Browsing by Author "Robert Serow, Committee Member"

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    African American Female High School Principals: Their Pathways and Perceptions of the Position.
    (2010-11-05) Bridges, Valerie; Lance Fusarelli, Committee Chair; Robert Serow, Committee Member; Paul Bitting, Committee Member; Kenneth Brinson, Committee Member; Duane Akroyd, Committee Member
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    Counseling Matters: A Multi-Case Study of High School Counselors and Their Perception of their Role in the School Community
    (2010-02-18) Windle, Michelle Hurt; Paul Bitting, Committee Chair; Robert Serow, Committee Member; Peter Hesling, Committee Member; Rhonda Sutton, Committee Member
    ABSTRACT WINDLE, MICHELLE HURT. Counseling Matters: A Multi-Case Study of High School Counselors and Their Perceptions of Their Role in the School Community. (Under the direction of Dr. Paul Bitting). There is limited qualitative research that addresses issues high school counselors have in common, their job expectations, and how those factors contribute to their professional self-efficacy. This multi-case study of six practicing high school counselors in the state of North Carolina makes a contribution to existing literature by providing an increased understanding of high school counselors’ real and perceived roles within the high school community. It enhances the existing knowledge of some of the common goals and frustrations high school counselors share, while looking at their job expectations and how those expectations are similar and different from the reality of their jobs. Finally, it explores high school counselors’ lived professional experiences and examines the relationship between those experiences and counselors’ professional self-efficacy, expressed in the counselors’ own words. The results of this study demonstrate the need for further research and dialogue surrounding how counselors are used in schools, the factors that contribute to counselors’ job satisfaction, and the alignment of existing school counseling programs with recognized professional school counseling standards.
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    A Multivariate Study of Graduate Student Satisfaction and Other Outcomes Within Cooperative Research Centers
    (2007-04-24) Schneider, Jennifer Shields; Robert Serow, Committee Member; Denis Gray, Committee Chair; Lori Foster Thompson, Committee Member
    Graduate students who participate in Cooperative Research Centers are perceived as having educational advantages such as interactions with industry members, career opportunities, increased scholarly production, and development of soft skills (teamwork, communication, leadership). However, these educational advantages are mostly speculative assumptions. Evaluation of Cooperative Research Centers occurs regularly on several components of the program; yet, there is a lack of information and analysis concerning graduate students involved with the centers. Consequently, center programs are missing opportunities to enhance their educational outcomes. A cross-sectional predictive analysis was conducted to identify which individual center mechanisms positively or negatively influence graduate student outcomes. Data was collected from graduate students (n=190, 37% useable response rate) working in National Science Foundation's I⁄UCRC and STC programs (34 centers, 87% response rate) via a web-based questionnaire. Student outcomes include satisfaction, perceived skills, organizational commitment, scholarly achievements, career goals, and feelings of a competitive advantage. Results indicate that consistent and powerful predictive variables include: Multidisciplinary Center Experience, Experiential Expanded Center Experiences, Technical Project Involvement, and frequency of interactions with thesis/dissertation committee and Center industry members. Another major finding of the study was that students' center experiences predict outcomes but center groupings do not.
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    Older Reentry Community College Women: Their Start, Delay, Choice, and Experiences
    (2004-04-07) Hardison, Marianna Dail; Barbara Baines, Committee Member; J. Conrad Glass, Committee Chair; Robert Serow, Committee Member; John Pettitt, Committee Member
    The purpose of this study was to examine older reentry women between ages 35 and 50 who started their college careers at a small, rural satellite campus of Caronor Community College. The researcher's goal was to examine this age group attending full-time in this setting and what they experienced as college students in order to fill a gap in the literature, a hole which has focused on reentry women of all ages, primarily at universities and small colleges. The researcher performed this study at these women's homes, jobs, or this campus. She selected all former and current older women students whom she could reach who started college for the first time here and met the age and full-time criteria. She questioned them in lengthy semi-structured interviews, allowing them to talk freely about their private and college lives. The interviewer sought to learn was why they began college when they did, why they delayed before starting, why they chose this campus, and what their experiences were as college students. The major themes which emerged from this research were that job needs, either absent abusive or present supportive husbands, and a suggestion about beginning college from someone significant to them caused these women to begin college. They delayed starting for many years because of lives filled with large responsibilities since high school. The proximity of this campus to their homes and work, its small size, its low tuition, and its nonthreatening atmosphere were reasons they selected it. For these older reentry women students, the college experience provided them with skills they needed for more professional jobs, knowledge they treasured, faculty and peers they enjoyed, increased self-confidence and sense of personal worth, a sense of joie de vivre, and for several, the desire to earn higher degrees. This study suggested the need for numerous small satellite campuses of community colleges which would provide easy access to rural populations, the benefit of full-time, supportive faculty and staff, and the criticality of continuous programs available both day and night. It also paved the way for more research on older and younger community college women at similar campuses and at larger main campuses.
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    Professional Artist as Teachers with At-risk Youth: A Narrative Case Study
    (2004-04-15) Douglass, Margaret Brewington; Patricia Marshall, Committee Member; Anna Wilson, Committee Member; Robert Serow, Committee Member; Paul Bitting, Committee Chair
    The purpose of this arts-based research was to examine the teaching strategies of four professional artists serving as teachers with at-risk youth ages eight to 17 years old in a community-based arts program. More specifically, through a narrative case study design, this study focused on identifying 1) the factors that influenced the professional artist as a teacher's (PAAT's) choices of strategies and methodologies with at-risk youth, and 2) the artist's perceptions of his or her effectiveness. Previous modes of inquiry have attempted to use more experiential approaches in order to give their research scientific validity. A major problem with such approaches is their inability to capture the ineffable quality of human nature. Using a Reciprocal Exchange Process Model of Multiple Intelligences, this study examined the triadic component (A to B to C) to identify the factors that influenced the artist's strategies and the artist's perceptions of how these strategies helped shape and refine instruction. The study was based on in-depth interviews, multiple observations, and document and media analysis. Findings for the first research question revealed that collectively, there were 35 factors that influenced the artists' choices of strategies and methodologies with at-risk youth. Some factors overlapped, revealing an interdependency or co-dependency with other factors, while the remaining ones were unique to the individual artist or discipline. Strategies that all artists had in common to address these influences were the use of immediate feedback, praise, redirection, and student input. The findings for research question two revealed that overall, the PAATs perceived their approaches were effective with this population. Contributing factors were the artists' adaptability; the utilization of positive feedback; and the artists' ability to judge when to intervene. Results of the study should be of interest to those who support arts-based research and to those who are interested in the role the arts can play with at-risk youth in program design, teaching reform, student learning, or instruction.
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    The Relationship between Distributed Leadership and Principal's Leadership Effectiveness in North Carolina.
    (2011-02-04) Grant, Carl; Thomas Alsbury, Committee Chair; Tamara Young, Committee Chair; Kevin Brady, Committee Member; Robert Serow, Committee Member
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    Teacher Perceptions of the Importance of Effective Schools Correlates to Improving Student Achievement.
    (2010-12-14) Peterson, Rodney; Lance Fusarelli, Committee Chair; Tamara Young, Committee Chair; Robert Serow, Committee Member; Paul Bitting, Committee Member
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    Using Institutional Context and Student Characteristics to Predict a Student Passing a Developmental Course at a Community College: A Multilevel Approach.
    (2010-05-14) Huneycutt, Kristie; Tamara Young, Committee Chair; Kevin Brady, Committee Member; Robert Serow, Committee Member; Paul Umbach, Committee Member