Thesis advisor: Curt Dudley-Marling / Improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities remains a challenge for professionals in the field of special education. With the passage of <italic> NCLB <italic/> and <italic> IDEA 2004 <italic/> has come the recommendation to establish higher standards for educational productivity for these students. This call to action seems warranted, especially in light of recent findings published in a report by the U.S. Department of Education (2002) entitled <italic>A New Era: Revitalizing Special Education for Children and Their Families <italic/>. The report suggests that students with disabilities drop-out of high school at twice the rate of their peers and higher education enrollment rates for students with disabilities are 50 percent lower than rates for the general population. Recent literature indicates that improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities depends in large part on creating constructive partnerships between their families and schools. The present study contributes to the knowledge base on partnership-making by investigating family-school partnerships in special education from the perspective of parents. This study utilized the qualitative methodology known as narrative inquiry to investigate the following research questions: 1. What stories do parents tell regarding their personal experiences with the special education process? 2. What do these stories tell us about the family's perspective of family-school partnerships in special education? 3. What can we learn from these stories that might translate into effective policy and practice in schools? Findings from interviews with fourteen parents of students receiving special education services indicated that they were concerned about issues of teacher effectiveness, honesty and trust, and their role in securing services for their children. Knowledge derived from their experiences offer suggestions for schools, institutions of higher education, and future researchers. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how elementary teacher preparation programs (TPPs) in Virginia are preparing undergraduate students to engage with families in developing family-school partnerships. Preservice teachers are completing their TPPs with little to no coursework or field experiences working with families (Epstein and Sheldon, 2023; Patte, 2011; Walker and Dotger, 2012; Zygmunt-Fillwalk, 2011). Previous research suggests beginning teachers are entering the field having had limited opportunities to develop their knowledge, skills, and practices for family engagement. This qualitative study involved one-on-one interviews with nine professors or program coordinators from the undergraduate elementary education teacher preparation program at seven public four-year institutions in Virginia. Interview questions sought the perceptions, coursework, and practices of family engagement that are used to prepare elementary teachers to communicate and establish a welcoming culture for families of their students. Interview data was analyzed through the Data Analysis Spiral process using descriptive coding and theming as primary coding methods. The outcomes of this qualitative study indicated that while professors value family engagement concepts such as school and community partnerships, communicating with families, and culturally responsive work, limited opportunities continue to exist for direct instruction and preservice teacher practice in partnering with families. Implications included suggestions for increased coursework in family engagement with direct instruction and hands-on opportunities for preservice teachers to engage with families, revisions to elementary education program plans of study, and the inclusion of required family engagement coursework for licensure. / Doctor of Education / Preservice teachers are completing their teacher preparation programs (TPPs) with little to no coursework or field experiences working with families. Previous research suggests beginning teachers are entering the field having had limited opportunities to develop their knowledge, skills, and practices for family engagement. The purpose of this study was to investigate how elementary TPPs in Virginia are preparing undergraduate students to engage with families in developing family-school partnerships. To identify program coordinator and professor perceptions and practices to prepare teachers to engage with families in family-school partnerships, a basic qualitative methodology was employed. Individual online interviews were conducted with nine program coordinators and professors from the undergraduate elementary TPP at seven public four-year institutions in Virginia. Interview data was analyzed through the Data Analysis Spiral process using descriptive coding and theming as primary coding methods. The outcomes of the study indicate that while professors value family engagement concepts such as school and community partnerships, communicating with families, and culturally responsive work, limited opportunities continue to exist for direct instruction and preservice teacher practice in partnering with families. Implications included suggestions for increased coursework in family engagement with direct instruction and hands-on opportunities for preservice teachers to engage with families, revisions to elementary education program plans of study, and the inclusion of required family engagement coursework for licensure.

L’implication parentale est une composante indispensable à la collaboration école-famille (ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport [MELS], 2009 ; Larivée, 2011). De plus, plusieurs enjeux demandent une adaptation chez les familles immigrantes et les familles ayant un enfant avec TSA. Lorsqu’une famille fait face à ces deux situations (immigrante et ayant un enfant avec TSA), celle-ci fait face à un double défi. Cette recherche porte sur l’implication parentale, sur celle des parents issus de l’immigration et ayant un enfant avec TSA. L’objectif principal est de mieux comprendre les pratiques parentales que les parents utilisent pour s’impliquer dans la scolarité de leur enfant. Trois objectifs spécifiques permettent d’y répondre. Le premier sert à décrire les pratiques d’implication parentales des parents issus de l’immigration et ayant un enfant avec TSA (Objectif 1). Le deuxième sert à décrire les stratégies d’adaptation que les parents utilisent au travers des pratiques d’implication parentales (Objectif 2). Le troisième sert à décrire les facilitateurs et les obstacles à leurs différentes pratiques d’implication parentale, selon ces parents (Objectif 3). En suivant une méthode qualitative interprétative, un entretien semi-dirigé a été effectué avec quatre participantes. Les données ont été analysées avec une analyse thématique et un codage ouvert. Les résultats ont montré que les pratiques parentales amenant l’implication à la maison sont souvent utilisées par la majorité des participantes, alors que celles impliquant les parents à l’école sont les moins utilisées. De plus, nous voyons que la relation avec l’école, le soutien social et l’état mental des parents peuvent grandement influencer l’implication parentale des parents. / Parental involvement is essential for family-school partnerships (ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport [MELS], 2009 ; Larivée, 2011). Additionally, several issues require adaptation among immigrant families and among families with an autistic child. When a family faces these two situations (being immigrant and having an autistic child), their challenges double. This research focuses on parental involvement, particularly that of parents with an immigrant background and an autistic child. The main objective is to better understand the parenting practices that these parents do to be involved in their child’s education. Three specific objectives are used to answer the main goal. The first one is used to describe the parental involvement practices of parents with an immigrant background and an autistic child (Objective 1). The second one allows us to describe the adaptation strategies that parents use through parental involvement practices (Objective 2). The third one is used to describe the facilitators and obstacles to their different parental involvement practices, according to these parents (Objective 3). Following an interpretive qualitative method, a semi-structured interview was carried out with four participants. Data was analyzed with thematic analysis and open coding. The results showed that parental practices applied at home are used by most of the participants, while those involving parents at school are the least used. In addition, we see that the relationship with school, social support and the mental state of parents can greatly influence parents' parental involvement.