- Choose one stage of the school system you will investigate:
- Junior/Senior Kindergarten
- Primary (grades 1 – 3)
- Junior (grades 4 – 5)
- Middle School (grades 6 – 8)
- Secondary School (grades 9 – 12)
- Conduct a literature search using the Internet and periodicals. Your goal is to gather secondary research on the role that parents play in the education of their children. Ensure that you keep track of where you found all of your research. You will be required to cite all of your sources and give credit using the APA style of citation.
- Conduct primary research. Your goal is to answer the research question
“What role do parents play in the education of their children?”
- Determine how to gather information and who the sample will be. You may decide to interview parents of children in your selected group, teachers and administrators, parent volunteers (e.g., Home and School Association, Parent Council) or students. To keep your study manageable, choose ONE segment to research.
- You will need to determine your best method (tool) of information gathering – survey, interview, observation or a combination of these methods.
- Create a research tool that will be distributed to the sample you selected above.
- Follow the guidelines given in class about creating your research tool. Your teacher must approve your sample and research tool before it is administered.
- Each student in the group must be involved in the administration of the survey. When conducting your primary research collection it is important that you respect an individual’s choice to respond to an interview/survey with “no comment” or “no response at all” as a valid answer. Some people will prefer not to participate in your research.
After the primary research is brought back to class your group will tally the data. All groups’ members should have this information.
Write a three-page report that will include the following:
Part A – Introduction and Method
- A brief summary of the method and sample used for your primary research
Part B – Results and Discussion
- Summarize findings, draw conclusions, and identify similarities and differences between your secondary research and primary results.
- Did you notice any differences between the males and females that you surveyed? Ages of students?
- How does the information collected in your survey compare to the material presented in the book and in other secondary sources? How are they similar or different? Why do you think the similarities/ differences exist?
- Are there any views that you find surprising?
- Based on your research answer the question “What makes for an effective school?”
Part C – Conclusion
- Examine your research and identify its the implications. What does your research say about the role that parents play in the education of their children?
- Based on both your primary and secondary research create a list of creative approaches to fostering parental involvement in schools. Ensure that your suggestions are realistic and appropriate to the age group you are investigating.
The following websites will be helpful in your research. They should be used as a starting point only.