An Assessment of the Parent Orientation Program at the University of North Texas

Although most institutions offer a parent program option to the orientation program, there has been little formalized research into the quality, planning or programming of parent orientation. There has been very little research into the impact parent orientation has on parents and whether or not they feel that such programs have met their needs, particularly by gender, minority status, educational background, or by geographic distance from the institution. This study seeks to determine the effectiveness of the parent orientation program at the University of North Texas to the parents who participate in this program. The study attempts to measure whether parents feel that they have adequate information about the institution to adequately support their student through the college transition; if parents feel welcomed by the UNT campus community; and if they feel that they have developed resources and institutional contacts that may be useful in the future in assisting their child to have a successful college experience at UNT. The study, conducted in the summer of 2002, had 736 respondents. An instrument developed to determine parent's perceptions of the effectiveness of the parent orientation program consisted of 31 questions using a Likert scale. A t-Test was utilized to analyze the data because it is designed to compare the means of the same variable with two different groups. Generally, all aspects of the parent orientation program were found to be positive by each subgroup. Parents found value in the orientation program and how it prepared them to support their new college student. In all four components studied, women had a stronger feeling than the males. Minority status had no significant impact on the outcomes of orientation according to the participants. Educational background proved not to be a significant factor. Distance parents lived from UNT revealed significant difference in three of the four categories. The farther a parent resides from UNT, the more valuable the orientation experience was for them.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2002

Author dc:creator

• With, Elizabeth

Contributors dc:contributor

• Baier, John L.
• Rafes, Richard
• Gardner, Kent

• Education, Higher -- Parent participation -- Texas -- Denton.
• College students -- Texas -- Denton -- Family relationships.
• University of North Texas.
• parent orientation program
• college transition
• programming orientation
• campus community
• t-Test

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• With, Elizabeth
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 52098930
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3300/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc3300

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc3300