Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Whitaker, Todd

Abstract

The purpose of the study were 1)to compare parents and teachers and students perceptions of student's fears and anxities and 2)to determine if there were differences in student's fears and anxieties based on grade level or gender.This study was quantitative in nature.Four hundred eighty-six middle school students in a five through eight configuration, and their parents and teachers were included in the sample.Two surveys were given:The Middle Level Survey was created by the researcher, and the Comprehensive Assessment of School Climate is a National Study of School Evaluation(NSSE) product created by kelley,Glover,Keefe,Halderson,Sorenson,and Speth(1986).Statistical analysis of the data included the one-way ANOVA,Tukey's HSD and descriptive statistics.This study investigated the perceptions of parents and teachers about the anxiety and fears of adolescents in grades 5,6,7 and 8 and how parent's and teacher's perceptions are related to the perceptions of adolescents.Grade level and gender were disagreegated.Three areas were adressed:School Environment/Safety,Support for Learning, and Quality/Social Relationships.Parents and teachers held a greater perception of Environment/Safety than did students.Parents and teachers also recognized a more positive climate with Support for Learning than did students, and were more positive than students with their perceptions regarding Quality/Social Relationships(i.e,higher score indicating a more positive perception).Students in Grade 8 noted more concerns in all three areas than students in grade 5,6 or 7.No significance difference was noted between males and females had a more positive perception than did males.

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