Parents' perceptions of their involvement in their children's education and their future expectations

This study examined (a) how parents perceived their roles and participation in their child’s education, (b) how schools invited parents to become involved, (c) parents’ knowledge, skills, time, energy, and involvement activities, (d) mechanisms of involvement such as modeling, encouragement and reinforcement to support their children’s education, and (e) parents’ future expectations for their elementary school children attainment. Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory (1977), Epstein’s model of School, Family and Community Partnerships (2009), and Hoover-Dempsey’s and Sandler’s (1995, 1997) model of Parental Involvement were used to understand the perceptions of parents. A descriptive research design utilized a convenience sample of volunteers. Participants included 355 parents and guardians of students who were enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade at two public elementary schools in a large urban school district located in North Texas. A questionnaire developed by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995, 1997) was used to collect data from parents regarding their perceptions of involvement in their children’s education. Future expectations were determined by responses to a question developed by Kim, Sherraden, and Clancy (2012). A multinomial
logistic regression analysis identified the factors that best predicted the parents’ future educational expectations for their children. The findings revealed that parents held positive perceptions of the importance of their participation in their children’s education and high expectations for their children’s future educational attainment.