An Investigation of the Community-Based English Tutoring Program (CBET)

Currently in the California K-12 public schools, approximately 25% (about 1.5 million) of the students know little or no English, and their numbers are increasing. Because of this diverse student population, a research study by the Gevirtz Research Center in 2005 reports that it is necessary to develop educational programs that help language-minority families understand and participate in the school system in ways that will support the academic success of their children. As a result of the Proposition 227 Initiative in California, statewide family literacy programs were established as Community-Based English Tutoring (CBET) programs to provide adult English language instruction to parents with limited English proficiency. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the San Diego City Schools/San Diego Continuing Education (SDCCD) CBET Program’s influence on parent involvement and analyze CBET program strategies that have increased parent involvement. The research questions guiding the study were: (1) What effect has the San Diego City Schools/ San Diego Continuing Education (SDCCD) CBET Program had on parent involvement, (2) What, if any, CBET program strategies have influenced parent involvement?, and (3) Is there a relationship between demographics of CBET participants and parent involvement? The CBET classes in this study were at participating elementary schools. CBET participants who had paired data (pre and post surveys) during 2001-2005 were included. This study analyzed these preexisting pre and post surveys, and conducted critical incident interviews of fifteen CBET participants during the summer of 2006. The participants were interviewed using the critical incident technique (CIT) described as a qualitative approach in an article by Borg & Gall in 1989, employing the interview method to obtain “an in-depth analytical description of an experience. Participants were asked about their CBET-based experiences at home and school using interview prompts. Data was analyzed using the constant comparative method modeled after research by Bogdan & Biklen in 1992. Data analysis identified the following themes: (1) parent/child relationships, (2) CBET-based influence at home, (3) CBET-based influence at school, and (4) participants outcomes. The results in this study showed that the CBET program: (1) has an impact on parent involvement, (2) introduces strategies that influence parent involvement, (3) increases participant outcomes, and (4) provides demographic data that shows relationships between the demographics of CBET participants and their parent involvement. According to an article by Dixon, Herrity, and Ho in 2004, at present little research is being conducted to examine the effectiveness of CBET family literacy programs. This dissertation will be submitted to the CBET reauthorization committee in California and the findings of this study could have important implications for school districts throughout the state of California participating in CBET family literacy programs

Supervisor Leadership Style and Counselors\u27 Burnout: A Comparative Study of High School Counselors and Rehabilitation Counselors

This quantitative study investigated whether the perceived leadership style of high school principals and rehabilitation supervisors had an effect on the burnout of high school and rehabilitation counselors. Demographic and work related characteristics were also assessed to determine if these factors affected burnout rates. Survey data from the three separate scales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) were combined with demographic data to estimate a series of three regression models. The models focused on the effects of demographic, work-related and leadership variables on counselor burnout. Data were collected from 96 high school counselors and 46 rehabilitation counselors from California. Results suggest that a relationship existed between both leadership style and quality and counselor burnout for high school counselors, but not for rehabilitation counselors. Specifically, transactional leadership was associated with less burnout among high school counselors. In addition, some demographic and work related factors affected burnout in both groups. For example, among high school counselors, burnout was affected by years married, minutes it took to get to work, age, and gender. However, for rehabilitation counselors, burnout was only affected by gender. Based upon the results of this study, recommendations for future research include searching for a more robust modeling specification for the rehabilitation counselors—ones that would incorporate the experience level of the counselor into both analyses and determine whether high school counselors differ from other counselor groups in terms of the positive effect of transactional leadership on burnout. Also recommended was the inclusion of an expanded sample. This would be important to not only support the empirical findings of the present investigation, but to further examine the effects of leadership style and quality and the impact of demographics on both rehabilitation and high school counselors

The Political Behavior of California Community College Nursing Facilities in Response to Budget Cutbacks, 1982-1987

This study explored the political behavior of community college nursing faculties during a unique period of California history, 1982-87, when the community colleges were struggling to adapt to the economic and political consequences of Proposition 13. Using a two-phase qualitative design, it examined the effects of budget cutbacks on the nursing programs at 38 community colleges statewide, including twelve targeted for faculty layoffs, and identified the political behavior of their nursing faculties in response. It then focused on six districts, varying in size, structure, and location, for a series of in-depth case studies. In four districts, nursing programs were targeted for closure or downsizing; in two, they were not. Surveys, telephone interviews, and document review were the primary research tools. The results showed that most faculties accommodated to across-the-board cutbacks, but opposed and resisted selective termination, generally regarded as a crisis situation. One political benefit of accommodating was that little new behavior was required and faculties could remain focused on their primary value, clinical teachings. Efforts to alter college budget policy, on the other hand, required a level of governance participation to which few faculties were willing to commit, absent a crisis. The faculties targeted for layoffs orchestrated anti-termination campaigns to prevent the enactment or reduce the scope of the policy proposed

A Study of the Impact of the Workplace Learning Function on Organizational Excellence by Examining the Workplace Learning Practices of Six Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipients

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role the learning function plays in the pursuit of organizational excellence with the goal of identifying key factors, models and descriptions of successful workplace learning practices. A total of six Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipients, one from each Baldrige sector participated in this study. Data was collected through in depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with the person responsible for workplace learning or their representative in each organization. The findings indicated that workplace learning professionals should be part of the strategic planning process within an organization and that workplace learning benefits strongly from the support of the senior executives and the CEO or equivalent. The findings also supported current research regarding workplace learning evaluations and delivery methods

The Wrath of Ignorance: Schizophrenic Policies in Access to Health Care for Undocumented Latinas

This study focuses on the problems of health care access experienced by undocumented Latinas: women from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Those who are undocumented may encounter significantly reduced access to health care, for the risk of discovery causes them to be more furtive in their activities. Undocumented immigrants to the U.S., especially Latin women, confront myriad obstacles in obtaining health care that are sociocultural, political, economic, and personal. The problem of competing policies in the health care arena represents one of the most formidable obstacles for undocumented persons. These conflicting conditions are such that some services are easier to access, while other services are more difficult to obtain. For example, undocumented Latinas are likely to find family planning services easier to obtain than prenatal care under terms of the new federal welfare law that eliminates prenatal care for undocumented immigrants. Even health care providers appear to have limited awareness about competing policies. As such, this qualitative interview study illustrates that it is possible to promote greater knowledge and understanding about the problems of competing policies among a selected group of health care administrators and providers. The data analysis portrays their new awareness for which policy revisions are needed to rectify and expand undocumented Latinas\u27 access to health care services. The data support the review of literature which together suggest that ignorance on the part of providers, the public, politicians, and the media is the most critical barrier preventing health care access for undocumented Latinas. Consequently, the participants promote education for themselves and for the community as the essential remedy to alleviate this population\u27s pain, despair, and increased morbidity related to health care exclusion. Moreover, the participants believe education represents the crucial tool for subjugating this wrath of ignorance among the political elite. The participants\u27 recommendations point out that social justice perspectives are integral to redefining, reconstructing, and remedizing health care policy. Recommended remedies include: upholding Latinas\u27 right to health care by expanding health care services, establishing universal access and universal health insurance, and promoting federalized reimbursement for health care. The recommendations center upon renewed emphasis in education, research, and leadership through empowerment from participation in coalitions and fora, volunteerism, partnerships between hospitals and the community, and knowledge distribution

Common Higher Callings to Social Compassion: A Phenomenological Study of Civic Praxis

In recent decades there has been an increasing interest in the ethical dimensions of leadership. James MacGregor Burns\u27 (1978) watershed work, Leadership, heralds an intellectual breakthrough for grasping the significance of a moral level of consciousness that is universal. Although Burns (1978) writes that humanistic psychology now allows for generalization about leadership process across cultures, there remains little research which frames leadership in a Global Ethic, in humanistic psychological constructs or as philosophical ideas of a universal ethical consciousness. Therefore, it is the purpose of this phenomenological study to gather and analyze narratives of altruistic leadership praxis for disclosures of common higher callings to social compassion from what appears to be an ethical consciousness that is universal. What is a universal ethical consciousness? Are there calls from a universal ethical consciousness to social compassion? Does civic leadership manifest a universal ethical consciousness philosophically, psychologically, and in a Global Ethic? May a phenomenological methodology allow for the examination of a universal ethical consciousness? These questions create the boundaries for this study as a presentation of a dialectical discourse concerning the nature of a universal ethical consciousness and its apparent manifestation in a Global Ethic, humanistic psychology, and in moral leadership praxis. As such, this phenomenological study presents the narratives of six counselors who lead week-end retreats for youth to confront prejudice, bigotry, and racism for the purpose of building and nurturing pluralism. Because this research is a narrative study, it is essentially a study of language. It assumes that language is not to be understood as an instrument or as a tool, but rather it is to be viewed phenomenologically as the medium in which we live. Language as narrative in this study demonstrates that it reaches beyond presentation to disclose consciousness of the speakers and writers. These narratives reflect the ultimate existential task of human beings, according to Fromm (1969), which is to fulfill individual autonomy through engagements in ethical praxis. The essence of this idea is disclosed in the process of recounting these narratives. The six informants display historical accounts of a universal ethical consciousness reflected in their altruistic leadership praxis with youth at week-end retreats for building harmony in community. In conclusion, these narratives disclose a universal ethical consciousness constituent in human nature which mediates self unity and social unity through civic praxis. A broader understanding of a universal ethical consciousness may have implications for exploring, energizing, and encouraging sharing all the processes of our becoming fully human in myriad social relationships

Leadership in a Quality School

Education in Western countries has been under attack in recent years. Numerous individuals and groups have made attempts to reform or restructure the system in which students are schooled. Such change is difficult and on many occasions the attempts at reform resulted in very superficial modifications. Significant change can come from a complex interaction of people where leaders and collaborators work interactively to achieve common purposes. This research examined one school, which is part of William Glasser\u27s consortium of Quality Schools, where significant changes took place. Glasser\u27s control theory has played an important role in the change process. The challenge was to determine the nature of leadership in the school as the changes unfolded and so the focus was on the leadership processes that occurred. The study examined the various ways in which people used influence and how they established and sustained influence relationships to make substantive changes in the education processes at the school. The researcher used a qualitative case study methodology to examine the school in rural California. Through this methodology it was possible to provide an outline of the range of strategies that people used to entice others to enter into relationships with them, relationships that brought about significant change that reflected the mutual purposes of the people concerned. The findings of the study indicate that for significant change to occur adults in the school must change their beliefs about the nature of the school, about their relationships with one another and about their relationships with the students. Leaders and collaborators can best achieve changes that reflected their mutual purposes when they confront the beliefs they have brought with them from their past and take steps to change those beliefs through enabling and encouraging noncoercive influence relationships to exist between them. Changing beliefs is assisted by changing the language that is used in the school, particularly changing the metaphors used to speak about the school and the relationships that exist there

A Study of the Impact of the Workplace Learning Function on Organizational Excellence by Examining the Workplace Learning Practices of Six Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipients

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role the learning function plays in the pursuit of organizational excellence with the goal of identifying key factors, models and descriptions of successful workplace learning practices. A total of six Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipients, one from each Baldrige sector participated in this study. Data was collected through in depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with the person responsible for workplace learning or their representative in each organization. The findings indicated that workplace learning professionals should be part of the strategic planning process within an organization and that workplace learning benefits strongly from the support of the senior executives and the CEO or equivalent. The findings also supported current research regarding workplace learning evaluations and delivery methods

Facing the Leadership Challenges on Decommissioning United States Navy Ships

Since the late 1980s, hundreds of U.S. Navy ships have been decommissioned. Although ship decommissionings were postponed immediately after the September 11th attack, today the Navy is again engaged in “rightsizing” its force. Depending on the type of ship and its age, a ship faces different fates after the decommissioning process has been completed. Except on the rare occasion when a ship is turned into a museum, most decommissioned ships are disposed of in one of three ways. Some ships are sold to foreign navies to recoup some costs. Other ships are reassigned to the Military Sealift Command (MSC) to continue serving the fleet, albeit in a quasi-civilian capacity. The last option for a decommissioned ship is to be placed in an inactive status or “mothballs” and eventually sunk. The impact of the decommissioning process on the crew is a major concern. The day the decommissioning ship completes its last operational assignment, the “mission” of the ship changes significantly: The crew must prepare its ship for a kind of death. Those in authority who may have recently mastered the art of leading sailors into hostile environments now must motivate their sailors and themselves to excel in the absence of danger. Consequently, the leaders on the ship are faced with a difficult challenge: to maintain morale and to keep the crew on task even though the mission and tasks have changed dramatically. If a naval leader cannot successfully adapt his/her leadership style to the environment created by the decommissioning, the crew morale may be adversely affected and retention may plummet. The purpose of this research was to begin to explore leadership challenges in naval vessels that were scheduled for decommissioning. The study identified the perceptions of nine naval leaders from three decommissioning ships regarding the decommissioning process. These perceptions were organized into 13 major themes that provide valuable information and insight about naval leadership during the decommissioning process. This information should be useful to prospective naval leaders who encounter decommissioning situations during their tours of duty

The Impact of Federal Regulation on Time to Equivalence and Compliance within the Orthopaedic Medical Device Industry

The Medical Device Amendments of 1976 (Public Law 94-295) consolidated and expanded existing federal authority over manufacturers of medical devices. This meant that any medical device manufactured after the Medical Device Amendment of 1976 needed to establish that it is substantially equivalent in terms of content, composition, intended use and related risk. This study was designed to investigate the influences on the process of notifying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of an orthopaedic medical device manufacturer\u27s intent to market a product. The study\u27s primary objectives were twofold: 1) determine the relationships of three independent variables (i.e., the company\u27s size and longevity) with the dependent variable, time to equivalence and 2) compare differences in mean days to equivalence based on specified company characteristics (i.e., regulatory affairs consultant use, regulatory training experiences, in-house regulatory department presence or absence, and attitudes toward influences on timely compliance). A survey instrument was returned by the regulatory manager at 39 companies representing 263 device equivalence submissions and 27 different medical device categories from 1977 through 1987. Four different statistical approaches were utilized: correlative-regressive, comparative, regressive-predictive, and distributive. From this research certain company characteristics which impact time to equivalence were identified. It was found that companies who have been manufacturing numerous years, manufacture more than one medical device, and use regulatory affairs professionals to assist with compliance issues, especially just following the enactment of a new regulation, may have predictably fewer days to equivalence than companies that do not possess these characteristics. Statistically significant relationships and differences in mean days to equivalence were computed for some variables