Across the globe, from the very wealthy continents of North America to Europe to Australia, the phenomenon of migrant and immigrant students outperforming native students are observed and documented. Even within the same race, achievement differences are being observed. What might account for the achievement success of one group of students over…

This paper presents results from a survey of 80 parents and 120 secondary school students in Australia. Many parents report that their children put in all their effort into mathematics education but they believe that their children can do better if they try harder. This paradox is more evident among parents from Asian-Australian backgrounds…

The purpose of this study is a qualitative comparison of Israeli and U.S. teachers' views and attitudes toward parents' involvement in school. Fifty-six elementary school and secondary school teachers in Israel and in the state of Maryland, USA were asked to define parents' involvement, their feelings towards it, and its challenges and strengths.…

Education is under pressure to respond to the changing modern world. Education system worldwide aims to develop students into well-rounded citizens and help them become creative problem-solvers. Several theories have been proposed in the research literature which emphasizes the importance of social and cultural context to creativity. Eastern and…

Exploring a unique region concerning educational reforms in the past 20?years, the present study empirically investigates the attitudes towards parental involvement in school life in a comparative perspective of south-eastern European (SEE) countries for the 2008/2009 school year. Based on a multiple regression model for nine different countries,…

This article compares Roma and mainstream parents' involvement in the education of their children, based on Epstein's six-dimensional model of parent-school partnership. The survey was conducted in Croatia on two sub-samples: 60 Roma parents and 908 mainstream parents. Results suggest that Roma parents show lower interest in participating in…

International comparative studies and cross-cultural studies of mathematics achievement indicate that Chinese students (whether living in or outside China) consistently outperform their Western counterparts. This study shows that the gap between Chinese-Australian and other Australian students is best explained by differences in motivation to…

Using the latest international educational database, TIMSS, this study investigates and compares the occurrences of 11 student problem behaviors as reported by middle school principals in ten countries. For each country, the study reveals the relationships of these problem behaviors with teachers' attitudes and parental involvement, and discusses…

This research investigated the similarities and differences between countries in young children's early numeracy skills related to age, culture, and gender. The participants were five-year-old children from Beijing (People's Republic of China), England, and Finland. The rationale for the cross-cultural comparison originates from research results…

There is considerable debate about the relative importance of family versus school factors in producing academic and nonacademic student outcomes, and whether and how their impacts vary across different student groups. In addition to critically reviewing and synthesizing earlier work, this study extends the literature by (a) using the ECLS-K, a…

Parent participation is considered to be a vital component in the education of students with disabilities. Parents' roles in pivotal changes in special education--specifically, inclusion--are acknowledged, and their rights are protected in special education law. However, their perspectives are not always understood or considered in the…

Surveys 58 families in Japan and 67 in the United States with children aged 4 to 6 years (with followup at age 12 years). Demonstrates different preparation for schooling in the two cultures. Japanese mothers emphasize developing adaptive dispositions; U.S. mothers try to make the learning environment more attractive. (SLD)

The study deals with inter- and intracultural differences in the perception of family roles. One hundred and fifty-six Japanese students (40 modern females, 76 traditional females, and 40 males) and 148 German students (58 modern females, 49 traditional females, and 41 males) answered questionnaires concerning the ideal and real decision-making…

This paper compares and analyzes preschool mathematics education in Singapore and India in terms of strategies, learning activities, teacher expectations, and parental involvement. The paper describes the mathematics curriculum of one school in Erode, India, including teaching methods, and in Singapore. The results of a parent survey in each…

A report of 1 phase of a larger cross-cultural project, this paper is primarily concerned with the interrelated influences of perceived parental support and social class origins on the educational plans of comparable populations of American high school seniors and Norwegian "ungdomskole" students. The data was obtained via a…