Motivations,Sacrifices, and Challenges: Black Parents’ Decisions to Home School

This study examines home schooling among Black parents by providing insight to Black families’ beliefs, concerns, and desires for their children’s education. To date, the literature remains void of empirical work related to home education among African American families. However, the present study directly addresses this void. Findings demonstrated that parents’ motivations to home school included issues related to race and home-school interaction. In addition, Black parents reported that religious beliefs influenced their decisions to home school. But, unlike their Caucasian counterparts, Black home educators described a more liberatory form of religion.     

Home–School Literacy Bags for Twenty-first Century Preschoolers

Combining home–school literacy bags with preschool family literature circles provided a strong foundation for family involvement at home and school during this year-long Reading Partners project, and helped parents become essential partners in their children’s literacy development. Using home–school literacy bags, children and parents learned how to combine expressive arts and emergent literacy strategies including alphabet recognition, phonemic and phonological awareness, and oral language fluency. State-of-the-art activities designed for each of the multiple intelligences met the needs of diverse students with many different learning styles and interests. As families participated in fall and spring school-based Festivals in which they shared the literacy bags in small group family literature circles, they demonstrated children’s emerging literacy skills in a relaxed, yet highly engaging atmosphere.     

Mexican Mothers’ English Proficiency and Children's School Readiness: Mediation Through Home Literacy Involvement

Research Findings: Home literacy involvement (e.g., shared book reading) has been linked to enhanced cognitive development and school readiness during early childhood. Furthermore, precursory reading and math skills are key predictors of high school achievement. This study examined prospective relations between Mexican mothers’ English proficiency, their home literacy involvement, and their children's school readiness (i.e., preschool reading and math scores). A large, nationally representative sample of preschool-age Mexican American children (N = 826) was used to test a theoretically derived path analysis that demonstrated that mother-reported home literacy involvement mediated the relation between mother-reported English proficiency and children's reading achievement, but not math. Results were evident even after key family and child characteristics were controlled. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that Mexican American children's early education and development may be enriched by family literacy programs that enhance their mothers’ English proficiency and increase the frequency of home literacy activities.     

A Case Study of Preschool Children’s Musical Interests at Home and at School

In the interaction between the child and the adult, interest can be a significant motivational initiator of activities. Systematic monitoring and development of the interest in music activities enables the teachers to influence the preschool children in forming a positive attitude towards the art of music. The research involving preschool teachers, children at the age of five to six and their parents, was conducted in order to determine the interest of preschool teachers and children in music activities. We found that the teachers showed greatest interest in singing songs, playing instruments and listening to music. The children’s favourite activities in kindergarten were movement to music (dancing), singing songs and playing on instruments, namely activities where they could take active part in the educational process. The parents reported that at home the children preferred most to listen to music, to sing songs and move to the sounds of music, and less to play on instruments and to be creative in music. The development of the children’s interest in music depends on the teachers’ expression of interest in music activities, on the choice of music activities and music contents and on the experience in the music environment of the family.     

Effective Schools and Home‐School‐Community Partnership Roles: A Framework for Parent Involvement

The increased interest in parent involvement as a strategy for school reform stems from two bodies of parent involvement research. One set of studies examined family learning environments; the other investigated the impact on student learning of school‐initiated parent involvement programs. This article reviews these two bodies of research, which have influenced current discussions about home‐school partnerships, shows the relationship between practices of successful home‐learning environments and effective schools research, and uses this relationship to propose a typology of home‐school‐community partnership roles and activities. When the research on effective family practices is combined with effective schools research and placed within a typology of partnership roles, schools have a framework for examining current parent involvement practices and exploring strategies that will enhance student learning both at home and at school.

     

School,Home and Community: an examination of their impact on children's resource‐based learning

Abstract

The Centre for Information and Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham is carrying out research investigating the relationship between different learning cultures and resource‐based learning in children. The research examines the ways in which children's access to learning resources and support in using them affects their learning. The aim is to produce recommendations for local agencies on how they can work together more effectively to create better learning opportunities for children across a community. The article outlines the aims and methodology of the research and identifies the factors said to affect learning, based on a review of existing literature. This research is timely as there is a national government focus on lifelong learning and widening participation; the focus has been mainly on adult education and there is a need for an examination of the ways in which children are equipped with the skills to become lifelong learners. It takes place in a context in which learning in schools has moved towards project work, requiring children to find their own information through using research and information searching skills. The research also reflects current government concerns about narrowing the existing gap between families and individuals who have access to a broad range of learning support tools and those without this support. The article highlights the value of an interagency approach to identify gaps and to ensure community‐wide support for children's learning within specific localities.     

Bullying and School Liability—Implications for School Personnel

Bullying is a serious and escalating problem in public schools across America. Each day, thousands of students face taunts and humiliation stemming from bullies. Bullying victims experience emotional and psychological problems that may persist for a lifetime. Other victims commit suicide or retaliate against bullies out of fear for their own safety. Because the courts presume that schools are safe places, teachers and administrators have a leading responsibility to protect students from the harmful behavior exhibited by bullies. They are expected to foresee that bullying is a harmful activity and initiate appropriate steps to eliminate it.

This article discusses the magnitude of the problem of bullying in public schools and the threat of liability for school personnel who fail to respond to bullying incidents. It concludes with a set of guides that should assist teachers and administrators in protecting students from foreseeable harm while minimizing their legal exposure to law suits based on negligence.     

Sensing the Impact of Elementary School Science Reform: A Study of Stakeholder Perceptions of Implementation,Constructivist Strategies,and School–Home Collaboration

This case study of a midwestern school districts reform effort explored the treatment fidelity of the Science: Parents, Activities, and Literature (Science PALs) project. Data were collected from the perspectives of three stakeholders: students, school district, and parents. Students and school district supervisors perceptions indicated that teachers were implementing predicted curricular and instructional features promoted by the Science PALs project. Students perceptions of their current teachers classroom performance did not parallel the supervisors perceptions of the teachers implementation. Parents perceptions and comments indicated a high level of satisfaction with the implemented features. Collectively, the three perspectives suggest that the Science PALs project was successful in changing the classroom practices of K–6 teachers involved in the professional development. The results of this study appear to support the findings of other recent studies that indicate the need for extended professional development and support to fully implement changes in elementary school science instruction.     

Internet Use Among Middle School Students in School and at Home: What Can We Learn From a U.S.–China Comparison?

Based on data collected from middle school students in a U.S. school (N = 159) and a Chinese school (N = 183), this study compared Internet use in school and at home between American students and Chinese students, explored what affected students’ use of the Internet, and examined how students’ Internet use related to their learning. Results reveal that (a) significant differences in online activities between American students and Chinese students were found in school, but not at home. Further analysis suggests that different pedagogical practices in these two cultural contexts led to the different uses of the Internet in school between American students and Chinese students. (b) There were significant school/home differences in Internet use for American students, but not much school/home difference was found for Chinese students. (c) There were salient similarities between American students and Chinese students in terms of the most popular activities they engaged in online. (d) Internet use in teaching and learning in school had some influence on students’ interest in learning specific subjects.     

A School‐Based Management Mechanism for School Effectiveness and Development

The paper aims to report on an integration of my recent research and thinking on school effectiveness and school‐based management and to develop a school‐based management mechanism for continuous pursuit of school effectiveness and development.

The matrix of school effectiveness in terms of four categories and seven different conceptions provides a framework for examining the basic issues of conceptualization, measurement and maximization of school effectiveness. Furthermore, a dynamic perspective can be used to reconceptualize school effectiveness and explore the relationship of school effectiveness to school‐based management and strategic management. The characteristics of school‐based management based on a strategic management system can reflect the emphases of different conceptions of school effectiveness and constitute a mechanism for pursuing long‐term school effectiveness, even in different categories. Based on the matrix of school process and the principle of congruence, the management concept should be shifted from the cell management to the layer management in establishing an effective school‐based management mechanism for school development. This article also reports the experience on training school administrators to establish such a school‐based management mechanism.     

School Religious-Cultural Attributes and School Principals’ Leadership Styles in Israel

Schools in Western cultures, including Israel, have been transformed from closed to open systems. This change is especially important to the principal’s role and leadership style. This article seeks to investigate the cultural-religious differences in Israeli Jewish principals’ leadership styles. Data were collected from 1,859 teachers, 34% from ultra-Orthodox schools, 50% state-religious schools, and 16% from state-secular schools. Regression results support the study's main hypotheses: cultural-religious orientation explains participative and transactional leadership styles but not transformational leadership. We discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice.     

The School and ‘Contestation'∗

(The Editors are pleased to publish this article by Monsieur Maurice Niveau, Rector of the Academy of Lille, because it raises many issues that are also topical in English education: politicization of educational problems, inability to achieve a consensus, the effects of a hierarchical administration, and the composition and powers of school governing bodies (this last was discussed in the context of the Green Paper by Mr Joslyn Owen, the Chief Education Officer for Devonshire, in an article in our last issue). The recent House of Commons Expenditure Committee report ('The Attainments of the School Leaver’, HMSO, London March 1978) recommended that we should seek more information on education elsewhere in Western Europe. The publication of this paper is one small contribution to greater knowledge in this area. The paper was first published in French in the Revue de la Défense Nationale, Paris, July 1977.

Monsieur Niveau, as Rector of Lille, is nominal head of all educational institutions, including universities, in one of the largest and most densely populated ‘académies’ (educational administrative divisions) in France. He is no stranger to Britain and was one of the OECD ‘examiners’ who reported to that organization on the state of English education and which criticized the alleged secrecy of the DES. (cf. Reviews of National Policies for Education, England, OECD Paris 1977.))     

Why Adam and Eve Lost Their Home

(1)Adam' and Eve are being pul out of the beautiful garden of Eden.(2)It is because they did something God told them not to do. God told them they could eat food from the trees of the garden. But from one tree God said not to eat, or else they would die. He kept that tree as his own.(3}One day when Eve was alone in the garden, a snake spoke to her. It told Eve to eat fruit from the tree from which God told them not to eat . Now, when Jehovah made snakes he did not make them so they could talk. So this     

School engagement and rights‐respecting schools

Disengagement in school is associated with behavioral problems and decreased academic achievement. In contrast, pupils who are engaged in school develop the academic and social efficacies that underlie successful adulthood. Moreover, engagement promotes educational resilience. This study examines pupils’ self‐reported level of engagement in schools that are explicitly respecting of children’s rights compared with pupils in traditional schools. The Young Students’ Engagement in School Scale was developed and used with 1289 9‐ to 11‐year‐olds from 18 schools, six of which had fully implemented the Hampshire Education Authority’s Rights Respect and Responsibility (RRR) Initiative. Factor analysis indicated four dimensions of engagement: rights‐respecting climate; interpersonal harmony; academic orientation; and participation. Pupils in RRR schools had higher scores on all but the academic dimension. The findings suggest the potential of rights‐respecting schools in promoting engagement and the potential utility of the measure in identifying areas in which pupils’ engagement may need intervention.     

Home

home主要指“家”、“住所”,是个人和家人共同生活的地方,同个人有紧密的感情联系。当然这个词还有“故乡”、“祖国”、“原产地”等含义。除了作名词外,home还可用作形容词、副词等,请注意区别。现举例如下: Is your mother at home?     

School Efficiency and Student Subgroups: Is a Good School Good for Everyone?

State and federal accountability reforms are putting considerable pressure on schools to increase the achievement of historically low-performing groups of students and to close test score gaps. In this article, we exploit the differences among the large number of elementary schools in New York City to examine how much schools vary in the efficiency of the education they provide to subgroups. In addition, we examine the extent to which observable school characteristics can account for the variation that exists. We find that New York City elementary schools vary in how well they educate poor students compared to nonpoor students and Asian and White students compared to Black and Hispanic students. The disparities in school efficiency measures between boys and girls are lower than for the other subgroups. There is no conclusive evidence about which school resources and characteristics are associated with more or less efficient education across all subgroups.     

Supporting the Vulnerable Child: Engaging Fathers in the Home–School Dimension of Pastoral Care

Abstract

Drawing on findings from a recent study of pastoral care within a primary school, this article highlights the role of fathers as a key factor in a range of successful interventions. While gains can be made in work with vulnerable children, the home–school dimension of pastoral care deserves far greater attention by schools, educationalists and researchers than it has so far received. The English government has a strategy to promote a closer relationship between parents and primary schools: much depends upon the resources available to schools and the commitment of staff.     

The School and the Reduction of Inequality∗

ABSTRACT

The need to develop reasoning skills in children through discussion is generally acknowledged by curriculum aims. There is, however, a lack of any definite teaching strategy to fulfil this need. Matthew Lipman's Philosophy for Children programme has had success in this area. As with other ‘collaborative enquiry‐based’ approaches to learning, it depends upon a teaching strategy which enhances children's self‐esteem. This seems a necessary ingredient for the development of rationality, critical awareness and autonomy in children. Inadequate teacher training is suggested as a major reason for the failure of ‘collaborative’ approaches greatly to influence educational practice. With a shift away from the ‘authority/knowledge‐based’ paradigm and the provision of effective teacher training, it is considered that our educational institutions could become more democratically organised, and we would move closer to realising the liberal ideal of developing human potential to the full.