Browsing by Subject "Parent involvement"
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Item Academic achievement gap: the role of ethnicity and parent involvement in predicting reading achievement(2014-08) Ricks, Teri Marsha PrimmThe purpose of the present study is to investigate the relative strength of parent involvement versus ethnicity and how they affect the academic achievement gap between racial backgrounds of Caucasian, African-American, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American as measured by the reading portion of the State Site of Research Comprehensive Assessments-Series (SSRCA-II). The sample is drawn from Connecting Parents to Educational Opportunities (CPEO) parents and their children who are in the district which was the site for this research. To be classified as a CPEO parent, he/she had to have completed a seven-week course at one of the research participant's Title I school sites since its 2008 inception year to present. The composition of student racial backgrounds in the present study was 53% Caucasian and 25% African-American students, which made up 78% of the sample. Hispanic, Asian, and Native American students at percentages of 12%, 7%, and 3%, respectively, represented the remaining 22% of the sample. The inferential statistical results are based on the logistic regression analyses. Parenting and ethnicity variables, which were both independent variables, did not significantly improve any of the models' ability to predict students' reading proficiency. However, social economic status (SES), control variable, remained statistically significant through all of the analyses. Referring to the research question, the major finding from the research showed that SES was a significant predictor of student reading achievement. The findings were not expected but informative in terms of reshaping the discussion on academic achievement. The present study was not an experiment. Therefore, causal claims cannot be made, but implications for practice may be drawn from the data analyses. Insights gained and ideas to ponder based on the data analyses are the (a) Cradle to Prison Pipeline, (b) equity of opportunities, and (c) business education.A pathway has been laid to answer the research question and provide new knowledge to school districts and the research community with a focus on equity, achievement and excellence for K-12 students. The focus on parent involvement and ethnicity should be redirected to address the challenges of SES. Parent involvement and ethnicity are factors in the achievement gap issue. However, addressing SES primarily may bring greater reduction in the achievement gap and increased student achievement among public school students.Item Immigrant parent involvement in U.S. schools: current practices and future possibilities(2012-12) Aleixo, Marina BandeiraThis dissertation examines how parent involvement expectations are communicated and enacted in interactions at one small urban high school. Through detailed descriptions of school interactions between supporting staff and immigrant parents, this study examines how parent involvement expectations are understood and perceived. Although scholarly interest in parent involvement has existed for quite some time, few studies consider the role of supporting staff (e.g., family liaisons, testing coordinators, guidance counselors, social workers). In what ways do interactions with support staff impact constructs of parent involvement within a school? This approach provides a unique contribution to the current parent involvement literature. Through a year of ethnographic field research, I examine the experiences of school staff and parents as they interact in various spaces and engage in the process of parent involvement. Through participant observations in various parent group meetings, school events and activities, and shadowing of school staff, I explore parent involvement expectations at one small urban high school. Although most of the current literature focuses on teacher-parent relationships, findings suggest that parent contact with teachers is extremely limited, and that it is actually supporting staff that engages most in interactions with parents. These staff play a key role in shaping parents' perceptions of involvement and become the main source for understanding the school's parent involvement expectations. Findings also present a new problem in the parent involvement paradigm, where new forms of involvement are being introduced without regard to parents' reality. As the data reveal, online access is now expected as a form of involvement and for many families this is potentially an unrealistic expectation.Item Parent involvement as a mechanism of the effects of early childhood intervention(2013-07) Hayakawa, Cathy MomokoThere is abundant evidence that parent involvement is associated with children's academic achievement and socio-emotional development throughout childhood and into adolescence. However, the mechanisms through which parent involvement impacts children's later outcomes are unclear. Using data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study of the Child-Parent Centers (n = 1,539), this study investigated whether different mediators explain the process from parent involvement to children's long-term outcomes, including educational attainment, criminal history, and substance abuse. Variations in influences by typologies of parent involvement and adult outcomes were examined. Three main results were found for the 1,421 study participants with available outcome data. First, two dimensions of parent involvement emerged- school parent involvement and home parent involvement. School parent involvement predicted later academic outcomes as well as substance abuse and crime outcomes. Home parent involvement predicted educational attainment. Second, mediation analyses revealed that school parent involvement was a mediator of the effect of early childhood intervention on later educational attainment. Third, childhood task orientation, problem behaviors, and frustration tolerance mediated the effect of school parent involvement process on educational attainment. Based on these results, policy findings and future directions are discussed.Item Parent Involvement in Mathematics Education: Parents and Teachers Working Together to Improve Student Self-Confidence in Mathematics(2010) Monson, James E, II; Rauschenfels, Diane; Hyman, RandyParent Involvement in Mathematics Education: Parents and Teachers Working Together to Improve Student Self-Confidence in Mathematics was a mixed methods research project involving four schools from two rural counties in east-central Minnesota. The purpose of the study was to test a theory of how parent involvement in math education relates to students’ work ethic and confidence in math. It was a study that used pre- and post- questionnaires given to teachers, students, and parents/guardians along with a daily assignment sheet sent home over the duration of four weeks. The results looked for improvement in students’ self-confidence in mathematics through a supportive learning environment and time spent working on mathematics.