AFRIKAANS: Die doel van hierdie studie is om 'n beter begrip te verkry van die wyse waarop ouers hulle rolle konstrueer by die insluiting van 'n leerder met Downsindroom. Die studie is in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks ondemeem met 'n aantal ouers van kinders met Downsindroom, wat tans in Gr. 1, Gr. 2 of Gr. 3 in verskeie skole in Gauteng ingesluit is. Die rol wat hierdie ouers self gekonstrueer het voor en tydens die insluiting van hul kinders, is verken en geïdentifiseer d.m.v. semi-gestruktureerde onderhoudvoering volgens 'n kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp. Vraelyste, veldnotas en oudiobandopnames het dee1 uitgemaak van die data-insamelingstegnieke wat gebruik is. Die resultate van die studie dui daarop dat ouers hulle rolle op 'n multi-fasettige wyse konstrueer. Hierdie studie se bydrae is primer gesetel in die uitbreiding van teorie, veral in terme van die rolle van ouers by insluitende onderwys van kinders met Downsindroom. Hierdie bydrae word in hierdie studie grafies voorgestel. ENGLISH: The purpose of this study is to understand the way in which parents construct their roles in the inclusion of their child with Down's Syndrome. The study was conducted in the South-African context with the parents of children with Down's Syndrome, who are currently included in Gr. 1, Gr. 2 or Gr. 3 in different schools in Gauteng. The role that these parents constructed before and during the inclusion of their children, was examined and identified by means of semi-structured interviews according to a qualitative research design. Questionnaires, field notes and audiotape recordings were used as part of the data collecting methods. Results from this study indicate that parents construct their roles in a multifaceted manner. The primary contribution of this study is towards the expansion of the theoretical knowledge about the role of parents in inclusive education of learners with Down syndrome. This contribution is presented graphically in this study. / Dissertation (MEd (Orthodidactics))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

The current study developed a comprehensive theoretical framework of joint multiple contextual influences (JMCI framework) to guide empirical investigation of combine influences of social contexts on children's academic outcomes. Drawn from several general frameworks, four models of joint social influences were proposed: Independent, Interactive, Differential, and Sequential. Using a motivational framework, all four models were tested empirically for joint effects of parents and teachers on children's self-perceptions (relatedness, competence, and autonomy) and classroom engagement. Overall, this study provided some empirical support for every category of models proposed in the JMCI framework. The joint influences of parents and teachers on children's self-perceptions were mostly independent and unique. Most joint influences were additive: one social context couldn't buffer or amplify the effects of the other context. Only joint effects of Non-Supportive parents and Supportive teachers interacted in their influences on children's competence: Supportive teachers were able to safeguard and counterbalance the negative influences of Non-Supportive parents. The study also indicated that self-system processes are possible pathways through which parents and teachers exert their influences on children's academic engagement and that this influence depends on the age of the developing child. The study also suggested that children's engagement may be a mechanism that mediates the relationship between parents' and teachers' contexts.

This dissertation study used Yosso’s (2005) concept for Community Cultural Wealth as a conceptual framework to explore the identities, lived experiences, and aspirations of ten mothers of color from Jackson Heights, Queens, N.Y., as it relates to the education of their children to inform culturally relevant education in New York City K-12 schools. The following research questions guided the study: 1. What educational aspirations do mothers of color have for their children? 2. How have the mothers’ lived experiences informed their decisions concerning the education of their children? 3. In what ways can the identities, lived experiences, and narratives/perspectives of mothers of color in Jackson Heights inform culturally relevant education policy, leadership, and practice? This study used qualitative methods (Few, Stephens, & Rouse-Arnett, 2003) and standpoint theory (Harding, 1991; Smith, 1974) to capture the identities, lived experiences, and aspirations of mothers of color, to recognize and mobilize experiences of inequity, injustice, and marginalization in the education of students of color. The inclusion and expansion of research that centers and reflects the points of view of mothers of color can create greater opportunities for school leaders and teachers committed to dismantling racial inequities in schools to increase their consciousness and improve their leadership and practice.

No description available.

This study was designed to examine the relationship of participation in the Chapter I Parent Center to four of the variables often associated with academic achievement namely: (1) the child's home environment; (2) parental attitude towards education; (3) the child's self-concept; and (4) the child's motivation to learn. In addition, the study examines the relationship between participation in the Chapter I Parent Center program and reading achievement. The basic objective of the parent involvement program was to refine parenting skills in order that parents become more effective as motivators in the academic development of their child. The subjects utilized for this study were three groups of 12 mothers each and their children who were enrolled in the Chapter I program. Data for the study were obtained from instruments administered to the children and from questionnaires given to their mothers. Reading achievement scores were obtained from the children's post SRA test results. The post test-only control group design was employed. The control group received no treatment. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare groups in terms of their mean scores. It was hypothesized that following the treatment, parents in the experimental group and their children would score higher than control parents and their children on the instruments designed to measure the five variables. Administrators as well as teachers would benefit greatly from the findings to assist them in areas of concern regarding parent conferences, examining school policies, planning school spending, fostering improved home/school relationships through heightened parental awareness of school expectations, and ultimately improved student achievement. Experimental subjects scored significantly higher than the control subjects on only one of the five variables. Experimental parents scored significantly higher than control parents on the home environment measure. No significant differences were observed on the other variables. A further purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of participation in the Parent Center program to reading achievement. No significant difference was observed between participants and non-participants on the reading achievement measures. / Ed. D.

The 1986 Amendments to the Education of All Handicapped Children's Act (P.L. 99-457) require that the individual education plans for students ages three to five, "must include instruction for parents so that they can be active and knowledgeable in assisting in their child's progress" (U.S. House of Representatives Report, 99-860, p. 20). Expansion of special education services to preschool children, will require educators to increase their efforts to involve parents in the child's educational program. Because schools have traditionally focused on child needs, additional insights into the parent involvement process are needed to effectively implement broader-based models more likely to result in active parent involvement. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher and parent perspectives on involvement to better understand the involvement process. Teacher and parent interviews were conducted in a large well-developed public preschool program. The interviews, together with observations and program documents, were analyzed to gain a better understanding of involvement practices. The teachers interpreted the parents’ level of involvement according to how well they complied with teacher prescribed activities and teacher expectations. Parents rated as most involved were seen by the teachers as cooperating with child-level activities, expressing an interest in participating and providing positive feedback for teachers' efforts. However, parents identified as least involved were viewed as not initiating contact with the teacher or showing little interest in participating in program activities. Most teachers relied on positive feedback from the parents to continue their efforts with them and use it to define the relationship with them. The teachers attributed the variations in involvement to family characteristics and to their belief about the family's concern for the child's development. The meanings which the parents gave to the involvement practices were distinct for the least and most involved groups. How the parents conceptualized the child's development and their belief about their impact on it appeared to contribute to parents' perceptions about their role in the involvement process. These differences in role perception can explain their interactions with the teachers as well as their level of participation in activities. Levels of involvement can be further explained by the degree to which activities were relevant to a particular family's needs and the control they felt to act on their own behalf. The understandings gained from examining parent and teacher perspectives of the involvement process can help ensure effective involvement practices with families. / Ed. D.

Many American families are experiencing a high degree of stress. Without sufficient resources to counteract this stress, these families ultimately become dysfunctional. Not only do they find it difficult to function in the home setting, but they also find it difficult to function in other social contexts, such as the school community. It was hypothesized that family stress and insufficient resources can have a negative impact on home-school relations in general and parent involvement in particular. It was the purpose of this study to (a) assess the level of parent involvement of a group of Headstart parents, (b) assess the family stress level and resources of these parents; (c) determine if there is a relationship among stress, resources, and parent involvement, as well as to determine the effect race and family structure have on parent involvement; and (d) identify support resources to assist parents in coping with the stressful events in their lives. Fifty-three parents from a large, Virginia Headstart program were used in this study. Parental involvement was assessed by collecting data from Headstart records. In addition, parents were asked to respond to two inventories. These inventories-Family Inventory of Life Events (FILE) and Family Crisis Oriented Personal Scales (F-Copes)-were used to determine the stressful life events families faced while their children were enrolled in Headstart and to assess the resources available to these families for meeting the demands of these stressful events. The raw data from the parent involvement assessment and the inventories were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSSX). Specifically, descriptive statistics, simple and multiple regression, and analysis of variance were used to analyze the selected variables and the interrelationships between these variables. The results indicated that there is a negative relationship between stress and resources. Parents with fewer resources generally had higher stress levels. Family stress and resource levels had opposite effects on parent involvement. High stress levels were associated with low parent involvement, while high resource levels were associated with high parent involvement. Race and family structure had no effect on parent involvement for this sample. / Ed. D.

This dissertation consists of three empirical essays focused on understanding how informational and behavioral barriers influence human capital investments in developing countries. In particular, I study two key actors in education production – teachers and parents, and how their beliefs shape investments in child human capital with implications for student learning and inequality. Chapter 1 uses a field experiment with teachers in India to investigate the role and malleability of teachers’ beliefs. In many developing countries, teachers often perceive only a weak mapping between their effort and what students learn. I conduct an experimental evaluation of a psychosocial intervention in India that targets teachers’ beliefs about perceived control – self-beliefs about one’s ability to influence outcomes. I study the extent to which this intervention affects teachers’ beliefs, their effort in class, and their students’ academic performance. I devise a novel experimental task to elicit beliefs through revealed preference, about the relationship between their teaching effort and the performance of students in their classroom. I find that the intervention induced a 14% increase in teachers’ beliefs about their ability to increase learning, as measured by the revealed preference task. Treated teachers exert greater effort at the intensive margin, scoring higher on an index of classroom effort. They also spend more time grading student work and provide more detailed feedback to students. Finally, students taught by teachers in the treatment group learn more, scoring 0.09 SD higher in the end-of-year exams. These findings suggest that teacher beliefs can serve as a powerful lever for changing teaching practice and raising learning levels in developing countries. Chapter 2 studies the relationship between parental perceptions about children’s performance and parental investment in children’s human capital, and how this relationship evolves over the course of schooling. Using rich longitudinal data on investments, test scores, and parental assessments, I implement alternative specifications for the parental investment function that allow investment to depend on the entire history of lagged investment and inputs, account for past parental beliefs to circumvent reverse causality, and use household fixed effects to account for fixed characteristics at the household level. I find that compared to children with poor perceived performance, children with better perceived performance are up to 16 percentage points more likely to be enrolled in private as opposed to public schools, and receive up to 40% higher investment in schooling. This relationship intensifies as children progress from primary to secondary school. Results are robust across specifications, with evidence of complementarity between perceived ability and schooling. Within a household, parents’ behavior is reinforcing, with more spent on the child believed to be the better performer. These findings inform our understanding of parental investment response and intra-household allocation of human capital investment decisions. Chapter 3 (co-authored with Daniel Chen, Sultan Mehmood, and Shaheen Naseer) uses a field experiment to evaluate the impact of providing information about teacher value-added to public school teachers in Pakistan. We show that growth mindset training shifts teachers’ beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, and reduces stereotypes against first-generation learners and students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In contrast, exposure to narrative or empirical evidence about teacher value-added did not have statistically significant effects. We document patterns of teachers’beliefs in a resource-constrained setting and show that perceived returns to effort are increasing in parental education and past performance of students, indicating that teachers view these as complementary inputs for teaching.

No description available.

The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to share the experiences of Black children and families attending early childhood programs across New York City. The theoretical lenses of Anti-Blackness, Intersectionality, and Critical Childhood Studies were employed to provide counter-stories to the dominant narratives told about young Black children and families in traditional educational settings and to examine how the intersection of various identity markers contributed to the participants’ experiences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six families and one teacher across Brooklyn and the Bronx. The children ranged in age from 4 to 8 years old and attended Head Start 3-K, Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 2nd grade programs in public, private, and charter schools. Child-centered research methods were utilized when interviewing the children. In addition, classroom observations were conducted in one child participant’s school for additional insights into the moments that shaped their memories of preschool. This study aimed to learn what young Black children and their parents had to say about their early childhood experiences in their own words. An additional aim was to identify conditions and practices that need to be preserved as well as those that should be discontinued as we seek to create more equitable and just learning outcomes in educational spaces. Implications for policy and practice are offered based on insights learned from young Black children and their parents.