Seattle University

Youth Initiative Project

LINDSEY HOOGKAMER
KERRI KLINE
SHELBY NAMBA
CHELSEY THOMAS
EMILY WOOD
COMMUNITY PARTNER: PRIYA SINGH

Project Description
Conducted two focus groups:

Examined the school climate of a Seattle High School

Interested in parental involvement at the high school level
Barriers to parental engagement
Best practices

Project Need
Administration to learn about the parent perspective
Address challenges and support struggling students
Why our group?

A neutral third party to facilitate professional focus group

Open and unbiased perspective

Project Purpose
Bridge the communication gap between HS

administration and parents

Improve school climate
Inquire about experience of parents who may not

otherwise have their voices heard

Supporting Literature
Goal is improved student outcomes (Epstein, 2005)
Why focus on school climate?

Parent efficacy parent engagement school climate

Addresses barriers to engagement through communication
Parents cannot be expected to advocate on behalf of their child
(a very white/western concept) if they do not feel welcome on a
school campus

Supporting Literature
Challenges with parent engagement; the goal is

increased COMMUNICATION (Epstein, 1982)

Note - The concept of school climate does not always

translate cross culturally. It is important then to

invite families prior to expecting them to engage.

Focus Group Training

Semi-structured interview style
Trained for two roles: Facilitator and note-taker
Key parts of facilitating

Group norms, build rapport, balance participation

Remain neutral, ask open questions
Troubleshoot difficult moments

Key parts of note-taking:

Capture the gist of what was said

Try to write down good quotes that demonstrate the point
Include feelings, nonverbal communication, and anonymous
participant ID

Tool Development
Developed questions based on feedback received

from Priya and HS administration

Three main focus areas:

Successes
Challenges
Suggestions for improvement

Also prepared several back up questions within

each section

The Focus Groups

Kerri and Chelsey each facilitated a focus group on

May 8, 2013 at HS
Note takers: Shelby, Lindsey, Emily and undergrad
volunteer, Anna
Group experiences (#2)

Shy at first; mix of nervousness, mild impatience, curiosity, &

anticipation
Camaraderie by the end of evening
Emotional response to first question set tone
Having their voices heard seemed meaningful & encouraging
to participants

The Focus Groups

Two groups: Native English speakers (n=11) and

non-native English speakers (n=9)

Parents of HS students who had a grade point

average of 2.0 or lower

Project Outcome
Two successful focus groups
Expectations exceeded
Note-takers transcribed notes into two Excel

documents, extracting several noteworthy themes

Focus Group Notes Example

Final Product
Creation of the executive report

Summary of parents comments

Common themes
Synthesis of recommendations

Deliver report to administration and parents

Final Product: Executive Report Synthesis

Positive Experiences

When I compare two children, one who goes to (other school)

and one who goes here, I am proud of the one who goes here.

Challenges/Barriers

On the attitude of the front office staff: They say, I dont

know, so dont ask me, instead of a nice referral.

Recommendations

Use Seattle University as a resource

Coursework Connection
Parenting styles
Social Constructionist Theory of Development

Development does not happen in a vacuum

Developmental tasks Adolescence transition to

adulthood
Break down barriers to success - Our role as helping
professionals

Thank You!
Awesome community partner, Priya!
Great undergraduate volunteer, Anna!
Best group ever!

References
Epstein, J. L., & Becker, H. J. (1982). Teacher's

reported practices of parent involvement: Problems

and possibilities. The Elementary School Journal,
83(2), 103-113.
Epstein, J. L. (2005). A case study of the partnership
schools comprehensive school reform (csr) model.
The Elementary School Journal, 106(2), 151-170.