The purpose of the study was twofold: to measure problems and needs of senior high school students as an aid to counsellors and guidance personnel in planning meaningful psychological services in the school, and to compare the problems and needs of students grouped according to school programme in order to determine if there are significant differences between these groups in terms of problems and needs expressed by means of a problem inventory. A population of 574 high school students was selected, comprising the grade eleven classes of two high schools in the area surrounding Vancouver. As each of the schools selected received students from over a wide area, it was assumed that social-economic-ability variables were randomized. The data was presented in a number of forms: 1) according to the intensity of the problem choices as expressed by the intensity scale of the Youth Inventory; 2) according to the percentage of students selecting each problem; 3) by problem areas; 4) by arithmetic means; and 5) by profile charts. This presentation was repeated for: 1) the entire population; 2) the entire male sample according to school programme sub-groups; and 3) the entire female sample according to school programme sub-groups. Analysis of variance was used to determine whether there were significant differences in problem choices between the eight problem areas for the entire population. The analysis of variance disclosed significant differences in five of the eight problem areas: Looking Ahead, About Myself, Getting Along with Others, Health, and Things in General. A Scheffé test for multiple comparisons between means did not disclose any significant differences between the problem choices of the school programme sub-groups. Limitations in sample size in the Visual and Performing Arts, and the Community Services programme sub-groups can be considered a serious weakness of the study. The findings did tend to support the hypothesis, that students with similar sets of problems tend to be found in the same school programmes. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

M.Ed. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the parental involvement in the education of their children. This research study is also an endeavour to explore the views of parents of students in grade eleven at Sitintile secondary school and on their role as support structure. In gathering data, qualitative research methods were used. This qualitative research methods lead to the understanding of people's perceptions. Processes that were involved in the data collection were one to one interviews with each of the twelve parents and observation was employed as the secondary data collection method. The researcher approached twelve individuals and they were identified as the sample population of the study . . The main implications of these findings could be summed up this way: • For the grade eleven students to prosper and be goal directed, parent-teacher relationship need to be enhanced. • There is a need for the parents to involve parents in the education of their children. • In conclusion, parents must play a meaningful role in the education of children.

Many high schools appear to be experiencing declining academic achievement and decreasing attendance. The Renaissance Program, which relies heavily on incentives, is currently being advocated nationally as a solution to these problems and has been implemented in many schools. The effectiveness of this program needs to be evaluated. School improvement literature from the Excellent Schools, the Essential Schools, and the Effective Schools calls for the institutional use of incentives to improve achievement. The Renaissance Program is an incentives-based approach used by Silver Lake Regional High School in order to improve motivation to achieve. It impacts students and teachers and is dependent on parents and the community for its success. Transforming (i.e., creative) leadership recommends that schools use incentives similar to those used in businesses. Psychological and educational research has shown that incentives are essential for effective motivation. An evaluation of the Renaissance Program at one suburban high school was undertaken by: (1) examining raw data concerning grades and attendance; (2) surveying a random sampling of students, teachers, and parents regarding their perceptions of the program; and (3) interviewing students, teachers, parents, and administrators, concerning their impressions about the effectiveness of the program. Since the implementation of the Renaissance Program, grades and attendance have improved and drop-out rates have decreased. Work attitudes and school spirit have also improved since the program was introduced. The program has been applicable to all students because of it is multi-faceted and flexible. There is teacher, parent, and community support for the program. However, in all three areas, there is a need for increased support. The program has been seen as mainly administrative-driven. There needs to be more student, parent, and teacher participation in the planning of the program. Student incentives need to be kept fresh but there does not seem to be a need for formal teacher incentives as part of the program. There is a great deal of support for the program and it has been seen as having a positive impact on the school as a whole.

This dissertation examines and analyzes the differences between a public and a private school in Nepal. The study looks at different factors such as school management and operation, school environment, external interference in school business, student discipline and behavior, teacher qualification and training and school curriculum. The study examines them as factors contributing to the school's success and effectiveness. The study explores how the two schools are managed and operated, the curriculums that are taught, and the learning environment that existed. The study describes how students, teachers, school Headmaster, Principal, and parents felt about the public and the private school. A qualitative case study method was used as the primary research methodology for this study. The main source of data came from in-depth interviews of 16 participants who were students, teachers, school Headmaster, Principal, and parents of the two schools. Additional data was gathered from the researcher's journal based on school observations, government statistical reports, and school documents. The findings indicate that the school Headmaster needs autonomy and decision making freedom to manage the school effectively. A positive learning environment is necessary for a school to succeed and outside interference and presence of non-educational activities such as politics is destructive to the school environment. The study suggests that the government and the community must clearly define and understand their role in the school, so that their involvement helps rather than interferes in the school. The study indicates that the quality of education in the private school was better than the one in the public school. Although not significantly different, the public school teachers had more qualifications and training than the private school teachers. However, more supplemental and advanced curricula was taught in the private school. Despite the high tuition and fees, the parents preferred to send their children to private schools.

Although there are many how-to manuals on forming business/school partnerships, there is little valuative information on what actually takes place within them. This dissertation, a case study of a school-to-work partnership between an urban high school's business education department and the local business community, affords a practical insight into the dynamics of such a cooperative. A series of in-depth, phenomenological interviews were conducted with student workers and their workplace mentors. Their candid, powerful testimonies reflect the backgrounds, attitudes, and concerns that each brought to the workplace. Their personal voices express the relationships and interactions that defined their work experiences. Additional interviews with key figures in several similar contemporary programs confirmed that business/school partnerships are as complex and sensitive as the personalities of the individuals and the characters of the institutions that form them. Although all of the participants in this study attest to the value and importance of such partnerships, it is also evident that the demands of sustaining a successful program are daunting. This study suggests that implementing the business/school mandates as proposed in school reform legislation will be difficult, if not impossible. The evidence in this study illustrates that predominantly minority students from disadvantaged backgrounds can succeed in an initial work experience, can grow through that exposure, and can then create new personal visions for themselves. Of the twenty-five business students who participated in this cooperative program, over half entered a two or four year college upon graduation; six were offered a permanent position with a business partner. The director of the partnership that is at the core of this study, a committed teacher and a business owner, was available on a daily basis to provide students with personal guidance as they assimilated new experiences, faced unexpected challenges, or redefined new understandings. The overall findings substantiate the value of such consistent individual support for students in their first adventure into the world-of-work.

Disaffected students have an extra need for activities which bolster self-confidence, add to self-esteem, and address their sense of alienation from more advantaged students. Without on-going efforts to compensate for their perceived inadequacies they are likely to fail in career and educational goals. Urban high schools do not have staff and programs available to assist these students. Hope lies in extra-curricular programs which attempt to bridge the gap between needs of the students and lack of resources available to alleviate the problem. The Senior Class Day Show is a successful extra-curricular program which has benefited many students who feel otherwise alienated from the mainstream. This is a qualitative descriptive case study in which I, as a participant-observer of this yearly event, examined 161 secondary school student Show participants of the total defined population of 1,285 students involved in the Show from 1969-1992 concentrating on years 1987, 1989, and 1991. A triangular methodology was used including the following: (1) Attendance statistics from 157 (100%) secondary school student Show participants from three graduating classes were analyzed and compared with non-participants from the same years. (2) Survey results from 115 (73%) secondary school student Show participants of the same three graduating classes were collected immediately after the Show. These results were coded into six categories which were developed after an examination of all the surveys. (3) Open-ended interviews with four alumni who had been Show participants and selected to represented different classes, sexes and background were coded and excerpts were aligned with the six categories examined in the surveys. The data shows that the absence rate for participants decreased during the fourth quarter when students were actively preparing for the Show and the mean absence percentage rate for quarter 1-4 were found to be significantly lower for participants than for non-participants. Surveys from 115 student participants expressed six positive benefits attributed to their participation. The most significant benefits expressed by these students were (1) improved attendance; (2) sense of community or "Esprit de Corps;" (3) heightened self-esteem; (4) opportunity for self-expression, (5) a sense of accomplishment, and (6) the thought of theater as a career.

The purpose of this study was to examine how college freshmen make meaning of their secondary school physical education experiences. The study was also designed to explore the events, individuals or factors associated with their physical education experiences that influenced the ways in which students construct their meanings. Using concepts first identified in Kelly's (1955) "personal construct psychology", the study was designed to understand how college students describe their experiences in high school physical education and their current beliefs about the value and meaning of those experiences. A semi-structured, open-ended interview format was used to engage 27 college freshmen from a small private, two year college in New England in a discussion about their high school physical education experiences. This methodology allowed the students/participants to ascribe their own meaning to the experiences they had in physical education. Each audiotaped interview session lasted approximately sixty minutes and was later transcribed for analysis. Two overriding themes emerged from the data. Students recognized and have come to understand that athleticism means power and physical education has little value as a subject matter offering. Several factors contributed to these understandings. The most influential factor was student skill level. Skill level influenced interactions with and treatment by teachers and other students. In many schools it created an adolescent society where personal status and underlying self worth were accorded solely on an individual's physical ability. Curriculum content and teaching behaviors were also identified as strongly influencing student experience. Programs which had a strong team sport foundation disenfranchised many students whose talents and interests did not find avenues of expression in the activities offered. Closely aligned with participants' remarks about curriculum choices were comments regarding the lack of instruction. Participants indicated that little teaching was occurring and low-skilled students believed this put them at an even greater disadvantage. Participants believed physical education had little value as a subject matter offering. These beliefs were most directly influenced by their association with parents and peers, while indirectly influenced by grading schemes and contrasts with other more "academic" subjects.

By reviewing teacher-made revisions of regularly taught curriculum units, this set of case studies attempts to describe the pedagogical content knowledge development of four concept-oriented middle school teachers. One strand is highlighted: The nature and use of their instructional representations. A primary goal of this effort is to trace the kinds of refinements teachers make in their teaching knowledge after years of blending subject matter with pedagogy. A second goal is to detail influences on such refinements in order to inform preservice and inservice teacher education aimed at teaching for conceptual understanding.

The purpose of this study was to describe the functions and structures within gay/straight alliances (GSAs) in the public schools of Massachusetts. Six questions guided this study: (a) What are the roots of GSAs? (b) What are the purposes of GSAs? (c) How are GSAs structured? (d) What are the outcomes of GSAs? (e) What are the strengths of GSAs? (f) What are the challenges faced by GSAs? Participants in this study were selected from two groups: current and former Safe Schools for Gay and Lesbian Students Program (SSGLSP) staff members at the Massachusetts Department of Education, Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, and Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth were interviewed and advisors of GSAs active in Massachusetts at the start of the 1998/99 school year were asked to complete surveys. The purposes of the SSGLSP are to provide support and safety for lesbian and gay students. GSAs fulfill the purposes of the SSGLSP by providing opportunities for support, social interaction, and education. Study participants perceived the outcomes of GSAs to be replacing silence with visibility, replacing isolation with connection, making known the presence of lesbian and gay students in schools, providing opportunities for positive risk taking, challenging norms of silence, and contributing to a new vision for schools. Perceived strengths of the GSA model are conceptualizing GSAs as support groups, including lesbian and gay and straight students in the support group, providing institutional support, encouraging students to speak out about issues facing lesbian and gay students, and taking action at the right time. Advisors perceived the strengths of GSAs to be the personal qualities of student members, consistency of meeting times, and the ability to persevere in spite of opposition. Governor's Commission and Department of Education personnel perceived the challenges faced by GSAs to be dealing with fear, meeting the needs of lesbian and gay students along with heterosexual students, balancing competing priorities, and meeting the needs of underserved groups. Advisors named three logistical challenges facing GSAs: maintaining or increasing GSA membership, finding a convenient meeting time, and inconsistent meeting attendance.

The lives and careers of teachers have been studied from several perspectives (e.g., teacher career stage development, adult development, and the organizational context of teachers). Teacher career stages have been the focus of much educational research since Fuller (1969) first outlined her stages of teacher concern. Over the course of the next three decades multiple models of teacher career development were proposed and tested. Teacher career development, as conceptualized by Burke and colleagues, emphasizes the influence of teachers' organizational (i.e., work) and personal (i.e., adult development) contexts on their development as teachers (Burke, Christensen, & Fessler, 1984; Burke, Christensen, Fessler, McDonell, & Price, 1987). Taking into account contexts in which teacher career development occurs provides a dynamic lens through which to view teacher development. Therefore, the teacher career cycle model served as the theoretical framework for this qualitative study of the lives and careers of urban physical education teachers. The purpose of this qualitative study was twofold. First, it was designed to understand how veteran urban physical education teachers experience their lives and careers. Second, it explored ways in which the factors influencing the lives and careers of these physical education teachers affected their career longevity in urban schools. Participants included 9 (4F, 5M) urban physical education teachers who had between four and 31 years of teaching experience in urban schools (mean = 10yrs.). Data were collected through observation and in depth interviews. Data analysis consisted of open and axial coding to identify themes and categories across participants. Results indicated that for this group of teachers, organizational context, personal context, and their development as teachers influenced their work lives and careers. In addition, as this group of teachers gained experience in urban schools, they developed skills necessary to maintain order to facilitate learning in their dynamic work environments. This study has implications for teacher education and professional development. As we learn more about the teachers who stay in urban schools we will be better able to prepare them to meet the needs of working in urban school contexts.