Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Robert S. Boyd

Second Advisor

H. Steve Sprunger

Third Advisor

Steve Gruenert

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand how characteristics of parents and self reported student achievement characteristics can infonn educators as to the characteristics of schools valued by parents. The intent of the study was to infom1 school officials of infonnation likely needed in order to lead in an era of open enrollment. The respondents that participated in the study were parents of students attending a large suburban high school with the demographic ratio of 52% Black, 39% White, 5% Hispanic, 2% Asian-American, and 2% Multiracial This study had four objectives. The study (1) examined the characteristics of schools parents found as most significant when detem1ining the most appropriate educational placement for their children. The study (2) looked at how the effect of the willingness to choose a school impacted the characteristics selected as most important for their children. The study (3) looked at the socioeconomic make-up/educational background of the parents and their effects on the characteristics selected as most important for their children. The study also ( 4) looked at how ability level of the children impacted the characteristics selected as most important. A survey was used to collect the data from parents. The survey contained five independent variables to distinguish various groups of parents and 24 dependent variables that encompassed the various characteristics of schools that make up a comprehensive secondary school as determined by the literature. Based upon the evidence garnered from this study, regardless of the level of educational attainment by the parent, a set pattern or preference of characteristics exists. The top five individual characteristics parents selected from the 24 items on the survey as most important were; 1) preparation for college, 2) size of school, 3) student/teacher ratio, 4) amount of technology, and 5) high ability course offerings. Recommendations were made to investigate future studies in order to address the paradigm shift in how schools may operate in the near future. The needs of a given community are important to consider. What may be as important in an era of open enrollment, however, is the wants of a given community.

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