used one used in the study of graduate educational programs. It has been tested in two other previous studies and was deemed effective. In order to verify its effectiveness in the Eastern context, a pilot test was conducted before the formal research, and the adapted questionnaire was found effective. Responses to the questionnaire were coded and the SPSS system was used to analyze the data. Tables and figures were constructed showing frequencies and significant differences where they occurred. Generally, the graduates at Alliance Bible Seminary were very satisfied with their educational experiences. Both males and females indicated that they would choose the same …

Interactional and contextual models have been conceptually proposed in understanding parental influences on children. Yet, empirical model testing has been limited. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of parenting style on child social competence using structural equation modeling in a sample of 544 Chinese families with 6-9 years old children, mainly singleton, residing in Nanjing, China. Five latent models were tested: (a) the direct model between parenting style and child social competence, (b) child temperament as a moderator, (c) parent-child relationship as a mediator, (d) the interaction model between parenting style and family functioning, and (e) bidirectional models of parenting style concurrently with parent-child relationship, and family functioning predicting child social competence. Findings showed: (a) The direct relationship between parenting style and child social competence was significant in both parents with authoritative parenting style on the positive direction, whereas authoritarian and permissive parenting styles on the negative direction; (b) child temperament did not moderate parenting style on child social competence; (c) father-child relationship mediated paternal parenting style on child social competence, whereas maternal parenting style did not; (d) family functioning neither moderated nor mediated the relationship between parenting style and child social …