Factors Influencing Parental Disengagement in One Rural School Distric

Parental Involvement is a heavily debated topic in school across America. Schools are often faced with dismal levels of active parent participation and are faced with the task of developing programs to encourage parents to become or remain involved in their children's education. Current literature consistently shows increasingly positive academic and behavioral performance of students with higher levels of parental involvement in education. The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of parents regarding disengagement in one rural school district in the southeastern United States. This quantitative study attempted to determine the factors most influential to the disengagement of parents in the district, activities most likely to remove barriers and improve parental involvement levels, perceived levels of implementation of the district's parental involvement program, as well as differences between the perceptions of parents of students with disabilities and those with children only receiving regular education instruction. Descriptive statistical analysis results indicate that disengagement in the district is highly influenced by parental employment demands, reduced capacity of parents to help with homework, and parental health issues or physical disability. This study also revealed that parents perceive that the district is adequately implementing its parental involvement program but needs to improve communication efforts to be inclusive of all parents.