Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
6-2025
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2725-8191
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Kipi Fleming
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Misty Resendez Woods
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Ana Gomez de Torres
Abstract
Parental involvement is crucial to increasing student achievement. However, elementary school principals do not always know how to provide effective parental involvement opportunities, particularly for second-generation Mexican American families. This phenomenological qualitative study was designed to improve the understanding of and describe the lived experiences of second-generation Mexican American families and their relationships with schools. A purposive sample of five second-generation Mexican American parents and five elementary school principals participated in semistructured audio and video interviews. The study offered insight into principals’ mindsets as they provided parental involvement opportunities for the families they serve. The major parental themes identified in the study included that parent and teacher relationships guide the school-parent partnership, that principals are not visible, and that school leaders plan out their annual traditional events. The major principal themes identified in the study included higher parental turnouts for traditional events compared to academic and informative events. They also include principals adapting to the needs of their families and how visibility builds trust.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Fouse, Brenda, "The Impact of Principals’ and Mexican American Parents’ Preset Perspectives on Parental Involvement and What It Means for Student Achievement" (2025). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 909.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/909