The Charter School Allure May, Judy Jackson
Education and urban society,
11/2006, Volume:
39, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The school choice debate evokes compelling arguments by advocates and opponents alike. As the controversy continues, urban school districts are losing significant resources to charter schools. ...Districts seeking to compete in the race to reclaim dollars lost to the school choice battle should emulate the factors that have propelled parents to seek alternative schools for their children. This study queried 260 urban parents who have withdrawn their children from the public school to attend charter schools in the past 2 years. Results show that despite the lack of statistically significant evidence of academic gains, parents perceive an enhanced educational experience. The author surmises that the chasm between perceived charter school success and traditional school failure is a “perception gap” with definable constructs that can be addressed through all levels of the traditional school organization. Traditional schools can successfully compete with charter schools by aggressively emulating the variables that define that chasm.
This questionnaire study asked the parents of 62 children undergoing small bowel capsule biopsy for their reactions to the discomfort experienced by their children. The children were randomized to ...receive sedation with midazolam either intravenously or intranasally. With regard to the biopsy procedure the parents of 94% of the children had no objections. The parents of 3% of the children found the biopsy very unpleasant and another 3% suggested that the biopsy should be performed under general anaesthesia. The proportion of parents with negative reactions to the biopsy procedure did not differ significantly between the intravenously and intranasally sedated children. With regard to the sedation given, the parents of 79% of the children did not think that their children were in any discomfort at all. Ten percent of the children had obvious signs of nasal discomfort using the intranasal administration. In the remaining 11% of the children the parents reported various symptoms.
Conclusion: The vast majority of parents of children undergoing small bowel capsule biopsy found the procedure satisfactory providing that the sedative medication was given intravenously rather than intranasally.
This paper examines the psychometric properties of an existing school-based Parent Opinion Survey (POS) in order to investigate its validity as a measure of parent sentiments which may (eventually) ...be used to better inform the decision making of school leaders. The study focusses on the POS administered by all Victorian public schools at the time of this study, and uses Rasch analysis to identify a subset of items which form a psychometrically robust, unidimensional measure of parent sentiment. We propose that 13 items identified through this analysis could lay the foundation for providing policy makers who currently manage the distribution and collation of this survey, as well as school leaders, with a more reliable and valid overarching POS Scale score. Such an approach could better inform and support the home–school partnership that forms a crucial part of the Victorian Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) school improvement continuum.
This paper seeks to present the viewpoints of Slovenian, Austrian, and German parents whose children attend Waldorf primary schools, about learning foreign languages at the primary level. The first ...section of the paper outlines the main characteristics of learning and teaching foreign languages in Waldorf primary schools and compares the syllabus for the first foreign language in Austria, Slovenia, and Germany. Further on, the paper focuses on the results of an empirical research which involved 215 parents. The results showed that parents who could directly observe the effects of learning a foreign language in childhood were more inclined to it. They were also familiar with the benefits of learning a foreign language for a child. Also, the majority of them agreed that learning second languages was easier for children, and they did not think it had any adverse impact on the mother tongue or the child’s personality.
The double standard represents a standard of good behaviour that, unfairly, some people are expected to follow or achieve, but others are not. Once neglected by social scientists, the double standard ...in sexual attitudes has become more and more studied. In this paper, we inquire about the existence of the double standard in opinions regarding peers’ sexual behaviours and study its determinants. What makes young people judge the sexual behaviour of women in a more conservative way than that of men? The paper uses data collected from Italian university students, who are asked to express their (dis)approval of a series of sexual behaviours, considering peers of either gender participating in those behaviours. The results show that the double standard exists and has been persistent amid Italian undergraduate students over the last 20 years, and that the cultural context matters more than the family in shaping students’ beliefs.
This second validation study of the Parent Opinion Questionnaire (POQ) compared the unrealistic expectations of child abusing mothers (N=16) with mothers whose partners perpetrated the abuse (N=14). ...Significantly greater unrealistic expectations of child behavior were found for abusing mothers than for control mothers. A discriminant function analysis showed that the POQ correctly classified 83% of the subjects. (Author/NB)
The Parent Opinion Inventory was developed to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess parents' attitudes toward their children's school and its programs; (2) to provide an opportunity for parents to ...make specific recommendations for improvement; and (3) to provide decision-making data relative to program development, policy formation, administrative organization, faculty development, and community relations. The 53 items of Part A deal with intra-student body relationships, school information services, parent involvement, educational objectives, intra-school problems, school program factors, innovative programs, student activities, support services, auxiliary services, and general psychological climate. Questions are of the strongly agree-agree-disagree-strongly disagree-no opinion format. Part B consists of five open-ended questions soliciting recommendations for improvement. This manual includes a description of the development of this inventory, instructions for administering it, instructions for scoring and interpreting the test, and reliability and validity data. One copy of Part A and Part B are included in full. (BW)
Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic long-term disease with autoimmune disorder connected to an allergic reaction to the molecule of gluten. CD is manifested in persons who are genetically predisposed. ...The only therapy for CD is a strong gluten-free (GF) diet. The aim of our study was to follow the adherence to the gluten-free diet in the selected group of parents and caregivers of children with CD, and to compare factors influencing the adherence to GF diet and therefore influencing also clinical symptoms of CD. We compared and examined important food-related activities as well, by using a personal questionnaire in the group of CD children's parents or caregivers.
We designed a cross-sectional study; 325 parents or caregivers of children with CD were recruited in the sample. CD was confirmed by the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) criteria. The anonymous questionnaires were collected at summer camps within period data 2012-2016 and followed factors which might have an influence on compliance with GF diet, according to parents' opinions.
Adherence to GF diet was statistically significantly higher among girls compared to boys. Parents' questionnaires confirmed that younger group of children and children with the family history of CD had statistically higher compliance with GF diet. Parents with higher education confirmed better adherence to GF diet, statistical analyses confirmed higher adherence in mother´s education compared to father's education. Duration of CD, socio-demographic factors of parents - age of parent, gender of parent, and residency were not statistically significant in terms of compliance with the diet.
Our study confirmed important factors influencing adherence to the GF diet, which are connected to the symptoms and consequences of CD. The assessment of parents' opinions and burden on the families of children with celiac disease should be also reflected in the evaluation of patient's status. Important is also the role of parents in order to facilitate and support clinical interventions and prevention of CD.
This study aimed to explore the parent’s perceptions of children’s influence on purchase decisions and determine whether there were differences based on location (rural versus urban), product type, ...age of the child, gender of the parent and communication style of the parent. A survey was carried out on 400 parents of which 205 were from urban areas and 195 were from rural areas. An analysis of the data showed differences in opinion of parents regarding children’s influence based on product type and age of the child. No difference in perceptions of parents regarding children’s influence based on gender and parental style was observed. Parent’s opinion for children’s influence was highest for older children in the family regarding the purchase of personal-use products.
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