African-American mothers' attitudes and feelings of efficacy regarding their involvement in their children's 1st year in kindergarten

Research demonstrates that parent involvement is a valid strategy for enhancing young people's learning process by increasing their educational achievement and self-concept. Researchers argue that a critical initial step in examining this research is determining a clear, multidimensional definition. Key variables associated with parent involvement are teacher/school attitudes, parental educational attainment, parental efficacy, and parental beliefs/attitudes. This study addresses limitations of previous research—a lack of a clear, multidimensional definition, the sparse research examining issues related to African-American maternal involvement in children's schooling, and the infrequent focus on parent involvement factors during kindergarten. The associations among 52 African-American mothers' attitudes about their ability to promote the educational process for their children, their perceptions of efficacy, and their involvement level in their children's kindergarten year are examined. The hypotheses for this study stated: maternal and teacher reports of maternal school-based involvement were significantly related; maternal reports of home, cognitive, and school involvement were not significantly associated; maternal attitudes toward involvement were significantly associated with maternal feelings of efficacy; and maternal attitudes toward involvement significantly predicted their self-reported involvement levels above their perceptions of efficacy, perceived involvement opportunities provided by teachers, and demographic variables. Bivariate correlations and three linear regressions analyses analyzed the study's hypotheses.; This study's findings supported several of the hypotheses. Maternal and teacher reports of maternal school-based involvement were significantly, positively related. Maternal reports of home and cognitive involvement and maternal reports of home and school involvement were not significantly associated. However, maternal reports of school and cognitive involvement were significantly correlated. Maternal attitudes and feelings of efficacy about their involvement practices were significantly related. These findings for home and cognitive involvement criterion variables indicate that maternal attitudes toward involvement significantly predicted their self reported levels of home and cognitive involvement. Maternal monthly household income was the only significant predictor of maternal school involvement. These findings extend current parent involvement literature by demonstrating the importance of targeting African-American mothers, viewing educational involvement from a multidimensional perspective, and examining parent involvement factors during a kindergarten when planning interventions to enhance children's school performance.