Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION in the Department of Educational Psychology of the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 1998. / The aim of this study was to pursue an investigation on parents and principals as partners in creating a culture of learning. From the literature study it became evident that education in South Africa has collapsed in many schools. The majority of schools of the former education departments responsible for Black education are characterised by a high failure rate, early school dropout, a lack of discipline, low morale and an anti-academic attitude amongst pupils. To these schools very little has changed since 1994. It would appear that a "culture of teaching and learning" in these schools does not exist. The ongoing turmoil in these schools underscores the failure of parents and principals to work together as partners in assuming responsibility for creating a culture of learning. Creating a culture of learning involves a collaborative act between parents and principals. Neither the parent nor the principal alone can fulfil the task of educating the child adequately. In the interest of the education of the child, the contact and cooperation between parents and principals should denote a partnership. Although the premise exists that parents (child's primary educator) and principals (child's secondary educator) are indispensable partners for creating a culture of learning, the situation is far from satisfactory. A huge majority of schools in the previously disadvantaged African community has failed badly. The causes for the absence of a learning culture can be attributed to factors concerning the pupils, factors concerning the school environment, problems concerning the homes of pupils and their living environment as well as the lack of parental involvement in the formal education of their children. Parents and principals as educators have a vital role to play in creating a culture of learning. Parents should have no uncertainties as to their educational responsibilities as primary educators. Principals are both educational leaders and managers and their primary task or responsibility is to ensure that effective teaching and learning takes place at their schools. For the purpose of the empirical investigation two separate self-structured questionnaires for parents and principals were utilised. In addition five postulates pertaining to a partnership between parents and principals were formulated to give direction to this study. The questionnaires that were completed by parents and principals were analyzed and thereafter the data that were obtained was processed and analyzed. This study has confirmed that a meaningful partnership between the parents and the principals is lacking in the majority of schools with regard to the mutual sharing of: * responsibilities; * information; * decision-making; * skills; and * accountability. In conclusion a summary was presented and based on the findings of this study, the following are some of the recommendations that were made: * Effective media-based parent education programme on parental involvement must be instituted. * The establishment of schools as community learning centres must receive immediate attention. * The principal must receive training in and accept responsibility tor initiating parental involvement. The Department of Education and Culture must: ° ensure that parents and principals are encouraged and supported to become partners in creating a culture of learning by providing them with the necessary guidelines and information; ° make certain that workshops, seminars, lectures and in-service training programmes are conducted for principals on school management and parental involvement; ° provide all members serving on Governing Bodies full training and support in the responsible exercise of their duties, powers and functions; and ° actively propagate the importance of nurturing a harmonious partnership between parents and principals by promoting mutual trust, respect, loyalty, frankness and understanding for each other. The teaching profession and teacher unions must assume responsibility for creating a culture of learning. The principals and inspectors must ensure that effective teaching is taking place at schools. In undertaking their teaching responsibilities, teachers must become highly professional. The principals and teacher unions must take disciplinary actions against those teachers who violate the code of conduct for teachers.

The problem of this investigation is a case study of parental involvement in the initial Plan A public school districts in Texas. The components of parental involvement isolated for the study are parent education, parent participation, and parent counseling. The major sources of data are questionnaires distributed to parents, teachers, and administrators in the initial Plan A public school districts. Secondary sources of data include interviews with the three categories of respondents to the questionnaires, communication and correspondence with the Regional Education Service Centers, and correspondence and reports from the Texas Education Agency concerning parental involvement. The purposes of the case study of parental involvement are (1) to analyze the various approaches to provide parent education services in the selected Plan A programs, (2) to analyze the various types of parent participation in the initial Plan A programs, (3) to analyze the existing and projected needs for parent counseling in Plan A, (4) to summarize findings into recommendations for effective parental involvement strategies in future implementations of Plan A in Texas, and (5) to suggest modifications or to raise questions for further investigation.

Research has demonstrated various ways of improving academic performance of students in public-school classrooms (e.g., Barrish, Saunders, & Wolf, 1969), some of which may be clinically effective but not practical within present school systems. A more practical method is the use of a program involving home-based contingencies. Home-based contingencies simply means that: When children are reinforced by their parents for their appropriate behavior and performance at school, school behavior and performance will improve (Broughton, Barton, & Owen;. 1981). The current study employed a program including home-based contingencies modeled after one created by Shumaker, Hovell, and Sherman (1977), and tested the program's effect on academic performance of disadvantaged middle school youths. The independent variable was the home-based contingency component of the program, and the dependent variables were daily report cards, grades, truancy, attendance, and archival data reflecting previous grades, truancy, and attendance. Results indicated that the home-based contingency program significantly increased appropriate school behavior (t(25) = 13.85, p<0.00), but, did not have any substantial impact on grades (t(2) = 1.53, p>0.08), truancy, or attendance.

The purpose of this research study was to increase the overall achievement gains of my students who are currently receiving overall grades below a 69% in my middle school mathematics class by promoting parental involvement. The purpose of my action-research study was to answer the following three research questions: 1. What changes occur in students‟ test scores and overall grades when a variety of parental contacts are made over a six-week period? 2. How can I promote parental involvement? 3. What can I do to educate parents on how to become more effectively involved in their child‟s education? To answer these questions I selected ten parents, whose children were currently receiving grades below a 69% in 7th grade mathematics and who have not contacted me after the first nine weeks of the semester. I used three different methods to contact the parents, phones call, emails, and notes in students‟ planners. All three methods showed a lack of parental feedback and involvement. Nevertheless, five students showed an increase in the second marking period, four showed a decrease, and one stayed the same.

Ph. D.

Trust is an important factor affecting parent-teacher relationships. In urban schools, the lack of trust between parents and teachers is exacerbated by racial and social class differences (Bryk and Schneider, 2002). This paper examines how relational trust was both fostered and inhibited between low-income parents and their children's teachers in a low-income urban school. Data was collected through a qualitative research design based in observations and interviews in one high poverty urban school. Results suggest that teacher demonstrations of care for their profession, for parents, and for students were the most crucial factors for building parent trust in teachers. Parent competence and integrity emerged as the most salient facets of teacher trust in parents. This research highlights the importance of purposeful teacher action to build trust with low-income parents by demonstrating personal regard for their profession, their students, and their students' parents. Additionally, teachers must become knowledgeable about the strengths and struggles of low-income urban families and the way social class shapes parents' beliefs about childrearing methods and their role in their children's education. / Urban Education

The purpose of the study was to assess the perceptions of mothers of multihandicapped offspring, special education teachers, and special education supervisors regarding the mothers' adjustment to their multihandicapped children. Specifically, the nature of the adjustment process was investigated; whether it was more aptly characterized as chronic sorrow or time-bound grief. Additional information was sought on the availability and usefulness of parental support services. Subjects included 15 mothers of multihandicapped offspring, 8 special education supervisors and 7 special education teachers. All were associated with the Cooperative Centers for Exceptional Children, in rural southwest Virginia. Data were collected by personal interviews. Subjects responded to open-ended questions and constructed graphs representing their perceptions of parental distress at 12 developmental crisis points. All of the mothers and educators constructed graphs representing chronic sorrow as opposed to time-bound grief. All but one of the mothers indicated that although they experienced chronic distress, it was a periodic rather than continuous phenomenon. Comparison of the mean group ratings for each of the 12 crisis points revealed significant differences in the groups' perceptions of parental distress at only two crisis points: ''management of a crisis unique to the child", for which the educators underestimated the mothers' distress; and "onset of puberty", for which the teachers overestimated the mothers' distress. All respondents perceived a difference in mothers' distress levels at various developmental crisis points. ''Birth/diagnosis'', discussion of placement of the child outside of the home", ''management of a crisis unique to the child", and "discussion of guardianship" were perceived as highly distressful by all three groups. Deficits were revealed in the existing parental support service delivery system(s) in the geographic region of the study. Services to parents of preschool children and offspring age 13-15 and older appeared to be insufficient to meet the parents ' needs. A lack of organization and communication among community agencies, the limited scope of available services, and parents' reluctance or inability to use available services were cited as contributing factors to the problems in service delivery. The support services ranked as the most useful by parents and educators were individual counseling, respite care, parent groups, and conferences with the offspring's teacher. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to develop a field-tested prior notice/due process form that would be comprehensible by parents. An ancillary purpose was to determine the comprehensibility of a prior notice form that is currently used in southwest Virginia school divisions. A research and development model was employed to develop the field-tested form. A form and an application test were written in the predesign and design stage. In the initial review stage, a panel of experts reviewed the test and revised the form, and parents read the form and took the application test. Based on expert comments and an analysis of parent responses, revisions were made to the test and form. Another form and test revision was made following a main field test of parents. The final cycle of the. study was an operational field test of 65 parents in 11 school divisions in southwest Virginia. In a secondary mail survey, 80 special education administrators indicated their preference for the two forms on various dimensions. Data from the operational field test were used to test the hypotheses. Item analyses, using both standard and educational discrimination indices, were conducted to suggest areas for improvement on the revised form. It was concluded from the findings of the study that: (1) the hypothesis that a significant difference would exist in comprehension between parents reading the revised form and those reading the standard form was not supported; (2) on the application test, parents can obtain an acceptable mean score of 80% by reading either form; (3) specific problem areas on the form still exist, and should be corrected; (4) special education administrators prefer the revised form for use with parents; and (5) the use of jargon and complex terms seem to particularly discriminate parents of lower educational levels. Recommendations were made for form development and form use. / Ed. D.

This study was conducted to obtain information from parents regarding why they do or do not participate in the education of their middle school children. The results of the study should serve as a resource to teachers and administrators who wish to increase parental participation. A total of 209 parents returned a completed questionnaire. The survey requested information regarding how many times they attended functions/activities during the first semester of the 1990-91 school year, and what their reasons were for attending; what functions/activities they did not attend and their reasons for not attending. Parents also were asked what kind of resources/activities they provided for their children at home and elsewhere. In addition, the instrument requested information that would be helpful in determining if there were observable differences when selected demographic variables (race, education and occupation) were considered; and, using a Likert scale, this instrument gathered information regarding parental expectations. / Ed. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education