Georgia State University: A historical and institutional mission perspective, 1913--2002

Smith, David, Jr Georgia State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

In 1913, the Evening School of Commerce, Georgia School of Technology (Georgia Tech) was inaugurated. From its humble beginnings on the campus of Georgia Tech in the Lyman Hall Chemistry Building in 1913 to the present, the Evening School of Commerce, now known as Georgia State University, has taken on the mission of educating students seeking access to higher education in an urban environment. The purpose of this study is to organize and present, in a coherent form, a scholarly history of the origin, development, and governance of Georgia State University from 1913 through 2002. Historical scholarship has served as the method for collecting, analyzing, and presenting the data. The words, ideas, and plans, of those who experienced the successes, failures, and growth of Georgia State University constitute the substance of the study. Primary sources such as archival documents and oral interviews are the foundation of this study. Secondary sources, such as institutional histories have enhanced my efforts. This history of Georgia State University has been approached in two ways. First, I have researched and analyzed nine major events in the school's history. These events include the following nine administrations: Wayne S. Kell, John M. Waters, Fred B. Wenn, Georgie M. Sparks, Noah N. Langdale, William M. Suttles, John M. Palms, Sherman R. Day, and Carl V. Patton. To present a complete picture of the history of Georgia State University, I have focused on various topics including institutional purpose, leadership and governance, faculty, curriculum and accreditation, student access, student life, funding, facilities, Board of Regents and political support, urban growth and business support, and alumni support. The overarching purpose is to present the institutional evolution of Georgia State University. The overarching theme is institutional mission and how the school struggled to articulate it to its various stakeholders over the past 89 years. Because of the relative lack of scholarly research on the history of Georgia State University, this effort to chronicle the maturation of the university should help provide direction and guidance for future institutional planning and goal setting efforts.

Characteristics of M. Ed. degree graduates of the University of Georgia's Department of Educational Leadership, 1998--1999

James, Olivet University of Georgia 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of the study was to identify the characteristics of the University of Georgia's Master's of Education degree graduates of the Department of Educational Leadership. This study was based upon the questionnaire responses of 43% of the 1998–1999 graduates from the Department of Educational Leadership. This study revealed that the respondent was most likely to be male, a Georgia native, hold an undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia, and gainfully employed in an education-related field prior to admission to the master's program. The results of this study showed that the graduates chose to pursue the master's for the purpose of receiving a salary increase and elected to attend the University of Georgia because of their proximity to the University of Georgia. The master's graduates aspired to be employed as a building level administrator (assistant principal or principal). The greatest strength of the Department of Educational Leadership, as perceived by the master's graduates, was the quality of the classes offered during the program of study.

Marion Jennings Rice, philosophy and praxis: The professional biography of a Georgia educator

Sorrells, Rachel Teresa University of Georgia 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

This study is an educational biography of Marion Jennings Rice, a social studies educator. In 1960, at age 40, Rice assumed his professorship at The University of Georgia and remained there until he retired in 1986. Rice, still professionally active, had his career catapulted into prominence during the New Social Studies Movement. He co-directed one of the three national anthropology curriculum projects of this era, the Georgia Anthropology Curriculum Project. He also directed the Georgia Geography Project which was subsidized by The University of Georgia. The first three chapters of this study chronicle Rice's first 40 years and attempt, from a sociological point of view, to pin-point factors which contributed to his ensuing 40 years as an educator. Chapters four through six delineate three other major purposes of the study. They are to outline some of the key perspectives, trends and issues within the field of social studies which encompass Rice's life course, to briefly describe and explain the rise and decline of the New Social Studies Movement and to provide for a more holistic picture of the developments within the Social Science Education Department of The University of Georgia during Rice's tenure there. Chapter seven attempts to concisely portray Rice's character as described by the 27 respondents of the study. One of the most salient characteristics of Rice's philosophy and praxis was his adherence to the belief that the teaching and internalization of the structure of the disciplines was the most important function of the social studies. This belief has remained constant through out his career and was evident in his classroom teaching, direction of the New Social Studies curriculum material and in his role as mentor, major professor and adjudicator to 36 doctoral students.

Postsecondary enrollment effects of merit-based financial aid: Evidence from Georgia's HOPE Scholarship Program

Sridhar, Deepa Jayanth University of Georgia 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

Traditionally, state and federal postsecondary student financial aid programs have been need-based. On the other hand, large-scale, government-sponsored, merit aid programs are a recent phenomenon. A prominent example is Georgia's HOPE (“Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally”) Scholarship Program initiated in 1993, funded by a state lottery. This study analyzes the policy shift from need-based to merit based aid, as exemplified by the HOPE Scholarship, and its effects on college attendance. For meritorious Georgia students, HOPE pays the entire tuition at any in-state, 4-year or 2-year public college and to a lesser extent covers costs for students attending Georgia's private schools. Income restrictions, once present, have now been eliminated. Between 1993 and 2000 the HOPE program has subsidized over a half million students in excess of $1 billion. Its success has inspired at least a dozen other states to initiate HOPE-like programs. The natural-experiment feature of HOPE is exploited by contrasting enrollment rates in Georgia with those in a set of “control-group” states, to empirically estimate the effect of HOPE on college freshmen enrollments, by institution type and by race using state-level freshman data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) between 1988 and 1997 for 15 southeastern states including Georgia. The following is a summary of the main findings. (1) The overall college freshman enrollment rate in Georgia increased between 6 and 11 percent (depending on the specification chosen) due to the HOPE Scholarship between 1993 and 1997. (2) Freshman enrollment rates increased by 11 to 16 percent in all 4 year institutions; HOPE effects observed at 2-year institutions are extremely fragile. These results support the view that HOPE, unlike need-based aid, has primarily served to influence college choice, rather than increase access. (3) These effects are largest at public, 4year institutions for blacks (21 to 24 percent compared to 6 percent for whites), and at private, 4-year schools for whites (12 percent; roughly the same for blacks). (4) Finally, preliminary evidence suggest that freshman student quality proxied by SAT verbal and math percentiles, increased both at Georgia's flagship public university The University of Georgia, and at its lower-tier, state universities, post HOPE.

The congruence of student and parent views of student learning

Papish, Ross Alan University of Georgia 2000 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this study was to compare the congruence of student and parent views of the importance of specific student learning goals Parents and students rated the importance student learning goals as they were emphasized at the University of Georgia, and then rated the same goals as to how important they ideally should be emphasized as a part of a four year college education. The Student Learning Goals Inventory (SLGI) examines the perceived importance of 40 student learning goals. The goals represent the broad range of learning outcomes that may result as part of a four year undergraduate experience. Each goal was rated on a scale from no importance to very high importance as to how it was perceived to be emphasized. Each respondent then rated the same goal as to how important that goal should have been emphasized thus allowing for a comparison between the perceived real and ideal. The Student Learning Goals Inventory allows for a comparison between parent and student conceptions of what is important in an undergraduate education. The SLGI was administered through postal mail and email to students and parents during the spring of 1999 and fall of 2000 at the University of Georgia. Comparisons were made analyzing statistically significant differences between parents and students, and between demographic groupings. Parents and students placed significantly different levels of importance on 21 of 40 student learning goals. Students placed greater emphasis on a variety of student development goals while parents placed greater emphasis on a mix of student development and academic goals. Significant differences were found for students by gender and class level. Significant differences for parents were found by gender and education level. The analyses of parent and student ratings of student learning goals were also compared to ratings by student affairs professionals and faculty (Papish, 1999). Statistical differences were found between real and ideal goals for students on 38 of the 40 student learning goals, and for parents on 39 learning goals. Significant differences were found by gender, class, and level of education. Few differences were found by generation of college attendance for students. Significant differences were found between parents, students, faculty, and student affairs professionals on 19 of 40 student learning goals. Significant differences between existing goal emphasis and ideal goal emphasis were found for all groups. Results of this study have implications on many levels for colleges and universities. The results may help parents and students better understand what each expects from the undergraduate experience. At the institutional level the results have implications for how public calls for accountability are consistent or inconsistent with the college's aim for undergraduate education. The results provide empirical information representing a snapshot of the mental models of students, parents, student affairs professionals, and faculty regarding undergraduate education and student learning.

Counseling center survival: What directors need to know from Vice-Presidents of Student Affairs

Bettin, Katherine Volpe Georgia State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Counseling centers in the Accountability Era need to communicate and collaborate within the hierarchy of the university to ensure that they (a) justify funding requests within the university budget; (b) assist the university significantly in meeting its goals; and (c) demonstrate their services as more valuable and effective than other similar services on or off campus. The purpose of this research was to provide a qualitative, exploratory investigation of the perceptions of counseling centers by Vice-Presidents of Student Affairs in order to determine how counseling centers should accomplish these goals. The sample consisted of six Vice-Presidents of Student Affairs from public, research universities. Each of these universities were designated by the State Board of Regents as either peer institutions (n = 4) or aspirational institutions (n = 1) to a large, urban research university in the southeastern United States (n = 1). Prospective participants were contacted through "snowball" or network sampling (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999). Each Vice-President participated in a recorded, semi-structured telephone interview that consisted of open-ended questions. Topics included questions of accountability, value, prioritization, challenges, and views of the future. Analysis of the data was based on the grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Perceptions of Vice-Presidents were coded into nine categories: (a) general impressions of counseling centers; (b) support for the mission of the university; (c) challenges; (d) internal accountability; (e) visibility; (f) story-telling; (g) unique contributions; (h) future; and (i) communication, power, and politics. Results indicated that although the participants agreed on most general issues, there were many differences among participants in the particulars of their underlying strategy, focus, and beliefs. "Ten Recommendations for Counseling Center Directors" was created from the mixture of their voices.

The relationship between school size and academic achievement in Georgia's public high schools

Gentry, Kathy Joy University of Georgia 2000 해외박사(DDOD)

Educators and policy makers have debated the issue of school size for decades. Previous research about the issue of school size has been inconclusive concerning the relationship between school size and academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between school size and academic achievement in Georgia's public high schools. Since research indicated that many factors influence academic achievement, this study controlled for two possible influences on academic achievement: ethnicity of students (through sampling), and percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch (through analysis of covariance). Based on the test of significant differences among the group classifications it was not necessary to control for the percentage of teachers with advanced certification in this sample. This study utilized one way analysis of variance to determine if significant differences existed among high schools of varying sizes. The 116 schools included in the sample were classified into four groups: [Group 1 (1575–2826), Group 2 (1200–1574), Group 3 (850–1199), and Group 4 (≤ or 849)]. Three dependent variables were included in this study: (a) the 1998–1999 Georgia High School Graduation Tests, (b) the 1998–1999 total Scholastic Assessment Test scores, and (c) the percentage of students eligible for Georgia's HOPE Scholarship Program. There was a consistent pattern in the Scheffe multiple range tests (Alpha = .05). No significant difference was found across all variables between Group 1 and Group 2 and Groups 2 and 3. There were significant differences between Group 4 and Groups 1 and 2 and between Groups 3 and 1. This study of Georgia's public high schools found that in the three academic areas analyzed, students in the larger schools scored higher on achievement measures than students in the smaller schools (less that 850 students). Although the results of this study were in favor of the larger schools when cognitive learning was analyzed, affective and behavioral dimensions of learning were not investigated. It is recommended that further investigations consider school size as it relates to the behavioral and affective dimensions of learning before making the overall declaration that “bigger schools are better.&rdquo.

A narrative inquiry of one homeschooling family in rural Georgia

Hurst, Mary S Georgia Southern University 2002 해외박사(DDOD)

This is a study of homeschooling, a growing phenomenon in the United States. I intended to uncover the experiences of homeschooling parents and their children with a particular focus on one homeschooling family in rural Georgia. The participants in this research study were a family in which the father was a chiropractor and the mother held a masters degree in education and was employed as his office administrator. There were four children, all of whom were male. The mother took primary responsibility for the children's education. I used narrative inquiry as my methodology of choice for this research (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000).Narrative as phenomena, narrative as method, and narrative as representation of data (He & Phillion, 2001) helped me gather specific tales containing traces of past, present, and future of homeschooling in education. In my inquiry, “education, experience, and life are inextricably intertwined” (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 5). I engaged in participant observations, collected stories, conducted interviews, and opened up conversations with the participants. By being intimately involved in the daily lives of my participants, I developed an understanding of the complexity of the homeschooling phenomenon. Through a careful examination of the environment in which these children are educated and an intensive encounter with the participants, I discovered the reasons for the increasing popularity of homeschooling with the intention of opening lines of communication between homeschooling parents and public educators. While much research has been conducted into homeschooling as a phenomenon, very little has been done to connect what homeschooling parents do to educate their children with what public school educators can do to better educate children in schools. This reciprocal educational process can only take place when we are willing to open our minds to honest communication between what are often viewed as opposing camps. There is a large body of research literature on the reasons why parents homeschool but very little on how the curriculum is chosen and implemented in a homeschool setting relevant to the underlying philosophy and beliefs of the homeschooling parents. This study examined these connections with the intention of developing a greater understanding of the experiences of homeschooling families and opening lines of communication between homeschooling parents and public educators.

An assessment of a Web-based instructional program developed for Georgia's Division of Family and Children Services

Sansing, Joyce Anne University of Georgia 2000 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of, and satisfaction with, a modular, Internet-based instructional program that Athens Technical College personnel developed for entry-level eligibility workers at the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS). The model was developed, then piloted with two groups of new DFCS workers in Albany, Georgia, and Savannah, Georgia. The study focused on the program pilot that was conducted with fifteen trainees in January 1999. The major research questions investigated the satisfaction of participants with the Internet-based instructional program, the characteristics of the computer-mediated instruction that supported or inhibited learning, the effectiveness of the instructional model in developing the knowledge and skills needed by entry-level eligibility workers, and the modifications needed for improvement and refinement of the instructional program. A qualitative case study approach was selected. Qualitative data were collected during semi-structured individual interviews before and after the training, during group interviews at the midpoint in the training, and via reviews of participant training records and field notes from four weeks of participant observation. The findings of the study were that participants were satisfied with the Web-based training program, despite a few identified flaws and weaknesses. The program was determined to be effective based on average participant scores of 80 or higher on three specified indicators of performance. The modifications and refinements needed were identified as the incorporation of audio, video, and animation into the instruction; the reorganization of long modules; the development of a mechanism to better communicate the length and content of a module to the participant; the creation of a mechanism for trainees to reenter the program at the point at which they exited; the minimization of the requirement for scrolling and for entering responses in a specified format; the correction of inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the content; and the revision of the program to use a newer, more reliable version of Netscape. This study is significant in that its outcomes will assist in determining the future direction of a training program for a state agency. In a broader context, the study is significant because it addresses the training of adult (non-college age) learners.

Examining communication in college calculus through note taking

Freitag, Mark Alan University of Georgia 2000 해외박사(DDOD)

Decreasing student interest and perceived ability in college mathematics has created increased interest in improving college calculus instruction. Most pedagogical changes have revolved around improving classroom communication. Little is known, however, about the characteristics of communication in calculus and the factors that affect it. One way to study that communication is to examine the record found in the students' notes. This approach motivated the main research question of the study: What are characteristics of note taking in calculus, and what do they reveal about communication in the calculus classroom?. The study was conducted in the spring semester of 1999 at the University of Georgia. Two 3-hour sections of calculus were used and were chosen for the instructors teaching the sections. Seven students agreed to participate: three from one class and four from the other. The students differed in their mathematical experience, levels of ability, and majors. Four methods of data collection were used: instructor interviews, student interviews, document collection, and classroom activities. The classroom activities resulted in researcher notes of the content written on the board, field notes on the use of graphing calculators and the textbook, and audiotapes of the lectures. Data analysis focused on the interviews and documents. The findings revealed three majors areas of note taking: factors affecting note taking, content of notes, and uses of notes. Each category was subdivided into smaller categories. The factors affecting note taking included calculus factors, instructor factors, and student factors. The content in students' notes consisted of definitions, theorems, graphs, diagrams, and sample problems. The content was further divided into two types: content from the board and other content. The study also identified that students use their notes in four ways: as an in-class reference, as a homework aid, as a study aid, and as a reference to share. The findings were used to create a framework for studying communication that expresses the relationships between the major categories and their connection to classroom communication. Implications for research and teaching are given.