Summary
Introduction
Research Questions / Design
Home and School Perspectives regarding Parent Engagement in Child Care Centers
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
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)
Instruments
Parent Involvement Survey
Teacher Involvement Survey
Parent Demographic Survey
Teacher Demographic Survey
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 .
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
Objective:
Examine and compare parents’ and teachers’ perceptions regarding parent engagement in child care centers using an established theoretical model.
Examine and compare parents’ engagement perceptions differentiated by two demographic variables, ethnicity and gender of the parents’ child using an established theoretical model.
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
Q1: Do differences exist between school staff and parent perceptions regarding parent engagement?
Inferential
Descriptive
Item means
Standard Deviations
Multivariate Analysis of Variance
(MANOVA)
Categorical Independent
Variables
Parent participants
Teacher participants
Dependent Variables
Parent and Teacher responses to
survey questions grouped
by three constructs
A COMPARISON STUDY OF HOME AND SCHOOL PERSPECTIVES REGARDING PARENT ENGAGEMENT IN CHILD CARE CENTERS
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?
MANOVA
Within Subject Factors
Construct and Question
Dependent Variables
Parent Participant Responses
Grouping Variable (Ethnicity)
Family participants
Caucasian
Hispanic
African American
Categorical Independent Variables
Family participants
Caucasian
Hispanic
African American
Dissertation Defense
Judith Maima
October 15, 2012
Focus Group Interviews
Focus Groups
University of Houston
College of Education
Limitations
Implications for Future Research
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.
Implications for Teacher Research
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.