According to research, the academically gifted child may not have his/her educational needs met in a classroom with his/her age mates. This study was an investigation of the impact of mentorship on academically gifted students in an attempt to adjust curriculum to reflect what the identified gifted child i s ready to learn. There is little theoretically-based research on the impact of mentorship on children with advanced academic capabilities. It was hypothesized that academically gifted students who received individualized instruction from a mentor would show positive changes i n motivation and that this teaching approach would further enhance their academic proficiency. Learning satisfaction would also be a result of participation in a mentorship program. A multi-case study methodology was employed, including four identified gifted students. Replication of results across cases illustrates an overall improvement in academic competency and motivation. The children involved learned a great deal, evolved as motivated students and had a noticeable sense of satisfaction from participating in the program. Conclusions justify the need for curriculum modification for academically advanced children. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

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The family reunification provision in U.S. immigration laws allows foreign-born children of immigrants to enter the U.S. and attend American schools. The total number of school years completed by immigrant children, however, is affected by their age at arrival. Age at arrival also affects the percentage of schooling that is attained in the U.S. This implies that immigrants with more U.S. schooling will earn more than other immigrants, holding total education constant, as long as the returns to U.S. schooling are greater than the returns to foreign schooling. Using data from the 1980 and 1990 Census, I find a negative relationship between age at arrival and education for Mexican, European and Pacific Islander and other immigrants that arrive shortly after the start of the first grade. Mexican immigrants as a whole, however, lose tile greatest amount of education from delayed entry. Estimates of the returns to American schooling indicate that those with at least a high school diploma benefit from additional years in U.S. schools. However, the added tax revenue from the increased earnings is not always greater than the cost of additional years of American schooling. Only for Mexican immigrants is it the case that the tax revenues outweigh the fiscal costs of more American education.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This project was an exploratory study of malperformance among 60 children of the seventh grade of Creston Elementary School, Portland, Oregon. This class was described as an unusually disruptive group of students and was considered by the school as one of the most troublesome in the school's history. The study focused on the concept of malperformance itself and the reliability of its assessment. The major hypotheses were these: A. Teachers are consistent among themselves in how they define malperformance and in whom they designate as malperformers. B. Teachers' and students' estimation of the students' level of performance in the dimensions studied are positively related. C. A student's self- estimate in the dimensions studied is related to his estimation of the teachers' reactions to himself and other classmates. D. The label of malperformer is associated with lower ratings of personal behavior and school subject grades. E. Factors of sex, age, and I.Q. are related to malperformance. Each teacher was asked to define malperformance and to identify malperforming students in his class. Each student was asked if he felt the teachers liked him and if they were fair. The Pupil Behavior Inventory, a standardized rating scale dealing with five areas of student behavior, was administered to the teachers. A modified form of the Pupil Behavior Inventory was administered to each student to determine his assessment of his own behavior. Data was analyzed with the help of statistical tests of significance to evaluate the differences obtained. Study findings did not support the hypothesis that teachers are consistent among themselves in how they defined malperformance and which students they designated as malperformers. Each teacher defined malperformance differently. Some definitions were difficult to interpret in terms of specific behavior traits. There was only 53% marginal probability that another teacher would agree when a particular teacher designated a student as a malperformer. However, there was no significant difference in the number of students designated as malperformers by each teacher. Findings yielded evidence to support the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between the teachers' estimation of the level of the students' performance and the students' own assessment of his performance. Students designated as normals rated their own behavior very close to teacher ratings. In contrast, malperformers tended to rate their behavior much higher than did the teachers; however, malperformer self-ratings were lower than self-ratings of the other students. Malperformers had lower personal behavior and school subject grades than normals. No significant differences were found in the I. Q. range for normals and malperformers. This study indicated the need for more clarity and consistency in evaluating student behavior within the school system. Further research is needed in developing methods of identifying problem students and how to best help them.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 329-345). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

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Pre-primary education is one of the most important factors of early child‘s socialization. Advanced family‘ s attitudes towards pre-primary education determine parents decision either let their child attend a preprimary group or not. Appealing to the empirical research it may be stated that iteraction between parents and an educational institution is not satisfying: parents get little information, collaboration is formal between family and an educational institution. Those parents, who did not give the possibility to their children to participate in pre primary education, realize pre primary education as a social service that is guaranteed by the state. They do not realize the most important function of pre-primary education to get ready a child for a school. Positive changes were made by doing variuos reforms, researches and problem solving reached possitive changes. It is noticed that parents‘ positive attitude towards pre primary education is changing depending on a child‘s participation in it: parents of pre- primary and primary students assess pre-primary education more positive than those parents whose children do not attend a pre- primary group. Consequently, organization of pre- primary education is rather fluent, its content satisfy parents partialy. Parents think that an educational institution is a social partner. However, there are problems in changing negative parent‘s attitude towards pre- primary education. It is important to solve this problem and find the... [to full text]

The purpose of this research is to explore the perceptions of educators who teach learners with autism, on their own emotional well-being. The eight educators who participated were from special schools in KwaZulu-Natal. These schools cater for learners with autism and the participants work hands-on with learners with autism. The research design and methodology employed is qualitative in nature, and adopts the phenomenological approach, which incorporates focus group interviews, individual interviews, and lesson observations of some educators after the interviews. The following questions were asked at the interviews: 'Tell me about teaching learners with autism' and 'How does it influence your well-being?' The research methodology selected elicited rich responses that led to the emergence of three main themes namely: first, these themes are everyday challenges working with learners with autism, second, educators' perceptions of the support of other role players and third, the impact that teaching learners with autism has on the workplace wellness of the educator. Conclusion and recommendations are presented, as well as recommendations for future research. Drawing from the themes, a conclusion is made that teaching learners with autism is stressful, that educators need training and support to cope with the demands of autism, and to help manage workplace wellness. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.