The purposes of this study were to identify the procedures and criteria used for conducting teacher performance evaluation in Texas public schools, to determine the degree to which teacher performance evaluation procedures and instruments reflect the stated evaluation policies of Texas public schools, and to determine the degree to which teacher performance evaluation instruments used in Texas public schools reflect presage criteria (teacher characteristics) as opposed to process criteria (teacher behavior) as opposed to product criteria (student change or gain) as opposed to general job performance requirements (job expectations). The main findings include the following. (1) Teacher performance evaluation is required in all Texas public school districts and is often performed several times a year by more than one observer. The building principal is the key person involved in this process. (2) Although all school districts stated the supervisory function of the improvement of instruction as the major purpose of their teacher performance evaluation policy, a large number of school districts utilize teacher performance evaluation for the administration functions of serving as a basis for retention or dismissal. (3) If in reality teacher performance evaluation were construed as the improvement of instruction or teaching performance, it should be predictable that …

The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Texas House Bill 72 on equalization of finances in the public school districts of Texas. House Bill 72 is a finance reform bill which was passed by the Texas Legislature during the Summer of 1984. This study involves basically three steps. First, current criteria for equity as defined by school finance "experts" and recent definitive court decisions were determined. Second, financial data from the Texas Education Agency were statistically analyzed for the 1984-1985 school year. Third, the statistical analysis was used to determine if the current Texas school finance plan meets the current criteria for equity. The population used in the study was 1,068 school districts. Based on the findings of this study the following conclusions were drawn. 1. The use of a per capita flat grant by the Texas Public School Finance System contributes to the unequalizing of financial resources available to school districts. 2. School districts with greater property index values are required to exercise very little effort toward the support of their public schools. 3. School districts with high property index values tend to have lower effective tax rates and high per-pupil expenditures. 4. School …

This study examines the main research hypothesis that there is significant interaction between the effects of computer use/non-use and level of computer training among community college educators in the state of Texas regarding attitudes toward the implementation of administrative and instructional computing. A statewide survey was conducted with deans of instruction and full-time faculty members who represented the three academic transfer departments of natural/physical sciences, social science, and humanities/fine arts. Fifty-five deans of instruction and three hundred fifty-six faculty members participated in the study. A factor analysis of data from the questionnaires revealed four factors which were identified and labeled: Factor One: Computer Applications: Advantages and Disadvantages; Factor Two: Administrative Computer Applications: Advantages and Disadvantages; Factor Three: Apprehensions About Educational Computing; Factor Four: Situational Factors Associated With Computer Applications in Education. A 4x3x2 (professional position x level of computer training x level of computer experience) multivariate analysis of variance of both main and interaction effects was then performed within and across these factors.

The purposes of this study were to determine the predominant career paths of superintendents within the State of Texas and to determine the most important professional positions and areas of professional development as perceived by superintendents and educational experts. The study also compares actual experience and professional development of superintendents with those perceived as most important.

The opinions of individuals may be influenced by groups of different gender configurations. This influence was studied by asking college students to respond to a series of statements in pretest and post-test settings. Post-test settings included the use of manipulatively constructed confederate groups to influence the subjects' responses. A pretest was administered in an anonymous nonthreatening environment. Within a week, the subjects were post-tested in a setting with four "confederates" who had previously been instructed to unanimously voice opposite answers to the subjects' initial responses to pretest questions. The objective of this experiment was to determine the number of opinions that were changed when confronted with opposing views. Change of opinions between pretest and post-test were considered to be operational definitions of "conformity."

Using a case study approach, this investigation focused on the deliberations and decision-making processes involved in the development of a physical science curriculum to be delivered by interactive videodiscs. The mediating factors that influenced the developmental processes included the participants and their perceptions, their decisions and factors influencing their decisions. The Curriculum and Instruction Advisory Committee of the Texas Learning Technology Group was selected as the subject of this study which used qualitative data collection methods. Data collection included participant observation of curriculum meetings followed by structured interviews of the participants. Document analyses were triangulated with the observations and interviews to ascertain influences on decision-making processes. Developmental processes indicated the emergence of staff and committee procedures. Procedures were influenced by school district and personal philosophies, teacher and student needs, and constraining factors such as state Developmental processes indicated the emergence of staff and committee procedures. Procedures were influenced by school district and personal philosophies, teacher and student needs, and constraining factors such as state mandates. Other influencing factors included research, tradition, and politics. Core curriculum was to be delivered by interactive videodiscs and include remediation and enrichment loops along with laboratory simulations. Participants stressed that students perform traditional laboratory experiments …

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

This study examines the effect of class discussion as a pre-writing activity on actual writing performance. The experiment was conducted with all the Level 3 and Level 4 students enrolled in the Intensive English Language Institute of North Texas State University in the Spring, 1986 semester. Cochrans C test was performed to test significant differences between groups at the beginning of this test. Multivariate analysis of variance tests were used to determine the treatment effect between and within groups, and a matched t-test was also utilized to analyze the difference within tests. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the relationship between the discussion activity score and the actual writing score. Analysis of covariance tests were used to determine which variance of discussion activities had greater effect on the actual writing score.

Baroreflex function and cardiovascular responses to lower body negative pressure during selective autonomic blockade were evaluated in endurance exercise trained (ET) and untrained (UT) men. Baroreflex function was evaluated using a progressive intravenous infusion of phenylephrine HCL (PE) to a maximum of 0.12 mg/min. Heart rate, arterial blood pressure, cardiac output and forearm blood flow were measured at each infusion rate of PE. The reduction in forearm blood flow and concomitant rise in forearm vascular resistance was the same for each subject group. However, the heart rate decreases per unit increase of systolic or mean blood pressure were significantly (P<.05) less in the ET subjects (0.91 ± 0.30 versus 1.62 ± 0.28 for UT). During progressive lower body negative pressure with no drug intervention, the ET subjects had a significantly (P<.05) greater fall in systolic blood pressure (33.8 ± 4.8 torr versus 16.7 ± 3.9 torr). However, the change in forearm blood flow or resistance was not significantly different between groups. Blockade of parasympathetic receptors with atropine (0.04 mg/kg) eliminated the differences in response to lower body negative pressure. Blockade of cardiac sympathetic receptors with metoprolol (0.02 mg/kg) did not affect the differences observed during the control test. It was …

Postoperative spinal patients were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions and were taught five adaptive movements by occupational therapists. The Control group received routine hospital occupational therapy; the Placebo group participated in an imagery relaxation task unrelated to the mental practice task of the Imagery group, which was shown line drawings of the adaptive movements under study, provided movement instructions, and asked to mentally practice each movement in a familiar, daily living situation. Thirty-five patients returned for follow-up, and a measure of outcome was obtained through the use of a quantified movement assessment instrument. Subjective ratings for anxiety, rumination, and imagery were made by the occupational therapists. An occupational motoric-symbolic rating scale was developed to assess the symbolic portion of the patient's job experience. Statistical procedures including chi square, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation were performed. Results were in the predicted direction although statistical significance was not achieved. Possible explanations for the obtained results were discussed.

The purposes of this study were to determine the role expectations of academic counselors in vocational education as perceived by home economics cooperative education teachers and academic counselors, to compare the extent of agreement between these two groups, and to determine if selected demographic variables caused significant differences in perceptions of role expectations. This study surveyed randomly selected counselors and teachers by means of a questionnaire designed to ascertain role perceptions and to collect demographic data. The Likert-type scale instrument consisted of 46 items that were categorized into six areas of counseling tasks. A total of 45 teachers and 158 counselors returned usable questionnaires.

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of high school assistant principals as perceived by principals, assistant principals, and teachers. The population in this study consisted of the principals, assistant principals, and teachers in Class 5A high schools in Texas during the 1985- 86 school year. One hundred and twenty of the Class 5A high schools were randomly selected to participate in the study. One principal, one assistant principal, and one teacher from each school were asked to respond to the survey. A questionnaire was designed to measure the perception of the three groups under study and contained seventy-seven job responsibilities which were divided into six major areas. The six areas were school management, staff personnel, community relations, student activities, curriculum and instruction, and pupil personnel. Eighteen items were eliminated through clarity, appropriateness, and reliability studies. Each respondent was asked to rate the degree of involvement of assistant principals for each job responsibility listed in two columns labeled current and ideal. Five hypotheses were developed for the study. Three hypotheses were tested by a multivariate one-way analysis of variance with repeated measures, and two were tested using a univariate one-way analysis of variance. The .05 level of …

The purpose of this study was to determine faculty participation in and approval of professional growth and renewal activities in the Dallas County Community College District. The population consisted of 526 full-time faculty employed by the district. The DCCCD Survey instrument, which was used in the study, included activities grouped into seven categories: career development, leaves, international activities, instructional renewal, grants, reward, and a miscellaneous category. Faculty members identified participation in activities; they also identified their approval or disapproval of all activities on a five point Likert-type scale. The population was grouped by teaching field, age, years-of-experience and campus for statistical analyses. A Chi-square test of goodness of fit was conducted to determine if significant differences existed between expected and observed participation among groups in each of the seven categories. An analysis of variance was completed to determine significant differences of opinion. The findings of the study indicated significant differences between expected and observed participation in the following categories: international and instructional activities when faculty were grouped by teaching fields; reward activities among years-of-experience groups. Significant differences of opinion were reported in all but the miscellaneous category when faculty were grouped by teaching field. Other significant differences were reported in …

Because international students are an increasingly significant aspect in American colleges and universities and on the North Texas State University campus in particular, this study was undertaken to explore the intercultural clash which Thai students at North Texas State University experience. Twenty-two Thai students were interviewed in depth using the oral history method. Ten faculty and administrators who work with international students were interviewed concerning their observations of Thai students. The information gleaned from these thirty-two interviews and from an examination of the basic socio-cultural differences between Thailand and the United States resulted in the isolation of the following basic difficulties. 1. Thais do not have command of written and oral English. 2. Americans do not have an appreciation of foreigners and lack tolerance in everyday exchanges with them. 3. Thais avoid becoming involved in American society. 4. Thais are not efficiently prepared for the American classroom. 5. American instructors do not appear prepared to handle the problems of Thai students. The study also developed a number of suggested solutions: 1. Raise the consciousness of Americans concerning Thai students; 2. Provide more effective ways of improving oral and listening skills in the English proficiency of Thai students beginning with American-directed …

The problem with which this study was concerned was that of measuring and examining the level of job satisfaction among Texas high school band directors. The specific methodology included a quantitative comparison through confirmatory factor analysis of the factor structures of the sample of 109 Texas high school band directors and the norming population of 1460 industrial workers. There were two purposes for conducting the study. First, the relationships between an assortment of demographic variables and measured job satisfaction were examined. The second purpose was to measure the degree of fit of the Frederick Herzberg Dual-Factor Theory to the factor structure of the sample. Correlation, t ratio, and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare the demographic variables with measured job satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis through LISREL was used to examine and compare factor structures. Job satisfaction was measured with the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire which was developed and tested through the Work Adjustment Project, Industrial Relations Center at the University of Minnesota. The twenty-item short-form retained the general reliability and validity measures of the 100-item long form. The Demographic Data Sheet is a researcher-constructed document used to gather data for use in classifying respondents by educational background, school classification, …

The purpose of this study was to compare the legal costs of Texas public school districts during the school years 1980-81, 1981-82, and 1982-83 with the preventive law practices utilized by those districts. A survey was made of Texas superintendents' knowledge of school law. The data were contrasted with legal costs and the preventive law practices of the district. Two survey instruments were developed, and the case study approach was utilized. A survey was sent to the 1,101 Texas public school superintendents. The twenty-five item instrument was designed to solicit information regarding the amount of money spent by districts and the types of preventive law practices that school districts use to reduce legal costs. A legal awareness questionnaire was developed and administered to 72 of the 542 superintendents who responded to the first survey instrument. Three school districts were selected to be case study sites. The data from the instruments were analyzed to determine if a relationship existed between a district's legal costs and its preventive law practices, a district's legal costs and the superintendent's knowledge of school law, and a superintendent's knowledge of school law and the district's preventive law practices. The major conclusions of the study were as …

The purpose of this study was to validate a stress inventory which would differentiate between a normative group and a patient population suffering from environmental illness. The hypotheses of this study were: (1) the Total Stress Load Inventory would be predictive in discriminating between clinical ecology patients and a normative group; (2) each section or subscale of the Total Stress Load Inventory would be predictive of psychological, cognitive, nutritional, and/or medical factors.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.