Math teachers' perceptions and practices of using their publicly accessible class Web sites to support parental involvement and instruction

Educational research and practice suggest that web site technology has the potential to benefit student academic performance, including math achievement, by enhancing instructional delivery and by strengthening parental involvement (PI) in children's education. Although class web sites have become popular among school teachers, no studies have been done to examine the factors affecting the content and functionality of those sites in order to understand how they can enhance instruction and strengthen PI.; This mixed-method, case-study research was conducted to fill this gap. It quantitatively examined the content and design of 93 publicly-accessible class web sites authored by 84 math teachers from one Northeastern county in the USA and qualitatively analyzed in-depth interviews of 16 selected teachers about their PI and web site perceptions and practices. The data triangulation helped to answer the major research question: what are the roles of class web sites in family involvement, communication, and instructional practices initiated by selected math teachers and schools?; This dissertation describes the current state of class web sites created by math teachers of that county; micro- and macro-level factors that affect web site concept, content, design and functionality; reasons for creating class web sites; web site promotion strategies, and teachers' views on the future of their sites. In particular, the study shows that the examined class web sites had content and design that were supportive of instruction-related and teacher publicity purposes and that teachers' class web site, instructional and PI practices are interrelated. This research suggests that class web sites have the capacity to play a major role in teachers' instructional and PI practices. This dissertation discerns three macro-level factors---teacher preparedness, commitment and support resources---that affect teachers' practices in the domains of instruction, PI, and computer and web site technology.; In addition to having many practical implications, this study contributes to the theory of using class web sites to support PI and instruction by depicting the role of class web sites in education and creating two prototypes of a theoretical framework of factors affecting the content and functionality of teachers' web sites.