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Chinese parents' attitudes toward parental involvement: A case study of the ABC Unified School District

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Chinese parents' attitudes toward parental involvement: A case study of the ABC Unified School District

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Content CHINESE PARENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT:
A CASE STUDY OF THE ABC UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
by
Pao-Ling W. Guo
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
August 2003
Copyright 2003 Pao-Ling W. Guo
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UMI Number: 3116706
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University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Los Angeles, California 90089-0031
This dissertation written by
P a o -L in g W . Guo
under the discretion of h e r Dissertation Committee,
and approved by all members of the Committee, has
been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the
Rossier School of Education in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
D ate
Doctor of Education
d
D is s e c tio n Committee
7
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My heartfelt gratitude is expressed to Dr. Gothold, my dissertation chair,
for his guidance, direction, prompt responses, caring, and warm support
throughout my dissertation process to make this such a pleasant learning
experience. My sincere appreciation is extended to my committee members,
Dr. Robert Ferris, and Dr. Beverly Neu, for their cheering support,
encouragement, and commitment to excellence. Finally, my special appreciation
is expressed to Dr. Mary Sieu for her intellectual challenges and assistance in my
exploration sparked the idea for my dissertation topic area.
I also wish to publicly acknowledge those who encouraged my interest in
education. My fellow students in the doctoral studies, L. A. Cohort, all deserve
my sincere gratitude for their encouragement. Finally to the Chinese Parents in
ABC Unified School District and for my colleagues in ABC Unified School
District, I offer my wholehearted thanks for their support, assistance and for being
the wonderful resources throughout my dissertation process.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................. ii
LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................ v
ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................................vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................... 1
Statement of the Problem..............................................................................................4
Purpose of the Study.....................................................................................................7
Research Questions.......................................................................................................8
Importance of the Study................................................................................................9
Assumptions...............................................................................................................10
Limitations..................................................................................................................1 1
Delimitations...............................................................................................................12
Definitions of Terms...................................................................................................12
Organization of the Study........................................................................................... 14
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................15
Introduction.................................................................................................................15
Historical Background of Parental Involvement in School..........................................16
Research in Parental Involvement in Education.......................................................... 21
National and State Legislations.................................................................................. 27
Recent State Legislations............................................................................................31
Sample State and Local Approaches...........................................................................34
Parental Involvement in Taiwan................................................................................. 40
Chinese American Patents’ View and Practice in Education.......................................41
Background of the ABC Unified School District........................................................ 46
Barriers Faced by the Chinese American Parents........................................................ 49
Theoretical Framework...............................................................................................52
Theory of Academic Success
Theory of Acculturation
Theory of Information Seeking
Theory of Empowerment
Theory of Partnership
Summary.................................................................................................................... 59
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY..................................................................................... 60
Introduction................................................................................................................60
Purpose of the Study.................................................................................................. 60
Research Questions.................................................................................................... 61
Research Design......................................................................................................... 62
Population and Sampling............................................................................................63
The Survey Instrument................................................................................................69
Field-Test...................................................................................................................73
Administration and Data Collection............................................................................ 74
Statistical Analysis of the Data...................................................................................75
Summary of the Methodology and Procedure.............................................................77
CHAPTER IV. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS....................................................................78
Introduction................................................................................................................78
iii
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Purpose of the Study.................................................................................................. 78
Research Questions.................................................................................................... 78
Characteristics of the Respondents............................................................................. 79
Data Analysis............................................................................................................. 81
Summary of Findings................................................................................................114
CHAPTER V. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION.............................................................. 116
Introduction.............................................................................................................. 116
Statement of the Problem..........................................................................................116
Purpose of the Study.................................................................................................117
Research Questions...................................................................................................117
Summary of Key Findings........................................................................................ 118
Implications.............................................................................................................. 121
Conclusions and Recommendations..........................................................................124
Future Study Recommendations............................................................................... 128
BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................130
APPENDIX A. Letter of Information and Questionnaire...................................................141
APPENDIX B. ABC Unified School District Board Policy and Regulations......................147
iv
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE................................................................................................................ PAGE
1 . STAR Test Results 2002........................................................................................4
2. Reading and Math: Subgroup Results 2002...........................................................5
3. Distribution of Chinese ELL Students in ABC USD........................................... 64
4. Distribution of Chinese ELL Students in ABC USD by Grade Level.........65
5. Distribution of Chinese ELL Students in ABC USD by Cities............................ 66
6. Distribution of Chinese ELL Students in ABC USD by Home Language..66
7. Distribution of Chinese ELL Students Samples by Schools................................ 67
8. Distribution of Chinese ELL Students Samples by Grade Levels.........................68
9. Distribution of Chinese ELL Students Samples by Cities.................................... 69
10. The Total Number of Respondents by Gender.....................................................80
11. The Total Number of Respondents with School Aged Children............................80
12. The Birth Place of Survey Respondents...............................................................81
13. a. Total Number of Respondents’ Participation in Education...............................85
b. Total Points of Respondents’ Participation in Education..................................87
14. Parents’ Years of Residence in the U.S and Their Participation in Education........90
15. Parents’ English Proficiency: Language Used in Work Related Situation............ 91
16. Parents’ English Proficiency: Language Used When Speaking with Children...... 91
17. Parents’ English Proficiency: Parents’ Reading and Writing Skills in English.... 93
18. Parents’ English Proficiency: Parents’ Speaking and Listening Skills in English .93
19. Parents’ Highest Level of Education Level...........................................................94
20. Parents Received Highest Level of Education in the United States........................94
21. Parents’ Family Income Level and Their Participation in Education.....................95
22. Parents’ Occupations and Their Participation in Education...................................96
23. Parents’s Better Ways of Getting Education Information.................................... 97
24. Parents’ Years of Residence in the U.S.................................................................99
25. Parents’ English Proficiency in Reading and Writing.........................................100
26. Parents’ English Proficiency in Listening and Speaking.....................................100
27. Parents’ Education Level and Their Participation in Education........................... 101
28. Parents Family Income Level and Their Participation in Education................... 102
29. Parents Better Ways of Getting Education Information.......................................103
30. Parents Self-Ranking Results............................................................................. 104
31. Parents Self-Ranking Results and Their Participation in Education.................... 105
32. Parents Highest Priority: Questionnaire Item 33................................................ 106
33. Parents’ Concerns: Questionnaire Item 1 1 & 12................................................ 108
34. Friends’ Concerns: Questionnaire Item 1 1 & 12................................................ 108
35. Suggestions To Newly Arrived Parents (Questionnaire Item #34)...................... 109
36. Recommendations and Suggestions To to ABC USD (Questionnaire Item #35). 109
37. Background of Focus Group.............................................................................. Ill
v
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that contributed to
Chinese parents’ attitudes toward parental involvement in education, and to
investigate the possibility of building a better parent education program for
Chinese parents.
This study was a descriptive research. A survey was conducted by
questionnaire of 250 Chinese American parents of English Language Learners in
ABC Unified School District in Los Angeles County of California. The following
five independent variables were used to predict attitudes: parents’ English
proficiency, parents’ education level, family income, years of residence in the
United States, and ways of getting education information.
Quantitative data were collected using a Likert scale of 1 to 5. Frequency
distribution and mean score were conducted to determine the distribution
frequencies and central tendency of the rating. Qualitative data generated from
the participants’ written comments and interviews were used to substantiate the
quantitative data.
The results showed a positive effect in parents’ participation in terms of
Epstein’s six types of parental involvement. The factors that contributed to the
success of the parental involvement were longer residence in the United States,
higher education and better family income. The lesser-contributed factors were
the English skills and the ways of getting education information.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter introduces the problem of the study along with the questions to
be answered. The major purpose of this chapter is to establish the setting and define
the terms presented in this study.
Research has shown that one of the most promising ways to increase
students’ achievement is to involve their families (Chavkin, 1995; Epstein, 1995,
1996, 2001; Epstein, & Lee, 1995; Epstein, Clark, Salinas & Sanders, 1997; Epstein,
Clark & Van Voorhis, 1999; 2000; Epstein & Van Voorhis, 2001). Parent
involvement has been linked with student outcomes including increase test
results(Epstein, 1995, 1996, 2001; Henderson, 1989), a decrease in dropout rate
( Griffith, 1997; Herzog & Pittman, 1995), improved attendance, improved student
behavior ( Lareau & Shumar, 1996; Lewis, 1997; Liontos, 1992), higher grades,
higher grade point average (Schaefer, 1972; Walberg,1984; Henderson & Berla,
1994), greater commitment to schoolwork and improved attitude toward school
(Epstein, 1995, 1996, 2001). If the family’s approach to life and learning is very
different from that of the school, children have difficulty integrating the two
experiences and may drop out (Griffith, 1997). Parents naturally become their
children’s first teacher and usually can help them develop reading habits before they
set foot inside a school (Henderson & Berla, 1994). What parents do at home, and
whether they participate in school and communities to support their kids’ learning
has a strong, independent effect on children’s achievement (Epstein, 1995, 1996,
2001; Henderson & Berla, 1994).
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The increase demand for parent involvement requires a better understanding
of the needs and interests of the parents. Numerous studies have verified the value of
parental involvement. Literature is also available on how parents may enhance their
children’s learning to participation in schools. However, from the literature review,
there has been little research on how the parents of English Language Learners (ELL)
can learn of parental involvement programs that will help them and their children to
become better assimilated into the American educational system and to become more
actively involved in their children’s education, in order to help their children realize
their fullest potential.
California is a favored destination for immigrants. According to census 2000,
twenty-five percent of all public school children in California were identified as
having only limited English language skills (News Release, Public Policy Institute of
California, February 26, 2003). As state policymakers seek to improve
accountability and student performance in the K-12 system, understanding the
challenges of English Language Learners - many of whom lag behind their peers
academically - and their families are critical.
Over the past two centuries, American society has been transformed from a
set of communities where families were the central building blocks of the economy
to a social system in which families are at the periphery (Coleman, 1991). As a
result of criticism concerning the decline of education in the United States,
educators, political leaders and parents are seeking strategies for the parents to get
involved in schools again (Flaxman & Inger, 1991).
The most recent data (Census 2000) also suggests that there are now a
significant number of children living in lone parent, extended and same sex parent
families. Many children experience more than one kind of family as they are
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growing up. Schools regularly enroll children whose family situation changes during
the course of their enrolment.
America has also become a much more diverse country. A new analysis by
the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) sheds light on the growth and
widening diversity in California. The report (February, 2003), analyzes data from the
Department of Education and other resources and finds although public school
enrollment has grown by 50 percent over the last decade, the number of students with
limited English proficiency has grown 300 percent and the number of English
Language Learners in the Los Angeles area increased 231 percent (PPIC: The
Linguistic Landscape of California Schools, February, 2003).
Children bring with them to school a range of cultural and linguistic
resources. According to the same report, 55 other languages are tracked on campuses
and 175,000 English Language Learners in California schools today speak a primary
language other than English. Many California children designated as English
Language Learners are citizens, bom in the United States to immigrant parents. The
diversity of parents and families requires schools to have policies and practices that
are inclusive of such heterogeneity. Parental involvement policies in particular need
to address commonalities and also differences among diverse parents and families.
In order to examine how the new immigrant parents’ attitude and
participation in education can be enhanced through collaborative efforts of relevant
leaders and participants, the study of “Chinese Parents’ Attitude toward Parental
Involvement: A Case Study of the ABC Unified School District” was chosen. A
related goal was to take advantage of the education resources for Chinese American
parents who wish to leam more about English language and the American
educational system.
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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
For the last five years, students in the ABC Unified School district have
consistently increased their Stanford Achievement Test (SAT-9) scores at all grade
levels. However, according to the 2001-2002 ABC Unified School District Annual
District Report card (April, 2002), the Reading and Math scores on SAT-9 for
English Language Learner students were quite disappointing. A look at the scores
for 2001 compared with 2002’ s results, with all district-wide scores in grades two
through eight above the national average of 50 percentile, illustrated this growth.
District-wide high school students also performed higher in 2002 in every level with
the exception of the tenth grade, which remained flat (STAR Test Results, 2002).
Table 1 is a chart showing the scores in the Reading, Math, Language and Spelling
from grade 2-6 for 2001 and 2002.
Table 1
STAR Test Results 2002
District
Grade
Reading
2001
Reading
2002
Math
2001
Math
2001
Language
2001
Language
2002
Spelling
2001
Spelling
2002
2 58 61 70 74 62 66 66 70
3 51 55 71 74 62 67 64 69
4 56 58 66 70 63 66 63 67
5 51 55 64 69 60 64 59 65
6 59 57 73 73 67 67 63 66
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According to the 2001-2002 ABC Unified School District Annual District
Report card (April, 2002), the Reading and Math scores on SAT-9 for English
Language Learner students were quite low, especially at the high school levels with
• fh •
single digit (5%, 4% & 6% respectively) performed at or above 50 percentile
compared with the district-wide with 45%-49% and state-wide with 34%-37 %.
Table 2 indicated the scores in the Reading, Math, from grade 3-11 for ELL and Non
ELL students in ABC Unified School District:
Table 2
Reading and Math: Subgroup Results 2002
Reading
Grade 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
ELL 26 25 12 16 15 7 5 4 6
Non ELL 65 67 62 67 65 65 48 49 45
Math
Grade 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
ELL 48 40 30 39 27 29 43 41 42
Non ELL 76 75 68 75 67 62 70 63 57
Numerous studies have verified the value of parental involvement linked with
student outcomes including increased achievement test results. Literature is also
available on how parents may enhance their children’s learning to participation in
schools. However, there has been little research on how the parents of English
Language Learners (ELL) can learn of parental involvement programs that will help
them and their children to become better assimilated into the American educational
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system and to become more actively involved in their children’s education, in order
to help their children improve their achievement and realize their fullest potential.
For a better understanding, the researcher has adapted Epstein’s typology
(Epstein, 2001) of parent involvement as a framework to organize the study on this
complex issue of parental involvement. Epstein’s typology and terminology are
predominant throughout the recent studies in parental involvement. Her typology
includes six categorizations: (1) Parenting; (2) Communicating; (3) Volunteering;
(4) Learning at Home; (5) Decision Making; and (6) Collaborating with Community.
They are summarized here:
1. Parenting: Assist families with parenting and child-rearing skills,
understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home
conditions that support children as students at each age and grade
level. Assist schools in understanding families.
2. Communicating: Communicate with families about school programs
and student progress through effective school-to-home and home-to-
school communications.
3. Volunteering: Improve recruitment, training, work, and schedules to
involve families as volunteers and audiences at the school or in other
locations to support students and school programs.
4. Learning at home: Involve families with their children in learning
activities at home, including homework and other curriculum-related
activities and decisions.
5. Decision-making: Include families as participants in school decisions,
governance, and advocacy through PTA, school councils, committees,
and other parent organizations.
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6. Collaborating with the community: Coordinate resources and services
for families, students, and the school with business, agencies, and
other groups, and provide services to the community.
Parents of newcomers have expressed feelings of ignorance, inadequacy, and
powerlessness with respect to their children’s schooling since the education system is
so different from their home country (Chang, Lai & Shimizu, 1995). New immigrant
parents with limited communication skills in English seldom take advantage of
opportunities to learn first-hand about the policies, practices and roles of the school
in a new education system, and they become frustrated as a result. If parents feel
frustrated, excluded, helpless, and of little value, will they likely transmit their
attitudes to their children? How we can bring about an effective home-school
partnership between the professional educators and the parents of newcomers,
especially the Chinese American parents, in order to meet their unique needs was not
yet clear in ABC Unified School District.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to examine the current concerns of Chinese
American parents of English Language Learners and to investigate their attitudes
toward parental involvement.
Current literature and research indicated the results and benefits of parental
involvement to the success of students’ academic performance (Chavkin, 1995;
Epstein, 1995, 1996, 2001; Epstein, & Lee, 1995; Epstein, Clark, Salinas & Sanders,
1997; Epstein, Clark & Van Voorhis, 1999; 2000; Epstein & Van Voorhis, 2001).
Parent involvement has been linked with student outcomes including increase test
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results( Klaus & Gray, 1968; U.S. Department of Education, 1994), a decrease in
dropout rate ( Griffith, 1997; Henderson, 1989; Herzog & Pittman, 1995), improved
attendance, improved student behavior ( Lareau & Shumar, 1996; Lewis, 1997;
Liontos, 1992), higher grades, higher grade point average (Schaefer, 1972;
Walberg,1984; Henderson & Berla, 1994), greater commitment to schoolwork and
improved attitude toward school (Epstein, 1995, 1996, 2001). State and federal
legislation has mandated parental involvement programs at schools (U.S. Department
of Education, 1994; Epstein, 2001; Bell, 2000), yet meager research have been
conducted on the concerns and attitudes of Chinese American parents, especially
those with ELL children.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study used a sample of 250 Chinese American parents in ABC Unified
School District to examine the following research questions:
1 To what degree do parents’ English proficiency, education level, family
income level, years of residence in the U.S., and ways of getting
education information affect Chinese American ELL parents’
participation in terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement?
2 Is there a significant difference in the attitudes toward Epstein’s six types
of involvement between Chinese American ELL parents who have more
fluent English skills, longer residence in the U.S., higher education, better
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family income, and better ways of getting education information, and
those who do not?
3 To what degree do the Chinese American ELL parents rate themselves as
actively involved in education?
4 Which type(s) of parental involvement do Chinese American ELL parents
rank as most important?
5 What recommendations do Chinese American parents have that may
increase the involvement of Chinese American parents, especially those
who are new immigrants, in ABC Unified School District?
IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY
The primary goal of this study was to investigate the current needs and
concerns of Chinese American parents and to improve or stimulate them to have a
positive attitude toward participation within and across each of the domains (home,
school, and community) noted in Epstein’s six types of parental involvement for the
benefit of the students. This study also focused on utilizing Epstein’s framework as
a rich resource for improving the participation in education of all Chinese American
parents.
For parents who do not speak English, or who do not know how the system
works, or who themselves experienced failure as students, parental involvement can
be a difficult task. As Epstein states, all families need to hold strong, consistent
values about the importance of education; be willing to help children with
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schoolwork; be able to maintain contact with the school; and be able to communicate
successfully with teachers and administrators. School districts and communities need
to provide support to families before their children can perform above average at
school (Epstein, 1996; Epstein, 1995; Epstein & Lee, 1995). One African proverb
says, “It takes a whole village to raise a child”. It is indeed a bigger challenger for
Chinese American parents to raise their children in a completely different village in a
new country.
The study, with its unique composition, is in the position to explore how all
the separate domains of home, school, and community can be better integrated,
mutually supportive, and more clearly articulated. The ABC Unified School District
could have in the future much improved academic performance if Chinese American
ELL parents are more involved with the education system. While each of the
domains (home, school and community) internally has its own concerns and
problems, little would be accomplished if each resolved its problems in isolation. If
the home becomes an obstacle rather than a source of study and if the community
cannot support the students, then the schools will fight an uphill battle if it hopes to
save the students with only a few instructional hours per week.
ASSUMPTIONS
The following assumptions were made regarding the design of the study and
the target population:
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1. It was assumed that the samples of the Chinese American ELL parents
included in the survey would be sufficiently representative of the
population to permit generalization of the findings.
2. It was assumed that the responses to the survey were honest and
indicates an understanding of the statements made in the
questionnaire.
3. It was assumed that the data was accurately collected, recorded,
analyzed, and reported.
LIMITATIONS
Following were the limitations of the study:
1. There is no method to accurately measure the honesty and truthfulness
of the subjects. The responses were subject to the attitudes held by
the subjects at the time that the questionnaire was completed.
2. The structure of the survey instrument limited the range of responses.
3. The Chinese American ELL parents in the study may not be a
sufficiently representative of all Chinese American parents in ABC
Unified School District.
1 1
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DELIMITATIONS
The following delimitations were noted:
1. The scope of the study was restricted to a sampling of Chinese
American parents of English Language Learners in ABC Unified
School District during the 2002-2003 school year.
2. The study was delimited to the perceptions of the respondents to the
survey and the interviews.
3. The study was delimited toward parental involvement in ABC Unified
School District, and did not target other geographic locations in other
school districts of California.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Attitude: An attitude can be defined as an individual’s viewpoint or
disposition toward a particular “object” (a person, a thing, an idea, etc.).
Attitudes are considered to have three components: an effective component,
a cognitive component and a behavioral component (Gall, Borg & Gall, 1996,
P. 273).
Chinese Parents: Parents who listed their child’s home language as
Mandarin, Cantonese, Chaozhou, or Taiwanese.
ELL: English Language Learner. Based on results of the California English
Language Development Test (CELDT) with less than reasonable fluency in
English.
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LEP: Based on results of the California English Language Development Test
(CELDT) with Limited English Proficiency.
Parental Involvement: The support and participation of parents at home, in
the community, and at the school site, all of which directly and positively
affect the educational performance of education offered to all children
(Bell, 2000).
Parent Involvement Program: will be used to describe purposeful programs of
school, family, and community partnerships.
Parents: Persons who have children in the elementary, middle, and high
schools of the ABC Unified School District.
Parent Education: Training offered by the school, district, or other agencies,
which provide parents with skills necessary to raise the child or assist him/her
with schoolwork.
PTA: Parent Teacher Association. A nonprofit organization with
headquarters in Los Angeles and which is dedicated to the welfare of school
children.
School Site Council: An advisory council is composed of the principal,
representatives of the teachers, school personnel, parents, and students. It has
certain rights and responsibilities.
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Six Types of Parental Involvement: Type 1: Parenting; Type 2:
Communicating; Type 3: Volunteering; Type 4: Learning at Home: Type 5:
Decision-Making; Type 6: Collaborating with Community (Epstein, 2001).
ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
As for the remainder of this paper, Chapter II provides a review of the current
literature on the study and a brief history of parental involvement in American
schools and schools in Taiwan.
Chapter III describes the methods and procedures used in the study, including
the sample, characteristics of the instrument, the distribution and return of the survey
forms, data collections and recording, and the statistical analysis.
Chapter IV sets forth the results of the study, including the statistical
outcomes related to the research questions. A summary of the results and a review of
the findings will also be presented in this chapter.
Chapter V is an interpretation of selected findings with conclusions and
recommendations. The paper concludes with a bibliography and appendixes.
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Chapter II is a review of the literature to provide context for this case study
and demonstrate why it was important to conduct this research. A brief of historical
perspective was outlined to trace the pattern of parental involvement from early times
to the present. Several state and district projects designed to improve parental
involvement alone with significant legislations that have enhanced parental
involvement in schools were presented with an emphasis on the programs in the state
of California.
The literature has emphasized the dynamics of changes associated with the
role of parents in school involvement. Therefore, a discussion of new laws,
responsibilities, and types of parental involvement was also presented. Additionally,
since encouraging new immigrant parents to become involved with schools has a
potentially large impact on their children’s performance, particular emphasis was
placed upon Chinese Americans ELL parents and their assimilation process.
The chapter ended with a discussion of the obstacles to parental involvement
in general and to Chinese American parental involvement in particular. Collateral
studies on this topic by major research institutions were also reviewed.
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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOLS
Historically, American schools have operated through citizen formed boards
of education. The operation of local school boards reflected the basic American
ideals of democratic government with parents as the main stakeholders.
Over the past two centuries, American society has been transformed from a
set of communities where families were the central building blocks of the economy
to a social system in which families are at the periphery (Coleman, 1991). As
mentioned in Chapter I, California is a favored destination for immigrants. The 2000
U.S. Census counted a foreign-born population of 30.5 million, about 11% of the
total population, an increase of 10.3 million since 1990. Most of the recent arrivals
came from Asia and the Latin Americas, and most of them have settled in California.
Given current trends, more came during the 1990s than in any other decade in the
U.S. history and for the second time, foreign-born Latin Americans replaced those
bom in Europe as the largest immigrant population.
The Census 2000 also showed the total bom in Asia surpassed the total bom
in Europe. In California, only 10% of the U.S.-bom population resided here. It
indicated a fully one third of the foreign-born lived here, which including about 40%
of all immigrants from Asia and Latin America. Whereas in 1980, 15% of all
Californians were foreign-bom, that proportion had climbed to 22% by 1990 and
26% by 2000, and has continued to rise ever since (Census 2000). As a consequence
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of sharply increased immigration, combined with higher fertility, these populations
of newcomers were growing much more rapidly than native-born groups - a
phenomenon that is redefining the state’s ethnic mosaic, and especially that of its
school system.
Today’s immigrant groups differ greatly from one another not only in their
English language skills, age, sex structures, patterns of fertility, and forms of family
organization, they also include by far the most educated groups (Asian Indians,
Taiwanese) and the least educated groups (Mexicans, Salvadorans) in American
society as well as the groups with the lowest poverty rates in the U.S. (Filipinos) and
the highest (Laotians and Cambodians) ( August 6, 2001, Chinese Daily News). All
of these distinctive group characteristics can be expected to interact in complex ways
with different contexts of reception—government policies, existing ethnic
communities, the color line, the school education—among the first and second
generations.
Traditionally, the board of education, in conjunction with the superintendent,
forms long-range goals and policies for school district and schools. Recent legislation
has attempted to include parents as a central component in the development and
implementation of goals and policies in schools. As a result of criticism concerning
the decline of education in the United States, educators, political leaders and parents
are seeking strategies for the parents to get involved in schools again (Flaxman &
Inger, 1991). California has had mandated advisory school site committees since the
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passage of California’s School Improvement Plan in 1977 (Flaxman & Inger, 1991).
The California PTA and National PTA also have stated goals to promote the active
involvement of parents in schools. Following are the historical background of
parental involvements in schools in the United States:
1600- 1700
In the seventeenth to eighteenth century, the family was an institution that
could provide for most of its children’s needs. In 1642, Massachusetts passed laws
requiring parents to educate their own children. Towns of fifty or more families were
later obligated to pay a man to teach reading and writing. This thus set the stage for
the idea that if parents did not educate their children, the government was to assume
the responsibility (Ryan & Cooper, 1992). In 1647, the Act of Massachusetts
General Court required towns to establish schools. Later, the Massachusetts Act of
1789 created school committees and districts to collect taxes. The pattern in
Massachusetts was generally adopted throughout the New England Colonies
(Ryan & Cooper, 1992).
1800-1900
From the 1900’s, common schools began to replace costly private academies
and provided free education for all families. Parents were the governing force in
school issues (Campbell, Cunningham, Nystrand & Usdan, 1990). Campbell and
others further noted that the eventual growth of cities resulted in the merging of
schools and created complex problems beyond the abilities and time provided by
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part-time parent’s school board members. Slowly, parents started to shift the
responsibilities to professional educators. According to Rich (1987), throughout the
late nineteenth century, schools were managed and expected to operate as a factory.
Parents and students were expected to follow the policies established by the
professional educators.
1900-1970
With the advent of the twentieth century professional educator, and in line
with the drive for more efficient operations, the nation’s school systems adopted an
industrial model (Marburger, 1991). “Top-down” management was a natural
function of that model. School systems became large bureaucracies and the
governance structure of schools was as if government and industry—top-down, with
little involvement and input from the clients (parents). According to Rich (1987), the
schools were “it”; they could do everything. Thus, many educators at that time did
not feel that the family was important; they believed that the school was solely
responsible for the education Of the students. As districts grew larger, school boards
became less influential and the control by citizen boards declined (Marburger, 1991).
During the late 1960s, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965-
Chapter 1, provided for parent involvement in the design and implementation of the
local programs. It required that policies be made available to parents of participating
children, and mandated an annual meeting for all parents. The legislation also
encouraged schools to establish parent advisory councils, and to ensure opportunities
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for parents who lack literacy skills or whose native language is not English
(Henderson & Marburger, 1990). At that time, a new model known as the parent
advisory council began to emerge as a vehicle for parents to become reinvolved in
education. The advisory councils were to provide parents with the opportunity to
comment on the activities of schools. The model reintroduced parents to school
governance. School councils were actively involved in designing school
improvement plans, helping to formulate or revise school policies, participating in
establishing program and budget priorities, and selecting new principals and teachers
(Henderson & Marburger, 1990).
During the 1970s, confidence in public schools fell significantly (Henderson
& Marburger, 1990). Polls showed that discipline, test scores, drug use, and racial
tension continued to be major concerns into the 1980s. A myriad of reforms were
initiated to solve the problems as parents were demanding and initiating changes.
Convinced that education was important to their children’s future and dissatisfied
with the results they saw, angry citizens and their advocates seek to intervene in
school policy making (Campbell, Cunningham, Nystrand, and Usdan, 1990).
1970-Present
During the late 1970s and again in the early 1990s, educators began to believe
that the family was an integral part of the educational development of the child. It
was apparent that parents needed to be involved with the education of their children.
Today, a majority of educators believe that both the home and the school are
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powerful institutions. Parents are concerned with the policies and practices of the
school systems. Leadership to initiate parent participation has come from
administrators and teachers.
Traditionally, families have been characterized by deficits in knowledge of
education, with the school acting in a compensatory role (Rich, 1987). According to
Rich, schools provide learning strategies for families to use at home, which will
reinforce but do not duplicate the work of school. In other words, good parental
involvement assigns educational responsibilities to the family. He also strongly
asserts that collaboration between the home, school and community is the only hope
for improving the education in this country (Rich, 1987,1993).
RESEARCH IN PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION
Research in parental involvement in education reveals that the home
environment has a powerful influence not only on how well children do, but also on
how far they go in school. Parents are in a much better position to assist their
children if they are kept informed about how they are doing in school and the best
ways to encourage them. Parents’ encouragement at home and participation in school
activities are the key factors related to students’ achievement, overall school
behaviors, and sustained achievement gains (Epstein, 1996, 2000, 2001).
A growing body of research also documents the multiple benefits that occur
when parents are actively involved in their children's education. Baker (1998)
discusses the emotional support that children need in order to learn, indicating that
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such an environment of support is optimally created when families and school
personnel cooperate. Epstein (1995) points out that the improvements in student
attendance, student behavior, and in parent-teacher relations happen as a result of
parental involvement.
Other research also indicates cultural or socio-economic background does not
rigidly determine a child’s performance. Research has shown that parental
involvement has more significant impact than either children’s ability or
socioeconomic status (SES) in increasing children’s cognitive growth and improving
attitudes and interest in science among adolescents ( Carey & Farris, 1996; Kremer
& Walberg, 1981; Irving, 1979; Radin, 1969,1972). Children’s cognitive
development and school performance are positively correlated with high parent
expectations (Johnson, Brookover, & Farrell, 1989). Parents’ expectations for
children to read, learn math, work hard in school, as well as their tendency to request
verbal responses from their children, are strongly associated with better academic
performance (Clark, 1988; Hess & Holloway, 1984). Parents’ attitudes about
schoolwork and behavior in supporting their adolescents are the key influences that
differentiate low and high-achieving high school students who are African-American
and poor (Clark, 1988). For low-income African-American third and fourth graders,
parents’ expectations are strongly linked to child’s achievement in reading and math
(Clark, 1990). It has also been shown that parental knowledge of children’s
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schoolwork and school activities affects parents’ abilities to set realistic expectations
for children’s performance (Kellaghan, Sloane, Alvarez, & Bloom, 1993).
Lee (1984) and Schneider and Lee (1990) also find that Chinese American
parents have higher educational expectations and standards than Anglo parents for
their children. Schneider and Lee’s (1990) interviews show that 100% of the
Chinese American parents are not satisfied if their children got “C’s” on their tests,
but only 67% of Anglo parents are not satisfied. When asked for the reasons,
Chinese American parents believe that “if a person studied hard, he should not get a
“C”” whereas Anglo parents express that “I cannot complain too much since C’s is
average” (Schneider & Lee, 1990).
Children learn from people they bond to (Epstein, 1985). If children know
that their parents and teachers understand and respect each other that they share
similar expectations and stay in touch, children feel comfortable with which they are
and can more easily reconcile their experiences at home and school. Thus, their
academic performance will improve.
Another group of studies looked at the types of family interactions and
behavior associated with high-achieving students, and comparing them to families
with low-achieving students. As Kagan points out in her 1995 article subtitled “In
the Challenge of Parenting in the ‘90s,” students spend about 70 percent of their
waking hours outside of school. The way that time is spent can have a powerful
influence on what and how much students learn (Kagan, 1995).
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When parents and schools collaborate to help children adjust to the world of
school, bridging the gap between the culture at home and the American school,
children of all backgrounds tend to do well (Cheng, Chen, Tsubo, Sekandari &
Alfara-Killacky, 1997; Chang, Lai & Shimizu, 1995; Heckman, 1996). The
differences in how families related to school are rooted not only in class divisions,
but also in ethnic diversity. As Cheng (1997) puts it, many newcomer students find
the rules incomprehensible because they differ so widely from their experiences in
their home country’s classrooms. Cheng suggests that working-class African
Americans and Mexican Americans tend not to perform as well, because their
parents have encouraged an individual pace of development rather than pushing them
to keep up with other children; however, Asian American students earn higher grades
and test scores because of the educational values and ways of learning promoted at
home (Stevenson and Lee, 1990). Stevenson and Lee (1990) find that the
significance placed upon academic achievement varies between cultures. They also
find that parents and teachers believe that the greater the emphasis on effort, the
more likely it is that they can be helpful in aiding children in their academic
achievement. Steinberg, Dombusch, and Brown (1992) in their study of family-based
expectations for Caucasian, Asian American, and African American and Hispanic
adolescents find strong ethnic and cultural differences in terms of students’ beliefs
about the consequences of negative school performance. Asian American students
overwhelmingly believe a bad education would have negative effects on finding a
good job, and African American or Hispanic students predict few negative
consequences of a bad education.
Promoting involvement has become a priority for schools in the U.S.. The
role of parental involvement in student achievement is the focus of the 2000 Educate
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America Act and the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
Goal 8 of the U. S. National Education Goals says that by the year 2000, “ Every
school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and
participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.”
(U.S. Department of Education, 1994). School districts nationwide are being
encouraged to reexamine their parental involvement policies and programs and to
demonstrate innovative approaches in order to obtain federal education dollars
(Epstein & Lee, 1995; Epstein, 1992,2001; Bell, 2000). Among them, Joyce
Epstein, as a principal research scientist at the Center for Research on the Education
of Students Placed at Risk, and professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University,
is the most well known researcher. Epstein has over a hundred publications on the
effects of school, classroom, family and peer environments on student learning and
development, with many focusing on school and family connections. She has
conducted the first significant research into the role of families and parental support
in student achievement (Epstein, 1992). Her recent publication, “School and Family
Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools” (Epstein,2001), addresses
a fundamental question facing education today: How can teachers and administrators
be prepared to create positive relationships and productive partnerships with families
and others in the community? Her study represents the results of more than twenty
years of research in parental involvement and was used as the research framework for
this study.
Experience has shown that language minority families do care deeply about
their children's schooling (Cummins, 1981, 1989; Chang, Lai, & Shimizu, 1995;
Ogbu,1978). What is crucial is for educators to act as partners in education,
recognizing the important contributions that all families can make to schools and to
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their children's success. Research by Ogbu (1978), an anthropologist, suggests that
minority groups with low status tend to perform at a substandard level, because they
have internalized the inferiority ascribed to them. Espinosa & Lesar (1994) have
reviewed some studies on educational attainment among language-minority families.
The study identifies two types of families, "getting by” and “getting ahead” . In
“getting by” families, their children are encouraged to finish high school but not to
attend college. In “getting ahead” families, parents stress high marks, pay attention
to what happening at school, and suggest options for post-secondary education and
future occupation.
Many of the studies reviewed here have strongly shown the critical variables
associated with parental involvement in the schools and student learning. They also
suggest that when schools provide support, advice, and encouragement, families will
adopt the “getting ahead” attitude with their children and improve their children’s
achievement. This is not to say that parents should be taught how to be “better
parents,” or be lectured to about how to educate their children. When parents are
treated as partners and given good information by people with whom their children
are working with, they will put into practice the strategies they have already known.
Chavkin (1995) points out the benefits to parents themselves: they will gain greater
confidence and expertise in helping their children succeeds academically. Finally, as
the research have mentioned above, students are the ultimate beneficiaries when their
families collaborate closely with the schools.
In summary, there appears a positive relationship between parental
involvement in education and the progress that students make in academics and in
their attitudes toward learning. Parental involvement takes many forms and can occur
at home, in the school, and in the community. School personnel have an obligation to
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reach out to all families so that all students may benefit. Because modem
communities are increasingly diverse in their social, cultural, and linguistic
composition, new flexibilities and approaches for reaching out are needed to ensure
that no one is excluded. Active parental involvement in the school and at home is
essential to a child’s academic performance.
NATIONAL AND STATE LEGISLATIONS
In order to address parental involvement in new ways, the Federal and States
have created many legislations to involve schools, families, businesses, social service
agencies, and other groups in an effort to coordinate resources, solve problems, and
provide more chances for students success. Demands for greater parental
involvement have led to the restructuring of many political processes all across the
country during the last four decades (Chapman, 1991; Henderson, 1990; Henderson
& Marburger, 1990; Department of Education, 1994; Bell, 2000). Parental
involvement was a popular theme in the national and state legislations. Following
are the highlights of the national and state legislations that involved parental
involvement in a chronological order :
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 advanced Community Action
Programs that were intended to train citizens for involvement and participations in
institutions such as schools.
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Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965- Chapter 1
This Act provides for parent involvement in the design and implementation
of the local program. It requires that policies be made available to parents of
participating children, and mandates an annual meeting for all parents. The
legislation also encourages schools to establish parent advisory councils, and to
ensure opportunities for parents who lack literacy skills or whose native language is
not English (Henderson & Marburger, 1990).
In meeting the intent of Chapter 1, programs are designed and implemented
in consultation with parents. The district must establish procedures for meeting with
and seeking information and advice from parents, and then must give due
consideration to that information and advice.
Bilingual Education Act (Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 as amended)
This amendment requires an advisory council at every school and/or school
district where bilingual educational services are provided. These councils must have
a majority of parents of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students, and are to be
involved in all aspects of program planning, implementation, and evaluation
(Henderson, 1990).
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974
This Act provides parents with the right of access to their children’s school
records, the right to request changes in those records, and the right to refuse access to
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the records to persons and organizations outside the school system. One aspect of
the Act states that only a legally binding document specifically removes a parent’s
rights of access to their minor child’s records, teachers, or schools.
The Education of the Handicapped Act. P.L. 984-142 of 1974
This Act requires parent consultation and consent for the decision to place the
child in a special education classroom.
Student Rights in Research. Experimental Programs and Testing Act of 1978 & 1984
This federal law requires schools to make instructional materials used in
connection with any research program available to the parents of children who are
participating in the program. This right to review does not provide a right to
influence or remove curricular materials.
Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981- Chapter 2
Funds in Chapter 2 may be applied to any local reform activities designed to
improve the quality of programs and educational innovation grants, which require the
participation of the parents and a variety of partners from the community. Epstein
(1991) believed that Chapter 2 may offer the best hope for developing coordinated
programs.
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Part B of the Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of
1988 - Even Start
This Amendment involves parents and children in family-centered
educational programs in a cooperative effort to help parents become full partners in
the education of their children.
Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teaching (FIRST') of 1988
This legislation was to seek, encourage, and reward innovative projects and
reforms designed to improve the education and achievement of America’s
elementary and secondary schools. An important aspect of this legislation was its
recognition of the role of parents in the education of their children. Congress cited
strong evidence of the direct relationship between parent participation and
improvement of student achievement, performance, and attitudes in school.
Improving America’s Schools Act (IASA). Title 1 (formerly “Chapter 1”). 1994
Amendments
The 1994 ESEA amendments require schools receiving funds under Title 1 to
implement a school-parent compact that outlines how parents and the entire
school/staff will share the responsibilities for improved student achievement and the
means by which they will build a partnership to help children achieve the high state
standards.
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No Child Left Behind Act of 2001:
On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001. The Act is the most sweeping reform of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA) since ESEA was enacted in 1965. It redefines the federal role
in K-12 education and will help close the achievement gap between disadvantaged
and minority students and their peers. It is based on four basic principles: strong
accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options
for parents, and emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work. The
NCLB will be the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
RECENT STATE LEGISLATIONS
California State Legislature, AB 322 of 1991 - Parent Involvement is required
AB 322 proposed parent involvement policies and programs as required in
the federal amendments to the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The
implementation of parental involvement is a contingency for receipt of state school
improvement and economic impact aid funds. California became the first state to
have both a state board of education policy on parental involvement and a state law
mandating some form of parental involvement in school districts and schools.
Parent Involvement Policy. California State Board of Education of 1994
This policy lists six types of parent/family involvement that policies should
be designed to promote:
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1. Help parents develop parenting skills to meet the basic obligations of
family life and foster conditions at home, which emphasize the importance of
education and learning.
2. Promote two way (school-to-home and home-to-school) communication
about school programs and student progress.
3. Involve parents, with appropriate training, in instructional and support
roles at the school and in other locations that help the school and students reach
stated goals, objectives and standards.
4. Provide parents with strategies and techniques for assisting their children
with learning activities at home that support and extend the school’s instructional
program.
5. Prepare parents to actively participate in school decision-making and
develop their leadership skills in governance and advocacy.
6. Provide parents with skills to access community and support services that
strengthen school programs, family practices, and student learning and development.
Family-School Partnership Act-Califomia State Legislature. AB 2590: Eastin. 1995
This law provides caregivers with up to 40 hours off each school year to
participate in their children’s education, but no more than 8 hours per month. The
California Department of Education will present Partnership Awards to businesses
that encourage parents to become involved in their children’s education.
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Pupil-Parent-School Compact-Califomia State Legislature. AB 1334: Sweeney. 1995
This law requires the California Department of Education to develop a model
pupil-school-parent compact, to provide the model compact to the Legislature and to
each school district and county of education, and to encourage school district to
adopt his or her own version of the compact. The CDE also reported to the
Legislature on recommendations to increase parental involvement in education in
1997.
California State Legislature, AB 33 of 1999 - Parent/Teacher Involvement
This Bill has three articles:
Article 2: Nell Soto Parent/ Teacher Involvement Program
Under this program, the California Department of Education will allocate
one-time grants to K-12 schools in which a majority of teachers and parents agree to
strengthen parent involvement through home visits or community meetings. Fifteen
million dollars are available to fund schools at the rate of $25,000 for schools with
fewer that 1,000 students and up to $40,000 for schools with 1,000 or more students.
Article 3: Teresa P. Hughes Family-School Partnership Award and Grant
Program
This article provides for the allocation of grants to schools to expand family
outreach programs that encourage parents/guardians to become involved in their
children’s education. The program may also encourage parents to serve as coaches
or coordinators of pupil activities, provide extra assistance for families of disabled or
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at-risk students, establish a regular system ofhome-school communication, and
promote partnerships with community groups to foster parent participation.
Article 4: Tom Hayden Community-Based Parent Involvement Grant
Program
The program will make available competitively awarded grants to school
districts to contract with community-based organizations to build parents’ and
guardians’ capacity to become involved in their children’s education. The training
programs will include coursework on parental participation in school governance and
decision making and at least six of the following courses: home-school
collaboration; child development; child motivation; study habits/study skills; parent-
teacher conferences; gang, violence, and drug prevention in the school; college
preparation; children’s health and nutrition; and parenting.
In summary, parental involvement is an important issue in the state of
California, because the state has led the way by mandating such participation.
SAMPLE STATE AND LOCAL APPROACHES
Locally, The board of education has the overall responsibility for the school
system, but it normally delegates a great part of the operation and implementation to
the superintendent and staff. Responsibility for implementing policies and
legislations may be assigned to local school principals and to school site councils.
The school site council can serve to identify unique characteristics of each school.
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They can implement board policies in ways that are most effective for the students in
that school community (Kum, 1993).
Although most states have shown strong improvement in parental
involvement through years of federal promotion, many states still have not developed
supportive parental involvement policies, passed enabling legislation, or produced
written guidelines (Nardine, 1991; Epstein, 2001). Nardine (1991) and Epstein
(2001) have reviewed parental involvement across the nation in a comprehensive
report of state activities. State-level policies, programs, and staffing in the areas of
parental involvement are essential, because they provide leadership and legitimize
the requirement that districts and schools must establish parental involvement
policies. High-level state administrators can ensure the success of parental
involvement in a local school district. Federal and state legislations are
straightforward and comprehensive and, along with additional state regulations to
encourage implementation of federal requirements, should be sufficient to involve
parents in the education process. Here are samples of states and locals’
approaches(Epstein, 2001; Solomon, 1991; Salinas, K.C. & Jansom, N.R., 2000;
Snider, 1991; Bell, 1993; Warner, 1991; Chrispeels, 1991; Davies, 1990):
California State Department of Education: Parenting Unit
The “Parent Unit” in the California Department of Education designed a
process to involve parents into four categories: governance, client’s services, parents
as teachers, and parents as parents. Parents involved in governance at the school
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level are expected to provide advice on programs and policies of the school. The
most common category of parental involvement that the state department promotes is
parent participation in school councils to fulfill federal and state requirements for
parent representation on these councils (Solomon, 1991).
Francis Polytechnic/North Hollywood Cluster. Sun Valley, California:
In North Hollywood Cluster, every parent center has a parent library that
houses parenting materials and children’s literature. Parents may check out any of
the items on a daily basis. Records were kept of the number of parents using the
library, the number of workshop series presented, and how many parents attended.
Los Angeles Compact on Evaluation uses student achievement data and a group of
comparison schools to measure the effect of these parental involvement efforts on
student achievement. The data for the 1998-1999 school year showed a 5.7%
increase in reading scores and 4.7% higher in language for the schools in this
program (Salinas, K.C. & Jansom, N.R., 2000).
San Diego City School District:
The San Diego City School District established a task force to explore ways
in which parental involvement could be strengthened in the district. The policy,
adopted in July 1988, is parallel to the state policy in most areas and outlines a
multifaceted definition of parental involvement. The district policy is:
1. Involving parents as partners in school governance, including shared
decision making and advisory functions;
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2. Establishing effective two-way communication with all parents, respecting
the diversity and differing needs of families;
3. Developing strategies and structures at schools to enable parents to
participate actively in their children’s education;
4. Providing support and coordination for school staff and parents to
implement appropriate parent involvement from kindergarten through grade 12; and,
5. Using schools to connect students and families with community resources
that provide educational enrichment and support (Chrispeels, 1991).
The board’s policy directs that schools must actively recruit parents to be
involved in schools, and both parents and staff members must receive training.
Connecticut State Department of Education: School-Familv-Community
Partnerships, adopted, 1997
In order to increase public and private stakeholders’ awareness of the purpose
and benefit of school - family - community partnerships and encourage active
partnerships between Connecticut’s local schools and other community organizations
to support students’ optimal development and academic success, the Connecticut
State Department of Education partners with some important statewide organizations
that have strong ties to local community agencies, such as the United Way program
(Salinas, K.C. & Jansom, N.R., 2000).
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Chicago: Local School Council
In Chicago, parents promoted state legislators to pass reform legislation. At
the urging of a coalition that grew to include much of the city’s business community
and political leadership, the state agreed to make the parents key players in
improving schools. In this restructuring plan, each school is led by a Local School
Council consisting of two teachers, two community members, six parents, and the
principal. The plan guaranteed six of the eleven school site council seats to parents
indicated that teachers could easily undercut the influence of parents (Snider, 1991).
Illinois State Board of Education: Urban Education Partnership Grants Program of
1987
In order to address involvement in new ways, the Illinois State Board of
Education created the Urban Education Partnership Grants Program in 1987.
Collaborative partnerships were established that involve schools, families,
businesses, social service agencies, and other groups in an effort to coordinate
resources, solve problems, and provide more chances for student success
(Bell, 1993).
Indianapolis Public Schools: Parent in Touch
In 1978, the Indianapolis Public Schools submitted a proposal to the Lilly
Endowment, requesting a three-year grant to enhance the level of parental
involvement in students’ education. The result was the establishment of “Parents in
Touch,” which is the umbrella program for parental involvement. The Parents in
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Touch staff supports this effort by recruiting parents and by helping to develop parent
leadership (Wamer, 1991).
Kentucky Department of Education: Parent and Family Involvement Initiative
The Kentucky Department of Education takes a leadership role by
communicating the importance of school, family, and community connections with
all educators and families. Consider the following excerpt from the Kentucky Board
of Education Policy: “Parent and Family Involvement Initiative help identify
successful family involvement programs.” The state successfully adopted Epstein’s
six types of involvement at different Kentucky schools in four counties across the
state program (Salinas, K.C. & Jansom, N.R., 2000).
Ohio Department of Education- Family and Children First Initiative
The state of Ohio’s Department of Education established the Ohio P.T.A., the
Ohio Parent Information and Resource Center, and the Governor’s Family and
Children First Initiative to best strengthen family and school collaboration at the
school, district, and state levels (Salinas, K.C. & Jansom, N.R., 2000).
New York, P.S. Ill: Effective School/ Community Planning and Policy Council
The laboratory school in New York developed an effective school/community
planning and policy council. Parents and representatives of the community became a
strong asset to the school’s outreach efforts (Davies, 1990).
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Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: Parent Advisory Council
The State Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Council was formed in 1995 to
serve as a sounding board to the State Superintendent and Wisconsin Department of
Public Instruction staff on programs and initiatives. Meeting four to five times a
year, council members discussed educational issues, policies, new programs that
affect children, and parent-school-community collaboration for student success.
Membership has included parents from across the state, including those of Hmong,
Hispanic or Latino, African American, and Native American backgrounds. Three
important publications resulted from the Parent Advisory Council: A Parent’s Guide
to Standards and Assessment; Learning Together: Guide to Developing Grade-Level
Brochures for Parents; and State Parent Forum in February 2001. The State
Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Council has raised important issues, resulting in
better information to and from parent programs (Salinas, K.C. & Jansom, N.R.,
2000).
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN TAIWAN
Since the study was delimited to Chinese American parents in ABC Unified
School District whose children have been identified as the English Language
Learner (ELL), it is critical to learn more about he parental involvement in Taiwan.
According to the information provided by the ABC Unified School District,
Information and Technology department, there are 377 Chinese students have been
identified as the ELL students in the district for the school year 2002-2003, in which
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6.37% speak Chaozhou, 14.5% speak Cantonese, and most students (79.05%) speak
Mandarin/T aiwanese.
Half way around the world, the trend to involve parents in education process
is also evident in Taiwan. A model developed to facilitate the involvement of
parents in the management of schools by the Ministry of Education is called the
Collaborative School Model. It is flexible and easy to implement. The Model has
two groups: a policy group, and a program team. The policy group is responsible for
goal setting, needs identification, policy making, and budgeting. The program team
is responsible for planning, preparing, and evaluating activities for implementation
policies and priorities approved by the policy group. Each group is guaranteed half
plus one seats for parents. The model has been implemented successfully in many
schools within Taiwan. The success of this plan is that it is a national system with
less political fighting on the local level (Taipei Economic and Cultural Center Office
in Los Angeles).
CHINESE AMERICAN PARENTS’ VIEW AND PRACTICE IN EDUCATION
Chinese American parents value and put greater emphasis on academic
success (Chang, Lai, & Shimizu, 1995). They demand and expect their children to do
well academically, to obey authority figures, and to be aware of the sacrifices their
parents have made for them and the need to fulfill obligations.
Chinese parenting practices are still significantly impacted by the Confucian
principles. Parental control, obedience, strict discipline, respect for elders, reverence
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for tradition, and maintaining harmony are all attributed to the level of involvement
in their children’s education and academic performance. Furthermore, Confucian
principles require that the elders must responsibly teach, discipline, and govern their
children. These values today are visible in the Chinese American parents’ emphasis
on their children’s education (Chao, 1993). By Western standards, Chinese
American parents are often characterized as authoritarian. For the Chinese
American, parental obedience and some aspects of strictness are equated with
parental concern, caring, or involvement. Children are taught the concept of
obligation to parents. The organized control that parent use is for the purpose of
keeping family harmony. Chang (1973) stated that Chinese American students also
willingly obey authority to keep family harmony.
According to an interview to Mr. Shui-Chin Chang, Director, Cultural
Division, Taipei Economics and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, the common general
goal of education for Chinese is to become human. “A human without education is a
beast in human clothes”. Becoming a moral being is central in education. Children
are expected to study hard. “Studenting” is regarded as “full-time work,” as one’s
occupation. Much homework is expected, especially by Chinese parents. Education
is not a chore but a way of life in the Chinese family. Parents are expected to provide
all-out support for children’s education, often sacrificing their own comfort. Chinese
parents believe children are reflections of their parents. “Losing face,” “family
disgrace,” and “shame” are all strong incentives for doing one’s best.
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As a Chinese proverb says, “When we all contribute wood the fire is the
biggest.” Stevenson and Lee (1990) point out that in American culture, the
individual is responsible for his or her accomplishments and difficulties, yet in
Chinese culture, members of the family, teachers, or a larger group are expected to
assume some of the responsibility. In Taiwan, teachers’ “love” of students is parallel
to parental love of children. Parents and teachers in their respective roles
complement and supplement teaching with what they do best: parents as devoted
supporters of nurture and morals, and teachers as providers of intellectual and social
learning. “Schools are regarded as a sort of “extended family,” Mr. Chang stated.
According to Chao (1993), the Chinese parenting styles are steeped in
Confucian tradition and may best be described as the concept of “training.”
“Training” involves educating children in appropriate or expected behaviors or
morals, which include self-discipline and diligence. Interestingly, for European
Americans the term “training” has a negative connotation, symbolizing a “strict” or
“militaristic” view. For Chinese, this term is interpreted to mean ’’ teaching” and is
regarded as very positive (Chao, 1993). Another way to describe “training” is the
concept of “to govern”. Parents are governed as much by the child’s needs as the
child is under the control of the parents.
Traditionally, Chinese parents generally decide what is good or bad as well as
the future of their children. Education has always been considered a ladder leading to
better and higher social status. Collegiate level Chinese students affirm that their
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chosen academic major was influenced by their parents (Schneider & Lee, 1990;
Smith & Billiter, 1985; Yao, 1979a, 1979b, 1978; wigfield, 1983). Most Chinese
American parents have high expectations of their children’s performance in school.
They value highly and believe that good education will eventually offer a good
living; they put immense pressure on their children to strive for academic excellence.
This type of parenting is associated with high levels of academic achievement among
Asians (Chao, 1993; 1994; Chiu, 1987).
Sizable body of research has indicated that despite cultural challenge,
prejudice, and discrimination against Asian American groups, their educational
achievements have increased (Chang, 1973; Sue and Okazaki, 1990). Sue and
Okazaki (1990) identify two factors as major reasons for the continued academic
success of Asian American: possible hereditary or cultural advantages, and cultural
in nature. Confucianism, as I mentioned above is the essential classic realism in
Chinese society, prescribing codes of behavior for most of Chinese. Chinese
students bring this cultural knowledge of behavior from home to the classroom.
Thus, we can observe a tension that most of the Chinese American students face: the
Chinese family culture they acquire at home, versus the American culture they
acquire at school.
Chinese students try very hard to meet their parents’ demands and
expectations for doing well academically. Obeying authorities and keeping their
parents’ sacrifices in mind are considered proper behaviors among Chinese-
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American students (Chang, 1973). The Chinese family always emphasizes effort over
innate ability, which can be traced far back to the Confucian era. (Stevenson, 1992).
Chinese parents are quite concerned about their children’s day-to-day progress, and
also exert greater control and supervision over after school time. Stevenson (1992)
shows that Asian parents believe more strongly than American parents believe in
effort, rather than fixed differences in ability, and that this factor is the major cause
of the parent-child conflicts and also the most important factor in accounting for
learning outcomes. Conflicts about the “parent-child relationship” seem to cut cross
culture. Although Chinese family reports fewer parent-child conflicts than other
ethnic groups, they have more frequent parent-child conflicts over academic issues
such as homework, extra-curriculum enrichment programs, and achievement (Yau &
Smetana, 1996).
Yao (1978) finds in his study that Chinese culture emphasizes tradition,
obedience, and respect for authority, and also discourages individualism. Chinese
American parents still place strong emphasis on academic achievement, but with the
influence of American culture, they have done more in supporting and encouraging
autonomy and independence in their children. Yao (1979a) finds that Chinese
American parents affirm their authority less as they adopt American methods of child
rearing. In other words, over time, assimilation into a new society may “help”
Chinese parents become more tolerant in child rearing and in the mean time, also
dissipates children’s “Asian” discipline and respect for education. Dombusch, Reed-
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Hodgson, Prescott, and Ritter (1987) have found that the level of academic
achievement among Asian-American children tends to be inversely related to the
number of generations, which have resided in the U.S.. The study shows that newly
immigrated students work harder in school than those who were bom in the U.S. or
have at least settled here for some time.
BACKGROUND OF THE ABC UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
The ABC Unified School District unified from the three small school districts
of Artesia, Bloomfield, and Carmenita in 1965, is located in an attractive suburb on
the southeastern edge of Los Angeles County. The suburb includes the cities of
Artesia, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, and portions of Lakewood and Norwalk. In the
early 1970’s, the city of Dairy Valley changed its name to Cerritos in order to reflect
the change in the southeastern comer of Los Angeles County from mral to suburban.
The newly unified school district’s central administrative office was located in
Cerritos and also adopted the spirit of its dynamic and changing community. In the
past 47 years, the community has become increasingly ethnically diverse, and the
district continues to find ways to meet the changing needs of its students and
community.
The ABC Unified School District includes 19 elementary schools, five
middle schools, five high schools and one adult school, with a $135 million budget,
3000 employees and 22,500 K-12 students, 15,000-17,000 adult school students.
According to the District Report Card (April, 2002), the total population in the ABC
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USD areas is 22,303,with the ethnic breakdown as follow: Asian: 32%; Hispanic or
Latino: 35%; White alone: 14%; Black or African American: 10%, Filipino: 7% and
Others:2%. If we look a little further back, the 1973 Cerritos High School
yearbook described the school’s 2200 students as “16% Mexican-American; 5%
African-American; 3% Asian, and the remainder Anglo-American.” The 2226
students in April 2002, reflected the amazing transition and diversity of the
community: 52.8% Asian (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Cambodian),
7.7% Filipino, 8.4% Pacific Islander, 8.9% Hispanic, 7.2% African-American, 1.8%
American Indian or Others, and 13.2% White. According to the district-wide
Language Census Report in Spring 2002, currently more than 15% of the families in
ABC USD speak Chinese at home. 377 Chinese students were identified as English
Language Learners district-wide. 54 languages other than English are spoken on 29
campuses by students (not counting the Adult school). The U.S. Census Bureau even
named the Cerritos community as one of the ten most ethnically diverse cities in the
nation.
ABC Unified School District has a reputation as a high academic
performance school district. There are four Blue Ribbon schools (Gonsalves
Elementary School, Cerritos Elementary School, Tezelaff Middle School, and
Whitney High School). Eleven out of 29 schools (not including the Adult School)
ranked in the top 5% on the state-wide API (Academic Performance Index), with
Whitney High School placing number one in California for three consecutive years.
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Parents move their families to the ABC community because of the fine schools, and
the hundreds of students on the school-of-choice waiting list testify to the district’s
reputation for academic excellence, safety, extensive co-curricular programs and
cultural diversity.
The ABC Unified School District’s vision statement states the goal of
fostering a learning environment that inspires in students and families the motivation
and the power to make positive life choices by becoming the architects of their
futures. Its mission is to help students succeed as learners and productive citizens
through a variety of educational approaches. Students must become knowledgeable
about all the subjects the District and the State of California have deemed important.
At the same time, they must know how to learn and how to acquire, evaluate, and
integrate information. With this in mind, the schools should also serve as a center
for collaborative community services that support staff, students, and their families.
ABC Unified School District has developed strong partnerships with important
stakeholders in the community. The District has a strong relationship with the
Southeast Regional Occupational Program, Community Tutoring Program, Chamber
of Commerce, Saturn of Cerritos Business Leadership Partnership, Cerritos
Community College (via articulation agreements), and 226 other community groups.
With increasing demands from the community, the school district began
offering Mandarin as a foreign language at Cerritos and Gahr High School in 1995-
1996 school year. The researcher was hired as the first Mandarin teacher in ABC,
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and then became the facilitator for the Project P.A.L. (Pacific Asian Languages) in
charge of the program and curriculum development. Within two years, the students
enrolled in Mandarin program had increased to more than 300 students. In October
1996, the researcher also played a major role to help ABC USD established a sister
school relationship with Ming-Dao High School in Taiwan. The relationship with
Ming-Dao High School in Taiwan reflects the ABC USD’s aspirations to grow
culturally. During the summer of 1997, the principal, selected staff, and nearly 60
students from Ming Dao High School visited ABC Unified School District. In
addition to discussions and comparisons of educational respective system, Ming Dao
High School was able to host seven high school students from the District for 10-day
visit to Taiwan in the summer, as well as supply ABC with CD Rom packages
containing Chinese cultural highlights and to provide ongoing instructional support.
The Superintendent, Assistant superintendent, Board president, one board member,
two high school principals and the Chairman of the community relation advisory
committee traveled to Taiwan in October 1997 to deepen the relationship with the
sister school and to gain better understanding of ABC students from Taiwan.
BARRIERS FACED BY THE CHINESE AMERICAN PARENTS
America offers free educational system and opportunities for economic
advancement. Although the new Chinese immigrants, unlike their ancestors, arrived
determine to assimilate into America, they still face many barriers in parental
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involvement in education. The barriers that generalized from the literature review
were listed below:
1. Language differences: First-generation parents are found to be the
ones least involved in the education of their children. Language is
cited as being the primary obstacle( Chang, Lai & Shimizu, 1995;
Murdock, 1995). Lack of English proficiency and lack of confidence
often hampers communication between Chinese immigrant families
and the schools. It also makes it difficult for parents to understand
their children’s homework and read with their children at home .
2. Student attitude: Students, especially at the secondary level, may not
want their parents presence at the school because of their parents’
English skills. In some families, the roles of parents and children
become reversed due to the parents’ limited English proficiency
(In Our Own Words: 1996).
3. Lack of time: Many Chinese immigrant families hold two or three
jobs or work in two different countries (i.e., husband works in Taiwan
or China and wife works in Los Angeles) in order to make ends meet.
The struggle for economic survival and work schedules may prevent
new immigrants from attending events at the school (Battistich,
Solomon, Kim, Watson, & Schaps, 1995; Cantrell, 1996).
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4. Culture difference: A low degree of Americanization, and lack of
familiarity with American schooling might make Chinese parents feel
intimidated by school personnel and reluctant to participate (or “make
contributions”). Chinese Parents also see school as a government-run
organization. Teachers and principals are given full authority for their
children’s education. Modem curricular instmction is regarded as the
responsibility of the teachers and schools. Parents should not raise
concerns or make demands. Parents may also feel they are outside the
American cultural mainstream and are not capable of contributing to
their children’s education. Some parents even may feel intimidated by
their children, who seem to adapt to the new culture better than they
do (Grissmer, Kirby, Berends, & Williamson, 1994).
5. Lack of support: Although parent involvement in instmction has been
clearly linked to student success, many teachers or administrators are
negligent at establishing meaningful connections between home and
school. Carlson’s (1991) research further supports this finding. She
states, “Despite the strong confirmation by statistics and research
reports of the benefits of parent involvement, programs are still rare
and resistance from teachers is often strong” (p. 12).
The Chinese philosopher Sun Zi once wrote: “If there is no dark and dogged
will, there will be no shining accomplishment; if there is no dull and determined
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effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.” The importance of emphasizing effort
rather than innate ability, or placing great weight on the possibility of advancement
through effort is strongly supported by research ( Brand, 1987; Caplan, Choy &
Whitmore 1992; Schneider & Lee, 1990; Stevenson & Lee, 1990) and greatly
believed by the Chinese parents.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
With the above factors and barriers in mind, the researcher was motivated to
design a research study that addressed the elements of a parent involvement program
that will meet the needs of Chinese American parents and will stimulate the
participation of Chinese American parents in ABC Unified School District.
Following are the theoretical frameworks that set the foundation for this study:
Theory of Academic Success
Academic success has been found to be influenced by parental and
community involvement regardless of the family’s income or educational level
(Funkhouse, Gonzales, & Moles, 1998; Karnes, 1979; Henderson & Berla, 1994).
Studies conducted over the last 30 years have identified a relationship between
parental involvement and increased student achievement, enhanced self-esteem,
improved behavior, and better school attendance (Epstein, 2000; 2001). Parents,
regardless of educational level, income status, or ethnic background, want their
children to be successful in school. However, for families facing adverse conditions,
such as parents’ lack of resources, education, English skills, poverty ((Liontos,
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1991), and cultural, racial, and economic differences between school staff and
parents (Pappas, 1997), a narrow conceptualization of how families can be involved
(Weiss & Edwards, 1992) and parent’s negative experiences with schools and staff
(Greenberg, 1989) are some of the obstacles for parental involvement.
Theory of Acculturation
To overcome the barriers of racially diverse communities, schools must
provide parents and community members with culturally sensitive information to
nurture the development of each student(Young & Westemoff, 1996; Delgado-
Gaitan, 1991). This awareness can be generated by acknowledging the different
cultural perspectives of individual community members (Aronson, 1995).
Parents from varying cultures may initially interpret the educational system
based on their own cultural experiences. Parents may think the behavior expected of
them by school is unwanted interference since they are uncertain what they could do
to help their children learn (Goldenberg, 1987). Parents may also believe that it is
school’s duty to impart knowledge and it is their duty to instill proper behavior in the
child.
Schools might think that new immigrant parents are not interested in their
child’s education. Schools expect parents to take responsibility for their children’s
educational success by teaching basic skills, and reinforcing what goes on in the
classroom.
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These assumptions are big challenges for both sides, especially for new
immigrants who lack resources, education, English skills, and are in poverty
((Liontos, 1991). Parents’ cultural sensitivity about the importance of education and
the teacher’s understanding about educational systems in other countries can help
build effective partnerships (Young & Westemoff, 1996). Awareness of one’s
cultural behaviors, beliefs, and values is critical to forming effective parental
involvement.
Theory of Information Seeking
Public schools within California have had a strong tradition of seeking
various ways to meet the educational needs of the state’s ethnically diverse
population groups: American Indians, African Americans, Asian Americans, and
Latinos ( Department of Education, 1994; Opinion Research of California, 1984).
Public education has used reference, information, and referral services to reach
culturally diverse ethnic groups.
In developing reference, information, and referral services and in measuring
their effectiveness, agencies tended to determine the number of users affected by or
benefiting from the use of the services. While the data offer a crude measure of
utility, the investigations indicate that the information needs of these end users have
not been effectively met (Chang, 1983; Opinion Research of California, 1984;
Gomez, 1987; Carson and Martinez, 1990). Two studies conducted in California
have relevance to the ways of providing information to the end users: An Analysis of
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the Information Needs of Underserved Population Groups, conducted for the South
State Cooperative Library System (Opinion Research of California, 1984), and Adrift
in the Sea of Change (Carlson and Martinez, 1990). Both studies focused primarily
on information needs rather than information seeking behavior. These studies were
concerned with the type of information needed rather than the process that is used to
obtain and disseminate information. The SSCLS study indicated “ individuals who
by virtue of their positions within agencies serving target populations, have special
knowledge about the information needs of their clientele” (Opinion Research of
California, 1984, p.3). The “underserved” that were studied included economically
disadvantaged, non-English readers, and the elderly. The report did not discern
ethnic distinctions for respondents from Kern and Los Angeles counties. Carlson and
Martinez (1990) analyzed the information needs of Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, and
Native Americans. They dealt with the minority leaders in their perceptions of the
information needs of these ethnic groups. Neither the SSCLS study nor the Carlson
and Martinez study examined the role of language in ethnic communities. Carlson
and Martinez (p.74) mentioned language fluency in the context of staffing patterns in
the public services.
With a few notable exceptions, there has been a dearth of research on the role
of language in the information seeking behavior of new immigrants. In addition, few
studies have incorporated bilingual data gathering techniques in the area of cross
cultural studies (Hsia, 1973; Duran and Monroe, 1977; Gomez, 1987).
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Theory of Empowerment
The notion of home-school cooperation cannot remain static while
characteristics of the home are changing. Nationally, we are becoming an
increasingly heterogeneous society. The 2000 census shows a dramatic increase in
the numbers of individuals with linguistic, ethnic, and racial minority backgrounds
during the last ten years in every geographic region of the country. More than a third
of the nation's population increase since 1990 is a result of immigration. During the
past decade, Asian and Pacific Islanders more than doubled while the number of
Hispanics rose by 53 percent (March 30, 2001, Chinese Daily News).
Jim Cummins (1981) proposes a framework for changing the relationship
between families and schools, and students and teachers, so that children from all
societal groups have a better chance to succeed. The central principle of Cummins’
framework is that students from “dominated” minority groups can do well in school
if they are empowered, rather than disabled, by their relationship with educators.
According to Cummins, schools that empower their minority groups have these
characteristics:
1. The students’ language and culture are incorporated into the school
program;
2. Family and community participation is an essential component of
children’s education;
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3. Children are motivated to use language actively and to gain
knowledge for their own use;
4. Educators serve as advocates for students rather than develop
labels for students’ “problems”.
Theory of Partnership
The recent formula included in Epstein’s (1992, 2001 ) six types of
involvement is one of the most promising developments in the promotion of family
involvement in education. Epstein has been one of the principal researchers on the
topic of parental involvement and its effects on student achievement, parental
attitudes, and education practices. In her work (Epstein, 1992, 2001), she identifies
six categories of parental involvement in the education of their children. They are
summarized here:
1. Parenting: Assist families with parenting and child-rearing skills,
understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions
that support children as students at each age and grade level. Assist schools
in understanding families.
2. Communicating: Communicate with families about school programs and
student progress through effective school-to-home and home-to-school
communications.
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3. Volunteering: Improve recruitment, training, work, and schedules to involve
families as volunteers and audiences at the school or in other locations to
support students and school programs.
4. Learning at home: Involve families with their children in learning activities
at home, including homework and other curriculum-related activities and
decisions.
5. Decision-making: Include families as participants in school decisions,
governance, and advocacy through PTA, school councils, committees, and
other parent organizations.
6. Collaborating with the community: Coordinate resources and services for
families, students, and the school with business, agencies, and other groups,
and provide services to the community.
The study of this dissertation addressed the above theoretical frameworks by
considering the needs of Chinese American parents at schools and by proposing a
model for the delivery of services to them. In addition, the role of language is
identified as an important element in the design of parental involvement services for
Chinese American parents in ABC Unified School District.
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SUMMARY
This chapter presented the review of literature focusing on the
research and historical background of parental involvement in schools, national and
state legislations, sample state and local approaches, Chinese American parents’ view
and practice in education, background of ABC Unified School District, barriers faced
by Chinese American parents, and the theoretical frameworks. Chapter III outlines
the procedures used to conduct the study. It includes the research design, the
population, the instrument, and the data collection process. Chapter IV presents the
analysis of the data. Chapter V presents a discussion of the findings, conclusions,
implications, and recommendations for further research.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes the methodology and procedures that were used to
address the purpose of the study and the research questions. It includes the purpose
of the study, research questions, the population and the sample, development of the
survey, survey instrument, field-test, administration and collection of the data, data
analysis, and a research summary.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to examine Chinese American parents of
English Language Learners’ attitudes and to investigate their current concerns and
attitudes toward parental involvement. Parents and teachers in Taylor & Bogdans’s
(1984) research concur that in order for the home-school partnership to success, new
attitudes must be learned. Even though parental involvement is important, there has
been little research on this topic in Asian American communities in general and in
the Chinese American community in particular.
Current literature and research indicate the benefits of parental involvement
to the success of students’ academic performance. State and federal legislation has
mandated parental involvement programs at schools, yet meager research has been
conducted on the concerns and attitudes of Chinese American parents, especially the
ELL Chinese parents.
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In order to creates a viable plan for the “study” that would greatly help
Chinese American parents in ABC USD overcome current obstacles while building
on current strengths, and to determine what degree parents’ English proficiency,
education level, family income level, years of residence in the U.S., and ways of
getting education information affect Chinese American parents’ participation in
terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement, a case study of the ABC Unified School
District was taken.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study used a sample of approximately 250 Chinese American parents in
ABC Unified School District to examine the following research questions:
1. To what degree do parents’ English proficiency, education level,
family income level, years of residence in the U.S., and ways of
getting education information affect Chinese American ELL parents’
participation in terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement?
2. Is there a significant difference in the attitudes toward Epstein’s six
types of involvement between Chinese American ELL parents who
have more fluent English skills, longer residence in the U.S., higher
education, better family income, and better ways of getting education
information and those who have not?
3. To what degree do Chinese American ELL parents rate themselves as
actively involved in education?
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4. Which type(s) of parental involvement do Chinese American ELL
parents rank as most important?
5. What recommendations do Chinese American parents suggest that
may increase Chinese American parents, especially those who are new
immigrants, in ABC Unified School District?
RESEARCH DESIGN
Gall, Borg, & Gall (1996) presented eight research designs. Upon review of
these eight research designs, qualitative research was selected for its appropriateness
to achieve the purpose of this study. The qualitative design systematically describes
the facts and characteristics of a given population or area of interest (Gall, Borg, &
Gall, 1996, P. 374). Gall, Borg and Gall distinguished between qualitative research
and survey studies. The qualitative research is the accumulation of a database that is
descriptive. It does not seek or explain relationships, or get meanings or implication
from the data. When qualitative research is used in a broader sense, the term “survey
studies” is used. Survey studies are used to:
1. Collect detailed information that describes existing phenomena.
2. Identify problems or justify current conditions and practices.
3. Make comparisons and evaluations.
4. Determine what others are doing with similar problems or situations and
benefit from their experience in making plans and decisions (Isaac &
Michael, 1995, p. 46).
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In order to achieve an in-depth understanding of a selected individual group
and as recommended by committee member, purposeful sampling (Gall, Borg &
Gall, 1996) was also used for five Whitney High School Chinese parents to obtain in-
depth information in parental involvement.
This study was designed under this broader sense of qualitative research. It is
the desire of this researcher that these findings will benefit the ABC Unified School
District in the future planning and decisions for parent education.
POPULATION AND SAMPLING
The study was delimited to the Chinese American parents in ABC Unified
School District whose children have been identified as ELL (English Language
Learner) students. According to the information provided by the ABC Unified
School District, Information and Technology department, there were 377 Chinese
students have been identified as ELL students for school year 2002-2003, with age
range from 5-18, and most students (55.71%) falling into the age 5-12 range. The
population, approximately 16% of the Chinese population in the district, was selected
for the survey.
With the recommendation from committee members, this study used a
mailing survey questionnaire to the ELL Chinese American families and also used a
selection of five Chinese parents (Chinese American parents at Whitney High
School) as the focus group for interviews. Table 3,4,5, and 6 below showed the
distribution of the population.
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Table 3
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students in ABC Unified School District
School Chinese ELL Percent
Aloha 0 0
Bragg 15 3.97
Burbank 1 0.26
Carver 6 1.59
Cerritos 29 7.69
Elliott 6 1.59
Ferguson 0 0
Gonsalves 20 5.30
Hawaiian 0 0
Juarez 2 0.53
Kennedy 7 1.86
Leal 36 9.55
Melbourne 1 0.26
Niemes 2 0.53
Nixon 5 1.33
Palms 7 1.85
Stowers 50 13.26
Willow 8 2.12
Wittmann 14 3.71
Carmenita 33 8.75
Ross Middle 3 0.79
Haskell Middle 8 2.12
Fedde Middle 2 0.53
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Table 3 (Continued)
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students in ABC Unified School District
Tetzlaff Middle 13 3.45
Artesia High 12 3.18
Cerritos High 68 18.03
Gahr High 14 3.71
Whitney 13 3.44
Tracy Southeast 1 0.26
Private/Special Ed. 1 0.26
Total 377 100%
Table 4
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students in ABC Unified School District
by Grade Level
Grade Level Frequency Percent
K-6 210 55.71
7-8 59 15.64
9-12 108 28.65
Total 377 100%
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Table 5
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students in ABC Unified School District by Cities
City Artesia Bellflower Cerritos Hawaiian
Gardens
La
Palma
Lakewood Long
Beach
Norwalk Total
Frequency 23 1 309 1 1 22 2 18 377
Percent 6.1 0.3 81.9 0.3 0.3 5.8 0.5 4.8 100%
Table 6
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students in ABC Unified School District
by Home Language
Home Language Mandarin Cantonese Taiwanese Chaozhou Total
Frequency 287 55 11 24 377
Percent 76.13 14.58 2.92 6.37 100%
THE SAMPLE
In order to receive a research result with 95 percent confident level, an
acceptable range of error of less than 3, the estimate of the standard deviation is 23,
the following Sample Size Formula was followed:
N(Sample Size)=( ZS/E)A 2
Z: Confidence Level
S: Standard Deviation
E: Acceptable Range of Error
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(1.96x23/3)A 2=225.7 (Sample Size)
According to the result suggested above, 250 students, approximately two-
third of the population, were randomly selected for the survey. Table 7,8 and 9
showed the distribution of the samples.
Table 7
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students Samples by Schools
School Chinese ELL Percent
Aloha 0 0
Bragg 10 4
Burbank 1 0.4
Carver 4 1.6
Cerritos 19 7.6
Elliott 4 1.6
Furgeson 0 0
Gonsalves 14 5.6
Hawaiian 0 0
Juarez 2 0.8
Kennedy 4 1.6
Leal 24 9.6
Melbourne 1 0.4
Niemes 2 0.8
Nixon 4 1.6
Palms 2 0.8
Stowers 35 14
Willow 6 2.4
Wittmann 10 4
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Table 7 ( Continued)
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students Samples by Schools
Carmenita 22 8.8
Ross Middle 2 0.8
Haskell Middle 4 1.6
Fedde Middle 2 0.8
Tetzlaff Middle 8 3.2
Artesia High 8 3.2
Cerritos High 45 18
Gahr High 10 4
Whitney 8 3.2
Tracy Southeast 1 0.4
Private/Special Ed. 0 0
Total 250 100%
Table 8
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students Samples by Grade Levels
Grade Level Frequency Percent
K-6 140 56
7-8 38 15.20
9-12 72 28.80
Total 250 100%
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Table 9
Distribution of the Chinese ELL Students Samples by Cities
City Artesia Bellflower Cerritos Hawaiian
Gardens
La
Palma
Lakewood Long
Beach
Norwalk Total
Frequency 24 0 192 2 0 12 0 20 250
Percent 9.6 0 76.8 0.8 0 4.8 0 8 100%
THE SURVEYINSTRUMENT
THE QUESTIONNAIRE
To answer the five research questions posed by this study, a questionnaire
was developed by the researcher based on an intensive literature review, Chinese
American profile [http://www.gcbn.net, 2000], ABC Unified School District 2002-
2003 Parent Education Calendar, and Epstein’s (1992, 2001) six types parental
involvement. The questionnaire was accompanied by a “Letter of Information” and a
brief “letter of recruitment” explaining the importance and the purpose of this study.
It was mailed by the researcher to the Chinese American parents in ABC USD who
were on the list provided by the District. Parents were assured that participation in
this study was voluntary and that they would remain anonymous. Only one parent in
each household was required to complete the questionnaire.
MEASUREMENTS AND INSTRUMENTATION
Parents' current obstacles/strength was measured in three levels: high,
medium and low (Gall, Borg & Gall, 1996) and the results was developed by
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summing the parents’ responses to the item questions, using Epstein’s (1992, 2001)
six types of involvement for comprehensive program partnership as the framework.
The dependent variable, attitude, was measured by an 18-items Likert type
self-reporting questionnaire. Parents responded to the items using the following five
scales: always (5); usually (4); sometimes (3); seldom (2) never (1). Babbie (1992)
described the measurement method employed by this study and developed by Rensis
Likert. Likert scaling represents a systematic means for constructing indexes from
survey data. The value of the format is that the data that is cumulated is rather
complete and free from ambiguity. The Likert format also allows for a clear method
of indexing by associating a point scale of 1 to 5 with a “1” assigned as “never” and a
“5” assigned as “always”. The total scale ranged from 18 to 90 with 18-30 = low
involvement (negative attitude); 31-60=medium involvement and 61-above=high
involvement (positive attitude).
Data were tabulated in several ways. Ten items were used to tabulate
background information about each responded and to provide variables for statistical
purposes. Questions on the background information included:
1. Place of Birth: □United States □China □ Taiwan □Hong Kong □ Other
2. If you were bom outside the United States, What year did you come to this
country? 02002 02000-2001 □ 1999-1997 OBefore 1997
3. Which language do you use most often in work-related situations?
□English □Chinese □ Other_____________
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4. Which language do you use most often when speaking with your children?
□English □ Chinese □Other_____________
5. How would you rate your reading and writing skills in the(se) language(s)?
English: □ Excellent □ Good □Average □ Poor
Your Native language: □ Excellent □ Good □ Average □ P o o r
6. How would you rate your listening and speaking skills in the(se) language(s)?
English: □ Excellent □ Good ^Average □ Poor
Your Native language: □ Excellent □ Good □ Average □ P o o r
7. What is the highest level of education you have achieved?
□Did not finish high school □ High school degree or some college
□ College degree □ Graduate degree
8. Do you receive your highest level of education in United States?
□Yes ONo
9. Would you please check the approximate combined yearly household income
(before taxes and any other payroll deductions) from all sources and all
household members for 2002?
□ lower than $25,000 □ $25,000-$60,000
□ $61,000-$90,000 □ more than $ 90,000
10. Which category best describes your regular occupation?
□ Owner n Technical or skilled work
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□ Professional
□ Manager or administrator
n Clerical work
Individual items were also compared to the grade level of the children and the
gender of participants that were identified by the respondents in these 2 questions:
Gender: OMALE □FEMALE
Your child(ren)’s grade level(s): nK -2 G3-4 G5-6 07-8 09-12
An item (item # 33) was used to rank order to determine which types of
parental involvement were identified as having the highest desire for Chinese
parents. Individual suggestion items (item # 34 & 35) were compared and
consolidated to provide insights.
n Service work
n Sales work
O Other
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FIELD-TEST
The questionnaire was field tested on a small number of 25 Chinese parents
to ensure the clarity and comprehensibility of the questions. Field-testing is
important to establish the validity of the instrument and to improve questions,
format, and the scales (Reswell, 1994). A review session was held afterward to
discuss any changes.
The questionnaire was given to the field-test participants at ABC Adult
School. Included with the questionnaire was a recruitment letter introducing this
research, a letter of information, the purpose of the study, and the research questions .
A review session was held afterward. Field-test participants were asked to give
comments regarding the clarity of questions, relevancy of the instrument, clarity of
directions, and the amount of time necessary to complete the questionnaire. They
were also asked to give additional comments, suggestions, or other questions that
should be included in the formal survey. The field-test also verified the validity of
the research instrument in terms of whether the questionnaire was constructed
appropriately to answer the research questions posted by this study.
The participants provided suggestions that were adopted into the final
document. There were no changes in the original wording or structure of the
problem statement or questions to be answered. The letter to the participants, that
explained the survey was altered to state the main goal of the study and to note that if
the respondents choose to not participate in this study, his/her child will not be
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disadvantaged. The question #11 and #12 were expanded to include the six types of
parental involvement. It took about 10-20 minutes for the participants to complete
the questionnaire. The letter of information, letter of recruitment and the
questionnaire were provided to the participants in English with Chinese translation
on the back. Most of the participants, 97%, felt more comfortable answering the
questions in Chinese version.
Content validity insures that the items in the scale are examined to insure
that: (1) they are all concerned with the attitudinal continuum under study; (2) that
the whole range of the attitude is covered by the items; and (3) that no particular
aspect of the attitude is given undue weight (O’Muircheartaigh and Francis, 1981). If
all three conditions are satisfied, the scale has content validity for that attitude. The
Field-Test participants examined and validated the problem statement, questions to
be answered, personal data, and the survey instrument. The participants all agreed
that the survey accurately measured the subject under study. Validity was established.
ADMINISTRATION AND DATA COLLECTION
A packet was mailed to each randomly selected participant at their home
address on a list obtained from the Information and Technology Department in ABC
Unified School District. The packets were sent from the Cerritos Post Office on
March 20, 2003, included: A letter of information, a letter of recruitment,
questionnaire, and a self-addressed stamped envelope. The number of packets that
were actually mailed amounted to 250. Phone calls were followed immediately by
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the researcher and three volunteer parents to inform and encourage the return of the
questionnaires. As for the misplacement or lost questionnaires, new questionnaires
were sent to the participants through a fax. When follow-up phone calls were made,
17 participants indicated that they would like to answer the questions on the phone.
Therefore, the questionnaires were filled out through a phone survey by the
researcher. The requested deadline for returning the questionnaires was March 31,
2003. The first survey was returned by mail on March 24 and the last survey to be
returned for tabulation was received on March 31,2003. A total of 152 surveys were
received on or before March 31, 2003, 21 were received between April 1-17, for a
69.2 percent return rate. Among the 173 returned surveys, 32 forms were not
completed. 141 samples were calculated into results.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DATA
The study questionnaire was developed in English and then carefully
translated into Chinese by the researcher since she has been the official Chinese
translator for ABC Unified School District for the last seven years. The
questionnaire contains 18 questions on parents’ attitudes toward parental
involvement. The questions dealt with independent variables including parent’s
English proficiency, length of residence in the U.S., parent’s education level, family
income level, and ways of information seeking that were coded as follow:
English proficiency: l=poor; 2=average; 3=good; 4=excellent
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Length of residence in the U.S.: 1 = less than 1 year; 2 = 1-2 years; 3 = 3-5
years; 4 = more than 5 years
Parent’s education level: 1= Did not finish high school; 2 = High school
degree or some college; 3 = College degree; 4 = Graduate degree
Family income level: 1 = lower than $25,000; 2 = $25,000-$60,000; 3 =
$61,000-$90,000; 4 = $more than $90,000
Ways of getting majority of education information: 1 = School flyers, parent
workshops or newsletter; 2 - Friends; 3 = Church or community groups; 4 = Chinese
newspaper or other news media
Data were analyzed to answer the five research questions. Research question
1 asked what degree do the parents’ English proficiency, education level, family
income level, years of residence in the U.S. and ways of getting education
information affect Chinese American ELL parents’ participation in Epstein’s six
types parental involvement. Questionnaire items 1-10 provided data to identify the
attitudes toward Epstein’s six-type parental involvement.
Research question 2 surveyed if there is a significant difference in the
attitudes toward Epstein’s six types of involvement between the Chinese American
ELL parents who have more fluent English Skills, longer residence in the U.S.,
higher education, better family income, and better ways of getting education
information and those who do not. This question was answered by the questionnaire
items 1-10 and the questionnaire items 13-31.
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Research question 3 investigated what the degree of the Chinese American
ELL parents rate themselves as actively involved in education. Data from
questionnaire item 32 answered this question.
Research question 4 examined what type(s) of parental involvement the
Chinese American ELL parents rank as the most important. Data from questionnaire
item 33 provided an answer.
Research question 5 investigated the recommendations and suggestions the
Chinese American ELL parents suggested that may increase Chinese American
parents, especially those who are new immigrants, involved in education in ABC
Unified School District. Question items 11,12, 34, and 35 provided answers to this
question.
SUMMARY OF THE METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE
This chapter described the methodology of the study. It addressed the
research design and the rationale for the selection for the design. It described the
population and sampling and the justification of the selection of the samples. It
described the instrument used along with the field-test for its validity and reliability.
Finally it described the data collection process and data analysis of this study.
Chapter IV focuses on data analysis. The information will be presented in
narrative as well as tabular form. Chapter V summarizes the findings, presents
conclusions, provides implications, and offers recommendations for further research.
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CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of the data collected from the questionnaire
regarding the Chinese American parents’ attitudes toward parental involvement in
education. It includes the purpose of the study, research questions, data analysis,
presentation of the data that address research questions and the summary.
Demographic data of the respondents were also presented in order to form a general
picture of the Chinese American parents of English Language Learners.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of Chinese American
parents of English Language Learners and to investigate their current concerns
toward parental involvement in ABC Unified School District. Current literature and
research indicate the benefits of parental involvement to the success of students’
academic performance. State and federal legislation has mandated parental
involvement programs at schools, yet meager research has been conducted on the
concerns and attitudes of Chinese American parents, especially those ELL Chinese
American parents.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study used a sample of 250 Chinese American ELL parents in ABC
Unified School District to examine the following research questions:
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1 To what degree do parents’ English proficiency, education level, family
income level, years of residence in the U.S., and ways of getting
education information affect Chinese American ELL parents’
participation in terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement?
2 Is there a significant difference in the attitudes toward Epstein’s six types
of involvement between Chinese American ELL parents who have more
fluent English skills, longer residence in the U.S., higher education, better
family income, and better ways of getting education information, and
those who do not?
3 To what degree do the Chinese American ELL parents rate themselves as
actively involved in education?
4 Which type(s) of parental involvement do Chinese American ELL parents
rank as most important?
What recommendations do Chinese American parents have that may increase
the involvement of Chinese American parents, especially those who are
new immigrants, in ABC Unified School District?
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESPONDENTS
As was anticipated, an overwhelming number of the respondents were
female. There were 106 (75%) females and 35 (25%) males in this study
(Table 10).
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Table 10
The Total Number of Respondents by Gender
Gender Frequency Percent
Male 35 25%
Female 106 75%
Total 141 100
The respondents were asked to identify the number of school aged children in the
family (Table 11). 102 respondents, or 55 percent have children in elementary
school, 33 respondents, orl8 percent have children in middle school, and 50
respondents, or 27 percent have children in High school.
Table 11
The Total Number of Respondents with School Aged Children^
Respondents’ Children’s grade
level
Frequency Percent
k-2 37 20%
3-4 36 19%
5-6 29 16%
7-8 33 18%
9-12 50 27%
Total 185 100
Note 1: The number does not total 141 because some families have more than one school aged child.
It was expected that the majority of the survey respondents would come from
Taiwan, since 192 samples (76.8%) were from City of Cerritos. Survey result
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(Table 12) indicated 102 respondents, or 72 percent of all respondents came from
Taiwan, 22 respondents, or 16 percent came from China, following with 6
respondents, or 4 percent came from Hong Kong, and three respondents, or 2 percent
came from the United States. Eight respondents, or 6 percent indicated “others”,
which included Singapore, Japan, Korea and Canada.
Table 12
The Birth Place of Survey Respondents (Questionnaire Item 1)
Place o f Birth Frequency Percent
United States 3 2%
China 22 16%
Taiwan 102 72%
Hong Kong 6 4%
Other 8 6%
Total 141 100%
DATA ANALYSIS
The following data analysis was organized by the themes that responded to
each particular research question. The presentation of the analysis was in accordance
with the sequence of the research questions posted by the researcher. Frequency
distribution analysis was conducted to determine the frequency and percentage of the
survey participants’ rating using a Likert scale of 1 to 5. Mean score and standard
deviation were conducted to determine the central tendency and the frequency
distribution of the rating.
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Parents responded to the items # 14 - #31 using the following five scales:
always (5); usually (4); sometimes (3); seldom (2) never (1). Likert scaling
represented a systematic means for constructing indexes from survey data. The value
of the format was that the data that was cumulated was rather complete and free
from ambiguity. The Likert format also allowed for a clear method of indexing by
associating a point scale of 1 to 5 with a “1” assigned as “never” and a “5” assigned
as “always”. The total scale ranged from 18 to 90 with 18-30 indicated low
involvement (negative attitude); 31-60 indicated medium involvement and 61 or
above meant high involvement (positive attitude).
The total number of survey respondents’ participation in education in terms
of Epstein’s six types of involvement was shown on table 13a and 13b. For every
item, and on both the elementary and the secondary division, parents desired greater
involvement in schools. The magnitude of this great desire varied with the
individual decision. The largest degree of involvement (item #23, 47% indicated
“always”) was the “involvement at home”, which is for parents to follow homework
policies and monitor school work at home. The lowest degree of involvement (item
#22, 0% marked “always”) was the “volunteering” at the district level. The results
tended to confirm with this group of parents: 68% of parents (item #26) were a PTA
member, however, only 2% (item # 27) were school site council members and 1%
(item # 28) were the district level advisory council or the committee members.
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In comparing the difference between the typel to type 6 involvement, there
were two extremes. Most of the parents reported that they performed the greatest
involvement in Epstein’s type 4: Learning at home. Data collected shown that 58%
of parents marked “usually” or “always” on item #23 (monitor homework), 72%
marked “usually” or “always” on item # 24 (setting academic goals) and 70% marked
“usually” or “always” on item #25 (follow school calendar for activities). Majority
of the parents were not involved in Type 5: Decision Making. As mentioned above,
68% of the parents (item #26) were a PTA member, however, only 2% (item # 27)
were school site council members and 1% (item # 28) was the district level
advisory council or the committee members. The survey items 14-31 were
reproduced below for the reference of table 13 a.
Survey questions presented to respondents:
Typel: Parenting
14. I attend workshops on parenting or child rearing provided by school or the
district office
15. I participate in the family support program, i.e. Parent Expectation Support
Achievement (PESA) training, or District Chinese Parenting workshops.
16. I participate in the family learning program, i.e., family math, family science, or
family reading.
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Type 2: Communicating
17. School provides me language translation support at parent-teacher conferences,
workshops or other events.
18. I receive clear information on choosing schools, selecting courses, programs, and
activities within schools.
19. I receive clear information on school policies, programs, reforms, assessments
and transitions.
Type 3: Volunteering
20.1 have been participating in my child(ren)’s classroom volunteer work.
21.1 have been participating in school level volunteer work.
22.1 have been participating in a district level volunteer program.
Type 4: Learning at Home
23.1 follow homework policies and monitor my child(ren)’s schoolwork at home.
24.1 help my child(ren) set academic goals and plan for college or work.
25.1 follow the school calendar for activities for my child(ren) and me to do at home
or in the community.
Type 5: Decision-Making
26.1 was/am a PTA member.
27.1 was/am a school site council member.
28. I was/am a district level advisory council or a committee member.
Type 6: Collaborating with Community
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29. I provide services to the community, e.g., recycling projects, art, music, drama
tutoring, or coaching programs.
30.1 am involved in the community activities that support my child(ren)’s learning.
31.1 am involved in the programs provided by community groups or community
centers, such as the Artesia Family Resource Center, Asian Pacific Family Center,
Cerritos Chinese School, etc.
Table 13 a
Total Number Of Respondents’ Participation In Education
Item 1
Never
% 2
Seldom
% 3
Sometimes
% 4
Usually
% 5
Always
% T %
Type 1
#14
42 30% 27 19% 44 31% 20 14% 8 6% 141 100
Type
1#15
45 32% 28 20% 39 21% 23 16% 6 4% 141 100
Type
1#16
81 57% 32 23% 23 16% 4 3% 1 1% 141 100
Type 2
#17
67 48% 21 15% 30 21% 17 12% 6 4% 141 100
Type 2
#18
33 24% 26 18% 44 31% 26 18% 12 9% 141 100
Type
2#19
9 6% 24 17% 45 32% 49 35% 14 10% 141 100
Type 3
#20
31 22% 39 28% 36 26% 19 13% 16 11% 141 100
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Table 13 a (Continued)
Total Number Of Respondents’ Participation In Education
Item 1
Never
% 2
Seldom
% 3
Sometimes
% 4
Usually
% 5
Always
%
Type 3
#21
47 34% 33 23% 31 22% 20 14% 10 7%
Type 3
#22
96 68% 21 15% 19 14% 5 3% 0 0%
Type 4
#23
4 3% 9 6% 16 11% 46 11% 66 47%
Type 4
#24
11 8% 14 10% 29 21% 52 37% 35 25%
Type 4
#25
10 7% 10 7% 23 16% 57 41% 41 29%
Type 5
#26
96 68% 45 32%
Type 5
#27
138 98% 3 2%
Type 5
#28
139 99% 2 1%
Type 6
#29
51 36% 38 27% 34 24% 11 8% 7 5%
Type 6
#30
41 29% 31 22% 35 25% 22 16% 12 8%
Type 6
#31
43 30% 28 20% 29 21% 23 16% 18 13%
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Table 13a represented the questions 14 through 31 on the survey
questionnaire and was presented here for reference. As previously stated, the
answers was divided to five columns with first column of number 1 (never) through
fifth column of number 5 (always) and were tallied into three levels: low
(0-30 points), medium (31-60 points), and high (61 points and above).
It was expected that the survey group would have a positive attitude toward
parental involvement since the literature review showed the majority of Chinese
parents put education as their top priority. Table 13b indicated among the 141 survey
respondents, 130 respondents, or 91 percent received more than 30 points and were
rated medium to high involvement in education in terms of Epstein’s six types of
involvement. Of the 130, 118 respondents, or 83 percent were rated medium
involvement, received 31-60 points. Twelve respondents, or 9 percent were rated
high involvement, received 61-90 points, with the highest of 82 points. Eleven
respondents, or 8 percent were rated low involvement, received between 0 to 30
points with the lowest of 22 points.
Table 13 b
Total Points Of Respondents’ Participation In Education
Survey
Respondents
Low Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31 -60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total Percent
Total 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
Note: Five scales: always = 5 points; usually = 4 points; sometimes = 3 points; seldom = 2 points;
never = 1 points. With 18 items, the total scale ranged from 18 to 90 possible points.
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RESEARCH QUESTION 1
Research question 1 asked about what degree do parents’ years of residence
in the U.S., English proficiency, education level, family income level, and ways of
getting education information affect Chinese American ELL parents’ participation in
terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement. Collected data from questionnaire item
2-31 provided the result.
The questions dealt with independent variables including parent’s English
proficiency, length of residence in the U.S., parent’s education level, family income
level, and ways of information seeking that were coded as follow:
English proficiency: 1= poor; 2=average; 3=good; 4=excellent;
Length of residence in the U.S.:1 = less than 1 year; 2 = 1-2 years; 3 = 3-5 years; 4 =
more than 5 years
Parent’s education level: 1= Did not finish high school; 2 = High school degree or
some college; 3 = College degree; 4 = Graduate degree
Family income level: 1 = lower than $25,000; 2 = $25,000-$60,000; 3 = $61,000-
$90,000; 4 = $more than $90,000
Ways of getting majority of education information: 1 = School flyers, parent workshops or
newsletter; 2 = Friends; 3 = Church or community groups; 4 = Chinese newspaper or
other news media
The coding formed a continuum for calculation and statistical means were
established for each independent variable. For example, a mean of 3.65 (the
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reported parents’ years of residence in the U.S. to survey question number 2)
indicated that the majority of respondents had more than three to five years of
residence in the U.S.. Furthermore, as in the response to question number 7, parents
responded that the majority of them have greater than college degree (mean of 3.08).
The statistical means for each response were interpreted as the degree of intensity for
establishing the level of involvement for each survey question.
Table 14 presented the data indicating the parents’ years of residence in the
United States. The data collected shown that 110 respondents, or 78 percent of
respondents have lived in the United States for more than five years; 18 respondents,
orl3 percent have lived in the U.S. for 3-5 years; 9 respondents, or 6 percent for 1-2
years and only 4 respondents, or 3 percent have been to the U.S. less than one year.
Of the 110 respondents, or 78 percent of the respondents came to the U.S.
before 1997, 105 respondents received more than 31 points, represented medium to
high involvement in education. Twelve respondents were ranked high involvement.
Of the 12, 10 respondents were in the U.S. for more than five years. The survey
results indicated the years of residence did affect parent’s participation in education.
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Table 14
Parents’ Years Of Residence In The U.S. And Their Participation In Education
Parents’ Years
of Residence in
the U.S.
Low Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total Percent
1 year or less 4 4 3%
1-2 years 1 7 1 9 6%
3-5 years 5 12 1 18 13%
More than 5
years
5 95 10 110 78%
Total 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
Note: The Mean was equal to 3.65. In this format, the larger the mean value, the greater degree of
family years of residence in the U.S. influence over the parental involvement was represented.
In order to understand the respondents’ English proficiency, the respondents
was asked to answer the language they used most often in work-related situation
(Table 15). Of the 141 respondents, 108 respondents, or 77 percent indicated that
they used English at work, 29 respondents, or 21 percent used Chinese and 4
respondents, or 2 percent used Spanish in work-related situation. Of the 108
respondents who used English at work, 100 respondents, or 93 percent received 31-
90 points, represented from medium to high involvement. Only 8 respondents, or 7
percent who received low involvement in education used English in work-related
situation.
90
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Table 15
Parents’ English Proficiency: Language Used In Work-Related Situation
Parents’
Language Usage
in Work-related
Situation
Low Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61 -90 Points
Total Percent
English 8 90 10 108 77%
Chinese 3 25 1 29 21%
Other (Spanish) 3 1 4 2%
Total 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
Survey participants were also asked to answer the language they used most
often when speaking with their children (Table 16). Although 108 (77%) respondents
used English at work (Table 15), only 13 respondents, or 9 percent used English
when speaking with their children. Of the 141 respondents, 128, or 91 percent used
either Chinese (90 respondents, or 64%) or Taiwanese (38 respondents, or 27%)
when speaking with their children. Although overwhelmingly with 128 respondents,
or 81 percent used Chinese or Taiwanese when speaking with children, the collected
data (119 respondents, or 93 percent) showed their participation in education was
rated medium or high.
Table 16
Parents’ English Proficiency: Language Used When Speaking With Children
Parents’
Language Usage
When Speaking
with Children
Low Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total Percent
English 2 10 1 13 9%
Chinese 8 75 7 90 64%
Other
(Taiwanese)
1 33 4 38 27%
Total 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
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The respondents were also asked to estimate their reading and writing skills
in English (Table 17). Although 108 (77%) respondents used English at work (Table
15), only 49 respondents, or 35 percent rated themselves as either “excellent” (10
respondents, or 7%) or “good” (39 respondents, or 28%). There were 22
respondents, or 15 percent rated themselves “poor” and 70 respondents, or 50 percent
said their English skills in reading and writing were “average”. The collected data
shown on table 18 asked respondents’ rating of their speaking and listening skills in
English constructed in the same manner as table 17. Data shown on table 18 were
very similar to the data on table 17. The collected data indicated that most of the
Chinese American parents among the survey participants rated themselves either
“poor” or “average” in their English skills in speaking and listening. Eleven
respondents, or 8 percent rated themselves “excellent”; 41 respondents, or 29 percent
rated “good”; 71 respondents, or 50 percent rated “average”, and 18 respondents, or
13 percent rated themselves “poor” in speaking and listening in English.
Data collected showed, in writing and reading skills, only 49 respondents, or
35 percent rated themselves either “good” or “excellent”; in speaking and listening
skills, only 52 respondents, or 37 percent rated themselves either “good” or
“excellent”, however, 130 respondents, or 92 percent received 31-90 points in terms
of Epstein’s six types of involvement. Even 22 respondents, or 15 percent rated
themselves were “poor” in writing and reading; 18 respondents, or 13 percent rated
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themselves were “poor” in speaking and listening, only one in each group received 0-
30 points represented low involvement. The result indicated the language skills did
not affect the Chinese American parents’ participation in education.
Table 17
Parents’ English Proficiency: Parents’ Reading And Writing Skills In Englis
Parents’ English
Proficiency
Reading &
Writing Skills
Low Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31 -60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total Percent
Excellent 1 8 1 10 7%
Good 4 32 3 39 28%
Average 5 57 8 70 50%
Poor 1 21 0 22 15%
Total 11 118
12
141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
Note: The mean value was 2.26. In this format, the larger the mean value, the greater degree of
parent’s English proficiency influence over the parental involvement was represented.
Table 18
Parents’ English Proficiency: Parents’ Speaking And Listening Skills In English
Parents’ English
Proficiency
Low Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total Percent
Excellent 2 8 1 11 8%
Good 3 35 3 41 29%
Average 5 58 8 71 50%
Poor 1 17 18 13%
Total 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
Note: The mean value was 2.32. In this format, the larger the mean value, the greater degree of
parent’s English proficiency influence over the parental involvement was represented.
Table 19 showed parents’ education level and their participation in terms of
Epstein’s six types of involvement. Collected data indicated that two respondents, or
one percent didn’t finish high school. Thirty-eight respondents, or 27 percent
received high school diploma or some college education. Forty-eight respondents, or
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34 percent have college degree and fifty-four respondents, or 38 percent received
graduate degree. Data shown on table 20 indicated almost half, 48 percent
respondents received his/her highest level of education in the United States. The
result indicated that among the respondents, 72 percent have college degree, 48
percent graduated from the college in America.
Table 19
Parents’ Highest Level of Education Level
Education Level Low Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total Percent
Didn’t Finish
High School
2 2 1%
High School or
Some College
4 31 3 38 27%
College Degree 2 42 4 48 34%
Graduate Degree 5 44 5 54 38%
Total 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
Note: The mean value was 3.08 . In this format, the larger the mean value, the greater degree of
family education level influence over the parental involvement was represented.
Table 20
Parents Received Highest Level of Education in the United States
Highest Education in the U.S. Frequency Percent
Yes 67 48%
No 74 52%
Total 141 100%
Percent 100% 100%
Data shown on table 21 indicated 12 respondents, or 9 percent family income
level was lower than $25,000; forty-three respondents, or 30 percent were between
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$25,000-$60,000; 37 respondents, or 26% were among $61,000-$90,000; and 49
respondents, or 35% of families were making more than $90,000 a year. The
respondents’ occupations were shown on table 22, which gave a clearer picture of the
distribution of family income level. Of 141 respondents, 49 respondents, or 35
percent were professionals; 44 respondents, O r 31 percent were house wife’s or
retirees; 20 respondents, or 14% were self-employed.
Table 21
Parents’ Family Income Level And Their Participation In Education
Family Income
Level
Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31 -60 Points
High
Involvement
61 -90 Points
Total Percent
Lower than
$25,000
4 6 2 12 9%
$25,000-
$60,000
2 38 3 43 30%
$61,000-
$90,000
2 32 3 37 26%
More than
$90,000
3 42 4 49 35%
Total 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
Note: The mean value was 2.87. In this format, the larger the mean value, the greater degree of
family income influence over the parental involvement was represented.
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Table 22
Parents’ Occupations And Their Participation In Education
Parents’
Occupation
Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31 -60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total Percent
Owner 2 16 2 20 14%
Professional 4 40 5 49 35%
Manager 7 7 5%
Clerical 1 12 1 14 10%
Technical 1 3 4 3%
Service 1 2 3 2%
Sales 0 0%
Other
(House Wife or
Retiree)
2 38 4 44 31%
Total 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 83% 9% 100% 100%
Data collected on table 23 showed that most of the parents, 108 respondents,
or 41 percent, were getting education information through school flyers, newsletter or
school/district sponsored workshops. Twenty-eight percent, or 75 respondents
received information through friends, followed with twenty percent, or 53
respondents received information from Chinese newspaper and Chinese medias;
eleven percent, or 29 respondents got the information from Chinese church or
community groups.
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Table 23
Paretns’ Better Ways Of Getting Education Information
Ways o f Getting
Education
Information
Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31 -60 Points
High
Involvement
61 -90 Points
Total Percent
School Flyers,
Newsletter,
Workshops
7 91 10 108 41%
From Friends 6 62 7 75 28%
From Church or
Community
Groups
2 21 6 29 11%
From Chinese
Newspaper or
News Medias
1 44 8 53 20%
Total 16 218 31 265 100%
Percent 6% 82% 12% 100% 100%
Note: The number do not total 141 because some respondents selected more than one way of getting
the education information.
Note: The mean value was 2.1. In this format, the larger the mean value, the greater degree of getting
education information in Chinese influence over the parental involvement was represented.
The collected data above indicated that parents’ years of residence in the
U.S., English proficiency, education level, family income level, and ways of getting
education information had positive effects on Chinese American ELL parents’
participation in terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement. Parents’ English
proficiency level and ways of getting information did not affect their involvement in
education.
RESEARCH QUESTION 2
Research question 2 asked if there’s a significant difference in the attitudes
toward Epstein’s six types of involvement between Chinese American ELL parents
who have longer residence in the U.S., more fluent English skills, higher education,
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better family income, and better ways of getting education information and those
who do not.
For statistical purposes, certain categories were merged to form two distinct
groups. It must be recognized that in some configuration, the confidence level
couldn’t established as the size of the difference was too small for calculation.
Collected data from questionnaire item 2-31 provided the result for research
question 2. Table 24 presented the data indicating the length of parents’ residence in
the U.S. affect their participation in terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement.
Among the 141 respondents, 110, or 78 percent lived in the United States for more
than five years and only 31 respondents, or 22 percent came to the U.S. for less than
five years ago.
The Difference in Proportions Test (Market Research Tools) for Two
Proportions Calculator allowed the researcher to test for a statistically significant
difference between two proportions drawn from the same samples. The number of
Chinese American ELL parents who had longer residence in the U.S. than those who
did not, in the level of medium involvement was statistically significant at a 95%
level. The confidence level couldn’t establish in the low and high involvement level
as the size of the difference was too small for calculation.
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Table 24
Parents’ Year of Residence In The U.S.
Parents’ Years
o f Residence in
the U.S.
Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total
Frequency
Total
in Percent
Less than 5
years
6, or 4.25% 23, or 16.31% 2, or 1.41% 31 22%
More than 5
years
5, or 3.54% 95, or 67.37% 10, or 7.09% 110 78%
Total
Difference in
Frequency
-1 +72 +8 +79 Difference*56%
Table 25 and 26 indicated only 35/37 percent, or 49/52 respondents rated
themselves either good or excellent in English compared with 65/63 percent, or
92/89 respondents said their English were poor or average. However, the data shown
indicated language was not in the way of their parental involvement. Thirty-eight
more respondents in written English and thirty two more respondents in spoken
English rated themselves were poor or average in English skills received 31-60
points. The number of different Chinese American ELL parents who had better
English skills than those who did not, in the level of medium involvement was
statistically significant at a 95% level. The confidence level couldn’t be established
in the low and high involvement level as the size of the difference was too small for
calculation.
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Table 25
Parents’ English Proficiency In Reading And Writing
Parents’ English
Proficiency
Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total in
Frequency
Total in
Percent
Excellent/Good 5 40 4 49 35%
Average/Poor 6 78 8 92 65%
Total Difference in
Frequency
-1 -38 -4 -43 -30%
Table 26
Parents’ English Proficiency In Listening And Speaking
Parents’ English
Proficiency
Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total in
Frequency
Total
Difference in
Percent
Excellent/Good 5 43 4 52 37%
Average/Poor 6 75 8 89 63%
Total Difference in
Frequency
-1 -32 -4 -37 -26%
Table 27 shown of 141 respondents, 102 received college or graduate degree,
which represented 72% of the total respondents. Only 39 respondents, or 28 percent
received high school or less. When compared these two groups, it showed 63
respondents, or 44 percent more received higher education and 60 more respondents
received medium to high involvement in education. The number of Chinese
American ELL parents who had higher education than those who did not, in the level
of medium involvement was statistically significant at a 95% level. The confidence
level couldn’t be established in the low and high involvement level as the size o f the
difference was too small for calculation.
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Table 27
Parents’ Education Level And Their Participation In Education
Education Level Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31 -60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total in
Frequency
Total
Difference in
Percent
High School or
Less
4 32 3 39 28%
College or
Graduate Degree
7 86 9 102 72%
Total Difference
in Frequency
+3 +54 +6 +63 +44%
Table 28 shown 86 respondents, or 61 percent had more than $60,000 family
income compared to 55 respondents, or 39 percent with lower than $60,000 family
income. The result showed that 32 more respondents who had higher family income
received from medium to high involvement in education. The number of Chinese
American ELL parents who had higher family income than those who did not, in the
level of medium involvement was statistically significant at a 95% level. The
confidence level couldn’t be established in the low and high involvement level as the
size of the difference was too small for calculation.
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Table 28
Parents’ Family Income Level And Their Participation In Education
Family Income
Level
Low Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total in
Frequency
Total in
Percent
Lower than
$60,000
6 44 5 55 39%
More than
$60,000
5 74 7 86 61%
Total
Difference in
Frequency
-1 +30 +2 +31 +22%
Table 29 shown 156 respondents, or 61 percent relied on the Chinese medias
to get the education information. Of 255 respondents, 99 respondents, or 39 percent
received information through English medias, which included school flyers,
newsletter, workshops or internets. The number of Chinese American ELL parents
who had better ways of getting education information than those who did not, in the
level of medium involvement was statistically significant at a 95% level. The
confidence level couldn’t establish in the low and high involvement level as the size
of the difference was too small for calculation.
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Table 29
Parents’ Better Ways Of Getting Education Information
Ways o f Getting
Education
Information
Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31-60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Total
In Frequency
Total in
Percent
School Flyers,
(English Medias)
7 78 14 99 39%
From Chinese
Friends,
(Chinese Medias)
9 127 20 156 61%
Total Difference
in
Frequency
-2 -49 -6 -57 -22%
Note: The number do not total 141
the education information.
)ecause som e respondents selected more than one w ay o f getting
The collected data from table 24-29 indicated that there was a significant
difference in the attitudes toward Epstein’s six types of involvement between
Chinese American ELL parents who had longer residence in the U.S. (+56%), higher
education (+44%) and better family income (+22%). However, parents with less
fluent English skills (-30% & -26%), and who did not have better ways of getting
English education information (-22%) also had significant involvement in education.
RESEARCH QUESTION 3
Research question 3 asked the Chinese American ELL parents to rate their
degree of involvement in education as compared to the other parents at the school.
Data collected from questionnaire item 32 illustrated the results of this question.
Table 30 and 31 presented the data indicating a significant number of respondents
(67%) believed that they were “always” or “usually” involved in education. Twenty-
seven respondents, or 19 percent ranked self with “seldom” involvement, and 20
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respondents, or 14 percent were “never” involved. This results tended to confirm the
population for this study.
The conceptual behavior (self-ranking) showed 14% parents felt they were
never involved in their kids’ education compared to only 8% received low
involvement in Epstein’s six types involvement. When added the two categories
(seldom & never involved) together, the difference in percentage rate was even four
times higher. 33% (compared to 8% actually received low involvement scores) of
parents felt they didn’t involve in their children’s education. The result indicated that
the Chinese American parents who had prior involvement would like to do a better
job or to be more involved in schools.
Table 30
Parents’ Self Ranking Results
Parents Self
Ranking on Parental
Involvement
Top 20%
Always Involved
21%-50%
Usually-Sometimes
Involved
51%-80%
Seldom Involved
Lowest 20%
Never Involved
Frequency 34 60 27 20
Percent 24% 43% 19% 14%
Note. The mean value was 2.23 and the standard deviation was 4.06
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Table 31
Parents’ Self Ranking Results and Their Particiaption in Education
Self Ranking
and the Survey
Result
Low
Involvement
0-30 Points
Medium
Involvement
31 -60 Points
High
Involvement
61-90 Points
Frequency Percent
Top 20%
Always
Involved
1 27 6 34 24%
21%-50%
Usually-
Sometimes
Involved
2 53 5 60 43%
51%-80%
Seldom
Involved
3 23 1 27 19%
Lowest 20%
Never Involved
in Percent
5 15 0 20 14%
Frequency 11 118 12 141 100%
Percent 8% 84% 8% 100% 100%
Note. The mean value was 2.23 and the standard deviation was 4.06
RESEARCH QUESTION 4
Research question 4 asked which type(s) of parental involvement the Chinese
American ELL parents listed as the first priority. Data collected shown on table 32
indicated that parents believed that type 4: Learning at Home ( 40 respondents, or
28%), was the most important thing for them, followed by type 2: Communication
with Schools (36 respondents, 25%) and type 1: Parenting skills (35 respondents, or
25%). Survey result indicated the parents desired much greater involvement in these
areas especially in the support of learning at home. Table 32 also indicated that
parents generally wanted greater involvement in the Type 6: Collaborating with
community (15 respondents, or 11%), Type 3: Volunteering (11 respondents, or 8%),
and type 5: Decision Making (4 respondents, or 3%).
105
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Table 32
Parents’ Highest Priority: Questionnaire Item 33
Parents’ Highest Priority Frequency Percent
Type 1: Parenting 35 25%
Type 2: Communication 36 25%
Type 3: Volunteering 11 8%
Type 4: Learning at Home 40 28%
Type 5: Decision Making 4 3%
Type 6: Collaborating with Community 15 11%
Total 141 100%
RESEARCH QUESTION 5
Research question 5 asked what recommendations the Chinese American
parents suggested that may increase Chinese American parents involvement in
education in ABC Unified School District, especially to those who are new
immigrants. Data collected from question item 11 & 12 shown on table 33 and 34
presented the problems and concerns that most Chinese American ELL parents had
in terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement, and questionnaire item #34 and #35
indicated the recommendations and suggestions the respondents provided to the
newly arrived Chinese parents in order to stimulate their involvement in ABC
Unified School District.
The next set of tables was directed at problems and concerns surrounding the
Chinese parents. Table 33 indicated that parents had a great amount of problem over
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parenting skills (56 respondents, or 33%), they also expressed a moderate concerns in
volunteering (43 respondents, or 25%), and communicating with school or teachers
(35 respondents, or 20%). Helping with homework (12%), involved in decision
making (8%) and collaboration with the community (2%) seemed not too much a
problem to the Chinese parents.
Table 34 echoed with table 33 as thirty-one respondents, or 29 percent listed
type 1: Parenting as the most concerned problem by their friends. Type 4: Learning
at Home (23%) and Type 3: volunteering(17%) were reported had moderate
concerns by their friends. According to table 33 and table 34, 8% & 7% of parents
respectively, perceived that they had problems over school decisions that was
involved school policies, funding and those were related to school wide programs.
Some degree of interest was reported by the parents on the question item # 35 for
decisions related to: placement of students with particular teachers, setting the rules
for student behavior, selection of text books, setting the goals of the school, selection
of extra curricular activities etc, according to the written comments in the survey.
Parents produced dramatically different responses shown on the table 32 and the
table 33. Parents indicated that they have the greatest concern about volunteering (43
respondents, or 25%) but only a marginal desire (11 respondents, or 8%) listed as
their priority and wanted to increase their involvement.
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Table 33
Parents’ Concerns: Questionnaire Item 11 & 12
Parents’
Concerns
Type 1
Parenting
Problems
Type 2
Communicating
with School or
Teachers
Type 3
Volunteering
Type 4
Home
Work or
College
Planning
Type 5
School or
District’s
Policies
Type 6
Community
Programs or
Extra
Curricula
Activities
Total
High
Involvemen
t
3 2 4 2 2 0 13
Medium
Involvemen
t
49 30 32 14 11 3 139
Low
Involvemen
t
4 3 7 4 1 0 19
Frequency 56 35 43 20 14 3 171
Percent 33% 20% 25% 12% 8% 2% 100%
Note: The number do not total 141 because some respondents selected more than one problem or
concern.
Table 34
Friends’ Concerns: Questionnaire Item 11 & 12
Parents’
Friends
Concerns
Type 1
Parenting
Problems
Type 2
Communicating
with School or
Teachers
Type 3
Volunteering
Type 4
Home
Work or
College
Planning
Type 5
School or
District’s
Policies
Type 6
Community
Programs or
Extra
Curricula
Activities
Total
Frequency 31 16 18 25 8 10 108
Percent 29% 15% 17% 23% 7% 9% 100%
Note: The number do not total 141 because some respondents selected no friend asked question or
had any concern.
With above problems and concerns in mind, the respondents provided their
recommendations and suggestions shown on table 35 and table 36:
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Questionnaire Item #34: the recommendations and suggestions to newly
arrived Chinese parents in order to stimulate their involvement in ABC USD:
Table 35
Suggestions To Newly Arrived Parents (Questionnaire Item #34)
Recommendations / Suggestions Frequency Percent
Get involved. Just do it. The more you give, the more you will receive. Volunteering as much as
you could.
40 28%
Come to the workshops, classes. Share your experiences. 36 26%
Visit schools; try to learn the schedule, curriculum, and activities as much as you could. Keep a
good relationship with teachers.
27 19%
Get involved and connected with Chinese Saturday school and Chinese parents, especially with
the parents who have been here longer and have better English skills to help you.
22 16%
Monitor home works on daily basis 8 5%
Better communication with PTA and school board 5 4%
Communicate with your teens. Don’t call schools only for problems and concerns 3 2%
Questionnaire Item #35: the recommendations and suggestions to ABC USD
to increase and or to improve the Chinese parents’ involvement in education.
Table 36
Recommendations And Suggestions To ABC USD (Questionnaire Item #35)
Recommendations to ABC USD
Frequency Percent
More parenting classes, education workshops, especially for new immigrants and single
parents
23 17%
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Table 36 (Continued)
Recommendations And Suggestions To ABC USD (Questionnaire Item #35)
Hire a parent education coordinator who is able to provide needed services to Chinese
parents.
9 6%
Provide translation in Chinese for school newsletters, notice or workshops. 27 19%
Provide parents information or trainings on standards and curriculum. 4 3%
Town Hall meetings with the Superintendent or administrators. Effective two ways
communication between schools and homes.
11 8%
Collaborate with Chinese Saturday school and Adult school in providing parent
educational workshops, English learning or education related information
15 11%
Use Chinese organizations or medias to provide parents about school or education
information
15 11%
Field trips, referral or other resources for parents and students 2 1%
Chinese representatives at each school to organize and coordinate the volunteer works 1 1%
With recommendation from the committee members, this study also used a
selection of five Chinese parents (Chinese American parents at Whitney High
School) as the focus group for interviews. Table 37 indicated the basic information
about these five parents. Their suggestions and recommendation were summarized
and presented on the following paragraphs.
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Table 37
Background of Focus Group
''' "^Rarent
V ariablcs~~~-~^
Parent 1
Female
Parent 2
Female
Parent 3
Female
Parent 4
Female
Parent 5
Male
Number of
Children at /
graduated from
Whitney High
1
Class 97, at
Harvard Law
School
2
Senior Year at
Whitney, and
Class 2001,
currently at
West Point
Academy
1
Junior year at
Whitney
2
Freshman Year,
and Class
2000, currently
Pre-med at USC
2
Both graduated
from Whitney
and UCLA
Years o f
Residence in
the U.S.
20 24 19 18 27
English
Proficiency
Excellent Excellent Good Good Good
Education Level Graduate
School
Graduate
School
Graduate
School
Graduate
School
Graduate
School
Family Income Over $100,000 Over $60,000 Over $100,000 Over $100,000 Over $100,000
Ways o f getting
Education
Information
Both in English
and Chinese
Both in English
and Chinese
Both in English
and Chinese
Both in English
and Chinese
Both in English
and Chinese
This group of parents suggested to other parents that they should ask their
children on a daily basis about their activities at school, especially any problems,
questions, or frustrations they have encountered. Three of them mentioned that the
parents should attend “Back to School” or “Open School” nights at school so they
can meet their children’s teachers and establish a good rapport with them. Parent #1
indicated it’s very important that the parents took a proactive approach to their
children’s education. She said the parents should realize how important their
participation was to their children’s future success. Parent # 1 added that the Chinese
parents should not be afraid to interact with and offer suggestions to teachers,
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schools, or the school district. Rather, “They should try to make the most of the
resources available to them.” she stressed.
These focus group also provided recommendations and suggestions to ABC
USD. They all recommended and suggested that having Chinese-speaking
volunteers working at the school or district level was a key to involve the newly
arrived Chinese parents. They felt since many Chinese parents faced language
barriers, especially those who had just recently immigrated to the U.S., ABC Unified
School District should try to overcome those language barriers by having Chinese
speaking volunteers (preferably other parents) call them. Parent # 5 explained,
“During the calls, volunteers could speak in Chinese and thus convey to the parents a
lot of detailed, valuable information.”
Parent #4 indicated that the volunteers could explain to the parents the
important aspects of their children’s education program. She explained, for example,
if a parent’s child was about to transition from junior high to high school, the
volunteer could explain to the parent how to make the transition easier for the child,
how American high schools are different from Chinese high schools, etc. On the
other hand, if a parent’s child was a junior in high school and should start planning
for college, the volunteer could explain to the parent what the college planning
process was like (i.e., taking the SAT, getting letters of recommendation, writing
application essays).
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All of them emphasized that the volunteer could also tell parents about
volunteer opportunities at the school-level or district level. Many Chinese parents
who did not speak English well thought that they did not have much to offer schools
because their English was so limited. They might also fear interacting with teachers
and school administrators because of this language barrier. To overcome this, the
focus group suggested the volunteers could explain to these Chinese parents that they
could still get involved and volunteered at the school-level or district-level, since
there were volunteering activities that did not necessarily require many English
skills.
Parent #3 also agreed that the importance of the Chinese volunteers. She said
the volunteers could also answer any questions the parents might have, as well as
reported back to the school district the frustrations or problems that parents had
encountered.
Parent #4 suggested that although making calls would take a lot of time, it
would be nice to have this individual interaction with Chinese parents. She said that
telephone calls added a personal touch and made the school district seem more
friendly and inviting to Chinese parents. In response, “They might feel more useful,
appreciated, and needed, and thus be more enthusiastic about actively participating in
their children’s education and contributing to the school district”, parent # 4
concluded.
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SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The data collected in this survey were analyzed and presented in relation to
the parents’ English proficiency, education level, family income level, years of
residence in the U.S., and ways of getting education information. The results showed
a positive affect in their participation in terms of Epstein’s six types of parental
involvement. Parents’ perceived level of involvement and their desired level of
parental involvement were also analyzed. Demographics of respondents indicated a
high percentage of women, came from Taiwan, received college education, with
family income of more than $60,000, have been in the U.S. for more than five years
but preferred getting information in Chinese and were still not feeling comfortable
using English. The majority of the respondents, 92%, received medium to high
involvement in terms of Epstein’s six types parental involvement. They were active
involved in Learning at Home (type 4), but were not interested in the Decision
Making (type 5). They assessed their own behaviors about the parental involvement
(perceived level) as less great than other parents in the school community did, and
they had varying needs of the six types of parental involvement.
Parents indicated an interest in increasing their involvement in all six types of
parental involvement presented in the survey. In some areas ( Type 4: Learning at
Home, for example), they currently were very involved in but still had great desire to
do more. In other areas, such as Type 5: Decision Making, they indicated that they
had little or no involvement but still no desire of getting involved. In other areas,
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especially volunteering, communication with schools, and collaborating with
community, the parents had a moderate involvement and also desired in increasing
the amount of involvement in this area.
This chapter presented the analysis of the data collected from the
questionnaires. It included the purpose of the study, research questions, data
analysis, presentation of data that address research question 1 to question 5, and the
summary.
Chapter V summarizes the key findings, provides implications and
conclusions, and proposes recommendations for further research.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides a summary of the study. The purpose of the study, the
research questions, the summary of key findings, the implications and conclusions,
recommendations for future research are reviewed.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Current literature and research indicated the benefits of parental involvement
to the success of students’ academic performance. State and federal legislation also
has mandated parental involvement programs at schools, yet meager research has
been conducted on the concerns and attitudes of Chinese American parents,
especially those ELL Chinese parents.
The increased demand for parent involvement in school requires a better
understanding of the characteristics of the parents, their current needs and interests,
especially the newly arrived immigrants.
Defining the new role for parents was currently being studied but the scope
and dimension of parental involvement in school has not been clearly defined. This
study sought to examine the attitudes of Chinese American parents toward parental
involvement in education and to establish the concerns and problems of Chinese
American parents might have, especially those ELL Chinese parents.
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PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of Chinese American
parents of English Language Learners and to investigate their current concerns
toward parental involvement in ABC Unified School District. Current literature and
research indicated the benefits of parental involvement to the success of students’
academic performance. State and federal legislation has mandated parental
involvement programs at schools, yet meager research has been conducted on the
concerns and attitudes of Chinese American parents, especially the Chinese
American ELL parents.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study used a sample of 250 Chinese American parents in ABC Unified
School District to examine the following research questions:
1. To what degree do parents’ English proficiency, education level,
family income level, years of residence in the U.S., and ways of
getting education information affect Chinese American ELL parents’
participation in terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement?
2. Is there a significant difference in the attitudes toward Epstein’s six
types of involvement between Chinese American ELL parents who
have more fluent English skills, longer residence in the U.S., higher
education, better family income, and better ways of getting education
information and those who have not?
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3. To what degree do Chinese American ELL parents rate themselves as
actively involved in education?
4. Which type(s) of parental involvement do Chinese American ELL
parents rank as most important?
What recommendations do Chinese American parents suggest that may
increase Chinese American parents, especially those who are new
immigrants, in ABC Unified School District?
SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS
RESEARCH QUESTION 1
Research question 1 asked what the degree of parents’ English proficiency,
education level, family income level, years of residence in the U.S., and ways of
getting education information affect Chinese American ELL parents’ participation in
terms of Epstein’s six types of involvement. The findings were that:
1. English proficiency: 65 percent of the respondents indicated their reading
and writing skills in English were “poor” or “average”, 63 percent said his
or her speaking and listening skills in English were “poor” or “average”,
however, 92 percent of the respondents received medium to high level of
involvement. English proficiency didn’t affect Chinese American
parents’ attitude toward parental involvement.
2. Education level: 72 percent of the respondents received college or
graduate degree and 92 percent received medium to high level of
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involvement indicated the education level affected parents’ attitudes
toward parental involvement in education.
3. Family income level: 61 percent of respondents received family income
of $61,000 or more and 92 percent of them had medium to high level of
involvement. Family income level had positive effect on Chinese
American parents’ attitudes toward parental involvement.
4. Years of residence: 78 percent of respondents came to the U.S. before
1997 and 92 percent of them received medium to high level of
involvement in education. Parents’ years of residence had a positive effect
on their involvement in education.
Ways of getting education information: 59 percent of respondents relied on
the Chinese medias or community groups to provide them the educational
information and still 92 percent of them received medium to high level of
involvement in education. Ways of getting education information did not
affect Chinese American ELL parents get involved in education.
RESEARCH QUESTION 2
Research question 2 asked if there is a significant difference in the attitudes
toward Epstein’s six types of involvement between Chinese American ELL parents
who have more fluent English skills, longer residence in the U.S., higher education,
better family income, and better ways of getting education information and those
who do not. The finding were:
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1. There was a statistically significant difference at a 95% confidence level
in the medium level attitudes toward parental involvement between
Chinese American ELL parents who had longer residence in the U.S.,
higher education, better family income, less fluent English skills, and
didn’t have better ways of getting education information.
2. The difference was not statistically significant at the low and high
attitudes level as the size of the difference was too small for calculation.
RESEARCH QUESTION 3
Research question 3 asked what the degree of Chinese American ELL
parents rated themselves as actively involved in education among the parents at their
school. The findings were:
1. 24 percent of the respondents rated themselves as the top 20% parents
who were “always” involved in education. 43 percent of the respondents
were among the “usually to sometimes” involved parents.
2. 14 percent of the respondents rated themselves as the lowest 20% or were
never involved in education.
RESEARCH QUESTION 4
Research question 4 asked which type(s) of parental involvement the Chinese
American ELL parents ranked as the most important. The findings were:
1. 28 percent of the respondents ranked type 4 (learning at home) as the
most important parental involvement in education, followed by 25 percent
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ranked type 2 (communication with schools or teachers), and type 1
(parenting skills).
2. The Chinese American ELL parents ranked type 5 (decision making at
schools, 3%) as the least important for parental involvement in education,
followed by type 3 (volunteering, 8%) and type 6 (collaborating with
community, 11%).
RESEARCH QUESTION 5
Research question 5 asked the recommendations or suggestions that may
increase Chinese American parents, especially to those who are new immigrants, to
get involved in education in ABC Unified School District. The written comments
indicated that parents should take a proactive approach to their children’s education.
They should not be afraid to interact with and offer suggestions to teachers, schools,
or the school district. The rest of the comments reflected mostly how to actively
participating in their children’s education and contributing to the school district.
IMPLICATIONS
Based upon the data analysis of the survey responses, the implications were
presented in the following areas that were reflected in the purpose of this study:
1. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC Unified School District had
distinct characteristics. They were by a large majority first generation
immigrants with college or graduate degree, who have been in the U.S.
for more than five years, whose family income were more than $60,000.
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Although 47 percent of them received their highest education in the U.S.,
and 77 percent of them used English on their daily work-related situation,
only 35 percent of them rated their English skills were “good” or
“excellent”.
2. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC Unified School District were
bilingual. 77 percent of the parents used English at work and 91percent
of them spoke to their children either in Chinese or in Taiwanese. 100
percent of the comments, recommendations or suggestions the researcher
received were written in Chinese.
3. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC Unified School District received
medium to high level of involvement in education in terms of Epstein’s
six types parental involvement. 92 percent of the parents received 31 or
higher scores (possible scale ranged from 0-90) on the survey
questionnaires.
4. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC Unified School District showed
their participation in education were affected by their years of residence in
the U.S., their education, their family income but were not affected by
their English skills and ways of getting education information.
5. There was a significant difference at 95 percent confidence level showed
Chinese American ELL parents in ABC Unified School District in the
attitudes toward Epstein’s six types of parental involvement between
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parents who had longer residence in the U.S., higher education, and better
family income, and those who did not.
6. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC Unified School District perceived
themselves as the involved parents. 24 percent rated themselves at the top
20% as “ always involved”, 43 percent said they were “usually -
sometimes involved”.
7. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC USD believed that “type 4:
Learning at Home” was the most important issue in terms of parental
involvement, such as: follow school homework policies and monitor their
children’s homework at home; help their children set academic goals and
plan for college or work, and follow school calendar for activities for
them to do at home or in the community. 28 percent of the parents listed
Type 4 as the first priority.
8. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC USD desired more learning in
parenting skills and wanted to improve communication with school. 25
percent of the parents listed them as their first priority.
9. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC USD had the lowest desire to
influence decision making. Only 3 percent listed it as their first priority.
10. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC USD had the highest concern on
type 1: Parenting. 33% of the parents listed parenting skills as a problem
to them.
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11. There were other concerns as well. 25 percent felt volunteering was
difficult and 20 percent had problems over the communication with
schools or teachers.
12. In the overall recommendation and suggestions, the Chinese American
ELL parents in ABC Unified School District believed that they should be
more involved in education. 28 percent suggested to other parents
“volunteering as much as you could”, and 24 percent recommended the
school or district just “ tell us what to do and how to do it”.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The analysis of the data in this study supported the review of the
literature. From the findings of this study, the following conclusions based
on the theoretical frameworks listed in Chapter II were reached:
Theory of Academic Success
Academic success has been found to be influenced by parental
involvement. Chinese American ELL parents in ABC Unified School District
indicated a desire to increase their involvement in all six types of parental
involvement, especially in type 4: Learning at Home. They were already
substantially involved in “Learning at Home” , but wished to continue
improve their involvement in this area. Providing these parents with skills
and information in this area may be perceived as worthwhile or meaningful.
The literature also collaborates the attitude and high expectations that some
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Chinese parents set in this area. Thus, enhance Chinese parental
involvement in all six types of parental involvement might see an
improvement in ELL students academic performance.
Theory of Acculturation
Parents from varying cultures may initially interpret the educational
involvement based on their own cultural experiences. It takes time for them
to be acculturated. From the study results indicated there was a significant
difference on the attitudes toward parental involvement in the parents who
have longer years of residence in the U.S., higher education, and better family
income as compared to the parents who did not. According to the
framework, Parents, regardless of the length of the residence, education level,
income status, or their ethnic background all want their children to be
successful in school. However, Chinese American ELL parents in ABC
Unified School District still felt very strongly the type 3: volunteering and the
type 2: communication at schools were quite challenging. Parents’ negative
experiences with schools and staff was one of the obstacles for parental
involvement. To overcome the barriers of racially diverse community,
schools must provide parents and community members with culturally
sensitive information and approaches to nurture the development of parental
involvement.
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Theory of Information Seeking
Public schools in California have had a strong tradition of seeking
various ways to meet the educational needs of the state’s ethnic groups. The
study results indicated that the majority (61%) of the Chinese American ELL
parents in ABC Unified School District seek education information through
Chinese medias, churches, or friends. While the data offered a measure of
utility, the results indicated that the information needs of these end users have
not been effectively met by the ABC Unified School District. According to
the SSCLS study (Chapter II), in order to serve the target populations’ needs
successfully, the ABC USD needs to have special knowledge about the
information seeking in the Chinese American ELL Parents.
Theory of Empowerment
Jim Cummins (1981) proposes a framework that students from
“dominated” minority groups can do well in school if they are empowered.
Parents can involve well in school if they are empowered as well. Many of
the strongest desires (such as communication with schools, volunteering, or
decision making), in degree of increase over current levels of involvement,
concern schools. Schools that empower their minority parents need to carry
the characteristics of this framework to empower their parents
(see Chapter II).
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Fullan (1991) states that change in school occurs vigorously when
parents play a key role in the process of change. School personnel
also have an obligation to reach out to all families so that all students may benefit.
Because modem communities are increasingly diverse in their social, cultural, and
linguistic composition, new flexibilities and approaches for reaching out parents,
especially the Chinese American ELL parents are necessary to ensure that no child
is left behind
Theory of Partnership
Although study results indicated that type 5: Decision Making was a more
complex issue for Chinese American parents to perform and required training, there
was a desire for this opportunity of partnership. Epstein (2001) indicates in her
recent publish that parental involvement accomplishes four things: It strengthens the
bond to the community, conveys information from schools to parents, helps develop
public confidence in school curriculums, and it encourages community residents to
evaluate schools in terms of students’ needs. She also concludes that parents are
generally taking a greater interest in their children’s education and relying less on the
judgment of professional educators and boards of education. Overall, the changes in
cultural and linguistic heritage, family structure, and economic conditions witnessed
at the local school level are reflective of broader national trends. These changes, in
turn, have profound implications regarding a school's expectations for home-school
cooperation and will require dynamic innovations by educators to ensure that our
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rapidly changing school age population receives a rewarding and effective education.
Although Chinese American ELL parents in ABC Unified School District believed
that their roles in school decision making was limited and also showed a least desire
on this issue, the schools and the district should provide the Chinese American ELL
parents the opportunity to participate in this partnership process.
FUTURE STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS
For this research study, a questionnaire was developed to survey the factors
contributing to the Chinese American ELL parents’ attitudes toward parental
involvement in education. The following suggestions are for future research:
1. Replicate this study with all Chinese American parents in ABC Unified
School District serving as the respondents to the survey to compare
responses to the Chinese American ELL parents.
2. Conduct a study of randomly selected parents in ABC Unified School
District to compare responses to those of the Chinese American ELL
parents in this study.
3. Further study on the relationship between the degree of parental
involvement of English Language Learners (ELL) and their children’s
academic performance.
4. Further study on Chinese American parental involvement in education in
other counties in California.
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5. Further study on Chinese American parental involvement in education
other states.
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APPENDIX A
LETTER OF INFORMATION AND QUESTIONNAIRE
\
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Dear Parents and Guardians:
I am a graduate student in the School of Education at the University of Southern California.
I am currently doing my doctoral research on the identification of common issues of Chinese
parental involvement in education. The questions in this survey were developed as a
dissertation study at the University of Southern California in the Department of Education.
Your participation is voluntary and your child will not be disadvantaged if you choose not to
participate in this study.
My interest has always been in seeing that parents receive the services they need in order to
be successful in supporting their children in school and at home. This interest has shaped
my direction in doing the dissertation research on Chinese parents’ attitudes toward the
parental involvement in ABC Unified School District, and you have been randomly chosen
to participate.
In order to complete my study, I would appreciate if you would please complete the
enclosed questionnaire and send it back to me in the enclosed, self-addressed-stamped
envelope as soon as possible. Your timely assistance would be of great value to my research
and would expedite the completion of this study.
Please be assured that all your responses will be kept strictly confidential; no individual
details will be divulged. Your comments will only be used in combination with those of
other survey respondents. Your participation is voluntary and you may leave any question
unanswered. The distribution of this questionnaire was approved by the ABC Unified
School District.
The result of this study will be disseminated as a dissertation format. I also will share the
findings with the District Office and your child(ren)’s school(s) to provide insight as they
plan and implement the parent education services for you.
Thank you in advance for your help with this important study. If you have any questions or
concerns, please contact:
Pao-Ling W. Guo
12254 Cuesta Dr., Cerritos, California 90703
Telephone (562) 926-6734
Sincerely,
Pao-Ling W. Guo
Assistant Principal
ABC Adult School
142
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CHINESE PARENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
A CASE STUDY OF THE ABC UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
PARENT SURVEY
This survey is designed to understand how Chinese parents like you think about parental involvement
in ABC Unified School District. Your responses will be kept completely confidential.
Gender: CIMALE ^FEMALE
Your child(ren)’s grade level(s): OK-2 03-4 G5-6 CJ7-8 H 9-12
1. Place of Birth: nUnited States □China □ Taiwan CHong Kong □ Other
2. If you were bom outside the United States, what year did you come to this country?
□2002 □2000-2001 □1999-1997 □Before 1997
3. Which language do you use most often in work-related situations?
□English □Chinese OOther_____________
4. Which language do you use most often when speaking with your children?
□English □Chinese □ Other_____________
5. How would you rate your reading and writing skills in the(se) language(s)?
English: □ Excellent □ Good □ Average □ Poor
Your Native language: □ Excellent □ Good □ Average □ Poor
6. How would you rate your listening and speaking skills in the(se) language(s)?
English: □ Excellent □ Good □Average □ Poor
Your Native language: □ Excellent □ Good □ Average □ Poor
7. What is the highest level of education you have achieved?
□Did not finish high school □ High school degree or some college
□ College degree □ Graduate degree
8. Do you receive your highest level of education in United States? OYes ONo
9. Would you please check the approximate combined yearly household income (before taxes
and any other payroll deductions) from all sources and all household members for 2002?
□ lower than $25,000 □ $25,000-$60,000
□ $61,000-$90,000 □ more than $ 90,000
10. Which category best describes your regular occupation?
□ Owner Technical or skilled work
n Professional n Service work
□ Manager or administrator □ Sales work
n Clerical work O Other_________________
11. Thinking back over the last few months, have you helped any parents who needed your help?
□Yes □No.
143
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If yes, what kind of problems did the parent(s) have? Please mark all that apply:
□ Parenting problem C l Communicating with school or teacher
n Volunteering Cl Homework or college planning
n School or district’s policies n Community programs
(Other, please specify):
12. Now think of a real life situation, in which you needed help for your own problem solving
regarding your child(ren)’s education. Do you have something in mind? What are they?
Please mark those applied:
Cl Parenting problem O Communicating with school or teacher
n Volunteering □ Homework or college planning
□ School or district’s policies O Community programs
(Other, please specify):
13. Where did you go to get the necessary information for your children’s education?
□School flyers, parent workshops or newsletter □ Friends
□ Church or community groups
□ Chinese newspaper or other news media
(Other, please specify):
Please answer the following questions to provide information for further planning and development.
Please respond to each item in a way which best describes the activities that you experience in your
child(ren)’s school or with ABC Unified School District, by placing a check (X) in one of the five
columns:
1 - Never 2- Seldom 3 - Sometimes 4 - Usually 5 - Always
Item
1 2 3 4 5
Type I: Parenting
14. I attend workshops on parenting or child rearing
provided by school or the district office.
15. I participate in the family support program, i.e. Parent
Expectation Support Achievement (PESA) training, or
District Chinese Parenting workshops.
16. I participate in the family learning program, i.e., family
math, family science, or family reading.
Type 2: Communicating
17. School provides me language translation support at
parent-teacher conferences, workshops or other events.
18. I receive clear information on choosing schools,
selecting courses, programs, and activities within schools.
144
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19. I receive clear information on school policies,
programs, reforms, assessments and transitions.
Type 3: Volunteering
2 0 .1 have been participating in my child(ren)’s classroom
volunteer work.
21.1 have been participating in school level volunteer work.
22.1 have been participating in a district level volunteer
program.
Type 4: Learning at Home
23.1 follow homework policies and monitor my child(ren)’s
schoolwork at home.
24.1 help my child(ren) set academic goals and plan for
college or work.
25.1 follow the school calendar for activities for my
child(ren) and me to do at home or in the community.
Type 5: Decision-Making
26.1 was/am a PTA member.
□ Y es
(5 points)
□ N o
(1 point)
27.1 was/am a school site council member. □ Y es □ N o
28. I was/am a district level advisory council or a committee
member.
□ Y es
(5 points)
□ N o
(1 point)
Type 6: Collaborating with Community
29. I provide services to the community, e.g., recycling
projects, art, music, drama tutoring, or coaching programs.
30.1 am involved in the community activities that support
my child(ren)’s learning, such as city holiday/summer
programs.
31.1 am involved in the programs provided by community
groups or community centers, such as the Artesia Family
Resource Center, Asian Pacific Family Center, Cerritos
Chinese School, etc.
Now that you have completed the survey, please respond to these two questions:
32. How do you rate yourself as to your involvement at your child(ren)’s school?
I am in the:
□Top 20% (Always involved)
□21%-50% (Usually - Sometimes involved)
□ 51 %-80% (Seldom involved)
□Lowest 20% (Never involved)
145
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33. My Highest Priority: which o f the six types listed below are your top priorities. Use “6” to mark your
highest priority, “5” to the second highest priority, and “1” to the least priority, etc.
Type of Parent Involvement Highest Priority
for Me
Type 1: Parenting: To establish home environments to support my child(ren) as student(s).
Type 2: Communication: To have my child(ren)’s school design effective forms of
school-to-home and home-to-school communication about school programs and my
child(ren)’s progress.
Type 3: Volunteering: To participate, recruit, and organize other parents to help and
support students learning.
Type 4: Learning at Home: To have the school provides me information and ideas about
how to help students at home with homework and other curriculum related activities,
decisions, and planning.
Type 5: Decision Making: To become parent leaders and representatives.
Type 6: Collaborating with Community: To identify and integrate community resources
and services to strengthen school programs, enhance my family practices and support my
child(ren)’s learning
34. What are your recommendations and suggestions to newly arrived Chinese parents to stimulate their
involvement in ABC Unified School District?
(Please specify):
35. Do you have any suggestions that ABC Unified School District could do to increase and/or improve Chinese
parents’ involvement in education?
(Please specify):
Thank you for your participation in this educational survey.
Please return the survey in the enclosed, self-addressed-stamped envelope to Pao-Ling Guo,
ABC Adult School. Thank you!!
146
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APPENDIX B
ABC UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD POLICY AND REGULATION
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ABC Unified School District
Community Relations
Parent & Community Involvement
BP 1200
The Board of Education recognizes the necessity and value of parent and community
involvement to support student success and academic achievement, kindergarten
through twelve grade. In order to assure collaborative partnerships among parents,
other community members and schools, the Board of Education and the
administration are committed to the development and implementation of programs to
accomplish this goal.
Board Policy
Adopted: 7/6/93
Revised: 10/13/98
148
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ABC Unified School District A R 1200
Community Relations
Parent & Community Involvement
All schools in the ABC Unified School District will develop and implement
procedures, which will facilitate the active and meaningful involvement of parents
and other community members at the local school site, to support student
achievement. These practices will include:
1. involving parents as partners in the school decision making process
related to their children’s educational progress.
2. Establishing effective two-way communication with all parents,
demonstrating sensitivity and respect for the diverse language and
cultures represented in the school.
3. Ensuring that parents and staff at each school work collaboratively to
develop strategies and programs to facilitate active parent participation in
their children’s education.
4. Providing support, training and coordination for school staff, parents, and
other community members to develop and sustain appropriate school
involvement.
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5. Utilizing school to assist students and families in establishing contact
with community resources that provide guidance and support to enhance
student achievement.
6. Providing parents with information and techniques that may be used at
home to support their children’s academic efforts are school.
7. Involving parents and other community members as partners in decision
making, where feasible, at the individual school site.
Each site will develop a comprehensive plan which is consistent with Board policy
and regulations and which includes the strategies used to implement this plan, as well
as the methods for annually assessing its effectiveness.
Regulation
Approved: 7/6/93
Revised:0/13/98
150
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Asset Metadata

Creator Guo, Pao-Ling W. (author)

Core Title Chinese parents' attitudes toward parental involvement: A case study of the ABC Unified School District

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, bilingual and multicultural,OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, individual and family studies

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Gothold, Stuart (committee chair), Ferris, Robert (committee member), Neu, Beverly (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-635903

Unique identifier UC11340182

Identifier 3116706.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-635903 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 3116706.pdf

Dmrecord 635903

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Guo, Pao-Ling W.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA