Paris Strom

Adolescent Learning and the Internet Implications for School Leadership and Student Engagement in Learning

Students were electronically polled about the influence of the Internet in their education and ways teachers could use this resource to motivate them and increase their learning. Responses from the 956 adolescents showed that the school quest to increase student engagement could more often be met through online assignments that facilitate self-directed learning. The practice of teachers spending much of their time preparing and presenting lessons should become more balanced to reflect the powerful presence of the Internet as the main source of student information. This shift requires a new focus in teacher preparation and in-service development for local schools. Specific changes in the roles of principals and teachers to offer greater school support for Internet learning are identified.

Personal Digital Assistants and Pagers: A Model for Parent Collaboration in School Discipline

There is a need to update the methods schools rely on for communicating with parents. A field test was conducted to assess the potential of two new approaches. One strategy allows teachers, using a common set of codes, to record the notable conduct of students onto personal digital assistants (PDAs). A second method uses pagers to contact parents quickly so that they can assume their priority role for corrective guidance or reinforce reports of good behaviour. Staff of a high school faculty documented the notable behaviour of 108 students for a semester and reported to parents by pager. Over 90% of faculty staff concluded that PDAs facilitate accurate records and sending messages by pager is a more efficient way to contact parents than by telephone. More than 90% of the parents indicated that interpreting coded messages from pagers was easy. Plans for the next phases are outlined.

Maternal Guidance of Adolescents: An African-American Perspective

This study sought to determine how 271 African-American mothers of 10-to 14-year-old children perceived their strengths and limitations as parents, and detect how 292 children from this age group perceived the parent performance of their mothers. Significant generational differences were found in 4 of 6 subscales and 30 of 60 items on the Parent Success Indicator (PSI). The variable that had the greatest influence on how both generations viewed parent success was the amount of time they spent together.

Personal Goals and Global Awareness of American Community College Women Regarding Parenthood

Young women in many countries are choosing a future without children. The scope of decline in fertility rates among developed nations is described along with public policy efforts intended to reverse the course of population change. The initiatives commonly used to persuade women that they should become mothers are monetary incentives and suggestions that attainment of personal maturity requires the sacrifices related to parenting. These solutions, devised by middle age and older adults, rarely include intergenerational dialogue that recognizes the goals of young women in the current environment or explores what could be done to make parenthood an appealing role. Hierarchical societies seeking to preserve harmony have the greatest obstacles to surmount, and require awareness among generations to identify differences in motivation and perspective. Concerns of American college women regarding parenthood and implications are described that should be taken into consideration by families, educational institutions, media, local agencies, and religious organizations.