Parental Involvement Across Racial and Ethnic Lines: How Epstein’s Model of Parental Involvement Interacts with Parental Involvement in Minority Families

Abstract

Introduction

Parental involvement has been defined in numerous ways over the years, in order to give a frame of reference and set a baseline, the main focus of this article’s definition will be Epstein’s Model (1995) of parental involvement. Epstein’s Model of Parental Involvement includes six main types of parental involvement, which are: parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with community. In this study, Epstein’s Model is used as a traditional definition of parental involvement. By using this model, the study investigates how race/ethnicity may affect parental involvement in the Family Fun Time activities that were designed to promote learning at home and general parental involvement. 

This research addresses the question of can the family fun time activities encourage parental/family involvement. Previous studies discuss the differences in types of parental involvement across racial, ethnic, and cultural lines and how Epstein outlined the importance of parental involvement in a child’s academic success. However, not all parental involvement is equal and the effectiveness of different types of parental involvement varies within different demographic groups (Bower & Griffin, 2011; Lee & Bowen,2006).

Racial and ethnic group status was measured by respondents’ answers to the demographic section of the family fun time survey. Parental involvement was measured through the quantitative and qualitative data gathered from the same survey. The data showed no significant difference in parental involvement across families of different racial/ethnic groups.

Literature Review

            Parental involvement is often cited as a good strategy for helping a student academically succeed. However, many traditional definitions for student involvement are more focused on middle class, white, two-parent families and fail to account for the financial and time constraints that other families may face. Epstein’s Model has been researched and used as the standard for parental involvement in many articles and studies and can help alleviate issues caused by the achievement gap. But it can also cause strain and frustration between teachers and parents because of the resources that it requires of parents, who may or may not be able to meet those expectations due to demographic differences (Bower, & Griffin, 2011; Lee, & Bowen, 2006).

Epstein’s Definition of Parental Involvement

            Epstein’s Model of Parental Involvement (1995) is a traditional model of parental involvement that focuses on learning in the school and at home. Pressure is placed on the parents to ensure that they’re putting in enough work with the child, engaging in enough communication with the teachers, and volunteering enough in the school. Studies indicate that children whose parents are less involved in their school may be at a disadvantage. However, the standard for what is considered enough involvement is decided by the schools and does not account for differences in family lifestyles and the parents’ ability to spend time with their children (Bower, & Griffen, 2011; Lee, & Bowen, 2006).

Parental Involvement and Race/Ethnicity

            According to Fan, Williams, and Wolters (2012), types of parental involvement across racial and ethnic groups have different levels of effectiveness. Gordon and Cui (2014) make a distinction between general parental involvement and school-specific parental involvement, while Bower and Griffin (2011) note that in a small study of low socioeconomic status minority groups, 48% of African Americans, 25% of Hispanics, and 17% of Pacific Islanders believed that the school should be responsible for a child’s academic education and the parents should handle the child’s moral education. Literature from Wang, Hill, and Hofkens (2014), backs this up, stating that different styles of parenting are more effective for different ethnic groups, with authoritative being favored for middle-class European Americans, and directive parenting for minority groups. While minority families may not have the same style of parental involvement as European Americans do, that does not mean that they have less parental involvement with their children. Rather, it implies a gap in the literature surrounding types of parental involvement across demographic lines and a focus on the parenting styles of the dominate racial group in the United States (Lee & Bowen, 2006; McNeal, 2012).

Epstein’s Model and Demographic Differences

            Epstein’s Model (1995) is a well referenced model for the definition of parental involvement, but as stated by Bower and Griffin (2011) and other studies, Epstein’s Model is too generalized and fails to account for differences in parental involvement across racial, ethnic, and cultural lines. Schools that implement the Epstein Model try to improve school and home relations, often putting pressure on parents to become more involved without regard to available resources, such as time and money (Lee & Bowen, 2006; McNeal, 2012; Wang, Hill, Hofkens, 2014).

Data and Methodology

Instrument

A survey questionnaire was created by the 40 members of the Social Research and Program Evaluation team at Longwood University. The survey contained both open-ended and close-ended questions. Items on the survey were designed to evaluate SMART objectives of each of five activities that were completed the previous week by Head Start families. Beyond the objectives of the activities, participants were asked about their experiences with Head Start, take home activities, and demographic information about their households.

Sample

The non-probability sample for this study was based on the 51 children (ages three to five) who attend Head Start in two rural counties in Virginia. After activities were sent home with children for five days, the questionnaire was sent home with all 51 students. Attached to the questionnaire was a children’s book, to incentivize families to return the survey. Guardians of the children were asked to complete the survey and return it to the Head Start teacher the following school day. One questionnaire was returned the next school day. Teachers then sent a reminder home with children to return any outstanding questionnaires. This resulted in 10 more questionnaires being returned. Overall, there was a 22% response rate.

Quantitative Analysis

Quantitative analysis of the returned surveys is based on the close-ended questions. For this study the dependent variable is parental involvement. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was “On a scale of 0-10, how much did you assist your child in this activity?”  The answer choices for this item were “Scale 0-10; 0 = not at all, 10 = a great amount”. The independent variable for this study was race/ethnicity. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was “What is your race/ethnicity?” The answer choices for this question were “Latino/Hispanic, White (Non-Latino), Black or African-American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Middle Eastern, Multiracial, Other, and Prefer not to answer “. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze these variables.

Qualitative Analysis

      Qualitative analysis of the returned surveys is based on the open-ended questions. The open-ended questions on the survey were “What did your family enjoy most about these activities?”, “What recommendations would you suggest to make these activities better?”, and “What are your favorite ways to spend time with your child?”. To answer the research question, “Can afterschool activities encourage parental involvement?”, inductive open coding was used to determine reoccurring themes in the participant’s responses.

Findings

Quantitative Findings

For the quantitative findings, the following variables were examined using descriptive statistics. The dependent variable for this study was parental involvement. Of the 11 responses, the average response rate was a mean, median, and mode of 7 out of 10 on the scale of parental involvement in the activity. Descriptive statistics for this variable are in table 1.

Table 1.

Parental Involvement

	Mean	Median	Mode	S.D.
Level of Involvement	7	7	7	2.40

Note. One of eleven total responses was blank.

The independent variable was race/ethnicity. Of the 11 responses, 40% identified as White (Non-Latino), and 60% identified as Black or African-American. Descriptive statistics for this variable are in table 2.

Table 2.

Number of Respondents by Race/Ethnicity

	White	Black
Number of Respondents	4	6

Note. One of eleven total responses was blank.

A bivariate model was run using race/ethnicity as the independent variable and parental involvement as the dependent variable. The resulting data showed that both white and black parents had an average of 7.67 out of 10 on the scale of involvement in the activity. Descriptive statistics for this variable are in table 3.

Table 3.

Mean Parental Involvement by Race/Ethnicity

	White	Black
Mean Level of Involvement	7.67	7.67

Note. Table of means.

This data would imply that race/ethnicity had no significant effect on parental involvement and that the black and white parents involved in this study had equal levels of involvement in the activity with their child. However, due to issues involving the small sample size, low response rate, and limited resources, the findings of this study are not generalizable to the study participants nor to the community. It is possible that the response rate was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the necessary reduction to interaction between the researchers and participants – which was plausible in past studies with the community – may be the cause of the lower-than-anticipated response rate. 

Qualitative Findings

            Of the family fun time surveys sent out, 11 of them were returned and coded. In the following section, qualitative findings will be presented using the open-ended questions from the survey: “What did your family enjoy most about these activities?”, “What recommendations would you suggest to make these activities better?”, “What are your favorite ways to spend time with your child. Through coding, three themes were identified. The themes were, having fun, spending time with family, and learning. These themes were reflections of what the parents enjoyed about the activities, what the parents thought could be better, and what the families enjoy doing on a regular basis.

            The first theme, having fun, appeared in five out of the 11 returned surveys as an indication of what the respondents liked about the activities. Respondent 10 stated that they enjoyed “Having fun”. Respondent Four said “It brought a lot of fun and laughter for our family”.  And Respondent one indirectly indicated that they had fun by saying “We did each activity at least twice”. These responses indicate that families can have fun during parental involvement activities.

The second theme, spending time with family, appeared in six out of the 11 returned surveys as an indication of what the parents liked in activities. Respondent Nine said they enjoyed “the interaction with our child and the fact that the rest of the family was interested in participating, as well”. Respondent Six recommended getting the activities to “Involve the whole family more”. Respondent One stated that “These activities made it easy and stress free to do something together!”. These responses indicate that the parents in this study enjoyed being able to involve the whole family in parental involvement activities.

            The third theme, learning, appeared multiple times in two out of the 11 returned surveys as an indication of what the parents enjoyed in the activities. Respondent Four said that one of their favorite things was “Learning new activities” and what they liked about the family fun time activities was, “My kids [were] able to learn a lot”. Respondent two enjoyed “Spending time together, and learning new things”. These responses indicate that learning new things was important to parents in this study.

            In the qualitative findings, the themes identified, having fun, spending time with family, and learning, were all indicators of parental involvement, which is what the family fun time activities were designed to encourage. In the literature, Epstein’s framework of parental involvement indicates that at home learning is one of the six main types of parental involvement that help children in school. Epstein’s work also includes parenting as one of the six types of parental involvement, and by setting up a fun way to spend time together as a family, these activities encouraged a good home environment for children to learn in.

Conclusion

            This research examined parental involvement, as defined by Epstein’s Model (1995), and the effects of race/ethnic on the level of parental involvement. The qualitative data showed that the family fun time activities were fun, educational, and provided a way for families to spend time together. This indicates that the family fun time activities were successful in promoting family involvement. The quantitative data on parental involvement supports this statement.

            Both qualitative and quantitative data sets lack any significant evidence of differences in parental involvement across racial or ethnic lines with both categories that were indicated on the surveys having equal levels of parental involvement. However, given the size of the participant group and the small response rate of 22%, these findings are not generalizable to the participant base nor to the general public. Further considerations to take are the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on connections between the researchers, teachers, and family participants, as well as the effects of returning to in-person learning after about a year of online learning. Despite these challenges, the family fun time activities were able to encourage parental involvement for families in the Head Start program and the data collected will be able to help shape future research and activities.

References

Bower, H. A., & Griffin, D. (2011). Can the Epstein model of parental involvement work in a high-minority, high-poverty elementary school? A case study. Professional School Counseling, 15(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759×1101500201  

Epstein, J. (1995). School/family/community partnerships: Caring for the children we share. Phi Delta Kappan, 76, 701-712.        

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Gordon, M., & Cui, M. (2014). School-Related Parental Involvement and Adolescent Academic Achievement: The Role of Community Poverty. Family Relations, 63(5), 616–626. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43695318

Lee, J.-S., & Bowen, N. K. (2006). Parent Involvement, Cultural Capital, and the Achievement Gap among Elementary School Children. American Educational Research Journal, 43(2), 193–218. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699418

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McNeal, R. B. (2012). Checking In or Checking Out? Investigating the Parent Involvement Reactive Hypothesis. The Journal of Educational Research, 105(2), 79–89. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26586911

Wang, M.-T., Hill, N. E., & Hofkens, T. (2014). Parental Involvement and African American and European American Adolescents’ Academic, Behavioral, and Emotional Development in Secondary School. Child Development, 85(6), 2151–2168. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24696720