Educators often face a problem of the lack of ongoing contact between the school and students' homes (Delpit, 1995; Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; McCaleb, 1994). Literacy development at school is facilitated by teachers' knowledge of students' home-based discourses (Auerbach, 1989; McCaleb, 1994; Voss, 1996). This dissertation research responded to the question: What do educators need to understand and appreciate about their students' home or living context in order to create partnerships with parents and young students that will nurture literacy growth? This research is an ethnographic study. I spent one school year as a participant observer in a family literacy program. Young mothers who never finished high school and had children under the age of eight attended this program twice weekly. I observed during the family literacy sessions, recorded field notes, and conducted formal and informal interviews with nine family literacy program participants. I visited four women in their homes and conducted interviews. All interviews were tape recorded which were then transcribed. I collected copies of women's written pieces produced during the family literacy program. Data analysis and interpretation (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996) revealed themes and issues consistent within each of six women's stories. The deficiency model (Auerbach, 1989; Purcell-Gates, 1995; Sleeter, 1996) was challenged as each women demonstrated resourcefulness, articulated goals, the use of multiple literacies, commitment to their families' welfare, support and initiative in their children's schooling and a keen awareness of social class barriers. Repositioning our perspectives (Sleeter, 1996) enables educators to discover the strengths in students' home discourses that include multiple literacies (Voss, 1996) and other funds of knowledge (Moll & Greenberg, 1990). We need to move our lens from that of critique and judgement to that of discovery. Each student comes to school with an abundance of family and home experiences that need opportunities for expressions and learning. The pressures of negotiating home discourses with the dominant discourse (Gee, 1990; Sleeter, 1996) create reservoirs of strength for many families that is often masked by non-middle class appearances. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether middle school students’ perceptions of teacher interactions and home-school dissonance are predictors of school attachment. The study sought to determine if there were differences in students’ perceptions of teacher interactions and home-school dissonance based on ethnicity, gender and/or grade level. This investigation is one of the first to explore the association between these variables. Data for this investigation was obtained from a larger study where surveys were administered to over 800 racially diverse students in grades 6 through 8 in Language Arts classrooms in two public middle schools with diverse student populations. Participants completed the Questionnaire of Teacher Interactions (QTI), the Cultural Discontinuity Between Home and School Scale (CDBHSS) and the School Attachment Questionnaire (SAQ). Based on the study sample, the QTI and SAQ were revalidated and produced new scale structures. Results of the multiple regressions, multivariate analysis of variance and post hoc tests revealed middle school students’ perceptions of teacher interactions and home-school dissonance significantly predict school attachment. Teacher interactions perceived as critical/passive, pleasant, or demanding were those making significant contributions. Student perceptions of pleasant teacher interactions were the greatest predictor of school attachment. Eighth graders perceived teachers to be more critical/passive than sixth graders. Sixth grade students perceived teachers to be more caring than seventh and eighth grades. Further, results indicated African American students perceived more critical/passive teacher interactions than their Caucasian and Asian American peers. While results indicate that home-school dissonance is a significant predictor of school attachment, results show that the impact of students’ perceptions of home-school dissonance is minimized when combined with teacher interactions. Implications for administrators, teachers, and university education departments are outlined. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 124-131). Also available in print.

The project was about empowering young women in Dharavi. The building is a school of Home science.

Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vikten av förälders engagemang i skolan samt att utforska om samarbete mellan hem och skola har en positiv påverkan på barns skolprestation. Vi har ställt upp följande frågeställningar: 1) Vad innebär föräldraengagemang i skolan? 2) Vilka hinder och utmaningar kan vi hitta i föräldrars engagemang i sitt barns skolgång? 3) Vilken betydelse har föräldrars engagemang för elevens prestation i skolan? 4) Vilken betydelse har föräldrars och lärares interaktion för elevens prestation i skolan? Vi har använt en kvalitativ metod, där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med ett antal lärare och föräldrar. Analys har gjorts med hjälp av fenomenografisk metod.  Resultatet av vår studie visar tydligt att de elever vars förälder aktivt deltar i och stödjer deras skolgång har lättare att tillgodogöra sig utbildningen. I stort sett alla informanter är överens om att interaktion mellan hem och skola gör ett barns inlärningsprocess både enklare och roligare. Det vill säga, om både förälder och skola interagerar och effektivt deltar i barnets skolgång ser vi som resultat inte bara en ökad inlärningseffekt utan även en god social utveckling hos eleven. Många skolor i Sverige har insett detta och arbetar numera aktivt för att involvera föräldern mer aktivt i sitt barns skolgång. / Pedagogy / Educational science

The purposes of this study were to determine the employment status of North Texas State University clothing and textiles majors who graduated between 1969 and 1978 and to provide a measurement of their job satisfaction. The data were gathered through two mailed questionnaires, a general one developed by the researcher, and the Job Descriptive Index, a standardized job satisfaction index. Graduates in clothing and textiles tended to seek and obtain employment related to their major field of study, and they are generally satisfied with their jobs. Factors tested statistically in this study included age, marital status, parental status, salary, tenure, and organization size. No significant differences in job satisfaction or employment tatus were evident relative to any of these factors.

This study aimed at exploring the school effectiveness characteristics of two high schools, one with high (School A) and one with low (School B) levels of placement ratio in &Ouml / SS for their graduates, to observe their characteristics as perceived by their stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, school administrative staff and managers). In this study, a comparative pre-structured case study method was employed. The study was conducted in two private high schools in the province of Ankara, Turkey. The participants were 10 students, 10 teachers, 10 parents, 2 non-academic staff and 3 administrators from School A, and 10 students, 10 teachers, 7 parents, 3 non-academic staff and 2 administrators from School B. A framework drawn by the researcher as a result of review of relevant literature was used to conceptualize the study and to guide the interview schedules to collect data. According to this framework, six general areas in effective school literature were explored. These areas were academic emphasis, organization and administration, school climate, home-school relations, teaching staff, and physical and financial resources. The data collected through semi-structured interviews were analyzed using content analysis technique. The findings revealed that two case schools had major differences almost in all areas explored. The only major similarity between two schools was in the leadership and leader qualities under organization and administration area. The effective school characteristics of the school with high levels of placement ratio in &Ouml / SS, in all six areas explored were added to the conceptual framework drawn at the beginning of the study.

Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vikten av förälders engagemang i skolan samt att utforska om samarbete mellan hem och skola har en positiv påverkan på barns skolprestation. Vi har ställt upp följande frågeställningar: 1) Vad innebär föräldraengagemang i skolan? 2) Vilka hinder och utmaningar kan vi hitta i föräldrars engagemang i sitt barns skolgång? 3) Vilken betydelse har föräldrars engagemang för elevens prestation i skolan? 4) Vilken betydelse har föräldrars och lärares interaktion för elevens prestation i skolan? Vi har använt en kvalitativ metod, där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med ett antal lärare och föräldrar. Analys har gjorts med hjälp av fenomenografisk metod.  Resultatet av vår studie visar tydligt att de elever vars förälder aktivt deltar i och stödjer deras skolgång har lättare att tillgodogöra sig utbildningen. I stort sett alla informanter är överens om att interaktion mellan hem och skola gör ett barns inlärningsprocess både enklare och roligare. Det vill säga, om både förälder och skola interagerar och effektivt deltar i barnets skolgång ser vi som resultat inte bara en ökad inlärningseffekt utan även en god social utveckling hos eleven. Många skolor i Sverige har insett detta och arbetar numera aktivt för att involvera föräldern mer aktivt i sitt barns skolgång. / The overall purpose of this study is to investigate the importance of parents' involvement in school and to explore whether cooperation between home and school has a positive impact on children's school performance. We have posed the following questions: 1) What does parental involvement in school mean? 2) What obstacles and challenges can we find in parents' involvement in their child's schooling? 3) What is the significance of parents' commitment to the student's performance in school? 4) What significance does the interaction of parents and teachers have for the student's performance in school? We have used a qualitative method, where semi-structured interviews have been conducted with a number of teachers and parents. Analysis has been done using a phenomenographic method. The results of our study clearly show that the students whose parents actively participate in and support their schooling have an easier time assimilating the education. Virtually all informants agree that interaction between home and school makes a child's learning process both easier and more fun. That is, if both parent and school interact and effectively participate in the child's schooling, we see as a result not only an increased learning effect but also a good social development in the student. Many schools in Sweden have realized this and are now working actively to involve the parent more actively in their child's schooling.