Parent views of involvement in their child's education: A Rasch model analysis

The theoretical basis for the study was the assumption that parental involvement in a child’s education is an important aspect of school culture and that school renewal efforts intended to change the prevailing culture need to take into account the role of parents. Data (N=1,672) from administration of a 40-item rating scale instrument designed to elicit parent views of their involvement in their child’s education were analysed using the Rasch model. The analyses were used to test the construct validity of an hypothesised model of parental involvement and the capacity of the instrument to measure the hypothesised components. The components were: Child’s view of the importance of schooling, desire to learn, and achievement and engagement; the school’s focus on children, learning and on education generally; and provision of information from teachers, teachers’ commitment to working with parents, and parent confidence in communicating with the teacher. The instrument was shown to be eliciting data that did not fit the original theoretical model and in cognisance of the need for content validity and accurate measurement, the instrument was refined. Data from the refined instrument were then analysed to produce measures of different aspects of parental involvement as perceived by the parent respondents.