Teachers' and parents' attitudes and perceptions of parental involvement in a Louisiana school district

The purpose of this research was to examine parents' and educators' attitudes and perceptions concerning the involvement of parents in the educational process, as well as discovering factors that may cause parents to be involved. The rationale for this study was supported by a broad spectrum of literature that states parental involvement is wanted and needed by parents, student and teachers. The study consisted of a quantitative research study, which utilized descriptive data. The research is guided by two research questions: Is there a significant difference between the parent responses and teacher responses on attitudes toward parental involvement in Louisiana school districts and Is there a significant difference in parent and teacher perceptions on potential ways of involving parents in Louisiana school districts? The research contains two hypotheses, which state that there will be a significant difference in the responses of research question 1 and 2; and two null hypotheses, which states there will be no significant difference in the responses of research questions 1 and 2. The instrument used in this research was the Elementary Parent and Teacher Survey on Parent Involvement, which was designed by Joyce Epstein. The survey was given anonymously via Survey Monkey. The population for this study included teachers and parents of students in grades Kindergarten to Grade 5, from four Title I schools located in a Louisiana school district. The sample consisted of 40 parents and 50 teachers. The findings of this research concluded that there was a failure to reject the null hypotheses and the findings between parents and teachers were very close in percentages. The outcome of this study revealed that there is no significant difference between parent and teacher responses toward parental involvement in Louisiana school districts.