"The relationships between parent/guardian and teacher inclusion in sch" by Julie Bergmann

Date Approved

2025

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department or School

Leadership and Counseling

Committee Member

Davis Clement, Ph.D.

Committee Member

David Anderson, Ed.D.

Committee Member

Robert Carpenter, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Cathy Meyer-Looze, Ed.D.

Abstract

This study offers an explanation of the relationship between the inclusion of parents/guardians and teachers in Michigan K-12 public school decision-making processes, perceptions of school quality, and subsequent parent/guardian and teacher retention by the school. Decision-making structures and participation in those structures, participants’ own childhood experiences, trust, agency, relatedness (belonging), and usefulness were considered in constructing a model of best fit to explain the relationships between decision-making inclusion, perceptions of quality, and retention. What emerged from this 225-participant (121 parents/guardians and 104 teacher) survey was a model that affirms that professional learning communities (PLCs) are a structure that supports greater inclusion—depth and frequency—in school decision-making processes, greater inclusion in decision-making positively influences overall decision-making satisfaction, and inclusion in decision-making processes generates trust. The model supports that trust is the pathway through which inclusion in decision-making positively impacts perceptions of school quality, which are strongly connected to the likelihood of parent/guardian and teacher retention by the school. This pathway, which identifies inclusion in school decision-making processes as a precursor to positive perceptions of school quality and retention, may help schools attenuate high mobility rates. Given the devastating impact of both teacher and family mobility on a child’s educational achievement and social well-being, this study has important implications for future research, theory, and practice.

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