Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine whether parent participation on a shared decision-making council encourages their involvement school-wide; and to assess the impact that principal support, parent ethnicity, degree of parent involvement in shared decision making, and the quality/quantity of shared decision-making training parents receive has on their involvement in the school. Methodology. The procedures utilized in this study are in the category of descriptive research. The population consisted of the five parent representatives from forty-eight senior high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. A questionnaire was used to collect data to answer five research questions. The statistical treatment of the data included percentages, means, ANOVA, and cross tabulation analysis. Findings/Conclusions. The following conclusions are supported by the data generated through this research: (1) Overall, parents do become more involved in school-wide activities as a result of serving on a shared decision-making council. Their involvement however generally relates specifically to their child, rather than to the school as a whole. (2) The degree to which principals encourage and support parental involvement activities directly influence how involved parents are willing to get in the school. (3) Ethnicity is not a factor in whether or not parents become involved in the school. (4) Most parents want to participate in school activities, but often lack the skills, training, or self-confidence to do so. Recommendations. Important recommendations from this study include: (1) Training on shared decision making and district policies should be provided for all parents. (2) Schools should help families establish home environments to support learning. (3) School personnel should attend workshops on how to successfully recruit and interact with parents. (4) Workshops should be provided for parents on what they can do at home to support their child. (5) Parents and school personnel should work cooperatively to find useful ways to promote parent involvement in their school. (6) The Los Angeles Unified School District should explore various parental involvement models as they move to the next step to enhance the district goal of involving more parents in the shared decision-making process.