Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2759
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Item Parent Involvement in Middle School: Cultivating Comprehensive and Inclusive Programs of Partnership(2011) Hutchins, Darcy; Croninger, Robert; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to investigate how middle schools can cultivate comprehensive and inclusive parent involvement programs. More specifically, this study explored the role of district- and school-level leadership on the implementation of one district's parent involvement policy. Using micro and macro perspectives of policy implementation and Epstein's Six Types of Involvement framework of comprehensive parent involvement, this study highlighted promising parent involvement practices implemented by eight middle schools within one mid-Atlantic school district and illuminated the need for further investigation of secondary-level partnership program development and policy implementation. Data collection relied on case study methodology to investigate one district's implementation of middle school parent involvement policy. Data were triangulated from documents, district- and school-level interviews, and observations to explore how middle schools work with parents and how district administrators support school-level policy implementation. The document analysis portion of this study included the district's parent involvement policy, the eight participating schools' improvement plans, and the schools' report cards which reports test scores, demographics, and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status. The interview portion consisted of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven district leaders, eight middle school principals, 14 assistant principals, and 14 parents. The observation portion of this study included parent involvement workshops and school improvement team meetings. Results of this study indicate that principal leadership has a strong influence over the extent to which schools create a welcoming climate and implement activities to work with all parents, particularly families deemed "under-served." Principals' relationships with other school-level colleagues and district administrators impact their participation in capacity building opportunities. This study also indicates that further investigation is necessary to inform policy, research, and practice in regards to middle school parent involvement.Item A PORTRAIT OF PARENTAL MOTIVATION FOR PARTICIPATION IN A POSITIVE DISCIPLINE WORKSHOP(2010) Kee, Leslie A.; Mawhinney, Hanne B.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This qualitative research study describes and explores perceptions of 5 parents and their decisions to participate in the school-linked parent-education workshop, the Power of Positive Discipline, POPD. The parent-education workshop was offered at a diverse school in an east coast suburban school district. The methodology of portraiture was used to analyze and present parent participants' motivations. The interview questions were derived from a conceptual frame created by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995, 1997). The research revealed the parent participants' desired knowledge and expected benefits ultimately motivated the parent participants to attend the POPD workshop. Their desired knowledge and expected benefits were informed by a series of factors that revealed a cycle. The motivational cycle began with the parent participants' experiences, followed by their decisions to accept or reject what their experiences taught them. The decision to accept or reject what they learned informed the qualities they desired to possess as parents and the qualities they wanted their children to embody and exhibit. The qualities served as the foundation to what the parents wanted to know. The parent participants believed that having knowledge about how to achieve these desired qualities would yield specific benefits for their children. The knowledge the parent participants acquired validated their actions and served as motivation to attend future workshops on discipline. The act of attending the workshop became a part of the parents' experiences and contributed to the cyclical nature of parental motivation for participation in the POPD workshop.