ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Beyond Conferences: Attitudes of High School Administrators toward Parental Involvement in One Small Midwestern State
Author: Lloyd-Smith, Laura
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Parent Participation,Parent School Relationship,Principals,High Schools,Secondary Education,Educational Administration,Administrator Attitudes,Parent Role,Academic Achievement

The importance of parental involvement for students of all ages has been documented by researchers and acknowledged by practitioners. Although many earlier studies have contended that there is a positive association between parental involvement and school performance at the middle and high school levels, administrators in the field are aware that parental involvement levels decline as a child progresses through school, and that there are many challenges associated with implementing parental involvement strategies at the secondary level. This study assessed the attitudes of South Dakota high school principals regarding parental involvement in four categories including communication, competency, collaboration issues, and external factors. Analysis of the data revealed that while principals may agree that parental involvement is critical at the secondary level, implementation of appropriate and meaningful roles for parents is challenging. The most significant differences in principals' attitudes were found within the complex category of communication. Other slight attitudinal differences were found in the responses of principals to statements related to external factors which may inhibit secondary level parental involvement. The attitude of the principal cannot be understated when it comes to establishing a schoolwide parent involvement program. Thus, many principals would be well served to assess their own attitudes toward this sometimes overlooked aspect of educational partnerships. (Contains 8 tables.)
Training School Professionals to Engage Families: A Pilot University/State Department of Education Partnership
Author: Bartels, Susan M.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Family Involvement,Parent School Relationship,School Community Relationship,Teacher Education Programs,Teacher Attitudes,Graduate Study,Behavior Change,Attitude Change,Teacher Behavior,Parent Teacher Cooperation,Communication Skills,Problem Solving,Conflict Resolution,Questionnaires,Program Effectiveness

Federal and professional mandates call for increased family involvement in education, yet most teacher preparation programs do not teach skills necessary to engage families in a thorough or systematic manner. The current project addressed this training deficit by offering a program that included a sequence of three graduate courses to a cohort of school professionals in a high-need school district. Courses were taught at a school within that district and included projects designed to address the needs of the community in which the participants were employed. Qualitative analysis suggests that following completion of the courses, school professionals enhanced their ability to engage families and experienced positive changes in attitude toward family-professional collaboration. Importantly, participants were able to articulate specific ways in which they planned to utilize new skills in the school setting. A unique aspect of this study was investigation of continued use of new knowledge and skills and implementation of action plans six months post-training. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)
Linking Home and School: Teacher Candidates' Beliefs and Experiences
Author: Hindin, Alisa
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Teaching,Parent Participation,Teacher Role,Field Experience Programs,Parent School Relationship,Student Teacher Attitudes,Urban Areas,Urban Schools,Student Teachers,Parent Role

The role of family in children's education is unquestionable. While a number of factors influence the type and level of educational support that parents provide for children, researchers have found that the greatest influence on parent involvement is the classroom teacher. Despite the important role teachers play in parent involvement, little is known about the ways teachers develop their beliefs and understandings of parent involvement practices. The current study focuses on candidates' observations, experiences, and perceptions of parent involvement activities during their field placements and student teaching. Findings indicate that teacher candidates observed a number of parent involvement activities during field experiences and student teaching. Candidates viewed parents as having an essential role in children's education. However, candidates did not observe ideal interactions with families when placed in urban settings, and there were inconsistencies between candidates' perceptions of parents' and teachers' roles. (Contains 4 tables.)
Parents &quot;Don't&quot; Do Nothing: Reconceptualizing Parental Null Actions as Agency
Author: Schnee, Emily
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Urban Schools,Mathematics Education,Mathematics Activities,Caregivers,Parent Participation,Parent Role,Homework,Interviews,Elementary School Students,African Americans,Hispanic Americans,Intention,Interests,Self Determination,Barriers,English (Second Language),Parent Teacher Cooperation,Immigrants,Teacher Attitudes

This paper presents findings from a larger study that examined the roles that parents and caregivers are given and/or choose to enact to support their children's mathematics learning, particularly in relation to their children's math homework. Based on interviews with parents of elementary-age children from three different urban school districts in the northeastern United States, we propose a conceptualization of parental engagement that uses a framework of human agency to understand both beliefs and rationales underlying parental actions as well as the apparent lack of actions. Our findings identify challenges parents encounter in relation to their children's school mathematics and reveal the limits of school-centered conceptions of parental engagement. (Contains 2 tables.)
Parent-Teacher-Student Discrepancies in Academic Ability Beliefs: Influences on Parent Involvement
Author: Patel, Nimisha
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle School Students,Middle School Teachers,Student Attitudes,Parent Participation,Parent School Relationship,Academic Ability,Academic Achievement,Parent Attitudes,Spanish Speaking,English,Native Speakers,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Teacher Attitudes,Low Income,Urban Schools

Most studies examining influences on parent involvement focus on common demographic factors, such as social class or gender, and on elementary grades. In the present study, we investigated a more malleable influence, perceptions of ability, in the context of middle school. We examined how perceptions held by parents, teachers, and students concerning students' academic abilities affected parents' involvement and teachers' facilitation of school programs for involvement. We considered differences between parents who spoke Spanish or English in our sample drawn from two low-income, urban middle schools with a large Latino population. We also examined how involvement and programs are related to discrepancies in perceptions of children's academic abilities between parents, teachers, and students. In general, as discrepancies increased between parents and teachers or between parents and students, parents tended to be less involved and teachers tended to facilitate fewer programs for parent involvement. Furthermore, significant differences in involvement were found between Spanish- and English-speaking parents related to parent-teacher discrepancies in perceptions of students' general scholastic abilities and to parent-student discrepancies in students' math abilities. This study indicates that perceptions of student ability held by teachers, parents, and students have an influence on parents' and teachers' actions regarding family and school partnerships. It also underscores the importance of clarifying how beliefs are indirectly communicated in order to improve our efforts to promote collaboration. (Contains 3 tables.)
Sources of Confidence in School Community Councils
Author: Nygaard, Richard
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle Schools,School Councils,Parent Participation,Parent School Relationship,School Personnel,Expertise,Democracy,Formative Evaluation

Three Utah middle level school community councils participated in a qualitative strengths-based process evaluation. Two of the school community councils were identified as exemplary, and the third was just beginning to function. One aspect of the evaluation was the source of school community council members' confidence. Each school had unique themes that emerged related to sources of confidence. The first middle school's SCC's sources of confidence were the opportunity to appropriate money, the investment of time and energy, and the witness of program impact. At the second middle school, confidence developed as a direct result of the principal's support of the process and members' full engagement in the school improvement process. Confidence at the third council came as the members were involved in the hiring of a new principal, and members also expressed that confidence would increase with more parent involvement. Through comparison and contrast, a common source of confidence emerged. It became clear that building confidence depends on the level of involvement in the school improvement process. A major theme of that involvement is the need for a balance between the democratic ideals of the council and the expertise of the professionals. The evaluation revealed that confidence results as an appropriate balance is achieved between democracy and expertise.
Maternal Management of Social Relationships as a Correlate of Children's School-Based Experiences
Author: Fletcher, Anne C.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mothers,Structural Equation Models,Academic Achievement,Questionnaires,Grade 4,Educational Environment,Parent Influence,Interpersonal Relationship,Correlation,Stress Variables,Elementary School Students,Interviews,Student Experience,Peer Relationship,Friendship,Models,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement,Gender Differences,Social Status,Self Concept

We tested a model considering the manner in which mothers' use of their own social relationships and efforts to facilitate their children's school-based social relationships were associated with two distinct types of school-based competence: academic achievement and levels of stress experienced within the school environment. Fourth grade children (n = 311) and their mothers participated in interviews and completed questionnaires providing information on social relationships and school experiences. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses indicated a good fit for a model in which mothers' efforts to facilitate children's social relationships with peers were associated with lower levels of school-based stress, but mothers' efforts to maintain social connections with the parents of their children's school friends were linked with lower levels of objectively measured academic achievement. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)
Facilitating Family Involvement in Early Intervention to Preschool Transition
Author: Pang, Yanhui
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Early Intervention,Family Involvement,Systems Approach,Disabilities,Transitional Programs,Literature Reviews,Social Theories,Student Diversity,Family Needs,Family Characteristics,Family Relationship,Environmental Influences,Immigrants,Chinese Americans,Occupational Therapy,Speech Language Pathology,Chinese,English (Second Language),Student Adjustment,Case Studies,Autism,Preschool Children,Cultural Influences,Federal Legislation,Kindergarten,Young Children

Active family involvement and important family roles in the early intervention to preschool transition have been mandated by laws, recognized by the position statements of professional organizations, and validated through evidence-based research. In order to involve families in this process, reduce stresses, and conquer the challenges families may encounter, professionals who serve families in this process should seek to fully understand families' needs and priorities and to establish collaboration with them to design appropriate transition goals and effective strategies. The application of a conceptual framework of family systems theory and family-centered practices can fulfill this task. The purpose of the study is two-fold: to review literature on family involvement in the transition from early intervention programs to programs for three-year-olds from a perspective of the conceptual framework of family systems theory, thus providing a good view of the needs, priorities, strengths, and weaknesses of families from diverse backgrounds; and to describe family-centered practices for developing quality transition services that meet families' diverse needs, thus smoothing the transition process.
Diving in: Adolescents' Experiences of Physical Work in the Context of Theatre Education
Author: Tuisku, Hannu
Date: 2010-12-03
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Adolescents,Theater Arts,Art Education,Secondary School Students,Acting,Physical Activities,Adolescent Development,Psychological Patterns,Student Attitudes,Student Experience,Foreign Countries

This study deals with adolescents' experiences and perceptions of physical actor training practice in the context of theatre education. The study took place in Kallio Upper Secondary School of Performing Arts in Helsinki, Finland, where I work as a drama teacher. As a researcher, I carried out an authorized inquiry with two groups of 16-year old students who took part in acting classes as an optional subject in their curriculum. This qualitative phenomenological research followed the basic principles of an embodied narrative inquiry, presented by Liora Bresler (2006). Regarding the developmental process the psychodynamic approach is being used along with the phenomenological. Overall the students' response was positive: they found it easier to &quot;dive in&quot; when there was an emphasis on the physical in the course work. Also the fact that the work was collective was considered helpful. Physical work seems to provide possibilities for an adolescent to take steps in personal growth. We can call these break-through experiences. However, when the work is both physical and collective it can also create unnecessary emotional distress. Therefore, special attention should be paid to dialogical encounter in pedagogical situations. (Contains 12 notes.)
Voices of Resistance, Voices of Transcendence: Musicians as Models of the Poetic--Political Imagination
Author: Baxter, Marsha
Date: 2010-12-04
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Musicians,Grade 5,Elementary School Students,Social Justice,Social Responsibility,Music Education,Poetry,Singing,Musical Composition,Writing Instruction

How might songs, like John Lennon's &quot;Imagine&quot; or Bob Dylan's &quot;Blowin' in the wind&quot;, offer ways to explore alternative ways of being in the world, to challenge the status quo? How might these songs become springboards for original pieces that capture students' ideas about world issues? In this article, I observe what happens when selected strategies from an on-going curricular writing project utilizing a social justice framework are presented to a class of New York City fifth graders. I draw from student-created songs, instrumental compositions, written and video-taped narratives to document ways in which these elementary school students embrace ideals of social responsibility through music-making. (Contains 1 note.)
SoundScape: An Interdisciplinary Music Intervention for Adolescents and Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum
Author: Greher, Gena R.
Date: 2010-08-17
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Young Adults,Adolescents,Intervention,Music Activities,Music Education,Pervasive Developmental Disorders,Computer Uses in Education,Undergraduate Students,Graduate Students,Outreach Programs,Preservice Teacher Education,Psychology,Interdisciplinary Approach,Program Effectiveness

Service provision for adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is lacking, particularly post high school. We report on a music intervention program, outline our program model, and report some initial pilot data evaluating the program outcomes. We also discuss implications for undergraduate and graduate students who were involved in the project. Overall, outcomes were positive and highlighted the need for such interventions among the ASD community. We hope our observations focused on the strengths and weaknesses of the program will be helpful to others who may be considering implementing a similar intervention. (Contains 2 tables and 4 notes.)
Understanding Works of Art, the Inexpressible, and Teaching: A Philosophical Sketch
Author: Richmond, Stuart
Date: 2010-09-20
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Art Education,Comprehension,Philosophy,Artists,Audiences,Art

Understanding is an elusive and little understood concept yet it is frequently cited as an educational aim. The aim of this paper is to illuminate the nature of understanding in the art education context. This paper explores critically the conceptual background of understanding, drawing on the work of Wittgenstein, to reveal its varied and indeterminate nature and the importance of public criteria in the sharing of understanding. Focusing on art, the paper shows how understanding involves an experiential and imaginative synthesis of a work's concepts and features, inexpressible aspects and the viewer's subjective contribution. The importance of giving an artwork its due as an artist's creative achievement is supported. Notes for teaching response to art are offered in keeping with understanding's open texture.
Financial Planners: Educating Widows in Personal Financial Planning
Author: Korb, Brian R.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Financial Services,Risk Management,Money Management,Widowed,Interviews,Womens Studies,Consumer Education,Baby Boomers,Program Content,Delivery Systems,Educational Needs,Needs Assessment,Grounded Theory,Program Attitudes

Widows constitute a growing segment of the U.S. population; however, very little has been done to educate them on the basics of personal financial planning. The creation and implementation of financial planning education programs for widows can help them become more financially literate and free them from anxiety and fear. Interviews with eight financial planners and 12 of their widow clients, along with research into financial planning education programs form the basis for this paper. Research findings include suggestions for financial education content in the topic areas of financial planner qualities, goal setting, cash flow management, risk management, investment management, and estate planning. Implications for the role of financial planners and non-profit educational institutions in the financial education of widows are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)
Cognitive Conflict and Situational Interest as Factors Influencing Conceptual Change
Author: Kang, Hunsik
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Conflict,Path Analysis,Concept Formation,Foreign Countries,Grade 7,Teaching Methods,Misconceptions,Student Behavior,Student Interests,Correlation,Attention,Middle School Students,Questionnaires,Pretests Posttests,Computer Assisted Instruction,Recall (Psychology),Scientific Concepts,Physics

In this study, we investigated the relationships among cognitive conflict and situational interest induced by a discrepant event, attention and effort allocated to learning, and conceptual change in learning the concept of density. Subjects were 183 seventh graders from six middle schools in Seoul, Korea. A preconception test, a test of responses to a discrepant event, and a questionnaire of situational interest were administered as pretests. Computer-assisted instruction was then provided to the students as a conceptual change intervention. Questionnaires regarding attention and effort, and a conception test were administered as posttests. The conception test was administered once more as a retention test four weeks later. The results of path analysis indicated that both cognitive conflict and situational interest induced by a discrepant event respectively had an indirect effect on students' conceptual understanding, which were mediated by attention and effort allocated to concept learning. Situational interest, however, was found to exert a stronger influence on conceptual change than cognitive conflict. It was also found that attention, either directly or indirectly through effort, influenced students' conceptual understanding. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)
Students' Understanding of Connections between Human Engineered and Natural Environmental Systems
Author: Tsurusaki, Blakely K.
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science and Society,Relevance (Education),Science Curriculum,Elementary Secondary Education,Environmental Education,Sanitation,Climate,Ecology,Sustainability,Educational Research,Interdisciplinary Approach

This research draws on developments in educational research where "learning progressions" are emerging as a strategy for synthesizing research on science learning and applying that research to policy and practice, and advances in the natural sciences, where "interdisciplinary research on coupled human and natural systems" has become increasingly important. It focuses on the human systems that supply all of our essential goods and services (i.e., food, water, transportation), which begin and end in the earth's natural systems. In order to investigate what students know about how human actions affect environmental systems, we developed assessments focusing on "supply and waste disposal chains". In addition, students were asked about a major environmental issue--global warming. Assessments were administered to elementary, middle, and high school students from rural, suburban, and urban schools. Results from this study provide insight into how student knowledge of connections between human-engineered and natural systems varies across grade level and context, which is essential if we are to teach students to be responsible citizens and stewards of our environment. (Contains 6 tables, 4 figures, and 6 notes.)
Investigation of Conceptual Change about Double-Slit Interference in Secondary School Physics
Author: Kocakulah, Mustafa Sabri
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Constructivism (Learning),Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Physics,Achievement Tests,Interviews,Teaching Methods,Secondary School Students,Light,Grade 11,Secondary School Science,Scientific Concepts,Comprehension,Conventional Instruction,Comparative Analysis,Foreign Countries

In this study, whether or not constructivist teaching of double-slit interference of light has a positive effect on the secondary school students' conceptual change is examined. An achievement test, a conceptual understanding test and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection tools in this mixed methods research. Experimental group was taught with constructivist approach while control group was taught with traditional method in which teacher was the only authority in defining the course of teaching. It has been identified that experimental group students show high level conceptual understandings after teaching. Superiorities of experimental group, which involve the construction of cause and effect relationships, the transfer and configuration of knowledge, have been identified with the interviews conducted. It was concluded that teaching in the experiment group was more successful than teaching in the control group in terms of the construction of the meaning of interference, path difference, fringe width concepts and understanding the formation of bright and dark fringes. (Contains 2 tables and 6 figures.)