Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Coordination practices and employer preferences for secondary cooperative distributive education programs in Montana during the 1975-1976 school term(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of School of Business, 1976) Darsow, Richard Edward; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Norman L. MillikinHow closely do Montana's distributive education teacher-coordinators follow commonly accepted practices for cooperative vocational education, and what are the participating employers' opinions on the operation of the distributive education programs? To address this question and to keep information as current as possible, the school -term of 1975-1976 was selected since it was the basis of the most current information on the programs currently in operation. Of the eighteen distributive education programs in operation at the time of the study, sixteen were classified as cooperative programs under Part G funding. Of these sixteen programs, fifteen submitted reports listing the training stations that were utilized at the time of this study, to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. From this information, 243 employers were identified as being participating employers in the Part G programs in operation. A questionnaire was mass mailed to all the identified employers, after being verified by Mr. Norman L. Millikin and Dr. Daniel G. Hertz of the School of Business staff at Montana State University. The questionnaire was mailed on May 28, 1976, a follow-up was forwarded on June 28, 1976, and the survey was terminated on July 12, 1976. The initial sample of 243 was revised down to 220 upon survey termination because 23 employers had experienced management changes, went out of business, or claimed no connection with the programs. This resulted in the revised base of 220, of which 170 responses were received and were usable, yielding a 77.27 percent return. Findings were presented that showed the teacher-coordinators were not in strict compliance with the commonly accepted coordination practices revealed in the review of literature. However, it must be also kept in mind that only those coordination practices visible to the participating employer were included in the survey instrument, and that the survey was limited in scope to only the employer---neither the teacher-coordinator nor the student were included in the survey to seek their opinions. Findings indicated that the participating employers tended to prefer that the teacher-coordinator make visitations on a monthly basis, rather than more often as is suggested by commonly accepted practices. Based upon the survey findings and the conclusions drawn from the data, recommendations were made, of which two are of high importance: (1) Training plans should be in a written form constructed by the employer, the teacher-coordinator, and the student, for every placement made; and (2) Effort should be made by the teacher-coordinator to have more control over student placement by selecting a number of students for interviews for each training station opening, rather than allowing students to seek their own training stations, as is often the case.Item A study of the professional activities of distributive education teacher-coordinators in the intermountain area(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Professional Schools, 1973) Preston, Thomas Charles; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Norman L. MillikinThe purpose of the study was twofold: 1) To ascertain the proportion of time spent by distributive education teacher-coordinators in the intermountain area in performing the five major functions of the distributive education teacher-coordinator: Classroom Teaching, Coordination, Guidance, Public Relations, and Operations and Administration. 2) To ascertain the proportion of time spent by intermountain coordinators on specific tasks within each of the 5 major functions. The population for this study, was limited to certified teacher-coordinators in the states of Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. The survey was conducted during April and May of 1973. The major conclusions reached were: 1) Intermountain coordinators spend 10% more time on the classroom teaching function than the national average of coordinators. 2) Consequently, intermountain coordinators spend less time on coordination, guidance, and operations and administration than coordinators do nationally. 3) The intermountain coordinators devote approximately 50% of their class period to lecture-discussion methods of instruction and 50% to individual and small group study. 4) Intermountain coordinators devote approximately half of their coordination time to visiting with the sponsor/employer and only 5% to visiting with student's parents. 5) Intermountain coordinators spend nearly half of their guidance time on students' work related problems. The other half is nearly equally divided between career guidance and students' personal problems. 6) A majority of the intermountain coordinators' public relations time is devoted to personal contact with individuals. 7) DECA activities account for more than half of the intermountain coordinators' operations and administrations time and approximately 5% of the coordinators' total school time.Item A study to determine future certification requirements for Wyoming distributive education teacher coordinators(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Professional Schools, 1972) Fuller, Clyde Leslie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Harvey A. LarsonThe purpose of this study was to determine guidelines for future certification requirements for Cooperative Distributive Education Teacher Coordinators within the state of Wyoming. This was to be accomplished through a comparison and analysis of the certification requirements of the Cooperative Distributive Education Teacher Coordinators currently employed within the other states which comprise Region Eight. The specific purposes of this study were (1) to research and analyze the certification requirements for Cooperative Distributive Education Teacher Coordinators within Region Eight; (2) to research and analyze the qualifications of all the Cooperative Distributive Education Teacher Coordinators within the state of Wyoming; (3) to compare the certification requirements for Cooperative Distributive Education Teacher Coordinators in Region Eight to those possessed by all Of the Cooperative Distributive Education Teacher Coordinators within the state of Wyoming; (4) to develop suggested guidelines to be used in future certification requirements for Wyoming Cooperative Distributive Education Teacher Coordinators.Item The personnel, processes, and techniques used by Montana secondary school superintendents when making decisions(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1985) Saint, Danny Lloyd; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Kenneth L. BruwelheideItem Institutional portfolio management : a model of integrated planning(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2016) Milkovich, Anne Klees Zulick; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Carrie B. MyersThe pilot study and manuscripts presented in this dissertation introduce institutional portfolio management as a model of integrated planning to address institutional performance improvement. Higher education is under pressure to demonstrate and improve institutional performance in terms of access, cost, and throughput. Few models exist to guide leaders in implementing transformative change that will address the problem. Program prioritization is a means to do so yet it is usually implemented as a one-time solution and not without controversy. A parallel model of portfolio management is used in private industry as an ongoing and rational practice of organizational strategy. The parallels of the two disciplines have not previously been noted in extant literature. Through my collected body of doctoral work, I provide empirical data on the processes and outcomes of program prioritization. I establish structural contingency theory as a central paradigm explaining the cycle of mission fragmentation and program prioritization in higher education. I evaluate the practices of program prioritization and illustrate the parallel with its industry cousin portfolio management. I introduce institutional portfolio management as a model of integrated planning based on the best practices of both disciplines. A pilot study published as a conference proceeding finds common themes from interviews of institutional leaders who have undertaken program prioritization. The themes revealed a relationship between strategic approach and successful outcomes. They also provided support for the practice of inclusivity and transparency in the process as important keys to successful outcomes. The first article searches for correlation between institutional characteristics and the tendency toward program prioritization. The study finds that large doctoral and land-grant institutions are more inclined toward program prioritization than those with more focused missions, such as private liberal arts institutions. The second article establishes structural contingency theory as a central paradigm that explains the cycle of mission fragmentation and program prioritization, inductively reasoned from the history of higher education. It also explains why the needed transformational change is hindered by administrative success and how a model of integrated planning can overcome that impediment. The third article elaborates the practical elements of the framework so that practitioners can deploy it.Item Judgment analysis (JAN) and simulation to capture policy decisions of school superintendents(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1986) Lasher, Gaylord CharlesItem Enrollment responsiveness to changes in recent employment conditions at for-profit and community colleges(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2013) Saunders, Joseph Michael; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Gregory GilpinFor-profit colleges are continually criticized as preying on individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This condemnation typically calls out for-profit colleges for putting profits ahead of students, leaving them with poor quality education in exchange for large amounts of debt. However, given that students can select between multiple suppliers of higher education, it is unclear why costly for-profit colleges remain a viable option in the higher education market, especially with substantial government subsidies to their direct competitors. One potential reason may be the institution themselves; for-profit colleges are more able to respond to structural changes in labor markets in ways that non-profit institutions are unable. Using a panel dataset with student information from three rounds of the restricted-access National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (2000, 2004, 2008) and employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics, I empirically test the responsiveness of enrollment at for-profit and community colleges to changes in sectorial employment conditions. The results indicate that a 1% increase in a sector's employment growth results in a 2.5% increase in the percentage of students enrolled at for-profit colleges in majors that lead to occupations within that sector. However, no effect is observed on the enrollment in these majors at community colleges. The results also indicate that students are responsive to both local sectorial employment conditions and national conditions. Lastly, both for-profit colleges and community college enrollments appear to be unresponsive to sector wage growth, while only males show a response to sector wage levels. One explanation of these results is that for-profit colleges face different constraints than non-profit institutions and are better able to quickly adjust their faculty inputs to changing enrollment demands.