Research Questions / Design
Q3: Do parent perceptions regarding parent engagement differ by according to the gender of the parents’ child?
Q1: Do parent perceptions regarding parent engagement differ by race or ethnicity?
Focus Groups
Home and School Perspectives regarding Parent Engagement in Child Care Centers
1
Implications for Future Research
MANOVA
1. Do differences exist between school staff and parent perceptions regarding parent engagement?
Dependent Variables
Parent Participant Responses
Mixed Method Sequential Explanatory Design
Survey responses collected from 81 parents or guardians and 58 teachers of children from 5 child care centers (serving children in ages ranging from 0-5 years old)
Qualitative Data
Two separate focus group interviews (6 parents and 6 teachers)
2. Do parent perceptions regarding parent engagement differ according to race or ethnicity?
Categorical Independent Variables
Dependent Variables
Family participants
Categorical Independent Variables
Family participants
Caucasian
Hispanic
African American
Parental family structure is a topic worth of further study.
Portions of the model proposed by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler 2005) may be useful in studying parent involvement.
Experimental studies are needed in order to move from descriptive research about the parent-teacher relationship to its influence on student outcomes.
More studies that utilize mixed methods would add to the research
A longitudinal study that examines the ways these relationships develop over the course of the year
Focus group interviews with homogenous ethnic parents or with both teachers and parents in one group.
Stories of child care administrators are missing from this research.
3. Do parent perceptions regarding parent engagement differ according to the gender of the parent's child
Parent Participant Responses
Introduction
Brief Review of Study
Research Questions/ Design
Data
Question1
Results
Discussion
Question 2
Results
Discussion
Question 3
Results
Discussion
Limitations
Implications for Further Research
Implications for Practice
Summary
Instruments
Parent Involvement Survey
Teacher Involvement Survey
Parent Demographic Survey
Teacher Demographic Survey
Caucasian Hispanic African American
Summary
Q1: Do differences exist between school staff and parent perceptions regarding parent engagement?
Focus Group Interviews
Limitations
Introduction
Implications for Teacher Research
Useful empirical data
Need for conversation to share thoughts and beliefs.
Family structure needs to be examined further.
Parents want to be involved in their children’s learning
Parent engagement leads to improved student outcomes.
Child care centers need to take advantage of the knowledge that parents want to be involved
A COMPARISON STUDY OF HOME AND SCHOOL PERSPECTIVES REGARDING PARENT ENGAGEMENT IN CHILD CARE CENTERS
Descriptive
Inferential
Acculturation can be best achieved through candid conversations
Child care centers need to invest in professional development training that is tailored towards the different family structures.
Child care programs also need to invest strongly in communication tools.
Effective home-school communication will lead to stronger partnerships .
Professional development that helps teachers acknowledge barriers that prevent parent involvement while searching for creative ways to overcome them.
Teacher education programs that incorporate information about diverse families and place pre-service teachers in field experiences where they can interact with families of various backgrounds.
In-service teacher training for parental involvement and initiatives to increase parents’ school-related interactions with children.
Multivariate Analysis
of Variance (MANOVA)
Item means
Standard Deviations
Minimum and Maximum Values
Objective:
Examine and compare parents’ and teachers’ perceptions regarding parent engagement in child care centers.
Examine and compare parents’ engagement perceptions differentiated by two demographic variables, ethnicity and gender of the parents’ child.
Why:
Parent Engagement in their child’s education can have
a significant impact on student learning
Home-school partnerships continue to be weakened by
varying definitions and perceptions
Few studies have explored teacher and parent perspectives
in early childhood programs
Dissertation Defense
Judith Maima
October 15, 2012
University of Houston
College of Education