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The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to examine the relationship between immigrant parental involvement and selected variables which the literature indicates may affect immigrant parental involvement in the education of their children, and (2) how their involvement relates to student achievement. 486 immigrant parents from six schools, 2 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 2 high schools, were participants in the study. The questionnaires were translated into English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Somali, Chinese and Bosnian. A quantitative research design was utilized to conduct the study. Descriptive statistics were done for demographic information in terms of independent and moderator variables. The independent and dependent variables were analyzed with Pearson Correlation and ANOV A statistical tools. The independent variables were immigration status, cultural background, primary language, length of time in U.S., aspirations for their children, and familiarity with American school culture. The dependent variables were parental involvement and student achievement. Moderator variables were age, gender, level of education, cultural background, school type and SES in country of origin. The findings indicated that the relationships between the independent and dependent variables were not significant at the .05 level, however when the relationships were analyzed in terms of moderator variables significant differences emerged for educational level throughout the study. There was a significant difference in the relationship between parental involvement and immigration status in terms of educational level; parental involvement and cultural background in terms of educational level; parental involvement and primary language spoken in terms of educational and school type; parental involvement and length of time in United States in terms of educational level; parental involvement and parent’ aspirations for their children in terms of educational level; parental involvement and familiarity in American School Culture in terms of educational level, cultural background, school type, age, gender, and SES in country of origin. These differences are significant enough to affect the performance of students and schools that they warrant serious attention.

This study examined how student achievement data are used to guide the development of curriculum documents in public school districts and within a commercial curriculum supplier. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How do public school districts in Central Texas use formative and summative assessment data to inform the written curriculum, and (b) how do commercially produced curricular programs use formative and summative assessment data to inform the written curriculum? A qualitative multiple-case study included curriculum developers from public school districts and a commercial entity. Data included semistructured interviews with curriculum developers from each organization as well as an extensive document review from each entity. The data were coded according to first-level coding and pattern coding. These themes were then analyzed through pattern matching and cross-case analysis. The research revealed that formative and summative assessment data were used to guide the development of the written curriculum in terms of guiding vertical alignment, determining the scope and sequence of the curricular content, adding specificity to the curriculum documents, identifying and correcting curriculum gaps, guiding development of formative assessment, and adapting to state and national change. In addition, the organizations utilized available resources in curriculum development and created a culture of data-rich dialogue. Findings also revealed that the ability of curriculum developers to use assessment data to inform the written curriculum is impacted greatly by organizational size and capacity. Sustainability of organizations to maintain a comprehensive, aligned curriculum is influenced by the rate of change coming from the state and national level. In conclusion, districts need to develop or obtain a guaranteed and viable curriculum that is strategically planned, comprehensive and aligned, as well as shaped by assessment data. The research reinforced that how data are created, presented, and used is important. Data sources need to be valid and reliable and shared in a risk-free culture that allows educators to move beyond elementary data uses to use data to inform the written curriculum as an integral part of school improvement. / text

This study aimed to provide scientific answers to the following questions: what the nature and extent of communication apprehension are among Afrikaans speaking high-school pupils and the correlation between this fear and the academic achievement of the pupils. In order to provide answers for these questions, human communication as an activity had to be studied in more detail. A study was made of communication and how it is applied in the classroom situation. A very close relationship exists between communication and teaching and it is evident that teaching cannot take place without communication. Teaching is a particular kind of communication which can be distinctly recognised from other forms of communication by the fact that it has the aim of enabling the learner to perform certain learning tasks. Communication apprehension or the lack there of can greatly determine the success of the communication process as well as the teaching-learning process. Communication apprehension was studied in more detail with the aim to establish possible causes and effects of high levels of communication apprehension in pupils. Suggestions were offered for preventing and/or surmounting communication apprehension in the classroom. The following information has been acquired through the use of the PRCA (Personal Report on Communication Apprehension) which was completed by pupils of the four Afrikaans high-schools in Potchefstroom. • 15,9% of the pupils experienced high levels of communication apprehension. • Pupils who take Afrikaans on the standard grade, in each context, experienced the highest levels of communication apprehension. • Pupils whose achievements fall in the interval 0%-49% experienced the highest communication apprehension in each context. • Pupils whose achievements fall in the interval 80% - 100% experienced the lowest communication apprehension in each context. Research on communication apprehension should be broadened to include pupils of primary schools. The causes of high levels of communication apprehension should be examined further, with the aim to establish programmes which could help in reducing communication apprehension of pupils. / Skripsie (MEd (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1997

This qualitative study focuses on the faculty engaged in the preparation of secondary teachers at North East University (NEU). It seeks to discover how they see themselves as professionals and assess their work preparing future teachers in "Best Practices" of teaching so that they can effectively teach all students, particularly low achievers. To achieve the goal of this study, I conducted semi-structured individual interviews with those faculty who are engaged in preparing teachers at the secondary program. Eight participants were interviewed for this study, among them six participants were fully engaged in the teacher preparation. Once I collected the data from the interviews, then I transcribed, coded, analyzed the data, and identified similarities, differences, patterns, and themes from the interviews. The findings of this study indicate that these faculty have a strong commitment to preparing outstanding teachers that is rooted in their belief in social justice and equality. They expressed they have dreams about their teaching, about their student-teachers and about their program. The faculty are highly confident of their ability to educate secondary teachers and believe that they make a difference in the academic performance of those children their graduates serve in the schools. This study also concluded that the teacher educators at NEU's secondary program think they are successful in introducing "Best Practices" of teaching, especially helping their student-teachers in differentiating instructions, dealing with disabilities, teaching ELL students, employing technology in teaching, understanding diversity, culture and traditions, and preparing their student-teachers in examining issues relating to prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, race, poverty, gender, social class and ethnicity.

Guided reading, as developed by Fountas and Pinnell (2001), has been a staple of elementary reading programs for the past decade. Teachers in the elementary school setting utilize this small group, tailored instruction in order to differentiate and meet the instructional needs of the students. The literature shows academic benefit for students who have special needs, such as learning disabilities, autism, and hearing impairments but consideration of academic impact has not been investigated for regular education students. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the academic impact of the use of content-related (Group C) and the traditional literature-based (Group L) reading materials. During the Living Systems and Life Processes unit in science, two teachers self-selected to utilized science-related materials for guided reading instruction while the other three teacher participants utilized their normal literature-based guided reading materials. The two groups were compared using an ANCOVA in this pre-test/post-test design. The dependent variables included the Reading for Application and Instruction assessment (RAI) and a Living Systems and Life Processes assessment (LSA). Further analysis compared students of different reading levels and gender. The data analyses revealed a practical but not statistical significance for students in science performance. It was discovered that below level male and female students performed better on the LSA when provided with content-related guided reading materials. As far as reading achievement is concerned, students in both groups had comparable results. The teachers provided guided reading instruction to their students with fidelity and made adjustments to their practices due to the needs of their students. The content-related teachers utilized a larger number of expository texts than the literature-based teachers. These teachers expressed the desire to continue the practice of providing the students with content-related materials.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of teachers on student achievement using a longitudinal analysis. The analysis was based on the value-added assessment system implemented in Tennessee. In order to conduct this study, data were collected for two sets of students in one school district. The first set of students began Kindergarten in Spring 2000-Spring 2001 and continued to third grade in the Spring 2003-Spring 2004. The second set began Kindergarten in Spring 2001-Spring 2002 and went through second grade in the Spring 2003-Spring 2004 school year. Using mixed model ANOVAs modeled after Sanders' work, data were examined in thirteen separate analyses using nine independent variables. Year-to-year language arts differences, math differences, and reading differences on the ITBS were the dependent variables. In all of the year-to-year models, teachers were found to have a profound impact on student achievement. Prior achievement level was found to be another important factor in student achievement, with higher achieving students making consistently higher year-to-year gains than lower-achieving students.

This study examines the perceptions of low socioeconomonic status, high academic achievement Vietnamese middle grades students in the Vietnamese community with respect to the roles that their parents and communities play in supporting academic achievement. Previous research has established the positive relationships between parent involvement and student achievement, and between high SES and student achievement. However, this study explores the perceptions of high achieving middle grades students with low SES. Through focus group discussions and interviews, this study examines student achievement within the theoretical framework of social capital.