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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements of the Masters Degree in the Department of Sociology at the University of Zululand, 2004. / Previously in the early fifties, education was based on racial inequality and segregation. The perspective on school development through partnership in education with parents as a community changed after the democratization of S.A in 1994. Previously in 1984, parents were not fully involved in the education system. After 1994 election the culture of learning and teaching was launched, Parents, educators, non-educators and learners were involved in education. School Governing bodies were elected. They were formed by all stakeholders i.e. parents, educators, non-educators and learners. This partnership was designed to improve the quality of education for all South Africans. School development through partnership in education empowers schools to take responsibility for their own development. Development of schools is now the responsibility of all South Africans who have a stake in the education system. Tensions frequently exist between educators and parents. Many problems result from societal influences, values, assumption, ignorance and inadequate information. Since the democratization of the country in 1994 the emphases in education focused on educational rights for all. Democratization of education includes the idea that stakeholders such as parents must participate fully in the activities of the schools, regulations relating to the election of the school governing bodies in public schools. Regulation should suit all levels of communities, rural or urban areas. Schools in rural areas could benefit from community members who may have the useful contribution to the performance of the school. The process of school development reflects the values and the beliefs of the community. Educators, together with parents can organize different activities to bring about the bond among three pillars i.e. educators, parents and learners. In the partnership in education, parents and educators cater for the general welfare of the learners. Educators could also take a leadership role in learner counseling, guidance and discipline. For partnership in education to be successful all the stakeholders should be involved in the decision making in school matters. Both parents and educators should sometimes sacrifice their time in order to promote good partnership. Educators need to be exposed to more cognitive and co-operative learning and teaching styles. The study further reveals that parents have a very crucial role to play in education. Parents play an integral part in moulding and educating a child. Formal and informal education should work hand in hand. It is this reason that parents are involved through the school governing bodies. Parents should take a lead in the education of their children. Through their partnership in education, parents are involved in many activities at school. Activities like the maintenance of the school buildings, facilities, resources and the management of the funds. Research has shown that successful and quality improvements are most likely to be achieved when individual school takes responsibility for their own quality standards. The stakeholders should align with the goals of organization and should take initiative. They should persue goals despite obstacles and setbacks. When community are well developed, they have pride and sense of ownership for their schools.

Understanding how mobile devices can enhance parent/teacher communication is important because parents play an important part in their children's learning. Research on parents' use of mobile devices to communicate with their children's teachers is limited. The purpose of this cross-sectional correlational study was to determine the relationships between parents' (a) knowledge of using mobile devices, (b) general use of mobile devices, (c) purpose for using mobile devices, (d) perceived ease of using mobile devices, (e) perceived usefulness of mobile devices, (f) attitude toward using mobile devices, and (g) use of mobile devices to communicate with teachers. The study was informed by the technology acceptance model and used a participant pool of 73 parents of high school students attending a Title I high school in a large Midwestern city in the United States. Data were collected using an online survey and analyzed using Pearson's correlations. The study results indicate significant correlations between parents' use of mobile devices to communicate with teachers and knowledge of using mobile devices, purpose for using mobile devices, perceived ease of using mobile devices, perceived usefulness of mobile devices, and attitudes toward using mobile devices. These findings suggest that parental use of mobile devices to communicate with teachers can be enhanced by administrators and school personnel using strategies that consider parents' and the school culture. Social implication includes sharing the results of this study with district and school administrators who have the power to implement programs that encourage and support the use of mobile devices as a communication tool between parents and teachers, therefore increasing parental involvement and ultimately student academic success.

Early childhood educators working to establish and maintain productive parent-teacher relationships are essential to the success of school-community partnerships in military- connected schools. The purpose of this study was to seek understanding of what early childhood educators had experienced while working with military families. Epstein's model of school, family, and community partnerships provided the conceptual framework for this study. The questions that guided this case study were designed to explore how early childhood educators established and maintained relationships with military families. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with 8 early childhood educators in military-connected schools. Inductive data analysis was used to code the data initially and then to determine these 5 themes: (a) educators used many methods to communicate with families; (b) parent involvement was influenced by educator communication, family life, and school culture; (c) deployments impacted student achievement; (d) strong community resources were deemed necessary; and (e) military children benefitted from having resilient educators. Participants believed timely training addressing the unique needs of military families would be advantageous. A 3-day professional development for early childhood educators was developed to incorporate the findings of this study. School districts implementing the professional development for early childhood educators in a strong school, family, and community partnership will result and will lead to positive social change by increasing the academic achievement, emotional wellbeing, and social welfare of children of military families attending military-connected schools.

This dissertation examines the methods and techniques used by school administrators to bring in and keep parents of English Language Learners coming back to be part of the school. Administrators at twelve schools in the Southeastern central San Joaquin Valley in California were interviewed to determine what practices they utilized to make ELL parents part of the education experience. A series of questions were asked of each participant and their answers grouped into four categories to determine the common methods and techniques used by the sample. Once similar traits were established a comparison between the literature review and the findings was conducted to assert validity with established practices. This study found that the effective administrators used some aspects of the model Comer and other effective strategies they found to be effective in educating the ELL population. This study found that administrators in schools with large percentages of English Language Learners used techniques suggested in the literature review. Furthermore, the study recommends other areas that will be useful to increase parent participation in all schools.

Parental involvement is a combination of commitment and active participation from parents to the school and to the student. Parental involvement defines the family’s role as educator and the crucial importance of family involvement to students’ success in schools. Some researchers and practitioners consider positive parental involvement the most prominent predictor of student success. Parents can increase children’s academic success through involvement with schools and communities. Parental involvement improves student morale, attitudes, and academic achievement across all subject areas. The purpose of this study was to examine the views of parents, students, teachers, and administrators concerning parental involvement in four high schools in a rural East Tennessee county. The study also attempted to determine if the views of these parents, students, teachers, and administrators are consistent with published reports on parent involvement. Data were collected from administrators, students, parents, and teachers through an open-ended interview format designed by the researcher. The findings from this study offer a number of recommendations regarding how high schools can develop partnership programs that involve families in ways that go beyond their participating as audience or witness to their children’s schooling to their participating as partners with the school in promoting teen’s learning. Participants desired effective home/school communications as well as a home environment that encouraged learning activities and suggested effective ways volunteers could be used at the high school level. Major recommendations include high schools forging connections with all families and providing options to increase their involvement at school as well as at home; establishing formal parent support organizations; developing partnerships that strengthen school-family relationships through authentic dialogue, collaboration, and mutual respect between families and educators; increasing opportunities for home/school communication; and creating a learning community where school personnel, students, parents, and community members view themselves as stakeholders.

This qualitative study should provide insight into stakeholders' perceptions of a system-wide educational partnership focused on a change effort to increase student achievement in a school system located in a large, metropolitan city in the southeastern United States. The importance of partnering to assure that all children are succeeding in school has never been more important to local communities and our nation. Not only are definitions of educational partnerships expanding, but so are the parameters, the players, and the structures. As educational improvement initiatives are put into effect by local, state, and national governments, schools across the country are realizing the need for local action. Some of the many successful school systems in our nation have implemented more than parent involvement; they have created a collaborative school-community partnership. Through investigation of surveys and interviews administered to the stakeholders of a partnership that has only been in existence for 2 years, this case study was designed to identify similarities and differences in the stakeholders' perceptions regarding their respective roles in the partnership, in improving student outcomes, and in the desired future state of this particular school system and partnership. Findings from this study confirm that there are both similarities and differences in all stakeholders' perceptions about most aspects of the partnership. In addition, many of the study's participants have changed their perceptions of the partnership over the 2 years of its existence and the challenges facing education. Finally, challenges and barriers of this partnership were identified. Differences in perceptions regarding the vision, mission, goals, action plans, and measures exist between school system personnel, school board members, and the partnership. This study focused on the implications of building partnerships and provides a section detailing recommendations and lessons learned from the process for this particular partnership as well as recommendations for future partnerships. This study might be of interest to stakeholders who are presently involved in a similar collaborative change effort or serve as a guide for other school systems that wish to replicate this type of school-community partnership.

Social and emotional learning is an important element in educating the whole child. When social skills are taught and reinforced in a school-wide model, which incorporates positive behavior support, both students and faculty experience a better learning environment. The Book in a Bag intervention invites parent volunteers to teach social skills in the classroom. Supplementing this school-wide intervention, parents also receive a monthly newsletter informing them of the identified social skill and recommending associated children's picture books, which further reinforce the skill. The purpose of this study was to determine parent perceptions on the effectiveness of the Book in a Bag program, which was implemented in the target school. Questionnaires (N=327, 47.74% participation rate) were completed by parents who responded to questions about their perceptions of the program's influence on their children's behavior, the importance of parent involvement in the program, and the importance of the school-wide social skills program. Parents expressed an overall positive response to the school-wide social skills program. In addition to reporting and describing data, observations of the questionnaire's weaknesses and strengths are discussed. Future research possibilities and recommendations to further strengthen parent involvement in school-wide social skills programs are offered.

The McMaster Children and Youth University (MCYU) was founded at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, Canada. The MCYU delivers free educational programming to children and youth to empower and prepare youth, especially those at a socioeconomic disadvantage, to aspire to higher education (MCYU, 2022). Parents are invited to attend the lectures alongside their children, making parent involvement a key component of the program (MCYU, 2018; Paquin et al, 2018). Participation in educational activities, such as out-of-school programming, school-run field trips, or extracurriculars have been correlated with improved academic achievement and social adjustment (Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2014; Weininger et al., 2015). However, children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to participate in learning enrichment activities outside of school (Siddiqui et al., 2019). These barriers to participation have often been attributed to lower economic status (Chanfreau, et al., 2016; Farthing, 2014; Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2014; Siddiqui et al., 2019). A grounded theory study was employed addressing the following question: How do socio-ecological factors shape parental decision-making for childhood involvement in the MCYU? Twenty parents who participate in the MCYU were interviewed and asked to complete an accompanying survey. After thorough data collection and analysis, the results indicated that positive educational experiences in the lives of parents shape their approach to their children’s education. Their life experiences have led to an intrinsic and extrinsic desire to learn, and the MCYU is an invaluable tool for parents to instill these values in their children through 1) education, 2) exposure, 3) enjoyment, and 4) engagement. This research may inform an expansion of MCYU type programs across Canada as well as aid the MCYU in reaching members of the community who are unable to benefit from the program. While the MCYU is for kids, the appeal for parents should be emphasized in future iterations. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / The McMaster Children and Youth University (MCYU) was founded at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, Canada. The MCYU delivers free educational programming to children and youth to empower and prepare youth, especially those at a socioeconomic disadvantage, to aspire to higher education (MCYU, 2022). Parents are invited to attend the lectures alongside their children, making parent involvement a key component of the program (MCYU, 2018; Paquin et al, 2018). This research addresses the following question: How do socio-ecological factors shape parental decision-making for childhood involvement in the MCYU? The results indicated that positive educational experiences in the lives of parents shape their approach to their children’s education. Their life experiences have led to an intrinsic and extrinsic desire to learn, and the MCYU is an invaluable tool for parents to instill these values in their children through 1) education, 2) exposure, 3) enjoyment, and 4) engagement.

The main assertion in this dissertation is that there is a lack of adequate and appropriate parent involvement in Hlanganani South Schools to make them centres of teaching and learning excellence. The empirical research was conducted in one of the most under-researched and often misunderstood areas of education in South Africa. The purpose was to investigate how effective parent involvement in the schools could improve the learning culture in the Hlanganani schools and their communities. A qualitative investigation of parent involvement in four secondary schools of Hlanganani South was conducted by collecting data through interviews with four school managers (principals), twenty-eight parents and six educators (teachers). The literature that was reviewed focused on the history of parent involvement in the world and South Africa, factors that increase and hinder parent involvement, legislation concerning parent involvement in education and issues involved in education provision to South African rural areas such as Hlanganani South. The research has revealed that the lack of a culture of learning in Hlanganani is influenced by factors such as high unemployment rate, poor socio-economic background, high illiteracy rate, high failure rate of learners, and urbanisation of the area. The investigation further found that there is an urgent need for school managers to acquire knowledge, skills, and strategies for active involvement of parents in schools. The participation of parents in schools needs effective school management strategies, regular communication between parents and schools, and clearly communicated community expectations for the schools. There must be training of School Governing Bodies, educators, and school managers for parent involvement to be effective in the improvement of a learning culture. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Comparative Education)