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Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 4, 19-29 (1989) Characteristics of Kindergarten Teachers Who Promote Parent Involvement Kevin J. Swick University of South Carolina Shirley McKnight Greenville Pubfic Schools, South Carolina The need for parent involvement in early childhood education has been ac- cepted for many years. The concept of teachers as key figures in this process implies that there are certain skills, attitudes, and behaviors teachers must possess to effectively implement the parent involvement paradigm. The study reported here attempted to determine whether there were characteris- tics particular to kindergarten teachers who were highly supportive of parent involvement. Through an assessment of current literature, specific teacher attributes were isolated for study. A questionnaire was used to determine teacher attitudes and behaviors related to parent involvement. Findings suggest that there are characteristics particular to teachers who are deeply involved in the parent involvement process. Many kindergarten teachers are supportive of the concept but not convinced of their obligation to carry it out. As the context of parenting has been drastically altered by sociotechnological changes, a renewed interest in involving parents and educating them about roles they can perform has emerged (Swick, 1987). The need for parental involvement has been identified as critical to the child's functioning suc- cessfully during the early childhood years (Meyerhoff & White, 1986). The child's teacher has been identified as the key to actualizing positive parental involvement in early childhood education programs (Swick, 1984). Swick and Duff (1978) have identified several roles that teachers enact by building strong parental involvement/education programs: teacher as learner (ac- quiring information and skills about parents and parent involvement), as trainer, as collaborator, as planner, and as model. The construct of the teacher as the key figure in fostering parental in- volvement/education implies that there are certain skills, attitudes, and behaviors that teachers must possess to carry out effectively the parental Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Kevin J. Swick, Department of Instruction and Teacher Education, College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. 19

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Page 1: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 4, 19-29 (1989)

Characteristics of Kindergarten Teachers Who Promote Parent Involvement

Kevin J. Swick University of South Carolina

Shirley McKnight

Greenville Pubfic Schools, South Carolina

The need for parent involvement in early childhood education has been ac- cepted for many years. The concept of teachers as key figures in this process implies that there are certain skills, attitudes, and behaviors teachers must possess to effectively implement the parent involvement paradigm. The study reported here attempted to determine whether there were characteris- tics particular to kindergarten teachers who were highly supportive of parent involvement. Through an assessment of current literature, specific teacher attributes were isolated for study. A questionnaire was used to determine teacher attitudes and behaviors related to parent involvement. Findings suggest that there are characteristics particular to teachers who are deeply involved in the parent involvement process. Many kindergarten teachers are supportive of the concept but not convinced of their obligation to carry it out.

As the context o f parent ing has been drast ical ly al tered by sociotechnological changes , a renewed interest in involving paren ts and educat ing them a b o u t roles they can p e r f o r m has emerged (Swick, 1987). The need for pa ren ta l involvement has been ident i f ied as cri t ical to the ch i ld ' s funct ioning suc- cessfully dur ing the ear ly ch i ldhood years ( M e y e r h o f f & Whi te , 1986). The ch i ld ' s teacher has been ident i f ied as the key to actual iz ing posi t ive pa ren ta l involvement in early ch i ldhood educa t ion p r o g r a m s (Swick, 1984). Swick and Duf f (1978) have ident i f ied several roles tha t teachers enact by bui ld ing s t rong pa ren ta l i n v o l v e m e n t / e d u c a t i o n p rog rams : teacher as learner (ac- quir ing i n f o r m a t i o n and skills abou t paren ts and pa ren t involvement) , as t ra iner , as co l l abo ra to r , as p lanner , and as model .

The cons t ruc t o f the teacher as the key f igure in fos ter ing pa ren ta l in- v o l v e m e n t / e d u c a t i o n implies that there are cer ta in skills, a t t i tudes , and behaviors that teachers must possess to ca r ry out effect ively the pa ren ta l

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Kevin J. Swick, Department of Instruction and Teacher Education, College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208.

19

Page 2: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

20 Swick and McKnight

involvement paradigm. Gordon (1976), Schaefer (1985), Swick (1987), and Katz (1977) delineate the following as essential to early childhood teachers' skill-kit in actualizing parental involvement: knowledge about the critical role that parents perform; positive attitudes toward parents and the parental involvement process; knowledge, skills, and commitment to a developmen- tally appropriate education for children; knowledge and skills for enacting parental involvement activities; and continued involvement in professional development arenas such as active membership in a professional early child- hood association. In addition, Swick (1984) postulates that to have proactive programs teachers need supportive conditions such as administrative sup- port, supportive working conditions, and opportunities to construct parental involvement/education designs. While studies by Schaefer (1985), Gordon (1977), Bronfenbrenner (1979), and Swick (1987) suggest that these behaviors and conditions interface with quality programs, little evidence exists to sub- stantiate their existence. The following study was an attempt to explore the relationship between certain teacher characteristics and parental involve- ment programs.

FOCUS OF THE STUD Y

The major focus of the study was to determine if there are certain character- istics of kindergarten teachers who are highly supportive of parental in- volvement. Within this focus the following questions were studied:

1. What is the present level of teacher support of parent education/in- volvement in kindergarten programs?

2. What are the variables that enhance teacher support of parent educa- tion/involvement in kindergarten programs? a. teacher attitude b. teacher training c. teaching experience d. ratio of children to teacher e. perception of administrative support f. membership in a professional association g. teaching style h. developmental philosophy

POPULA TION OF STUD Y

A large consolidated public school district in South Carolina served as the population of this study. Sixty-six kindergarten teachers were chosen to par- ticipate in the study. All were certified early childhood teachers in the state of South Carolina.

Page 3: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

Characleristics of Kindergarten Teachers 21

INSTRUMENT

A teacher questionnaire (TQ) was used to collect data on the questions under study. The TQ measures attitudes and activities dealing with teacher sup- port of parent education/parent involvement (PE/PI) . It was developed by the investigator and is based on a comprehensive review of the literature. The questionnaire is divided into four major parts. The first deals with demographic job-related information. The second section is a group of seven questions designed to measure attitude toward PE/PI . The third section is based on suggestions to teachers by Suchara (1981), who gives a comprehen- sive list of activities for early childhood teachers to encourage PE /PI . The fourth section measures degree of developmental philosophy; the wording is drawn largely from Early Childhood Education by Spodek (1973). The philosophy section is used only as a job-related variable and is not included in the total teacher support score that results from a combination of the atti- tude and activities sections. The questionnaire was field tested in the spring of 1983 (N--42) with graduate students at the University of South Carolina and then reviewed by experts in the field of early childhood education.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

The teacher questionnaires were mailed on May 1 l, 1983, to 66 kindergarten teachers employed in the district's 57 elementary schools and two child devel- opment centers. By the end of May, 45 TQs were returned to the researcher. The Pearson correlation procedure was used to determine the degree of rela- tion between teacher attitude and teacher activity in regard to PE /P I . A correlation of individual attitude and activity with teacher variables was related to these items in order to obtain a more complete picture of teacher support of PE /P I . In addition, t tests were used to detect differences be- tween kindergarten teachers who had elementary level teaching experiences and those who did not. The Pearson correlation was also used to investigate relationships between job-related variables and teacher perception of sup- port of PE /P I .

FINDINGS

An analysis of the data generated by the TQ provided the following infor- mation:

1. A correlation of .288 was found between teacher attitude and teacher activity in support of PE /P I , with a significance of .027 (Table 1).

2. Further analyses of the attitude and activity data are presented in Tables 2 and 3. Table 2 lists means and standard deviations in order of highest

Page 4: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

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Page 6: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

24 Swick and McKnight

Table 2. Means and Standard Deviations for Teacher Attitude Statements Listed in Order of Strongest Agreement

Attitude statements M SD Min. Max.

Teacher wants to support and extend home learning (Q3) 4.51 .66 2 5

Parent is most important teacher (Q1) 4.44 .76 3 5 Classroom staff supports parent- teacher

partnership (Q4) 4.18 .68 3 5 Parent should be convinced of competency (Q2) 3.96 .93 2 5 Healthy opinion of self and family should be

main goal of kindergarten for Title I child (Q7) 3.82 I. 15 1 5 Major objective of kindergarten is to increase

parent confidence in child and self (Q6) 3.69 1.28 1 5 Full-day kindergarten gives time for parent

education (Q5) 3.14 1.10 1 5

Note. N = 4 5 .

Table 3. Means and Standard Deviations for Each Teacher Support of Parent Education-Involvement Studied

Variables N M SD Min. Max.

Total support 43 44.23 6.95 32 59 Attitude 45 24.60 3.56 16 30 Activity 45 16.49 4.53 9 29 Years in kindergarten 45 7.73 4.63 1 20 Children per teacher 45 42.24 a 10.96 20 60 Title I children 27 b 21.00 11.96 5 52 Administrative support 44 4.14 .852 2 5 Professional organization 45 1.67 .825 l 3 Teaching style 44 2.07 .757 l 3 Philosophy 45 19.48 2.63 14 c 26 Puzzle of parenting 45 1.84 .367 l 2 Elementary experience 42 1.45 .504 I 2

a Average class size was 22.13. Three teachers taught only one session. Three teachers each taught one group a full day.

b Eighteen of the 27 teachers had no official, federally funded children. Three of the 27 served children funded under Title XX.

c Possible m i n i m u m - m a x i m u m range is 6 to 30.

agreement on attitude statements. The statement on which there was highest agreement was: " I , as a teacher, want to support and extend the learning that is already going on in the home." Interestingly, a correla- tion of attitude and activity with the teacher variables listed in Table 3 showed that question 3 (Q3), supporting and extending home learning, correlated negatively with the number of children a teacher had enrolled ( r= - . 291 , p < .05).

Page 7: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

Characteristics of Kindergarten Teachers 25

Table 4. Means and Standard Deviations for Active Support Statements Listed in Order of Highest Frequency of Act iv i t ies

Activities M SD Min. Max.

Thank-you notes sent (QI4) 3.16 1.54 1 5 Large parent meetings or conferences

conducted (Q10) 2.96 1.45 I 5 Newsletters sent (QI2) 2.76 1.17 1 5 Small parent discussion groups organized (Q9) 2.20 1.27 1 5 Parents spent time in classroom (Q13) 1.78 1.19 1 5 Home visits made (Q8) 1.56 .66 1 4

Activities combined as QI5 in scoring N of teachers

Open-door policy claimed (QI6) Children taught to take care of needs of parents who visit (QI7) Parent reception given (QI5) Parent interests surveyed (QI9) Parent corner utilized (QI8)

45 23 11 9 6

The second highest agreement of attitude was with the statement that the parent is the most important teacher the child will ever have. Teacher vari- ables correlating with this statement were the number of years of experience teaching kindergarten (r = .268, p < .05; and membership in a professional organization, mainly Southern Association for Children Under 6 (SACUS) and Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) ( r=.389, p < .01).

The third highest agreement was on the following statement: "The school and classroom staff respect and wish to learn from parents in a partnership venture ." It correlated positively with administrative support of P E / P I (r = .431, p < .01) and negatively with the number of Title I children ( r= - .326, p < .01).

. The findings on "teacher support activities" (in order of frequency with a scale of 1 to 5) are reported in Table 4. The activity showing the highest frequency was " thank-you notes to parents" (M=3.16) . It correlated with membership in SACUS and ACEI ( r= .346, p < .05).

Large parent meetings or individual parent conferences ranked next in frequency (M = 2.96). Other findings included the following: newsletters were sent on average less frequently than once a month; small parent discussion groups occurred slightly more than once during the year; parents spent time in classrooms once every two or three months (except for Title I classrooms, where little of this activity was reported); and only a few teachers conducted home visits.

Page 8: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

26 Swick and McKnight

Table 5. Means, Standard Deviations, and t Values for Elementary Experience and Teacher Support Variables

Elemenlary m Pre-e lemenlaD ,b

Variables M SD M SD t value (dr)

Tota l s u p p o r t 42 .05 6.88 47 .00 6 .52 - 2.33(38)*

A t t i t u d e 23 .26 3.67 26. I 1 2 .96 - 2 .73(40)**

Q 2 3.70 .97 4 .26 .80 - 2.03(40)*

Q 6 3 .26 1.29 4.21 1.08 - 2.55(40)*

Q7 3.35 1.26 4 .32 .75 - 2 .93(40)**

Act iv i ty 16.17 4 .13 17.42 5.08 - .88(40)

P r o f e s s i o n a l o r g a n i z a t i o n s 1.39 .66 2.05 .91 - 2 .73(40)**

T e a c h i n g style 1.91 .52 2 .22 .43 - 2 .05(39)**

P h i l o s o p h y 18.61 2.31 20.31 2.87 - 2.14(40)*

a n = . 2 4 . b n = 20. * p < . 0 5 . ** p < . O l .

. Analysis of the data indicated that teachers who had only kindergarten and preschool experience exhibited a higher degree of total support for PE/PI than did teachers who also had elementary school experience. Further investigation showed significant differences in teaching style, membership in professional organizations, philosophy, and attitudinal support.

As reported in Table 5, elementary experience as opposed to pre-elemen- tary experience produced a negative t value toward an integrated-day teach- ing style, t(39)= -2.05, p<.01; and less tendency to belong to an early childhood professional organization, t(40) = -2.73, p<.01. Elementary experience produced a negative value in regard to developmental philosophy, t(40) = -2.14, p < .05; and a negative value of t(40)= -2.73, p < .01 in re- lation to attitudinal support for PE/PI.

The attitude statements that showed significant differences between teachers with and without elementary experience were: "Parents should be convinced of competency," t(40)= -2.03, p < .05; "A major objective of kindergarten is to increase parent confidence in child and self," t(40)= -2.55, p < .05; and "To help develop a healthy opinion of self and family is the most important thing kindergarten can do for Title I children," t(40) =

- 2.93, p < .01.

. Data analysis showed that a significant relationship existed between cer- tain job-related variables and teacher perception of support of PE/PI (Table 1). These findings are summarized below.

The number of years of experience teaching kindergarten, the number of children per teacher, and the number of Title I children had no significant

Page 9: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

Characteristics of Kindergarten Teachers 27

correlation with total support of PE-PI . Number of children did, however, correlate negatively with attitude toward PE-PI (r = - .276, p < .05). Teach- ers with larger classes were less positive toward support of PE-PI .

Perception of administrative support and teaching style had no correla- tions with total support of PE-PI . However, when the Title I teachers (n = 22) were looked at apart from the non-Title I teachers, administrative support corrleated significantly with active teacher support (r= .375, p < .05).

Membership in a professional association correlated significantly with total support of PE-PI , with a coefficient of .267 and an error probability of .042. Kindergarten teachers whose philosophy of education tended to be more developmental related significantly to total support of PE-PI (r = .248, p < .05) and to attitude toward support of PE-PI ( r= .294, p < .05). Philos- ophy scores also correlated with membership in a professional organization and an integrated-day teaching style.

The data from this study support the premise that kindergarten teachers are highly supportive of parent education/parent involvement in both the attitudinal sense and in the activation dimension. It is also clear that kinder- garten teachers tend to use " t ime efficient" modes of involving parents, probably because of their work conditions and possibly because of inade- quate training in this regard. In addition, the data suggest that a significant relationship exists between teacher attitude and teacher activity regarding P E / P I and that teacher training experiences do influence this process. It was also found, at least to some degree, that the variables of administrative support, ratio of children to teacher, teaching style, philosophy of educa- tion, and membership in professional associations were related to teacher support of P E /P I .

DISCUSSION

Two questions formed the basis of this study: What is the level of teacher support of P E / P I in selected kindergarten programs? What are the varia- bles that appear to enhance teacher support of P E /P I? The findings of this study suggest that many kindergarten teachers are very supportive of the P E / P I construct but not as convinced of their obligation to carry it out. The findings also provide a pattern of teacher-related characteristics that appear to be related to strong support of PE/PI : membership in a professional association, a philosophy that is developmentally oriented, pre-elementary teaching experience, small class size (especially when teaching children who have not formed a literacy-oriented learning style), and administrative sup- port of P E /P I .

The implication of these teacher-related variables is that, when condi- tions are arranged to promote PE /P I , teachers respond in an affirmative manner. In this study teachers who were educated with regard to the value of P E /P I , encouraged to remain active through professional organizations,

Page 10: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

28 Swick and McKnight

and given the essential supports (class size, administrative support, and related working conditions) were the most supportive of PE /PI . Teachers who scored low on support of P E / P I appeared to lack the philosophical basis lbr undertaking such efforts and lacked a work setting that "expected" and " p r o m o t e d " PE/PI .

Some factors emerging from this study need attention: the low support for P E / P I among elementary trained teachers, the lack of support among teachers of Title I children, and the tendency to use large group PI activities without regard to more individualized modes such as home visits. The high interest in P1 among kindergarten teachers is commendable, but the decline of interest among elementary teachers is a cause for concern. It is critical that more emphasis be given to child development and parental involvement in the training of elementary teachers.

Another area needing attention is the context and training of teachers who work with Title I children. The data in this study show that teachers of Title 1 children scored very low on support for PE/P1. Many factors may contribute to this, but a likely place to begin is to make sure that such teach- ers understand the cultural orientation of the families they work with and that they have the skills for relating to and involving parents from different cultures. An area of concern that permeated this study is the overemphasis on large group modes of parental involvement. While the overload of teach- ing is certainly a factor here, research clearly shows the need for more in- dividual contacts among parents and teachers. Conferences, small group discussions, and use of parents ' talents are skills that teachers need to inte- grate into their P E / P I paradigm.

Given the importance of the role of parents in the education of children, the following factors need to be attended to in fostering more teacher sup- port of this process:

1. The initial training of teachers at all levels must include basic informa- tion on the teacher's role in supporting and activating PE/P1.

2. Teacher education programs and school leaders should encourage and reward teachers for their continuing involvement in professional growth contexts such as active membership in professional associations. Special support should be given to teachers who participate in associations that promote parental involvement.

3. School leaders must have continuing educational experiences related to the importance and the process for implementing parental involvement. Furthermore, they need a solid foundation in the developmental-eco- logical nature of the teaching-learning process. This study certainly confirmed that administrative support of P E / P I was influential in mo- tivating teachers to value this practice.

Page 11: Characteristics of kindergarten teachers who promote parent involvement

Characteristics of Kindergarten Teachers 29

. School conditions (class size, workloads, and resources) must be de- signed to support teacher involvement in PE/PI activities. A token ap- proach to this process will not achieve the goal of having a quality family-school program.

Finally, research needs to focus on effective parental involvement pro- grams and identify practices, conditions, and delivery systems that can be used in the larger school world. The continuation of current educational practices, especially those beyond kindergarten, will certainly inhibit the full development of teachers, parents, and children.

REFERENCES

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Gordon, I.J. (1976). Parenting, teaching, and child development. Young Children, 3, 173-183. Gordon, I.J. (1977). Parent education and parent involvement: Retrospect and Prospect.

Childhood Education, 54, 71-79. Katz, L. (1977). Talks with teachers. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education

of Young Children. Meyerhoff, M., & White, B. (1986). Making the grade as parents. Psychology Today, 20,

38-45. Schaefer, E. (1985). Parent and child correlates of parental modernity. In I. Sigel (Ed.), Parental

belief systems: The psychological consequences for children. Hillsdale, N J: Erlbaum. Spodek, B. (1973). Early childhood education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Suchara, H.T. (1981). Parents and teachers: A partnership. Childhood Education, 58, 130-133. Swick, K. (1984). Inviting parents into theyoung child's world. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing. Swick, K. (1987). Perspectives on working and understanding families. Champaign, IL: Stipes

Publishing. Swick, K., & Duff, E. (1978). The parent-teacher bond. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt.