9400786 Sell This is an award under the Grants for Improving Doctoral Dissertation Research program. It is a study of the influences on the way in which parents and teachers communicate in discussing child performance in school. The research will focus on scheduled conferences between African-American, Hispanic, and Anglo mothers and kindergarten teachers. Through a combination of participant observation in the school setting, discourse analysis of videotapes of the parent-teacher conferences, and interviews with both parents and teachers before and after these conferences, the researcher will test ideas about the way in which pre-existing mental schema and variable power differentials influence how effectively parents and teachers understand each other. Previous research has indicated that parental involvement in school has an influence on the school performance of their children. However, there are a number of barriers to such involvement, and difficulties communicating with teachers is a central barrier. Through systematic study of the process of communication between parents and teachers, this project will help us understand these communication barriers better and provide advice about how parent-teacher communications could be improved. In addition to the scientific gains to be achieved by the research, this award will materially assist a highly promising student in completing research for the Ph. D. dissertation. Thus it contributes to the future scientific manpower of the nation and the thorough training of the next generation of social scientists. ***
