Principals and Parent Involvement in Wisconsin Middle Level Public Schools

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to identzfy parent involvement practices used in Wisconsin middle level schools, and to determine the extent to which those parent involvement practices are consistent with Epstein's five-part model of parent involvement in schools. The study also examined questions involving the relationship between characteristics of the school and principal and the Epstein model of parent involvement. The predominant practices identified involved basic obligations of the parents and the school. Parent involvement in decision making and governance and with home learning also occurred, but with less frequency than practices related to providing informa tion to parents about parenting or about the school and its programs. The least prevalent practice identified was the involvement of parents as school volunteers. School characteristics injuencing parent involvement practices include enrollment, grade confgura tion, location, percentage of staf sending home positive messages about students, and the percentage of staf providing assistance to parents helping students with school work. The characteristics of the principal influencing parent involvement practices include longevity and level of educational attainment. Wisconsin public middle schools regularly engage in a variety of parent involvement practices and many of those practices displayed high and statistically significant relationships with each other. Furthermore, certain background characteristics of the school and principal were related to the types of parent involvement practices reported.