Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
3-2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Dr. Jennifer Butcher, Ph.D.
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Dr. Karen Maxwell
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Dr. BJ McMichael
Abstract
Parental involvement and parent-school partnership strategies are critical factors to children’s academic success. In this qualitative case study, parents’, teachers’, and administrators’ perceptions of parental involvement and parent-school partnership strategies of middle school children were examined. The setting of the study was in a Georgia middle school. The population for this single case study consisted of 6–8 grade middle school parents and school stakeholders located in a suburban Georgia school district during the 2019–2020 academic school year. The school was in a residential suburban area in the state of Georgia. The parent population consisted of parents with children who attended school in the school district, grades 6–8. All interviews provided a robust understanding regarding the perceptions within the school-family relationship, support, and involvement and how these factors impacted academic success. This study encompassed Joyce Epstein’s Overlapping Spheres of Involvement (Epstein, 2018) as a theoretical framework. Epstein’s six types of identified involvement are parenting, communication, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating in the community; and each framed this study’s research questions and analysis. The findings of this study offer insightful personal accounts that may help in the success of other parent, family, and school partnership strategies. The study offers insights that may assist parents and educators in better approaching family-school involvement and relationships among the stakeholders.
A purposeful sampling method was used in the study. Eighteen parents, three teachers, and three administrators participated in the study. Data were collected and analyzed. The findings revealed barriers that parents, teachers, and administrators encounter in relation to school involvement and support. It was perceived that parental, school, and community involvement were important for children’s academic success and that parent-school partnerships and support were critically necessary. The paper discussed the implications of the research findings as well as suggestions for future research.
Keywords: parental involvement, stakeholders, collaboration, barriers, academic success
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
MASSUCCO, JIL MARIA, "A Qualitative Case Study Examining Parental Involvement and Parent-School Partnership Strategies in a Middle School: Perspectives of Parents, Teachers, and Administrators" (2020). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 332.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/332