Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The paper addresses a series of questions of significance: What are the political forces behind the accountability movement? Why have some states been quicker to seek accountability in their universities' than others?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study reports the results of qualitative interviews with thirty-six American Indian middle and high school students of both high and low achievement. The research explores the differences in how each group accounts for academic success and failure. Research results reveal that high achievers couple individual agency, defined as desire, commitment, and effort, with parental support while low achievers stress agency in combination with conforming to norms as formulas for success. The belief in agency as paramount to academic success, coupled with the perception that other minority groups experience greater harassment, hinders a deeper understanding of racism in the schools. Regardless of present academic standing, the students believe they have an equal opportunity to succeed in school and consequently attain professional careers.

Publication Type: Roundtable
Abstract: This presentation provides results of a comparison study of the preparatory ACT test with a high-stakes state assessment. The results are pertinent to improving student achievemen and best practice for colleges of education.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The present research uses experimental vignette data to examine the conditions under which individuals are more likely to assist another in maintaining his/her identity after an action and emotion display that disconfirm the individual’s identity. Specifically, I examine the use of recall errors and accounts by individuals as ways of restoring congruence between an alter’s identity and emotion. Preliminary analysis shows that individuals make more accounts for actors who appear to feel badly for their harmful actions. Conversely, individuals make more recall errors when actors display a neutral emotion after a bad act, the least likely emotion predicted by Affect Control Theory. These findings suggest two things. First, recall errors and accounts, though both used in identity maintenance, work differently. Secondly, when actors display inappropriate affect, individuals have difficulty remembering the details of the story, which may benefit the actor.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between written confrontation and account use through an issue development lens. This study looks at accounts by organizational members in response to a coworker’s confrontation. The results indicate a strong relationship between interpretations of conflict issues in a coworker’s written confrontation letter and respondents’ account use. Examining the account process through a framing lens can expand current understandings of the confrontation-account relationship, as well as the functions of accounts in conflicts.