African-centered education in middle schools: the decision-making process in a parental engagement model

<p>ABSTRACT</p> <p>AFRICAN-CENTERED EDUCATION IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS: THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN A PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT MODEL</p> <p>by</p> <p>LATRICE N. HICKS DUNN</p> <p>May 2012</p> <p>Advisor: Dr. David Whitin</p> <p>Major: Curriculum and Instruction</p> <p>Degree: Doctor of Education</p> <p>The ways in which key stakeholders influencing decision-making processes in African-centered schools in urban areas are qualitatively different from that of parental involvement in mainstream schools; these perceived differences influence decision-making in various ways. The purpose of this research is to investigate ways in which parents, teachers and administrators of African American middle-school student's talk about the decision-making aspect of parental engagement in African-centered school settings. Parental involvement significantly impacts student achievement. Therefore, identifying beliefs about parental roles at the school and home level provides some insight into ways in which parents are a part of the decision-making process in curriculum and instruction. Increasing parents' ability to negotiate the education of their children is the goal of this research. An ethnographic research approach was utilized in this study. This pragmatic approach was chosen because of the interest in understanding the effect of the actual role of parents and perceptions about the role of parents in the decision-making process. Three data sources were established for this study; they included interviews of parents, teachers, and administrators. The findings of this study suggests that the ways in which the parents, teachers, and administrators interviewed talk about parent participation in African-centered schools include forms of traditional parental involvement and parental engagement as defined by the research; the extent of parent decision-making varies and is not an isolated form of participation but rather exists at all levels on the continuum from involvement to engagement.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Hicks, Latrice Nichol

Contributors dc:contributor

• David Whitin

• African-Centered, Decision-Making, Engagement, Involvement, Middle School, Parental
• Education
• Educational Administration and Supervision
• Other Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/443

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wayne.edu:oa_dissertations-1442