Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Mary Elizabeth Roth

Abstract

The intent of this study was to explore the perceptions of administrators, teachers, students, and families of students in one urban high school regarding the importance of family, school, and community engagement; and to explore the steps they take, or not, to develop and sustain such engagements. The study is grounded in Bandura’s (1977, 1986) work which indicates self-efficacy influences peoples’ beliefs to perform different tasks. Additionally, the study relies on Epstein’s (1995) theory of overlapping spheres which postulates six typologies to guide family and community engagement. A two-phase, explanatory sequential mixed methods was used to obtain statistical results from four different samples. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to help explore the perceptions, roles, and practices of the participants. Chronbach Alpha was used to test for reliability while a one-way ANOVA was used to test for differences. A Turkey post hoc test checked for differences among means where differences existed. Qualitative data were coded based on the themes in Epstein’s (1995) typologies. Data from all sources were triangulated. The findings revealed marginal differences among perceptions of the groups regarding the importance of family and community engagement. Statistically significant differences regarding roles on specific typologies were identified among the groups. Finally, statistically significant differences were found between perceptions and practices of the participants. A detailed discussion of the findings pinpointed areas of misalignments. Recommendations for immediate interventions as well as future studies were reported.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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