Intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity are hotly debated topics in academia, marked by an increase in legislation focusing on intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity within academic settings. This study explores the impact of Florida House Bill 233 on public universities, including academics' morale. House Bill 233 purports to support…

This study explored the reasons as to how effective and ineffective principal leadership affects elementary school teachers' morale. There is a gap in literature regarding how education managers, particularly principals lack of leadership, affects teacher morale. This study focused on strategies and behaviors exhibited by elementary school…

This study aimed to explore teachers' attitudes toward the compensation of their principals in public school system in Broward County, Florida. In this qualitative study, the principal was regarded as the CEO of the school, and the teachers were regarded as typical workers. The study extended research on CEO pay and helped fill the gap in the…

Many university leaders lack the knowledge necessary to retain skilled employees and decrease employee turnover. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that leaders of colleges/universities in the United States used to retain skilled employees. Research participants included 7 leaders in higher education in central…

In the last few years, all but a few U.S. states have rushed to enact tougher teacher evaluation systems. Spurred by the incentives offered by two federal education initiatives--Race to the Top and the ESEA Flexibility Program--these states have designed teacher evaluation systems designed to "remove ineffective tenured and untenured…

This descriptive research study was conducted to determine the state of perceived teacher morale and student academic performance as measured by fourth-grade reading and math scores among four elementary schools defined by the servant leadership score of each principal in this Florida elementary school district. While related research from other…

Findings from this investigation suggest that spirituality is a vital component for teacher and student success in high stress educational settings. The study investigated how experienced teachers of violent students maintained teacher efficacy through stress management in four schools in one state within the USA. Most educators consider working…

Describes a two year pilot program which made a significant step toward improving academics, morale, and student/parent involvement which helped a Florida junior high school earn national recognition. (MD)

In 2006-07, New York City, the largest school district in the United States, decided it would follow several other school systems in adopting a progress report program. Under its program, the city grades schools from A to F according to an accumulating point system based on the weighted average of measurements of school environment, students'…

This paper reports on a qualitative study of principals' perceptions of the impact of high-stakes testing on empowerment. The data were obtained from interviews with 26 "empowered" principals in select schools participating in the South Florida Annenberg Challenge. Three questions were addressed: (1) To what degree does a school's…

Students and faculty have had numerous disruptions this academic year with Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma developing into major stressors. During this innovative session, we will examine some of the challenges and strategies used by faculty to work with students to maintain empathy and academic rigor in times of stress and disruption, and…

The Florida Follow Through Model is one of several federally-funded experimental programs that attempts to modify the type of educational experience that children from low-income backgrounds receive during their first four years (K-3) of schooling. In the case of the Florida model, the emphasis is on home as well as school intervention. Two…

An incentive program was developed to reduce teacher absenteeism in a large community high school (2,200 students) in South Florida. The four-point program included improved record-keeping systems, increased communication and information dissemination, internal recognition, and a cash lottery system. Pre- and post-attitudinal tests were…

Telephone interviews concerning special education teacher attrition were conducted with 96 former special education teachers in Florida. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to analyze the interview data. Participants had not returned to their special education teaching positions after the 1992-93 school year. The majority of…

The George A. Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida is currently undergoing a major renovation. Library West, the building that houses the humanities and social sciences collection, will be gutted and expanded. The collection will be moved to off-site storage and the staff will be relocated for a two-year period. The reality of these…