A Study of Relationships Between Teachers' Knowledge of and Attitude Toward Selected Teaching Strategies and Their Implementation in the Elementary Classroom (open access)

A Study of Relationships Between Teachers' Knowledge of and Attitude Toward Selected Teaching Strategies and Their Implementation in the Elementary Classroom

The purpose of this study was to explore the variables of content knowledge, individual attitude, and span of time from initial training with regard to implementation of selected teaching practices in the elementary classroom. The sample consisted of thirty-two elementary classroom teachers who teach reading or mathematics in a large suburban school district in the Dallas Metropolitan Area. After completion of the second day's training in an inservice program on teaching strategies, the teachers were given a test to measure content knowledge of and attitude toward the teaching strategies. The test results were used in determining four groups for follow-up classroom observations four weeks and eight weeks after the in-service sessions. Using three-way analysis of variance, the data were analyzed. Results indicated that teachers with high content knowledge of the teaching strategies implemented these strategies to a greater degree than did teachers with low content knowledge. No significant relationship with regard to implementation was found for the variables of attitude or span of time. It can be concluded that teachers who know the content of inservice training are able to and do implement the training in their classrooms. Of equal significance is the conclusion that teachers who do not know …
Date: August 1987
Creator: Speak, Lynda Overton
System: The UNT Digital Library
Goals of Behavior, Social Interest and Parent Attitudes in an Alternative School (open access)

Goals of Behavior, Social Interest and Parent Attitudes in an Alternative School

This study investigated whether students in an Alternative School differed significantly from students who remain on a regular high school campus on measures of goals of misbehavior which included the factors of attention, power, revenge, inadequacy, and on measures of social interest. This study also investigated whether the attitudes of parents of Alternative School students differed significantly from the attitudes of parents of regular campus students on the factors of confidence, causation, acceptance, understanding and trust.
Date: August 1987
Creator: Downing, Rebecca
System: The UNT Digital Library
Job Satisfaction of Principals and Perceived Superintendent Leadership Style in Selected Schools in North Central Texas (open access)

Job Satisfaction of Principals and Perceived Superintendent Leadership Style in Selected Schools in North Central Texas

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between principal job satisfaction and the principal perception of superintendent leadership style in six school districts located in North Central Texas.
Date: May 1987
Creator: Brewer, Larna V. (Larna Vee)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perceptions and Assessments of Power in Legislative Politics for Texas Public Community College Administrative Leadership (open access)

Perceptions and Assessments of Power in Legislative Politics for Texas Public Community College Administrative Leadership

The problem with which this study was concerned is the political influence of community/junior college chief executive officers (CEOs) and campus presidents on the state legislature, both directly and indirectly, in the funding of community colleges in Texas. Perceptions of effectiveness were recorded by survey from campus presidents and CEOs as well as from legislators and key legislators. In addition, interviews were conducted with several key legislators and the chief administrators of the two statewide community college organizations. The purpose of the study was to analyze the policy-making process in Texas of which community/junior colleges are a part. The influential relationships and interactions of the sixty-five CEOs and campus presidents of the public community college districts and campuses in Texas were analyzed after a survey instrument was administered. Perceptions of rank—and—file legislators were gathered through use of another survey instrument and perceptions of key legislators were gathered in the same manner but with the addition of a personal interview. Certain questions were asked of them concerning interactions and communication with leaders of community colleges. With the legislators and the presidents certain demographic data was collected and analyzed as a part of the study. Among the findings, campus presidents and CEOs …
Date: August 1987
Creator: Stanglin, Gerald Minor
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Wang Institute of Graduate Studies: A Historical Perspective (open access)

The Wang Institute of Graduate Studies: A Historical Perspective

The Wang Institute of Graduate Studies was an independent, non-profit corporate college located Tyngsboro, Massachusetts originated through the benevolence of An Wang. This study focuses on the problems in education and industry that acted as the impetus for this institute and develops a historical perspective of Wang Institute from its inception in 1979 until its end in August, 1987. The study describes the philosophy, organizational structure, curriculum, faculty, and students of Wang Institute. Wang Institute of Graduate Studies no longer exists. The facility used by Wang Institute of Graduate Studies is now known as Wang Institute of Boston University.
Date: December 1987
Creator: Green, Patricia Ann Naizer
System: The UNT Digital Library
Role Expectations of the Athletic Director as Perceived by Athletic Directors, Superintendents and Principals in the State of Texas (open access)

Role Expectations of the Athletic Director as Perceived by Athletic Directors, Superintendents and Principals in the State of Texas

This study examines the extent of agreement or disagreement among and between Texas superintendents, principals and athletic directors toward fifty specifically defined role expectations for the full-time athletic administrator. By defining the athletic director's role expectations, the superintendents, principals and athletic directors may function more effectively in discharging their duties and implementing quality interscholastic athletic programs. Parents and educational leaders are very interested in athletic programs which contribute to the emotional, social, physical, and mental growth of youth. Given the increasing number of athletic programs and participants, it is important to analyze and report data related to athletic administration. The perceptions of the superintendents, principals, and athletic directors to the specifically defined role expectations for the athletic director provided data for analysis to determine the extent of role conflict and the role of the athletic director. The main findings are the following. (1) There is a minimal role conflict for the athletic director based upon the perceptions of the superintendents, principals, and athletic directors. (2) The majority of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with forty-four of the specifically defined role expectations for the athletic director. (3) The majority of the respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the athletic director …
Date: August 1987
Creator: Thompson, Jay C. (Jay Charles), 1946-
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Investigation of the Needs for Music-Related Content in the Bible College Pastoral Curriculum as Perceived by a Selected Group of Pastors (open access)

An Investigation of the Needs for Music-Related Content in the Bible College Pastoral Curriculum as Perceived by a Selected Group of Pastors

The purpose of the study was to investigate the needs for music-related content in the Bible college pastoral curriculum as perceived by a selected group of pastors. The research problems were (1) to assess the extent of musical preparation of recent pastoral graduates from selected accredited Bible colleges in the United States, (2) to assess the music-related duties of those graduates in paid pastoral positions, (3) to assess the pastors' perceived needs for instructional preparation for the fulfillment of their musical duties, and (4) to determine the effect of selected factors on the perceived needs of those pastors.
Date: December 1987
Creator: Hui, Andrew
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Retention and Attrition Among First Time College Freshmen at North Texas State University (open access)

A Study of Retention and Attrition Among First Time College Freshmen at North Texas State University

This study was designed to examine freshman students at North Texas State University and to determine some of the factors contributing to attrition and retention. The instrument used in the study was the Student Information Questionnaire (SIQ). The instrument was created to aid the objective assessment knowledge relating to student retention and attrition. The categories of knowledge selected included demographics, individual attributes, family background, and educational experience.
Date: August 1987
Creator: Gonzales, Joseph L. (Joseph Louis)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Imaginative Involvement and Hypnotic Susceptibility (open access)

Imaginative Involvement and Hypnotic Susceptibility

J. Hilgard (1970, 1972, 1974, 1979), utilizing an interview format, asserted that a personality variable, namely, an individual's capacity to become imaginatively involved in experiences outside of hypnosis, was significantly correlated with his or her hypnotic susceptibility. Tellegen and Atkinson (1974) operationalized the imaginative involvement variable in a 37-item questionnaire, the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS) that correlated significantly with hypnotic susceptibility (e.g., Crawford, 1982). However, Council, Kirsch, and Hafner (1986) suggested that the relationship between the TAS and hypnotic susceptibility is a context-mediated artifact in that the two correlate only when the TAS is administered within a context clearly identified as involving hypnosis. As the interviews conducted by J. Hilgard (1970, 1972, 1974, 1979) were done within a context clearly identified as involving hypnosis, the possibility exists that the relationship between imaginative involvement and hypnotic susceptibility is also a context-mediated artifact. In a test of this possibility, 86 subjects were interviewed concerning their imaginative involvements. Forty-three subjects were interviewed within a context defined as "research investigating hypnosis" and 43 subjects were interviewed within a context defined as "research investigating imagination." Hypnotic susceptibility was assessed in sessions separate from the interviews. In the present study, an individual's hypnotic susceptibility was not …
Date: August 1987
Creator: Drake, Stephen Douglas
System: The UNT Digital Library
A National Study of Retention Efforts at Institutions of Higher Education with Baccalaureate Degree Nursing Programs (open access)

A National Study of Retention Efforts at Institutions of Higher Education with Baccalaureate Degree Nursing Programs

This study is concerned with the problem of determining the status of.specific student retention efforts at the departmental and institutional levels in institutions of higher education offering baccalaureate degrees in nursing. The purposes of the study include (1) the determination of the percentages of those institutions which have specific programs to increase student retention in place and functioning at the various administrative levels, (2) the determination of those aspects of the many possible retention efforts that are being utilized, (3) identification of those retention efforts which may be most effective, and (4) comparison of retention rates between those institutions with organized retention programs and those without these programs. The population of the study is composed of all 430 of the National League for Nursing (NLN) accredited, Registered Nurse Baccalaureate Degree programs in the United States. The specially designed survey instrument produced a 62 percent response return. Response frequencies and percentages were calculated to show the relative success rates of various retention efforts. In addition, the data were subjected to several statistical procedures to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the various types and levels of retention efforts. The findings indicate that the presence of an organized and functioning …
Date: December 1987
Creator: Catalano, Joseph T.
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of the Factors Used by the Tax Court in Applying the Step Transaction Doctrine (open access)

An Analysis of the Factors Used by the Tax Court in Applying the Step Transaction Doctrine

The step transaction doctrine is one of the judicial doctrines used by the courts to interpret tax law. The doctrine requires that a series of transactions be treated as a single transaction if the transactions share a single, integrated purpose. Many authors believe there is a great deal of uncertainty as to when the doctrine will be applied. Uncertainty and inconsistency in the application of tax law add to the complexity of the law. One of the most complex areas of tax law is Subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code, which governs corporate formations, redemptions, liquidations, distributions, and reorganizations. The purpose of this study was to determine if the step transaction doctrine is being consistently applied by the Tax Court and what variables affect the judges' decision in these cases. Hierarchical logit analysis was used to derive a full model and two restricted models. The full model was used to determine the predictive power of the variables that were identified and to explain the extent to which the individual variables affect the judges' decisions. One restricted model was used to test temporal stability. The other was used to test consistency when different issues of tax law are involved. The …
Date: August 1987
Creator: Smith, Darlene A. (Darlene Adel)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Factors of Depression in the Elderly: Assessment and Implications for Diagnosis (open access)

Factors of Depression in the Elderly: Assessment and Implications for Diagnosis

The problem of assessment and diagnosis of depression in the elderly begins with the definition of depression being indefinite. In this study, the theory of learned helplessness was chosen because of its value in organizing research within a learning theory framework. The Beck Depression Inventory, measures of fluid and crystallized intellectual ability, locus of control, and attribution of success and failure were chosen as variables for an exploratory factor analysis. The purpose of selecting these variables was to assess the cognitive, motivational, and affective components of learned helplessness as they affected the responses of elderly subjects to depression items. Self report measures of income, education, and health, were included to assess the relationship of these variables to depression. A somatic factor was predicted to correlate with an affective factor of depression.
Date: December 1987
Creator: Kunsak, Nancy Elizabeth
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Visits by Authors of Children's Books in Selected Elementary Schools (open access)

The Effects of Visits by Authors of Children's Books in Selected Elementary Schools

Guest author visits are popular events in schools across the United States. Little has been written, however, on a single author doing a single presentation in a school. This study addressed that situation. The study utilized two authors visiting four schools in a large North Central Texas school district.
Date: May 1987
Creator: Staas, Gretchen L. (Gretchen Lee)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Attitudes of International Students Toward University Withdrawal (open access)

The Attitudes of International Students Toward University Withdrawal

The purpose of this study was to determine if significant differences existed in attitudes of international students concerning college withdrawal. Data collection involved 200 freshmen international students from two universities in Texas. Two questionnaires were distributed to the students to determine attitudes toward college withdrawal. The instrument used to score the attitudes was the Purdue Master Attitude Scale. The analysis of variance was used for the statistical evaluation. The statistics indicated there was no significant differences between the students tested in the study and that the students had favorable attitudes toward college and unfavorable attitudes toward college withdrawal. Based on the findings of this study, universities should devise an extensive counseling and orientation program in order to provide students opportunities to complete their college education.
Date: December 1987
Creator: Ghoreyshi, Mohammad
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of the Responsibilities of Department Chairpersons in 5-A Public High Schools in Texas (open access)

A Study of the Responsibilities of Department Chairpersons in 5-A Public High Schools in Texas

This study identified and compared the perceptions of department chairpersons and their principals about what responsibilities should be assigned to chairpersons, what responsibilities are currently assigned to chairpersons, and the chairperson' perceived need for any additional training, administrative support, departmental support, or released time in order to fulfill responsibilities currently assigned. Principals and chairpersons from 132 of the 264 5-A public high schools in Texas were surveyed by means of a 61- item questionnaire. The questionnaire included responsibilities in ten areas: planning, evaluation, budgeting, personnel, curriculum and instruction, communications, scheduling, clerical activities, supervision, and advising. Chairpersons from English, Foreign Languages, Mathematics, Physical Education, Science, and Social Studies were included in the study. Data collected in the study were keypunched and computer-processed, generating frequencies, percentages, means, and appropriate chi-square tests of independence, and probability factors for determining significance. The following conclusions were drawn from the study. 1. There is substantial agreement between Texas principals and chairpersons about responsibilities that should and should not be assigned to chairpersons in the areas of planning, budgeting, communications, and advising. 2. There is moderate to substantial disagreement . between Texas principals and chairpersons about responsibilities that should and should not be assigned in the areas …
Date: December 1987
Creator: Lawrence, Dale R. (Dale Robert)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Research Productivity of Doctorally Prepared Nurses (open access)

Research Productivity of Doctorally Prepared Nurses

The purpose of this study is to determine the possible relationship between post-doctoral research productivity of doctorally prepared nurses and instructional experiences of doctoral study, conditions of employment and other factors that may be related to research productivity. The design of the study is causal comparative.
Date: August 1987
Creator: Farren, Elizabeth Anne
System: The UNT Digital Library
India's Nonalignment Policy and the American Response, 1947-1960 (open access)

India's Nonalignment Policy and the American Response, 1947-1960

India's nonalignment policy attracted the attention of many newly independent countries for it provided an alternative to the existing American and Russian views of the world. This dissertation is an examination of both India's nonalignment policy and the official American reaction to it during the Truman-Eisenhower years. Indian nonalignment should be defined as a policy of noncommitment towards rival power blocs adopted with a view of retaining freedom of action in international affairs and thereby influencing the issue of war and peace to India's advantage. India maintained that the Cold War was essentially a European problem. Adherence to military allliances , it believed, would increase domestic tensions and add to chances of involvement in international war, thus destroying hopes of socio-economic reconstruction of India. The official American reaction was not consistent. It varied from president to president, from issue to issue, and from time to time. India's stand on various issues of international import and interest to the United States such as recognition of the People's Republic of China, the Korean War, the Japanese peace treaty of 1951, and the Hungarian revolt of 1956, increased American concern about and dislike of nonalignment. Many Americans in high places regraded India's nonalignment …
Date: May 1987
Creator: Georgekutty, Thadathil V. (Thadathil Varghese)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Content and Focus of Dissertations in the College of Education at North Texas State University from 1975 through 1986 (open access)

Content and Focus of Dissertations in the College of Education at North Texas State University from 1975 through 1986

The problem of this study was to determine the degree and level of research activity in the College of Education at North Texas State University through an examination of the doctoral dissertations produced by its graduates. The study had three basic purposes. One purpose was to analyze the dissertations in terms of types of study, focus of each study, subject headings of each study, design characteristics, statistical treatment of data, general results of experimental studies and data collection techniques. The second purpose was to synthesize the data of the present study with that obtained by Novak in her study, in order to provide an overall description of the characteristics of dissertation research in the College of Education from 1953 through 1986. The third purpose was to examine the research activity taking place in the College of Education in terms of the quality of dissertations produced by its graduates. Seven hundred and ninety-five dissertations were the sources of data for this study. The format developed and validated by Novak in her study of dissertation research from 1953 through 1974 was used in the analysis of the dissertations completed from 1975 through 1986. Based on the findings of this study, the following …
Date: August 1987
Creator: Sharmsar, Behrouz
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Weak-Form Efficient Markets Test of the Dallas-Fort Worth Office Properties Real Estate Market (open access)

A Weak-Form Efficient Markets Test of the Dallas-Fort Worth Office Properties Real Estate Market

Few areas of research in the finance literature have received greater attention than the efficient market hypothesis. Much of the research has been directed toward the securities market while very little research has been done in the real estate markets. The existing research on real estate market efficiency has been either descriptive or illustrative with very little empirical testing being performed. The major reason for the lack of empirical testing has been the inability to develop an adequate data base. The results of the empirical work that has been done do not support the widely held belief that real estate markets are inefficient. This study, using the autoregressive-integrative-moving average (ARIMA) time series analysis technique, tests the weak-form efficiency of the Dallas-Fort Worth office properties real estate market. According to the weak-form efficient market hypothesis, all price information should be capitalized into current real estate prices and not provide the basis for earning abnormal returns in trading. Price data formed from office building sales dating from January, 1979 to January, 1985 are used to test the market. The data was gathered from the files of several professional appraisal firms located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The transaction information includes (1) transaction …
Date: May 1987
Creator: McIntosh, Willard
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Economic Feasibility of Utilizing Computer-Assisted Instruction as a Primary Teaching Strategy in Schools of Vocational Nursing in Texas (open access)

The Economic Feasibility of Utilizing Computer-Assisted Instruction as a Primary Teaching Strategy in Schools of Vocational Nursing in Texas

Each vocational nursing program in Texas was surveyed to determine the faculty and media costs per student classroom instructional hour. Data were obtained from 131 schools, or 99 per cent of the population. These schools taught a total of 4,718 students. The average faculty cost was $1.72 per hour. Faculty cost ranged from $0.17 to $7.75. The average media cost was $0.12 per student hour with a range from no media expenditure to $7.55. The reliability of these costs was not demonstrated. Each program director was asked to identify a principal textbook representing the content taught for each content area in their program. A total of 75 textbooks were identified by two or more programs. A cross tabulation analysis procedure yielded 1,582 combinations of 2 or more textbooks from 2 or more schools. Twenty-five per cent of the schools used the most frequently identified combination of two textbooks. Computer hardware and operating expenses were subtracted from the combined faculty and media cost per student classroom instructional hour. The amount remaining for software purchase was identified as $1.61 with a range of from $0.03 to $7.85 per hour for teaching the required 600 hours. The twenty textbook combinations with the greatest …
Date: December 1987
Creator: Wilson, Bruce K. (Bruce Keith)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Relationship of Teacher Temperament to Effectiveness in the Classroom (open access)

The Relationship of Teacher Temperament to Effectiveness in the Classroom

The purposes of this study were (I) to determine the relationship of teacher temperament to effectiveness in the classroom and (2) to determine the relationship of the teacher's temperament to the teacher's sex, to the grade level taught, to the area taught (special education or regular education), and to the subject taught. It was hypothesized that (I) there is no significant relationship between the teacher's temperament and his effectiveness in the classroom, (2) there is no significant relationship between the teacher's temperament and sex, (3) there is no significant relationship between the teacher's temperament and the grade level he teaches (elementary or secondary), (4) there is no significant relationship in the teacher's temperament and the area he teaches (special education or regular education), and (5) there is no significant relationship between the teacher's temperament and the subject he teaches.
Date: December 1987
Creator: McMillan, Margaret S. (Margaret Shelfer)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Academic Achievement and the Ability of Post-Secondary Students to Read Assigned Materials (open access)

Academic Achievement and the Ability of Post-Secondary Students to Read Assigned Materials

This study provides a rationale for adopting course materials. It demonstrates the relationship between ability to read assigned materials and academic achievement, and that selection of materials creates two groups having different probabilities of success. The sample was selected from a population of all students enrolled in Principles of Economics courses at North Texas State University in the spring semester of 1986. The Nelson-Denny Reading Test was used to determine reading ability. Assigned materials were analyzed for readability. A frustration level was determined and used to divide the sample: the group of interest, those with reading abilities below the frustration level who underwent the treatment of reading materials written above their ability to comprehend; and the comparison group, those with reading abilities above the frustration level who did not undergo the treatment.
Date: August 1987
Creator: Cohick, Mikel William
System: The UNT Digital Library
Judgment of Intonation in the Context of Three-Part Woodwind Ensemble Performances (open access)

Judgment of Intonation in the Context of Three-Part Woodwind Ensemble Performances

The purpose of the study was to determine judgments of trained musicians regarding the intonation of complex tones in the context of synthesized woodwind ensemble performances. Problems included in the study were (1) estimation of the point in pitch deviation which would result in out-of-tune judgments, (2) investigation of timbral effects on judged intonation, and (3) investigation of effects of mistuning within differential voices.
Date: August 1987
Creator: Henry, Robert E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Impact on Charitable Classes in Dallas County, Texas, Resulting from Changes in the Tax Economics of Private Philanthropy (open access)

The Impact on Charitable Classes in Dallas County, Texas, Resulting from Changes in the Tax Economics of Private Philanthropy

Private philanthropy is important in America. In 1985, philanthropy totaled almost 80 billion dollars. Philanthropy is partially a function of price. Absent a tax benefit, the price of charitable giving is unity. When tax benefits are available, the price of cash giving is one minus the marginal tax rate of the donor. Philanthropy is not evenly distributed among all classes of organizations. Changes in tax cost bring about changes in the distribution of gifts among organizations. Predictions have been made of a six to twelve billion dollar decline in individual giving as a result of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The question is, "Whose ox gets gored?" In 1962, the Internal Revenue Service collected data directly linking itemized charitable contributions to class of donee organization. Prior works by Taussig, Schwartz, Feldstein, and Clotfelter have been principally based on this data. Their works document differing elasticities of price on charitable giving. The current research gathered 1985 data on the relationships between income, price, and charitable donee for 298 Dallas County, Texas, taxpayers. Data was obtained from selected certified public accountants in Dallas County who prepared income tax returns for individuals as part of their practice. Two hundred fifty usable responses …
Date: August 1987
Creator: McClure, Ronnie C. (Ronnie Clyde)
System: The UNT Digital Library