Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1982

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Urich, Ted R.

Thesis/Dissertation Co-Chair

Cowgill, Robert

Abstract

The purpose of the descriptive study conducted in Orange County, Florida, was to determine what image Puerto Rican parents held toward five bilingual elementary schools and to compare those images with the images held by Anglo-American elementary teachers in the same schools. An eighty-item questionnaire, the School Image Description Questionnaire, developed by Don Croft at New Mexico State University, was used as the survey instrument. The instrument was mailed to a random sample of the two groups and eighty-seven questionnaires, sixty percent, were completed and returned. It was hypothesized that no significant differences existed between Puerto Rican parents and Anglo-American teachers at the .05 level on career preparation; socialization, or citizenship school goal variables. It was also hypothesized that no significant differences existed at the .05 level between Puerto Rican parents and Anglo-American teachers on the attributes of achievement motivation, school spirit, student friendliness, attend trade school, operative philosophy, cooperative philosophy, teacher friendliness, and openness. Findings indicated significant statistical differences existed in the images held by the two groups in regard to the school goal of socialization and the school attribute of cooperative philosophy. Significant differences did not exist between the groups on other goals or attributes. The major conclusions were as follows: (1) considerable incongruence existed between school goals as perceived by the Puerto Rican parents and the Anglo-American teachers; (2) Puerto Rican parents felt no anxiety or hostility toward the schools; (3) teacher friendliness as perceived by the Anglo-American teachers decreased as Hispanic student enrollment increased; (4) the teachers held a more direct, operative view of classroom management, while the parents held an image of the teacher as an advisor. The major recommendations included: (1) staff development on cross-cultural differences and nonverbal behavior; (2) increased parental involvement; (3) analysis of reasons for low ratings on openness and teacher friendliness; (4) additional research on achievement motivation, possible sex role differences, perceptions of Anglo-American parents toward school goals, and the perceptions of Puerto Rican parents who withdraw their children from bilingual programs.

Extent

139 p.

Comments

Thesis (Educat.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1982.|College of Education|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (Educat.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1982.

Identifier

FADT11821

Format

pdf

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