An exploratory study on the effects of home-school communication on parental involvement

摘要

This thesis was designed to study the effects of home-school communication on parent involvement by implementing the program Project S.P.E.A.K.: Students, Parents, and Educators Actively Keeping in Touch. The targeted population consisted of 24 certified general education teachers and 505 parents of students in kindergarten through Grade 5. The issue in this study is that parents and teachers were not communicating well with each other. At the targeted site, parent involvement and attendance at school functions had dropped drastically over the past five years. The data that was collected from the surveys suggested that poor home and school communication had an effect on the number of parents who were involved in the school. Project S.P.E.A.K. was designed to improve communication between teachers and parents. Project S.P.E.A.K presented opportunities for all parents to become involved in their childrenu27s learning and school by organizing a Project S.P.E.A.K. student council, utilizing grade parents more efficiently, recognizing stakeholders for their effort to increase parent involvement, and involving parents, students and teachers in the efforts to increase parent involvement. An analysis of the data revealed that the Project S.P.E.A.K. initiative produced significant changes in behavior at the targeted site. This study also gives reference to school social workers and how they aid in the process of facilitating home-school communication. This study also gives implications for school social work practice, with recommendations for educators and recommendations for future research.