Parent Impressions of the Implementation to Date of Arkansas Act 603 of 2003: Parent Involvement in the Public Schools

This study, conducted through Arkansas State University and the University of Central Arkansas, examined parents' perceptions in the initial year of a three-year period (2004-2007) to determine whether public schools have made progress in their implementation of the parental involvement programs mandated by Arkansas Act 603 of 2003 (known as the Parent Involvement Plan), passed by the State of Arkansas in the 84th General Assembly's regular session. This Act rested on the diverse literature which demonstrated the many benefits of parents' active involvement in the education process of their children. At the end of this first year of implementation of the study, the researchers sought to determine preliminary differences in perceptions about the parental involvement plan at school between respondents' age groups, race/ethnic groups, family structures, gender, grade level groups, school building size, and school setting. The study identified very few differences in response based on ethnicity, age of respondent, gender, or family structure. Instead, the size of building and the grade level of students in the home produced the greatest differences in response to most questions on the survey. Parents from small school buildings and of young students answered questions most differently from all others who responded. Further, two issues on the survey appeared to predict parent satisfaction with school operations in all school settings: an awareness of the identity of the parent coordinator and receipt of the parent involvement "kit."