Family Values and Schools

Sociological research into the changing nature of the family provided the context for a pilot project on the family values of Year 4 children in an inner-city school in Birmingham. An innovatory aspect of the research was that the researcher communicated with the pupils mainly through the means of email. The project’s findings indicate that the family values that the children bring to school may not coincide with those of their teacher. This raises the question of how far the school and its teachers have the right to challenge values that are learned in the home and that underpin family life.     

How we started: the family literacy programme in Slovenia

Different research on literacy demonstrates that the family has an important impact on literacy in general and it seems that there may be an inter‐generational transfer of literacy level and reading habits within families. In order to compensate for lack of encouragement of reading at home, different initiatives have been developed involving work with children and adults, because of their stronger influence on the whole family. The more effective methods are those that include members of the same family, especially parents and children. The Slovenian Institute for Adult Education has developed a family literacy programme for parents and their children called ‘Read and Write Together’. This is aimed at parents with a low standard of education who have children in the initial years of elementary school. At that time, parents are very motivated to help their children to succeed at school, but their own basic skills need some refreshment before they are able to help their children. The school programme involves two teachers, 50 hours of organised schoolwork and 25 hours of planned homework.     

Child psychological maltreatment in Palestinian families

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to identify predictors of child psychological maltreatment (CPM) in Palestinian families. It examined the relative contributions of child characteristics, parents' sociodemographics, and economic hardship, in addition to family's characteristics such as family values, family ambiance, gender inequities, parental support, harsh discipline, and other forms of maltreatment, to psychological maltreatment. METHOD: The sample consisted of 1000 school age children who ranged in age from 12 to 16 years. Two school counselors carried the interviews with children at school, and with the available parent at home. RESULTS: Child school performance was specifically associated with CPM. The two-parent families and parents from refugee camps appeared to employ more psychological maltreatment of their children than single-parent families and parents from urban and rural areas. Parents who perceived that the family did not have enough money to meet the child's needs were more likely to abuse their children psychologically. Gender inequities, harsh discipline, family ambiance, and lack of parental support were the most salient predictors of CPM. Child psychological maltreatment occurred concurrently with other forms of maltreatment such as physical abuse and child's labor. Parental psychological maltreatment proved to be weakened with high traditional family values. CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of the sample could be considered psychologically maltreated. Intervention and prevention efforts should be focused on child welfare, educational programs aimed at high-risk parents, and mobilization of the community and social services agencies.     

Contextual influences on children's mental health and school performance: the moderating effects of family immigrant status

Data from a nationally representative sample of 13,470 children aged 4-11 years were used to study contextual influences on children's mental health and school performance, the moderating effects of family immigrant status and underlying family processes that might explain these relationships. Despite greater socioeconomic disadvantage, children living in recent immigrant families had lower levels of emotional-behavioral problems and higher levels of school performance. Living in a neighborhood characterized with higher concentration of immigrants was associated with lower levels of emotional-behavioral problems among children living in immigrant families; the reverse was true for children living in nonimmigrant families. These differences are partially explained by family process variables. The implications of these findings for future research and policy are discussed.     

中国城市农民工子女主观幸福感的发展特点研究

在福建选取了1739名9-21岁的城市农民工子女进行调查。研究发现：（1）城市农民工子女的主观幸福感水平、生活满意度、积极情绪显著低于城市儿童。（2）城市农民工子女在积极情感上表现出年段和性别、性别与独生与否的交互作用,在消极情感上表现出性别与独生与否的交互作用。（3）农民工子女的主观幸福感、生活满意度和积极情绪均呈随年段递减的趋势,小学生显著高于初中生、初中生显著高于高中生,小学生的消极情绪显著低于初高中生。     

Influences of Family Involvement in Kindergarten Transition Activities on Children’s Early School Adjustment

Transition to kindergarten can be a pivotal experience for children because of its potential long-term impact on school performance. As the importance of relationships among contextual factors surrounding a child has been recognized, many schools have made efforts to establish strong ties with families in order to make kindergarten transition experiences as seamless as possible. Our current understanding of the role of family involvement in kindergarten transitions and the specific outcomes, however, is still somewhat limited. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, this study investigated the impact of family involvement in kindergarten transition activities on children’s transition to kindergarten and their early school adjustment. Although quantitative results revealed that family involvement is not a significant predictor of children’s early school adjustment, qualitative evidence suggests that families believe their involvement in kindergarten transition has a positive influence. In addition, qualitative results provide information concerning barriers, which interfered with family involvement in the transition process. Based on these findings suggestions for schools and families of young children are provided.     

留守儿童体育心理现状及其帮扶机制研究

采用文献资料、问卷调查和统计分析等方法,以安徽省霍邱县部分农村义务教育学校学生为调查对象,对儿童体育心理现状及帮扶机制进行研究。从体育态度、体育兴趣、体育动机和体育价值观等方面,分析了留守儿童的体育心理现状及存在不足;提出从加强政府保障、明确家庭责任、完善学校环境和提倡社会志愿者活动等方面,构建留守儿童的体育帮扶机制。以期为促进教育公平、有效开展留守儿童体育教育和切实提升留守儿童的身心健康水平提供有益参考。     

Collaboration Between School Personnel in Special Education and Hispanic Families

Building collaborative relationships between school personnel in special education and Hispanic families is a challenge being faced by many professionals today. This article profiles the issues that are paramount in understanding the values and beliefs of the Hispanic family. A four-step collaboration action plan is proposed that includes (a).promoting a positive attitude toward school personnel, (b) assisting school personnel by providing training, (c) gathering information on the family, and (d) developing a culturally sensitive program based on need. School personnel who take the time to understand the unique values and beliefs of the Hispanic culture will more adequately provide culturally sensitive services to Hispanic families and their children with disabilities.     

Culturally Embedded Measurement of Latino Caregivers’ Engagement in Head Start: A Tale of Two Forms of Engagement

Practice and Policy: The preschool years represent a critical time to foster family engagement in education for children growing up in poverty. Yet the ways in which Latino families with lower levels of income engage with their children’s education at home and at school might look different from how middle-income parents from the dominant U.S. culture do, depending on cultural values and beliefs about best ways to support children’s learning as well as on socioeconomic realities that present barriers for traditional forms of engagement. This study sought to examine further the psychometric functioning of a promising new measure of family engagement, developed with and for Latino Head Start families. Research Findings: Results of this study supported continued use of this measure, with clear caveats and directions for future research. Findings suggested that the ways Latino Head Start parents engage with children’s learning and development at home (e.g., supporting children’s social awareness and behavior, connection to cultural heritage, academic skills) might be a more culturally nuanced and salient form of engagement, while school-based engagement (e.g., volunteering at school, communicating with teachers) might be a more universal form. Findings contribute to understandings of Latino family engagement as well as to methodological considerations for culture-specific measurement development efforts, with relevance for early education researchers and professionals.     

Fostering effective and sustainable home–school relations with migrant worker parents: a new story to tell?

Current government policy, which calls for closer working relationships with families, together with the escalation of globalised communities places mounting pressure on teachers to take account of increasingly diverse family values, traditions and parenting styles. Considering the disproportionate number of minority ethnic children facing educational underachievement in the UK, one could argue practitioners take up this challenge. In view of increased European migration, this paper considers factors which remain the key to enabling migrant worker parents to establish and sustain effective links with their child’s school. After decades of research and government reports, how far we have come to ensuring that all families are enabled to become involved in their children’s schooling? The findings, which stem from a broader qualitative study, are largely presented through three collective vignettes which represent the voices, and different experiences, encountered by nine migrant worker parents. Factors identified as having significance to home–school relations include language barriers, issues associated with changing family structures, and community relations.     

Strengthening the Ties Between Title I and Family Literacy

When schools work together with families to support learning, children are inclined to succeed not only in school but throughout life as well. Three decades of research show that parental participation in schooling improves student learning. Title I, as amended by the Improving America's Schools Act (Public Law 103-382), reflects these research findings and emphasizes the importance of family involvement as a means to help address more completely the full range of student needs that affect their learning. Although parental involvement can take many forms, in this article I focus specifically on family literacy services. The Title I statute requires any Title I program to include "strategies to increase parental involvement, such as family literacy services." In addition, any school district with a Title I allocation above $500,000 must spend at least 1% of its allocation for district- and school-level parental involvement activities, which can include family literacy activities. Title I also recognizes that schools and patents share responsibility for the education of children. Therefore, each Title I school is to develop school-parent compacts that outline how parents, the entire school staff, and students will share responsibility for improved student achievement and the means by which schools and parents will work together to help children achieve high state standards. School-parent compacts area logical tool for addressing family literacy needs. Equally important, Title I has a history of parental involvement that literacy can help enrich further.     

How do African American Mothers in a Rural Community Perceive Resources for Supporting Family Involvement in the Early Years?

Previous research focused on schools that serve low-income and minoritized communities has demonstrated that families often do not feel that their schools are receptive to family involvement. This interview study, which comes out of a long-term ethnographic project at a rural school that primarily served low-income, African American families, reports on the ways that mothers in this school felt welcomed by school staff during their children’s first three years of schooling (Prekindergarten to Grade 1). Many of the parents identified the rural context as contributing to their positive feelings about involvement with the school because the context supported long-term relationships with school staff, and the small school allowed parents to feel that both they and their children were known. Mothers reported that these characteristics supported their efforts to intervene on behalf of their children.     

西北民族地区农村家庭入学决策与匹配婚姻

基于甘肃义务教育阶段学生的家庭调查数据,分析了影响西北民族地区农村儿童辍学的因素。研究发现：汉族儿童相对于少数民族儿童更容易入学,男童比女童更容易入学,父母的受教育程度对儿童入学的概率有显著的正向作用,家庭财富和资产对儿童入学有正的影响。在匹配婚姻上,父母一代的婚姻匹配程度相对高于祖父一代,汉族的匹配程度要高于少数民族。     

Families,Schools, and Children’s School Achievement: A Study Based on Rural Regions in China Gansu Province

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the impact of school factors on student achievement due to differences in family backgrounds. Based on the principle of diminishing effects of school investment in children’s achievement, this study built a model that includes individual characteristics, family characteristics, and school characteristics. Family and school variables were incorporated into the model. The subjective effort in children’s individual study and family investment and effort in education were controlled. Using data on elementary school children from 20 counties in Gansu Province, this study found that parents’ level of education and family income and indices of school quality have a significant positive relationship to children’s achievement. However, an increase in school investment will shrink the score differences caused by differences in children’s family backgrounds. The policy implications are that increased educational investment in impoverished rural areas has an even more significant positive effect on the achievement of children from disadvantaged family backgrounds.     

Home-based family involvement and academic achievement: a case study in primary education

Does home-based family involvement influence academic performance? To answer this question, a case study research was carried out with 96 children from all six levels of primary education at a public school, and their families. Data regarding home-based family involvement were collected using a questionnaire. Academic achievement was measured from school marks. The results reveal that, apart from two of the factors considered, home–family involvement as a whole is not significantly related to academic achievement. These two factors are access to informal education resources and parents’ employment. Family involvement related to the access of children to informal education resources is significantly related to a better academic achievement. Those students with both parents working perform best, and those with none working, worst. Although gender does not appear to significantly influence academic achievement and family involvement, the results show that girls attain better school performance and receive more family attention than boys.     

Ambiguous belonging and the challenge of inclusion: parent perspectives on school membership

Boundary ambiguity occurs when members of a family are confused or uncertain regarding roles, responsibilities and subsystem configurations within the family. Research suggests that perception of boundary ambiguity is associated with family stress despite internal and external resource availability. It has been suggested that research on family boundary ambiguity be broadened beyond the family unit to the interface between family and community. This study utilised boundary ambiguity, and paradoxical dilemma as sensitising concepts to guide a secondary analysis of narrative data from interviews conducted with 28 parents of children with a range of disabilities pertaining to the interface between home and school. Findings confirmed evidence of boundary ambiguity and boundary intrusion in parents’ perception of whether the child and family were considered valued members of the school community, and in ambiguous parental role assignments, such as information gatherer, child advocate and teacher. In addition, ambiguous situations often triggered paradoxical dilemmas that affected home–school relationships.     

Lesbian,gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents' experiences in preschool environments

Little research has examined the school experiences of lesbian/gay (LG) parent families or adoptive parent families. The current exploratory study examined the experiences of 79 lesbian, 75 gay male, and 112 heterosexual adoptive parents of preschool-age children with respect to their (a) level of disclosure regarding their LG parent and adoptive family status at their children's schools; (b) perceived challenges in navigating the preschool environment and advocating on behalf of their children and families; and (c) recommendations to teachers and schools about how to create affirming school environments with respect to family structure, adoption, and race/ethnicity. Findings revealed that the majority of parents were open about their LG and adoptive family status, and had not encountered challenges related to family diversity. Those parents who did experience challenges tended to describe implicit forms of marginalization, such as insensitive language and school assignments. Recommendations for teachers included discussing and reading books about diverse families, tailoring assignments to meet the needs of diverse families, and offering school community-building activities and events to help bridge differences across families.     

Influence of family structure and school variables on behavior disorders of children

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of family structure and school variables on behavior disorders of children. The sample consisted of 1,162 white elementary school children. General information was obtained from school records, and ratings on behavior disorders were obtained from teachers. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analyses of variance. Results indicated that grade in school, sex, social class, ordinal position in the family, and teacher were important variables in the determination of behavior disorders. Whether or not the children were living with both of their natural parents, number of children in the family, if the children were in special education classes, and whether the children were older than usual for their grade in school were less important or were unimportant. The results, especially those that were not expected, were discussed.     

Promoting Positive Family Interactions: Evaluating a Free Early Childhood Book Distribution Program

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) program encourages reading among families of preschool children by mailing age-appropriate books, once per month, until the child reaches the age of five. An evaluation of a DPIL program in a southern state in the U.S. was conducted to assess the impact on enrolled children. Focus groups were conducted and a survey was administered to over 100 parents of children in the program to determine parents’ satisfaction with–and assessment of–the program relative to its activities and stated outcomes. To what extent the program promoted reading in the family, and children’s enjoyment of reading and school readiness was explored. In addition, family communication styles and relationships were assessed relative to these outcomes. The parents reported that the program introduced more diverse reading choices, fostered their children’s love of reading, promoted cognitive development and readiness for school, increased use of public libraries, and encouraged family interaction. Some differences in reading activities based on family communication styles were found. As well, parents provided recommendations for outreaching to underserved children. Implications of these findings for groups that sponsor this program and for further research are presented.     

Teacher perspectives on partnerships on families of children with autism

The success of students with disabilities in school and community largely relies on productive family professional partnerships (FPPs). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) recognises the importance of family collaboration to student success by mandating that parents be involved in the Individualised Education Plan (IEP) process as full team members. While several previous studies examined the perspectives of parents of children with disabilities on partnerships with educators, less research exists on teacher perspectives on family professional collaborations. Additionally, there are even fewer studies that focus on teacher perspectives on partnerships with parents of children with autism, a disability category which continues to increase in prevalence. The present study contributes to the literature by examining teacher perspectives on factors that build and hinder positive partnerships with families of children with autism. Researchers surveyed 25 Special Education teachers and conducted additional individual interviews and open-ended questionnaires to examine teachers' first-hand experiences. Findings identified four common themes that educators felt helped and hindered collaborative relationships with families. Study results may lead to the development of specific family professional collaboration strategies that can be implemented and discussed in school districts, teacher trainings, pre-service teacher education programs and family workshops.