For a great many years American schools were able to fit themselves into a definite pattern without confusion as to their aims. Their function was to provide an opportunity for formal education. Each child either conformed to the pattern or child and school parted company. During this period, home and church were strong stabilizing factors, change was slow, and transmission of a body of "book learning!' satisfied school and lay people. / Typescript. / "August, 1948." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: R. L. Eyman. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-52).

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Foundations of Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2002. / The issue of involving parents in education has been explored by several studies in the past with all pointing towards greater success than failures amongst learners whose parents work in partnership with educators. Parental involvement not only ensures maximum development of learner-motivation, but it also has an impact on the smooth running of the school. However, a gap still exists between parents and educators in black secondary schools in South Africa. This results in poor performance among matriculants in particular, and lack of commitment and responsibility among learners in general. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which parents and educators in black secondary schools work as partners in developing the culture of learning in learners. The results showed that most parents felt that they have a role to play in the education of their children. Yet they realized that they were not fully involved either due to inadequate financial and knowledge resources or trie schools did not fully involve them in their activities- This study is an ongoing attempt at making parents and educators realize the importance of partnership in the education of the child.

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African American parents have engaged in education activism throughout United States history, in attempts to gain better access to education for their children. Activism is taking direct actions to achieve a social or political goal. For some parents, the goal is positive change in schooling, at the local, community or state or national level, making their actions educational activism. In New York City, the nation’s largest public school system, parent activism has been documented describing actions of African American parents in cases such as the Harlem school boycott of 1958 and the struggle for control over the Ocean Hill-Brownsville schools in1967. The purpose of this dissertation is to add to a growing body of literature on education activism, moving beyond describing the actions by focusing on the experiences of the activists. Using Black feminist thought as a theoretical framework, this study employs a storytelling methodology to understand the lived experiences of seven African American mothers who engage in educational activism in New York City today. Black feminist thought provides a framework to understand the situated experiences of the mothers as they navigate oppression while seeking structural change in education. It also provides a means for understanding how the activities of these mothers are in fact activism, as their roles as “othermothers” are explored. The methodology, which employed conversational interviews and a focus group, was designed to center the mothers’ stories in the research, using their own words to make sense of what it means to be a Black woman, mother, education activist. The findings of this research present a picture of what activism is for these mothers and where it happens – at the local, state and national levels: highlighting how it happens both within and outside of existing structures for parent involvement. Another finding highlights the importance of having allies for activism. This research has implications for how teachers and others work with parents, suggesting strong collaborations with parent activists as a way to create positive change in schools.

This study explored the relationship between (1) parent mathematical mindset and student mathematical experience (as determined by student mathematical mindset, student mathematical achievement, and student mathematical grit), (2) participant general mindset and participant mathematical mindset, and (3) student general grit and student mathematical grit. Participants included 14 high school seniors and their active parent(s) or guardian(s) (N=38). The research followed a hermeneutical phenomenological approach - a qualitative research methodology characterized by finding meaning through the subjective interpretation of participants. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to describe the phenomenon of student mathematical experience, as well as the internal consistency of mindsets as applied to general intelligence and mathematical intelligence. A moderate positive association was found between participants' general mindsets and mathematical mindsets. Despite the consistencies, 37% of participants had mathematical mindsets that were in tension with their general mindset. The present study advocates that general mindsets and mathematical mindsets are not as closely associated, thereby supporting the theory that mindsets can vary by subject domain. In contrast, a strong positive association was found between students' general grit and their mathematical grit. To that effect, the study contributed to the field in two ways: (1) by exposing further variability in mindsets dependent on subject domain; and (2) by exposing grit as more fundamentally consistent than mindset when applied to different subject domains. Additionally, parent mathematical mindset is not associated with student mathematical mindset. It's possible that (1) parents' mathematical mindsets are not visible to their children, (2) parents suppress their beliefs regarding mathematical intelligence, or (3) external factors, such as cultural influences, compete in shaping students' mindsets. Finally, although no relation was found between parent mathematical mindset and both student GPA and SAT score, an inverse relationship was observed between parent mathematical mindset and student highest-level mathematics course taken. Markedly, students of parents with a mathematics-fixed mindset appear to take more advanced mathematics courses, whereas students of parents with a mathematics-growth mindset appear to take lower-level courses. This suggests that student effort may be in tension with the evaluation of effort by their parents.

Chinese parental involvement in children‘s learning has been regarded as one of the key factors in accounting for their children‘s superior academic success. Chinese cultural ideologies which highlight the value of learning and parents‘heightened role in children‘s learning may shape Chinese parental involvement. The first goal of the current research was to understand Chinese parental involvement by developing a scale. The second goal was to examine the factors which influenced Chinese parental involvement. Four parental beliefs were tested: parental self-efficacy for helping the child succeed in school, parental value of academic success, parental educational aspiration and expectation for child and parental role belief in children‘s learning in children‘s learning. Children‘s academic performance was also tested as antecedent. Third, the study attempted to examine the effects of Chinese parental involvement on children‘s academic (i.e., children‘s motivational outcomes and academic achievement) and emotional functioning (i.e., life satisfaction). / A total of 323 7th graders and one of their parents participated. Children reported the involvement of their participating parents, as well as their motivational outcomes (i.e., children‘s value of academic success, relative autonomy in pursing academics, self-regulated learning strategies) and life satisfaction at Time 1 and Time 2(abbreviation for T1 and T2, 6 months apart); and children‘s grades were obtained from school records. Parents reported on their involvement in children‘s learning as well as parental beliefs in children‘s learning at T1. / The current research found that Chinese parental involvement not only included teacher initiated school-based involvement, help with schoolwork, cognitive-intellectual involvement, academic socialization regarding current learning, academic socialization regarding future academic goals which have been identified in Western countries, but also included parent initiated school-based involvement, providing a good environment, setting family rules, extra learning, reinforcement/punishment which were also important in Chinese context but have been neglected in previous work. Both parental beliefs and children‘s academic performance were related to Chinese parental involvement. Specifically, four parental beliefs differed in their contributions to various types of involvement. Children‘s academic achievement at T1 positively predicted child-reported parental help with schoolwork and providing a good environment but negatively predicted reinforcement/punishment at T2. Concurrent results (T1) demonstrated that child-reported parental involvement was significantly related to children‘s academic and emotional functioning with the effects varying by types of parental involvement. Specifically, child-reported parental academic socialization regarding current learning was positively associated with children‘s motivational outcomes. However, parental reinforcement/punishment was negatively associated with relative autonomy. Parental providing a good environment positively correlated with children‘s life satisfaction but was not related to children‘s academic outcomes. / Taken together, the study underscores the importance of studying various types of parental involvement practices in understanding Chinese parental involvement. Findings of the current study also highlight the role of parental beliefs and children‘s academic performance in parental involvement. / 中國的家長參與子女學業是造就中國學生優異成績的重要因素之一。中國文化重視學習以及家長在孩子學習中的作用，這些文化觀念會塑造中國家長參與的特點。西方的關於家長參與的理論框架可能不足以讓我們理解中國的家長參與。因此，本研究的第一個目的在於通過編制中國家長參與量表來研究中國家長參與的結構。第二個目的是探討中國家長參與的影響因素：家長的信念以及子女的學業成績。基於信念指導行為的假設，探討了家長的信念包括家長對於輔導子女學業的效能感、家長對學業的價值、家長對子女的期望以及家長對自己參與子女學業的角色建構對家長參與子女學業的影響。此外，基於家長社會化的互動模型，探討了孩子的學業成績對家長參與的影響。研究目的三則探討了家長參與對子女學業和情緒發展的影響，主要關注了家長參與對子女的學習動機、成績以及生活滿意度。 / 323名7年級學生及其家長參加了本次研究。調查分兩次進行，間隔六個月。家長只參加第一次調查，家長報告他們參與子女學業程度以及家長的信念。小孩則在兩次調查中報告他們家長的參與程度、學習動機以及生活滿意度。 / 結果表明，中國的家長參與包括了十個維度: 教師發起的基於學校的參與、輔導功課、認知-智力參與、關於當前學業的社會化、關於未來學習目標的社會化、家長發起的基於學校的參與、提供良好環境、設定家庭規則、課外輔導、強化/懲罰。家長的信念和孩子的學業成績影響家長參與的程度。具體來說，這四種家長的信念對家長參與的不同類型影響不同。孩子的成績正向預測了半年後孩子報告的家長的輔導功課、提供良好環境的程度，負向預測了家長的強化/懲罰。橫向調查的結果發現孩子報告的家長參與與孩子的學業相關，但是這種關係因不同類型的家長參與而異。 / 本研究表明了探討不同類型的中國的家長參與子女學業的重要性。本研究也表明家長的信念以及孩子的學業成績對家長參與的程度的影響。 / Wu, Nini. / Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-124). / Abstracts also in Chinese; appendix includes Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 12, October, 2016). / Wu, Nini. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo / Parental involvement is a significant element that can have an impact or enhancement in the child’s education. Parental involvement implicates the active and significant involvement of the parent in all aspects, where a parent is interacting with the child for guidance and support. However, research in Okeke (2014:1) shows that poor parental involvement is the biggest challenge facing public schools in South Africa, especially schools situated in rural areas. This study aims at investigating factors that affect parental involvement in education of their children at primary school level, in Bahananwa circuit, Blouberg Municipality, Limpopo Province. In this study, the researcher employed mixed research approach and used purposive sampling to identify respondents who have adequate of parental involvement at schools. Accordingly, the researcher targeted all 28 School Governing Body (SGB) members which includes 3 principals, 15 parents and 10 educators in selected three primary schools within the circuit of Bahananwa. The researcher personally delivered the semi-structured questionnaires to the SGB members from the sampled schools and collected them after completion. Additionally, the researcher used observation sheet to collect more information on parental involvement. According to the findings, the primary schools are doing more through consultative meetings, among others, to ensure that parents are involved in the education of their children, both at school and at home. The schools use meetings as a major tool for parental involvement practice, but participation in the meetings was passive. The schools involve parents mostly on governance and administrative matters meaning that there is less parental involvement in curricular and extra-curricular activities. Another key finding in the study is that schools are performing inadequately with regard to learners’ performance. It is also found that the major challenges affecting parental involvement in the schools among others include parents who do not have time due to their working schedules and some due to illiteracy. The findings show that meeting areas are inconvenient for parental consultative meetings. While majority of parents have supportive attitude towards their children education, the significant proportion of parents still do not have supportive attitude. It is recommended that parental involvement in the decision making process needs to be enhanced through contact sessions to improve learners’ performance. It is also suggested that parental involvement needs to be improved in extracurricular and voluntary activities. It is further recommended that parents’ engagement at home needs to be enhanced to enhance learners’ performance.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Educational Management)) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / Refere to document

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education