This study was conducted to investigate the nonpromotion message's affective impact on parents. An interview guide was developed to collect data on parents' reactions to several aspects of public schools: Elementary schools in general; Messages received from elementary schools; Current practices (nonpromotion) in schools; Parents' feelings as a result of their child being retained; Information about their family. Interviews were conducted with parents of 180 children who attended public schools. Ninety interviews were conducted with parents of children who had been retained in either second, third or fifth grade and 90 were conducted with parents of children who had been identified as low achievers in second, third or fifth grade. Statistical and ethnographic analyses were completed to investigate parents' feelings about nonpromotion. There was little statistical evidence to indicate that parents perceived the nonpromotion message as an evaluation of themselves and the level of parents' affective reaction to the nonpromotion message was fairly neutral. Grade level at which a child was retained and socio-economic status of the family were unrelated to parents' affective reaction and self-evaluation scores. Also parents tended to blame the teacher and the child for a nonpromotion more than they blamed the school programs, the principal or themselves. One emerging concept revealed by the ethnographic analysis was that the school's strategy for working with parents had an influence on the parents' reaction to their child's nonpromotion. Parents' compliance with the need for nonpromotion seemed to be influenced by what the school personnel said rather than a personal response to what they felt would be the best for their child's future. Parents did what the school told them to do, they believed that the school provided them with accurate information, and that nonpromotion was the best alternative for their child. The exploratory data analyzed by this study provided some insight into the parents' emotional readiness and reaction to the academic failure of their child and provided suggestions for improved parent-school communications. A need for open and honest communication and cooperation between parents and educators was indicated. The use of parental contact had a positive influence on the parents' perception and support of the nonpromotion decision.

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 present study investigated the relation between parental beliefs, estimations and expectations and children's competencies with low-SES parents of learning disabled and nondisabled children. Forty-eight mothers who had boys in the third- through the fifth-grade were interviewed in their home: twenty-four mothers of learning disabled children and twenty-four mothers of nondisabled children. The following measures were used to assess parental beliefs, estimations, and expectations: 1) parental ratings of a series of statements that past research has shown negatively affect children's cognitive competence, 2) parental estimates of their children's performance on a series of cognitive tasks that range from Piagetian-type thru more school-related items, and 3) parental reports of the educational and occupational aspirations for their children. The mothers of learning disabled children did not report more traditional, non democratic beliefs regarding child rearing and academic development than parents of nondisabled children. However, they did more strongly believe that their child's school problems are caused by the child's own ability and school successes are caused more by effort. Also, mothers of LD children reported less success estimations for school-related tasks, specifically spelling and reading tasks than mothers of NLD children. The two groups did not differ on their success estimations for the Piagetian- and intelligence-type tasks. The children were shown these same tasks. The LD children were able to complete less of the school-related tasks than the NLD children. However, the two groups did not differ for the other two types of tasks. Generally, the mean number of success estimations was higher in both groups for children in higher grades. Finally, the two groups did not differ overall in their educational and occupational aspirations. The results are discussed in terms of the affect that children's competencies have on parental beliefs, estimations, and expectations. / Ph. D.

The question arises, how are the homes in the Lisbon School District contributing to delinquency? The answer to this question is the problem for this study.

The problem of this study is to determine to what apparent extent schools use the recommendations of educators in promoting home-school-community relations. An effort is made to ascertain the status of home-school-community relations, and to evaluate the findings and methods of promoting these relations.

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the needs of parents and teachers to identify factors that contributed to academic achievement among elementary grade students. Data was collected from a total of 65 parents and teachers of elementary grade students from Rowland Elementary School in Rowland Heights.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences