home-schooling as an extreme form of parental involvement christa l. green
TRANSCRIPT
Purpose To examine how parental belief systems
may lead to involvement behaviors. To examine what beliefs might be
associated with a parent’s decision to home-school
Outline
1. Home-schooling - what is it?
2. Home-school literature
3. Parental involvement literature
4. Hypotheses
5. Methods
6. Results & Discussion
Home-schooling? What’s that?
Education of school-aged children at home rather than public or private schools
A growing trend in the U.S. 1999: 850,000 students (1.7% of K-12 students) 2003: 1.1 million students (2.2% of K-12 students)
Legal in all states since 1993. “Permission” to home-school simple process for
parents
(Basham, 2001; Bielick, Chandler & Broughman, 2002; Princlotta, Bielick,
& Chapman, 2004)
Home-schooling Literature Largely ethnographic in nature Literature suggests parents home-school for 4
reasons: ideological beliefs pedagogical beliefs negative experiences with public schools concerns about appropriate education for child’s needs
(Basham, 2001; Bielick et al., 2002; Knowles,1988; and Van Galen, 1988)
Next steps for home-school researchers
More systematic investigation of home schooling
Focus on psychological variables influencing parent decision
Apply parent involvement literature to home schooling
Parental involvement literature Involvement is best understood as parents’
investment of varied resources in children’s education (e.g. parent-child communication about schoolwork, supervision of homework)
Involvement is often motivated by: Psychological processes Perceptions of invitations from others Perceptions of life context variables
(Fan & Chen, 2001; Grolnick et al., 1997; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995, 1997; Kay et al., 1994; Sheldon, 2002.)
Constructs
In my study, I examined: Psychological motivators Life context variables
(but NOT invitations for involvement from others)
I will also be examining a new set of constructs: Personal beliefs related to home-schooling
Constructs - Psychological motivators
Role Construction - two approaches: Role construction: activity beliefs and role valence Role construction: patterns, including:
parent-focused partnership-focused
Efficacy - parent beliefs about personal ability to help children succeed in school.
(Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997)
Constructs - Life Context Perceptions of Time and Energy for
Involvement - Important because home-schooling parents teach the child, supervise work, plan extracurricular activities
Perceptions of Knowledge and Skills for Involvement - Important because parents need skills necessary for teaching, knowledge about teaching methods
Constructs - Beliefs related to home-schooling
From the literature: Ideological Beliefs Pedagogical Beliefs
Constructs new in home-school literature: Value Beliefs Beliefs Regarding the Child’s Special Needs
Measures overviewPsychological motivators: Role Construction
Patterns: parent and partnership-focused Activity beliefs and valence beliefs
Efficacy
Perceptions of Life Context Time & Energy Knowledge & Skills
Personal beliefs related to home-schooling Ideological Pedagogical Value Special needs
Hypothesis 1
Parents home-school for three major reasons:
psychological motivators encourage them to do so
life context variables allow them to do so
personal beliefs suggest the necessity of home-schooling
Hypothesis 2 Home-school parents will have high
scores (compared to a sample of public school parents) on psychological motivators and life context variables
Hypothesis 3 Most home-school parents will have a
parent-focused role-construction These parents will report high levels of
efficacy, knowledge and skills, and time and energy
Home-school parents who endorse a partnership-focused role construction will report high levels only of time and energy
Hypothesis 4 Parents who hold a parent-focused role
construction will be more likely to endorse personal beliefs related to pedagogical and special needs.
Parents who hold a partnership-focused role construction will be more likely to endorse value and ideological personal beliefs.
Methods - how do you recruit home-schoolers?
Targeted, non-probability sampling through:
curriculum fairs home-school support groups national home education advocacy
groups
Methods - sample Surveys were sent to ~ 250 home-school parents
of elementary school-aged children; 136 returned completed surveys. (54.4% response rate)
Previously collected data from a sample of 358 public school parents (see Walker et al., in press) were used to compare home-school parents with public school parents on Psychological motivation Perceptions of life context
Demographic 95% of the sample were white. 58% of the mothers had a college degree,
20% of whom held a degree in education. Most of the fathers held jobs as
“professional executives” (54%), and 56% of the fathers had a college degree.
Family income was on average over $50,000.
Scale reliability and validity Psychological Motivators
Construct Number of items
alpha Convergent validity
Divergent validity
Face/Content validity
Role construction: activity beliefs
7 items .77 With valid role beliefs scale: r=.77
With Personal Beliefs scale: r = -.23
√
Efficacy 12 items .78 With valid efficacy scale:r=.42
With Personal Beliefs scale: r = -.22
√
Example item:Disagree
very strongly
Disagree Disagree just a little
Agree just a little
Agree Agree very strongly
It’s my job to explain tough assignments to my child.
1 2 3 4 5 6
Scale reliability and validity Life Context & Personal Beliefs
Construct Number of items
alpha Face/content validity
Knowledge & skills 6 items .84 √Time & energy 5 items .79 √Value beliefs 4 items .88 √Ideological beliefs 3 items .76 √Pedagogical beliefs 4 items .71 √Special needs belief 4 items .92 √
Results - general
Home-school parents recorded:
Highly active role beliefs: M = 5.57 (1-6), SD = .41
High efficacy levels: M = 5.35 (2-6), SD = .51
Positive perceptions of life context: time and energy: M = 5.32 (2-6), SD = .54
knowledge and skills: M = 5.32 (2-6), SD = .50.
Strong evaluations of the personal beliefs; e.g., Value beliefs: M = 1.97 (1-6), SD =.85
Results - Hypothesis 1 Parents home-school for three major
reasons: psychological motivators encourage them to do so, life context variables allow them to do so, and personal beliefs suggest the necessity of home-schooling
Results - Hypothesis 1
Factor analyses suggested reconfiguring 3 original categories of constructs for this group of home-school parents:
What a parent can do What a parent should do What a parent has experienced
Results - Hypothesis 1
Initial EigenvaluesComponentTotal % of
VarianceCumulative
%1. What a parent can do to help thechild succeed.(efficacy, time & energy, knowledge &skills)
3.028 43.264 43.264
2. What a parent believes he or sheshould do to help the child succeed.(role activity beliefs)
1.439 20.563 63.827
3. What a parent has experienced inrelation to different schoolingmethods.(role valence and personal beliefs)
1.092 15.596 79.424
Home-school parental involvement model
Efficacy Knowledge &Skills
Time &Energy
What a parent can do tohelp their child succeed
RoleActivity
What a parent believes heor she should do to
help their child succeed
Role Valence
PersonalBeliefs
What a parent has experiencedin relation to different schooling
methods
Decision to home-school
Results - Hypothesis 1
Results - Hypothesis 2 Home-school parents will have high
scores (compared to a sample of public school parents) on psychological motivators and life context variables.
Results - Hypothesis 2 When compared to public school parents,
home-school parents recorded large positive effects in role activity, efficacy, time and energy, and knowledge and skills.
Public school parents recorded a medium-large effect size in valence towards public schools when compared to home-school parents.
Results - Hypothesis 2Variable School
choiceM** SD Direction
of effectDifference t-test Sig. (2-
tailed)Cohen’s d
Efficacy Home Public
5.354.69
.66
.511.00 .66 8.09 .000 .8144
Time & energy
Home Public
5.324.35
.54
.871.00 .96 12.03 .000 1.2122
Knowledge & Skills
Home Public
5.324.65
.50
.801.00 .67 9.14 .000 .9206
Role activity
Home Public
5.574.84
.41
.651.00 .73 12.21 .000 1.2297
Role Valence
Home Public
4.424.91
1.150.94
-1.00 -.67 -6.63 .000 .6676
Results - Hypothesis 2 Hierarchical regression indicated that
parent perceptions of efficacy, time and energy, role activity beliefs and role valence accounted for a significant portion of the variance in whether a parent home- or public-schooled, adjusted R = .40, F = 80.762 p < .000
Results - Hypothesis 2
Overall, these results suggest that parents who home-school do so because:
they believe that they can (have ability, time, energy)
believe they should (role activity beliefs) have had negative experiences with
public schools (role valence).
Results - Hypothesis 3 Most home-school parents will have a
parent-focused role-construction. These parents will have higher levels of
efficacy, knowledge and skills than parents who endorse a partnership-focused role construction.
Results - Hypothesis 3 More home-school parents endorsed a parent-focused
role construction (74%) than partnership-focused role construction (30%) (endorsement defined as 5.5 or higher on the role construction pattern).
Parent-focused role construction was correlated with time and energy (r = .54) knowledge and skills (r = .40) efficacy (r = .37)
Partnership-focused role construction was related only to time and energy (r = .30).
All p<.05
Results - Hypothesis 4 Parents who endorsed a parent-focused
role construction will be more likely to endorse personal beliefs related to pedagogical and special needs.
Parents who endorsed a partnership-focused role construction will be more likely to endorse value and ideological personal beliefs.
Results - Hypothesis 4
Personal beliefs: total
Personal beliefs: value
Personal beliefs: ideological
Personal beliefs: pedagogical
Personal beliefs: special needs
Role construction: parent-focused
Ns Ns Ns Ns Ns
Role construction: partnership-focused
-.24** -.22** -.20* -.19* -.18*
** p<.01, * p<.05
Results - Hypothesis 4 So, this hypothesis was not fully
supported I examined parents’ explanations of why
they home-schooled from the comment section of the survey
Results - Hypothesis 4
Parent-focused role construction “People who do not home-school tend to assume it is done in reaction against institutional schooling…. To me, home-schooling was a positive choice rather than a reaction against the school system.”
Results - Hypothesis 4 Partnership-focused role
construction “When we began home-schooling, we lived within a public school that was extremely poor… we could not afford private schools… someone suggested home-schooling, we researched it and opted to try it.”
Summary Parents decide to home-school for
reasons related to psychological motivators, perceptions of life context and personal beliefs.
Many of these reasons are similar to those motivating many public school parents’ decisions about involvement in their children’s schooling.
Summary - continued
BUT there are some differences: Parents who home-school are
motivated not only by the psychological and life-context variables, but also by their personal beliefs related to schooling.
Summary - continued
These findings suggest that parents’ choose to home-school for
reasons that are more diverse than implied in earlier home-school literature
these reasons are more similar to public school parents’ motives for involvement than might have been anticipated
What’s the big picture?This study: broadens our understanding of parental
involvement in children’s education, as it highlights a population that is clearly involved in children’s education but in a very non-standard way
adds to the literature base on home-schooling by examining the home-school parents in a systematic, empirical manner
increases understanding of parents’ decisions about home-schooling
Next Steps Continue to develop and refine
concepts & measures for home-school parents
Apply home-school concepts and measures (e.g. personal beliefs) to a sample of public and private school parents
Continue to explore how parental involvement constructs might apply to many diverse groups