Date of Graduation

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

This study assessed whether participation in the Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies course had an effect on the leadership behaviors of students at four community colleges from urban and rural geographic locations within the tri-state area of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The researcher visited the four community colleges and distributed the Kouzes and Posner (1998a) Student Leadership Practices Inventory-Self and a demographic questionnaire to a total population of 92 students. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data according to the research questions guiding this study. The major findings indicated that the community college students ( N = 92) made impressive gains from pre- to post-tests in all five leadership practices. Significant differences between genders were revealed in only one practice. However, within each gender group, significant gains were demonstrated on all five leadership practices. Similarly, significant differences between age groups were shown in only one leadership practice. Within each age group, however, significant gains were demonstrated on four of the five leadership practices. Rural community college students out gained the urban students on the post-test on four of the five practices. Examination of the post-test scores within the rural and urban populations revealed that only the group of rural community college students made significant gains on all five practices. However, caution should be taken with the conclusion because the n of urban students was considerably smaller than the n of rural students. The specific gains in learning may suggest an increase in the general transformational skills of community college students who participated in the Phi Theta kappa Leadership Development Studies course and, thus, substantiates the efficacy of the course.

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