Creating a college-going culture : accountability models and measuring institutional rigor in secondary schools.

This dissertation is an examination of approaches Kentucky high schools have taken in an effort to prepare their graduates to be college and career ready. This dissertation consists of three separate articles. The first explores Kentucky college readiness reform efforts at the secondary school level since the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. The need for an educated population is critical to a strong economy and citizenship. Creating that educated population has been a focus for centuries but in the recent history the United States has taken a different approach. Since 2002, No Child Left Behind has directed how and on what schools have focused through high stakes accountability. As the United States moves into the next version of high-stakes accountabilities there are opportunities for schools in the state to learn from previous successes and mistakes. Kentucky has a history of reform since the 1990’s and has been working to improve the level of education for its citizens. Beginning in 1990 with the Kentucky Education Reform Act and all the way through the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act, Kentucky has striven for a well-educated workforce. The progress has been slow and often times short sighted. The first article of this dissertation will explore the changes that have been adopted in the education system of Kentucky and look to illustrate the impacts these decisions have had on teaching and learning in the state, with specific focus on high schools’ efforts to support their students’ being college and career ready. The second article in this dissertation will examine a walk through process implemented in twenty-one high poverty Kentucky high schools that were part of the GEAR UP Kentucky project. The process was designed to provide feedback to schools on how they were doing in preparing their students for postsecondary as well as building a stronger college-going culture. The process contained two parts the walkthrough itself and a self-analysis all schools did to reflect on practices and policies that support rigorous instruction and expectations for all students. The results of the study indicated that school rigorous instruction ratings developed from the process correlated moderately with measures of college readiness and college success, indicating that rigor may be able to be measured in a manner feasible within the complex everyday tasks of school administrators. The last article explores the opportunities that Kentucky schools have beginning in 2018 as the new Every Student Succeeds Act accountability system is implemented. The new policies at the federal level provide more flexibility for states define college and career readiness. Kentucky’s response has been approved and provides schools and districts opportunity to create experiences for students to allow them to show what they know and are able to do, rather than just how well they do on standardized assessments. This article focuses on suggested policy recommendations for districts to consider based on the results from article 2

The Impact of Gender Equality in the Cybersecurity Sector

Nowadays, there is a shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the sector and women are disproportionately underrepresented in the field. This exploratory study examines how organizations can retain and entice women in the cybersecurity industry, as well as how enhanced gender balance affects the work environment. Because the scope is limited, we will only look at gender equality between men and women, as well as apply the study in a Norwegian context. Furthermore, the study investigates why women are underrepresented in cybersecurity and identifies barriers preventing them from pursuing this career. The findings of our systematic literature review (SLR) identifies obstacles and already existing solutions for increasing the representation of female cybersecurity professionals. To gain a comprehensive understanding of respondents' experiences with gender equality and diversity in the industry, qualitative research using semi-structured interviews (SSI) was conducted. Our study contains fourteen respondents from organizations with cybersecurity from both private and public sectors, with varying positions. The primary metric that emerged from both the interviews and the literature was showing possibilities of cybersecurity and raising awareness of the subject. By analyzing our literature- and empirical findings we demonstrated that there is a correlation between the barriers preventing women from cybersecurity. According to our theory, stereotypes, disinformation, discrimination, lack of role models and lack of knowledge about the cybersecurity contributes to low self-efficacy, which causes low interest in the subject, which leads back to the first point. By understanding how this is connected, we were able to propose several recommendations to reduce the barriers and turn the vicious cycle into a virtuous one. Based on our results, we developed a list of recommendations for enticing and retaining more women in cybersecurity, which can be applied in both educational and organizational sector. The study's primary purpose is to help advance gender equality in the cybersecurity industry by identifying the barriers that keep women out of the field and providing long-term solutions for enticing and retaining more women. The recommendations are applicable to organizations outside of the cybersecurity industry as well, and this research can thus be applied to a variety of male-dominated sectors

The Impact of Gender Equality in the Cybersecurity Sector

Nowadays, there is a shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the sector and women are disproportionately underrepresented in the field. This exploratory study examines how organizations can retain and entice women in the cybersecurity industry, as well as how enhanced gender balance affects the work environment. Because the scope is limited, we will only look at gender equality between men and women, as well as apply the study in a Norwegian context. Furthermore, the study investigates why women are underrepresented in cybersecurity and identifies barriers preventing them from pursuing this career. The findings of our systematic literature review (SLR) identifies obstacles and already existing solutions for increasing the representation of female cybersecurity professionals. To gain a comprehensive understanding of respondents' experiences with gender equality and diversity in the industry, qualitative research using semi-structured interviews (SSI) was conducted. Our study contains fourteen respondents from organizations with cybersecurity from both private and public sectors, with varying positions. The primary metric that emerged from both the interviews and the literature was showing possibilities of cybersecurity and raising awareness of the subject. By analyzing our literature- and empirical findings we demonstrated that there is a correlation between the barriers preventing women from cybersecurity. According to our theory, stereotypes, disinformation, discrimination, lack of role models and lack of knowledge about the cybersecurity contributes to low self-efficacy, which causes low interest in the subject, which leads back to the first point. By understanding how this is connected, we were able to propose several recommendations to reduce the barriers and turn the vicious cycle into a virtuous one. Based on our results, we developed a list of recommendations for enticing and retaining more women in cybersecurity, which can be applied in both educational and organizational sector. The study's primary purpose is to help advance gender equality in the cybersecurity industry by identifying the barriers that keep women out of the field and providing long-term solutions for enticing and retaining more women. The recommendations are applicable to organizations outside of the cybersecurity industry as well, and this research can thus be applied to a variety of male-dominated sectors

News from Hope College, Volume 28.6: June, 1997

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Graduate Catalogue 1994-1995

https://scholarship.shu.edu/graduate_catalogues/1029/thumbnail.jp

Washington University Magazine and Alumni News, Fall 1996

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/ad_wumag/1136/thumbnail.jp

Comparative Research on the Motivations, Influential Factors, and Current Status of Lifelong Learning in China and Germany

Diese Studie konzentriert sich auf eine vergleichende Erforschung über lebenslange Lernmotivation und deren Einflussfaktoren in China und Deutschland. Da das lebenslange Lernen ein weithin anerkanntes System ist, welches internationale Bedeutung, reichliche Konnotation, Multiplex-Programmen und komplexe Verzweigungen enthält, scheinen die Erforschung und Analyse über das lebenslange Lernen und konkretes Lernverhalten, Strategien, Theorien, Performanz und Einflussfaktoren immer extrem schwierig zu sein. Zum Analysieren der konkreten Lernerfahrungen sowie Einstellungen und Gedanken von normalen Personen über das lebenslange Lernen werden biographische Erzählung Interview als Instrument der Datenerhebung und die Erforschung Schritte vom Grounded Theory als Forschungsmethode verwendet. Insofern ist eine empirische Theorie auf unseren Forschungsgegenstand zu entwickeln. Die interviewten Personen für dieser Studie besteht aus 20 ausgewählten chinesischen und 20 ausgewählten Deutschen mit unterschiedlichem Hintergrund und Konventionen. Untersucht werden die ganzen Lernerfahrungen und Ansichten von ihnen über die Motivationen und Einflussfaktoren auf ihr eigenes lebenslanges Lernen. Basiert auf einen Analyseprozess von offenen, axialen und selektiven Codierung kann man feststellen, dass die Lernmotivationen und Einflussfaktoren auf lebenslanges Lernen vor allem aus vier Hauptgruppen, nämlich Familie, Gesellschaft, Individuum, sowie Schulen bzw. Mitschüler und Lehrer kommen. Zum Beschreiben der Zusammenhänge zwischen diesen Faktoren und den typischen Kategorien von Einflussfaktoren in den einzelnen Ländern zu beschreiben, werden sie in „Postmoderne“, „Scandinavian“, „Transformation“ und „Traditionelle Asiatische“ Typen mit dem „Ideal-Typ“ als Leitgedanke eingeteilt . In der konkreten Analyse der Arten der Motivation und Einflussfaktoren auf lebenslanges Lernen von Deutschen und Chinesen, werden die „Autonome“ und „Autoritären“ Features auf der y-Koordinate, und die „Individuell“ und „Sozial“ Faktoren auf die x-Koordinate beschriftet, damit die Cluster-Formen der Faktoren in den einzelnen Ländern auf die Diagramme zeichnet werden können. Die konkrete Analyse der Einflussfaktoren und Motivationen beruht auf dem allgemeinen Hintergrund der nationalen Bedingungen und der Realität der Bildungsentwicklung in jedem Land. Jede Hauptkategorie der Einflussfaktoren und Motivationen hat seinen tiefen Grund von der konkreten Makro-, Meso- und Mikrorealität, wie die nationalen Geschichte, Gesetzessystem, Bildungseinrichtungen, Lehr- und Lernpraktiken, wirtschaftliche Situationen, Gesamt Figuration und Bildungskulturen, sowie das Bildungssystem. Durch Analysieren und Vergleichen kann festgestellt werden, dass jedes Land oder Region ihre eigenen Eigenschaften, Implementierungsmethode oder Merkmale des lebenslangen Lernens sowie ihrer Bildungspolitik, Bildungserfahrungen, Lernmethoden, Prinzipien, Lern- und Lehrerfahrungen hat. Zur Verbesserung der Bildungsreformation und deren Fortschritt könnte man erfolgreiche Erfahrungen und Geschichte als Referenz verwenden, damit eigenes erfolgversprechendes Bildungssystem bzw. erfolgversprechende Bildungspolitik gründet werden könnte. Auf der Grundlage von Schlussfolgerungen und Ergebnisse dieser Erforschung sind Vorschläge und Anleitung für die Förderungen des lebenslangen Lernens zu erschließen, die sich in der Zukunft nicht nur in China und Deutschland, aber auch in anderen Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern für verbesserte Leistungen in diesem Bereich anbieten

News from Hope College, Volume 21.2: October, 1989

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Bridgewater State University Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog 2010-2011

This 2010-2011 Bridgewater State University Catalog outlines programs of study. The rules, regulations, policies, fees and other charges, courses of study, and academic requirements that appear in this catalog were in effect at the time of its publication. Like everything else in this catalog, they are published for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute a contract between the university and any student, applicant for admission or other person. Whether noted elsewhere in this catalog or not, the university reserves the right to change, eliminate, and add to any existing (and to introduce additional) rules, regulations, policies, fees and other charges, courses of study and academic requirements. Whenever it does so, the university will give as much advance notice as it considers feasible or appropriate, but it reserves the right in all cases to do so without notice. Statement of Student Responsibility In all cases, the student bears ultimate responsibility for reading the catalog and following the academic policies and regulations of the university.https://vc.bridgew.edu/bsu_catalogs/1001/thumbnail.jp