Thesis advisor: Curt Dudley-Marling / Improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities remains a challenge for professionals in the field of special education. With the passage of <italic> NCLB <italic/> and <italic> IDEA 2004 <italic/> has come the recommendation to establish higher standards for educational productivity for these students. This call to action seems warranted, especially in light of recent findings published in a report by the U.S. Department of Education (2002) entitled <italic>A New Era: Revitalizing Special Education for Children and Their Families <italic/>. The report suggests that students with disabilities drop-out of high school at twice the rate of their peers and higher education enrollment rates for students with disabilities are 50 percent lower than rates for the general population. Recent literature indicates that improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities depends in large part on creating constructive partnerships between their families and schools. The present study contributes to the knowledge base on partnership-making by investigating family-school partnerships in special education from the perspective of parents. This study utilized the qualitative methodology known as narrative inquiry to investigate the following research questions: 1. What stories do parents tell regarding their personal experiences with the special education process? 2. What do these stories tell us about the family's perspective of family-school partnerships in special education? 3. What can we learn from these stories that might translate into effective policy and practice in schools? Findings from interviews with fourteen parents of students receiving special education services indicated that they were concerned about issues of teacher effectiveness, honesty and trust, and their role in securing services for their children. Knowledge derived from their experiences offer suggestions for schools, institutions of higher education, and future researchers. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

School/business partnerships have become prevalent in our society. There is, however, limited research on why some partnerships at the elementary school level are successful while others are not. This study examined one elementary school's program which was deemed successful to determine how school/business partnerships work in an elementary school. The factors that make an elementary school/business partnership successful were identified. The study also examined the source of leadership in the selected partnership program to determine how the leadership impacted the effectiveness of the program. For the purposes of this study, a successful partnership was one in which the school and business had worked together for at least three years and had documented improvement in student achievement during the partnership years. This school was selected based on the longevity of the partnership and the positive impact the collaborative effort between the school and business has had on the school's program. An in-depth case study was conducted in the elementary school to determine why the program worked. Participants were interviewed through qualitative inquiry to gather the factors that led to the successful implementation of the school/business partnership program. Prior to studying the school's program, a review of the literature was conducted to compare the literature-based success factors to the factors determined in this study. The informants identified several factors that contributed to the success of the partnership. They were: (1)Having a strong steering committee that met on a regular basis; (2) Communicating consistently with group members and encouraging members to express themselves openly; (3) Having the principal actively participate in the partnership; (4) Securing adequate human and financial resources; (5) Gaining support from top level leadership in the business; (6) Providing opportunities for volunteers to work directly with the students; (7) Having the partnership well organized and structured for efficiency; (8) Obtaining committed and dedicated people in both the school and the business; ( 9) Sharing a vision with identified goals; (10) Giving recognition to volunteers, school staff and the corporation (11) Evaluating the partnership on a regular basis. There was congruency between success factors from the informants and the success factors identified in the literature / Ed. D.

The purpose of this embedded mixed methods collective case study was to explore eight kindergarten, first, and second grade teachers’ experiences partnering with families of their students who are at risk for emotional or behavioral disorders (EBDs). The teachers worked in two high-poverty, non-accredited Title-1 schools in an urban city. The study was part of a federally funded intervention called Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Training: Competent Learners Achieving School Success (BEST in CLASS- Elementary; BiC-E; Sutherland et al., 2017), which is targeted for students at risk for the development of EBDs. It uses evidence- based instructional practices to decrease students’ problem behaviors and increase their engagement. Teachers had BiC-E coaches help them implement a Home-School Partnership manual and process with 1 to 2 families of students at risk for EBDs. The teachers completed pretest measures, followed by a collection of weekly coaching reports for 15 weeks, then posttest measures and posttest interviews were conducted. The study intended to (a) learn more about teachers’ perspectives of partnering with families of their most challenging student and (b) help expand the literature about home-school partnership strategies for teachers to use with their families of students at risk for EBD. Mixed methods analyses revealed three keys to teachers’ successes in partnering with families: a) using the Home-School Partnership process with the CARES Framework encouraged more than just communication, it built empathy, cultural awareness, and effective communication strategies, b) presence of coaches promoted family- teacher partnerships, and c) encouragement of a partnership approach for teachers and families underscored the strengths both partners provided. A conceptual framework illustrated the complicated nature of these partnerships and underscored further study of this under-studied topic. Themes from the qualitative components shed light on the importance of congruence in the roles and expectations for both families and teachers in the partnership. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. Findings help inform the scant literature on targeted home- school partnership processes for teachers and families of students at risk for EBD.

This study examined two art museum and school partnerships in order to learn how partnerships enable an integration of goals, participants' beliefs and values, and learning objectives. This study examined the partnerships through a social constructivist lens and used narrative analysis as way to interpret participants' stories about collaboration. The research found three major themes among participants' stories. Participants: a) valued good communication to establish relationships between partners, b) believed partnership offered students experiences that educated the whole person, and c) felt that students making meaning by interacting in the museum environment was an indicator of success. The study closes with discussion of the researchers' own constructions as they developed throughout the study.

Thesis advisor: Diana Pullin / Parents are the primary educators of their children and the consistent teachers throughout their lives. However, with raised expectations through curriculum state standards and high stakes testing for students, teachers and schools, families are being left behind. A particular turning point in students' education is during the middle school years when intellectual, character, social and emotional transitions occur and habits are formed. Therefore, this qualitative, single case study uses data sources of interviews, observations and artifacts to determine the appropriate role of parents at the middle school level as perceived by administrators, teachers with administrative duties, teachers and parents. Additionally, this research sought to determine the unique factors that impede more effective partnerships between home and school and analyze the current situation using the sociocultural theory to determine if beliefs and values match the social structures in place at this particular school and provide implications for practice. Findings reveal the parent role is defined by consistent communication between home and school for unified adult expectations. Unique factors impeding parent participation at this level are based on this particular age of the students. Using sociocultural theory, it is evident that the school community culture prevails over individual beliefs and is impeded by two underlying sub cultures of rationalizations and assumptions, which allow participation to remain infrequent. There are additional overarching issues discussed that go beyond sociocultural theory. Finally, recommendations for practice are made for this particular school and the middle school level. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

Increasingly, school-based partnerships have been tied to education reform and the entrance of new private capital into the PK-12 sector. As a result, what may have been an at-will school-business partnership in the 1980s may today resemble an embedded multi-partner arrangement around professional development, teacher evaluation, or turnaround support. From curriculum to practice, and from human resources to operations, the notion of a simple YMCA after school partnership is being replaced by a new wave of collaborations focused on school improvement, integration, and scalability. The purpose of this investigation is to consider the historical context of public-private PK-12 partnerships and elucidate how recent policies emphasizing—sometimes mandating—collaboration between schools and outside agencies can lead to benefits and challenges for PK-12 leaders at the site level. A major challenge to school leaders is that they are relatively unfamiliar with managing partnerships in general, which leaves them even more unprepared to deal with new arrangements that are complex and reform-driven (Bennett & Thompson, 2011). This investigation introduces a new conceptual framework for understanding the environment in which school partnerships exist today. By coupling sources from a multitude of cross-disciplinary fields, such as urban studies, business, nonprofit management, and organizational theory, an effort is made to explain the emergence of this new system from both a historical and theoretical perspective. Further we introduce a proposed PK-12 Blended Capital Typology and methodology for analyzing how decision-making and accountability is shared between partners in these arrangements. Through a single sample case, our goal is to emerge with themes that will support additional research using this framework.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how elementary teacher preparation programs (TPPs) in Virginia are preparing undergraduate students to engage with families in developing family-school partnerships. Preservice teachers are completing their TPPs with little to no coursework or field experiences working with families (Epstein and Sheldon, 2023; Patte, 2011; Walker and Dotger, 2012; Zygmunt-Fillwalk, 2011). Previous research suggests beginning teachers are entering the field having had limited opportunities to develop their knowledge, skills, and practices for family engagement. This qualitative study involved one-on-one interviews with nine professors or program coordinators from the undergraduate elementary education teacher preparation program at seven public four-year institutions in Virginia. Interview questions sought the perceptions, coursework, and practices of family engagement that are used to prepare elementary teachers to communicate and establish a welcoming culture for families of their students. Interview data was analyzed through the Data Analysis Spiral process using descriptive coding and theming as primary coding methods. The outcomes of this qualitative study indicated that while professors value family engagement concepts such as school and community partnerships, communicating with families, and culturally responsive work, limited opportunities continue to exist for direct instruction and preservice teacher practice in partnering with families. Implications included suggestions for increased coursework in family engagement with direct instruction and hands-on opportunities for preservice teachers to engage with families, revisions to elementary education program plans of study, and the inclusion of required family engagement coursework for licensure. / Doctor of Education / Preservice teachers are completing their teacher preparation programs (TPPs) with little to no coursework or field experiences working with families. Previous research suggests beginning teachers are entering the field having had limited opportunities to develop their knowledge, skills, and practices for family engagement. The purpose of this study was to investigate how elementary TPPs in Virginia are preparing undergraduate students to engage with families in developing family-school partnerships. To identify program coordinator and professor perceptions and practices to prepare teachers to engage with families in family-school partnerships, a basic qualitative methodology was employed. Individual online interviews were conducted with nine program coordinators and professors from the undergraduate elementary TPP at seven public four-year institutions in Virginia. Interview data was analyzed through the Data Analysis Spiral process using descriptive coding and theming as primary coding methods. The outcomes of the study indicate that while professors value family engagement concepts such as school and community partnerships, communicating with families, and culturally responsive work, limited opportunities continue to exist for direct instruction and preservice teacher practice in partnering with families. Implications included suggestions for increased coursework in family engagement with direct instruction and hands-on opportunities for preservice teachers to engage with families, revisions to elementary education program plans of study, and the inclusion of required family engagement coursework for licensure.

The purpose of this study was to examine specific parenting practices in four East Tennessee counties to determine their relationships, if any, to student achievement among various demographic groups. The investigation included status variables, such as parents' educational level, annual income level, and family structure. Students' Normal Curve Equivalent scores on the Terra Nova Standardized Test were used to measure student achievement. The Epstein (1987) typologies were used to classify parent involvement modalities. The analysis consisted of four research questions and were tested at the .05 level of significance. Pearson's product-moment, Spearman's rho, and Kendall's Tau B correlation coefficients were used to analyze the degree of relationship between Epstein's six typologies and student achievement. A t-test was used to describe the relationship between student achievement and the number of parents in the home. One-way Analyses of Variance were used to describe the relationships between student achievement and parents' educational and income levels. Kruskal Wallis tests were used to analyze differences in parental involvement by the number of parents in the home, parental income, and education levels. A Hierarchical Regression Analysis was also used to determine the extent to which parents' income, educational levels, and family structure assist in predicting student achievement. The sample consisted of 413 students in grade 4 in four counties in East Tennessee. Two schools were selected from each county as a representative sample of the population. The results of this study indicate significant relationships between student achievement and the parental involvement typologies of volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with the community. The relationships between student achievement and parental involvement in conjunction with parents' educational and income levels were also significant. Both parental involvement typologies and family demographics emphasize goals which are achieved most effectively when families and schools work together.

No description available.