Describing the Study

As a Title I campus, parental involvement is stressed and new ways are always being sought to involve parents.  This research project contains plans to educate the parents on how to be involved in their child's education through a training program that will educate parents on various ways to be aware of their child's progress.  My belief is that the parents are interested in helping their child succeed, however, proper guidance is needed.
As I stated before, my research will be conducted on a Title I campus.  This is a campus of only sixth grade students, 80% of which are economically disadvantaged.  I will conduct the training for all interested parents; however, my sample size will be 80 students, all of which are my current students.  I chose to keep my study to this sample size so that the information was readily available and so that my reported results were more accurate.  My sample size is also diverse in many ways - more than five races are represented, the male to female ratio is relatively equal, there are at-risk students, gifted and talented student, students with high and low grades across all subject areas, and a relatively equal proportion of economically disadvantaged students as compared to the school.
This research will require me to hold parent meetings where involvement in their child's education is discussed.  Parents will also have the opportunity to learn technology that can aid in the monitoring process of their child.  This technology includes access to their child's grades through an online, real-time program, and information on how to acquire an email address (if they do not already have one).  Parents will be instructed on how to go about contacting teachers and be encouraged to do so.  Once parents have gone through this initial meeting, their contact with the teachers will be monitored as well as their student's progress academically.  Schedules for other parental involvement meetings and surveys will also be disseminated at all meetings.  Through the implementation of a more in-depth parental involvement program, the goal is for barriers to be removed for improved student learning.  The research question: How does improving the parental involvement program at a Title I campus affect the academic performance of the students?