Getting to Know to Build Relationships: A Grounded Theory of Parent Involvement in Multi-Year Classrooms

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Parent involvement has been conceptualized through an ecological lens (Epstein, 2018) and as a process that recognizes parent role construction that contribute to how parents engage in school- and home-based education activities (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). Additionally, parent involvement has been analyzed from an asset-based perspective, highlighting knowledge, skills, and resources families of diverse cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic backgrounds have and from which schools and teachers can draw upon as a means to enhance family-school partnerships (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992).

Critiques made of parent involvement theories and frameworks by scholars often cite narrow parameters of what constitutes parent involvement, the difficulty in applying parent involvement theories to diverse communities, the limited agency and voice given to parents in defining their own involvement, and privileging the school’s agenda that keeps the family-school relationship unbalanced (Yamauchi, Ponte, Ratliffe, & Traynor, 2017). Moreover, what remains unaccounted for in the theorizing of parent involvement are the ways in which alternative classroom structures affect parent involvement and parent-teacher relationships. Multi-year classrooms, for example, are thought to be in a better position to nurture teacher-parent relationships by providing the additional time necessary for trust to be built, for parents to be empowered and support their child’s education, and for a more balanced and meaningful family-school partnership to take shape. Teachers of multi-year classrooms perceive greater parent involvement and strengthened partnerships with families (Ford, 2010; Williams-Wright, 2013). Parents who have a child enrolled in a multi-year classroom tend to view the school and teacher more positively, feel more part of the school community, and identify the additional time students and teachers spend together as helpful in building trust (Herr, 2002, Jordan, 2001; Sherman, 2004). Still, there remains a paucity of research as to how parent involvement and relationships develop as a result of longer parent-teacher contact from the parent perspective. The purpose of this study was to address the gaps and build a theoretical model of the process of parent involvement in multi-year classrooms.

As part of a Grounded Theory approach, an iterative process of data collection and analysis of 53 semi-structured interviews with 16 parents, 11 students, and 3 teachers generated a theory of the process of parent involvement in multi-year classrooms. Developed primarily from the perspectives of parents, interview data was collected over two years and supplemented by student and teacher interview data, student drawings, and teacher journaling activities. Findings from this study revealed the core categories, Getting to Know and Building the Relationship Over Time, which initiated and continued to motivate parent involvement in the student’s education and classroom throughout the multi-year program. Six other categories related to the multi-year parent involvement process included: (a) Being an Advocate; (b) Supporting the In-School Curriculum; (c) Supporting the Out-of-School Curriculum; (d) Supporting Independence; (e) Responding to Involvement Opportunities; and, (f) Limited Involvement and Relationship Development. The significance of the findings in relation to the types and changes of parent involvement and parent-teacher relationship development over time are presented.

Authors

• Matthew Waugh, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Presenting Author

• Laurie Ford, University of British Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer D Shapka, University of British Columbia (Vancouver)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Richard A Young, University of British Columbia (UBC)
  Non-Presenting Author