Penny L. Burge

A Tripartite Perspective of Social Capital and Its Access by High School Dropouts

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to document and analyze students’ experiences with dropping out of high school, using a social capital framework. Examining the stories of high school dropouts provided valuable information related to the root causes of dropout behaviors. The context of this study was a high school in an urban school division in a Southeastern state. The participants were 5 high school dropouts who spoke English as a primary language and who were a part of the general education population at the school. Triangulation of data sources included field notes, interviews with the participants, and archival documents. Three-iteration code mapping was used for data analysis and was included in an audit trail of all the study procedures. Other points and thematic representations considered were: (a) results of this study presented as narrative descriptions of the dropout histories of each participant, (b) themes resulting from the analysis across all of the narratives as discussed within the social capital framework, (c) suggestions for the development of programs to increase social capital in the family, school, and community, as included in the Conclusion section.

Faculty Teaching Practices as Predictors of Student Satisfaction with a General Education Curriculum

This study examined student perceptions of the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ essential learning outcomes and the general education curriculum at a research-extensive university via the Student Perceptions of the Curriculum for Liberal Education Survey. Results indicate a gap between learning outcome importance and opportunities to develop outcomes.

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Work and Home Satisfaction for Home Economics Teachers

The primary purpose of this study was to test a structural equation model of the reciprocal relationship between work satisfaction and home satisfaction. To test the model, a random sample (n = 132) of home economics teachers in Virginia was surveyed to examine dimensions of work and home satisfaction. The all- female sample was mostly white, married, and of relatively high income levels. From responses to the survey, four home satisfaction factors and four work sat isfaction factors were identified. These factors were hypothesized as the manifest indicators of their respective latent satisfactions. Using Linear Structural Relation ship (LISREL) analysis, resulting maximum likelihood estimates suggest that the model was appropriate for the data, that the relationship between home satisfac tion and work satisfaction was significant, and that home satisfaction had a greater effect on work satisfaction than the reverse. Implications for teacher ed ucation and further research are discussed.

Support for Home Economics Education in the Smith-Hughes Act

The purpose of this study was to examine the interests that supported the inclu sion of home economics education in early vocational legislation. Primary and secondary sources were used to record the emergence of support for vocational education in the early 1900s, to identify the interests that supported the inclusion of home economics in the federal legislation, and to identify the issues faced by the supporting interests. It was a major achievement that home economics was included in the Smith-Hughes Act three years before women were granted the right to vote. Many interests such as the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, National Education Association, American Federation of La bor, National Association of Manufacturers, and American Home Economics As sociation all supported inclusion of home economics education. The Smith- Hughes Act mentioned home economics 18 times and included funding for the total program and for teacher training. The article concludes with implications for todays program, such as the importance of maintaining coalitions, retaining ser vice area identity, using a common name, and meeting societys needs.

Community college engineering students’ perceptions of classroom climate and fundamental engineering skills

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine community college engineering students’ perceptions of their classroom climate and how these perceptions are related to fundamental skills in engineering. The study was guided by the following research question: How are community college engineering students’ perceptions of their fundamental engineering skills related to their perceptions of classroom climate? Data from a 2009 National Science Foundation sponsored project, Prototype to Production: Processes and Conditions for Preparing the Engineer of 2020 (P2P), which contains information from students in 15 pre-engineering community college programs, were examined. Measures of classroom climate and fundamental skills related to engineering were first established through an exploratory factor analysis. In order to explore differences in student perceptions by individual characteristics and by institution, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used. Results indicated that for community college engineering students, a warmer perception of classroom climate was associated with a higher perception of fundamental engineering skills. At community colleges, class sizes are generally smaller, especially compared to introductory courses at universities, and may provide a warmer climate for students considering beginning their engineering degrees. Given the diversity within community colleges, these institutions may provide an important pathway for underrepresented groups in engineering.

Sex-Role Attitudes of Missouri and Virginia Home Economics Teachers

Sex-role attitudes of 301 home economics teachers, all female, from Missouri and Virginia were explored using the Sex-Role Attitude Scale (SRAS) developed by Osmond and Martin. The SRAS analyzes attitudes toward the roles of both sexes on a traditional/nontraditional sex-role continuum. The instrument was designed to measure four com ponents of sex-role assumptions and behaviors: (1) familial roles; (2) extrafamilial roles; (3) male/female stereotypes; and (4) social change in sex roles. The responses to the survey were analyzed using multivariate and univariate analysis of variance. Results indicated that both Missouri and Virginia respondents held nontraditional attitudes. Younger teachers were significantly less traditional than older teachers on two of the sex-role attitude components. There were not significant differences between urban and rural teachers or among interaction effects.