Publication Date

1967

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Schmidt, Wesley I.||Bosdell, Betty J.

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Education

LCSH

Attitude (Psychology); Counseling in elementary education

Abstract

Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of this study to determine whether the group guidance and counseling procedures in which the experimental group participated, significantly changed the student's perception of selected school related attitudes, and whether these same procedures had an effect on the teacher's perception of the student's attitude toward these same selected school related attitudes. Development of the study. This study developed from an elementary school guidance project, entitled "Tomorrow's Talent," conducted in Rockford, Illinois. For two years, groups of volunteers, the students' teachers, and the school counselor involved the experimental students (divided into low, middle, and high socio-economic levels) in group guidance and counseling activities. The control group, matched by socio-economic level of the school populations, was used for comparison purposes, and received no treatment. Those activities that the experimental group participated in were designed to improve the student's self-concept and attitudes toward school. Perceptions of both students and teachers, concerning school attitudes, were assessed by means of identical sixteen item rating scales. Each item was rated from low (1) to high (5), along a five point scale. Means and standard deviations were computed, by item, for both instruments. Differences between means were tested for significance by means of a "t" ratio. Significance was assumed for those ratios that reached the .01 or .05 level of probability. To add another dimension to the data, correlation coefficients were computed for the student ratings versus the teacher ratings, and tested for significance from zero (chance). Coefficients were assumed to be significantly different from zero if they reached the .01 or .05 levels of probability. Conclusions. The following seem to be the important conclusions reached concerning the data in this study. 1. In this study, the approach used seemed to have been effective in initiating change in school attitudes among students from the lower and higher socio-economic levels, but not effective with students from the middle socio-economic level. 2. In comparing the perceptions of the experimental group teachers with those of the control group teachers, the data indicates that the low socio-economic level experimental teachers perceived their students as having improved their attitudes toward school during the project. This trend is even more apparent among the high socio-economic level experimental teachers. 3. In comparing the differences between student attitudes and teacher perception of the student’s attitudes toward school, the teacher perceptions were significantly lower, than those of the students, in four-fifths of the cases examined. 4. In examining the relationship between the student ratings and the teacher ratings of these same students, it was found that this relationship was stronger in the control sub-groups than in the experimental sub-groups. Only the low socio-economic level did not evidence this trend. This would seem to indicate that with the lack of treatment for the control group, teachers continued to see their students in much the same way as the students saw themselves. The data collected indicates a need for further research into the effect that teacher*s perceptions of a student's school attitudes has on those attitudes. Evidence presented in this study seems to indicate that there is a place for group guidance and counseling in the elementary school setting. While these procedures are effective in supporting change in certain of the school attitudes treated within this study, they were not found to be equally effective for all attitudes or socio-economic levels of students.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.||Page vii is misnumbered.

Extent

x, 61 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

Download

Share

COinS