Examining the Complexities of Parental Engagement at an Online Charter High School: A Narrative Analysis Approach

Abstract

With the rapid growth of K-12 online learning opportunities, calls have come for more and better parental engagement to improve student engagement and reduce student attrition. In this article, we drew from a larger study to share rich narratives from three parents of students who required high levels of parental support for their online learning while enrolled at a charter cyber school. In the first narrative, a mother describes her experiences attempting to work with her son Ivan, who rejected her efforts and disobeyed rules while enrolled in the cyber school. The move from a brick-and-mortar school to the cyber school further strained their relationship and the mother was unprepared to manage Ivan’s learning. The second narrative focuses on how a mother attempted to support Matthew, who lacked self-regulation abilities. The mother who previously homeschooled Matthew, turned to the cyber school because she wanted “less on [her] shoulders” but underestimated the amount of support Matthew required and became frustrated at her lack of control over the pace and content of courses. The final narrative focuses on a mother who had two students enrolled in the cyber school. Each student exhibited different needs that required her to adapt the support strategies she used with Hannah, who procrastinated, and Karl, who lacked confidence. These narratives highlight some of the complexities parents navigate when engaging with their children’s online learning.

Self-regulated learning in online learning environments: strategies for remote learning

“…Providing social and emotional support for families Learners need to perceive that they have on-site support for SRL in online learning (Sha et al, 2012). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, online teachers relied heavily on parents or other mentors to help with SRL, including monitoring student progress, providing encouragement, communicating information about tasks and achievement and even providing instructional support (Borup et al, 2019a(Borup et al, , 2019bRice and Carter, 2015;Rice and Carter, 2016;Sorenson, 2019). Considering the different perceptions, expectations and capabilities parents or other on-site mentors might bring to online work, establishing consistent communication patterns about how to provide support for SRL seems vital to successfully transitioning to online work .…”

A framework for family engagement : Going beyond the Epstein Framework

“…While not without criticism , Johnson 2015 the framework still holds an appeal for practitioners and researchers alike. Epstein's framework is of course only one of many which are available to practitioners and researchers (For a discussion of other frameworks, see: Goodall 2017); but as noted, this framework still holds a great deal of currency (See, for example, Borup, Walters et al 2019, Akbari 2022, Bates, Finlay et al 2022, for reasons which will be discussed below.…”

Fframwaith ar gyfer ymgysylltiad teuluoedd: Mynd y tu hwnt i Fframwaith Epstein

“…Er nad oedd heb ei feirniaid (Baquedano-López, Alexander et al 2013, Johnson 2015 mae'r fframwaith yn dal i apelio at ymarferwyr ac ymchwilwyr fel ei gilydd. Wrth gwrs, dim ond un o nifer sydd ar gael i ymarferwyr ac ymchwilwyr yw fframwaith Epstein (Am drafodaeth ar fframweithiau eraill, gweler: Goodall 2017); ond fel y nodwyd, mae'r fframwaith hwn yn dal i fod yn boblogaidd iawn (Gweler, er enghraifft, Borup, Walters et al 2019, Akbari 2022, Bates, Finlay et al 2022, am resymau a fydd yn cael eu trafod isod.…”