This study reports on a research project that examines teenage young women's themes of power. The themes emerged within a community education program that was conducted in a small, low-income, semi-rural town in Western Massachusetts. The teenagers engaged in theater games and improvisations that were eventually performed live on public-access television. The research also looks at power relations imbedded within the project itself. The program was designed to create an educational experience that provided teenagers with a public voice about their own concerns and issues, and to do so in a way that addressed feminist and postmodern critiques of "liberatory" pedagogy. The study seeks to understand what teenage young women express about self-efficacy and power in relation to themselves, their schools, families, and communities; and an analysis of how the project encouraged or discouraged this expression, particularly in regard to my attempts at utilizing a postmodern feminist perspective in its design. It is framed within a feminist approach to research and incorporates several methodologies to explore these questions. Three definitions of power are indicated by the teen women: Power as control over oneself, others, and events; power as speaking for oneself, being heard, and being understood; and power as intuitive, creative and spiritual experience. The study provides an examination of these themes and a deconstructive analysis of the pedagogy. A primary finding of the study suggests that a special time and place is needed by teen women as a means of finding empowered voices. This "ritual space", is a safe place for honest expression, outside of the space and time norms of an adult secular world.

This study focuses on understanding the impact of the Cultural Identity Group (CIG) program on the racial/ethnic identity development of students who were involved in a sixteen-week program in an ethnically diverse middle school in New England. The program began in October 1996 and ended in May 1997. The cultural identity groups met once a week except during school holidays and vacation. This study was part of a larger project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Cultural Identity Group model on which this study is based was jointly developed and piloted in a Western Massachusetts Elementary School by Phyllis C. Brown, MMHS, Ernest Washington, Ed.D., Allen Ivey, Ed. D. and Mary Bradford-Ivey, Ed.D. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used to gather information about the impact of the Cultural Identity Group on the racial/ethnic identity development of the students as well as on their attitudes toward people from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure developed by Jean Phinney (1989) was used to assess students' ethnic awareness. Interviews conducted with a racially/ethnically diverse sample from the Cultural Identity Group provided evidence of the impact of CIG on the racial/ethnic identity of participants. The findings in this study demonstrated that students who participated in CIG gained a heightened sense of their racial/ethnic self as well as an increase in interethnic awareness. There was an emerging awareness of the pervasiveness of racism among participants in this study. Participants also gained skills to help them deal with and interrupt injustice. These skills included recognizing ethnic jokes and developing constructive, practical solutions for confronting racist behavior directed toward adolescents. The implications of this study concern students, and educators, as well as theories of adolescent development and racial identity development. Providing students structured environments in which to talk and learn about their own ethnic background, race and racism may have a positive impact on their racial/ethnic development which may promote better interethnic relationships in school. Any study of adolescent development must consider differences as well as similarities in adolescent development based on racial/ethnic factors. Future and current educators need to learn about theories of racial/ethnic identity and understand how it plays out in adolescents' lives and in school, in order to create school culture that affirms all students.

Research conducted over the last twenty years has found that parent involvement in the education of their children has a direct and positive relationship with higher levels of student motivation and achievement. Some of that research has also found that evidence of parent involvement diminishes rapidly as students move through the grades, particularly in the transition from middle school to high school. It was the purpose of this study to examine student perception of parent involvement as it related to student attitudes, motivation, and achievement at this point of transition for middle school students. The study was designed as a blend of quantitative and qualitative research and involved a sample of fifty students from a total grade population of 175 students from one of three middle schools in a small southeastern Massachusetts city. The data were gathered over a period of time during which these students were in grades seven and eight as they remained on the same teaching teams with the same classmates. Utilizing grade point averages in four core academic subjects as the achievement measure, a sample was drawn from the total population of the highest achieving twenty-five students and the lowest achieving twenty-five students. Perception scores derived from a four item response scale were compared with actual and expected GPA scores to determine the relationship between student perception of parent involvement and student achievement. Data were also drawn from purposefully selected student and parent interviews and interviews of all involved teachers, using a standardized open-ended format. These interviews and two open-ended questions were designed to gather additional information regarding perceptions of parent involvement and expectations for student achievement. Student records were also examined to review data involving ethnicity, special populations characteristics, and family composition. While the analysis of the quantitative data indicated that there appeared to be no significant relationship between the level of students' perception of parent involvement and student achievement, the qualitative data revealed that parent involvement was very important to and highly valued by the students, parents, and teachers in this study. In their view, it was directly and positively related to student attitude, motivation, and achievement.

As a discipline virtually unknown thirty years ago, family therapy has expanded in a rapid manner. However, surprisingly little scientific attention has been given to the process of supervision and training. Supervision remains mainly a matter of intuition and individual experience. This dissertation attempts to understand the supervisory process by examining how experienced supervisors make intervention decisions during live supervision. The subjects of study are three experienced family therapy supervisors who train students in agency settings. Theoretical and empirical literature pertaining to live supervision is reviewed. Included is literature that describes the context of family therapy supervision, literature which defines the cognitive maps used by supervisors, and descriptive accounts of training programs for supervisors. Two conceptual models are reviewed, Schon's (1983) theory of "reflection-in-action." and Gorman's (1988) model of the context of family therapy supervision, which was developed to guide the present inquiry. The moment-of-intervention, defined as the point during live supervision when the supervisor communicates with the trainee in order to affect the session's activity, is the unit of analysis providing a window into the supervisory process. A total of 24 moments-of-intervention (8 per supervisor) were observed. Video tapes of these interventions were transcribed and rated based on a typology consisting of eight different dimensions. All three supervisors tended to make interventions that were direct, specific, supervisor-initiated, and immediate. A subsample of 12 moments-of-intervention (4 per supervisor) was chosen for further study. Interviews with each of the supervisors revealed important influences in decision-making were the expectations of the employing agency and the pervasive influence of the supervisor's training-of-origin. Next in importance was the supervisor's family-of-origin and immediate collegial group. Least influential was awareness of the expectations of the larger profession. The results are valuable because they offer a description of the supervisory process grounded in systematic observation of actual interventions. The results confirm a number of theoretical expectations, highlight some elements of the supervisory process that were not incorporated in either theoretical model, and suggest directions for future research.

The purpose of this study was to examine how a select group of adults of African-American/Euro-American heritage came to choose or develop a sense of racial identity. The seven participants were women and men who ranged in age from twenty-one to fifty-nine, and who had chosen Black, White, or Mixed racial identities. Utilizing in-depth phenomenological interviewing, participants were asked how their life experiences had led them to choose a particular racial identity, how they experienced the world in light of their chosen identity, and the meaning which they made of their choice of identity given their actual biological racial heritage. The data was presented as in-depth profiles taken from transcripts of the interviews for each participant. In addition, themes which emerged when participants were compared within and across chosen racial identity groups, gender groups, and age groups were highlighted. The factors which were seen as having the most influence on choice of racial identity were past and current cultural affiliations, early experiences and socialization, and physical appearance. Additional factors which played a lesser role in racial identity development included the nature and extent of individual political experiences or orientation, the nature of social values within a given historical period, the biological racial heritage of the individual, and a participant's sense of spirituality and connection to other social identities such as gender, religion, age, and ethnic identity. An individual's awareness of him or herself in relation to race and racism as outlined in existing racial identity development literature was described as another factor which could be utilized to understand choice of racial identity. Each of these individual factors was defined and arranged into a conceptual framework. The interconnections between some of the factors, such as culture and early socialization, were also explored. The experiences of participants were compared with the processes of identity development outlined in select works on Black, White, and Bi-racial populations. The dissertation also presented a number of recommendations for individuals who worked with bi-racial people.

The purpose of this study was to develop a preventive intervention useful in helping first-time expectant fathers deal with the exigencies of pregnancy and prepare for parenthood, thereby diminishing the anxieties, stresses, and marital-family problems commonly associated with the birth of a first child. A pretest-posttest design with control was used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Tests were administered at the start and end of the intervention (four weeks apart for controls) and at six weeks post-partum. Subjects were a self-selected sample of 21 first-time expectant fathers, nine of whom participated in the intervention and 12 of whom functioned as no-treatment controls. It was hypothesized that, after participation in the intervention, first-time expectant fathers would: (1) exhibit less state anxiety; (2) have higher paternal self-esteem; (3) feel more positively about their infants; (4) exhibit greater expected role flexibility; and (5) predict a higher level of involvement with their newborns. It was also hypothesized that psychologically androgynous subjects, as indicated by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, would show less change as a result of the intervention than less androgynous first-time expectant fathers. State anxiety was measured by Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y). Paternal self-esteem was measured by the Paternal Self-Report Inventory, a modification of Shea's Maternal Self-Report Inventory. Attitude toward forthcoming infants was measured by the Expectations of Newborns Inventory, a modification of Broussard's Neonatal Perception Inventory. Two new instruments were developed for this study: the Survey of Expected Role Flexibility and the Father's Behavior Inventory, which measures direct paternal involvement with the newborn. The data did not support any of the hypotheses. The small sample size,exploratory nature of some of the instruments, and selectivity of the sample are factors which contributed to the paucity of significant results. The results and problems inherent in this kind of research are discussed in a frank manner and implications for future research are noted.

The purpose of the study was to identify and analyze strategies used by successful, goal-oriented Hispanic high school students. This study sought to suggest ways that school personnel can be more deliberate and effective in promoting these strategies to increase the number of Hispanic students attending college. It sought to explore the impact of social class, income, and teacher expectations on mobility for Hispanic high school students. A survey was conducted on one hundred twenty-one Hispanic high school students who attended the 1988 Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Conference. Interviews used a retrospective format. The overall approach for the study was ethnographic, since it provided greater opportunity to generate observations. Ogbu's (1986) minority typology identifying minorities as caste, immigrant, or autonomous was adapted and used to analyze and explain variations in the sample. The study identified four dominant themes that were mobility strategies for these students. The first strategy was shared values, i.e. believing that success was possible for them and that education was a means to obtaining that success. Second, the students all identified a period of time when they made their decision to achieve. For the lower income and lower class student, school personnel had a major impact on this decision to achieve. Last, these students all had strategies for avoiding distractions and managing the demands of school life that enabled them to stay focused on their goal. The study found that class, culture, and school do affect mobility. The lower the class and income, the more difficult the mobility process. The minority typology adopted in this study was useful for describing within group differences among Hispanics. Autonomous students are those whose parents' education and family income levels are in the middle to upper class range. Immigrant students are foreign born or have foreign born parents, and income levels range in the lower to middle class range. Caste students are born in the United States and parents' education and income levels are underclass or lower class. Teachers and counselors need to be aware of the critical importance they have in the lives of caste students. Caste students are the most at-risk of not having a challenging curriculum nor mentors who hold high expectations for their learning potential. They can be influenced by positive teacher expectations, such as high track placement, and mentoring relationships. In addition, community leaders and parents must step in and promote high academic standards for Hispanics, especially when peer pressure not to excel in school exists.

A three week orientation program was compared with a control program at a California continuation high school. Method. Every three weeks during the first semester of the 1989-90 school year students new to the school were randomly assigned either to take a three week orientation class as part of their five period schedule (n = 88) or a minimal two-hour session only (n = 66). Dependent variables were in five areas: school attendance, student productivity, involvement in career related programs, student citizenship, and perceptions and knowledge related to school adjustment. These yielded 16 specific DV's. Findings. Of the five areas of predicted differences, the first three were not supported, the fourth seemed supported, and the fifth partially so. Five of 16 null hypotheses were rejected: controls had significantly (p $<$.05) more students referred to the principal for discipline and days suspended; and experimentals showed higher perceptions of knowledge of the school's system, tested familiarity with that system, and familiarity with staff names and roles. Conclusions. It appears that the three week orientation program had some positive effect on student citizenship, on perceived knowledge, on tested knowledge, and on familiarity with staff names and roles. Four variables dealt with citizenship: number of students referred for discipline was significant but total number of referrals was not, and total days of suspension was significant but number of students suspended was not. Interpretation. (a) multiple staff involvement in the orientation program affected tested knowledge of staff names and the discipline and suspension variables; (b) information taught about the school system affected tested and perceived knowledge about it; and (c) increased knowledge of the school's system did not appear to affect attendance, productivity, or career involvement.

The purpose of this study was to examine the mentor relationship in a mentor program and to investigate its effects on at-risk students in relationship to their motivation, communication, and self-concept. The mentor relationship was an essential component of the dropout prevention program. The dropout prevention program was a mentor model designed to help at-risk students improve their grades and attendance and stay in school. Subjects of the investigation were 70 ninth and tenth grade students at a central California high school. The mentor group was pre- and posttested with a Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale. The mentor group and the mentors were given the Mentor/Mentee Relationship Questionnaire Survey and the Mentor Analysis Questionnaire Survey respectively. It was hypothesized that a mentor relationship had a significant impact on grades and attendance of at-risk students and influenced higher levels of motivation, communication and self-concept. The data were analyzed using statistical procedures of means, t-test, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results of the study supported the development of the mentor relationship as consistent, effective, and beneficial to both mentor and mentee. There were insufficient data to support higher levels of trust and motivation among students who completed the mentor program. However, communication and self-concept scores were higher among those students (p $>$.05). Approximately 75 percent of at-risk students who participated and completed the dropout prevention program (mentor program) significantly improved their communication, self-concept, grades and attendance (p $>$.05). The quality and function of the mentor relationship contributed significantly to the effectiveness of the program.

Relationships between feminism, clinical feminism, and professional characteristics of counselors were examined. A gender-proportional probability sample of Marriage, Family and Child Counselors (MFCCs) received a 3 part mail survey: (a) the Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) short form, measuring feminism, (b) the Feminist Family Therapy Literature Survey (FLS) assessing reading in the field, and (c) a background form eliciting characteristics of MFCCs' current practice. AWS scores did not differentiate between feminists and nonfeminists, requiring item analysis and manipulation of the factor space. The data were thus distributed between 4 categories: Strongly and Mildly Profeminist, and Strongly and Mildly Nonfeminist. The items were also reclassified for descriptive purposes relevant to today's feminism: Economic behavior, Family behavior, Legal behavior, Leadership behavior, and Social behavior. Due to almost complete ignorance of the feminist critique of family therapy, homogeneity in FLS data further contributed to ineffective Pearson correlations. It was determined that the feminist critique of family therapy has had virtually no impact on the current self-reported practice of MFCCs. Clinical feminism may be practiced by up to 5% of the sample, at least 95% retaining theoretical systems no longer useful in light of the sweeping social changes of the last 2 decades. Approximately 35% of the sample's gender-relevant beliefs were nonfeminist, a condition of fair weather feminism prevailing: feminist principles were likely to be abandoned in a clinical context. Various theoretical orientations may differentially mediate feminism. Feminist literature proportionally influenced more women than men, and a greater proportion of women were more profeminist than were men. Few MFCCs specialize primarily in family therapy, individual therapy being the preferred treatment mode. Finally, support was found for the feminist argument that it is within women's personal lives that their oppression is enacted and reproduced.