Wanat,+Carolyn+L.,+2010

Cynthia D. Mosley EDU 713 June 1, 2011

Reference: Wanat, Carolyn L. (2010). Challenges Balancing Collaboration and Independence in Home-School Relationships: Analysis of Parents’ Perceptions in One District. //The School Community Journal// 20(1), 159-186. **Introduction ** Collaboration between school and home is critical in the education of a child. However, schools and families sometime find it difficult to effectively communicate with each other. Lightfoot (1978) labeled parents and teachers as “worlds apart” because they had different, often conflicting feelings and responsibilities for children. Wanat was interested in “discovering what parents perceived as incentives and barriers to their involvement”. Her question for her research was: Is there an optimal balance of collaborative and separate relationships between parents and schools? Wanat defines optimal balance as occurring when parents and school professionals respect one another’s knowledge, identify areas for collaboration, and recognize their unique roles to help children. **The Project ** The researcher chose a K-12 public school district in which to find answers to her question. The school district consisted of one high school, one middle school, and five elementary schools. The school district chosen for this study was considered to be a white working class community. “Diversity was by social class, specifically occupation and income.” The working class parents were employed in the town’s manufacturing plant, fast food restaurants, or as service providers. Parents who were considered middle class were plant managers, or they commuted to a nearby town where they held “professional positions”. The researcher completed parent interviews, and observed parents and school personnel during building and district activities. The observed activities heavily demonstrated parental participation. **Method ** In this single case study, 14 parents were chosen by principals within the school unit (two from each school) to participate in semi-structured interviews. A semi-structured interview is flexible. The interviewer is allowed to ask new questions that are dependent upon what the interviewee states. Of the 14 parents chosen to participate in this process, 13 parents gave their consent. Of this group, each parent presented the researcher with positive views about the school-home collaboration. Since there were no barriers or negative feelings about school-home collaboration present, the researcher asked the principals for a second list of 14 parents, two from each school, to include in this project. The researcher did stipulate that the parents chosen this time must have presented the school with a complaint about a difficult working relationship with their child’s teacher or the school. Each of the 14 parents verbally agreed to participate in the study. At the time of the second set of scheduled interviews, seven parents adhered to their agreed upon interview time. The researcher completed semi-structured interviews with 13 parents who reported positive experiences and seven parents whose experiences were negative. The interviews were performed at a time and place convenient for the parents. Some interviews were given at school, parent’s place of employment, and at fast food restaurants. The interviewer used open-ended questions in order to determine ways in which the school district encouraged and/or discouraged parental participation. The average interview lasted one hour. Interviews lasted from 45 minutes to one hour and 45 minutes. During the observational piece of the study, seven events in the district were chosen. The events were recommended by principals and parents. Three elementary PTA meetings, a high school parents’ meeting and building tour, a classroom open house, a district family science night, and a Citywide PTA Council meeting were observed. Using the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, Strauss & Corbin, 1998), each piece of data was coded. Codes across interviews and observations were reviewed and refined. Next, codes for parents with positive and negative perspectives were viewed for similarities and differences. The results of this study were based on emerging themes of the project. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Results ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The following themes emerged from the study: types of parental involvement, parents’ ability to contribute, involvement in student learning, involvement in curriculum, classroom visitation policies, parent-teacher relationships, and PTA-Principal relationships. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In this study, parents on both sides of the aisle stated that they wanted to be involved in their children’s education. However, social class and the needs of the children hindered some parents’ ability to positively be involved. The parents of special education students were the most dissatisfied. They felt that teachers were not there to assist them with their children’s learning. They also felt that there was limited communication between the teacher and home. They felt as if they were being a nuisance to their children’s teachers by asking questions. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">On the other side, parents with high social capital were the most satisfied of the group. These parents were the first group of parents to be selected by the principals. Only two of the satisfied parents had children with special needs. However, they felt that the school responded appropriately to the needs of their children. Their involvement in their children’s education differed from the parents who stated they were dissatisfied. These parents were mostly board members of the schools’ PTA’s and members of the district’s school board. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Parents with lower social capital felt that they were look downed upon. They did not feel as if their opinions mattered because the teachers were the ones with the college education, while they only had a high school education. This feeling of being the lower class was also found through overheard conversations where teachers were commenting on parents’ occupations, status in the town, and “moral” habits, i.e. smoking. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The parents with the most satisfaction belonged to a social network of parents. These parents had multiple connections with other parents within the school and the community. This group was seen to be active members in the PTA and volunteered in various classrooms of more than one school. They were also officers in their local congregations, community organizations, and theater groups. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Dissatisfied parents had no relationships with the school. Their social networks consisted of family members and neighbors. Four parents who were dissatisfied had siblings or spouses who were teachers. These parents did not have any formal communication with parents at their children’s schools. The lack of having a social network kept the parents from having someone to turn to when they had questions. “Some parents in dense social networks were more successful than others in having a collaborative relationship with schools.” <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">To answer the researcher’s question of, “Is there an optimal balance of collaborative and separate relationships between parents and schools in this district?” The researcher found that the answer “varied by parents’ overall satisfaction with how they were treated.” **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Discussions, Implications, Recommendations ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The researcher states that her own frame of reference caused her to have bias when it came to this study. She is a teacher (high school and now college professor). She also comes from a working class family. She states that as she interviewed participants, she found that she could relate to the working class families who were frustrated, and also towards the professional class that were pleased with the collaborations in their children’s schools. She did feel that her understanding of both classes allowed her to maintain her objectivity throughout the study. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Another limitation in this study is the small number of participants interviewed and the number of observations that were conducted. Because of the small number of participants, it is difficult to determine what this study means on a wider level. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In Wanat’s words, her study suggests that “schools could be more welcoming to all parents.” She found that the participants wanted collaboration within the schools, but some found it difficult to form these relationships. She also states that principals could take the lead in involving parents. Principals could establish relationships with parents of “academically successful” students and parents with those whose children had difficulty. She feels that this would give the parents an opportunity to have a built-in support system. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Parents wanted more communication. They felt that they were made aware of their children’s difficulties in school once it was too late. One recommendation made to curb this feeling is by having classroom teachers hold “open houses”. This would allow parents to view their children’s work and ask questions if needed. The special open houses would be held in addition to regular parent-teacher meetings. This would give everyone involved in the child’s education an opportunity to collaborate more frequently. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In the end, Wanat feels that teachers and schools need to realize that, “All parents have something to offer. Schools must value and discover talents that are unique to the parents it serves to create successful school-home collaboration.” **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">My Thoughts ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A major strength of this study is that the researcher refused to allow the principals’ initial pool of volunteers to taint her study. She returned to the building administrators and requested additional parents be added to the list with the stipulation that they would include parents that had aired grievances. Even though this study was based on information given by one school district, it does give a well-rounded view of their parents’ voices. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A second strength of this research was the use of open-ended questions and the semi-structured interview process. This allowed the researcher to glean more information from the participants. They were able to freely express how they felt about the collaboration efforts of their children’s schools. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A limitation of the research was the small number of people who were interviewed for the study. The number of participants and the racial make-up of the study do give a biased view of our society’s educational system when it comes to school-home collaboration. In my opinion, it would have been helpful to see how neighboring districts with a diverse ethnic and class background viewed the collaborative efforts within their schools. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I do agree with Wanat when she states that all parents have something to provide to their children’s schools. “We must value and discover talents” that our parents have. With this knowledge, more parents are apt to become more involved in the total educational process of their children. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Questions I would like to have answered are: Has a follow-up study been done with the same or similar group of parents? How have the collaborative efforts of the district improved? **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Connections to Course Material ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In chapter one of __Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals,__ we have learned that the definition of collaboration is “a style for direct interaction between at least two co-equal parties voluntarily engaged in shared decision making as they work toward a common goal”. The stakeholders in the study each felt a responsibility for the education of their children. However, one idea that kept them from being effective in this goal is that they were not engaged in shared decision making. Each had their own ideals or feelings, and there was little sharing, especially with the parents with low social capital. Wanat suggests that the schools get to know the parents on a deeper level. In order to accomplish this goal, each party must voluntarily engage. Once they engage, they will be able to interact and work towards a common goal.

Friend, M, & Cooke, L. (2010). Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals (6th edition). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
 * References**