Abstract/Notes: This research is a case study of African American parent involvement at a urban Montessori school in Minnesota. African American parents at this school have had limited involvement in conferences, PTSO meetings, school activities, and on the Site-Based Leadership Team. An examination of the literature was made to investigate the influences on African American parents when they make decisions about their parental involvement. This research covered the historical background, theoretical background, implications, racial barriers, and strategies that increased African American parent involvement. An ethnography was designed to gather data from 9 mothers of African American students. These parents provided information about their backgrounds and their experiences with the school. Staff at the school (6) were interviewed as to their experiences with African American parent involvement. The results of the study offer findings on attitudes, perceptions, needs and ideas for improving African American parent involvement at any school.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2000

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: American Montessori Society, 2002

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Abstract/Notes: In the early years of the twentieth century, the great structural, social and cultural changes in American society included a growing number of immigrants arriving from the poorest regions of Europe. For the first time, the issues of immigration, assimilation and social integration became the most important problems facing American society. In the optimistic climate of the so-called progressive era, social reformers thought that these problems could be solved by the science of pedagogy, as applied to the educational needs of foreign immigrants. This essay centres on the pedagogical efforts of Italian-American educator Angelo Patri, who attempted to integrate Italian-American children into the fabric of American society through education. It starts by assessing Patri’s early writings, such as A Schoolmaster of the Great City, and his private and professional papers. In doing so, his work is situated in the debate on progressive education alongside pedagogue Maria Montessori, demonstrating his central role in the debate on integration through education. Within this analysis, particular attention is paid to the notion of learning by doing, and it is argued that both educators were influenced by this particular aspect of progressive education.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/0046760X.2015.1063710

ISSN: 0046-760X, 1464-5130

Language: Italian

Published: Milano: Franco Angeli, 2000

ISBN: 88-464-2088-8

Abstract/Notes: Review

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Maria Montessori's child-centered teaching method came to the United States in 1913 and became linked with an approach to progressive education and child rearing which many Americans considered permissive. During the post-World War II years, advocates of Montessori's method combined this permissive mode with elements of an authoritarian mode to produce an authoritative approach to teaching young children. Following this approach, educators at the Princeton Montessori School have developed and implemented a firm yet empathic teaching model for their classes. The social system which the teachers have developed in their classes respects children's intrinsic motivation in the form of a benign token economy, called a credit-debit system. In this system the rules of the classroom, and the rewards and sanctions attending the rules, are developed cooperatively between teacher and children. Teachers consider the small group as the basic unit of social organization for the presentation of lessons. Teachers present curricular subject areas in a sequence of steps which are numbered and which correspond to a set of materials preassembled by the teacher and directly accessible to the children. For each subject, students keep personal interactive journals which contain written and illustrated work for the whole year. Through these methods, teachers at the Princeton Montessori School demonstrate that they have understood the basic message of Montessori and imbedded that message in a culturally sensitive and appropriate form of schooling.

Language: English

Published: Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Center for Teacher Education, 1992

Abstract/Notes: Biographical sketches of 10 candidates

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: Biographical sketches of 13 candidates

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040