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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
The results from research studies over the last thirty years have cited the
importance of parental involvement in the academic success of their children
(Bronfrenbrenner, 1979; Comer, 1986, 1996; Comer & Hayes, 1991; Epstein, 1996,
2001; Henderson & Mapp, 2002, 2007). The research provides evidence that parental
expectations affect student academic achievement and that school and family behaviors
affect learning outcomes (Henderson & Berla, 1994; Redding, 2002; Epstein, 2001). The
research also suggests that parental involvement and engagement positively affect school
attendance, school behavior, and as a result, student success (Jeyne, 2007). Pupils whose
parents engage in home-school activities have shown statistically significant academic
gains (Epstein, Clark, Salinas, & Sanders, 1997). When parents are actively involved in
home-school activities and communications, their access to social networks with other
parents and school staff provides information and support to help their children succeed
in the school setting (Bourdieu, 1977, 1987, 1996; Lareau, 2000; Weininger & Lareau,
2003). These findings have held across all income levels and ethnicities, although middle
class parents tend to be better educated and more knowledgeable about navigating the
school system (Lareau, 2000, 2003; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990).
The studies specifically focused on parents of African American, Hispanic, and
English Learner pupils also show a strong correlation between parent involvement and
student academic gains (Miedel & Reynolds, 1999; Gutman & Midgley, 2000). In these
studies, the African American students’ results showed that the higher the level of parent
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involvement, the higher the grades and test scores of their children. Jeyne (2007) found
the same correlation with parents who were non-English or limited-English speakers.
School district and school site leaders seeking effective ways to close the
achievement gap selectively focus resources that promote and support parent involvement
(Anderson & Minke, 2007; Epstein, 1996, 2001; Henderson & Mapp, 2002, 2007). The
challenge for school district leaders and teachers has been to expand the concept of what
parent involvement is and to provide opportunities for parental involvement for parents of
low socio-economic status and English-language learners beyond volunteering in the
classroom and participating in parent-teacher organizations (Epstein, 1986; Lareau, 2000,
2003; Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Henderson et al, 2007).
Since the inception of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of
1965, federal education policy, in recognition of the achievement gap among children
from low socio-economic backgrounds, children of color and English-Language
Learners, has mandated schools and districts receiving Title I funds to adhere to specific
regulations as a condition to receive these funds. One of the requirements for receiving
Title I funds is that 1% of the district/school allocation must be set aside for parent
involvement programs and activities. The 2001 authorization of this ESEA policy is
known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB has added stringent
requirements for expected academic growth for student subgroups based on race/ethnicity
and economic, special, or language needs (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). The
most evident achievement gaps are between White and Asian students and students who
are African American, Hispanic, and English Learners (National Center for Education
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Statistics, 2007). Under NCLB policy and regulations, the role of parents has evolved
into one of being active participants and decision makers in their children’s educational
options. The achievement gap data, along with the research on the importance of parent
involvement, is providing school leaders with the impetus to find effective ways to meet
the challenges of involving parents of pupils from African American, Hispanic, and
English-Learner backgrounds. School districts are charged with providing training for
teachers, administrators, and school staff on how to inform parents on ways to help their
children succeed in school and how to work with parents to advocate for their children
(Coleman, 1990; Hill & Taylor, 2004).
The issues and challenges to both school leaders and parents in forging strong
home-school connections to support student academic achievement as well as social
integration and success will be reviewed in Chapter 2.
Statement of the Problem
Due to a number of factors, not enough parents are actively involved in their
children’s education and schools frequently face challenges in engaging Hispanic,
African American, and English-Learner parents. In spite of years of research results
citing the importance of parent involvement and the efforts of schools to involve parents
in their children’s education, there is an achievement gap between students from
Hispanic, African American, and English Learner backgrounds and the students from
White and some Asian backgrounds.
At the national level, math and reading scores were higher in 2007 than in the first
assessment year for both African American and White students. Fourth grade scores for
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both groups increased, and the achievement gaps narrowed in both reading and
mathematics. The eighth grade math and reading scores for both groups also increased.
However, at this grade there was no significant reduction in the achievement gap. The
results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are similar for the
Hispanic student achievement gap. Although the scores in 2009 were higher for White,
African American, and Hispanic students, there has been no significant decrease in the
achievement gap between White, African American, and Hispanic students (National
Center for Education Statistics, 2009). There has been a significant increase in the
number of school age English Learners in the last decade. From 1979 to 2008, English
Learner pupils attending kindergarten through 12th grade increased from 3.8 to 10.9
million (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2010).
Under the policies and regulations of NCLB, states are held accountable for the
educational growth and improvement of all students as measured by state accountability
tests. To ensure that students from all subgroups are provided access to a quality
education, NCLB has several mandated requirements: (1) teachers and instructional
support staff must meet standards of being highly qualified; (2) accountability and
assessment plans must be developed and implemented by schools/school districts; (3)
districts must provide supplemental educational services for qualifying students if the
school they attend is not meeting academic goals; and (4) parents must be provided with
school choice if the school their child attends is not making academic progress (U.S.
Department of Education, 2009). The changes in federal educational policy and
accountability for schools under NCLB have given parents more control of their
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children’s education, from kindergarten through twelfth grade. This places more
responsibility on school leaders to find ways to assist parents in making informed choices
for their children’s education. In order to be successful in involving parents from African
American, Hispanic, and English-Learner backgrounds, school leaders will need to know
how to effectively communicate, engage, and partner with parents and communities from
various cultures, languages, races, and ethnicities (Noguera, 2006).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of parent involvement
workshops and training on African American, Hispanic, and English-learner parents’
perceptions of the schools’ communication with them, their knowledge of and
participation in their children’s education at school and at home, and their feelings of
efficacy in helping their children academically. The perceptions of teachers on the
importance of parental involvement and their view of their responsibility for
communicating with parent and involving parents will also be explored, The results of
this study will assist the school and district leaders in determining resource allocations of
staff and materials as well as modifying or developing and implementing more effective
and inclusive parent involvement activities.
Research Questions
The following research questions are the focus of the study:
1. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of home-school
communication?
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2. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of their involvement in
their children’s education?
3. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of their ability to help their
children academically?
4. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the importance of parental
involvement?
5. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the capability of parents to
help their child academically?
6. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding their responsibility for
communicating with parents and involving parents?
7. What strategies and practices might the schools/district expand, modify, or
implement to promote and increase parent involvement?
The research design is a pre- and post-survey approach utilizing the Parent Survey
of Family and Community Involvement in the Elementary and Middle Grades and the
Teacher Survey of Family and Community Involvement in the Elementary and Middle
Grades developed by the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at
Johns Hopkins University (Sheldon & Epstein, 2007). The intervention/treatment was a
series of parental involvement workshops.
The research has consistently cited the importance of parental involvement in the
success of their children, leading to school districts’ efforts to build home-school
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partnerships. The theoretical assumption is that parent and teacher expectations affect
student academic achievement and that school and family behaviors affect learning
outcomes (Redding, 2002; Epstein, 2001). Researcher Joyce Epstein (2001) founder of
the National Network of Partnership Schools, has developed a model framework for
parent involvement that specifies the following six types of parent involvement: (1)
parenting; (2) communicating; (3) volunteering; (4) learning at home; (5) decisionmaking; and (6) collaborating with the community. Much of the research and resulting
theories on parent involvement have been derived from this work (Epstein, 2001, 2004;
Jeynes, 2007).
The research has shown that parental involvement provides a strong positive
association with student achievement in terms of grades, school attendance, academic
behaviors, and teacher rated assessments (Epstein, 2007; Redding 2002). Several parental
and home life factors that impact student achievement have also been identified in these
studies. These factors have become known as “the curriculum of the home” and include
daily family conversations, monitoring of television viewing times and programs, open
displays of affection, learning to delay gratification, print and literacy activities that are
engaging, and high parental interest in the child’s academic and character growth. These
factors are higher predictors of school success than socio-economic status. Other parental
behaviors that support academic growth are high expectations and a structure for
homework completion and school preparation (Redding, 2002).
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Conceptual Framework
The theories of Urie Brofenbrenner (1979) led to the conceptual framework
developed by Joyce Epstein on parental involvement in the school system.
Brofenbrenner’s theory is that human development is affected by events in environmental
settings in which the person affected need not be present or an active participant. For
example, a child is affected by his or her parents going to work every day. The child is
affected in that there is less time spent with the parents and other caregivers become a
part of the child’s life. If one or both parents lose their job, the child is again affected in
terms of the financial resources that will be available to support the family.
Brofenbrenner also specified that what affects behaviors and development in an
individual are the perceptions of reality rather than objective reality. As a result, meaning
is based on the individual’s social background and prior experiences. In his studies
Brofenbrenner also observed how the developmental changes in one member of a family
affect the other members of the family in a developmental manner. The parent's behavior
cannot be taken out of the context within which the parent and family live (Belsky, 1984;
Bronfenbrenner, 1986). In Bronfenbrener’s view, the parents’ social environment will be
a primary contributor to the assets allotted to their child. Consequently, he applied the
same theory to institutional settings such as home, school, community and workplace.
That is, a change in the home setting affects changes in the school, community, and
workplace. The theoretical construct of these developmental changes within human and
institutional relationships he called “ecological transitions” (Brofenbrenner, 1979).
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In Epstein’s framework, the focus is on the family, the school, and the
community, with the child being at the center. The factors of time, experiences at home,
at school, and in the community affect the development of the child. If the experiences
are perceived by the child as positive and collaborative from each of the environmental
situations with the goal of successful educational outcomes, then the student will succeed
academically. Epstein sees the need for home (parents) and school to be cohesive and
interconnected in order for the child to be successful. Changes in the environment of the
school can help parents become more developmentally prepared to help their child be
successful in school (Epstein, 2001).
The concept of social capital is important in this study since the focus is on
African American, Hispanic, and English-learner parents and children who are members
of designated subgroups under NCLB. Social capital refers to the resources derived from
social and institutional relationships, which provide group members with “credentials.”
These credentials are usually based on shared characteristics of a dominant group.
Bourdieu (1977) proposes the theory that social capital and cultural capital are
interconnected and that schools conduct the business of educating students based on
established social norms that are shared by White, middle class parents and teachers. This
would explain why African American, Hispanic, and English-learner parents are at a
disadvantage in understanding and relating to the school culture and expectations for
behavior; and consequently, need support and capacity building in order to attain the
cultural and social capital necessary for their children to be successful in school (Lareau,
2002; Brantlinger, 1993; Nieto, 2002).
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If schools are to be effective in reaching out to parents from diverse ethnic,
language, and socio-economic backgrounds, effective school leaders will need to possess
certain characteristics, abilities, and skills that facilitate, encourage, and support parent
involvement. Conceptual educational leadership models and styles that research has
found to support inclusion of diversity will be discussed. Current educational leadership
studies are based on the concepts developed by James Burns (1978), who primarily
studied business and military leadership. Educational researchers have taken his concepts
and applied his theories to develop educational leadership models (Burns, 1978; Bass
1985). Transformational leadership in schools is a model that was developed by Keith
Leithwood (1994) and focuses on leaders who: (1) help staff think of new solutions to old
problems; (2) are attentive to stakeholders and staff who seem left out; (3) provide
inspiration and motivation; and (4) provide a role model by being a person of high moral
character and accomplishments.
With the changing demographics in the United States and specifically in
California, cultural diversity requires school leaders to be effective in addressing value
conflicts arising from this diversity in order to respond and adapt (Begley, 2004).
Significance of the Study
This study contributes to the educational research in the arena of effective parent
involvement and engagement practices. The particular nature of this study expands the
research base by focusing on parents who are not Standard-English speakers. This
includes African American, Spanish-speaking Hispanic and English-learner parents who
speak Russian and Hmong. The findings in this study will expand the repertoire of
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strategies of school leaders and teachers to effectively involve parents from diverse
language, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. By identifying strategies that yield high
results in parent engagement and involvement, it will inform budgetary decision-makers
about the most effective and efficient resource allocations. The ultimate goal is to expand
the opportunities for parents and educators to work together to close the achievement gap.
The information gleaned from the study can provide insight for planning professional
development for teachers at both the district and school levels. The data collected can
reveal implications for improving current parent involvement policies and practices for
engaging the Hispanic, African American, and English-Learner communities in the
academic success of all children. The importance of parent involvement in their
children’s academic endeavors is indisputable. In order to provide equitable educational
access for all students, it is imperative that schools assume more responsibility for
implementing and facilitating parental involvement that focuses on increasing
partnerships with the parents of students; especially at the lower end of the performance
achievement gap (Lareau, 2002; Labaree, 1997).
Definition of Terms
Definitions for specific terms used in this study are as follows:
Achievement Gap - A term used to describe the academic performance gaps
between African American and Hispanic students at the lower end of the scale and White
students, as well as between students from low socio-economic levels compared to
middle class students. The achievement gap is evident in all academic endeavors from
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grades, standardized-test scores, course selection, dropout rates, to college-completion
rates (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).
Cultural or Social Capital - Non-financial assets such as knowledge, skills,
education and membership in both formal and informal social networks that build
reciprocity and trust with other members of the group and provide rewards in a social
culture (Bourdieu, 1986; Putnam, 1993).
Efficacy - Self-perceptions and beliefs about one’s capabilities. In social cognitive
theory, these self-beliefs determine how well learning and skills are acquired (Bandura,
1986).
Hispanic - An individual living in the United States who is Mexican, Puerto
Rican, Cuban, South American, Central American, or of another Spanish origin or
culture. This may also be referred to as Latino.
Parents - Includes all family members who contribute to a child’s education and
development and is interchangeable with family (Epstein, 2001, Henderson & Mapp.
2002).
Parent Involvement - Parents’ or families’ participation and support in schoolrelated functions and learning activities that improve their children’s academic outcomes
(Epstein, 2001; Henderson & Mapp, 2002).
Limitations
The research study has several limitations. First, the sample of parents is limited
to a small sample of parents participating in parenting workshops in a school district in
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northern California. Secondly, the teachers invited to participate are the teachers of the
youngest school-age child parents participating in the workshop series. Consequently,
the teacher sample is also a small sample. Third, the parent participation program
available in the school district is limited to twelve sessions. These limitations make it
impossible to generalize the findings as representative of other parent populations and
parent involvement programs in other regions of California or anywhere else in the
United States.
Conclusion
Research studies suggest that parental involvement and engagement positively
affect school attendance, school behavior, and student success (Jeyne, 2007). Several
studies have focused on schools’ attempts to engage parents in partnerships. The students
whose parents were engaged in home-school activities showed small, but significant
academic gains (Epstein, Clark, Salinas, & Sanders, 1997). These findings held across all
income levels and ethnicities. In studies focused on African American students, a
correlation between parent involvement and student academic gains was demonstrated
(Miedel & Reynolds, 1999; Gutman & Midgley, 2000). The African American students’
results showed that the higher the level of parent involvement, the higher the grades and
test scores of their children. These findings are also true when parents are non-English or
limited-English speakers (Jeyne, 2007). School leaders looking for effective strategies to
increase student academic achievement can engage parents as partners in their children’s
educational life. Such partnership can only be forged when the home, school and
community environments are collaborative and supportive of each other (Brofenbrenner,
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1979). This study examines the effectiveness of a district’s parent involvement program
for African American, Hispanic, and English-learner parents.
Chapter two provides a review of the literature on the research and federal
policies leading to the conceptual framework for parent involvement in schools. Related
literature on human capital theory and concepts of educational leadership, which facilitate
and support inclusion and diversity are also explored. The literature review provides
validation of the rationale underlying the study.
Chapter three explains the methods used to conduct the study to determine the
impact of the school district’s parent involvement programs on parents’ sense of efficacy,
their attitude towards school communications, and teachers’ perceptions of parent
involvement and their view of the importance of teacher-initiated support to families.
This chapter gives a detailed description of the research tools used for collecting data,
how the data were collected and the methods used for analysis. Limitations of the
research are discussed.
Chapter four provides a description of parent and teacher participants and an
overview of the parent workshop series. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics of
results are presented for the combined group of parents to show if changes in perceptions
and attitudes from the pre- to post-workshop were significant. Descriptive statistics for
the disaggregated results by ethnic group are provided to shed light on the differential
affect of the workshop participation on African American, Hispanic, Hmong, and
Russian-Ukranian parents. Results of the teacher survey consist of descriptive statistics
that show trends among the respondents
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Chapter five interprets the findings that emerged from the data provided by
parents and teachers. The final part of the chapters discusses the implications for
expanding, modifying, or developing and implementing parent involvement programs
and recommendations for further study.
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Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
The challenges that schools and districts face in engaging culturally and
linguistically diverse parents can conversely be viewed as challenges that these parents
face in accessing the means to support their children’s academic performance. The fact
that not enough African American, Hispanic, and English-Learner parents are involved in
their children’s schools in ways that support academic progress is a factor that contributes
to the achievement gap (Redding, 2008). This chapter reviews the research literature on
the impact of parents’ involvement on their children’s academic and social success.
Conceptual and theoretical frameworks that form the foundation of current parental
involvement research and literature as well as federal policies regarding parent
involvement and civil rights protections for racial minorities and English Learners will be
discussed. The conceptual framework of social and cultural capital theory that is the
foundation for many studies focusing on parental involvement of ethnic, linguistic, and
low socio-economic groups will be explored. Studies focused on parental involvement of
African American, Hispanic, and English-Learner families will be examined to explore
strategies that effective teachers and school and district leaders can implement to
encourage, support and sustain with parents to close the achievement gap.
The socio-cultural view of human development theory, called ecological theory,
conceptualized by Urie Brofenbrenner, laid the foundation on which current parental
involvement concepts are based. In ecological theory, there are environmental systems
which affect individual development. These systems are nested within each other with the
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effects going both from the individual out to the systems and coming in to the individual.
The first layer is in the nest of the microsystem. This is the setting in which the individual
lives and includes the family, friends, school and neighborhood. In the microsystem, the
individual experiences the most direct relationships and interactions with others. The next
layer is the mesosystem. The mesosystem contains the relationships between contexts in
the microsystem. This is where the parent and family experiences with the school, with
church, and with friends intersect. In this environmental context are situations such as
peer pressure that creates conflict with parents and trouble at school, which causes
parents to go in for a teacher conference.
The exosystem is the next level, and this is where outside influences impact the
individual even if the individual does not have an active role in that context. An example
of the social environment in the exosystem is: a parent’s loss of a job, will affect the
spouse and consequently, the children.
The next layer in the ecological nest is the macrosystem where the culture and
society that the individual lives in permeates the environment. This is where individuals
are impacted by their race, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status and form of
government of the country in which they live. In ecological theory, individuals are
affected and react to their perception of reality based on their previous experiences and
their social background, not objective reality. So, reality is a construct of social and
cultural mores. In Bronfenbrenner’s studies, he also observed how the developmental
changes in one member of a family affect the other members of the family in a
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developmental manner as well, so building the capacity or skills of parents will have a
beneficial effect on their children (1979).
Parent Involvement Studies
Educational researchers have used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological human
development theory as a foundation to study various aspects of parent involvement and
the term is used to describe the variety of ways parents engage in supporting their
children to be successful in school both in the home and in connecting with the school.
Parental involvement ranges from helping with homework and reading with and to the
child at home, to activities such as attending parent-teacher conferences, open house,
back-to-school nights, and other school and home activities that promote intellectual
growth such as taking their children to the library and to museums (Stevenson & Baker,
1987). Parent involvement also includes parents monitoring the academic progress of
their children at school (Gronick, et al, 1997).
Joyce Epstein has developed a concept she calls Spheres of Influence (1987). The
spheres refer to the child, the parent/family and the community in a partnership model
that is inclusive and interactive and covers the broadest range of involvement that
supports children’s development and academic success. Epstein identified the following
six types of involvement:
1. Parenting. Parental support at home that supports the child’s success at school.
This includes activities such as ensuring that a child gets enough sleep, eats breakfast,
and gets to school on time.
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2. Communicating. Communication about school programs and the student’s
academic progress and achievement between home-school and school-home. Newsletters
from the school, telephone conversations between parent and teacher, parent-teacher
conferences and other such activities fall in this category.
3. Volunteering. All parents are provided with multiple varieties of opportunities
to volunteer and become actively engaged with the school. Parents assisting in the
classroom, at the school library or lunchroom, or accompanying the class during field
trips fall in this arena.
4. Learning at Home. The school/teacher provides learning activities for parents
to engage in with their children at home. Projects such as family histories and interviews
and projects that involve the parent fall in this category.
5. Decision Making. Parents are invited, trained and actively participate in
decision-making committees such as the School Site Council, English Learner Advisory
Committee or Parent/Teacher Association.
6. Community Collaboration. There is coordination with community partners to
provide resources, services and information for students and their families. When schools
host health fairs, college, and career fairs they are engaging in this category of
involvement (Epstein, 1987).
Multiple studies confirm that parents’ involvement and support provide their
children with the ability to be more successful in academic endeavors such as obtaining
higher grades and test scores, enrolling in higher level programs and classes; increasing
school attendance, developing better social skills, exhibiting appropriate behavior,
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graduating from high school, and continuing on to higher education (Henderson & Mapp,
2002). The theoretical and conceptual basis most studies have worked from is that parent
and teacher expectations affect student academic achievement and that school and family
behaviors affect learning outcomes for pupils (Redding, 2002; Epstein, 2005). When
teachers and school leaders encourage and support engagement, parents report having the
skills necessary to assist their children at home (Ames, 1993), and the students showed
significant academic gains in reading in comparison to teachers who did not report parent
involvement as a strategy they valued for student achievement (Epstein, 1991).
As the result of years of research and collaboration with school partners across the
United States, Joyce Epstein, developer of the conceptual framework for the six types of
parent involvement, has examined the most effective practices for the school and teacher
to aid the parent in developing supportive skills to assist their child (Epstein, 2005).
Through the work of the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) at Johns
Hopkins University, Epstein developed a partnership program in which over 1000
schools across the United States have participated using her research-based strategies to
build and develop home-school partnerships. A three-year study of Epstein’s model
collected data on reading, math, and writing scores as well as behavior from Title I
elementary students. Results confirmed the effectiveness of the Home, Parent and
Community partnership model. The students made considerable gains in all areas
compared to similar schools not participating in the program (Epstein, 2005). The NNPS
is currently engaged in a longitudinal study of the effect of parent involvement and
student achievement in reading, math and science. This study is in year four of a five-
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year program. The sample includes 400 elementary, middle and high schools across the
United States in rural, urban, and suburban communities. The methodology for collecting
data is through matched pairs, random assignment, and hierarchical linear modeling. Data
collected at this time, including standardized tests, verify the positive effect of parent
involvement on student achievement (Epstein, Sanders, & Sheldon, 2007). Although
there are multiple research projects being conducted on Epstein’s parent involvement
framework and model, further work on developing more concise measures to gauge
parent and school practices are needed.
Jeynes (2005) meta-analysis of 77 research studies, including over 300,000
students, reviewed the characteristics of standardized tests along with grades, school
attendance, and teacher-rated assessments and found that the overall outcomes were .5 to
.6 of a standard deviation higher than students whose parents were not involved in homeschool communication and activities. Although the study reported a decrease in the
impact of parent involvement as students go on to middle and high school, the positive
effect of parental involvement is still significant (Jeyes, 2005; Epstein, Sanders, &
Sheldon, 2007).
The U.S. Department of Education funded a study using a statistical method to
examine the impact of standards-based instructional practices on student achievement in
71 Title I schools. The study was aimed at analyzing the relationship between student
academic achievement and visibility and focus of standards and assessments, basic or
advanced teaching techniques, teacher preparation and teachers’ skills in math
instruction, teachers’ rating of professional development received, districts’ standards
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practices, and outreach to parents. The outreach to parents was measured by the
frequency of teacher contact to the parents of struggling pupils by face-to-face meetings,
sending information home to parents on how to help their child, and telephoning the
home on a regular basis, including when their child was having a difficult time in class.
The study findings confirmed that at the schools where teachers reported contact with
parents of struggling students, there were improved scores in reading and math. At the
schools where teachers reported high frequency of parent contact and outreach, the
student achievement scores were 40 percent higher than at the schools where teachers
reported low levels of parent contact and outreach (Westat & Policy Studies Associates,
2001).
A number of parental and home life factors that impact student achievement have
been identified. These have come to be called “the curriculum of the home” and include
such factors as: daily family conversations, monitoring of television viewing time and
programs, open displays of affection, learning to delay gratification, print and literacy
activities that are engaging, and high parental interest in the child’s academic and
character growth. These factors are higher predictors of school success than socioeconomic status. Other parental behaviors that support academic growth are high
expectations and a structure for homework completion and school preparation (Jeynes,
2005; Redding, 2002; Epstein, 2005). Further study is needed to determine why creating
a home environment that is educationally oriented is more effective than other parental
academic supports.
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The research implications for best practices in engaging parents in their child’s
school experience specifically and in the activities and “life of their child’s school” are
broad. Parent involvement has multiple components and each component has multiple
aspects (Epstein, 2005; Jeynes, 2005, 2007; Colombo, 2006; Redding, 2002). Based on
the analyses of current studies, it appears that literacy activities such as reading and
spending time dialoging with children, an authoritative parenting style, and having high
expectations for academic performance are the parental aspects leading to the highest
achievement gains. These particular parenting aspects also require the most commitment
of time. The single, parent involvement aspect with the largest effect size is parental
expectations (Keller, 2006; Jeynes, 2005). Although parent involvement programs yield
positive academic results for students, the gains are not as high. With parental
expectations having the highest effect on academic achievement, it would seem that
parents from low socio-economic levels and language and racial minorities can help their
children close the achievement gap.
The environment of the school impacts the learning of the students and the
connections that develop and are formed with parents and the community. In a school
community that is vibrant and meeting the needs of its students, there is a healthy
relationship between the school and the home. In a study exploring the quality of
relationships between the parents and teachers in 63 elementary and middle schools,
surveys were completed by 1,571 teachers and 12,364 parents. Eighty-four percent of
Hispanic parents held a rosier view of their relationships with the teachers and the school
environment than African American parents (72%), and White (80%). In answering an
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item about parents encouraging their children to read for pleasure, 79% of the parents
agreed that they did so while only 26% teachers responded that they believed the parents
did so. The findings of this study demonstrate the need for more meaningful dialogue
between parents and the school in order to make decisions that mutually support students
(Redding, 2008).
Involvement of Parents from Diverse Ethnic and Language Backgrounds
Schools frequently face challenges in engaging non-English speaking, African
American, and Hispanic parents in home-school activities. An obvious challenge with
non-English speakers is the language barrier. Most districts employ staff to provide first
language support for English Learner students, but parents often call a school office
where no one understands what they are saying. California education code specifies that
important school documents must be translated into the home language if 15% of the
school’s students speak a particular language other than English (California Department
of Education, 2009). This state-mandated policy ensures that documents such as
enrollment forms, attendance/truancy letters, suspension and expulsion forms, and other
legally-required forms and information are translated. For other formal school meetings
such as parent conferences or behavior meetings, an interpreter may be provided so
parents can understand what their student’s rights are, but this is not always the case. For
most other home-school communication, such as notices on after school events and
activities, family movie, math, or reading nights and other such activities, due to budget
constraints as well as scant primary language resources, parents generally receive the
information only in English. This effectively excludes the non-English parents. Most
25
parents will cease to attend school functions or attend parent-teacher meeting if this
happens often. For some Hispanic families, there is the additional fear of immigration
authorities when they are undocumented. Furthermore, there are several obstacles to
parent participation in schools. These include a lack of cultural understanding on the part
of teachers and administrators, meetings and events that parents cannot attend due to their
work hours and teachers’ attempts to change them by asking that they speak more
English at home (McCollum, 1996).
For African American parents and families who speak Ebonics or Black
Vernacular English, there is often a social stigma since Ebonics is viewed as a nonstandard variety of American English by teachers and school staff. African Americans
face the same pressure to give up their language as immigrants of other language
backgrounds. This perspective on the part of the school places parents and community in
a reactionary mode to schooling and participating in school activities (Ladson-Billings,
1994). In 1996 the Oakland School District school board adopted a policy recognizing
Ebonics as a second language and set off a firestorm of controversy. The district was
accused of proposing to teach slang and bad English to students. The political
ramifications were extreme as both the California legislature and United States Congress
implemented policies that restricted the use of state and federal funds to assist Standard
English Learners (Noguera, 2003).
African American and English-speaking Hispanic parents may not have
experienced success in their own schooling and need support to engage with teachers and
administrators. The cultural perspective of the community may be different from the
26
culture of the teachers, principals, and other school staff. Awareness and validation of
the differences of the parents’ languages, for example, Ebonics or Chicano English, and
support for their cultural values is vitally important in building a positive home-school
relationship (Noguera, 2006).
Another challenge to parent engagement and involvement in schools is that the
social mores operating within the school are often different from the communities in
which they are located as well as the countries of origin of most California immigrants.
American schools encourage a participatory relationship between home and school. In
many countries, the parents are to send their children to school, and the professional
educators take over from there and do not want or require parent involvement. Although
American schools encourage parent involvement, the type of parent involvement valued
by educators usually falls in a very narrow range. Helping in the classroom, assisting
during field trips, reading to children or helping in the library are difficult tasks for many
poorly educated, working, and/or non-English speaking parents (McCollum, 1996;
Noguera, 2003; Nieto, 2004).
Many English Learners, African American and Hispanic students are unsuccessful
in school when they experience cultural conflict from the cultural differences between
their school and home (Banks, 2004). Cultural differences and lack of cultural knowledge
between the school and their home and community cultures are an important factor in
their low academic achievement (Salend, Duhaney, & Montgomery, 2002). It takes time
for parents to understand why it is important for them to be in communication with the
teacher and school. With this in mind, it is up to the school to initiate and reach out to
27
parents in order for them to be actively involved as partners in their children’s education.
African American, Hispanic, and English-Learner parents have experienced cultural
and/or language barriers or have felt ignored and disrespected in past experiences with
the school and need support and encouragement in order to participate (Pelco, Riles,
Jacobsen, 2000; Epstein & Salinas, 2004; Lareau, 1987). Consequently, presenting
parents with culturally-responsive workshops may be critical to building a positive
relationship between the home and school.
The research on racial and language minority student achievement consistently
demonstrates the positive effect of parent involvement. A quantitative meta-analysis of
77 studies and over 300,000 students, kindergarten through twelfth grades, with 100% of
minority student data disaggregated, found that achievement was .5 of a standard
deviation higher for students with parents who were involved in their education. Larger
positive effects were noted for African-American and Hispanic students than for Asian
students, but the “effect sizes were statistically significant” for all three groups (Jeynes,
2005).
In another quantitative meta-analysis conducted by Jeynes (2007) involving 52
studies on the effects of parental involvement on urban secondary school minority
students, the findings showed statistically significant positive results for the students on
standardized tests, grades, and overall academic achievement. In his analysis of National
Education Longitudinal Survey data, Jeynes (2005) examined the impact of parental
involvement on 2,260 African American students. He found that although the students
whose parents were highly involved had higher academic scores than students whose
28
parents were not involved, the children of highly-involved parents from low socioeconomic status had academic scores that were not positively statistically significant. He
also found that middle class African American parents were more likely to be actively
and effectively involved in their students’ education. In a study of African American
parents (Diamond & Gomez, 2004), it was found that the approaches and strategies used
by middle class parents supported their children’s access to better teachers and schools,
and they felt connected and able to communicate effectively with teachers and other
school staff.
A study by the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) collected data
on 652 schools in 36 states and Canada. The students in the study included 34.3%
African American, and 12.8% Hispanic students, and students from a number of
languages other than English that averaged 8.5%. The effect of parent involvement was
positive for all students, but the results were not disaggregated according to primary
language or racial background (Williams, Sheldon, & Epstein, 2007).
A weakness in the studies by Jeyne (2003, 2007) is that although quantitative
methods are utilized in the analysis, the specific number of minority students is never
stated. The same is true for the studies conducted by Epstein and the NNPS. It would be
helpful to have the data according to race and primary language to provide more precise
information on the correlation between minority and English Learner student
achievement and parent involvement. The data collected from this study will add to this
body of research for African American, Spanish-speaking, and Hmong-speaking parents.
29
The study conducted by Hong and Ho (2005) was intended to determine what
strategies worked best for parents from White, African American, and Hispanic
backgrounds. The data collected showed that Asian and White parents’ involvement had
a more long-lasting influence on their children’s academic achievement than that of the
African American and Hispanic parents. It has been suggested that teacher practices and
school characteristics have a strong relationship to parent involvement (Stone, 1998).
Indeed, teacher perceptions of parents can have strong influence on the parent and teacher
partnership. A perception that parents are dedicated to their children’s education can have
a positive effect on how the parent interacts with the teacher. Conversely, if the
perception is that the parents are unable to follow through on their parental commitments
because they do not wish to or do not care, can have a negative effect on the parentteacher relationship (Gronick, Benjet, Kurowski & Apostoleris, 1995). So it is evident
that although teachers and school/district administrators believe that parent involvement
can improve student academic achievement, most school and district parent involvement
policies and practices assume that parents and the school have the same goals and
objectives for their child’s education. Parental involvement from the school and district
perspective may also assume that parents are available, have some knowledge of school
processes, and the material resources to help their children. Such assumptions have the
unintended effect of further disconnecting the parents who are the most marginalized to
begin with (Standing, 2005; Van-Velsor & Orosco, 2007). Furthermore, the language that
is often used in working with parents such as parent “empowerment” and “building
30
capacity” imply that the parents invited to these programs are lacking where other parents
are not (Lightfoot, 2005; Epstein, 2004).
A qualitative study of 47 high school seniors was conducted to determine the
students’ perceptions of their parents’ influence on their academic performance (Urdan,
Solek, & Schoenfelder, 2006). The researchers were particularly interested in language
and cultural factors of parental influence. The sample consisted of 10 students who were
first-generation immigrants, 25 were U.S.-born children of immigrants, and 12 were
third- generation minority students. The students represented Vietnamese, Chinese,
Hispanic, Filipino, and White backgrounds. Most of the students responded in a “family
pleasing” pattern, which is reflective of appreciation for parental support and a desire to
achieve academically in order to make parents proud. Most of the high-and middleachieving minority students responded to survey questions in the “family pleasing”
pattern and defined academic achievement as being the best in class. In contrast, the lowachieving minority students’ responses to the survey reflected negative family models
and defined academic achievement as passing a class or graduating from high school. The
middle and high-achieving students were primarily from Asian and first-or secondgeneration immigrants. All the Asian students responded that their parents defined
academic success as earning an A in every class. The low-achieving students were
Hispanic and third generation. The Hispanic students were more likely to respond that
their parents’ highest academic achievement expectation for them was high school
graduation. Although the students’ perception of parental influence is important, the
sample size of this study was small and the questions in the survey were open-ended.
31
Since 10 of the students were immigrants, their ability to respond effectively in English is
a question that was not addressed in the methodology. However, the study does reflect
the results of general parent involvement research regarding the impact of parent
expectations on student achievement (Jeynes, 2005; Redding, 2002; Epstein, 2005).
In the studies that dealt exclusively with Hispanics, the issue of trust was one of
the primary foci. Research compiled by the Hispanic Policy Development Project on 42
school/parent programs found that Hispanic parents would not become involved by
joining existing parent/school organizations primarily because they did not feel they
could make significant contributions (Nicolau & Ramos, 1990). The researchers also
found that even bilingual newsletters, flyers, and other standard methods used for parent
communications failed to engage Hispanic parents. What did work was personal contact
in the home language (Nicolau & Ramos, 1009). The key concept is that trust is an
essential component in building a home-school relationship that benefits the academic
achievement of Hispanic students (Columbo, 2006; Young, 1998). To establish trust,
school leaders and teachers need to make efforts to bridge cultural and language
differences (Colombo, 2006; Keller, 2006; Epstein, 2005; Young, 1998). Until the
implementation of NCLB data on parental involvement of specific racial and language
minorities were relatively scarce. This may have been due to the nature of parent
involvement studies. Most of the research had been funded through federal funds for low
socio-economic level students, which include most racial minorities and English
Learners; so the data had been inclusive and not generally disaggregated. Now that data
are collected and sorted by racial and economic subgroups, the importance of parental
32
involvement as a key factor in student achievement has been recognized, and there is an
emphasis on identifying and engaging of parents from diverse backgrounds.
In a Texas study of ethnic and language group differences in parent involvement,
four groups were examined: White; African American; Hispanic English speaking; and
Hispanic, Spanish-speaking parents. The parents responded to a survey focusing on
positive perceptions about school, home-school communications, parent and teacher
shared responsibilities, and the parents’ school involvement. The African American
parents reported the highest level of home-school communication, and the Hispanic
parents, whether they spoke English or not, reported the lowest level of communication
(Wong & Hughes, 2006). The African American parents also reported high levels of
parent involvement in the schools with the Spanish-speaking Hispanics reporting the
lowest parental involvement. In the same survey, teachers reported the African American
parents as the least involved in home-school activities and placed African American
parent home-school communication lower than that of Hispanic or White parents (Wong
& Hughes, 2006). It may be that parental self-reporting of involvement alone is not
adequate to determine level of parent involvement, and that parents’ sense of
involvement and the teachers’ expectations of what involvement looks like are not
congruent.
Teachers and Parent Involvement
Federal policy and research from the last thirty years documenting the importance
of parental involvement in the success of their children has prompted school leaders’
efforts to increase parent involvement for their children. Indeed, the research studies
33
indicate that parent involvement in their children’s education is a stronger predictor of
academic success than their socio-economic level (Jeynes, 2007; Keller, 2006; Redding,
2002). The research substantiates that parent and teacher expectations affect student
achievement and behavior and that school and family behaviors affect learning outcomes
(Redding, 2002; Epstein, 2001). However, there is a wide range of teacher beliefs and
behaviors regarding parent involvement. Some teachers welcome the active participation
of parents in the pupil’s educational process, while other teachers believe that parental
involvement may be a source of instructional interference and that parents do not have
the necessary skills to assist either at home or at school (Epstein & Becker, 1982).
The growing diversity in the United States has sparked research focused on what
makes a teacher effective in working with diverse student populations. In addition to
having a solid educational foundation, subject-matter competency, skill in delivering
instruction using a variety of strategies, and strong communication and organizational
skills; teachers effective in working with diversity hold high expectations for all students,
have knowledge of students’ language and culture, and demonstrate respect and reach out
to students’ parents and community (Garcia, 1999; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Nieto, 2002,
2006).
There is a need for professional development that expands teachers’ and
administrators’ concepts of parent involvement from the traditional activities such as
helping in the classroom (Benson & Martin, 2003). The narrow view that most educators
hold has been creating a barrier to increasing home-school partnerships and engaging
34
parents in a positive relationship, which would improve student achievement (Pena,
2000; Moles 1987).
As teachers and school leaders examine and explore strategies to improve student
achievement it must be stated that parent involvement is only one of the keys to closing
the achievement gap. Studies of high achieving schools include many other factors such
as: focused professional development; consistent and high academic standards with
aligned curriculum and assessments; consistent and frequent use of student assessment
data to guide instruction; high expectations for all students; frequent monitoring of
instruction; effective leadership; and parent and community support and involvement
(Henderson & Mapp, 2002).
Teacher and Parent Efficacy
Efficacy is based on social cognitive theory and reflects the view that all
individuals are intentionally making choices and taking actions toward their own
development. The sources of this are the beliefs and feelings the individual holds about
his abilities to be successful in taking actions. This sense of capability, or efficacy,
greatly influences an individual’s behavior. Through their sense of efficacy, individuals
can exercise control of their environment and affect the social system in which they
interact (Bandura, 1986). When people sense that they will not be successful in a given
situation, they will likely not want to be involved. This has great implications for parent
involvement (Hover-Dempsey et al, 1987).
Two factors found to improve educational outcomes for students are parent
efficacy and teacher efficacy, since personal efficacy likely influences behaviors
35
(Bandura, 1986). Efficacy for teachers refers to their sense of capability in influencing
student achievement. Teachers who feel inadequate in working with struggling students
are less likely to contact and interact positively with parents. Conversely, using efficacy
theory, teachers can work to improve their students' emotional states and to eliminate
their negative self-beliefs and thoughts. Over time this will improve their academic skills
as the students learn to regulate their behavior and build their sense of efficacy (Bandura,
1987; Coulter-Kern & Duchene, 2007).
Parent efficacy refers to a positive sense of self-image, effectiveness and sense of
connection to other parents and/or school staff (Watkins, 1991; Epstein & Salinas, 2004).
Parents who believe they can “make a difference” are more likely to be involved in their
child’s school and with the teacher (Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler & Brissie, 1992).
Strategies for increasing well-being can be aimed at improving emotional, cognitive, or
motivational processes, increasing behavioral competencies, or altering the social
conditions under which people live and work. Programs that promote confidence and a
positive self image and provide important information and communicate effectively are
more likely to be successful in engaging parents (Swick, 1993). Further research has
provided additional strategies that teachers can utilize to build and strengthen parentteacher partnerships. The strategies of working with parents on communication, shared
learning, and how to guide their children are specific ways teachers can support parents’
sense of efficacy (Swick & Broadway 1997).
36
Demographics
Currently, California is the most diverse state in the nation and has the largest
number of immigrants. In California, for the 2008-2009 school year, the total student
enrollment was 6,252,031. African-American students numbered 454,784 (7.27%);
Hispanic students numbered 3,064,614 (49.02%); and English Learners comprised
1,513,233 (24%). Of the English Learners, 1.283,751 (84%) are Spanish speakers.
Spanish-speaking English Learners comprise 20% of California’s student population
(California Department of Education, 2009). California is recognized to be the state with
the highest number of English Learners as well as the highest percentage of diverse
students (U.S. Department of Education, 2009).
Case Law and Policy
Historically, since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the United States
Supreme Court has set equal education as a right for all students in public schools. The
Supreme Court referred to the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution that “No state
shall… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” In
Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court outlawed the concept of separate but
equal in terms of school facilities and mandated an end to segregation. The Equal
Educational Opportunities Act, passed in 1974, required that Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act be enforced in all public education institutions across the United States. The
guarantee of equal educational opportunities regardless of race, gender, color, or national
origin provided protection for English Learner students in the public schools (Wiese &
Garcia, 2001). The focus of bilingual education through federal policy by passage of the
37
Bilingual Education Acts of 1968, 1974, 1978, 1984, has always been on the
development of English language acquisition allowing for students to learn English while
learning academic concepts in their primary language. However, the last Bilingual
Education authorization in 1988 no longer encouraged this longer-term type of bilingual
programs. In the 1988 reauthorization, English Learners could participate in transitional
bilingual programs for no longer than three years. (Wiese & Garcia, 2001)
In California the Lau v. Nichols decision of 1974 moved the equality dialogue
from facilities to curriculum. In this decision, it was determined that language minorities
who received the same textbooks and instruction as English Only pupils were not
receiving adequate access to education because they did not speak English. This decision
required school districts to provide access to the same curriculum as their English Only
classmates through additional support and resources. In addition, all districts with more
than 20 English Learners from any single language group were required to submit annual
reports regarding the programs offered to English Learners to the Office of Civil Rights
(Wiese & Garcia, 2001). The passage of NCLB placed English Learners as a subgroup
but made no allowance for the time required for the acquisition of English. Schools and
districts with students from subgroups that have historically been academically
challenged are expected to perform at the same level as English speaking middle-class
students on standardized assessments. Under the revised regulations in Title III of NCLB,
districts are not mandated to provide supplemental instructional services specifically
designed for English Learners in order to receive federal funding (Chenoweth, 2004, U.S.
Department of Education, 2009).
38
However, NCLB has regulated how English-Learner parents are to be supported
by schools so they can be actively involved in the education of their children. A Home
Language Survey must be part of the school enrollment process for all new students.
This is used to identify English Learners and the language spoken in the home [section
1112(g)(1)(A)]. Parents must be informed of their child’s level of English proficiency
and the assessment tool used in that designation. If the child is identified for placement in
an English language instructional program, the parents must be given a description of the
program and how it will meet the needs of their child as well as exit criteria [NCLB, Sec.
1112(g)(1)]. There must be an annual assessment of English-Learner students to monitor
academic progress and growth in English-language acquisition, and the results must be
discussed with the parents. Any school and district receiving federal funds is required to
develop and implement a plan for English-Learner parent outreach; specifically, to
inform parents on how they can be involved in their child’s education, how they can
provide support in helping their child with English proficiency and in meeting academic
standards [NCLB, Section 1112 (g)(4)].
Since 1965 when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was
enacted, the policy for parent involvement has required districts receiving federal funds
to have one percent of the district’s allocation reserved or set aside for parent
involvement and training programs and activities. The 2001 authorization of this ESEA
policy is NCLB. Under NCLB section 9101, parent involvement is defined as the
participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving
student academic learning and other school activities including: assisting their child’s
39
learning; being actively involved in their child’s education at school; serving as full
partners in their child’s education and being included, as appropriate, in decision-making
and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; and carrying out
other activities.
Under NCLB policy and regulations, the role of all parents has evolved into active
participant and decision maker in their children’s educational options. Through federal
policy, parents now have more control of their children’s education from kindergarten
through twelfth grade (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Title I is a federally funded
program under NCLB that provides supplemental financial assistance to schools and
districts with high numbers or high percentages of qualifying low-income students to
ensure that all children meet state academic achievement standards. Federal funds are
allocated through formulas that are based primarily on census estimates of poverty, the
cost of education in each state, and free and reduced lunch program percentages in each
school and district. In many districts, Title I funding is the largest funding source for
supplemental programs. The following summary provides the key mandates school
districts agree to implement for receiving NCLB funding under Title I.
Title I schools and districts are required to ensure effective involvement of parents
by: supporting partnerships between Title I schools, parents, and community; providing
assistance to parents of Title I students in helping them to understand the state’s academic
subject standards, student achievement standards, and state and local assessments; how to
monitor their child’s academic progress; how to work with educators to improve the
achievement of their children; provide for full participation of parents who speak little or
40
no English, parents with disabilities, migrant parents; providing materials and training to
help parents in order that they may support their children at home; work with teachers
and principals to ensure that they understand the value and support that parents can bring
to the school as partners in their children’s education; carrying out other activities that
support and encourage parents in participating in the education of their children; and
sending information to parents informing them of parent and school programs, meetings,
and other activities (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Other federal funds allocated
for supplemental programs under NCLB in Title III, specifically fund support for closing
the achievement gap for English Learner students. Title III funds the supplemental
education of English Learners through implementation and support of high academic
standards, school accountability, professional development for school and district staff,
and parent involvement (U. S. Department of Education, 2009).
Social and Cultural Capital Theory
There may be other societal factors which impede the closing of the achievement
gap. Social and cultural capital theory seeks to explain how social class and the cultural
norms that are embedded within social class can impede or promote social and academic
success.
Nieto (2006) suggests that the achievement gap could be called “the resource gap
because the gap is often a result of widely varying resources provided to students based
on their zip codes, as well as widely varying amounts of support and care given to
children based on their identities” (p. 3). Within the context of social and cultural capital
theory, there is a systemic social network that has created the achievement gap and only
41
approaches that deal with these inequities will eliminate the disparities in educational
access and achievement suffered by students and families from low socio-economic,
English Learner, African American, and Hispanic backgrounds (Nieto, 2006; Valenzuela,
1999).
Social capital theory was developed in the 1960s by Pierre Bourdieu, a French
sociologist, to explain discrepancies in academic achievement between pupils of similar
economic situations but different social class backgrounds (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1965,
1970). Bourdieu extended the concept of culture beyond a group’s shared values and
norms of behavior into sharing properties similar to economic capital (Weininger &
Lareau, 2003). This capital is based on social relationships and the idea that members can
access resources solely through group membership (Bourdieu, 1977). Consequently
“cultural habits and dispositions” are a resource similar to capital which can generate
profits, have the potential to be monopolized, and are passed on to one’s heirs (Weininger
& Lareau, 2003).
Each family’s social class position determines how much and what type of social
capital a child possesses upon entry into the school system. Cultural and social capital
theory explains why African American, Hispanic, and English-Learner families do not
possess the knowledge to network and navigate the school system (Brantlinger, 1993;
Laraeu, 2000, 2001; Branglinger, 1993). In Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts, social capital
and cultural capital are entwined when an individual’s cultural capital is accrued through
his exposure and access to cultural artifacts such as art, books, and music and added to
his access and knowledge of institutionalized culture (Bourdieu, 1986; Horvat, Weininger
42
& Lareau, 2003). In Bourdieu’s conceptual framework, social networks are constructed
deliberately to acquire social and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986).
In 2000, under the leadership of Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University’s Saguaro
Seminar of the John F. Kennedy School of Government developed a quantitative survey
that measures social capital. The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey was
conducted across 29 states in 40 representative communities (Putnam, 2003). The survey
included African American and Hispanic respondents as well as members from other
diverse groups. The data collected show that where there is a higher level of social
connection and civic involvement in a community, there is a corresponding higher level
of parent involvement and student achievement in schools. In the communities with
higher social capital, the schools had lower dropout rates and reported less behavioral
incidents at school (Putnam, 2003). Although the survey did note the higher
connectedness of African Americans and Hispanics to churches and family structures for
social networks, it was noted that there is inequity in how race and class impact access to
social capital (Putnam, 2001). Putnam’s definition of social capital is anything that
facilitates individual or collective action, generated by networks of relationships,
reciprocity, trust, and social norms (Smith, 2001).
The Equality of Educational Opportunity Study examined 4000 schools and
600,000 students in an effort to determine which school resources were the most effective
in increasing the academic achievement of low-income and minority students. The
study’s results showed that family background and socio-economic level of the school’s
43
students were better indicators of school success than the school’s investment in
resources (Coleman, 1966).
Coleman (1988) compared public and Catholic high school students found dropout rates were higher in the public schools. This finding was attributed to the students’
and parents’ connection to the church and school. For the Catholic school students and
parents, the social capital gained through sustained relationships with other parents and
students positively contributed to gaining educational skills and school success
(Coleman, 1988). In Coleman’s social capital model there are three types of social
capital. First, there are “obligations and expectations.” Trust is the cornerstone of this
type of social capital since relationships are formed in which there is a quid pro quo, and
obligations are built up with the expectation that there will be time when the individual
who is obligated will “payback” when that social capital is needed. The second type of
social capital can be accrued through sharing useful information that guides and
facilitates action. The third type of social capital resides in the social norms that guide
social behavior. Many parents and particularly parents who are African American,
Hispanic, or English Learners, belong to networks that are “resource poor” and do not
have the relationships, information, or networks of social capital needed to provide
educational advantages for their children (Coleman, 1988; Lin, 2000). They may have
little knowledge of how the American school system works; and unless this is recognized
and structured opportunities to access and build social capital are provided, these parents
may not be able to gain the benefits of parent involvement programs and activities (Lin,
2000, Brantlinger, 2003).
44
In cultural capital theory, a social system and its institutions, including schools,
are part of a stratified, hierarchical social structure in which behaviors of privileged group
members are reinforced and rewarded (Bourdieu, 1986, Weininger & Lareau, 2003;
Lareau, 2000). In the United States, the dominant or privileged group has been the White
middle-class male. Members of this group have been afforded more status and access to
power (Labaree, 1997, Oakes & Lipton, 1999). Consequently, students and families from
outside this group who have a different way of behaving, and thinking, due to factors
such as race, ethnicity, social class and language, and would be expected to have
challenges in succeeding in the educational system since they lack the cultural and
linguistic capital for access (Banks & Banks, 2001; Delpit, 1992).
These institutionalized cultural practices transmit and entrench social inequities.
In several observational research studies of Black, White, and inter-racial families from
middle class, working class and poor socio-economic levels, Lareau (2002) found that
middle class parents use strategies that cultivate their children’s sense of efficacy and
entitlement while the working class and poor parents had strategies of accomplishment of
natural growth. Lareau’s (2002, 2009) research supports the theory that these different
child-rearing approaches lead middle class children to develop skills for successful
interactions with social institutions and working-class and poor children to develop a
sense of distrust and constraint in those same arenas. In another class-based observation
study of Black and White families on child-rearing practices (Lareau, 2002), it was found
that there was little difference in the behavior of parents based on race, but major
differences based on their socio-economic level. The areas observed were: (1) the
45
organization of daily life; (2) use of language; (3) social connections; (4) interventions in
institutional settings; and (5) consequences of the differences. The children from
working-class and poor families were allowed to grow naturally, spent much of their time
with family, were trained to accept directives from adults without question, and played
freely with other children in the neighborhood. In institutional settings, such as school,
these children displayed a sense of powerlessness and often experienced conflict between
the rules of the home and school. The parenting behaviors of the working-class and poor
families led to a sense of constraint in the behavior of the child. In contrast, the middleclass parents, whether Black or White, actively gauged the skills and abilities of their
children and scheduled structured activities for improving and building their children’s
abilities. These parents also engaged their children in dialogues and negotiated with them
on behavior issues. However, the middle-class families displayed much weaker extended
family bonds, and although the children engaged in many structured activities, the
activities were the focus, not the social connections to other children. The middle-class
parents were active in intervening on behalf of their children at school and encouraged
their children to speak up on their own behalf. The cultural capital that the middle-class
children acquired over time could bring greater results over time as they engage with
institutions. They expect responsiveness and accommodations to their needs and have
learned how to get the attention and information necessary. The cultural capital learned
and earned by the children contributes to the further stratification of American society.
The research has indicated that parent-to-parent interactions, parents’ understanding of
the school processes, their communication skills and their access to school staff for
46
communication and information are keys to building and gaining cultural and social
capital (Lareau, 1987).
Educational Leaders
The achievement gap data long with the research on the importance of parent
involvement are providing school leaders with the impetus to find effective ways to meet
the challenges of involving parents of pupils from African American, Hispanic, and
English-Learner backgrounds. Effective school leaders need to connect with parents and
communities from various cultures, languages, races, and ethnicities (Noguera, 2006,
Nieto, 2003). Superintendents, principals, and central office administrators set the
expectations and direction for a district and school. Teachers, students, parents, and
community members follow the guidance of an educational leader and are motivated by
their leader’s beliefs, values, and attitudes. There are opportunities in policies and laws
for educational leaders who want to engage all parents in their children’s education
(Singleton & Linton, 2006). However, moving effectively in this direction involves a new
paradigm, and school leaders will need to do much more than provide opportunities for
parents to engage with the school. A transformational leader will establish an educational
environment in which cultural diversity is valued and parents, community members, and
school staff are encouraged to work together in partnership (Banks, 2001; Chen &
Goldring, 1992; Met, 2001; Williams-Carter, 1999).
Transformational leadership may be difficult for the majority of school leaders
and teachers who are disproportionately White, and as the dominant group, may not even
be aware of the privileges that their color imparts and the challenges that students and
47
parents from diverse background face (McIntosh, 2004). In the United States, 84.4 % out
of more than three million teachers are White with only 7.5% African American (Tatum,
2003). California teachers reflect the national demographic data in racial and social class
background and most of them lack the experience of working with people of different
ethnic, cultural, language, and socio-economic backgrounds. Data from the California
Department of Education (2009) show that of the 306,887 teachers in the state, 215,080
(70.1%) are White; 50,871 (16.6%) are Hispanic; 13,115 (4.3%) are African American;
and 16,137 (5.3%) are from Asian backgrounds. In contrast, only 1,741,664 (27.86%)
California students are White with the remainder being of other ethnicities as noted above
(CDE Dataquest, 2009). The teaching population will continue to be mostly White
females from middle class backgrounds, while the student population will continue to
grow increasingly diverse (Singh, 1998). To close this cultural, racial, and social class
gap, it is essential that school leaders and teachers learn about the families and
communities of their students so they can be prepared to meet students’ needs and
provide educational access to all children (Banks, 2004; Nieto, 2004).
Since most school administrators come from the teaching ranks, it is no surprise
that most are White. In 2003, similar data were collected on school superintendents
across the United States. The survey found that 56% of school district superintendents
were White, 10% Hispanic, and 33% African American (Urban Indicator, 2003). While
federal and state policies are legislated, the implementation of these policies is at the
local level within schools and school districts (Elmore, 1983; McLaughlin, 1987).
Educational leaders must acknowledge that privilege exists in order to create the
48
organizational change necessary for students and families who are not members of the
privileged group; that is, African Americans, Hispanics, and English Learners (Banks,
1995; Deplit, 1988; Freire, 2001). California administrators reflect similar demographics.
Of the 27,950 administrators in the state, 5,002 (17.9) are Hispanic; 2,307 (8.3%) are
African American; and 18,738 (67%) are White (CDE Datawise, 2009).
Most of the research and literature on parent involvement is based on the mores of
White middle-class culture. The ideal parents know how to prepare their child for school,
so that the child is ready to learn, and the school can focus on teaching (Scheurich &
Skrla, 2003). In this model, the parents’ role is to prepare their children to function
successfully in school (Deschenes, Cuban, & Tyack, 2001). Since the culture, language,
and economic reality of many African American, Hispanic, and English Learners families
do not match this cultural model, the school staff often believe that the parents do not
care or highly value education. In the hierarchical structure of public schools, the primary
responsibility for instituting and maintaining an environment that encourages and
supports all parents falls on school leaders, and this usually means the principal. It is
important that school leaders explicitly promote the value of cultural diversity in the
education of all students (Banks & Banks, 2001; Chen & Goodring, 1992). By
establishing the value of diverse cultural, racial, and language backgrounds, a more
positive and respectful learning environment can be established (Gilliom, 1993; Thomas
& Willinsky, 1997).
With the onset of NCLB and the accountability and requirements for active parent
involvement of all subgroups, especially parents of children falling back in achievement,
49
school leadership is being scrutinized. There is a definite push for altering power
relationships in our public schools. Initiating the type of change that is required to bring
all parents into their children’s educational process as active partners will require
transformational leadership. The concept of transformational leadership, as described in
the Table 1 below, was developed by Burns (1978) as a result of his studies of political
leaders, military officers, and business executives. He described transformational leaders
as those who connect with the moral values of supporters in order to raise their awareness
on ethical issues to mobilize resources and reform institutions.
Table 1
Characteristics of Transformational Leadership
Characteristics
What it look like:
Individual Consideration
Pays personal attention to team members/followers
who seem ignored or mistreated
Intellectual Stimulation
Encourages team members/followers to think out of the
box to solve problems
Inspirational Motivation
Communicates confidence and high expectations for
performance
Idealized Influence
Models commendable behavior, high moral character,
and personal accomplishments
(Bass, 1985)
This type of leadership lends itself to participatory decision-making and “power
with” versus “power over” stakeholders and capacity building processes (Leithwood,
50
1992). Such leaders motivate staff to work collaboratively, support cultural change and
share leadership while communicating a value-laden belief system. Leithwood’s (1992)
findings suggest that transformational leadership has a positive influence on teacher
collaboration and on teachers’ self reported attitudes on school improvement and
instructional practices.
A meta-analysis of 69 studies conducted from 1978 through 2001 on principal
leadership, found that the leadership of the principal can have a significant effect on
student achievement (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005). Transformational leaders
using multicultural approaches that validate the strengths and assets of the parents and
communities that their students live in can engage and involve all parents, including
African American, Hispanic, and English-Learner parents in the education of their
children.
Conclusion
This literature review has explored the theoretical foundations and research on
parent involvement over the past 30 years and has identified and discussed studies that
have examined parent involvement of African American, Hispanic and English Learners.
The positive effects of parental involvement and how it can contribute to reduction of the
academic achievement gap of students is undeniable. Research suggests that the broad
definition of parent involvement includes multiple dimensions including emotional,
social, and school-related learning activities. Parents’ ability to be involved is further
influenced by social-contextual factors, such as language if they do not speak English or
speak non-standard English or have economic hardship. Consequently, the level of
51
support that their children receive will be affected by the assets or lack of assets that their
parents can provide. For all parents to be involved with their child’s education, some
parents will need support and training in order to be partners in their children’s education.
The importance of forging effective and collaborative partnerships between parents,
teachers and administrators is the key to this endeavor.
52
Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In the review of the research literature, a strong correlation between parent
involvement and student academic achievement has been shown (Epstein, 2005; Jeynes,
2005, 2007; Henderson & Mapp, 2007). These findings have held across all income
levels and ethnicities. The reduction and elimination of the achievement gap between
students from Hispanic, African American, Hmong, and Russian-Ukrainian backgrounds
and students from White and other Asian backgrounds is a topic of great concern in our
public schools.
Research has validated that student achievement is enhanced through increasing
the knowledge and skills of parents through training and involvement. With the
accountability issues surrounding the achievement gap of Hispanic, African American,
Hmong and Russian-Ukrainian pupils and the ever-diminishing fiscal resources, district
and school leaders would benefit from the identification of the most powerful and costeffective parent training programs and/or strategies (Moses & Chang, 2006). Since the
reauthorization of ESEA in 2001 under NCLB, more studies have focused on African
American, Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian-Ukrainian parents (Epstein, 2005; Henderson
& Mapp, 2007). Through use of the most effective parent training programs and/or
strategies, the academic achievement gap for African-American, Hispanic, Hmong, and
Russian-Ukrainian pupils can be minimized through increasing the knowledge and skills
and changing the attitudes of their parents. Ultimately the leader of a school and/or
53
district has the responsibility and mandate to allocate resources in the form of staff,
funding, and use of facilities to provide for the training of parents.
In guiding the design of this study, seven questions have been posed:
1. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of home-school
communication?
2. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of their involvement in
their children’s education?
3. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of their ability to help their
children academically?
4. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the importance of parental
involvement?
5. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the capability of parents to
help their child academically?
6. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding their responsibility for
communicating with parents and involving parents?
7. What strategies and practices might the schools/district expand, modify, or
implement to promote and increase parent involvement?
54
The following sections describe the research design, setting and sample,
treatment, instrumentation, data collection, analysis, and measures taken for protection of
participants’ rights.
Research Design
The research design relative to the parents involved pre- and post-survey data
collection with parent involvement workshops as an intervention/treatment. This part of
the research design derives logically from the problem being addressed; i.e., how to
increase parent involvement through a series of parent involvement workshops. The
research design relative to the teachers involved a survey of teacher perceptions.
Setting and Sample
This study was conducted in a large, K-12 school district in northern California
with pupil demographics reflecting the Central Valley. The district encompasses 120
square miles in an ethnically and economically diverse area characterized by a mix of
urban, suburban, and rural communities.
The district’s 3,000 teachers serve approximately 31,213 students in preschool
through adult education. The district is comprised of 56 school sites that include:
elementary schools, junior high schools, comprehensive high schools, charter schools,
adult education sites, continuation schools, community day schools, one special
education school, and an independent study high school. The student demographics are
displayed in Table 2. As shown in the table, 35% of the students in the district are
Hispanic, followed by 32.3% White, 15.3% African Americans, and 9.5% Asian
(Hmong) students. Table 3 shows the number of English Learners by their native
55
language. Out of the 31,213 students enrolled in the district, 9,303 or about 30% are
English Learners. The highest proportions are Spanish speakers (57.3%), followed by
Russian-Ukrainian speakers (21.5%), and Hmong speakers (11.3%). There are also 2.1%
Lao speakers and 7.8% speakers of other non-English languages.
Table 2
District Demographics: Ethnicity 2009-2010
Ethnicity
Enrollment Number
Percent
Hispanic
10,935
35.0
298
0.9
Asian
2,835
9.5
African American
4,779
15.3
497
1.6
10,108
32.3
Filipino
368
1.1
Two or more Races
957
3.0
Not reported
436
1.3
31,213
100.0
American Indian/Alaska Native
Pacific Islander
White
Total
Dataquest (CDE, 2010)
56
Table 3
District Demographics: English Learners 2009-2010
Language
Number
Percent
Spanish
5,328
57.3
Russian/Ukrainian
2,000
21.5
Hmong
1,053
11.3
Lao
192
2.1
Other non-English languages
730
7.8
Total
9,303
100.0
Dataquest (CDE, 2010)
The sampling method utilized in this study was convenience sampling. However,
this sampling procedure does not assure that the sample is an accurate representation of
some larger group or population. Still, convenience sampling provides useful, practical
information in relation to the topic under study. A convenience sample lends itself to this
particular type of study because both parent and teacher participants were available
before and after the parents engaged in the workshops (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2003; Muijs,
2007).
The survey participants were African American, Hispanic, Hmong, and RussianUkrainian parents who attended a series of district level-parent workshops. The teacher
participants were teachers of the youngest school-age child of the participating parents
57
Treatment
The treatment in this study was participation in the parent involvement workshops
(Appendix K). The workshop series began in the fall of 2009 and was concluded in May
2010. It was expected that parents attend the whole series if possible, but attendance was
voluntary, and attendance information was not considered in the data analysis. The
workshop series consisted of 12 sessions with the following topics in order of
presentation:

Parent involvement: Helping your child achieve academic success

Building bridges: Family and school connections

Using technology and on-line resources

Understanding the U.S. system of education

Basic components of ESEA

Content and performance standards/standardized assessments

System of school accountability

Academic programs

Role of parent committees

Beyond high school

Virtual pre-kindergarten

Goal setting
Instrumentation
Data were collected utilizing the School and Family Partnerships: Questionnaires
for Teachers and Parents in the Elementary and Middle Grades developed through Johns
58
Hopkins University (Epstein & Salinas, 1993; Appendices F-J). These questionnaires
were selected for use because they:

provide high reliability and validity of data

allow investigation of the research questions in breadth and depth

enable multiple levels of analysis
The instrument used in collecting the data from the parents was the School and
Family Partnerships Survey of Parents in Elementary and Middle School Grades (Epstein
& Salinas, 1993, Appendix F). Although the entire survey was administered to the
parents, three sections of the survey were deemed to be relevant and sensitive measures
of the focus of the workshop sessions. These three sections are designed to measure
perceptions of parents relative to communication from the school, involvement in their
children’s education, and the perceptions of their ability to help and experience success in
helping their children academically.
An aligned survey for teachers called the School and Family Partnerships Survey
of Teachers in Elementary and Middle Grades (Epstein & Salinas, 1993, Appendix J) was
used with the teacher participants. As with the parent survey, selected sections of the
survey were analyzed. These sections measure perceptions of teachers regarding: the
importance of parental involvement, the capability of parents to help their children
academically, and their responsibility for communicating with parents and involving
parents. Both surveys collect data using 1 to 4-point Likert Scale with a 1 indicating
“most negative” and 4 indicating “most positive” feelings. These surveys have been
developed and used by the Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children’s
59
Learning for several years, and as such, their use provides confidence in the reliability
and validity of the results.
The reliability scale used in the development these surveys was the Cronbach
alpha (α) because the surveys consist of many Likert items (Mueller, 1986; Epstein, et al
1994). The survey developers used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
for reliability statistics and deleted items that reduced the reliability coefficient. The
reliability coefficients for the parent and teacher surveys range from moderate (α = .44) to
high (α = .91). The reliability levels indicate the surveys are effective for research
purposes. The survey data on which the reliabilities were established are based on results
collected from 243 teachers and 2,115 parents from 15 elementary and middle schools in
Baltimore, Maryland.
The parent survey asked parents about their attitudes and degree of involvement
in an assortment of home-school activities. The publishers of the survey recommended
that the parent pre-survey not be administered before the first workshop but after a few
sessions in order to give parents time to feel comfortable with being asked such questions
and provide time to cultivate communication channels and relationships (Sheldon &
Epstein, 2007).
Data Collection
The data collection for this study took place over a four-month period
commencing in January 2010 and ending in May 2010. During the period of November
2009 until May 2010, the district was running a 12-session parent involvement workshop
series for the school year. The workshops were held at a single location that afforded
60
breakout sessions in English, Spanish, Hmong, and Russian-Ukrainian. After reviewing
the schedule for the district’s parent involvement workshops and in keeping with the
recommendation from the survey developers, the researcher determined that the parent
participants would self-select to complete a survey after the fourth workshop in January
2010. Following the conclusion of the fourth workshop program, the researcher, assisted
by the bilingual trainers who served as interpreters, spoke with the parents in attendance
explaining the purpose and intent of the study. They were told that their input would help
the district improve ways to work with parents and build a better home-school
partnership. Parents who expressed an interest in participating received a letter in their
home language for them to sign, agreeing to freely participate in the study (Appendices
A-D). The surveys had been translated into Spanish, Hmong, and Russian and were also
in English, and those who chose to participate selected the survey in the language they
preferred and could receive help in responding to the survey by a bilingual paraprofessionals if they expressed the need or desire for assistance. When submitting the
completed pre-survey, the parents were asked the name of their youngest school-age
child’s teacher.
Teachers in the study were identified by the parent participants as being the
teacher of their youngest school-age child. A letter of consent request (Appendix E) along
with a copy of the survey was sent to each identified teacher. The teachers were requested
to complete and submit the survey in January, shortly after the parents completed their
pre-survey.
61
Data Analysis
Demographic data for participants in this study were obtained from the participant
self-report on the survey instrument. The parents’ surveys asked for information on
ethnicity, birth date and grade level of their youngest child and their relationship to this
child, their level of education, marital status, and employment. Teachers were asked how
many years of teaching experience they had, grade level, number of students in their
class, and their ethnicity and gender.
Descriptive statistics for both parent and teacher survey responses and inferential
data analysis of parent surveys was done using SPSS. Pre- and post-survey means and
standard deviations were computed for the parent surveys and t-tests were applied to see
if there were significant changes (p < .01) in the parents’ perceptions on each of the
research questions. In addition, means and standard deviations were computed for the
teachers’ perceptions of various aspects of parent involvement relative to each of the
following questions:
1. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of home-school
communication?
2. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of their involvement in
their children’s education?
62
3. What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of their ability to help their
children academically?
4. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the importance of parental
involvement?
5. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the capability of parents to
help their child academically?
6. What are the perceptions of teachers regarding their responsibility for
communicating with parents and involving parents?
7. What strategies and practices might the schools/district expand, modify, or
implement to promote and increase parent involvement?
The final question: What strategies and practices might the schools/district
expand, modify, or implement to promote and increase parent involvement? This is
addressed in Chapter 5 in the sections on recommendations and is based on
interpretations of the overall findings of the study.
Protection of Participants’ Rights
For this study, the data collection was undertaken only after receiving approval
from the Human Subjects Review Committee at Sacramento State University, California,
the school district’s superintendent, and the district’s parent involvement coordinator.
63
Chapter 4
ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS
This chapter includes the findings and interpretations of the study. It presents the
data collected on parent and teacher perceptions on parent involvement in a northern
California school district. The parent participants were African American, Hispanic,
Hmong and Russian-Ukrainian. Many of these parents are English Learners, but some
speak only their native language.
Utilizing the School and Family Partnerships Survey of Parents in Elementary and
Middle School Grades, a total of 65 pre-surveys were distributed, and 39 parents
completed the workshop series and returned a post-workshop survey three months later.
When the initial parent surveys were returned, the parents’ youngest child’s
teacher was identified and sent a letter requesting his or her participation. A copy of the
School and Family Partnerships Survey of Teachers in Elementary and Middle Grades
survey was included with the participation letter. Of the 50 teacher surveys that were sent
out, 20 were completed and returned.
Quantitative Data Analysis
Both the parent and teacher surveys consisted of several sections with a series of
items requiring responses using a Likert scale with a scoring of 1 - 4 with 1 being most
negative and 4 being most negative. The actual descriptors for each scale point varied
with section of the surveys. Both parents and teachers responded to the entire survey as
developed by the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns
64
Hopkins University (Sheldon & Epstein, 2007). However, only the sections of each
survey that were related to the study questions were used in the analyses.
Parent Survey Results
As mentioned in the methodology section, parent surveys were translated into
Russian, Spanish, and Hmong for those who were unable to respond to the English
version. Among the 39 respondents, all 20 African American participants and five of the
Hispanic participants completed the English version. All five Hmong, four Russian and
five of the Hispanic participants chose to use the version in their native language.
Some background information was asked of parents at the end of the preworkshop survey. Of the 39 parents who completed both a pre- and post-survey, some did
not respond to all of the background questions. Thirty-five participants reported their
relationship to their youngest school-age child, and of these 32 (91%) were mothers. The
other participants were two fathers and one grandmother.
The gender was reported for 30 of the youngest school-age children of the
participants. Of these, 17 were girls and 13 were boys. Although the workshop sessions
were directed at parents or guardians of students in elementary and middle school, three
parents reported that their youngest child was apparently of high school age. The
breakdown of the 31 children of the reporting participants was:
65
Table 4
Children of Parent Participants
Ages
Number
5-8 years
5
9-11 years
20
12-13 years
3
over 15 years
3
The majority (85%) of the 39 participants were married. Fifty percent of the 34
reporting said they had full-time employment, 17% worked part-time, and 32% did not
work.
The following section is an analysis of the data relative to each of the research
questions being addressed by specific sections of the questionnaire. For the parent
surveys, the results are presented in tables, section by section, giving data for all parents
first, followed by disaggregated data by ethnic group for the same items. Because there
were just a few respondents for each of the ethnic subgroups no tests of significance were
calculated, and the tables display descriptive statistics consisting of means for the preand post-test and mean differences.
Study Question 1: What is the impact of current parent involvement workshops on
African American, Hispanic, Hmong and Russian-Ukrainian parents’ perception of
home-school communication?
66
Table 5
Changes in Parents’ Perceptions about Teacher or School-Initiated Contacts
My child’s teacher or
someone at the school…
a. Helps me understand my
child’s stage of development
b. Tells me how my child is
doing in school
c. Asks me to volunteer at the
school
d. Explains how to check my
child's homework
e. Sends home news about
things happening at school
f. Tells me what skills my
child needs to learn in math
g. Tells me what skills my
child needs to learn in
reading/language arts
h. Provides information on
community services that I
may want to use with my
family
i. Invites me to PTA/PTO
meetings
j. Assigns homework that
requires my child talk with
me about things learned in
class
k. Invites me to a program at
the school
l. Asks me to help with
fundraising
m. Has a parent-teacher
conference with me
n. Includes parents on school
committees, such as
curriculum, budget, or
improvement committees
o. Provides information on
community events that I may
want to attend with my child
PreTest
Mean
Pre
S.D.
2.72
.815
3.03
PostTest
Mean
Post
S.D.
N
Mean
Difference
df
t
Sig
(2tailed)
3.50
.655
36
.778
35
5.391
.000
.609
3.56
.652
36
.528
35
4.842
.000
2.05
1.025
2.77
1.224
39
.718
38
3.571
.001
2.44
.998
3.36
.723
36
.917
35
5.686
.000
2.92
.712
3.45
.555
38
.526
37
4.721
.000
2.81
.616
3.41
.644
37
.595
36
5.276
.000
2.81
.693
3.34
.653
32
.531
31
3.744
.001
3.24
.786
38
.974
37
5.114
.000
2.26
.950
2.19
1.037
3.22
.832
36
1.028
35
4.458
.000
2.67
.898
3.41
.549
39
.744
38
4.951
.000
2.69
.694
3.44
.680
39
.744
38
5.106
.000
2.05
1.075
2.72
1.234
39
.667
38
3.242
.002
2.92
.682
3.49
.607
37
.568
36
3.980
.000
2.00
1.051
2.90
1.209
39
.897
38
3.779
.001
2.45
.921
3.50
.647
38
1.053
37
6.989
.000
67
This question was addressed by items on the questionnaire that reflect the change in
parent perceptions regarding the schools contact with the parents (Table 5). As indicated
in Table 5, the mean differences between pre-workshop and post-workshop ratings show
that the workshops appear to have had positive effects on the parents’ perceptions of the
degree to which the school maintains contact on all 15 items in this section. The t-tests on
all of them are highly statistically significant (p < .002). Although all items were highly
significant, there appears to be three main categories into which these items fall and in
which the workshop topics would be most likely to affect perceptions of the parents.
The first category or dimension is “being invited to school.” The five items that
fall into this dimension are: c, i, k, l, and n. All of these items relate to the school
reaching out to include the parents in general school activities that may not directly relate
to their own child’s educational progress. The second category is “communicates
information about my child’s progress; and these items are: b, f, g, and m. The third
category is “encourages parent-child interactions on homework.” The two items
measuring this category are d and j.
Items h and o, which relate to “connections to the community” were not
considered relevant for measuring the impact of workshop participation on the parents.
The same items reported in Table 5 have been disaggregated among the four
ethnic subgroups in order to gain a better understanding of how the different groups felt
about the items, and these results are shown in Table 6.
68
Table 6
Changes in Parents’ Perceptions about Teacher or School-Initiated Contacts by
Ethnicity of Parents
My child’s
teacher or
someone at the
school…
a. Helps me understand
my child’s stage of
development
b. Tells me how my
child is doing in school
c. Asks me to volunteer
at the school
d. Explains how to
check my child's
homework
e. Sends home news
about things happening
at school
f. Tells me what skills
my child needs to learn
in math
g. Tells me what skills
my child needs to learn
in reading/language arts
h. Provides information
on community services
that I may want to use
with my family
i. Invites me to PTA/
PTO meetings
j. Assigns homework
that requires my child
talk with me about
things learned in class
k. Invites me to a
program at the school
l. Asks me to help with
fundraising
m. Has a parent-teacher
conference with me
n. Includes parents on
school committees,
such as curriculum,
budget, or improvement
committees
o. Provides information
on community events
that I may want to
attend with my child
African American
N = 20
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
2.37
Hispanic
N = 10
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
3.42
1.05
3.00
3.05
3.50
.45
1.75
2.40
.65
Hmong
N=5
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
3.40
.40
3.33
2.90
3.40
.50
2.80
3.10
.30
Russian
N=4
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
Diff.
3.67
.34
3.25
4.00
.75
3.00
4.00
1.00
3.33
4.00
.67
1.80
3.60
1.80
2.00
2.75
.75
-.33
2.30
3.30
1.00
2.50
3.38
.88
2.40
3.80
1.40
3.33
3.00
2.75
3.35
.60
3.20
3.60
.40
2.60
3.60
1.00
3.67
3.33
-.34
2.70
3.30
.60
2.70
3.40
.70
3.00
4.00
1.00
3.50
3.50
.00
2.70
3.35
.65
2.78
3.33
.55
na
na
Na
3.67
3.33
-.33
1.80
3.05
1.25
2.80
3.50
.70
3.00
3.20
.20
2.33
3.67
1.33
1.90
3.15
1.25
2.71
3.43
.72
2.60
3.60
1.00
2.25
2.75
.50
2.30
3.15
.85
3.00
3.60
.60
2.60
4.00
1.40
3.75
3.50
-.25
2.50
3.30
.80
3.00
3.50
.50
3.00
3.80
.80
2.50
3.50
1.00
1.60
2.35
.75
2.90
3.20
.30
3.00
3.80
.80
1.00
2.00
1.00
2.85
3.50
.65
3.33
3.44
.11
3.00
3.75
.75
2.25
3.25
1.00
1.50
2.40
.90
2.90
3.50
.60
2.60
3.80
1.20
1.50
2.75
1.25
2.10
3.30
1.20
2.78
3.67
.89
2.80
3.60
1.80
3.00
4.00
1.00
69
On the first category or dimension “being invited to school,” all four ethnic
groups showed positive gains on all five items (c, I, k, l, and n). The African American
parents were highest on item i. The Hmong parents were highest on item c. The RussianUkrainian parents were highest on items k, l, and n. Although the Hispanic parents had
gains, they showed the lowest rate of positive gains among the four groups.
On the second dimension that measures perceptions about the extent to which the
teacher communicates information about the child’s progress, the Hmong parents showed
the greatest positive gains on two of the four items (b and f). The Hmong parents did not
respond to the item about the teacher telling them what skills to help their child in
reading/language arts. The Russian parents had the highest gain on item m, about having
a conference with the teacher.
The third category of items in Table 7 focuses on whether the teacher
communicates ways in which the parents can help their child with their school work. On
the two items that measure this dimension (d and j), the Hmong parent had the largest
gains with a 1.40 scale-point increase. The African American and Hispanic parents also
reported positive gains. The Russian parents had slight decreases in their ratings on these
two items, but in both instances their pre-test scores were higher than those of other three
parent groups.
Study Question 2: What is the impact of the parent involvement workshop series
on African American, Hispanic, Hmong and Russian-Ukrainian parents’ perception of
their involvement in their children’s education?
70
Table 7
Changes in Parents’ Perceptions Regarding their Knowledge of and Participation in
their Child’s Education
How often do you…
a. Read with your child
b. Volunteer in the classroom
c. Work with your child on
science homework
d. Review and discuss the
schoolwork your child brings
home
e. Help your child with math
f. Visit your child’s school
g. Go over spelling or
vocabulary with your child
h. Talk to your child’s
teacher
i. Ask your child about what
he/she is learning in math
j. Help your child with
reading /language arts
homework
k. Help your child prepare
for math tests
l. Ask your child how well
he/she is doing in school
m. Ask your child to read
something he/she wrote
n. Go to a school event
(sports, music, drama)
o. Check to see if your child
finished his/her homework
PreTest
Mean
Pre
S.D.
3.10
2.03
Post
S.D.
N
Mean
Difference
df
t
.821
.928
PostTest
Mean
3.79
2.76
.469
.955
39
37
.692
.730
38
36
4.841
4.920
Sig
(2tailed)
.000
.000
2.31
.950
2.95
1.075
39
.641
38
2.971
.005
3.21
.833
3.67
.701
39
.462
38
2.974
.005
3.28
2.70
.826
.812
3.69
3.24
.655
.925
39
37
.410
.541
38
36
2.817
3.235
.008
.003
3.18
.721
3.64
.701
39
.462
38
3.061
.004
2.57
.801
3.32
.852
37
.757
36
4.323
.000
3.19
.710
3.75
.692
36
.556
35
3.803
.001
3.31
.832
3.69
.655
39
.385
38
2.364
.023
3.26
.785
3.59
.715
39
.333
38
2.119
.041
3.55
.686
3.74
.685
38
.184
37
1.267
.213
3.11
.798
3.47
.797
38
.368
37
2.111
.042
2.79
.864
3.15
.844
39
.359
38
1.975
.056
3.54
.643
3.69
.694
39
.154
38
1.098
.279
71
The results on change in the parent perceptions regarding their knowledge of and
participation in their child’s education are shown in Table 8. The 15 items in this section
of the survey have been grouped into three sub-categories that relate to topics covered in
the parent workshops. The first one “involvement of parents at school” and consists of
items: b, f, h, and n. The first three were significant at p < .003, and n was not significant
with p =.056. These items measure the extent to which the parents come to school to help
or find out about their child’s schoolwork. Item n that showed no significant change is
about attending a school event.
The second category was “involvement with the child’s education at home” and
consisted of 11 items: a, c, d, e, g. i, j, k, l, m, and o. All were statistically significant with
probabilities ranging from < .000 to .042 except for item l, asking your child how well
he/she is doing in school l (p = .213) and item o, check to see if your child finished
his/her homework (p = .279). Both of these items had very small, positive changes in the
parents’ perceptions from pre- to post-test administrations.
On the first dimension (items, b, f, h. and n), “involvement of parents at school,”
the Hmong parents showed the highest gains on the first three items, with gains ranging
from 1.00 to 1.40 scale points. The African American parents had the most positive
change on item n (going to a school event). The Hispanic parents showed a decrease in
their perceptions from the pre-workshop survey to the post-survey on items f and n. The
Russian parents also showed a decrease on item n.
72
Table 8
Changes in Parents’ Perceptions Regarding their Knowledge of and Participation in
their Child’s Education by Ethnicity of Parents
African American
N = 20
How often do
you…
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
a. Read with your
child
3.15
b. Volunteer in the
classroom
Hispanic
N = 10
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
3.85
.70
3.20
1.58
2.32
.74
c. Work with your
child on science
homework
1.90
2.75
d. Review and
discuss the
schoolwork your
child brings home
3.10
Hmong
N=5
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
Diff.
2.80
1.20
3.25
3.25
.00
2.50
3.75
1.25
2.00
3.00
1.00
.30
2.60
3.80
1.20
3.00
2.75
-.25
3.70
.30
3.00
3.40
.40
3.50
3.00
-.50
3.20
3.50
.30
2.80
3.60
.80
3.50
3.50
.00
.85
3.44
3.33
-.11
2.75
3.75
1.00
3.00
3.00
.00
3.15
.85
3.44
3.33
-.11
2.75
3.75
1.00
3.00
3.00
.00
2.30
3.30
1.00
3.11
3.22
.11
2.40
3.80
1.40
3.00
3.00
.00
3.33
4.00
.67
3.00
3.50
.50
2.75
3.50
.75
3.50
3.50
.00
j. Help your child
with reading/
language arts
homework
3.45
3.85
.40
3.20
3.50
.30
2.40
3.80
1.40
4.00
3.25
-.75
k. Help your child
prepare for math
tests
3.40
3.90
.50
3.20
3.30
.10
2.60
3.60
1.00
3.50
2.75
-,75
3.63
3.95
.32
3.40
3.40
.00
3.20
3.80
.60
4.00
3.50
-.50
3.00
3.79
.79
3.20
3.10
-.10
2.80
3.80
1.00
3.75
2.50
1.25
2.50
3.45
.95
3.40
2.90
-.50
3.20
3.40
.20
2.25
2.00
-.25
3.60
3.95
.35
3.50
3.50
.00
3.00
3.40
.40
4.00
3.25
-.75
e. Help your child
with math
f. Visit your
child’s school
g. Go over spelling
with your child
h. Talk to your
child’s teacher
i. Ask your child
about what he/she
is learning in math
l. Ask your child
how well he/she is
doing in school
m. Ask your child
to read something
he/she wrote
n. Go to a school
event (e.g., sports,
music, drama)
o. Check to see if
your child finished
his/her homework
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
3.90
.70
2.60
2.70
3.10
.40
.85
2.70
3.00
3.85
.75
3.40
3.40
3.85
.45
2.30
3.15
2.30
Russian
N=4
73
The next dimension covered by Table 9 has to do with “involvement in child’s
education at home,” and it was measured by 11 items (a, c, d, e, g, i, j, k, l, m, and o). The
Hmong parents again showed the most positive changes in their perceptions and their
behavior. Their perceptions increased the most in 10 of the 11 items. The Russian parents
showed the greatest change on item m with a decrease of 1.25 scale points, and out of the
10 items measuring this dimension they showed a decrease with 6 out of the 10 items.
The African American and the Hispanic parents showed positive gains except for item m,
where the Hispanic parents showed a slight decrease in positive feelings.
Study Question 3: What is the impact of the parent involvement workshop series
on African American, Hispanic, Hmong and Russian-Ukrainian parents’ perceptions of
their ability to help and success in helping their children academically?
This question was addressed by section 5 of the parent survey and covers the
parents’ perceptions of their abilities to assist their children with their schoolwork; i.e.,
parent efficacy. The results are shown in Table 9. This six-item section measures the
efficacy or the extent to which parents feel that their involvement can make a difference
in their child’s education. All the items (a - f) are significant at p < .002. Two items were
excluded from this analysis because they were negative statements that made it difficult
for parents to determine their meaning.
74
Table 9
Changes in Parents’ Perceptions of their Efficacy in Helping their Children
Academically
How much do you
agree or disagree
with the following
statements?
a. I know how to
help my child do
well in school
b. I know how to
help my child
make good grades
c. I can motivate
my child to do well
in school
d. I feel good about
my efforts to help
my child learn
e. My efforts to
help my child learn
are successful
f. I make a
difference in my
child’s school
performance
PreTest
Mean
Pre
S.D.
PostTest
Mean
Post
S.D.
N
Mean
Difference
df
t
Sig
(2-tailed)
3.00
.607
3.49
.556
39
.487
38
4.452
.000
2.90
.641
3.46
.600
39
.564
38
5.178
.000
3.00
.667
3.54
.605
37
.541
36
3.783
.001
2.97
.537
3.49
.556
39
.513
38
4.234
.000
2.90
.718
3.38
.633
39
.487
38
4.022
.000
3.23
.627
3.62
.544
39
.385
38
3.376
.002
The six items that measure efficacy are broken down by ethnic subgroup in Table 10.
As indicated in Table 10, Hmong parents showed the highest gains on five out of six
items (a through e). These items indicate an increase in confidence about being able to
help their children academically. The African American parents showed the highest gains
on item f, indicating a perception that they can make a difference in their children’s
school performance.
75
Table 10
Change in Parents’ Perceptions of their Efficacy in Helping their Children
Academically by Ethnicity of Parents
African American
N = 20
How much
do you agree
or disagree
with the
following
statements
a. I know how
to help my
child do well in
school
b. I know how
to help my
child make
good grades
c. I can
motivate my
child to do well
in school
d. I feel good
about my
efforts to help
my child learn
e. My efforts to
help my child
learn are
successful?
f. I make a
difference in
my child’s
school
performance
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
3.00
Hispanic
N = 10
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
3.50
.50
3.10
2.75
3.50
.75
2.89
3.68
3.00
Hmong
N=5
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
3.50
.40
2.80
3.20
3.50
.30
.79
3.22
3.56
3.60
.60
3.00
2.85
3.50
.65
3.10
3.65
.55
Russian
N =4
Diff.
Pretest
mean
Posttest
mean
Diff.
3.80
1.00
3.00
3.00
.00
2.80
3.60
.80
3.00
3.00
.00
.34
2.80
3.60
.80
3.25
2.75
-.50
3.50
.50
2.60
3.40
.80
3.25
3.00
-.25
3.10
3.30
.20
2.80
3.60
.80
2.75
2.75
.00
3.40
3.70
.30
3.20
3.60
.40
3.50
3.25
-.25
Teacher Survey Results
The 20 teacher respondents were from seven schools, five elementary and two
junior highs. Four teachers were males and the remaining 16 were females. Table 11
shows the ethnicity of the teachers by grade level taught. As can be seen, the majority or
76
13 of the 20 teachers were White. Of these, none were Russian or Ukrainian by ethnicity.
There was one teacher who identified as Asian, non-Hmong. The other three ethnicities
of the teachers, African American, Hispanic, and Hmong, are reflective of three of the
parent groups in the study.
Table 11
Ethnicity and Grade Level of Teacher Respondents
Ethnicity/Grade Level
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 Total
African American
Hispanic
1
1 1
Hmong
Other Asian
White
Total
1
2
2
1 1 1
2
1
1
2 3 2 2 3 1 13
1 3 3 2 4 4 3 20
The years of teaching experience ranged from 2 to 20 years with a median of 10.5
years. Teachers class sizes ranged from a low of 20 to a high of 165 for two of the junior
high school teachers. The mean size of the self-contained classrooms was 26.8.
Teachers were asked the question: About how many hours each week, on average,
do you spend contacting parents. Their responses are shown in Table 12. The majority of
the teachers reported either less than one hour per week or one hour. The teacher
reporting three hours or more was the first grade teacher, and the one reporting “None”
was one of the junior high teachers.
77
Table 12
Teacher Estimate of Average Weekly Time Spent on Contacting Parents
Hours Per Week
Number
None
1
Less Than One Hour
8
One Hour
8
Two Hours
2
Three Hours or More
1
Two sections of the teacher survey were used for the purposes of this study. The
first is the section with questions regarding the Teachers’ Professional Judgment about
Parent Involvement (Table 12). The second section relates to perceptions of teachers
regarding their responsibility for communicating with parents and involving parents
(Table 13). The following section is an analysis of the data relative to each of the
research questions being addressed by each section of the survey. To illustrate the relative
importance of the items as perceived by the teachers, the items are reported according to
their ranks and mean scores, where 4 is the highest possible score. Although two study
questions are answered by Table 13, ranking was done across all 18 items contained in
this section of the survey
78
Table 13
Teachers’ Professional Judgment About Parent Involvement.
Please select the choice that best represents your opinion and
experience.
Ran
k
Mea
n
N
S.D.
a. Parent involvement is important for a good school
b. Most parents know how to help their children on school work
at home
c. This school has an active and effective parent organization
(e.g., PTA or PTO)
d. Every family has some strengths that could be tapped to
increase student success in school
e. All parents could learn ways to assist their children on
schoolwork at home, if shown how
f. Parent involvement can help teachers be more effective with
more students
g. Teachers should receive recognition for time spent on parent
involvement activities
h. Parents of children at this school want to be involved more
then they are now at most grade levels
i. Teachers do not have the time to involve parents in very useful
ways
j. Teachers need in-service education to implement effective
parent involvement practices
k. Parent involvement is important for student success in school
l. This school views parents as important partners
m. The community values education for all students
n. This school is known for trying new and unusual approaches
to improve the school
o. Mostly when I contact parents, it's about problems or trouble
p. In this school, teachers play a large part in most decisions
q. The community supports this school
r. Compared to other schools, this school has one of the best
school climates for teachers, students, and parents
1
17.5
3.55
2.25
20
20
.510
.910
17.5
2.25
19
.639
7.5
3.05
20
.657
4
3.37
19
.496
3
3.40
20
.503
2
3.45
20
.826
9
2.85
20
.813
7.5
3.05
20
.605
11
2.74
19
.872
5
13
12
16
3.25
2.60
2.70
2.30
20
20
20
20
.639
.503
.470
.571
6
15
10
14
3.10
2.60
2.80
2.55
20
20
20
20
.447
.598
.410
.510
Study question 4: What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the importance of
parental involvement?
79
The four items in Table 12 that relate to this question are listed below along with
their relative ranks and mean score that indicate how the teachers felt best represented
their opinions and experiences relative to the importance of parent involvement.
1 a. Parent involvement is important for a good school (3.55)
2 g. Teachers should receive recognition for time spent on parent involvement
activities (3.45)
3 f. Parent involvement can help teachers be more effective with more students
(3.40)
5 k. Parent involvement is important for student success in school (3.25)
Study question 5: What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the capability of parents
to help their child academically?
The three items from Table 13 that address this question are reported below with
their relative ranks and means. The focus of these items is on the extent to which they
feel parents are able to help their children or learn to help their children with their
education.
4 e.
All parents could learn ways to assist their children on schoolwork at
home, if shown how (3.37)
7.5d.
Every family has some strengths that could be tapped in increase student
success in school (3.05)
17.5 b. Most parents know how to help their children on schoolwork at
home (2.25)
80
Study question 6: What are the perceptions of teachers regarding their
responsibility for communicating with parents and involving parents.
The 18 items in Table 14 were ranked according to the mean rating. The items
have been grouped into two areas based on the teacher’s feelings of responsibility for (1)
communicating parents and (2) involving parents in their child’s education.
Table 14
Activities Teachers Consider Important to Assist Their Students and Families
How important is each of these for you to conduct at your
grade level?
a. Have a conference with each of my students' parents at least
once a year
b. Attend evening meetings, performances, and workshops at
school
c. Contact parents about their children problems or failures
d. Inform parents when their children do something well or
improve
e. Involve some parents as volunteers in my classroom
f. Inform parents of the skills their children must pass in each
subject I teach
g. Inform parents how report card grades are earned in my class
h. Provide specific activities for children and parents to do to
improve students' grades
i. Provide ideas for discussing TV shows
j. Assign homework that requires children to interact with parents
k. Suggest ways to practice spelling or other skills at home before
a test
l. Ask parents to listen to their children read
m. Ask parents to listen to a story or paragraph their children
write
n. Work with other teachers to develop parent involvement
activities and materials
Rank
Mean N
S.D.
5
3.39
18
.698
11
2.53
19
.841
3
4
3.47
3.42
19
19
.612
.507
16
2
1.94
3.53
18
19
1.211
.513
1
8.5
3.84
3.16
19
19
.375
.765
14.5
12
7
2.05
2.42
3.21
19
19
19
1.079
.838
.631
6
8.5
3.22
3.16
18
19
.808
.834
14.5
2.05
19
.970
o. Work with community members to arrange learning
opportunities in my class
p. Work with area businesses for volunteers to improve programs
for my students
q. Request information from parents on their children's talents,
interests, or needs
r. Serve on a PTA/PTO or other school committee
17
1.84
19
.958
18
1.74
19
.872
10
2.89
19
.567
13
2.26
19
.933
81
The six items related to the perceptions of teachers regarding their responsibility
for communicating are listed below with their relative rank among the 18 items on the
table and the mean rating.
1 g. Inform parents how report card grades are earned in my class (3.84)
2 f. Inform parents of the skills their children must pass in each subject I teach
(3.53)
3 c. Contact parents about their children’s problems or failures (3.47)
4 d. Inform parents when their children do something well or improve (3.42)
5 a. Have a conference with each of my students’ parents at least once a year
(3.39)
10 q. Request information from parents on their children’s talents, interests, or
needs (2.89)
The six items in the table that relate to the perceptions of teachers regarding their
responsibility for involving parents in their child’s education are as follows:
6 l. Ask parents to listen to their children read (3.22)
7 k. Suggest ways to practice spelling or other skills at home before a test (3.21)
8.5 h. Provide specific activities for children and parents to do to improve students’
Grades (3.16)
8.5 m. Ask parents to listen to a story or paragraph their children write (3.16)
12 j. Assign homework that requires children to interact with parents (2.42)
14.5 i. Provide ideas for discussing TV shows (2.05)
82
14.5 n. Work with other teachers to develop parent involvement activities and
materials (2.05)
16 e. Involve some parents as volunteers in my classroom (1.94)
Three items in Table 13 (o, p, and r) are considered beyond the purview of the
study, and while they have been included in the rankings, it was done to keep the unity of
this section of the teacher survey.
Summary of Results
The results indicate that the parent workshops were highly effective in changing
parents’ perceptions regarding their involvement in children’s education. Survey results
show overwhelmingly positive and statistically significant changes in the parent’s
perceptions. This holds true for the parents as a whole group, but there are variations in
the effects of the workshop series relative to each of the ethnic groups that are made
obvious when results are disaggregated.
The teacher survey indicates a wide range of responses relative to their
perceptions of the importance of parental involvement, the capability of parents to help
their children academically, and their perceptions of their responsibility for
communicating with and involving parents.
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Chapter 5
DISCUSSION
Interpretation of Data
The first section of this chapter is organized around the first six questions being
posed in this study. The response to the seventh question, which relates to strategies and
practices the schools/district might expand, modify or implement to promote and increase
parent involvement, is dealt with in the recommendation section.
Effects of Workshops on Parent Perceptions
Question number 1: What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on
African-American, Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of home-school
communication? It is clear that the parent workshops had a positive impact on the
perceptions of the parents regarding all aspects of parent involvement. The mean
difference scores, reflecting the changes in the parents’ perceptions after the series of
workshops, were all positive and statistically significant. The workshops appear to have
had positive effects on all aspects of the parents’ perceptions of the degree to which the
school maintains contact with them. This is important in that communication with the
school sets the foundation for whatever parent involvement activities that follow.
Furthermore, it is important that the parents perceive the school as being communicative
with them in order for them to develop a positive attitude about the teachers and the
school in general. The school should especially be concerned about how the parents
perceived their being informed of how well their children are doing in school. This was
ranked relatively high by the parents.
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When the results were disaggregated, differences emerged among the groups. On
the dimension of “being invited to school,” the African American parents showed the
highest in gains in being invited to parent meetings. This may be due to their clearly
lower pre-workshop score. Nevertheless, the gains are impressive. The Hmong parents
were highest on being invited to volunteer at the school. Again, this may be due to their
lower pre-workshop scores, but the gains are impressive. The Russian parents were
highest on their perceptions of being invited to programs at the school and being asked to
help with fundraising. Although the Hispanic parents had gains on this dimension, their
gains were among the lowest.
On the dimension that measures perceptions of the extent to which the teacher
communicates information about the child’s progress, the African American parents
showed the greatest gain on their perception that someone at the school tells them what
skills their children need to learn in reading and language arts. None of the Hmong
parents rated this item, most likely because they felt they did not have the knowledge of
English that this might require. The Hmong parents showed the greatest positive gains
on their perceptions that they are told how their children are doing in school and what
skills their children need to learn in math, two areas that may not require as much
English comprehension on the part of the Hmong parents. The Russian parents had the
highest gain on the item about whether the teacher has a conference with them. Their
relatively high gain scores could be due to the fact that they started out at a lower level
on this item than any of the other groups. Nevertheless, their scores are impressive since
this is behavior that is fairly objective and easily verified.
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On the dimension focusing on whether the teacher communicates ways in which
the parents can help their children with their schoolwork, the Hmong parents had the
largest gains in their perception that teachers explain how to check homework and
assigned homework that requires their children talk with them about things learned in
class. Again, some of the gains may be explained by the fact that the Hmong parents
started out relatively low on these aspects of school-parent communication. However, on
the item involving the assignment of homework, the Hmong parents’ average score was
the highest rating possible with their reported means moving from 2.60 to a 4.00
(strongly agree). This is strong evidence that this group of Hmong parents were
positively influenced on this dimension by workshop participation.
The African American and Hispanic parents also reported positive gains, but they
were less dramatic compared to the Hmong parents. The Russian parents had slight
decreases in their ratings in this area, which is most probably due to relatively high preworkshop scores, an indication that this group of Russian parents is much more informed
than parents in the other groups. It should be noted that two-way communication about
school programs and the student’s academic progress and achievement via newsletters
from the school, telephone conversations between parent and teacher, parent-teacher
conferences and personally extending invitations to the parents to attend school activities
are ways that teachers and other school staff can encourage and support home-school
communication (Epstein, 1987; Henderson & Mapp, 2002).
Question number 2: What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on
African-American, Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of their
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involvement in their children’s education? The effects of the workshops on the
perceptions of the parents about their involvement in the school were positive in the
following areas: volunteering in the classroom, visiting the children’s schools, and
talking to their children’s teachers. Although there were significant gains in the parents’
perceptions that they more frequently volunteered in the classroom, their ratings were
relatively weak, which is not surprising, since the teachers did not appear to highly value
parents volunteering in the classrooms. This is definitely an area that administrators may
want to examine more carefully. The culture of the school impacts the connections that
the school develops with parents. The parents’ perception of their more frequently
visiting their children’s schools and talking to their children’s teachers are important
activities, especially talking to their children’s teachers. If parents can be involved in this
way, many of the problems encountered by teachers in the area of behavior management
can be dealt with more effectively.
The fact that parents did not perceive themselves as going to more school events
may simply be an indication that working parents, which are the great majority of the
parents in this study, simply do not have time to attend events not directly related to their
children’s academic curricula. Another possible explanation could be that the cultural
perspective of the parents may be different from the culture of the teachers, principal and
other school staff. Awareness and validation of the differences of the parents’ languages,
for example, Ebonics or Chicano English, and support for their cultural values is
important in building a positive home-school relationship that can lead to more
attendance at school functions and activities (Noguera, 2006).
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Except for checking to see if their children finished their homework, parents
increased in their perception of their involvement in their children’s education at home.
Parents’ perceptions increased in the areas of reading to their children, working with their
children on science, math, spelling and vocabulary, and language arts/reading, They also
increased in reviewing and discussing schoolwork brought home and checking to see if
their children finished their homework. Assuming these are all accurate perceptions, the
workshops were highly effective in increasing the parents’ home-based involvement with
their children’s academic work. It should be noted that the “curriculum of the home,”
including such factors as daily family conversations, monitoring of television viewing,
print and literacy activities that are engaging, and parental interest in the child’s academic
and character growth are higher predictors of school success than socio-economic status.
Other parental behaviors that support academic growth are high expectations and a
structure for completing homework and preparing for school (Jeynes, 2005; Redding,
2002; Epstein, 2005).
When the results are disaggregated, it is clear that the Hmong parents showed the
highest gains on volunteering in the classroom, visiting the school, and talking to their
children’s teachers. These are all encouraging outcomes given the language and cultural
problems frequently encountered by Hmong parents. The African American parents had
the most positive change in going to school events, which may be due to their relatively
low pre-workshop ratings. The Hispanic parents showed a decrease in their perceptions
about visiting the school and going to school events. The Russian parents also showed a
decrease in their perception of going to school events. It is difficult to explain these
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decreases, so it may be worthwhile discussing these phenomena with workshop
presenters.
The Hmong parents again showed the highest gains in their perceptions of their
being involved in their children’s education at home. They showed the highest gains in
all areas involving working with their children in all academic areas. The only area they
were not highest in was in reviewing and discussing schoolwork their children brought
home, an area where African American parents showed the greatest gains. The results
seem clear that the Hmong parents in this study gained confidence in working with their
children at home. It should be mentioned that on most of the items measuring parents’
behaviors at home, the Hmong parents were relatively low before the workshops, which
may explain some of their gains. The Russian parents showed a post-workshop decrease
in their perceptions on most items in this area. The Hispanic parents showed a slight
negative change in asking their children to read what they wrote, perhaps due to language
issues. These negative changes are of concern and require further study.
It appears that being high in specific subject areas is not clearly related to
linguistic or other cultural factors. Except for the Russian parents, the Hispanic group
showed the lowest rate of positive gains among the four groups, which may be due to
social and linguistic factors. The Hispanic parents do tend to have most family members
employed in positions that restrict their attention to the educational activities of their
children. As noted by McCollum (1996), Noguera (2003) and Nieto (2004), helping in
the classroom, assisting during field trips, reading to children or helping in the library are
difficult tasks for many poorly-educated, working, and/or non-English speaking parents.
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Question number 3: What is the impact of parent involvement workshops on
African-American, Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian parents’ perception of their ability to
help their children academically? The survey results indicated that parents significantly
increased in the following areas, all related to their feelings of efficacy:

I know how to help my child do well in school

I know how to help my child make good grades

I can motivate my child to do well in school

I feel good about my efforts to help my child learn

My efforts to help my child learn are successful

I make a difference in my child’s school performance
These are all factors of importance in determining the parents’ feelings that they
are able to assist their children in learning. If parents actually engage their children in
these activities, a big “if,” the teachers’ effectiveness in classroom instruction will be
significantly increased. Efficacy is important in that an increase in an individual’s sense
of capacity has a positive influence in that person’s behavior. When people sense they
will be successful in a situation, they will likely want to be involved (Bandura, 1986).
With parents, efficacy refers to a positive sense of self-image, effectiveness and
connection to other parents and school staff (Watkins, 1991; Epstein & Salinas, 2004).
When parents experience success in being involved in their children’s education, they
are more likely to commit to two-way communication with the teacher and learn ways
to guide their children’s learning (Swick & Broadway, 1997; Coulter-Kern &
Duchene, 2007).
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The Hmong parents again showed the highest gains in efficacy. At the time of the
post-survey, they felt that they knew how to help their children do well in school and
make good grades; they generally felt that they were able to help their children be
successful. If this is true, teachers should definitely act to involve these parents in
working with their children at home. One would hope and maybe expect that the
achievement level of the Hmong students would have increased from the pre-workshop
to the post-workshop time period.
Summary
The workshops appear to have had positive effects on the great majority of items
used to measure different aspects of parent involvement. These included parents’
perceptions regarding the schools contact with them, their perceptions of their
involvement in their children’s education, their perceptions of their ability to help their
children, and their success in helping their children. Generally speaking, the series of
workshops appears to have been worthwhile for the great majority of the parents. It was
noted that there were some differential effects relative to each of the ethnic groups with
the Hmong on the whole being most positively affected, and the Russian parents being
the least positively affected. Some of these differential effects may be due to socialeconomic factors and others may be due to cultural-linguistic factors. It takes time for
parents to understand why it is important to be involved with the teacher and school.
Many African American, Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian-Ukrainian parents have
experienced cultural and/or language barriers or have felt ignored and disrespected in
past experiences with the school and need support and encouragement to participate
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(Pelco, Riles, Jacobsen, 2000; Epstein & Salinas, 2004; Lareau, 1987). Presenting
parents with culturally-responsive workshops in their home language may be critical to
building a positive relationship between home and school.
Question number 4: What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the importance of
parental involvement? It is clear that the teachers fairly strongly believe that

parent involvement is important for a good school

they should receive recognition for time spent on parent involvement activities

parent involvement can help teachers be more effective with more students

parent involvement is important for student success in school
The teachers’ commitment to parent involvement is obviously the foundation for
getting parents involved in a school and a necessary precursor for planning and
implementing activities for getting parents involved. Without a positive attitude about
parents being at school, teachers can create an obstacle to parents wanting to come to
school and take part in activities. Besides the front office of a school, the teacher is the
primary point of contact for a parent. The survey represents just a small sample of the
teachers in the district, so one should be cautious about making any generalizations;
however, the findings in this area are definitely worthy of further inquiry. Teachers may
unknowingly be creating obstacles to the involvement of the African American, Hispanic,
Hmong, and Russian-Ukrainian parents. Cultural differences and lack of cultural and
linguistic knowledge between the school and the home and community culture are an
important factor in low academic achievement of students and lack of communication
with these families (Salend, Duhaney, & Montgomery, 2002). Studies on Hispanic
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parents that may be applicable to other non-English or English Learner parents, has
shown that even bilingual newsletters and flyers failed to engage Hispanic parents.
Personal contact via face-to-face or telephone communication in the home language were
more effective (Nicolau & Ramos, 1990).
Question number 5: What are the perceptions of teachers regarding the capability
of parents to help their child academically? The teachers do not appear to feel so strongly
that parents are able to help their children or learn to help their children with their
education. They feel that parents could learn ways to assist their children on schoolwork
at home, if shown, and they have fairly positive feelings that every family has some
strengths that could be tapped to increase student success in school. An important finding
on the whole is that the teachers sampled believe that most parents do not know how to
help their children on schoolwork at home. In contrast to this position, they report that
they continue to assign homework that requires parents to work with their children. This
last point is an aspect of parent involvement that should be given special attention if
workshops are to be planned for parents. There is a need to discuss this aspect of parent
involvement with parents and teachers, either separately and/or as a combined group.
There is a strong relationship between teacher practices and school characteristics and
parent involvement (Stone, 1998). If the parent is perceived as unable to follow through
on their commitments because they do not want to or do not care, this perception can
have a negative effect on the parent-teacher relationship (Gronick, Benjet, Kurowski &
Apostoleris, 1995).
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Question number 6: What are the perceptions of teachers regarding their
responsibility for communicating with parents and involving parents? The results
regarding responsibility for communicating with parents are quite clear in suggesting that
teachers consider it important to

inform parents how report card grades are earned in their individual classes

inform parents of the skill their children must pass in each subject they teach

contact parents about their children’s problems or failures

inform parents when their children do something well or improve

have a conference with each of their students’ parents at least once a year
These are all typical duties expected of teachers, especially with NCLB. That teacherparent communication is vital to student achievement has been verified from the results
of a comprehensive study undertaken by the U.S. Department of Education in which 71
Title I schools were examined. At schools where teachers reported high levels of parent
communication and outreach, the students’ achievement scores in reading and math were
40 percent higher than at schools where teachers reported lower levels of parent
communication (Westat & Policy studies Associate, 2001). The most hard-working and
well-intentioned teachers and school administrators may be challenged in finding
effective ways to communicate with parents who speak other languages or come from
another cultural perspective (Nieto, 2006). Nevertheless, it is encouraging that teachers
appear to agree with expectations for the profession. The teachers did not feel as strongly
that they should request information from parents on their children’s talents, interests or
needs, an area of communication that, as would probably be noted by Bronfenbrenner
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(1986) is an important part of the teaching landscape. The results regarding the teachers’
responsibility for involving parents are not as clear as they are for their responsibility for
communicating with the parents. Teachers were generally in agreement that they should:

ask parents to listen to their children read

suggest ways to practice spelling or other skills at home before a test

provide specific activities for children and parents to do to improve students’
grades

ask parents to listen to a story or paragraph their children write
It is important to note that although teachers do not feel that most parents know how to
help their children with school work at home, they continue believing that it is important
to involve parents in their children’s academic endeavors at home through activities
typically considered homework.
The teachers did not feel strongly that they should:

assign homework that requires children to interact with parents

provide ideas for discussing TV shows

work with other teachers to develop parent involvement activities and materials

involve parents as volunteers in their classrooms
At first glance, some of these findings may appear contradictory to the positive
findings regarding the teachers’ belief in the importance of communicating with parents;
for example, the teachers did not feel that they should assign homework that requires
children to interact with parents. However, it appears that “interact” may mean much
more active participation by both the parents and their children than is implied by
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activities such as having the parents listen to the child read or practice spelling words,
activities that could be somewhat passive for the parents. Most parent involvement
studies have worked from the premise that parent and teacher expectations affect student
academic achievement and that school and family behaviors affect academic outcomes
for pupils (Redding, 2002; Epstein, 2005). When teachers report parent involvement as a
strategy valued for student achievement, students’ academic gains showed significant
gain in reading (Epstein, 1991). Furthermore, the highest academic gains for students
happen when parents focus the home environment on literacy activities such as reading
and spending time discussing academic topics with their children, and hold high
expectations for their academic performance (Kellor, 2006; Jeynes, 2005).
The fact that teachers do not appear to feel strongly that parents should be
involved as volunteers in their classrooms is definitely an area that needs further
investigation. Given the increase in class sizes and the pressures to differentiate
instruction, it seems that any extra assistance in the classroom would be welcomed. It
may be that teachers, as noted above, generally feel that parents do not know how to help
their children academically. The current budget crisis in California may be impacting
teacher morale with the above stated increase in class size due to teacher lay-offs,
reduction in parent outreach staff, classroom aides, and other instructional supports.
However, it is encouraging that teachers feel that parents are capable of learning how to
assist their children academically.
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Conclusion
It is clear that teachers feel that parent involvement is important for children and,
concomitantly, the school to be successful. They recognize that parents could learn to
assist their children at home if shown how. Studies on ecological systems theory observe
that the developmental changes in one member of the family affect others in the family,
so building the capacity of the parents and skills of parents to work with their children
will have a beneficial effect on their children (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). If the academic
achievement of African American, Hispanic, Hmong and Russian-Ukrainian students is
to increase, their parents need to become partners in their education. In ecological
systems theory, individuals develop within the context of the system of relationships that
form their environment. Thus the relationship between the home and school need to be
mutually supportive of the students’ and cohesive in their expectations (Bronfenbrenner,
1977).
The teachers also recognize their responsibility in informing parents about how
their children are doing in school and communicating with the parents about their
children’s progress and what parents can do to assist the teacher. The teachers feel
strongly that the parents should be involved in some academically related activities,
mainly passive, at home, but not activities that require them to “interact” with their
children on academic content. Finally, the teachers do not feel strongly that they should
involve parents as volunteers in their classrooms, an activity that is often assumed to be a
part of parent involvement (Epstein, 2005; Jeynes, 2005, 2007; Colombo, 2006; Redding,
2002). In the context of cultural and social capital theory (Bourdieu, 1977; Coleman,
97
1988) this perspective on the part of the teachers displays their sense that the parents do
not possess the cultural or social capital to be helpful in the classroom or school setting.
As such they are acknowledging that the parents do not possess the power or status that is
required to volunteer in school learning activities.
Recommendations
Question number 7: What strategies and practices might the schools/district
expand, modify or implement to promote and increase parent involvement?
Although the mean scores on the surveys themselves were not carefully analyzed
in this study, they, by themselves, suggest areas of parent involvement that should
perhaps be attended to by site and district level administrators. The surveys can function
as needs assessment tools to assist site level administrators in planning meetings with the
parents and/or teachers; e.g., to discuss the importance of helping parents gain confidence
in assisting their children academically, to discuss the worthiness of having parents
volunteer in the classrooms and to encourage teachers to invite parents to volunteer in
their classrooms. This information can be sent to the district’s central office for
development of workshops to train parents on how to help their children with homework
in literacy skills, math, spelling, history. It is recommended that the workshops be
delivered in the home language of the parents and be conducted in the culturally
responsive pedagogical model (Ladson-Billings, 1994; Noguera, 2006). Another
recommendation is that whenever possible the schools and district utilize communitybased organizations such as the Urban League, National Association for Colored People
(NAACP), California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), Hmong Women’s
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Heritage, the Slavic Assistance Center, the Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project, and
others to partner in parent outreach and information activities. These organizations are
trusted and have established relationships with many of the parents in the subgroups in
this study and can help build trust with the teachers and school. It is important that a
model for establishing a positive parent-teacher relationship be adopted and established.
From the survey results it is evident that teachers strongly believe that they should
be recognized for getting parents involved. There are some teachers doing exceptional
work in communicating with parents. Teachers who feel successful in working with
struggling students are more likely to contact and interact positively with parents (HoverDempsey, Sandler, 1995). When people sense that they will be successful in a given
situation, they will likely want to be involved (Bandura, 1997). These teachers can be
invited to form a district level committee to make recommendations and develop a
district-wide plan for parent involvement. These teachers can be designated parent
involvement coaches and lead professional development for their peers and be
compensated for their efforts. Elevating the status of teachers who are doing exceptional
work involving parents will let all teachers know that the district is prioritizing these
efforts.
There can be some district policies that will institutionalize parent involvement
and access at the school and district level. All Title I schools have a Single Plan for
Student Achievement (SPSA). The district can implement a policy that mandates the
development of a specific plan for parent involvement that specifies outreach to African
American, Hispanic, Hmong and Russian-Ukrainian parents. In addition, the yearly
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Categorical Program Monitoring instrument can be utilized to ensure that the parent
involvement funds and activities are held to high accountability for all schools. Finally,
every school and district level meeting or event that is open to the parents and public
needs to have interpreters and translators available. This will let the parents know that
they are welcome, that their presence is important and that they are valued.
There are several theoretical perspectives that were reviewed to examine the
origins of current parent involvement theories and concepts. However, as the study
results emerged on the perceptions of African American, Hispanic, Hmong, and RussianUkrainian parents juxtaposed with the results of the perceptions of the classroom
teachers, social/cultural theory rose to the top. In spite of the many years of federal
policy, laws, and regulations to ensure equal education as a right for all students, the
existence of the achievement gap bespeaks an underlying reality of inequity (Nieto, 2004;
Noguera, 2006). Within the context of social and capital theory there is a systemic social
network that has created the achievement gap and the only approaches that will eliminate
these inequities are those that will build social and cultural capital for the students and
families from low socio-economic, African American, Hispanic and Hmong backgrounds
(Nieto, 2006; Weininger & Lareau, 2003).
The implications for school leaders are of great importance. They set the tone for
the school culture and expectations for teacher behaviors. Principals are busy people who
spend much of their time being managers. They will need assistance in gathering
information from the parents and supporting teachers in their efforts to reach out and
connect and communicate with their students’ families. The model of leadership that is
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required for this effort is transformational. A transformational leader will focus on
encouraging the school staff to think out of the box in their efforts to build relationships
that will bring in African American, Hispanic, Hmong, and Russian-Ukrainian parents
(intellectual stimulation). As they reach out to parents they will need to ask meaningful
questions that demonstrate to the parents that their opinions and needs are important and
that they are critical to the academic achievement of their children (individual
consideration). The transformational leader will need to communicate confidence and
high expectations for all stakeholders, the staff, parents, and students (inspirational
motivation). Last, the school leader will be modeling the kind of behavior expected from
the teachers and staff in interactions with parents. The key behavior and expectation is
that collaboration will need to be set as an expectation as the school moves forward in
setting new goals for working together: teachers, parents, students, and administrators
(Leathwood, 1992; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005).
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APPENDICES
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