Alex Benfanti
SOCL-345-03
September 28, 2019
Longwood University
Abstract
This purpose of us doing this study is because we are looking at how simple and preplanned activities that involved the whole family can better improve parental involvement in their child’s/children’s educational lives. This study was done by creating surveys in which we created that question the participants how they liked the activities. The participants of this study consist of 86 lower-middle class families who are a part of the Head Start Program in three rural southern Virginia counties. The data from the surveys that we received back were studied by students at Longwood University. This research study is a mixed methods study. The data that we are collecting for this study is based off of what the participants respond with on the surveys they take after all five of the activities we created are handed out to their child/children. Our qualitative data was based on the short answer open-ended question. One example of these questions is: If you could to change at least one thing about these activities for future use, what would it be?. For our Quantitative data, it was based on the closed-ended question that were based on the participants measuring the family’s enjoyment they had while participating in the pre-planned activities. An example of the type of question is as follows: On a scale of 0-10, how much did your family enjoy this activity? (0=Not at all, 10=Very much). The themes that we found with this study were the positive correlations between a parent’s involvement in the activities and the child’s/children’s enjoyment along with the child’s/children’s better comprehension of the assignment.
Introduction
For this study we looked to see if pre-planned activities sent home with the children that are a part of the head start program could possibly help increase the level of parental involvement. This involved sending out surveys to 86 lower middle-class families in three rural southern Virginia counties. A deficiency in our study was that we were only able to survey a small portion of families, and only those that had a child or children that 3 to 5 years old and were a part of the head start program. This study matters to the real world because it gives an insight into how parents can become involved in their child’s/children’s academic lives which can better their relationship as a family. It also allows the children to learn while having fun all at the same time.
Literature Review
Defining Parental Involvement
Parental involvement defined by the Epstein (2009) Model is when parents engage in activities related to their child school and activities at home as well. These include volunteering at the school, attending school events, performances and sporting events. With increased parental involvement, students tend to see an increase in their academic achievements (Bower and Griffin, 2011). Other way parents can get involved is by going to parent teacher conferences, Joining the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), helping fund programs with things such as supplies (Domina 2005; Juvonen, Le, Kaganoff, Augustine and Constant 2004).
Academic Achievement
According to developmental psychologists, it is important that parents are involved in their children’s lives in the early stages of their academic careers. Theses developmental psychologists also suggest that parents become highly involved in the children’s education when they are transitioning from elementary school to middle school. One way parents are able to help their children transition into middle school, is to be knowledgeable about their children’s schoolwork and their activities. Having a close connection with their children and communicating with them is what this helps to build. Parent not monitoring or not staying involved means their children are at an elevated risk of not doing well and achieving in school (Juvonen et al).
Data and Methods
Study Design and Sample
This study consisted of families with children in the Head Start program. The Head Start program is provides comprehensive early childhood education and is funded through the United States Department of Health and Human Services (hhs.gov). For the purpose of this study, the Head Start program tht we looked at was for children ages 3 to 5 years old. We surveyed the Head Start programs of 3 rural southern Virginia Counties which consisted of 86 families. For each of the 86 families, we sent home 5 activities that we believed would help encourage and strengthen parental involvement in their child’s/children’s education. The overall compliance rate was 22% for the open-ended questions of the survey and 40% for the closed ended questions of the survey.
Procedure
Following the guidelines of our Institutional Review Board, before the families filled out to surveys sent home with their child/children, there was a consent form for them to read and sign. The surveys the parents took was done so on pen and paper. The surveys were also sent home with their children along with the fifth and final activity. As an incentive to complete the surveys, each one had a $5 gift card to Walmart attached to it. Seeing as the survey was sent home on a Friday, the parents were given that weekend to complete them, and they were meant to be collected the following Monday. However, they were given an extra day in case some of the parents forgot to return them or their child/children forgot to hand them to their teacher.
Qualitative Measures
For the qualitative measures, we used open-ended questions to calculate the parent’s enjoyment, what they gained from each activity, and if they had too, what they would have changed about the activities. If you could to change at least one thing about these activities for future use, what would it be? The Family Fun Time Activities included a Thankful Turkey Activity, an Animal Dice Activity, a Noodle Necklace Activity, a Stress Ball Balloon Activity, and a Sugar Tray Writing Activity. What was your favorite activity and why? Please explain what your family gained from these activities. How will you use what you gained in the future?
Quantitative Measures
We used closed ended questions in order to calculate the how the parents rated their relationship with their child/children. How would you rate your relationship with your child/children? (0= Mostly negative, 10= Mostly positive)
Analysis
Quantitative analysis. In order to examine the responses, we received from the surveys, we used the 25th addition of the S.P.S.S., which stands for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.
Qualitative analysis. We used the data gathered from the open-ended questions to explore themes of parental involvement.
Qualitative Findings
Nineteen of the 86 surveys we gave out were returned to us by the Tuesday after they were handed out. Of those 19 surveys returned, there were three recurring themes seen when reading the opened-ended questions at the beginning of the survey. Those three themes were as follows: Teamwork, increased family time (fun time), and the enjoyment of learning.
The first of the three themes were about the families using teamwork. The first respondent talked about how the activities allowed their family teamwork. Respondent 4 said, “She learned to take turns.” Respondent 7 said, “We enjoyed sitting down together and doing the activity as a family.” Respondent 13 said, “We were together doing these activities: my brother, me and my son.” Respondent 15 said, “We all gained experience in following directions and working together.” Respondent 16 said, “We gained that we can work together and have fun.”
The second the themes that we were able to identify was increased family time (fun time). When answer the question regarding what the family gained from the activities respondent 3 said, “Time spent together and being able to do crafts. It opened the door for other simple activities.” Regarding the same question, respondent 8 mentioned that “It had us spend more time together by looking up more things to do as a family.” Also, regarding the question about the preplanned activities increasing family time, respondent 8 said. “Yes, it did, because most time we got other stuff to do so not able to do much together.” In regard to the question about increased family time, respondent 11 said, “Yes, it was something that we made time for we don’t always get that chance.” Respondent 19 said, “Yes, I think it increased the amount of fun time because usually only the older kids get help with homework and get to do activities.”
The third and final theme that we were able to identify from the open-ended question was about the enjoyment of learning and participating in the activities the families and children had. Respondent 7 said, “He felt like a big boy doing homework and making something with his own hands.” Respondent 5 said, “Our family was able to bond. We learned that we can learn and have fun at the same time.” Respondent 9 said, “We had fun learning together.” Regarding the question about what the family gained from the activities, respondent 11 said, “Fun learning activities that we can keep playing in the future.” In regard to the same question as just mentioned, respondent 12 said, “’Mommy and Me’ time with education and creative projects. My daughter had a time of laughs and learning.”
Of the 86 families that were a part of our research through the Head Start program, we collected 19 of their surveys. In those 19 surveys we were able to identify 3 key themes throughout. The themes that we identified were as follows: Teamwork, increased family time, and enjoyment learning/participating. Overall our findings seem to support a relative positivity towards the activities and an increase in parental involvement. What these activities shows is that the easiness and simplicity of the activities can help families and parents work alongside their children.
Quantitative Findings
Using the same survey that we used in order to find the qualitative findings, open-ended questions, we used to determine the quantitative findings, closed-ended questions. However, in for the quantitative findings, we are pulling our data from 35 surveys, whereas at the time of the qualitative findings, we had only 19 surveys returned. This can be seen in the graphs that can be seen below, as to not confuse anyone as to why there is more data than what was seen in the qualitative findings.
The dependent variable that we looked at was “How would you rate your relationship with your child/children? (0= Mostly negative, 10= Mostly positive)”. Of the 35 surveys that we received, the average response (mean) to how the parents would rate their relationship with their children was 9.63 out of 10. Table one below shows that of the 35 surveys we examined, 22.9% rated their relationship with their children between 1 and 9, 77.1% rated their relationship a 10.
Table 1
Parent and Child Relationship
Rating Count %
1-9 8 22.9
10 27 77.1
Total 35 100
Note*. Rating values condensed to make chart easier to understand
The independent variable that we examined for this section was the question “During a typical week, how many hours do you work?”. Of the 35 surveys we got back from the participants, only 28 answer the question asking how many hours they work in a typical week. Disclaimer aside, the average (mean) of those 28 answers was 31.3 hours worked in a typical week. As seen in Table 2 below, of the 28 respondents, 42.9% of them worked between 0 and 30 hours in a typical week, whereas 57.1% of respondents worked 31 or more hours in a typical week.
Table 2
Hours Worked in a Typical Week
Hours Count %
0-30 12 42.9
31-40+ 16 57.1
Total 28 100
Note*. Only 28 of the respondents answered this question
The independent variable (hours worked in a week) and the dependent variable (relationship with child) correlated as such. 25% of parents that said they worked 0-30 hours a week rated their relationship with their kids a 1-9, whereas the other 75% of those parents rated their relationships a 10. Similarly, to the 0-30 hour work week parents, 25% of parents that work 31 or more hours a week rated between 1 and 9 their relationship with their kids. The other 75% also rated a 10 on their relationship.
Table 3
How the Numbers of Hours Worked in a Week Relate to Parent Child Relationship
Relationship Hours Worked
With Child 0-30 31-40+
1-9 25% 75%
10 25% 75%
Total 100% 100%
Conclusion
Throughout the process of making the surveys, making the activities, sending out and receiving the data from the surveys, we have learned a few things. What we were able to find was that there was a correlation between the number of hours parents worked and how they rated their relationships with their children because of it. We were also able to learn that simple, easy to understand and pre-planned activities, such as the ones we sent home with the children of Head Start program, helped in increasing a parent’s involvement in their child’s education. They were also able to understand how learning can be fun and enjoyable when doing so in a family environment.