This research concentrated on identifying and analyzing parent and teacher perceptions about critical teaching and learning issues that need to be resolved within a middle school setting. Sharing knowledge of various perspectives between and among parents and teachers can improve the ability of the school to provide high quality education for every student by offering alternatives in curriculum and instruction. Specifically, this study answered the following research questions: (1) What are parent and teacher perceptions about what a young adolescent should learn in school? (2) What are parent and teacher perceptions about the ways a young adolescent should learn in school? (3) What are parent perceptions of teacher willingness to include parents' ideas in improving learning conditions within the school? (4) What are teacher perceptions of parent willingness to include teacher ideas in improving learning conditions within the home? (5) What are the similarities and differences between parent and teacher perceptions of content for learning, process of learning, and willingness to accept other ideas? Findings indicated that parents and teachers within the selected school concurred with each other on major issues related to content and process of learning and the receptiveness of teacher to parent ideas or parent to teacher ideas. Parents concentrated on social/emotional expectations followed closely by academics. Teachers focused equally on social and academic learning. An environment which challenges all students to succeed while supporting and encouraging individuals as well as groups to excel seems to be a primary goal of both parents and teachers. Parents tended to express beliefs more intensely and passionately than teachers on many issues. Background research suggested that the stronger emotional connection between parent and child than teacher and student could be a basis for this finding. An important discovery of the study was the universal feeling among the participants that they liked the opportunity to give their opinion on issues related to school learning. The interview gave participants a sense that they had a voice and an influence in the decisions which were being made in the school. If a school ignores conflicting ideas parents and teachers may have about learning, then the ability of the school to provide high quality education for all students is limited. Children, who are caught in a gap between conflicting parents and teacher ideas about learning, may fail to reach their highest learning potential. Successful educators give parents and teachers a voice in the learning process. Effective schools take expressed ideas of parents and teachers very seriously and work to see that parents and teachers join as partners in creating and improving learning environments so that all students of all families achieve high levels of learning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-9068 |
| Date | 01 January 1995 |
| Creators | Sedran, Mary Ann Mirarchi |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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