The purpose of this study was to explore: (a) how and to what extent teachers experience and express trust in relation to individual students and groups of students; (b) how and to what extent teachers value and focus on specific attributes of trust over others; and (c) how and to what extent the levels of teacher trust in students and the various attributes of trust impact the teachers’ behaviors and choices in the classroom. Data were collected from teacher interviews, teacher questionnaires, classroom and school artifacts, and descriptive field notes from observations. Data were analyzed using content analysis and open, axial, and selective coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Results indicated that participants valued specific attributes of trust over other attributes of trust. Participants were aware that individual students expressed different levels of one or more attributes of trust and made specific behavioral and pedagogical decisions for students who demonstrated very low levels or very high levels of specific attributes of trust. Results also indicated that participants valued particular attributes of trust because those attributes facilitated and reinforced other attributes of trust. One attribute of trust could be facilitated and reinforced by several other attributes of trust. Participants used pedagogical and behavioral means to attempt to increase students’ expression of particular attributes of trust. Results suggested that teachers who adjust the classroom environment and use several alternative teaching strategies may be making choices that increase students’ abilities to demonstrate attributes of trust. Teachers who use fewer teaching strategies and who do not adjust the environment adequately may be less able to increase the students’ abilities to demonstrate attributes of trust. A clear understanding of teacher-student trust may help teachers to chart the degree to which particular teaching methods and behavioral practices work or do not work to increase attributes of trust.

There is an inherent contradiction in a system of education in which a significant number of those who are to be taught, do not learn. The schools in the United States have contributed to a generations long pattern of non-achievement which contributes to many of society's ills. The author contends that many of these underachieving students have more ability than they are able to demonstrate easily. An experiment was conducted that empowered remedial mathematics students to pursue some mathematical problems in depth by removing the dual obstacles of poor computational skills and the lack of confidence that their computations produce correct answers.

Effective curriculum planning and decision making process is key to the success of educational programs. The problem with centralized educational systems is that, at the curriculum planning level, the system does not have sufficient data about the needs of the learner, teachers, and the expectations of the society at large for effective curriculum planning to take place. At the implementation level, the system does not give teachers the needed flexibility to implement the curriculum. The major purpose of this study was to investigate curriculum decision making process in Malawi. The research procedures used in this study consisted of systematic document analysis and interviews with selected educators. In addition, a survey of opinions of students, parents, teachers, and heads of schools was conducted. The findings of the study confirmed that the curriculum planning and decision making process in Malawi is centralized. It also found that curriculum planning and development process for the secondary school curriculum was not fully systematised. At the school level, heads of schools and teachers had very little say about the curriculum. The implementation of the curriculum was, therefore, not flexible enough to allow the curriculum to be modified to suit local conditions while at the same time meeting the nationally developed objectives. The following were some of the recommendations the study made: (1) Decisions about the curriculum should be broadly based. (2) The responsibility for national curriculum development should be vested in the hands of the Malawi Institute of Education. (3) The Ministry of Education and Culture should gradually institute a school-based management strategy in order to improve the effectiveness of schools. (4) Lines of communication between the school and the Ministry headquarters should be improved. (5) In order to encourage the application of knowledge and skills into practice, there is need to continue refining performance based assessment techniques for appraising student performance and for placement. It is hoped that the decentralization process now taking place within the education sector, will take into consideration the above recommendations in order to improve the quality of secondary education in Malawi.

The purpose of this study was to obtain a realistic portrait of National History Day (NHD)--a secondary school, history related program in which students research and develop presentations on a topic related to an annual theme. My goal was to determine: whether the positive claims for NHD were realistic; why and how the program grew from a local program with 129 students in 1974 to over 500,000 students in 48 states in 1991; and what implications there were for educational processes. For this ethnohistorical case study, which combined ethnographic and historiographic methods, I collected historical data through documentary material and interviews; perspectives of teachers and students through interviews and observations; and supplementary and validating data through interviews with state coordinators and former students. The study participants were the "founding fathers" and Executive and Associate Directors of NHD, 13 students and 4 teachers from 3 schools in different states, and 3 state coordinators and 6 former NHD students from corresponding states and schools. The data support the claims of superior cognitive, affective, and skill development through student participation in NHD. The data also show that the teachers and students in this study participated mainly because NHD provided opportunities for self-determination, self-comparison, close student-teacher relationships, community contribution, receiving recognition, and having fun. Furthermore, results indicate that these motivational dynamics account, at least in part, for the program's phenomenal growth. Additionally, findings suggest that for these participants competition was the driving force behind the level of involvement and calibre of work. While all study participants claimed major benefits and few drawbacks to the competition format, most considered the judging process to be inconsistent and a weakness in the program. Implications for educational practice revolve around how to incorporate the motivational components of the NHD process into the curriculum. The implications for the teaching and learning of history relate to methodology. The participants indicated that through the NHD process students gained a deeper comprehension of historical content and concepts and a greater ability to think critically and to develop their own knowledge than was possible in a traditional, teacher-dominated classroom.

This study evaluated the effects of an interactive, psychologically-oriented program upon pubertal growth, egocentrism, self-consciousness, and self-esteem for seventh-grade girls. An experimental group (N = 16) volunteered for an activity that taught about communication, stress-management, peer-refusal, and leadership, and applied their learnings to development of self. A sub-group (N = 11) taught a self-designed replication of this information to younger children. Three control groups were comprised of same-age girls: Those who volunteered for either Chorus (N = 15) or Sports (N = 6), and those who did not volunteer for an activity (N = 9) and were assigned to Study Hall. All students voluntariLy participated in this study. A pre-test, post-test design was applied to four measurements: The Puberty Scale, The Self Focus Sentence Completion: A Study of Egocentricity, The Self-Consciousness Scale, and a Self-Esteem Inventory, before and after the activity curricula. The results determined that all of the girls were significantly aware of their growth in height, perceived that their growth was similar to others, and the Sports Group was bothered by the growth. An examination of the conclusions related to the hypotheses revealed four significant findings about the experimental group: they achieved a balanced Self-Other egocentric ratio, they exhibited a decrease in social anxiety, they remained higher in private self-consciousness, and they demonstrated an increase in self-esteem. The three control groups did not shift from divergent to convergent thinking about self and other, even in a minimal way and showed marginal changes in self-consciousness and self-esteem. The Sports Group, however, revealed a significant decrease in self-esteem. The overall results indicate that a personal and interpersonal curriculum enhances positive psychological development in seventh-grade girls.

Does the individual guidance program of Modesto secondary schools meet the needs of the youth enrolled? This question is to be answered through a study of (1) the counselee loud of the counselors in the Modesto secondary schools; (2) the distribution of problems encountered in counseling; (3) the number of repeat counselees and how and why they came to the counselors; (4) the effectiveness of the counseling program from the students’ viewpoint; (5) the effectiveness of the counseling program from the counselors’ viewpoint.

This research project was a descriptive study of a peer mediation program in a junior high school of approximately one thousand students from 21 different nationalities. The focus was on discovering what factors inhibit and what factors encourage the use of mediation by the students in this school. Using qualitative methodology, 20 students, 12 faculty members, and eight parents from this school community were interviewed by the researcher. Surveys were filled out by 58 students, 57 parents, and 23 faculty members. The major criterion used in selecting interview and survey questions was whether or not the question contributed to a systemic understanding of the factors that inhibit or encourage students' use of the mediation program. Perspectives from different parts of the system were elicited by asking similar questions of parents, students, and faculty. After presenting a brief summary of the factors encouraging the use of mediation, the six key factors revealed by the data to be inhibiting the use of mediation were analyzed. The six factors included students' attitudes, feelings, and behaviors regarding mediation; student methods of handling conflict; attitudes, feelings, and behaviors of students in school; school dynamics; factors related to the mediation of program and societal issues. Each of these factors was analyzed for emergent themes and was illuminated through the words of the students, parents, and faculty who participated in this study. The findings illustrate the ways in which conflict resolution within a school is influenced by the climate or atmosphere of the school and in turn influences this climate or atmosphere. The six factors inhibiting the use of mediation in this school were explored within the context of both the climate of the school and the larger society.

This qualitative study examined the perceived impact of absent fathers on students’ emotional, social, and academic constraints. Many factors can contribute to the loss of a father; so, for the purpose of this research, the researcher examined the impact of the absent father through incarceration and divorce. The research may enable educators to identify the challenges, celebrate victories, and explore what it the phenomenon of an adolescent without the presence of your biological father in our community, from the perspective of the educators. Information gathered through the administration of educator perception interviews was utilized to identify how an absent father manifests in our secondary students. The educators answered the questions based solely on their perceptions of students without a father they have encountered throughout their careers. The analysis of the data collected for the study allowed the researcher to develop an understanding of the social, emotional, and academic effects of father absence. The data collected could be utilized to teach educators how to recognize and react to the perceived implications of an absent father on a secondary student. The educators perceived that these students without a father are consistently searching for a father-figure to fill the void left by the absent father. The participants tended to perceive that this lack of a family structure can also lead to disciplinary, relational, academic, emotional, and communication struggles for these students. The perception of poverty and sadness or emptiness often exists, leading to low confidence, low motivation, and a lack of accountability. The perception of the educators was that the lack of security led to overall concern for responsibility and work ethic. The lack of structure outside the school can contribute to questioning authority or being disrespectful. The lack of discipline at home is perceived to equate to a poor work ethic, low amounts of responsibility, and a low quality of work. These students sometimes have a low self-esteem, thus low expectations and little attention to detail. It may not be the priority of the student to complete all work and therefore they become apathetic with low confidence and expectations for academic success.

Today educators face a tremendous challenge to their wisdom and ability in facing the demand for change in the important task of training youth. The old outmoded traditional methods cannot accomplish the total development of the student who will be adaptable to this complex and swiftly moving industrial age. Society has at long last realized that the degree of efficiency, of prosperity, of social consciousness and of living itself is the direct by-product of the educational system. This realization has placed the schools in the sharp focus of the enquiring public eye. / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science under Plan II." / Advisors: F. B. Shaw, H. F. Cottingham, Professors Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-43).

"The purpose of this paper is to give what the writer considers an accepted guidance program that would in some measure effect the two-fold purpose as outlined by Miss Strang and to give an analysis of the guidance services needed at Bay County High School with a proposed program to help fulfil these needs"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "July, 1949." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: R. L. Goulding, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-43).