<p> The advocacy of parent involvement, specifically by k-8 (elementary and middle school) administrators will be examined through the use of qualitative research method which will entail a thorough and immense review of the body of literature on this subject matter. The body of literature will cover the significance of parent involvement in various settings, such as in the home and in the classroom, and the significance to teachers, administrators, and students. The political components of parent involvement advocacy will be introduced and discussed in detail and additionally, the relationships between administrators, teachers, parents, and students will be examined and discussed. The data collection for this study will be conducted through the lens of a phenomenological approach. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect and impact that k-8 school administrators have on the implementation of parent engagement programs. Therefore, this will determine the success of parent involvement initiatives to promote parents as leaders in children&rsquo;s academic careers. explained. It will be explained through the examination of administrators who are or are not advocating for the implementation of parent engagement programs that will essentially allow parents to be involved in their children&rsquo;s academic careers in and outside of the classroom environment. The study will seek to discover the strategies used by administrators, challenges they face, and how success is measured. Administrators will also be asked for anecdotal recommendations for others in the field looking to implement similar programs.</p><p>

Mathematics education in the elementary schools has experienced many changes in recent decades. With the curriculum becoming more complex as a result of each modification, immense pressure has been put on schools to increase student proficiency. The Common Core State Standards is the latest example of this. These revisions to the mathematics curriculum require a comprehensive understanding of mathematics that the typical elementary teacher lacks. Some elementary schools have begun changing the organization of their classrooms from self-contained to departmentalized as a possible solution to this problem. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effects of elementary departmentalization on student mathematics proficiency. This was done by exploring and comparing the background and educational characteristics, teaching practices, assessment methods, beliefs, and influence of departmentalized elementary mathematics teachers. The study also investigated the circumstances under which there are significant differences in mathematics proficiency between departmentalized and non-departmentalized elementary students, and examined if these differences continued into students' eighth-grade years and/or led to higher level eighth-grade mathematics course attainment. Additionally, the study aimed to determine if there was a relationship between elementary departmentalization and mathematics proficiency and also to identify additional factors that could lead to mathematics proficiency. Data came from the U.S. Department of Education's Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) data set. The ECLS-K is a national data set that followed the same children from kindergarten to eighth grade focusing on their school experiences from 1998 to 2007. Numerous statistical analyses were conducted on this rich data set, utilizing the statistical software Stata 13 and R. The results of this study indicate that there is a significant difference in the mathematics proficiency of departmentalized and non-departmentalized students when teachers have below-average mathematics backgrounds. The students of the mathematically below-average departmentalized teachers displayed the highest mathematics proficiency as well as the biggest gain in mathematics proficiency, and these higher proficiencies and gains continued into later grade levels. However, when exploring differences in mathematics proficiency among all students, there were no conclusive differences between departmentalized and non-departmentalized students. Regression models yielded inconclusive results as well, even after controlling for factors pertaining to classroom size, student demographics and socioeconomic status, student confidence, parental background, teacher knowledge and instructional practices, and prior student mathematical proficiency. Other findings include self-contained and departmentalized third-grade teachers being very similar in their educational backgrounds and teaching practices, whereas departmentalized and non-departmentalized fifth-grade teachers were found to be fairly different in their educational backgrounds and instructional practices. However, in both grade levels, self-contained teachers appeared to be more reliant on printed materials than departmentalized teachers.

Many school districts do not require science in the elementary school curriculum or place significantly more emphasis on the performance of students on the ELA and Math tests. With science education shifting to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), there is a critical need for high quality science instruction in elementary schools. This study examines the experiences of 28 elementary teachers engaged in a science education professional development program that was comprised of 60 kindergarten through twelve grade teachers. I examine the experiences of the 28 elementary teachers as they work in vertically aligned professional learning communities with middle and high school teachers. Findings in this study indicate that the model provides a supportive environment for elementary teachers to grow and develop both personally and professionally in their science teaching practice. Evidence is presented that shows how a learning community of elementary, middle and high school teachers can provide an opportunity for elementary teachers to socially construct knowledge of how to best support student success in science. Additionally, the findings show that elementary teachers are able to socially construct knowledge about effective teaching practices in science that support core science teaching practices. The findings also indicate that the nature of these learning communities also provided many structures that can support increased efficacy amongst elementary science teachers. Finally, the experiences of elementary teachers engaged in his study were overwhelmingly positive, leading to increased trust and respect amongst peers and improved confidence and motivation to teach science at the elementary level.

Writing instruction has been neglected, both in teacher preparation courses and in professional development in literacy. Yet, the adoption of new standards and teacher evaluation systems by many states demands increased writing instruction and teacher “effectiveness” in providing it. Teachers, then, have faced higher expectations for writing instruction with little support for what those expectations mean or how to enact them in their own contexts. To meet these demands, it has been suggested that teachers must see themselves as writers in order to work most productively with children as writers. Therefore, if teachers must identify as writers to be “effective,” then teachers who do not identify as writers are also denied an identity as “good teachers.” These static, binary identity categories serve as “cover stories” to obscure a much more complicated reality. Informed by critical writing pedagogy and a literacy-and-identity studies framework, this study explored how teacher-writers in one school-based writing group perform, understand, and narrate their identities as writers and teachers of writing. Utilizing a narrative inquiry methodology for group meetings and interviews, I analyzed the complex, fluid, and sometimes contradictory identities of teacher-writers, and the construction, reconstruction, and mobilization of stories within and about the group. The static, binary identities group members claimed served as cover stories, the static categorical writer-selves that we construct in relation to our conceptions of an idealized writer. My study concluded that the relative autonomy of the writing group provided a shelter from the school culture of accountability where emotion and profanation were possible. This work proposed that, in acknowledging the complex nature of writing identities and the “unofficial” emotional lives of teachers, we can push beyond a static writer/non-writer binary and disrupt a hierarchical, outcome-based notion of staff development. As a result, space for staff development, in which a diverse school community joins together to engage in experiences, learning, and identity work that make space for emotion, may be created.

Leung, Nga Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-67). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract (English) --- p.i / Abstract (Chinese) --- p.ii / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.v / List of Tables --- p.vii / List of Figures --- p.viii / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / An Intergrative Model of Parenting --- p.2 / "Parental Socialization Goals, Practices and Styles" --- p.4 / Academic Socialization Goals and Parental Expectations in Chinese Context --- p.5 / "Parental Socialization Goals, Expectations and Academic Performance" --- p.7 / Parental Expectation and Children's Psychological Development --- p.9 / Perceveid Societal Norms and Socialization Goals --- p.10 / The Importance of Measuring Parental Socialization Goals --- p.13 / Aims and Overview of the Two Studies --- p.13 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Empirical Studies --- p.19 / Study 1: Developing Scales to Measure Maternal Academic Socialization Goals --- p.19 / Method --- p.19 / Instruments --- p.19 / Participants --- p.22 / Measures --- p.23 / Results and Discussion --- p.24 / Psychometric Properties of CPMASG and MASG --- p.24 / "Descriptive Statistics, Preliminary Analysis and Correlation Analysis" --- p.30 / "Study 2: Investigating the Combined Effects of Socialization Goals, Styles, and Practices" --- p.33 / Method --- p.33 / Participants --- p.33 / Measures --- p.34 / Results and Discussion --- p.38 / "Descriptive Statistics, Preliminary Analysis and Correlation Analysis" --- p.38 / Regression Analysis --- p.43 / Structural Equation Modeling --- p.46 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- General Discussion --- p.55 / References --- p.64 / Appendix --- p.68 / The Original Items Asked in Traditional Way --- p.68

Fifth and Sixth grade males were identified as High Achievers (n = 37) or Low Achievers (n = 34) based upon school test scores and grades. Students from both achievement levels were given either five solvable (success treatment) or five unsolvable (failure treatment) number or word problems. Initial expectancy was measured by students' estimate of the number of treatment problems they would correctly answer and by the persistence time of students who received unsolvable problems. Causal attributions were assessed by: (1) asking students to rate the similarity of the contrived success or failure to their typical performance in the same and the other academic subject area (domain), and to the perceived performance of classmates and (2) by asking students to attribute their performance to ability, effort, task difficulty, or luck. Expectancy measures were obtained for additional tasks in the same and other domains and solvable (test) number and word task were administered. No differences due to achievement level were found for initial expectancy or persistence measures. For both High and Low Achievers, expectancy for same domain tasks increased following success and decreased after failure. Generalization of treatment based expectancy to other domain tasks was found only for High Achievers. High Achievers rated success as more stable than failure and Low Achievers rated success as due more to external factors than failure. High Achievers also rated overall outcomes as more global than did Low Achievers, and students of both achievement levels rated success as more global than failure. Attributional choices did not correlate significantly with attributional ratings, and were not found to vary as a function of achievement level or treatment condition. Although the hypothesized difference in dispositional expectancy as a function of achievement level was not found, a predicted differential sensitivity to success and failure was shown. High Achievers perceived failure as arising from temporary, limited factors and success as due to lasting, comprehensive factors. Low Achievers viewed their overall performance as relatively situation-specific, with success resulting more from external factors and failure from relatively internal factors. Implications of these findings for educational remediation efforts with low achieving students were discussed / acase@tulane.edu

This study examined family functioning and locus of control in home-school families as compared to families in the traditional educational settings of public and private elementary schools. It was a partly-randomized, quasi experimental design with one experimental group (Home-school) and two control groups (Public and Private school). The purpose of the study was to compare home-school families versus public and private school families across the dimensions of family functioning, and locus of control. A minimum of thirty families from each group were randomly surveyed. / The dependent variables consisted of the seven sub-scales of the Family Assessment Device (FAD) (problem solving, roles, affective response, affective involvement, behavior control, communication, and general functioning) cohesion and adaptability (of FACES III) and locus of control (Rotter's scale). The types of educational setting (home-school, private, or public school) served as the independent variables. Multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedure was used to analyze the dependent variables among the three family samples. / The home-school group was found to be significantly different from at least one of the control groups on all hypotheses tested. All sample groups were considered to be healthily functioning families. The home-school group most closely resembled the public school group with regards to the hypotheses. It was speculated that the effectiveness with which the home-school families functioned resulted from a systemic adaptation made in response to the added instrumental task of education placed upon the family. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-11, Section: B, page: 6071. / Major Professor: Calvin Zongker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The purpose of this investigation was to investigate the comparative effectiveness of two instructional methods, one based on the tenets of situated cognition and the other a traditional classroom-based presentation. Two intact classes of fourth graders from the Florida State University School completed instruction in the area of map skills. Statistical analyses of the groups conducted prior to the treatment indicated that there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of race, gender, and prior achievement. / Following the instruction, both groups completed three posttests on map skills, a written assessment and two performance assessments, one of which was designed to assess far transfer of knowledge. The results of the study indicated that the situated cognition group performed significantly better on the performance test than did the traditional instruction group. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups' performances on either the written posttest or the performance measure of far transfer. It was concluded that the situated cognition approach led to better outcomes on a performance assessment of map skills and did not impair performance on either a written assessment or a transfer performance assessment of map skills, and thus should be further investigated in other settings and with other students as the situated cognition learning theory continues to be defined. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2299. / Major Professor: Marcy Perkins Driscoll. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purpose of the study was to profile perceptions and beliefs of Oregon State University international student parents who have children in area public elementary schools. The research methods included a survey to 26 self-selected participants, and seven tape-recorded interviews with volunteers from the survey sample. These study subjects displayed a large range of origin, cultural backgrounds, seniority in the area, family size and views towards their children's education. Data collected were categorized and interpreted with reference to the current theories in education. The study findings included the international parents' domains of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their children's education in the area schools, the parents' goals for their children's elementary education and the parents' opinions and suggestions regarding parent involvement and elementary education reform as related to improving elementary education for international children enrolled in American schools. The domains of parents' satisfaction with their children's education were analyzed in three major groups: educational outcomes, skills and subjects offered by schools. It also described the domains of the international parents' dissatisfaction and their criticism about school activities and their organization. The international parents' goals for their children's elementary education were analyzed into five groups: Intellectual knowledge, personality development, acquisition of life skills, preservation of parents' cultural values and education for a multicultural life. The parents' involvement in their children's education at home and at school was analyzed concerning parents' comprehension of its necessity, initiatives, helpers and barriers for involvement, and suggestions to improve their children's learning. Recommendations for further research into international children's education were presented. They were oriented towards replication of the study to an extended population nationwide in different schools and at different levels. They also suggested widening the research methods and categories of parents, and matching parents' views with that of school agents to coherently reform education in its complexity involving the whole community of educators. / Graduation date: 1998

English language education officially started in Japanese elementary schools in 2009. Homeroom teachers, whether experienced or not, are responsible for teaching the subject to students. Additionally, teachers are often required to team-teach with a native English speaker. It is plausible that Japanese teachers are anxious about teaching English. This study investigated Japanese teachers' English anxiety and its sources. Teachers' anxiety-coping strategies were also examined. English anxiety includes (a) anxiety about a teacher's own English proficiency and (b) anxiety about teaching English. There were 133 Japanese elementary school teachers participating in the present study, as well one native English teacher, and three in-service teacher trainers. The Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, 2008), the Situational Teaching Anxiety Scale, follow-up interviews, and a survey were used in this study. Data showed that 77.4% of teachers were anxious about their own English proficiency, and 90.2% of them were anxious about teaching English. The sources of anxiety included lack of experience and training for teaching English and lack of confidence in English communication. Teachers experienced two phases of anxiety, depending on their English teaching experience. The study also has educational implications for less-experienced teachers who have to understand that there are two phases of anxiety. Furthermore, support by the city board of education is important for diminishing teachers' anxiety. / Keywords: English language education, anxiety, elementary school, teacher