Teacher constructions of parent involvement in their child's learning : an ethnographic study of families in low socioeconomic status settings /
Parent involvement in the schools is a topic that has been
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1995.
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| Online Access: | Link to OAKTrust copy http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=742713311&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Parent involvement in the schools is a topic that has been greatly discussed in the literature in the past two decades. Benefits for children, parents, teachers, and schools have been associated with parent involvement. Despite the positive effects of parent involvement, a relationship has been noted regarding low socioeconomic status (SES) families and low degrees of parent involvement. Yet, in order to enhance education through parent participation, the commitment and support of teachers is essential. Therefore, it is important to explore how today's teachers view parent involvement. In addition, little research has examined the reasons why teachers hold certain attitudes regarding parent involvement. This feature should be explored in order to better understand the teachers' beliefs on this issue. Much of the research on parent involvement, however, comes from a quantitative perspective which does not take into account the teachers' constructions of the term. The present study explored the constructions of parent involvement among elementary teachers through a series of ethnographic interviews which examined the teacher constructions of involvement of parents in children's learning, including their method of involving parents, and the experiences teachers see as contributing to the development of their constructions. Due to the generally weak connections between schools and parents of low SES and ethnic minority backgrounds, this study was conducted in schools with high percentages of such parents. The analysis of the data yielded three main themes of teacher constructions: early and continued quality experiences, school-based constructions, and parent constructions. Societal expectations appeared to influence the teachers' thoughts about parent involvement. Teachers utilized various approaches to involving parents. Those teachers who used different approaches, such as home visits, reported more parent-teacher interaction in terms of those strategies. The teachers tended to report barriers to parent involvement in terms of parent characteristics. Experiences as a child, parent, and teacher, as well as a teacher's training were reported by the teachers as contributing to the development of their parent involvement constructions. The findings were discussed as they relate to the participants in their specific context. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: School Psychology". |
| Physical Description: | xii, 184 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |