Parent Involvement Role of Mentally Retarded Students in Elementary Schools

in Taiwan North Area

Shu-Jou Sun

Introduction

The parents are the first and most important teachers for children, as they play

the role of teaching during interaction with children (Lin, 1996). Epstein (1992) also

pointed out that, the family has an important influence upon children as they stay at

home much longer than at school as well as more in-family interaction than schooling.

However, the families have lost original teaching function with the upsurge of public

schools and social evolution. So, the parents had to become observers or information

providers in the teaching process of children (He, 1996; excerpted from Chen, 1996).

In recent decades, many scholars’ research findings show that parent

involvement can help improve the performance of students, foster their positive

attitudes and behavior, promote their involvement and learning motivation as well as

facilitate the coordination among parents, teachers and children. Furthermore, this can

cultivate the good relationship between parents and teachers, and build up a more

suitable school environment in favor of children (Epstein, 1992; Hornby, 1995; Lin,

1996; Wu, 2001; Chian, 1995; Hsieh, 2000). In addition, many educational

innovations also mirrored the recognition of parents towards schooling. For instance,

“parent involvement” was listed into 2000 National Education Target by White House,

stressing that “ every school shall strengthen before 2000 the parent involvement in

children’s development in terms of society, mood and learning, so as to improve the

partnership between family and school (excerpted from Wu, 1997; U.S. Department

of Education, 1994). The U.K. government also urged all maintained schools to

1
discuss and document their teaching objects and values, education responsibility of

schools and parents and their expectations upon students since September 1999, in full

collaboration with the parents (excerpted from Hsieh, 2000).

Although Taiwan issued in 1984 a “Special Education Code” safeguarding the

learning rights of children with mental retardation, and issued in 1987 “Detailed Rules

of Special Education Code” for exercising the rights of identification and allocation

by parents of children with mental retardation, the rights and obligations of parents

weren’t completely specified until 1997, when ”Amendment of Special Education

Code” and some sub-laws were promulgated to guarantee the involvement rights. The

relevant provisions include: parents’ participation of Special Education Student

Assessment and School Admission Counselor Commission; children-related

identification by the Commission, parent involvement during allocation and tutorship;

preparation of individual education plans for children; family support courses

involving information, consultancy, tutorship and parenting education delivered by

schools; and lodging a complaint to education agencies if the parents raise doubt

about special education measures (Chen, 1997).

In recent years, there are several researchers engaged in the study of parent

involvement in elementary schools (Chen, 1997; Lin, 1998; Wu, 1997, 1998, 2000,

2001), of which involving the role (Wu, 2001) and parent involvement style (Lin,

1998; Wu, 1997, 1998). With a view to special education, Chen (1996) once explored

the attitudes, needs and contents of parent involvement for mentally retarded students

in Taipei Elementary School. However, this paper differed from actual status as it was

completed before endorsement of the Amendment of Special Education Code.

Therefore, the first purpose of this study is to explore the status and needs of parent

involvement for mentally retarded students in elementary schools, after the

Amendment of Special Education Code and its sub-laws were put into force.

2
 Secondly, the scholars also endeavor to explore parent involvement from the

attitudes of school administrators, teachers and parents, especially the president who

plays a very important role in parent involvement. Moreover, the teachers are the

front-liners to keep contact with the parents, whose attitudes also affect parent

involvement. For example, the researches of Lin (1998) and Wu (1997) show that, the

presidents of elementary schools had positive attitudes towards parent involvement.

The investigation results of Chen (1996) for special education teachers and parents

also showed that, the teachers and parents had a positive attitude towards parent

involvement in the education of children, and stressed that the parents of children with

mental retardation should serve as advocators. Hilton and Henderson (1993)

investigated 86 special education teachers about parent involvement, showing that

90% teachers had a positive attitude towards parent involvement for children of

mental retardation, but 80% teachers were self-confident about teaching without the

need of parent involvement. Rose (1990) investigated at 7 States the parents of

children with mental retardation about parent involvement, showing that 90% parents

had a pleasing experience of contact with teachers, but 17% of them hoped to have an

opportunity every month to discuss special education program with the teachers.

As a whole, either the teachers or parents had a positive attitude towards parent

involvement, but differed in their attitudes towards the opportunities and items

involved. Thus, the second purpose of this study is to explore the attitude of special

education teachers and parents towards parent involvement.

In addition, the research findings also show that, there are many factors related to

parent involvement. For example, Epstein (2001) pointed out in his research findings:

parent involvement will reduce with the growth-up of students, without mentioning

families of lower social status, single-parent families and those families with parents

working in other places or far away from schools. Chen (1996) also pointed out that,

3
special education teachers will have different attitudes towards parent involvement

based on their educational level, while the educational level, pressure and attitudes of

parents of mentally retarded students are related to parent involvement. According to

the research findings of Baker et al. (1996), parent involvement is more satisfactory in

the event of slight mental retardation, faster resettlement, closer to medical bodies and

complete marriage status. The research of Lowitzer (1989) showed that, parent

involvement was positively related to educational level and work conditions of fathers,

but negatively related to income of families, and nothing related to the work

conditions of mothers. Therefore, the third purpose of this study is to explore the

relationship between parent involvement for parents of children with mental

retardation and variable backgrounds of teachers, students and families.

Based on above-specified backgrounds and motivation, there are three purposes

for this research: (1) explore the status and needs of parent involvement for mentally

retarded students in Taiwan northern elementary schools; (2) explore the different

attitudes of special education teachers and parents towards parent involvement; (3)

explore the relationship between parent involvement and variable backgrounds of

teachers, students and families.

Research Methods

1. Research Subject

The research subjects compiled from Taoyuan County, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu

City and Miaoli County. According these four education bureaus’ data show that,

there were 106 classes of mentally retarded students in 2004, of which including 53 in

Taoyuan County, 15 in Hsinchu County, 12 in Hsinchu City and 26 in Miaoli County.

A cluster sampling method is used to calculate the percentage of targeted classes to

gross number of classes in these areas, and then make samples accordingly. The

4
research subjects comprise all special education teachers and parents of students with

mental retardation in 75 classes, of which including 150 special education teachers

and 725 parents of children with mental retardation. The researcher-designed

questionnaire includes 104 from teachers (sampling rate of 69.33%) and 276 from

parents (sampling rate of 38.07%), with the allocation of samples listed in Table 1:
Table 1 Distribution of Research Samples
County/City Number of Class Number of Number of Number of Parents
Sampled Classes Teachers
Taoyuan County 53 (50%) 37 74 381
Hsinchu County 15 (14%) 11 22 110
Hsinchu City 12 (11%) 8 16 76
Miaoli County 26 (25%) 19 38 158
Total 106 (100%) 75 150 725

(2) Research Tools

With a reference to some literatures related to parent involvement and special

education codes and sub-laws, this paper prepared “Parent Involvement

Questionnaire” as a research tool for data collection of parents and teachers. After

drafting the questionnaire, four professors for special education, two researchers

engaged in parent involvement and two special education teachers were invited to

evaluate the validity of questionnaire, clear out improper titles, add into omitted

important titles and modify unsuitable meanings for a formal questionnaire.

1. Parent Involvement Questionnaire (for Parents)

“Parent involvement questionnaire” for parents comprises basic data, attitudes

towards parent involvement and parent involvement style as detailed below:

(1) Basic data: including names of children, birthday, gender, schools, number

of children, sequence of birth of mentally retarded children, current age of

parents, educational level, occupations and marriage statuses of parents,

filler, filling date.

(2) Attitudes towards parent involvement: 31 titles, primarily used to

5
 understand the basic concepts and attitudes of parents of children with

mental retardation towards parent involvement. Likert evaluation method

is employed, allowing the testees to select one of four suitable options:

“agree very much”, “agree”, “disagree a little”, “disagree”, which are

offered score 4, 3, 2, 1 accordingly.

(3) Parent involvement style: the researchers hope to understand the actual state

and needs of parent involvement via the same titles. 41 titles are prepared

by researchers according to universal style of parent involvement. Likert

evaluation method is also employed, allowing the testees to select one of

four suitable options: “often”, “occasionally”, “seldom” and “without” in

the section of “actual state of involvement”, which are offered score 4, 3, 2,

1 accordingly. Next, they shall also select one of four suitable options:

“very wishful”, “wishful”, “be reluctant” and “be unwilling” in the section

of “involvement need”, which are offered score 4, 3, 2, 1 accordingly.

2. Parent Involvement Questionnaire (for Teachers)

“Parent involvement questionnaire” for teachers comprises basic data of teachers

and their attitudes towards parent involvement as detailed below:

(1) Basic data: including gender, schools, special education background, track

record, location and property of schools, number of classes, marriage

statuses, highest educational background, posts and filling date.

(2) Attitudes towards parent involvement: the same as those in section two of

“parent involvement questionnaire” for parents.

In terms of the validity, 31 titles are included in the questionnaire “attitudes

towards parent involvement”, which are used for factor analysis via varimax

rotation method to obtain three factors and account for 59.21% of variables with

exception of 12th title. These three factors are called as “consciousness of

6
involvement”, “importance of involvement” and “involvement role”. And 41 titles

are included in the second section “parent involvement style”, which are also used

for factor analysis via varimax rotation method to obtain five factors and account

for 53.95% of variables with exception of 15th, 34th and 41st titles. These factors

are called as “parenting”, “volunteering and decision-making”, “learning at home”,

“communicating”, and “collaborating with community”.

In terms of reliability, Cronbach α is used to verify the internal consistency of

sub-scale and full-scale as listed in Table 2. In the “attitudes towards parent

involvement”, internal consistency α of three sub-scales is between .80~.92, and

that of full-scale is .96. In the “parent involvement style”, internal consistency α of

five sub-scales is between .76~.89, and that of full-scale is .94. So, they are proved

to be highly reliable questionnaires.

Table 2 Titles and Internal Consistency of Sub-scales in Parent Involvement Questionnaire
Attitudes Consciousness of Importance of Involvement Role Full-scale
towards Parent Involvement Involvement
Involvement
Serial. No of 13 12 5 30
titles
Internal .92 .93 .80 .96
consistency
Parent Parenting Volunteering Learning at Communicating collaborating Full-scale
involvement and home with
style decision-making community
Serial. No of 14 9 6 6 3 38
titles
Internal .89 .82 .84 .76 .77 .94
consistency

(3) Data Analysis

SPSS10.0 statistical package is intended for data analysis. It is used to analyze

parent involvement status and need for parents of children with mental retardation,

attitudes of teachers and parents towards parent involvement and the relationship

between variables of all backgrounds and parent involvement, by way of mean,

7
standard deviation, ANOVA and MANOVA.

Results and Discussion

1. Parent Involvement status and needs for Parents of Children with Mental

Retardation

The parent involvement status is depicted in FIG.1, wherein it is found that

“learning at home” with a mean score of 3.36 is the most active involvement style

for parents of children with mental retardation, of which “checking the

schoolwork” has a highest score, followed by “fostering a good living habit” and

“chatting or playing with children”. The next one is “communicating” with a mean

score of 3.26. And, “volunteering and decision-making” with a mean score of 1.64

is the least involvement style.

3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0 parenting volunteering and learning at home communicating collaborating with
decision making community

FIG.1 Parent Involvement status for Parents of Children with Mental Retardation

Secondly, the involvement needs for parents of children with mental retardation

are depicted in FIG. 2, wherein it is found that the mean score of five needs isn’t over

3. But, there is a high need upon “learning at home” and “communicating”, followed

by “volunteering and decision-making”, especially for “assisting in financing school

fund” and “acting as school volunteers” with lowest need.

8
 2

1.5

0.5

0 parenting volunteering and learning at home communicating collaborating with

decision making community

FIG.2 Parent Involvement Needs for Parents of Children with Mental Retardation

As a whole, “learning at home” and “communicating” are the most active

involvement style for parents of children with mental retardation. “Volunteering and

decision-making” are found to be the least involvement style in terms of involvement

needs. In support of the research of Chen (1996) and Baker(1996), these results show

that the parents play an active role in family activities, but seldom assist in

decision-making for schools.

2. Attitudes of Special Education Teachers and Parents towards Parent Involvement

The attitudes of special education teachers towards parent involvement are listed in in

FIG.3 and Table 4. The teachers are found to have affirmative and positive attitude

towards parent involvement. In particular, the mean score of “importance of

involvement” and “consciousness of involvement” is more than 3, and that of

“involvement role” is lower than 3. Moreover, “assisting in preparing overall

development plan, annual teaching plan and campus construction plan” and

“involvement in screening and evaluation of teaching staff” has a lower score.

Secondly, the attitudes of parents of children with mental retardation towards

parent involvement are also listed in FIG.3 and Table 4. The parents of children with

mental retardation are also found to have affirmative attitudes towards parent

9
involvement. Especially, the mean score of “importance of involvement” and

“consciousness of involvement” is more than 3, but that of “involvement role” is only

2.58. Of which, “assisting in preparing overall development plan, annual teaching

plan and campus construction plan”, “involvement in screening and evaluation of

teaching staff”, “assisting in teaching work” and “assisting in financing school fund or

support tools” have a lower score.

3.5
3
2.5
2
teachers
1.5
parents
1
0.5
0
consciousness of importance of involvement role
involvement involvement

FIG.3 Special Education Teachers and Parents’ Attitudes towards Parent Involvement

In terms of the different attitudes of teachers and parents towards parent

involvement, special education teachers and parents are regarded as independent

variables, whereas “consciousness of involvement”, “importance of involvement” and

“involvement role” are dependent variables for ANOVA analysis, with the results

listed in Table 3 and 4. It is showed that the teachers and parents have affirmative and

positive attitudes towards parent involvement, but the teachers and parents differ a lot

in their attitudes. And, the score of teachers is significantly higher than that of parents

with regard to “importance of involvement”, “consciousness of involvement” and

“involvement role”, namely, the teachers have a more positive attitude towards parent

involvement.

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Table 3 Summary Table of ANOVA for Attitudes of Teachers and Parents towards Parent Involvement

Source df SSCP Wilk’s Λ F

consciousness of involvement importance of involvement involvement role

**
Between group 1 8.629 7.811 7.735 .938 20.749** 22.032** 15.750**
7.811 7.070 7.002

7.735 7.002 6.934

Within group 378 157.212 100.734 115.372

100.734 121.301 95.454

115.372 94.454 166.415

Total 379 165.841 108.545 123.107

108.545 128.371 102.456

123.107 101.456 173.349

* * p<.01

Table 4 Mean and SD of Attitudes of Teachers and Parents towards Parent Involvement

Teachers Parents
(n=104) (n=276)
M SD M SD
Consciousness of involvement 3.42 .38 3.08 .72
Importance of involvement 3.48 .34 3.18 .63
Involvement role 2.88 .46 2.58 .73

As a whole, the research findings show that, special education teachers and

parents have affirmative and positive attitudes towards parent involvement, among

which special education teachers have a more positive attitude. These results comply

with the research findings of Chen (1996), Hilton and Henderson (1993), showing that

both teachers and parents have affirmative attitudes towards parent involvement.

However, the research findings also show that, the teachers have a conservative

attitude towards parent involvement in preparing overall development plan and

screening/evaluation of teaching staff.

3. Factors related to Parent Involvement for Children with Mental Retardation

(1) Relationship between Backgrounds of Special Education Teachers and Parent

Involvement for Parents of Children with Mental Retardation

To explore the relationship between backgrounds of special education teachers

11
and parent involvement for parents of children with mental retardation, the

researchers selected separately the backgrounds of special education teachers as

independent variables, such as gender, special training, track record, number of

classes, marriage statuses, highest educational level and posts, and also selected

“consciousness of involvement”, “importance of involvement” and “involvement

role” as dependent variables for the purpose of MANOVA analysis. The results show

that attitudes of special education teachers towards parent involvement differ little

from different backgrounds of their own.

(2) Relationship between Backgrounds of Mentally Retarded Students and Parent

Involvement for Parents of Children with Mental Retardation

To explore the relationship between backgrounds of mentally retarded students

and parent involvement for parents of children with mental retardation, the

researchers selected separately the backgrounds of mentally retarded students as

independent variables, such as gender and sequence of birth, and also selected

“parenting”, “volunteering and decision-making”, “learning at home”,

“communicating” and “collaborating with community” as dependent variables for the

purpose of MANOVA analysis. The results show that parent involvement status and

needs do not differ a lot from different backgrounds of students.

(3) Relationship between Family Backgrounds and Parent Involvement for Parents

of Children with Mental Retardation

To explore the relationship between family backgrounds of mentally retarded

students and parent involvement for parents of children with mental retardation, the

researchers selected firstly the educational backgrounds of fathers and mothers as

independent variables, and also selected “parenting”, “volunteering and

decision-making”, “learning at home”, “communicating” and “collaborating with

community” as dependent variables for the purpose of MANOVA analysis. The

12
results listed in Table 5 show that, the educational backgrounds of mothers have

significantly different scores in terms of “parenting”, “volunteering and

decision-making”, “learning at home”, “communicating” and “collaborating with

community ”, namely, mothers with high/medium technical level or college degree

involve parenting education more actively than other mothers with lower educational

level. In terms of “volunteering and decision-making” and “learning at home”,

mothers with college degree involve more actively than other mothers with

educational level of high schools and high/medium technical level; In terms of

“communicating”, mothers with high/medium technical level or college degree

involve more actively than other mothers with educational level of elementary schools;

In terms of “collaborating with community”, mothers with college degree involve

more actively than those with educational level of high schools. Next, to explore the

influence of parents’ backgrounds upon parent involvement needs, the results show

that parent involvement needs are not closely related to educational backgrounds of

parents.

Additionally, the researchers selected the number of children, age of fathers and

mothers, occupations of parents as independent variables, and “parenting”,

“volunteering and decision-making”, “learning at home”, “communicating” and

“collaborating with community” as dependent variables for MNOVA analysis. The

results show that, parent involvement status and needs are not closely related to their

age, occupations and number of children.

To explore the relationship between parents’ marriage statuses and parent

involvement, the researchers selected marriage statuses as independent variables, and

“parenting”, “volunteering and decision-making”, “learning at home”,

“communicating” and “collaborating with community” as five dependent variables for

the purpose of MANOVA analysis. The results listed in Table 6 show that, parents’

13
marriage statuses have significantly different scores in terms of “parenting”,

“volunteering and decision-making” and “learning at home”, namely, a complete

family involves more actively than a broken family in terms of “parenting”,

“volunteering and decision-making” and “learning at home”. In a further move to

explore the influence of parents’ marriage statuses upon involvement needs, the

results show that parent involvement needs are not closely related to their marriage

statuses.

Table 5 Summary Table of ANOVA and Multiple Comparison for Parents’ educational levels and Parent Involvement

Source Name of Variable SS Df MS F Scheffe

Fathers’ Parenting 1.485 5 .297 .734
educational level Volunteering .671 5 .134 .398
Learning at home 4.293 5 .859 2.720
Communicating 3.119 5 .624 1.867
Community 5.262 5 1.052 1.409
Mothers’ Parenting 6.795 4 1.699 4.198* 3>6; 4>1; 4>6
*
educational level Volunteering 5.668 4 1.417 4.200 4>2; 4>3; 4>6
*
Learning at home 4.022 4 1.005 3.185 4>6
*
Communicating 5.454 4 1.364 4.081 3>6; 4>1; 4>6
*
Community 8.511 4 2.128 2.849 4>2
Fathers’ Parenting 6.744 11 .613 1.515
educational level Volunteering 3.415 11 .310 .920
＊
Mothers’ Learning at home 8.170 11 .743 2.353
educational level Communicating 6.798 11 .618 1.849
Community 7.978 11 .725 .971
Error Parenting 90.638 224 .405
Volunteering 75.566 224 .337
Learning at home 70.714 224 .316
Communicating 74.849 224 .334
Community 167.291 224 .747

Note: “Scheffe” refers to mothers’ educational level, 1: elementary school; 2: high school; 3: high/medium technical level;

4: college; 5: research institute; 6: others

*
p<.05

The backgrounds of special education teachers include gender, special training,

track record, number of classes, marriage statuses, highest educational level and posts,

14
which aren’t closely related to the attitudes of parent involvement. In support of the

research findings of Hsu (2003), these results also show that attitudes of special

education teachers towards parent involvement rights & obligations do not differ a lot

from different backgrounds of teachers, nor comply with the research findings of

Lai (1999) and Chen (1996). This is possibly due to the fact that no special discipline

was provided for special education teachers during earlier period of research.

However, the qualified special education teachers now have positive attitudes towards

parent involvement.

Table 6 Summary Table of ANOVA and Multiple Comparison of Parents’ Marriage Statuses and Parent Involvement

Source Name of SS Df MS F Scheffe

Variable
Between groups Parenting 8.779 4 2.195 5.201* 1>3
*
Volunteering 5.359 4 1.340 3.810 1>3
*
Learning at home 4.113 4 1.028 3.017 1>3
Communicating 3.944 4 .986 2.605
Community 6.126 4 1.532 1.950
Error Parenting 105.060 249 .422
Volunteering 87.575 249 .352
Learning at home 84.865 249 .341
Communicating 94.243 249 .378
Community 195.569 249 .785

Note: “Scheffe” refers to parents’ marriage statuses, 1: normal; 2: limited divorce; 3: divorce; 4: death of a couple; 5: others

*
p<.05

Next, this paper has also found that backgrounds of mentally retarded students

include gender and sequence of birth, which were not closely related to parent

involvement status and needs. The family backgrounds of mentally retarded students

include mothers’ educational level and parents’ marriage statuses, which are closely

related to parent involvement. In other words, a higher educational level of mothers

indicates a better involvement in terms of “parenting”, “volunteering and

decision-making”, “learning at home”, “communicating”, and “collaborating with

15
community”. Besides, a complete family shows a more active involvement than a

broken one in terms of “parenting”, “volunteering and decision-making” and

“learning at home, which comply with the research findings of Hsu (2003), Chen

(1996) and Lowitzer (1989).

Conclusions and Recommendations

1. Conclusions

The research findings are as follows:

(1) Learning at home and Communicating are the most active involvement style

and strongly required for parents of children with mental retardation.

Volunteering and Decision-making are the least involvement style with poorest

needs.

(2) Both teachers and parents have affirmative and positive attitudes towards

parent involvement, but differ a lot in their attitudes towards parent

involvement, namely, the teachers have a more positive attitude towards parent

involvement.

(3) The backgrounds of special education teachers include gender, special training,

track record, number of classes, marriage statuses, highest educational level

and posts, which are not closely related to the attitudes towards parent

involvement.

(4) The backgrounds of mentally retarded students include gender and sequence

of birth, which are not closely related to parent involvement. But, the family

background of mentally retarded students includes mothers’ educational level

and parents’ marriage statuses, which are closely related to parent involvement.

In other words, a higher educational level of mother indicates a better

involvement in terms of “parenting”, “volunteering and decision-making”,

16
 “learning at home”, “communicating” and “collaborating with community”,

while a complete family involves more actively than a broken family in terms

of “parenting”, “volunteering and decision-making” and “learning at home”.

2. Recommendations

The following are recommendations proposed by the researcher based on this

research findings.

(1) The research findings show that both teachers and parents have affirmative

attitudes towards parent involvement. However, the teachers have a conservative

attitude towards parent involvement in preparing overall development plan and

screening/evaluation of teaching staff. Therefore, it is recommended that teacher

training units and education agencies should prepare a series of training packages

and policies or approaches to foster the consciousness of existing teachers for

parent involvement and improve efficiently parent involvement.

(2) Learning at home and Communicating are the most active involvement style for

parents of children with mental retardation. Thus, it is recommended that the

schools should make every effort to adjust existing parent involvement style and

time, and encourage a stronger cooperation with community.

(3) The research findings also show that Volunteering and Decision-making is the

least involvement style with poorest needs. Thus, it is recommended that

education agencies or schools should set up parent involvement workshop, thus

making it possible for parents to understand the importance of parent involvement

in decision-making and cooperation with schools.

(4) As the research subjects in this study include special education teachers and

parents of children with mental retardation, this paper intends to explore parent

involvement and related factors to parents of children with mental retardation. It

is recommended that the future research should, with a reference to the scales

17
 developed by this study, explore the involvement style and needs with the parents

of other students acting as research subjects. Additionally, it is recommended that

the future research should fully understand parent involvement status and needs,

and gain access to relevant data of parent involvement via the help of qualitative

research.

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Institution & Address: National Hsinchu University of Education Department of Special Education

521 Nan-Dah Rd. Hsinchu City 300, Taiwan. R. O. C.

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