This study presents a unique educational partnership combining the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools Program with a concentrated iteration of civic education via iEngage Action Civics in order to provide an opportunity for a localized curriculum that featured specificity to the urban community demographic. Participants were asked to…

Presenters at the State of the States Roundtable session at the 2014 National Education Finance Conference in Louisville were invited to submit their papers for publication. These papers address the following topics: (1) State issues affecting P-12 and/or higher education funding; (2) Funding priorities/trends for P-12 and/or higher education; (3)…

This paper presents research findings from a four-and a-half year evaluation focusing on the Mississippi Learning Institute (MLI) collaboration of partners fostering improved literacy in Jackson Public Schools (JPS). The partners are JPS, Jackson State University (JSU), the Mississippi State Department of Education (MSDOE) and the Barksdale…

The purpose of this ex-post facto study was to determine whether or not all students have an equitable chance of winning in science fair competitions. Winners and nonwinners at local, regional, and state levels of 1994 Mississippi science fair competitions were compared for the following variables: project cost, status of participation (voluntary…

Results are presented of a statewide survey of visually impaired children and youth (birth to age 21) who were receiving or could qualify to receive special educational or other services in Mississippi. Questionnaires were completed on visually impaired students from four programs: public schools, private schools, state schools for the blind, and…

Using a "management opinionnaire," researchers surveyed 164 local school superintendents in the state of Mississippi to determine their preferred styles of leadership. The questionnaire requested demographic information and measured the superintendents' degree of accordance with 27 statements concerning the role of an administrator.…

A phenomenon previously noted in prior prediction of mathematics scores on the Content Mastery Examinations for Educators (CMEE) of the National Teacher Examinations Core Battery subtests of General Knowledge (NTE-GK) and Communication Skills (NTE-CS) was investigated. Prior research with 1991-1992 data sets had established an equation for the…

Successful building-level instructional supervision requires a physical, intellectual, and psychological environment where optimal teaching and learning can occur. While supervisory activities may open the lines of communication between the principal and the teacher, these communication lines may be affected by the perceptions that teachers have…

In order to determine what characteristics are most important in prompting Mississippi's major educational consumers to hire teachers, an opinionnaire was developed and sent to a stratified random sample of elementary, junior high, and senior high principals, and to superintendents. The questionnaire consisted of 11 factors to be ranked according…

The purpose of this study was to examine the actual and ideal roles and responsibilities of assistant secondary school principals and to identify characteristics necessary for effective assistant secondary school principals as measured by the opinions of secondary principals and assistant secondary principals in Mississippi. Data were gathered…

This study examined the relationship between personality characteristics and National Board Certification among teachers who had achieved National Board Certification, teachers who were in the process of completing the requirements for National Board Certification, and teachers who had not attempted National Board Certification. It identified…

Poor black young people in rural Mississippi contemplate their schooling with the same feelings as their friends who dare to jump the local ditches filled with alligators: the odds are against escaping the alligators, and the advantages of getting to the far side are not very apparent. Living in conditions of extreme poverty, these young people…

To investigate the current attitudes of Mississippi public school teachers toward the use of militant, collective actions, 600 randomly selected elementary and secondary teachers were asked to complete the Teacher's Attitude Scale and a demographic data sheet. A total of 450 responses were received, representing a 75 percent return rate. The…

The attitudes that Mississippi public school teachers hold toward the use of collective, militant actions was the focus of the present research. Four-hundred and fifty elementary and secondary level teachers, representing a 75 percent response rate of the 600 randomly selected sample, responded to questions on the "Demographic Information…

This paper presents a study of the personal variables associated with first-year teacher morale that can be identified early in the training programs of novice teachers. This study is based on data derived from 96 (76.6 percent) of the graduates teaching in Mississippi. Data were collected through the use of five special instruments: (1)…