Travis Smith

Date of Award

1-1-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Teaching, Leadership & Professional Practice

First Advisor

Jared Schlenker

Abstract

Engaging families in the academic lives of their children continues to be an area that needs improvement in public education. Furthermore, public educators continue to fail at establishing two-way communication practices, as well as providing educational opportunities for parents on the various ways they can help their students outside of school. Schools must focus on building family efficacy by utilizing a practice that supports meaningful and relevant two-way communication. This study explored one practice of engaging families through an online family engagement platform. An action research approach was used and was guided by Constantino’s (2020) Logic Model of Five Simple Principles to Engage Every Family, as well as Epstein’s (2019) framework of Six Types of Family and Community Involvement. Data wascollected from two sources: surveys and an online Family Engagement Academy which operated on a grade 9-10 high school campus during the spring of 2023. The results of this study indicate that over 84% of families that participated in the study were interested in and would find value in online resources and trainings provided by the school to assist their students at home. Further, only 48% of the same families who participated believed their school currently provided this information. Lastly, this study highlights an intervention approach that could be used to address this need in the form of an online Family Engagement Academy created to educate families in order to engage them.

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