Building relationships with Hispanic families: Administrators' perceptions of parental involvement
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
iv
List of Tables
ix
List of Figures
x
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
1
Introduction to the Problem
1
Background of the Study
2
Statement of the Problem
3
Purpose of the Study
4
Rationale
5
Research Questions
7
Significance of the Study
7
Definition of Terms
9
Assumptions
10
Limitations
10
Nature of the Study
11
Organization of the Remainder of the Study
1 2
CHAPTER 2. LITERATUR E REVIEW
1 3
Introduction
1 3
Theoretical Framework
13
Theoretical Model for Family Education and Involvement
14
Historical Perspective of Hispanic Parental Involvement
15
History of Parental Involvement
1 9
vi
Definitions of Parental Involvement
20
Model s of Parental Involvement
21
Ben efits of Parental Involvement
2 9
Barriers to Parental Involvement
31
Parental Involvement and Ethnicity
35
Parental Involvement and Achievement
42
Perceptions
45
Parent Perceptions of Parental Involvement
46
School Ad ministrators and Parental Involvement
49
Summary
50
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY
5 2
Introduction
5 2
Statement of the Problem
5 3
R esearch Questions
5 4
Methodology
54
Research Design
55
Population and Sampling
Procedures
58
Instrumentation and Sou rces of Data
59
Panel of Experts
60
Panel of Expert Responses
61
Validity
and Reliability
6 2
Data Collection Procedures
6 3
Data Analysis Procedures
6 5
vii
Ethical Considerations
66
Limitations
6 7
Summary
67
CHAPTER 4. DATA COLLECTI O N AND ANALY SIS
69
Introduction
69
Descriptive Data
70
Data Collection Procedures
7 2
Data Analysis
73
Data Coding and Analysis Procedures
73
Results
76
Research Question 1
R esponses
76
Active Participation
76
Research Question 2
R esponses
78
Commun ication
78
Parent Meetings
8 1
Resources
8 2
Translators
8 3
Research Question 3
R esponses
83
Trust
8 5
Positive Climate
8 5
Observations
8 7
Summary
8 8
CHAPTER 5. RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
90
viii
Summary of the Study
90
Summary of Finding s and Conclusions
92
Research Question 1
92
Research Question 2
93
Research Question 3
94
Recommendations
95
Recommendations for Future Research
95
Recommendation for Practice
9 6
Implications
9 6
REFERENCES
9 8
APPENDIX A.
L OCAL
S CHOOL DISTRICT
A P PR OVED
R ESEARCH
R E QUEST
FORM
10 8
APPENDIX B. R ESEARCH SITE REQUEST FOR PERMISSION LETTER
10 9
APPENDIX C .
P RELIMINARY E - MAIL /L ETTER TO ADMINISTRATORS
1 10
APPENDIX D .
A DMINISTRATOR FOCUS GROUP PROTOCOL AND
I NTERVIEW QUESTIONS
11 2
AP PENDIX E .
O BSERVATION PROTOCOL
1 1 5
APPENDIX F .
C APELLA UNIVERSITY
I NFORMED LETTER OF CONSENT
11 6
ix
List of Tables
Table 1. Changing Definitions of Parental Involvement
2 1
Table 2. Selec ting High School Demographics
59
Table 3. Match of Research Quest ions to Sources of Information
and Data
6 6
Analysis/Reporting
Table 4 .
Profile of Administrators
71
Table 5 .
Participants ‟
Responses R egarding Parental Involvement
7 7
Table 6 .
Participants ‟
Summarized Responses R egarding Communication
80
With Parents
Table 7 .
Participants ‟
Responses R egarding Parent Meetings, Resources,
and
80
Translators
Table 8 .
Participants Responses R egarding Fostering
Positive Relationships with
8 4
Hispanic Parents
x
List of Figures
Figu re 1. Continuous i mprovement c ycle s chool/ f amily p artnerships
30
Figure 2. Overlapping s pheres of i nfluenc e
50
1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the Problem
Valued by administrators and teachers, parental involvement is important and contrib utes to the development, growth, and academic a chievement of all students (Pen a, 2000). While parental involvement
is an ambiguous term, research has shown that a relationship exists between parental involvement and improved academic performance ( Simon, 20 01; Weaver, 2005). In addition, higher test scores, higher homework completion rates, and academic perseverance ha ve
been linked
to parental involvement
(Carreón, Barton, & Drake, 2005). According to Córdova (2005), there is a considerable amount of
eviden ce that parental involvement can lead to improved student achievement, higher school attendance rates, increased graduation rates, and reduced dropout rates. The researcher further asserted that the improvements occur without regards to the socio - economic , racial, religious, or cultural background of the household (Córdova , 2005 ).
Heredia (2009) stated that parental involvement among Hispanic families is a necessary component to increase academic achievement among Hispanic students .
Studies demonstrate d
that parental involvement throughout high school is important for student academic success ( Epstein, 2008). The Thomas Rivera Policy Institute noted that as school principals seek to improve the overall academic achi evement, little attention is paid
to how
Hispanic parents‟ involvement improves a child‟s academic future (Zarate,
2007).
2
Background of the Study
H ispanic students are the fastest
growing population in public schools in the United States
(NCES, 2009). According to the National Center for Educ ation Statistics (NCES), racial and ethnic enrollment in public schools increased from 22 percent to 44 percent from 1972 to 2007
(NCES, 2009).
The NCES racial and ethnic enrollment statistical data from 1972 to 2007 indicated that Hispanic students repres ent 21 %
of public school enrollment surpassing that of African American enrollment for the first time in 2002 , thus becoming the largest ethnic group in public schools (NCES, 2009) . Although the student population continues to grow, the assessment results from 1975 to 2008 do not show a significant difference in assessment scores in comparison to African Americans and White students (Rampey, Dion, & Donahue, 2009) .
In order to address family and parental involvement of the fastest growing minority group in the nation, the United States government established in 2001 the White House initiative Executive Order 13230, which is Educational Excellence for Hispanic students (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). As a result of this initiative, former President G.W.
Bush designated the Department of Education as the office that would provide staffing support and assistance to the commission in fulfilling its charge to examine the underlying causes of the education achievement gap existing among Hispanic American stud ents and their peers
(U.S. Department of Education , 2003). Executive order 13230 was established to ensure the advancement of human potential, strengthen the nation‟s capacity to provide high - quality education, and increase opportunities for Hispanic Ameri cans to participate in and benefit from Federal education programs (Bush, 2001). Similarly, section 2 of Executive order 13230 emphasized
the
3
following reason why further research was
needed for educational excellence of Hispanic Americans: the progress of
Hispanic Americans
in closing the academic achievement gap and attaining the goals established by the President's "No Child Left Behind" educational blueprint; the development, monitoring, and coordination of Federal efforts to promote high - quality educat ion for Hispanic Americans; ways to increase parental, s tate and local, private sector, and community involvement in improving education; and ways to maximize the effectiveness of Federal education initiative s within the Hispanic community
(U. S. Departmen t of Education, 2007).
Statement of the Problem
Conversely, when the researcher delved into parental involvement studies ,
the researcher identified many studies that investigated parental involvement ;
howeve r, those studies did not focus on Hispanic parent al involvement. Therefore, it was not known to what extent high school administrators understood
the importance of parental involvement and how they perceive d
their role and responsibility in developing relationships with Hispanic parents. According to Her edia (2009), one of the reasons Hispanic students perform poorly academically and have a low graduation rate is due to a lack of parental involvement. Shah (2009) stated that it is a complicated puzzle for school principals trying to understand why Hispani c parents participate less. According to Delgado - Gaitan (2004), Hispanic families want to be involved in children‟ schooling but often tend to view the academic development of the student as a function of the school. Additionally, Hispanic parents often be lieve that the role of the home and school should not interfere with each other (Delgado - Gaitan, 2004).
4
A strong commitment and consistent collaboration between school and home is necessary to building the lines of communication in an ethnically, racially , and linguistically diverse
community (Delgado - Gaitan, 2004 ). Parents of Hispanic students must feel invited and welcomed at schools. Additionally, these parents must have access to pertinent information regarding students‟ academic performance as well as
have a thorough understanding of how a school functions (Cantrell, 2003). It is the responsibility of the educational community to develop a clear understanding of the needs of Hispanic parents in order to adequately identify the factors and barriers rela ted to the parental involvement of this population of stakeholders (Suárez - Orozco & Suárez - Orozco, 2002).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to
examine the perceptions of high school administrator s regarding the importance of parental invol vement and how they perceive d
their role and responsibility in developing relationships with Hispanic parents . Parental involvement has been positively linked to indicators of student achievement, teacher ratings of student competence, student grades, stud ent attendance, student behavior, and achievement test scores (Hoover - Dempsey, et
al., 2005). Also, parent involvement has been associated with other indicators of school success, including, but not limited to a lower rate of grade retention, decreased dro pout rates, increased high school graduation rates, and increased enrollment in advanced placement (AP) courses (Barnard, 2004). In addition to the previous indicators, parental involvement has been linked to psychological proces ses and attributes that sup port to student achievement (Sheldon, 2002). Those attributes support achievement across groups of students, including students at - risk for poorer educational or de velopmental outcomes (Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 2004) .
5
Considering the aforementioned, this stu dy utilize d
a qualitative research strategy . Additionally, the researcher utilize d
a purposive sampling of eight
high school administrators ;
who are employed at a local school that enrolls a fairly large
Hispanic population.
A
case
study design was util ize d to examine the perceptions of school administrators on Hispanic parental involvement.
Additionally, i nterviews composed of open - ended questions were used to discover emerging
themes
among school
administrator‟s responses.
Rationale
The researcher uti liz e d
a case study approach ; utilizing observations and in - depth interviews which offer ed
the greatest potential for eliciting meaning and ultimately gaining insights to the experiences
and perceptions of the administrators
a bout their understanding of the
importance of Hispanic parental involvement and their role and responsibility in developing the relationships.
Per the research findings of Spradley (1980), “an observation represents a frequently used form of data collection with the researcher able to a ssume different roles in the process and continues to be a well -
accepted form of qualitative data collection” Spradley
( 1980 )
further asserted
a researcher must adopt a particular role as an observer and no one role is suited for all situations. Moreover,
Creswell (2005) suggest ed
these roles differ depending on the observers comfort at the site, relationship with participants, and how best the examiner can collect data to understand a central phenomenon. Similarly, Yin (2009),
suggested the
case study res earch method ology
is used in many situations to understand complex social phenomena. A case study allows the researcher to maintain meaningful
6
characteristics of real - life events such as individual life cycles, small group behavior, school performance, and
organizational managerial process (Yin, 2009, p. 4). A
case study design was appropriate for providing a more in - depth understanding of single or multiple cases (Creswell
& Plano Clark , 2007).
In addition , a
case study approach was
used “to gather compreh ensive, systemic, and in - depth information about each case” (Patton, 2002, p. 447).
Furthermore, this case
study of the perceptions of school administrators on the impact o f Hispanic parental involvement
contribute s
to the body of knowledge because it po ssibly offer s
intervention strategies to school administrators. In addition, this study was worthwhile as
Epstein (2008) asserted that family involvement through high school is important for student success. Research by Gonzales (2002) produced strong resu lts indicating that parental involvement in early childhood education benefits a students‟ learning and overall school success in all grade levels. The researcher also asserted that parental involvement enhances student educational success all the way to
t he high school level (Gonzales, 2002 ). Educational statistics demonstrated that Hispanic parents can improve behaviors and involvement in the education of children for the sake of the students‟ academic success (Delgado - Gaitan, 2004). Reported in studies, such as one conducted by the National School Public Relations Association, is that a relationship exists between parental involvement and academic achievement, a student‟s sense of well being, attendance, attitude, homework completion, overall school readi ness, and educational aspiratio ns (Sheldon, 2002). Peña (2000 ) found that parental involvement was positively related to high school student academic achievement, time spent on homework, favorable attitudes toward school, likelihood of staying in school, a nd
7
educational aspirations beyond the high school level. As mentioned in earlier paragraphs this study was worthwhile and will benefit school administrators in K - 12 settings, as there is a gap in the literature concerning the perceptions of school administ rators on the ir understanding of the importance of Hispanic parental involvem ent .
Furthermore, this study create s
a better understanding for administrators of how to provide culturally sensitive information and support for Hispanic parents and students w hich leads to
improved student academic achievement
( Inger, 2002 ).
Research Questions
The literature suggested
that parental involvement is a benefit to students and ensures
greater academic success.
Despite the growing national interest in parental invol vement, there i s little research that discussed, analyzed , or evaluate d
the perception of school leaders regarding the imp ortance
of Hispanic parental involvement
(Valverde & Scribner, 2001; Zarate, 2007 ) .
This dissertation study was
guided by the followin g research question s :
R1
What ar e
school administrators‟ beliefs and perceptions of Hispanic
parental involvement
in high schools in a suburban school district ?
R2 What strategies do administrators use to promote Hispanic parental involvement?
R3 W hat are administrators ‟
roles and responsibilities for establishing Hispanic parental involvement relationships within the school culture?
Significance of the Study
Reported in studies such as the one conducted by the National School Public Relations Ass ociation is that relationships exist between parental involvement and such
8
student variables as academic achievement, sense of well being, attendance, attitude, homework readiness, grades, and educational aspirations (Chavkin & Gonzalez, 2005). These benef its have been documented to be present not only at the elementary school level, but at the other levels of schooling as well. Researchers (Catsambis, 2001) have provided strong evidence that parental involvement in child and adolescent education generally benefits student learning and school success in all grades. According to Delgado - Gaitan (2004), parental involvement enhances student educational success all th e way to the high school level. Ca llahan, Hildreth ,
and Rademacher
(2008)
found that parental in volvement was positively related to high school student academic achievement, time spent on homework, favorable attitudes toward school, likelihood of staying in school, and educational aspirations beyond the high school level.
Since 2005, Hispanic youth h ave been more likely to drop out of school at a rate of 15 percent, which is a higher dropout rate than non - Hispanic youth in the same age category (Fry,
2003). Therefore, this study was significant because this body of work will contribute
to the literatu re that will assist in developing successful intervention strategies for increasing performance and achievement among Hispanic students. Hopefully,
the results of this study
provide s
valuable and detailed information to educational policymakers, administr ators, and practitioners as they attempt to develop programs and interventions for parental involvement of Hispanic parents. A dditionally, this study included
a review of past empirical studies concerning the parental involve ment of Hispanic parents and of fer ed
suggestions for future educational practices.
This body of work is also significant to high school principals in order to heighten the awareness of effective parental involvement among Hispanic parents as it relates to a
9
more succinct implementation of instructional strategies and programs that can close the achievement gap among Hispanic students (U.S. Department of Education, 2003 ).
Definition of Terms
There are number terms that were important to this study. As such the following terms are operati onally defined:
Academic achievemen t. Refers to a child‟s performance in academic areas e.g., reading or language a rts, math,
science, and history
(71 Fed. Reg. at 46662).
Administrator .
Principals, vice - principals, or anybody with school management respo nsibility (Rivero, 2006).
Funds of k nowledge .
T he historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual
functioning and well - being (Amanti, G onzalez , Moll, & Neff,
2001).
Hispanic .
Families w ho trace ancestry to a Spanish - speaking county, but not favoring one national origin or another (Suárez - Orozco & Suárez - Orozco, 2002).
Impact .
The effect that something or someone has (Sammons, 199 9).
Legal g uardian . A
person legally responsible for safety
and well - being of someone (Vogel, 2009).
No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Federal legislation that sa y s that all students will be proficient in mathem atics and language arts by 2014
(U. S. Department of Education, 2007).
Parent .
One who begets or one who gi ves birth to or nurtures and raise a child, or the
child‟s guardian. This includes but is not limited to mother and father. It may be a step - parent, foster parent, grandparent or close relative
(Long , 2007).
10
Parental involvement .
When parents interact wit h teachers and other school personnel as a way of supporting students‟ academic achievement (Sheldon, 2002).
Perceptions .
The process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. Our sensory experience of the world around us a nd involves both the recognition of environmental stimuli and actions responses to these stimuli ( Franklin, 2010).
School a dministrator . The first or among the first in importance or rank in an educational setting, especially a grade school or high school ( Epstein , 20 08 ).
Assumptions
The following assumptions were present in this study:
1. All of the school administrators were state certified school administrators who
were
qualified to perform the duties and responsibilities related to the job of a
school administrator.
2.
The school administrators respond ed to the open - ended questions utilized in
t he
case study with truthfulness and honesty.
3.
All of the research - based indicators relating to parental involvement issues are
the sa me research - based indicators for Hispanic parental involvement.
Limitations
The following were
limitations of the study:
1.
The researcher had
no control over the preparati on of the school administrators
with respect to parental involvement.
11
2.
The participants
were not representative of all communities and generalizations cannot necessarily expand to describe
the experiences of all administrators .
3.
All of the participants were from the state of Georgia and the information from this study may not
b e applicable
to areas outside the state .
4.
This study could be limited by a potential lack of honesty
during the interview questions.
5.
Credibility of this study was
limited by a
small sample, which, again,
limit ed
generalizability to other contexts.
Nature of the Stud y
The researcher
investigate d
the perceptions of high school administrators on
their understanding of
the importance of
Hispanic parental involvement by utilizing a
case
study as the qualitative research design. The
case s tudy was employed due to the focu s of the model. The primary focus of th e
research design was to explore a phenomenon utilizing data through
interviews (Creswell, 2005). This model
was chosen for t his research to assist in the interpretation of the emerging themes of the perceptions
of s chool administrators on
the imp ortance of Hispanic
parental involvement .
Furthermore, the researcher employ ed
purposive sampling of eight
high school administrators who
have fairly large
Hispanic populations . The researcher observe d
and i nterview ed
the se eight
high school administrators a nd
collect ed
data
on the perceptions of school administrators on the imp ortance
of Hispanic parental involvement .
12
Organization of the Remainder
of the Study
Following the
introduction of C hapter
1 which included
the introduction of the problem, the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, the rationale, research questions, significance of the study, definition of terms, assumptions, limitations, nature of the study, and organiza tion of the study , the remainder of the
study is
divided up as follows: Chapter 2 is a
detailed literature review which presented
an analysis of a historical perspective of Hispanic parental involvement , as well as the perception of this concept ,
and its i mpact on Hispanic student achievement .
Additionally, Chapter 2 include d
parental involvement strategies and interventions . Furthermore, Chapter 3
discuss ed
the methodology and research design of the study. In addition, t he selection of subjects, i nstrumen tation , and data collection procedure were also detailed in this chapter. The chapter
conclude d
with the necessary procedures for conducting the research and analyzing the emerging themes. Moreover, C hapter 4
present s
the findings of the
data analysis emp loyed to answer the
research question s . Lastly, C hapter 5
conclude s
the research study and include s
a discussion of the conclusions, implications
for professional practice , and implications for future research. Additionally, recommendations for implementa tion are detailed
as well . The estimated timeline for this project w as three months from the approval date of the dissertation proposal.
13
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Historically, Hispanic students have consistently demonstrated low leve ls of academic achievement, low graduation rates, and high dropout rates (Simon, 2001). According to Crozier (2001), education research over the years affirmed the ways in which parental involvement is a vital factor in producing positive student outcomes . For years, there have been numerous researchers that have investigated the impact of parental involvement on academic achievement (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001). Even though researchers differ on the specific issues related to parental involvement, the e nd result of the majority of researchers is the conclusion that parental involvement significantly impacts the academic achievement of all students (Catsambis, 2001).
The first section of this chapter detail ed
the theoretical framework , historical perspec tive of Hispanic parental involvement. In addition, the definition, benefits, and barriers to parental involvement , and history of parental involvement
were explored.
T he review of literature lead s
to a discussion on the models of parental involvement and ethnicity , as well as the benefits and barriers of parental involvement and student achievement. The literature review conclude d
with parent perceptions , school administrators and parental involvement .
Theoretical Framework
Pare nts becoming actively invol ved on a regular basis in the education of their children will increase the communication between educators and parents (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001). This involvement can have a positive effect on the cognitive framework of
14
a child. This belief, which is he ld by many educators, is supported by the c onversation t heory (Pask, 1975).
The c onversation t heory, developed by Pask (1975), originated from a cybernetics framework and attempts to explain learning in both living organisms and machines. Conversation t h eory describes interaction between two or more cognitive systems, such as a teacher and a student or a student and a parent. With this interaction, there are distinct perspectives within one individual and how that individual engages in a dialog over a giv en concept and identify differences in how it is understood (Pask , 1975 ).
The fundamental idea of c onversation t heory was that learning occurs through conversations about a subject matter that
serve s
to make knowledge explicit. Conversations can be conduct ed at a number of different levels: natural language (general discussion), object languages (for discussing the subject matter), and meta - languages (for talking about learning/language). In order to facilitate learning, Pask (1975) argued that subject matt er should be represented in the form of entailment structures that
show what is to be learned. The researcher further argued that depending upon the extent of relationships displayed entailment structures exist in a variety of different levels. The critica l method of learning according to conversation theory is teach back
in which one person teaches another person what was learned. This process of teach - back is clearly demonstrated through parental involvement (Pask , 1975 ).
Theoretical Model for Family Edu cation and Involvement
According to the research ,
one way that family, school and community relationships have been theorized is from a natural viewpoint that views
children
15
existing in nested circle of influence ( Cochran, 1988 ) with the circles closest to the child (family, school, and neighborhood) having the most straight forward effect, and circle such as government agencies (e.g., laws and regulations) and cultural values and norms of the dominant society as more distal yet potential powerful forces affecting children‟s lives. These circles can influence the educational, social, physical and emotional health of the child both positively and negatively. Brofenbrenner
and
Morris (1998) argue d
that communication and positive relationship among these circ les is critical to the child‟s well -
