Suchergebnisse

In this article, findings are summarized from a multivariate analysis of types and amount of child care used by a national sample of parents with children under 14. Findings and policy implications are presented in four areas: a comparison of type versus hours used as alternative indicators of child care need, an analysis of the importance of location versus caregiver relatedness among users of home arrangements, the relationship between household structure and use of care, and the importance of household income as related to cost of child care. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that the traditional link between employment status and use of formal group care is misleading, since being employed is critical to the amoung of care used, but not to the type chosen. It is emphasized that the complexities observed among the several household characteristics and the use of care strongly suggest that parents are in the best position to judge the amount or type of child care arrangements needed by their families. Based on this conclusion, public policy that rationalizes involvement in day care on the basis of support for family child rearing and economic functioning should permit maximum latitude to the range of choices available to parents.

The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of parents choosing quality day care programs for their children. Questionnaires were obtained from 152 parents whose children were enrolled in one of the 10 licensed day care centers in two neighboring Alabama communities, and from 105 parents whose children attended one of eight licensed centers in a Georgia community and a Maryland community. Information obtained from the parents included demographics on the family and the process the parents went through in selecting a center. The results from the Alabama sample yielded eleven significant correlates of day care quality choice, where quality was assessed independently and reliably by local day care experts. Five of these variables, when entered in a stepwise regression analysis, accounted for 39% of the variance in quality choices among centers in Alabama and 34% of the variance in quality in the Georgia/Maryland replication sample. Briefly, (a) the amount of husband's education, (b) dissatisfaction with previous day care arrangements, (c) fewer children, (d) the wife and husband making the decision together, and (e) not choosing a center due to location were all significant, independent predictors of choosing a quality program.

Abstract
This empirical study focused on parents who enrolled their two-year old children in preschools in the Czech Republic. Recent provision of the Ministry of Education recommended that preschools accept children who are as young as two years, in response to increased demands of mothers who want to re-enter the employment after maternity leave. The purpose of the study was to examine the reasons of parents to place their children in preschools as well as their satisfaction of the developmental progress of their children in this institution. A representative sample of parents who enrolled their children in preschool from age two was surveyed (N=520). Surprisingly, caring for the child while at work was not the most important reason. They rated it 3.66 on a five-point scale. Other reasons were rated higher: getting the child accustomed to interaction within groups of same-age children (M=4.01), acquiring cognitive skills and knowledge (M=3.89), and getting accustomed to a routine other than that found at home (M=3.75). When asked to assess the developmental progress of their children due to preschool attendance on a 3-point scale, the parents noted progress in communication ability (M=2.35), social skills (M=2.37) as well as overall progress (M=2.62). Concerning demographic characteristics, the estimate of the child's overall progress in preschool was significantly related to the mother's level of education and her marital status.

This is the story of North Carolina parent choice advocates' push for the creation and expansion of choice policies. The exploration of the politics, ideology, and interests surrounding parent choice includes but also stretches beyond the most frequently discussed choice policies of charter schools, school vouchers, and tuition tax credits

Historically, magnet schools have served predominantly Black and Anglo populations. Consequently, little research exists on Latino parent's engagement in school choice and their patterns of participation. Magnet schools are increasingly part of the landscape for improving school achievement for all students. Yet Latino enrollment rates in magnet schools fall short of their representation within most urban populations as well the population as a whole. This article explores the factors that influence Latino parents' participation in magnet school choice. The findings show that Latino parents who participate in school choice come from vastly different educational backgrounds, tend to be solidly middle income, are either second-generation immigrants or are married to one; the social networks of the most educated Latino parents do not include people with access to magnet schools. This study holds policy implications for similar cities in the new Latino South that are shifting to unitary status.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceived value-relevance of open data published by the Dutch Inspectorate of Education in the parents' choice of Dutch primary schools.Design/methodology/approach– Empirical data were collected through a mixed method strategy including quantitative and qualitative methods: quantitative surveys among parents of pupils in 25 primary schools; and semi-structured in-depth interviews using a topic list.Findings– Parents make little use of the Inspectorate's website compared to other information sources. The perceived usefulness of this website to parents choosing a primary school is also relatively low. Personal information gathered by school visits, written information from schools and information from other parents are more important sources.Research limitations/implications– Subjective considerations, such as the atmosphere and ambience of a school, play an important role in parents' choice behavior. Pragmatic considerations also play a role, such as a school's nearness. This study shows that it is necessary to rethink the rational assumptions behind publishing performance data.Practical implications– This study observed a mismatch between the demand and supply of open data about primary schools. The Inspectorate's publication strategy is based on "hard" and "written" data presented on a website, but parents also appreciate "soft" and personal "oral" data. Parents state that the Inspectorate should not only focus on negative school results for censuring ("naming and shaming"), but also give attention to schools that perform well ("naming and faming").Originality/value– Research about parents' and citizens' use of quality information in general is scarce. These findings show that parents' choice behavior is less rational than assumed. Relativistic notions about decision-making processes are recognized in other studies also, but they suggest that highly educated parents are over-represented in the group of parents who actively make school choices, whereas this study found no indications that parents' educational level affects their choices.

In this article, we present a choice function of a rural household relating to her/his ward's schooling. It makes an empirical evaluation on the basis of a simple theoretical framework using a primary data set surveyed from two backward districts of West Bengal. It explores the underlying causes of wards' discontinuation of school by examining the choice function of the parents using ordered probit analysis. The likelihood of dropout is higher at the primary level for low-income households and significantly depends on parents' attributes, which are mostly endogenous in an educational production function, and other exogenous difficulties in accessing school. It is also triggered by a lack of expectation about the future impact of education on a child's life.JEL Classification: C25, C80, D19, I21, I25

"Mit zunehmenden Optionen in der Schulwahl vervielfältigen sich auch die Forschungsfelder, in denen Bildungsentscheidungen als ein zentrales Thema der Schulforschung untersucht werden. Infolge der Ratifizierung der UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention wurde Eltern von Kindern mit Bedarf an sonderpädagogischer Unterstützung in vielen Bundesländern ein Wahlrecht zwischen inklusiver Schule und Förderschule eröffnet. Der Aufsatz widmet sich der Frage, wie die elterlichen Bildungsentscheidungen für oder gegen die inklusive Schule angemessen untersucht werden können. Ausgehend von einer Darstellung der methodologischen Verkürzungen in vorliegenden Studien zu Elternwahl für integrative Schulen schlagen die Autorinnen vor, bei Entscheidungen für oder gegen die inklusive Schule von Entscheidungen mit uneindeutigen Entscheidungsgrundlagen auszugehen. Demzufolge erscheint es nicht angemessen, diese als Kosten-Nutzen-Abwägungen zu modellieren, sondern als einen 'praktischen' Umgang mit den ungewissen Folgen der Entscheidung. Anknüpfend an methodologische Ansätze einer qualitativen Erforschung von Bildungsentscheidungen schlagen sie in praxistheoretischer Perspektive vor, Bildungsentscheidungen für oder gegen die inklusive Schule als situierte unabschließbare Prozesse zu untersuchen. Die Potentiale dieser Forschungsperspektive werden anhand der Rekonstruktion eines Interviews mit Eltern eines Kindes mit Bedarf an sonderpädagogischer Unterstützung aufgezeigt. In praxistheoretischer Perspektive kann beschrieben werden, wie Optionalität im Prozess des Entscheidens entsteht bzw. eingeschränkt wird und wie Entscheidungen in Gelegenheitsstrukturen und Konstellationen aus verschiedenen Akteur_innen eingebunden sind. Herausgestellt wird in Bezug auf die Prozesshaftigkeit von Entscheidungen für die inklusive Schule vor allem deren Eingebundenheit in situative Konstellationen aus Bündnispartner_innen bzw. Kontrahent_innen und deren potentielle Unabgeschlossenheit." (Autorenreferat)

This paper challenges the dominant discourse that HE choice is a consumer choice and questions assumptions underpinning government policy and HE marketing. HE choice is largely viewed as a rational, decontextualized process. However, this interpretivist study found it to be much more complex than this, and to be about relationships and managing a transition in roles. It focuses on parents, an under-researched group, who play an increasing part in their child's HE choice. It finds that they experience this process as parents not consumers, and that their desire to maintain the relationship at this critical juncture takes precedence over the choice of particular courses and universities. The role of relationships, and in this context relationship maintenance, is the main theme. This is experienced in two principal ways - relationship maintenance through conflict avoidance and through teamwork. These are significant findings with implications for the way governments and HEIs consider recruitment.