Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Dennis Triplett
Committee Member
Harvey Sadoff
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
alternative school, classes, computers, descriptive design, extended family members, high school, intervention, media campaign, Montgomery, AL, parent coordinator, parent involvement, Parent Involvement Inventory (PII), parental involvement, parents, picnic, post survey data, pre survey data, quilting, school activities, student perceptions
Abstract
The major purpose of this study was to improve parental involvement at an alternative school in Montgomery, AL. Eighty-nine percent of the students indicated prior to the intervention that they believed their parents were not involved in their schooling. The intervention consisted of launching a media campaign to target and invite parents to the school and hiring a parent coordinator.
The design that was most conducive for this applied research is a descriptive design. Pre and post survey data was compared to determine if the students perception regarding their parents involvement improved. Logs of all parents contacted and how many times parents were involved in school activities were maintained by the parent coordinator. Classes of interest to the parents, such as introduction to computers and quilting, were offered.
One hundred twenty-two parents (a set was counted as one unit) were targeted for the intervention, although there were events, such as the picnic, where extended family members participated. At the end of the intervention, the number of students indicating that there parents were not involved in their schooling was reduced from 89% to 12% as indicated by the Parent Involvement Inventory (PII).