This creative project attempted to help six indigent black kindergarten mothers from an inner city school community to develop better self-concepts through a systematically planned sequence of workshop sessions conducted by the author.The sessions were on good grooming and charm, physical fitness and diet, home planning and budget, social activities and political awareness.The Tennessee Self Concept Scale and the Sentence Completion Test were administered to the six mothers pre and post. A comparative evaluation of test data indicated a decrease in conflict of emotions by the Sentence Completion Test and an increase in the total positive score by the Tennessee Self Concept Scale.The writer concluded that progress was made toward the development of better self-concepts by the mothers as a consequence of these experiences.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the relationship between a kindergarten screening battery (KSB) and two criterion variables (academic achievement and educational placement) varied as a function of race. The subjects were 702 elementary school students, approximately 176 per grade, in kindergarten, first, third, and fourth grade. Approximately 45 students per grade were American Indian, with the remainder Caucasian.Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between the KSB, race, and its interaction with each criterion variable. The predictor variables were the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), the Kindergarten Language Screening Test (KLST), the Developmental Visual-Motor Integration Test (VMI), the Draw-A-Child (DAC), race, and the four race x KSB test vectors. Criterion variables were the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) total battery, and educational placement (special education vs. regular education status).The KSB predictor variables were entered into the multiple regression equations as a block. Race was then entered as a coded group vector, followed by the four race x KSB test interaction vectors. The increment in R2 due uniquely to the interaction was nonsignificant (slopes were homogeneous) in all analyses. Both the effects of race and the KSB were significant for all grades with achievement as the criterion (p < .01).Bias in predicting educational placement was tested using all subjects combined. Both the interaction and race effects were nonsignificant. The main effect of the KSB was significant (p < .01). An improvement over chance analysis showed that the KSB increased predictive accuracy of the at-risk determination over chance.The weighted composites which best predicted achievement consisted primarily of the language instrument, the PPVT-R, and race. The two psychomotor tests (the DAC and VMI) contributed useful information at the two earlier grades. The composite which best predicted educational placement was made up primarily of the expressive language measure, the KLST.Results of the study supported continued use of the KSB. However, race should be used as a variable when predicting achievement from the KSB, so as not to overpredict American Indian achievement or underpredict Caucasian achievement. Results also indicated the potential utility of early language enrichment for improving achievement of high risk children. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of occurrences of sociodramatic play behavior during the dramatic play of black male and female children three and four years of age using the six elements of sociodramatic play identified by Smilansky (1968). This study attempted to determine whether there was relationship between sociodramatic play and age among black children and whether the same relationship between age and sociodramatic play was the same for black males as for black females.Sociodramatic play is a combination of all of the elements of dramatic play which include: imitative role play, make believe in regard to objects, make believe in regard to actions and situations, persistence, interaction, and verbal communication. In order to be termed sociodramatic play all of the six elements must be present. Most children engage in some form of dramatic play, but interaction and verbal communication are the two elements that make the dramatic play sociodramatic.Forty-eight black children who were three and four years of age were selected on a convenience basis from three day care centers located in mideastern Indiana. All of the children lived in cities having an excess population of 70,000 people.The children were observed individually as a member of a group of four, in a structured play setting. Two observers made narrative records of the play behavior of the same child systematically every thirty seconds for five minutes, in order to have a total of 20 observations, 10 from each observer, per child, per day for each of six consecutive days. The child's actions were recorded on the specimen portion of the instrument and, after analysis, were later transferred to the checklist portion of the instrument.The C.W.S. (Chirstman, Werton, Schurrr) Observation Instrument was an adaptation and refinement of the instruments used by Smilansky and the Ohio State University Research Group (1970). The two observers who participated in the study were trained in the use of the C.W.S. Observation Instrument. The application of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation technique produced an interrator reliability on scoring of the play behavior of .94 for the six days of observation.A univariate analysis of variance has been applied to the collected data. Sex and age of the child constituted the independent variables. Each of the six elements of sociodramatic play have been treated as a dependent variable.Testing the hypotheses on the variables of sex and age produced no significant differences at the .05 level of significance although several of the dependent variables approached the level of significance.Eleven of twenty-four three-year-old black children did not engage in all six elements of sociodramatic play. Five of twenty-four four-year-old black children did not engage in all six of the elements of sociodramatic play. The remaining thirty-two of the forty-eight black children in this study did engage in all six of the elements of sociodramatic play.Consistent differences appeared in both the age of the black child in regard to the six elements of sociodramatic play and sex of the child, but these differences did not prove to be statistically significant.

The purpose of this study was to describe the levels of sociodramatic play among three and four year old Mexican-American migrant children by determining the frequency of sociodramatic play behaviors of these children. In addition, this study was designed to ascertain whether children's sociodramatic play behavior differed according to the sex of the child and the age of the child. The statistical design of this study also allowed for the investigation of Mexican-American migrant children to determine if they differ in occurrences on sociodramatic play behavior when placed in different play group combinations: same age, different sex; different age, same sex; different age, different sex.Forty-eight three and four year old Mexican-American migrant children were observed to determine the amount of sociodramatic play displayed. Children, in groups of four, were observed in a structured play setting for a total of 30 minutes over six five-minute periods. During each of the five-minute sessions, two trained observers focused attention exclusively on one child and recorded specimen observations of his play behaviors.The two observers, trained during four in-field training sessions and who also participated in four field testing sessions, were employed in the study to observe Mexican-American migrant three and four year old children to determine if any of the six elements of sociodramatic play identified by Sara Smilansky, Ohio State University, 1968, were present. The six elements of sociodramatic play are: (1) imitative role play, (2) make-believe in regard to objects, (3) make-believe in regard to actions and situations, (4) persistence, (5) interaction, (6) verbal communication.An observation record designed for the study was employed by the two observers to record specimen records of the child's play behaviors. Following the recording of play behaviors, frequency of play behaviors for each of the six elements of sociodramatic play was determined for each child in the study. A total play score across the six sessions were ascertained for each subject.Frequencies of play behaviors were descriptively analyzed to describe levels of play and statistically analyzed to determine the significance of differences in sociodramatic play according to sex, age, play groupings, and interaction effects among these variables.The statistical technique used was an analysis of variance performed on transformed data.The frequency of sociodramatic play among three and four year old Mexican-American migrant children appeared to be low. The following percentages were computed by comparing frequencies of occurrences with total possible occurrences of behavior: three year old males engaged in some aspect of sociodramatic play 2.6 percent of the total possible time; three year old females, 7.4 percent; four year old males, 9.8 percent; four year old females, 9.8 percent. When comparing sociodramatic play between Mexican-American migrant males and females, females scored significantly higher (p <.02) than males. When comparing differences in sociodramatic play between three and four year old Mexican-American migrant children, four year olds scored significantly higher than three year olds (p <.02). Although some differences did occur when children were placed in different play group combinations: same age, different sex; different age, same sex; different age, different sex; the differences were not statistically significant.

The purposes of this study were (1) to identify through the Teacher Problem Inventory the perceived problems of selected teachers of two different types of Catholic elementary inner-city schools in Chicago and (2) to compare through the California F-Scale the perceived problems of open and closed-minded inner-city teachers of selected Catholic elementary schools in Chicago. Responses of the teachers to the Teacher Problem Inventory were considered in relation to the teachers': age, sex, race, number of years taught in the inner-city, type of schools, open or closed-minded and religious or lay teachers provided the basis for data analysis.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Special Education)--Vanderbilt University, Dec. 2007. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Ed.(Curriculum Studies))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2008. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." Under the direction of Linda M. Arthur. ETD. Electronic version approved: May 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-153) and appendices.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1994. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Margaret Terry Orr. Dissertation Committee: Francis A. J. Ianni. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-131).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-89).