Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
William Thayer
Committee Member
Virginia Gittleman
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
Board of Directors, Chester, early childhood, early literacy, homeschool connection, informal interviews, integration, intervention strategies, JFJ, Jump for Joy Preschool and Learning Center, parent engagement, parent involvement, parent partnerships, parent workshops, parental involvement, Pennsylvania, preschool education, professional development, qualitative study, research-based strategies, staff development, student achievement, surveys, teacher attitudes, teacher training, urban preschool, workshops
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to increase parent involvement at an urban preschool. The Board of Directors indicated that there had been a decline in the involvement of parents from 1998-2001 at Jump for Joy Preschool and Learning Center (JFJ) in Chester, Pennsylvania. They expressed their concerns about the absence of vital elements needed by their students: the teachers’ approach to early childhood, which did not seem to be based on any partnership with parents, and the lack of opportunities for engagement with parents. As a result, the board proposed that all parents with children enrolled at JFJ should be engaged in some form of parental involvement each year. The board also proposed parent involvement as an integral part of the school curriculum at JFJ to improve parent involvement and increase student achievement.
Recognizing the need for such vital components, the researcher performed a qualitative study to investigate reasons for the declination by reviewing archival data, administering surveys, and conducting informal interviews. The data gathered during this applied dissertation indicated a need for professional development in the area of parent involvement, workshops on the benefits of parent involvement, opportunities for parents to participate, and the integration of a homeschool connection into the early literacy curriculum. Thus, the researcher developed research-based strategies that targeted these areas to increase parent involvement. The strategies included workshops for parents and teachers on the benefits of parent involvement and training from the county library on integrating a homeschool connection into the early literacy curriculum.
An analysis of the data revealed that a universal definition of parent involvement for the center had not been developed. The teacher’s attitudes toward parent involvement was a significant factor in the absence of partnerships at the center, and the fact that parents said that they were not aware of many opportunities for them to participate at the learning center. As a result of the intervention strategies of this applied dissertation parents and teachers are now working together at the center and parental involvement has increased substantially.