Strategies for Increasing Parental Involvement for Elementary School Students by Amanda N. Compton MEd, University of Memphis, 1991 BS, University of Memphis, 1982 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University August 2016 Students are more successful in school when their parents are involved in their education; This concept is especially true for students living in poverty. The school staff of the elementary school studied in this project study identified the need for improved parental involvement to help close the student achievement gap. In this explanatory sequential mixed methods study, surveys were used to determine the ways parents were involved in their children's education followed by interviews with parents to learn how the school could improve parental participation and family engagement. The research was based on Epstein's model of parent involvement, which includes 6 elements of parental involvement: family obligations, obligations of schools, involvement at school, involvement at home, involvement in decision making, and community involvement. The quantitative phase consisted of 76 parent surveys, and the qualitative phase consisted of 11 parent interviews at the school site. The data were calculated and coded according to the 6 types of parent involvement. From the descriptive statistics used to report the quantitative data, it was evident that all 6 types of parent involvement were important in engaging parents in the education of their children. Communication and learning at home were more of a focus in the qualitative phase of this study. The results showed that schools should plan more effectively to help parents understand how to aid their children at home and to communicate more effectively for purposes of improving student achievement. Professional development will result in positive social change by causing school staff to improve upon the practices they use to engage parents in schools. The improved family engagement will benefit students' academic abilities and social skills.

There is an abundance of literature examining parent-child relationships, and subsequently, parenting interventions that address these. The purpose of this study was to examine if positive and negative parental behaviors predicted externalizing behaviors in children. The following questions were addressed: (a) What are the types of positive interactions that Latinos parents engage in with their children? (b) Does a ratio of intervals of positive to intervals of negative parent behaviors predict externalizing behaviors in children among Latinos? (c) Do proportions of intervals of positive and/or negative behaviors predict a greater percentage of variance in child outcomes than does a ratio of intervals of behaviors in Latino families? Participants included 49 two-parent families with at least one child between the ages of 6 and 11. All participants were living in Puerto Rico at the time of the study and primarily spoke Spanish. Video recordings of parents interacting with their children in a variety of structured and unstructured tasks were reviewed, and 10 s intervals were coded as either negative (-), negative (+), positive or neutral. Results revealed (a) Latino parents engage in a variety of behaviors with their children, (b) a ratio of intervals of behaviors did not statistically significantly predict externalizing behaviors in Latino children, and (c) proportion of intervals of behaviors also did not statistically significantly predict externalizing behaviors in Latino children. In order to continue to inform culturally appropriate parenting interventions, it is imperative that more observational research be conducted with various cultures. It is important to look at the types of behaviors that parents from various cultures engage in with their children to inform adaptations of parenting interventions. The current study examined exclusively parents, however, future studied might also address extended family member, and teacher behaviors and interactions as well.

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Using coded data from parent-child interaction tasks and questionnaires, this longitudinal study examined the relationship between observed mother and father optimism and self-reported and observed optimism of their adolescent child one year later with mother and father involvement as mediators. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that while there was not a direct association between maternal optimism and child optimism, that father involvement mediated that relationship, and that father involvement further mediated the relationship between father involvement and child optimism.

Career decidedness at early stages produces positive effects on student performance, college completion, and professional development. Emerging adults are taking 5 to 10 years longer to make career decisions than non-emerging adults (Lehmann & Konstam, 2011). The purpose of this study will be to use quantitative and qualitative research methods to obtain a deeper understanding of parental involvement in college students’ career decision-making and its influences on their career readiness and development. College students will provide information on their parents’ involvement and influence during their secondary education. Ultimately, this research will identify how family influences the career decision-making processes and will educate professionals about how to incorporate the family as a way to avoid delays in the desired career paths of emerging adults. This mixed methods study investigated the influence of family on the career decisionmaking process among emerging adults attending a metropolitan university in the southeastern United States. It also sought to identify the nature of parental involvement in activities, academic achievement, choosing a major, and career choice in college students. The first two questions formulated the basis for quantitative research methods, and qualitative methods aided in exploring the third question. The Career Involvement and Influence Questionnaire (CIIQ) and the Career Development Inventory (CDI) provide the source of data collection for this study. The study yielded no significant relationship or differences among caregivers’ (mothers, fathers, and other caregivers) involvement in career decisions (CIIQ) or future influences and level of career iv decidedness (CDI). The qualitative results provided clarity as to some of the commonalities and differences that existed among responses of the participants. Implications of the findings refer to counselor education, clinical practice, and future research.

Due to changes in workforce structure, household structure and the nature of jobs, today's working adults face the challenge of balancing their work and life. However, employees do not only passively react to the incompatible demands from work and life - they are active agents who make decisions about their own total life. For example, individuals make decisions about the amount of energy that they spend on work/life (WL) activities. Thus, I write three essays to understand the antecedents and consequences of employees' personal resource allocation decisions. In the first essay, I study the decision itself. That is, I identify and examine four profiles of employees' WL behavioral involvement. The studied behaviors include job behavioral involvement, organizational citizenship behavior, and life involvement. In Essay 2, I examine the antecedent of the behavioral involvement decisions – WL value, which is expressed as centrality, importance, and priority. Although an individual's behavior is argued to be directed by value, it cannot be fully understood without considering the context. Thus, I examine the influences of three external factors, including financial pressure, job demands, and perceived organizational supportive culture, on the value-behavioral involvement relationship. In Essay 3, I focus on the consequences of individuals being involved in different combinations of WL behaviors. Based on the conservation of resource (COR) theory, I argue that individuals who allocate a great amount of resources to life are more likely to utilize WL benefits offered by the organization. Furthermore, understanding work-life balance (WLB) as a psychological construct, I argue that when an individual's behavioral involvement is consistent with their WL value, he or she is more likely to experience satisfaction with regards to his or her WLB.

As the Hispanic student population continues to increase at a rapid rate, schools in the United States are tasked with closing the achievement gap between Hispanic students and their white counterparts. Federal education policy and researchers alike call for schools to increase the involvement of Hispanic parents in their children's education as one way to close the achievement gap. This study focused on the involvement activities and barriers to involvement among a group of Hispanic parents in a rural school district in the state of Idaho. This study uses a qualitative approach to gather and analyze information from parents of 20 Hispanic families through semi-structured interviews. Interview questions covered participants' own educational experiences as children, their experiences with involvement in their children's schools, and barriers they perceived to involvement in their children's education. Findings from this study suggest that these parents' involvement activities are limited, with one exception being attendance at parent-teacher conferences.An unexpected finding of this study is the limited social networks among these Hispanic parents. Parents report having few relatives or friends with whom they associate or rely on for support. A second barrier to parent involvement identified in this study is the language barrier. Parents report difficulty communicating with schools when interpreters are not made available and communication with their children's teachers are limited to notes home and at parent-teacher conferences. Other barriers to involvement include these Hispanic parents' limited education in Mexico, differences between involvement activities in Mexico and the United States, and parents' current life circumstances such as lack of transportation and working jobs that do not allow time off for involvement at the school during the school day. Overall, findings suggest that Hispanic parents in rural school settings face unique barriers to involvement in their children's education. Implications for schools are proposed such as creating opportunities for parents to interact with one another and with teachers and also making interpreters available at the school for times when Spanish-speaking parents visit the school.

Parenting practices have great influence over a child’s behavior. Specifically, parental involvement may protect children from developing problem behaviors during their development. A strong parent-child relationship may act as a preventative measure towards development of disruptive behavior into emerging adulthood (i.e., 18 to 25 years). The current study aimed to examine the effects of parenting practices and parental involvement on emerging adult outcomes. Results indicated that parental involvement and parenting styles were negatively correlated with disruptive behavior, parenting styles and parental involvement were positively correlated with one another, and females tended to perceive higher levels of involvement from mothers. In addition, it was found that parenting styles and disruptive behavior were accounted for through parental involvement. Child disclosure also was associated with lower levels of disruptive behavior, whereas parental solicitation was found to be associated with higher levels disruptive behavior.

The purpose of the study was to find out if there is a significant amount of involvement among workforce personnel and to try to identify the types of activities that were most prevalent. The study attempted to gauge community and economic development involvement by surveying participation in a variety of programs. The following organizations were studied: The State Board for Community and Junior Colleges, The Mississippi Manufacturers Association, The Mississippi Entrepreneurial Alliance, The Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Mississippi, The Society for Human Resource Managers. Over two dozen other organizations were also included in a survey along with data from the federal Workforce Investment Act, the Mississippi Legislative Accountability Report, and the corresponding WIN Job Centers. The following research questions were used in the study: 1. Are community college’s actively encouraging their workforce personnel to be involved in statewide groups and local civic organizations? 2. Do community college workforce personnel actively engage in meeting with, or serve in leadership roles in, statewide groups and civic organizations? 3. Are community college workforce personnel actively engaged in working with the Workforce Investment Act (W.I.A), and their respective local WIN Job centers? 4. Do demographic variables affect the level of involvement with local civic groups, state-wide economic development groups, WIN Job Centers, or the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges? 5. Do community college workforce personnel work with businesses in their district in addition to the traditional state training contracts they may administer? The study supported the following conclusions: 1. Community colleges are not actively encouraging their workforce personnel to be involved in statewide groups and local civic organizations. 2. College workforce participation in statewide associations designed to promote community and economic development is low. 3. Community colleges do a very good job of partnering and embracing the concept of taking the colleges’ programs to the community through the medium of the WIN Job Centers 4. There is a strong commitment to businesses in the local community college district.

Results indicate that structural factors are highly predictive of paternal commitment and paternal involvement among low-income African American fathers, thus lending strong credence to the structural barriers perspective. Moreover, while findings also indicate that several cultural factors are associated with paternal involvement (e.g., attitudes toward single motherhood and low self-efficacy), they are at odds with the cultural deficiency perspective. These results have both theoretical and policy implications. With respect to fatherhood theory, findings derived from this research call for a much-needed theoretical integration in studying paternal commitment and paternal involvement among low-income African American fathers; that is, to synthesize and integrate a structurally sound theory with a culturally sensitive approach, such as the cultural resiliency perspective. This research also suggests that public policy-makers should be aware of the adaptive strategies that many low-income African American fathers employ in order to be actively involved with their children, especially those who are young.