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The purpose of this study was to investigate parents' involvement in secondary student education. In addition, the relationship between school leaders use of selective educational leadership theories to enhance parental involvement were explored. The participants consisted of 200 parents of freshmen students at two different high schools in Southern Arizona. The participants completed a survey instrument.Pearson Product Correlations were used to investigate the effects of gender of the student, grades of the student, and educational level of the parent on the parent perception of the school, parental involvement at home, and parental involvement at school. The results were disaggregated by ethnicity.There was significance found with the parents of Hispanic students. These parents were significantly more involved with their sons at the school and the higher educated the parents were, the more significantly they were involved at the school. Data from the open-ended question section of the survey instrument revealed the need for communication between parents and school.The overall findings from this study suggest the importance of building partnerships between parents and school and the manner in which education leaders can employ various educational theories to support the implementation of successful home/school partnerships.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Needs at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2015 / There is compelling evidence that parental involvement positively influences children‟s academic achievement. Its benefits occur across all socio-economic classes. This study sought to establish parental involvement in grade 7 learners‟ achievement in Empangeni in the uMhlathuze District, KwaZulu-Natal. The attribution theory was used not only to substantially explain the status of parental involvement in uMhlathuze District, but also to generate strategies to promote parents‟ participation in their children‟s school education. Open-ended questions for school management teams and for parents were used in this study covering three primary schools in three settings. Respondents were selected through the use of random sampling in the three schools (one rural school, one township school, and one multiracial school). A total of 75 participants were selected. This study confirms that parental involvement has an effect on learner performance. The empirical findings indicate that parental involvement alone is not sufficient in the achievement of learners. It can therefore be concluded that parental involvement alone does not lead to the improvement of learner achievement. There could be other factors associated with academic achievement such as learner motivation, Intelligent Quotient (IQ), Emotional Intelligence/Quotient (EQ) and teachers‟ support which could also be at play. It seemed to be the case that children coming from rural schools sometimes do not perform well because they lack facilities and infrastructure. However, no such research analysis has been undertaken to support or disprove this hypothesis. This study recommends further investigation as this can be another gap that needs attention from researchers in the field.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters Of Education in the Department of Foundations Of Education at the University Of Zululand, 2018 / The literature reveals that if schools lack parental involvement, effective management suffers significantly causing shortcomings in school governance and academic progress. The literature also shows that there exists a relationship between parental involvement and learner‟s academic achievements. It provides that learners whose parents care about their academic progress are likely to perform well on academic activities because such parents often communicate their wishes to children. This study is aimed at investigating stakeholders‟ perspectives on parental involvement in governance and schooling in Hlabisa Circuit schools. The theoretical framework from Epstein‟s theory of overlapping spheres of influence was used but not confined thereto; therefore, supporting theories relevant to this study were also applied. This study used a mixed methods research paradigm which integrates qualitative and quantitative designs as this approach provides convenience for data collection. The data was collected from respondents (educators and SGB members) using questionnaires and interviews. The research findings revealed that due to poor parental involvement in school governance, learners have developed errant behaviour. This emerging trend has triggered poor academic performance which taints the name of the school and the circuit in general. The results also show that if parents are inactive in school governance, poor academic performance is likely owing to the lack of parental guidance. The empirical findings noted educators‟ challenges on attendance of parent meetings, classroom management, learner discipline, effective school management, academic challenges and performance, accessibility of schools, parenting role, stakeholder communication, as well as curriculum and school-work. The SGB members noted challenges on effective involvement in leadership; instructional leadership; behavioural challenges in schools; management of school as an institution; shortcomings on academic resources provision; unemployment, poverty and school remoteness; parental obligations; home-school partnerships; and monitoring of the child‟s academic progress. The study concluded that parental involvement in school governance is not effective and therefore cripples the effect it should be having on schooling, which is academic performance in this context. The study ultimately recommends that SASA, NEPA, SACE and other relevant policies in education should be reviewed to enforce educators‟ authority in schools.

Family Engagement is an imperative practice to ensure sustainable success in schools. Extensive research has been conducted on the effectiveness of family engagement practices in schools. Family Engagement's successes have been acknowledged: however, upon deeper examination of the research, it can be concluded that many family engagement practices are not effective in all schools. This is due to the demographic profile of the schools where research was conducted. This basic qualitative study was conducted at a diverse and rural Title I school. The following research questions guided the study: what family engagement practices do parents, teachers, and administrators indicate the school is implementing? What practices are perceived by parents, teachers, and administrators as effective family engagement practices? What else do parents, teachers, and administrators indicate the school should be doing to support family engagement? Parents were stratified into groups based on their declared race, while teachers were stratified by experience. Two administrators were also interviewed. Data from the interviews were coded and reviewed to see what the stratified groups perceive as successful family engagement practices. Findings from this study indicated that one-and-done family engagement events were the most prevalent method of family engagement. School leaders should consider the variety of these events and involve parents in the planning of such events. Parents also identified communication and relationship building as the basis of strong family-school partnerships. Leaders need to ensure that many opportunities for relationship building exist and a proactive approach is taken regarding communication with families. Participants identified that accessibility to family engagement events was necessary. Leaders must consider the scheduling of such events and increase the variety of times they are scheduled. Participants also identified communication as the most significant need from Country Elementary School. Leaders need to ensure multiple methods of communication are used and language barriers are eliminated. / Doctor of Education / Family Engagement is an important practice to ensure student achievement and overall success of schools. There is already an extensive body of research proving family engagement's effectiveness. However, newer research indicated that not all schools are benefiting from these engagement practices. This is mainly due to the population of students and families at the schools where the initial research took place. This basic qualitative study takes place at a rural Title I school and answer the following research questions: what family engagement practices do parents, teachers, and administrators indicate the school is implementing? What practices are perceived by parents, teachers, and administrators as effective family engagement practices? What else do parents, teachers, and administrators indicate the school should be doing to support family engagement? Parents, teachers, and administrators were participants in interviews to collect data to answer those questions. Findings from this study indicated that one-and-done family engagement events were the most prevalent method of family engagement. School leaders should consider the variety of these events and involve parents in the planning of such events. Parents also identified communication and relationship building as the basis of strong family-school partnerships. Leaders need to ensure that many opportunities for relationship building exist and a proactive approach is taken regarding communication with families. Participants identified that accessibility to family engagement events was necessary. Leaders must consider the scheduling of such events and increase the variety of times they are scheduled. Participants also identified communication as the most significant need from Country Elementary School. Leaders need to ensure multiple methods of communication are used and language barriers are eliminated.

Parents often perceive schools as the sole educator of their child when in actuality the school prefers parents to be involved as partners in the learning process (Comer and Haynes, 1991). Likewise, schools make the assumption that parents realize their role in the learning process, but do not effectively communicate the partnership to parents, and misconceptions about the parents and teachers roles and behaviors arise. Research has shown that both schools and parents have a major influence on children as they develop and that they learn best when schools and parents work together (Comer and Haynes, 1991). The purpose of this study was to examine parent and teacher perceptions of effective communication. This was a non-experimental quantitative study that compared the differences between parents' and teachers' perceptions of effective communication. The study consisted of a survey for parents and teachers on a Likert scale. The survey data were compared through the use of the t-test statistic and a One-Way Analysis of Variance. The information discovered in this study will allow the researcher to bridge the learning gap regarding how parents and teachers can actively participate in the effective communication process to enable both parties to send and receive messages and limit the amount of misunderstanding on educational topics relating to students. This information will be provided to principals and school leaders in order to better manage the communication process between parents and teachers to include the information, attitudes, and perspectives that exist, thus, impacting student achievement and school success. Findings included identified differences between parent and teacher perceptions regarding the effectiveness and frequency of communication, and difference between teachers at the two schools and between parents at the two schools. / Ed. D.

Using Delgado-Gaitan and Trueba’s (1991) empowerment/disempowerment definition as a framework, this dissertation investigated how Korean immigrant mothers perceived and practiced parental involvement in their children’s schooling, and how an empowerment/disempowerment process occurred during their involvement. To inquire into the research questions, this study used the qualitative case study method, and five Korean immigrant mothers were the cases. The interview method was used to gather data, and an unstructured interview protocol, as well as a semi-structured interview protocol, was used for the interviews. Each mother was interviewed three times. From this study, I found these things: For the concept of schooling, all the Korean mothers in this study agreed that schooling is all activities relevant to acquiring abilities related to having a better school life, and that the concept of parental involvement includes all the activities to support their children’s schooling, regardless of activity types. In a comparison of their beliefs and their practices for involvement, they show accord in terms of the comprehensive nature of parental involvement. However, there were also discrepancies between their perceptions and practices of involvement. To get an understanding of the discrepancy issue, their involvement experiences were explored, based on an empowerment/disempowerment framework. The Korean immigrant mothers showed distinctive features in empowerment and disempowerment while they were involved in their children’s schooling. First, they felt contradictory feelings—guilt and pride-- toward their identity, and this influenced their empowerment and disempowerment. The second feature was the struggles that the Korean immigrant mothers reported: cultural differences, exclusion, and a lack of English skill for involvement. Last, the most salient feature to influence their empowerment/disempowerment was the standard they were using to evaluate their involvement. These findings were discussed in terms of the features of empowerment/ disempowerment and the factors that influenced their empowerment and disempowerment. The Korean mothers’ standard of evaluation was discussed in depth, since it was determined to be the most basic issue to impact their empowerment/ disempowerment experiences. Based on the findings, this dissertation concluded with presenting implications for teachers, educational administrators, and Korean immigrant mothers themselves, and with suggestions for future research. / text

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This study evaluated a model of parent involvement in secondary special education and transition planning and identified motivators affecting a parent’s decision to become involved. Survey data were collected from a national sample of 300 parents of transition-age youth with disabilities. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis indicated the model fit the data for this sample. Four motivators were associated with parental decisions to become involved: Child invitations for involvement were associated with home, school/agency and future planning involvement. Teacher invitations and time and energy were associated with school/agency involvement, and role construction was associated with home involvement. Age, disability type, and SES impacted motivators of involvement. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

abstract: ABSTRACT Parental involvement is vital to student success academically as well as socially (Jeynes, 2007; Kim & Hill, 2015). The purpose of this mixed-methods action research study was to examine the perceptions of parental involvement of parents and teachers in a Title I school. A training session intervention, Social Hour, was designed using the Heath and Heath change model (2010) to create an opportunity to learn about parental involvement and educate the school community on the Epstein’s six-types of parental involvement (Epstein, 1987). The goal of the Social Hour workshop was to address the challenges and barriers to parental involvement, previously listed in the literature. Using the lens of Critical Race theory (Blalock, 1967) ensured that the research gives a voice to those who are often marginalized while also helping parents and teachers build a relationship of trust and understanding using principles of Community of Practice (Wenger, 2009). The results of this study indicate that Social Hour-type learning events are significant in the change to perceptions of parental involvement. The participants had a lower level of confidence at the beginning of the session than at the end. Additional qualitative results also suggest a change in attitude after attending the Social Hour. Participants noted they had more energy about parental involvement and were encouraged that parental involvement does not require them to volunteer more; that it is more about being engaged in their child’s education. Overall, participants reported an increase in confidence and had a positive view of parental involvement based on attending the Social Hour workshop. Keywords: Parental involvement, Critical Race theory, Epstein Six Types of Parental involvement / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2020