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Reconstituted Families: An Exploratory and Descriptive Study of Incomplete Institutionalization as a Perceived Problem
Get PDFiv, 80 leaves. Advisor: Karen ConnerThe problem. The question explored in this study is whether the problems of reconstituted families are influenced by a perceived lack of institutionalized support networks available in American society.
Procedure. This thesis quantitatively analyzed data formulated from questionnaires and interviews with a sample obtained using the snowball technique.
Findings. Generally, findings of previous similar
studies were substantiated in terms of identifying the uniqueness of the reconstituted family from the original family. The reconstituted family is an entity quite different in dynamics from the original family of first time marrieds. Persons entering reconstituted families, however, have unrealistic expectations that the norms which
have been developed for original families will guide them in the development of the new family unit. Most persons identified role confusion once in their new situation. Subjects identified a need for more education about the unique aspects of reconstituted families and increased awareness
of problems to be anticipated before they actually entered the situation. They believed this could be facilitated through organized religion, the media, formal education, or premarital family counseling. Many subjects also acknowledged their perceptions of creating the norms for persons in reconstituted families, rather than following developed norms.
Conclusions. ln the dialectic between the individual and society, individuals are currently creating the roles and norms which society can then institutionalize. Such societal institutionalization of the reconstituted family
can provide guidance and support for its future members
The Acquisition of Mand and Tact Responses
No full text42 leaves. Advisor: W. Scott WoodThe present study was designed to assess the
acquisition of mand and tact responses as a result of mand or tact training. Three subjects were tauqht vocal responses corresponding to objects as requests (mands)or as labels (tacts). Responses in the untrained repertoire were also assessed. The results indicated that acquisition of a vocal mand repertoire facilitated acquisition of a vocal tact repertoire and vice versa. Implications concerning the separation of mand and tact repertoires are discussed. A technology for investigation of elementary verbal operants is presented
Defining Truancy and Dealing with It Effectively
Get PDFiii, 44 leaves. Advisor: Charles Rowley.The problem. Schools are constantly struggling
with student truancy problems. Arriving at a practical and workable definition for the term truancy and analyzing the factors which are related to truant behavior are the problems viewed by this study.
Procedure. All of the secondary public school
administrators from the Central Iowa Conference Schools were sent questionnaires which dealt with the truancy problems in their schools.
Findings. The definition of "truancy" which was
found to be the most practical and useful was, "Any absence without the consent of the parent or the school." The findings also revealed that as the percentage of truants increased the demands on administrative time also increased. There was no relationship between the variables of percentage
of truants and the number of methods which were being used in dealing with truants. The most effective method used in dealing with truants was that of administrative and parental conferences.
Conclusions. The biggest factor in helping students with their truancy related problems was through communication between the parents and the administration.
Recommendations. Research in the area of examining
alternative methods which could be used in dealing with truant behavior is vitally needed. Further study should be done considering the perceptions and the views of parents and students who are familiar with truancy related problems
The Effect of Behavior Control Strategies Upon the Disruptive Student : A Case Study
Get PDFii, 40 leaves. Advisor: Richard Lampshire.The Problem. A fourth-grade student had disrupted
class, especially during specials, rather frequently. This case study was designed to determine if positive reinforcement and other techniques would decrease the frequency of
the problem.
Procedure. Meetings were held with staff. Data
was collected on a daily basis for more than nine months. Data including frequency and specification of reward and punishment was analyzed. Follow-up meetings were held.
Findings. Social reinforcement and extra privileges based on a reward system were found to be very effective. Activity curtailment and removal to a time-out room were also useful when the previous strategies were not successful. These programs must be very carefully structured
Students' Reasons for Attending or Not Attending an Available Technical High School
Get PDFviii, 112 leaves. Advisor: Charles D. RowleyThe problem. The purpose of this study was to determine why high school seniors did or did not choose to attend a technical high school on a full or part-time basis.
Procedure. The study centered around students' concerns for programs, sports, other extracurricular, transportation, friends'
influence, family influence, counselor influence, race, the shared-time concept, and level of satisfaction with school selected. These concerns
were correlated with census data and observations were made of the concentrations of frequencies.
Findings. None of the correlation coefficients were large enough to be significant at the desired level, thus all hypotheses were held tenable. Upon examining the degree of correlations, eleven of the eighteen coefficients were low or negligible. However, the direction of the coefficients appeared to be usable information. The observations reflected a greater variety of concentration of concerns for neighborhood
students than for the technical students. The technical students rated their top four concerns for school selection in the following order: program, other extracurricular, advice or pressure
from family, and transportation to and from school The neighborhood students rated their top four concerns for school selection in the following order: transportation, program, other extracurricular, and advice or pressure from friends.
Conclusions. The directions of the statistical correlations of the students' concerns and secondary census data should lend guidance to
those planning and organizing options. The concentrations of the responses indicated similar priorities for the technical and neighborhood
students. The shared-time concept seemed to be an option the students had high interest in, especially if transportation was provided. A large percentage of the students were satisfied with their selection of school, but the reasons for those selections indicated that students might have selected the shared-time option if transportation was provided.
Recommendations. The study indicated that the current full-time vocational-technical school program should be continued. In addition, the shared-time vocational-technical program option is a viable alternative or addition. Both programs require flexibility in scheduling transportation, extracurricular activities, etc
Perceptions of Faculty and Drop-Outs of the Supportive Environment within a Post-Secondary Vocational Program
Get PDFviii, 157 leaves. Advisor: Raymond Hock.The Problem. The problem of this study was to document the perceptions of drop~outs regarding the supportive and non-supportive community college environment, and to examine the self-reported behaviors of the vocational instructors for factors which may discriminate against special needs students.
Procedure. Vocational instructors in three Iowa community colleges were surveyed. The response rate ranged from 40 percent to 77.5 percent. Fifty-nine students from the three institutions who dropped or changed vocational programs during the 1980-81 school year were interviewed about their perceptions of the support services, drop reasons, and recommended changes to improve retention.
Findings. The instructors felt that students drop programs because of course difficulty, home/work responsibilities, and financial problems. Their most frequent recommendations were for more tutorial help, more help with student problems, and more financial aid. Their responses indicated
that they view the characteristics of handicapped and disadvantaged students significantly different from those of nonhandicapped and non-disadvantaged students. The students reported dropping because of home/work responsibilities, inappropriate
courses, course difficulties, and financial
problems. The changes they most frequently recommended were: more financial aid, better schedules, different instructional methods, and more tutorial help.
Conclusions. There was no institution-wide discrimination toward special needs students, but evidence did exist at the individual level. Half of the instructor respondents felt course objectives limited the participation of handicapped and disadvantaged students and only slightly more than half felt the institution provided adequate support services for special needs students. Students identified
institutional changes to aid in retention.
Recommendations. There should be similar studies of the other Iowa community colleges. There is a need for inservice programs for vocational instructors to help them become more supportive of special needs students
The Wentzville Plan for Improving Student Attendance and its Effect on Low-, Average-, and High-Attenders
Get PDFiii, 45 leaves. Advisor: Richard H. Lampshire.The problem. The study sought answers to the following questions: (1) did student attendance improve after the implementationn of the Wentzville Plan"; and (2) did student
achievement improve after the implementation of the "Wentzville Plan"?
Procedure. All students who were in attendance at
Wentzville High School during both the 1976-77 and the 1977-78 school years were classified into one of three categories: (1) low-attenders; (2) average-attenders; and (3) high-attenders.
Nine t-tests were run to compare student absenteeism records from the year prior to the implementation of the "Wentzville Plan" (1976-77) with student absenteeism records following the implementation of the new attendance policy. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient
technique was used to compare changes in grade point averages and absenteeism. All students who reduced their absenteeism rate by ten or more days were interviewed to determine what the student perceived to be the major reason for the student's
reduction in absenteeism.
Findings. The findings included: (1) there was an
improvement in attendance records of low-attenders following the implementation of the "Wentzville Plan"; (2) there was a low correlation between improved attendance and improved student achievement; and (3) nearly one-half (46.7 percent) of the students who experienced an absenteeism reduction of ten or more days felt that the "Wentzville Plan" was a factor leading to their improved attendance record.
Conclusions. The "Wentzville Plan" for improving
student attendance was most effective in reducing absenteeism among low-attenders. There was only a low. correlation between improved attendance and an increase ln student achievement.
Nearly one-half of the students who significantly
reduced their absenteelsm record stated that the "Wentzville Plan" was a factor leading to their improved attendance records.
Recommendations. Further study should be done in the area of student attendance and student achievement. This study indicated only a low correlation between improved attendance and an increase in student achlevement
Child Abuse and the Law: The Educator's Responsibility
Get PDF111 leaves. Advisor: George LairThe problem. The purpose of this study was to determine what knowledge teachers and other certified school personnel have regarding specific aspects of child abuse and Iowa's Child Abuse Reporting Law.
Procedure. A forty-one item questionnaire, which was developed by the researcher, was administered to 128 educators (teachers, administrators, and support service staff) in four west central Iowa school districts and in the area education
agency (AEA) serving these districts. The data gathered were analyzed for significance at the .05 level of confidence using one-way ANOVA and t-tests for significance between means.
Findings. The data gathered tended to indicate that educators grouped by disciplines did not significantly differ in their knowledge of the specific aspects of child abuse examined and in their knowledge of Iowa's Child Abuse Reporting
Law except in one case. The support service staff appeared to be significantly more knowledgeable about the reporting law than did the teacher group. The four school districts surveyed
do not currently have written guidelines that educators could follow when they encounter students whom they suspect of having been abused.
Conclusions. Most respondents underestimated the incidence of child abuse in the United States and knew that over 50 percent of the children who are abused are also attending school (kindergarten and above). Almost all of the respondents knew that certified educators in Iowa are required to report
cases of suspected child abuse. However, they were unsure under what conditions they are required to do so.
Recommendations. Three major recommendations were
offered. First, educators are in need of additional information regarding characteristics of children who have been abused and of the Child Abuse Reporting Law in Iowa. Second, the boards of education in the districts surveyed should develop
written procedures that certified employees would follow when they encounter students suspected of having been abused. Finally, some clarification is needed of what legal responsibilities exist for mandated reporters, e.g., teachers, when the person in charge, e.g., the building principal, fails to forward a report of suspected child abuse to the Department of Social Services
A Comparison of Two Tardy Policies and Their Effects Upon the Same Student Group During the 1980-1981 School Year
Get PDFiv, 36, [2] leaves. Advisor: Richard Lampshire.The problem. Tardiness in a high school can be very disruptive. This field report deals with two different tardy policies. These policies were used on the same group of high school students on different semesters. The basic question asked is whether the second semester policy, which is stricter in regard to penalties and contains more parent communication, can reduce the amount of total school tardies.
Procedure. The procedure used to compare these two
policies was the same each semester and tables were used to make the data useful. All the tardies for the first semester were recorded by student, by the class the student was in, and by the total school population. The tardies for the second semester were gathered the same way. All this information was then placed in tables for comparisons. The use of parent communication was also explained in the report. Each class was compared within each policy and then compared to each other after the results were tabulated. A
"t" test was administered to test the null hypothesis: The Mean of Policy A is equal to the Mean of Policy B.
Conclusion. The null hypothesis was rejected since
"t" equaled 7.36 and at the .05 level of significance, p equaled 3.182.
Under Policy A, used first semester, the school mean was 9.44 per student. Under Policy B, used the second semester I the school mean was 3.52 per student. This represented a drop in total school tardies of 62.7 percent.The first period or homeroom period contained the greatest amount of tardies both semesters. The eighth period also changed drastically from poor to good with no
reasons.
Recommendations. The following recommendations
were suggested: 1. Policy B used during the second semester, 1981, should be retained. 2. Further study as to the reasons why the first period still had a large amount of tardies as compared to
the others should be made. 3. The eighth period should be studied to find out why fluctuated more than any other period with no real explanable reason. 4. Parent communication must be maintained to keep the policy functioning
The Relative Efficacy of Comparatively Weak and Strong Reinforcement Contingencies During Self-Evaluation
Get PDF34 leaves. Advisor: W. Scott Wood.The problem. To assess the effectiveness of comparat1vely weak and strong reinforcement contingencies during self-evaluation training in producing maintenance of room cleaning behavior of youth in a shelter environment was the problem.
Procedure. Youth were trained to evaluate their own rooms and to determine the number of room points they would earn in a token economy based on that evaluation. Training procedures included, modeling, feedback following practice evaluation, and either token reinforcement for accurate
evaluation or monetary reinforcement for accuracy. After training to criterion youth were allowed to assess their own room and reinforcement was based on this evaluation. The effect of varying the conditions under which training occurred was measured by monitoring performance when all of
the obtrusive contingencies were withdrawn.
Findings. In three successive maintenance conditions dramatic reductions in the percentages of items cleaned according to the defined criteria occurred across seven of the eight subjects. Percentages of items cleaned appropriately were generally high for the group during all of the
conditions in which token reinforcement was present. This included the two baseline/tokens conditions as well as the two self-evaluation conditions.
Conclusions. Token reinforcement in the form of points that could be exchanged for reinforcers consistently produced high cleaning percentages whether the condition existed alone or was combined with additional reinforcers for accurate
self-evaluation. Self-evaluation did not significantly increase the youths cleaning behavior above the rates obtained during the baseline/tokens phase. Self-evaluation added desirable features to the token economy but did not contribute to any long term maintenance of the behavior when removed.
Recommendations. Researchers should continue to examine self-control strategies as potential techniques that may lead to generalization of treatment effects. Research studies may be most profitable if they experimentally verify the
variables that operate when generalization is achieved