School Experiences Then and Now: Are Parents' Perceptions of Their Own School Experiences Related to Their Perceptions of Their Child's Middle School?

• Main Author: Sanchez-Horn, Roxana M
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholar Commons 2005
• Subjects: Parent involvement; Educational experiences; Opinions; Socio-economic status; Level of education; Race; Barriers; American Studies; Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/843; https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1842&context=etd

The current study explored the relationship between parents perceptions of their childs middle school and parents perceptions of their own school experiences. Additionally, it was important to research how these relationships differed among variables. The variables explored were (1) race, (2) parents own educational backgrounds (level of education), and (3) socio-economic status. Based on scales commonly used in the study of parent involvement, a survey (i.e., Parent Perceptions of Schooling) was developed. The survey consisted of two parts (i.e., Part I, How I Feel About My Childs School and Part II: Parents Own School Experiences Questionnaire) and a demographic section (i.e., Part III: Demographic Information). The first two parts were divided into factors or subscales (i.e., Part I: Information, Participation, and Welcome; Part II: Teachers, Parents, Self, and School), all of which were found to have high internal consistency and reliability. The survey was administered to parents of middle school children at a middle school in Pasco County, Florida. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that none of the predictor variables significantly predicted the dependant variables. However, significant correlations emerged between (1) Information and Race-Other; (2) Information and Level of Education; (3) Participation and Level of Education; (4) Teachers and Race-Hispanic; (5) Teachers and SES; (6) Self and Level of Education; (7) School and Level of Education; and (8) School and SES. Additionally seven significant correlations were found when taking into consideration interaction affects of predictor, dependant, and moderator variables. Limitations to this study and survey research in general are discussed, as well as future directions.