The objective of the project was to develop an online educational technology tool based on research from multiple disciplines to improve effective communication between students, counselors, teachers, parents, and school staff. The website developed for the project aims to increase the involvement of parents in their child's academic progress. The project also includes discussions concerning the website's field testing at a middle school in Rosemead, California, its evaluation through participant surveys, and final revision. The field test participant instructions, survey questions, and a computer disc of the website accompanies the project.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on May 3, 2010). School of Social Work, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Margaret E. Adamek, Valerie N. Chang, Nancy Chism, Rebecca S. Sloan, Lorraine Blackman, Matthew C. Aalsma. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-241).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Bully victimization takes place within a social context of youths’ parents, peers, teachers, school administrators, and community. Victims often rely on parents, educators, or peers for support. However, there is a gap in the literature in understanding parents’ experiences of what occurs before, during, and after reporting bullying to school officials. Therefore, this dissertation study examined parents’ experiences in discovering, reporting, and living through the aftermath of their child being bullied. This study used a purposeful sample that was criterion-based. Nine mothers and one mother/father pair were tape-recorded using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Follow-up phone interviews followed. Key themes and patterns were analyzed using the philosophical method of interpretive phenomenology based on Heidegger’s philosophy of being. Exemplars were used to illuminate several themes. Results suggest three unique stages. In the first stage, discovery, parents often noticed psychosocial changes in their child related to bullying. Parents often responded initially by providing advice to their children. When signs of their schoolchildren being bullied persisted, parents decided to report the incidents to school officials. Nine parents reported incomplete interventions that let their youths’ victimization continue. One parent, a paradigm case, shared understandings of how her son’s school official provided a full intervention that was restorative. However, all other parents who received an incomplete intervention found themselves rethinking how to protect their children from bullying. In this aftermath, several parents moved their children out of the school into a new district or began to home school. However, half the parents were left unable to move their child and therefore could not provide protection. Indiana’s anti-bullying law was unknown to eight parents and was unsuccessful in leveraging protection for one parent who used it with school officials as a threat. School official’s responses to bullying were incongruent with student handbook procedures. Recommendations from a parent’s perspective indicate school officials must: 1) have a clear process in place for parents to report, 2) follow through by calling parents back with results from investigating and procedures that will be taken to intervene, and 3) call the bullies’ and victims’ parents to notify what has occurred and what will be done to ensure safety. Discussed are implications for school officials, including social workers, and state policymakers. There is a proposed intervention model (Appendix J) that addresses how parents can respond to school officials who are hesitant to provide bullied youth protection.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lifeworld of the high-achieving young adolescent. A literature study was undertaken to determine the developmental level of young adolescents and their corresponding needs. The Bio-ecosystemic theory of Bronfenbrenner was used as theoretical basis to explore the level of influence in the life of the young adolescent. The role parental involvement plays in the life-experience and perceptions of young adolescents was also investigated. The results of the study indicated that the environment or lifeworld of young adolescents plays a big role in all the different aspects of their development. Parents, who are the closest entities in their lifeworld, have the strongest influence. Parental values, beliefs and attitudes are communicated through verbal and non-verbal interactions. Positive and negative conditional regard were found to be motivational tools used by parents to encourage young adolescents to perform according to their expectations. Young adolescents often internalise or introject parental values, beliefs and attitudes as a result of the level of their moral development. Unrealistic or perfectionistic expectations often lead to high levels of anxiety and stress. This could interfere with their normal developmental tasks of which identity formation, the development of self-control and self-regulation appear to be very important aspects. From the findings of the study, guidelines for parents and educators were compiled in support of young adolescents who find themselves in a high-achieving academic environment. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

University of Macau / Faculty of Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lifeworld of the high-achieving young adolescent. A literature study was undertaken to determine the developmental level of young adolescents and their corresponding needs. The Bio-ecosystemic theory of Bronfenbrenner was used as theoretical basis to explore the level of influence in the life of the young adolescent. The role parental involvement plays in the life-experience and perceptions of young adolescents was also investigated. The results of the study indicated that the environment or lifeworld of young adolescents plays a big role in all the different aspects of their development. Parents, who are the closest entities in their lifeworld, have the strongest influence. Parental values, beliefs and attitudes are communicated through verbal and non-verbal interactions. Positive and negative conditional regard were found to be motivational tools used by parents to encourage young adolescents to perform according to their expectations. Young adolescents often internalise or introject parental values, beliefs and attitudes as a result of the level of their moral development. Unrealistic or perfectionistic expectations often lead to high levels of anxiety and stress. This could interfere with their normal developmental tasks of which identity formation, the development of self-control and self-regulation appear to be very important aspects. From the findings of the study, guidelines for parents and educators were compiled in support of young adolescents who find themselves in a high-achieving academic environment. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)