Parent expectations of collegiate teaching and caring

This exploratory research determined parent expectations of their traditionally-aged student\u27s postsecondary institution with an investigator developed and validated survey entitled the PECTAC (Parent Expectations of Collegiate Teaching and Caring). The PECTAC instrument was predicated upon a culling from relevant literature to reflect topics and issues related to the teaching and caring functions of a private and religiously-affiliated Midwestern university. Parent participants were asked to provide basic demographic information in addition to ranking each item based on perceived importance. A web-based survey software package was used to collect data from 475 participants. Dependent variables of parent gender and first-time college parent status were used to investigate differences between and among various sub-populations. The findings from the study allowed for claiming the following: female parents expected significantly more from the university with regard to caring and teaching functions; status as a first-time college parent was not perceived to be of notable importance; and parents considered the caring functions to be of greater importance than the teaching functions