The purpose of this study, through an analysis of the literature review of general scholars in the field of school poverty, equity, efficiency, and student achievement results, was to determine whether economic disparity had a direct statistical significance to student achievement gaps. Specifically, identification of the five socioeconomic tiers…

Policymakers at the state and national levels have identified college completion as a key policy priority. The proportion of adults with a college credential has decreased and the equity gap in college completion is expanding. Given this policy context, there is an interest in the extent to which degree pathways are inefficient and how these…

The NACDA Directors' Cup is a competition utilizing an unbiased scoring system that encourages a broad based athletic department as the standard for defining intercollegiate athletic success. Therefore, for NCAA DI athletic administrators the Directors' Cup should be the standard for defining intercollegiate athletic success. The purpose of this…

This purpose of this study was to develop a clearer understanding of the complex, interrelated factors that lead to successful informational text comprehension and to determine if or how these factors vary for higher and lower comprehenders. Participants (N = 177) were in grades three through five and were predominately African American (61%) and…

An increasing number of technologies and applications have begun to focus on mobile computing and the wireless Web as a way to conduct commerce-oriented transactions. M-commerce Websites that are usability friendly must emphasize information quality, system quality, and service quality, as these are proxy measures to mobile commerce user…

The challenges facing publicly funded community colleges have never been greater. Declining state and federal support and decreasing property tax revenues have placed a tremendous pressure on tuition rates. Declining revenues combined with the lack of adequate cost control, has caused in-state tuition and fees at public 2-year colleges to increase…

This dissertation consists of three studies on the development of information technology (IT) industry in Korea and Taiwan. Using industry-level data from those countries, I would like to investigate why similar economies would take different paths toward developing their industries. The first chapter, "Span of Control and Production…

This study examined student achievement in Michigan public school districts to determine if rural school districts are demonstrating greater financial efficiency by producing higher levels of student achievement than school districts in other geographic locations with similar socioeconomics. Three models were developed using multiple regression…

It has been well established in the literature that the acquisition of literacy presents a significant challenge for most students who are deaf or hard of hearing (Allen, 1986; Babbini & Quigley, 1970; Holt, 1993; Lane & Baker, 1974; Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002; Moog & Geers, 1985; Traxler, 2000; Trybus & Karchmer, 1977). Vocabulary, which…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between Georgia alternative school administrators' perceptions of student success factors and the three domains of essential elements of effective alternative schools. The success factors included: dropout rate, average grade point average (GPA), average absences per student,…

Organizations worldwide have been turning to Six Sigma program (SSP) to eliminate the defects in their products or drive out the variability in their processes to attain a competitive advantage in their marketplace. An effective certification program has been touted as a major contributor to successful implementation of SSP. An effective…