Young children face unique social challenges, and they need social and emotional resilience skills in order to navigate their way through school. Many of the children who need the most help are in family situations where parents are not able to teach these skills. Students can become more resilient through social and emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom. SEL teaches children to identify the emotions of themselves and others, to communicate their emotions in a nonviolent way, and to be good friends. By teaching SEL at a young age, teachers can help children become more adept as they make friends and learn how to interact in social situations, thus bolstering their relationships with friends and adults. Improved social and emotional skills help students succeed in academics and with their peers as they form social connections. Strong Start Pre-K, a social and emotional learning curriculum, was evaluated in a local preschool program. Using a nonequivalent control group design, two preschool teachers taught the curriculum in their classrooms, and a third classroom was the control. Both before and after the implementation of the curriculum, data were gathered from classroom teachers on their students' emotional regulation, internalizing behaviors, and the teachers' perceived relationships with their students. Results indicated a slight increase in emotional regulation and a significant decrease in internalizing behaviors in the treatment groups. Student-teacher relationships improved, specifically with a decrease on the subscale of Conflict. Treatment fidelity indicated that teachers were able to implement most or all of the components of each lesson 90% of the time. Social validity measurements indicated that the teachers would recommend the curriculum to other educators.

The purpose of this research study was to increase the overall achievement gains of my students who are currently receiving overall grades below a 69% in my middle school mathematics class by promoting parental involvement. The purpose of my action-research study was to answer the following three research questions: 1. What changes occur in students‟ test scores and overall grades when a variety of parental contacts are made over a six-week period? 2. How can I promote parental involvement? 3. What can I do to educate parents on how to become more effectively involved in their child‟s education? To answer these questions I selected ten parents, whose children were currently receiving grades below a 69% in 7th grade mathematics and who have not contacted me after the first nine weeks of the semester. I used three different methods to contact the parents, phones call, emails, and notes in students‟ planners. All three methods showed a lack of parental feedback and involvement. Nevertheless, five students showed an increase in the second marking period, four showed a decrease, and one stayed the same.

Ph. D.

Trust is an important factor affecting parent-teacher relationships. In urban schools, the lack of trust between parents and teachers is exacerbated by racial and social class differences (Bryk and Schneider, 2002). This paper examines how relational trust was both fostered and inhibited between low-income parents and their children's teachers in a low-income urban school. Data was collected through a qualitative research design based in observations and interviews in one high poverty urban school. Results suggest that teacher demonstrations of care for their profession, for parents, and for students were the most crucial factors for building parent trust in teachers. Parent competence and integrity emerged as the most salient facets of teacher trust in parents. This research highlights the importance of purposeful teacher action to build trust with low-income parents by demonstrating personal regard for their profession, their students, and their students' parents. Additionally, teachers must become knowledgeable about the strengths and struggles of low-income urban families and the way social class shapes parents' beliefs about childrearing methods and their role in their children's education. / Urban Education

The purpose of the study was to assess the perceptions of mothers of multihandicapped offspring, special education teachers, and special education supervisors regarding the mothers' adjustment to their multihandicapped children. Specifically, the nature of the adjustment process was investigated; whether it was more aptly characterized as chronic sorrow or time-bound grief. Additional information was sought on the availability and usefulness of parental support services. Subjects included 15 mothers of multihandicapped offspring, 8 special education supervisors and 7 special education teachers. All were associated with the Cooperative Centers for Exceptional Children, in rural southwest Virginia. Data were collected by personal interviews. Subjects responded to open-ended questions and constructed graphs representing their perceptions of parental distress at 12 developmental crisis points. All of the mothers and educators constructed graphs representing chronic sorrow as opposed to time-bound grief. All but one of the mothers indicated that although they experienced chronic distress, it was a periodic rather than continuous phenomenon. Comparison of the mean group ratings for each of the 12 crisis points revealed significant differences in the groups' perceptions of parental distress at only two crisis points: ''management of a crisis unique to the child", for which the educators underestimated the mothers' distress; and "onset of puberty", for which the teachers overestimated the mothers' distress. All respondents perceived a difference in mothers' distress levels at various developmental crisis points. ''Birth/diagnosis'', discussion of placement of the child outside of the home", ''management of a crisis unique to the child", and "discussion of guardianship" were perceived as highly distressful by all three groups. Deficits were revealed in the existing parental support service delivery system(s) in the geographic region of the study. Services to parents of preschool children and offspring age 13-15 and older appeared to be insufficient to meet the parents ' needs. A lack of organization and communication among community agencies, the limited scope of available services, and parents' reluctance or inability to use available services were cited as contributing factors to the problems in service delivery. The support services ranked as the most useful by parents and educators were individual counseling, respite care, parent groups, and conferences with the offspring's teacher. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to develop a field-tested prior notice/due process form that would be comprehensible by parents. An ancillary purpose was to determine the comprehensibility of a prior notice form that is currently used in southwest Virginia school divisions. A research and development model was employed to develop the field-tested form. A form and an application test were written in the predesign and design stage. In the initial review stage, a panel of experts reviewed the test and revised the form, and parents read the form and took the application test. Based on expert comments and an analysis of parent responses, revisions were made to the test and form. Another form and test revision was made following a main field test of parents. The final cycle of the. study was an operational field test of 65 parents in 11 school divisions in southwest Virginia. In a secondary mail survey, 80 special education administrators indicated their preference for the two forms on various dimensions. Data from the operational field test were used to test the hypotheses. Item analyses, using both standard and educational discrimination indices, were conducted to suggest areas for improvement on the revised form. It was concluded from the findings of the study that: (1) the hypothesis that a significant difference would exist in comprehension between parents reading the revised form and those reading the standard form was not supported; (2) on the application test, parents can obtain an acceptable mean score of 80% by reading either form; (3) specific problem areas on the form still exist, and should be corrected; (4) special education administrators prefer the revised form for use with parents; and (5) the use of jargon and complex terms seem to particularly discriminate parents of lower educational levels. Recommendations were made for form development and form use. / Ed. D.

This study was conducted to obtain information from parents regarding why they do or do not participate in the education of their middle school children. The results of the study should serve as a resource to teachers and administrators who wish to increase parental participation. A total of 209 parents returned a completed questionnaire. The survey requested information regarding how many times they attended functions/activities during the first semester of the 1990-91 school year, and what their reasons were for attending; what functions/activities they did not attend and their reasons for not attending. Parents also were asked what kind of resources/activities they provided for their children at home and elsewhere. In addition, the instrument requested information that would be helpful in determining if there were observable differences when selected demographic variables (race, education and occupation) were considered; and, using a Likert scale, this instrument gathered information regarding parental expectations. / Ed. D.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this study was to develop an instructional tool, which would enable students and their parents to access the student's progress electronically at anytime and to determine if students whose parents utilized the teacher-created website and used email to communicate showed significant improvement in student's academics, behavior and attendance.