PARENTAL PERCEPTIONS OF INVOLVEMENT IN TEXAS SCHOOLS

Abstract

Odums, Madelyn Elaine. Parental Perceptions of Involvement in Texas Schools. Doctor of Education (Executive Educational Leadership). May 2022, Houston Baptist University, Houston, Texas.

Parent involvement as a support for student academic growth and development has been a topic researched throughout education and has been difficult to measure, as researchers have not been able to identify concrete characteristics of the concept. This research used Joyce Epstein’s (1995) Six Types of Parent Involvement as the framework for the study, which categorizes parent involvement into parenting, communication, learning at home, decision making, volunteering, and collaborating with the community. This archival research used pre-existing data from parents’ voluntary responses for a survey that was presented to all parents in the selected school district, located in Texas. This research study used the instrumentation to identify the mean scores regarding communication, parenting, and parents supporting learning at home as they pertain to the roles and responsibilities of parental involvement towards students’ academic growth and development, in Title I schools across the school district for two consecutive school years. The annual survey was comprised of 31 Likert questions to retrieve insight from parents regarding their experiences and perceptions, and six multiple choice responses to identify demographics, barriers as obstacles, and if parents were knowledgeable of the district’s parent involvement polices and expectations. Research data compiled from a set of feeder schools, and specific questions that targeted parenting, communication, and learning at home over the course of multiple years were analyzed to determine the trends of the information provided by the parents of students attending schools in the selected district. The data was analyzed and used as a support for stakeholders of the selected district, including parents, teachers, and community stakeholders as a measure to help improve parent involvement, provide strategies for improvement at the Title I schools in the selected Texas school district, move the learning institutions that pour into the families of those attending the schools to the next level, and encourage parents to create an environment, that promotes learning and academic growth in the home.

Key Words: low socioeconomic status, parent, parent involvement, and Title I schools.