Factors that promote or inhibit the involvement of African American parents in a community college early childhood education program

The purpose of the study was to explore the factors that influence involvement or non-involvement in the educational experiences of children at home and in a community college early childhood education program. The theoretical concept of "parental role construction" is used to examine African American parental involvement at the preschool level in a community college child development center. To gain a clearer understanding of parental involvement, twelve individual parents were interviewed in relation to their involvement in school and home based educational activities. A parent answered questions about the school-based and home-based activities that they considered necessary for self-efficacy in their involvement to help their children succeed. Results of this study suggest that college educated African American parents believed their involvement in the early childhood educational process to be of high importance. The major findings in this research indicated that eight of the twelve parents' participation was rated in the category "more involved" in all areas. The four "less involved" parents volunteered for fewer school activities and attended fewer parent meetings, often due to challenges experienced with their employment schedules. Additional findings point to the important role teacher's play in parental involvement as teachers' invitation to parents to take part in their children's homework activities seemed to lead to greater involvement. Convenient scheduling for school-based activities and parent/teacher meetings should be considered for future investigations and practices.