This study is designed to reveal the existing status of public school music in the rural elementary schools of Coryell County, Texas. It is also intended to serve as a tool for the teachers in those schools as they formulate and initiate their music programs. This study also makes the following recommendations: Every rural school in the county should make a close study of the music set-up. Every rural school should initiate a music program that will measure up to acceptable criteria and will meet the needs of the school in order to give equal musical opportunities to all pupils. If there are no funds available for the employment of a music supervisor, all teachers who teach music should have training in public school music in order to be most efficient. It is expedient that all music teachers hold a college degree with a major or minor in music in order to meet the requirements made by the state and to become better qualified for teaching. All rural schools should be equipped with a piano, victrola, and a radio in order that a well rounded music program may be carried out. Music textbooks should be made available for each child in the school, so that all children have the advantages they afford.

This study was made in the Demonstration School of the North Texas State Teacher's College, using the children of Grades I to V inclusive as subjects of the investigation. The problem was taken to try to discover if children of a certain age group have definite color preferences and other related questions such as if these preferences remain constant, if they are influenced by other factors such as intelligence, sex, or grade, and if there is consistency noticeable in the preferences of a group at any given grade level. It is also the aim of this study to see how the children of the Demonstration School compare with other groups that have been tested, to suggest possible reasons for differences, and to set forth a procedure that could be followed in order to secure more significant results than those which have been obtained by other investigators.

This study is for the purpose of making a critical analysis of the health program of the white elementary public schools of Cleburne, Texas with implications for other other cities of corresponding size. This analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of such a health program in light of certain evaluative criteria. It is intended to call attention to the existing facilities for adequate health instruction, the need, if any, for more and better facilities and the need for teacher training in this field.

The purpose of this study was to examine involvement of African refugee parents in the education of their elementary school children. The setting of the study was Northern and Southern Texas. African refugee parents and their children's teachers completed written surveys and also participated in interviews. In the study's mixed-method design, quantitative measures provided data about parent involvement at home, parent involvement at school, frequency of parent-teacher contact, quality of parent-teacher relationship, parent endorsement of children's schools, and barriers to parent involvement. Qualitative data from the open-ended questions provided data on barriers and strategies to improve involvement. Sixty-one African refugee parents responded to the survey and also participated in an in-depth face-to-face or telephone interview. Twenty teacher participants responded to an online survey. Quantitative data gathered from the parent and teacher surveys were analyzed using frequency distributions and analyses of variance. Qualitative data were analyzed by summarizing and sorting information into different categories using Weft QDA, an open-source qualitative analysis software. From these data, I identified barriers to African refugee parent involvement in their children's schools, as well as challenges that teachers face as they try to involve African refugee parents. Results of analyses of variance revealed statistically significant differences in parent involvement between African refugee parents with limited English proficiency and those with high English proficiency. A key finding of the research was that, whereas the overall level of parent involvement for African refugee parents was low, a major barrier to involvement was language. Teachers and parents cited enrolment in English as a second language programs as the best strategy to enhance parent involvement of African refugees. Additionally, parents who reported higher education levels were more involved in their children's education both at home and at school. All groups of African refugee parents reported high endorsement of their children's school. Strategies suggested to improve involvement include the use of interpreters and parent education on importance of involvement.

For decades, urban public schools have been plagued by systemic and structural challenges that continue today. Scholars, policymakers, and the general public have pointed to problems of learning in urban schools and to low expectations for urban students' learning, but little attention has been given to how urban students themselves conceptualize learning. This study sought to fill the void by asking a group of urban students about their views of learning. A phenomenographic approach was employed to examine the qualitatively different ways in which 20 urban elementary fifth-grade students expressed their conceptions of learning and of their learning approaches. Consistent with phenomenography, the study was intended to understand the collective expressions of individuals' conceptions regarding a phenomenon, and emphasis was on the mapping of variation across the conceptions. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions, conducted individually, elicited the students' conceptions of the meaning of learning and their learning approaches. In a "search for meaning" approach, analyses were based on students' transcribed responses forming a pool of quotations. These quotations were divided first into "what" and "how" categories—"what" is learning and "how" does learning occur—and then into subcategories. The results were a set of categories organized in a two-level hierarchy. The three "what" conceptions were as follows: learning as increasing knowledge, learning as growing as a person, and learning as applying knowledge. The three "how" conceptions were the following: learning by persevering, learning by using active learning strategies, and learning by participating in social interactions. These conceptions comprised an outcome space representing the six different ways that these urban school students expressed their conceptions of learning inside and outside of school contexts. Whereas much attention in the educational literature has been directed to teachers setting high expectations for urban students, students in this study seemed to be setting high expectations for themselves, which included college and career. Although prior research has pointed to a need for urban students to develop more positive mindsets regarding engagement and motivation, students in this study tended to express some major metacognitive insights into their own learning. Educational implications are suggested based on the findings.

This quantitative methods study explored the knowledge, attitudes and practices of PK-5 teachers on the use of technology applications in the classroom. The Texas State Board of Education has set in place standards for technology applications that require the use of technology applications across all grades. Likewise, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published new guidelines on the use of technology by children. However, it is the responsibility of teachers to implement and embed these standards, while also paying attention to the recommendations of the AAP. I developed a survey that provided demographic information, and included 12 items to measure the knowledge, attitudes and practices of teachers of technology applications in the classroom. Participants included 251 PK-5 teachers from three different districts in a South Texas region. Multiple regressions were conducted for each of the constructs produced by a factor analysis. Knowledge and attitudes presented no statistically significant results from individual teacher characteristics, but there were statistically significant differences on attitudes by districts. The regression analysis for practice reported a statistically significant difference between teachers that held a master's degree and those who did not. I conclude that technology applications implementation in the PK-5 classrooms is still developing and evolving, but there is still no consistency across districts, and further research in this matter is still needed.