Date of Award

1-2011

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership, Research and Technology

First Advisor

Dr. Jianping Shen

Abstract

Parental involvement has been emphasized as a mechanism for improving our public schools. In this study the author inquired into (a) the trend and status of parental involvement and (b) whether parental involvement is associated with schools meeting accountability measures. Secondary analyses were conducted on multiple waves of nationally representative data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) School and Staffing Surveys (SASS). Descriptive statistics, discriminant function analysis, logistic regression, among others, were used for the study.

The analyses on the trend and status of parental involvement indicated that there was a statistically significant increase in parental involvement over the years. The analyses also suggested that there were statistically significant variations in parental involvement for schools in various census regions, with various levels of minority enrollment, and at elementary and secondary levels.

As to the association between level of parental involvement and meeting accountability measures, logistic regression analyses indicated that, with control for school level and demographics, involvement in (a) "setting performance standards for students of this school" and (b) "evaluating teachers of this school" was positively correlated with meeting accountability measures, whereas parental involvement in (c) "deciding how your school budget will be spent" was a negative predictor. As to the association between the availability of parental involvement mechanisms and meeting accountability measures, the analyses indicated that with control for school level and demographics, the availability of (a) "parent/guardian workshops" and (b) "requirement that teachers provide suggestions for activities that parents can do at home with their child" was positively correlated with meeting accountability measures, whereas the availability of (c) "a parent drop-in-center or lounge" was a negative predictor.

In summary, findings of this study revealed that parental involvement has improved in our public schools over the years, and that parental involvement could be a double-edged sword—parental involvement could both help and hurt schools depending on the areas in which parents are involved. The findings have implications for teachers, administrators, parents, policymakers and others when developing strategies for parental involvement.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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