Parent Involvement Efforts: Article Analysis

Parent involvement is a major contributor to student success in the classroom. In an effort to evaluate parent’s opinions toward how schools involve them, Raymond Rodriguez, Erin Blatz, and Batya Elbaum conducted a study in which they held focus groups and interviews that consisted of 96 parents who had children with disabilities. The article “Parents’ Views of Schools’ Involvement Efforts” discussed the findings and presented valuable tips for educators when working with parents. The main finding stood that parents are more likely to be involved when the school actively seeks out their opinions and when teachers are easily reached and communicated regularly. The researchers also concluded that the quality of school effort mattered. If parents felt like schools were not allowing them to have a voice or were not making any attempts for involvement, the parents revealed to be deeper involved in hopes to advocate for their child. Additionally, several parents expressed that as long as their child remained supported and received proper services, they were satisfied with the school’s effort. Overall, these parents were more concerned with their child’s growth than with how the school was involving them. …show more content…
The authors presented the research in a professional, yet understandable manner. They displayed all of their findings within each of the eight themes and then described those results, which was helpful to understand what each theme entailed and know the frequency/occurrence of that theme in the schools. Additionally, the authors added in specific comments made by parents within each theme. As a future educator who will be communicating with parents regularly, reading those comments helped a great deal to understand the different perspectives and opinions that parents hold. Overall, the article was enjoyable and interesting to