The purpose of the study was to describe perceptions toward schools held by black parents of students granted racial balance transfers for 1978-1979 school year by Fort Wayne Community Schools administration officials. An attempt was made to discover if parental support for schools changed when children transferred from one school to another using racial balance transfers.Personal interviews were held with six randomly selected black parents of elementary students granted racial balance transfers for the purpose of generating questions for a parent questionnaire. Information secured from the interviews was compiled and placed into categories relative to administration, curricular offerings, quality of teaching, student progress, school environmental, school climate, and parental involvement. A questionnaire was developed from data gained from interviews with the parents. Black parents, two doctoral committee members, students enrolled in the doctoral seminar for research, and a selected jury for final editing examined the questionnaire for clarity, simplicity, and consistency in language. A Likert five-point scale labeled "strongly agree," "agree,"' "undecided," "disagree," and "strongly disagree," was utilized so parents could express strength of agreement or disagreement with questionnaire items. The questionnaire was mailed to the total Population of 232 black parents representing 337 elementary school students granted racial balance transfers. One-hundred twenty-four parents completed questionnaires.A computer program, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), was chosen to generate raw data from returned questionnaires. Data were analyzed in an attempt to answer eleven research questions relative to black parent perceptions toward school.Parents perceived that predominantly black schools previously attended by black students equalled predominantly white schools in certain respects, such as, teacher expectation of students and fair dealings of principal and teachers with parents and students. Parents perceived that previous schools offered certain benefits over present schools, such as, more teachers were able to teach subjects so children could understand. Parents were generally favorable toward present schools attended by black children. Parents wire generally satisfied with previous school environments, but perceived present school environments as more desirable for black children.Black parents of students granted racial balance transfers did not become more involved in school activities. Slightly more than one-fourth of responding parents were active in present school PTAs; about 50 percent were active in previous school PTAs.About one-third of the respondents regarding previous schools and about one-half of the respondents regarding present schools did not feel encouraged to help plan and develop school programs and activities. Fewer than one-fourth of the respondents reported actual participation in planning and developing school programs and activities.Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the following implications seem warranted:In view of the need for parent support for and financing of school programs, gaining support for schools from all parents seems imperative. School personnel should seek information about how black parents perceive schools and the administration of schools. Knowledge of parental perceptions about schools may be helpful to school authorities in the evaluation of racial issue postures and the handling of problems related to effective instruction.School principals and teachers need to be well grounded in sociology and psychology of various racial groups. While psychological effects of integrated school settings are important, black parents seem most concerned about the effects of integrated school settings on the academic success of black children.How well black students do in school may be directly related to how much teachers expect of students. When teachers set reasonably high expectations for students, students may conform to these high expectations. The selection of teachers and the attitudes of teachers toward students are important aspects to consider where black students are expected to do well.

The primary aim of this study was to explore the attitudes of grade ten learners towards racial integration at an ex-Model C school in the suburb of Kloof, KwaZulu-Natal. In addition, the study ventured to explore the influence of variables such as race, age, gender and scholastic achievement on learners' attitudes towards integration. Finally, the study aimed to establish learners' perceptions of the difficulties and benefits of integrated schooling, as well as their suggestions to improve school integration. The Pupils' Attitude to Integration Questionnaire was used to gather data from 172 learners, of whom 82 were males and 90 were females. The questionnaire yielded both quantitative and qualitative data that provided insight into the attitudes learners held towards integration. Interviews were also conducted with 12 learners. The researcher was, thereby, able to establish the difficulties and benefits of integration for learners, and their suggestions to improve racial integration at schools. Interview responses were qualitatively analysed and emergent themes extracted. Evidence from the data revealed that, generally, learners held positive attitudes towards integrated schooling. Furthermore, their attitudes were significantly influenced by race, gender and scholastic achievement. Age was not a significantly influential variable. In terms of the results, Coloured learners were most positive regarding racial integration, followed by Black, Indian and White learners. Girls revealed more positive attitudes than boys. Learners with average and above average symbols were more positive than those with below average symbols. Results of the interviews indicated that learners were experiencing more difficulties than benefits in respect of integration. Nevertheless, some learners did offer suggestions to improve integrated schooling. The outcomes of this study were analysed within the context of both international and local literature. Theories of attitude formation as well as theories of racist attitude formation were used in an attempt to explain the results obtained. The study concluded with recommendations for learners, educators, parents and the community at large, to facilitate the cultivation of positive attitudes towards the integration of races. It is anticipated that this research endeavour will not only contribute to an awareness of the challenges of racial integration in schools in South Arica, but will also provide insight into the pivotal role played by significant others and society, in general, in the formation of positive racial attitudes. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

This study is in response to national, state and local curriculum issues. Curriculum work is taken to embrace curriculum research and theory, and curriculum development and implementation. This study is a critical reflection on current curriculum work as a day-to-day experience. This study is about the impact and local implementation of standards-based curriculum frameworks for students with disabilities and impairments. The focus is to develop an improved understanding of the extraordinary complexities that encompass standards-based music curriculum policy frameworks for these students in the State of Victoria. For most people, a better understanding of these extraordinary complexities may much reduce fear, unease and distrust. The phenomenon would seem logical. This study explores ways in which public curriculum policy is developed and implemented in modern societies like Australia. This study is a critical reflection on moves to change curriculum, curriculum policy framework initiatives and the institutional contexts that shape the impact and implementation of curriculum. Public curriculum policy formation is challenged by competing pressures and limitations including an increasing emphasis on ‘partnerships’ and ‘networking’. There are difficulties and complex challenges to ensure that all students share in the benefits.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1982. / Title from title page screen, viewed April 8, 2005. Dissertation Committee: David Franklin, Ronald Halinski (co-chairs), G. Alan Hickrod, Paul Baker, Dale Jackson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-150) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 291-308).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1998. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 3, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Sally B. Pancrazio (chair), Elizabeth Lugg, Larry McNeal, James D. Dixon. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-176) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Robert Gutierrez, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept of Middle and Secondary Education. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 15, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 165 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Phil. (Education for Community Development)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / Summaries at end of chapters. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Bibliography: pages 111-118. / This study examines some elements of the language environment, language learning processes, and language inter-actions between child and teacher, and child and child in the changing South African education system. As more classrooms become non-racial, new dimensions are arising in language use and in learning: classrooms are perforce multilingual as different language groups come together to receive instruction through the medium of English. What dynamic do these multilingual elements bring to the standard classroom? I focus on part of the Standard Six population of 5 Western Cape English medium schools. The schools are different in many respects and similar in others; some have more Black pupils than others. By using a variety of research methods, including questionnaires, worksheets, personal observation, interviews and essays, I explore the experiences and attitudes of pupils, teachers and principals. My object is to try to identify trends: to look for positive features arising out of present classrooms and to look for possible points of tension as well, in order to extract central features to analyse. These are highlighted, and cross-referenced with relevant international studies, as matters of interest for practitioners in the classroom and for education planners. The field is immense: the study essentially provides a broad-based platform for further research. I tried not to have any preconceptions about what I would find, so made it a comprehensive and far-ranging study. It uncovers important elements which teachers and schools may attend to, relatively easily, indicates the importance of development of one's Mother Tongue and exposes deeply-felt emotions about Language and identity. It asks questions about Bridging Programmes and about the language of the teacher in the classroom and in testing. I also ask about the future of English in this country, about feelings about learning Afrikaans and about learning Xhosa. The main target in the recommendations is the teacher, as the generator of learning opportunities in the classroom. I call for more specific communication between teacher and pupil and the evolution of child-specific language learning processes. It is every teacher in every classroom who needs to adjust consciously to the new classroom profiles. Differing patterns clearly emerge from the schools with different intake profiles. This suggests the need for further studies to examine these findings for generalisability. The situation in schools is both volatile and exciting, calling for concrete and imaginative attention to aspects emerging from the personal, perceptive and wide-ranging input of the sample studied in this research project.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Sociology of Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1997 / This study considers open schools as a movement for reform and social change. It is argued in this study that the mere act of opening up schools to all race groups is an important step in the road to social change, particularly in a country where government had enacted several pieces of legislation to prevent racial mixing of pupils in schools. A combination of social, political and economic factors such as, the crisis in black education culminating in the 1976 Soweto uprising, the moral and the social conscience of the Churches, corporate social responsibility, skills shortage and the government reform initiatives during the 1990's are cited as the main reasons for the opening up of schools. Theoretically, the study draws on the assimilationist and pluralistic models. These two models are prevalently used in the provision of education in a society comprising of people from diverse groups and backgrounds. Approaches under each of these two models are initially discussed and analysed, and later applied in the conclusion. This dissertation depicts the attitudes of 100 respondents selected from the teachers, parents and pupils ranks associated with open schools in the Durban Metropolitan area. Findings drawn from the empirical data indicate that the different views on open schools held by black and white respondents somewhat blur the role of open schools as catalysts for social change. Blacks interpret open schools from the educational standards point of view, whereas whites see open schools as providing an opportunity for socio-cultural enrichment. As a result of the differing views, the educational approach adopted by open schools vacillates between assimilationism and pluralism. Be that as it may, respondents displayed overwhelming support for the potential open schools have to bring about social change. Finally, on the basis of the aims of the study and the empirical findings, conclusions are drawn. Recommendations to make open schools viable agents of reform and social change are formulated as follows: That open schools reflect their 'openness' in practice in keeping with their intended mission. That open schools revisit their school policies with a view to addressing those aspects of policy which members of certain groups find objectionable. That open schools practise differentiation with care. That open schools implement training for teachers on dealing with school population diversity. That open schools work on producing appropriate teaching material to be used in open schools. That open schools and the Department of Education should co-operate in dealing with problems arising from the 'openness' of schools.