Parent Involvement

Bolivar and Chrispeels (2011) studied a 12-week parent leadership program for Hispanics that provided opportunities for interaction, knowledge exchange, leadership development, trust building, and collective action. Their research showed that when parents participate in leadership development, they are empowered to effect changes that benefit their children through individual and collective actions. The authors argued that the concepts of social and intellectual capital can inform parent involvement research and practice because they explain a community’s capability to engage in new forms of action. Robbins and Searby (2013) explored parental involvement strategies employed by interdisciplinary teaching teams from an affluent suburban school, a mid-level rural school, and a high poverty urban school. The authors used a multiple-case study approach. Each middle school interdisciplinary team was interviewed, responded to journal questions, and were observed at parent nights and related events. Parents were also included as participants through focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and written questionnaires. Themes within each setting was identified including four cross-case themes. …show more content…
A mixed research model, MANOVA, ANOVA and t-test were used. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed. The results show that although participants generally have positive opinions about parent involvement, participants from the primary school teaching program have higher averages in all dimensions. According to the results, branch teachers working with middle school students have more limited knowledge and less positive views on this subject. While they believe that the subject of parent involvement should be included in teacher training processes, they also think that parent involvement is not sufficiently supported at schools due to reasons stemming from both teachers and