Examining the Perceptions of Parental Involvement in Schools: Implications for Changing Roles of School Leaders from the Voices of the Community

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Examining the Perceptions of Parental Involvement
in Schools Implications for Changing Roles of
School Leaders from the Voices of the Community

• Tracia Keri Jojola
• New Mexico State University

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CHAPTER 1

• Introduction
• Student Academic Achievement, Lower drop-out
  rates, Higher on-time graduation rates,
  Psychological processes that enhance student
  achievement (student resiliency, student sense of
  personal competence, student efficacy for
  learning, etc).
• Statement of Problem
• Few parental involvement studies have been
  conducted within American Indian and Alaska
  Native (A.I./A.N.) communities.
• Historically, parents were alienated from
  education and policy creation.
• Purpose of research
• A partnership is necessary to create consensus
  amongst the American Indian community and to
  foster open collaboration.
• The answer to how individuals overcome adversity
  to achieve educational success is not only in the
  individuals themselves, but in a common social
  effort that includes individuals, schools,
  families, and communities.

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CHAPTER 1

• Research Questions
• What are the Navajo Parents attitudes about
  education?
• What is their satisfaction with their childs
  school?
• To what degree does their childs school value
  the Navajo culture?
• Are they involved with their childs school?
• What is their perception of the schools
  expectations for their child?
• Adapted from a National Research Study conducted
  by Dr. Carol Robinson-Zanartu, 1996
• Delimitations
• Study focused specifically on Navajo parents from
  this small, rural, New Mexico reservation.
• Researcher is a Navajo Nation Tribal member and
  every effort was made to develop a marginal
  position in which she was neither completely an
  insider or outsider.

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CHAPTER 2

• Literature Review
• History of American Indian Education
• Students and Parents
• Recent Trends in AI education
• History of Parental Involvement
• AI/AN and NCLB
• AI/AN Demographics

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CHAPTER 3

• Methodology
• Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board
• 12 Required Phases
• B. Research Design
• Mixed-Method Study Survey Questionnaire
• Research Instrument
• Structured survey questionnaire (Parent
  Perceptions Survey developed by Dr. Carol
  Robinson-Zanartu, 1996)
• Piloted by Dr. Robinson-Zanartu with 30 American
  Indian parents, extended AI community members,
  and 5 university of SDSU faculty, of whom 2 were
  AI.
• 30 item questionnaire requested parent ratings
  on 23 items on Likert scale of strongly agree,
  agree, disagree, strongly disagree.
• Survey included 2 open ended questions.

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CHAPTER 3

• D. Participants
• Parent/Guardians with a child enrolled in any
  Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), Public,
  Charter, Tribal/Grant controlled elementary,
  middle or high school.
• E. Collection of Data
• Parents were randomly recruited to participate at
  community chapter meetings, school board
  meetings, school parent advisory group meetings,
  individually approached, flyers were posted
  throughout the community announcing open
  recruitment, electronic mail, and a social
  internet website known as Facebook.
• Raffle Drawings
• Data Analysis
• Quantitative data analyzed for frequency and
  percentages utilizing EZanalyze.
• Qualitative data coded for themes.

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CHAPTER 4

• Demographics
• Survey participation response rate (N250) 61
• Elementary (K-6) parents 56
• Secondary (7-12) 44
• Data Collection Results
• Survey Questions grouped according to 5 research
  questions guiding this study.
• Research Question 1
• Parents attitudes towards education are positive.
  High percentages of parents agree that the
  school values their input and treats children and
  community with respect.
• Significance found 100 of elementary vs. 60 of
  secondary parents agree they are an important
  part of their childs education.
• Qualitative findings guided by Human Capital
  Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP).

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CHAPTER 4

• Research Question 2
• Parent responses indicate a high percentage of
  parents report they are satisfied with their
  childs school. High percentages agree that the
  school provides a good education, agreed with the
  decision for their child to be placed in special
  education (SPED), and that their child is served
  well in SPED.
• SPED
• 44 of Elementary parents had a child referred
• 37 of Secondary parents had a child referred
• Qualitative findings guided by Human Capital
  CRP.
• Research Question 3
• Parents show lower percentages of agreement that
  their childs school values the Navajo culture,
  helps build pride in the culture, and considers
  their childs culture in evaluations for SPED.
• Qualitative findings guided by Human Capital
  CRP.

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CHAPTER 4

• Research Question 4
• Parents vary from above average to high agreement
  that they are involved in their childs school
  through regular meetings with school personnel,
  are informed of schools curriculum, understood
  the evaluation for SPED, or was involved in the
  evaluation for SPED.
• Qualitative findings guided by Human Capital
  CRP.
• Research Question 5
• A high percentage of parents agree that the
  school expects Navajo children to do well
  academically, to behave, and that interventions
  were attempted in regular education before their
  child was placed in SPED.
• Qualitative findings guided by Human Capital
  CRP.

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CHAPTER 5

• CONCLUSIONS
• RESEARCH QUESTION 1 Parents attitudes about
  education.
• Parents report positive attitudes about
  education.
• Parents want schools to send the message to the
  entire community of the importance of education.
• RESEARCH QUESTION 2 Parents satisfaction with
  their childs school.
• Parents report high satisfaction with their
  childs school.
• Parents request to receive more information on
  the goals set for their child and more feedback
  on assessments administered to their child.
• Percentages show discrepancies in parent
  satisfaction with SPED services for their child.
  Possibly more parent education is needed in
  regards to SPED programs and services.
• RESEARCH QUESTION 3 Parents perception of
  whether their childs school values the Navajo
  culture.
• Parents disclose moderately high perceptions that
  their childs school values the Navajo culture.

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CHAPTER 5

• Parents disclosed they want more consistent
  Navajo language and culture lessons to be
  included in their childs school curriculum.
• RESEARCH QUESTION 4 Parents perceptions of
  their involvement with their childs school.
• Parents agree they are involved in their childs
  education through regular meetings and SPED
  evaluations.
• Parents requesting to have school input on
  strategies to assist their child.
• RESEARCH QUESTION 5 Parents perceptions of the
  schools expectations for their child.
• Parents perceive their childs school to have
  high expectations for their child.
• Requesting want more educational enhancement
  programs.
• RELATED TO HUMAN CAPITAL THEORY
• Parents reported confidence in their child and
  parents requested schools to hold high,
  consistent expectations for their child and to
  challenge them.

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CHAPTER 5

• Parents requested more programs to be made
  available to help build skills after-school
  tutoring, science fairs, math challenges, reading
  camps, science exploratory programs, college prep
  courses, and less focus on sports.
• RELATED TO CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY
• Parents request for teachers to gain more
  knowledge about the Navajo culture and their
  childs background.
• Parents want schools to help instill a sense of
  pride of the Navajo culture.
• Parents want the Navajo culture to include
  current events and not focus on the past.
  Focusing on the past implies the culture is
  extinct.
• RECOMMENDATIONS
• Parents need more support from schools to become
  effective team members.
• For schools to send the message into the
  community that education is important for student
  and community growth.

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CHAPTER 5

• Parents want schools to learn more about being
  Navajo.
• For schools to promote atmosphere of high
  expectations.
• For schools to increase parental involvement
  opportunities.
• For school climate to instill a sense of pride in
  being Navajo.
• Curriculum and Methodology to include more of the
  Navajo language and culture from K-12th grades.
• IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
• Include focus groups in future research on
  parental involvement.
• Conduct research including teacher and
  administrator perceptions of parental
  involvement.
• Create a parent education program and conduct a
  pre and post survey of parents involved in that
  program.
• Examine schools who provide parental involvement
  guidance and whether it results in higher
  student academic achievement.

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CHAPTER 5

• Research could assist school leaders with
  training regarding culture and areas of bilingual
  education that impact student learning.
• THANK-YOU!