Parent involvement in elementary education: Identifying roles and obstacles to parent involvement at Lathrop Elementary School

Purpose. Roles and obstacles to parent involvement at the site level are identified. Methods and strategies for developing parent involvement programs are investigated. Parent, teacher and administrator group perceptions are described and compared. Methodology. Descriptive and comparative surveys address role expectations, potential obstacles, and current parent involvement trends. Parent, teacher, and administrative group responses at Lathrop School are analyzed using mean ranks and median scores for each group. School records for parent involvement activities are examined. Findings. Of the 28 items addressing parent involvement role expectations, eight decision-making, two Parents as Teachers, and one Parents as Learners items show statistically significant differences in group perspectives for role expectations. Of the 31 items analyzing obstacles, group perceptions are different in four areas. Two items show a statistically significant difference among group beliefs in the area of school attitudes. Identification of current parent involvement trends indicate that parents are involved most frequently as Teachers and least frequently as Decision Makers. Recommendations. Lathrop School can use the study to develop clear role expectation guidelines. Suggestions are made for establishing role expectations for all four categories of parent involvement. Recommendations are given for addressing cultural obstacles and suggestions are made for further research and implementation of a more effective parent involvement program