Engaging high school families to support student needs : a qualitative embedded case study investigating perspectives of Louisiana high school teachers and parents towards equitable collaborations.

In Louisiana High Schools, a growing number of students face challenges that cannot be addressed by schools or families in isolation. Overcoming factors that prevent student success requires a collective effort, yet too few parents and teachers engage in collaboration to support the needs of students at the high school level. A lack of collaboration between parents and teachers can result in missed opportunities to support high school students. To address this problem, I conducted a qualitative single case study with embedded units of analysis to explore how parents and high school teachers describe the goals, strategies, parent role, and process through which they engage in equitable collaboration. The theoretical framework that guided this study was Ishimaru’s equitable collaboration framework, which contrasts collaboration with traditional deficit-based approaches to parent involvement in four dimensions: goals, strategies, roles, and processes (Ishimaru, 2014). I collected electronic questionnaires and conducted individual semi-structured interviews with three parents and three teachers of students at one high school in Northwestern Louisiana. Within-case analysis revealed four themes to answer the research question. First, parents and high school teachers describe goals of collaboration related to student growth, identifying and preparing the students for future opportunities, and sustaining a shared effort to meet student needs. Second, participants describe strategies supporting equitable collaboration as active communication, accessible information, and authentic relationships. Third, all participants describe the parent role in collaboration as sharing knowledge, while parents also describe the role as providing perspective, and teachers describe the role of parents as remaining open to engagement. Finally, parents and high school teachers describe collaboration as a process that creates community connections, while parents also describe fostering empathy, and teachers describe an increased capacity to serve. This study has implications for parents, high school teachers, and educational leaders. Parents and high school teachers benefit from connecting, sharing knowledge, and remaining open and honest in relationships. I recommend educational leaders consider actions that support collaborative relationships between parents and high school teachers. Additional research is needed to explore the experiences of nondominant parents and the impact of community leaders on collaboration at the high school level.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Wienk, Erin L., 1986-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Guerra, Jennifer J., 1970-

• Collaboration.
• Homeschool engagement.
• Parent-teacher involvement.
• Equitable opportunities.
• Student outcomes.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/14013

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/14013