Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 73).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2007. / Title from title screen (site viewed July 12, 2007). PDF text: vii, 270 p. UMI publication number: AAT 3251360. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

World events of the past few years have cast a shadow of doubt over the ability of the American school, as an agent of a democratic society, to fulfill its dual role of social and academic development. Critics of American education have pointed to social inequalities, economic pressures , technological demands, and many other areas as possible causes for the so-called malfunction of American educational institutions. The world of adult endeavor asks the American college for tremendous increases in student preparation. The college is forced to step up its demands upon the high school, which in turn demands more of the elementary school. Finally the sequence of educational and societal demands ends with the first grade teacher looking at a six-year-old child. On one hand the pressures of society and the educational system threaten her. On the other hand the needs of individual children demand from her far more than just the teaching of academic skills . These forces are in opposition. Should these two entities, the societal demands and child needs, be further reduced before they can be reconciled, or must the teacher of young children reach out for a new dimension in teaching techniques? It is not advisable to permit the rest of human endeavor to race ahead while early childhood education does nothing to keep up. It is unreasonable to presume that old mistakes may, by some educational transmutation, produce new perfect ones. This study seeks, through action research, to find ways to improve early childhood education through study of the teacher-parent relationship.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 299-304).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-131). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-131). Also available on the Internet.

To evaluate activities that effect better parent-teacher cooperation in relation to child development and welfare is the purpose of this study. The five types of activities about which information was desired included personal conferences, communication, parent-teacher association, visitation, and parental education.

The purpose of this study is to examine some aspects the Parent Teacher Association through designing a questionnaire, administering it to individuals involved to some degree in the organization, evaluating the data received, and then making knowledgeable observations about it. The specific aspects to be examined are its role and its communication of goals and programs as seen by several groups. Although the scope is limited to the Texas PTA, attitudes toward PTA in general are reflected in the responses.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Increasing parental involvement in urban school settings is particularly challenging when parents are foreign born, face English language barriers, have limited formal school experiences, and are unfamiliar with United States school culture. The confluence of such factors often results in discouraging parents from fully participating in their children's school life. Nonetheless, one of the most important events in United States children's schooling are parent-teacher conferences. Yet the practitioner and research literature contains contrasting viewpoints. For example, a corpus of the professional literature depicts conferences as tense, conflict ridden, and unproductive, while other research-related literature suggests they are useful for developing collaborative home-school relationships for improving children's educational outcomes (Swap, 1983; McCaleb, 1994). Given the conflicting evidence and the pressing need to improve parental involvement in urban school settings, this investigation examined the information parents and teachers exchanged about English language learners' literacy progress during regularly scheduled conferences. The study sought to understand: (1) What types of information about children's literacy activities and English language acquisition do parents and teachers discuss during parent-teacher conferences? (2) What kinds of information do parents discuss about their children's home and community life? (3) When parents discuss information about their children's home and community literacy activities, as well as their English language acquisition, how do teachers respond? (4) When teachers discuss information about children's classroom literacy activities and English language acquisition, how do parents respond? The study included five parent-teacher dyads from a fourth grade classroom taught exclusively in English and two Spanish-speaking bilingual classrooms from the third and fourth grades. Data collection included audiotaped teacher and parent interviews, audiotaped parent-teacher conferences, copies of children's school literacy artifacts, self-memoranda, and parent-teacher contact records. Data analysis revealed that teachers and parents employed topics and discourse actions to create speakers' roles and assume various social identities. As a result, instances of cooperation, collaboration, or discord developed, affecting the conference interactions. Moreover, the assistance children received at home and/or at school for improving their literacy and English language development was affected by the parents and teachers conference interactions. The findings hold important implications for improving professional development on parent involvement. For example, if teachers can improve their understanding of the potential benefits and challenges speakers' roles and their resulting social identities pose during conference discussions, then opportunities can increase for improving parental involvement and home-school relationships in traditionally "hard to reach" parent populations. / 2031-01-01