The problem of this study has been an investigation and comparison of the school dropout rates of Mexican American and Anglo Students and their reasons for leaving school in a large metropolitan school district in Texas. The specific purposes were (1) to ascertain the dropout rates of Mexican American and Anglo students within similar socioeconomic status and to compare these rates; (2) to compare the reasons for dropping out of school given by Mexican American and Anglo students; and (3) to delineate the implications for the school district's instructional program and its operation. Based on an analysis of the findings of this study, the following conclusions were formulated: (1) the school district studied is not meeting the needs of Mexican American students, particularly Mexican American females; (2) it can be expected that Mexican American female students are more likely to drop out than are Anglo females; and (3) Mexican American and Anglo dropouts do not believe that there is anyone on the school staff in whom they can confide their decision to drop out.

The basic purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the doctoral dissertations written in the Department of Education, North Texas State University, from the first one in 1953 through those written in 1974. Specifically, one purpose is to develop, validate, and then use a format to describe the dissertations. The second purpose is to analyze the descriptive information in terms of changes in the Department of Education and in trends associated with the dissertations.

The study is concerned with the change in mathematical conceptual understanding and computational skills of elementary school pupils during an academic period of twelve months in selected schools using mathematics resource personnel. Researching instructional techniques for mathematics concepts being taught in the elementary school and assisting in the implementation of the research into classroom procedure were the functions of the resource personnel. A total evaluation of the data was used to form the following conclusions confined to the population used in the study and the experimental procedure which was followed: 1. The use of mathematics resource personnel did not prove effective in improving the computational skills of the first or third grade elementary school pupil. 2. The use of mathematics resource personnel did not prove effective in improving the conceptual understanding of the first grade elementary school pupil. 3. The use of mathematics resource personnel did prove effective in improving the conceptual understanding of the third grade elementary school pupil following a six month period of treatment. 4. The use of mathematics resource personnel did not prove effective in improving the conceptual understanding of the third (now fourth) grade elementary school pupil following a twelve month period of treatment.

The purposes of this study were: 1) to determine the measurement dimensions assayed by the EPIC Self-Assessment Scales; 2) to provide information necessary to'determine whether revision of the EPIC Self-Assessment Scales would be desirable, and if so, what items need revision or deletion to obtain optimum dimensional structure; and 3) to provide information relevant to possible further research using the EPIC Self-Assessment Scales. On the basis of the results, four dominant and two subsidiary factors were concluded to be the measurement dimensions assayed by the EPIC Scales. Those were identified as Self-Assurance, Physical Appearance/Physical Shape, Emotional Lability, and Verbal Competence; subsidiary factors were Social/Interpersonal Attitude and Social Behavior/Sociability. It was also concluded that revision of the Scales be undertaken, deleting the 29 bipolar scale items which did not exhibit loadings of .500 or higher on any of the six factors. It was recommended that the revised Scales include additional bipolar scale items taken from the semantic differential literature, and that the instructions to subjects be revised. Further research to establish the reliability and validity of the revised instrument was also recommended.

This study was an investigation of the effects of guided listening upon instrumental music performances of junior college students. The study also sought to discover possible significant relationships between perception and performance variables. It was concluded that the guided listening program was ineffective in improving music performances of junior college students. It was recommended that (a) this study be replicated utilizing string, voice, and piano students, (b) an experimental study be made to investigate the effects of music theory instruction upon music performance, (c) an experimental study be made to investigate the effects of music history instruction upon music performance, and (d) an investigation be made of the Abeles performance constructs interpretation, tone, rhythm-continuity, intonation, tempo, and articulation, in an effort to ascertain ways in which expression of these constructs may be improved.

The problem of this study is the development of a model curriculum for high school metallurgy students. The study was made at the Skyline Career Development Center of the Dallas Independent School District, Dallas, Texas. The study has three purposes. In addition to providing a model curriculum for high school metallurgy students, a second purpose is to describe the developmental processes by which the curriculum was derived. The third purpose is the evaluation of the basis of the content of the model curriculum. It was found that of the 76 concept-relationships stated, 64 were true as originally written according to the established rating criteria. It was also found that 64 of the 76 concept relationships stated were appropriate for understanding by high school students, although the two lists of 64 concepts were not identical. The unapproved concept statements were deleted or rewritten according to the established criteria. Only one of the 33 skills listed received a low rating. It was further found from a report of the metallurgy instructor that the 21 high school students in the metallurgy program had attempted a cumulative total of 374 of the 33 behavioral objectives in the curriculum and had accomplished a total of …

The problem of this study was the determination and analysis of perceptions of selected educators in the State of Texas with regard to current in-service education programs in the public secondary schools. Conclusions were, (1) differences appear to exist in the perceptions of personnel who represent large-, medium-, and small-school districts, (2) teachers' needs, such as motivation, seem to be good staff improvement topics, (3) there appears to be substantial differences in the perceptions of administrators and teachers in the organizing and conducting of programs, (4) current programs and ideal programs appear to have differences in such areas as selection of activities, and (5) programs are not as effectively planned and organized as they should be.

The focus of this study was the status of accounting instruction in public junior (community) colleges in the United States. The purposes were: (1) to make a survey and comparison of the accounting instruction which was being offered by the four types of post-secondary public institutions as listed in the Directory of Junior Colleges, (2) to determine the extent to which specially prepared materials were being utilized, (3) to determine the methods of instruction which were being utilized, and (4) to determine the work experience and educational level of the average full-time instructor who taught accounting in these institutions. The following conclusions have been drawn from an analysis of the findings: 1. The post-secondary institutions in the United States have accepted the challenge to provide technical accounting instructional programs provided this acceptance is indicated by the number of courses in accounting offered. 2. Although the institutions reported extensive offerings of different accounting courses, the instructional materials and methods were found to be the same as those in traditional accounting classes at four-year institutions which offer only degree programs in accounting. 3. Use of the cooperative method of instruction for technical accounting students was minimal. 4. The accounting instructors employed by …

Twenty-seven parents with young children were randomly assigned to an experimental group which underwent an affective skill-building program, or one of two control groups. Pre and postassessments measured levels of communication, discrimination, and child vocalization for each parent. Multilinear regression analysis indicated that final communication skills among the three groups were significantly different. Final communication skills of the experimental group were significantly greater than those of the Hawthorne control group. Final discrimination skills for the three groups showed a trend toward being significantly different. Levels of child vocalization did not show significant changes. The experimental program was successful in improving accurate parent-child communication in the affective realm.

The problem of this study was to determine the effects which the practicing of self-selected teaching skills by elementary education majors had on measures of personality and of teaching behavior. Personality measures were limited to self-confidence; attitudes toward self, children, and others; identification with the teaching role; and identification with the teaching profession. The teaching behavior measures were coded interaction episodes between a teacher trainee and four pupils in a microteaching setting. It was concluded that training experiences of short duration (e.g., eight weeks or less) (1) can be expected to positively affect specific, narrowly defined personality traits such as identification with the teaching role and identification with the teaching profession, (2) cannot be expected to affect broadly defined, global personality traits such as self-confidence or attitudes toward self, children, and others, and (3) cannot be expected to affect the classroom interaction of teachers and pupils.

This study describes certain characteristics of mature women students in a community college in a large metropolitan district. Three standardized instruments gathered data on self-actualization, self concept, and locus of control. A questionnaire collected demographic and education data as well as information on attitudes, motivations, problems encountered, and suggestions. The women perceived attitudes of their families as positive toward their education. They were motivated by desires to gain knowledge, get degrees, obtain promotions, and improve themselves. They cited themselves, long-time ambition, friends, and husbands as influential in motivating them to attend college. They selected this community college because of its convenience. The majority were married, had children, and were of the middle to upper-middle class. Over half were employed. Their average age was thirty-seven. They were active outside the home, although continuing to perform most traditionally feminine home responsibilities. The majority were part-time students, classified as freshmen. Education, business, nursing, accounting, and psychology were popular majors. Over half planned to obtain bachelor's degrees. Most felt they encountered no problems in pursuing their education; lack of sufficient time was their major complaint. Most were pleased with their community-college experience. their suggestions included special counseling, flexible class schedules, a club for mature …

This study investigates the effect of the helping relationship in cross-age tutoring upon the attitude toward school, self-concept, and grade average of elementary and middle-school students.The data measuring attitude toward school of those in the tutor-pupil relationship imply that this variable is the most sensitive to the tutoring program. The program resulted in a definitely superior attitude toward school for eighth graders and one sub-group of third graders. Therefore, it is concluded that cross-age tutoring can be expected to result in an improved attitude toward school on the part of children in specific age levels. Since no significant difference in self-concept was found, cross-age tutoring cannot be supported as an indirect means of improving the self-concept of children. Generally, the experimental condition of the tutor-pupil relationship did not result in higher grade averages for the experimental tutors and pupils in grades three, five, and six; however, the grade averages of lower-ability eighth-grade students showed highly significant gains over the control group. Therefore, although cross-age tutoring cannot be expected to improve academic standing of all elementary students, lower-ability eighth-grade students acting as tutors can be expected to improve their academic standing.

This study examines personal problems which a selected group of 1970's college freshmen at North Texas State University considered important to them and investigates significant changes in the nature, configuration, and frequency of these problems from those indicated by selected freshmen of the 1960's and 1950's. None of the wide variety of previous approaches over the years in studying problems of students has presented such a broad time span as this study. The students of the 1950's and 1960's were North Texas State University freshmen enrolled in Education 161, "The Psychology of Social and Personal Adjustment." The 1970's population was taken from basic freshman English courses at North Texas State University. All students were administered the Mooney Problem Check List, and the results were prepared for computer analysis. An analysis-of-variance program was used on eight hypotheses, with a .05 level of significance required for the hypotheses to be retained. The Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient was used in answering two hypotheses. There were 2,809 freshmen from the 1950's, 1,440 from the 1960's, and 695 from the 1970's.

This study compares present policies and procedures for selection of school board members in districts of The Council of Great City Schools with those advocated by board members, professional educators, and representatives of lay organizations. To determine present selection policies for school board members, a questionnaire was sent to the business manager of each participating district. Replies were received from twenty-one of the districts and presented in tables including number and percentage of respondents for each item. To determine opinions of board members, professional educators, and members of lay organizations, a thirty-five-item questionnaire was mailed to 190 board members, 22 school superintendents, 19 college professors, 19 PTA representatives, 22 NAACP representatives, and 11 chamber of commerce representatives. After a return of 200 usable questionnaires, data were presented in separate tables including number of respondents and percentage of respondents. Using the contingency coefficient technique for statistical analysis, null hypotheses were formulated to test relationships between the opinion of respondent groups and selection policies and procedures actually in use. The chi square test was applied to test the relationships, with the .05 level of significance as the criterion. Results were tabulated collectively. Tabulated results indicate that board members should be elected at …

This study compares results of sighting, control, suppression and wink tests of visual dominance with a dissociation test administered to 240 high-achieving (ninetieth percentile and above academically) and low-achieving (twenty-fifth percentile and below academically) students at grades four, eight, and twelve. The study examines differences between visual dissociation and other visual-dominance tests. In so doing, the study tests the proportion of consistent dominance revealed by each test among underachievers with a high incidence of dominance variations, examines possible influences on choice of dominant eye, and compares distributions of dominance functions in high- and low-achieving populations.

In developing a construct of organization for higher education, this study is designed to describe the historical development of college and university organizational structures and supporting theory, to describe higher education's contemporary organizational structures and supporting theory, to determine from writings on complex organizations their applications to organizational structures and supporting theory in higher education, to synthesize from the search of literature a consistent theory of organizational structures and supporting theory for higher education institutions, and to develop a higher education organizational construct composed primarily of principles of organizational structure. This study explores theory of organization as it pertains to colleges and universities. Heuristically conceived, the study is reflective and developmental in nature.

Doctoral graduates of the program in Higher Education, Division of Higher Education, North Texas State University, from the fall of 1969 through spring, 1973, were selected as subjects for an evaluation of the program. To appraise the effectiveness of the program, the evaluation attempted to: (1) determine how the graduates viewed various aspects of their doctoral program and experiences at North Texas State University; (2) appraise the effectiveness of the doctoral program in Higher Education in light of the career goals and needs of the graduates and how the program served those needs; (3) present conclusions and recommendations based on the findings of the study which could aid in the administration of the program, provide information for planning new programs and policies, or in supporting those already in existence. A questionnaire was developed and used as the data-gathering instrument, after being revised according to suggestions given by a jury. The questionnaire was mailed to graduates on August 17, 1973, and a follow-up letter was mailed on September 19, 1973, to those non-respondents who could be identified. Of the total number of graduates who received the questionnaire, 69 (71 per cent) responded. Data contained in the questionnaires were numerically coded and …

This study is a description and analysis of the effect of criterion referenced test data on the acquisition of math skills and the mastery of selected objectives in fifth-grade students.The first chapter includes the introduction, statement of the problem, purposes of the study, statement of the hypotheses, background and significance., definition of terms, limitations, basic assumptions, and procedures for collecting data. The second chapter is a review of the literature pertaining to criterion-referenced testing and also includes a review of studies utilizing criterion-referenced test material. The third chapter describes the population being studied, the instruments used to measure achievement, and procedures for treatment of the data. The fourth chapter presents an analysis of the data collected for the study and a discussion of the findings. The fifth and final chapter presents a summary of the study, findings, conclusions, and recommendations pertaining to future research in the utilization of criterion- referenced testing. The subjects in this study were sixty, fifth-grade students attending Lakeland Elementary in the Lewisville Public School System who comprised the experimental group and sixty, fifth-grade students attending Central Elementary in the same district, who comprised the control group. The Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (Form G Level 2), …

This study investigates the effect of the student teaching experience on attitudes toward the use of punishment in the classroom. Student teachers in large innercity and suburban secondary schools furnished data, which were analyzed with a semantic differential technique and the Purdue Attitude Scale Toward Any Practice. The study seeks to determine the effect of student teaching on attitudes of prospective teachers toward punishment in the classroom for discipline purposes, as measured by a semantic differential; to determine differences in attitude changes when student teachers were grouped according to sex in pretests and posttests; to determine differences in attitude changes between those in inner-city schools and suburban schools; to determine the effect of student teaching on the attitudes of prospective teachers toward corporal punishment in the classroom as measured by the Purdue Attitude Scale Toward Any Practice. This study concludes that a beginning student teacher's attitudes toward punishment in the classroom changes significantly with experience. Attitudes of student teachers in inner-city schools do not change significantly more than those in suburban schools. Attitudes of female student teachers toward corporal punishment change more than those of males. The rules of the particular school in which the student teacher does his teaching …

The problem of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two methods of teaching beginning typewriting in the community college. The two methods are an audio-tutorial approach and the traditional textbook approach. Groups taught by the contrasting methods of instruction were compared on the basis of their production performance and their straight-copy skills after thirty-six class periods of instruction. A comparison was also made of the attrition rate of the two groups.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was the determination of group perception profiles of selected higher education faculties. These group perception profiles were based upon faculty perceptions of the ten most important criteria considered in evaluating faculty members for purposes of rank, promotion, salary, and tenure. Also, the study determined whether or not cluster profiles existed at three levels or types of institutions-- university, liberal arts, and junior college--and how such profiles differed between levels. This study had several purposes. The first was to determine how group perception profiles of higher education faculties clustered in response to perceptions of criteria considered in evaluating faculty members. The second was to determine if similar clusters existed at three types of institutions. A third was to determine differences in the proportion of teachers belonging to each identifiable cluster at each level of institution. The fourth was to determine differences in profiles according to proportions of teachers across common clusters. And finally, the fifth was to determine differences in profiles among faculty members in identified clusters at each institutional level according to biographical characteristics: age, rank, teaching experience, seniority, and highest degree held.

This study seeks to determine the values of and the procedures for establishing a children's theatre activity in the Fort Worth, Texas, metropolitan area. This study has a twofold purpose. The first is to apply the values of children's theatre to children in the Fort Worth metropolitan area. The second purpose is to develop a feasible plan for organizing a workable theatre for children. Chapter II is a review of related literature and is divided into two parts. A history of the children's theatre movement in the United States was presented to substantiate general observations of the values of children's theatre. The final part of Chapter II presents several outstanding children's theatre groups and a brief synopsis of their organization. This is followed by specific organizational needs and suggestions. The final portion of this study presents a feasible organizational plan for the establishment of a children's theatre in this metropolitan area. The plan is flexible enough that other areas could adapt it to their own needs and desires.

This study develops guidelines and an in-service model for secondary teachers supervising student teachers. The study provides guidelines for developing in-service teacher supervision activities in secondary schools that serve as student teacher centers. The study seeks to determine selection criteria for supervising teachers; to ascertain in-service program activities considered valid by experienced supervising teachers, administrators and college coordinators; to measure professional reaction toward recent co-operative implementation of Senate Bill Eight; and to assess current in-service programs for supervising teachers in the North Texas area and test their conformity with criteria stated by known authorities. The study reviews literature in topical areas considered by known authorities to be those in which secondary-school supervising teachers must function. A questionnaire was developed, validated and mailed to an aggregate of 239 secondary supervising teachers, college co-ordinators, principals and central office administrators in selected public schools, and colleges and universities in the North Texas area. Collection of data resulted in a 73.6 per cent return in a ten-day period. Degrees of differences among the beliefs of participant groups were revealed by the chi-square measure of significance. It was found that the supervising teacher is the most influential feature of the entire student-teaching program and that …

This study compares the impact of group counseling with that of outdoor group experience upon institutionalized adolescents. Limited to subjects between twelve and sixteen years old, the study evaluates behavior, self-esteem, social and personal adjustment, and sociometric choosing. The object of these evaluations is to test the effectiveness of these two approaches to treating disturbed adolescents who had failed to function in a community setting and who might otherwise have lapsed into delinquency. Significant change following group counseling and following outdoor group experience as measured by accrual of points for behavior suggests that both approaches are effective, with group counseling having the greater impact. Also, younger subjects appear to profit more from both group counseling and outdoor group experience. The absence of significant change reflected by standardized instruments creates two questions. Are available instruments normed on basically normal groups appropriate for use with such a unique group of subjects as those in this study? Also, does the intense resistance these subjects demonstrated toward all pencil-and-paper activities negatively affect the accuracy of results from these standardized instruments?