Graduation Semester and Year

2018

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Public and Urban Administration

Department

Urban and Public Affairs

First Advisor

Karabi Bezboruah

Abstract

There is sufficient evidence to suggest that parent involvement increases student success. Connecting the home to the school can offer a bridge that will lead to academic success for students. Parent involvement can lead to increased school success in terms of test scores. Research shows that parents are involved in many ways at the schools but when asked, they have varying definitions of what parent involvement means to them. The major hypothesis of this study is that when parents are offered more ways to participate at various times of the day, they are more inclined to be more involved in school and in turn will feel more valued as a partner in their child’s education. Interviews were conducted with parents of six different schools in the Dallas, Texas area. Interviews were in both Spanish and English with parents of children at elementary and middle schools. The literature suggests that parents feel uncomfortable participating in school activities if they feel no one speaks their native language. The literature also suggests that parents who do want to participate often do not because of scheduling conflicts. The interview questions were constructed in order to determine parents’ definition of parent involvement, when and how often they participate and what they would like to see schools offer to possibly increase their participation. This study presented the application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to predict and explain increased parent involvement in schools. This study also found three common themes as explanations of why and how parents participate in schools: relationships, variety of activities and time. This study serves as a call to educators and stakeholders to work together to increase parent involvement while giving the parents a voice as to what they want to see in their schools as opportunities to participate.

Keywords

Parent participation, Parent engagement, Involvement activities

Disciplines

Public Affairs | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Download

Share

COinS