Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
12-2021
ORCID
https://orcid.org/
0000-0002-7051-4002
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Jennifer Butcher
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Sandra Harris
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Scott Strawn
Abstract
Abstract
The increase in the United States prison population over the past several years has precipitated a record number of children in the public school system with incarcerated parents. Consequences of this trend have recently been given significant attention by researchers due to the myriad of difficulties noted to be associated with parental incarceration. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions, experiences, and insights of educators in a small rural district in Texas as they serve students experiencing parental incarceration. Presentation of an educator in context schema was provided by the application of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. This environmental systems theory allowed the researcher to explore the perceptions educators have of the environment surrounding students experiencing parental incarceration, the resources or lack of resources within this environment, and the barriers perceived by these educators to exist in their pursuit to educate this specific population of students. Following a case study protocol, semi structured interviews were performed with 10 educator participants. The findings revealed that educators perceived the immediate school environment as supportive and understanding, the community environment as lacking in resources, the need for education and professional development regarding parental incarceration as desirable, and the cultural blueprint present within the district as accepting of incarceration due to its commonality there, yet, stigmatized due to the popularity of negative connotations associated with it.
Keywords: parental incarceration, teacher perceptions, ecological systems theory, environmental surrounding
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Phelan, Melissa P., "An Exploration of Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences Serving Students of Incarcerated Parents in a Rural Setting" (2021). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 417.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/417
Included in
Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons