<p> The enrollment and engagement of middle-class families in historically low-income urban public schools can generate school improvements, including increased resources and expanded extracurricular programming. At the same time, prior research has highlighted the marginalization of low-income parents as one consequence of middle-class parent involvement. However, there is a limited understanding of the factors that contribute to parents&rsquo; central or peripheral positions within school-based parent networks in this context. Drawing on theoretical literature on social capital and social networks, this case study combines quantitative methods including social network analysis and regression-based analyses with ethnographic methods to examine the school-based social networks of kindergarten parents in a Philadelphia public school experiencing an increase in the engagement and enrollment of middle- and upper middle-class parents. I explore how school-based social networks matter to parents&rsquo; access to information, advice, and social opportunities and how these networks are shaped by parents&rsquo; informal participation in school-based events and formal participation in parent organizations. </p><p> Four key findings emerge. First, informal participation in school events is not associated with an increase in network centrality. Second, formal participation in parent organizations is related to network centrality. In particular, the networks of parents who participate in these organizations include other parents who are well-connected themselves and parents who participate in parent organizations also have greater access to network resources overall. Finally, consistent with prior research on parent involvement, findings indicate that middle- and upper-middle class parents are more likely to participate in parent organizations than low-income parents. Findings suggest that while race or class-based social position may influence parent networks in some ways, participation in parent organizations plays a greater role in the connectedness of parents&rsquo; ties and parents&rsquo; access to network resources. Implications for this research suggest the need examine practices for family and community engagement in schools and how parent organizations might be made more accessible to and inclusive of low-income parents, parents of color, and limited English-speaking parents. Furthermore, this research provides support to arguments made in prior research concerning the complexity and challenge of relying on middle-class parent involvement as a mechanism of school reform.</p><p>

<p> According to Epstein (2010), the interactions and perceptions of the community, educators, students and parents with schools determine the culture and climate of the schools. According to critical race theory, racism has become institutionalized in America&rsquo;s culture. Ogbu (2007) posited that historically, institutional racism in America, enforced by European Americans, has caused the children of enslaved Africans in America to struggle with cultural identity and self-hate. To resist self-hatred some African Americans developed social oppositional behaviors, while others sought to adopt the European American culture that seemed to be built upon social dominance. Yet, African American parental perceptions of school culture/climate have been given little to no serious consideration in education research; leading to possible skewed research outcomes when it comes to understanding African American parents&rsquo; perceptions of their children&rsquo;s schools. This research compared African American parents&rsquo;/guardians&rsquo; perceptions of the culture and climate of successful and failing urban middle schools led by male African American principals to determine if there are significant differences in perceptions between African American parents of successful schools and African American parents of failing schools. This quantitative study used the Culture of Excellence &amp; Ethnics Assessment (CEEA) Parent Survey version 4.5 (Khmelkov, Davidson, Baker, Lickona, &amp; Parisi, 2014) to answer three questions. Research question 1 asked if there were significant differences between African American parents&rsquo; and guardians&rsquo; perceptions of the culture and climate in successful and failing urban middle schools led by male African American principals. The second research question asked if there were significant differences between African American fathers&rsquo;/males&rsquo; perceptions of the culture and climate in successful and failing urban middle schools led by male African American principals. The third research question asked if there were significant differences between African American mothers&rsquo;/females&rsquo; perceptions of the culture and climate in successful and failing urban middle schools led by male African American principals. Twelve African American parents took the survey and were discovered to have significant perceptional differences in the areas of social engagement and positive behavior support at home.</p><p>

<p> This multi-year ethnographic study of a K-8 school, referred to as Baker School, in a low-income neighborhood in Philadelphia investigates the ways that hidden curricula of social reproduction and inequity shape students&rsquo; schooling experiences. The study employs ethnographic methods to explore, engage with, and better understand students&rsquo; experiences and perspectives of schooling at an under-resourced, urban, public school in a high-poverty neighborhood. The dissertation also examines how direct and indirect messages of possibility at the school influence students and teachers. I approach this study from an epistemological standpoint that situates students as important knowledge generators from which practitioners and scholars have much to learn. </p><p> This study is guided by a theoretical framework that considers how the naturalization of dominant values, beliefs, and actions has important consequences for students attending schools in under-resourced communities because these dominant beliefs are manifest in schools through overt and hidden curricula. Students&rsquo; perspectives and experiences of schooling processes in under-resourced schools are not often included in empirical research, and this ethnographic study has the potential to generate a new line of inquiry that centralizes students&rsquo; perspectives. </p><p> The study&rsquo;s findings include that there is a hidden curriculum of control at Baker School in which schooling becomes primarily about controlling behavior. Relationships between students and teachers are strained as a result of the culture of control at the school, and to survive and thrive in this environment, students demonstrate <i>micro resistance strategies</i> as well as cultivate what I call a <i>habitus of fierceness.</i> The hidden curriculum of control, the systemic lack of resources, and the resulting power struggles and resistance culminate in, what I term, a <i> deficit default</i> based on deficit orientations of students, teachers, and parents. Finally, the study details the way that invisible macro structural processes impact students, teachers, and parents connected to Baker. However, instead of recognizing these invisible forces, students, teachers, and parents are blamed and blame themselves for the &ldquo;failure&rdquo; of urban, public schools like Baker. The study concludes by presenting implications for theory, practice, and future research based on the findings of this study. </p>

Parent involvement is one of the factors to which student achievement is consistently and strongly linked in educational research, and is perceived by teachers as a core factor affecting student achievement. Therefore more and higher-quality engagement with students' families has the potential to make a positive difference in urban schools. However, a tendency among educators to focus on perceived family deficits, without a clear understanding of students' families' strengths, may limit urban schools' ability to develop effective family engagement programming. This study involved faculty and staff members at an urban K-8 school in systematically identifying strengths of the low-income Puerto Rican families whose children made up the vast majority of the student body, as a critical point of reference for working with families toward stronger student outcomes. The study was grounded in the principles of Action Research and utilized methods associated with Appreciative Inquiry to involve school faculty and staff members in carrying out, then collectively analyzing the results from, structured interviews with parents of low-income Puerto Rican students at the school. Along with establishing a family strengths inventory for use in ongoing planning for enhancement of family engagement programming at the school, the study included an assessment of the impact of the research process on the perceptions and intended actions of both participating faculty and staff members and those who elected not to participate. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of implications and recommendations related to theory, practice, policy, and research associated with the efforts of schools serving low-income Puerto Rican (and other) communities to strengthen their engagement with students' families.

<p> Examining teacher participation in collaborative microblogging activities may offer insight into creating alternative options for effective professional development. In this sequential explanatory mixed methods study, educators&rsquo; opinions of their use of a microblogging tool, Twitter, will be examined to determine what factors affect their participation in professional development activities using the microblogging tool, Twitter. The overall guiding question for this study will be, Why do educators participate in voluntary professional development opportunities, specifically in Twitter-supported professional learning networks? </p><p> This study will contribute to the existing body of research in the areas of professional development, professional learning networks, educator&rsquo;s motivation to learn, informal learning, online learning, and social media. Social media, specifically the microblogging tool Twitter, will be examined for its potential to act as an alternative mode of dissemination for educator professional development, as well as its potential for creating informal professional learning networks. Data sources for this study will include: surveys and interview questions. This information may be useful for future creation of more effective professional development opportunities. Findings from this study may be useful for researchers, educators, administrators, and developers of professional development opportunities.</p>

<p> Beginning in 2001, Finland&rsquo;s students have achieved relatively high scores on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Finland&rsquo;s reputation encouraged educational leaders from around the world to seek the transference and application of educational knowledge into their native context. In order to better understand the mental processes involved in cross-cultural transfer of Finnish educational knowledge, the researcher conducted a qualitative phenomenological instrumental case study of Finnish educational success. Five Finnish educational leaders and three visiting educational leaders seeking transfer were interviewed. Ten documents of first-hand accounts concerning the phenomenon of Finnish educational success and transfer were analyzed, and a self-reflective journal of the experiences and observations of the researcher as participant within the country of Finland as a visiting university student were utilized for the collection of data. The synthesis of the data revealed that Finnish educational success and its transfer are often viewed by educational leaders through a holistic and integrated lens, and the possibility of wholescale transfer is questioned. However, through cooperative reform, transformational experiences, and inspirational partnerships at home and internationally, educational development that emulates Finland&rsquo;s appears possible.</p><p>

<p> LGBT-headed families are experiencing a changing social environment and public school environments cannot be assumed to change in synchronicity with educational policies and laws. Schools are heteronormative spaces that create an identity conflict for gay fathers because their very existence conflicts the norm that&rsquo;s prevalent in that space. Two school stakeholder groups (school counselors and gay fathers) were investigated through a qualitative complementary case study. Intersectionality and social movement theory are theoretical lenses that can help identify the overlaps of salient roles and responsibilities that each group utilize to uncover understanding of identity and advocacy stances through a family, school and community partnership context. </p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-277). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1965. / Extension Repository Collection. Typescript (photocopy). Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 195-203).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-277). Also available on the Internet.