EXPECTATIONS OF PARENTS OF FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS REGARDING COLLEGIATE TEACHING AND CARING AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Christina J. Spearman (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Parental involvement in higher education has greatly increased, specifically in the last 30 years. Some parents are hyper-involved in their children's lives, and educational leaders often spend almost as much time working with parents as they do students. The body of literature on parental involvement in higher education is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the expectations parents have for a public university's teaching and caring functions while also examining the differences, if any, of parents of first-generation college students and parents with college experience.   This quantitative study explored the expectations of parents of first-year students at a large, public university in the South. This study utilized a survey instrument developed by Young in 2006, the Parent Expectations of Collegiate Teaching and Caring (PECTAC) survey. The study was predicated on Chickering and Reisser's Theory of Psychosocial Development, and focused on vector three, moving though autonomy toward interdependence. The web-based survey was used to collect data from 1,137 parents at the beginning of the spring 2010 semester. Parents rated their expectations regarding teaching and caring in terms of importance. Expectations were analyzed in light of the dependent variables of parent gender, first time college parent experience, and parent college experience, and t tests were utilized to determine statistically significant differences. Expectations for teaching and caring were analyzed using a Pearson product moment correlation coefficient.   The findings suggest that teaching and caring are more important to mothers than fathers and more important to parents who do not have college background than parents who do. The findings also suggest that parents who view teaching as important also view caring as important and vice versa. Additionally, the following topics are important to parents: a safe and secure campus, additional support for student academic success, student access to campus resources, the availability and integration of technology, communication and contact with administrators, and individual attention for their children.  Furthermore, the study included various implications for educational leaders, including accepting parents as constituents of higher education and developing a campus-wide approach to working with parents. The study concluded with recommendations for future research.  

Additional Information

Publication

Dissertation

Language: English

Date: 2010

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