thesis parent
TRANSCRIPT
PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN RURAL SCHOOLS:
NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND
PROPOSED PROGRAM AND EVALUATION
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
SPALDING UNIVERSITY
BY
NICHOLE TURNBOW HEIDELBACH
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
OF
DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY
UMI Number: 3297164
32971642008
Copyright 2008 byHeidelbach, Nichole Turnbow
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by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN RURAL SCHOOLS:
NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND
PROPOSED PROGRAM AND EVALUATION
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
SPALDING UNIVERSITY
BY
NICHOLE TURNBOW HEIDELBACH
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
OF
DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY MARCH 17, 2008 APPROVED: _______________________________________________ John James, Ph.D. _______________________________________________ Dede Wohlfarth, Psy.D. _______________________________________________ Jerry Hay, Ed. D.
Copyright Nichole Turnbow Heidelbach 2008
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my chairperson, Dr. John James. Without his
very patient guidance, from idea development through final revisions, I would not have been
able to complete this project. I am also very grateful to my committee members, Dr. Dede
Wohlfarth and Dr. Jerry Hay. The encouragement and support obtained from my committee has
been integral to the successful completion of this dissertation.
In addition to the committee, I wish to express my thanks to the principal of the school
who agreed to assist in my data collection efforts, as well as my family for their unending
support in completing this project.
iii
ABSTRACT
Research has shown that parent involvement has a significant impact on a child’s
academic performance, as well as benefits for parents and schools. This project is an
initial effort to establish an outline for a parent involvement program to be implemented
with the goal of increasing understanding of parent involvement activities in order to
increase parent involvement. Information was obtained from a sample school, then used
to develop the proposed program to be implemented. A method for evaluating the
program is also included. The program proposed in this document combines information
gathered as part of the literature review and information provided by the respondents in
an effort to create a cohesive program that meets the needs of the students, school, and
parents. The first proposed commitment is to make the program formal and written so all
entities are aware of the policies and goals. The components of the program include
addressing communication needs between the school and parents, looking at school
sponsored events in an effort to increase their relevance and availability, including
parents in school decision making so they feel their input is appreciated, increasing parent
volunteer opportunities and expanding these beyond the “traditional” ideas of parent
involvement, creating a parent resource center, and teaching parents different ways they
can be involved in the home.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................ iii
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................1
Statement of Problem...............................................................................................1 Statement of Purpose................................................................................................7 Organization of Dissertation ....................................................................................9 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................11
Introduction ............................................................................................................11 Overview of Parent Involvement Research Trends................................................14 Relating Theory to Practice....................................................................................16 Defining Parent Involvement .................................................................................18 Student and Parent Factors.....................................................................................37 Teacher, School, and Community Factors .............................................................51 Effects of Involvement ...........................................................................................57 Importance of Collaboration ..................................................................................61 Program Examples .................................................................................................63 CHAPTER III: METHOD .................................................................................................68
Subjects ..................................................................................................................68 Survey Method .......................................................................................................69 Method ...................................................................................................................69 CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF NEEDS ASSESSMENT................73
Demographic Information of Target School ..........................................................73 Information Related to Parent Involvement Activities of Target School...............74 Information Related to Factors Influencing Involvement in Target School ..........78 Discussion ..............................................................................................................80
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CHAPTER V: DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM TO BE IMPLEMENTED ........82
Communication..........................................................................................84 School Sponsored Events...........................................................................85 Parent Participation in School Decision Making .......................................87 Parent Volunteer Opportunities .................................................................87 Parent Resource Centers ............................................................................88 Parent Involvement in the Home ...............................................................89 Program Implementation ...........................................................................90 CHAPTER VI: PROGRAM EVALUATION .......................................................98 CHAPTER VII: SUMMARY, LIMITATIONS, FUTURE DIRECTIONS........103 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................107 APPENDIXES .....................................................................................................112 Appendix A: Parent Letter and Form.......................................................112 Appendix B: School Letter and Form......................................................116 Appendix C: Open House Advertisement ...............................................121 Appendix D: Homework Information Bulletin .......................................122 Appendix E: Student Letter and Form ....................................................126 Appendix F: Ethics Committee Letter .....................................................128 BIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................129
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Respondents Current and Desired Level of Participation in Parent Involvement Activities......................................................................................74 2. Estimation of Current Level of Parent Involvement....................................................77 3. Factors Facilitating Parent Involvement ......................................................................78 4. Factors Inhibiting Parent Involvement.........................................................................79
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CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
Statement of Problem
Parent involvement has been shown to be a critical component of a child’s
academic success. In addition to the positive effects on children, clear benefits have been
found for parents and schools, as well. Henderson and Berla (1994) noted benefits for
students include higher grades and test scores, better attendance and more completed
homework. Fewer placements in special education, more positive attitude and behavior,
higher graduation rates, and greater enrollment in post secondary education have also
been correlated with increased parent participation in education. Related to parents,
Henderson and Berla found parents had increased confidence in the school, as well as
greater confidence in themselves as parents, and in their ability to help their children
learn at home. In addition to direct benefits to the student, they also found involved
parents had a greater likelihood of enrolling in continuing education to advance their own
schooling. Benefits for the teachers and school were noted as teachers having higher
opinions of involved parents, and higher expectations of the children of involved parents.
Finally, among the reported benefits for school and communities are: improved teacher
morale, higher ratings of teachers by parents, more support from families, higher student
achievement, and better reputations in the community. Other research has indicated when
teachers see increasing parent involvement as a priority, the parents of children in these
classes tend to respond by feeling they should play more of a role by helping their
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children at home, learning and understanding more about the processes and lessons in the
classroom, and tending toward a more positive feeling about teachers’ skills in
communicating and working with the parents (Epstein, 1986).
A number of factors influence parent involvement. Among these are parenting
style, race and socioeconomic status (SES) (Zellman & Waterman, 1998). Regardless of
these factors, however, one message is abundantly clear: parent involvement is critical in
the development of children. The impact is not only on academic achievement, but also
the child’s attitude toward education, as well as school and community involvement. The
child’s perception of their personal value and importance to the parents is also increased,
often creating a more positive attitude within the child and a better parent-child
relationship.
With an understanding of the potential benefits of the outcomes of parent
involvement, consideration of what level of parent involvement actually exists is
important. Griffith (1998) reported that 95% of the parents of public school children
believe schools should encourage parents to become more active participants in their
children’s education. However, the degree to which this is actualized becomes
questionable when one considers the alarming level of complaints by teachers and
administrators about how uninvolved parents actually are.
One caveat is that there tends to be disparity between what parents and teachers or
school communities perceive as parent involvement. That is, is parent involvement
simply being involved in an annual bake sale; or is it something more complex, such as
being regularly and actively involved in site-based decision making processes? Another
relevant question may be whether or not the parent even has to interact with the school to
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believe they are being an involved parent. Is it enough to listen to your child read at
home? These examples begin to provide an idea of how difficult it can be to measure
parent involvement because there are such disparate perceptions of what it means for
parents to be involved. It often seems that there are more questions than answers when
attempting to look at the level of parent involvement engaged in by the “average parent.”
In an attempt to clarify the ambiguity of this concept, The National Parent
Teacher Association (NPTA) on their website (2008) asserts that “parent involvement is
the participation of parents in every facet of the education and development of children
from birth to adulthood. Parent Involvement takes many forms including parents as first
educators, as decision makers about children’s education, health, and well being, as well
as advocates for children’s success. It is recognized that parents are the primary influence
in their children's lives.”
Although this definition may present itself as clear and direct, its downfall is in
the fact that it fails to specify any specific measurable behaviors which leaves it open for
significant misunderstanding at the least and misinterpretation at the most. In support of
the vagueness of the NPTA’s definition, current research seems to demonstrate the idea
that there exists no simple formula for defining what is subsumed in the concept of parent
involvement. In fact, there is something to be said for involvement as “simple” as taking
the time to be concerned about homework assignments and listening to the child read at
home (Waggoner & Griffith, 1998).
At least a portion of the ambiguity in defining parent involvement is attributable
to the differing perceptions of parent involvement across the stakeholders. That is,
parents, teachers, and administrators seem to have qualitatively different ideas about what
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parent involvement includes. When asked to describe parent involvement, Waggoner and
Griffith (1998) found that most often “the teachers’ examples were bounded by school
walls” (p. 66). That is, teachers tend to agree with what society traditionally thinks of as
parent involvement. This conception includes activities such as parents helping teachers
in the classroom, joining a school’s Parent-Teacher Organization, and working with
individual children in the classroom with remedial needs. From this point of view, parent
involvement functions to maintain a level of inequality between the school and the
family. That is, schools tend to focus on families with greater academic, financial, and
social resources to fill the traditional mold of involved parents. This has the tendency to
further alienate parents who may be predisposed to feeling less competent in their
parenting skills. In general, schools tend to widen the gap by appearing as authority
figures. This process indirectly, and often inadvertently, alienates the group of parents
who may feel less efficacious or who have fewer resources because they often feel
intimidated by the appearance of authority.
In the same study by Waggoner and Griffith (1998), the parents’ perception of
their involvement materialized in areas not necessarily bound by the school walls. That
is, parents believed themselves to be involved for engaging in activities such as “helping
with homework, teaching arithmetic, getting the child safely to school, and organizing the
morning line-up” (p. 66). The contradiction of the perception of parents and teachers
leads to an inherent problem in the attempt to accurately assess the level of parent
involvement. Specifically, the problem is that teachers will tend to become frustrated
because they perceive a lack of involvement by parents while the parents are becoming
frustrated as a result of feeling that their efforts are not valued by the school, which will
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likely lead to further parental disengagement with the school. This discrepancy can lead
to a substantial conflict of interest with the ultimate cost to the child.
Turning away from the question of what parent involvement is, research has
found a number of barriers to the participation in traditional types of involvement which
requires interaction with the teacher or the school system. These can be broken into two
categories: environmental context/school climate and personal characteristics (Seefeldt,
Denton, Galper & Younoszai, 1998). Perhaps the most obvious deterrent in the former
class of variables is the perception of an unwelcoming school climate. Other discouraging
factors noted in their report include layers of bureaucracy; and rules, procedures and
policies that are foreign to parents. It is often the case, too, that teachers and/or
administrators devalue the potential contribution of the parents; and these beliefs are
often indirectly communicated to parents, which further decreases their motivation to be
involved. Conversely, some parents may perceive this message and react by becoming
overly active in their child’s education; and unfortunately, this activity may lead to a
teacher’s perception that the parent is “overinvolved,” which is often interpreted by
school staff as intrusiveness.
Personal characteristics are delineated by Seefeldt et al. (1998) into the following
subcategories: status variables, such as race and ethnicity; and internal cognitive and
affective variables. Regarding the status variables, families may not see a role for
themselves in the school setting. For example, Hispanics often tend to have very strong
family ties, and strict beliefs about the authority of schools, therefore feeling they have
nothing to offer (Seefeldt et al., 1998). In general “parents’ attitudes of deference toward
the school and the belief that their children’s education is best left to teachers-which are
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components of role construction-could be influenced by their race or ethnicity” (Seefeldt
et al., 1998, p. 341). When looking at socioeconomic status as a variable in parent
involvement, Hickman, Greenwood, and Miller (1995) found that families with lower
SES tended to demonstrate lower levels of parent involvement in supportive roles such as
transporting children to and from school, and “learner” roles, such as contacting
professionals regarding any problems the family or children may be facing. Even when
research is not focused on whether or not parents are involved, but what types of
involvement they participate in there tend to be differences related to parental personal
factors. Specifically, Kerbow and Bernhardt (1993) found substantial differences across
racial/ethnic groups regarding whether parent involvement occurred at home or in the
school. Their research indicated Asian American parents tend to focus energy on
education outside of school, while African American families tend to focus more on
school-site activities.
Moving to Seefeldt et al.’s second subcategory of personal characteristics, the
internal cognitive and affective variables may be more salient predictors of parent
involvement. Problems such as depression are often equated with unresponsive and less
supportive parenting. This lack of responsiveness may have little to do with the potential
desire of the parent to be involved; however, the affective disorder and related behaviors
are the actual problem with acting on the desire to be more involved. Just as a parent’s
predisposition and/or experience of depression may affect his/her level of parent
involvement, anxiety and personal fears may also play a role in minimal or non-existent
parent involvement, even when the parent expresses an understanding of the importance
or desire to be involved. That is, Karther and Lowden (1997) found that parents with
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unsuccessful school careers may experience anxiety or have their own failure memories
sparked if they go to the school, which may leave them at least feeling intimidated or
inadequate as participants in their child’s education. In summary, research has
demonstrated a number of complications involved in studying parent involvement as a
result of the ambiguity of the definition. School and parental personal factors are other
areas of influence that affect a parent’s decision on whether or not to become more
actively involved with the school and their child’s education.
The issues in defining and measuring parent involvement are among those being
faced by many schools in all types of areas, from rural to inner-city. These concepts are
important, not only to the formation of parent involvement programs, but also to the
successful evolvement of the programs.
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of the present study is to begin a process that will allow a school in a
rural Alabama city to gain a clearer understanding of the perceived roles of parent
involvement. Specifically, the goal is to begin by getting perceptions from administrators
regarding their concepts of parent involvement. An additional goal is to examine, from
the perspectives of administrators, potential factors that facilitate and discourage parent
involvement. It is also important to clarify the role of the school in parent involvement,
and the perceived effectiveness of the attempts already being made by the school to
increase parent involvement.
This evaluation sought to answer the following questions regarding the school and
parent involvement, as an attempt to establish a guideline for future research and
evaluation:
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1. What is the perception by administrators of the role the school is intended
to play in the overall issue of parent involvement?
2. What is the perception by administrators of the role the school is intended
to play in specifically addressing parent involvement issues?
3. What factors affect whether or not parents will become involved in their
child’s education, from the perspective of administrators?
4. What are potential factors to consider in conducting a future program
evaluation?
The information gleaned from these questions served to build a basis that will
allow future comparison and contrast of the views of teachers, parents, students, and
administrators regarding the concepts that define parent involvement. The provision of
this information to the school has the potential to allow administrators and coordinators
of the program to provide interventions that fit the needs of the parents, as well as the
schools.
To this end, this dissertation will survey and summarize the research related to
parent involvement in a student’s education in order to derive commonalities among
successful programs. Specific areas will be covered in an attempt to design a conceptual
program to be implemented by the target school, but that could be modified and put to
use by other schools in order to increase parent involvement. In addition, this program
will then utilize information gathered from a specific school, in order to demonstrate how
the conceptual program can be “mapped onto” a real school situation. This will constitute
a “case study.”
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This presents a history of parent involvement literature, an attempt at defining
parent involvement, various factors that effect involvement from the school and family
points of view, effects of parent involvement, and effective programs. By means of
surveying and integrating these areas and the common problems faced by schools in
obtaining parent support, and providing options that may contribute to a successful
program, a program to be based on the case study in this dissertation will be developed.
The main goal of this project is to use the information obtained from the needs
assessment of one target school to develop a program that could be implemented by that
school, as well as develop a method by which the program can be evaluated.
Organization of Dissertation
This dissertation is the result of the preliminary needs assessments and a proposal
of a program and evaluation that responds to these needs, as well as literature related to
parent involvement research. The literature review can be found in Chapter II. This
section includes discussion on the following topics: an introduction to related research;
trends in parent involvement research; information relating theories of parent
involvement to implementation; definition of parent involvement, as well as different
types of involvement; differing perceptions of involvement; factors relating to students,
schools, and parents that affect involvement; and effects of involvement on the student
and family. This section also includes a discussion using examples of different programs
that have been implemented across the country.
Chapter III includes the information about methodology: from whom and how
data was collected. Chapter IV includes the results of and discussion about the needs
assessment. This information involves that related to parent involvement activities,
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estimation of current involvement levels, and information related to factors that influence
parent involvement. Chapter V presents the proposed program that incorporates several
examples of areas that need to be addressed or modified. This section includes specific
examples of activities that would be incorporated. In Chapter VI an effort will be made to
also address methods by which the parent involvement program can be evaluated, and
further modified to fit the needs of the school. Finally, Chapter VII will address the
limitations of this project, as well as future research options.
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CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Parent involvement in children’s educations has become a popular topic among
educators and more recently among researchers. Although the concept is becoming
“trendier,” the increasing awareness of the role these behaviors play in a child’s
development is not a new concept. Connors and Epstein (1995) reported research on the
topic as early as the 20th century. Of course, as political and social cultures have shifted,
views of parent involvement have been modified. The information cited by Connors and
Epstein indicated that in the early 1900’s the theoretical perspective regarding family and
school interaction supported the idea the two entities were entirely separate influences.
That is, the role of teachers and the role of parents were completely separate, and
reflected the longstanding belief that organizations are most effective when they have
their own unique mission and set of responsibilities. There was a historical shift in the
1940s toward a point where parents were more likely to have meaningful and constant
contact or involvement with their child’s teachers. The 1950s saw a shift toward schools
being the authority on education, therefore discouraging parent intrusion, which
downplays the importance of parents in education. Through this there was a shift of trust
in the increased ability of the school to educate children due to the fact that training and
education standards were increased for teachers. Also the curriculum content shifted and
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became more focused. The tide has flowed back to the point where parent involvement
has become more accepted, and by most is believed to be necessary for effective
education. However, some educators are ambivalent about this, and even when invited,
parent participation is low in many schools (Comer & Haynes, 1991).
“Several factors are fueling this more recent approach to parent involvement,
including (a) changing views of the role of school; (b) changing family demographics; (c)
a growing appreciation of ‘contextualism’ and ‘ecological settings’; (d) a de-emphasis on
deficits and the concomitant focus on competency building; and (e) a sincere desire to
develop multi-setting, collaborative partnerships to promote the healthy development of
children.” (Smith et al., 1997, p. 340). Connors and Epstein (1995) expanded this general
overview of the changing significance of parent involvement by describing part of the
historical flow of control using Bronfenbrenner’s framework that accounts for multiple
entities with increasingly flexible boundaries. Specifically this paradigm indicates that a
child’s development is “nested” within microsystems, which “refers to relations in the
immediate setting in which the child is actually present” (p. 441), and macrosystems,
which “refers to a patterns of cultural and societal beliefs that influence behavior within
the family” (p. 441).
Although Bronfenbrenner’s model moved in the direction of understanding child
development within the context of increasingly complex and dynamic realities, Epstein
(1987) moves this conceptualization forward with the addition of the idea that there are
overlapping influences rather than two separate spheres of influence as indicated in
Bronfenbrenner’s model using micro and macrosystems. Smith et al. (1997) summarize
this concept well by saying that acknowledgement of individual, family, and community
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level information, as well as the interconnections between levels is important. This
approach “provides a conceptual framework that acknowledges that families and schools
are embedded in communities . . .[therefore] emphasiz[ing] the multi-directionality of
family, school, and community relationships” (p. 340). That is, Epstein proposes that
with this social organizational perspective, circles can overlap or be separated. Within
this model, the circles may have one of two points of focus: external and internal. The
external structures are conceptualized as spheres of influence, which include: 1) time as
it effects development, age, and grade levels, as well as the historic change on the
environment more generally; 2) behavior, as it accounts for “background characteristics,
philosophies, and practices of each environment” (p. 442). The internal structures are
conceptualized as the interpersonal exchanges and interactions of the members in the
various environments. An example of this type of interaction is the relationships and
influence patterns that occur between home and school in practices conducted jointly.
There are two levels described by Connors and Epstein (1995), which are: 1)
communications between the institutions of schools and families (as when school invite
all families to events or send the same communications to all families); and 2)
communications between and among individuals (as when a parent and teacher meet in
conference to discuss or assist the progress of a specific child). The whole of this
conception recognizes that entities that serve to motivate, socialize, and educate are
interwoven in every individuals life. In addition it accounts for accumulated skills as a
basis for observing and evaluating connections that effect an individual’s learning and
development. Connor’s ideas accentuate Bronfenbrenner’s by acknowledging that not
only “structural” ideas are at play, but also that more conceptual ideas such as
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communication patterns and development over time are influential. That is, not only
“concrete environmental” issues need to be considered, but also ideas that may be less
obvious.
Overview of Parent Involvement Research Trends.
Research on parent involvement can be very broadly classified into two areas:
literature that addresses traditional forms of parent involvement and literature that
addresses issues of ideology and inequality in schooling. The former tends to emphasize
conformity between families and schools, improvement of student achievement,
traditional forms of parent involvement in education, and school reform programs, while
the latter focuses more on parent involvement and inequality, alternative definitions of
parent involvement in education, and social construction of mothering and schooling
(Waggoner & Griffith, 1998). Over the decades there have been successful strategies to
involve parents, but as communities evolve and develop, the diversity of families and
societal changes have added burden to the schools because the “old strategies” do not fit
the newer, changing family structures (Karther & Lowden, 1997).
The results of the Metropolitan Life/Louis Harris Survey of the American Teacher
indicated 54% of 1000 teachers saw parent involvement as a significant problem, hoping
for more involvement from parents (Pryor, 1995). Generally, parent involvement tends to
fall to a participation rate of 50% or less once a student has reached 16 years of age
compared to an involvement rate of 73% when children are aged 8 to 11. Mapp (1997)
similarly finds that although there is agreement among researchers that parent
involvement is important in education, family involvement in U.S. schools is maintained
at a minimal rate.
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The logical question when faced with the information that parent involvement
wanes as children develop is “Why does parent involvement drop?” As a way to answer
that question, Pryor (1995) used telephone interview surveys to find out what parents
think and feel. This format enabled researchers to get responses to standard questions, as
well as, eliciting considerable spontaneous information. The strongest reasons
involvement declines is because as children mature, parents are less likely to understand
the course material, as well as the fact that teachers are less likely to request involvement
or assistance in the student’s education. This finding was particularly strong among
Anglos, African-Americans, and Hispanics.
The focus now will turn from potential reasons participation wanes over time to
considering different types of studies that may be accomplished to evaluate different
aspects of parent involvement. Griffith (1998) described three general classifications of
studies. Investigation of populations that are typically considered at risk to fall behind in
their education is the first, and to some the most obvious, since this population has been
found to frequently have a below average level of involvement. In general, this body of
research tends to pinpoint parents with certain characteristics, such as English as a second
language (or other language minority), low income, less education, unmarried, and
parents with emotional and/or adjustment problems (Epstein, 1991).
Griffith’s second classification of research includes descriptive studies, the goal
of which is to summarize the variety of ways parents are involved. Griffith discusses
Berger’s (1987) personality based typology of involvement. Briefly, Berger believes
parents may avoid school for a variety of reasons including experiencing competing life
demands, having the feeling they are personally inadequate, or having a child with below
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average achievement. Conversely, he views overinvolved parents as having a tendency to
dominate and sees them as people who enjoy power.
The final research category is outcome studies, which are conducted in an attempt
to demonstrate positive effects of parent involvement on learning, such as greater student
motivation, better behavior, higher grades, increase in longer term achievement,
relatively positive teacher perceptions, and an increase in respectful treatment of parents.
This area of the research is a significant area; and will therefore be considered as a
separate area in a following section.
Relating Theory to Practice
The degrees of separation with which schools encourage or discourage parent
involvement have evolved from a view of parents and schools being entirely separate
entities to a more collaborative approach. This presents a need for development of
theories of approaches that schools can use to resist or encourage effective school-family
partnerships. Swap (1993) has described the following four theories of communication.
The first is the protective model. This is a businesslike view that requires parents to
delegate to the school the responsibility for educating their children although parents
should hold school personnel accountable for the results. That is, the model reflects the
idea that schools will be most effective when parents and educators have distinct and
separate roles. For example, families may be involved, but the activities should not
encourage regular or serious parent-teacher communications or broad involvement of the
family. An example of these types of activities would be parent involvement in specific
fundraising events. The second model is the school to home transmission model. This
model recognizes the continuity of school and home life, but only from the school to
17
home perspective. That is communication is unidirectional. This assumes families ascribe
to school values, goals, and beliefs. Although these two models do represent some degree
of parent involvement, the role is limited and well defined, lacking a deeply informed or
involved relationship with daily activities and curriculum. Additionally, neither theory
accounts for family history or cultural knowledge. The next two models address some of
these limitations.
The third model is the curriculum enrichment model. This model seeks to
emphasize and optimize opportunities for parents and teachers to learn about and from
each other. This allows a transmission of ideas, cultural knowledge, and skills through
active collaboration of parents and teachers in a child’s learning. Even though the parents
have a stronger role than in the previous two theories, the exchanges between family and
school are relatively limited, and it does not represent a larger context of involvement.
The fourth model is the partnership model. In this communication approach, relationships
are long-term, committed, and mutually respective. Parents have significant involvement
in many areas of education and daily activities. They also share planning and decision-
making responsibilities. School staff and families working within the partnership model
are actively engaged in defining and constructing a framework for parent involvement, as
well as defining a series of roles for parents that are adapted to the school’s mission.
The idea of parent involvement is one that has been given considerable coverage;
however, there have been shifting perceptions of the need for this activity, as well as the
reasons for this over the decades. That is, trends have flowed from having parents
significantly involved to leaving education to the professionals. Additional factors that
also affect the concept and perceived need of parent involvement include the
18
understanding of the role of the school, constantly evolving definitions of family, and an
increased desire to develop collaborations that encourage healthy relationships between
student and school, as well as family and community. Though perspectives have shifted
with history, and even within schools and certain cultures, it remains important to realize
that any of these issues could be at play in any home school relationship. In an effort to
better understand roles, it is important to make an effort to define parent involvement,
which will be undertaken in the next section of this paper.
Defining Parent Involvement
Defining parent involvement proves to be an arduous task because the concept is
very subjective and dependent upon the context of who is providing the definition and for
what reason. With that warning, this section will seek to summarize the literature
regarding the characteristics of parent involvement, the triad of parent involvement, the
income differences in parent involvement expectations, and the roles in parent
involvement.
Anderson and Minke (2007) conducted a study aimed at understanding parents’
decision making when becoming involved with their child’s education. They emphasize
the importance of a multidimensional approach to measuring involvement because
different levels of involvement were reported across types. For example, they reported
considerably more involvement at home than at school, with the former being
significantly above the midpoint and the latter being at or below the midpoint. This is
significant because while schools may view parents as uninvolved since what they see is
typically within the school, parents actually see themselves as being quite involved since
they are engaged in more activities with their child within the home.
19
Characteristics of Parent Involvement
Gareau and Sawatzky (1995) utilized a qualitative approach involving in-depth
semi-structured interviews since this approach was congruent with the topic. While
providing an opportunity to obtain detailed data, it also allowed the researchers to gain a
better understanding of personal beliefs and other’s perspectives. A sense of “common
ground experiences” was also possible since data was obtained from only one school,
incorporating the principal, a counselor, a teacher, and two parents. Gareau and Sawatzky
(1995) set out to answer at least two questions with their study. One was “Why is parent-
school collaboration so important?” The answer to this question is discussed in detail in
the “Effects” section of this document. At this point, however, the answer to “What are
the characteristics of collaboration?” will be discussed. Through open-ended interviews,
these authors found the following to be significant characteristics.
The first characteristic was communication. That is, parents wanted to feel heard
and informed. In his discussion with researchers, the principal said that communication
should occur openly and honestly, while being open to hearing different points of view.
For parents and teachers, communication was seen mainly “in an individual, child-related
sense” (p.468).
The second set of characteristics included trust, openness, and honesty. All
participants mentioned trust, although everyone had different connotations for what this
concept meant to them. Parents wanted to know that teachers are willing and able to look
after and educate their children’s needs and uniqueness. One of the two parents added
that it meant keeping her informed, and keeping the school’s activities in line with their
Christian mission. (This school was a private, parochial school.) Educators highlighted
20
the importance of parents and educators having a basic belief in each other’s good
intentions. All acknowledged that trust, and therefore respect, is developed over time.
The third characteristic dealt with attitudes. That is parents and educators desired
a positive, supportive, and caring attitude. The belief seemed to be that parents and
educators must be supportive toward one another, and that this support is based on an
environment of caring and giving positive recognition for what each has to offer.
Personal connections were the fourth characteristic discussed. Parents wanted to
know that the school personnel “really cares” for the child, which may be evidenced by
contacting parents to tell them about positive events, as well as negative and making
face-to-face contact when possible. The school counselor emphasized the importance of
caring for the parents as well as the students. The educators saw it as their responsibility
for initiating this type of relationship
Being equals was another desirable characteristic of collaboration. All
interviewees believed being perceived as equals is of utmost importance in establishing a
team mentality. One suggestion for accomplishing this was by role sharing. That is,
perhaps having teachers relinquish some “professionalism” to realize that parents and
students have a lot to teach them as well.
Another prominent characteristic from the parents’ point of view involved power,
conflict, and roles. Parents were concerned about how school personnel perceived them,
and felt particularly vulnerable. The view is that this feeling of vulnerability is a
unilateral feeling. Parents stated they often felt powerless when interacting with school,
especially administration.
21
The belief that school-wide commitment is essential to the idea of collaboration
was the last characteristic presented. The belief is that the collaborative atmosphere must
start at school with personnel working together, and allowing that to naturally extend to
home relationships. The consensus from parents and school staff was that the school
atmosphere is noticeable by parents and influences their comfort level in interacting with
the personnel.
One potential problem is that implementing such a collaborative structure in a
traditionally hierarchical system can be difficult. School personnel are sensitive to the
potential loss of a degree of their professionalism, and many equate professional with
expert, which makes collaborative relationships even more difficult. Waggoner and
Griffith (1998) discuss the potential inequality of the relationship in the following way. It
is their argument that “the concept of parent involvement in education is structured
ideologically” (p. 66). The authors draw on Dorothy Smith’s methodology (1990, 1993,
1998 as cited in Waggoner & Griffith, 1998) and
“refer to parent involvement in education as an ideological social practice that
organizes and coordinates the social relations of education. As an ideological
practice, the concept of parent involvement . . . organizes our knowledge of
families and schools through various educational and media-driven discourses
that are articulated to local settings as normative understanding of how families
participate in education. The term parent involvement in education organizes the
family-school relationship by framing the educational work of parents
normatively, masking the actual activities of mothers, fathers, and other
caregivers at home and at school and reshaping the process to maintain the
22
unequal relations of power/knowledge between families and schooling” (p. 66-
67).
This issue is particularly relevant to this study because this author’s view is that the
unequal relationship is not what is most beneficial to the child’s outcome. With the
skewed relationship, parents may be less likely to be involved, and in return, the literature
review has indicated this is a detriment to the child’s overall functioning and
achievement.
Parent Involvement Triad.
Because parents seem often to be left to their own devices to devise ways to
support their child’s education, a fair amount of research has focused on the thoughts and
behaviors that may serve to provide at least a partial definition of what parent
involvement is. This section will serve to highlight some of the more common ideas.
Pryor (1995) notes that the most basic level of parent involvement is based on a triad
involving the parent, teacher, and student. Others may enter into this mix, which would,
of course, change the dynamic of the relationship, but the basic triad is deemed a
necessary core.
In an ideal setting, it would seem that families and schools would agree to assume
mutual responsibility for a child’s learning. That is there should be “partnerships . . .
forged between homes, schools, and communities, requiring an unprecedented level of
contact and communication between parents and educators” (Baker & Soden, 1983, p. 1).
It is difficult to agree about what constitutes “effective parent involvement.” There is
confusion related to what types of activities, goals, and desired outcomes are expected of
various parent involvement programs. The same authors indicated that cumulative
23
knowledge shows several types of parent involvement to be helpful including provision
of a stimulating literacy and material environment, high expectations and moderate levels
of parental support and supervision, appropriate monitoring of television viewing and
homework supervision, participation in joint learning activities at home, and an emphasis
on effort over ability. Unfortunately, it has also been found that teachers may wait for
parents to make the initiating step to be involved, though this is often not the case
(Walther-Thomas, Korinek, McLaughlin & Williams, 2000 as cited in Darch, Miao, &
Shippen, 2004).
With this foundation in mind, the ideas of Connors and Epstein (1995) can be
explored. These authors have used this basic triad to delineate the involvement of parents
in three areas. The first area involves literacy-related parenting practices. In this area,
work by Topping (1985) is cited by Connors and Epstein. Topping has identified specific
factors that link parent involvement and children’s reading behaviors. Since parents are
often asked to provide a rich and stimulating environment in which a child’s oral and
reading skills can develop, the following practices are offered by Topping. First, they
suggested creating or allowing more time for children to practice reading in the home,
while attempting to make reading more enjoyable and valued. Next, Topping notes
children should be provided with praise and feedback when reading goals are
accomplished. Finally, the parents should model reading and writing behaviors so the
child can relate to and imitate the desired behaviors. Epstein notes that it is important for
educators to assist and promote this type of guidance within families.
The second area is homework-related parenting practices. In this area, teachers
expect that parents will monitor student homework. The problem with this is that teachers
24
often do not provide the guidance or information necessary for the parents to understand
the purpose of the homework or how best to help their child (Epstein & Dauber, 1991). In
a study comparing non-Anglo parenting practices, Clark (1993) found consistent
differences between high achieving and other students’ parental practices regarding
homework. Most notable among these were that parents of higher achieving students took
time to check homework for neatness, demonstrate how to use the dictionary and
references, were knowledgeable about how to help with homework, read or studied in the
home, and expected children to get postsecondary education. Pryor (1995) also had
similar findings that indicated the more successful students of those who are considered
at risk for falling behind academically have parents who monitor homework fairly often,
discuss what goes on at school, including programs and plans; and often provide more
education-enriching resources and opportunities at home. Again, the authors note the
importance of collaboration with the teacher to avoid the potential view of some families
that homework help by parents would be infringing on the teacher’s job as homework is
seen as an extension of unfinished class work.
The third delineation is parental influence on college and career plans.
Specifically, Connors and Epstein believe that parent level of education and
encouragement of postsecondary education play a critical role in whether students
continue into college. Schools have implemented a variety of strategies to attempt to
encourage and supplement the parents’ knowledge of postsecondary education. Among
these efforts are involving parents in college tours, engaging parents and children in
career planning instead of just the student, and encouraging parents to simply provide
25
themselves as a source of information to their student since most students tend to turn to
the school or friends for guidance.
As can be seen from these observations, the parent involvement triad is integral in
a child’s education. Involvement from parents, teachers, and students is ideal in keeping
communication open, and therefore making parents and schools more able to facilitate an
overall education for the student. With the importance of this triad noted, the discussion
will now turn toward a discussion of the differences in parent collaboration and parent
involvement.
Collaboration versus Involvement.
Gareau and Sawatzky (1995) distinguish between the concepts of collaboration
and involvement with the acknowledgement that collaboration was, at the time of their
research, a relatively new concept to this body of literature. Their concept of
collaboration “extended” the definition of involvement by acknowledging increased
parental involvement in decision-making processes. That is, “collaboration is generally
seen as a broader and more inclusive term than parent involvement because the latter
term focuses mainly on the parents’ role, whereas the former term focuses on the
relationship between the home and the school and how parents and educators work
together toward common goals” (p. 463). Hord (1986) also discusses the idea of
collaboration, but in terms of distinguishing it from cooperation. He notes that
collaboration is a concept where the entities involved agree to interact in the sharing of
responsibility and authority for their work toward basic decision-making, while
cooperation is simply an agreement to work together.
26
These concepts are relevant to the current project because the distinction between
involvement and collaboration impacts the degree to which parents are to be involved. If
greater participation is to be encouraged, the need is for parents to understand more fully
the needs of the student, teacher, and school.
Parent Involvement Roles.
Parent involvement encompasses school, home activities, as well as governing
and advocacy roles (Smith, et al., 1997). “Previous research has brought into view the
various activities that encompass parent/mother involvement – for example, ensuring the
child reaches school on time and properly dressed, supervising homework, asking ‘What
did you do in school today?’ From the other side of the school fence, parent/mother
involvement may include, but is a much broader term than, school volunteering. Parent
involvement encompasses time, interest, energy – in other words, the work of being
involved in children’s education” (Waggoner and Griffith, 1998, p. 69). Given this
statement, the specific roles parents can play are broad, but vague. In an effort to more
clearly define roles, Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995) gleaned three broad
mechanisms for conceptualizing parent involvement: modeling, reinforcement, and direct
instruction.
The first of these, modeling, is intended to demonstrate the importance of school
related activities to the student. Reinforcement is the positive expression of attention and
interest by the caregiver. Finally, direct instruction is conceptualized as the “hands-on”
involvement of checking answers and helping the student understand concepts.
Hord (1986) also sought to find roles that may be engaged in by parents. In so
doing, three other roles that were endorsed at a relatively high rate by the parents in his
27
study. The first of these roles is acting as advocate, which was generally viewed as
meeting with school board or other officials to ask for changes in rules or practices. The
second general function was working on school staff as a paid aide or assistant. The final
function was classified as being a decision maker by participating in advisory boards
and/or school committees. Stallworth and Williams (1983) designed a study that gathered
similar information. The focus in this study was to attempt to understand the varying
aspects of parent involvement in education from the perspectives of educational policy
makers and administrators. These results would then be compared with surveys from
teacher educators, parents, principals and teachers. Ultimately, information was
synthesized into recommendations for developing guidelines and strategies in training
elementary school teachers for involving parents in their children’s education at home
and at school. The working definition of parent involvement for Hord’s project was “all
activities which allow parents and/or other citizens to participate and become partners in
the educational process, at home or in school, including information exchange, decision
sharing, services for schools, home tutoring/teaching, advocacy and other collaborative
efforts to enhance children’s learning and success” (p. 4). Similar to Hord’s work
discussed above, Stallworth and Williams organized the information into various roles
that can be played by parents. Among these roles were the home-tutor, where parents are
expected to be involved in both school and non-school learning activities in the home;
audience member, which typically requires presence with no active participation; and
school program supporter, which is similar to the audience member, but requires more
active participation. Examples of this type of participation include working as a
classroom volunteer or chaperoning a trip. Other roles included that of co-learner where
28
they can receive training, knowledge or skills about aspects of education along with other
school staff or children; and the advocate role where parents serve as activists or
spokespersons on issues regarding school policies, or community concerns.
Larsen and Haupt (1997) acknowledged that parent involvement takes on many
forms including, informal learning in the home, fostering educational readiness, helping
with homework, volunteering at school, taking interest in child’s performance. Less
“direct” involvement may also include serving on planning committees, serving as a
representative for policy making, or serving as a member of auxiliary organizations. They
also note in their work the importance of recognizing and appreciating diversity. Their
proposition is that parents believe they are doing the best for their children, although
beliefs about what that is vary across cultures. Efforts should be made to recognize and
appreciate the profound impact of ancestral worldviews, culturally defined childrearing
practices, level of acculturation of family and particular family stresses. This may be
accomplished through encouraging continuing contributions to the classroom, providing
ways for parents to be directly involved with children in ways other than the mundane
tasks often thought of as parent involvement. For example, when asked to describe parent
involvement in education, school walls bound most teacher examples. That is, the
definition tended to be the tasks more traditionally thought of as parent involvement, such
as assisting teachers in class, joining PTA, and working with children for remediation.
With this stance parent involvement encourages and perpetuates a parent-school
relationship that is inequitable in the relationship of knowledge and power. Furthering
this idea, the desires and skills of the parents should be kept in mind when deciding how
parents may most productively be involved. For example, parents could be involved in
29
project fieldwork, such as facilitation questions/ideas/discussion as children gather
information about the specific topic (Larsen & Haupt, 1997).
Stallworth and Williams (1983) made similar conclusions. Their research
indicated parents are interested in participating in these roles, but felt they needed to be
accommodated with certain provisions such as teachers providing ideas about helping
with school assignments. Parents also agreed with the idea that teachers should feel
working with parents is an integral part of their job, as well as the idea that teachers
should be included in curriculum and instruction decisions in schools. From the
administrative point of view, parents acknowledged believing principals should provide
teachers with suggestions for working with parents.
In the comparison report, school board presidents were reported to have
responded at approximately the same levels of agreement with these concepts. The main
divergence with the school board presidents is that they reported believing parents should
take the initiative for getting involved. Parents and school board presidents also
responded roughly equally in their negative responses toward having parents involved in
administrative decisions, such as decisions about curriculum and instructions, selection of
teaching materials, determining the “appropriate” amount of homework, and classroom
discipline polices; as well as having parents involved in the performance evaluation of
either teachers or principals. The two groups did agree, however, that parent involvement
would be most useful in certain situations, such as placement of a child in special
education classes, evaluating the child’s progress in school, participation in disciplinary
decisions regarding their own child, and involvement of parents in more community
oriented decisions related to planning for school desegregation. An additional group,
30
superintendents, was also compared and significant disagreement occurred among the
three groups (parents, school board presidents, and superintendents) regarding the
importance of having parents in the role of decision maker. Superintendents and school
board presidents gave it a much lower rating than state education officials.
In another study, the interest of school leadership in considering caregiver input
varies depending on the content of the area in question. For example, parent input is
considered to a moderate to great extent in determining allocation of funds, developing
curriculum or overall instructional program, designing special programs, selecting library
books and materials, setting discipline policies and procedures, deciding health related
policies, in monitoring and evaluating teachers, and in developing parent involvement
activities (Carpenter, 1996-97).
Stallworth and Williams (1983) assessed what the schools offered most frequently
in parent involvement activities. Among the most offered options were parents attending
school activities, attending parent-teacher conferences, assisting their children with
school assignments at home, getting parents to chaperone for school activities, and
getting parents to assist with such social activities as pot-luck dinners and coffees.
Unfortunately, however, very few written policies encouraging different aspects of parent
involvement were found to be in effect and enforced. Placement decisions regarding
one’s own child, decisions regarding the inclusion in compensatory education programs,
and ensuring parents are informed of behavioral or academic violations were areas where
there were certain state mandates. District level policies only addressed encouragement of
parent involvement through teacher conferences. The bottom line is that policies
regarding broader types of involvement were found to be very rare.
31
Parent Income Issues in Relation to Parental Roles Assumed.
Chavkin and Williams (1989) found similar roles to those discussed in the
previous section that were proposed by Stallworth and Williams, but took it a step further
than just defining them. The authors derived their information from a self-report survey
utilizing 100 closed response questions. The form was distributed to a total of 978 parents
at open houses sponsored by the Parent Teacher Association. They used the information
to compare low and high-income families to determine differences between the preferred
roles between the groups. The role of home tutor was the highest rated (92%) in interest
among low-income families. Participation as an audience member was endorsed by 90%
of these parents, as well. Co learner was also highly endorsed at 89% of the parents.
Eighty-eight percent of the low-income parents also expressed an interest in participating
as a school-program supporter.
Chavkin and Williams (1989) developed some general thoughts about parent
involvement from their questionnaire data that was intended to get a general sense
regarding parents’ ideas about their involvement, their interest in school decisions and
their role in involvement, types of activities in which they were involved, suggestions for
improving or reasons for lack of involvement, and demographic information. In their
study more than 97% of low-income parents were supportive of the idea of parent
involvement as evidenced by agreeing with these concepts: acknowledging that they
wanted to spend time helping their child get a better education, thinking that teachers
should provide ideas about helping children with homework, wanting teachers to send
more information home about classroom learning activities, helping make sure that their
children do their homework, and cooperating with their children’s teachers. More
32
specifically, they found that low-income families ranked the following activities as ones
in which they felt they could successfully participate: going to open house or special
programs at school, going to parent-teacher conferences about your child’s progress,
helping children with homework, visiting the school to see what is happening, and
helping children learn with materials at home as the preferred activities. They tended be
less open to participating in decisions to hire and fire teachers, presenting ideas to the
school board, planning the school budget, working as part-time staff, and helping in the
school.
There were areas, however, where income level affected parents’ responses.
Specifically, 47% of low-income parents endorsed the idea that they had little to do with
their child’s success in school while 44% of high-income parents believed they did
impact their children’s education. Similarly, just over 50% of low-income parents
believed working parents, in general, do not have time to be involved while about 12% of
high-income parents believed this. Parental training or knowledge as it affects parents’
perceptions of being able to be involved in educational decision making was another
point where the two groups differed significantly. About fifty-two percent of low-income
parents believed parental training or knowledge about ways to be involved effects their
decisions, while 17.3% of high-income parents felt this way.
Though this research evidences that there are differences between families
classified as low and high income, it also points to the idea that there are similarities
among their views about parent involvement. In this case, the significance of the
similarities is that parents are interested in being involved. Again, the divergence is in
33
how parents learn about activities, and in what activities they choose or are able to
engage.
Types of Involvement
Given the preceding issues in attempting to define parent involvement, it now
becomes important to try to classify what types of involvement may be considered.
Epstein (1987) used previous research to develop a framework of six major types of
involvement that work together in an effort to assist schools in developing a
comprehensive family school partnership program. A summary of these types of
involvement follows.
Type 1. This type of parenting is seen as a most basic obligation of parents. In this
type schools provide information to families and families must work on their own to
provide housing, health, nutrition, clothing, and safety. The family is also seen as the
entity responsible for teaching the child attitudes and beliefs congruent with or valued by
the family, apart from the school curriculum. Ideally, there is also an allowance for
parents to ask schools for help in providing an appropriate balance within the home and
an expectation that necessary and requested information will be provided to the parent in
a timely manner. In this process schools, educators, and other children in the class are
enriched and enlightened when families are able to share their backgrounds, cultures,
skills or interests. It allows for two-way communication, which ideally serves to benefit
the family and the school.
Type 2. This type involves communication, which is seen as the basic obligation
of the school. In this type of interaction, the school is responsible for providing
information about the school and the student’s progress, achievements, or problems. This
34
process allows students to see the benefit of families and teachers working together so
that the family is informed of the school’s processes and programs. This also allows the
teachers to feel appreciated and validated which is likely to increase the frequency and
quality of communication between teacher and family.
Type 3. This is the parent volunteering within the school. Providing volunteer
opportunities on a varying schedule to allow ample chances for all parents to be involved
can optimize this type of involvement. A volunteer, therefore, can be anyone at any given
time or place that supports the school’s goals and a child’s learning process.
Type 4. This type of parent involvement is described as involvement in learning
activities at home. This type of participation familiarizes families with more information
about the curriculum; instructional methods; class work; and how to support, monitor,
discuss, or help with homework as well as how to help students study for tests. Parents
involved at this level will learn about homework and class activities, as well as encourage
the child to share successes and ongoing progress.
Type 5. This is involvement in decision-making, governance, and advocacy.
Schools can strengthen parent participation in decision making by encouraging
participation in parent groups, ensuring representatives, and by training parents and
students in leadership. Examples of this might be PTA members working together to draft
letters to administrators summarizing parent concerns and offering suggestions for
addressing those concerns.
Type 6. This is collaborations and exchanges with the community. This form of
involvement encourages families to influence whether, how often, and in what ways their
children join community activities in an attempt to broaden learning beyond the home
35
and school. Even when schools help to create better connections, parents are the ones
who must decide whether to obtain community services to support or strengthen the
family.
Ideally, parent involvement in any school would involve components of each of
these types of involvement. Realistically, however, this author believes this is an area that
could be assessed early in developing a parent involvement plan in order to gain a better
understanding of where the school stands in this range when the program is to be
implemented. The types of involvement could be conceptualized as a ladder of steps
which could be worked through, with the ultimate goal being to get involvement at the
level of Type 6.
School versus Parent Perceptions in Parent Involvement
Previous sections of this dissertation have strongly considered the role from the
parents’ point of view, as well as primarily looking at parent and family factors that
impact involvement. The following section will include a look at parent involvement
from the viewpoint of teachers and principals.
Teachers and principals discussed parent involvement in terms of traditional
tasks, and in ways defined by the needs of the school. They often used the term
“assigned” to designate that the school has a one-up authority. One teacher noted being
taken aback because a parent was involved in a role in which she had not been assigned
(Waggoner & Griffith, 1983). Their main input was obtained utilizing interviews with
caregivers of students in four public elementary schools in Louisiana. The research
volunteers were described as being mostly from low-income two-parent families.
Educators described each school as at risk and noted each faced a range of problems
36
associated with poverty-stricken schools. Though their research offered little in terms of
qualitative analysis, their input from parents and teachers was rich with qualitative data
that ultimately pointed to “a disjuncture between the ideological framing of parent
involvement in education and the everyday activities and interests of parents involved in
their children’s education” (p. 75).
In the same study, parents tended to describe parent involvement in a broader
range of contexts. That is, parents see it as an involvement that not only serves the
school’s needs, but also the family interests. This would include participating in
education at home and at school. Parents consider events such as helping with homework,
teaching math, getting child safely to and from school, and organizing morning line-up as
equally important parent involvement activities.
School volunteers also noted that their own roles as parents changed after having
the opportunity to watch other parents and teachers interact with children. Through these
observations, new understandings of adult-child relationships emerged. In this study,
unfortunately, the perception of teachers and principals as experts and the parents being
less able to contribute continued as the definition of parent involvement (Waggoner &
Griffith, 1998).
Though integral to consider the issue of parent involvement from the viewpoint of
school staff, it is unfortunate that this research found that the tendency was still for
parents to be in a lower position of power when it comes to helping facilitate their child’s
education.
37
Student and Parent Factors
Parent background and attitude, teacher practices, school and neighborhood
climate are all areas that can impact parent involvement. The effect may be positive or
negative, but the idea that there is a plethora of factors related to the student and parents
is an accepted concept (Smith, et al., 1997). This section will cover several areas
including demographic variables, issues specific to the parent and student, parental
educational expectations, and parents’ reasons for lack of involvement.
Parent Attitude
Smith et al. (1997) studied 30 elementary schools, all of those in the district that
did not serve a specific needs population. The parent sample included 201 parents or
guardians of fourth grade children. They utilized a multi-disciplinary research team,
including faculty from psychology, social work, and education. Their method utilized a
participatory approach, as they felt this important to gaining information that would be
later useful in implementing actions. The researchers sought to explore many facets of
parent involvement, and found support for a model in which background and attitudes of
the parents, teacher practices toward involving parents, and school/community climate
were factors in actively involving parents as collaborators in their child’s schooling, both
at home and at school. “Parent attitude surfaced as a salient factor in parent involvement.
This finding may imply that programs designed to provide parents with information about
the importance of involvement and its impact on achievement may be helpful. They
caution, however, that the extent to which information alone alters parent attitudes and,
subsequently, behavior is an area that needs to be further researched. They also warn that
constant programming aimed at involving parents may be a detriment, because parents
38
may begin to feel that the school views them as an incompetent parent, educator, and
partner.
To get an idea of parents’ perceptions of their own involvement Ramey and
Ramey (1992, as cited in Seefeldt et al., 1998) conducted a study to address specific
questions. Among the questions posed was “How often do you talk with your children
about their school day?” The data indicated 90% of parents responded that they do this
almost every day, while 7% said once or twice a week. The remainder of the respondents
indicated asking about their child’s day less than three times per month. Another question
posed was “How frequently do you participate in planned parent involvement activities in
the school?” Sixty-one percent of parents responded saying they participated in school
activities, volunteered in their child’s school, or kept in touch with their child’s teacher
one to three times per month.
Parental Efficacy and Developmental Status
Before continuing the discussion on specific parent factors that become issues in
the parent-school relationship, it is important to consider the concept of parental self-
efficacy, as this will tend to mediate many of the other factors. Competence in parenting
is best understood within the construct of parental efficacy. Efficacy is the congruence
between a belief in one’s ability and their real performance in relation to carrying out
specific tasks required in a given life process (Swick & Broadway, 1997). Four elements
combine to form the basis for understanding this concept. The first of these elements is
self-image, which can also be thought of as the parent’s sense of self. These authors
report that parents with a positive self-image spend more time with their children and
take more interest in what their children are doing. Locus of control is the second element
39
in understanding self-efficacy, and refers to whether a parent is more driven by internal
or external forces in understanding parenting and seeking guidance. The more internal
control that parents perceive themselves having, the more effective they are, especially in
sharing talents and resources. Parents who tend toward external control are inclined to
leave more child rearing to fate, developmental status, and interpersonal support.
Interpersonal support is the third characteristic discussed when looking to understand
parental efficacy. In this area, parenting is strengthened if the parent has a strong support
system. It tends to be the parents with this strong social support that spend more time in
productive roles with their children. These social resources tend to provide the parent
with extra resources, opportunities for sharing and/or feedback, and links to community.
The final component of self-efficacy is developmental status of the parents. A
parent must constantly monitor his or her own development in order to make it congruent
and facilitative with the needs of the child’s developmental stage. Hoover-Dempsey and
Sandler (1995) asserted that parent involvement is tempered by the extent to which it is
developmentally appropriate and the match between parent and teacher expectations.
Both factors were evidenced in the current study. First, the idea that parents are not
always thinking in developmentally appropriate terms is an issue. If this is the case it may
actually have a negative effect as demonstrated by the statement of a young student: “It
made me frustrated because my Dad uses vocabulary I don’t know yet and he says it too
fast.”
Another factor related to developmental appropriateness, that may have a negative
impact, is when there is a poor match between the parent’s and teacher’s perception or
understanding of a subject. For example, another student noted, “Sometimes my Dad
40
would tell me a different method from the teacher and it would confuse me.” Thinking of
development in a more longitudinal way, it has also been noted that parent enthusiasm
wanes as children age and the parents become concerned their skills may not be
appropriate for helping with homework (Balli, 1998). Balli’s research is relatively limited
in that it focuses largely on student responses, but also beneficial in that it obtained
responses from students and attempted to gain qualitative information about their feelings
related to being helped with their homework by their parents.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children takes a stance on
the issue of development by asserting, “children learn best when their school and home
environments are supportive of each other and when information is shared between
parents and teachers.” (p. 257)
Given that efficacy and developmental appropriateness are issues in parent
involvement, how can parents and teachers strengthen one another’s efficacy?
Communication is the first and possibly strongest key because it can provide a
relationship process for parents to gain support in dealing with various child-rearing
challenges. Another way to develop efficacy is through shared-learning activities.
Through these sorts of activities coordinated between parent and teacher, both sides of
the relationship can grow and learn with the help of informed partners. This is quite
helpful, and can be very intense as parents and teachers negotiate the challenges of child
rearing, teaching, and family school dynamics. Finally, collaborative supervision and
guidance can offer assistance in increasing efficacy. One goal of collaboration is to also
enable the student to develop efficacy with the goal of encouraging the child to function
somewhat autonomously while allowing for social sensitivity. “This goal is best achieved
41
through parent-teacher involvement that emphasizes guidance and supervision as critical
to supporting children in negotiating their growth experiences in productive ways.”
(Swick & Broadway, 1997 p.71)
Demographic Variables
Lareau (1987) in his writings made the point that traditional schools are more
likely to embody social and cultural values and practices of the middle to upper
socioeconomic classes. This SES class standard also tends to correlate with white culture,
which can lead to devaluation or dilution of some social and cultural resources.
Smith et al. (1997) summarized a number of home and family factors that are related to
home school community partnerships. The first group of factors is family structure, SES,
and parent education (Lareau, 1987). Although the immediate assumption may be that the
likelihood of involving single or less educated parents and lower income families in a
child’s activities as low, Amato (1987, as cited in Smith et al., 1997) reported that
mothers, regardless of family type were involved in homework activities. A potentially
significant research finding as related to the current study is one by Hoover-Dempsey,
Bassler, and Brissie (1992) who found that only school based parent involvement was
significantly related to the school’s SES, whereas home based parent involvement was
not affected. Perhaps one reason for the apparent equality in participation across SES
levels is Seefeldt et al’s (1998) work which found parents who perceived the school
climate less positively, like higher income counterparts, tended to have more in school
involvement, apparently to insure their child is being treated well and receiving a quality
education. Parents who believe they can exercise control over their child’s education
report higher school related involvement than those who do not hold this belief.
42
Therefore, to promote parent involvement of lower income parents, schools might
consider enhancing parents’ views of themselves as competent partners in their child’s
education (Seefeldt, Denton, Galper, & Younoszai, 1998). In so doing, schools would
employ the concept of self-efficacy to highlight to the parents their strengths and
advantages in assisting in their child’s education.
Dornbusch et al. (1991, as cited in Smith et al., 1997) found that community
resources such as mentoring programs and after school activities are more predictive of
educational outcomes than family structure, especially for African American youth.
Finally, Epstein (1986) found that the perception of teachers and schools by parents also
seemed to play a role in level of involvement. As would seem likely, higher involvement
tended to be seen from parents who held positive perceptions of schools and education, in
general.
Parental variables
Pryor (1995) used open questionnaires and focus groups with the following
issues becoming top areas of concern: having more involvement in curriculum planning
and homework assignments/decisions, desiring increased general involvement, issues
with teachers and personnel, feeling there is an increased need for discipline, hoping for
more communication between schools and parents, welcoming more help from schools,
improving communication from the school, wanting for the school to address concerns
about children’s safety, and a hoping to become more involved in a variety of ways, such
as being a hall monitor, helping improving facilities, supervising events, participating in
policy development. With all of these desires, another concern was consistently voiced, a
fear that even if they make the effort to become involved, their efforts will fail to be
43
heard or appreciated. In terms of Pryor’s (1995) research, the use of surveys provided
quantifiable data and communicated to parents the school’s desire to seek the parents’
input. Potential problems with the surveys are the time and expense needed to mail and
process these, as well as the need to repeat the process periodically to maintain contact
and update information. The advantage of the focus groups is that a range of topics can
be generated through the conversation; however, this also lends itself to parents repeating
the ideas they hear from others.
Research has demonstrated that parents who work, are single parents or have less
income or formal education tend to be less involved in school based parent involvement
activities, but many still encourage and support their children at home. Additionally, it
has been found that teachers often report parents as disinterested, when the parents are
likely to say they recognize a need to be involved, and feel they are by helping their
children at home (Hess & Holloway, 1984; Epstein & Dauber, 1991 as cited in Connors
& Epstein, 1995). It is also reported in Connors and Epstein (1995) that along these lines,
parents also report that they try to be involved without specific help from the school, but
it has also been demonstrated that parent involvement increases significantly when
schools provide guidance on how to help at home and at school. Parents may feel
inadequately equipped to guide their children’s home activities, or to know what types of
activities in which to even engage their children. Education from the school could also
highlight for parents how to use everyday activities, such as cooking or shopping, as
educational opportunities.
Seefeldt, Denton, Galper, Younoszai (1998) found that personal characteristics
such as status, especially variables related to race and ethnicity play a role in a parent’s
44
comfort in interacting with the school. In addition, the authors noted that internal
cognitive and affective variables, such as depression or anxiety and beliefs about
academic interests, are also predictors of parent involvement, and in many cases these
factors may be more salient than the more external factors. As evidence of this, Seefeldt
et al. (1998) reported that affective states, such as depression and other states that detract
attention from the primary task of parenting, have been related to unresponsive and less
supportive parenting behaviors and lower involvement in school activities. A parent’s
beliefs about academic interests, efforts, and abilities were also found to be related to
children’s performance in school.
Parental desires for involvement
In research that was previously discussed, with the information obtained from
questionnaires and interviews, Pryor (1995) conducted focus groups to get more specific
information on what parents see in an ideal school-family relationship regarding parent
involvement. In these groups, Pryor found that parents wanted more and improved
communication from the school, such as phone calls or notices when kids were doing
well or had only minor problems. They also expressed concerns regarding their child’s
safety, and claimed they were interested in participating in the following types of
activities: hall/campus monitors, improving physical facilities, chaperoning events,
creating policies regarding behavior problems, and sharing special skills. They also
expressed keen interest in an increased call to be involved in school governance, but were
concerned that even if they attended meetings they would not be heard. They also sought
to be welcomed to sit in on classes and have monthly workshops available. Again, this
underscores the issue of the importance of defining involvement and communication
45
between parents and schools, as the previous information indicates parents feel they are
helping, but not in a way the school perceives as being involved. Issues that could
encourage involvement have been given much consideration. The next section will focus
on issues that may inhibit parent involvement.
Inhibitory Factors
Gareau and Sawatzky (1995) cite research by Leitch and Tangri (1988) indicating
that teachers’ perception of the most frequent barrier to involvement was the parents’
attitudes toward school. When parents were asked, they also shouldered some
responsibility for their lack of involvement citing the belief that their work
responsibilities resulted in a lack of time to adequately communicate with and work with
teachers, having to deal with their own and family’s health problems, as well as economic
disparity between themselves and teachers. Essentially a lack of planning and knowledge
are barriers to how parents and teachers can use one another effectively.
Mapp (1997) reported cultural, racial, and economic differences between family
and school staff factor into the bridge between desired and actual involvement. Also cited
are difficulties with work schedules, transportation, and child care needs. Additionally,
parents often feel intimidated talking to the “school experts.” This may partially be
because school staff often devalue or delegitimize a parent’s role in education. This,
Mapp believes, is not necessarily intentional. Rather, school staff seems not to be
adequately trained to collaborate with parents, and often invite parents to participate but
give off strong cues that the parent’s presence really is not welcome. In her research,
Mapp (1997) focused on 20 parents from one school, and asked them to describe how
involved they were in their child’s education, as well as why they were involved. Her aim
46
was to find out “more about the motivations, incentives, expectations, and apprehensions
influencing these parents’ participation in the school community” (p. 37). Though the
research had relatively few participants, it demonstrated an effort to attain specific,
qualitative information from parents. Two themes were found regarding how this school
interacted with parents, and how this could be helpful to consider when looking at how
schools can develop meaningful relationships with parents. First, staff members from
principal to custodian “join” with families during school activities and programs designed
to welcome families to the school. The joining was viewed as the beginning steps of
developing a trusting relationship. Second, staff members worked hard to “honor”
families. That is, they strove to validate any involvement or contributions by parents;
regardless of the whether the activity occurred at home (reading, homework help) or at
school (donating books, school governance). After an acknowledgement of involvement,
parents talked about the influence of their involvement. They felt a bond had been
developed with school staff, and described how staff worked to create a culture where
families felt welcome. Even more, parents felt they were members of the “school family,”
which seemed to perpetuate involvement.
Communication
Communication, or lack thereof, could certainly be perceived as an inhibitory
factor in parent involvement. It is not covered in the previous section because it has been
found to be such a significant issue in the degree and frequency to which parents choose
to become involved in their child’s education.
Communication is not to be thought of as only the phone calls or notes home to
inform a parent of a student’s poor behavior. It is a much more critical issue; and
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unfortunately, it is often not recognized to be a critical issue in encouraging involvement.
Some of the most common barriers to home-school communication are a teacher’s
perception of traditional home-school boundaries (Powell, 1991), teachers’ negative
perceptions of parents, especially those of different backgrounds (Galinsky 1988), and
problematic parental communication styles (Boutte et al., 1992). These and other
common communication problems will now be presented.
Schools and families may sometimes feel they are in competition in influencing
the child, each is wary of the other. This air of competitiveness instead of a sense of
working together for the benefit of the child would certainly inhibit the involvement of
many parents (Powell, 1991). The author goes on to explain that communication is more
likely to occur when both sides have positive feelings about the other, further
emphasizing the detrimental nature of the sense of competitiveness.
Galinsky (1988) noted that parent-teacher relationships are often tense. He also
found that communication is more difficult when schools held parents in low esteem
because this tended to lead to decreased investment in the child’s education by the parent.
Teachers’ perceptions of parents’ abilities are especially problematic when parents and
teachers don’t come from similar educational or SES backgrounds. Teachers tend to be
most skeptical of poor parents, divorced parents, and working mothers. Typically, these
are the ones in the most need of support. Further, parents who are uncomfortable, for any
reason, in the school tend to have more problematic communication styles. Specific
patterns that undermine teachers’ confidence and ability to develop home-school
relationships have been noted as know-it-all behavior, unresponsive behavior,
antagonistic/negative attitudes, and frequent complaining (Boutte et al., 1992).
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Additional communication problems may come when the parents’ expectations
and the teachers’ way of teaching are from different belief systems. For example,
“instructional practices based on constructivist theories of learning and emphasizing
immersion and exploration may be very different from the kind of instruction parents
equate with school.” (p. 259). Giving frequent and varied communication to help the
parent understand why the class is different from their expectations can smooth this
communication barrier.
With an understanding of the communication barriers that lead to difficulty in
including parents, how then can one begin to discover better ways of developing parent-
school partnerships? Bruneau, Ruttan, and Dunlap (1995) asked 16 teachers various
questions regarding their views about involving and ability to involve parents in the
classroom. Several points were made that at least partially explain the teacher’s point of
view on some of the communication barriers, as well as their thoughts on how to remedy
these circumstances. There was general agreement about the idea of encouraging and
valuing parent involvement. Teachers also reported they used a number of methods to
communicate information about school events. About one-third reported actively
attempting to engage parents as volunteers in the class.
In addition to their reports of what they try to do, teachers acknowledged
frustration because of their lack of time to fully plan and organize parent involvement
activities, as well as the parent’s lack of time to be involved. Many expressed frustration
in working with parents whose backgrounds were different from their own or who
expressed negative attitudes toward the school. Nevertheless, they were often busy
communicating about school events and felt parents provided useful information that
49
allowed the teachers to better help the students. This matter raises the need to move
beyond one-way communication, which typifies parent-school communication.
The first step of a partnership or network of teachers might be to examine existing
communication strategies. Greenwood and Hickman (1991) use the following frame to
examine the progression of parent involvement: first, incorporating parents as an
audience, then moving to parents as volunteer, and finally progressing to parents
receiving support as the teacher of the child. Within this construct, teachers can improve
their current activities by sharing ideas and working together, while learning from failed
attempts. Teachers also need to develop an understanding about parents whose
backgrounds are different from others, which may partially be achieved by inquiring and
exploring how they can communicate better with varying groups of parents (Bruneau,
Ruttan, and Dunlap, 1995).
Student Factors
When Pryor distributed an open-ended survey to students to assist in determining
what students find important in the concept of parent involvement, he found that the
students’ most common requests were related specifically to family-school
communication and parent involvement. Specifically, the students reported desiring
better communication with teachers, as well as teachers who really care about students,
partially evidenced by relating well to the student. Students also expressed the wish for
school to be fun, with more challenging work. Additionally, students hoped for help from
parents in areas such as homework, extracurricular activities and sports. Regarding help
with homework, Seefeldt et al. (1998) reported that perceived parent involvement in
homework helps the child do better in school, which has longer-term benefits. This
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reportedly was not deterred or decreased by the shorter-term annoyances involved in
working with parents.
Children also wanted to see their parents acting as advocates. Although students
did hope for parental involvement in a number of areas, Pryor also found one area where
students consistently hoped their parents would allow them to function more
autonomously: students’ social lives.
Students also expressed the belief that their parents could benefit from groups
with topics related to communication with their teen children. One negative finding in
their responses was students felt they were discouraged from speaking up about school
issues because they believed their voices and ideas were ignored in the school. In general,
students wanted help with academics, while having parents maintain a distance from their
social lives.
This section has demonstrated that demographic variables and other issues
specific to the parent and student, such as parental educational expectations, and parents’
reasons for lack of involvement impact a parent’s decision to become involved. Self-
efficacy, as previously discussed in this section is a critical mediator to many of the other
areas of involvement. If parents do not feel useful or competent, they are less likely to
choose to be involved. In an effort to increase self-efficacy, as well as help the parent
develop a positive attitude toward education, which is also a critical factor, it may be
helpful to provide information because it would allow the parents to better understand the
impact of their involvement on their child’s education to be better understood. Certain
demographic variables have also been found to correlate with participation. Among these
are SES, family structure, and parental education. It is also important to be reminded of
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the common factors that inhibit involvement. Frequently cited factors include parents
feeling they are economically or culturally different than the school, miscommunication
about involvement needs and opportunities, and difficulty meeting the time frames or
needs of the school. Just as a number of factors relate to the parent and student that affect
involvement, factors relating to teachers, schools, and communities also affect
involvement. These issues will be addressed in more detail in the following section.
Teacher, School, and Community Factors.
The previous section addressed parent and student factors that tend to influence
parent involvement. Just as those factors exist, factors related to teachers, schools, and
the communities within which schools and family co-exist become an issue in attempting
to evoke greater levels of parent involvement. Beninger and Rodriguez (1989, as cited in
Smith, et al., 1997) found that schools with administrations placing development of
home-school-community partnerships as a priority tend to be the ones that are reported as
the most responsive to the needs of parents. That is, the schools that seek to employ not
only their own resources, but also those in the surrounding community, tend to offer more
flexible scheduling, child care options, and transportation resources. These schools are
also more often perceived as friendly and welcoming to parents. Schools that link
families with other resources give families the opportunities to focus their efforts on
educational endeavors. In other words, “schools can function as a gateway to needed
resources” (p. 343). A number of reasons make schools a logical choice as a base for
community involvement. Not the least among the reasons this works is because schools
have a physical location in most communities, as well as access to relatively stable
funding. Schools also tend to have a professional staff that is accustomed to working with
52
varying needs. School based community programs also tend to be efficient in providing
the ability to network with other resources, and the opportunity to reach children,
families, and community members through programs designed to educate children,
strengthen families, and even build communities (Smith, et al., 1997).
Organizational Characteristics
Griffith (1998) stated that one must consider, in addition to more immediate
factors, a broader context of variables affecting parent involvement. Among these he
states that organizational characteristics, such as the school’s climate and its
empowerment of parents play a role in the level of involvement from parents, in general.
Information from work by McGrew and Gilman (1991) helps define these concepts using
two orthogonal dimensions to describe them:
1. School climate is viewed as gaining an understanding of the parents’
comfort in their relationship with the school.
2. Empowerment is viewed as a parents’ perception of their collaboration
with the school and their control of school activities.
These issues are important because parents comfort levels and empowerment
feelings will affect the degree to which they choose to become involved. These are
variables that could easily be overlooked by a school, but could go a great distance in
facilitating increased involvement.
School Climate
Griffith (1998) sought to examine “features of the school’s physical and social
environments. . .” with a goal of gaining a better understanding of the parents’
perceptions of school climate on their level of involvement within the school. To do this,
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he distributed surveys to 122 public elementary schools to be given to students to take
home for completion by the parent. The first stage of analysis sought to determine the
strongest correlates of individual parent involvement. Although effect sizes were
relatively small for this stage of analysis, indications were that parents who tend to
demonstrate higher participation have higher educational expectations of their children;
have children in gifted or talented programs; have children in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade; and
have more than one child. Conversely, demographic information correlating with parents
who were less involved was they tended to be African-American, Hispanic, or Asian
American; have children in special education, and have children in 5th and 6th grades.
In addition to these factors, certain aspects related specifically to the social
environment of the school also showed correlations with levels of parent involvement.
Specifically, parents who were more involved tended to perceive the school as
empowering and generally more positive. Also, parents who perceived the school as safer
demonstrated a higher level of parent involvement than parents who viewed it as a
threatening environment. The next stage of analysis sought to discern relative effects of
each area on parent involvement. The parents’ racial identification, educational
expectations, and perceptions of the school as empowering were found to account for the
most variation.
Overall, Griffith’s work (1998) found that at the school level, parent involvement
appeared to be influenced by parent perceptions of the lack of information from the
school and misgivings about the quality of the school’s academic instruction.
Specifically, factors that were found to negatively impact parent involvement were larger
student enrollments, high student turnover, smaller class sizes, and smaller student-
54
teacher ratios. In opposition, safety, quality of instruction, and student recognition
programs were features of schools that reported higher parent involvement. Research by
Seefeldt, Denton, Galper,and Younoszai (1998) found other issues that negatively
impacted parents’ perceptions. Among the negative features reported were an
unwelcoming feeling; impersonal relationships; and layers of bureaucracy, rules,
procedures, and policies. They took these factors and extended this to a “chain” leading
to a better understanding of how perceptions are developed. They noted if personnel hold
negative beliefs about parents, then a lack of worth is conveyed in their actions. This
leads to further distancing the parents from the school perpetuating the negative school
climate. They noted, however, it is also possible for this negative perception to spur
parents to become involved in an attempt to ensure their child’s safety, and perhaps to
work toward changing the negativity in the classroom or school.
In a study with similar goals, Smith et al. (1997), also found in their research in
an urban school district that attitudes toward parent involvement were influenced by a
positive school climate, which was related to proactive teachers and removal of practical
barriers to involvement. Such factors included inflexible schedules and childcare needs.
When these two seemingly simple factors are implemented as part of a parent
involvement program, it seemed to indicate that parents will be less likely to report
scheduling conflict, lack of child care, and transportation difficulties.
Pryor (1995) has noted that involvement changes according to size and
complexity of the school and the needs of the child. For example, at the high school level,
a decrease in parent involvement may be seen as a lack of interest by the parent when the
real reason for less involvement may be the tendency of high schools to be larger, more
55
departmentalized, and not in close proximity to the neighborhood. Another factor in
parent involvement, especially as children age, may be that parents see themselves as
involved, although not in the ways promoted and measured by school personnel. That is,
Finn (1993) found that in many cases the more successful at risk students have parents
who “monitor their homework more often; discuss school work, programs, and plans with
them more frequently; and provide more extensive education-relevant resources at home”
(p. 74). Again, this presents the issue of having to look further at the needs and
understanding of parents, schools, and students to know the true reasons parents are
perceived to be uninvolved. While schools may perceive a lack of involvement, parents
may see that they are involved in ways they feel are more meaningful than being in the
school.
Sheldon and Epstein (2005) also found certain school characteristics to be
associated with levels of achievement and parent involvement. Among these correlations
were that large schools and high-poverty schools tended to report lower achievement, in
this study in math, than did small, more affluent schools.
Teacher Factors
Information was obtained by Pryor (1995) in open ended questionnaires that
indicated teachers wanted more administrative support to reinforce efforts to contact
parents; more involvement in core areas, not extra-curricular activities; a desire for
parents and students to be taught to be accountable for actions, grades and attitudes; a
desire for divorced parents to figure out who is going to take responsibility for education;
and for non-working parents to be required to participate in seminars and volunteer work.
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Epstein and Dauber (1991) conducted research, in part, to determine what types of
practices by teachers tend to most influence parent involvement. Among their findings
was this one: interactions with parents consistently increase when an effort is made by
teachers to include efforts to involve parents as a regular part of their teaching practice.
Hoover-Dempsey et al. (1992) also found competency as a factor that may impact the
facilitative effect of home-school-community partnerships.
Epstein (1991) noted that teachers tend to doubt the abilities, skills, and/or
interests of less educated parents, therefore, tend not to seek them out and explore what
strengths the parent does have to offer. For any number of reasons, teachers seem to favor
parents who are already involved; and this makes them unable to test their assumptions
about SES disadvantaged parents.
Pryor (1995) in her work found that teachers felt more administrative support was
needed to reinforce their efforts to contact parents. Specifically, they believed a more
available phone, positive forms to send out, and improved leadership would be helpful in
furthering their efforts to involve parents in an organized way. They also wanted more
involvement in academic areas versus extracurricular areas.
In summary, one of the most positive steps a school can take to increase parent
involvement is to employ the resources of the surrounding community. This tends to
allow for more flexible scheduling of activities that meet the needs to the parent and
school. Also because schools generally have a physical base in or near the communities
they serve, increased awareness of the needs to be accommodated is very likely. The
organizational characteristics of the school have also been found to be a factor effecting
parent involvement. Within this area to increase involvement, the school climate must be
57
one that seeks to increase the comfort of all parents in their relationship with the school
and its staff. Additionally, the environment needs to include activities that work toward
empowering the parents, thereby increasing the parent’s perception of what they have to
offer their student and the school.
Effects of Involvement
After considering some of the factors that affect a parent’s choice to become
involved, understanding of the reason it is critical for parents to choose to be involved, at
least in some manner needs to be considered. The U.S. Department of Education (1994)
established as a national goal of education that “Every school will promote partnerships
that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social,
emotional, and academic growth of children” (8A on website). For this to be the case, a
significant body of research affirms the idea that parent involvement can make a
significant difference in a child’s education.
It is important here to be reminded of the shifts parent involvement has seen over the
decades to understand the importance of the collaborative relationship. Prior to the 1920s
parents had relinquished educational responsibility to professional teachers. Those who
wanted to see schools remain “pure” worked to prevent contact with any influence
outside the school, including parents. During the 1920s a role for parents began gaining
acceptance, but the role was only for parents to act as helpers and supporters of the
teachers’ lessons. This relationship again shifted in the 1960s when cultural changes,
such as civil rights and federal policy (Title I education, for example) opened the door for
increasing varieties of parent involvement. More recently schools have been forced to
deal with unmet material and emotional needs of children; however, it has been noted
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that most schools are not equipped to deal with such needs thereby further increasing the
necessity of families and communities to become involved in education.
Predictors of Positive Outcomes
Chavkin and Williams (1989) cite research indicating an alterable home
curriculum is twice as predictive of academic learning as is family SES. Redding, in
Educational Practices Series – 2, Parents and Learning, defines the alterable home
environment as “families that provide a stimulating, language-rich, supportive
environment” (p. 5). This also includes the “family’s relationships, practices and patterns
of life” (p. 5). When this is the focus, rather than SES, schools can work with the family
to make positive adjustments in these patterns. They further stated that some parent
involvement programs had effects ten times greater when parents were involved
compared to when they were not. Children also reported higher educational aspirations
and greater perceived competence, and had higher academic achievement when parents
were even minimally involved, in some cases. Additionally, parents who were involved
had higher aspirations for their children and felt more positively about their children’s
teachers and school, which have been found to be predictors of student success, as well as
a perpetuating force in maintaining involvement.
Singh et al. (1995) looked at data from more than 21,000 students from the
National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. The sample represents a nationally
representative data set with regard to education and demographic factors. In their
analysis, the authors found that one of the strongest predictors of positive outcome was
parental aspiration for the student’s achievement. Parents with increased expectations
also tended to exhibit more of the behaviors noted by other authors as leading to higher
59
achieving students, such as regular communication with child and school. The authors
posited that it is possible this increased communication “transmits” the expectations to
the child and school, with both entities responding favorably to the awareness of the
parent of their view of the importance of education. Parent-child communication was also
found to have a moderate effect on parental participation in school-related activities. That
is, parents who communicate about school tend to be parents who participate in school
activities, again transmitting their ideas regarding the importance of education. This
analysis did not show that participation in school activities helped or hindered
achievement. This finding is somewhat discrepant with a number of other findings,
however, and the authors noted that this might be, in part, be a function of the
developmental level of 8th grade students.
Effects on Student Achievement
Epstein (1984, as cited in Singh et al., 1995) showed that student achievement is
higher when parents participate in school activities, monitor children’s homework and
otherwise support the work and values of school. However, Epstein noted that the nature
and magnitude of these findings is inconsistent. That is, the effect seems to differ based
on age, with more influence being given to parent involvement in elementary school than
high school. A number of parental factors have also been demonstrated by Epstein (1984,
as cited in Singh, et al., 1995) to positively effect a child’s achievement. Among these are
regular and frequent communication with children and the school regarding the student’s
education, a parental interest in school work, and provision of verbal cues regarding
school work, directions and problem-solving strategies. Home structure, specifically, the
environment related to cognitive development has also been found to impact
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achievement. More specifically, the environment can communicate a hidden academic
curriculum that leads to success. Positive input from parents, such as encouragement of
reading/books as gifts, rewards for improvement on daily assignment and grades have a
positive impact on achievement (Gonzalez & Blanco, 1991, as cited in Singh, et al.,
1995).
Hampton and Mumford (1998) reported that research evidence confirming the
benefits of parent involvement began making its way into the literature at least 30 years
ago, the bottom line appearing to be that parent involvement improves student
achievement. These authors report that Henderson (1981) acknowledged 35 studies
showing that various types of parent involvement led to positive results, including a
measurable gain in student performance.
Benefits of parent involvement are reflected in student gains, increased parent
self-confidence, satisfactions with schools, and overall improvement (Karther & Lowden,
1997). Larsen and Haupt report “programs designed with strong components of parental
involvement produce students who perform better than those who have taken part in
otherwise identical programs with little or no parent involvement” (p. 402). In fact,
teachers believe more home-school collaboration is needed and most parents are
committed to their child’s education and say they want to see them succeed.
Zellman and Waterman (1998) looked at 193 Los-Angeles area 2nd through 5th
graders and their mothers to attempt to confirm the relationship between parent
involvement and child outcomes, as well as looked for evidence of what might underlie
this effect. They found that what parents do appears to matter in understanding at least
two academic outcomes: reading and teacher assessment of learning problems. The
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authors found the higher the level of reported school involvement, the better test scores
tended to be in reading. Families reporting higher levels of involvement also had fewer
teacher reports of learning problems. A child’s need for help, as assessed by IQ, was an
important determinant of level of mother’s homework involvement. As part of the
foundation of their work, Hart and Risely (1995, as cited in Zellman and Waterman)
looked at parent talking and parent-infant interaction and found that parents who were
more involved with their children and talked to them more between the ages of 10 and 36
months had children who had higher intellectual development at 9-10 years of age.
Importance of Collaboration
Gareau and Sawatzky’s (1995) question regarding the characteristics of
collaboration has been discussed in the definition section of this document. Another
question the researchers wanted to answer was “Why Is School Collaboration
Important?” In part, they found the answer to be that children live in two different
worlds, thus it is important to ease the transition between home and school in order to
optimize a student’s development and achievement. One parent described parent-school
collaboration as an ongoing process noting that children are not distinct in each setting.
Rather they take experiences from school to home and vice versa; thus parents and school
should work together in an effort to understand the conditions and situations in the “other
world.” Another general conclusion by Gareau and Sawatzky (1995) is that this
generation of parents has more education and higher expectations of schools, and their
children within the school setting. Therefore, an understanding of involvement or
collaboration needs to shift to a position where parents are brought in as full members.
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Collaboration may also be conceptualized in a broader framework, encompassing
the community as an entity around the family and school. The relevance of community
factors cannot be overlooked in this discussion of issues that may affect parent
involvement. One community related issue is that negative experiences with the school
may impact home-school-community partnerships. For example, schools that have
appeared closed or uncaring to the needs of the community are likely to have parents who
are generally less involved with their children. This may be a direct consequence of some
action, or lack thereof, by the school; or it may carry over from a parents’ own experience
as a student in that school. One benefit of community involvement is that such
partnerships may demonstrate sensitivity to the issues specific to the community the
school serves. Community involvement also encourages recognition of resources
available to the community that could benefit families and children. For example, this
could work by the school linking families to child care, medical care, academic
assistance, and other resources in order to free time for the family to be more involved in
the educational process (Smith et al., 1997)
There has been an effort to differentiate parenting style from parenting practices
and behaviors. There are also proposed models that link these constructs to child
outcomes, e.g. academic achievement and prosocial behaviors. “Parenting-style
researchers have argued that parenting style moderates the impact of a specific parenting
practice such as parent school involvement by affecting the nature of the parent-child
interaction and by influencing the degree to which a child is open to a parent’s influence”
(Zellman & Waterman, 1998, p. 373).
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Parenting style and behavior is important because it will likely impact the degree to
which parents are willing to collaborate with the school regarding their child’s education.
If there has been an infringement perceived by the parent, either in their own education or
one by their child’s school, it would benefit the student for the school and/or teacher to
understand this in order to try to bridge any problems to draw the parent into a position
where they feel more comfortable being involved.
Program Examples
To this point, many issues have been considered, including an attempt to define
parent involvement, as well as specific factors that may encourage or inhibit parent
involvement. Now the discussion will turn to programs that have been implemented in
different areas where the goal has been to better define and/or increase parent
involvement. The programs to be discussed are Project FAST (Families are Students and
Teachers), Parents as Teachers, and Family Resource and Youth Service Centers.
Project FAST (Families are Students and Teachers)
This is a program that was started in East Cleveland, Ohio. It was devised to
include a looping schedule, which is to allow students to stay with the same teacher for
more than one academic year. This arrangement resulted in a number of positive
outcomes. George, Spreul, and Moorefield (1987, as cited in Burke, 1997) found in a
three year study that about 70% of teachers preferred looping, as it allowed them to use
more positive approaches to structuring and managing their classes. They also found that
students demonstrated higher achievement scores on standardized tests than students in
traditional placements. Improved student achievement was not the only advantage.
Teachers felt an increased sense of ownership for student outcomes, as well as “a higher
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sense of efficacy as a result of their increased decision-making autonomy for students.”
The consistency also allowed parents to feel more comfortable and respected by the
teacher, as well as the parents having more confidence in their children’s teachers and
administrators.
Parents as Teachers
The Parents as Teachers program seeks to bring families, schools, and
communities together to form three-way partnerships. The program is based on “two
simple truths – that babies are born learners and that parents play a critical role from the
beginning in determining what their child will become” (Winter & McDonald, p. 121,
1997). It seeks to enhance development and achievement by reaching families early,
sometimes before the birth of the child.
The basic assumptions of the program are that children are born to learn and do
that from the people they love most; and parents are experts on their own children
because they are with the child day in and day out. Other assumptions include the idea
that multiple family structures promote healthy development, that cultural differences are
to be valued, and that all families have strengths, with all parents striving to be good
parents (Winter & McDonald, 1997).
The program is multi-faceted in its attempts to capture the relationships it seeks.
Among the facets are personal visits by certified parent educators who can advise parents
of appropriate developmental issues, as well as model ways to take advantage of daily
non-traditional learning activities. It also incorporates group meetings where parents can
“share, compare, commiserate, and congratulate” (p. 125). Frequent and ongoing
monitoring by parents and educators is encouraged in an effort to realize and address
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potential problems as early as possible. Finally, the community partnerships enter with
referral to community services that are beyond the scope of the actual program.
Family Resource and Youth Service Centers
The Kentucky School System was found to be unconstitutional in 1989 by the
Kentucky Supreme Court. With this decision came the sole burden on the General
Assembly to create a new schooling system. With this task, the governor and the General
Assembly formed the Task Force on Education Reform to make recommendations
regarding the restructuring of the educational establishment. It was at this point that the
realization came about that the school system alone cannot provide sufficient resources
without assistance from ancillary services; and so were born the FRYSCs (Doktor &
Poertner, 1996). Doktor and Poertner (1996) quote the State of Kentucky as follows:
The school-based Kentucky Family Resource and Youth Services Centers are
efforts designed to promote the flow of resources and support to families in ways
to strengthen the functioning and enhance the growth and development of the
individual members and the family unit. This method of focusing on families and
on relationship-building is an effective way to enhance children’s ability to learn
and grow.
Within this broad definition each Family Resource Center or Youth
Services Center will be a unique blend of components and approaches. Each
community will weave its own tapestry of services, depending on location; the
availability of services; needs of the children, youth, and families involved;
available funding; and the vision of the people shaping the program” (p. 295).
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The Family Resource Centers (FRCs) were mandated to be established in or near
elementary schools where at least 20% of the students are eligible for free school meals.
These resource centers are designed to maximize the available resources in at least the
following areas: child-care; families in training, a parenting program for new or expectant
parents; parent and child education, support and training for day-care providers; and
health services/referrals to health services. The guidelines mandated for these centers
include the following: “referrals to health and social services; employment counseling,
training, and placement; summer and part-time job development; drug and alcohol abuse
counseling; and family crisis and mental health counseling” (Doktor & Poertner, 1996, p.
296).
These programs demonstrate several ways in which efforts can be made to
increase parent involvement, depending on the needs of the school, community, and
families served. After a brief summary in the next session, attention will turn to the
specific nature of the research conducted in this project.
Summary and Discussion
Parent Involvement is a vague concept covering activities from bake sales to
school based management, and the details of this definition are highly dependent on who
is answering the question of what is in the realm of parent involvement. Teachers and
administrators still tend to view parent involvement as activities that meet the needs of
the school; therefore the activities usually occur within the bounds of the school.
Conversely, parents tend to have a much broader view of the concept of involvement.
Parents tend to see activities such as helping with homework and providing extra
enrichment activities as examples of integral parent involvement activities. These
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differences between the definitions of parent involvement, depending on who is
responding to how to define it, can leave both sides confused and frustrated when the
other does not feel it is fulfilling its responsibilities. Parent involvement is a much more
complex issue than being directly involved in activities within the school, in this author’s
view. Attempting to define parent involvement as only activities that meet the need of the
school is very one-sided and does not account for all of the needs of a student in
obtaining an adequate, well-rounded education. Behaviors as “simple” as ensuring that
the child is out of bed and physically ready in time to be at school is a most basic parent
involvement activity, but one that does not meet the narrow definition prescribed by the
schools. Similarly, activities that can be carried out in the home from direct help with
homework to demonstrating an interest in the student’s education by inquiring about
learning activities, homework and upcoming tests are perceived by this writer to be
parent involvement activities that are at least equal to volunteering within the confines of
the school walls during the educational day. This is not to be misunderstood that this
narrowly defined need is not also important, but some parents simply are not able to or
comfortable participating in these activities for reasons discussed in this section, such as
schedules or transportation problems; and this author believes preparing and encouraging
a child, through home activities, to take advantage of the school-based learning
environment is a parent involvement activity of the utmost importance.
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CHAPTER III: METHOD
Subjects
Since this is a case study of one school, an effort was made to gain information
from school administrators and teachers. However, the researcher was only able to obtain
information from the principal and assistant principal of the school. In addition in the
effort to broaden the responses to be obtained from teachers as well as administrators, an
effort was also made to generalize the information by obtaining it from multiple schools.
Information was mailed, and follow-up phone calls made to all elementary schools in the
county where the research was conducted; however, despite these efforts, only one school
followed up by actually completing the survey information. As evidenced by the limited
information, this school’s involvement was also minimal. During phone conversations
with the principal of the school, this author requested access, either by interview or by
leaving surveys, to administrators, teachers, and parents. As was requested in the phone
conversation with the principal, the author delivered survey information to the principal
with a letter reminding of the preference to have information from various sources. After
several weeks, the author was contacted, and informed the information was ready, and at
that time, the author found only two surveys had been completed.
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Survey Method
Those who were available for data gathering were asked to complete surveys that
sought information in the following sections: Demographic Information, Parent
Involvement Activities, and Factors that Influence Involvement. The instrument has not
been validated, and was derived based on factors discovered in the literature review that
tend to impact parent involvement. (See Appendix B for the survey form.)
Method
Davey (1991) points out that case study research allows one to involve a more in-
depth approach with a systematic way of collecting data, analyzing information, and
reporting results. This is in contrast to “using large samples and following a rigid
protocol to examine a limited number of variables” (p. 1). He notes that the result from
this type of research is an increased understanding of the construct being examined, as
well as the issues that may be important to address more extensively in the future. “Thus,
case studies are especially well suited toward generating, rather than testing, hypotheses”
(p. 2). Of the six types of case studies noted in Davey’s writing, the current research
most matches his classification of exploratory case studies which he describes as
“condensed case studies, undertaken before implementing a large-scale investigation;
[and when] considerable uncertainty exists about program operations, goals, and results”
(p. 2). He notes this type of study assists in delineating questions, clarifying and selecting
measurement constructs, and developing measures. Among the drawbacks to this type of
research are that exploratory studies may more readily cause the researcher to disclose
findings inappropriately as conclusions, as the findings may seem logical and complete.
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Inadequate or inaccurate representation of diversity, and therefore decreased
generalizability are also drawbacks related to case study research.
Participants
The information to be discussed in this case study was obtained from a school
within a rural area of southern Alabama. Information obtained in the 2000 Census
indicated a city population of slightly more than 21,000 people, while the number of
county residents is just over 43,000. From 1990-2000, the average annual growth rate
was 5.2%. The per capita income in 1999 was $20,493, while the median family income
was $45,510.
Regarding the specific school in this study, attempts were made to inquire of
teachers their thoughts about parent involvement, though the interviewer was not
afforded this opportunity. The information obtained was from the principal and assistant
principal.
Procedures
The interview included questions that were both qualitative and quantitative in
nature. The quantitative information assesses:
1. the size of the school;
2. the number of parent involvement hours in the school, and
3. the degree to which parent involvement may have increased as the result
of activities or information provided by the school.
The qualitative data seeks to:
1. develop a concept of what parent involvement is from the viewpoint of the
administrators,
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2. determine the factors that facilitate parent involvement from the viewpoint of
the administrators, and
3. determine the factors that inhibit parent involvement from the viewpoint of
the administrators.
Data Analysis
The quantitative and qualitative information will be summarized in an effort to
propose ideas for implementing and improving a parent involvement plan. The responses
of the two individuals will be compared and contrasted in an effort to gain a better picture
of their perception of parent involvement. This will assist in developing the parent
involvement plan.
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CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Demographic Information of Target School
The people providing information for this study were the principal and assistant
principal, both of whom have been at this school for one year. Elementary schools in this
area of Alabama incorporate Kindergarten through 6th grade students. On this school’s
website, their mission is noted as follows:
The mission of [this school] is to work with parents and the community to provide
students with a safe, comfortable learning environment, comprised of various
instructional techniques and a diversified curriculum. This will enable each child to reach
his or her maximum potential and to become a responsible citizen and lifelong learner.
There are approximately 450 students currently enrolled in the school. The ethnic
disbursement follows:
Caucasian 69.8% African-American 25.5% Hispanic 2.91% Asian 1.12% American Indian/Alaskan Native .67%
One hundred ninety-eight students (44%) qualify for free lunch, while 27 students
(6%) qualify for reduced lunch. According to the county school system’s website, a
student qualifies for free lunch “based on approved application or direct certification
under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).” The income level to determine a
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student’s eligibility for this is dependent on the income of the family relative to the
number of people in the household (Federal Register, 2006.) Detailed information
regarding family income and the highest level of primary caregiver education was not
available to those providing information.
Information Related to Parent Involvement Activities of Target School
Table 1: Respondents Estimation of Current and Desired Level of Participation in Parent Involvement Activities
Respondent 1 Respondent 2
Activity C1 D C D
Support tasks (gather resources, set up centers, arrange field trips, record tapes for learning centers, etc.) 12 2 1 2
Listen to children read in the classroom 2 3 2 4
Attendance at parent-teacher conferences 3 4 3 4 Coach in specific facts in the classroom (spelling, math, etc.) 1 2 1 4
Coach in specific facts in the home (spelling, math, etc.) 2 4 4 4
Caretaker helping their own child with homework in the home 2 4 4 4
Caretaker helping other students with homework in the classroom 1 2 1 2
Caretaker disciplining behavior problems in the home 3 4 3 4 Caretaker participating in extra-curricular activities on evenings and weekends (museums, community events, etc.)
2 3 3 4
Practice vocabulary with non-English speaking students in the classroom 1 2 1 2
Attendance at school events (concerts, plays, seminars, etc.) 2 4 2 4
Help organizing/supervising students before and after school (as they come off the bus, in the cafeteria, etc.) 1 1 1 1 1 C: Current Estimation of Involvement; D: Desired Level of Involvement 2 1: no time; 2: not much time; 3: some time; 4: a lot of time A list of parent involvement activities (See Table 1) was presented to the
respondents with the request for them to rate the current amount of time devoted to each
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activity, as well as the amount of time the administrators would desire be spent on each
activity. The rating scale was: 4=a lot of time; 2=not much time; 3=some time; and 1=no
time. Each activity will be considered individually.
The principal and assistant principal were in complete agreement on seven of the
12 items. Of these seven items, there were four on which they did not place much
emphasis in terms of having much time devoted to these activities. The first of these
activities on which there was agreement, but not much desire, was the degree to which
there is a need for “Support tasks (gather resources, set up centers, arrange field trips,
record tapes for learning centers, etc.).” Both respondents indicated there is currently no
time given to this activity, and did not feel this was a priority as indicated by their desire
to have only slightly more time (2) devoted to these types of activities.
The next activity on which they desired little emphasis was “Caretaker helping
other students [not necessarily in their child’s classroom] with homework in the
classroom.” Respondents noted no time devoted to this, and reported feeling not much
time is needed in this area. Both rated the desired activity level at 2, or not much time.
Both respondents gave the same ratings to the activity of caregivers helping with
“practice [of] vocabulary with non-English speaking students in the classroom.” Both
individuals indicated parents do not give time to “help[ing] organize/supervise students
before and after school (as they come off the bus, in cafeteria, etc.)”
Among the activities of which there is more desire for time is “Attendance at
parent teacher conferences,” where both reported there is currently some time devoted to
this, with a desire for a lot of time to be given to this activity. Two other activities in
which there is a desire for the amount of time to be increased to a lot were “Caretaker
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disciplining behavior problems in the home” and “Attendance at school events (concerts,
plays, seminars, etc.)” Regarding the former, both felt there is currently some time given
to discipline, while they feel there is not much time devoted to school events.
Another area of desire for increased participation was for caregivers to “Listen to
children read in the classroom.” Both agreed there is currently not much time devoted to
this, but both desired an increase. One person desired an increase to some time, while the
other wished for a lot of time to be devoted to this.
Respondents reported parents do not “Coach in specific facts in the classroom.”
One desired a slight increase, only to not much time; while the other administrator
wished there was a lot of time devoted to this. Similar coaching, but this time in the
home, was another area where there was disagreement. One respondent reported
currently a lot of time is devoted to this, and wished to maintain that; while the other
respondent perceived minimal time is given to this, but also desires a lot of participation
in this area. The same ratings were given for helping students with homework in the
home.
Finally, both respondents desired an increase in “Caretaker participating in
extracurricular activities on evenings and weekends (museums, community events, etc.)”
One reported current participation at not much time, while the other reported there is
some time devoted to this. Respectively, one reported an increase to some time and the
other an increase to a lot of time.
When asked what activities they felt were important that were not included in this
list, the only activity added was having parents be involved in “organizing fun events.”
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This is felt to be important because “Parents need to be aware and participate in their
child’s life.”
Table 2: Estimation of Current Level of Parent Involvement Percentage of Parents Involved School Grade
1 Grade
2 Grade
3 Grade
4 Grade
5 High (90% or more) Relatively High (70-89%)
Moderate (40-69%) Relatively Low (20-39%)
Low (0-19%)
Regarding an attempt to more specifically quantify the amount of time given to
parent involvement, respondents were asked to approximate the percentage of parents
who volunteer (See Table 2). The principal estimated it is about 10 hours per month,
while the assistant principal did not have an estimate. Both agreed that grades one
through three have a moderate level (40-69%) of participation, while the involvement
declines to relatively low (20-39%) in grades four and five.
Generally, both respondents agreed they do not feel the current level of parent
involvement is satisfactory. One indicated, “I would like for them [parents] to be more
involved so they can know better how to help their child.” The other reported, “I think I
should search for more ways for parents to volunteer so they can feel like an integral part
of the school.” In a related issue, it was reported that parents are not permitted to observe
their children in the classrooms without notice; however, they can join their children for
lunch without prior notice.
Neither reported that the school has a written policy on parent involvement.
Additionally, the principal reported she does not feel she has implemented any efforts to
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improve parent involvement. The assistant principal reported she has implemented
“parent workshops and surveys on what workshops they would attend.”
Information Related to Factors Influencing Involvement in Target School
Table 3: Factors Facilitating Parent Involvement Potential Facilitating Factors Respondent 1 Respondent 2 Frequent contact with parents initiated by teachers/staff
Providing child care for other children in the family Providing transportation for parents Providing some incentive for participation Providing flexible hours for in school involvement Working with parents to encourage home involvement (providing suggestions/guidance)
Respondents were given a list of potential factors (See Table 3) that may impact
parent involvement and asked to indicate the ones they feel facilitate involvement. One
respondent indicated “Frequent contact with parents initiated by teacher/staff” as the only
acknowledged facilitating factor. The other respondent indicated this, as well as,
“Providing some incentive for participation,” “Providing flexible hours for in school
involvement,” and “Working with parents to encourage home involvement (providing
suggestions/guidance.)” The school currently neither helps parents with transportation
nor provides incentives for involvement.
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Table 4: Factors Inhibiting Parent Involvement Potential Inhibiting Factors Respondent 1 Respondent 2 Parents feeling uncomfortable/unwelcome in school Stressful work schedule Too many other family/work obligations Inadequate transportation Being unaware of participation/involvement opportunities
In a similar list, respondents were asked to indicate factors they feel inhibit parent
involvement (See Table 4). Both felt there were multiple issues, sharing the belief that
“Parents feeling uncomfortable/unwelcome in school” and “Too many other family/work
obligations” were factors that may decrease involvement. The assistant principal felt that
“stressful work schedules of parents” contribute to the lack of involvement; while the
principal reported feeling “Inadequate transportation” and “Being unaware of
participation/involvement opportunities” were issues that may inhibit involvement. She
added she feels there is an effort to rectify the latter problem by sending “newsletters,
[communicating in] conferences, [making] phone calls, and [sending] notes” to parents.
When asked about additional factors not included in the list, she reported she feels there
is a “lack of interest from parents.”
When asked if they felt efforts to involve parents are successful, the respondents
disagreed in their responses. One reported she feels their efforts are successful “because
we do have parents attend assemblies.” The other reported lack of success due to “busy
schedules, lack of interest.”
Though there were only two respondents, much of the information shared by both
was consistent. For example, both felt that participation declines as children age, which is
consistent with literature previously discussed in this paper. Both were also in agreement
of a few of the factors that facilitate and inhibit involvement. The former being
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agreement that there is frequent contact initiated by teachers; while the latter agreement
was on the inhibiting factors that parents feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in the school
and having too many work or family obligations.
Though there were similarities in their responses, there was also disagreement,
particularly among the encouraging and inhibitory factors. For example, one respondent
felt there was only one factor that facilitated involvement, which was the frequent contact
with parents. The other respondent, however, endorsed three other factors that can
facilitate involvement. Though the numbers of items endorsed for inhibitory factors were
similar, both respondents shared only two responses.
Discussion
This project was developed with the objective of gaining information about the
perceptions of the definitions and needs of parent involvement within the school in an
effort to develop a plan to help the school implement and evaluate a more effective plan.
The information, though minimal, obtained from the administrators seems to indicate an
acknowledgement that there is room for improvement in the area of getting parents more
involved. To this end, there are several areas of strengths and weaknesses that will now
be addressed.
The primary strength of this study is that it is an effort at a beginning step to
address the definition and evaluation of parent involvement, as it applies to a specific
program need. Though there is considerable research in the area of parent involvement,
little is current, and there is even less that addresses the application and evaluation of
specific programs.
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A major limitation of this study is that it was conducted with information from
only two interviewees, both of whom were in administrative positions. As previously
discussed, efforts to engage teachers and parents in the information gathering process
were unsuccessful. This obviously limits the generalizability of the information,
especially given that research has shown that parents, teachers, and administrators often
have very different views of what describes a parent involvement activity. In addition,
this also warrants great caution if trying to utilize the information to establish a plan to
increase involvement beyond the school involved in this study.
Regarding the specific survey instrument used, this author found no established
example of a questionnaire addressing the specific needs of this study; therefore the
instrument presented here is a document created for this project in light of findings
established in the literature review, and formatted in a way to attempt to reach the ends
needed for this study. For example, as discussed in the literature review, there is evidence
that different entities in a child’s life conceptualize parent involvement activities in very
different ways, so the survey instrument utilized examples defined by parents, teachers,
and administrators.
Given these limitations, other strategies could be used to improve the research.
Ideal research would involve more input from a variety of sources, as well as seeking the
input in different formats. For example, survey information may be initially obtained, but
followed-up with interviews or focus groups to seek more specific information or
information not considered by the researcher.
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CHAPTER V: DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM TO BE IMPLEMENTED
The program proposed in this document is one that takes into account the
information gathered as part of the literature review (found in chapter II of this
document) and information provided by the respondents, in an effort to maximize the
potential benefit for the student, which would be the ultimate goal for any parent
involvement program. The first assumption is, ideally, that the distinction between
childcare and education be minimized or eliminated. That is to say, recognition that
learning started long before the child entered the school system, and occurs in all settings,
whether formally or informally (Zigler, Finn-Stevenson, & Stern, 1997)
Before a program can actually be implemented in the target school, the plan needs
to be a formally documented, written plan that outlines the goals of the program. This is
one area of weakness for this school, as there is not a formal, written plan. This makes it
more difficult for different entities to communicate about their efforts since each side
(administrators, parents, and teachers) may have different perceptions of goals and how
to implement strategies to meet these goals. Once a plan is conceptualized and written,
several involved parties, such as a selection of parents, teachers and administrators, and
possibly students, should review it in an effort to become aware of any discrepancies with
the majority population the school serves. For example, in the case of this school where a
considerable percentage of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, the possible income
limitations and related factors, such as possible dual income families or lack of
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transportation, need to be considered in terms of planning school programs and meetings.
In addition to trying to clarify problems, a written plan would also allow clearer
communication of needs and expectations of all parties. For example, one key
administrator felt parent involvement was satisfactory, while another did not. This
demonstrates, even with the limited information available, that there is lack of clarity
about the specific activities and goals of parent involvement. If this is the case among two
administrators, it stands to reason that the more people there is involved in defining
parent involvement, the more likely it is that there will be different needs and priorities
assessed by different entities. This divergence would be expected, and only highlights the
need to get information from as many individuals as possible. After all if two individuals
in a similar role have such diverse ideas, it would be expected that individuals in different
roles (i.e., parents, administrators, teachers, and students) would have different thoughts
about the specific activities involved.
Darch, Miao, and Shippen (2004) outline features they determined to be involved
in an effective parent involvement program. The first feature is that the program be
proactive. That is, that teachers make contact with parents prior to problems occurring in
an effort to establish positive, goal-oriented communication.
The second proposed feature is what Darch et al (2004) label the 180-Day plan.
This aspect acknowledges that the program should “adjust to the phases of the school
year, just like instructional and management programs” (p. 27). Their proposal is that this
is done in four phases: 1) development of materials for parent involvement that convey
philosophy and rules; 2) recruitment of parents to be involved, including linking parents
with specific activities; 3) development of strategies to maintain and grow parent
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involvement; and 4) assisting parents in make a transitional plan to the summer and the
next school year.
The third feature of their program outline is clearly explained goals. Their belief
is that if parents are kept informed of instruction and behavior management strategies,
especially anything “novel,” so that parents understand academic objectives.
Finally, the fourth feature of their program is attempting to accommodate diverse
families. Possible areas that can be addressed with diverse families when trying to engage
them include assessing family interests, collaborating with diverse families, assessing the
school’s and/or teacher’s attitudes about diversity, and family factors (e.g., religious
preferences, family’s perception of teacher, family’s understanding of discipline.)
Communication
Communication is a central issue to be considered when implementing a program.
Any correspondence sent home to parents should account for possible language
differences, as well as be in a tone that is not likely to be considered condescending to the
parents. This author proposes that all communication, whether written or verbal, should
attempt to invite a partnership, rather than be presented in a tone that implies significant
power differences in the relationship. This type of communication pattern would follow
the guidelines of those discussed by Swap (1993) in his curriculum enrichment model,
previously discussed. Its goal is to emphasize and optimize opportunities for parents and
teachers to learn about and from each other. The hope is for long-term, committed, and
mutually respectful relationships where parents have significant involvement in many
areas of education and daily activities, as well as decision-making responsibilities. It is
also important that the communication not only informs parents of school activities, but
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also seeks input from parents in an effort to maintain two-way communication that
facilitates periodic changes in the parent involvement plan. The two-way communication
invitation allows the school to maintain an understanding of changing priorities or
problems parents are facing in terms of trying to be involved in their children’s lives.
With the school being considered in this study, two-way communication seems to be
lacking, acknowledging the only noted effort of trying to seek information has been about
what types of workshops parents might be interested in. One problem noted was that
administrators feel there is a lack of interest by parents, and communication is one way
interest may be able to be increased, primarily by keeping parents more informed of the
different types of opportunities available to them, both at home and at school.
In an effort to determine the extent to which the goals are being met, this type of
communication needs to be evaluated on an ongoing basis by submitting brief
questionnaires to parents to determine their perception of any type of communication. It
would be best if these were presented to a third party, perhaps an administrator or teacher
not directly involved in the communication. It would also be beneficial if the evaluation
could be coded with an identifier other than the parents or students name. There may also
be qualitative evidence available in terms of the frequency or speed with which the
communiqués are responded. Another option would be to offer online surveys that would
provide anonymity, but allow school staff to be kept apprised of parents’ perceptions of
the types and effectiveness of communication.
School Sponsored Events
Generally, school sponsored events are a relatively common occurrence; however,
the degree to which parents participate depends on several factors to include the type,
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location, and the time of the activity. For example, in the National Center For Education
Statistics 1998 report on Parent Involvement in Children’s Education: Efforts by Public
Elementary Schools, it was noted that events involving interaction with teachers are
preferable to exhibits or demonstrations of students’ work. Their statistics also indicated
that open houses or back to school night types of events had relatively good participation.
For the school addressed with this program proposal, this is an area that would
need to be addressed based on the needs and preferences of the parents. Perhaps a
questionnaire or contact by the teacher early in the school year could elicit information
from parents about the types of activities in which they would like to be, or could be,
involved. Every effort would need to be made to attempt to offer activities at different
times of day in order to elicit the most participation throughout the year. For example, a
parent who might be able to attend a breakfast or lunchtime with their student may not be
available as easily for evening events.
It was noted by one administrator that there is a feeling that one inhibiting factor
is that parents do not feel comfortable or welcome in the school, as well as the fact that
parents are not permitted to observe their child’s classroom without notice. If open
admission (after appropriately checking in with office staff) is not an option, then this
author feels one option to bridge this gap would be to offer certain times on a weekly or
monthly basis where parents can observe their children in the classroom. This could
empower parents by making them more aware of the activities in which their children are
participating, as well as how their child is responding and behaving in the classroom
environment.
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Parent Participation in School Decision Making
In Parent Involvement in Children’s Education: Efforts by Public Elementary
Schools (Carey, Lewis, & Farris, 1998) report, it noted that schools tend not to consider
parental input to a great degree when making policy or education decisions for the
school. If parents are invited and encouraged to participate in school governance or
policy making, even if in limited areas, it could foster a stronger bond and more
involvement from the parents, in the opinion of this author. One possible way it is
believed this would increase involvement is that parents may feel their opinions and
interests are being respected by the school administration, leading the parent to feel more
investment in the issues. This may also serve to improve one of the problems noted by
administrators, that being that parents do not feel comfortable or welcome in the school.
Again, if parents if some investment in the planning of the activities that will take place,
even if not directly involved in implementation, then parents may feel more at ease with
their child’s education, and the role of the school, teachers, and administrators in that
education. The seeking of parent input may also alert the schools administration and
faculty to other areas that need to be addressed due to the differences in expectations on
the side of the parents versus the school.
Parent Volunteer Opportunities
Parent volunteer opportunities have the potential to offer chances for every parent
to be involved. These types of opportunities could be offered within the walls of the
school, as well as many chances to participate outside of the physical boundaries of the
school. Opportunities for increased involvement within the school noted by
administrators would be seeing more involvement by having parents come into the
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classroom to listen to students read, help with coaching specific tasks in the classroom by
acting in a teaching assistant/tutor type role, and attend extra-curricular school events,
such as plays and concerts. Opportunities outside the classroom would include fund
raising, attending community sponsored events or workshops that could facilitate the
parents understanding of developmental needs, or obtain assistance in how to better help
their children through the educational process. Specific areas addressed by administrators
included caregivers coaching in specific academic tasks in the home, exerting more effort
in discipline of behavior problems, and participating in extra-curricular activities. Both
the in-school and out-of-school opportunities bring back to light the importance of
communication. First, to inform parents of the importance of these activities; and second,
to insure that parents are aware of the options that are available to them.
Parent Resource Centers
Especially in the context of the latter goals discussed in the last section, parent
resource centers would also be an asset to achieving the desired end. The school being
considered in this proposal does not have anything of this nature available. It is important
to understand that the initial incarnation of the parent resource center can be very simple,
with the goal of becoming larger and more involved as parents become aware of its
existence and role. The first advantage is that these types of resources are an invitation to
the parents to come inside the school, that it is not just a place for them to leave their
children for a few hours. Again, this facilitates the idea of parents being comfortable
within the walls of the school, not that they are there because there is a problem with their
child. There would be both formal and informal activities at the Parent Resource Center.
For example, the center would start with a concept of simplicity of offering a library of
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resources parents could access any time during the day. Ideally, there would be someone
staffing the center who is knowledgeable about child development and the expectations
of the school. Of course, this could very easily be a parent who wishes to be involved.
Though the parent volunteer may not start with a wealth of knowledge in these areas, this
means he or she could serve as a model to other parents that it is acceptable to
acknowledge there are areas in which parents need to learn more and grow as a parent
facilitating their child’s education. As the center grows and is able to offer more formal
outreach, the centers would provide a hub to obtain information about what parents want
to learn and seek resources to offer classes or workshops for parents. It would also be
used as a central source to help link parents with community and social services that may
be beneficial to the family. This goal addresses the holistic nature of the issues involved
in education. That is, that family well-being and stability is as important as the parent
having the specific knowledge needed to help their child.
Parent Involvement in the Home
Resource centers would also be a source of information, to be sent to parents
about how parents can best help their children in the home environment. This would also
mean working directly with teachers to provide information to parents about the
curriculum being addressed in the classroom. Pryor and Church (1995) propose several
options for increasing this type of involvement. Among these are offering encouragement
for parents to give gifts of books and magazine subscriptions, and working with
community businesses to sponsor these resources for families who cannot provide them
for themselves. It is this author’s opinion that encouragement should be given to parents
not only to provide these materials, but become involved with the children as they engage
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in reading activities. Another of Pryor and Church’s suggestions that requires nothing
more than the parents’ attention and interest is to encourage their children to talk with the
parents about what they learned in school on any given day. If this is an area where
parents do not feel comfortable, it is another opportunity for the resource center to be
involved, either by modeling for the parents in family meetings, or providing less
interactive information such as newsletters or brochures, about different ways to
communicate with children, encouraging parents to be involved.
Any one of these components used individually would be a good catalyst for
sparking parents’ interest and increasing information, helping parents feel more
competent in being more involved in their child’s education. It is the hope of this author
that this school would seek to implement each of these strategies as a comprehensive start
to a structured, cohesive parent involvement plan. The outcomes of increased parental
participation are many, but the most notable are improved academic function and
awareness of the importance of education.
Given this information, an effort will now be made to use this template to define
more specific strategies that will be implemented by the school. First, crucial
characteristics that the program must have, as indicated by the literature review above,
will be discussed. Then the structure and process of the program will be described. This
will be followed by a description of the evaluation plan by which the effectiveness of the
program will be assessed.
Program Implementation
In an effort to exemplify implementation of a parent involvement program, the
above principles will be presented with examples of materials that would be used to
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implement the program in the target school. The first step for this school to implement a
structured program is to have a designated committee to gain information and coordinate
implementation of the program. A large portion of the task of this committee is to get
commitment from teachers and administrators to support a program to increase
involvement. Other key steps noted by Fager and Brewster (1999) include researching
parent involvement; designating someone to coordinate the program; assessing the needs
of the school; determining the scope of the program; considering parent strengths, as well
as student and parent diversity; writing a clear policy; and securing necessary funding for
partnerships. In an effort to assess the needs of the school for the current program plan,
one necessary step is to gain more information to specifically define parent involvement
from the perspective of parents, teachers, and administrators, as research has shown that
each entity has its own perception and understanding of what constitutes parent
involvement. Appendix A is an example of a memorandum and survey that could be sent
to parents early in the year. Appendix B is an example of a survey that could be given to
administrators and teachers, perhaps at the end of the school year so changes in the plan
could be discussed, evaluated, and planned for during the administrative time teachers
and staff have at the end of the school year. This survey also allows evaluation from year
to year in that it provides information regarding increases or decreases in involvement in
the context of the plan offered. As discussed in the communication section above, the
survey to the parents is worded as neutrally as possible in an effort to avoid the
appearance of making judgments about their involvement, or lack thereof. In the case of
this school, there is a minimal population of individuals who do not speak English as
their predominant language, so it would not be necessary to provide other translations to
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gain the most accurate, representative information possible. Though, in a more diverse
community, this would be an important consideration. Also as noted above, the goal of
the survey is to begin establishment of the idea that parent involvement is an invitation to
a partnership for the benefit of the child, not the benefit of the school.
Of course, communication would be an ongoing process as it is necessary in
coordinating other types of involvement. One way to maintain this ongoing
communication is to provide a periodic newsletter. Possible areas to be included in the
newsletter would be how the school is trying to improve discipline, student
accomplishments, new services or programs offered by the school or in the community,
upcoming school events, information about each grade level’s curriculum, and
information about after-school child care and/or tutoring programs. (U.S. Department of
Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1996) To increase
distribution of the newsletter, it could be offered on the school’s website, which is
currently functioning. If parents do not have access to a computer in the home, they could
receive the newsletter in a paper format or utilize the resources of the public library to
obtain the information.
Phone calls are another means of maintaining communication, though somewhat
more difficult in many cases, as coordination of teacher and parent schedules may be
difficult. It is often the case that even minimal contact can be beneficial because it
establishes a personal relationship between the teacher and caregiver. The topics of the
phone calls would be many, including updating parents on current classroom activities,
both social and academic; or informing the parents of a child’s good behavior or
progress. The 1996 report from the U. S. Department of Education also expresses the
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need for support from the school for this to be a successful component of the program.
For example, teachers need to be provided with the administrative support to gain
information to contact parents, as well as needing to be provided with the time necessary
to make the phone calls. If the teacher is open to contact from the parents by phone, this
could also be made clear in both written and verbal contact with the parents. That is, the
contact information such as phone numbers and times the teacher is available should be
provided in writing so the parent is not responsible for documenting this information
during a phone call from the teacher. However, during the initial phone call from the
teacher, they would need to be sure to address this contact policy.
The next area to consider is school sponsored events, as this continues to be the
most common perception of what parent involvement is. The number of options available
in this area is nearly limitless. What will be discussed here are examples of strategies that
could be implemented. As noted above, there are many factors that effect attendance at
these types of events. The first of these is the type of activity offered. It should be
something in which the caregiver can be easily involved, and the expectations should be
made clear in the information provided to him/her. For example, some parents may be
hesitant to attend if they had academic difficulties and fear they will be asked to
participate in academic activities, such as reading or tutoring. One option early in the year
is to do an open-house/back to school event. This can serve to inform parents of new
policies, curriculum choices, parent involvement activities, extra-curricular activities or
developmental information about their children as the child progresses. These would be
held in the early fall, soon after school starts. One idea for increasing attendance is to
bridge the child’s efforts with the need for communication, and have the child create an
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invitation to the event. To continue encouragement, there would be a poster project
contest that is collaboration between caregivers and children. Various topics could be
chosen, such as a thought about what reading means to life, what the family did over the
summer or what they hope to accomplish during the year. Parents would need to sign to
poster to demonstrate collaboration, and would need to attend the open house for the
poster to be judged. (General idea from Blendinger & Jones, 1992). In an effort to
involve more parents, a wide range of times could be offered for parents to bring the
poster submission. For example, a block of time in the morning, afternoon, and evening
may need to be offered to accommodate the most schedules. Of course, this type of
activity is intended to establish contact with parents, as well as familiarize caregivers
with the facility. Appendix C is an example of a handout that could be used to inform
parents of the activities. In planning this type of activity, it should also be accounted for
that many parents might not have their own transportation for such an event. Possible
solutions for this would be to provide public transportation, either by the school offering
to cover some or all of the cost for the transportation by providing vouchers. In many
communities, it may also be possible for schools to collaborate with public transportation
systems to offer discounted rates, though in the area of the target school public
transportation is limited. Another option might be to engage the school’s transportation
system, which could also serve the dual purpose of familiarizing caregivers with their
child’s transportation to school. Another variation of the traditional open-house held in
the evening would be to have a day set aside where parents could come into the school
throughout the day and into the evening. This would serve to facilitate increased
participation by allowing parents who work to come when it is convenient for them, as
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well as possibly being able to coordinate transportation with friends, if this is a limitation
for the family.
Other in-school activities would include periodic grade level breakfasts and/or
lunches, followed by a visit to the child’s classroom. To alternate between the two might
provide opportunity for more parents to be involved. The goal of these is to maintain
communication with the teacher, as well as perhaps have the parent involved in a
classroom activity to see what goes on in the child’s classroom, as well as giving the
parent an opportunity to observe their child in the classroom. Hellgate Elementary School
(Fager & Brewster, 1999) has a program of which the focus is to get parents into the
classroom. The guidelines they encourage are to avoid having parents placed directly in
the classroom, to avoid caregivers tending only to their student; as well as encouraging
parents to be involved in a grade one level higher than their student to give them
information about the types of things their student will be exposed to in the next year.
Ideally, a combination of these two would be the goal, as a combination would provide
current information about their child, while giving a perspective that could help the
caregiver encourage the student about their future.
To move beyond what might be perceived as “basic” activities, the school would
develop and present a series of workshops on child development, with a focus on
information for each grade level. Parenting skills, increasing positive social interaction,
encouragement of personal values development, or information about how parents can
help children with academic work would also be topics of workshops. To further
facilitate dissemination of this type of information, the school would develop alternative
ways for the parents to get the information. For example, workbooks or videos would be
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provided for the caregiver to access in their own schedule. Perhaps there could also be
time available for parents to contact school staff regarding questions about the
information, possibly through a telephone connection staffed by different teachers at
different times (Christenson & Hurley, 2002).
In addition to the opportunities within the school, there are many chances for
parents to be involved in their child’s education outside of those physical confines.
Among the most available, relatively simple activities in which a parent can participate in
the home is helping their child with homework. For parents who need assistance in this
area, the school may facilitate by providing information about the specific skills
necessary to complete the assignment. More generally, it can be helpful for the school to
provide a log detailing the assignment, which must be signed by the parent, in an effort to
keep both parties informed about the expectations. Help with how to influence children to
do their homework may also be helpful. A handout at the beginning of the year would be
sent to parents providing information about homework. Among topics to be addressed
would be the purpose of homework, days of the week to expect homework, the
approximate amount of time that would need to be given to homework, how homework is
evaluated, responsibilities for missed or incomplete assignments, and appropriate
involvement of parents (Blendinger & Jones, 1992). In addition to this handout, a sample
homework log would be sent to parents, informing them of the expectation that it would
be returned with the parent’s signature on a daily or weekly basis. See Appendix D for a
sample of this document.
Another strategy to help parents model the importance of education for their
children is for the program to offer adult education classes. This could be in the form of
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GED classes; specific skills to help with finding employment or progressing in their
current job, such as computer skills development, or resume’ production. The specific
topics could be decided by including a question about this in the survey in Appendix A.
Periodically throughout the year, further information could be sent out to remind parents
of these opportunities as well as evaluate the possible addition of classes.
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CHAPTER VI: PROGRAM EVALUATION
A general comment about the evaluation of these types of programs comes from
Doktor and Poertner (1996). They note there is little information about the evaluation of
family resource centers, specifically, but programs of the nature proposed here generally,
which is of course an important point. They note “related issues that are critical but that
have received less attention include universal access in light of high demand…, services
versus results…, and the implementation question” (p. 299). One of this author’s
interpretations of that information is that a true experimental design is difficult, as a
control group would require that some individuals are not privy to the services offered in
the plan. This would be unfair, and difficult to explain.
Another issue they raise is the question of whether the focus is on service, needs,
or results. They define services as “what we (professionals) do for children and parents”
(p. 300). With this definition, there is considerable flexibility in adaptation to fit the
needs of any given area, within the general proposal of the program, which coincides
with Doktor and Poertner’s idea of a need focus. That is to say that if there is an area
addressed that is not a need, then it would offer options for more emphasis in other areas.
One problem they propose with both service and need focus is that it detracts attention
from the results of the program. Ultimately, their belief is that a comprehensive program
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needs to focus on results. “Once we agree on results, we can productively discuss how to
achieve these results” (p. 301).
To that end, the goal of this program is, of course, to increase parent involvement.
However, this is not the end goal. Ultimately, the hope is that through implementing a
specific program to encourage parent involvement the true achievement is in improved
academic performance for the student as well as in improving behavior and parent-child
communication/interactions. In doing all of this, it gives the student more experiences to
develop their own sense of who they are, the value of education, and the knowledge that
their parents are invested in their lives. Because of this, it is necessary to use the multi-
dimensional nature of the effort to design a way to evaluate the effects of the program.
Therefore, several levels of evaluation would be necessary in determining the effect of
this program.
Each area of the program will be addressed at this point, with suggestions for
ways to evaluate the effectiveness of that component of the program. The first, and most
basic area is communication, as without this there would be no way to inform parents of
opportunities or new ideas. As previously noted, communication would be evaluated on
an ongoing basis, and can be accomplished in a variety of ways. First, brief
questionnaires would be given to parents to determine their perception of any type of
communication. (See Appendix A, last page). It would be best if it could be arranged for
these to be submitted by the parent to a third party, perhaps a designated support staff
person or drop box, in an effort to foster the parents feeling of anonymity. It would also
be beneficial if the evaluation could be coded with an identifier other than the parents or
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students name. There may also be qualitative evidence available in terms of the frequency
or speed with which the communiqués are responded.
In the area of parent involvement within the school, which would be activities
such as the open house and classroom activities, the first task would be to measure levels
of parent involvement in numbers of hours volunteered prior to implementing any type of
program. In this case, that could be accomplished by looking at information obtained on
the parent and school forms, as comparing the information from the two forms would
provide a general idea of the amount of time volunteered in specific activities. Even more
simply, it could be possible to draw detailed attendance numbers from past open houses,
school plays, and other similar types of activities. If there are increases in these numbers
following implementation of the program, it is a suggestion that the encouragements of
the program had an impact. To further evaluate this, it may be necessary to do brief,
random interviews with parents who attended the event to learn their reasons for
attending the events. Teachers would also note parents who did not attend and make an
effort to contact those parents to let them know they were missed and inquire about what
prevented them from attending this event. This qualitative information can be compiled
in periodic reviews of the program to determine changes that may need to be made in the
future.
Also in the area of school events, it was noted in the program implementation
section that offering transportation assistance could provide incentives for attendance. To
determine the actual use of this, there would need to be a person responsible for tracking
who was given transportation assistance, then following up to see if those parents
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attended the events. Obviously, if parents are not utilizing this options, it would not be
feasible to continue incurring the cost of this offering.
When attention turns to activities that require more direct participation from the
parent, such as workshops, helping with homework, asking the child about their day, and
participating in community activities, it gets considerably more difficult to determine the
impact of involvement. Immediate ways to determine involvement would be to maintain
attendance records for caregivers who attend workshops and other learning activities. If
the parents are engaged in activities outside the school, an attendance form could still be
maintained, and a copy requested with an explanation that it is in an effort to determine
the impact of the school informing parents of their options. On another level, evaluation
of what parents learn from the workshops or programs would need to be obtained. One
way to accomplish this would be to ask for completion of a pre- and post-test.
It would need to be determined whether or not parents would need to identify themselves
on these forms. The advantage to completing tests anonymously would be that parents
would not need to worry about their performance, or feeling they would be judged as a
result of what they do. The advantage to gaining identifying information would be so
that their child’s performance would be followed over time to begin to get an idea of
whether or not the workshops may be changing what parents are doing with their
children.
In a more general sense, longitudinal information about academic performance
would be followed. Case study information would be interesting, as it would allow a
focus to follow the specific changes made in a given family, such as differences in
parental and child behavior, as well as academic performance of the child. Without the
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case study focus, longitudinal information can also be accrued with the hope of noting
any general trends, such as increases in the number of parent teacher contacts, increase in
the number of hours volunteered, and an increase in the number of hours spent engaged
in educational activities in the home and community. The questionnaires in Appendices
A and B would be among the more concrete measures to evaluate these types of
activities. Specifically, the questions about amounts of time volunteered can be averaged
from year to year to determine any increases in actual involvement. As a means of cross-
referencing information, a questionnaire for children (Appendix E) would also be
utilized. The questionnaire was developed to coincide with the Activities section of the
Parents questionnaire. If this option were employed, the forms to the parent and child
could be coded to know which ones are from the same family. This could accommodate
individual evaluation to assess the consistency of the child and parent reports.
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CHAPTER VII: SUMMARY, LIMITATIONS, FUTURE DIRECTIONS
The intention of this study is to begin evaluation of the perception of what is
included in parent involvement activities in one school with the goal of developing and
implementing strategies to improve parent involvement among the parents of that school.
The proposed program discussed here is a beginning step to start a process that would
allow for an evolving program to meet the changing needs of the school.
The information obtained from administrators indicated agreement that there is a
general need for increased involvement, both within the school, as well as within the
home environment. Specifically, both respondents agreed about desired increases in the
following activities:
• support tasks. • listen to children read in the classroom. • attendance at parent-teacher conferences. • coach in specific facts in the classroom. • caretaker helping other students with homework in the classroom. • caretaker disciplining behavior problems in the home. • caretaker participating in extra-curricular activities on evenings and
weekends. • practice vocabulary with non-English speaking students in the classroom. • attendance at school events.
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The respondents were also in agreement that general levels of participation
decline as children progress through school. Both noted moderate levels of involvement in
the school as a whole, as well as in grades one through three. However, they noted the
level of participation declines in grades four and five.
The only factor that both respondents agreed may facilitate parent involvement
was “Frequent contact with parents initiated by teachers/staff.” One respondent, however,
also felt the following factors may facilitate involvement:
• providing some incentive for participation. • providing flexible hours for in school involvement. • working with parents to encourage home involvement (providing
suggestions/guidance).
When asked about factors that may inhibit parent involvement, there was
agreement on the following two points:
• parents feeling uncomfortable/unwelcome in school.
• too many other family/work obligations.
Other factors endorsed, each by only one respondent, were:
• stressful work schedule.
• inadequate transportation.
• being unaware of participation/involvement opportunities.
The program proposed in this project requires that the school start with
developing a formal, written parent involvement plan, as this was an area that both
respondents indicated as a weakness. Though they reported efforts to increase
involvement, they acknowledged there is no plan that communicates common goals to
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teachers and parents. The plan calls for simple communication in multiple forms to try to
reach the largest population possible. The plan also calls for school based activities to be
offered at different times of the day to accommodate the largest number of parents, as
well as to look at ways to alter traditional activities, such as open houses. As the
respondents noted there is little current involvement of parents in decision making
processes for the school, this is also an area addressed in the proposed program. As tends
to be the case with most areas of involvement, the more a parent feels they are included
in the process, the more likely they will be to engage in activities within the home and
school.
Implementation of a parent resource center is another facet of the proposed
program. This would eventually allow for a set entity to be the point of contact for
parents. Since it would ideally be coordinated by a neutral party, that is not a teacher or
administrator, it would help parents feel more open to coming to seek information about
school activities, as well as their child’s development. Finally, and perhaps most
importantly, opportunities for parents to be involved in their home and in the community
would be communicated with the emphasis on the importance of this type of
involvement.
A primary limitation of this project is that the needs assessment was conducted
using input only from two administrators of one school. In an effort to further and better
define needs, future efforts would need to be focused on obtaining information from a
wider range of those involved in students’ education, such as teachers, parents, and
students.
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Another consideration in this project is that the intention is for this to be a case
study, with an intensive focus on implementing a plan to increase this particular school’s
level of involvement. Therefore, if there were a desire for the school board to implement
a more global plan for the school system, then an effort would need to be made to
broaden the discussions based on this school to seeking information from across the
county. This would allow the school district chose to pursue the option of implementing a
district-wide involvement plan.
Despite the limitations of this specific study, it serves as a starting point in an
effort to better define parent involvement and offers components of a plan that though
tailored to a specific school should easily be altered to fit the needs of other schools. As
discussed throughout this paper, practically defining parent involvement can be a
challenge, and must be the initial phase of implementing plans in schools seeking to do
so. Plans can be made with relative and simplicity to plans that are far more detailed and
labor intensive, depending on funding and needs of a school. This author hopes that
through this research, administrators, teachers, and parents can be moved to increase
levels of parent involvement with the ultimate goal of improving children’s outcomes.
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References
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Balli, S. (1998). When mom and dad help: Student reflections on parent involvement with homework. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 31(3), 142- 146. Blendinger, J. G. & Jones, L. T. (1992). Putting parent involvement to work. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt. Boutte, G., Keepler, D., Tyler, V, & Terry, B. (1992). Effective techniques for involving difficult parents. Young Children, 47(3), 19-22. Bruneau, B., Ruttan, D., & Dunlap, S.K. (1995). Communication between teachers and parents: Developing partnerships. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming learning difficulties, 11(3), 257-266. Burke, Daniel. (1997). Looping: Adding time, strengthening relationships. Retrieved
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Chavkin, N. F. & Williams, Jr., D. L. (1989). Low-income parents’ attitudes toward parent involvement. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 16, 17–28. Christenson, Sandra L. & Hurley, Christine M (1997). Parents' and school psychologists' perspectives on parent involvement activities. School Psychology Review,26(1), 111-131. Clark, R. (1993). Family life and school achievement: Why poor Black children succeed and fail. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Comer, J. P. & Haynes, H. M. (1991). Parent involvement in schools: An ecological approach. Elementary School Journal, 91(3), 271-277.
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Greenwood, G. E. & Hickman, C. W. (1991). Research and practice in parent involvement: Implications for teacher education. Elementary School Journal, 91 (3), 279-289. Griffith, J. (1998). The relation of school structure and social environment to parent involvement in elementary schools. The Elementary School Journal, 99(1), 53-80. Hampton, F. M. & Mumford, D. A. (1998). Parent involvement in inner city schools. Urban Edcuation, 33(3), 410-428. Henderson, A. (1981). Parent participation-student achievement: The evidence grows.
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Powell, D. R. (1991). How schools support families: Critical policy tensions. Elementary School Journal, 91, 307-319. Pryor, C. (1995). Youth, parent, and teacher views of parent involvement in schools. Education, 115(3), p. 410 – 420. Pryor, C. & Church, B. (1995). Family-school partnerships for the 21st century. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 11, 297-303. Seefeldt, C., Denton, K., Galper, A., & Younoszai, T. (1998) Former head start parents' characteristics, perceptions of school climate, and involvement in their child’s education. Elementary School Journal, 98(4), 339-350. Sheldon, S. B. & Epstein, J. L. (2005). Involvement counts: Family and community partnerships and mathematics achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 98(4), 196-206. Singh, K., Bickley, P. G., Trivette, P., Keith, T. Z., Keith, P. B., & Anderson, E. (1995). The effects of four components of parental involvement on eighth-grade student achievement: Structural analysis of NELS-88 Data. School Psychology Review, 24(2), 299-317. Smith, E. P., Connell, C. M., Wright, G., Sizer, M., Norman, J. M., Hurley, A., & Walker, S. N. (1997). An ecological model of home, school, and community partnerships: Implications for research and practice. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 8(4), 339-360. Stallworth, J. T. & Willisams, Jr., D. L. (1983). Executive summary of the final report: A survey of school administrators and policy makers. From Parent Involvement in Education Project, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, Division of Family, School and Community Studies: Austin, TX.
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Swap, S. M. (1993). Developing home-school partnerships: From concepts to practice. New York: Teachers College Press. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children’s Learning. Swick, K. J. & Broadway, F. (1997). Parental efficacy and successful parent involvement. Journal of Instructional Psychology(24), 1. 69-75. United States Department of Education (1996). Reaching all families: Creating family-
friendly schools. Retrieved February 19, 2008, from http://www.ed.gov/pubs/ReachFam/oncom.html
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February 19, 2008 from http://www.ed.gov/legislation/GOALS2000/TheAct/sec102.html
Waggoner, K & Griffith, A. (1998). Parent involvement in education: Ideology and experience. Journal for a Just and Caring Education, 4(1), 65-77. Winter, M. M. & McDonald, Danica (1997). Parents as Teachers: Investing in good beginnings for children. In G. Albee & T. Gullotta (Eds.), Primary Prevention Works (pp 119-145). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Zellman, G. L. & Waterman, J. M. (1998). Understanding the impact of parent school involvement on children's educational outcomes. Journal of Educational Research. 91(6), 370-81. Ziglar, E. F., Finn-Stevenson, M, & Stern, B. M. (1997). Supporting children and families in the schools: The school of the 21st century. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 67(3), 396-407.
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Appendix A
Parent Letter and Form TO: Parents and Caregivers FROM: Concerned teachers and staff Since you are responsible for taking care of your student, you are being asked to complete the following survey. It is simply to get information about how you see your role in being involved in your child’s education. The information you give us will allow us to help you help your child. Please be honest. You are not being asked to provide your name, so there is no chance you will be connected with your answers. Please seal your survey in the envelope and return it to your child’s teacher, or to the front office staff.
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Parent Form Demographic Information
1. What is your relationship to the student? ______ Mother ______ Grandmother ______ Father ______ Grandfather ______ Other (please state how you are related to the child.) ____________________________________________
2. How long have you taken care of this student? __________years __________months 3. How many adults live in your home? ____________ 4. How many children live in your home? ___________ 5. How much money does your family bring in each month? (please include ALL income and remember we have no way of
knowing who this form belongs to): ____ less than $10,000 ____ $25,001 – 30,000 ____ $10,001 – 15,000 ____ $30,001 – 35,000 ____ $15,001 – 20,000 ____ $35,001 – 40,000 ____ $20,001 – 25,000 ____ more than $40,001
6. Please indicate your family’s ethnicity: ____ Caucasian ____ American Indian ____ African-American ____ Asian-American ____ Latino ____ Other (please say what you consider yourself) _______________
Activities 7. Please list the amount of time you might be able to be involved in these activities each month Time Activity ______ Listen to children read in the classroom ______ Attendance at parent-teacher conferences ______ Coach in specific facts (spelling, math, etc.) ______ Caretaker helping with homework ______ Caretaker disciplining behavior problems ______ Attendance at school events (plays, seminars, etc) ______ Practice vocabulary with non-English speaking students ______ Caretaker participating in extra-curricular activities (museums, community events, etc.) ______ Support tasks (gather resources, set up centers, arrange field trips, record tapes for learning centers, etc.) ______ Help organizing/supervising students before and after school (as they come off the bus, in the cafeteria, etc.) Please list all other activities you do with your child that are related to learning that are not included here, and the amount of time you spend doing each. Examples might be reading to your child, listening to your child read, letting your child help you with grocery shopping, etc. ______ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ______ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ______ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Are you satisfied with your level of involvement in your student’s education? _____ Yes _____ No 9. If you are not happy with the amount of time you spend involved at home and/or at school, do you want to raise or lower your amount of involvement? _____ Raise the amount of time by ____________ hours and/or ____________ minutes _____ Lower the amount of time by ___________ hours and/or _____________ minutes 10. If you would like to increase the amount of time you are involved, what else would you like to do and how much time would you like to spend doing it? ______ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ______ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ______ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 11. What, if anything, could happen to help you do these things? (Please check or add all that apply) ____ Increased invitations to help in the classroom by school workers ____ Help with transportation ____ Help with child care ____ School to offer some reward or benefit for my participation ____ School to provide more information about opportunities in the school ____ School to provide more information about things I can do at home ____ Other things not mentioned here, such as ______________________________________________________
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School Resources 12. How have you learned of opportunities for involvement in the past? _____ Letter from school _____ Meeting with your student’s teacher/s _____ Meeting with your student’s principal or counselor _____ From your Student _____ From another parent _____ Other _________________________________ 13. Have you ever responded to these opportunities with participation? _____ Yes _____ No If yes, what have you done? _____ Financial counseling _____ Child care _____ Family counseling _____ Individual counseling for child _____ Individual counseling for caregiver _____ Transportation _____ Holiday help _____ Support groups _____ Workshops. Which ones? __________________________________________________________________ _____ Other services? __________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 15. What things have you done that are not listed here?___________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 16. Has the school offered any assistance that allowed you to particpate? _____ Financial counseling _____ Child care _____ Family counseling _____ Individual counseling for child _____ Individual counseling for caregiver _____ Transportation _____ Holiday help _____ Support groups _____ Workshops. Which ones? __________________________________________________________________ _____ Other services? __________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 17. Has your student’s teacher done anything that makes it easier for you to be involved with your student? _____ Yes _____ No 18. If yes, what things has he or she done to encourage or allow this? ________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ________________________________________ ______________________________________________ 19. What things, if any, make it difficult for you to be involved in your student’s education? _____ I feel uncomfortable/unwelcome in school _____ Stressful/busy work schedule _____Too many other family/work obligations _____ Hard to get there _____ I don’t know what I can do _____ I don’t think I know enough to help _____ I have other children I can’t leave _____ Student’s teacher doesn’t think I’m important _____ Other problems ________________________ ____________________________________________ __________________________________________ ____________________________________________ 20. Are you satisfied with the efforts your child’s school has made to let you be involved? _____ Yes _____ No 21. If you were not satisfied, what could have made your experience better? ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________
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PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU
The time you have spent completing this form will be very helpful to us, and we thank you for doing it. In an effort to improve our communication in this new program, please answer the following questions about this form.
What could we have done to make this form easier? _________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
What questions, if any, were difficult for you to answer? _______________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you have information about parent involvement you would like for us to know, but we didn’t ask? ____________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
If yes, please tell us now. _______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
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Appendix B
School Letter and Form
TO: School Staff FROM: Parent Involvement Policy Review Board You are being asked to complete the following survey. It is simply to get information about how you see your role in being involved in your students’ education, as well as the role you see parents playing. The information you give us will allow us to help you help your students. Please be honest. You are not being asked to provide your name, so there is no chance you will be connected with your answers. Please seal your survey in the envelope and return it to [designated location, such as folder in Parent Resource Center].
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DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION 1. Position/Title of Interviewee
______ Administrative (principal, asst. principal, psychologist) ______ Teacher ______ Teacher’s assistant
2. How long have you held this role? __________ 3. Teachers, what grade do you teach? ___________ 4. Principals, how many students are in your school? ____________ How many teachers? ____________ Assistants? ____________ Student-teacher ratio? ____________ Teachers, how many students are in your class(es)? ____________ 5. Can you provide a demographic break-down of the students in your school/class, i.e. what percentage of students fit each category? Race/Ethnicity: _____ White _____ Latino _____ African American _____ Hawaiian/Pacific Islander _____ American Indian/Alaskan Native _____ Two or more races _____ Asian _____ Other Family Income: _____ Less than $20,000 _____ $60,000 - $69,999 _____ $20,000 - $29,999 _____ $70,000 - $79,999 _____ $30,000 - $39,999 _____ $80,000 - $89,999 _____ $40,000 - $49,999 _____ $90,000 - $99,999 _____ $50,000 - $59,999 _____ $100,000 or more
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PARENT INVOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES
6. Which of the following activities would you estimate currently have the most parent time put to them? Which of the following activities would you desire to see have the most parent time put to them?
4=a lot of time 3=some time 2=not much time 1=no time Current Desired ______ ______ Support tasks (gather resources, set up centers, arrange field trips, record tapes for learning centers, etc.) ______ ______ Listen to children read in the classroom ______ ______ Attendance at parent-teacher conferences ______ ______ Coach in specific facts in the classroom (spelling, math, etc.) ______ ______ Coach in specific facts in the home (spelling, math, etc.) ______ ______ Caretaker helping their own child with homework in the home ______ ______ Caretaker helping other students with homework in the classroom ______ ______ Caretaker disciplining behavior problems in the home ______ ______ Caretaker participating in extra-curricular activities on evenings and weekends (museums, community events, etc.) ______ ______ Practice vocabulary with non-English speaking students in the classroom ______ ______ Attendance at school events (concerts, plays, seminars, etc.) ______ ______ Help organizing/supervising students before and after school (as they come off the bus, in the cafeteria, etc.) 7. What activities are not included on this list in which you would like to see parents involved? a. ____________________________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8. What do you feel is important about these activities? a. ____________________________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 9. How would you currently rate the level of parent involvement in your school?
(percentage of caretakers involved) (Teachers, please use the “school” column to rate the level of parent involvement in your class.)
School Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 High (90% or more) ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ Relatively high (70% -89%) ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ Moderate (40% - 69%) ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ Relatively low (20% - 39%) ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ Low (0 – 19%) ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______
10. Principal: To the best of your knowledge, what is the approximate number of hours volunteered to the school, per month, by caretakers?__________ 11. Teachers: Please estimate the amount of time parents give directly to your classroom. ___________ 12. Do you find this level of involvement to be satisfactory? ______Yes ______No 13. If no, why not? __________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________
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14. If no, would you like to see it increase or decrease? ______Increase ______Decrease 15. Do you have a written policy on parent involvement? ______Yes ______No (Teachers, if the school has a policy, do you have any supplements you use?) If yes, please attach a copy to this survey. 16. If you have noticed more involvement from parents, what activities have served to initiate that involvement? ___________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 17. Do you feel your parent involvement plan could be adjusted to optimize parent involvement, either in the classroom, in the school, or in the home? In what ways? _________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 18. Have you implemented any efforts, as a teacher/administrator, to increase parent involvement? ______Yes ______No 19. If yes, what have those been?______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 20. Are parents permitted to come to school without notice to the teacher or administration to: Observe their child in the classroom or other activities? ______Yes ______No Have lunch with their child? ______Yes ______No
FACTORS INFLUENCING INVOLVEMENT 21. In your experience, what factors facilitate parent involvement? ______ Frequent contact with parents initiated by teacher/staff ______ Providing child care for other children in the family ______ Providing transportation for parents ______ Providing some incentive for participation ______ Providing flexible hours for in school involvement ______ Working with parents to encourage home involvement (providing suggestions/guidance) If you provide transportation for parents, how is this accomplished? ________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ If you provide incentives for participation, what do these include? __________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 22. Are there other factors you have seen or feel are important? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 23. In your experience, what factors inhibit parent involvement? ______ Parents feeling uncomfortable/unwelcome in school ______ Stressful work schedule ______ Too many other family/work obligations ______ Inadequate transportation ______ Being unaware of participation/involvement opportunities If you feel lack of awareness of opportunities is an issue, how do you try to communicate these to parents? ______________________________________________________________
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24. Are there other factors you have seen or feel inhibit parent involvement? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 25. Do you feel your efforts to involve parents are successful? ______Yes ______No 26. Why or why not?_________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________
27. Do you feel your parent involvement plan facilitates communication between you and parents? ______Yes ______No 28. How consistently do you feel they enforce or follow-up those objectives? i.e., is parent involvement a priority
given so many other priorities? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ 29. Do you have any additional thoughts or comments regarding parent involvement that have not been
addressed? ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________
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Appendix C
Open House Advertisement
What: In addition to our annual Open House, we are also offering a chance for you to help your student out. They have been given poster board for you to work with them on creating a poster about what you expect for the school year.
When: August 28 Time: We are hoping to have everyone involved, so we
will open our doors for you to bring your poster and visit our campus at the following times:
7:30 – 9:30 11:00 – 1:00 5:30 - 7:30 Where: Please check in at the front office to be directed
to your child’s class. How: If getting to the school will be hard for you, please
contact the office at 555-1234 for help with this.
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Appendix D
Homework Information Bulletin
Homework Help As your child’s teacher this year, I wanted to send this to you to help you understand homework. I know this is not a favorite part of most student’s (or parent’s) lives, but it is something that we have to do. Reason: There are a lot of reasons for homework. The main one is to help the students learn the concepts we are discussing in the class. With your input, homework can also help your child think about the information in different ways. Of course, it is also important for students to learn the importance of working individually. So, it is important for you to support and encourage your child if they are having trouble, but please make sure they are the ones completing their work. When: Most of the time, you can expect your child to have the following homework schedule: Monday: spelling and reading Tuesday: math Wednesday: science or social studies Thursday: reading and language skills Friday: no homework – Have a great weekend (Though there is no official homework on Fridays, the weekends are often a good time to find free or low cost activities you can do with your kids) Grades: Most of the time, homework will be graded and the grades recorded as part of the child’s overall grade in each subject. Points for simply completing the homework will also be given. Missed assignments: Any homework missed when the child has an excused absence can be made up within 1 week of returning from school. If there are planned absences, you can also get the assignments up to one week prior to the missed classes. Homework Log: With this information you will find a sample homework log, as well as a form that might help you plan homework time for your child. The homework log needs to be returned to me on Wednesdays and Fridays with your initials.
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Homework Assignment Log Student’s Name ___________________ Week_________ Subject Assignment Date
Due Teacher’s Initials
Parent’s Initials
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Homework Planning Schedule
Use this schedule to outline all of your child’s evening activities, including tv time, social activities, dinner, and family time. Don’t forget to make homework part of the routine.
Monday 3:00 _____________________________________ 4:00 _____________________________________ 5:00 _____________________________________ 6:00 _____________________________________ 7:00 _____________________________________ 8:00 _____________________________________ 9:00 _____________________________________
Tuesday 3:00 _____________________________________ 4:00 _____________________________________ 5:00 _____________________________________ 6:00 _____________________________________ 7:00 _____________________________________ 8:00 _____________________________________ 9:00 _____________________________________
Wednesday 3:00 _____________________________________ 4:00 _____________________________________ 5:00 _____________________________________ 6:00 _____________________________________ 7:00 _____________________________________ 8:00 _____________________________________ 9:00 _____________________________________
Thursday 3:00 _____________________________________ 4:00 _____________________________________ 5:00 _____________________________________ 6:00 _____________________________________ 7:00 _____________________________________ 8:00 _____________________________________ 9:00 _____________________________________
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For Friday through Sunday, make a plan for the weekend. Don’t forget about fun reading or doing art projects with your child. Friday Plan
Saturday Plan
Sunday Plan
It is important for you and your child to sign this and put it some place it can easily be seen on a daily basis to remind you both of the schedule.
________________________________ _____________________________________ Child’s Signature Parent’s Signature
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Appendix E
Student Letter and Form
TO: Students
FROM: Concerned teachers and staff
You are being asked to answer the questions on the next page. We are using it to get information about the kinds of things you and your parents do together. Please tell us the truth. No one will be able to know who completed what pages, so your teachers and parents will not know what your answers are.
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Student Form Demographic Information
1. Do you live with your: ___ parents (mother, father, or both) ___ grandparents (grandmother, grandfather, or both) ___ other family members ___ foster family 2. How long have you been living with the person who is taking care of you now? __________years
__________months 3. How many adults live in your home? ____________ 4. How many children live in your home? ___________
Activities 5. In the last month, has your caregiver done any of the following? Please check any of the things you have done together. ______ Visited your classroom ______ Helped you with homework ______ Punished you for doing something you weren’t supposed to do ______ Attended a school events (plays, seminars, etc) ______ Practiced vocabulary or spelling words with you ______ Taken you to the museum or other community events, such as plays, fairs, festivals ______ Helped your teacher, or other people at school ______ Helped with getting everyone where they need to go at school (bus, cafeteria) ______ Attended parent-teacher conferences ______ Helped you with your homework Please list other things your parents do with you. It might be things like reading to you, listening to you read, letting you help with grocery shopping, or cooking. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Would you like for your parents to do more to help you with your school work, whether it is at home or at school? _____ Yes _____ No 7. If you would like for them to do more, what could they do to help you? ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________
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APPENDIX F Ethics Committee Letter
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BIOGRAPHY
Nichole Heidelbach earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of
West Florida where she graduated in 1994. She then began her coursework for her Master’s
Degree at the University of South Alabama, and graduated in 1996. In the same year, Mrs.
Heidelbach began her work toward a doctorate at Spalding University. After completing her
internship in Gainesville, Florida, she worked as a therapist in a community mental health
facility in Clarksville, Tennessee. This dissertation is the culmination of Mrs. Heidelbach’s
work.