Publication Date

12-2022

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Gary Houchens (chair), Stacy Leggett, Lester Archer

Degree Program

Department of Educational Administration, Leadership and Research

Degree Type

Doctor of Education

Abstract

Stakeholder involvement in education, according to literature, has been shown to decrease steadily as students progress from elementary to high school. Stakeholder involvement in this study included community involvement in the form of community advisory councils to assist in increasing the number of secondary students’ internship experiences available for a small, rural high school made up of approximately 300 students. Stakeholder involvement also included increasing parental involvement using technology in the form of student information systems and access to parents and students via smartphone apps and computer access.

This improvement science, mixed-methods project included two iterations of interventions aimed at improving community involvement and parental involvement. The first community involvement intervention focused on an advisory council consisting of school officials and community officials to make recommendations on how to best approach new businesses and industries about hosting secondary students as interns for work-based learning opportunities. The initial parental involvement intervention focused on all students at Claysville High School having access to Infinite Campus student portal and at least one parent/guardian in each student’s household with an Infinite Campus parent portal account. The second community involvement intervention iteration focused on industry mentorship locations specifically using a local workforce development group consisting of employers struggling to fill open positions at their workplace. While the second parental involvement iteration focused on teachers using the Infinite Campus Classroom Messenger feature to share classroom level information to parents.

This study suggests that an advisory council can improve community involvement by improving school-to-community communications. Parental involvement can be increased using student information systems and the widespread use of smartphones and improved internet capabilities. The impact of community and parental involvement on student achievement remained inconclusive at the end of the study, due to COVID-19 policy implications during the study.

Disciplines

Education | Other Education | Secondary Education | Vocational Education

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