Parental expectations of American-sponsored overseas schools in Bolivia

The purpose of this study was to determine factors influencing parental choice of American-sponsored overseas schools (ASOS) in Bolivia. While ASOS have traditionally been used by U.S. dependents, the percentage of children of other nationalities enrolled in such schools has increased in recent years. This is particularly true of the three ASOS in Bolivia, none of which have U.S. student populations of greater than one-fourth of the student body. Determining why non-U.S. parents elect an ASOS, which teaches in English and offers a U.S. curriculum, would help such schools clarify their goals.;The results of the ANOVA showed little significant difference between the nationality groupings in regard to those aspects influencing their choice of a school for their children. Parents reported greatest interest in the acquisition of fluent English for their children because of the post-high school study and career opportunities that they believed fluency in English would give them. A secondary motivation for their choice of the ASOS was their desire that their children be treated in a humane and individualistic manner, traits that these parents associated with a U.S.-style of education.;Parents enrolling their children at one of the ASOS in Bolivia for the first time were asked to respond to a questionnaire. The questionnaire obtained background information about the parents' nationality, educational background, and personal experience with American education, and inquired how the parents had learned of the school at which they were enrolling their children. The final section was composed of a series of statements about education which the parents were to rank on a Likert-type scale. These statements were divided into six sub-scales to measure the importance of various aspects of a school. Parents were divided into four nationality groups: U.S. citizens, Bolivian nationals, Third-country nationals, and bi-nationals, or couples in which the husband and wife were of different nationalities. An analysis of the variance was run comparing the rankings of the items on the sub-scales with parent nationality. A further group of parents, representing 10% of the sample, were interviewed and their responses were used to supplement and validate the findings of the questionnaire.