Secondary Educators Perceptions of Teacher to Parent Communication and the Relationship to Student Achievement

The intersection of principal leadership and teacher to parent communication was examined through this original research, with an analysis of how principals' beliefs and actions influenced teachers' beliefs and the relationship between these perceptions and teacher level factors. The frequency and focus of teacher to parent communication was examined in relation to educator's perceptions and actions as well as school level factors including socio-economic, demographic and student academic achievement data. This research was designed to provide recommendations for secondary school principals about teacher to parent communication. Secondary educators in four district school boards were surveyed about their beliefs and actions when they communicated with parents. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the survey data with teacher responses as the first level, nested within principal responses and school data at the second level. The results showed that secondary educators believed communication with parents was important to academic success and that principals could influence teachers' perceptions. The variance within schools was due to teacher level factors. Experienced teachers and those in support roles reported higher perceptions of the importance of communication with parents. Secondary school teachers communicated with parents about negative issues on average two to three times a semester. Contact about information items was only once or twice a year. Several teacher level factors related to frequency as those in support roles, those with more experience and teachers with younger students reported more frequent contact. When the school contacted all parents on a regular basis this was associated with less frequent individual teacher contact. Analysis of the relationship between teacher to parent contact and school level factors such as socio-economic data, demographics and student achievement did not show any significance. The recommendations for principals from the research include enlisting the aid of more experienced teachers to promote teacher to parent contact to staff and limiting the frequency of mass communication from the school in order to encourage teacher to parent contact that is more frequent and individualized at the secondary school level.Ph.D