Experiences and attitudes of African American mothers that affect parental involvemen

The purpose of this research study was to gain an understanding about minority parents' attitudes about school, barriers that keep them from full participation in their children's education, how schools can help parents become more active, and how teachers can help these parents become more involved in school. The research questions explored what past experiences and attitudes impacted the study participants' decisions to participate in their children's education and how schools could influence parents' decisions to participate in parental involvement activities at the elementary school level. The literature suggests that parent involvement is an important factor in determining academic and social success, particularly for minority students. Yet it is minority parents who participate the least in home-school activities. Because of the benefits that minority children, parents, and community can gain from parents' involvement in school, it is important that educators understand and respond to the needs of parents. This study aimed to gain insight into the perspectives of a group of women who are rarely represented in the scholarly literature. The implications of the study suggest the importance of educators' understanding the parents' perspectives about school and the benefits that home, school, and community gain from parental environment.;Ten nonprofessional females employed at a specialty care facility were interviewed for a 30-minute period to discover the essence of the experiences and attitudes that influence their participation in parental involvement activities at elementary schools in Ohio. The results of this phenomenological study demonstrated that past experiences and attitudes did influence these participants' willingness to be involved in school-related activities. This study did not support the critical race theory that racism influenced these minority parents' decision to be actively engaged in their children's education. Rather, it showed that in spite of negative school related experiences in their childhood, these African American mothers were willing to participate in school activities in order to provide their children with strong academic support.;This research study further demonstrated the importance of teacher encouragement and support of these minority parents as a motivating factor for parental involvement at school. It showed that as parents perceived that they were valued at school, they felt better about themselves and were willing to be more actively involved.