scholarly journals Middle school outreach efforts to involve immigrant parents: what are the perceptions of school personnel and immigrant parents?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcella Franklin-Williams
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Immigrant Parents ◽  
School Outreach ◽  
Perceptions Of School

scholarly journals Immigrant home-school information flows in Finnish comprehensive schools

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Minna Säävälä ◽  
Elina Turjanmaa ◽  
Anne Alitolppa-Niitamo
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Home School ◽  
Immigrant Parents ◽  
Information Flows ◽  
Social Field ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Home And School

Purpose School is an institution that provides an opportunity to improve children’s equity and wellbeing and to bridge the potential disadvantage related to ethnic- or language-minority backgrounds. Information sharing between immigrant homes and school can enhance school achievement, support positive identity formation and provide early support when needed. In this paper, the perspectives of immigrant parents, school welfare personnel and school-going adolescents are analysed in order to understand how they see their respective roles in information flows between home and school. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The data consist of qualitative group and individual interviews of 34 representatives of school personnel, 13 immigrant parents and 81 young people who have experienced immigration, in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, Finland. Findings Despite general goodwill, school personnel may fail to secure the flow of information. Due to structural power imbalance, school personnel are often incapable of engaging the parents in dialogical discourse. Young people of immigrant background in turn try to manipulate the information flow in order to protect their family and ethnic group and to cope with pressures from parents. The patterns of information flows in school as a social field reproduce immigrant homes as subaltern. Adolescents act in a strategically important juncture of information flows between immigrant home and school, which indicates that home-school interaction is actually a triad. Social implications Awareness building among school personnel is vital for equity and wellbeing of children of immigrant families. Originality/value This triangulated analysis of patterned information flows in school as a social field provides a fresh perspective to those working with children of immigrant families.

scholarly journals School-Based Adolescent Obesity Prevention Programming: Perceptions of School Personnel in Southern Appalachia

2015 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-129
Author(s):  
Jodi L. Southerland ◽  
Christian L. Williams ◽  
Taylor McKeehan Dula ◽  
Deborah Leachman Slawson
Keyword(s):  
Obesity Prevention ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Adolescent Obesity ◽  
Prevention Programming ◽  
Southern Appalachia ◽  
School Based ◽  
Perceptions Of School

In Here, Out There: Professional Learning and the Process of School Improvement

2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Noonan
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
School Reform ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
School Transformation ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Urban Middle School ◽  
Administrative Team

In this article, James Noonan uses portraiture to examine how the administrative team and the teachers at a small, urban middle school approach school improvement. He illustrates the ways in which the pressures associated with attempting school reform in our current high-accountability environment make it difficult for school personnel to engage in the deep learning that transformative change requires. Noonan finds that at Fields Middle School, district-initiated redesign is built around an expansive view of learning that embraces uncertainty, collaboration, and reflection as catalysts for broad and sustained school improvement. He illuminates school transformation efforts that hinge on adult learning and an understanding of schools as learning organizations, in contrast to reform efforts that adopt linear and hierarchical views of teaching and learning.

Assessment of the Risks and Needs of Middle School Students: Invariance Properties Related to Gender and Ethnicity

Assessment ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107319112110625
Author(s):  
Paul S. Strand ◽  
Brian F. French ◽  
Bruce W. Austin
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Native American ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
School Engagement ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Self Report ◽  
General Factor ◽  
School Students

The middle school version of the Washington Assessment of Risks and Needs of Students (msWARNS) is a self-report instrument designed for use by school personnel to identify barriers to school attendance and school success for sixth- to eighth-grade students. It measures six domains relevant to improving school outcomes that include aggression-defiance, depression-anxiety, substance use, peer deviance, home environment, and school engagement. In the present study, a bifactor S − 1 model, for which the aggression-defiance domain was the reference factor for the general factor and the other domains constituted the subfactors, had good fit and better fit than several other alternative models. Results of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis revealed invariance across different groups defined by gender and race/ethnicity (Native American, African American, Hispanic, and White), with a sample of referred middle school students ( N = 2,356; ages 10–15 years). Reliability analyses support the use of the general factor to guide decision-making, the reliable use of the depression-anxiety factor for providing additional insights, and the remaining factors for guiding communication, as part of an assessment and intervention program for middle school students.

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