Principal Leadership Practices and Parent Involvement at the High School Level: A Quantitative Study

Purpose. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify leadership practices acknowledged by high school principals as important factors in encouraging parental involvement. A second purpose of this study was to identify leadership practices implemented by high school principals that encourage parental involvement as noted by parents. The third purpose was to determine whether there was a significant difference between the two groups’ perceptions.

Methodology. This quantitative study used descriptive and causal comparative (ex post facto) research to collect, analyze, and report data representing principal leadership practices and parent involvement at the high school level. The population consisted of 34 high school principals and 59 high school PTSA parents of high schools in Southern California. An online survey for each group was used to collect data to answer 60 research questions identifying leadership practices used by high school principals that encourage parental involvement.

Findings. First, the findings in this study revealed that there were statistically significant differences in 4 of the 5 leadership practices as reported by principals and parents that encourage parent involvement at the high school level. Second, the study revealed that both principals and parents identified the leadership practice of “enable” as being the most important in encouraging parent involvement at the high school level. Finally, the principals ranked themselves overall higher within each leadership practice compared to the parents surveyed within this study.

Conclusions. Principals need to be able to evaluate the impact of their leadership
practices used to encourage parent involvement at the high school level. Principals should also determine specific leadership practices that are effective as perceived by the parents to ensure they are meeting the needs of the parents while sustaining parental involvement on their high school campuses.

Recommendations. Based on this study, professional development should be
administered on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership to high school principals and high school administrators. Further research is also recommended within the elementary and middle school setting and among different regions to determine which leadership practices encourage parent involvement within different school settings.