This study investigated the successful outcomes and practices, the problems and the system of evaluation of the Parent Involvement program of the Follow Through models. The purposes of this research were to describe parent involvement in Follow Through and to utilize these data to formulate an ideal parent involvement program for an early childhood center. One instrument, a questionnaire, was developed to collect the data. The questionnaire consisted of 37 items with two main sections on successful outcomes and practices, and problems in parent-child relationships, parent-school relationships, and in parent-community relationships, and evaluation of parent involvement. Findings reveal that parent involvement in Follow Through has been successful. Successful outcomes in parent-child relationships, successful outcomes in parent-school relationships, and successful outcomes were found in parent-community relationships.

This study explored the attitudes of four professional groups toward selected adult behaviors in order to gain an insight into their definitions of abuse and neglect. A sample was drawn from the population of pediatricians, psychologists, teachers, and social workers employed in a large metropolitan area of North Central Texas. A total of 190 subjects participated. The instrument used to quantify the attitudes of the respondents was a five-point rating scale, the ABTC Rating Scale. The rating scale was composed of thirty-six adult behaviors selected from the "gray areas" of child abuse and neglect. Participants rated the thirty-six behavior items according to how harmful they perceived each behavior to be for a five-to-six year old child. It was concluded that of the variables tested, those that appear to have the most influence on the differences in responses are professional membership and sex. It is possible that the differences found are due as much to the sex of the respondent as to professional membership. Teachers and females may react more strongly to the behaviors almost universally.

This study investigates differences in academic achievement and self-concept of students enrolled in a traditional public school program and a public school Montessori program. The attitudes of parents of students are also compared. The population includes 182 experimental and control kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade students in a Texas metropolitan school district.

This study measured the resistance to temptation of five-year-old children as related to their sex, Sunday school attendance, and mothers' working status; analyzed the mothers' parenting attitudes as influenced by work, church attendance, and family structure; and examined relationships between children's resistance to temptation and mothers' parenting attitudes.

This study investigated the development of curiosity in young children. A previous study by Kreitler, Zigler, and Kreitler had identified five specific types of curiosity, manipulatory curiosity, perceptual curiosity, conceptual curiosity, curiosity about the complex, and adjustive-reactive curiosity. The basic problem was to describe the development of these five types of curiosity in three-, four-, and five-year-old children. A secondary problem was to determine if children follow a predictable pattern in their development of the five types of curiosity. Five tasks, measuring nineteen variables of curiosity, were administered individually to thirty three-year-olds, thirty four-year-olds, and thirty five-year-olds by a trained rater. Mean scores for each variable and each type of curiosity were calculated for each group.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether sex differences could be observed in computer use among preschool disadvantaged children. Each of the twenty-two three- and four-year-old children were administered the Bardwell- Sietsema Sex Stereotype Scale to obtain a measure of sex role identification. Subject's choice of a pre-programming or academic-oriented software program as well as actual time at the computer were also carefully recorded over a five week period. Data supports the following: there does not appear to be a relationship between sex role stereotyping and computer use among three and four year old disadvantaged children, stereotypical sex role identification exists between three and four year old disadvantaged children, the amount of time spent at the computer during free choice periods does not differ between boys and girls, and there is no difference between boys and girls in terms of choice of academic or pre-programming software.

The problem of this study was a comparison of the roles and needs of middle and lower class Thai parents in helping their children's reading development. The sample was selected from the parents of the preprimary schools in Bangkok, Thailand, in the fall of 1986. A total of 366 parents, including 185 from middle class and 181 from lower class, participated in this study.

This study examined the Kodaly approach to music teaching and investigated four different approaches to teaching first graders in elementary school to sing on pitch, echo (clap) rhythms, audiate tonal patterns, and audiate rhythm patterns. The approaches were the Kodaly approach, the traditional approach, and two eclectic approaches. One emphasized some of the techniques of the Kodaly approach, and the other emphasized some of the techniques of the Orff approach. The sample for this study consisted of one hundred twenty-one students in five classes from four different elementary schools. Two instruments were utilized: the standardized Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA) by Gordon and the Individual Performance Test (IPT) designed by the investigator. The PMMA had two sections of forty examples each and measured the child's ability to audiate tonal and rhythmic patterns. This test was administered to the children as a group and they recorded their answers on an answer sheet. The IPT was tape recorded and administered individually by the investigator and assistants. It had two sections, rhythm and tonal. The children matched pitches and clapped the rhythms they heard. Responses were tape recorded and evaluated. Pretests were given shortly after the school year began and post-test were …

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between family characteristics and parent involvement in Head Start, and the differences between parents who participated in Head Start parent involvement activities and parents who did not participate, as to their behaviors and attitudes concerning education, their children, their communities, and their children's academic achievement. This study analyzed existing data collected for a national parent involvement study. The sample consisted of 2,051 parent-child pairs (1,443 Head Start and 606 non-Head Start). Findings indicated a significant relationship between numerous family characteristics and parent involvement in Head Start, with variables related to a higher level of education of the mother or primary caregiver being the most dominant. Significant differences were found between the parents who participated in Head Start activities and parents who did not participate. The involved parents felt more strongly about teachers needing knowledge of their children's families, parents having knowledge worthy of sharing with their children's teachers, and parents wanting advice or input from their children's teachers. They reported a higher frequency of behaviors such as talking, reading, and playing with their children, trying to teach their children basic concepts, and having materials available for their children's use. Involved …