Date of Award
1-1-1991
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Advisor
Dr. Georgianna Lowen
Committee Member
June T. Day
Keywords
attendance, behavior improvement, checklists, classroom volunteering, elementary school, feedback, field trips, hands-on activities, parent outreach program, parent-teacher-child workshops, parental involvement, parents, PTA meetings, questionnaires, role of parents, SAT scores, self-esteem, sign-in sheets, student achievement, students, surveys, teacher involvement, teachers, workshop attendance, workshops, work together model
Abstract
This practicum aimed to increase parental involvement in the elementary school. It also attempted to provide workshops for the parents to help them realize the valuable role they play in their children’s education.
Six Parent-Teacher-Child workshops were designed to teach parents and children how to work together: Modeling technique as well as “hands on” activities were all part of the Parent Outreach Program. Sign in sheets for parents, teachers and children were provided and data was collected after each session. Checklists, Questionnaires and Surveys developed by this author were used. Feedback information was also collected.
Outcomes of this practicum were encouraging; all of the objectives were achieved. Attendance at all PTA meetings and workshops increased considerably. Parents attended field trips and stopped by to help in the classroom. Teachers became increasingly involved and encouraged by parent’s response. An extraordinary side effect of this practicum was an increase of self esteem on the part of the parents and students. Another positive side effect of this practicum was an increase of student achievement on the SAT scores and other final testing scores. The data from this practicum strongly demonstrates that a) when parents and teachers work together, positive results emerge, b) with an increase of parental involvement there can be a difference in achievement of the students and c) when parents make themselves visible in school the students’ behavior improves as well as the students’ self esteem.