Education

USAID to evaluate Camp Summer Plus

Submitted by Alesia on Jul 21, 2011 17:03 pm

By ALECIA SMITH, JIS ReporterKINGSTON — Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Karen Hilliard, says the agency will evaluate the Camp Summer Plus 2011 programme to assess its effectiveness, after it closes.The specialised programme, which runs July 11 to August 22, is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Education and USAID, and is geared at raising educational achievement levels among low performing students at the Grade Three level.

June 1, 2003

The aims of the review are to investigate the impact of:

  •  parental support (e.g. the provision of parenting skills training, advice and guidance for parents) on pupil achievement/engagement;
  • family learning (i.e. as a Parent Governor, reading to children, encouragement and help with homework) on pupil achievement/engagement; and
  • parents’ level of education, e.g. the impact of parents with universitylevel education on children’s achievement.

The main aim of the proposed project is to produce a comprehensive literature review of reliable research evidence on the relationship between parents/parenting and pupil achievement/engagement. The reviewattempts to answer the following research questions:

  1. What are the main findings/conclusions of research that has investigated the relationship between parenting (in terms of parental support, family learning, parental involvement and parents’ level of education) and pupil achievement/engagement.
  2. On what issues are the research findings in agreement? On what issues are the research findings Inconsistent? Where are the gaps in the current research evidence?
  3. What elements of parental support, family learning, parental involvement and parents’ level of education impact positively on pupil achievement/engagement? Does the effectiveness of these elements change according to: (a) pupil age; (b) the gender of pupils; (c) whether parents participate on a voluntary – rather than required – basis; (d) socio-economic group; and (e) the way in which schools interact with parents?
  4. What strategies/interventions have been successfully used (nationally and internationally – especially in the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA) to enable parental support, family learning, parental involvement and parents’ level of education to have a positive impact on pupil achievement/engagement? To what extent can these strategies/interventions be successfully implemented in
    present-day England?
  5.  To what extent can those strategies/interventions, which effectively enable parental support, family learning and parental involvement to have a positive impact on pupil achievement, be deliberately targeted to address the achievement gap – particularly towards hard-to-reach parents?
  6. To what extent does the timing of interventions impact positively or negatively? For example, what is the evidence for/against intervention from birth? What evidence is there that later interventions (e.g. at KS1, 2 or 3) have equal/lesser/greater impact?
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September 1, 2009

This presentation is based on a study that examined the factors that motivate or constrain the involvement parents’ involvement in their child’s education. Munroe employed qualitative and quantitative research methods including “(i) non-participant and participant observations of PTA meetings, parent-conferences, and classrooms; (ii) questionnaires administered to parents and teachers; (iii) focus-group discussions with parents and with teachers; and (iv) semi-structured interviews with other key informants” (Munroe, 2009, p. 11). The findings indicate that though parents want to be involved in their child’s education, both at home and school, involvement varied from low to moderate. This has been attributed to: “(a) strong parental role construction; (b) weak perceived sense of parent efficacy; and (c) moderate perception of invitation from others which is attributed to frequent general invitation from the school and infrequent specific invitation from the teacher” (Munroe, 2009, p. 12 ).  She also noted “the study found that an invitation from others, especially teachers, can positively influence parental involvement, provided that the invitation and opportunities for involvement are mindful of the life context of the parent and the learning needs of the child” (Munroe, 2009, p. 13). Munroe identified several types of interventions to raise parental involvement and recommendations for policy makers, school administrators and teachers colleges to change the parenting involvement landscape and harness the real interests of parents in assisting their children to succeed.

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FILED UNDER: Education, PDF, Assessments

This document maintains that “good working relationships between those with leadership responsibilities in the PTA and in the school must be established and maintained if the purposes of the PTA are to be realized ” (‘Improving the PTA Principal partnership’, p. 1). The role of the school president and PTA president, factors that obstruct good relations and how develop mutual understanding and confidence are identified.

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FILED UNDER: Education, PDF, Reference

ECD Teleconference: Instilling self-discipline and positive behaviour management

Submitted by administrator on Jul 18, 2011 17:28 pm

The UNESCO-supported regional early childhood development (ECD) teleconference on Instilling self-discipline and positive behaviour management, will be held on September 22, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. AST).This regional meeting is offered through UWI Open Campus Country Sites’ teleconferencing facilities. Find the closest site to attend.

Caribbean Child Research Conference 2011

Submitted by administrator on Jul 18, 2011 14:42 pm

The Caribbean Child Research Conference gives children and adults researching children's issues the opportunity to present their findings to the region. The 2011 conference will be held from October 19-20 in Jamaica and will consist of three research elements surrounding the theme: Promoting Child Rights with Equity: Our Children in Post-Independence Times.Please note the dealines for the following:

EduFocus #5: Key Prescritpion for the journey of improvement: Lessons from 20 Education systems

Submitted by Alesia on Jul 13, 2011 20:38 pm

In December 2010, McKinsey & Company published “How the World’s Most Improved Schools Systems Keep Getting Better” based on lessons from 20 education systems with the largest performance gains. Systems were selected based on having “achieved significant, sustained, and widespread gains in student outcomes from 1980”. The authors classified schools within two categories. Sustained improvers were defined as systems with at least five years of consistent increases in student performance across multiple data points and subjects.

EduFocus #4: Improving literacy the Lyssons Primary way: The quality of teachers and leadership matters

Submitted by Alesia on Jul 13, 2011 09:03 am

Ena Barclay, Principal of Lyssons Primary School, is animated and passionate. She has explained the reasons for the success of her school very plainly. Lyssons Primary is one of the most successful primary schools in Jamaica because it has always had strong leaders, high expectations for both students and teachers, and highly motivated and committed teachers.

EduFocus #3: Reading by age 6? See how 12 British Schools made it happen!

Submitted by Alesia on Jul 13, 2011 06:48 am

The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) has released a comprehensive report which examines the practices of 12 nursery and primary schools which have had above average success in enabling their year 2 students to read at the appropriate level.The information was collected as part of the inspection process in the UK and involved classroom observation and interviews with head teachers. The report noted that these successful schools shared a number of characteristics.  These shared features include:

EduFocus #2: The Success of Jessie Ripoll Primary

Submitted by Alesia on Jul 13, 2011 05:47 am

Thirty one years ago, Jessie Ripoll Primary faced a challenge; how to provide additional learning space for the growing number of children in the area without resorting to a shift system.  Using innovative strategies, the school has been nurtured into an institution that maximizes its partnership with parents and community and developed a culture that fosters discipline and continued improvement. The school has been moving from success to success in the past ten years.

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